Category Archives: Reviews

Scooby Doo Mecha Mutt Menace Review

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Time for the next Scooby Doo special! This one looked a little more interesting immediately because we’re getting a Giant Robot Dog! Are you hyped yet? It’s essentially the return of the Zoids and as that was a very underrated franchise, it’s good to see it make a comeback. I can safely say that this villain was a lot more intense so get ready for some fights.

Scooby and the gang were having a good ole time when they happened upon the convention. They were aiming to win this one with Fred’s new trap that throws you into a glued net after disarming you of all metals. Instead he catches a shifty lady who is the daughter of one of the world’s greatest scientists. She quickly becomes the first suspect since all new characters foot the bill and she seems to want to make an enemy out of Daphne. (Unintentional I’m sure…) The Giant Robot Dog that her father owns goes on a rampage though and disappears. Her father dashes away and the cops aren’t so sure of what’s about to happen next. We also learn that the father didn’t actually invent the dog and one scientist is resentful of that. Hmmmmm. There’s also a creepy scientist who likes the daughter and isn’t afraid to admit it, but nobody takes him seriously and he makes a big mess of things whenever he is around. The show makes him as exaggerated as possible so it’s hard to find him even remotely likable.

Let’s get the technical aspects out of the way from the get go. The animation is good as always. We actually get some laser blasts and punches thrown so that’s always great. Everyone looks sharp and the character models are accurate. The soundtrack is pretty standard, but it gets the job done. That’s what count I suppose. Scooby Doo is technically consistent and has been for a very long time at this point.

Naturally, the big draw for the film is the villain. The giant robo dog is great. He can fire lasers and has quite the large amount of raw power. With one slap, he was able to knock Scooby Doo’s large dog robot through a lot of canisters and dented a wall. It was probably the most action packed moment that we’ve seen in Scooby Doo in quite a while. A good villain can always up the stakes for a film…and the intensity quite a bit. That’s what the robot did here.

One plot that wasn’t quite as good though was the one between the daughter and Fred. Why do we need a fake/forced romance here when we all know how this is going to end. At least Melanie played the friend zone card right away, but Fred didn’t really get the memo and it can get a little sad. Haven’t we seen this very same plot many, many times over the years. It never gets interesting to be honest, but it’s not as terrible as the Velma romance that we got back in the day. Now That was very wince worthy and hurt the film. This plot doesn’t really hurt the film since it’s not all that bad, but it doesn’t exactly help it either.

Another thing that I found a little iffy was how Shaggy and Scooby enjoyed the space food so much. I’m not saying that it’s terrible, but the goop just doesn’t look visually appealing. Give me a nice pizza or a Cheeseburger any day! They better enjoy it though because for 3 months that’s all that they’re going to get. Let’s ignore the ramifications of how this looks for the space station since it doesn’t really matter. Isn’t this a super tragic ending for the two? Being alone in space for 3 months without any supplies is really sad. They’ll have the food rations of course, but with their appetite, I have to wonder if it will last. Also, if this was going to be an unmanned rocket…then maybe there is no food. In that case, I’m going to assume that chronologically this is the final Scooby Doo film and they didn’t live through the experience. Ah well…better luck next time I suppose! Meanwhile, it was good to see Fred’s genius showed for once. He actually invented something practical and useful so just think about that for a second. He’s an excellent/capable leader as well as a genius apparently. No wonder he’s the leader of the Mystery Gang, he’s certainly earned it as this point.

Overall, This was another solid Scooby Doo special. The mecha fights were definitely the best scenes to be found here. The ending is also actually a little tragic when you think about it and was quite unexpected. I definitely recommend checking out this one. It’s really short since it’s also about 1 episode’s length so the pacing is always very smooth. You’ll be missing out if you miss out on this one.

Overall 7/10

Scooby-Doo and the Spooky Scarecrow Review

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It’s time for the first of four Scooby Doo specials that I recently saw. It’s always interesting to see these because they are essentially really compressed Scooby Doo films. The formula is still in tact, but everything must happen at a very rapid pace, which actually turns out well since it captures the meat of the story without any of the fluff. It’s a little tougher to take a stab at who the culprit is though because sometimes you won’t see all of the suspects until it is almost too late. Even though the time varies a whole lot, I like to make my guess at the first commercial break and it turns out that I was right on the money for this one. It was a pretty proud moment in my rather impressive detective career.

So, the gang was having a good ole time as per usual when they find out that this town is having an issue with a Spooky Scarecrow. Legend states that this guy is no mere mortal and he actually survived being sliced by that fork-type weapon from the farms. As a result, Halloween is cancelled. The Mystery Gang is going to have to work quickly or else Halloween will never make a return and then they’ll have to go somewhere else for their candy.

There are a few suspects right off the bat. The Mayor is a little shady since he clearly needs more sleep to get rid of the dark rings under his eyes and the guy seems shady. There’s also the chief of police who is always ignored by the mayor so she may have an axe to grind about all of this. She is helping to block off the cornfield so the Mystery Gang can’t start sleuthing. That’s a little iffy eh? There’s also Billy Bob, or something like that. He’s always fairly cold to the heroes and only says “Yup” and “No” so maybe this guy has something to hide. Who do you think the culprit is?

As always, the animation is quite good for Scooby Doo. It’s not as if the company is hitting it out of the park or anything like that, but everything is smooth and appropriately detailed. It’s what I’d expect from Scooby Doo and it isn’t experimenting like some of the previous movies/specials. (Puppets…I don’t think so!) The soundtrack is also what you would expect at this point. It’s suitable for the scenes and that’s what I like to see.

The villain wasn’t quite as intense as some of the others, but the fact that he does have a pickax of sorts makes him a real threat. I would put him in my top 50 Scooby Doo villains….well, that’s not saying much. He was probably my least favorite from the 4 specials today, but at least he wasn’t a bad villain. Now that would have been sad! Meanwhile it was fun to see all of the corn snacks in the special. They’re definitely not very appetizing next to other tried and true classics like Pizza and burgers, but they will do.

On a final note for the analysis, it was good to see the Mystery Gang get some respect here. The police chief quickly realized that they were experts of sorts in the monster biz after they professionally handled the situation with a Net Launcher. That’s what I’ve come to expect from the gang and let’s face it…after about 30-50 years of catching ghosts from all around the world, their reputation should precede them at this point. Even in a small town like this one that doesn’t seem too heavy on computers, the legends of Scooby Doo and his friends should be quite well known.

Overall, This was a good Scooby Doo special. It played it close to the belt here as it is almost the definition of your average Scooby Doo adventure. It’s fun and goes by very quickly, but nothing really stood out. No worries, that will change for the other specials as they all typically have at least one gimmick that makes them fairly original. If you’re a Scooby Doo fan, then you’ll definitely enjoy this one. If you’ve never heard of Scooby Doo and have no idea what you’re about to get yourself into..you should still enjoy it as a fun little mystery. Although you won’t be able to appreciate just how good of a tradition this series is either.

Overall 7/10

Shovel Knight Review

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I haven’t played a whole lot of indie games over the years. Typically, most of them don’t get a physical release, which essentially means Game Over as I don’t step into the digital realm very often. Shovel Knight certainly got very popular though so it’s not too surprising that it got such a wide release. For a while there, people were completely convinced that he was going to be playable in Super Smash Bros. That may not have ultimately happened, but it did help his popularity soar to even greater heights. The game is fun and it’s a call back to the classic Mega Man games from the good ole days. Those were always a lot of fun and ditto for Shovel Knight. There’s quite a lot of replay value contained within to back up the short story.

You play as a Knight who wields a shovel and whose teammate was seemingly destroyed. He decided to retire to a land of peace for a while, but eventually realizes that it’s time to avenge Shield Knight. Shovel Knight sets out, but the rest of the Knights from the round table intend to stop him along with the mysterious Black Knight. Will Shovel Knight’s determination be enough for him to vanquish all of his foes or will he ultimately have to use a tactical retreat?

Shovel Knight is a hero through and through so he doesn’t destroy the opponents that he defeats. On the contrary, he simply lets them think about their follies while on the ground and he moves onto the next area. Towards the end, he’s had just about enough of his “friends” and leaves them hanging from a castle. They eventually get up, but Shovel Knight couldn’t be bothered to stop and help. These guys are rather ungrateful and not reasonable so you can understand why Shovel Knight decided to use the extra minutes to stop the villain. The Knights can take care of themselves.

Let’s talk more about the gameplay. Instead of a Mega Buster, you’ve got a Shovel that you can whack opponents with. As you progress through the game, you’ll get magic spells like a fire blast or a super punch. You can also upgrade the shovel so that it can fire mini shockwaves and power slashes by holding the slash button. Watch out for enemy attacks though because like the old Mega Man games they will put you in hit stun for a while and during that time you are certainly very vurlable to pits. I died quite a few times that way. You can also obtain different armors and each one has strengths and weaknesses so you have to decide which one to ultimately use. I decided to use the economically friendly one to save on gold. When you die, you drop gold and that gold can really come in handy.

It should be noted that you can’t really die here. When you die, you’re taken to the last check point and you can seemingly keep trying until you eventually succeed. That did come in handy at the end of the game since I lost to the final form of the final boss and beating the first form again would have been a little iffy. It’s not a super long boss like some of the other games that I’ve played over the years, but saving some time and just throwing me back into the final form is definitely great. Not being able to really die can be an issue for some, but you do lose gold so there are still some consequences and the game isn’t super easy or anything like that. I expect you to definitely die a few times during your initial play through. Probably more than just “a few” times as well.

The graphics are solid. The game did a fine job of emulating the retro games as you can see above. The character designs are solid and the models look clear in the game. Black Knight is definitely the most interesting character visually although the final boss looks epic as well. I’d also give a nice thumbs up to the soundtrack for going the extra mile here. There were many themes present in the game and each one was suitable for the stages and the combat. Each theme was quick and you know how I don’t care for soft/quiet songs quite as much.

The ending would definitely have been super tragic if not for the after credits scene so make sure that you stick around for it. I’d say that it’s definitely a good thing that they added it since the first ending was unexpected, but also just a little sad for both of the Knights. That would have been a pretty big failure for them. Still, it didn’t happen so they did good. I would have liked to have seen some more of the “wanderers” though. The characters seemed pretty neat. They were all fairly mysterious and we only have a vague sense of their ambitions and goals. At the very least, we know that they are all good fighters.

There’s certainly already quite a bit of lore in the game. I don’t mind if they don’t end up exploring a lot of this, but those mystery characters need to return. After that, I guess we’ll need some new villains so I’m wondering who will show up. I’m assuming that we will probably get a sequel at some point and if the series is still going strong in a few years, Shovel Knight really could make his debut into the Super Smash universe.

This is one of those games that is very easy to quickly plug and play. You can get into the gameplay very easily and earning Gold is always a lot of fun since you have good things to spend it on. Of course, that won’t be a factor soon since I only have one armor left, but it was always a blast going for the jewels. As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of replay value here. You’ll want to go back and get all of the music notes, which should take quite a long while. Talking to everyone in all of the villages will help you get trophies and naturally the Platinum in and of itself will take quite a long time. Some trophies are incredibly difficult like beating the game in under 90 minutes or beating it without dying. The company went all out for this Platinum and it’s definitely all but unachieveable for me. Eventually you could get all of the trophies, but it would take many hours.

Meanwhile, the game also brings the DLC pack along with it where you play as another Knight and do Story Mode again, but it’s decently changed from the first time around. The level designs have been altered and seeing everything from another perspective is interesting, but I would have liked something a bit more like adding in more items or something. I haven’t embarked on this DLC yet and will probably do it someday, but not in the near future. I beat the game in one nice long batch, but I imagine that doing it a second time would be a lot harder depending on how good or bad Plague Knight is.

Overall, I’d recommend giving Shovel Knight a purchase. If you enjoyed those old Nintendo classics or the Mega Man games, then this is right up your ally. The developers even went the extra mile and provided an actual plot through the word bubbles. You certainly didn’t see that in the oldest games from back in the day and it’s a good way of quickly using some modern elements without messing up the vibe of the title. With good graphics and a solid soundtrack as well, there are no real negatives to be found here. A mild issue could be that the game is a little on the short side, but as always, that does typically work out well for me. The game certainly doesn’t drag this way and most of the old games were very short like this one. Shield Knight still got a big team up with Shovel Knight to end it all and that was pretty climactic. The dream fights were also pretty intense. You better make that catch!

Overall 7/10

Block Party Review

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No not Block Party, BLOCK Party! I’ve played a lot of cash ins in my day, but none quite like this one…..sorta. Okay, that line’s a stretch, but this one is better than some of the recent titles that I played like We Ski. The games here actually had some thought put into them and they’re actually a little more original than you would suspect. Saving someone from getting eaten by a dog? I can roll with that and you certainly wouldn’t expect to see a game plot like that one in the average Wii title. Unfortunately, the game’s reliance on motion controls gets a little dicey at times. It’s probably just my remote, but the games were unwinnable so I ended up not being able to unlock 2 of the games.

As the title boldly yells, there are 20 games to be found here. That’s not a bad number if you ask me. Did you ask me? I sure hope you did because there’s my answer. Unfortunately, it looks a little less impressive than you would think since about half of the games are clones. It’s almost hard to tell at first, but when you actually think about it, you’ll quickly realize that you just did the same thing twice. The only difference was the background and the animations around you. It’s a clever trick, but one that won’t work on this blog reviewer.

Let’s talk about the minigames..or the ones that I can remember anyway. The most iconic one is definitely where you have to save a kid who has been eaten by your Dog. He’s a huge dog and is actually bigger than the player, but that just ups the stakes. You have to playfully tap him with the newspaper to distract him so you can save the other player. It’s a tricky minigame and it’s impossible if your remote’s motion controls are broken so good luck trying to beat it! Another minigame is where you have to stop the Ants/Bugs from eating the Sandwich/Cake by blasting them all to smithereens with your Ray Gun. I have a feeling that the game’s developers did not like animals, which is always regrettable. I’m fine with blasting monsters, but let’s not get ants. They mean well and just want a solid dinner. The gameplay is solid for this one though.

We’ve also got Sack racing/Trash Pulling. In these minigames, you must shake both Wii Remote and Nunchuk to move forward. Trash Pulling wouldn’t work, but I was able to beat the Sack Racing one. It’s a good exercise for your wrists, but make sure that you don’t lose since you definitely wouldn’t want to try beating it again. Trust me, it’s not in your best interests. One of the best minigames is one where you jump on a trampoline and must perform the motions and click the buttons that the screen tells you to. It’s all about reaction times and I definitely enjoy that kind of game.

The best minigame by far is one where you have to track an egg with your eyes as it goes under various plates. The game never feels like it’s cheating and you can get a very high score as long as you’ve played Super Smash a lot over the years. That’s definitely a game that I could play quite a few times. Another good minigame is one where you have to fly through the sky and collect as many fruit as possible. It’s simple as you just move back and forth, but it’s executed well and the controls are very responsive. We also can’t forget the Clothesliner/Volleyball as you try to keep your balance as you go across the stage. The controls can be a little more iffy here, but when they work it’s quite fun. This is a game that can get competitive. Another good minigame concept is the Balloon Shooter. There are two versions. One where you’re shooting balloons to save the kids and another one where you’re blasting discs in the sky. Both are good, but a little glitchy as you could have sworn that you hit the objects, but the game calmly tells you that this didn’t happen. It was probably rigged, but it’s extremely easy anyway since the A.I. is bad at those games. It’s strange, they’re amazing at some of them, but terrible at others…ah well. That’s enough game summaries, you get the jist of it. A lot of them were actually quite fun and hold up well. The controls aren’t great, but they still beats most of its rivals anyway.

I actually like the graphics quite a bit. They’re simple and to the point so they effectively illustrate what’s happening to you at all times. The characters are all presented fairly accurately compared to what you would think of when looking at a kid. The soundtrack is a little more dicey though and that’s mainly due to the sound effects. The kids are always laughing…always! There was even a glitch where they were laughing for so long that the game couldn’t load up and I had to beat it again. The game seriously needs to calm down with that as the gimmick doesn’t exactly help the game. It’s not bad and can be a little amusing I suppose, but why? That’s the question that the developers need to ask themselves before including something in.

I also don’t trust the Auto Save feature on this game. I beat most of the worlds only to find out that I had to start from scratch the next time. I don’t know why that happened, but at least the game is short. Most of the levels are 30-60 seconds long so that means you should be able to beat it all in less than 20 minutes. That’s a very short game so I feel bad for anyone who spent over 10 dollars on it. 2-5 is not that bad although even then you may want to think about this choice for a while.

There is also absolutely no replay value so don’t count on that for help. The game doesn’t even save your high scores for each game, which is a shame. (Saw what I did there?) So…what are you supposed to do? Unlocking the minigames is literally the only thing to do here. Then you’ll just be chilling with friends and to be honest this game can definitely get quite competitive. On your own…..forget about playing this. There’s no real point, the only entertainment to be had here is the entertainment of playing with a friend.

Overall, Block Party forgot to include the actual party. Seriously, you need some kind of replay value in the game or you’re just a 15 minute distraction. I guess it can be good to have for Finding Nemo load screens, but that’s about it. It’s a shame because I thought that the minigames were actually pretty decent. Surprisingly, the game actually put some effort into them. Sure, there are glitches and the controls can be unresponsive, but I feel like the game did quite well with the very limited resources at its disposal. It probably made them a quick buck and succeeded in its mission. I recommend this title if you don’t mind the fact that it’s only about 15 minutes long. It is definitely one of the best Wii party games although the console has a huge selection of them. Play the dog minigame and watch him overpower all of you! (Also be warned, not all of the games on the cover are actually included inside!!)

Overall 5/10

Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2 Review

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This is one of those games where you have to ask yourself…is more content always a good thing? I’m going to be honest, I’d like the game a lot more if it didn’t have the story mode that’s present in the game. It’s a shame that more modes can actually be bad for once and it’s a lose-lose situation since I’d be sad if there was none included as well. So I ask…does a bad story mode hurt the game enough for me to deduct a star or should it stay high?

The Budokai series is quite different from Tenkaichi in the sense that it is a 2D brawler. I always enjoy those although it’s safe to say that I still prefer Tenkaichi even though I’m going through a 2D fighting crisis right now. Tenkaichi just revolutionizes 3D gameplay and I never get tired or playing it. Budokai, on the other hand, feels a little limited at times. There’s only so much that you can do as your options are a little limited. It’s not as polished as something like Street Fighter, but the fundamentals are there and the controls are easy to grasp. The problem is that a lot of the game is locked out unless you complete tedious grinds.

For example…you start the game without signature characters like Vegeta and Frieza. I’m really curious to see how the character select screen looked at the beginning and I really should have checked when I had the chance. If you do not defeat them the right way in story mode, then you’ll continue to have to play the game without them and that can be a shame since there’s no way you’ll want to play Story Mode again. Just about everyone is unlocked through Story Mode or with the Dragon Balls, but the unlocks are not easy or quick. They take time.

Let’s go back to why Story Mode is no fun. You start on a Mario Party map and your goal will either be to make it to a location or defeat enemies multiple times. For a fighter like Frieza or Cell, you may have to win 3-4 times and then do that against some of the minions as well. Each turn feels like it takes a long time and you can imagine how sad it is to lose a level after going so far. It shouldn’t sound that bad in theory, but the fights really add up. Even the fact that the story takes a lot of new twists and turns cannot save the final product. You’ll end up just wishing that it was all over after a while. Without the unlockables at every corner I may not be as harsh on the Story Mode. As it is, it’s definitely one of the worst fighting game ones out there.

Aside from that you have other modes like Good ole multiplayer and Tournament Mode. Multiplayer is where you will spend the bulk of your time of course since fighting games like this one are best enjoyed with friends. That’s how it’s always been for the genre and it’s why nothing can beat a truly good fighting game. Tournament Mode should also be decently fun and you’ll earn some money out of it so you can buy some skills. Speaking of which…that’s another unlockable that is rather unnecessary.

Your characters actually don’t have their iconic attacks at first. Mind Blown right? It puts you at quite the disadvantage in Story Mode at times. Imagine playing Goku and being unable to use the Kamehameha. You can find the skills throughout the stages and get them at the shop, but locking a character’s moveset is unprecedented and certainly not in a good way. I really don’t know what they were thinking with this one and it’s a prime example of what I like to call “artificial replay value.”

The graphics are fairly solid. Goku’s voice acting is certainly great as he sounds a lot like Sonic. I feel like this started to change as the games got newer, but the retro ones still have this effect. The blasts are fun to watch and while more effort could have been put into the stages, they look good. The opening cinematic is also a blast and those always added an extra touch to the DBZ series. The soundtrack is a little more forgettable and I can’t actually recall any tunes at the moment, but I remember them being fairly good. Not every game can be the next Sonic right?

Budokai is a little on the old side and it shows, but this still did start the legendary franchise off right. If you like the gameplay here, then you should check out Shin Budokai. It’s a modernized version of this one and naturally it’s been greatly refined. Tenkaichi also came out due to this game so we owe it a lot. I also feel bad for the title since it didn’t ask to have such a terrible Story Mode. It just happened and the game ended up paying the price. We’ve asked the tough questions, but this DBZ title still beats some of the newer ones…sorta. It’s a closer fight than I’d like to admit.

Overall, This review may have been a little on the negative side, but this game is still a good one. When you take away all of the fluff, gameplay is still the most important feature in any game and that part is still done well here. Learning how to block and fight effectively is what will make you a true DBZ warrior. Part of why Story Mode was so difficult was because I didn’t know how to charge my Ki. I still have no idea how to do that even though it’s usually very easy to figure out. Still, the extra difficulty made everything a little more intense so that’s good. I definitely recommend getting this game, but don’t play the Story Mode as it will sour your experience. Despite this game being on the legendary Gamecube console, I actually prefer Budokai 3. The amount of in game lockable content is just too much. It would be good if you could unlock them naturally, but otherwise….I don’t think so. In closing, ignore everything about the game and just head straight to Vs. Mode. That’s the best way to have fun, but good luck with that since you won’t have Vegeta or a number of other cool characters. Maybe they could animate Story Mode and then take out the gameplay when they do a remake someday. That would be the best of both worlds.

Overall 7/10

Street Fighter V Review

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Ah, this game is so controversial. Capcom basically made headlines with this game in every way possible. I was unsure about pre ordering this title since there are always remasters and such so I could potentially wait a year and get the game for the same price, but with more characters. That being said, I wanted to get into the hype right away and see the game as the meta was evolving like with Super Smash. I’ll never get into this game professionally and I’m content with being a casual, but getting it day 1 was fun. Especially since I don’t get games day 1 all that often. This was due to winning a Football Fantasy League (Along with Pre Orders for Pokken and Star Fox Zero. If I win again next year, it may go towards Kingdom Hearts III and FF VII depending on when they come out and if something else that’s even bigger isn’t on the way)

This is Street Fighter so I don’t really need to explain the gameplay right? It’s about as iconic as Mario or Sonic at this point and dare I say even more than Sonic? Next to Pac Man and Mario, I’d say that Street Fighter is the most popular game of all time. You can quote me on that one. If you want to get more technical, this Street Fighter game is different from the previous ones in the sense that it’s more about mind games. The health bars are more like Tekken in the sense that each hit deals massive amounts of damage so you’ll want to be very careful about attacking. You have to take risks in this addition and that’s part of what makes the game fun. It’s the kind of game where you can definitely picture yourself beating a pro and I have to admit that the balance is spot on. A relatively new thing is the introduction of the V Gauge. I only say that it’s sorta new since the idea of a final smash gauge isn’t new, but you can do reversals with this. Either way, you get the point about the gameplay.

Let’s go to some of the controversies. First is the censorship one. That’s easy since I definitely agree with the move. Cammy’s win celebration was toned down and likewise with R. Mika. I heard that Zangief’s was as well, although nobody ever mentions it so it’s possible that this isn’t the case or that nobody cared. It was a good move because these things weren’t necessary to the game. In fact, it’s a little disappointing to see how over the top the females were designed in this game. It almost goes to Dead Or Alive (Not the spinoffs, now that’s terrible!) levels here at times. Laura is very over the top and her introduction is really unnecessarily bad. This has never really been an issue with Street Fighter before so hopefully this isn’t a trend that sticks around for long. I doubt that I would have mained Laura anyway, but it definitely assures that I’ll stick with Ken and Chun-Li for the long haul. Either way, everyone has combos in this game so aside from a character like Zangief or F.A.N.G. they’re all good.

The next controversy is the fact that Capcom basically shipped out a 60$ beta. I made a topic on it over on Street Fighter Faqs and it was so inflammatory that it was taken down. You need to have PS+ to play online so let’s ignore that for now. Without that mode, you really only have 2 options. Survival Mode and Story Mode. Let that sink in for a little bit, there is nothing else to really do in the game. I know people like to spend time in Training Mode, but I find that boring to be honest and would rather train against a computer or play someone. Story Mode consists of 2-4 fights per character and you can beat all of the stories within 90-120 minutes. After that, it’s just Survival Mode and that’s not the kind of mode that you usually want to play for very long.

Survival Mode on Easy is very doable. It’s only 10 matches long and you should be able to beat it with everyone without any kind of struggle. Normal Mode gets very difficult as the first 25 matches are super easy, but then the difficulty ramps up to Hard Mode for the final 2 fights. It’s always very annoying to make it to the very end only to lose. Hard Mode is 50 fights and once again it’s easy until the very end where you’ll lose at the final level. I’ve only beaten this difficulty with Ken so far. After that is Hell Mode, which is an incredible 100 levels. I made it to the 70’s I believe, but it’s so time consuming that I’m definitely not tempted to give it another whirl anytime soon.

So, when you keep that in mind, you’re paying 60 dollars for what will amount to around 4 hours of fun gameplay and then you’re stuck unless you really like Survival Mode. Survival Mode is unique in the sense that you can spend your score to buy things like extra health or power, but it also makes the mode a lot longer as it needs to load between every match and it’s why the longer difficulties can be over an hour long. This game is really meant to be played for local versus mode and online. I can’t fault the gameplay so it succeeds there, but there is no excuse to not have other modes like Arcade or Trials.

A disclaimer is the fact that they are all coming for free soon. It’s just obvious that the game was released way before it was ready. What would probably get an easy 9 is definitely bumped down to an 8 for me. I may update the score with a brief update post at the end of this once more updates are here, but the question is…was it worth it to release the game this early? I’m going to say yes to be honest since I’m still glad that I got to play the game right away, but I can definitely see both sides. Some things are inexcusable like the long loading times and the fact that there is no penalty for rage quitting. That’s really bad and has been hurting a lot of people in the higher ranks.

The soundtrack is great and an easy 5/5. All of the themes are inspirational and they get you in the mood for some good fights. I have no qualms there. The stage selection is really small and I would have liked some more maps. I barely even notice them to be honest, but some are clearly better than others and more variety is never a bad thing. I don’t see why the game has no more maps unless….it’s going to be for DLC! The graphics are also very solid. I’m definitely not a fan of the character designs and the illustrations in Story Mode can be comically bad at times, but you can tell that a lot of effort went into the game as a whole. The graphics are certainly top notch, but it’s not as visually striking as Super Smash Bros.

Another big issue with the game is naturally the fact that it’s going to be very DLC heavy. There are already 6 DLC characters planned this year along with Premium costumes. The game is expected to be supported for many years to come so it’s actually very likely that we will get at least 20 DLC characters or more by the time this is through. Supposedly there will be no other versions and this original one will always be relevant. Whether that is fully true or not, it is good to know since I wouldn’t buy any new versions. They’ll probably have some updates, but it’ll be in place of buying them separately. I definitely won’t spend any money on SF V, but the good news is that I won’t have too. There’s a new feature here called Fight Money. Every 100,000 that you collect is enough to buy 1 character. I currently have 300000 so I can buy the first 3 and the upcoming modes should be enough for me to earn some more. There’s already enough in Survival Mode to get over 1 Million I believe, but good luck beating Hell Mode with everyone. I’m sure that some people will manage to do it and I’ll be thoroughly impressed, but it’s too time consuming to be worth it to me. Still, the concept of fight money is very progressive and an awesome move on Capcom’s part. This is something that I can get behind.

Also, as mentioned earlier, the online component is very good. It’s heavily sophisticated and I’ll admit that it makes Nintendo’s look bad by comparison. You can look up any player by their tag and then watch every battle that they’ve ever had. So, you want to learn some Ryu combos? No problem, look up the highest ranking Ryu players in the world and just sit back as you take in the matches. I can’t emphasize enough how incredible this feature is. Everything’s out in the open now and there are no restrictions. Naturally, this means that all of you matches can be viewed as well, but it’s a good accountability features. Now if someone claims that you didn’t actually beat them, you can just point to the profile. It’s quite possibly the best new online feature that I’ve ever seen. While waiting for a ranked match, you can also chill out in Survival Mode or Train a little. Everything is connected and the game even tells you if you’re an offensive or defensive player. There are full ranks and tiers as well unlike Super Smash where there sadly isn’t a system like that. I deeply wish that there was and you could bet that I’d be playing a ton of For Glory every day if that was ever implemented. Ah well, it’s how it goes.

As for each individual character, Chun Li’s style is my favorite so far. Unlike Ryu and Ken, I don’t really know most of her specials at the moment, but she gave me the most success online where it counts so that’s definitely a good sign. I also heard that she was one of the better fighters in the game so that helped. In a game like this one, they’re all “One of the better fighters” so it may not be saying a whole lot, but she’s officially my main. My secondary is Ken. He’s just so easy and intuitive to play. I also gained a lot of respect for him in this game as he’s portrayed as a really cool character. I also like the redesign that he got as well as the emphasis on all of his fire moves.

Ryu is a close third and his attacks are tried and true. It’s cool how just about all of his attacks and combos have endured since the original Street Fighter. I don’t care for his personality and how it was depicted here though. Look at SF IV and Super Smash for how he should be acting. I suppose Cammy would be my 4th best character. Like Chun Li she’s really quick and has a lot of good offensive tools to work with. Not to mention that she seems more heroic than most of the fighters in her game and I can get behind her goal of trying to save everyone. 5th place would be Laura. It’s safe to say that I won’t be playing her very much, but her combos and command grabs are really good. If you land the hit, you’re almost guaranteed a grab and that’s a blast against opponents who like to block a lot.

6th is Bison. He’s a little slow for me, which is what hurts him, but he’s very cool. Since Akuma is not in the game, he’s the best villain by far and all of his attacks remind me of Bass EXE, which is really neat. I’m going with Nash next although it’s really close. He’s similar to Ryu, but maybe a little stronger while sacrificing some of Ryu’s safer moves. His final smash is definitely really cool and the teleporting gimmick never gets old. After that would be Karin. She’s a little slower than the other heroines, but her combos are very long and powerful. You can basically link two special attacks into a Critical Art and the laugh at the end of it is certainly classic. I have very little experience with her as most of what I’ve seen is from visual experience rather than hands on.

As a character I can’t stand Birdie, but sadly his controls are actually pretty good. His command grabs are great and they come out of nowhere so your opponent needs to have very fast reflexes to keep up or he’ll be completely overwhelmed. Now we’re getting to the characters that I’m not a big fan of. Mika has a lot of the tools that the others possess, but I just find her hard to use. Likewise, Necalli is strong, but he feels so slow and I haven’t been able to get a hang of his combos. Rashid is the most perplexing character as he feels like he should be very fast and easy to use, but he just isn’t. Dhalsim’s great since you can spam his long range, but he’s incredibly slow and even worse..he’s boring to play as. I don’t care if he becomes top tier, I just can’t play as this guy. Zangief has no projectile which is a huge no no plus he’s a slow character. That’s a lose-lose situation if you ask me. Vega’s just incredibly weak and jumps around too much. F.A.N.G.’s another slow/boring character who I wanted to stop playing immediately. Trust me, he’s not someone that you want to play and I haven’t seen anyone use him yet so I’m guessing that a lot of people feel the same way.
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Overall, Street Fighter V is a phenomenal game. I can see why some people already call it the greatest fighting game of all time. I will never say that as Super Smash Bros wins by a long shot, but aside from that?….Yeah, I think this may earn the title. It’s amazing just how well balanced and diverse the characters and their gameplay are considering that there are only 16 at the moment. I could easily play this for hours on end (When the free PS+ weekends are around) and I’m still partially a button masher at this point. It’s just such a fun game and everything about it just reeks of high quality. It’s definitely a very incomplete game at the moment, but if you have PS+ then you’ll barely notice. If you don’t…just play Survival Mode until you can’t take it anymore and then put the game down until March hits with the first new character and a lot of new features.

Overall 8/10

Casablanca Review

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Does the poster spoil the ending? Let’s hope not, although this is a classic so you’ve probably seen it already. If not, then I’d recommend checking it out. It’s not an elite all star film like you may have heard, but it’s a good story. The romance is rather lackluster though and downright bad by the end. Press 1 if you feel bad for the Rebound Guy who shall never know his own fate. This film’s definitely been remembered for many generations and will always stay as a classic so let’s see what the film theoretically did right and what it may have done wrong.

The film takes place during the time where Germany had occupied France. Rick has a little bar that’s going smoothly, but that’s when some Germans arrive looking for a resistance member. Rick has attained a pair of passports that can let the resistance member safely escape the country, but he doesn’t want to give them up because he now has the opportunity to destroy the woman who gave him the slip many years ago and crushed whatever romance they may have had back in the day. Rick never forgets a grudge, but will he ultimately decide to put his feelings to the side so that he can help stop the Nazi’s?

Rick really had a good thing going for him, but Laszlo and Ilsa’s appearance throws a curveball into his life. We rarely know when we are about to make a choice that will alter our life forever, but have to do the best that we can. Of course, it’s hard to just help an old enemy so easily and Rick is naturally upset. Worse, the Nazi’s now know that he has a history of helping the resistance stop the oppressors so he has come under great scrutiny. He’s on friendly terms with the chief of France’s police, but that might not help him all that much if the Germans really do start to go after him.

Rick’s a classic retro hero who’s very confident and can casually respond to the enemy banter. He’s not a bad main character and is far more likable than the leads of the last few films that I watched. He does make things very dangerous for the other characters for most of the film, but ultimately makes the right choices….for the most part. He helps some people flee the country and does help the resistance. The one wrong choice that he made was having a one night affair with Ilsa even though he knew that she was married.

I’m referring to near the end as he didn’t know that she was married the first time. That one was on her, but he certainly could have simply denied her the last time, but chose to accept her offering before sending her on her way. It was not a good move and Rick proved that he was not as heroic as he could have been. The wise thing to do there would have been to have just given them the passports if he had been planning to do so or to have gone along the plan without that move. It also makes things sad for Laszlo.

Unlike some of the other guys, Laszlo may realize that he is the rebound guy, but it’s definitely not a whole lot better for him. Knowing that you are the rebound guy must be incredibly hard to bear and honestly it can make you doubt everything. It’s one of the reasons why you should be incredibly careful when choosing your partner. It’s so that you can actually trust her when you have to be gone for a few months. In the beginning, Ilsa thought that Laszlo was dead of course so it’s not as bad. Of course, what you could say is bad is the fact that she got over it so quickly and moved on to another man. Why are the characters all so easy? It would probably be even worse if this was a modern film. At least the romance is handled tastefully for the most part….the last romance scene notwithstanding.

It’s a fairly pleasant film and one of those well written films that you don’t really see nowadays. The characters all come across as intelligent and even when they’re threatening each other it’s always very civil. Naturally it can be a little long for some as not everyone will enjoy the long conversations, but given the positive reviews around the board, I think it’s safe to say that most people enjoyed the interactions. They’re definitely solid and the film never dragged on for me because it was all very interesting. It would have been great to have had a quick epilogue where some Americans came in to take down all of the Nazi’s, but maybe that would have taken too long.

The film did a good job of throwing in some context and backdrop for the characters. Even though the film had to get into the plot right away, you got a good sense of the town and the people there. They may have been beaten, but they weren’t broken and they were still fighting hard to stay upbeat. The scene where they play their anthem over the German one was definitely a good one and watching everyone talk about how they wanted to leave was a nice subtle way of showing the condition over in Paris. We never actually saw that the conditions were poor, but still knew it through this, which is a solid way of expanding the universe. Subtlety can definitely be a great tactic.

Overall, Casablanca is a good film that lives up to its reputation as a solid romance. It’s not world shattering, but I’m not a big romance fan so it equals out. Aside from the needless romance scene between Ilsa and Rick (A romance that I definitely don’t think is award worthy) the film really didn’t have any flaws and made for an enjoyable experience. It’s a fairly calm film with very few action scenes, but it’s meant to be more about the choice that Rick has to make. Will he make the right one or won’t he? I’m glad to say that he did make the right choice and turned out to be a decent person. There was even some room for a sequel where we could see Rick in the resistance. That would be neat although it could be sad if handled wrong. If you’re looking for a pleasant romance then this is a good film to check out.

Overall 7/10

Sunset Boulevard Review

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It’s time to review a very retro film. It’s one of those films that may have a lot of good reviews, but when you really take a look at it…it doesn’t hold up very well. The characters are all very unlikable and the romance is one of the worst that you’ll have seen in years. It almost makes Twilight’s look good, but that’s just about impossible anyway. The sun did set on this film, but I don’t think that was the film’s intention!

Joe’s a film writer who’s been through some tough times. None of his scripts are any good anymore and he gets serious writer’s block at times. He’s also on the run from the proper (car) authorities since he couldn’t pay the bill on his car. Things are really heating up and he even considers moving across the state, but that’s when he runs into the retired actress, Norma Desmond. She has a lot of money and is willing to help him become rich if he can help her finish her script so that it becomes a real movie. Joe can never pass up quick check, but is this really the right move?

No, I can say that it isn’t the right move, but Joe’s not a good character so I wasn’t expecting him to make the right one anyway. It wouldn’t have been in character now would it? The romance is poorly done here on all levels, but first let’s start with the subplot that comes out of nowhere. The person (Betty) who read Joe’s scripts decides that he has a lot of talent and wants him to help her write a script. He declines, but eventually decides to do it. The problem with this plot is that Betty is engaged, but she immediately falls for Joe anyway, nearly getting together with him in the bathroom of a party after only seeing the guy for about 2 minutes. Keep in mind that she’s already engaged. Once her fiance heads over to another state for some kind of project, she quickly tries to make her move and Joe is naturally happy about this. The problem is that he’s playing the field with two people at once.

So, Joe decides to break it off with both. Before we say how, let’s go to the main plot. Norma Desmond is a lot older than Joe of course, but that doesn’t stop her from flirting with him and since Joe knows that she’s the source of his weekly pay check, he obliges her. He continues to let this relationship happen and even allows her to believe the deception that she may make a comeback as an actress. That’s why we invented the concept of tough love as these passive lies will definitely hurt a person in the long run. Naturally, this isn’t a very healthy relationship and Norma has divorced 3 husbands in the past so that should have been a good hint to Joe.

Anyway, his decision to break off his relationships to both Norma and Betty involves calling Betty over to see his mansion and then dumping her…after having her come over all the way from her house in the dead of night. Couldn’t have broken it off over the phone right? He also did it in a passive aggressive way so as to not formally break it off, but just antagonize her until she got the message. Then, after giving Norma hope that she was the only one for him, he quickly told her that he was leaving as well and after making sure that she had a gun at the ready, he walked away. Naturally he got shot in the back and quickly sprinted over to the pool so that he could have a flashy death, but it was a predictable end to the film.

After all, the movie made the interesting choice of showing him dead in the very first scene as he tells us a flashback. It’s not explicitly stated that it was him of course, but it’s rather obvious since there were no other characters who looked like him in the film. It was a very small cast after all so there was never a doubt as to how the film would end. The only question would be “Why was he shot?” Well, now we know the answer. The guy wasn’t exactly an upstanding citizen and you can only antagonize people for so long before one of them turns out to be a killer. At least the finance guys finally got their car back from him.

The cops show up at the end to wrap everyone up, but they’re not as tough as the cops from nowadays. They allow Norma to slowly walk down the steps and act as if she is still in a movie instead of quickly throwing her in the cop car and getting on with it. The reporters are always glad to have an extended scene like this of course, but they certainly have her a lot of leeway. Considering that she just killed a man, you’d expect a little more intensity from the cops right?

There’s not much to really like about the film. As I’ve already shown, Joe’s a terrible main character. He has no heroic qualities about him. The only part of his personality that is decent is the fact that he gets a lot of burns and insults the entire time as he pokes fun at everyone, but it’s always just talk. He talks about how he should leave Norma and yet he doesn’t make a move until the very end. He’s not actually brave enough or confident enough to make a move and the only times that he does try something are when they’re actions that he shouldn’t take. One such action is naturally trying to steal the girl of his best friend. That’s not a whole lot of loyalty on his part.

If he would focus more on his writing and less on all of the fluff that’s around him, he could have been a real character. As it stands, he’s not someone that you’ll want to be around and I can see why his scripts were no good. He doesn’t take them seriously enough. It’s a shame since the beginning of the film did show some promise and the overall picture could have been quite good. If the story was played seriously and Norma did not fall for Joe we could be talking about a completely different movie. Who knows, maybe this could have actually been a solid 7 instead of the finished product that we got in the end instead. Alas, there are no what ifs when it comes to film right?

Overall, There’s no shining sliver of hope to grab here as the film’s just one big mess that gets more and more entangled in its own plots. Now we’ll also know that the best friend was just the rebound guy even though he’ll never suspect it as his engaged partner will likely never mention these facts. It’s one of the tricky turns of romance and a lot of films actually don’t mind making the guy just the “rebound guy” anymore. Even the next film that I’m about the review used the same technique and it does make you wonder for the eventual husbands who have to put up with this role. You just have to wonder what they would think if they knew. They probably should have realized that if anyone is easy enough to fall for you at first sight, that they may have already done the same for others. Just think on that as you pass by this film at your local DVD store and instead stop at Yugioh 3D Bonds Beyond Time. No drama there, just hard hitting action!

Overall 1/10

The Last Witch Hunter Review

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It’s time for a Witch film! Witches aren’t explored quite as much as vampires and werewolves so a film about them always has the potential to be promising. Magic can be interesting after all, but can it really be handled right? I thought that the trailer really didn’t look that good and I wasn’t surprised by the fact that this film didn’t exactly break the box office. It’s not Jupiter Ascending levels of cringe, but I still wouldn’t call it a good film either.

A lot of films like to go with the tried and failed approach of opening in the olden days where everyone was still banging rocks together and attacking with spears. I’ve never liked this approach since the olden days are no fun to watch and may as well be forgotten at this point. We get to watch the final battle between the humans and the witches as Kaulder destroys the queen, but not before becoming immortal. Now he is forced to live on and destroy witches through the years. Gee…was this a good move Witch Queen? It actually is thanks to a plot twist at the end so the move was quite impressive. Still, the witches as a whole are probably disappointed with this development.

Skip to the present, Kaulder is now a man who has lost his morals and likes to have one time flings for the lolz. It’s quite disappointing as he could have been a likable character, but we’re quickly reminded not to get attached to any of the players here. His old partner decides to retire so that Kaulder can work with a new cadet. Kaulder is saddened, but he’ll move on as he always does. Unfortunately, his partner is attacked and roughed up as well as cursed. Kaulder will have to find the person who placed the spell on his partner in order to free him, but finding the main villain will be tough.

Realizing that he needs to find a secret in his past, Kaulder seeks the help of a young witch (Who can’t fight) named Chloe. Chloe can walk in dreams and help you relive the past so she is helpful, but as per the curse of being next to the main character, her bar is destroyed and her best friend as well. Now she really has no choice, but to help Kaulder so that she can avenge her pal. The two of them may be outnumbered and these villains may be too powerful, but Kaulder’s immortal so what’s the worst that can happen?

As you can tell, I don’t care for Kaulder. Chloe’s the main heroine and gets a rather large role. She definitely seems like an unlikable character at first, but thankfully gets better as the film goes on and even gets away from the trope of falling for the main lead. The film did good there and I’ll give it some props, but now we need Chloe to get some offensive abilities. Let’s face it, she only won her main battle because her opponent was asleep. Had he been awake, she still has no spells to fight the other witches with. Walking in dreams is cool, but it’ll rarely be useful in a fight.

The ending of the film leaves room for the sequel since the Witch Queen is not altogether vanquished. Spoiler for the ending folks so tread carefully. The Witch Queen essentially tied her life force to Kaulder’s so if Kaulder were to die, then she would as well. As long as Kaulder lives, the Witch Queen cannot be destroyed either. For years they simply had her locked away and that’s what they plan to do again, but the threat of her return will always be around. Of course, it’s not as if Kaulder can just destroy himself in good conscience. For starters, destroying yourself is a no no and secondly, he’s the only Witch Hunter left on he planet. If he were to be gone, the war between witches and humans would commence once again. Especially considering the fact that the council of humans was wrecked so easily. There is no real human defense against the witches at the moment.

It’s an interesting world that Kaulder lives on though as magic is used very regularly by the witches in all forms of occupations, but the humans don’t suspect a thing. We even learn that they are eating worms instead of ice cream as magical powers simply shapeshift them. The whole situation is really bad for the mere mortals and I’d like to see them rise up to stop this. They just have to stay civilized about the whole thing.

Going back to the climax for a sec, sadly there is a lot of plot hax involved. During the fight, Kaulder had no immortality and was very weakened thanks to a last second betrayal while the Witch Queen was at her peak. She’s fast and has many abilities so this should be easy right? Well, she was so busy powering up that she didn’t notice Kaulder pick up the glowing sword and hurl it straight at her. She was also too busy to think of dodging and it made for a very anticlimactic finish. That’s why you should always be careful about making the villains so much stronger than the heroes.

Even when Kaulder was strong, the villains would keep messing with his mind since he is very weak against telepathic blasts. It was embarrassing when he lost the second time since it was pretty personal by that point. They never explain why the guy that he was fighting looked very similar to how Kaulder was back in the Pre Historic days. Perhaps it was just coincidence I suppose.

The action scenes were mainly 50/50. I didn’t care for the intro battles as the old people fought with flame swords and realized how futile the whole attempt was as they got taken down one by one. They eventually won thanks to some convenient plot hax, but it was a rather dull fight scene and was mostly just about how weak they all were. In the present, the fights were more entertaining when they actually occurred. A lot of the “fights” ended up being one hit KOs like Kaulder against the big Witch Guardian. The Witch Queen had a good fight with him until that last moment so that would be a highlight.

Part of the problem is that grass powers are never that entertaining and another part is simply that the Witch Queen and her minions are so ugly that it takes away from the battle scenes. The Queen looks like an undead zombie or like a vampire rather than a witch. I want my classic witch design with the crooked hat back! The film’s soundtrack is fairly unmemorable although I remember is being fairly decent. It’s just that the tunes won’t stick with you once they’re over and done with.

Overall, The Last Witch Hunter is a fairly dreary film that showed some promise, but couldn’t quite live up to it. The Airplane scene where Kaulder disabled the magical entanglement for example was a good scene. I wouldn’t mind seeing him stop similar threats as he went around the world. The daytime rarely appears or even has time for it since night always falls, but the action scenes don’t take advantage of the night. Above all, it’s just not a very fun film and I would have liked to have had a better villain. Better heroes would help too and considering that this is an action film with a lot of magical elements, the witches didn’t use any real impressive spells the whole time. I wanted some neat elemental spells and some great visuals. Looks like I’ll have to wait for Dr. Strange to get those. If you’re not very particular about your fights and just want a run of the mill action film then this one’s for you. If you want an action film with a purpose, watch Tron Legacy! That film has great visuals and great action scenes!

Overall 4/10

Labyrinth Review

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I saw Labyrinth a while back and it’s one of those classic 80’s-90’s films that they just don’t make anymore. I definitely hadn’t heard of it until about 5 minutes before I started the film so it’s always interesting to delve into the unknown realms. We get some catchy songs and the overall soundtrack is quite good. It’s certainly heavily inspired by Alice in Wonderland, but instead of a Card Queen, we’ve got a reality warping trickster! He’s no Cheshire Cat though!

Sarah has always loved fairy tales. She often imagined herself being the heroine who would defeat the Goblin King, but a sudden rain shower completely destroyed her ambitions. Her parents decide to have a nice dinner outside so they leave Sarah to babysit her baby brother. Unfortunately, the two don’t get along very well so Sarah quickly makes a contract with the Goblin King to spirit the baby away. The plan works and the baby is gone, but Sarah quickly realizes that her situation won’t be very good if the parents discover this predicament. She must now venture into the Goblin Kingdom, destroy the kind, and save her brother. Hopefully she brought a weapon along!

Luckily, the Goblin King does have a sense of humor and doesn’t mind making the game a little fair. (As far as Sarah knows anyway) He teleports her to the kingdom so that she has a fighting chance, but Sarah must get through a long maze before sunset to rescue the baby or he will turn into a goblin. The maze is rigged with invisible exits and a lot of turns so she will have to rely on the locals to help her. However, are they really here to help or is it all just another trick? It’s time for her to find out!

You can probably already guess this, but Sarah’s not a very likable character. Babysitting is so fun when it’s just a baby since you can turn on some video games and just play for a few hours. Sarah just can’t take this level of stress though and panics just from a little crying. Sure, she saves the baby in the end, but her character just isn’t likable throughout the film and the development wasn’t enough to save her. Her dog is the true hero here as he outruns the villains and constantly gets in the way of the villains. He’d do Scooby Doo proud with his various antics! The villains know better than to mess with him.

Hoggle is Sarah’s main ally during the film. He likes to play both sides as he pretends to be working with Sarah while still in the employ of the Goblin King and vice versa. In the end, he decides to throw in his lot with Sarah and they become friends, but I can’t say that Hoggle was very good either. He’s more annoying than anything and I rarely like Goblins although maybe that can change once we get a planet busting one. Hoggle certainly betrays the whole cast a lot, but at least he’s helpful at times.

The Goblin King was probably my favorite character of the film. Only probably since the dog naturally wins if he counts. The Goblin King doesn’t play fair and he has the massive advantage against the other characters since his abilities are nigh infinite. Still, he knows how to have a good time and he even has a few dance scenes and sings a song to the baby. He throws the baby up and down a few times, but always takes care to not let him get even slightly injured. Maybe he’s not such a bad guy and just wanted more goblins to play with. The only character that he was typically antagonistic towards was Hoggle and Sarah towards the end. He’s still a villain of course, but a likable one. I also liked the design as it was quite retro.

Of course, plot hax had to ensue in the climax. After all, how could an all powerful villain lose to a teenage girl with no combat experience without some form of plot hax? Let’s just say that he underestimates her speed and determination. Yeah…that’s really all I can say on how he’s defeated. There are hundreds of ways that he could have won, but maybe he just wanted the whole game to be over at that point. Most of his henchmen had started to like the baby and Sarah anyway so he may have known that it was all a losing battle by then.

For a while though, the whole world was against Sarah. It was almost sad to see all of her tricks backfire since some were clever. One trick that Sarah had was to draw on the ground so that she could backtrack effectively, but the tiles are actually roofs for some goblins so they were promptly flipped over. Sarah tried to solve the maze by going in a straight line, but due to a reality limbo spell, the line kept moving in time along with her speed so it essentially resulted in her not going anywhere. Nothing worked because nothing could work. How do you defeat a living maze? Even with Hoggle’s help they were nearly crushed by giant boulders or simply overpowered. Along the way we met the classic 2 heads, one who can tell the truth and one who can’t. Behind one of them is a door that leads to a pit and one that leads to the castle. Turns out…they were both leading to pits. That, or they simply lied about their roles in the first place or were just trolling her with false hints.

Unlike Alice in Wonderland though, I can’t say that I cared for most of the bit players. In Alice, we had the Cat, the classic Card Soldiers, and the Queen was pretty memorable. I never cared for the guys at the tea table, but that’s another story. Here, I didn’t care for the gimmicks of the minions. We had the guys whose heads would keep rolling off and that was…interesting I guess. I didn’t care for the actual designs, but they could be nice and creepy for younger viewers. They can fight, which is always a plus and get ready for cannons that fire more lethal objects than cannon balls.

It was a rough journey, but Sarah succeeded. For a while there, it looked like the whole thing was a dream based on the ending, but I like to think that it was real. The turning point was really just seeing all of the creatures suddenly appear and start dancing in the room. Sure, she could be completely delusional, but I like to think that these guys were on the level and the fact that it got a manga sequel should help this case. It would have been even better to have seen the parents stumble into the room though as they would have been pretty shocked. It was definitely a crazy sight for the average person after all.

As essentially mentioned earlier, the soundtrack is very good. We get a lot of good tunes and you can definitely dance to them as you wait for the plot to return. The Goblin King’s magic ball was also very fascinating as it would change density from scene to scene. It would bounce and then it would be glass. The latter was something that the Goblin King probably should have watched out for. We even got some action scenes like the Village fight, which was certainly intriguing.

Overall, The Labyrinth was an interesting film. It’s old and you can feel its age so that may turn some people off, but at the same time, it’s what creates that retro feel. Behind the scenes, you can also think of it as a classic story of going from having a normal life to stopping an army of powerful villains. Every good character has to go through that gauntlet at some point or another and in theory Sarah should have become a better character as a result. I’m sure that she would probably be more likable in a sequel film. The characters do hold the film back a bit, but it’s still an enjoyable film and I would recommend checking it out as I’m sure that most of you readers have not seen this one yet.

Overall 6/10