Category Archives: Reviews

Brothers Review

Posted on by
Reply

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

Uh oh, it’s time for one of those films where everyone makes so many mistakes that the film can’t possibly make a comeback. You always hope that maybe, just maybe the film is not going in the direction that you expected it to go but ultimately it does and all you can do is watch it happen in real time.

The film starts off by introducing us to two brothers, Sam and Tommy. They are very different people and contrast each other almost completely. Sam is super responsible and is a soldier who goes off into battle to make the world a better place. Tommy tends to be reckless and get drunk, the guy is just coming out of jail for robbery. Well, one day Sam heads off to war and doesn’t come back. He’s said to be dead and so his wife Grace is devastated. Tommy wants to do his best to step up an help out now but the problem is that he ends up falling for Grace. Is this his big chance to finally have her to himself?

So the first thing that completely obliterates the movie right out of the gate is the romance. Look, we all know these things from a young age thanks to the school of common sense. You don’t go after anyone who is dating family. Doesn’t matter if it’s the girlfriend of a sibling, cousin, parents, some third removed uncle, etc. They are completely off limits. I know this next part’s gonna hurt but bear with me on this. There is no time limit on this. Yessss, even if they break up at some point, you are not allowed to be the rebound. I’m afraid that this girl is out of your reach forever now.

You can cry it out for a little while, put some distance and make sure you don’t see this person for a while, etc. However you need to cope, just remember that this is a social rule of complete authority. Me personally, I don’t care much for a lot of social rules. I tend to think a lot of them are outdated but this is one that just makes sense ethically so yeah it still holds up. If you are in love with that person then you better be prepared to internalize that all the way to the grave. This also applies to friends as well by the way. It’s not quite as ironclad there but it’s still something to keep in mind. Don’t go after your friend’s girl either.

So then the question becomes, “If I’m extremely weak willed how do I resist making a move?” Well if you’re so weak willed that you can’t control yourself then obviously you have to move to another country so that you’re never in the same room together. Fortunately most people have at least basic self control so you should be fine. Unfortunately this movie doesn’t go in that direction. Tommy does end up getting together with Grace after they were both flirting for a while and then get drunk. Maybe…..mayyyyybe you shouldn’t be getting drunk with someone who is emotionally vulnerable at the time?

Make no mistake, Grace gets some of the blame to be sure but I’m putting most of this on Tommy. Simply put, it’s way more personal there since he is actually Sam’s brother. That will always carry a bit more weight since we’re talking direct family here. He never should have let things happen and the fact that they stopped afterwards is barely a silver lining. It still happened and permanently destroyed any trust that the relationship could have had for Sam and Grace. So there’s no coming back from that. The film is about Tommy becoming a better person and helping out but this undermines the whole plot.

Meanwhile it also hurts Grace a whole lot. If the film was going to play her up as in a different role where she wanted a new husband because there were bills to pay or she was going to be in debt now then that would still be terrible but at least it would be a plan and not a mistake. You just can’t make these kinds of mistakes so either way it’s a big loss for her. Finally you have Sam and hey…he’s the role model right? The guy you can count on in all situations to make the right decision? Well the film has to drag him through the mud as well.

After he’s captured and tortured for a while Sam is ultimately told to make the big choice. If he murders someone else in cold blood then he can escape and in that moment Sam puts his life above the other guy’s in order to escape. It’s just awful and a jaded look at how humans will ultimately make the wrong call when put under pressure. That’s a big no no in my book. For starters, you already know they’re going to murder and torture him some more after this so why even go out on their terms? Make a move for the gun or something and best case they shoot you in the head as a painless death. Your odds are much better at dying quickly this way.

Maybe you’ll somehow hit the 1 in a billion jackpot and make a comeback but what you don’t do is murder the guy. If we at least got a scene where Sam says he did it because he thought the guy was going to be tortured a lot more and wanted to put him out of his misery then that would at least be worth discussion. Misguided I would argue but there is a very strong and legitimate case to be made for that reasoning. Nah, Sam just did it on the hopes that he could go home.

Unfortunately he has a lot of PTSD after that and the whole affair with Grace and Tommy did not help matters out at all. Ultimately this leads to a fairly explosive climax. A lot is going on and the film’s certainly very loud but the whole thing got way too dramatic. None of the characters were particularly likable by the end. The film would have been better off being an emotional road to recovery type of film. Remove the scene with Grace and Tommy and instead focus on both of them respectfully working to move on and honor Sam’s memory. The real tragedy here is that the movie has a lot of groundwork for that kind of plot and you can see the potential. In the end it just didn’t happen.

There’s also more drama with Tommy’s father putting him down and saying a lot of hurtful things that he can’t take back. That plot could have been handled more tactfully I’d say. The writing is rather over reliant on language so the TV version really had its work cut out for it there. The pacing is okay at least. The film’s rather long but there is a lot to cover. Of course the war scenes tend to be rather violent so when the film isn’t being dramatic and dark you’re seeing the soldiers get tortured. It’s a little hard to enjoy the happy moments at home as a result. This contrast is intentional but it’s not doing the film any favors.

Overall, The moral of this film is really how one mistake can change a person’s entire life. That’s what happened to all 3 of the main characters. They did things that they can’t take back and will have to live with for the rest of their lives. The ending tries to offer a little hope but for the most part I would say that it is a sad ending. Things will never return to the way that they once were. That’s life of course but usually you hope for better circumstances.

Overall 2/10

The Book of Henry Review

Posted on by
Reply


All right it’s time for a film that is definitely ambitious but I’m afraid that it fails on all accounts. When you see this film you immediately know that it’s not going places and I’m afraid that it never manages to make the comeback. This is a film that you definitely want to avoid. Instead of picking up this book to watch, read a classic book somewhere out there like Tim: Defender of Earth.

The movie starts by introducing us to Henry who is an absolute genius. The boy is still very young, yet he is an inventor, stock broker, and does whatever he has to. He is emotionally a little distant compared to other kids due to this but Henry has helped his family out a lot over the years. Unfortunately he has a big problem to get through now that won’t be easy. It turns out that his next door neighbor Glenn is actually a criminal who has been ruining his daughter Sheila’s life. Unfortunately he is the police chief and has a spotless record so nobody is doing anything about this and Sheila’s not really in a position to do anything either. Nobody except for Henry even suspects that something is going on since she rare has visible bruising. Henry decides that in order to save Sheila, he will have to murder Glenn.

Naturally this is a tough undertaking even for a genius like Henry. Additionally he has some medical issues going on as well and isn’t at peak strength. So he has to find a way to murder Glenn without leaving any evidence or causing his family trouble. His mother Susan enjoys playing a lot of shooters throughout the day and just having fun living life while his brother Peter is a normal kid and so he can’t keep up with these life and death stakes. In a way Henry is sort of on his own with this.

The kid genius characters can be a little hard to take seriously at times and I have to admit that this happens for this movie as well. It’s great to see Henry making his family rich and all but when he tries to be serious I just can’t take the scene quite as seriously. He’s a good kid though which is what counts even if he’s not a very interesting character. His brother Peter doesn’t get a lot to do here. He gets some development near the end as he tries his best to help out but his role in the film is effectively filler.

Susan gets a big role as the mother of course. It was a fresh change of pace to see the adult playing video games and having a good time. So often in these films you see the parents just doing work or reading a book but not having any kind of personality or hobbies. If there are hobbies it would be something like golf. So the video games was pretty fun. In a way her plot is about growing up though which goes against this and by the end you wonder if she will be having as much fun.

For obvious reasons within the film’s context she will be serious for a while but hopefully she still keeps up with gaming and all. The idea that it wouldn’t be a serious hobby is a bit dated if you ask me. Unfortunately she looks really bad near the end as the film makes one of the all time classic blunders. Let me put the scenario in this context. You are face to face with an unrepentant monster who is fully prepared to murder you. You have made it clear that his life will be over if he doesn’t murder you and both of you happen to be in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night with no witnesses.

Your only real options here are to murder him or be murdered. The film tries to present the argument for violence never being the way but does so in very sloppy fashion. By all logic Susan should have been obliterated in that scene. So I’d argue her whole climax is poorly written and makes her look like a really bad character. It’s a selfish decision first of all. If she gets bumped off there, then her kid is going to be in a lot of trouble and things will only get worse for Sheila.

It’s one thing if you’re being held at gunpoint to decide not to fight back and just be resigned to your death. It’s another if you have the opportunity to take the gun away and 3 hostages are behind you. The film definitely lost me here…well it lost me more than it already had. The climax is just really bad and there are many times where being a pacifist is straight up the wrong move. This is definitely one of those times.

I’d argue that in general getting drunk a lot at home to the point where the kids can predict it is irresponsible as well but I guess I won’t deduct as many points from her there. In theory at home should be the one place you can drink past your limit if that’s something you want to do. It doesn’t set up a great example, but that’s how it goes. Meanwhile her friend Sheila doesn’t really add much to the film either. Her scene with Henry just ends up being cringe and this felt like Peter where the film was adding a character to bloat the cast a bit even though she had nothing to do.

David gets a randomly rushed romance setup which makes no sense. You can’t really convince me that this would ever work as just seeing him should bring up bad memories for Susan every time. Then you have Christina who you just feel bad for the whole time. She really went through a lot and nobody was being particularly helpful for a while there. The fact that she hasn’t shut down completely and is able to keep up a nice attitude speaks volumes about her good character.

Then you have Glenn as the main villain who is basically just a character written to be super evil so there’s nothing to like there. You’re just rooting for his downfall the whole time. Still, it’s the subplot that destroys the film so in a way you could blame him for making the film no good. Without him I don’t think this would be a smash hit or anything but it would be considerably better. I would also change Henry’s ending a little bit as well and then the score would immediately be tripled. For a long while into the film I was expecting some kind of fakeout even if that would have been really hard to make convincing.

Overall, The Book of Henry is definitely a film that I would recommend staying away from. It ultimately fails by resorting to shock value with the dark Glenn plot as well as Henry’s plight. The film has so much drama and then the characters don’t react to it properly. Particularly with the first plot as there should have been a lot more urgency here and no getting cold feet at the end when you have the chance. The film isn’t always sure what kind of tone it wants to have and ultimately tends to make the wrong choices.

Overall 2/10

Five Nights at Freddy’s Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to finally dive into the online sensation that is Five Nights at Freddy’s! This is a franchise that really took the world by storm with just how ferocious and scary it was. Every minute had you really on the edge of your sear wondering what was going to happen next. Would it really translate well into the movie? Well, the movie is definitely at its best when the robots are running around. The whole time you know that the humans are toast but the film does definitely lose some ground when it comes to the origins of the robots and the human stuff. That should probably have been saved for a future film. Granted, I don’t know anything about the film except for the spooky jump scares so how much of the plot was spelled out in the first game is a little beyond me. It’s been fun learning more about the series but a lot of it is lore and guess work typically.

The movie starts off with one guy making a break for it, but the robots are too powerful and they ultimately take him down for the count. We’re then introduced to a guy named Mike who has just been fired from another job. He’s a hard worker but the guy gets too emotional and jumps to conclusions. He only has one option left, being a night guard at an abandoned pizzeria. It’s pretty shady, dangerous, etc but he needs the money. Mike’s little sister is going to be taken away by a family member who wants all the money and Mike’s best chance at convincing the judge that he has this under control is to have a steady job that pays the bills. So that’s the plan at least but can he survive this? At least the nearby police officer named Vanessa is really nice so he won’t be totally alone.

All right so like I said the best stuff is really what’s going on at the pizzeria. The place has a very ominous feel and when you see the robots running around you always know that danger is near. They especially look huge in person so you would probably be afraid to just be walking around them. One wrong punch and that’s it for you. Seriously the physical strength behind these guys is absolutely crazy. There’s also the fact that they shouldn’t be able to move so well that makes them rather spooky too. The constant turnover, etc.

By having the robots murder someone in the opening scene, you also know that they are ready to cause some danger right from the start as well. I enjoy the chase scenes here and things definitely get intense. That said, the robots don’t do quite as much as you may have wanted. A lot of time is spent on Mike and he’s not the most interesting main character. He’s not bad but the guy doesn’t stand out and isn’t always super reasonable.

For example, early on he turns down the night watchman job immediately even though at that point he already needed the money. Ultimately the situation gets even worse so he takes it on but I was surprised at how fiercely he declined. Then later on he has a tendency to blame Vanessa for keeping a lot of secrets from him when it’s still his fault for bringing Abby around at all. There’s no way you should ever be bringing a kid to an abandoned pizzeria with lots of giant robots. That’s not smart and we learn that it was for selfish reasons which is even worse.

Abby’s okay at best but she is a kid and so she tends to get in the way here. She’s not really sure of what’s going on until it’s too late and can be rather naive. Vanessa’s the best character from the humans but you still have to overlook a whole lot in order to straight up call her a good character. Trust me, she makes a lot of mistakes here and the fact that she never does anything about this situation is a demerit against her. I’m not buying into any mind control here, it was just fear and confused feelings that held her back. Neither of which are good enough excuses.

I did appreciate the evil aunt character who was transparently a big villain. Hiring a bunch of guys to attack Freddy’s pizzeria is one of the worst plans you can do but I liked her confidence. It also meant that we finally had some more villains around which is always a good thing. The film has a fairly small cast overall and you need more victims to show off the robots. The robots themselves are also very distinct. Ironically Freddy himself has one of the smaller roles though.

I’d argue the yellow duck robot had the biggest role. They all get their time to shine of course but since the place is called Freddy’s you just expect him to do a whole lot more. One of the scenes where he is seemingly there isn’t even him, it’s actually Golden Freddy and the film just offers you a little clue into this when the kid says “Not Freddy” during the scene. A lot of interesting setup for the sequel. Part of the fun in knowing a lot of random things about a franchise but not knowing a ton of specifics is that it makes the series even more intriguing. Not only do I not know what I don’t know, but the things I do know tend to be out of context. So that’s fun but the risk can sometimes be that I like the concept of something more than the execution.

For example there is one plot that brings down the movie quite a bit in how dark it is. That’s basically Mike’s backstory where his little brother was kidnapped while they were at a picnic and apparently there was a whole epidemic of a lot of kids being taken. This involves the robots but basically all of the kids were violently murdered. Not exactly what you were hoping to see here and the explanation for why the police never found them is a real stretch. I don’t see how they were never found and how the place was so well kept intact afterwards. Surely they would have emptied out the rooms, robots, etc. to make sure that every place was checked right?

The backstory felt a bit sloppy here. Throughout the film, Mike gets to relive the kidnapping as he tries to ask the kids what happened. The idea is that every night he has this dream, he gets closer to solving the mystery but it’s a very slow process. You get what they’re going for here but it does mean that these scenes can be rather boring without much in the way of plot development. I don’t need to see the kid getting kidnapped over and over again. Even the intro of the film is already rather creepy with the drawings and what’s happening. If you have to go into the origin though, I would have left it at the opening credits and made Mike unrelated to the whole plot. Just make him a random guard trying to survive. I think that would be way more interesting.

In terms of sheer violence, I wouldn’t say that the film is too excessive here. It tends to be more about what you don’t see or what nearly happens as opposed to what does. One character does get ripped in half which is probably the most violent scene here but even then it is done through shadows so you aren’t actually seeing what is going on here and I think that is a very important point to make. If it was on screen this film probably would have had to go up a rating after all.

Overall, Five Nights at Freddy’s succeeds whenever it is about the robots running around and causing trouble. The direction the film went in just didn’t tend to focus on its strengths though. Too much time is spent on Mike and his constant dreams. I liked the scene with introducing us to the guy giving Mike the job and how his tune really shifted upon hearing Mike’s last name. It’s over the top enough that it’s spooky while also being a bit campy which is a good atmosphere to have. For the first film it really should have been more about Mike being stuck in the pizzeria trying to survive the night against the robots though. Or if you wanted to go the more lore based route, have this be a very dense film with tons of theory crafting and the main character reading a bunch of books the whole time and trying to figure things out. In either case I think you’re in a better place. So ultimately if you don’t mind the darker elements, you should have a good time here. The robots are definitely spooky!

Overall 4/10

Superman Vs. Meshi Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to look at a great manga. This is a title that has a rather insane plot and just embraces it 100%! That’s exactly what I was hoping for as well. Some manga have a cool premise but just don’t do a lot with it or lose confidence and just switch to full time action. A very respectable option if you have to duck your premise of course but when you announce a manga about Superman fighting against the top foods and you keep it going the whole time? I have to give you some mega props there.

The manga basically starts off by revealing that Superman has a big secret. He actually flies over to Japan every day for lunch because their food is way better than Metropolis’. It’s to the point where he’s actually rather hooked. Even when Ma Kent makes him some food or he’s at a Justice League event, he just wants to get back out there. At first he’s a little embarrassed for anyone to find out but as the series goes on, he gets bolder and bolder about this. He actually wants to share his hobby, but can he convince the rest of the team that Japan’s food is so much better?

Of course it is easier for Superman compared to most people since he can actually fly across the planet and go to Japan within minutes. So he can actually take his lunch there without issue. He gets to see how much fun a classic noodle bowl is, their version of a cheeseburger, etc. It’s to the point where he can barely bring himself to eat in Metropolis anymore because the food quality takes such a dip. If you’re the world’s greatest superhero then you want to eat the best foods right?

The meals he has in Japan are also very humble ones. Usually they’re family type restaurants and Superman explains how everything is done so efficiently. So what I’m getting at here is that the entire manga is about hyping up Japan and how it is the absolute pinnacle of food creation in the whole world. Nothing else is even close to it. Superman is constantly hyping the place up to the point where it gets to be really funny. That’s where the entertainment from the series comes on.

I feel like the only way you won’t enjoy the manga is if you take it really personal to your own area’s style of cooking or something like that which would really be missing the point. I like the idea of the author here being excited to hype up all of his favorite foods through the series. In the manga, Superman points out ways to make each meal better with little tips and tricks the whole time. A lot of them actually looked like good tricks too which is where I have to give the series even more credit.

Superman has a different dynamic with each character that works well. The best one might be with Lex Luthor. So Lex is actually one of those trend setters on social media, an influencer if you will. So whenever Superman orders something, Lex has to order something bigger and fancier than whatever Superman got. It’s purely to try and one up the Man of Steel, but Superman always finds a way to make a comeback. Usually he’s nervous at first but then realizes that even a smaller dish can have things that the bigger companies don’t.

It’s like the Little Engine that could. It’s an inspiring story all the way through but through food. By the end even Lex admits that Superman’s food tastes are really good. Then you have Batman who figures that the 5 star dinners he can get at Gotham are the best but he is absolutely floored by the little noodle spot that Superman brings him too. The Justice League get impressed at one point when frozen Japanese TV dinners turn out to be better than their complete dining experiences at any fancy restaurant.

You might find this the hardest to believe but hey, that’s just how it goes. Japan’s food is that delectable and it’s always inspiring to see Superman convert more of the characters to his cause. When he’s not constantly eating, we do see Superman fighting against foes like Doomsday and Darkseid. There is a little action here, but make no mistake, the food is the primary focus so don’t count on anything big like that happening. There’s also the subplot with Lois where he has to be careful that she doesn’t find out his true identity.

Lois had to be included in some way so this makes sense but you are usually looking forward to the food part a little more. Even Lois admits that it’s the best food of all time though so you know that we’ve got a winner here. Supergirl was also skeptical at first but quickly changed her tune. I think it just goes to show that some places really have tremendous dishes. I was half expecting Superman to move there by the end.

One of the final bosses in the series is a Japanese restaurant with a massive menu. The problem in a sense is that everything on the menu tastes amazing. So what do you do when you have 100+ items that are all absolutely incredible? That is his dilemma and we find out that he has already been “defeated” several times as he didn’t order the items in the right order or picked the wrong dipping sauce. So it still tasted incredible but wasn’t 100/100 the way that it should have been.

I love how seriously he takes all of this. He even gets a bit defensive when everyone tries just ordering whatever they want and eating at their own pace. During a big funeral he uses his super abilities to quiet the crowd and get them to order what he did. When he invites the Justice League members over, he usually insists that they order what he gets as well. A bit controlling perhaps but you can definitely appreciate how their faces light up when they taste the food so it always works out well.

The art is also really good here. It’s super expressive which is always a good thing and it’s got a very simple style which makes each page easy to read. I really didn’t have any issues here and so long as you find the manga funny as well then I think you’ll be in a good spot. Who knows, maybe the series will even inspire you to go and grab some of these dishes. You’ll really feel like you’re missing out if you don’t. There’s not much of an ongoing plot here so it makes for a quick review but there is a good amount of content packed in here with all of the food that Superman tries. It’s also got that silver age feel to it where he puts “Super” in front of just about every ability he uses because it sounds cooler.

Overall, Superman Vs. Meshi is definitely a great title. I had a blast with each volume. It’s really easy to read through the whole time and never loses any team. It helps that I tend to like a lot of the dishes in the series so it would just make me hungrier and hungrier. I’ve been to a few Japanese spots but not really ones like what is presented here. A small dine-in type experience that looks very friendly. I’ve got ideas eventually but yeah this manga really does a perfect job of presenting the food. I highly recommend reading it.

Overall 8/10

Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to look at a game that was great through and through. It goes into way more detail than I would have expected from any adaption. It’s seriously impressive and the combat in the gameplay is good. I won’t say it’s quite on Naruto Ninja Storm’s level or anything like that but I was really satisfied by the end. It’s cool to be reliving all of the big event from the show and they even got the movie in here.

The story revolves around a kid named Tanjiro who needs to destroy the demon mastermind in order to turn his sister back into a human. Along the way he meets up with a bunch of quirky characters who have their own reasons for murdering the demons. Will the humans be able to triumph here or are they going to be quickly destroyed by the overwhelming number of the villains? The demons have regeneration and numbers on their side after all. Destroying humanity isn’t just a pipe dream for them but possibly an inevitability.

So the story is definitely a lot of fun and it has complete voice acting all the way through. In a lot of ways it’s like watching the anime all over again and they actually reanimated all of the scenes with the in game engine. There are 8 chapters in the game and most of them are fairly long except for 1-2 of them. All in all the game should take you around 8 hours give or take which is a solid amount for a fighting game. Then after that you have the vs mode which has endless amounts of replay value in its own right. That is the main focus of the game after all.

This is a 3D fighter so you can use your normal attacks, special moves, and of course your final smash. I often found that the best thing to do was launch the enemy into the air at the end of your combo which allows you to start a second combo. Rather brilliant wouldn’t you agree? The computer has a really hard time breaking out of that one at least. The game can get a little hard near the end, particularly the final level which is a whole league above the rest. Your opponent has constant super armor so you have to time your attacks perfectly. Actually that reminds me of the final level in Tekken 7 a whole lot. Still you will be able to knock it out in the end. You can also go the cheesy route and just auto recover your health. The catch is that you forfeit your right to an S rank if you do that.

The graphics here are very high tier as you would expect. The character models are all on point and you can tell that a whole lot of effort went into this title. The soundtrack is also really good with a lot of tunes grabbed straight out of the anime. It’s all the little things that really help to remind you that this game was a big deal. It wasn’t just thrown together in a few minutes or anything like that. I’d definitely like to see a sequel to this title at some point.

There’s also replay value in the story itself as you can talk to people and complete side missions. You’ll need to do that if you eventually want to obtain the Platinum trophy and I can safely tell you that this is in my bucket list of things to do. Could be a while of course but it’ll always be around. You also have a solid training mode to get used to the controls and other bonuses on the main menu.

After playing as a few of the characters in the story, I can safely say that Rengoku is my favorite character to play as. His fire abilities are really intense and I feel like he has more power behind his strikes than the other characters. I suppose that makes sense though as he is a Hashira and should feel way stronger than the average Demon Slayer. It’s still a shame he couldn’t get more fights in the series but we felt his strength either way.

Overall, Demon Slayer is a great fighting game. It has solid gameplay throughout but it also spent the time to actually come up with a grand story as well and I thought that was fantastic. It went the extra mile to really pack the game full of content and I’d say it worked out. This does stand out among the many anime fighters. At this point the only thing it’s lacking is a larger character roster and I’m confident that the sequel will build that up quite a bit.

Overall 8/10

R.C. Pro-Am Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for an old fashioned racing game that’s finally back on the NES titles within the Switch Online. It’s definitely extra nostalgic to be back here but I would not say that this is a game which has aged all that well. There just isn’t a lot to do here at all. The content runs out fast and I wasn’t a big fan of the controls.

Now of course you do have to be a little lenient with how old the game is. I probably would have had a much higher view of the game back in the day but now I’ve played things like M&M Kart Racing. I’m going to be expecting a higher bar of stuff in any game. So for this one, you have 32 tracks where you race in order to be the best. One unique thing here is that you keep going as long as you place in the top 3. The spots above that only matter so much as you get better trophies when you win but you can actually play the whole game as a third place finisher and there will be no issues.

Don’t let that fool you into thinking that the game is easy or anything like that though. Put it this way, the A.I. know that top 3 is what you need and so all of the cars are really racing their hearts out. It’s really hard to stay in front of the pack because the turns are so tricky. Turn too hard and you lose all momentum but if you don’t turn enough then you will crash. It’s incredibly difficult to get the turns just right. On the straight roads you can easily overtake the computers but once the turns get involved, that is really game over.

Now you do have items in this game which can help to even things out. I was passing them by for a while but didn’t actually start using them until later on. I kind of assumed they were boosters or something but there’s actually a good variety like rockets and bombs. The rockets in my opinion are easily the best weapons. You can store up over 30 of them and pepper your opponents. The roads aren’t very wide so it is easy to blast them. In the levels I played they would never use the items back at you but I’m guessing the deeper you go, the more they would start busting these things out. Just a guess of course but it makes sense.

The graphics aren’t bad but the soundtrack isn’t memorable. So really my only issue with the game is the lack of content as the 32 level main mode is the only thing but also the gameplay. I just didn’t think it was really smooth. It’s way too hard to make the turns and since you have to do this numerous times in each level, it felt like you could never go at full speed. That really ends up limiting things in the end.

Overall, This is a car game that won’t be able to hold its own with the big shots. The controls need to be ironed out first and then the rest will come into place. I would still recommend checking it out when you have time just since it’s free with the Switch Online. If nothing else, it will give you a greater appreciation for the modern racing titles. I’ve always considered this to be one of the easiest genres to do well but that really just applies to the modern era and I get how an older title would work a bit differently there.

Overall 4/10

ToeJam & Earl Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to play the original ToeJam & Earl title. This one’s fairly basic but in a way that’s the game’s problem. It’s sort of like playing a slice of life video game. I think with more likable main characters and some kind of ongoing story that could certainly work but as it is, there’s not much to keep you here for long. The RNG and everything makes this even trickier as well.

Basically the gameplay revolves around you walking through a level until you find a piece of your spaceship. You need to find 10 pieces in order to leave the planet but of course that won’t be easy. There are 25 levels in the game though so not all of them have a piece. Fortunately the game does let you know right away if a piece is on the level or not so you don’t have to worry about aimlessly walking around or anything like that. Now that would have been annoying so I have to give the game some real credit here. That’s a good quality of life feature.

You walk around as I mentioned and the only real controls are pressing A to interact with things and B to open up your gifts. The gifts are the items of this game and so they are all mystery boxes. At least the first time around, the longer you play, the more you will find gifts of the same type that you have previously opened and those will be marked going forward. The one rough part is that some gifts have negative effects like one that blows you up and one that takes you back to the original level. There’s no way to know which is which on your first playthrough which is rather sketchy.

Some of the items are really handy like one that lets you run around and one that lets you fly. The only problem is that since these are locked behind gifts, it means that you can’t normally run around. Instead you have to walk everywhere which isn’t the most efficient way of travel. Some pieces are also locked behind large jumps so if you already used up that gift, you’re gonna need to go through a few more levels to find one and then head all the way back. That’s definitely not great.

There is a very odd sort of atmosphere around the game which is probably the real selling point here but at the same time I don’t think it’s necessarily as cool as it could have been. I actually have one easy fix for this. Your character should be able to fight. If he was holding a blaster then the game becomes a lot more fun as you blast away at everyone who is in your way. Instead…you guessed it, your only forms of attack are locked behind items that are randomly spawned and temporary. So for most of the game you have to run away from enemies, most of whom are faster than you anyway. So in the end this wasn’t really my cup of tea.

The graphics are fairly good though. Here is where the wild vibes of the game actually come back to help it. The art style is very memorable and you can easily identify everything in your way. This helps with the presents once you are on your next playthrough or if you are using rewind a lot. The soundtrack is less inspiring though and you probably won’t be remembering any tunes in particular.

Then we come to the replay value which is fairly decent here. The difficulty of finding all of the pieces when the levels are constantly changing is already one reason why you wouldn’t beat it too fast. Then because of those changes you might have fun playing it over and over again. There is a lot to have fun with here to be sure as long as you enjoy the gameplay. I wasn’t a big fan of the initial game so the replay value doesn’t do much for me but at least it is there.

Overall, ToeJam & Earl is definitely a very unique game. You can’t say that it is copying any other titles or anything like that. At the same time, I don’t think the gimmick worked this time. So credit to the devs for trying but at the end of the day you won’t be able to win with all of your bets. Some of them will inevitably not pan out and that’s just the way that it goes.

Overall 4/10

Godzilla Unleashed Review

Posted on by
Reply


Godzilla is one of those franchises that has a big revival every few years and reminds the world why it is on top. This game is one of the only missing pieces of the franchise that I hadn’t gotten to experience yet. Well, I finally got to play it and it’s pretty fun. Personally I would say that it loses to the previous two big console Godzilla games but there’s a lot to enjoy here even with the Wii controls. Now those were an…interesting blast from the past.

The game actually has a story with full voice acting which I thought was really impressive. Seriously, it’s not like that’s a given or anything even in the Wii’s era. Basically crystals are appearing all across the planet and the Kaiju are being drawn towards them. These crystals are powering up the Kaiju and making them way more powerful. Who could be behind this crystal catastrophe? One thing’s for sure, the humans might need the help of the King of the Monsters for this one. They might need the help of….Godzilla!!!

The classic gameplay is mainly unchanged from the previous titles although it does have the downgrade of removing the Rage feature. Seriously, why would you remove that? It was pretty cool to be honest. The energy blasts in this game are motion controlled which means that they are virtually useless in the game so you should never bother firing off anything. Fighting in close quarters combat is also extremely not recommended. The enemy Kaiju will always break out mid combo and just knock the life out of you.

So….how do you fight? Well the best thing to do is pick up buildings and chuck them at the monsters. Each building takes out half of a health bar so just throw like 4 of those and you win. If there are no buildings to throw then you should throw the Kaiju which deals about the same amount of damage. Problem solved right? Trust me, follow these two easy steps and you will really be off to the races. I admit that it may feel like an odd way to fight but in the story mode campaign at least it is really the best way to do it.

So I think the multiplayer will end up being more fun from a pure gameplay standpoint but it’s definitely interesting. I’ve never really played a fighting game before that actively encourages you not to start fighting. Then a lot of the levels involve destroying crystals to end the level so you can go and shatter those instead of fighting the other Kaiju. Destroy the crystals and the level ends. Now this part does seem optional though. I didn’t totally get how this works but it seems like there are 3-4 factions in the game.

What you do in the levels increases or decreases your points in each area. There’s some kind of secret ending if you max them all out but I’m not sure exactly how this works. I even beat a few levels where I’m not even sure how I beat them. The complete message would just appear after a bit so it might have been time based. Hey, I’ll take it of course but I was a bit surprised. So the moral here is to really just jump in and things will work out. I flat out lost one level and I still moved on just fine so maybe winning is optional? Maybe that was just the first level though.

The character roster is pretty solid though and you see most of the classic Kaiju running around. The game was smart to save Orga for the final 2 levels since that guy is a beast and still the most underrated Kaiju of all time. Seriously, I’d argue that it’s not even close. I always get really impressed to see him running around. The graphics are also good. Perhaps not amazing but I’d say they get the job done. I also liked the soundtrack, quite a lot in fact. There’s a really solid rock theme for all of the menu screens that plays a lot.

In terms of replay value there is naturally a whole lot of it. You have Vs Mode for endless fun and you earn currency in the levels so I assume you can buy cool things in the shop. I didn’t really check it out yet but yeah there’s a good amount of content here. The game also goes for a fairly reasonable price on the Wii. If you want the PS2 version then that’s another story but that version is strictly a downgrade anyway with no story mode and less monsters so you would want to pass on it.

Back to the gameplay for a minute, I do like the extra detail of everything breaking when the Kaiju are running around. You see a big bridge? It gets crushed when you walk past, same with buildings, monuments, etc. Almost everything is destructible which really makes you feel like a Kaiju. You also have the government blasting you in the background with everything they’ve got and you don’t take much damage. The only weapon they have which gets tricky is the ice ray which completely immobilizes you. It’s a little RNG I’ll admit but one that I didn’t find annoying here since it wasn’t overplayed. You just feel like giving humanity some props for coming up with such a good weapon.

Overall, Godzilla Unleashed is a pretty good game. I had some issues with it and the direction the game went compared to something like Save The Earth but ultimately it is fun. At the end of the day, it does hold its own and it was pretty nostalgic to play this game. Controlling Kaiju and running around is surprisingly rare after all. There aren’t a whole lot of games like this. It is truly a fighting game that is meant for the multiplayer experience and that’s where you will end up having a ton of fun. I’d recommend checking it out, particularly since it feels like we won’t be getting another Godzilla game for a while at this point although they could surprise us.

Overall 7/10

Kid Chameleon Review

Posted on by
Reply


The Genesis run is almost over but it’s time for another platformer real quick. This one does have me impressed with how long it is. There are over 50 levels which is almost completely unheard of for this console. Usually we’re looking at 10 levels, maybe 12, etc. 50+ though?? Yeah that’s really impressive. I don’t think the gameplay is the smoothest that I’ve seen on the console but the length really helps to make up for it.

So the levels are your classic platformer type levels which can be long or short depending on what the game feels like. You use different power modes in order to get past the obstacles. For example one of them allows you to break walls by running really fast, another one lets you fly, etc. The power system is really the critical part of the gameplay that makes this different from other platformers.

I would also say there are some puzzle type fundamentals to the gameplay as well. Finding the goal isn’t always as simple as just running to the right. Additionally the timer will actually become a big obstacle as the game goes on. You end up cutting it really close with the levels at times which isn’t easy. You have to have some kind of strategy in mind in addition to pressing on.

So what is the game’s weakness for me? Well, some of the costumes just aren’t that fun. For example there is a bee mode that lets you wall jump. The jumps can be rather tricky which isn’t bad on its own but mix in the game’s odd sense of momentum and you end up going too far or too short at times. It was hard to really wrap my head around it. Some of the puzzles that the level designs were wrapped in were also just a bit too much if you ask me. Removing that element and focusing completely on the levels would have been a good idea if you ask me.

When you get the flying power there are always a ton of obstacles to prevent you from running for long. When you get the power to run through walls, there will be something that makes you switch powers again later on, etc. There are always tons of power blocks to replenish your abilities and give you new powers but that also means you don’t always have a lot of time to enjoy them. There aren’t a lot of bosses here but they can be fun. They are the most difficult part of the game by far though. You have to blast away at these floating heads that are constantly moving and they deal you damage if you bump into them. It’s hard not to with how much they move so that’s where things get tricky. You’ll probably be rewinding a lot there and this is also where the timer becomes a real problem with how large their health bar is.

The graphics for the game are pretty good. They may not be top tier or anything like that but they work well. The soundtrack also isn’t bad. It’s way less memorable than some of the other titles but it works well enough. So the technicals are okay. Nothing to write home about but they also won’t hold the game back. You get a lot of value for your dollar with how many levels are in the game as well. It should take you around 3 hours or so which may not seem like a ton but it beats the average for this era.

Of course you don’t have to spend any money if you have the Nintendo Switch Online but if you did have to buy a Genesis game this would be a better value than most. There isn’t much of a story which is too bad but it’s not something you would expect a whole lot here. I do think the main character is very distinct though. He definitely has a cool air about him and it’s one that has aged well. It never gets cringe or anything like that. This guy knows he has what it takes to save the day.

Overall, Kid Chameleon is a pretty good game. I give it a little more credit due to the overall length than the gameplay. Naturally the gameplay still has to be good in order to reach this high of a level but if the game was short then it probably would not have been quite as high. So I recommend checking this game out if you have the Switch Online and see how far you are able to get in the campaign. If you make it all the way then you actually do feel a good sense of pride and accomplishment. The game’s difficulty level may not be as high as some other titles but it should give you some troubles.

Overall 7/10

Rollerball (2002) Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to look at the remake to the original film that I just watched. Seeing both versions on the same day definitely makes for a pretty interesting marathon watch. It’s safe to say that the original is better in just about every way though. This one has a very “Try Hard” feel to it from the start. It doesn’t seem like the creators had a ton of confidence in the story or writing so right out of the gate they’re having to add all this extra stuff and it doesn’t work.

The film starts off by introducing us to Jonathan who likes doing extreme things. He even races on a skateboard kind of device through the streets which looks extremely dangerous the instant he gets on it. Definitely not a very responsible thing to do and when the cops show up at his door, he figures it’s time to finally get into Rollerball. It’s an extreme sport filled with lots of danger. Think of it like Rollerbading meets Hockey and you’re zooming around trying to score while people are driving motorcycles and all violence is allowed. Jonathan has become the world champ here but there is a dark conspiracy afoot. More and more people keep getting injured and dying as the ratings go higher. Is there any way out of this?

I will also say that the remake tries to spell things out for you more than the first. In the first movie we never heard the exact rules of the game but you could just piece it together while watching. In this one we literally have a whole scene for the announcer explaining the rules. It’s not a bad idea by any means but it does give you a glimpse into what this remake is like right from the jump. Everything is less nuanced. The villains are super evil, complete with evil laughter and long winded speeches. The opposing teams are all in the dark as well and when push comes to shove they are ready to help. The body count is much smaller and things are allowed to be happier.

Hey, I’m all for a happier ending but the whole film just doesn’t work. Part of the problem is that this film takes place in modern days instead of in a dystopia. In the latter it is easy to excuse a lot of thing like nobody caring about all of the deaths since humanity was cooked a long time ago. In this case it doesn’t make sense that they’re still getting TV deals and becoming a huge hit. The instant the first death hits you are looking at tons of lawsuits and negative media coverage. Yes, the sport could continue but it would be more of an indie thing and not the massive mainstream audience with top ratings that we see here.

You can cut a bit of slack for this being in a foreign country and the standards are a bit more lax but the more the film goes on, the less weight this holds. You also have this company owning the border guards, and being able to do whatever they want. The host even takes out a gun and threatens the local media companies in the middle of a crowd. Alexi doesn’t care who sees him and this works in a dystopia but not here. So the film should have kept this in the future. It doesn’t make sense to be in present day.

Then to make things edgier, we have a ton of fanservice throughout the movie. The film wants to show us how depraved the villains are, so they’re all living out their fantasies degrading everyone and the scenes have absolutely no point to being here. It’s clearly a desperate attempt for more ratings and I dare say that it won’t work on the average moviegoer. Even having girls playing in this league makes no real sense with how violent it is. Another thing that I could have turned a blind eye to in a dystopia.

In fact, let me put on my conspiracy hat here for a minute. I think there are only two reasons why they added women participants to the sport for this remake. The first is for…you guessed it, more fanservice since they can add random locker room scenes. The other is just so they could throw in a big romance which would give Jonathan more motivation for later. The romance is pretty bad though, one of those really rushed ones with no real depth behind it. I’m sure the writers had a chuckle with the last line in the film as a callback to the first conversation with Jonathan and Aurora but it’s not enough to salvage the whole sub plot.

The actual Rollerball scenes aren’t bad but even this is not as good as the original which is crazy. It’s a case of trying to do too much. Now we have ramps, big jumps, you have to throw the ball into a goal instead of jamming it in there and the stage is much smaller. To make up for that, there are less players on each team but the whole thing just feels more convoluted and I can’t think of any way where it is quite as good. At most I can admit that throwing the ball into the goal would be more practical in real life but that’s it. The rest of the changes just don’t make much sense to me unless making the arena smaller was a budgetary constraint.

The cast is not particularly inspiring. Jonathan was annoying in the intro. He’s a decent guy but starting off as a delinquent isn’t great and in the whole climax he doesn’t have much of a plan except to try and murder as many of the opponents as possible. Only problem is that he’s super outnumbered so he has to be saved a bunch of times. It doesn’t make him look very smart. I don’t have any real issues with Aurora. She does her best to help Jonathan and make sure that he’s doing well while she makes the sacrificial play since she has family that she can’t leave.

It takes Ridley a little while to find his moral compass so he’s not as good but at least once he is in danger then the guy starts to move. So I can appreciate that a bit. Sure, it’s selfish and all but I can picture a lot of people making that call. You want to hope for the best to make all of the money until you can’t deny it anymore. Alexi’s a fairly generic villain. Not much to talk about with that guy, he’s okay at best.

His right hand man Sanjay is actually really interesting though. I could have used more screentime for this guy. He’s more ambitious than Alexi and smarter as well. He really thought things through and had a great scene near the end even if it didn’t totally end the way you would have expected it to be. He’s surprisingly the best character in the movie.

As a side note, the whole climax is easily the best part of the film, starting from when Jonathan breaks a window and challenges the villains. Suddenly it was like Jason Bourne where he is taking everyone on and using every object imaginable. He even has a Captain America type moment where he blocks a bullet. Yeah the editing is so bad that it makes Taken 3 look impressive as there are literal frame cuts so we see Jonathan teleporting around the map but we can assume he’s that fast. I was glad that we were getting some real action outside of the arena at least.

Overall, This film had a ton of problems. They range all the way from narrative ones to pacing issues and just plain ole logistical issues. It was trying way too hard in all the wrong places and so that was a recipe for disaster. It can be an entertaining movie for a while but by the end the negatives just racked up way too high to be overcome. Ultimately you are way better watching the first film over the remake. Trust me, this is one that you will definitely want to avoid if you are given the choice.

Overall 4/10