Cloud vs Noctis

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Noctis is going to be the main character of the upcoming Final Fantasy XV game. It’s safe to say that his powers will be quite formidable and he will likely gain the usual array of magical abilities that the lead fighter usually possesses. That being said, it’s hard to picture him being able to keep up with Cloud’s speed. In Advent Children, Cloud was able to keep up with 3 different opponents at once and all of them possessed varying degrees of super speed. Maybe he’ll wind up surprising me, but while Noctis may be one of the strongest protagonists yet, he won’t end up being The strongest. Cloud wins.

Block Party Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 5/10

Rerun vs Larry Appleton

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I’ll admit that I’ve never heard of Rerun or his show “What’s Happening” before. Well…it seems intriguing, but probably not my kind of program. He’s not a fighter, but neither is Larry so this fight could get close. #LivingLikeLarry may be a meme, but Appleton didn’t create it. Man, I need to get back to this fight as I’ve been diverging off into randomness now right? Okay, I think Larry wins this because he’s a grown up. They both can’t fight, but at least Larry has a measure of strength at his disposal. I believe that he is stronger and likely faster than Rerun. That’s typically all that you need in a fight right? Larry Appleton wins.

David Van Driessen vs Ryu

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“The Answer lies in the heart of battle.” “Heart Wins Battles” Notice anything similar in the quotes from Ryu and Cyclops? Heart plays a very important role in a fight and that’s one area where David is sorely lacking. He won’t be able to survive a hit from normal Ryu, much less the bearded version! Ryu is overqualified here and he could probably take on the whole Beavis universe. It feels good to be a powerhouse sometimes doesn’t it? You can definitely expect the legendary Street Fighter to return. Ryu wins.

David Van Driessen vs Tom Anderson

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Both of these guys are from the Beavis TV show. Neither one of them can fight so that’s what makes things interesting here. Tom Anderson once knocked a man down, which is impressive, but he is a little old. David doesn’t exactly seem like a weight lifting champ, but I’m willing to bet that he’s got enough left in the tank for a nice win here. It’s a close match and it could go either way here, but youthful energy can give you quite the edge. David Van Driessen wins.

Everest

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It’s time for another film based on a real life event. A lot of people have died on this mountain throughout the years. The number will continue to grow as well because people can’t resist a challenge, even if it is a life threatening one with no real reward. (Except satisfaction I suppose) This film chooses one such expedition where most of the people died, but there were some survivors. It’s certainly a lot more well done than the other real life based stories that I’ve seen lately, but I still wouldn’t say that it’s really my kind of film. Although, it definitely does seem pretty faithful as far as adaptions go.

For starters, the characters are mostly reasonable. It’s a shame that most of them have the same design so it’s easy to mix people up, but I guess that’s how it goes in the cold. Most of the characters are here to climb the mountain so they stay professional, which is always a change of pace. The leader (Rob) in charge of the main explorer group wants to make sure that everyone climbs the tower safely and is probably the best character in the film. It’s a shame that he had to choose such a dangerous occupation. Scott isn’t quite as good and while he’s pretty confident the whole time, he wasn’t as cool as the other people. He was reasonable though so I’ll give Scott props there. There was also a cynical explorer who kept on making wisecracks the whole time, but he did have one moment where it was easy to lose a lot of respect for him.

He nearly fell to his death while on a ladder so Rob quickly saved him. Instead of thanking Rob, the guy just started yelling about how entitled he was feeling and one could tell that the salt was very real. It’s hard to recover from a scene like that. The old lady was a good character to root for since she had already climbed 6 out of the 7 biggest mountains in the world. Climbing this one was a matter of honor now. If you saw my review on The Perfect Storm, you can imagine that I basically scoff at the notion of ever attempting such a feat. I’ll stick to my video games instead of risking my life on such a dangerous mountain. If I ever want an adrenaline rush I’ll quickly head to a Super Smash tourney, but beyond that…I’m pretty good at this point.

The mountain certainly looks good there so at least you’ve got the view to think about. I’m sure that climbing the mountain is much safer and quicker nowadays than it used to be, but it probably won’t be completely safe for a long time, if ever. We’re going to need some next generation clothes to warm up the body during the climb. Then it’ll finally be more feasible to go on the quest, but all it takes is a slip and game over.

It was neat to see the Helicopter essentially slide down to escape the mountain. I feel like Military Grade helicopters and planes should be able to reach the top with minimal effort by now, but I wonder if the standard ones will ever be able to go that high and land safely with all of the wind and ice that is around. It would be tough, but definitely a nice cop out for people who don’t want to take the extra risks of walking all the way up.

The film definitely seemed to take some shots at the fact that the mountain is now commercialized. It does seem a little crazy that it has become such a popular destination. At this rate, you’ll be able to add the Moon to that list as well someday. I certainly wouldn’t want to arrive on Everest to see everyone hanging out. I’d like to go there and it’s empty, as if I owned the whole mountain. That’d be pretty hype. One thing I would recommend to future explorers is that you choose your partners well. You don’t want to receive half empty air canisters or have a partner who shows up 30 minutes late and forced a few people into an early grave as a result. Everyone wants to be on point because if one guy slips up, everyone else will join the slide. Then their flags and speeches won’t mean quite as much since your family would rather have you wish them than a speech. The moral here is definitely that family comes before crazily intense risks.

One last thought that I had was that it would probably not be all that hard to build an installation on Everest. I’m guessing that there would be a lot of global tensions around that, but making a structure would make the climb a lot easier. People could actually live in this building and it could shelter travelers during the night in a separate area. I’m assuming that this hasn’t been done because it may not be feasible for some reason or it would take the fun away from the adventure. If it’s the latter, then I hope that this happens ASAP. Safety before fun folks.

Overall, Everest is a pretty good film based on a real event. I feel like they probably could have chosen just about any expedition where a few people died and one survived, but this one was certainly a very incredible story so it’s as good as any. The film tries hard for the emotional appeal and I feel like it would succeed a little more without that, but it’s to be expected in a crisis film like this one. I think deciding to name the baby while dying is a little selfish since there’s no way that the wife will switch it now, but in the end it’s just a name. If you’re looking for a good real life drama/thriller then this is a good one to check out. Now we just need to see which mountain will get a film next time!

The Perfect Storm

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The Perfect Storm is based on a real life event where two storms of immense proportions clashed and a boat was destroyed along with its crew. I don’t remember hearing about this event before so I suppose that it was before my time. (After all, I hear about all the big news….sorta) There are a few big sideplots to try and pad out the time, but I’m afraid that they certainly don’t contribute anything to the narrative.

One of the subplots is about a little boat that also got caught in the storm. The Captain reminded his passengers that he’s never needed a map before and he doesn’t need one now. As a result, they’re tossed around in the waves for a while. I like the Captain’s gusto, although he is endangering everyone else just to prove his gusto. That’s certainly not the wisest course of action and he’s pretty much just there for comedy. He was a well done character though so I’ll give him some props there. Another subplot is that the Captain of the main ship is warned by the Captain of another one that he is in a dangerous zone. He barely listens to her though and while she almost saves him in time by calling in a chopper, it was too late.

Naturally, the main plot is where the meat of the story is, but unfortunately the characters do drag it down. The beginning is pretty sad and reminded me of Cloverfield to an extent. Especially considering that these guys are based on real individuals, you’d think that they would try to make the characters look better. One guy’s a flirt who only really cares about one night stands and never develops into a likable person. Another one doesn’t listen to his wife’s warnings about going to see and decides that the adventure is worth the money. The Captain yells at his crew quite a bit to remind them who’s in charge and to stop any betrayals before they can occur.

Without any likable characters, any film would have an issue being good. The characters constantly getting into fights with each other just makes you wait for the inevitable storm so that something can advance the plot. I also think that the film put too much emphasis on random fish scenes to pad out the time. We saw so many fish get chopped up that I was starting to feel in the mood for a good Salmon. We don’t need excessive animal violence in any film. The excuse of fishing being a sport just won’t cut it here. We don’t need that to be featured in the movie.

I’d also argue that the situation made the characters look a little bad, but naturally there may have been different circumstances in the real life event. The characters have to choose between their fish going bad and heading into the super storm that’s directly in front of them. Their boat’s good, but it’s not exactly military grade so the mission is effectively suicide as soon as it is mentioned. If you ask me, they should just let the fish spoil. A really inconvenient moment was definitely the fact that the characters ran out of ice, which meant that they couldn’t get any more fish. Returning home empty handed would have been humiliating and some of them would have probably been fired, but at least they’d be alive. It’s a tough personal choice to make, but when you have friends and family back home waiting for you, it’s time to make the tough calls.

If anything, it’s very impressive to see the military get involved and ride into the storm. I’m sure that it was the last thing any of them wanted to do since it was a dangerous situation. They’re probably wondering why everyone was out in the middle of the storm when it had been predicted for a while, but that’s how it goes. I feel like they could have been able to refuel in the film. They kept missing the shot, but why not try and try again until you literally can’t? I didn’t agree with the decision to just give up.

Overall, The Perfect Storm could have been a much better adaption. Based on the Wikipedia section of possible errors, it could have been more accurate as well. Although I’m sure that people would have been tackling them with denials and such no matter what so I can’t really comment on the accuracy. A lot of the padding could have been removed and the characters should have looked a lot better. Just as it’s said “Don’t speak ill of the dead” they should be portrayed as fairly good characters. They don’t have to be perfect, but I doubt the families would be thrilled about how some of these guys looked. Well, getting caught in a double storm would certainly be dicey so I advise you to stay ashore and if you have to choose between fish and your life…I trust that you’ll really think about the options before making a move. I don’t believe in going outside to find adventure or anything like that so when the next storm hits, I’ll be in bed with a chocolate chip cookie playing a nice round of Super Smash Bros.

Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2 Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10