Category Archives: Reviews

The First Slam Dunk Review

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It’s time to check out the big Slam Dunk film that came out. This one jumps a bit from where the TV show left off but does let us see the climax of this basketball journey. There’s an interesting set of decisions here where Sakuragi isn’t the main character this time. One of the side characters is chosen instead. Generally speaking I would prefer to have the classic lead but all of the main cast tend to be likable. It still works well and while you can tell that the movie is tailored a bit more to the general audience, fans should still enjoy this one a lot.

The movie starts out by introducing us to Miyagi. He had an older brother who was really good at Basketball but unfortunately he passed away during an accident at sea. Miyagi wanted to continue playing basketball but it wasn’t easy on his mother. Eventually he made it to the starting lineup of his team and is now playing in the semi finals of the high school league. He is up against the greatest team in high school history so this won’t be easy but he has powerful allies at his side. Can they pull this off?

So I’ve got some pros and cons with the film but lets start out with the positives first. I really enjoyed the scene where each character is scribbled in and then begins walking towards the screen. The presentation here was excellent as well as the song that played during the scene. It was a good way to introduce each of the characters and show off their personalities like Sakuragi grinning while Rukawa was scowling. I would have sprinkled in some quick highlights here but it was still cool. This is an example of a scene that’s probably going to be stronger for the fans because you’re just hyped to see the team get to playing their best.

By this point in the series, all 5 of them are very formidable Basketball players. They are some of the best at their positions within the entire region and yet now they have to go up against a team with even more juggernauts on their side. We then get right into the action which is hype. Whenever we are in the present with the Basketball game, you can bet that things are going to be exciting.

While the movie doesn’t quite have the same intensity as the show, the Basketball game still looks good. I’m not the biggest CG guy, but they did a good job here. It’s no hand drawn but they worked hard with what they had so I have no real complaints here. The main characters are often on the back foot so you can feel their desperation as the gam continues to get out of their hands. At the end of the day, Miyagi is not going to be the one to get them out of this. They will need to rely on some of the other players.

The soundtrack may not be my favorite but we had some good tracks here. The theme during the intro like I mentioned and there is also the main theme/credits theme that plays at different portions of the film. It has a really good rock theme which suits the match. Unfortunately the full version of the song isn’t as solid but it works in the moment. The music as a whole is not as overpowering as you would expect in a classic anime though so I think they were going for a more cinematic feel this time. There’s even a lengthy silent scene during the climax of the match instead of a really cool insert song to end things off with. Not my favorite choice but it’s hardly the only movie to do this.

All of the characters are really good here. There aren’t any unlikable ones after all. Miyagi works well as the lead. He’s a short guy and of course that is difficult when playing Basketball so this is addressed. He has to work twice as hard and really put a ton of time in training in order to keep up with the others. That’s something you can really admire and he has a lot of contributions during the movie.

Then you have Sakuragi who really takes over in the second half. He brings the whole team to life and they were absolutely doomed without him. He can rebound, he can score, he can press the opponent in the paint, etc. Sakuragi is really tall and powerful so his natural talents really go to work here. He’s also just a really charismatic guy so you look forward to seeing him succeed.

Rukawa doesn’t look quite as impressive here. He is typically known as the ace of the team but he effectively gets shut down in this match. For long time viewers that’s the shocking part since he is always able to adapt. This time he simply couldn’t and finally had to accept his defeat and pass the ball more in order to go forward. It was a good decision but it would have been nice to have had more scenes of him. If you are only watching the movie then this guy seems like he was really all talk.

Akagi is the center of the team but he’s also not looking his best here. He gets shut down by his opponent and also loses complete confidence in himself. Until the end of the film, he really doesn’t get to do much of anything. He is simply being outplayed and Sakuragi has to try and get some fight back into him. You can see why the red haired rookie is their best player when the chips are down.

Finally there is Mitsui who has his best game of the series here. He nails a ton of 3 point shots even once he can no longer play. He has had stamina issues for a long time because of the long break he took from Basketball but he plays through the pain here. This series is all about playing past your limits and so he didn’t let anything get to him. The film briefly shows what happened during his delinquent days but doesn’t dwell on it. Needless to say I was not really a fan of him back during that time.

Then you have the coach but I can’t say that he looks very good. He has no answers for the opponent team’s strategies and ultimately can’t stop his own players from playing through injuries. I get that he wants to respect their feeling and it’s hype as a viewer but it does make him look bad as a coach. The opposing team definitely had a significant edge there.

The other team themselves don’t have much to do though. The ace was still impressive with how much he was shutting everyone down though. I also liked the big guy who was even able to hold his own with Sakuragi for a while there. These guys are clearly skilled to make it onto this level so that helps to make up for the lack of character.

This does tie into my main issue which is that the game itself doesn’t have nearly as much dialogue and mental planning as it normally would. Usually there is a ton of internal monologue and that is almost all ditched. There is still some trash talking as well but not as much of it. These are things that all seemed like they were sacrificed in order to make Miyagi the main character. He’s the only one really allowed to have these long conversations.

I give the film credit for not trying to force Miyagi in as the hero because I wouldn’t say this was his best game at all but that’s why you want more focus on the other characters. Miyagi falls for the same 2 v 1 trap so many times in the film that you have to shake your head. He’s probably the single player who comes the closest to losing them the game when you think about how many bad passes he made. Everyone is at fault to an extent but Sakuragi should have really been the main character.

By making Miyagi the lead, we also have to sprinkle in his origin which does hurt the flow of the actual game. I think it should have been done all in one shot. Maybe you start out by showing both teams squaring up, then you do all of the Miyagi scenes. Then you do the game straight through. The film is long enough where the game doesn’t feel rushed or anything like that but you really want to just go through it. Miyagi’s story isn’t nearly as interesting. It’s not bad or anything but you just don’t want to leave the high stakes game. Not when it was really getting good like that.

Overall, This was definitely a pretty good film. I had fun with it and the Basketball is really given its share of screentime. The game is very long which is as it should be and there are plenty of matches in the flashbacks as well. To an extent you can feel the areas where they dialed down the intensity for the general audience but it still holds up well on both sides. I’d like to see more Slam Dunk films in the future. Even if it ends up being CG, I know the story and the match itself will be a lot of fun. Maybe they can allow the rest of the team more things to do though. I also still need a proper match with Sakuragi fighting off against Rukawa.

Overall 7/10

inFAMOUS: Second Son Review

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Unlike most fans who had to wait quite a while to play a new Infamous title, the gap was only a few weeks for me. It’s cool to see what the experience would be like on the PS4 and I can safely say that the game holds up incredibly well. In fact….I dare say this is the best Infamous title. While the story isn’t quite as good as the first two, it wins in terms of gameplay which is ultra important and the characters as well. They really grabbed what made the first two games work so well and focused everything into those attributes.

You play as a rebel who wants to defy society. See, there are people with powers running around who are called bio terrorists but the lead believes that the government is spreading division where it isn’t warranted. One day Augustine, the leader of the government faction shows up and stabs all of his friends and family with rock spires. The only way to save them will be to force her to undo this…or to copy her powers. It turns out that he can copy powers by touching someone who has them so now the game is really on. His brother is a police officer who has never liked the powered community though and so he is coming along to basically get in the way for most of the adventure.

Delsin may be a total rebel but he’s just a lot of fun. The guy has a lot of quick wit and is never at a loss for words here. When he sees an opportunity, he takes it. He’s quite aggressive in going after the villains but I really found myself agreeing with him the whole time. This is certainly not a moment for hesitation or holding back. His brother Reggie doesn’t look good in comparison because he isn’t very subtle about how much he dislikes the conduits. Throughout the game the two characters are bickering.

In a way the game deserves some credit for not immediately having Reggie change his mind or anything like that but it can still get real old after a while. You also get two allies as the game goes on. The crazy girl (Which seems to be a staple for the series) and a shy gamer dude. They’re not the greatest supporting characters but they’re okay. The real standout here is the main villain Augustine. She takes charge right away and I like her absolute confidence. Even once Delsin has a bunch of powers, she is still able to square up with him. Conventional wisdom would say that this should be impossible but she always has a trap up her sleeve.

The game has its share of twists and origins for everyone but for the most part this is just a classic action story to have fun with. You have to choose whether you want to be a hero or a villain as you go through the game. I went down the heroic path this time around and didn’t mess with any of the evil choices. I feel like that is a good approach for the first run. If I go back to get the platinum then I’ll do the dark path for the second playthrough.

This is a 3D action game where you can shoot energy blasts and knock people out with hand to hand combat. You start out with one power set and by the end you have 4. Each power set comes with 4-5 abilities. You have to absorb them all manually so you will be seeing the main character gritting his teeth and being stuck in place quite a few times. The graphics definitely get really funny because of how the faces turned out. It looks a whole lot different than the first two games, I can tell you that much.

One thing Infamous does super well is how traversing through the city is super easy. You can move at much higher speeds than in the first two games so no distance feels too great. This makes going after all the collectibles and side missions a lot more fun than it would have been otherwise. They are all very quick so even though there are a ton of them it doesn’t feel too overwhelming. Instead it’s just a lot of fun to try and completely clear each of the districts.

You also have a lot of freedom in choosing how to tackle these challenges. Personally I thought that the neon abilities were easily the best ones. I was using those constantly over all of the other forms. It just felt like the best bet but you may prefer another one while playing. They all have their special perks. You also get to immediately buy a lot of upgrades as you clear the side content so you really feel yourself getting stronger. It all makes a big difference so I recommend doing a few side things as you go around town.

The length of the story isn’t bad although it is a little on the short side. I’d say it’s maybe around 10 hours or so. Throw in the side content and you can probably add around 5-6 more hours. Since the platinum means beating the game twice, now you’re looking at around 20 hours. The game has a good amount of content even if it could have stood to have more. The most important part is absolutely that the game runs very smoothly. The gameplay is top notch. I only encountered two glitches in the game. One where I fell through the ground with no way out and one where the final boss cutscene froze. Otherwise no issues.

Overall, Infamous: Second Son is definitely a great game. You are constantly going to be involved in some really fun, high intensity action battles. You feel yourself growing stronger as you buy the upgrades and so everything about the game was developed well. It’s all the small quality of life stuff like this which adds up. If you haven’t picked this game up yet, then I would recommend changing that. It is the definition of AAA with how fun it is. I just wish they wouldn’t take so long to make new games.

Overall 8/10

PAC & Roll Review

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It’s time for a classic Pac-Man adventure. I completely forget that this game even exists 90% of the time. I give it some props for having a real story mode but that’s about all that I can say in its defense. At the end of the day it still has some pretty major flaws. The game is fun to play through but only because I got it for a great price. If you paid top dollar for this back in the day then you would really be in trouble. There would just be no coming back from that so it would probably affect the score.

The general plot is that the ghosts of Pac Land conspire together to bring back the ultimate evil. A powerful ghost that had to be sealed away before he would destroy everything. He wastes no time in declaring battle against Pac-Man. Fortunately a fairy shows up and she knows how to handle this guy. All of Pac’s friends are taken down so Pac-Man is the last fighter on the planet. If he loses, then the world will truly be doomed.

You shouldn’t think too hard on the story though because it is absolutely true that it makes no sense. The fairy seems so powerful that she could defeat the main villain on her own so why is she even asking Pac-Man for help? It’s a little hard to gauge what is actually happening here when you take away the gameplay mechanics as well. I suppose none of that matters too much at the end of the day. Pac has a job to do and he’s gonna do it! Unfortunately in this tile which appears to be a full on reboot, Pac is more of a rookie and is super scared/startled the whole time. He’s really not sure what to do and is always on the back foot here.

The sound effects don’t do him any favors here as he sounds really whiny. The soundtrack in general is only okay. There are no tunes that you will be looking up later on. As for the graphics, at least those are okay. I like the various character illustrations and the effects within the actual gameplay are good too. The technical efforts aren’t as underwhelming as you may have guessed initially.

As for the gameplay, well it is a clear inspiration from Monkey Ball. You have to guide the ball that Pac is in through a variety of courses. It’s a cool concept but unfortunately this is controlled by the Stylus which does take some of the fun out of it. I’m sure it was hard to resist using this gimmick since the game was on the DS but man would it have been more fun without the stylus. You have to move really quickly through some areas so you are swiping at your screen a whole lot.

The game starts out real easy but I gotta admit that the fire world actually gets rather difficult near the end. Nothing that will stop you for long but at least the game isn’t a total walk in the park. There still isn’t a whole lot of replay value here but the game does have a few bonus levels and collectibles to grab. So if you want to 100% the game then you do have some bonus content here at least. The main campaign won’t take you longer than 3-4 hours so maybe this can buff the whole thing to around 6 hours.

Aside from the normal rolling around gameplay, you also unlock two power ups later on. One of them makes you heavy so you sink into the water for ocean levels and the other one makes you light so you can actually glide around a bit. They don’t change things up too much but at least it’s something. The game also does have boss fights. You fight the same ghost the whole time but the battles themselves are different each time. You have to grab 3 power pellets and then tag the ghost.

The fact that you need 3 of them at once to deal any damage to him does give the villain some extra hype. He squanders it all by the end naturally but up until that point at least the reputation is deserved. This is also one of the only games I can think of where the villain has a game over theme. Every time you defeat him it plays and this isn’t just one note or anything like that. It’s an entire jingle so that was absolutely funny no matter how you slice it.

The game is a complete comedy so you shouldn’t expect any of the characters to look particularly cool. Gone are the days of the classic World series which had its share of humor but also balanced things out with a real plot. Maybe that’ll come back at some point and in that case I would be there day 1. There are a lot of things you can do with Pac-Man and yet the company is basically content to just make a bunch of remakes right now. Digging up ancient spinoffs is all that I can really do in the meantime.

Overall, This isn’t the kind of game I can really recommend but if you see it around for $5-$10 then you may as well pick it up. There’s no real downside to it at least and the gameplay itself is fun. The stylus may hurt but the core concept is still solid. The title is just so short though, you should make sure that you really understand this before you pick up the title. Then you know the risks and are all set to make the purchase. I really hope we get a real new Pac-Man game one of these days though.

Overall 6/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard SkyRide Review

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This is one of those manga spinoffs that feels extremely random and that’s part of the fun. It’s nice to see a series be able to just jump in and throw all the characters into a whole new scenario. Aichi even gets to show up which is the first time we’ve seen him in a new combat situation in a super long time. So that was cool and the main story involves a lot of nonstop action. The series does come to a rather abrupt ending though which is a shame because it felt like there was a lot of meat left on the bone. Hopefully Cardfight continues to churn out a bunch of other titles though.

The series starts by introducing us to a new kind of Cardfight, Sky Battles! These battles are super exciting but also incredibly dangerous. If you fall off of your hoverboard during a fight then you will potentially fall to your doom. There are no real guard rails here. Additionally there is a terrorist organization known as Blast! who specialize in stealing cards and challenging duelists to these sky battles. They are bad news and with the real impacts of card effects, anyone trying to fight them is risking his life.

Zero’s not scared though and so he aims to get out there and take them down. This leads him to enter a big tournament where all of their fighters will be attending. What he doesn’t anticipate is that the tournament will end up being on the planet Cray. It’s unknown how the fighters will be able to get back home or what will happen if someone is defeated. For now Zero just has to focus on defeating every fighter in his way but this will definitely not be easy.

As the main character Zero is definitely a really fun lead. He is always ready for a fight and doesn’t back down to any challenge. The guy was just a normal fighter but doesn’t bat an eye or hesitate for a moment when he suddenly has to go up against the organization. Some may say that he even adapts to this whole thing too quickly but honestly that’s part of the charm. I like when a character isn’t worried about the small stuff and is just getting ready to fight right away. Zero starts out the series at a high level already but as it goes on he gets even better.

Zero also has a hidden origin story which is hinted at right away even if it doesn’t get explored until near the end. I may have more nostalgia for someone like Aichi but I dare say that Zero starts out at a higher level and his consistent confidence might even make him a better main character. He’s not perfect or anything like that but is someone that you can always count on to defend his friends.

The only other character who comes close to his level is Shiki. Shiki is the shop manager and initially he just seems like a comic relief character but then it turns out that he has a whole backstory related to Blast. That helps to make him more of an intriguing character and his skills are also top rate. That was really important because being strong without the skills to back it up would not go anywhere. This way he was someone who could stay relevant to the end and he even got my favorite duel in the series. I would have liked him to have fought more but the series is fairly short so there’s only so much that you can do here.

The guest stars in Akina and Aichi both look good in the series. Akina may not have been a match against Zero but he put up a really good fight and nearly claimed victory. Aichi has a significantly larger role although I feel like his deck isn’t quite as impressive here. He makes up for that with his sheer experience but in a way Akina just ends up looking more powerful. It’s also cool to see both main characters in the same adventure, raises the odds that perhaps someday we can get a full crossover across both character casts.

The main heroine in the series is Suina and she’s definitely a fun one. I was a bit worried that she wouldn’t get any wins for a while there but she was able to clutch one out in the end. She did a good job fighting on behalf of the shop owner and making sure that none of the main characters lost themselves to rage. A more difficult task than you might expect in this series. She was also able to keep on fighting even when roped into a shadow duel where the damage dealt was all real. There wasn’t too much time for Suina to appear but she made the most out of every appearance.

Then we have our villains. The first member from blast is Kira and he took Zero down rather easily near the beginning of the series. After that you have to wait until the climax for the rematch. Kira sort of sees this all as a big game. He is definitely evil because it’s not like the guy is brainless but doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of what he’s doing. I thought that he was a good villain but did get overshadowed by most of the others.

Reiryu is the first member of Blast’s elite four to fight and now this was a really powerful figure. Zero had to pull out all the stops here and unfortunately this is one fight where Suina was crushed. The battles were a good way to show how the Elite Four were a complete step above the normal fighters though. These were not opponents that most fighters could handle and none of the other Elite Four were quite able to match this initial appearance.

Hibana is one of the other members and she was strong. She probably could have defeated Zero if it was one on one but she had the misfortune of having to take on Aichi as well. There are very few fighters who could defeat two MCs like that. She lasted quite a while either way so the Elite Four tag continued to get its due respect. Then we had Amon who gets a lot of screentime. He started out as a nice kid who just wanted to learn Vanguard but unfortunately Zero was too focused on winning at the time. He prevented the fights from being fun and this broke Amon down to the point where he ended up with a whole lot of split personalities.

Amon broke down in a very literal way and ultimately had to have the personalities literally knocked out of him. He should be okay now but that was definitely a tough process to go through. I can’t say that I loved the character but I thought his backstory was done very well. Finally we have the main villain Yuyu. (No relation to the anime main character Yu-Yu) This guy is cool and a super strong duelist. We sort of get cheated out of a climax for him though as an ancient demon god takes over his body all of a sudden for the final battle.

He was still a cool villain though and definitely put the main characters through the ringer. The demon monster was cool too of course but a bit more of your classic destroy the world type. There wasn’t a whole lot to him beyond that. The series wanted to end with super high stakes though and there’s no better way to do that than by adding in a big monster.

Yuuki is technically a more minor character but he served as the first real challenge for Zero in the tournament. He has a really cool design and is known as one of the strongest duelists in Japan so it’s not like the guy is all talk or anything. He was ready to fight from the start. As far as the minions are concerned, he ends up being one of the more memorable characters. If this series had been longer, I suspect he would have done more.

The artwork is definitely solid. There are a lot of good speed lines for the action scenes which really lets the series show off its intensity. The pages are all easy to read and the character designs are good. It can get a little rough during some of the busier turns when a page is trying to do a whole lot at once but that tends to be more of a rare event. So on the whole the art is definitely more on the positive side. The best panels are always when Zero gets in the zone and really locks in against his opponents.

You can definitely see where the series starts to really sped up the pacing but I thought that it all ended out well. Throwing in a tournament near the beginning of the series that goes all the way into the end is always a fun way to go about things. The Sky Ride duels seem a little too risky to ever be practical but the rule of cool is fun. The shadow duels are also a great way to introduce high stakes right away. This is a series that is focused on getting you hyped right away and I’d say that’s the right approach here. You can leave logic behind for a little while.

Overall, Cardfight delivers with another solid title here. It’s one of those manga that makes for an easy read and will keep you entertained the whole way. It may not be the kind of title that you remember a whole lot down the road as a great adventure but serves its purpose. I didn’t really have any issues with it and the series can actually get rather intense and emotional when it wants to. I’d like to see this animated at some point, I feel like you could pull it off in a 12 episode season. Just seeing the old main characters would already be a great selling point. If you’re looking for a good dueling title, this is definitely one that I can recommend.

Overall 7/10

Wuthering Heights Review

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It’s time for a really crazy romance. This is one of those titles that is just so out there that you can scarcely believe it. There aren’t really any characters to root for and so the romance is doomed from the start. A tragic romance is actually something that can work well in theory but this was definitely not the way to go about it. Based on how it all went down, I can’t really say that any of the remakes would sound all that promising either.

The film starts off with a guy getting stranded in a desolate area and so he stops by the nearest castle for shelter. He’s treated terribly by the master of the house, Heathcliff but this guy puts up with it because there is nowhere to go. He hears a girl crying out from beyond the fog which causes Heathcliff to run outside and the maid lets the guy know that it is the ghost of his dead lover. This guy has nothing better to do so it asks to hear the whole story.

The trope of the whole film being a flashback from the present is still a super annoying one imo but that’s how it has to be this time. So in the flashback we see how Heathcliff was adopted by a rich man but he died shortly thereafter and so the son Hindley was super resentful towards Heathcliff. He made Heathcliff essentially a slave of the family and ruled with an iron hand. Heathcliff fell in love with Hindley’s sister Catchy and so they would hang out in secret. Unfortunately this was not enough for Cathy. Cathy wanted to be rich and so she would cheat on Heathcliff with a rich man named Edgar.

She plays around with both of them for a while before finally marrying Edgar. In revenge, Heathcliff decided to get insanely rich and then married Cathy’s sister Isabella. He didn’t love her but sought to use Isabella as a bargaining chip against Cathy. This essentially works as Cathy wants Heathcliff again and this whole romantic rollercoaster goes all around with everyone allowing themselves to be humiliated and degraded in this way. Ultimately after a while we get back to the point in the present which tries its best to have some kind of a happy ending but you’ll just be shaking your head.

Now where to start on this one? The reason the romance doesn’t work of curse is because none of the relationships are actually true. Cathy lives up to her villainous potential for wanting Heathcliff for his body and Edgar for his money. She’s the kind of girl that people warn you about and you assume just doesn’t exist because that’s such an exaggerated person. Unfortunately Cathy never does anything to improve as a person and is content to be cheating even on her death bed. A truly terrible character all the way.

It does take two to tango though and that’s why I can’t let Heathcliff or Edgar off the hook here. Edgar really needed to have some self respect here. Cathy made it clear from the start that she also liked Heathcliff and even though she eventually married Edgar, that’s not a very good way to start off a relationship. Edgar needed to take a hard stance and at least move them away but to me he almost seemed a little intimidated by Heathcliff. This guy just let Heathcliff walk all over him the whole time.

As for Heathcliff, well it’s not like he was a morally upstanding character from the start. He was bullied and abused quite a lot growing up which ultimately led him to want to lash out and take complete revenge. Instead of being the better man he was the kind of guy who would go an eye for an eye. It can sure be tempting to go down that route of course but man did it make him absolutely unlikable. At least if he kept his age to Hindley and Cathy that would be one thing, but he was shown to have no morals when he went for Isabella instead as the ultimate form of revenge.

Yeah there was definitely no saving this guy. The characters sure make it easy though. This is going to sound like victim blaming but hey all these characters are adults and should know better. Hindley allows himself to get addicted to alcohol which makes it really easy for Heathcliff to forever torment the guy. It’s all just so easy when it really shouldn’t be. Hindley was in the power position just a few years back and then after the time skip he was all washed up.

Meanwhile Isabella knew that she was the runner up prize and still went with Heathcliff. He barely even pretended to love her. It was the most half hearted performance he could have given and yet she still went with him. Cmon now that’s just crazy. From there it only gets worse for Isabella but this was not a surprise attack by any means. It was all plain as day and she just allowed herself to be used, perhaps as a way to try and one up Cathy but it didn’t work.

The cast of characters isn’t even that large but it feels really expanded because of how long each character is on screen. They just drag out each of the minutes over and over as you can’t help but shake your head. There’s nothing particularly noteworthy about the writing and the pacing is only okay. The issues really begin to snowball into each other after a while because as a romance film the characters are one of the most important parts. When you don’t have any likable characters, ultimately that means you have virtually nothing to work with here. Certainly not a big soundtrack or exciting action scenes to take the pressure off.

Overall, I would definitely say to give this film a skip. I dare say that Twilight makes for a more believable romance and that is not going to crack anyone’s top 10 romances. The only consolation I can give this film is that the title’s a little funny. The spelling just makes me think of someone saying “Wut?” even though that’s not the intent. I just don’t see how anyone would really find this to be romantic. Obviously a taboo romance like Romeo and Juliet has its share of appeal but at least they really loved each other with no caveats. In this film it feels like everything has an asterisk. Does Heathcliff really love the heroine or does he just want to essentially own her and claim his revenge? Does Cathy love him truly or is she just punishing herself by getting a guy that she feels she deserves? It’s all twisted and certainly not in an entertaining way.

Overall 2/10

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Review

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It’s time for Nathan Drake to have one last journey. I got to play this one pretty much immediately after the original trilogy so it was fun to see how the gameplay had changed over the years and how it remained consistent. This is a great wrap up to the main series. Naturally I would still like a full Uncharted 5 but the game went out of its way to really wrap everything up nicely so it really does feel like the end.

The game started off by introducing us to Nathan’s brother Sam. Turns out that they were really close as kids but unfortunately a job went sideways one day and Sam seemly died. We fast forward to the present where Nathan has put his adventuring days behind him and married his adventuring buddy Elena. The two of them have agreed to lead quiet lives now but Sam shows up one day and asks Nathan for his help. They need to find a $400 million treasure fast or Sam’s going to get bumped off by the mafia. So Nathan agrees to help and lies to his wife about a quick work trip. Will this come back to bite him and does Nathan still have the physical abilities needed for a mission like this?

Obviously lying to your wife is never a good idea and this game shows you a bunch of great reasons for that. You’re throwing a ton of trust out the window in a single moment and also showing that when the going gets tough you are willing to do your own thing. Elena gives Nathan a hard time about this later and it’s completely justified. Honestly I think she would have ultimately been ready to help Sam even if she wasn’t big on the idea. Sully also stops by so we really have the whole gang together for one last ride.

You could tell that the game wanted to go all out here as we have several gameplay types outside of the main one. You have at least 2 levels where you drive a car around and there are even puzzles bult around the car. You play as Sam in one level which is the first time you’ve played as someone other than Nathan in one of these titles. Then you also have some underwater sections as well as a boat level. The game has much larger levels than the other titles. While the overall game length isn’t much different, you can actually get lost in some of these levels.

As a result I got less collectibles than in the other games as you’re probably supposed to explore these sections. There are also mor kinds of collectibles than in any of the other titles. You’ve got a good amount of replay value built right into the title although it also looks like the hardest platinum since one trophy is about beating the game in 7 hours. I believe it took me at least 4-5 hours over that in my initial run. Knowing the puzzles will help a lot but even then I feel like this would take me a whole lot of practice.

The core gameplay is still built around a lot of parkour and platforming. They actually streamlined this a little bit as you don’t have to worry about jumping into nothing anymore. The game has invisible guard rails that prevent you from taking wrong jumps. Yes, this may make things a bit easier but it’s a nice quality of life approach. Then the shooting gameplay is still around even if it doesn’t feel quite as tight as in the last few games. Shooting is much less of a focus this time around as you are heavily encouraged to use stealth attacks to take down your opponents.

I enjoy hand to hand well enough so it works but part of me did miss going for 1000 headshots for all the trophies. The shooting gameplay is still solid but perhaps it feels a bit more arcade-like. The difficulty is pretty reasonable. I’m sure you’ll die several times during the adventure and usually it’ll be because you just got too aggressive. I’d see two enemies and charge in, only for another 5 to show up out of nowhere and take me out. I did like how the villains would essentially set traps like that.

The game also has an easter egg for another Playstation title which was a lot of fun. It definitely felt nostalgic and I like the idea of being able to play a video game within a video game. More titles should try something like this. You don’t want to overuse the idea but right now it is absolutely underused. The game’s story is also really solid and by the end of the title you will feel like you had a whole lot of different adventures. Sam may only have been around for this one game but the title does a great job of giving him a lot of character. At the end of the day I can’t say that I was a big fan of this guy but I was glad that he was in the game. You need somebody to dislike a bit and there was nothing two dimensional about him. If the series keeps him on as a main character, I’d say that it would make a lot of sense. I would still want Nathan to show up in some capacity though. Maybe he could be the one Sam calls for some of the trickier puzzles?

Overall, Uncharted 4 is definitely a great title. For the record, I’d still say that the second game is the best one but this is a close second. It’s all relative though as all 4 games were really excellent. Uncharted is absolutely a true AAA series and after marathoning all the games, I’m going to miss it. I’ll absolutely be getting the spinoff at some point so that I can say that I really experienced the whole franchise though. That’ll buy Uncharted 5 some more time to get everything in order. If you haven’t played the game after all these years, then you need to change that asap!

Overall 8/10

My Man Godfrey Review

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It’s time for another fun movie. This one definitely goes all out with the comedy and introduces a ton of crazy characters. It ends up being a really fun adventure and doesn’t overstay its welcome. That is usually the most dangerous pitfall for any comedy film but this one sidestepped it like a champ.

The movie starts with a bunch of rich folks doing a scavenger hunt. One of the items is to find a homeless person so Cornelia goes to a dump and finds one. She offers him $5 but he doesn’t like her approach and says no. Cornelia’s little sister Irene is really impressed and the homeless man, Godfrey decides to help her win. After winning the competition, Irene hires Godfrey as her family’s butler. Unfortunately her whole family is quite eccentric to say the least and so he is going to be in for a really difficult time. In particular, Cornelia wants revenge on Godfrey for causing her to lose the competition and to fall in the dirt. He will have to watch his back.

It’s already difficult enough to get a new job as well as to be working or a rich family, but one where a certain member wants to see you fired immediately? Yeah that’s going to be an incredibly difficult task. Fortunately Godfrey is very quick witted and right from the start he is able to hold his own in terms of banter. He also doesn’t let the other characters walk all over him.

Godfrey also takes a lot of pride in being a good butler and so he doesn’t allow Cornelia’s digs to get to him. I would say that a large part of what makes the film enjoyable is what a good main character Godfrey is. The whole thing would definitely not work without him, it just would not be the same. He gets to take on all of the characters and usually comes out on top. He manages to resist all of Irene’s advances which is good because a butler shouldn’t be mixing business and pleasure.

I really appreciated his subtlety and that was a credit to him throughout. By the end of the film you could argue that things were essentially out of his control, not to mention that he wasn’t in the same position so it wasn’t as much of a problem. Up til that point though, Godfrey did well in staying one step ahead. He was also able to foil one of Cornelia’s plans really well which may have really been the turning point in his journey. If he had not been able to stop her, well it would have been quite rough for him.

As for Cornelia, well she is the big villain here. She does well in constantly insulting Irene and generally making a nuisance of herself. It’s impressive just how dedicated she is. That being said, she does seem to actually fall for Godfrey later on which really weakens her as a villain. You aren’t allowed to just weaken like that. I would have preferred that she continued to double down to the end. Perhaps she would respect Godfrey as a worthy foe but not want to be his friend or anything like that. To me that was just going a tad bit too far.

Irene initially seems like she’s actually rather normal but as the film goes on you see that she is just as crazy as the rest. She gets incredibly possessive of Godfrey and basically wants him to marry her. She seems to not really be familiar with what the role of a master/protege is. Godfrey tries to put some distance between them but it’s difficult and Irene has to consistently put on a whole production to get his attention.

Those scenes tend to be pretty fun though like when Cornelia points out how fake this all is. Irene trades threats with her a lot but you get the feeling that this is a normal occurrence and nothing ever actually happens. That’s just how this family operates. Their mother is also rather eccentric as she takes care of Carlo as a protégé. The guy’s basically a free loader who is always eating and is allergic to the word “money”. He throws a fit every time and tends to panic a lot. Irene’s father doesn’t appreciate this and never wastes any time in insulting this guy. By the end of the film he even takes a decisive step to get rid of Carlo.

The father ends up being the only really normal person in the family. He essentially works as a piggy bank to the rest of the family until they eventually bleed him dry which forces him to revisit the dynamic. The film ultimately gives all of the characters a pretty happy ending though. This is an uplifting title after all and is certainly not meant to be a downer or anything like that.

It even goes so far as to allow Godfrey to essentially end the homeless problem in his neighborhood. Now that was a pretty impressive accomplishment and certainly not one that just anybody could have done. So how much you enjoy the film will likely depend on how funny you think it is. Fortunately for me I thought that just about all of the jokes landed. The movie was consistently funny from start to finish with a lot of fun characters.

Overall, The only character who gets a bit of a sad ending here is the guy who was used by Irene in a fake engagement to get Godfrey jealous. He probably should have known better but yeah that was still a rough situation for him. The others were all having a good time though and I definitely recommend this film if you’re looking for something light to watch. I dare say that the fast paced banter and marathon’s worth of insults are even ahead of their time here. The characters are speaking a mile a minute and the dialogue stays consistently good throughout.

Overall 7/10

Uncle Buck Review

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It’s time for a classic film about what happens when all of the normal babysitters are out of town. It’s time to call in the last resort and this will either be a complete success or a total mess. There is rarely any in between when it comes to that. The movie ends up being pretty fun and was better than I expected it would be. The title’s far from perfect but makes for an all around entertaining film.

The movie starts out by introducing us to Maizy, the oldest of 3 kids and the most rebellious. She always has a bad attitude and nothing ever makes her happy. It seems like she even takes pride in always having an awful time. Well, her parents have to head off due to a medical emergency so now Uncle Buck will be the head of the household. Unfortunately for Maizy, Buck knows how to handle troublemakers. Who will win in this clash of wills?

One of the strengths of the film is in how secure Uncle Buck is. He doesn’t let any of the many jokes and wisecracks get to him. Maizy tries her passive aggressive insults at him and he just laughs them off. They clash several times and he wins virtually all of the encounters. The only time Maizy scores a win, Buck doesn’t panic and just accepts the defeat. He was determined to do a good job of watching over the kids and he succeeded.

Buck has been out of a job for a while and tends to be a bit of slob but he didn’t let that stop him as the babysitter. While Buck may not know the best ways to handle things, he does his best and comes up with creative ways to make it all work. He also cooks actual meals for the kids rather than just ordering take-out or something. What I’m getting at here is that he put in a lot of real effort and that’s part of what makes him an endearing character.

By the end of the film he has to make a lot of difficult decisions and while Buck hesitates, he makes the right calls in the end. In particular he was good about chasing Bug away and keeping him from causing too much damage to Maizy. At the end of the day it is up to her to really make the problem go away though as Buck can’t be there 24/7. Unfortunately Maizy doesn’t have a lot of sense and is easily the worst character here.

She is basically willing to do anything in order to spite Buck which is a terrible approach. Her rebellious phase went really far with how she was using Bugs as a means to an end. She really knew that he wasn’t a good guy but just kept doing whatever she wanted even when it meant leaving her two younger siblings alone. She was completely irresponsible to the max. Definitely a character who was annoying the entire time.

There’s not much to say about Bug other than the fact that he’s basically just a creep. It was nice to see Buck interrogating him the whole time and really putting some fear into him. Bug needs to be fearful so he doesn’t keep on messing around. I like to think that Buck scared him straight here. Meanwhile Maizy’s two siblings don’t get as much of a role as you might expect. Initially I though that all 3 characters would get big roles but this was really Maizy’s film by the end of it.

Miles and Tia were quickly on board with Buck so I appreciated how they adapted to the situation. They are a bit too young to be true rebels and mostly just seemed to have been copying their older sister. I think they will be in a better situation now. In general the kids tend to have a bit of a potty mouth though and it’s where the film’s script tends to be at its weakest. The lines sometimes feel rather forced like it’s just there to be shocking without really adding to the story. There are some good jokes in here too though so you could say the film has its ups and downs in that area.

The film tries to squeeze in a romance plot as well as Buck and Chanice have been going through some issues. She wants to get married already while he continues to put up resistance. It feels like one of those forced issues and I’m more on her side here. Either you are going to commit or you aren’t but there’s no sense in dragging it out. She also gets messed with by Maizy so I can’t even get upset at her for going off the rails later on. The whole dancing scene was a rough look for Buck.

Generally speaking I’d say it’s okay to dance with anyone, however since it was obvious that the neighbor was trying to seduce him, Buck had to get out of there. There aren’t any good excuses for staying there and allowing her to play these games with him. Ideally things will go well for him and Chanice now but I don’t think the film really needed this plot. I felt like it was only there to give Maizy some ammo for her singular win. Otherwise she really would not have had anything on Buck.

Overall, Uncle Buck is a pretty good film. The first area where it succeeds is in being funny. That’s a super important factor for this kind of film and so it really needed to succeed there. Outside of that the pacing is good and Buck works well as the main character. Maizy’s just annoying enough where she almost starts to drag this down with her scenes but fortunately, they aren’t quite long enough to sabotage it. If you like comedy films that aren’t afraid to get rather crazy then I would recommend this film. By the end of the film you’ll see how Buck was a better parent than the actual couple who ran off.

Overall 7/10

Will Penny Review

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It’s time for a wild west film and you know how those can always be very hit or miss. Unfortunately this is one of the misses. It doesn’t really hit on any of the strong notes that you need to reach to surpass the genre. The characters tend to make some bad decisions and while it’s hard to play a perfect round back in the wild west where there was no law and order, it did feel like some of these issues were very avoidable.

The movie starts by introducing us to Will who is a classic work hand. He goes from job to job and is good at what he does but there is a lot of competition and not a lot of jobs left. He had a chance to go on a trip with the crew but selflessly gives up his spot to another guy who wanted to visit his father. Will travels with Blue and Dutchy and they end up in a firefight with another group over an animal. Will’s team shoots down one of the attackers but the rest swear revenge. On Will’s side, one of his teammates is injured so he looks for help. In the meantime he also gets a job to protect a part of someone’s large territory but now a lady named Catherine and her son Horace are living there. Will feels bad about throwing them out but eventually the guy who owns this property is going to find out and then things will go very badly. How can Will get out of this situation.

First off, I have to say that Catherine doesn’t play this situation very smart at all. She is exceptionally lucky that Will is such a nice guy because many others would have just shot her on sight at minimum. The penalty for letting a stranger live on these premises could easily be death and people aren’t generally going to take that chance. Will even tries to give her a few days to leave but Catherine is insistent on not going anywhere. It just seems like a terrible strategy to go with when you’re not a fighter and there is no man on the premises.

Catherine’s first instinct is even to say that she’s all alone. Why would you give out that kind of information? Her son Horace means well too but he’s just a young kid and is not going to be doing much here. Catherine was ultimately ditched by her tour guide and her husband seems to have no intention of returning so just surviving will be difficult. It’s the wild west so even going into town isn’t a great option but you feel like she needs to do something and get away from the area. Taking your chances in town may be for the best.

Meanwhile Will does his best with looking after her but he is breaking all of the rules of a job that he just got. His sympathy may be a little too high here. It was also annoying to see him getting jumped so quickly. When you’re outnumbered, you need to fire as soon as possible. He gets a few of the villains at gunpoint but then hesitates and gets knocked out. There is no room for compassion here. It may be a hard thing to hear but, in a life or death situation it is you against the other guy. Whoever hesitates is absolutely not going to survive.

Will’s character is portrayed to be a really nice one throughout but this is the double edged blade of it. As for the romance in the film, he knows that Catherine is a married woman from the start so he is very wary about getting involved. That’s the right attitude. Her husband may not appear to be a good guy but until that is officially dissolved then there is nothing you can do. He can be a good friend to her but if she is trying to start a romance then he has to get out of there. Nothing good comes from living next to temptation.

It takes him a long while to get his mind wrapped around that but ultimately, he does and that helps the ending even if it’s portrayed in more of a somber way. Nobody here really gets a super happy ending because they’re all going to be struggling a lot. At least they are alive though which could have easily gone the other way. The film feels like two different movies though when it’s about Will and Catherine vs when he’s hanging out with his friends.

Blue and Dutchy are gone for so long that you almost forget they are in this film until they show up in the climax. It was good to see them, but man did they take their time. There was certainly no sense of urgency among them that’s for sure. They did come in clutch though because Will was not going to be able to fight off everyone in the climax otherwise. His new coworkers showed up after everything was all settled. I thought the film was about to give us one more fight but they were reasonable.

I suppose part of why the film fails here is because of how troubled the romance is. A lot of time is spent on Will and Catherine getting closer but you really can’t root for this at all because of her married status. For a while there you assume that maybe she was lying since she didn’t trust him. Would have been a smart deception to be honest but that’s not how it played out. So the scenes aren’t as charming as they would have been otherwise.

Then the villains tend to be annoying and get a whole lot of screentime. Naturally they want to marry Catherine as well, just without any say in the matter. They intend to work Will as a slave for a while before they eventually murder him and there’s not much he can do about it while at gunpoint. At least that’s how it played out but after a point I think you do just need to lunge for the gun. If you die then you die, but often times you’re going to be waiting for an opening that never arrives. You just have to hope that the sudden movement is enough to catch them off balance.

It’s also a western so the animals aren’t fully safe either. Nothing too explicit in this film to be sure but just a background element that’s never all that great. The first animal that died is even a part of the plot with how the first fight started. This is a very grounded western film. The kind that may be true to life but doesn’t translate into great television. Give me a more inspiring Western anyway. At best this one just serves as another reminder of why you would not have wanted to live in this era.

Overall, Will Penny is the kind of title that will end up being very memorable. The name itself is certainly unique and definitely works well. The film though, it’s your average western at best and I would actually say it’s below most of them. There isn’t a lot of ongoing action in the film. It goes for more of an emotional focus instead, except it does so with a poor situation. There aren’t many reasons to watch this one and it’s a bit grim for my liking. I’d say to skip it and roll the dice on a different western title.

Overall 3/10

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection Review

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The Uncharted series is an award winning one that has been one of Sony’s top franchises. I’ve been generally aware of them but never got a chance to play them before now. Well, this was my chance and I can definitely say that the games live up to the hype. They are super fun to play through and really nail the third person shooter genre. I don’t think I’ve played any this smooth since Star Fox Assault. The 3 games are all comparable and everything about the experience is super smooth. It’s clear that they had the gamer’s comfort in mind.

The first game introduces us to Nate who is basically a treasure hunter/explorer. He has always been obsessed with his ancestor Francis Drake and seeks to uncover the treasures and discoveries that he made. This latest one takes him on a trip abroad where he is followed by the reporter Elena. Unfortunately, Nate’s partner Sully owes some money to the mob and they come to collect. Nate must now try to stay one step ahead of them to whatever treasure is buried. This treasure may be guarded by supernatural creatures though. Perhaps it isn’t worth obtaining?

A common thread throughout each game is that Drake only discovered powerful artifacts that really shouldn’t be discovered. Drake often tried to bury the evidence but unfortunately Nate always ends up finding out about it anyway. While Sully had a rough start here, he does tend to be a very reliable ally to Nate for the rest of the adventures. It really does make a difference to have someone at your side that you can count on. When you’re all alone inside some of these old dungeons, well that starts to feel very tough.

Elena also ends up being a main supporting character and she does a good job of keeping Nate on his toes. She can keep up with the banter and even knows how to shoot a gun. They have to rely on each other in order to survive these life threatening encounters after all. While the romance may not be the strongest for me with how Nate tends to always be rather flirty, it was good to see Elena show up in all of the adventures.

The gameplay is a mix of parkour, shooter, and puzzle solving. Naturally the puzzle solving is the weakest element but the game handles it way better than most. The game will throw you hints if you are stuck for a long time and then most of them actually make sense anyway. You’ll be turning wheels and following shapes in the sky. The toughest puzzle in the trilogy was one where you had to shine shadows on the surface of a wall. I just did not understand the hints and had to just go with brute forcing the solution.

All of the puzzles in these games can be brute forced if you have to do that but there are around 50 possible solutions in each case so it sure takes a while to get to the right one. The puzzles aren’t super intrusive though. Then you have the parkour which should feel a lot like Mirror’s Edge. In some ways it’s actually smoother which I found to be super impressive. It’s not every day that you can top that game in movement after all. One of the biggest reasons for this is that the game is intuitive. So when you’re climbing a rock, you can spam jump to move up very quickly. At the same time if there is no where to jump to, the game will stop you instead of just letting you jump to your doom.

It’s a subtle but great quality of life feature. Then you also have the fact that Nate can jump rather far so it’s not like you will constantly have to be stopping and wondering where to go next. That’s another really big one. Then we have the gun combat which is where the game absolutely thrives. You have a wide range of different guns to use and can hide around cover and also use hand to hand combat when necessary. The game has a realistic feel to it where a headshot will take down any enemy in one hit even if they are a powerful boss.

The only exceptions are enemies who are undead or ones that wear a helmet which makes sense. The game encourages you to get really good at making headshots and I was able to do this very easily in the first game. The second and third games were just different enough where it threw off my timing a bit but I was still able to do pretty well overall. The game even keeps track of your stats relative to your friends on PSN which is pretty fun.

Each of the guns have their pros and cons without any of them being too weak. I had fun using a whole bunch of weapons throughout the game and you get a trophy after hitting milestones with all of them. So there is plenty of reasons to experiment. You can also shoot while running, swimming, and climbing. There is just a ton of freedom here which is really nice and you won’t be running into any glitches or issues.

The game can be rather difficult so you can expect to die a lot. That said, the deaths are always fair so you don’t feel too bad about it. Often times I was just going too fast or I would underestimate an opponent. The game’s difficulty also forces you to be creative and rethink your approach in each case. At times if you die next to a checkpoint, the game will actually push you forward a bit which is always funny tho.

The graphics are also really sharp. The game has a realistic art style to it which may not work as well as a more colorful one but it’s clear that a lot of detail was put into this. The landscapes also look great. The soundtrack is more on the invisible side though. You’re probably not going to really remember any tracks by the end of this. They tend to just blend together and fade into the background. That’s probably the idea, the only track you may recall is the main theme of the games which will sound familiar while you’re hearing it, but is just generic enough where you will forget it afterwards.

The second game expands things quite a bit as Nate has to team up with Chloe and Harry to infiltrate a palace and find more means to treasure. These two have always been bad influences but Nate likes hanging out with them. Both guys like Chloe but Harry is the one who is oblivious while Nate tends to have the advantage. Of course Elena shows up later on and things get complicated. Drama aside, this was my favorite game of the trilogy. I thought the pure gameplay was at its peak here. It’s very similar to the first game but the hand to hand combat has been further refined.

There is a lot of variety among the levels and it’s also the longest adventure from the first 3. It really feels like they went double time on this one and playing both games back to back, you can feel the improvement. I really had no complaints here, it’s just a great game that works seamlessly after the first one. The climax also has some really hard levels with how durable the creatures were.

Finally we have the third game which wraps things up. We learn about Nate’s past and he is forced to deal with some familiar foes. This game had my favorite villain of the trilogy. An unassuming guy who ends up being great at parkour and is always one step ahead of Nate. In the end, Nate is really only able to win thanks to having Sully around. This villain felt like a “what if” version of Nate who had decided to go it alone. It’s a great narrative way to end the trilogy off.

On a gameplay perspective, the combat may have taken a slight step back but the rest is about the same as the first two. You’ll be handling a bunch of fights and solving some puzzles. The puzzles may be the weakest overall. This is all very relative among the three but that’s part of what keeps part 3 from beating the second one.

There is plenty of replay value among the 3 games as you will want to get all of the Trophies for each one. That will not be an easy feat as you will have to play each game more than once. That said, the constant checkpoints do help with this. I wouldn’t plan on getting the Platinum anytime soon, but I did complete two games with a D ranking so I need to fix that asap! I just don’t like seeing those D ranks in my profile score. It just feels so messy you know?

Overall, I highly recommend playing through these games. They deserve all of the accolades that they get and then some. They were crafted extremely well and having 3 games in one makes for an incredible amount of content. You’ll be really engaged with the story and absolutely entertained by the gameplay. If they kept this gameplay intact, it would make for an awesome multiplayer battle game. Sony should give that a try at some point, there’s a ton of potential to be had there. I’ll be working on the 4th game right away so stay tuned for that!

Overall 8/10