Godzilla: World of Monsters Review

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Godzilla has returned! Lesss gooooooo. So after all these years I’ll now have gotten to read 6 different Godzilla series in one month. It’s nice to be catching up on all these titles after so long. In general the previous collection probably takes the win but the comics here are all solid as you would expect. Godzilla Oblivion is the weakest one but feels the most traditional while the gangsters series is the most different but ended up being the best. Rach series is quite different from the others so you certainly can’t say that the series is trying to play it safe. This title isn’t afraid to keep on switching things up.

First up we have Gangsters and Goliaths which follows a guy named Detective Sato. He’s been after a criminal group for a very long time now but unfortunately this group has grown too powerful. They now have people inside of the police force and just about everywhere else too. There is no way to escape from them and he is slowly seeing how futile the whole thing is. No matter how fast or far away he goes, the villains are right on his tail. His only chance now is a desperate one. He kidnaps the two priestesses who control Mothra and decides to use them as hostages so that Mothra can destroy the gangs. Naturally the gangs can’t do anything against a Kaiju but this is a dangerous game that he is playing. All it would take is one slip up and Mothra might end him in an instant.

Sato is a decent guy who has been taken into a rather extreme situation. The comic does make it clear that he wouldn’t actually shoot any of the two girls so that was good since it would have completely tanked his character. Still, taking hostages is certainly not the best plan in any case. Additionally he goes on a bit of a power trip by the end where he actually starts to try and drag the situation out. Rather than just end the gang in an instant he wants them to know that Detective Sato was the one who did them in and this is what makes things tougher for him. If he had just gone straight for the win then he would have saved himself a whole lot of heartache.

Mothra’s faction don’t look great here either. It’s like none of them can fight. I understand that they’re pacifists for the most part and get that but you have to still know that other people are ready and willing to fight. So when you walk up to a mobster with no plan and get shot it just makes these guys look bad. Mothra needs to re train her faction right from the ground up in order to get this all taken care of. They shouldn’t be getting handled by a normal guy like this. As for the actual human plot, I sort of missed the monsters the whole time. The gang plot is well written but since you’re reading Godzilla you’re hoping for more explosions and Kaiju battles. Now that’s something that would help elevate this to a whole new level. This was a good way to kick things off though and life does go on even while Kaiju are around so it does make sense that there would be gangs running around.

In Cataclysm we see that Godzilla successfully took down the entire planet. It’s now a wasteland with nothing left and people live in a very apocalyptic environment. At this point it’s a struggle just to stay alive. Only one Kaiju wants to bring the Earth back to life and that’s Biollante. Well, I guess Mothra is around to help but Biollante has the nature energy to revive the planet. The problem is that Godzilla keeps murdering her before she can really generate enough power. Hiroshi blames himself for this because he was part of a government experiment about mind controlling Godzilla and of course it went terribly wrong. All he succeeded in doing was getting that Kaiju real mad. Godzilla holds quite the grudge as he wants to doom the planet forever now. Hiroshi’s only chance is if he can escape with part of Biollante to buy her some time but this won’t be easy because Godzilla is king of the monsters. He is always around ready to dish out some pain.

The setting here is definitely very dreary and the comic paint quite the picture of what would happen if Godzilla won. There is a lot of narration from Hiroshi as he believes that nobody can ever truly know Godzilla so this might not even be rage but just Godzilla doing whatever he wants. There isn’t really a way to know for sure and that’s the crazy part. So in the grand scheme of things the humans couldn’t do much. So this makes for a decent survival story. The humans tend to look really bad here though. Some immediately want to go back to sacrifices and such to appease Godzilla while others just turn back to a life of crime. Hiroshi’s relatives blame him for everything even though that’s unreasonable because he was just following orders and had no way of knowing that this could even happen. Hiroshi was feeling guilty about the whole thing all these years but technically speaking he wasn’t as responsible as he figures. It would have been nice if the other characters could have acknowledged this.

I’d say the best part about this series is that it really shows why Godzilla is the king. It’s clear that no other Kaiju was able to even come close to his overall abilities and that’s how it should be. A king should be considerably stronger than the others and Godzilla proved that with ease. This comic really understood that aspect of his character which was great. I’m also cool with the humans panicking and looking awful since I could totally see that happening if we ever got a Godzilla. It’s annoying to watch but it definitely tracks.

Finally we have Godzilla Oblivion. So there are a bunch of scientists who are being paid to create a giant portal. They complete this task and then reluctantly turn it on because the boss wants a demonstration. This leads to all of them heading into a parallel Earth that is filled with monsters destroying everything. This isn’t exactly what they bargained for so they head back home but Ghidorah follows them and destroys everything. A few years pass and the heroes need to open the portal to send him back home but is that even possible?

The humans are completely out of their depth but what else is new right? Just trying to dump all of their problems onto another Earth isn’t the best idea either. The scientist tries explaining that but gets overruled the whole time. One issue here is that a lot of the characters look really similar. Throw in the fact that this comic has a unique style of framing the panels where you rarely see anybody and it can be really easy to mix everyone up. I feel that this does limit the series from the jump because it sort of takes you out of the experience. There’s not a whole lot to care about in the human plot because they all get mixed up and are thinking about themselves anyway.

I was actually kind of happy when the other Earth decided to throw all of their Kaiju at us because our Earth was being so annoying about the whole thing. They’ve got some really valid reasons for just doing this because it seems like our humans would have done the same thing if they could have. At first the other Earth actually seemed like decent fighters but in the end they were just doing their best to survive like we were and weren’t exactly winning the fight. The Kaiju are just too tough and relentless like always.

We do get a good amount of Kaiju action here which is always good though. They all get to show their stuff from start to finish. Godzilla looks like one of the big shots but we also have Ghidorah and Destoroyah running around so this time he has some actual competition instead of it just being a cakewalk for him. That’s good since you always want to have a little bit of a challenge there. I’d say we could have focused less on the humans and more on the big Kaiju action.

The art throughout these issues is fairly good. I wouldn’t say it ever gets amazing but it’s pretty solid. You really get to see the different energy attacks and the Kaiju designs definitely stick out. That’s the important thing here since you really want them to be able to stand out. There was a body of a dead animal in one comic that felt rather unnecessary. Fortunately it was a passing shot and had been gone for some time but I always get nervous that an animal will be collateral damage in one of these issues so the comics need to watch out.

Overall, Godzilla Oblivion is a very solid comic. It’s got a whole lot of action to it and a nice variety of stories. You should definitely check this out if you’re a Godzilla fan. Who knows maybe one of these comic series will be turned into a film or a TV show someday. There’s always hope out there and I think that could work really well. To keep things expanding I would probably say to do an original story instead but if it does get adapted then we’ll be able to see these fights on the big screen. Sadly Orga doesn’t appear here but I can still hope that he will return one of these days. He’s easily the most underrated Kaiju and it’s not even close.

Overall 7/10

Macabre Review

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This film is one of those mystery thrillers that throws a lot of twists at you but it’s convoluted in all the right ways. Everything makes more and more sense as the film goes on and each twist works rather well. The overall plan seems to really be a huge stretch by the end as you really would not be able to guarantee with any degree of certainty that it would work but hey the villain is insane so that’s not really an issue. If you’re up for an intense title then this is a good one to watch.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Barrett who is a doctor but nobody in town like him. They all clearly want him gone and so his assistant Polly suggests that he pack his things. She will of course be glad to accompany him but he declines since he wants to marry Sylvia. One day his world is turned upside down when his daughter Marge is kidnapped and the assailant leaves a threatening phone call hinting that she is dead. He gives a cryptic response that hints they only have a little time to save her before she runs out of oxygen wherever she is. Barrett has to try and find her quickly but he has to do it while everyone despises the guy. There are no shortage of enemies here.

Throughout the film we get several flashbacks which explain just why nobody likes him. It’s a bit hard to get into those without obvious spoilers though as these all involve a lot of twists. One thing we can say for sure is that Barrett is just a bad guy though. The dislike from the town is absolutely justified the whole time as you see these scenes play out. I would argue that he already seemed a bit sketchy even before these though like with how he wants to marry Sylvia but doesn’t really decline Polly as directly as you would expect him to.

The guy is clearly someone who doesn’t mind being on the rebound and that is always a very awful trait to have as a main character. Of course his daughter shouldn’t have to pay for his mistakes so you still figure that whoever got her is even worse than this guy. The movie handles the plot well although as far as the kidnapped child storyarc goes, I’ve seen a few that were stronger than this one. This one is distracted with Barrett’s past and a whole lot going on in this town after all.

Meanwhile the supporting cast here isn’t amazing. You have Sylvia who somehow still doesn’t mind being with Barrett. Considering that her hands aren’t completely clean at this point perhaps they fit together but you never end up finding her all that likable. Meanwhile the same is true of Polly. Sure, Polly at least has a conscience and seems like a decent person but you still have to wrestle with the fact that she is trying to make a move on someone she knows is trying to marry someone else. So that’s just way too desperate for me.

The only really decent main character here is Miss Kushins. She does her best to watch the house and has been around the block for a while. When trouble starts she quickly lets other people know instead of staying quiet like Barrett said. The police chief was also solid. He definitely didn’t mind roughing Barrett up a little and was tempted to do more than that. This guy wants to run a peaceful town and it’s tough when guys like the lead are running around.

One thing this film will remind you of is that it isn’t so easy to die of shock. Perhaps of sheer fright like if you have a weak heart and someone jumps in front of you, but just seeing something? That’s not going to be so easy and since there is a certain part of the plan that revolves around this you are going to have some major doubts the whole time. I know that I certainly did. So part of the ending just doesn’t work on that level. We still do get a satisfying ending to the movie though so it doesn’t let you down there. In a way the villain’s poorly thought out plan did come back to get him so that’s definitely how it should be.

In a way the film’s biggest weakness is just that none of the characters are super likable. I named some decent characters above but all of the main characters are annoying at best. So the film’s trying to succeed in spite of the characters as opposed to being because of them and that’s always a bit tricky. A good plot can absolutely pull this off and I would say this film succeeded but with better characters it absolutely would have worked. You don’t even have to change much but make Polly just a friend who is worried about Marge as opposed to being someone who is interested in the main guy. Also fainting after the phone call is a bit much since time is of the essence. You need to at least pass on the message before you faint right?

I’d also have probably grouped the flashbacks together instead of splitting them up although I do understand the reason for doing so in a narrative way. It would just be nice to get right back to the main plot instead of going through a detour each time. At the end of the day the writing is also solid so the movie did have the right building blocks to make this a good movie. It didn’t forget the fundamentals and that is critically important in a movie like this. The core story is strong and having everyone be against the main guy helps with the tension since you can’t trust anyone and with the race against time being a factor there is always a lot of tension.

Overall, Macabre is a good movie even if the drama can be laid on a bit thick at times. There is just so much going on in both the past and the present that the main plot of the daughter being kidnapped has to take a backseat sometimes and I can’t recall that ever being the case for a film like this. Usually that’s the complete main plot with nothing to compete with it. The movie could probably have benefited from focusing on the present a bit more but I would still recommend this one. If you want to check out a well balanced thriller then you will have a good time here.

Overall 6/10

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons Review

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Now you might be thinking…wait is this film CG? Well the answer is yes so DC decided to try a little something here. As I always say, CG isn’t even bad, but it is a step down from traditional animation. It beats the more experimental types like flash, stop motion, claymation, etc. but traditional animation is the GOAT of getting hype content across the board. So that starts this one off at a bit of a disadvantage next to its peers but ultimately it’s still a pretty good movie. It doesn’t quite top the last one but if you’re looking for some fun action then this movie has you covered.

We start off with Krypton blowing up again as Superman’s dad can’t catch a break and we then fast forward to the future where Superman and Lois are married with a kid named Jonathan. For years he hasn’t displayed any super powers so they figured maybe it wasn’t going to happen but all of a sudden he starts to develop them. Superman is at last able to reveal his secret identity but is promptly taken out along with the rest of the Justice League. Jonathan will have to finally become the new Superboy as he teams up with Robin to save the world. Are these two kids ready for such a big challenge or are they about to get absolutely destroyed as they try to fight off the big fighters?

Now you may have some questions about how the League is handled and we can quickly just write this off as a little plot hax/power level issues. You’re not sidelining Superman this easily but hey we can’t have him stealing the show right? The film wisely kept the Flash out of this as well since he’d be tough to take down. The villain of the film isn’t revealed immediately but I will say that he’s fairly cool. Not powerful enough to take out the Justice League levels of cool but he gets a good amount of hype dialogue and talks a big game. I always appreciate when a villain talks really big so I did like that about him. The film doesn’t really have any bad characters so even if he’s weaker than the heroes, I rather enjoyed the villain. I just wish he could have fought some more.

Jonathan works as an okay main character once he gets his head in the game but it does take a while. At first he’s really just your average kid who is getting picked on at school and gets upset since Superman keeps missing his big games/moments. Once he gets his powers and starts fighting then he quickly improves as a character. He is a solid contrast to Robin as they both fight off the villains. I think Jonathan should only continue to improve as a character the more he becomes accustomed to his powers. In theory once he learns them at 100% power then there are very few characters here who will be able to defeat him.

Meanwhile Robin looks great here. This is Damian specifically as from all of the Robins he always has the most attitude which leads to a lot of great one liners and character moments. You just have to appreciate this guy’s confidence. He may overrate himself just a little bit but considering how strong he is at such a young age you can absolutely see how it would happen. He does get a lot of good moments to shine though like diffusing a situation with a bully twice and holding his own against fighters with actual super powers. It’s always fun to watch him fight even if you don’t believe things would really turn out this way.

I already talked about the animation so you’re still going to have good fights here. The soundtrack is a surprising hit though with a lot of themes that sound like they’re straight out of the DCAU. You get some hype themes for the battle moments and also some nice eery ones for when the villains are around. It makes for a well balanced collection of tracks and that’s definitely what you want to see here.

Where the film has to do a bit of a balancing act is having some emotional scenes for Jonathan while also trying to throw us into the action quickly since it’s not like the film is super long or anything like that. I probably would have sped up some of the intro scenes with Jonathan so he can get his powers and take names quicker. It’s always tough since you do want to introduce the character completely but that would be my take. Once the story really gets going then it’s pretty much nonstop from there. The villain’s plan was a little too good so realistically he should not have been stopped but we’ll see if they can top that for next time.

This movie also seemed to take some elements from the new movies with some of the character designs/general roster, Justice League with one character’s role and even Young Justice. As a stand alone it worked really well there in just grabbing a bunch of elements from all sorts of places. I was surprised that Alfred didn’t make a cameo but otherwise just about everyone is here. I think the general premise of the story really lends itself well to a big cast like this. In fact, you could do a whole movie series or a full saga with this plot. There are so many different directions you can go with it so I’d be cool with this villain returning for another stab at it but this time focus on the adult heroes. Even for them this wouldn’t be a walk in the park depending on how far it goes.

You could switch out the villain if you want to keep it fresh though. It’s the general concept/premise of what’s going on that really kicks things up a few notches. Keeping things rather vague since I forget if they even showed the villain in the trailers but if not then this way you can still go in fresh. Meanwhile Superman and Lois get good roles as well at least during the intro. Lois also gets some more to do near the end so I enjoyed her character here. She got to show off why she is still the top reporter around town, willing to take on extra risks to save the day. If she had super powers I dare say she would become a vigilante really quick but that’s a complement in this case.

Overall, Battle of the Super Sons didn’t get us a battle between the Super Sons but their teaming up to stop a common enemy is always a classic way to go. The film has a good amount of action and story here so you should have a good time watching this one. You may wish you could see the League more but I suppose the kids have to get their fun sometimes. Whether you’re a DC fan or not you should enjoy this one. It’s just a fun experience and you should walk away satisfied as the ending is good and there’s a lot of room for a sequel. I’d be cool with the kids showing up again in the future for more action but wouldn’t mind a little time skip.

Overall 7/10

Pokemon Scarlet Review

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It’s time for the next big Pokemon event game! It’s always fun to have the Gym Leaders and Elite 4 running around. It’s been a little while since we really got to have that whole setup here as Arceus was a bit different from the usual path. All in all I would say this was definitely a big success. The plot may be the weakest one among all of the main-line Pokemon games but the gameplay is nostalgic and you should have a really good time here.

The game starts you off as a new student who will be attending a fun Pokemon school. There are 3 paths for you to embark on, the Gym Leader course, the Titans course, and stopping the Starfall group. Only after you have completed all 3 routes will you be able to unlock the final story and complete the game. Initially I thought it was going to be more like you complete one path and beat the game, then optionally play the others but in the end they’re all interconnected. The levels also match up that way and each path has their perks so I recommend just always going for the one closest to you.

The game has a map which is handy since the world is so big but it also does have its limitations. You can’t tell what level a raid is until you walk over there. It’s also hard to tell which gym/encounter is next on the list but I was okay with that one because it does help to emulate how a trainer might tackle things out of order. I found this to be the most difficult Pokemon game by far as I actually lost some battles and had to go back and train. It turned out that I was playing the Gym Leaders in reverse order by mistake. No wonder one of them had Level 50s early on. I must have taken a wrong turn on one of the routes but either way it was cool.

It did mean that the second half of the game mostly turned into a cakewalk though as I fought a guy with level 15s near the very end of the game. It did explain why my rival Nemona was so much weaker than the gym leaders at first since I guess the programming has a set level for her Pokemon based on how many badges I’ve obtained as opposed to which ones. Once you unlock sprinting and gliding you have a lot more fun traversing the world. It may be hard to adjust to the lower speed after playing Sonic Frontiers for so long but you get the hang of it. It was an ambitious map and I would say the game did a good job of it.

The gameplay feels like classic Pokemon once you actually get into the battles. For the first time in a while I also got to fight blind to an extent as I don’t know almost any of the new Pokemon and their types. It was fun getting that sense of mystery as I struggled to find the right attacks to use. This especially became big during the Elite 4 battles which are handled perfectly. You feel the majesty and mystery surrounding each fighter and the new musical theme that is introduced there works really well. Definitely no issues on the gameplay here.

The game succeeds because it’s just a lot of fun. At the end of the day who doesn’t like just getting out there and fighting in Pokemon battles right? What does hurt the game when comparing it to other big ones like Ruby and Fire Red is the story though. As I mentioned earlier, it’s just not that good. Most of it feels rather aimless and low stakes even for Pokemon. You fight a Titan and get a little cutscene, then this is repeated over and over for each fight. Likewise the Starfall events all have you beat someone and then see their tragic story. For the first time that I can think of, there is no evil group here. (Pokemon Shield may not have had an evil group either although I’m not 100%. If that is the case maybe they’re being phased out) So you’re never in any actual danger there.

The gym leaders are fun even if it’ll take me a while to learn their names. Larry is definitely the highlight there and it’s extremely impressive that he actually performs double duty as a gym leader and an elite four member. That has to be a huge time commitment and he makes it look easy. The game does start to turn up in the climax though so at least the final story event is pretty hype. I enjoyed the last battles but it felt like a preview of what the whole game could have been like. I’m not asking for anything crazy but even having an antagonist like Team Rocket running around would be fun. Give me some kind of trial to surpass as I prove that I’m the true Pokemon master.

A highlight from the characters perspective is Nemona though. She’s your rival here and while she is on the nicer side, she really likes battling. She constantly talks about challenging you and is very enthusiastic. Nemona is a supportive character who just wants to help the lead do his best and the fact that she beat the Elite 4 and the old champion so easily is impressive. Not only was she holding back but she was fairly young when she conquered them based on the dialogue. Yes, this looks really bad on the original champion who may be the least impressive one in the franchise but Nemona makes up for it by being the most memorable rival in a very long time. I am inclined to say that she beats every rival after Ruby in the game series.

As for the graphics, you’ve certainly seen the memes all around. There are a lot of visual glitches running around here like things popping in and out, character models being off point, and some severe lag. It’s clear that graphics weren’t a big point of emphasis here but ultimately it still looks good. In the context of this being a AAA Switch title then it’s well below expectations as it looks more like a Wii game but ultimately you can always tell where you’re at and the colors are fun. I didn’t really have a problem with it and you likely won’t run into any real glitches that affect gameplay so you’re good on this end.

The soundtrack is definitely on the weaker side though. Most of the new tracks don’t really land all that effectively. I liked the Elite 4 theme and the final boss theme but the rest weren’t so great. Still decent though and I don’t mind listening to them but they are a step below what you would expect. I think the issue is that most of the themes try remixing older tunes or taking elements from them instead of trying something completely new and that was a mistake. You always have to try and innovate as much as possible.

The campaign took me around 20 hours to complete so that’s a pretty reasonable amount of time. Between the 3 paths and then the last one it felt like there was a lot of content to play through. The game also has a post game that you can work on completing as well which involves a lot of battles. The game isn’t afraid to get a little difficult so you could look forward to some fun challenges there. In the end it did a great job of not being a cakewalk and so you do have to actually put some effort into the game if you want to complete it.

Overall, Pokemon Scarlet is a great game. At the end of the day it gives you all of the classic Pokemon staples that you would hope to see here. There’s a whole lot to enjoy and just filling up the Pokedex will likely take a very long time. I believe I caught less than 40 Pokemon and there are several hundred in here. Go forth and try to claim your mantle as the champion! Not sure how long it’ll be before we get the next big installment with a bunch of new Pokemon but this game can certainly last a whole lot longer if you want it too and then the gap won’t feel so large.

Overall 8/10

Raijin vs Mifune

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Suggested by Sonic Raijin is your classic strong but not very smart character. The strength won’t help him all that much though because it’s unlikely that he would be able to get many attacks in. Mifune’s speed advantage is much too severe to be easily caught and the amount of weapons that he can spam is impressive. Raijin would be soundly defeated in an instant without much of a way to counter. Mifune wins.

Shu Ouma vs Black Rock Shooter

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Suggested by Sonic Shu Ouma is a tough fighter since his weapons can be versatile but he doesn’t have the sheer durability and power that Black Rock Shooter has. She was able to take on an impressive barrage of attacks from all of her opponents and she always gets up for more. There aren’t very many fighters who could even come close to matching that level of skill. Shu would quickly be overwhelmed here and his lack of combat experience against speedy fighters will hurt him. Black Rock Shooter wins.

Panda King vs Winston

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Suggested by Sonic Panda King is a tough brawler and has a bit of fire to his blows which helps him out. Still, he doesn’t have the long range tech that Winston has and that will be the tipping point in this fight. It’s just hard to close the distance against an opponent who has the range advantage on you like this. Anytime Panda King tries to get close he would just be blown away and that’s why he won’t be able to win this match. Winston wins.

Shade Man vs Dark Man

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Suggested by Sonic Dark Man has incredible strength and durability at his side. While Shade Man has his noise crush and a fairly good amount of speed, I don’t think that it will be enough this time. Wherever he turns, Dark Man will be ready with a crushing blow. There is just no escape from the guy and a few good hits should really be enough to end this fight. Dark Man wins.

Bellamy vs Arlong

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Suggested by Sonic Arlong was really tough back in his day but the power creep has definitely flown right past him at this point. His super strength just isn’t enough against Bellamy’s pure speed. I don’t see Arlong really being able to react to the guy and would be quickly overwhelmed with a flurry of blows. You’re just not stopping Captain Bellamy so easily! Bellamy wins.

Thor vs Mongoose

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Mongoose was a villain created with a lot of super abilities thanks to the High Evolutionary. His speed and strength are off the charts so he makes for a tough adversary. While he is an all around fighter, Thor’s stats still beat his out in the end. A few good shots from Mjolnir will overwhelm even this fighter’s defenses. Thor wins.