Sword Art Online is one of those Mega titles that we shall never forget. For better or worse, it’s basically ingrained in society at this point. I started the franchise out with the anime before checking out the novels and then the manga. This actually doesn’t bode well for the manga since the designs are pretty different and I consider the anime to have the true ones. That being said, I like to think that I wouldn’t have been crazy about the art either way. It’s a decent take on the show, but I think it could have been better.
In case you are not familiar with the plot, I shall quickly explain it. Sword Art Online takes place in the future and virtual games are all the rage now. One in particular is called Sword Art Online and it is the first big MMORPG. Everyone is hyped and resident computer whiz Kirito decides to buy it. Suddenly, the players become trapped in the game and they can’t get out unless they complete the title. 2 years later, the story begins as Kirito must try to become the best. Can he really do it as a solo player or will he end up joining Asuna’s (Main heroine) group? Only time will tell!
The actual plot always sounds great no matter how many times I write or hear about it. You simply can’t beat a good sci-fi plot like this or not very easily. Being stuck inside of a video game is a concept that appeals to me in part because it sounds like it would be a fun experience in real life. (To an extent of course) I think that it might be a missed opportunity for the series that they quickly skipped the first two years, but we still get a lot of cool moments so it still works.
The main problem with the series is that the art isn’t very good. The characters just don’t look like themselves and it’s like they’re half chibi. If you’re going to make the characters tiny you’ve got to go all the way or leave them in their normal size. It can also be hard to follow some of the fight scenes although the art gets better as the series progresses in that respect. It’s still pretty below average though. It’s hard to say if I would have liked it more if I had read the manga before the anime or not, but it’ll just be one of life’s mysteries. Either way, I doubt that I would have called it anything above average.
The characters are pretty in character since a lot of the dialogue is almost word for word from the novels/anime. Kirito is still as hardcore and intense as ever. Aside from his unnecessary and disheartening one night stand, Kirito has proven that he has what it takes to be the main character. He doesn’t back down from a challenge and he’s pretty confident in his abilities. That’s why the art always gets me. He just does not look tough! He looks like a kid and his serious scenes just don’t come off as cool as they should this way. It’s not the character’s fault, but the art.
Asuna also makes for a good heroine. She’s probably in the top 3 highest leveled players in the game and her speed is certainly good. She is lacking in attack power as seen in the boss fight, but she always gives it 110%. The one night stand also hurts her character development, but luckily that’s pretty much the last that we’ll see of that. Klein is one of Kirito’s old pals (AKA, they met in the game for like 5 minutes) and he’s actually pretty decent. He’s a nice guy and he actually doesn’t hold it against Kirito that Kirito left to be a solo player. Klein ended up reaching a decently high level himself so it makes you wonder how things would have been if Kirito had stayed with the party. He’d probably be a little lower leveled, but Klein’s group would be higher leveled than they were. Ultimately, Kirito made the right decision, but who doesn’t like hypothetical situations.
The main villain naturally gets to appear since he locks them in the game, but don’t worry…he has plans for them! He’s a pretty good fighter even if he cheats sometimes, but he does fight with just his talent in the end so we know that he’s for real. He’s decently cool and easy to root for. They try to play him off as a sympathetic villain by the end, but it still doesn’t work considering how high the casualties were. You can’t really forget that, but he is still a pretty neat villain. His plan was also intriguing, but I think that the final boss would probably be too much for the heroes.
The speed at which this manga goes is very quick, which can be a good or bad thing. You really breeze through the arc since there are only two volumes and they have a whole lot to adapt. Some scenes are simply breezed over while others are long enough to essentially match their alternate (Novel/Anime) versions. The pacing works for this series although I wouldn’t have minded stretching it out to 3 volumes and extending some of the fights. You can never go wrong with longer fights since they just add to the overall epicness of the series.
In the end, there are to real negatives to this story aside from the one night stand. There’s also a dicey moment that doesn’t make a lot of sense where Asuna falls out of a portal and Kirito essentially panics. That was pretty sad, but at least it’s an extremely brief scene thanks to the pacing. Those two faults are there, but that’s not a whole lot so you may wonder why it didn’t crack the classic 7 rating. Well, the art keeps it from that. Art is more important in comics/manga than in any other medium except for maybe TV shows. (It’s just not typically an issue there) Bad art can overpower good writing just like bad gameplay can override graphics in a video game. That being said, it’s still a good manga, it just could have been even better.
Overall, it’s ironic that this version gets a higher score than the anime even though the anime does a much better job with arc 1. Ah well, it is still a pretty fun premise to play around with and the art may have taken away some of the enjoyment that I could have gotten from it, but there was still enough to go around. Kirito makes for a good main character and there are several fight scenes here. Since this is basically two volumes merged into one, it’s also a pretty nicely sized volume that should last you long enough to really be worth the value. I recommend it to anyone that wants to see a classic fantasy RPG or for anyone who wants to see a cool main character.
Overall 6/10
Well, it’s been a little over 2 years since I last saw this film, which brings it up to 2-3 times that I’ve seen it so far. It’s a pretty neat concept and I’ve heard that the show was pretty good, but the film has a lot of flaws that are barely hidden beneath the surface. It had a lot of potential thanks to some of the techniques that they used, which will remind you of the good ole films, but it’s simply not enough.
Charlie’s Angels is actually one of those films that can make you really worried for a Wonder Woman or Ms. Marvel film. Let’s just say that if one of those films was like this one, it would make audiences around the world shudder. A 30% on Rotten Tomatoes would likely shock me as it could be even lower. This one is spared that because of when it came out. I can guarantee that if this film came out now it would make waves…and not the good kind!
The plot involved a multi billionare (Probably) named Charlie. He hires three women to work for him as they stop crimes that no ordinary police force ever could. Their missions are dangerous, but these women are even deadlier! Natalie, Dylan, and Alex are the three main characters and they’re all pretty different, but are about equal in overall fighting technique. (Very, Very arguable) Well, they finish another mission when they find out that a computer whiz has been kidnapped. He has created a tech that can figure out a person’s voice print pretty quickly. It’s like tapping a phone, but it works on the actual voice. The Angels must find him and stop this from getting into the wrong hands.
Now, I just have to point something out about the premise that is pretty interesting. The climax involves Charlie making a phone call and the villain stalling him to try and figure out his location through the voice prints. It’s like a GPS and using some satellites he can track him down. That’s cool….until you remember that we can actually tap phones nowadays and you can track a person’s real location without inventing some made up technology about the voice prints. So, why is the voice print even necessary? Your guess is as good as mine…….the only way out of this logic hole would be if phone tracers had not been invented yet, but I’m pretty sure that they have been.
Okay, let’s quickly digress into some of the positives for the film. It has a very Dragon Ball Evoloution feel to it, which works pretty well. We get a lot of slow motion, interesting action shots, and facial expressions that would make film creators proud. It’s hard to describe how it feels like “That” kind of film, but watch any classic video game or manga inspired film like the one I just mentioned or the original Street Fighter and you’ll get my jist.
The soundtrack is also very intense. I can’t confirm that the lyrics for all of the songs are okay since some of the songs can be sketchy, but others were great. We got some really fast paced rock/battle themes that were all over the place and it made the scenes a whole lot more fun. It’s the kind of soundtrack that would never win you an Oscar, but that’s actually a good thing in this case. Oscar films can actually have some good tunes as well, but never anything quite like this. For every good song, there is still a bad song as well to highlight the fact that this film still uses a lot of not very subtle fanservice in between (and during) fight scenes. Ah well, I’ll take what I can get I suppose!
Dylan is my least favorite member of the Angels so I’ll start with her. She’s a decent fighter like the others, but she comes off as more of a tom boy. That doesn’t stop her from using her charm to seduce the characters that she can, but it ultimately results in a pretty embarrassing moment for her. Let’s just say that you should never start hanging out with a suspect so casually unless you want to get burned. Even without that scene she was likely my least favorite, but it certainly didn’t help her case.
Natalie is more laid back, but she still needs romance in her life so she quickly brings in a bar tender that she met and they instantly made it past the bounds of friendship. That was quick and then she went off to continue fighting and saving the world. Again, I find it hard to like her at all since she needs to have more hobbies aside from romance. She danced for a while, but it was pretty bad and again..it didn’t help her case.
Alex is the final member and she already has a stable romance going so she’s already set from the get go. Again, it’s hard to like the Angels because they don’t seem to have much of a personality beyond the romance. It’s quite sad. They are also willing to do just about anything to complete their mission so you almost start to feel bad for their boyfriends. (Almost! They’re not exactly innocent either) She can fight as well, which is good since you would be doomed otherwise against the villains.
Bosley is another one of the main characters and he looks pretty bad. One of his first scenes has him give the girls a long speech about love and how they can make it stronger while they’re basically mocking him and then he proceeds to get tricked by one of the main villains. (Naturally, the villain was female) He has enough strength of mind to tell her that he was going to keep it professional, but he still looked really terrible by letting her in the house from the start. You don’t do that when you have a billion dollar program inside and the person outside the door is a suspect.
There’s not much to say about Charlie. He’s rich and he’s old, but he barely gets to appear. At least he reminds the Angels that he’s watching over them before sending them on extremely dangerous missions. One of the main villains is known as the Thin Man and he’s pretty awesome…at first. We find out that he has something for hair and he gets a little too emotionally involved in that aspect. You just knew that the film would find some way to wreck his character. He started out as a really serious villain as he took on the three main characters. By the end, he was reduced to getting clobbered in a one on one fight and basically running for the hills. No worries…he’ll be back!
It may not sound that bad from all of that, but there is one ultimate reason why it was doomed right from the get go. The fanservice! This could probably hold its own against just about anything else in this area. You’ll get a scene that fits this description in almost every scene in the film. Whether the heroes are seducing someone to distract him or just striking unnecessary poses, it’s just sad. Every male character is presented to be someone who’s heads over heels for them. The guys just care about their outer appearance and none of them are morally ethical. It’s pretty sad to see guys depicted like this. It’s actually common place to an extent, but certainly not to this level. Even in James Bon….well, it’s basically at the same level. It’s just more fanservice than actually going further while it’s the opposite in James Bond.
An example of this is the traditional planning scene where the heroes explain what the security is like. The camera quickly zooms in on their mouth so we can have some really awkward visuals to distract us from what they’re actually saying. It’s pretty cringe worthy. It’s what drives this film down to Sucker Punch levels. Of course, Sucker Punch didn’t suffer from fanservice, but that’s another story. It’s a sad coincidence that those two films are down at the 1’s because they both could have been very good. What happened? The film just needed a different director and writer and then maybe it could have stood a chance.
After all, the fight scenes are pretty good when they happen. At one point, the three Angels team up to fight someone and he actually holds his own against the three of them for a while. It’s fun to watch, but it definitely doesn’t make the main characters look impressive. How can the three of them be having such a tough time when it’s so early in the film? Obviously, the writers forgot that you’re supposed to make the characters very likable and strong before you give them a villain that they can’t defeat.
The two main villains are pretty bad as well. One of them has a gun, but she’s still strong enough to give one of the Angels a tough time in hand to hand combat. If someone who seems like she doesn’t have that much time to train can give them a good fight….just how tough are the Angels? It definitely makes you wonder. The guy is very weak, but he knows that the main characters are always using their charms so he just uses that to his advantage. A surprisingly cunning strategy, but it never would have worked on a halfway decent character. Never!
Overall, Charlie’s Angels isn’t any better than I remember it. The film still puts too much emphasis on the heroes’ bodies and not enough on their character. Every other scene will have you looking away or wincing because you know that the film is just getting started. The soundtrack is pretty good and the actual plot is so retro that it still works despite the logical errors. It’s simply not enough to overlook this and it won’t help the feminist position. Let’s face it, we’d never have a film where three guys are constantly being used for fanservice throughout the film. It wouldn’t happen. Instead of checking out this film, watch the original Mortal Kombat to see how the film could have/should have/would have gone if the writers had realized sooner what they had done. There was simply tooooooo much fanservice here and I can’t stress enough just how sad it was. I highly recommend skipping it, no matter what type of film you’re looking for.
Overall 1/10
It feels like a long time ago, but I actually read this series as recently as the end of May. (May 31st is when I had the original post up) I haven’t read many mystery series in the past so it’s great to finally meet a long one and it naturally has the Shonen twist to spice things up. All that aside, could it end up being as good as Assassination Classroom and join the big leagues? (Not saying that Classroom is in the big leagues yet, but it’s a solid series thus far) Time to find out!
The main character of this series is a girl named Yako and she was leading a normal life until her father is murdered. This naturally distresses her and she’s unsure of what to do next. Luckily, a demon by the name of Neuro appears and he agrees to solve her mystery, but now she will have to be his assistant…forever. That seems like a small price to pay so Yako accepts. There are many mysteries that make up about half of the series (Feels like it anyway) until the real plot begins. An organization of terrorists appear and they want to spread chaos and panic throughout the world. Their actual goals beyond that are pretty vague, but they want to conquer the world. They’re all human and Neuro’s a city busting demon so this should be easy…right? Well, Neuro gets weaker for every day that he is in the human world, so that helps to even the scales a little bit.
The artwork is pretty great and it’s very easy to follow the action along. This isn’t the Sword Art Online manga that we’re dealing with! It can certainly hold its own against just about any other series on the artwork and while it may not stand out as terrific, I would call it very good. The character designs are all fairly unique, which helps you to remember them pretty well. (Names are another matter altogether. I can’t say that I remembered the names of just about anyone after I finished and let my thoughts stew for 4-5 months.)
The humor in the series wasn’t for me and it certainly played a part in the series inevitable drop in the ratings. One of the running gags in the series is that Neuro is constantly making Yako’s life as miserable as he can. He puts demons in her food so that she can’t eat and he never lets her sleep by placing many traps around the apartment. If she tries to go to sleep, she runs the risk of being impaled, electrocuted, or basically destroyed. Keep in mind that this is all in a comic relief/slap stick so to some it may not seem as bad as it sounds, but the humor is still too morbid for me. The stuff that Neuro really crosses the line into being a villain no matter how Yako may try to sympathize with him. It’s just not enjoyable to watch.
As a main character, Yako is pretty good. I still think that she shouldn’t put up with Neuro so much, but she really does want to help solve mysteries relating to crime and she’s always ready for a good meal. I’m not sure who to compare her too in terms of main characters, but she’s likable. Naturally, she won’t be very similar to someone like Luffy or Ichigo since she never gets to fight, but she helps for the brain vs brawn argument. Of course, this does lead to some plot hax during her big action scenes. I have to say that the ending of the series is pretty sad for her.
Neuro is the other main character and I don’t care for him. He has some good parts of course. I like that he’s one of those fighters who never backs down from a villain and he could care less about what the villains are threatening to do. He’s very skilled and he enjoys a good challenge. This is just outweighed by his bad aspects. He loves inflicting pain and misery to people and his whole gimmick is that he eats mysteries so he loves when things happen to create them. No matter what the act is. The only reason why he is against murder is because it eliminates future mysteries that could have appeared. He’s simply too over the top. Also, he may be insanely strong, but it’s simply not enough at times. He grows weaker with every chapter and eating mysteries doesn’t give him back enough strength to counter what he has lost. So, he gets less impressive as the series goes on and it gets to the point where a human (Amped of course) is giving him some trouble. It was still pretty interesting though and Neuro is one of the few main characters in media who uses fear as his weapon. (Nura is the only other one that I know of who uses this attribute)
X is one of the biggest villains and he/she is decently cool at first. X is a human who can shapeshift and “he” doesn’t even know if he is a guy or a girl. I’m just going to refer to X as a him for this paragraph since the first form that we see him in is that of a guy. He’s pretty quick and since his DNA has been messed with, he’s far superior to an average human. I found myself looking forward to his fights with Neuro. That being said, he was ultimately doomed since he went after a dog. That was the moment of no return for him. His method of destroying people is also rather sinister as he literally turns them into a box. It’s pretty dicey to say the least. I gotta admit that it is a great name for a villain though!
Godai is a former thug who is forced by Neuro to work as the Detective Agency’s bouncer. He does the dirty work for the heroes like filing for an eternity and Neuro messes with him just as much as Yako. Unlike Yako, he doesn’t really get to participate in the mysteries very often though so it’s a pretty rough situation for him. At least he has started to work legitimately so we can thank Neuro for that. I still didn’t care for Godai no matter how much the series tried to make him likable. He just didn’t really add anything to the series.
Sasazuka is one of the best characters in the series. He’s a Policeman with a mysterious past and he has no problems with talking back to Neuro. He’s one of the few humans who is actually very helpful against the villains and he has a pretty emotional wrap up to his plot. His past is rather tragic as you would expect from someone in this series. Upon further thought, I would say that Sasazuka is the best character in the franchise. It’s just hard to top him and he’s basically perfect. It would have been great if he had been the main character.
Sicks is the main villain and he’s certainly unlikable. He’s meant to represent evil in its purest form. Everything that he does is evil and his goals are for the sake of evil. The author makes it clear that you will be rooting against him and we are reminded of this pretty regularly as he attacks people and decimates many buildings as the casualties continue to rise. He’s pretty tough for a human, but it was still pretty hard to buy the fact that he held his own against Neuro. No matter how many power ups he gets, Sicks is still a human so it shouldn’t have been much of a fight. He does have an intimidating presence about him so he was certainly a good match to fight Neuro.
Ishigaki is Sazazuka’s sidekick and he’s typically humiliated throughout the series. Someone is always breaking his toys and all of the villains are able to defeat him rather easily. It’s a running gag in the series on just how weak he is and the worst part is that one of the big tragedies in the series is arguably his fault. It’s because he typically messes up that we assume that he did in one scene, which ends up hurting the heroes. He’s technically pretty likable, but he can become way too full of himself at times.
Usui is one of the higher ups in the police and he’s pretty good. He sets a lot of traps and while Sasazuka may be more of a direct combatant, Usui likes to set traps from the shadows. They both find some success in their methods, but I still prefer Sasazuka. Usui does manage to come through when it counts though, which should not be overlooked. He’s a pretty solid character and it’s easy to root for him.
Higuchi is a top notch hacker who joins the ranks of the heroes about halfway through the series or maybe a little earlier. He’s all right, but he never got a whole lot of character. He’s just what you would expect from a hacker and he’s not quite as tough as Daisy. (The hacker of course) He looks pretty bad as the series goes on since he’s not exactly immune to mind control and that’s what Hal does best.
Speaking of Hal…he’s a pretty cool villain. After he is built, Hal naturally evolves and decides that he will rule the world on his own. His powers inside of the Cyber World are absolute and he is actually able to give Neuro a good fight. Neuro may be the strongest fighter in the human world, but the net is a different story. It was also a fun way to show off some more of Neuro’s powers since there were no bystanders to worry about. It was a fun mini arc and Hal may be the best villain in the series.
Aya is one of the first villains to be defeated by Yako and she gets a decently large role in the series. Her crime wasn’t as bad as some of the others as she only destroyed two people. Her music has the power to control people’s minds and she’s quite good at it. She is rehabilitated after her first crime and she gives Yako advice from time to time. It would have been cool to see her fight, but I guess her powers probably wouldn’t have much of an effect on the villains. She’s certainly better than some of the other villains.
Ai is X’s assistant and it feels like she just got a bad draw. She’s a lot like Konan from Naruto. She is not inherently evil, but she was an assassin for a while and then she began to work for X. She developed a pretty close bond to the villain and decided to work with him until he discovered his true self. She will do just about anything to help him and she is also one of the only people not to fear him. She keeps him in line and watches over him when it comes to conventional things like reminding him that he needs to eat. You end up feeling bad for her since she seems to be a very nice person at heart.
Hisanori and Yukinori are brothers who get their own mini arc and then help out in the final arc. They’re pretty minor villains at first and they seem to be on their way to being more on the side of justice by the end. Yukinori tries to attack Neuro, which is admirable, but both of these guys are seriously outmatched compared to the real villains. One of them has a fishhook and the other one can’t even fight. I wasn’t really a fan of either character.
Genuine was one of the worst villains from the big 5. She can’t really fight, but she is able to lure men to her and mesmerize them so that they can distract the heroes. We all know that this technique won’t work on Neuro so she was really doomed from the start. Her character is just pretty bad and she is just letting herself get used by the villains. Her story was not going to have a very happy ending.
Of course, at least Genuine got character. You can’t really say the same for DR, Tierra, and Vijaya. Vijaya has poison abilities and he barely gets to appear. He puts up a decent fight with the heroes, but he is the only one who doesn’t even get to fight against Neuro. That shows how he is simply not at the same level. His abilities are dangerous since getting near the poison will destroy you, but it’s simply not enough. DR and Tierra have been modified so that they have animal DNA like claws and sharp fins. They’re decently tough metahumans, but they’re basically throwaway fighters for Neuro to take down.
Kasai has fire abilities and he easily gets the biggest role from the villains. He’s decent for the most part, but there is a scene with an old lady that doesn’t help his case and he’s ultimately just not that likable. He’s probably the only villain to talk back to Sicks, but he’s still extremely afraid of the man so it’s not much of a consolation. It’s sad too since his fire abilities guarantee that he is the strongest human from the bunch. He is not amped up so he may lose to some of the other villains, but there is no defense against a good fire blast.
There are many more villains that I didn’t even name from the mini arcs since each mystery brings a new cast along with it. There is also a new policewoman who joins the force towards the end, but her character arc never really went anywhere. She got her own sub plot and mini arc of course, but it just didn’t have a lot of meat to it. She’s super serious so she is naturally paired with the comic relief guy, which leads to sadness for the both of them.
One of the issues that I had with the series is how gruesome the villains and situations can be. Aside from the main arc there are many small mysteries that take up 3-5 chapters. They usually involve something sinister, but I wouldn’t say that it’s anything too drastic. The plot is where things start to go a little overboard. There are really a few types of violence and I categorize them in various ways. In this case, the one that stands out is fighter violence vs bystander violence. See, it’s one thing to see someone like Ichigo or Goku take a beating and another altogether to see a random cop or expendable fighter get crushed. The first typically isn’t as bad, but not beyond reason of course. Here, many of the characters suffer fates worse than death, which is when things get too dark for me. If the character’s never going to reach the light at the end of the tunnel…just let the character die already! (From an author’s standpoint, not the hero’s)
The atmospheric writing is very similar to Attack on Titan’s. You know how Titan loves to show a scene every other chapter where the heroes remind us that we have to lose our humanity while some expendables talk about how they don’t want to die? It’s supposed to add realism, but you just start to tune out the whining from the expendables after a wile. Neuro loves to do that with the characters as well. They deeply think about life and how pointless it is while others are just sad by how frightened they are. One scene that stands out is when a villain is so scared of the main villain that he obeys an order to destroy himself in a rather painful way. The logical choice would be to attack, run away, or quickly destroy yourself before they can stop you. Just obeying like that out of fear is a little much, but we get tons of speeches to try and rationalize it. There comes a point where all of the self doubt and realism just makes it too “realistic” to the point where it isn’t like the real world anymore. That’s an example of one of the “worse than death” moments, but there are several others throughout the series. Torture, or any other fate that you can think of, which fits that criteria is not acceptable in any medium under any circumstances. It always helps me drop the score from something and that’s where Neuro lost the majority of its points. It probably took it all the way down from a 7 to a 5 because that was really the big negative in the series.
There aren’t many fight scenes to be found until the plot really begins, but the ones that we do get are pretty fun. The author takes the easy way out though since Neuro continues to invent new powers throughout the series. He seems like he can do just about anything that one can think of if he wants too. He has a bad habit of playing around with his opponents until he’s so weakened that it’s a close fight though, which is pretty dangerous. It usually turns out okay though I suppose.
Overall, Neuro was really teetering between a 4 and a 5 for a while. On one hand, I was pretty hooked once the plot began and it was hard to tear myself away from what was happening. On the other hand, that’s simply an effect of the well written universe that the characters were interacting in. It still had too many unnecessary scenes and themes for me to rank it as a 5. The villains are simply too disturbed and the casualties could have been lessened or made less intense. I also think that Neuro should have been more likable or heroic since it would have made the ending more believable and emotional. This is a pretty good series if you want a mystery and you want something that is pretty dark tones. Otherwise, you may want to check out Spiral for a good mystery title. That one was pretty great and it even has a prequel to check out once you’re done with the main series. After reading this review, you should hopefully recognize him in the PS3 fighting game with Goku and friends!
Overall 4/10
It’s been a week since Super Smash Bros came out so I think that I’ve had enough time to play it to post this review. I’ve thrown in about 25 hours so far and I’m pretty confident that it will double that by Christmas. I knew what to expect for the most part since the 3DS version is pretty similar, but they did make sure to leave a lot of content for the Wii U version that is unique for the series. It’s everything that I could have wanted and more! The Wii U may have been in need of games earlier, but I think we finally have enough games available where you could say that it has games. I do like having the covers since they really stand out and feel new. This one is no exception and it’s great to see Samus in the cover since she does look cooler than Mario and Link….just sayin.
There are many things to do in this game once you turn it on. It can be a little intimidating at first when you look at the modes. We have Classic, All Star, Home Run Contest, Smash Tour, Target Blast, Around 6 different Multi Man modes, Online Battles, Event Mode, Trophy Rush, etc. You’ll be playing all of these modes quite a bit as you try to complete the 140 challenges in the game. As of this writing, I have completed 121 of them so there are only 19 to go. I still have all 5 hammers, which should help out later, but I have a feeling that beating these 19 will be a lot tougher than the previous challenges. Three of them in particular will be difficult and/or long. Beat Classic on level 7 with everyone, (Long) Beat All Star on Hard with everyone, (Hard) and Beat Classic on level 9 without losing a life. (Definitely hard. I’m going to need Ganondorf or Marth and a great healing item)
I’m sure that you are familiar with many of these modes, but I’ll quickly provide an overview of them. All Star Mode pits you against all of the fighters in the game and you get 4 healing items to use sparingly throughout the 6 battles. Classic Mode is 7 battles long and you can pick which battle to jump in from a selection of 3-4. Typically, you’ll want to go for 1 one 1 battles in the higher difficulties. Target Blast has you break targets using bombs. It’s an intriguing take on the mode, but I really miss the classic Target Smash. Now that was fun!
Home Run Contest is unchanged and it’s fun to see how far you can shoot the Sandbag. The Multi Man modes are fun to try to take on 100 of them or to challenge the Cruel Smash. Event Mode features a lot of themed matches that are pretty fun and a great way to earn some much needed cash. There are a lot of events to be played in single player mode as well as multiplayer. Trophy Rush is a good way to earn trophies since you’ll typically get 30+ and at first most of them will be new. After a while you’ll only get a few new ones each time, but it’s probably still the most efficient way to complete your collection.
Smash Tour probably got the most hype since this is the mode that is replacing Story Mode. Naturally, it’s not even 1/100th as good as Subspace, but it’s a decent mode. You are on a board like Mario Party and you go through the turns as you move around. You collect fighters and items during this time and if you crash into another player, then a battle starts. Most of the battles have themes. In one, there may be only Pokeballs appearing and another one could be filled with hammers. It’s pretty decent, but I’m just not really a fan. Smash Tour can only go down to 15 turns and it still feels like a while thanks to the constant battles and item usage. I would mostly steer clear of it entirely, but there’s still a challenge that I need to obtain in this mode.
Master/Crazy Orders is a pretty great mode and particularly because it really helps you earn equipment, money, and CDs. Master Orders presents you with a single challenge and it costs money to jump into it. If you win, you’ll earn something and losing will have you forfeit your cash. Crazy Orders is similar, but you keep on going until you lose like in a survival mode. You can end the gauntlet at anytime by challenging Crazy Hand and winning. Losing means that you will lost a good portion of the items that you had obtained up to that point so you really do not want to lose!
The graphics are very good and they live up to the Super Smash Bros legacy. Melee was one of the best looking Gamecube games and Brawl looked very good on the Wii. (Although I didn’t like the grittier art style as much) The Wii U version looks more like an HD version of Melee and that’s great. The attacks all pop out and the animations are wonderful. It’s no stretch to say that it’s the best looking Wii U game so far (Edging out Mario Kart 8 for now) and it is certainly “Next Gen.”
The soundtrack is very good as well. The new Final Destination theme is probably my favorite out of the new tunes. There are so many that you will likely continue to hear new themes long after you’ve played each level a few times. There are just so many to choose from. It’s why I like that the game has an option to decide which songs will typically play in a level. It lets you choose the best ones to fit the high speed tone of the gameplay.
One criticism that I would have with the game is the gold system. The old games had money as well, but nobody took it seriously because there was nothing to do with it after a while. On the other side, I think this one has too many modes that rely on gold. The main one that I don’t like it to apply too is Classic Mode. I like trying out Level 9 for fun, but now it costs 2200 Gold to play. You’ll probably have enough money to spare if you’ve been doing well in other modes, but sometimes you simply won’t have enough money and that’s definitely not cool. Level 9 should definitely be free to play on Classic Mode.
Naturally, there is basically an infinite amount of replay value to be found here. Completing each mode with each character will take a whole lot of time and we can’t forget about collecting all clothing, trophies, and CDs as well. You can possibly finish all of that in about a month or two if you try really hard, but it will typically take the average player much longer than that. After that, you’re ready to have fun playing Smash matches offline with friends or in ranked battles online.
Super Smash Bros is still the only video game series that I get on opening day. It’s simply because it’s a model of excellence and it’s still guaranteed to have some of the best video games ever. I’m pretty glad that I went for it right away since the Adaptors are starting to be sold out all over the place. It makes sense though since playing with a GC controller is really the best way to play. It’s still the ultimate controller and I don’t see that going away anytime soon.
It occurs to me that I haven’t actually described the gameplay. An average match plays out like a Street Fighter kind of gameplay, but you have to hit your opponent off the screen by dealing them a lot of damage instead of draining away their health bar. Each character has his/her strengths and weaknesses and some just don’t match up well against others. For example, you don’t wan to use Mega Man against Mario or Ganondorf against Little Mac. Of course, you can beat any character with any other as long as you are a good enough player. It’s certainly a game of skill that requires a lot of concentration. Alternately, you can also throw in items and make it a chaotic battle that will still be a whole lot of fun. Items definitely add to the appeal and the stages themselves can work against you as well.
My favorite new stage is probably the one from Game and Wario. The lady who tries to KO you with a sudden glance is pretty tough and it can be hard to react at times. Naturally, the Boxing Ring is a pretty great stage as well since it’s really made for close quarters combat. The only thing that I wish they could have done was to not include the part that is outside the ring. Just having a boxing ring in the middle would have really been perfect. Star Fox has some great stages as well and the one where you jump from ship to ship is very impressive visually. It should also be noted that Yoshi’s yarn stage can be pretty tricky and getting caught on the ground with Little Mac can be fatal.
Fox has been my go to character since the very first Smash Bros, but that’s finally changed in this game. Little Mac is just too cool to pass up and I love playing as him. You’re always on the offensive while playing as the boxer and you just can’t beat that. Fox is probably still my second best fighter and I would put Mario as my third. Although, I do have a lot more fun playing as Marth than Fox or Mario so I throw him in whenever possible. Ganondorf is my best player for Classic Mode though since he was the only guy I could beat Level 9 with on the 3DS and so far he’s one of two characters who I’ve beaten level 9 with on the Wii U version. (Marth being the other fighter) He’s slow, but his attacks really pack a punch!
I also think that Nintendo really outdid themselves with the A.I. here. It’s simply fantastic as the level 9 computers can really give you a good fight now. I’d say that they are a considerable step up from the previous titles. It really makes completing Classic Mode on level 9 more of a treat. Also, it can’t be forgotten that the Wii U version has an extra form to the Master Core while on level 9. (8 as well I believe) The Core turns into a rather large fortress and you have to go through it without losing whatever life/lives you have left. There are enemies to slow you down and touching the lava while weakened enough will instantly obliterate you. I’ve lost there several times since it’s utterly brutal for Little Mac and still dangerous for most fighters. A quick and speedy fighter like Marth or Lucario is ideal here, but it’s tough to get them past the final bosses at times. I’ve fought the Master Hand/Dog/Sword/Man/Copy combo so many times that it’s a little easier now, but you still can’t really perfect the copy part since it’s so unpredictable. Beating the game with everyone on level 9 would have certainly been brutal so I’m glad that there is no challenge for that. Level 7 should definitely be doable.
I’m still not a fan of the whole custom characters concept, but it certainly comes in handy for Classic Mode. It’s almost been amped up so much just so that it could force you to use the items. Some items heal you over time, which is pretty crucial and there are three different attributes. Attack, Defense, and Speed. Increasing one of them will decrease the other so finding the right balance is key if you are to get through the gauntlet.
I aim to have all 140 challenges completed by Christmas, but it’ll certainly be a tough trial so we shall see. I should at least be pretty close by then so that I can really focus on my other titles. I wouldn’t expect to see another video game review in the very near future, but others will surely come up soon. One scenario that I could foresee is 138/140 challenges completed with the Beat Classic and All Star with everyone being the final two. That just seems like so much of a grind at the moment.
Overall, Super Smash Bros has always been a revolutionary video game series and this one keeps up its reputation as a really flawless series. I don’t really have any serious complaints for this title and the only reason that it is not a 10 is because I believe that only one game should ever have a perfect in my lifetime. Since the spot is taken, it’ll have to settle for a 9, but it’s definitely a really high one. I’ll be playing this game for years and years and I won’t stop playing it every week until the servers inevitably go down. After that, it’ll be time for offline fun that will still never end. The price tag is pretty steep, but I highly recommend getting it as soon as possible since the enjoyment is certainly worth it!
Overall 10/10
Actually, Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3, which was the original 10 on the blog has been leapfrogged by Madden 13/2004 and Super Smash Bros Wii U/Melee. Now, The Wii U version is the greatest game of all time. It’ll be tough to top…extremely tough!
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