The Grinch: Christmas Adventures Review

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The Grinch is definitely a book that just about everyone is familiar with. It’s a Christmas classic and it’s fun to have the adventure get its own game. The book is even included inside of the game so that’s a nice plus. It’s really a serviceable platformer all the way through and the only real issue you can say is that it’s super basic. The game is not very ambitious at all and would get clobbered by just about any other platformer in a head to head fight. Make no mistake, this is not the game that will change your world but if you want a quick adventure then why not right? You’ll have a good time here and that’s what counts.

The story starts with the Grinch deciding to spoil Christmas by stealing everyone’s gifts. We cannot let him get away with that and so it’s time to put an end to this. Well that’s what you’d think except you actually play as the Grinch here so get ready for a lot of stealing. There are 18 levels here, 15 of them are platformers with 3 being boss type levels where you have to slide down mountains and such. Those 3 levels are super fast and easy while the platforming ones can actually reasonably long at times.

Each level has 8 collectibles which you will want to grab so that you get the automatic platinum at the end of the game. Additionally you need to get a good chunk of them to unlock the powers needed to complete the game so why not just grab them while you can right? With the exception of maybe 3-5 pieces, they aren’t really hidden either so just playing through the game will get you to them. You just have to enter every door and really look around.

In terms of gameplay, it’s a super basic platformer. You run and jump as you’d expect those things to go. You can jump on just about any enemy to take it out or you can freeze them with snowballs once you learn that ability. You get that fairly late in the game. There aren’t really any benefits to defeating the enemies though so you could really just ignore them and keep on moving too. That’s a super valid choice and it’s not hard. This game is fairly short so you will be done in a few hours no sweat. Sometimes it feels like the cutscene introducing the level can be just as long as the actual platforming.

The cutscenes aren’t very high budget though. Most levels just start with the book being read out loud to you and then you move on to the next stage. I’d have liked some real cutscenes to be honest but I’ll take what I can get. As for the soundtrack, it’s fairly generic so you won’t be remembering too much about it. This game is really about the gameplay after all. The gameplay is good enough to cover it all up. Look in terms of budget this might be the lowest budget platformer I’ve played in a while but at least its fun.

I suppose that’s why there isn’t much to say about this one though. Already I can tell that I’m starting to repeat myself here. There also isn’t much replay value past the few hours because you should be able to get the platinum in around the same time as beating the game. You’ll be able to get most of the collectibles naturally and the few you have to seek out won’t take very long at all. It’s a short game from start to finish so make sure you keep that in mind when looking for the right price to purchase the title.

Overall, The Grinch is a good game. It has no frills, whistles, or any kind of big advantages that would make it super memorable but at its core it is a solid game and that’s really all it needed to be. I can’t imagine buying it for full price but I got this one just about free thanks to a gift card I had (Ended up spending $2) so that really worked out well. It’s really hard to mess up a platformer if you ask me. So long as the level designs are good enough where you can just peacefully jump through the stages then you should be set. The genre tends to be a very happy one and this game is no exception.

Overall 6/10

Excitebike 64 Review

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I’m gonna be brutally honest here for a minute. I was never a huge fan of the Excitebike series. I loved Excitetrucks when I played that for the Wii and to this day I’d say it’s up there with Asphault 3D as the most underrated racing game of all time. That said, the bikes could never keep up and this game really embodies all of the reasons for why that is. Your bike’s too weak so you’re always being thrown off of the track and the extra issue I have here is that even driving in a straight line is rough because all of the stages are circular. You don’t get to have fun just driving most of the time due to the level designs.

There is a season/tournament mode here but no real story so you can just have fun driving or go into those tournaments to try and test your luck. I’ll tell you those levels are not easy in the slightest. I managed to conquer the first tournament due to a lot of luck with the computers taking turns winning so my consistent 3-4th place was enough to keep up. With the second I wasn’t so fortunate and so I ended up getting wrecked. Most of the stages are almost the same though so I’d argue that you really aren’t missing much here. So just play for as long as you find it fun and then you’re set.

So like I said I do have an issue with the level designs here. In every level there are so many bumps in the road that you’re hopping up and down without being able to drive. Just let me drive for a while and see how I turn the corners. Instead these interruptions happen and there is nowhere to go. There’s probably a way to handle the bumps better as I see the computers jumping ahead but it’s still not really driving per say. I want to just be in there taking names. Also every time you even lightly bump an opponent you end up spilling into the ground.

It just feels so fragile and then you have to be careful about bumping into anyone in addition to trying to finish the race. That’s not the way to go here. The game basically eliminates all of the main reasons for finding the genre fun to begin with. I want the freedom of being able to just jump in there and do my thing. It’s why I’m playing a racing game in the first place. Then if you crash at all you better hope it’s a full crash and you aren’t stuck sideways. If it’s the latter then you are completely doomed and will end up placing in last. It’s a pretty tough feeling because you feel like you could and should have placed a lot better but one single mistake ended up being fatal.

It’s an old game so there are some quirks like that which you can let slide but they all add up. The graphics also aren’t all that impressive. It definitely does not hold its own against most of the other Nintendo 64 titles. After just playing quite a few of them, it’s clear that a game of this generation could and should look a whole lot better. The fact that it doesn’t is just pretty rough to be honest. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side as well. Technically there is a lot of replay value here if you do find the gameplay fun though. Because then you’ll need to try and conquer all of the stages which is no easy feat, particularly as they don’t even open up until you’ve beaten all of the levels on various difficulty levels.

Overall, Excitebike 64 is definitely not one of my favorite racing games. You’re so busy just trying to survive the levels that you aren’t even doing much racing. That is a massive problem right off the bat and holds it all back. I’d like to see them change things and put a lot more power into the races. Let me crash into everyone and set the stage. The sooner that happens, the sooner I can really start to dominate! In the meantime there just isn’t much reason to play this one when you could be having a good time in Mario Kart or F-Zero. Both of which are massively better than this one.

Overall 4/19

Pokemon Puzzle League Review

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Yes I finally got the expanded pack for the Nintendo Switch Online! It certainly opens up a lot of doors to the classic Nintendo games and this was one of the first ones I ended up jumping into. It’s a pretty fun puzzle game all around. I would say it doesn’t have as much replay value as some of the others in this style because there isn’t a ton of variety but it is cool to see the Pokemon characters from the anime. Adding that franchise effect is always a good idea.

The game opens up with a full cinematic cutscene which I thought was pretty awesome. Unfortunately we don’t get any more after that but there is still a slight story here. Basically there is a whole puzzle league where each of the Gym Leaders have to be defeated in order to conquer it. So essentially it’s the Pokemon league with a few extra steps As Ash Ketchum you have to make it all the way to the end and defeat everyone here. You can choose which Pokemon to use in each level from his 3 starters but I couldn’t really tell the difference in terms of gameplay. Maybe it’s just a visual thing or there was an effect that I missed.

The gameplay is the connect type where blocks fall down from the sky and you have to move them to connect to other pieces on your board. You can also reverse each block so if you have a red square on the right and a blue on the left, you can click it to reverse those spots. Every time you have a set of 3 of the same color they will all disappear which lets your other blocks fall down a level. The first one to have their blocks reach the ceiling loses so you want to be quick about this. Of course you don’t always want to connect a set just because you have 3. You get bonus points for longer sets and those also turn into attacks on the enemy’s turf so you want to keep that in mind.

Granted, it’s easier said than done as blocks tend to crash into each other all the time which isn’t easy. One wrong move and that’s basically game over for you. The opponents are also reasonably tough if you scale up the difficulty. This is one genre that I always play on easy because it tends to get virtually impossible even on normal mode. The match length can range from 1-5 minutes based on the rounds I did although I imagine that could go up if both of you play slowly and don’t attack very much.

The graphics look pretty good and have aged very well. The visuals look like they are taken right from the anime and all of the illustrations are on point during the gameplay. I also liked the soundtrack which is fairly quiet and low key but works well with the adventure. Yeah I’d say there was a good amount of effort around the game. There’s certainly more that you could do with the title even as a puzzle game but the core focus here will always be on the gameplay. Everything else is just extra frosting and since the gameplay is good then there are no issues.

I miss the era of just throwing out a quick game like this with a franchise label. Pokemon Pinball, Metroid Pinball, even Mario got a pinball game back in the day. More games should be made with similar settings for all of these franchises and I’d say that would be a really good idea. They should be fairly easy to make and yet they’re all fun to play because the games themselves are timeless. That’s the true sign of an iconic title all the way.

Overall, Pokemon Puzzle League is definitely a game that I would recommend checking out. I’m not saying that it’s top tier or anything but in terms of executing the puzzle gameplay I would say that it did a good job. It’s a colorful game with a lot of energy and excitement to it. It may not be very ambitious but you’ll feel like the story goes by in a breeze. Granted it is fairly short so I suppose that’s natural. Also if you have the Switch Online then it’s free so why not give it a quick playthrough right? It’s not the kind of game you would drop $60 on but you’d always be up for giving a quick play if a friend’s around. The replay value is technically endless with the multiplayer in mind.

Overall 6/10

Suspect Review

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

It’s time for a big mystery about who the true culprit is. Prepare for a lot of red herrings and a ton of people all trying to make this as crazy as possible. I always like a good court case so that made this film pretty fun and we also have some jury tampering going on which spiced things up. There is a completely unnecessary romance plot trying to get in the way though.

The movie starts off with a guy shooting himself and a lady gets murdered by the river. A suspect named Carl is picked up. He’s homeless and can’t hear or speak which makes it difficult for him to explain what’s going on. Kathleen is assigned to defend Carl which she is not thrilled about but she doesn’t really have a say in the matter. Carl isn’t being very helpful either and has an attitude issue where he keeps on attacking people. She needs to try and get past that to find out the truth but all signs point to Carl being the villain. He was seen going through the victim’s belongings and was conveniently around at the time of the murder. Fortunately Kathleen does have help from one guy, a juror named Eddie who is a lobbyist and used to getting things done. Will he be able to solve the case or will her sense of ethics get in the way?

A big focus in the movie is that of course this is completely not allowed. Jurors can’t try to investigate a case that they are in and vigilante justice is frowned upon. Jurors cannot interact with the defense or prosecutor at all or it would be a mis trial. Eddie doesn’t care about all of that though because he wants to see to it that justice is done and after some convincing, Kathleen gets on board with this as well. Now the question is, do you as the viewer go along with it?

Well for me it’s a definite yes. There’s a lot of things I don’t agree with in the justice system. The fact that I could hold the literal smoking gun of the murderer in my hand and it wouldn’t count if it wasn’t turned in as evidence in time or came out after the trial is a shame. The fact that you can have the crime on tape, but it would be inadmissible in court depending on how I got it is crazy too. So of course you need rules around the jurors so that they wouldn’t all be vigilantes but if they are able to find something out then I say that’s fair game.

So the fact that we actually have a film where a character is able to jump into the court process and get stuff done is great. This is exactly what I’ve been hoping for the whole time here and that part’s really solid. Now the characters aren’t always smart about this like heading into the main research library together to look at old files since that’s where the judge or other jurors would be if they needed intel but for the most part they’re discreet about things. If anything it’s probably easy to conspire together in most circumstances because people ultimately aren’t paying that much attention to the jurors.

Kathleen is a decent main character even if at first you can be annoyed waiting for her to accept Eddie’s help. As he says, “I thought the whole point was to find the truth right?” It’s a really good argument as well because if your client is going to get life in jail or something then you really have to do your best to win. Once she’s on board then they make for a good team. Ultimately Kathleen knows her stuff and is fairly quick to adapt when the situation isn’t going well.

Eddie is really the standout character here though. Initially he didn’t even want to be a juror but once he was the guy got interested in the case and did some digging right away. Deep down he still believes in justice and maybe working in such a corrupt field helped him out with that. So that was good to see but of course the romance does hold him back somewhat. Eddie is the kind of guy who does whatever it takes to get his objective including affairs and while this romance is supposed to be real, it just feels like it’s out of left field.

There is no reason for the characters to like each other except if they just need a desperate fling or something. Additionally there just isn’t time for this because they’re busy trying to solve a huge case right? The romance doesn’t enhance the film and should have certainly been cut out. Meanwhile the film didn’t do a great job with Carl if you ask me. Regardless of if he’s innocent or not, the guy was caught red handed stealing, he actually attacked several police officers including stabbing one of them, tried to murder Kathleen when he first saw her, etc. It gets to the point where it doesn’t matter if he’s innocent because he just committed a bunch of other crimes.

Imagine if the film ended with him being innocent of the murder charge but then still going to jail for all of the other stuff? Because that’s basically what happened. Yes, Carl’s been through a lot but it doesn’t ultimately excuse him from all the bad stuff that he’s actually done. If we were to give him a pass for all of that then it would actually undermine the legal system far more than all the juror stuff going on.

I’d argue it also makes the situation even more unlikely for Kathleen to be quite as helpful as she was. You’d think after nearly getting murdered that would be it. Also the film does need to throw in some danger so we have a psycho running around with a knife too. I would have switched out that plot with more of the political stuff since Eddie’s subplot never gets much of a resolution. The closest we get to that is when his side wins on one of the issues and he is visibly upset rather than being happy about it. I’d say that’s in line with how he’s become a lot more ethical now but it’s still not really closure per say.

Still the mystery should keep you engaged which is the important thing here. There’s a lot going on at all times and of course there are a ton of twists all throughout the movie. You won’t want to miss a beat here and the ending is pretty fun. We even do get a chase scene near the end where someone has to run from someone holding a knife and it’s an interesting scenario to try and put yourself and imagine how you would play things out. Imo one thing you have to do is find a way to make the elevator get stuck so you can’t be followed. Jam a coat and other clothes in the middle to prevent the doors from closing or something.

Overall, Suspect is a pretty good movie but it definitely does have a lot of unnecessary material in it as well. You only need so many red herrings in one movie after all. Cutting out the romance would have been good so we could focus completely on this being a mystery thriller as the heroes get closer to cracking the case. Maybe more screen time into the actual court proceedings as well. I felt like the prosecutor was completely destroying the main heroine purely from an arguments perspective so as the juror I’d be leaning on a guilty verdict but maybe seeing some of the deliberations could have helped with that or more of the counter arguments since we didn’t get to see it all. I also wouldn’t have minded some more scenes on the political end with Eddie really making waves and manipulating everyone. He definitely does seem good at his job and ultimately that works out well for everyone here. If you enjoy a good court drama and don’t mind some vigilante material then this one is all set for you.

Overall 7/10

Suzume Review

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It’s time for the next big anime film. This one was definitely getting quite a lot of buzz when it was coming out. Ultimately it is a pretty solid title through and through. It feels like it’s missing something compared to some of the other really big anime films but ultimately there’s a lot of heart and emotional moments here so it works well enough. We even get a quick action scene which is always appreciated.

The story starts by introducing us to Suzume who is your average teen wandering through the mysteries of life. One day she passes by a random dude asking if she’s seen any old ruins. She tells him about an abandoned town and continues on her day but gets curious and heads back. She ends up opening a mysterious door that seems to lead to space but when she goes through it, nothing happens. So Suzume heads back to school but now she can see things that nobody else can. Smoke, giant worm monsters, etc. She needs answers and heads back but it turns out the door she opened has caused a weakening in the rift between dimensions and the worms are going to end the world. She has to find a way to close all of the doors and recover the keystone quickly but this will be difficult as the expert on this (The stranger known as Souta) gets cursed into being a children’s chair by a mysterious cat who may have sinister intentions. Can Suzume handle all of this?

Now that plot may sound like we’re about to embark on a Shonen Jump adventure of the utmost hype but this is still more of an adventure story. See, Suzume has to get around the control to plug up all the door as they show up but she’s a teenager without a ton of money so she has to rely on the kindness of strangers. She meets many different people who are all very helpful. You have a lady who sells apples, a lady who dances, and even Souta’s old friend who wants some money that is owed to him.

Suzume gets to see how everyone has their own issues and happy moments and it’s a way for her to come to terms with her troubled past. Yes, she has a backstory involving lots of destruction and losing her mother at a young age which definitely plays a role in this movie. See, her aunt (Tamaki) has had to take care of Suzume for all of these years and Suzume worries that this has held Tamaki back quite a bit. Now Suzume has a true purpose and so she can turn her whole life around.

The writing is solid here and the movie may be long but it makes the most of every minute. There’s just a lot happening here and so you’re able to learn a lot about all of the characters and enjoy the experiences. It’s always nice to see a bunch of people just helping out without any of them turning out to be evil or some jaded stuff like that. This is a happy story first and foremost. I would even argue that despite Suzume’s backstory the film is happy for around 90% of its runtime. I’d categorize it as a feelgood film personally.

One of the main themes is really about asking for help when you need it and that people have your back. It’s a good message and Suzume always pays the kindness forward to the next person. So with everyone helping each other out all of the time that is really a recipe for success. It also means that the film isn’t really likely to make many mistakes as upbeat films are supposed to be fun so you’re not going to run into any terrible characters or anything like that.

Now that’s not to say the film is perfect as none are but also I did mention this was missing something. To me what it is really missing here is that the main character’s arc feels a bit incomplete/didn’t resolve the way I’d expect it to. A lot of the film, in fact just about all of it is her fault. She opens the door and removes the seal which causes all of this to go wrong. Then she basically runs away from home to help Souta on his quest but does this without telling Tamaki at first and then doubling down during every interaction.

When Tamaki gets upset she is 100% justified because it’s a huge deal. Having your daughter (Because that’s basically her role in this dynamic) vanish suddenly like this and then be travelling across the place with a man that they don’t even know is completely suspect. Yet I feel Suzume takes absolutely 0 responsibility for this. She acts very defensively throughout the movie and rejects all of Tamaki’s attempts to help her. Ultimately Tamaki decides to be the bigger person and really just makes this work but I really think the film could have benefited from Suzume making a real apology near the end.

Not a “We both made mistakes” kind of moment or anything like that but just a really nice thank you at the end considering everything Tamaki did. Tamaki really put her job on the line in leaving for so long to help Suzume and has given up a whole lot to help her. Even though Tamaki was being mind controlled at one point when she finally blows up at Suzume and she wouldn’t have ever said those things otherwise, it was mostly correct. Of course her romantic endeavors would be weakened quite a bit due to her role of watching over Suzume and she lost a ton of freedom as a result as well. It’s not something that Tamaki regrets but I’d say it underscores just how hard she’s worked to give Suzume a really good life and it felt like the main heroine was not very grateful at all.

Suzume’s still a good character, I just felt like she did not really see the whole picture and could come across as selfish at times. Likewise I wasn’t a big fan of Souta for the same reason. He’s one of the most ungrateful characters you can think of. He constantly tells Suzume to stand back so he could handle the situation only for him to fumble it. Then after a whole journey risking life and limb he barely has time to say thanks before heading off as if this was just another day at the office.

Now the good part about this is that means there isn’t really much time for romance here. That’s good because I would not say this would have been a quality romance either way. It wasn’t developed enough and just didn’t make sense. Same with Tamaki and that random co-worker who feels completely stuck in the friend zone to me. He just needs to tell her how he feels straight up because otherwise all this beating around the bush is not going to work.

Tamaki and Serizawa have a great fight for being the best character in the film. Tamaki is super responsible and always doing the right thing as I mentioned before. So it’s always great to see her doing what she can here. Meanwhile Serizawa is just a really good friend doing his best to help out. He’s completely out of his depth in terms of what’s going on but still sticks around to make sure that Souta is okay and that nothing happens to the two ladies. He really does his best to break the tension all the time too even if he is largely unsuccessful. He’s just trying to have a good time which isn’t always easy.

The soundtrack is okay but not too remarkable. I’d say Your Name and Belle are much more memorable although Belle should perhaps not count since having a lot of songs is actually part of the plot. The animation is pretty good. As always I feel like these big movies don’t look quite as sharp as the average anime since it’s trying to be more mainstream and not have the colors be as sharp but they do go all out for the scenes of the heroes closing the doors. Then the animators are really able to cut loose. So in general this looks pretty smooth.

I didn’t talk about the supernatural stuff here much but that’s mainly because I’d argue it’s not super important to the plot. The actual story of closing the doors and all that is really just the excuse to have Suzume travel the country and meet a lot of people. I’d argue the story itself is sort of the McGuffin in this case as it doesn’t really matter. We do get some nice visuals and a quick fight from it but that’s why even the film doesn’t seem to care as much about it. The cats are intentionally vague and unhelpful for basically the entirety of the movie because if they actually were straight forward then the movie would have been over really quickly. I did like the quick time travel conversation paradox we got near the end though. That was a really good use of the doorways. And of course the climax was pretty good so while the film’s more about the human interactions, the actual story did lead to some good stuff.

Overall, Suzume is a pretty solid film. I’d say it has a good amount of replay value and it’s the kind of movie that does leave you feeling good afterwards. It’s just a complete title with a lot going on and while it may not be the kind of movie that leaves you with a lot to discuss afterwards, your experience will be a good one. Now we just have to wait a bit until the next big anime film comes out so we can see how that one stacks up.

Overall 7/10

Super Mario RPG Review

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This is a Mario game that I’ve wanted to play for many years. It’s not every day that you get a big Mario RPG after all and with both the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi titles at a bit of a standstill right now, it was the perfect timing for a remake of this game to get out. It definitely lives up to the hype without a doubt. The only knock against it would be the short duration as it’s noticeably shorter than all of the other Mario RPGs I’ve played but it’s a lot of fun.

The story starts with Bowser kidnapping Peach so Mario goes in to save her. Unfortunately his rescue attempt is cut short when a mysterious villain known as Smithy shows up and ends up taking her. Mario must now grab the legendary stars in order to save the cosmos and also rescue Peach once more. He is assisted by a legendary cosmic being inhabiting the body of a toy named Geno. Bowser even decides to help a bit and Mario has another being helping out with his magical abilities. Mario has assembled quite the squad at this point so that’s pretty impressive but will it be enough?

Right off the bat the game feels a lot more like a classic RPG than most of the other Mario titles. You actually have to equip weapons/armor/accessories like a Final Fantasy title and so you will be switching these out constantly. A cool little element they added here is also that your gameplay will change a bit on the timing depending on what you equip. For example when you are attacking in this game you have to press the A button at a specific time in order to deal maximum damage. If you mess up on the timing then you will dish out less damage and you will also take more when an opponent hits you. The instant where you have to press A will change depending on what weapon you have equipped. So the increase in attack power is slightly countered by having to adjust your timing.

Each successful hit gives an extra boost to your energy meter as well. Once you reach 100% then you are able to use a super attack which does tremendous amounts of damage. Trust me it’s a really good thing to have because those abilities even deal tons of damage to the bosses. This element of timing also does help to make the game a little more skill based. If you can nail the timing each time then you will naturally find the game to be a lot easier than most because you’ll literally be dealing 50% more damage and taking 50% less so it’s a huge ripple effect. If you’re a more casual player not able to hit the timings then that ramps the difficulty up as well.

As for the length, the game is around 10 hours give or take a bit. That sounds a lot more like a platformer than an RPG right? Well yeah that’s definitely true, this is pretty short and apparently it’s quite a bit shorter than the original game. I’m guessing certain areas were cut out, loading screens were optimized and in general the game is supposed to be a bit easier. Unless anything significant was cut out, I’m fairly okay with this. For example even just speeding up the animations during battle can shave off significant amount of time away from a game so if that’s something that was focused on then it was well worth it.

The game has auto save enabled as well as quick travel. There are a ton of quality of life features that this game has and I thought that was pretty impressive. You never feel like you’re wasting time sifting through menus or anything like that. The only part that can be long is the celebration when getting a level up and I can let that slide since leveling up is always fun. The enemies may not give you a ton of EXP but you don’t need a lot to level up either so it ends up balancing out really well.

Another token to how much fun this game is, is that it’s easy to binge. I played the game for 7 hours straight yesterday which is part of how I managed to beat it in the span of a day. (Friday-Saturday) Playing for that long at one time will definitely do that to you but it wouldn’t be possible with a weaker experience. The story is definitely compelling and the script is good. I’d really like to see more Mario games like this that actually have a full comprehensive plot. There’s a lot to enjoy all the way around.

The graphics are definitely really good and I was always glad to see the full cinematic cutscenes. The game really shines there and it also does a good job of giving everyone something to do. In a way it’s a shame that Luigi missed out on this adventure because I’m confident that they could have actually made him a compelling character here. We really need more Mario RPGs like this so I hope one day they make a return. The Paper series is starting to make a comeback so that’s a good series to have as well but a non paper dynamic would also be really nice to have.

The soundtrack is a little more on the forgettable side though. While the game excels with its colorful cast of characters and a bunch of really fun new villains to the series, the music that appears isn’t nearly as memorable. You just tend to forget the tracks right away. They aren’t bad by any means but the Mario series has everything set to a super high standard and it just couldn’t match that. Ah well, we got the Axem Rangers here which is enough for me to overlook anything like that.

Overall, This was definitely a great game all the way through. I’d have loved it to have been longer but ultimately it’s about how much fun you had during the experience and this one was on point. There is also some kind of post game adventure to be had here which adds onto the replay value. It’s good enough where you get a solid bang for your buck either way. This was really the biggest hole in my Mario collection up til now so it’s good to finally have that closed. I’m not even sure what the next biggest title I’m missing would be at this point, maybe one of the Olympic crossovers.

Overall 8/10

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Review

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Golden Sun has definitely been a really fun video game series. This is currently the last one so the series has been shelved for now but hopefully it returns. While this doesn’t quite beat the first two titles, it’s nice to see how the characters have actually aged. Isaac is an old pro now and it’s time for the next generation to step into the spotlight. Do they have what it takes to really save the world here?

The game starts off with one of the new characters making the big mistake of trying to fly a glider and he crash lands in the forest. Matthew and his team go to save this guy and then Isaac tells them to find a legendary feather. The rest of the game is basically about trying to find the feather and every time the heroes get close some kind of obstacle gets in their way. You can probably guess that they’re pretty frustrated by the end of it but what can you do right? Naturally this wouldn’t be a full RPG experience without some danger though so then the end of the world approaches due to the dark eclipse.

The gameplay is solid as always with a lot of depth to it. Aside from the usual turn based combat system one of the things that makes Golden Sun stand out is how the Djinn are used. Each character has to equip them and you can decide to activate them which opens up the door to summons or keeping them set which increases all of your base stats. There are over 80 Djinn in the game and you have to have each character carry an equal amount. If you have 17 though one character can have 5 while the others have 4 but if you get 18 for example you can’t have one holding 6. That would just be too unbalanced.

Another thing to consider is based on the types of Djinn you have a character hold, their class will change. There are numerous classes for each character and they all have different abilities and strengths so you want to keep those in mind which can be difficult. As a result I would say the game can be more difficult than it appears. For the most part I didn’t have a problem but that changed in the final boss where I really had to train. Ultimately I wasn’t able to defeat him until I reached level 99 while online I see people beat him as early as 45. It really comes down to the amount of Djinns you have and the summons.

If you don’t have a good setup then you will be absolutely crushed. I played this one more like a standard RPG so my lineup wasn’t exactly amazing. Still, I do think I put up a pretty good fight if I do say so myself. At the end of the day RPGs really give you a lot of ways to build your team and I’d say that’s one of the good parts about them. You also get time to really get used to the characters which is another big advantage. At the end of the day I thought the characters were all pretty solid. The emotions system could probably use a bit of work since it never seemed to matter which emoji you used when talking with the characters but it’s a fun idea.

The villains also have good designs. They may show up a little late into the game but fighting them was fun. The overall length here is pretty good as it took me around 30 hours to complete the title. Throw in a fairly meaty post game and you really have a lot of bang for your buck here. Definitely a lot of replay value here to be sure. Some of the Djinn and summons are missable though so I’d say to keep that in mind when you’re going through the game.

The only real issue I have with the title is a quality of life element. There is no way to quick travel in this game and I feel like the minion spawns are frequent enough where it does get a bit annoying. Particularly when you are in the boat and your movement speed is cut in half. You have to fight a ton of opponents since it takes 2 turns to run away in most cases. Not really the ideal setup when you think about it. I was surprised because this just feels like an RPG staple so I was waiting for that the whole time. I was lucky that the final area was a good grinding spot because otherwise for example it was a super long walk back to get to the item shop. I had to beat the final boss without any potions or things like that. I would have gone back if needed of course but it wasn’t exactly my top option.

The graphics are definitely really good. I’d say a lot of time was put into them and we also get full cinematics at times which was really nice. Especially for the DS it’s always impressive since a lot of games still didn’t have those. The soundtrack is also good even if it isn’t quite as impressive as in the first two games. Basically whenever I compare this to the originals it doesn’t quite hold up but if you just talk about it as its own RPG then of course it’s still great. Ideally in a future game we could have Isaac play more of a central role though.

Overall, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is definitely a great game. While the story may not be as intense as the first two titles, it’s a fun way to end things off. It makes sense in a way that the stakes may not be as high with Isaac’s shadow looming in the distance although I’d say a fix to that would have been having him show up in the climax. In theory he could give the villain a pretty solid fight but you have him lose due to a cheap shot or something. The game opens with quite a few loose ends. I don’t know if they all get resolved in the post game or something like that but if not at least it gives more hope for a sequel. We can’t let the Golden Sun adventures end here!

Overall 8/10

Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too! Review

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I always forget just how short these films can be but man do you feel it with this one. It just ends so fast and I think that does take away from what they could have done here. Ultimately it’s a fun enough movie even if I wouldn’t consider it to be one of the strongest ones. Just having the DC heroes/villains here is pretty fun. At the end of the day I also tend to enjoy crossovers quite a bit so that adds a bit of an extra punch to the experience right out of the gate.

The film starts with the Justice League vanishing and the culprit appears to be some kind of fire ghost. Clearly he is a threat to be able to take out someone like the mighty Superman. Lois tries to investigate but the monster is too tricky so for once she gives up on the biggest story of her life and instead brings in the Mystery Gang to solve this. They look scared right out of the jump with their credibility diminishing the longer they are in the room but they vow to solve this case and help save the world. Can this terrified group of youngsters surpass their limits to save the day?

Now you may be thinking, what about Krypto? No worries he randomly shows up in the Hall of Justice and helps out. Aside from Shaggy and Scooby the rest of the gang aren’t impressed since they think that Krypto is just some normal dog. I think this is supposed to be funny because they’re used to Scooby Doo doing all kinds of crazy things but now they’re skeptical. Perhaps they are right to be though because Krypto looks very underwhelming for most of the film. When the heroes are attacked by a group of villains Krypto is the first to run for the door and spends a while trying to open it instead of helping out.

He then gets absolutely crushed in his only one on one fight against another dog. This may be a Krypto crossover film but he looks so bad that you may wonder why he was in the title. His role just isn’t as critical as you would expect it to be for a 50/50 crossover like this. I would say Courage got a lot more to do in his adventure. It’s still nice to see Krypto of course and they show off his powers but when he scratches on a door instead of busting it open you wonder how much of his super strength he actually kept. Not enough if you ask me.

From the DC side the main characters here as Lex Luthor, Mercy, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy looks pretty bad the whole time too as he’s so desperate to be with Daphne that he made up this whole rationale in his head. He looks desperate the whole time but no worries he does vanish for most of the film. Lois looks tough as you’d expect and isn’t afraid to take shots at the cast. That said I do find it a bit out of character that she wouldn’t pursue the story herself. Yeah we get a half hearted excuse about covering other stories since the city is being overrun but that’s not quite good enough.

Mercy looks solid here as she tries to balance everything out for Lex. Her role is really satisfying all the way through and the film is able to handle the dynamic with her and Lex better than a lot of other titles to be honest. Lex is hamming up the villain angle quite a bit in this film but you would expect that with the Scooby gang in tow. This is where the film shined a bit more than I expected because I was ready for him to just be the comic relief for a while there but his role is actually rather solid. Yeah he has some anti feats in terms of intelligence but based on the ending you could make the case that it was all an act and I would take that case.

The Scooby gang are mainly as you would expect. Scooby and Shaggy are still running from every threat and generally getting taken down with minimal effort. I still think by now they should have improved a little more so I tend to be a little critical of them. Velma does good in getting hints and cracking the case so I have no issues with her. In some ways you could say it’s one of her better appearances because she’s really not getting distracted and just works to solve the case. You can’t say that most of the other characters in this one.

Fred looks pretty bad here as he keeps grilling Daphne about her and Jimmy despite being in the room when she explained that they were never together. He looks really insecure the whole time and then he gets cared easily and everything. His confidence issues are definitely not fitting for his character since he should always be the calm and collected leader who gets the job done. At his core that’s who Fred Jones is after all. A man on a mission but at least he gets some stuff to do during the climax.

Meanwhile Daphne’s not bad. She gets to fight quite a bit as the films have established her as the best fighter for a while now. She’s able to use Batman’s skills with ease and dishes out a lot of damage the whole time. Honestly it might be time for her to leave the mystery gang and become a crimefighter full time to make the best use of her talents. She could be making a real difference in the city by now.

Despite the film’s short overall length it does still manage to deliver a fairly long climax which I found to be impressive. There is a whole lot of action as we get to see all of the heroes and villains mixing it up in the city. We even get a brief battle between Mercy and Daphne which I would have liked to have seen more of since it would have had a lot of good choreography. So the action at the end was really appreciated particularly since it helped to give the DC side of this crossover a little more shine.

The humor can be a little more on the hit or miss side. I think one issue with the series is that sometimes they do tend to do the same gag over and over until it’s run into the ground. Fred trying to find out about Jimmy from Daphne, Scooby and Shaggy never being able to eat their meal in peace, etc. Still at the end of the day it’s nothing so bad that it would hurt the score big time or anything like that. The writing just isn’t nearly as clever as it’s trying to be.

Overall, Scooby Doo delivers with another fun film here. At the end of the day it may not be one of the more intense Scooby Doo titles but the novelty of having the DC characters in here makes up the difference. If you like Krypto then you’ll probably be disappointed but otherwise just enjoy the DC universe and you’ll have a good time here. I look forward to seeing Scooby Doo churn out more titles and hopefully another big crossover soon.

Overall 7/10

The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock Review

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It’s time for a parody of a film that I wasn’t a big fan of. Fortunately this one blows the original out of the water. I’m not going to say that it’s a great film or anything but it’s fun enough and worth a few laughs. Ultimately I would say that it is solid and a film that you don’t want to forget because of how absurd the whole thing is.

The film starts off by introducing us to Rossiter who is running for governor. This guy knows that he is the best man for the job and is eager to do whatever it takes to win. The only real obstacle in his path is the garbage disposal man, Artie. Artie is someone who has resisted Rossiter’s total ownership of the town. This man owns all of the businesses except for Artie’s. The worst part is that his niece Emmy is dating Artie which Rossiter fears will lower his own social reputation. Well Artie manages along just fine until Emmy grows huge one day. Now her appetite is fierce and she desperately needs to consume more and more calories. Can he really handle her at this point or is it game over for Artie?

Artie is one of those guys who isn’t very smart and so he rarely notices when someone’s insulting him. He tends to be getting dominated throughout the film with a variety of insults but at least his spirits never go low because he takes it all in stride. The guy is really carefree in a lot of ways and that’s nice because it really means that he can always make a comeback. Through misunderstandings and absurd events going on he manages to usually get some victories too like Rossiter allowing him to marry Emmy.

Artie’s ultimately not one of the most likable characters though because of this. Not being very smart tends to hurt when it’s to an exaggerated degree. He did somehow create a robot capable of moving through time and space while bending reality though so he does have some skills. It does lead to a fairly interesting climax with a lot going on though. If you thought the first half was crazy, well the second half definitely escalates this quite a bit. Trust me the film was not holding back at all.

Emmy doesn’t look as good here though because she tends to be unreasonable once she’s a giant. Now you could say that a side effect of turning giant is that it’s destroying her reasoning skills and that’s certainly possible but I’m not sure that I’m giving her that out yet. The film doesn’t really go into that and so in the end it can make her look a little petty. She causes a ton of collateral damage when throwing the trees around and ultimately takes her vengeance a little too far. Honestly people could have died after all of the rampaging. Also the town did pretty well to get her the jumbo food and drink considering that this was a situation nobody had seen before.

Finally I did enjoy Rossiter’s character quite a bit. Yeah the guy’s as selfish and uncaring as can be but that’s part of his charm. He’s the guy who would run you over to save 50 cents if he needed too. All he cares about is himself and he’s not afraid to flaunt that. He has a ton of close calls while on camera but always manages to play them off which shows how resourceful he is. I actually think he could do a pretty good job all things considered. Yeah he’s not someone you could ever trust because of how two faced he is, but by all accounts he’s run the town really well.

Throughout the film everyone seems really happy and they all get along. So wouldn’t you say that Rossiter should take most of the credit for that since he owns every business? He also seems to get along with just about everyone aside from the main character which is pretty impressive. This guy has good people skills to be sure and the film establishes him well. Considering the short runtime each character has a very well defined personality right out of the gate.

The writing is really solid and the humor is on point here. Of course you really need to enjoy this humor style. I’d still consider it slapstick even if the main guy isn’t getting knocked around too much because he does get grabbed a few times. You just know he would have been slugged if there weren’t witnesses around. He definitely needs to be careful because Rossiter is not the kind of guy who will give up. You easily could have done sequels to this movie if all of the actors had still been around because there’s a whole lot of potential around the setup.

The best gag was probably when the machine started explaining how the wedding would have to wait and then it went farther to start yelling that there would be no wedding. Of course it was just another glitch but the timing was just perfect for trolling the main two. It’s clear that the robot still has a lot of errors to iron out but at least it come through when it counts. You can’t really ask for much more than that.

Overall, This is a fun film like I said before. I don’t think you’ll find it super memorable so eventually this will fade away but it’s short and never drags on. The characters have some nice back and forth banter the whole time as well which is always good. The writing did a good job here and so mixing that in with the effective humor makes the film a winner as well. It’s probably a rare case of a good film that would have been worse if it was too long because then it would drag on but that doesn’t happen here. A good movie knows when to end and I did enjoy the final scene here as a nice gag to end things off.

Overall 6/10

Bloodsport 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

It’s time for a big tournament epic! Bloodsport is a film I can’t say I was too familiar with even though it’s a whole series. After watching it I can definitely see the appeal though as I always enjoy a big tournament like this. Now the story beats may be overly predictable to a dramatic degree as the film really telegraphs every moment but even with that it’s executed well.

The film starts off by introducing us to Frank. He used to get into a lot of trouble but eventually he was taken in by a nice man and learned the ways of the martial arts although mostly it was second hand as he wasn’t taught directly. The guy’s real son was the one who was meant to be the champion but unfortunately he ended up dying early. Frank figures it is up to him to achieve the dream of winning the ultimate tournament now and so he gets some training in and then heads over there. This tournament is a huge deal so fighters from around the globe will be participating. It’s all done under the books as this tournament isn’t exactly official. Now why would you enter a tournament where you could die? For some it’s a matter of honor and for others it’s the money. Either way it’s the opportunity of a lifetime!

So yeah it’s very much a Mortal Kombat setup right from the start here. There are a ton of battles and that’s one thing I really liked about this film. A lot of times in these martial art titles there can be a lot of deadtime before you get to the tournament. The training is important too of course but I want to see the matches. This has to be one of the longest tournaments that I’ve seen in a long while and trust me when I say that this is a very good thing. We see all kinds of opponents so you are reminded that this isn’t just a small battle with the main character and a bunch of throwaways.

A small detail I appreciated here is that most of the opponents put up a fight. For example in your average film the main villain will sleepwalk his way to the grand finals. Instead Li actually has a tough go of it at least for a little bit against several of these opponent. His victory is never in doubt but I’m glad that they at least landed shots. It feels a little unrealistically when the villain just steamrolls everyone no matter how good he is. These are all professional fighters after all.

Each fighter also has a different fighting style. You really get to see a lot of variety here and all of the fights are really intense. We’re talking kickboxers, sumo style, aggressive hands, jumping around, etc. It works really well as a solid blend to keep each match really interesting. You also get to recognize the characters as they go through the rounds. So yes this tournament was handled excellently with the bracket and actually making every fight feel real.

The pacing is on point as well and Frank makes for a good main character. He is confident in his abilities and really does well in battle. I also appreciate how confident he is, Frank knows that he is a good fighter after all. My only complaint is when he didn’t step in as a guy was harassing a girl on the bus. Feels like most main characters would have stepped in there. It was also a bit of a bizarre intro to Ray’s character as he’s meant to be the likable sidekick after the opening scene.

He brags a ton and the more he brags the more you know his ending is going to be painful. Even so you’re meant to like the guy so the opening scene just doesn’t work. I’ll also say I think the film overdid it with all the bragging in the final round. Cmon I don’t care how overconfident the guy is, he knows exactly who he is fighting. You don’t just turn your back like that for so long. The scene is so exaggerated that it would be funny except you knew that a lot of pain was coming up.

This film definitely does go all in on the finishing blows which is another thing that will feel like Mortal Kombat. The fights with Li always end with a final blow where it feels like a 50/50 on if you’ll die or not. He holds nothing back and the tournament isn’t going to eject him for it so he keeps escalating. He has murdered someone more than once after all. The tournament’s moment of silence definitely didn’t make sense with how callous they were the whole time. It’s also a completely empty gesture considering they aren’t going to disqualify him either way.

Li’s definitely a bad guy through and through however he makes for a great final boss. You do want a powerful opponent like that at the end and the final fight has a lot of good back and forth. Li does have to cheat so it does show right away who’s better but the final fight is really on point the whole time. It’s also a little less exaggerated of a comeback than Kickboxer so you can buy into the eyes closed fighting a bit more. Ultimately it makes for a fun climax.

Now I did still have some issues with the film. First off is the romance subplot with the reporter Janice. She can be pretty annoying the whole time. So at first she wants to get into the tournament and is doing whatever she can to make this plan work. Then once Janice gets in she starts to think that the violence is too much and gets angry at Frank. I never like this kind of plot because everybody told her to stay away but she insisted that she could handle it…and then she couldn’t. Cmon…that’s just bad.

Additionally the romance is really abrupt and comes out of nowhere. Given that it’s not even going to continue, it just feels like a waste where we could have had more fights instead. Frank also needed to give the tournament his full concentration so the fact that he was almost late to a match because of that was rough. The other time was because of the army so I can cut him a little slack there.

Also the government plot could have been cut out. I suppose it helps to explain why Frank is so powerful and well conditioned but you could have easily established that with his origin. The plot just doesn’t add anything to the film except for a slight obstacle that isn’t taken very seriously anyway. The fact that they were ready to knock him out is crazy. It gives us some decent humor scenes but eh the film would have been okay either way.

Overall, Bloodsport is a pretty solid film. It has a nice sense of humor and a pretty good cast of characters. You should be warned that the film can definitely be quite violent, particularly with the finishing blows. In some cases it’s not even the blow itself that is so intense, but the build up to it because you always know what’s about to happen. Still the fight choreography is really on point and for the most part the film is careful not to overdo it the way that Kickboxer did. Yeah this is one I could safely recommend.

Overall 6/10