Comedy of Terrors Review

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This movie’s pretty funny at first but starts to just barely overstay its welcome by the end. Fortunately that’s when things wrap up or that could have been tricky. I’m always up for parody type titles like this though. You ca recognize how the scenes would have played out if it was serious and then enjoy how it goes instead. It just starts to run out of gags and so it replays them instead.

The movie introduces us to Trumbull who is a super corrupt guy who doesn’t like his wife Amaryllis and only married her so he will have control of the funeral company once her father dies. In the meantime business is slow so he has to work with his partner Felix to murder people for the coffins. It’s slow work though and in the meantime the amount of money that they owe is only getting larger. So at this point the only thing to do is bump off the landlord so this way they don’t have to pay rent. This guy will be tough though. His name is John and he’s known as a very persistent guy who never goes down to the point where he is a pseudo immortal. Can they overpower him?

In a way there’s a lot going on which is why the first half is really good but gets shaky later on. For example I enjoy the banter between Trumbull and Amaryllis. There’s just so much bad blood here and you get the feeling that Trumbull was probably a really bad actor when he asked for her hand in marriage. Somehow it worked out but now he doesn’t even pretend. She tries to get together with him several times and he can’t stand to even look at her. So he drinks and drinks to try and speed up his own demise. The script is fairly clever here and the burns can be funny. It’s the best dynamic in the movie.

Trumbull is also the most charismatic character in general so you always want him to be on screen. Unfortunately when Amaryllis is by herself, her only gag is about how bad her singing voice is so the film repeats this gag many different times. Her character is ultimately used only for fanservice aside from that so there just really isn’t much left for her. You’re rooting for her to get away from Trumbull but not to fall into a rebound romance or anything like that.

Meanwhile Felix is Trumbull’s hapless associate. He has always liked Amaryllis but of course that would be taboo. He talks a good game but always goes along with Trumbull’s orders and is a complete accomplice. I can’t say that I felt all that bad for him. He needed to stand up for himself more and so even if he might feel like a character who needs sympathy, I couldn’t muster much up for him. If you want a sympathetic character then John is your guy. He’s just minding his own business when the main characters keep trying to murder him.

John’s making an honest living and while he may be a stern landlord, he’s not doing anything illegal. You’re rooting for him every time the guy is able to resist the clutches of death. Again this is a gag that might be played up a little too much but I was glad that he never called it quits. This is not your average human and he even had some sword skills.

I can also say that the film has a fun climax with a whole lot of twists and turns. There’s a ton of activity within those final minutes where no character is particularly safe. It ends things in a very satisfying way that makes the rest of the adventure stay as fun as it was. If the ending was bad then it probably would have had a rough ripple effect on the rest of the movie. At the end of the day the ending will always be key for this reason.

The film’s cast is rather small but the film’s not super long or anything like that so it’s balanced pretty well. The character with the least to do was definitely the father since his only role was really to be completely out of his depth and not sure what was going on. You always felt bad for the daughter who saved him from being poisoned many times but he never understood so he blamed her for stealing the medicine. Probably should have found a way to get that cleared up at some point….

If there was something I could have added to the film aside from a larger variety of jokes, it would be to have had some kind of a big final fight with John. That could have been fun and you could have used the immortality for a lot of fun gags. Like they keep murdering him with more and more elaborate traps/weapons and he just keeps on getting up. I did like their extended fight of him trying to get out of the coffin and their sealing it up. Something like that but as a full on comedy fight.

Overall, Comedy of Terrors is a film that has fun with a lot of gags. It could have used more material to really make this a hit but in the end it was still good. I would safely be able to recommend this one. As long as you’re looking for some good humor then there is really a good amount to enjoy here. It’s also not a bait and switch by any means as the first seconds start you off with some gags right off the bat. They seriously wasted no time here which I thought was rather impressive. Although I am glad that they didn’t keep up with the super speed effects and comedy sounds as that would have been a little too much. The film excels with the subtle comedy where everyone is a bit off but they are all technically acting serious. I find that to be a lot more effective.

Overall 6/10

Soul Calibur VI Review

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It’s time to look at the latest installment in the Soul Calibur series. It’s definitely been a long while since I played the last one. The good news is that the actual gameplay is as great as ever. I definitely enjoyed it a great deal and so that alone already makes this a great game. On the more underwhelming side, I have to admit that the story is a real step down even though it tried to do some rather ambitious things.

The game has a main story and then a bunch of individual stories for each character. There is also an alternate story type mode where you can make an original character and run through a bunch of levels. First, the impressive part about this is how many story options you have. There is a big map that shows you where across time each character story takes place so in theory you can keep switching in between characters if you want. I didn’t do any of those yet but it’s nice that everyone gets one.

Here’s the problem though, the story is rather low effort. I played through the main story mode which is 20 chapters long and good portions of the story are told through a single illustration. Yes there is voice acting but no animation. Out of those 20 chapters, at least 5-7 didn’t even have any fights so you would just watch a long text cutscene. In a PS4 game and especially for a huge franchise like this, there should be constant cutscenes. At no point should you just be reading through the game like this.

It can be done I suppose if the illustrations are really excellent and constantly changing or if the soundtrack is just that dynamite but for the most part it’s a non starter. We only get 2-3 actual cutscenes here and they actually look good so you wonder why they didn’t do that for the whole game. I have to assume that it’s a budget thing but that’s a bad look for a huge title like Soul Calibur. So I was definitely not a fan of that, I expected much better here. The story itself also wasn’t the most interesting. The goal of finding the Soul Edge is always a classic but there’s just not much chance for things to happen before the game ends.

This is mitigated a bit by the fact that there are tons of individual stories to play through but more effort should have gone into the main story considering that it’s their main item you know? Ah well, maybe I should be happy that there is a story mode since not all fighting games have that. I’ve heard disturbing rumors that Street Fighter VI doesn’t even have one but I hope that’s not the case.

Of course there are tons of other modes to play through as well and you have the classic vs mode. You can fight offline or online and there are plenty of characters to choose from. There are also a lot of trophies to try and unlock, those are sure to take you a long while. So there’s no shortage of content to find here and the game is relatively cheap so you don’t have to break the bank trying to get it. I’d definitely say to purchase it.

While Story Mode wasn’t the ideal, the gameplay is fantastic and like I said earlier, that’s important. I like the long reach of the weapons which helps make it feel different from other fighting games. You don’t have to get as up close and personal as in other titles. Each character has many different moves to play around with and I like the attack sound effects. It still can’t beat Tekken in that arena but this may be in second place for that. The soundtrack as a whole is okay but nothing too special. The graphics are really solid though, the art style works well and this definitely looks and feels like a PS4 game which is important.

Going back to the gameplay, I like how simple the final smashes are to use. The game isn’t going out of its way to make it really convoluted or anything like that. It’s just a quick button press like the old days and then you’re off to the races. To compensate for this, the attacks don’t deal a ton of damage but they are still really handy to have. I did have to get used to pressing a button to block though as I’m really used to just holding back on the control stick. I’ll likely eat a lot of attacks while I get used to that, but eventually I’ll get the hang of it.

Overall, Soul Calibur VI is definitely a great game. I wish they would have tried a little harder on the story but if the reason is that they really had to prioritize the gameplay then I technically can’t really fault them for that. If the vs mode had ended up being no good then that would have been a massive problem right out of the gate. Feels like it’s been a minute since this one came out so they should start looking into making a seventh Soul Calibur. Hopefully they can grab more guest star characters around and try to make it the ultimate title in the series or something like that. I think that would be pretty cool.

Overall 8/10

The Ninth Configuration Review

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

When you have a movie by the same guy as the Exorcist you already know that you’re going to be in for a rough time. It’s not exactly a vote of confidence right? Well, this one definitely manages to live up to the Exorcist’s legacy so you will want to stay far away from this one. It’s definitely not a movie that you will want to stick around for. You’ll have checked out at least 9 times during it!

The movie starts off with introducing us to a castle where the government has made a safe space for veterans who have gone crazy after their time in battle. Their PTSD and delusions act up in many different ways such as amnesia or complete changes in personality. The place allows the inmates to have the run of the place and they just have guards on the outside to make sure nobody escapes. This does seem rather dangerous and while the idea is probably that they’re all good people who have all just gone a little mad…that’s a pretty big risk. Hudson has been sent over here to be the new head of the place. He will be a doctor who can bring some order to this place but is he up to the job?

I think the most tragic part about this film is that the opening minutes aren’t terrible. We get a solid fakeout in the beginning where a doctor introduces himself to Hudson and they have a reasonable conversation only for the dialogue to start getting weirder and weirder. Well, it turns out that the “doctor” was another insane patient who just thought he was one and the guy gets taken away. It was actually a really solid gag and set things off on the right track. See, the opening of the film is actually more of a comedy with the whole place being rather wacky and silly.

Yeah you could say there are some dark undercurrents here since these people have lost their minds which is really tragic but the film is playing it off in this rather odd way. Like I mentioned, the patients are allowed to do whatever they want so there will be scenes where they storm into the room to talk about painting, movies, drama, etc. Their conversations end up going in circles and don’t really have a point to them. Of course that in itself is the point. It’s a bit on the dull side but it’s mostly inoffensive. I’d probably give the first half like a solid 4 or something like that.

Then things take a turn when the film decides to get real dark and edgy. It all leads up to one of the inmates managing to escape only he ends up going to a really seedy bar where a gang has full control of it. Evidently they have had control of this place for a very long time from how everyone is acting. It’s so close to the army base that you’d figure some soldiers would have gone there during breaks or something right? Maybe they just never noticed or didn’t even care since there wasn’t much reaction to the truck in the opening scene.

Unfortunately the whole exchange is the definition of a film killer. It lasts forever and has the villains getting away with too much. They’re up against a soldier whose mind has been fried for a long time so he’s not able to fight back at all and he’s horribly outnumbered anyway. After he’s tortured for a while, Hudson comes in and then the same thing happens to him. They have him debase himself for a while and by the time he gets up and begins his big Shonen Jump comeback, it’s just way too late to care.

When you have the hero losing, you have to make sure you don’t overplay your hand. You need him to start fighting back while there are still things to fight for and before the villains have had their full laughs. The film really mistimed this and had Hudson put up with way too much. The whole thing doesn’t work and I would argue that even accounting for all of the twists in the movie it doesn’t work. Hudson had shown some aggression in an earlier scene when someone was just grabbing an inmate. Here, way worse things are happening and he doesn’t take that same tone/approach?

He had a security guard be afraid of him during one of the earlier scenes because of how intense Hudson got. So the fact that this didn’t happen here was very disappointing. The film wanted to show just how evil the outside world could be but ended up falling into the issue of too much show rather than tell. If you cut the scene in half and have Hudson start fighting way earlier then it would have gone a long way. Unfortunately the film doesn’t stop there. Hudson’s overall climax after this is definitely real bad.

Ironically his moment is supposed to show the moment of human goodness that the inmate was looking for but i would argue that it doesn’t work. It’s misguided at best and ultimately is never the way to go. There are much better ways to prove that. In fact, fighting off a bunch of villains to save your friend would already be a rather solid moment if you ask me. Choosing a certain method to shock the guy back into reality is definitely not what I would choose. So while the film goes for a happy ending approach in the end, it ended up being more on the sad side if you ask me. There was a whole lot of damage done to the characters here and by the end they’ve lost at least as much as they have gained, if not more.

So far films about insane asylums don’t tend to have a good track record. They tend to be rather crazy the whole time with a whole lot of issues. Either the inmates start to get mistreated all the time or they turn evil and start murdering people. I’m still waiting for a wholesome adventure where the inmates are all cured and the whole process is a lot of fun rather than it being all dark and dreary. The odds of this likely won’t be great though because to an extent it does go against the whole point of taking place in an asylum.

Overall, There are some pretty solid plot twists here that end up getting overshadowed by the film’s failings. Hudson’s character was handled well aside from the bar scene and the gag at the beginning that I mentioned was really good. In general the writing and dialogue were reasonable in the first half. Keeping everyone in the asylum would have been the film’s best bet. I don’t think there was going to be many easy ways to fight off the fact that the film could be rather boring but trying to go the edgy approach really didn’t work. So in the end I would say to definitely give this one a skip.

Overall 0/10

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (Gamecube) Review

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I remember playing Marvel Nemesis on the DS so many times back in the day. I was hooked on that game! The controls worked really well on the DS and it kept track of play time well so I would just have a blast beating the game over and over again. Well, after all of these years it is pretty cool to finally be checking the Gamecube version out and actually witnessing the story first hand. It’s definitely a very unique Marvel game, one that you don’t really see nowadays with the general roster.

The story begins with an invasion. The Imperfects and their leagues of monsters have attacked the planet. Heroes like Captain America and the Hulk go down quickly. The story parts that we don’t actually see are just as interesting as the ones that we get to witness. Like we hear about Avengers Mansion being attacked, the FF being in trouble, etc. There’s no time to see these guys but we do see the aftermath. For example Wolverine is told to go to Avengers mansion and see what’s happening. Everyone is gone by that point except for the Imperfect assassin. We see the story through very narrow instances like this which is part of what makes the story so intriguing.

It’s going for a sort of spooky approach for the most part. Also, you choose what paths to follow. For example, you have 3 different heroes you can play as at first. Each one has 3 missions, the first 2 typically don’t have any real cutscenes and then the third is the big boss fight with an Imperfect. After that you get an origin cutscene for one of the Imperfects. Then you have the tough call of deciding which Marvel hero to kill off. Whoever you choose will no longer appear in the game and the rest of his levels are lost to you.

You keep up this format and eventually there are 5 heroes at a time and you have to keep bumping one off. By the end of the game almost every hero is dead which shows just how powerful the Imperfects are. It’s a little hard to believe that they would do this well in a fight though. A lot of them seem like street level fighters so how did they beat someone like the Hulk? Well, regardless it makes for a very interesting story. Elektra and Daredevil even show up and while that may not seem like a huge deal, it’s rare to see them show up in one of these big Marvel titles like this.

There is full voice acting and everything. So yeah the story is the highlight of the game to be sure and I think if we ever got a remake, they could go even further with it. Unfortunately one thing that hasn’t aged well is the animation. The graphics are well below average for Gamecube and the issue is that it’s all so dark. The whole game has this green tint that makes everything hard to see and it also makes it so that none of the characters really stand out. I’m not really sure on what the point of this artstyle was.

Maybe it’s just to make the whole thing look scarier? Well, either way that part could have been a lot better. Screenshots of the game don’t tend to turn out well and even while playing it, you feel like the game should be way more vibrant than what it is. It’s a real problem and one that the game really created onto itself. The soundtrack is really good though. The themes there definitely stand out a whole lot. I also like the various stages. They all look really good and there is a lot of variety. You have Avengers mansion and a lot of other really iconic locations. That was definitely a really good idea.

As for the gameplay, it’s very unique. I would say it’s good but some parts of it haven’t aged well. For example, each character has a ton of regeneration going for them. So you can land a ton of hits but if you don’t follow up fast, most of the damage will be restored. The game also heavily favors characters with long range throws like Spiderman and Venom. They are simply better than short range throws and it’s not even close. There’s not much incentive to using your hand to hand moves because a lot of them can be interrupted mid combo.

Projectiles are super handy because they strike so fast that you have no time to put up your barrier. You can replenish your super meter rather quickly as well so you won’t be running out of the projectiles very often. The best method of attack is definitely to throw something. Yes, the opponent can catch the object but that’s when you hit them with an energy attack. Throwing things is easily the most effective way to deal damage and during the story I was spamming that the whole time. If there was something that could be thrown, you better believe that I was picking it up immediately!

The game could definitely have benefited from making the hand to hand attacks more useful though. This is probably the only 3D fighting game I’ve ever played where you’re encouraged not to fight like that. Of course, that is why I say that the game is unique. It’s different enough where you should have a lot of fun playing with others. It’s more fun to fight a real person than a computer by far since they react perfectly to the projectiles which seems to be a bit iffy.

Overall, Marvel Nemesis is definitely a nostalgic game. The story is really interesting the whole way through so I had a blast there. Hopefully some day we can get a sequel or a remake. If you can find this one I would definitely recommend getting it. The game’s not that expensive nowadays and it’s worth the play through. Then you can keep on playing vs mode for a while which really has unlimited replay value. That’s definitely the way to go and remember…make sure you play as Spiderman or Venom and you will be dominating!

Overall 7/10

Injustice 2 Review

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As with My Hero, I had to buy the sequel to this one right away after completing the first. Injustice was a great title with a really interesting plot and the same is true of the sequel here. It really picks up right where the first one left off but with extra content and a really big character roster. I definitely blasted through this one because you will not want to put the game down.

It starts off after the first game with Superman behind bars and most of his allies running off to bide their time. Batman has the tough mission of protecting the planet while also preventing Superman from being broken out. Meanwhile Wonder Woman and Black Adam are raising Supergirl so that she can help them rescue Superman and bring the world to its knees. A third party is around though in the form of Brainiac. He doesn’t care about the sides that the heroes have split into, he just wants to destroy the world. Will the superheroes be able to stop him or is it all over?

Yeah there’s a lot going on here the whole time and I like the fact that Brainiac was thrown in because it does make sense that villains aren’t going to wait until this civil war is over. They’re just going to jump in and take names. If anything it’s the perfect time to be a villain with how divided the heroes are. It means that there is less opposition to stop them…much less!

It’s fun to be jumping between the two teams in the chapters. Batman’s team is still the heroic one of course but at least most of the folks on Superman’s team have started to be less crazy. The big exceptions to this are Black Adam and Wonder Woman. Adam’s usually evil anyway so that fits but yeah Wonder Woman really went off the deep end in this universe. She is really a far cry from her usual self. Superman is also permanently traumatized at this point. Even when he is playing ball for a little while, he feels a lot edgier than he usually is. Definitely not someone I’d want to trust.

The gameplay is top notch. The 2D movement is very quick so something is constantly happening. At times it feels like watching a fight scene in a movie with how many attacks are being thrown out. It helps that I don’t block much and the same goes for the computer so we’re really trading blows. For the most part the game’s not too hard but I would lose a life on occasion. Sometimes they would just have me beat with the attacks. It happens from time to time. Just keep calm and you’ll take them out. They usually can’t block the final smash so keep that in the back pocket. Also if you absolutely have to, just block a bit. It really throws them off and then you can counter.

I found the easiest thing to do is hit them with a jumping attack and then a 3 hit combo. Almost every character has the ability to do this so just learn what the easy link combos are and get to work. Once you learn those it makes the whole game a lot easier. The story mode’s length is reasonable with around 13-14 chapters and each one has around 3 fights. There are a ton of cutscenes also so it’s not like you’re just fighting and then leaving the game. It goes without saying that there is really unlimited replay value here with the trophies that you can obtain as well as the high quality multiplayer mode that you can play.

This is a fighting game that really plays to its strengths. A ton of time was clearly put into the combat itself and it paid off. This is definitely one of the stronger fighting games that I’ve played in terms of gameplay. In a way it reminds me a lot of Tekken in that it has great gameplay while also keeping up a very compelling story. Definitely impressive all the way around.

The graphics are really solid here of course. As with the last game, I will say that the art style does make all of the characters look a bit on the ugly side. Like they’re all brutes and I suppose that’s just unavoidable with this look. The game could easily look way better with a more vibrant approach but it definitely would clash with the tone of the game a bit. The soundtrack is solid enough although I can’t really think of any stand out tunes here. It was all a bit more on the forgettable side.

I got the Legendary edition so a bunch of bonus characters are playable here. It’s cool to have Hellboy and one of the Ninja Turtles at the ready. Definitely pretty cool I have to say. My mains will tend to be the DC characters but I do like experimenting. In terms of pure gameplay I found Batman and Harley Quinn to be two of the best characters. Their combos are very fast which makes it easy to land a ton of hits. I tend to prefer characters like that than the slow ones. Sure the damage is intense but it can be hard to land hits.

Overall, Injustice 2 is definitely a great game. The gameplay is top notch as always and of course they did not hold anything back on the story either. The whole game is very smooth to play with all of the menus being straight forward and there are no long loading times. I’d definitely be hyped to see them make an Injustice 3 at some point. There’s definitely a whole lot more you can really do with this verse before calling it a day.

Overall 8/10

My Hero: One’s Justice 2 Review

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After the first My Hero game, I knew it was time to quickly buy the sequel and round out the story. This one really takes a lot of cues from the first game so you’re able to jump right in. Personally I dare say that it might have taken a few too many cues from it. The loading screens are the same and much of the UI is unchanged as well. There is a new story of course but for the most part it feels like they copy and pasted the last game with a new title. I can only imagine that buying it day 1 would have probably been pretty interesting.

But hey, the first game was pretty fun so if this is the same thing but with more characters and story then that just means that I’m guaranteed to have fun right? At least that’s the way that I figured it. The story is reasonably long with close to 50 chapters and then you can play through the story again from the villain’s point of view which will basically double the size of the story. The game may not have much in the way of cinematics or anything like that but it does have full voice acting with the English Dub which I definitely appreciate.

Outside of the story mode you do have a bunch of other options like Vs Mode and Mission Mode. You can have some good fun in there and of course as a fighting game this is really where the bulk of your time will be going anyway. The story won’t really last you more than a few hours but you can keep fighting against other players and the computer for a super long time. That part really doesn’t have to end any time soon. The replay value here will be unlimited as a result, particularly since there has not been a Justice 3 yet.

There are also quite a lot of trophies to obtain as well. I imagine it’ll be a long while before you have the Platinum and that will buy you more time. The going price for the game is also super cheap at the moment so that’s another thing to keep in mind. It’s not like you’re dropping $60 on this title. You can probably get it for around 10-15 if you’re looking in the right place.

The graphics look good here. I wouldn’t say that this is a top tier title by any means but it works well enough. Likewise the soundtrack is good. It has a lot of the classic tunes that you will recognize from the show. This also helps the story since there aren’t many big cutscenes, you at least want to hear the passion and the energy in the songs. I would say the game definitely succeeds there. It can even be funny how random some of the story battles are, so that will keep you chuckling when the serious music is playing.

The 3D gameplay may not be the most popular in a competitive sense, but I still enjoy it. I can see how there’s probably a little less depth to it and it’s certainly not as fast paced but it’s fun seeing the attacks fly in a 3D environment like this. The energy effects are good and every character has a good amount of techniques at their disposal. I particularly enjoyed playing characters like Deku who could chain really long combos together. I get the feeling that the game isn’t super well balanced as there are some characters who can land a 12 hit combo off of one jab while others only get a few hits. Ironically Bakugo is an example of a character who didn’t seem to be very good there.

I know every character will have their own strategies and playing styles so I wouldn’t assume to know the optimal way to play them all but all I can say is that the characters just feel like they’re on different tiers at times. That’s just my two cents though. At the end of the day you just need to try them out and in story mode at least you do get the chance to try a bunch of the characters.

Also I liked the way that the final boss goes because there was some good effort there to make it unique. You are forced to lose the first two times due to an unblockable final attack there but the villain doesn’t use it until the end so each time you think you have a shot. Then after that an option shows up to beat him once and for all. In the final round you get unlimited energy so you are encouraged to spam final smashes the way Deku kept using his abilities in the manga since Eri kept healing him. So that was an example of the game going the extra mile there since I was just expecting another normal boss fight. They even made a huge character model for the final boss so it felt more spectacular than usual. I think it shows a glimpse of what the game could be like if it treated everything with this same energy.

Overall, One’s Justice 2 is a pretty good game. It really is just a glorified port of the first title in a lot of ways as the company clearly took the easy way out of just reusing all of the assets instead of leveling up. It’s certainly a cost effective way of doing things and I can’t really fault them for it. At the end of the day the big thing is still if the game is fun and it is. It’s like Madden, I can keep playing the same game over and over as it hasn’t felt played out yet. With just two games for now, I would definitely say that this game is not played out. It may not compete with the bigger fighting games out there but every series had to start somewhere. This one will likely get better with every installment.

Overall 7/10

Streets of Rage 2 Review

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Classic beat em up titles can feel like a dime a dozen from the old days so it’s really important to have something that helps you stand out. In this game’s case I thought it would be the extra continues that come as part of the game but unfortunately they are finite which hurts the second half a bit. It’s a fun game but yeah without much of a story or anything like that, I don’t see it doing much that other games haven’t already done.

There’s barely even a story here. You have the opening cutscene and then nothing until the very end. I would have liked a little more than that. Ah well, the controls are of course fairly basic. You have your normal hits and then your power moves. The power moves deal a lot of damage but the price for using them is very high. See, every time you use a power move, it drains part of your health bar. So that’s extremely risky and I would only recommend using it if you are fully surrounded. In this game the minions actually use a lot of teamwork so being in the middle is a bad idea.

For example, there’s one enemy who will restrict your arms while the others start punching you. Others will rush in with a quick sneak attack so while you’re punching one minion, he breaks your combo and then the original one hits you. It’s actually impressive of the A.I. I’d say. So the game gets progressively harder and harder as you go through it. There are a few cheesy enemies here though. Whenever I am in the middle of a combo and the enemy activates super armor and hits me anyway…I’m a little skeptical. There’s no way to block or dodge mid combo so that means you have to eat the hit. It doesn’t really seem fair. Then your only option is to go for single aerial hits that can’t be stopped midway but it means beating the level will take forever.

So that shouldn’t be happening. The flying enemies on the jetpack are also a bit much. Your normal attacks can’t reach them so you’re always having to jump up to try and land a blow but it’s just not easy. These enemies are a bit annoying so I’d rather we stay to ground based opponents. You could also just say that the execution was a bit off since otherwise I really wouldn’t have much of a problem with these guys.

The graphics are okay. I wouldn’t say they are anything special but the game was at least trying something as opposed to phoning it in. Then the soundtrack is more on the generic side. So nothing bad but nothing to really write home about either. The game’s length is fairly short. There are 8 levels although each level is longer than the average beat em up title. You’ll have it beat in maybe 80-90 minutes or so. Add or remove time based on how good you are at the game. The initial lives lasted me all the way to level 6 but after that I had to start busting out the rewinds and everything.

There are just so many enemies and they get so good by the end. It’s hard to see how you can get past them on your own. The final boss as well since he is so fast and is always shooting bullets everywhere. He was fairly unique as you would have to get behind him but your character can’t run and is very slow. So you have to try to get to the corner early but that’s how villains end up taking you out. There’s definitely a lot of strategy here.

Overall, Streets of Rage 2 is a decent game but one that still has a big pet peeve of mine. The fact that when you lose you have to go all the way back to the beginning of the game. That’s something that I can never condone. I feel like you should be able to play through the whole title and if you get a game over, you restart from where you left off. Maybe it means that your score resets or something but give me the option to continue. There’s no way I would let myself go back to level 1 and just try to restart again without some kind of progression. So if you have the Nintendo Switch Online, give this one a quick view. It may not change your life but it’s still a fun playthrough.

Overall 6/10

Pulseman Review

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All right it’s time for one of the stronger Genesis titles. Pulseman has aged really well as a quality platformer with a lot of life to it. The levels feel a lot like a Mega Man title but then you have the fun Pokemon soundtrack going along with it. It’s a fun title that feels like a hybrid of 2 of the most popular video game series of all time. You’re definitely going to be satisfied with your playthrough here.

Similar to the Mega Man titles you are given the option of choosing which stage you want to start with. You have 3 options in this one and when you clear them, another 3 stages appear. Once you beat them all then you end up fighting the big boss and the true conspirator behind all of this. Each level is unique and they fit the theme of the villain that you’re fighting. Some levels involve a lot of running, others a lot of fighting, etc. It definitely keeps you on your toes at all times.

So what makes this game so solid? Well, in the first place the fast paced nature of the gameplay is a very good thing. You’re always on the go here as you run around trying to charge your energy. Your main weapon is your energy punch but when you run for a while you build up energy. This allows you to fire off your energy blast or turn into a thunder ball and zoom around the area. The latter is what you will be using most of the time to solve puzzles and get to the end. Some bosses can only be damaged by the thunder ball form as well so you want to keep that in mind.

The thunder ball can’t be controlled but it always moves in the same angles so you can definitely use that to time it. It moves in a diaganal direction and upwards. You can cancel it at any time so that’s something to keep in mind. Usually you want to reach a place that’s very high up so you want to cancel this as soon as you are above the platform. If the object is too high, intentionally bouncing against a wall will increase your height and let you get up there. It’s simpler than it sounds.

Against enemies, well it’s really the same principle. At most it can just be tricky to build up enough running room with enemies around you. The punch will work well against most bosses anyway though. One of them I’m pretty sure I did not beat the way that the devs intended though. I just walked up to the boss and started punching. Somehow all of his hits would go over my head so I didn’t have to move at all. No way that’s intentional but hey…we take those.

The game is definitely difficult though. It’s not one of the toughest that I’ve played on the console because some of these have been super insane but it’s definitely still really intense. There’s one level that’s even a full blown maze so you can easily die many times by falling back o to the same enemies over and over again. Additionally it just takes time since you are given many options and basically have to find the right exit through trial and error. Expect to be here a while and then things will go a lot smoother.

As I mentioned before, the soundtrack is excellent. It’s really got a lot of those classic Pokemon vibes to it while still keeping the Megaman techno vibe. It’s really great and gives the game a very unique identity. The graphics are also very colorful and detailed. The artstyle is really what helps to keep this high up because it is timeless. So even 50 years from now it will still look good.

Overall, Pulseman is a very good game and I definitely recommend playing it. I would say that the game even feels ahead of its time in some ways as it plays like a very modern platformer. Everything about this game was well executed and the developers really did not hold back here. Hopefully it can make a comeback at some point. Yes, it will have to endure being called a Mega Man ripoff for a while but that’s not a big deal since Capcom refuses to do anything with that franchise anyway. In fact, maybe this can get them to finally make more games!

Overall 7/10

Earthworm Jim Review

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It’s time to delve into the world of Earthworm Jim. Unfortunately I would not say that this one holds up very well. It plays around with too many different gimmicks and control schemes which unfortunately means that there is less time to make the platforming as good as it can be. It can be a little rough when you’re running around and constantly bumping into all kinds of traps.

The concept is still interesting as you play as a worm type of creature. It’s definitely not exactly what you would be expecting in a platformer like this although a while back I did get to play the sequel so I was more ready than I usually would be. I don’t think this one is quite as good though and you can feel the growing pains here. For starters, the level designs are rather convoluted. You sometimes have to spend more time wondering where you are going which is definitely not intended. Or if it is then I would argue that it wasn’t a good design choice. You get punished for moving too quickly.

The platforming is also really tricky with the jumps because if you get the angle even slightly wrong then you will fall to your doom and lose a ton of progress. When you factor in the enemies that you will encounter as well, it’s very likely that you will lose a life there. I died so many times here because the enemies are numerous and they move so fast. You really need to have lightning fast reflexes to even stand a chance. It’s definitely not easy by any means.

There are some creative things here though like some levels where you get separated from your body and have to keep up while jumping away from obstacles. It’s a pretty good challenge without feeling unfair. Then you have the high speed chase levels between the platforming ones. Those are definitely rather tricky as it’s hard not to bump into a boulder at some point but these levels are at least fairly fun. They help give you a change of pace from the platforming.

The game’s not even that long, it’s a little over an hour I’d say so it really should not drag at all. The fact that it does by any metric is the real problem here. A game should always be really enjoyable while you’re playing it and it should never drag unless the game is over 10 hours in which case it’s reasonable to have a slow chapter or two. Again it goes back to being stopped constantly when you’re trying to run through the levels which is a real problem. It’s something that happens in 2D Sonic games as well but they have more positives to offset that.

I will say that the graphics are good though. The game is really creative with the enemies and the level visuals so I do give it full credit there. The soundtrack is also reasonably good. On a technical level it’s good, but the gameplay is what holds it back and that’s easily the most important factor in a game so you can’t really survive with that part lacking. It’s just not going to work.

Overall, Earthworm Jim is a decent game but not one that I had a great time with. I think you could do a lot better in just about every genre. There are many platformers that would be ahead of this one as well. It’s worth checking out if you have the Switch Online but it is nowhere near the top of my list. I don’t think it really has much to offer here and while a modern remake could be a lot of fun, I do think that it needs to do something to really differentiate itself from the older title. Just give me some fun run and gun levels and we should be good.

Overall 5/10

Demon Slayer Season 3: Swordsmith Village Arc Review

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It’s time for the big return of Demon Slayer. The series has been on an upwards track so far but would season 3 be able to sustain this? The Mugen Train arc I consider to be much better than this one after all but at the same time just because that is the case in the manga, doesn’t mean it will track that way in the anime. I preferred the Cell Saga to the Buu saga in the DBZ manga while it’s the opposite in the anime so these things can happen. Either way with only 11 episodes this season goes by extremely fast.

This time it’s the Tanjiro show from start to finish as his two teammates are sidelined the whole time. Tanjiro needs a new sword and heads over to the Swordsmith Village where there are 2 other Hashira hanging around. That’s definitely really handy because Muzan sends his troops over to start murdering everyone. Tanjiro will have to try and stop the demons again but does he really have the ability needed to stop them?

One thing you always have to give Demon Slayer is that there’s not a lot of downtime. We get the intro episodes to set the stage and then from there it’s a nonstop climax. Basically from episode 3 and all the way through to the final episode 11, it’s a bunch of nonstop fights. Ufotable is at the helm so the fights all look spectacular. This is definitely a true spectacle show and I’m always up for that. I think it also helps to mask Demon Slayer’s weaknesses and focus on the strengths.

To me, the series does have one of the weaker casts. Tanjiro is nice and all but he’s not a very entertaining main character. Outside of battle he has no real fire in his soul. He’s a nice guy but that feels like most of his character. There isn’t a ton of fun banter between the characters and so the between arc stuff can feel a bit boring. The first two episodes for example aren’t downright bad or anything but any scene of just hanging around the village can be rather boring. I don’t think the show tends to succeed with its humor or non action shenanigans. Fortunately like I said, this isn’t here for long anyway so it’s not really a big concern.

As to the animation, it’s as great as ever. While it’s fair to say that none of the fights match the highs of season 2, they still look great. It’s not that the animation has dipped at all but just that those fights were even more special. This season has more villains who are using run and gun tactics or long range abilities so there isn’t as much chance to have the kind of brutal close quarters combat that you saw in season 2. So have no fear, this show is still giving maximum effort at all times.

The soundtrack is also great. The opening is another high tier song even if it can’t beat some of the previous ones. It’s definitely catchy all the way through. There are also some great emotional tunes like the one that plays in the final episode and of course you have the usual action ones. The soundtrack is very well balanced all the way through. The technical elements never fail to impress and support the main story.

This is the first season where you start to think that Muzan may not be very smart though. The hints were always there but this one definitely sells it. He’s got all of these powerful demons at the ready and he still hasn’t finished off the Hashira? It’s well established at this point that the demons are way more powerful than the Demon Slayers. If they all rushed in at once then the heroes would be doomed. So why not have the demons attack a town as normal. When the Slayers send a single Hashira as they always do, murder him and wait for the next one. Rinse and repeat a few times since there are only 8-10 Hashira and then you’ve won the war.

At the very end of the season Muzan gets real happy because he’s close to his goal and you just feel like he should have been doing things sooner rather than constantly murdering his own men and hurling threats around. He’s an imposing figure to be sure but definitely not a strategist. I look forward to seeing him finally take the stage even if you feel like the heroes should not even remotely stand a chance. One of the strongest Hashira couldn’t take on one of the top 10 and Muzan should be many leagues stronger than that.

The series has been using each arc to develop the Hashira so lets talk about the ones in this arc. First up we have Mitsuri who even now I would say has one of the smaller roles in the franchise from the group. Still, she does get to take down some giant monsters and helps out in the climax. She may lack some of the raw power that the other members have but her weapon itself is very memorable. Its sheer agility makes it hard to dodge while still being sharp. She’s a good character though so I look forward to seeing more of her.

While the series has always been rather spectacular in terms of avoiding fanservice, the show does indulge a bit for when she appears. It’s a rather quick moment at least so on the whole I would say the show is still really solid in this area. Mitsuri gets an origin story and it’s probably the only one that’s not particularly tragic. Almost everyone has an origin involving a demon murdering their whole family or something like that. I’m glad that she was at least able to avoid that.

Then we have Muichiro who has a big role here. This guy doesn’t really like working with a team and values his life above others since he’s a Hashira. Basically he’s a complete jerk to the point where he beats up anyone who gets in his way. Again this is where Tanjiro loses points for me because he just stands there and takes it. How many times does someone have to beat him up before he fights back in a serious way. A lot of leads wouldn’t put up with half of the stuff that Tanjiro allows and it’s really what holds him back in a significant way.

Back in the day Tanjiro and Deku were compared a lot when talking about how much nicer the modern Shonen leads are but the difference is that I do feel Deku would actually stand up for himself a lot more. Yeah he would put up with a bit extra but he still has a tipping point while it feels like Tanjiro really doesn’t sometimes. Obviously if someone else is in trouble then that is a different story but when it’s just him? Game over man. We see why Muichiro turned out this way from his origin story and by the end he is doing better.

He feels a bit weaker than the average Hashira but the battles had some circumstances including poison. In theory he will look a lot better in the future battles coming up. Then we have Genya, another big jerk. This guy can turn part monster if he eats a part of a demon which is a really handy ability. Unfortunately he’s another slayer who can’t play well with others. Yeah he’s also got a super tragic backstory and everything although if anything he’s the one who ends up looking bad in that one since his brother did the best he could. Genya gets some development here as well but to be honest part of his problem is that I find him weak as well.

That fancy gun of his doesn’t work nearly as well as a classic gun would. It’s fortunate that he has regenerative abilities or he would have been bumped off early. This arc basically has the weakest assortment of Hashira and weaker fighters. While I wasn’t a big fan of Tengen, he was extremely powerful. I’d probably take him in a 2 v 1 fight against the Hashira in this season. His stats were just so far through the roof.

Then we have Kotetsu who does his best to look out for the swords but he gets beat up by Muichiro. He helps train Tanjiro although maybe overdoes it with starving him the whole time. It’s not the most extreme that I’ve seen for training though so it’s not crazy. The kid goes through a lot that’s for sure, you definitely feel bad for him in the season. The guy’s got a ton of determination though because he keeps on trying even after getting stabbed when he’s not even a trained fighter like that.

Hotaru could learn a thing or two from this guy because he’s completely unreliable. He’s mad at Tanjiro the whole time because he blames the lead for his sword breaking. That’s illogical on every level. As the guy who made the sword, it’s obviously on him if the sword breaks. Blaming the guy who used it is incredibly petty to me. He eventually gets over himself and makes the sword but yeah I definitely didn’t like this guy.

Nezuko does well as always here. Her fighting abilities are still really impressive and she is certainly able to hold her own really well even against top level demons. Ultimately they are too much for her but the fact that she can deal damage saves Tanjiro and the others quite a bit. The downside to having regen like this is that she does tend to take the most damage though and always goes through the most violence here. The amount of painful injuries that Nezuko takes is absolutely crazy. She has the most emotional moment in the series near the end for sure. Also the implications from this could be a little worrisome so after finishing the season you wonder how that will go.

Gyokko is the main villain here and he’s definitely one of the more annoying ones. He tends to rely on cheap tricks and running around. His own pride is also what keeps him from murdering the swordsmith when he had the chance. So the guy is not efficient and he’s also not one of the strongest members. That’s just great. He definitely has fun picking on opponents who can’t fight back and for a sleazy villain that’s in character but it does mean that there is no reason to really like him all that much.

The other villain Hantengu is way better. That guy actually can fight a lot and then of course he can split into a lot of other demons. All of the split demons have their own special abilities, names, and personalities. It is definitely one of the more expansive splits I’ve seen in a character. I’m used to characters being able to multiply and everything but becoming unique characters like this? It’s really a lot of fun and is part of why the climax went on so long. He would just keep changing over and over. Then he can also absorb everyone and become super powerful again.

It’s a loop that is super hard to fight against and it’s why it took many fighters to defeat him. His rank is definitely very justified within the demon organization since he should clear most of the fighters in the verse. One on One I dare say that there is likely no member of the Hashira who would be able to defeat him. That’s how impressive this guy is. The heroes really had to rely on sheer numbers and a lot of strategy here. The guy definitely left a lasting impression and I won’t be forgetting him anytime soon.

As in previous seasons I would say the only thing that really holds the show back from being higher is that the violence can still be on the excessive side at times. The origin stories are bleak as always with families being murdered or characters being forced to murder their family because they were turned into demons. The demon system still really feels more like vampires to be honest as it’s practically the same thing. A lot of noncombatants are always thrown into the mix as well which definitely makes you feel bad for them.

Even for the combatants the fighting always gets real intense. I tend to have a bit of a higher threshold there as long as they don’t overdo it, but man does Demon Slayer take this close to the brink. Like in Bleach you always wonder why they aren’t all just dying of blood loss by this point. With the demons having high speed regeneration and everything it’s also why you still can’t picture the humans ever winning. It just seems like an absolutely impossible fight all the way through.

Overall, Demon Slayer continues with its nonstop action here. I really do like how the series just locks in every season with massive fights that span many episodes. In that way it feels like a classic action title like DBZ where the fights would really last a while. I look forward to seeing what comes next even if the next season seems like it could be a little lighter on the action. Until it actually comes out, you never know though. Either way we are slowly getting close to the end here.

Overall 6/10