Transformers Review

Posted on July 5, 2014 by dreager1

Nothing beats the original Transformers film and that never changes no matter how many times I see it. It’s easily the definitive robot film and I actually don’t believe that any will ever be able to pass it. Nonstop action and a solid cast of characters keep this classic afloat and after Transformers 4, it was time to relive the good ole days. Get ready for an emotional war as the Autobots and Decepticons have their climatic clash!

The plot starts after most of the TV show events have already occurred. The Decepticons have a huge advantage thanks to the fact that they have already conquered Cybertron and the Autobots seem to be very weakened. The heroes are low on energon and they only have a city on Earth as well as a pair of moons. The Decepticons decide to destroy this resistance once and for all and a climatic battle ensues. Meanwhile, the legendary Unicron is on his way to Cybertron and he’s already conquered several planets. Defeating him is basically out of the question at this point. Can the Autobots even afford to worry about him with all of the Decepticons who are around? Only time will tell!

The film is really fast paced and so many plots develop throughout the course of the film. This is considering that the film isn’t even a full 90 minutes! The first half hour is easily the best part of the film as we witness a big Decepticon invasion and the heroes heroically try to fend them off. It’s emotional and the fight scenes are just intense. The film doesn’t really slow down until we get to the planet of Junk where the film gives the audience a brief rest. After that, it’s time for the climax against the planet eater.

Ironically enough, the climax is one of the least exciting parts. After the first 50-60 minutes of nonstop action and battles between the two sides of Transformers, the final half hour is a little uneventful. We have a water planet, the junk planet, and then a quick battle against Unicron. It’s still solid of course, but nothing beats the first chunk of the film. All of the classic fighters get their chance to show what they’re made of.

Optimus Prime is still the fearless leader of the Autobots and this continuity was easily his best portrayal. Prime means business and he effortlessly takes out quite a few Decepticon warriors. His climatic battle against Megatron is still famous and the battle was very well done. Prime is essentially the perfect main character and he really had no flaws in the film. I doubt we’ll ever see him look quite this good again, but he’s consistently been a solid character across the multiverse anyway. His shotgun/cannon also looks impressive and it’s definitely one of the stronger weapons in the film. He may not have gotten a very large role, but it was definitely a critical one.

Megatron is also an excellent villain. He is a great leader for the Decepticons and his plan is a solid one. Infiltrating Autobot city nearly ended the war in an instant. He took out quite a few Autobots and he seems to have a lot of energon since he was fighting all day. I will admit that I was always surprised with the fact that Megatron begs for his life at one point. I suppose that he doesn’t care what he has to do in order to defeat Optimus Prime, but as Prime said “I thought you were made of sterner stuff.” Megatron is able to get past this thanks to the fact that he’s an awesome villain and the film wouldn’t have been the same without him.

It was good to see Grimlock since I really didn’t like his portrayal in TF 4. This is the Dinobot that I remember and he’s acknowledged as one of the strongest Autobots. There’s a reason why Prime sent the Dinobots to take out Devastator! Few other robots could have been challenged with such a task. Grimlock may not have crushed Devastator, but he did pretty well with the other Dinobots. (The other Dinobots are cool as well and I believe that Slag may have done more damage than Grimlock, but their roles were a lot smaller so I won’t really be talking about them) Grimlock even humors Wheelie for a while and then takes command of a huge army of Sharkticons. That’s what I’m talking about!

Hot Rod is essentially the main character of the film and this is how I became a big fan of the character. He may have gotten a little watered down in the comics that came out after this, but he still looks pretty good in the film. He shoots at the Decepticons upon seeing them and then he embarks on a dangerous journey with the others so that they can mount a counter attack. When he finds out that the Matrix has been stolen, Hot Rod immediately says that they should attack and get it back.

Now, his only sad moment is when Megatron is able to easily overpower him and shoot Prime. It’s a controversial move since it can be said that Prime would have won otherwise. I am confident that Megatron would have still shot him, but maybe it would have only been once instead of several times. It’s definitely a debate, but Hot Rod’s intentions were sound and he really did try to help. It just turns out that his power was feeble compared to Megatron’s and he never stood a chance. He still pulls through when it counts and that’s what ultimately matters. He officially ended the wars and changed history!

Bumblebee gets a very small role in the film and he only gets a line or maybe a few more. His design is definitely interesting and it’s one of the only ones from G1 that didn’t really become mainstream. I will always prefer this version since he can talk to most of the others, but he definitely wasn’t a star in this film. He doesn’t even say thanks at the end when Daniel saves his life. It was still good to see him get a cameo though.

Unicron is the big bad villain of the film and he makes for a solid threat. Instead of talking tough and doing something gritty to call attention to himself, Unicron just destroys the planet in one fell swoop. After that, he sets his sights on Cybertron and it’s a pretty epic journey. He takes out two moons for fun as he gets closer and closer to his goal. His attack on Cybertron is also one of the few times where we actually get to see Shockwave mobilize the troops so that was cool. (Although the Decepticons did not last for very long) Unicron’s decision to transform into robot mode was his big mistake. The enemies quickly took advantage of this and Unicron is essentially defenseless in this form. It’s why I am opposed to villains being too large. It just makes them vulnerable in the end. Ignoring that, he was still a pretty solid opponent for the Autobots and his voice was nice and menacing. Not even Megatron was able to stand up to his tricks.

Galvatron is the new villain who was introduced for the film. He’s not as new as you may think, but that’s another story and you’ll realize this as you watch the film. His arsenal is impressive and taking on Starscream is a pretty good feat. The scene should be pretty cool if you’re a fan of Galvatron or if you’ve just wanted to see this happen to Starscream for a while now. Galvatron talks tough throughout the film and he can back it up with his high amounts of power. You have to respect the fact that he never gives up and keeps on trying to make his plans succeed. He’s just in a very difficult position to make this actually happen. He is a very good villain for the film.

Wheelie is definitely the worst Transformers robot. His voice is definitely tough to understand and you stop trying after a while. The rhymes were a little over the top. I do applaud the fact that the film tried to make the voices unique, but it just didn’t work this time. Wheelie ends up sticking around through the next TV show, but I can’t say that it was a good thing. He doesn’t really bring down the film a whole lot, but he’s still unnecessary.

Wreck Gar is from the Planet Junk and he talks in radio signals mixed in with TV. It’s very hard to understand him and I can’t say that I liked him as a character. It helps that the whole Planet of Junk was a little uneventful and I didn’t like the Piranha world that much either. Wreck Gar just doesn’t really add much to the plot and I’m a little skeptical on how that junk would be so sturdy. He must know something that I do not.

Kup is one of the major players in this film, but he’s never been one of my favorite Autobots. He can fight and he has a lot of experience, but it just wasn’t enough to win me over. He’s not a bad character, but he’s really not the type of guy that I tend to find likable. He’s just too old and he doesn’t fight all that much. He talks a good game, but he typically can’t back it up. Still, he did pretty well when he took out the tank so I give him props for that.

Ultra Magnus is one of the major Autobots and I used to think that he was a powerful fighter based on the name. I’m sure that he’s tough, but there’s nothing to really suggest that he’s tougher than the other Autobots in this film. I’m definitely a fan of his, but the film really tried to show why he wasn’t a terrific leader. He didn’t have time to worry about his comrades and his one on two fight didn’t go over so well. Dropping the Matrix of Leadership was likely his biggest mistake. It would have been great if Ultra Magnus could have went down putting up more of a fight. He may not be the next Prime, but he’s still a likable Autobot.

Daniel is the new human companion to the Autobots, but he isn’t a great character. He means well and he helped the Autobots to become aware of the Decepticon threat, which likely saved many bots. However, he just wasn’t much of an asset to the team and he didn’t figure out how to use his energy gun until the climax of the film. Also, asking the Autobots what happened to Spike during such a dangerous situation was a little on the dicey side and he even broke the great air board from the intro of the film. He’s still a step up from the protagonist of the Transformers Trilogy.

Spike was one of the main characters from the TV show, but he doesn’t get a huge role in the movie. He decides to leave Unicron a little present in the form of a bomb, but he took too long admiring his craftsmanship to make enough time to escape. I can’t say that he was very likable, but he wasn’t a bad character either. He was just pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of things and he definitely panicked a lot when Daniel hesitated to save his life. I suppose that it was understandable though….

Arcee doesn’t look very good in this film and it was before the big social wave that helped to make female characters much stronger in today’s media. This is before Arcee became the pro fighter that we see in Transformers Prime. She helps Daniel out through the tough times, but she never gets a chance to fight back. I would have liked to see her fight some Decepticons and the closest that she comes to this is when she breaks one of the tires on an enemy car when the Junk bots attack. So, she definitely couldn’t look as good as the other Transformers without any fight scenes, but she was all right I suppose. Definitely needed some action though.

Starscream really steals the show for the Decepticons. He’s the one Decepticon in the film that I prefer to Megatron. His shreeky voice is iconic at this point and some would even say that it is more memorable than Prime’s or Megatron’s. That may go a little far, but it’s definitely one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of Transformers. This is Starscream as he was meant to be portrayed and the fact that he directly insults Megatron instead of beating around the bush is intense. “How do you feel mighty Megatron!” as Starscream kicks him while he’s down. His lines to Megatron as he throws him out of the starship are great as well and he even got to wear a crown. It’s hard to find any character that’s as good as Starscream.

Soundwave gets a pretty small role in the film, but he is the only Decepticon to show any loyalty to Megatron. He may not have stopped the others from throwing him off of the ship, but he did save him from the being left at the Autobot base. Soundwave’s definitely one of the more useful Decepticons and I’ve always liked him as a character. Letting the constructicons know who was superior was definitely a nice line as well.

The film’s soundtrack is dynamite and just about all of the songs are catchy. The only one that I didn’t care for played during the planet of Junk as they all held hands and danced around. It really wasn’t my type of film and I definitely could have gone without it. Aside from that, it’s hard to even know where to begin. It really makes you feel like you’re watching a theatrical film. The music is loud and it’s energetic. You really get into the fight scenes and they’re well played. The main Transformers theme is easily my favorite tune and I’ve listened to it many times. It ends up making the opening credits really exciting and you know that you’re definitely getting your money’s worth.

The animation is also excellent. This film came out in the 80’s and yet, it looks so much better than some 2014 shows like Pac Man and Teen Titans Go. (Still airing in 2014 anyway) This film always helps to reinforce the fact that animation has been on the decline in America. We need to get away from Flash and CGI so that we can go back to traditional hand drawn shows/films. I’ve viewed this film on dvd many times and it’s finally starting to show some wear and tear. The final 20-30 minutes saw a drop in quality, but it wasn’t the film, just the disk. This film definitely deserves the blu ray treatment and then more people can see the epicness from which Transformers was born. The animation definitely holds up very well to this day and I can say with confidence that it is timeless.

Overall, this is not just the definitive Transformers film, but it is the best robot film out there. The cast of characters is excellent and the soundtrack is top notch. The animation pulls no punches and there is action throughout the film. The fight scenes are very well done and the robots focus on winning instead of tearing each other to shreds for a while. This results in accurate shots that take the robot down in an instant. There were only a few characters that I didn’t really care for and things slowed down towards the end, but that’s not a major concern. I highly recommend this film to Transformers fans and to anyone that wants to relive the good ole theater experience. The film is nearly perfect and I doubt that it shall ever be surpassed by another Transformers film. I recommend watching this one whenever you are about to watch the Michael Bay version.

Overall 9/10

Roogoo Twisted Towers Review

Posted on July 4, 2014 by dreager1

Roogoo is a game that I had never heard of before and I was surprised to see that it won an award from E3. It must have been before my time since I only started keeping up with E3 in detail last year. I don’t own a whole lot of puzzle games and I typically just go with a game of another genre, but the cover intrigued me. (As well as the 2 dollar price tag at Gamestop) Knowing that you really can’t go wrong with a 2 dollar game, I ended up purchasing it and I was ready for epicness! (My journey of buying the game was long and arduous as I left it the first time to do some research on Youtube. What sold me was the Airship mode and then I went back after the weekend was over)

There is a plot heavily concealed within the video game, but it’s almost impossible to decipher. There is a quick cutscene at the very end of the game and one at the end of the first world. Beyond that, you have to try and figure out what is happening and the little text bubbles at the beginning of a level do not help. They are all tutorial based with only one of them referencing the fact that you have to save the world. We know that the hero is on a mission of global significance, but that is about all that we can understand. Perhaps…that is all that we are meant to understand at this point in time!

Either way, the plot isn’t quite as important as the gameplay. This is especially true for a Puzzle game where it is easy to mess up and make the puzzles too easy. Just as dangerous is the possibility of making the puzzles too long and tedious. Roogoo does a good job of steering clear of this although the game is definitely on the easy side. I never lost a shape level and only lost a flight battle once. (I’m not even sure if you can lose in Roogoo since I let the timer go and then I still got to play. I believe that it revolves around getting too many of them in the wrong shapes, but I didn’t go and prove that theory. Not this time!

There are two forms of gameplay in this game. The shape levels and the airplane levels. I shall talk about the Airplane levels first as it was the best part, but unfortunately, there are very few of them in the game. You get to control a pilot and you move around as if you are the rim of a soda cup. You can’t go in the center and you can only go around the rim. It’s a very unique way to play. This game is pretty easy for the most part, but I did manage to lose once so maybe I was underestimating it. You mostly just have to collect jewels and survive until the finish line, but there’s also the occasional boss or minion that you’ll want/have to defeat. I really would have loved another 10+ Airplane levels, but it wasn’t meant to be.

The other mode is the Shapes part. In this one, you have to make the shape go through the shake on the bottom. For example, you are given a square. Then you’re taken to a wheel that has several shapes. You must keep on turning the wheel until the hole on the bottom matches the shape that you are holding. It takes a lot of dedication and time since there are around 80+ levels of this. It’s pretty intense when you think about it. After all, you’ll likely lose the round if you end up dozing off. The levels get more complicated as villains try to obscure your view or steal puzzle pieces. You can fight back by capturing them in a net or just knocking them out so we can tell that the main character is definitely a fighter.

One of the complaints that I would have had is the low difficulty level of the game, but that’s actually not an issue since the game has two harder modes. Roogoo mode and I forgot the name of the other one. I can definitely see how this game might get harder so you’ll definitely find a nice challenge in this game when all’s said and done.

You don’t need to worry about replay value because this game is definitely a long experience. There are 10 worlds and they total in about 90 levels. That’s definitely a huge amount and you can’t even compare it to the Casper game for the Wii, which had around 5-8. After you finish the 90 levels you can try beating them on hard mode or buying the DS version to unlock a few bonus missions. The replay value may not be insanely high, but definitely high enough that your two dollars were well spent.

The graphics aren’t exactly outstanding, but this is the Wii and I doubt that the game had an incredible budget at its disposal like Super Smash Bros or Skyward Sword. The game looks decently good, but nothing will stand out. The graphics are terribly average and maybe a little less so, but they’re definitely view able and it shouldn’t hurt your overall experience.

The soundtrack is essentially blank or it may as well be since I can’t recall a single tune. That’s never a great sign for a game. Now, there is one big thing that kept the game from getting a 7 or higher. That is the fact that there are only two modes of play. It gets tedious after around 60 levels of placing the objects in their correct shapes. Having 90+ levels is certainly a good thing because it increases the length, but there should have been more ways to play or at least a better way of dividing up the shape and air levels. There are only around 10 or less air levels and the puzzles got the other 80. At least make it a 50-30 level split since that would be a lot more fair.

Overall, Roogoo is a fun game to play. It’s best in short batches of 5-10 levels since it can get a little repetitive if you play all of them at once. There are 11 worlds, but the amount of levels inside differs from world to world. It’s currently going for around 2 dollars at Gamestop so there is really no reason not to buy it as soon as possible. I recommend it to all puzzle fans and I would also recommend that action gamers give it a shot. It’s definitely not going to be the next Titanfall or Call of Duty as far as quick mainstream games go, but it can be pretty fun if you give the game a chance. How many games can say that they have over 90 levels? A little more plot would have been nice though.

Overall 6/10

Sonic Saga Series Volume 1 Darkest Storm Review

Posted on July 1, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for another Sonic review and this time he’s finally back to being the main character! This is the first volume of the Sonic Saga Series and I can definitely say that it’s off to a solid start. A lot of plot lines are being introduced the cast is very large. This definitely gets me hyped for a new Sonic video game or TV show, but the comics will have to fill that void for now.

The plot is all over the place here as many plot points are quickly formed. The main plot deals with the fact that Ixis Naugus and Mammoth Mogul have both escaped from their confinements and Eggman has hatched a brand new scheme. A new villain who is currently sticking to the shadows as Anonymous has started to talk about how he will be the greatest threat that our heroes have ever faced. The Destructix is back to face off with the heroes as well as Scourge. Sonic will have to deal with all of these threats and protect his friends at the same time.

There is also an issue about Knuckles and the Chaotix group as they have to Renfield. They don’t know what his current plan is so they will have to tread very carefully if they want to achieve success. There is also a small comic about Sonic as he keeps reliving the same day over and over again for some reason. He’ll have to find a way out of the cycle before it drives him mad!

Sonic is back and he’s definitely as fast as ever! It was nice to see him speed right through the battles and his big challenge to Ixis Naugus and Master Mogul was pretty intense. Sonic definitely doesn’t beat around the bush and if he wants to do something, then he does it! Sonic looks more impressive than the other heroes and while he didn’t get to see a whole lot of action just yet; Sonic will definitely be making some waves. In all of the fight scenes that Sonic does partake in, he tends to come out as the victor. Whether it’s Scourge or Ixis Naugus, Sonic never backs down from a fight.

After his big roles in the last two Sonic collections, Tails doesn’t really accomplish all that much in this one. He is taken hostage by one of the villains and Sonic is forced to relinquish one of the travel rings as a result. It’s not a huge tragedy, but you can bet that Sonic would have taken them down otherwise. I will assume that Tails was too shocked when the villains took out the gun to retaliate because his speed should be sufficient to get away. I will expect Tails to look more like his current self in future issues.

Eggman is finally back as one of the big villains in this collection. He may seem rather weak compared to some of the other villains in the collection, but one should definitely not underestimate his cunning genius. Eggman has some pretty big plans at his disposal and they’re pretty good so far. We don” know the full scope of them at the moment, but these “grapes” seem to pack a lot of power and are very potent. Sonic will need to bring his A game with him to stop his plans once and for all.

I have seen Mammoth Mogul a whole lot in the last few collections. He is supposed to be one of the strongest Sonic characters of all time, but I can’t say that he is terribly impressive. His spells and elemental attacks are definitely impressive, but I’d say Sonic’s speed over that any day. Mogul definitely has a high opinion of himself and I do respect the fact that he never backs down from a fight. He makes for a decent villain.

Ixis Naugus is one of the most popular enemies from the Archieverse and he is definitely supposed to be tough. Unfortunately, he is a little out of his depth in this collection because he went up against Mammoth Mogul. Naugus has powerful spells of his own, but none of them are potent enough to overcome Mogul. He can still last a while and make it a close fight at the very least. I didn’t care for Ixis Naugus here, but he definitely has time to improve.

Snively was having a good ole time helping out the heroes when Eggman pays him a visit and he has to choose between working for Eggman and staying with the heroes. Let’s just say that he made the choice that I was expecting him to make. I can’t say that he’s ever been a really likable villain, but he was pretty intense in the original Sonic TV show at times. He just isn’t that much of a threat at the moment since Sonic and his friends have grown to be so powerful.

Knuckles is one of the major players in the Sonic universe so it’s always good to see him around. There is some drama between him and his father, which is very similar to Thor and Odin’s debate throughout the Marvel comics. Knuckles wants to stay and protect the Earth alongside his friends instead of leaving. Both options had their pros and cons so it definitely wasn’t a win-win situation. Knuckles looks decent in his comic at the end, but definitely not great as he was defeated rather easily. It’s all right because he took out a lot of enemies during the other comics, but I’m expecting him to pull his weight when the going gets tough.

Rouge joins the cast as she gets interrogated by the Chaotic before helping them out on a mission to gain their trust. It’s debatable as to how much this plan actually works since all of them seem very skeptical about trusting her. They do have good reasons since you can never be too sure with a government agent. Rouge definitely hasn’t lost her hand to hand training as she makes short work of Julie Su and proves why she is the better character/fighter at the moment.

Renfield Rodent is a villain who gets involved towards the end of the comic in what feels like a filler arc/issue. He can’t fight and he has to rely on technology and gimmicks to win his battles. Luckily Sonic isn’t around so Renfield only has to deal with Knuckles and the Chaotic. However, even this may prove to be too much for the rodent and he’ll have to gracefully accept defeat. He wasn’t a bad villain, but he was definitely as generic as they come.

Fiona is one of Sonic’s new pals and it’s definitely hard to trust her since there can be a lot of drama in the Sonic universe. I’m not a fan of her at the moment and she seems to be included for drama purposes. I’m afraid that real character development will defeat drama every time. As far as I can tell, she isn’t even much of a fighter. That’s no good….

Julie Su is one of the supporting characters as she’s on Knuckles’ group of fighters. Unfortunately, she’s not a great character at the moment and she’s busy picking fights with Rouge. At least Julie Su can fight and that’s always a plus in this universe or really any franchise. Hopefully she gets a solid fight in the next volume.

Scourge gets a small appearance in this volume, but it’s pretty epic for the most part. His banter with Sonic is always fun and he’s definitely a skilled fighter. His mild flirting is a little sad and drops him down the character ranks. Hopefully he will remember to put more focus on fighting next time instead of getting distracted. Sonic had the upper hand in their fight so Scourge is going to need his power up.

Sir Connery is one of the heroes and I have to say that I couldn’t really take him seriously. He’s powerful to be sure, but he just seems out of place here. He has a lot of power, but no real speed to back it up. Leaving the fighting to Sonic sounds like a good idea at this point. Maybe he will be around for the next volume.

Mecha Robotnik is a character that I’m not familiar with, but he was a good villain. He’s not the strongest robot that we’ve seen in the Sonic comics, but he can definitely hold his own when the going gets tough. He didn’t last too long, but I’d be open to seeing him appear in the video games and getting some action. Robots always have the potential for epicness.

Anonymous is a pretty big villain, but we haven’t seen what he can do just yet. So far he seems to be watching from the shadows as he manipulates the other heroes and villains to fight for him. He sounds like a really powerful villain, but I’m not going to get my hopes up too high just in case. Either way, he’s a pretty good villain so far and it’ll be interesting to see where he goes from here.

The Destructix are a group of small time villains who trouble the heroes from time to time. None of them are really that interesting and I was surprised to see them giving the heroes a tough time. (Until Sonic and Knuckles showed up) Tails was getting defeated by the speed member and then Sonic arrived with a timely spin dash. Having the blue blur back is certainly great for the heroes. I don’t mind if the Destructix appear again, but I hope that they’ll get more character or a nice power up.

Once again, the art is very good for these Sonic issues. The action scenes are well done and every scene is very colorful. There aren’t any big inconsistencies for the characters and the backgrounds were drawn nicely as well. Archie has definitely found a format that works for their Sonic comics and I definitely hope that they don’t decide to change it anytime soon.

Overall, This collection was a very good way to start off the Sonic Saga Series. The backup issues with Knuckles teaming up with the Chaotix and Sonic having to escape the cycle were pretty fun. That being said, the real action was at the beginning when the all out war between the Freedom Fighters, Ixis Naugus, and Mammoth Mogul occurred. That was pretty epic and I hope for more big battle scenes like that one. Sonic continues to have a pretty happy atmosphere while allowing for some serious battle plots to make the whole thing very exciting. I highly recommend checking out this volume as it’s Sonic The Hedgehog at his best. The cover for the next comic has Super Shadow on it so you can consider my interest to be piqued.

Overall 8/10

Sonic Universe Volume 5 The Tails Adventure Review

Posted on July 1, 2014 by dreager1

Tails is definitely on a roll as this Sonic collection brings another arc where he is the main protagonist. It’s good to read this one after Sonic Select Volume 8 since you will get the references a lot quicker. It’s always a little sad to see that Sonic won’t be around, but the supporting characters do need their time to shine and this is easily one of Tails’ best appearances in the Sonic comics. His adventure is pretty solid and a fun read.

The comic starts off with Tails driving Antoine and Bunnie over to a deserted island so that they can hang out while he goes over to his workshop to have fun tinkering. Things are going smoothly until they are attacked by the Battle Armada with Bunnie and Antoine being kidnapped. Bunnie decides to pretend that she is with the villains while Tails gets his second wind and decides to take the villains down for the count. The heroes are certainly outnumbered, but Tails has learned a lot from watching Sonic fight and he’s finally ready to step into the main character role.

Tails is at least 100% better than he was in the Select comic and he was already cool there. This time, Tails plays the part of the seasoned veteran and he’s easily the best fighter from the three main characters. He gets to show off his super speed a lot more in this comic and he is able to keep up with Speedy. His plans are more well thought out and he takes control of the situation. Now he can even take on a big mech without any backup whatsoever. The heroes have given him a chance to prove himself and Tails did just that.

Antoine isn’t a bad supporting character and he’s a good actor, but he can still show glimpses of his former self. Reminding Tails of the good ole days may not be the best way to motivate him. Antoine has to rely on hand to hand combat for the majority of the collection since he didn’t bring his sword along for the ride. That being said, he still does pretty well and he manages to take out a lot of fighters. Once again, Archie has improved him a lot since the original Sonic days.

I’ve always thought that Bunnie was a solid supporting character and she’s always been a fighter. That doesn’t change in this collection and her barrier comes in handy against most of the fighters. It’s definitely not something that should be spammed and Bunnie finds this out the hard way, but it certainly helps to get them out of some sticky situations. I would have preferred for her to take a more direct role in defeating the enemies as opposed to playing along with their plan, but either way she got the job done.

Speedy is the best villain of the collection, but his design is definitely very similar to other characters like Jet and Bean. I dare say that he is stronger than Bean and possibly a match for Jet. His speed is pretty impressive and he’s around as fast as Tails. He seems like a nice guy even if his loyalty is in the wrong place. His no nonsense attitude helps the reader to take him seriously despite the colorful character design. It would definitely be good to see him appear more in the future and maybe he could be Tails’ big speed rival like Metal Sonic/Shadow is to Sonic.

The Battle Kukkku is the main villain of the comic, but I will admit that it’s hard not to mix him up with the Doctor. Both of them don’t have a whole lot of character development and they weren’t as interesting as Speedy. The Battle Kukku isn’t the most intelligent villain and he is definitely susceptible to enemy mind games and traps. The worst part is that he can’t really fight and we already have Eggman for noncombatant enemies.

One of the gimmicks for the Doctor is that nobody can pronounce his name the right way. The problem is that this results in the reader forgetting what his name is as well. I could look it up, but he’s relatively minor anyway so it’s not a really big deal. He can build robots and he’s fairly smart so he can be a threat, but definitely a mild one at best.

Archie never disappoints with the art in the Sonic comics. It fits perfectly for the fight scenes as you can really see the speed at which Tails and Speedy were fighting. Everyone looks good and the detail is nicely done. There aren’t too many details for the characters, but certainly enough so that everyone looks in character. There aren’t many comics that have consistently great art like the Sonic series.

Overall, This was another great Sonic comic to read. It’s the first volume that I’ve checked out of Sonic Universe, but I already like the concept. Getting to see the supporting characters in action is a nice twist and Tails can always use a few more comics. The villains were pretty unimaginative for the most part, but I did like Speedy. A few villains make a guest star cameo at the end of the collection, but they aren’t the coolest characters around so it’s only all right. It does set up more plot lines for the future which is always a good thing and it would be interesting to see this leader take on Speedy. We’ll see who really is the fastest! I highly recommend this comic to all Sonic fans and all comic readers. It has a nice blend of action and humor and I can’t really say that it has any negatives. It’s just a really fun comic to blast through. The only thing holding it back from an 8 is that it needed a few more fights or big characters like Sonic and Shadow. The collection is very short, but that’s not so much of a negative as it just could have been a positive with more issues. Enjoy the Adventure!

Overall 7/10

Transformers Age of Extinction Review

Posted on June 30, 2014 by dreager1

I’m a pretty huge Transformers fan and the franchise has been great in many areas. Comics, TV Shows, and Video games have all been greatly produced. The live action films is the area in which Transformers typically falters. I had some decently high hopes coming into the fourth film despite the first three because the trailer was pretty solid and it should be a fun experience. Well, it’s essentially the same as the last film so things didn’t get much better for me. The film jumps in head first and manages to fall into just about every hole as it struggles to the finish line. Still, the film had some good moments…let’s look at how things played out.

Everyone is still sad over the battle of Chicago and the world has moved on. The government has decided to start destroying all of the Autobots who are still out there. Well, the CIA is doing this and the President is unaware of the situation. (The government is very uncoordinated in this film) Meanwhile, Cade finds a truck when he is buying things to help him invent something amazing and it turns out to be Optimus Prime. Together, they must find the other Autobots and stop Lockdown. (Who has made a contract with the humans) With a film that’s around 3 hours, there are definitely a lot of subplots to help keep the plot from ending too fast. Those will be mentioned in the character bio sections.

Cade is the main character and he’s a solid character. He’s definitely not great, but he does his best to get through the days. He’s tough when it counts. He may have been a little on the generic side and lacked character development, but it happens. He’s very overpowered and it’s hard to take his fight scenes seriously, but he doesn’t squander the power. He’s definitely one of the only likable humans and without him the film would have been a little tougher to watch. He did the right thing in helping his daughter to stay away from guys for a while and while it didn’t ultimately work, you can’t blame him for trying. Cade’s a noble character and we get so few of those nowadays.

Optimus Prime is back of course and this portrayal of him is definitely different compared to any of the others that we’ve seen in the past. Prime isn’t advocating for human safety anymore and he’s not here to show that all sentient beings have the fight to freedom. He’s here to destroy enemies and leave the planet. It’s definitely a big change from what we have seen in the past and I can’t say that it’s a good thing. Optimus starts off the film in a badly injured state thanks to the events which have transpired off screen. The humans want the Autobots dead after all and with their primitive technology, they’ve just about done it.

This likely hurt Prime’s logic circuits and his first few scenes are all about him saying how he will destroy the opponent as he fights a (losing) battle against the humans. The feral Prime battles with Lockdown, but it’s more of a chase scene since the Autobot is on the run. He begins to regain his reason once he’s back in normal form, but things don’t go so well during his big break in. After that whole operation and seeing what was being done…why didn’t he wreck the place? Leaving it intact was a huge mistake and then we get to watch the heroes get beaten up again. They weren’t as unprepared as last time, but it can be a little irritating to see.

Prime then makes the right move to leave once and for all after finishing up a mission, but ends up making a controversial move. After Man of Steel, everyone loves to use the controversial card as we have heroes stretching their limits to see if they are still heroes. We saw some of that in Amazing Spider-Man 2, Xmen Days of Future Past, older films like James Bond and Star Wars used this as well. It’s pretty unnecessary, but not nearly as bad as Superman’s moment. It will hurt Prime’s portrayal as the hero a bit, but it wasn’t a terrible moment. Letting his guard down is another story. I also really disliked how he handled the Dinobot situation. Threatening them and then forcing them to help out is pretty uncharacteristic and it felt like a Decepticon move.

In the end, I have to say that this version of Prime may be the worst one that I’ve seen. He’s not terribly heroic anymore and he seems slightly more mindless. Not completely of course, but he’s always going on about how he’s going to destroy someone. He just really sounds as if he’s broken and maybe that will be a plot point later on. Perhaps not because his voice slowly starts to go back to normal by the end, but he was definitely off. Since the next film will likely be a sequel, it’ll be interesting to see how his character arc goes. I do wish that Prime had taken a more traditional personality in the film, but these things happen. He’s still the best character in the film (Which says a lot eh?) and I just had a lot of complaints about his portrayal. I do like that he took matters into his own hands and finally decided that the humans are not always worth the trouble.

Galvatron gets a role in the film, but it’s relatively small. There are a few twists about his origin and they were well played. I wish that he could have appeared more since his short appearances were pretty epic. His plan is decently well thought out and his minions being so weak was likely not in his calculations. Otherwise, it could have been the end of everything! He’s the best antagonist in the film and I was surprised by how cool he was.

Lockdown is the main villain of the film at least according to all of the trailers. In the actual film, it is a little debatable with all of the major human players around. Still, Lockdown’s a solid villain and he definitely means business when battling the Autobots. Since he’s a mercenary, Lockdown gets to make fun of the Autobots and Decepticons. Power wise, he’s high tier, but one of the weakest ones of that caliber. He would likely get wrecked by Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime, Galvatron, or Megatron in a fair fight. His battles in this film were typically against opponents who were already weakened or against one who could get distracted. In a fair fight, I don’t believe that he would have done quite as well. Of course, power isn’t everything and he still looks pretty good. I can safely say that he’s much better in the film than in the video game. He’s one of the few likable villains in the film since he at least makes sure to have a motive and solid lines.

Bumblebee’s character is a whole lot different from the last ones. He’s a lot more reckless and he picks fights whenever possible. He risked jeopardizing the mission just to finish a personal vendetta. These are all great traits, but his character change just came out of nowhere. Also, getting humiliated by Drift didn’t help with this. Overall, Bumblebee was still a good Autobot and great compared to most of the other cast, but he didn’t feel like Bumblebee. Regardless, I wouldn’t mind if he kept this personality since it’s a lot more intense than how he used to be.

I really don’t like Hound and I have to wonder why they chose to include him when there are so many better Autobots that could have been in it. He’s the “hardcore” Autobot who’s been through his share of fights and now he’s very gruff and experienced. He shows this by shooting a defenseless alien creature after going to the cage and getting spat at. Hound completely destroys the creature and it was essentially an unprovoked attack. He definitely doesn’t make the Autobots look like the heroes with actions like that. Hopefully he is not in the sequel.

As much as I didn’t like Hound, Crosshairs may have been even worse. How he became an Autobot is beyond me, but he’s always acting like a Decepticon. He clearly says that he plans on becoming leader and he loves to start fights. We’re supposed to get back on his side when he makes the “hero” move to take out a few enemy ships, but why should that make me like him? He essentially had to do it as they would have blown him up anyway. He’s another Autobot that I hope doesn’t get to appear in the next installment.

Drift was one of the main Autobots in this film, but he was also wrecked. I didn’t care for his character as he was essentially a Japanese stereotype. He strongly believes in honor and he doesn’t resort to violence…except when he does. His only good scene is when he defeats Bumblebee in their fight, but even then I can’t say that it was very impressive. He barely even got a chance to use his swords and there was nothing to separate him from the others. He’s an excellent fighter in the comics and his personality is great. We don’t get to see any of that in the film. He just isn’t likable and I can’t say that I really care for the character design.

Ratchet gets a very small appearance in this film and it’s not a good one. Unfortunately, he suffers from the fact that the Autobots must stay true to their beliefs and stay away from retaliating against humans. Even so, I believe that he should have looked a lot better. At least put up a fight as you go down! The design also didn’t even look remotely like Ratchet. His scenes were definitely not enjoyable and it doesn’t help the Autobot cause.

Joshua (KSI head) is one of the big antagonists from the start and we get to watch his “character development” as he becomes a likable guy. Unfortunately, he was just too far gone and I couldn’t sympathize with him. I also just didn’t find any of his scenes very humorous. It was just over for me at that point and his faint attempts as being likable and emotional fell short. I just found it odd as to how much screentime he got in the later half and how we’re supposed to feel sorry for him. He’s not as bad as some of the other villains, but definitely bad enough.

Tessa was definitely one of the more unlikable characters in the film. We have another rebellious protagonist who makes things hard for Cade and she’s constantly lying so that he won’t know that she has an affair. At least she didn’t make “The call.” (You’ll know what “the call” is when watching the film. Let’s just say that it involves a whole lot of money!) Tessa was really just annoying from the beginning and it would be great if she could have been written out along with shameless Shane. (More on him in a bit) Making matters worse is her refusal to cross the bridge later on due to the dangers of heights. I can sympathize as I’m mildly hesitant to go to high placed myself, but I’m in the middle of a firefight…I would make the effort. Her character development just took her south the whole time. She was a decent character at the beginning and slowly started to fade when Shane appeared on the laptop. Then she dropped off of the character development cliff when Shane actually appeared. Staying out late and deceiving Cade just aren’t cool traits in a hero.

Shane is a pretty terrible character and he definitely didn’t help the film at all. Not only does he make sure to give up and essentially leave his friends to die whenever possible, but he’s really…stuck up. We’re supposed to take his side (I think) and sympathize with him because everyone only lives once and all, but I definitely did not. All of his lines were pretty cringe worthy and I’m glad that Cade gave him a tough time for the whole film. Shane should have just walked away and exited after his first scene. He would still be a bad character, but at least his appearances would be limited. His line about the mouthwash was just as bad as his other lines and I have to wonder how anyone could stand his “Cooler than you” attitude throughout the film. It works for guys like Gary Oak…but Shane. At least he (hopefully) won’t appear in the sequel.

Harold is another one of the big human villains in the film and he’s just as unlikable as you may have expected. There really isn’t any light at the end of the tunnel for him and he should at least expect that nothing will come of his plans. Does he really think that he will be able to just disappear and keep all of the money? I don’t believe that he thought things through and he just makes for a boring antagonist. Well, he also serves to bring up the moral aspect for the film, which we really didn’t need, but it happens.

James does things personally as opposed to hiring others to do the dirty work. He’s a decent fighter and he has a lot of past experience. In the end, he does get his own fight, but it’s out of place in this film and the fight scene is not fun. Michael Bay decided to make it ultra realistic and gritty so that it ends up being a scuffle that you want to fast forward instead of an epic fight. He’ll never be a likable character and I’m sure that everyone won’t even remember his name as they walk out of the theater.

Lucas is “The Friend.” Why the quotations? Well, in the Transformer films, there is always that one character who talks to the main character, thereby exposing that he’s a pretty petty person at heart. Sometimes, the character is just downright bad like Lucas. His first lines are terrible and I immediately disliked the guy. Haven’t we had enough characters who were attracted to everyone? Getting hit in the face by a Football was also embarrassing and his scenes get worse. He is supposed to be funny, but it’s hard to find him humorous when 1 out of every 3 jokes would just be in bad taste. Luckily, his appearance in the film is pretty brief. Tough to watch, but still brief.

As for the Dinobots, they were clearly added just to sell the tickets. They only really get to appear for a few minutes and most of their scenes have already been online for weeks thanks to trailers and clips. Worse than that is the fact that they just didn’t look very good. They were essentially mindless brutes who crave action, but lack skill. It’s cool for Optimus Prime fans to see him beat up Grimlock, but the fight is incredibly one sided. Prime just shows how slow and ineffective Grimlock is as he lands blow after blow. If he can be bested so easily, why are the Dinobots a game changer? It would appear that they are strong, but without skill and reason. Luckily, this is enough to take out the fake Transformers. The flying one was definitely the coolest design wise, but I can’t say much else for them. I expect much bigger things in the next film.

I have to say that I was disappointed in the film from the very beginning. Transformers’ intro for this film is one of the worst that I have experienced in quite a while. We start by getting to see an animal eaten and then a mass genocide where the animals don’t really get to make it. It didn’t get much better from there as that may have been the only big case of animal violence, but it was a really sad way to start the film.

The Transformers films have always had a lot of gross violence in them and I’m afraid that is doesn’t end with this film. An alien uses its tongue to attack one of the heroes and I’m sure that we all know what will happen as soon as the hero grabs the knife. It happens so often and it’s always pretty wince worthy to see the act. The hero may not have had a choice, but it’s the film made the choice to add the irrelevant scene as well.

How about the fight scenes in general? Well, the main problem with them is that there isn’t really any substance. The fights aren’t glamorous like Spiderman or expertly choreographed like Captain America. This results in really gritty human fights that aren’t even fun to watch and robots wrestling with each other. The human fight scene is just awful so I won’t really go into it, but it’s not enjoyable. It’s what you would expect from a film like 300 or a big war film like the Hobbit, not in Transformers. Then the fight scenes simply aren’t very enjoyable and I blame it on the effects.

Maybe Live Action simply isn’t ready to have large robots fighting each other. Every time they transform, the robots typically have to hit the ground or take a long time to complete the action. They just seem as if they aren’t comfortable as that size and every movement is an effort. A good example of this is when Prime tries to jump to another building as he’s being chased. His jump is pretty terrible and it would be akin to me trying to jump over a fire hydrant and tripping over it. Based on his size, the jump should have been no problem and easy for him. It’s as if the robots are just wearing robot suits, which restrict their movements and make everything stiff.

So, that translates into the fights. The only good fights in the film were really Prime’s final fight against Lockdown and also his fight against Galvatron. Even those weren’t amazing, but they were good enough. They were actual fights. The rest of the action in the film mainly consisted of just blowing up minions or car chase scenes. Technically, those two battles were probably the only fights in the entire film. We had a brief skirmish with Bumblebee and Lockdown, but it wasn’t long enough to be considered a fight.

That’s likely another one of the problems that we have here. The film has a lot of explosions and action throughout and it may have worked for another film, just not Transformers. I was waiting for the big mecha fights so I will admit that I was basically waiting for that the whole time and the rest was just padding. Unfortunately, that was pretty much all of the action that I was going to get. The film loves to show off Cade shooting the Transformers and the heroes “epicly” slaying the villains, but one hit KO attacks are never fun if they are around constantly. It’s like the Avengers film as they beat up on the aliens. At least we got some scuffles and a Hulk vs Thor fight before that. I would have been satisfied if we got more fights, but none of them really happened.

Horror films have a tendency to have the main characters swearing every few minutes, but typically action films don’t follow this. Now, Michael Bay is involved with the Transformers franchise and that could be why, but the characters are always yelling crude things whenever something explodes or they are shocked. We have the generic moment where the guy uses the “big” word and the audience clapped a lot. I could only metaphysically shake my head and wish that the G1 film would suddenly go on the air.

The next issue with the film was the….Fanservice! I really saw this one coming from a mile away, but it doesn’t make it any more bearable. We have the obnoxious friend of the main character who makes sure to be point it out and show that he isn’t a good person. Then we have the whole plot between Tessa and Shane, which is terrible. I’ve already talked about it in length so I won’t go into it so much, but it’s not cool. Naturally, Tessa is using the new fashion of super short pants that really do not even count as pants anymore. What is the world coming to? I could really go on, but you get the picture. To the film’s (Really) slight credit, there is much less fanservice than the first two films and possibly the third. So, the series is making some slight improvement in that area, but it’s happening too slowly. There really weren’t too many scenes like that, but the problem was that they were mostly at the very beginning, which really takes you out of the film as you have to try and forget them as soon as possible.

Human Empowerment is the theme that really helps to wreck the film. At one point, Cade gives Optimus Prime a speech about how he needs to learn how to trust humans again. Yeah…….no. No, that is not what Prime should do and Cade should feel ashamed for even mentioning that. He has no political power so he would be convincing Optimus to stay in a hostile place where the government will just destroy him at any time. Prime has already lost a whole lot thanks to the humans and he shouldn’t need to lose more. Unfortunately, we’re supposed to agree with Cade since we’re humans and all. I’d rather that Prime just blew up the planet or decided to rule it. Either way, the Earth would likely be a lot more peaceful.

Unfortunately, the biggest effect of human empowerment is that they look too good in the fight scenes. See, these kind of moments are added because it is supposed to unite us as fans. Many people cheered when Jaws was taken down and they did the same thing in Alien and Terminator. The problem is that it can be very hard to root for the humans in the modern films. I can safely say that the protagonist was likable in Alien and Jaws and the government wasn’t to bad so it was okay. Innocents were being taken down in Jaws so the main character took some steps. Capturing Jaws would have been a lot better and it would have helped the film jump up a few stars, but it happened. There weren’t really any innocents in Alien so it’s a little trickier and I don’t want to get too off topic. The problem in Transformers is that they show such a large amount of evil humans. These guys just want an excuse to murder sentient beings and they figure that destroying a Transformer will be fun. Thus, we get to see the humans destroy many robots and they’re sure to do it in cruel ways.

That’s one of the problems about being a hero. If the main characters had been 5 Decepticons, you can bet that the humans would already be destroyed. Unfortunately, the heroes don’t fight back until it’s too late and they’re never as advanced as the villains. The Decepticons always have some big weapon that they can use to enslave humanity, but the Autobot tech tends to be primitive in comparison. Aside from evil humans taking out the Autobots, we have the equally (un)believable moments of humans taking on villains.

Cade is the main offender of this as we get to see him mow down over a dozen robots. There’s one particular scene that is reminiscent of the Storm Troopers as he’s in plain view and all of the robots keep on missing him. There is no one else in this scene so you can’t make the argument that they are distracted. The robots simply keep on missing until Cade has fired enough shots to beat them. Another sad moment is when Cade jumps into the climax and he actually blocks a sword strike by lifting up his gun. I didn’t know that this guy could bench press several tons. The robot was swinging with full force and Cade just blocked it. That’s really unbelievable and it drives the human empowerment thing way too far.

The soundtrack is pretty good and Lockdown’s theme is easily the best part of it. It comes whenever he appears and it’s a nice theme of tension and sadness as you know that things won’t go well for the heroes. It’s pretty catchy and it definitely works for the film. The insert songs are also decent some of the time. We get a nice rock song as one point I believe and then we also have some soft ones that can be a little off putting. It definitely depends, but through it all, the soundtrack was pretty good. Not 5 star material, but definitely good enough.

I won’t even get started on the “rage” scenes where Optimus Prime and Cade fail to deliver. Every time….it just doesn’t work. I expected some more retaliation from them. The guy in the elevator who knew hand to hand combat was good and the girl with the motorcycle was a decent character as well. These two just got really small roles although the girl’s was almost big enough to be considered as a supporting character by the end. The lady who finds the bones in the opening basically vanishes so I can’t say that she got much of a role either. It was essentially filler since the Dinobots weren’t there. Then again, this film had a whole lot of filler so that it could get around 3 hours. All you need to do is look at the scene where a man asks if Cade has insurance…nuff said.

The film did have a moment of brilliance as one of Hasbro’s biggest franchises of all time got to make a cameo. MLP…Yes, My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic got a cameo as Rainbow Dash entered the stage. It was pretty intense and fans of the series will either like the cameo or feel that it is parodying the whole Brony issue. I won’t get into that here of course, but I’m sure that it was the latter since Bay loves to throw in stereotypes whenever possible. It was still nice to see Rainbow Dash get included though.

Overall, my hopes for this film were shattered. I just barely didn’t give it a negative rating as the film had so many flaws. I’m a pretty huge Transformers fan if I do say so myself and seeing this version of it can be unsettling. They essentially wrecked Optimus Prime and Drift. The Transformers look very weak since simple armaments can take them down for the count. The Dinobots were essentially thrown in at the last minute and the film still had some of the usual (terrible) humor and fanservice. Most of the characters were downright unlikable and the action wasn’t really enjoyable. Lockdown, Prime, Galvatron, Case, and the soundtrack helped the film to stay afloat. Believe it or not, I still have high hopes that future Transformers films can be good, but I believe that they will have to change a lot of the current roster. Getting a new director and writer would be a very good start and it should be a remake. This continuity needs to end! The ending for the film is decent thanks to the fact that it could help the sequel if we follow the big plot, but I have a feeling that it will be ignored and the next film will be on Earth again. I certainly hope not. Either way, the film was really long so there isn’t any replay value and I would definitely not recommend this film to anyone. (There isn’t even an after credits scene) If you want a good Transformers film, check out the original animated one. Now that was a film!

Overall 5/10

Flingsmash Review

Posted on June 28, 2014 by dreager1

I really love the 5 dollar bargain bin over at Gamestop. I decided to get another 4 Wii games over there, which was a steal. This is the first out of the 4 games that I’ve managed to complete and I can say that it was totally worth the 3 dollars (Slightly less) that I paid for it. It’s not bad and I believe that the game could have been even better if it had Gamecube controller support or had been on the PS3. It’s a fun idea, but it doesn’t work to 100% just yet.

The plot is…intriguing. A kingdom is attacked by a villain by the name of Omminus. This guy means business and his abilities are truly frightening. The royalty is backed into a corner and forced to fight fire with fire. Long ago, a hero saved their people, but he was then locked up for unknown reasons. What if they unleash a monster who’s even worse than Omminus? The King decides to take this risk and he opens the box, unleashing Zip. Can Zip stop Omminus? More importantly…does he want too!? Things could get dicey for the heroes.

The gameplay is your traditional Mario/Sonic 2D experience, but with a big twist. Zip cannot walk or run around as you are always suspended in the air. To move around, you must yank the Wii Remote in a direction and then Zip will charge that way. Waiting a second before charging will allow you to go faster and break stronger blocks. The screen moves on its own so you have to wait until the screen is far enough to continue, but you can’t hang back for too long or you’ll be eaten by a dragon. It’s a delicate art. There are 8 Worlds like in a typical Mario game, but there are only 3 levels and then a boss like the classic Sonic Advance series. (Like I said, it’s similar to both Mario and Sonic!) You need to collect three out of 5 Bronze Medals through the level to complete it and secure the pearl.

Through the levels, you can eat fruits that give you power ups like turning giant or splitting into three different Zips. These abilities are very useful and I highly recommend using them whenever possible. So, that’s essentially the gameplay in a nutshell. Just focus on grabbing those medals and making it to the end of the goal in one piece.

Why didn’t this gameplay ultimately work? The gameplay had a lot of potential, but what most gamers and game developers learned the hard way is that motion controls aren’t ready yet. Thus, the game can get a little difficult as Zip won’t go where you want him to go. The motion plus doesn’t really help and Zip was flying all over the place. Several times I lost a level because he made me miss one of the bronze medals. It’s also a little hard on the wrist and I’m glad that I won’t need to move like that again for a while. I haven’t used the motion controls so extensively since Barrel Blast and Wii Sports. (Both of which did a better job of using it) With a gamecube remote, it would have been a lot of fun to shoot around and it makes for a nice platformer with a little strategy built in. I can safely say that the game would have risen to a solid 7 and matched up against Mario Galaxy. (Mario Galaxy is clearly better, but they would both be 7s all the same) That being said, at least the motion controls make the game a little more difficult.

Zip is the main character and he started out as a great guy. He gets scared very easily and he’s definitely no Link or Megaman when it comes to bravery. Still, he fights for what’s right and you can’t help, but root for the poor guy. One can totally sympathize with him because being locked up for so long must be tough. Unfortunately, that goes out the window at the very end of the game as we find out why he was locked up. It’s a classic hero to zero moment as I lost all of my respect for Zip. Zip’s no hero and now I know why he was so worried against the villains. He’s never had to actually fight such a tough opponent before! It’s all been a lie and nobody was able to figure this out until it was too late.

Omminus is the main villain of the game and he’s pretty cool. He reminds me of one of the Super Paper Mario villains, Dimentio. Their powers are similar as well since Omminus has basic reality warping skills or something similar as he keeps on changing Zip’s physical appearance. That not only takes skills, but guts since nobody wants to mess with Zip. Omminus keeps his cool throughout the game and he’s a fun villain. I wouldn’t say that he’s a very tough villain, but Zip isn’t very powerful either so they couldn’t let the gap get too wide. His final forms are pretty scary and I can imagine people being at the edge of their seats when first fighting him at his best.

The graphics for the game are decent. It definitely doesn’t look bad by any stretch of the imagination, but there is nothing that you will find amazing either. Zip’s facial expressions can be a little intriguing, but that’s intentional. His grin is huge and you can’t help but grin as he goes after the villain. I definitely liked his character design even if I didn’t care for his character. I guess I’d say that the graphics were about average and leave it at that.

The soundtrack for the game is surprisingly brilliant. The boss theme is very catchy and that’s a good thing because it plays for every boss fight including the final one. It’s just fun to listen to and it never gets old. The main theme music for the main menu is great as well. It’s happy without overdoing it and the cheerful theme really makes you want to take the win.

Is there any Replay Value? I’d say that there’s a good amount since you’ll want to play all of the stages until you’ve gotten A ranks in them all. (I’m sure that S ranks will also unlock something) You obtain minigames for this and while I only unlocked one so far, it’s pretty fun. That should already be a good reason for a person to replay the levels and that’s really all you need. There are 32 levels in all and only 28 of them are needed for the A ranks. That may not sound like a lot, but this game will definitely last you for a while.

Overall, Flingsmash is a fun game and I don’t see why it’s already down to 2-3 dollars. I guess it fell under the radar and I’m sure that many people would enjoy it if they happened to come across the game. It’s not your standard platformer and it’s a nice concept, but the Wii remote can zap the fun out of just about anything. It still works, but the Wii Remote prevents Flingsmash from getting to the next level. I recommend getting the game if you don’t mind using the motion controls and the price definitely makes it affordable. I beat the game in 3 hours so don’t expect a long playthrough, but the replay value helps to make up for it. 3 hours of fun for 3 dollars isn’t a bad deal right? I found the game to be a little tedious during Worlds 2 and 3, but the game stepped up after that as the future worlds were a lot more interesting. Zip isn’t that great so you may want to play as the female counterpart. She definitely has more composure. Let me know how you enjoyed this game if you ever give it a shot!

Overall 6/10

Ultimate Spider Man Volume 5 Review

Posted on June 28, 2014 by dreager1

The Ultimate Spiderman comic series is back and I hope that you caught my review of the previous volume. For those of you who are unaware, this series is not just based off of the TV show of the same name, but it is the TV show. Essentially, you are reading the episodes in case you do not want to watch them. This can be a good thing if you really love the show, but otherwise….it really limits the potential of these comics. I’ve already experienced the adventures, so seeing them again may not have the same impact. Ah well, there are four stories here so they should be pretty entertaining. Short, but epic right?

One story features Thor as Loki manages to trick him into becoming a frog. This doesn’t bode well for the Prince of Asgard and he will need to turn to Spiderman and his gang for help. He had been pretty condescending towards them, but true heroes don’t hold grudges so they decide to come in and help. They may not be a match for an Asgardian, but with the right weapons..they may stand a chance.

Well, this was a decent story. Thor’s portrayal was a little too over the top as he’s the punchline for too many jokes. He also looks bad since he underestimates the mortals at the beginning. He may have been transformed into a frog, but I figured that he could still fight a little. Evidently, that was not the case. Loki is also fooled rather easily, but I suppose that it was too be expected when faced with the mighty Spiderman. Definitely not the best Spiderman adventure, but it had some fights, which is always good.

We also had a comic, which featured Venom. Shield decides that he needs to be destroyed right away, but Spiderman warns them that a human is inside. His teammates don’t care and (unsuccessfully) attempt to take Venom down for the count. Will Spiderman be able to stop his friends from seriously injuring the host while making sure that Venom doesn’t destroy them either? It’s definitely going to be a long day for the web slinger.

This was the best comic in the batch simply because we got the most amount of action compared to the other issues. Venom definitely puts up a fight so it’s nice to see how he fares against the heroes. Spiderman’s partners definitely seem outmatched, but that’s essentially in their job description. The jokes are minimal in this comic and one could almost think that they were in a dangerous situation…almost.

Next, we had a story where Wolverine and Spiderman swap bodies. This can be a little tricky for the heroes since Wolverine isn’t really a school person and Spiderman doesn’t want to have to face off against the deadly Sabretooth. Spiderman’s going to have to steel himself and prepare for the fight of his life…without his trusty Spider Sense! This is going to get epic!

The Wolverine story wasn’t my favorite and I can’t say that I cared for it in the TV show either. The idea of switching bodies is cool, but they really don’t do anything with it. They just fight a bit and switch places again. It’s very uneventful and Spiderman should still be able to fight well in Wolverine’s body. Sure, no spider sense, but he should show some courage. I expect more out of the legendary Spiderman. The insults between Spiderman and Wolverine were original, but also a little petty.

Finally, we had the issue with Doctor Octopus as he decides to fight Spiderman one on one. It’s just going to be the two of them as they fight to the death. Will Spiderman be able to beat this mastermind? Doctor Octopus has been waiting a long time for this fight so it’s bound to get dicey for Spiderman. Winning will require more than just power or dedication, it’s going to take speed!

Well, this was a decent comic. I never like when Spiderman mocks his own jokes because that’s going a little too far. Just let the jokes keep on rolling so that they can have a subtle epicness to them. Mentioning the jokes makes them seem a little forced. Doctor Octopus fought pretty well, but the victor was never in doubt. The comic didn’t really have any heart, but it was still a decent read.

There isn’t much to say about the art since it’s just screenshots from the show. The show has some great animation so it also looks pretty good on paper. The way that the panels are arranged can be a little awkward since there are a lot of blank spaces, but I suppose that it’s to be expected considering how they put the pictures in.

As mentioned earlier, the problem with this collection is that it doesn’t have a lot of heart. It can be fun to read and it’s essentially like Marvel Adventures. The problem is that the comic is guaranteed to never get all star art or fight scenes. It’s destined to stay as a fun read, but not something that you will think about afterwards. The collection is very short so it won’t be around for long either.

Portrayal wise, everyone is out of character or extremely in stereo type. Thor is a prince so he’s really proud and needs to learn about humility. Wolverine is just as mean as he is in the comics, but without any of the great lines or character development. Venom is really just there to beat up on the heroes and Spiderman just cracks jokes for the fun of it all. His teammates don’t really have character and they’re barely heroes as they didn’t care about Venom’s host at all. Nobody is completely in character in this collection and that’s basically what I had assumed from the start. Staying in character would go against the series’ tradition after all.

Overall, this is what I’ve come to expect from Ultimate Spiderman. It’s a quick read that is entertaining, but there is nothing noteworthy about it. I have a feeling that it wouldn’t be half as fun if Spiderman wasn’t in it. (This feeling is basically confirmed after watching the new Hulk show) The score is over the halfway mark, but I really couldn’t recommend this to any Marvel fans. Sure, it’s a fun read, but almost any other Spiderman comic would still be fun, but it would also be a lot better. I recommend checking out the original Spiderman comics or just going with Avengers X Sanction if you want an excellent comic where he is present.

Overall 6/10

Transformers Rise of The Dark Spark Review

Posted on June 27, 2014 by dreager1

We are nearing the opening of the new Transformers film so excitement is certainly in the air. (Unless you’re a Jetfire fan) Likely to celebrate, Hasbro came out with a time travel game that features the heroes from the films and their older counterparts from the War For Cybertron games. In this game, they are of the same continuity and the Cybertron era merely takes place thousands of years before the current days. It’s nice to see both versions fight on the big screen. I can definitely say that this game holds up against the tough Transformers legacy. This legacy is powerful because all of the Transformers games that I’ve played (Minus Animated) have been awesome. I can safely say that they’ve all been 8s or very strong 7s. Transformers tends to have amazing gameplay and that’s what I expected from this game. Luckily, I was not disappointed!

The plot involves a ~~man~~ ~~machine~~ being by the name of Lockdown. He arrives on Earth and then decides that the Dark Spark will be his. The Autobots don’t know what he intends to do with this power, but they must stop him and put an end to these dangerous plans. Optimus Prime will have the help of his classic pal Bumblebee and the honor bound Drift. The three of them will foil Lockdown’s plans once and for all! Meanwhile, thousands of years ago, the Decepticons learn of the Dark Spark after becoming aware of the existence of the Insecticons. Optimus Prime realizes that if Megatron obtains such power, it could be the end of everything. Prime’s allies in this quest are Sideswipe, Jetfire, and Jazz among others. They face heavier resistance than their future counterparts as Megatron is aided by legendary figures like Starscream, Shockwave, and Soundwave. One Shall Find The Dark Spark and One Shall Fall To The Dark Spark!

Lockdown makes his big appearance in this game. I haven’t really seen him before now so it was interesting to see his personality. He’s definitely a little more..chipper compared to the other villains. That’s not the best word to describe him though. Maybe sarcastic or old? Either way, I can’t say that I’m a fan of Lockdown, but he makes for a decent final boss. His character design is humanoid, which is always good because bosses are much more fun to face off against when they’re your own size. His plan is intriguing and it makes a lot more sense than the average villain plan so I give him props for it. It’s an ingenious way to use the Dark Spark.

Optimus Prime gets a large role of course and now you can finally decide which Prime is more likable. The one from the movies or the one from the games. It’s fun because the movie version has had three games while the game version has had two, but they’ve both gotten to appear a lot. I prefer the game version slightly as he seems to be a lot more…intense. He’s in the middle of a war so he’s more serious and it’s great to see him ripping down doors whenever you go through a level. I can easily agree with the many fans of Optimus Prime that he is one of the best characters in the franchise. He takes Megatron on directly (At last!) and he certainly fights pretty well.

This is really the first that I get to see of Drift’s cinematic personality. The mask makes for an interesting twist and it probably takes his character a little too seriously, but I thought that they did a good job with Drift. He still follows his honor code and he’s kept his legendary speed and sword wielding. He’s one of my favorite characters to play as and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing him in the film. This could be the push that he needs to make it into the top 10 most popular Transformers. I hope so since he’s definitely one of the better ones.

Megatron surprisingly gets a small role in this game. He appears at the very end of the past storyline. He does still manage to take on Optimus Prime in a one on one fight, but you wouldn’t become an instant fan of his through this game. He’s not quite as threatening as he was in War For Cybertron. I still like his design in this game, but I would have preferred that they went with a classic G1 appearance of the one from Prime.

Bumblebee’s role is also surprisingly small, but they still manage to give him a lot of hype. He immediately figures out the villain’s plan and then it’s all up to him to save the day. That certainly takes a lot of character, but I wish that he could talk. Remember his epic voice from War For Cybertron? Ah well, I still like his movie design so that’s great to see.

There were naturally many other fighters, but their personalities are more or less what you’d expect. Jetfire seems like a likable character even if his accent can be a little tricky. Starscream is as likable as usual and he still tends to get the best moments. Soundwave actually gets his own level, which will certainly be fun for fans. The insecticons are decently cool in their roles and Shockwave remains as one of the best Decepticons. He’s powerful and he tends to take command when Megatron isn’t around. Cliffjumper is still around, but he continues to lose at every opportunity. I wonder if he’ll ever look really good again.
The gameplay is essentially what you would expect from the other Transformers games, but I shall talk about it in case you haven’t played them. It’s a third person shooter and you typically have to destroy all of the enemy robots. You’re playing as a robot, which can be a little dicey at times, but also epic as well. Believe it or not, the robot genre is probably one of my weakest ones aside from Golf. Games like Armored Core and Gundam have had me stumped in the past. (Albeit, not for long except for Armored Core) Luckily, it’s easy to move your robot around and it just takes a little getting used too at first.

I love third person shooting games and it’s easily one of my favorite genres. I would say that the only genre that I prefer to it is third person fighting like Dragon Ball Z/Dynasty Warriors. Third place would be 2D fighters. This one performs well for the gameplay as everything is smooth. Flying is always fun and it adds that extra dynamic to the game. Who doesn’t want to soar through the skies and defeat all who oppose you? It’s just a blast! I highly recommend using vehicle mode whenever possible since it’s great to just blast away at opponents with your rockets or missiles.

The gameplay is largely the same for all levels, but there are two times where you get to control large characters. Grimlock and Bruticus. Playing as them can be fun since the game essentially turns into a beat em up. You just hack and slash your way through all of the opponents and get to the goal. Two factors to the gameplay that I forgot to mention are the hacks and tech. The tech is essentially an item that activates for a little while 6X EXP, or maybe a little battle droid. The hacks aren’t the gameshark kind, but they make the game more challenging for extra EXP. One way in which this occurs is letting enemies do extra damage so that you can get double EXP. It lasts for the entire level or until you die from the overwhelming power. It’s a nice element to add to the game and it makes it a lot easier to reach level 25.

The game can also be a little difficult at times since the enemies deal a lot of damage. Once the blasts get through your shield, then it’s time to retreat for a while until they replenish. I died a few times through the story and it’s a nice change of pace to have some difficulty. It means that you’ll have to actually plan out your moves a bit instead of charging in and attacking all of the Decepticons.

The game got rid of the multiplayer fighting modes that we had in War For Cybertron and Escalation is all that’s left. (Online co-op story mode is around I suppose) Well, fighting against other players is certainly more fun, but I’ve always liked Escalation Mode so this is cool as well. There are 15 waves and you need to survive them all to secure a nice gold trophy. It was a little easy as my team beat the whole thing in my first try, but maybe they had already been playing for a while so they knew the ropes. I still managed 104 kills in the battle so I definitely contributed my part.

I haven’t gotten all of the trophies yet, but I’m about halfway and I can say that it seems fair enough. The multiplayer trophies aren’t as much of a grind as they were in War For Cybertron. I’ve already gotten just about all of them at this point. They all seem reasonable and a few of them merely involve finding collectibles or blowing up certain objects in a level. It will likely require you to play each level a few times, but that’s not much of a grind since you can accomplish with a few trophies at once as you go through the level. I’m definitely satisfied with these trophies.

The replay value in Transformers is strong thanks to the trophies, but the campaign mode is a little on the short side. It took around 7 hours to complete the 14 levels. Their were more levels than War For Cybertron, but they were also quicker so both games ended up being more or less equal as far as time is concerned. 10 levels is my minimum so with 14, Rise of The Dark Spark is clearly safe from being too short. The levels are pretty engaging and aside from the fact that you can’t skip cutscenes, going through them again shouldn’t feel like a drag. Another element for the replay value is the fact that you need to get all challenges, guns, fighters, and more. Obtaining all of that should take even the most serious gamers quite a bit of time.

The soundtrack is pretty good. There aren’t any really memorable tunes in it, but they’re all good while you’re battling against all of the cons. So, I would likely give it a 3/5. It’s a solid soundtrack, but nothing that you’ll write home about like Super Smash Bros. It’s just how it goes sometimes.

One thing that needs to be mentioned is the audio. It can be a little inconsistent which makes setting it up difficult. The narration is much lower than the sound effects and music, so I lowered those to hear the narration. The problem is that they all lower for cutscenes so I have to choose between too loud gameplay or soft cutscenes. I chose the latter, but the audio could have been a little better.

The graphics for the game are solid and the levels that really stood out for me were the ones in the movie timeline. I actually preferred them because what they lacked in tech, they made up for in scale. You’ve just got to love fighting other robots in such a large city and it’s a lot of fun. The gameplay is definitely the same, but I can safely say that the experience is much different in the movie levels than the game ones. Either way, the graphics are solid for both sections and you shouldn’t have any problem with it.

Surprisingly, I prefer most of the designs from the movie verse. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee simply look a lot more intense. They’re taller and more sleek in their builds. You can tell that they’re hand to hand combatants as the old versions are more boxy. Of course, you can’t top Starscream or Soundwave’s designs so both universes get their wins. The designs are all great in the long run and playing as any of the characters can be fun.

Overall, Rise of The Dark Spark is a great Transformers game and it can certainly hold its own against any of the others. The story was engaging and the game never felt as if it was dragging on. It may have been a little towards the short side, but there is a lot of replay value through the online escalation mode and getting all of the PS3 Trophies. The movie characters felt as if they got the shaft compared to the game ones, but they technically had around the same amount of levels. the game did freeze up twice, but I suppose that it would be hard not too with all of the action that was going on. The game has a pretty epic ending as a certain continuity gets involved, which makes things interesting. It would be awesome to see this character in a possible sequel. There’s no reason not to get this game and I’d say that there is every reason to purchase it right away. The gameplay is just about perfect and you won’t regret buying it. I highly recommend the game to all gamers!

Overall 8/10

In Time Review

Posted on June 27, 2014 by dreager1

I’m always up for a film that takes place in the future. The possibilities are basically endless and while I believe that things are not going to be as advanced as all of the films seem to suggest..it’s fun to think about. The concept of this film is very bold, which makes some parts interesting, but also requires you to suspend your disbelief for this system actually occurring. This film may have dropped the ball in some aspects, but the plot was pretty original.

The film takes place in the future and money has been phased out. The currency is now time…and it’s on the side of the rich. After you age to 25, then the rest of your life depends on how much time you have. You start off with a year and go from there. If your time reaches 0, then you “time out” and it’s game over. Just about everything cost time like riding a bus and you get time for completing your job. Unfortunately, the rates continue to go up and everyone continues to die. The main problem is the fact that it is incredibly easy to steal time. Just grab someone’s arm and you can drain them until it’s all over.

That brings us to Will Salas. He is an ordinary joe who lives in the slums. He doesn’t have a whole lot of time, but he gets by. Unfortunately, his mother gives him a little too much time that day and she doesn’t make it. Will got rich from a guy who didn’t want his time so now he’s doing all right financially. Will decides to avenge her by taking all of the time away from the rich people as he transfers into the rich sector. Unfortunately, he quickly forgets this goal and now it’s simply a matter of staying alive and disrupting the system. He won’t be able to do it alone and that’s where Sylvia comes into play. The two of them will need to surpass the system!

Will Salas is the man character of the film and he’s definitely not one of the better protagonists. He’s all right at first as he tries to do the right thing and there’s nothing really bad about him. That changes when he makes the decision to avenge his mother and take down all of the villains. It was a great move on his part and Will’s big mistake….is that he completely forgot about this. That was where I began to lose respect for his character. Will decides to go to a hotel and live the good life as he gets to enjoy a nice meal. He then goes to a casino to gamble and he nearly throws his life away for a single card game. I suppose that it looks cool for the audience, but it’s definitely not a smart move. After that, Will gets heavily involved in the romance aspect of the adventure and I believe that he loses sight of his original goal. By the end of the film, Will is basically back on track, but it certainly took him long enough. He definitely could have been a much better protagonist.

Sylvia is the main heroine and I can’t say that she fares much better than Will. In the film she’s mostly used for fanservice and romance with Will. She has her moment (Which is starting to become very generic) where she quickly shoots down one of the villains even though it’s one of her first times using a gun. The hero is impressed and they bond as he teaches her to shoot. Then we get more romance and it’s time for their plan. Sylvia does help with the strategies as Will wasn’t really thinking of any elaborate plans. Still, I can’t really say that I cared for Sylvia.

Ray is much better than our two heroes and he’s one of the better characters in the film. His job is to keep time and he has to stop the heroes from wrecking the whole economy. He does pretty well, but the heroes are always one step ahead of him. Ray doesn’t get bribed and he always gets his man. Ray hasn’t been working at his job for 50 years for nothing! You almost sympathize with Ray since he seems to be a good cop in a corrupt system. That is…until he says that he doesn’t care about justice. Then his whole character goes out the window and he gets a pretty unnecessary plot twist. Ah well, I can’t let the plot twist wreck him and he’s still one of the better characters. The twist just didn’t help his case.

Hamilton gets a relatively small role and I was expecting some kind of big twist by the end. I suppose that it wasn’t necessary and he was just needed to start up the plot. Compared to the rest of the rich guys, Hamilton didn’t have a bunch of time. That being said, 100 years was a huge amount to Will and Hamilton knew this. I can’t say that Hamilton’s a great character because he unwisely went into a bar to try and end his life. At least it would have been a painless exit, but still not one that he should have attempted.

Fortis is the leader of the local gang. The cops leave him alone because he helps to keep the poor people in line. (Since when isn’t the government corrupt in these kinds of films?) He duels people for time and he always has a few bodyguards since he knows that his skills are lacking. He’s easily the worst character in the film and we didn’t need a petty threat like him. The time cops were good enough for me and they should be good enough for the world. Fortis is just a mild villain that you will likely forget a few days after the film. There just isn’t anything likable about him.

Borel is Will’s friend and he’s easily one of the cheapest characters in the film. He’s pretty poor and he has a family to support so Will gives him some time. The next thing you know, Borel runs to the bar so that he can go and drink until he drops out. I was pretty surprised since that came out of nowhere and I just expected him to have been offed by the villains or something. This is a much cheaper way to go out and I doubt that anyone would really find him likable after that. It just came out of the blue and showed that he lacked strength of character.

Philippe is one of the richest men on the planet and he doesn’t like to share this money. He has enough time to live for well over a millenia and he loves to gamble with his time. After all, he can’t possibly lose it all so he may as well have a blast with it. He gets pretty sore about losing to Will and he also seems a tad suspicious of Will’s motives. When the moment of truth strikes, Philippe essentially chooses the dark side. Time is all that matters to him now and he will do whatever he can to ensure that he wins in the end. He has a lot of bodyguards as well, but he probably pays them minimum wage. Philippe is definitely in cahoots with the government and he has quite a lot of connections. I suppose that the film needed a big villain and he’s much better than Fortis.

Rachel doesn’t really get a large role in the film, but she’s still instrumental to the plot. Giving away 30 minutes may be a move that she’ll end up regretting, but it was still the right call since she didn’t know that Will would essentially be winning the lottery. She seems like a nice person and I guess her job just doesn’t pay a lot of time. Will should have stuck to his plan of avenging her as it would have made me gain respect for him.

Finally, another film that actually had a soundtrack. It’s actually been a while and this is always good to see. The soundtrack wasn’t the next Resident Evil, but it’s definitely a start. The main techno theme isn’t bad and the background music is also solid for the car chase scene. It’s these little things that can help to enhance the film experience and make the scenes a bit cooler.

The film definitely has too much fanservice, which drags it down. Most of it is from Sylvia as she teams up with Will. The romance between the two of them is forced at best and annoying at worst. They get too many scenes on this and it feels like Will immediately lost sight of his true objectives. Not a good decision if you ask me. The film also makes sure to emphasize the fact that they’re all 25 so they are all essentially wearing party attire for a while, but it’s still unnecessary. A conservative cost would work just fine. Either way, there was too much of it in this film and that’s always a negative.

Now, it’s hard not to be a little skeptical of using time as a currency. First off, how did humans learn to control time and place it in such a container? The easiest thing that I can think of is that it’s a scam. They inject poison into everyone when they’re born and it doesn’t start to have an effect until the person is 25. The “time” that they receive from others is merely an antidote that prolongs the poison’s effects until it runs dry. Naturally, the film really means for it to be time, but it’s hard to believe that humans are ready for that power yet. If they have discovered how to control time, then I could see endless wars being raged to get control of it.

I’m also not crazy about how time is transmitted. Merely grabbing onto someone’s wrist is enough to force it out of them. So, it’s just a battle of physical strength so we should see a lot of bodybuilders walking around with extra time in the slums. After all, everyone apparently fights to survive so the weak ones should be out by now. I just don’t see how anyone could ever feel safe under such a system and how it would be passed. It also results in a really cheesy battle between Will and Fortis that did not make sense. The strategy is all right in theory, but I don’t see it working in real life.

Overall, I am definitely skeptical about how time would work out as an economy, but this is sci fi so I’ll just take it in stride for now. The main characters aren’t that good and their friends are even worse. Luckily, the time cops are pretty solid characters and you almost want to root for them at some points because they really want to win. It’s one of those films with an open ending so you can decide what happens next. Personally, I think it leads to the next great depression of time and then the economy will stabilize in a few years. It’ll just take a while. The film was very interesting and it really just drops thanks to all of the romance and fanservice. It was just unnecessary and they could have made Fortis into a much better villain. It’s a decent alternate future and you may want to take a look if you’re intrigued by the idea of time as money. If you want a slightly cooler future story, check out Yugioh 3D Bonds Beyond Time!

Overall 4/10

White Knight Chronicles International Edition Review

Posted on June 25, 2014 by dreager1

I’m always up for a good RPG. I don’t tend to buy as many of them as your typical action, fighting, or sports game because of how long it takes to beat one. That being said, all of the RPGs that I’ve played lately have been great. The Last Story, Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2, Kingdom Hearts II, etc. I can’t say that I had outrageously high hopes for White Knight Chronicles at first, but this is also part of the RPG style of thinking. I usually don’t really get into it until the plot is underway. Because of this, White Knight Chronicles has been in my backlog for possibly over 2 years. I died instantly in the first level and never went back. Now, I finally got around to going back and completing it. White Knight Chronicles is certainly an RPG that I’d recommend to anyone and it’s one of the best that I’ve experienced.

The plot in White Knight Chronicles is surprisingly basic for an RPG. Of course, there are many subplots and other plots introduced to make the game longer, but I am covering the game as a whole so it’s pretty basic from the way that I am discussing it. Leonard, Terry, and Yulie deliver some wine to a castle during a party, but they are late as per usual. That’s when another army attacks and monsters invade the place. They are driven off, but not before the Black Knight murders the King. Much more importantly, the princess is kidnapped and Leonard quickly goes to protect her. The heroes ultimately lose the Princess and now the three of them must team up with a strange man named Eldore to rescue her. The adventure takes them through many areas and there are several plot twists. Seriously, there are about a dozen twists in the final few cutscenes.

The plot is fun enough and the open world feeling of the game makes it all cool. It’s typically sunny out so the game is actually very light hearted despite the calamities and the deaths. We have a subplot where a few guards are sad about this and go on a journey, but this goes nowhere. The end of the game shows that they are still walking so that unsubtlely hints that it would be covered in the sequel. The concept of saving the princess may be pretty old at this point, but it’s still good enough. There is also the fact that Leonard has the power of the White Knight within him and he can transform. There are 5 Knights in the prophecy and the heroes need to make sure that none of them fall into the hands of the villains. Let the games begin!

Leonard is the main character of the game and I can’t say that I really cared for him. He definitely wasn’t a bad character, but he didn’t have much of a personality and it was hard to root for him. Luckily, his worst scene was reversed as there was a plot twist behind it. He wants to rescue Princess Cisna and he’s earnest about it, but he’s more into romance than most leads. I just couldn’t really take him seriously and it got worse when he constantly let the villains get away with murder (literally) and never stops them. Why is Leonard so slow when it counts? (This also applies to the rest of the heroes for the most part)

Kara is introduced at around the middle of the story or perhaps a little earlier. She’s really serious compared to the rest of the cast and she is always exchanging hostility with Eldore. The party members may not always get along, but at least Kara isn’t petty about it. She usually just sticks to glaring as the group goes about their business. She’s skilled with a sword and also comes attached with a sad origin. She’s a good member of the group and definitely more likable than some of the others as she can fight pretty well.

Terry is easily the best character in the game, but that goes without saying. Terry is the avatar that you create and add into the story. Not only was Terry a whole lot stronger than the other heroes, but his design was incredible. He had a beard and he looked as if he was in his 70’s instead of being a teenager. Terry really stole the show for me and he towered over the other characters. It’s just too bad that he couldn’t talk.

Cisna is the main reason as to why the game lasted so long. It’s a classic save the Princess story and Cisna takes it all pretty well. She gets friendly with Leonard a little too quickly I’m afraid, but I suppose that it was inevitable. Cisna vaguely has some abilities, but unfortunately, she doesn’t have any real attack magic. It would have come in handy in so many different scenes, but I suppose that it was just not meant to be. I wasn’t a fan of Cisna, but she wasn’t a bad character either. She just didn’t get enough screen time to actually get a substantial personality

Yulie is one of the main characters, but her role is very minimal. She gets a smaller role because she doesn’t have any big plot twist moments and doesn’t contribute to the plot. She has her own subplot as she’s sad that Leonard is being more distant lately, but there are no time for friendships during war. She is all right, but Yulie really didn’t get much of a personality as the game went on.

Eldore is one of the original members in White Knight Chronicles and he’s around from the start. He always sounds like he’s very tired or just completely bored so I can’t say that he was one of the more likable characters. I really could have done without him and Eldore is always very vague even when he doesn’t have to be. He can fight, but one has to wonder how much help he will be since he’s so advanced in age. Eldore isn’t a bad character, but as with some of the others, he’s not really a good character either.

Caesar joins the group a little later into the story, but he definitely lightens the atmosphere. He’s always talking and his skills are very impressive. He never really backs down when the villains appear and he’s brimming with confidence. Caesar isn’t the best member of the group, but he’s much better than what I had been expecting when he first appeared. He was very useful and he had a strong personality.

Grazel is the main villain and he actually gets introduced pretty late into the story. He is really the only good villain in the entire series who doesn’t hide his identity. He wants to be ruler of all and he’s very direct about this. His abilities are solid and one can understand his motivations. He may not be a villain that I’ll find very memorable in the long run, but he’s infinitely more interesting than most of the other characters. Grazel can also back up his tough talk, which is always an added bonus.

The Black Knight is a mysterious figure who appears throughout the story. After he took out the King, it was safe to say that few could match his incredible power. The Black Knight is one of the few characters who takes the heroes seriously at first and he gives it his all. The Black Knight reminded me a little of Darth Vader. I guess the big question is who’s behind the mask? It’s a question that you will be wondering about as the Black Knight faces off with the heroes from time to time. They never get a break! He’s definitely a pretty solid villain and someone who you can root for.

Belcitane is one of the big villains and he always acts like he’s in charge even if that assumption could be fatal. He’s definitely not likable as he can hardly fight and he’s really just an overweight politician who has gotten in over his head. He’s seriously not my kind of villain and there’s nothing menacing about him. He could have been cut out of the villain and nobody would be any the wiser.

Shapur is the right hand man of Grazel and he doesn’t do a whole lot in this game. I assume that he will do a lot more in the sequel to explain what his purpose is and why he has some interesting powers. Grazel should definitely watch his back whenever Shapur is around. Shapur makes for a cool boss fight design wise even if he wasn’t much of a challenge. I’m definitely waiting for an explanation as to how Shapur could obtain that form because it may have looked cool, but it didn’t make sense. Shapur isn’t really likable, but it’s always good to have more villains.

The gameplay for White Knight Chronicles is very similar to the .Hack series. Essentially, it’s a turn based system like Pokemon, but you can get into big battles of 10 against 3. When it is your turn to attack, you need to be close enough to hit your target or you can also use the turn to heal or transform. You are able to run around during battles and fleeing requires you do run far away from the battle that is taking place. I still prefer the typical RPG (Pokemon) style gameplay, but this one can be very fun as well. I have played the game for over 30 hours and I’m still ready for more. The gameplay doesn’t really get old during combat and you can fight for a long time without getting bored. I plan on getting the trophy for beating 3000 enemies and I likely wouldn’t try if the gameplay wasn’t fun. Outside of combat, you run from area to area and some of the locations can be long. That is really my only complaint and I wish that they could have shrunk the areas a bit. It is simply this large so that you can take your time getting through the levels and it can be fun, but not when you’re in a hurry. Still, the negatives could have been a lot worse so I’d say that this is ok.

In terms of the soundtrack, the game isn’t as good as you may expect. There were no really memorable tunes in the game and even the boss fight themes weren’t that good if they were around at all. I really only recall the minion theme and that’s about it. It’s definitely possible that the game just didn’t have a wide selection of music to play and that’s why I can’t remember them.

White Knight Chronicles’ graphics are not extremely impressive, but they will have to do. We get a few large scale CGI cutscenes that look impressive and get to show off what the game can do when it’s serious. We don’t get a whole lot of them, but they aren’t bad. Most of the cutscenes are really just the gameplay models moving around, which is still good, but not great. The characters aren’t very detailed, but look good enough so that the transformation scenes never get old. This is good because you’ll have to experience them a bunch of times. I do give the animators props in that we get quite a few battles in the cutscenes. They may not look amazing, but I’m still glad to have them. The graphics are certainly bearable and won’t take away from the experience.

One area where White Knight Chronicles excels in is replay value. It’s almost unlimited and you could end up playing this game for months or even a year if you tried to do everything. After completing the story mode, (Which took me 30 hours) you can complete it again. This is recommended because you can get some extremely impressive gear. After that, you are ready to enter the world of 50+ missions. The first few are decently easy once you are at around level 30. After that, the missions get pretty tough. I’ve only completed around 5-6 missions and the rest are mostly beyond me at this point. Without all of the legendary gear that you could have obtained online, it’s very difficult. Still, you can keep on leveling up and rebirthing until you have mastered all roles and have a very impressive fighter at your side. Just doing this will likely take weeks unless you get to some tough missions where you get a whole lot of exp. Just going to the stores and trying to get all of the gear to upgrade them to bind more gear will take hours as you have to keep going back and forth unless you get a checklist. (Highly recommended) Most of the missions can take anywhere from 20-50 minutes and you need to hope that you beat them off the bat. Either way, time is not an issue in this game and you can be certain that you got a lot of content for the price that you paid. (9 dollars in my case)

Of course, another factor involved in replay value are the PS3 Trophies. Unfortunately, this is one of those games where the trophies aren’t really well done. It’s all a matter of perspective of course, but there aren’t enough of them and you should at least get one trophy for completing the game. Completing the game and not getting any story related trophies is a little dicey. I got a decent amount of trophies considering that many of them are really made when considering that you would be in a group. The trophies are just too time consuming and some are borderline impossible at this point. I’m not going to spend the hundreds of hours needed to get the final trophies. It’s just not worth it to me. Of course, that is a lot of replay value so I suppose that it can be seen as a positive.

Overall, this was an excellent game and it was fairly close to getting a 9. Transforming into the Knight form is always fun and it really increases your attack power. The gameplay stays fun throughout the whole game and the plot is nice and light. It’s fun to experience the world and there aren’t many boring moments. There are definitely a few of them scattered around, but nothing too drastic. The heroes can get very annoying as they constantly watch in horror as the villains murder their friends or just let them escape to fight another day. The game ends rather abruptly on a cliffhanger, which is great news for those who plan on buying the sequel. Having such large amounts of replay value is great as well and I definitely recommend this to all RPG fans. You’ll love it and get hooked right away as the plot thickens.

Overall 8/10

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