Burnt Offerings Review

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Burnt Offerings is a film where the story was cooked a little too much and so it all drags on quite a bit. The characters have virtually no willpower so the house is able to give them the hands right away. At no point do you think the main characters stand any kind of a chance here and that’s an issue. How can you possibly root for the characters when they’re all so unlikable? The movie makes a lot of mistakes and barely stumbles to the end.

The movie starts with the main characters getting ready to rent out a house for a while. It’s summer and the time for relaxation and adventure. They find a large house that looks like a bit of a fixer upper but the owners are nice enough. They say cryptic stuff about the house looking after itself and that it’ll look good soon but the main characters don’t mind. The place is super cheap, even suspiciously so you could say. Still the owners say that it’s a deal and then vanish. Only one elderly lady will be staying with the family but she never leaves her room so she shouldn’t be much of a bother. Well the characters have their house but they all start acting rather oddly right away. Should they leave before it’s too late?

Now the haunted house genre isn’t anything new. We’ve had haunted houses for as long as I can remember. The real issue with this one is how fast is effects them. Usually it might take a few hours or something for this to go through but instead it’s nearly immediate. Ben goes crazy first as he tries to drown his son Davey but ends up being foiled before it’s too late. Then Marian gets really serious about this house to the point of yelling at Davey about it. Finally the grandmother starts feeling really tired all of the time. The only common element is the house and yet nobody really wants to leave it.

It’s all just way too fast. Do these guys not have a single oz of willpower within them at all? That would have solved this issue right off the bat since they could have escaped. You probably suspect how things will play out right from the jump but that doesn’t mean the series couldn’t have just thrown us a curve ball somewhere along the way. Instead they just get possessed as if this is the ghost busters and are overwhelmed at all times. As a result there is no time to find any of the characters likable since they all seem so unhinged.

Ben never recovers from the opening scene. He probably should have gone to greater lengths to make sure they all left the house. Maybe even burn it down as a last resort. The ending is frustrating in that sense as Marian ignores them all to dash in the house. Honestly at that point you probably just need to keep going. At the very least you need some semblance of reaction times. One thing that hurts Ben at the end is that he’s impossibly slow. Seriously the guy can’t move an inch when it counts and that really comes back to bite him. If he could move an inch then that would have helped him out a bit.

Meanwhile Marian is no better as she is quickly absorbed by the house. She never makes the right decisions as a result and yells at Davey for minor things. She also doesn’t stick up for the grandmother at all and just leaves her feeling underappreciated the whole time. Marian ends up allowing the danger to become real each time she strengthens the house. The grandmother is a little less responsible for the bad things that happen. She at least tries to resist the whole being sleepy thing but the other characters don’t exactly help her out in this. Anyone would have cracked eventually.

Davey is reasonable enough the whole time but probably should have also encouraged them to leave the house after the crazy events kept on happening. By the end, running for the hills would have been best. He’s rather young so he wouldn’t get far but that would have helped a bit to at least escape the immediate area. The only winners here are really the two owners of the house who knew what was going to happen but stayed quiet. They ended up being rather talented masterminds the whole time.

I do enjoy the idea of a house that feeds off of the owners in order to look great every Summer but the characters should have been able to resist a little better. At least make the house work for the victory instead of surrendering immediately and making everything so easy. That’s the worst part of it all, this is incredibly easy for the house. I doubt it even broke a sweat messing with these guys. The visions they get aren’t even that scary. Ben keeps seeing a guy with a cap driving around in a black limo? Okay….not too scary for him.

The context is a bit hard to follow and we have to assume he was being scared because of a previous inhabitant’s feelings but he should be able to overpower that, at least a little. The fact that he couldn’t do anything about it was the worst. Marian never even seemed to try with this either. For what it’s worth, Ben still got a few scenes where he was upset. Marian seemed positively thrilled the entire time. Nothing would dampen her mood at all and she didn’t even stop to think twice about why the phones wouldn’t work for Ben but worked when she grabbed it.

At best I can say that Burnt Offerings did have some decent visuals. I thought it illustrated how the house would visibly change really well. I wonder if they shot images of a different house or had to set everything up with physical props. Either way that was effective and the film does have a rather ominous atmosphere at times. So at the very least this did have that horror feeling and the writing was also decent. It may not have been out of this world but the characters all talked in reasonable ways and I liked this style of writing. It’s not enough to overcome the film’s flaws but at least it’s something.

Overall, Burnt Offerings really skips a whole part of the movie that should have existed where we see the main characters resisting the mansion’s influence. By not having that, it makes it seem like the heroes have no self control. They just joined the darkness immediately. None of them are pro active about changing the situation even though it’s clear that this has all happened after moving into the house. They should have left straight away. By not doing so, it can feel like the film has stalled out at times. Always a risk with a slow burner type like this one. I’d recommend checking out a different Haunted House film instead for a better experience.

Overall 3/10

Gifted Review

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Whenever you are born with incredible gifts there will be some temptation to use them and make a name for yourself. Sometimes you may prefer to hide them away and live as a normal person though. This film delves into that classic debate and makes for a fun drama. It goes by reasonably fast and has a lot of strengths to it.

The movie starts by introducing us to Mary who is currently being looked after by Frank. Her mother destroyed herself a while back and seemingly it was due to the pressure of being a genius who had to try and solve a math problem that was so difficult it took her whole life and was nearly unsolvable. Frank wants to make sure this doesn’t happen to Mary so he’s kept her enrolled in a normal school and tries to make sure she doesn’t spend too much time studying. It’s all going rather well until her grandmother Evelyn shows up to try and take custody of Mary. If she wins then Mary will be going to a school for the gifted and put on an accelerated track to stardom. Can Frank put a stop to the madness?

Now in terms of the debate itself, naturally it should be left up to the kid eventually but while they are so young, they can’t reasonably make that decision. For example, Mary may like studying a lot but if Frank tells her to stop then she will. Likewise if Evelyn decides to put her in a big school and encourages her to live her life studying then she will do that. Because the kid is so susceptible right now you have to make the choice and ultimately I would be more on Frank’s side. Now, I think he should have taken her to the advanced school because she was so bored in the current one but she shouldn’t need the pressure of thinking she has to succeed.

Mary should still be in a lot of extra curricular activities and playing around outside to keep her balanced. I’d say it’s clear that Frank was doing a better job of watching over her than Evelyn ever could have. As the main character it’s not surprising that he would be the best pick but I wouldn’t even say it was that close. Evelyn wasn’t around all this time and I’d say she could have found Frank and Mary sooner if she really wanted to. So from the start you have some doubts.

As for Evelyn, she makes for a good antagonist. As the villain you don’t expect her to play fair and she certainly doesn’t but she makes for a good opponent. If anything I think the film lets her off rather easy by the end. She did actively try to murder Mary’s cat and that’s really a nonstarter. From that point she went from being the antagonist who still had Mary’s best interests at heart to someone who only saw her as a tool to be famous. Evelyn lost all sympathy points from then on and I think they went a little too far in making her so unreasonable. For most of the film it was a fairly decent back and forth where you could respect Evelyn even if you didn’t agree with her. That was thrown out the window with the cat part.

Frank is a good lead but I do think he made some really poor decisions that came back to bite him here. For starters, having an affair with the teacher was absolutely awful. That’s the one thing you really can’t do, particularly when Mary is right next door. Sure, he didn’t expect her to walk in but she’s literally next door. The odds of this happening are not 0. If you have to have an affair then go to a motel or something. Considering the high stakes though Frank should have absolutely been on his best behavior and not doing anything like this.

As for Roberta, she was a nice neighbor who did her best to look out for Mary. She calls Frank out whenever he is making a mistake and also serves as a good friend to Mary. Mary didn’t exactly get along with the other kids at school so this way she at least had someone to talk to. As for Mary, she’s a decent enough kid. She does tend to overreact to things as they do but since she was smarter than most, her dialogue was also a bit better than some of the other kids you would tend to see. Would have been nice if she didn’t decide to just ditch Frank though. I know she was disappointed but cutting him out of her life was a bit disappointing.

Again, Frank could and should have been better like not blowing up at her about the weekend part but they had gotten along for so long that you think she would have given him another chance. As for the teacher, she’s okay but like Frank I have to blame her a bit for this affair as well. Having a relationship with the parent of a kid in her class is really a bad idea. I don’t see any way that something good can come out of that. It will backfire horribly every single time without fail.

Going back to Frank making mistakes though, another one is at the ending. So he catches Evelyn breaking the arrangement they had by seeing Mary in secret. He should have ran over to the judge and told him everything. Get her to move out of the place and then not even give her the notebook from Mary’s mother. I don’t think Evelyn earned that and having the judge give a complete victory to Frank would have been ideal. I think it would have been very difficult for Evelyn to have talked her way out of this one. The very fact that the foster parents were bought out should also get them into trouble for being negligent guardians.

Taking the cat to a shelter to be executed makes the whole thing even worse. I feel like a lot of characters got off easy now that I think about it. Frank should have taken them to town. Well, I suppose the important thing is that Mary’s in a good space now though. Hopefully everything will be on the up and up now as she has a good balance of being a genius and doing normal things. A sequel about her while Mary is grown up could be a good amount of fun.

Overall, Gifted is a solid film. There are some questionable decisions and moments that keep this one from being a bit better but in all you’ll still have a good time. The pacing is on point and the film has a solid cast of characters. I thought Mary’s character was handled well here and the ending should be satisfying for all parties involved. It’s a drama that never tends to get too dramatic and the writing is good so it was a well made film all around.

Overall 6/10

Nami vs Kalifa Review

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I know what you may be thinking here…DReager1 is reviewing individual fights now? Well, that would be interesting but also a little overwhelming with how many there are so that’s not the case this time. this is another one shot by Boichi which adapts a part of the One Piece manga. This absolutely would not have been my first choice from the CP9 arc but a fight’s a fight I suppose.

Basically the plot is that Kalifa just absolutely devastated Sanji in their battle. He has a rule about not attacking women which is nice enough. I never hold that against him and won’t fault him for sticking to the rule but at least get out of there right? If you can’t fight back then you have to leave or keep dodging with speed. Instead he ate every attack and got wrecked so now Nami has to try and avenge him. Can she really beat someone like Kalifa though?

One issue with this fight has always been that Nami is absolutely no match for Kalifa. I mean it’s not even remotely close. Nami only has the speed, strength, and durability of a normal human. Her main weapon is the clima tact which can simulate weather conditions but takes a lot of time to work. She doesn’t have any real close combat abilities either. Then we have Kalifa who is a professional government agent who knows the 5 methods of death. (Shave, Sky walk, Finer Bullets, Hardening, and the 5th one I always forget) Her speed alone means that she should be able to dodge every single attack from Nami and one well placed finger pistol would end the match in an instant.

That’s not even counting Kalifa’s devil fruit ability which allows her to make people really smooth so they slip and slide while also becoming rather chibi. It’s not a very good devil fruit to be honest but that’s still more than enough to defeat Nami. Now, why pick on this fight out of all of them? Well, it is what I would argue to be the most lopsided fight in all of One Piece. I just don’t see any scenario where Nami should have had even a ghost of a chance. Particularly since this was a 1 on 1 fight with no interference or third parties getting in the way. Nami should have absolutely lost and there’s no way around that.

Now with the power level concerns out of the way, the only real issue here is that the fight is also an excuse for a lot of fanservice. Unfortunately rather than cutting it out, Boichi only serves to enhance this part. The characters are quite exaggerated during this fight with their reactions when the blows aren’t even all that powerful. The chapter is definitely trying to go in a fanservice direction which hurt the overall experience. It’s a shame since I’m sure you could have made the fight more interesting with that effort instead.

Boichi’s artwork is quite detailed so he can do really well on the fights like with Ace and Zoro. There was less hand to hand here but it would have been a good addition. I think he’s worked on Dr. Stone for so long that it has been ingrained into his artwork now though. While the first pair of oneshots looked fairly more like One Piece, lately his characters all completely have a Dr. Stone look to them. It’s a bit on the surreal side. Not a bad thing since the Stone characters have good designs but it feels like they are really barely One Piece characters at times.

The chapter goes by quickly even though it’s so long and you have to give the artwork credit there. The fight may be fanservicey but the action we do get is good. While I don’t buy into the plan working at all, Nami does incorporate strategy into her fighting style. Her illusions really make Kalifa have to work for the victory.

Overall, if you’re a big fan of One Piece then you’ll enjoy this one shot. It’s pretty cool how the series is so big that it can have chapters remade by different authors. I’d like these one shots to keep on coming since it is nostalgic. I like to think the next action chapter will be for a better fight but even if not, I am pleased to have more content to read. Even more than the normal illustrations each artist gives in appreciation of One Piece, seeing a whole chapter/fight redrawn by someone else gives you a good feel for how the series would look if they were in charge. I’m not sure this would be a fair way to gauge the series if you hadn’t read it before though so I would read one of Boichi’s other one shots to start off with. If you’re a One Piece fan then you should definitely check this one out though.

Overall 5/10

Bleach the 3rd Phantom Stats and Records

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Stats time!

Play Time 31h 51m

Character Levels

Fujimaru 37
Matsuri 31
Yanmamoto 18
Soi Fon 18
Kira 23
Unohana 16
Hanataro 18
Aizen 14
Kaien 12
Momo 18
Byakuya 23
Renji 16
Komamura 24
Shunsui 13
Hisagi 24
Hitsugaya 18
Zaraki 20
Yachiru 17
Ikkaku 29
Yumichika 16
Rangiku 16
Urahara 15
Mayuri 23
Nemu 18
Ukitake 13
Rukia 17
Yoruichi 23
Jidanbo 20
Ichigo 28
Chad 21
Uryu 36
Orihime 41
Kon 30
Don 10
Shinji 30
Hiyori 30
Kukaku 23

The Nativity Story

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It’s time to check out The Nativity Story. Considering that this one got to claim this title you can say that it’s seen as the definitive film adaption of this moment in time. It’s definitely got very solid production values and they did well to adapt everything here. There’s a lot of attention to detail throughout each part of the movie and no corners were cut here. The movie has definitely aged well and of course it’s always nice to see the events of the Bible played out on the big screen.

The film really focuses a lot on Mary and her coming to terms with all of this. Initially she did not even know Joseph and the whole arranged marriage came really suddenly. Mary was understandably not a fan of this but ultimately goes along with it so as not to disappoint her family. What makes matters tricky for her is that she ends up being pregnant with Jesus despite not having any affairs. It is difficult to actually convince anyone of this though so her reputation is shot. It’s definitely a rather difficult burden that she has to bear in the meantime.

Same with Joseph as he is pressured by the customs to out Mary and have her stoned. He decides not to do this of course and makes the heroic choice of keeping this to himself but for a while he doesn’t totally believe her either. It’s definitely something that is tough to believe, particularly since he was well aware that she was not happy about the marriage initially. Fortunately things turn out for the best and they manage to finally get along by the end. Usually in the films we cut to the end when Jesus is born and the 3 Wise Men appear so this was a bit of a change of pace with how the focus was on the earlier events. The birth doesn’t happen until near the very end of the film and isn’t the main subject this time.

So I would say the main theme of the film was faith. Ultimately each character needed a whole lot of that to survive here. Joseph had to have faith in Mary telling him the truth and overcoming the dreams he would have. Mary had to have faith that she actually saw the angel and everything was as foretold, etc. Without faith none of the characters would have been able to make it to the end. Even the Wise Men needed this or else they may have lost sight of the star and ended up giving up on the journey halfway.

They are the comedic plot of the film as they bicker a lot and have a lot of fun on the way there. You can tell that the 3 of them are good friends and are close enough to mess with each other like that. Fortunately they’re also wise enough not to tip off the king about exactly where Jesus was and just keep on moving. I’ll give the film credit for not making the King quite as obvious about how evil he was compared to other adaptions. He also felt like a very imposing figure with how he threatened his only son and showed how he has stayed in power for so long. Definitely not someone you want to get in the way of.

This is an adaption everyone can be proud of. It sticks close to the scriptures and I wouldn’t say any of the scenes felt like they didn’t belong. Naturally the film does need to expand on some scenes and throw in a lot of extra moments to pad out the runtime, but it was never anything that made you feel like the writers were messing things up. I get the feeling they did a lot of research here and likely collaborated with scholars to learn more about the customs and how a day to day life would have been like. There are a lot of people who make a career out of that so you could definitely get some good background elements this way.

While the events in the Old Testament were massive and living through them would have been quite the experience, it’s also abundantly clear that it would have been a very difficult age to live in. The film shows in detail just how tough life was on everyone there. Food was scarce and you could always count on thieves and soldiers showing up to erase all of your hard work. There were no modern conveniences and walking for miles was a normal thing. There was no part of daily life that was easy and it’s really something to think about. We have the privilege of knowing everything from the future as opposed to living through it. We all face trials and they would be different in the past compared to the present but I’m personally glad I’m in a future era. Naturally it’s moot since if I grew up back then I wouldn’t know the difference since it would seem normal to me but I’m rather used to this era.

Overall, The Nativity Story is a really solid Christian film. It’s a good adaption of the birth of Jesus Christ and serves as more of a prequel compared to most adaptions. There’ a lot going on here and each of the characters gets a lot of development. They spared no expense on the visuals and soundtrack throughout the film. It’s all a very impressive production here and with Easter quickly approaching it’s always a good time to reminisce about the birth of Jesus Christ. That would ultimately lead to the Resurrection and then bring us up to the current date. Now’s a great time to watch the film as well as any time. Just as it has held up over all these years, I expect it will continue to do so as the years go by. It’ll be difficult to make a more detailed adaption of the Nativity.

Bleach the 3rd Phantom Review

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Now this is a game that I’ve owned for generations but never went around to beating it. The game’s just so crazy long and back then I wouldn’t have made it. Well, I finally got to play the game from start to finish now and it’s a lot of fun. Be prepared to be here for a while though as the game definitely takes its time with you. Be prepared to grind out some extra level ups and use some cheese as well. Without that you will be in for a rough time here.

The game starts off by introducing us to two siblings named Fujimaru and Matsuri. They grew up in the rough part of Soul Society but get taken in by Captain Seigen and his sister Konoka. They decide to look after the kids and eventually they grow up into fine Soul Reapers. Their time together is cut short when they disappear into a time portal through to the future. Now Seigen is on the side of darkness along with Matsuri while Konoka is no more. Can Fujimaru find out exactly what happened? Also…why is Aizen poised to be the greatest threat that the heroes have ever fought?

The game has 25 chapters and each one can take over an hour so you’ve got a lot to do here. I dare say that you may even spend over 50 hours here by the end of its run. The game does not hold back on how long the levels can be and even some of the cutscenes can be on the long side. So this isn’t a game that you can rush through and as a result we also get quite a lot of story to discuss. That’s for sure. A lot happens here across the two time periods.

First we should talk about the gameplay style here. It’s a tactics game so the idea is to maneuver your pieces around the board and attack the enemy when you have a type advantage. Don’t get greedy here and just take what they give you. You will be moving up to 9 characters at a time. Once you have moved everyone once then it is the opponent’s turn so you have to wait as they attack. The idea is to pick your moment so that you can attack and take the opponent down without eating a counter attack.

There’ a whole lot to describe here if I was going to go into detail on how to play a tactics game but I’ll let you look that part up. It’s fairly self descriptive anyway. You just have to find out exactly how to move everyone and what combination of moves to use. Once you have that figured out then you’ve already won half the battle. Each character can move, attack, use a skill, use an item, or raise spirit pressure. Raising your pressure lets you recover spirit energy quicker which is used to activate your skills or bankai. So naturally you want to have a lot of that at all times.

I didn’t take advantage of the items much until the end but I can definitely tell you that they came in handy. One key thing to always remember here is to keep your healer in the back. Healing usually takes up a lot of health if you’re Orihime or isn’t versatile if you’re using someone like Shiho. You have to take all of that into account when playing through the levels.

Additionally, be careful when you have to split up your team. If you put everyone on one side then the other team will end up being in a tough spot. Try to keep it as balanced as possible. Worst case if you forget you can quickly grind by using free battle. You can do this while at the character selection screen through the options. This lets you raise everyone’s level in the bonus stage. Still, you need to be careful because hypothetically you could find yourself in a position where your team is unable to beat the practice level. If that happens then there is no way to train and you’d have to start the game again. I can definitely say that I did get a little nervous during some levels in the game due to this.

Also, one tip for the final boss. The final level is a really long one and the final boss has 8000 health points while more enemies only have about 1000. That means you’re going to be in for 30+ turns of trying to take him out. The thing to know is that he can attack in any row he is facing and can seal your attacks if you get too close. He cannot hit you at a diagonal angle though so that’s how I got him. Slow and steady was my measure as I gradually drained the energy out of him while he couldn’t retaliate. It’s a tough strategy but one that saved my bacon there. I highly recommend having a strong projectile user like Uryu at the ready to pull this off. Also make sure that you upgrade each character between levels.

I’m mixed on if you should upgrade your sword or go with pure stats. I went with the sword but there were a lot of times where it didn’t seem to help much and I wondered if I should have just paid more attention to health and attack points. Those were the 2 main stats I would raise aside from the sword. Personally that’s probably a better deal than the sword so keep that in mind. I could talk more on the gameplay but I do think you get the general idea here.

The graphics are pretty solid. I would have liked some true cutscenes though instead of images all the time. I feel like the DS could have pulled this off. Ah well, the story is a lot of fun either way and I do like the visual effects here. Activating Bankai always feels fancy in a very good way. You can tell that the technique will make a difference in combat. Some Bankai are better than others but they’re all still better than not having one. I didn’t unlock Fujimaru’s though so I ended up playing without it.

The soundtrack is surprisingly good as well. There are some fun tunes here and the game knew how to get that danger feeling across. There’s a good variety of tunes here as well so you don’t have to worry about hearing the game one too often. In terms of replay value, the main campaign is so long that you don’t even need it. Still, there is a lot since you unlock the Bleach Tower where you get to go through all of the floors and take out a bunch of enemies. Apparently the main campaign is short next to the tower so take that as you will. I can’t say I would be too tempted to try my might up there. It would just take too long plus having the story is definitely a good chunk of the fun.

It was nice to see Aizen and friends here to take some names. He definitely gets a lot of respect in the game as you’d expect. Fujimaru is the main character here and I thought he was okay. He’s not really my kind of character as he slacks off/goofs off way too much but he tries his best by the end. Matsuri is way too gullible which hurts her character. She doesn’t have a lot of conviction of her own which ends up putting her in a sticky situation. Seigen suffers from the same issues to an extent. He gets suckered a lot but the guy does have conviction. Unfortunately he just tends to join the wrong side which isn’t a good look. You absolutely understand why he’s so upset but even so, he’s just going to the wrong side here.

Konoka is more on the side of reason. She’s a fun character through and through who tries her best. Finally you have Shiyo who is a bit too clumsy for her own good. This holds her back considerably. I would have liked to have seen Ichigo be the main character here and I suppose he already gets to be the lead all the time but it would have been nice to see him take names. Now he’s got to share the spotlight for a change.

Overall, This is a game that will require a lot of patience because of how long every match is. Tactic type games really are meant to have you focus on every play so it’s hard to go too fast. I would often be reading while playing because of how long every turn takes. I think there should have been a way to turn off attack animations or something like that but it’s not the kind of thing that would end up hurting the game’s score. I would still say this one was great. There is a lot of attention to the Bleach mythos so you really shouldn’t be disappointed here. It did everything it could to be one of the definitive Bleach titles and it was also cool to see the Wii game’s villain return. That guy was always pretty fun even if he couldn’t match up to Aizen. If you want to check out a tactical game, this is the one for you!

Overall 8/10

Jelly Boy Review

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Jelly Boy is one of those games that very easily could have been a really good one. Instead it made the big mistake of trying to force collectibles onto you instead. Let me tell you, that was not a good move. By the time you finish the first world you’ll need to turn back and nobody wants to do that. It’s a bit sloppier than other platformers but I wouldn’t call it a bad game. You’re just not likely to go back and finish it.

You play as a little Jelly guy and can go around punching your opponents. Along the way you can turn into a variety of items like a hammer which will certainly keep your opponents on guard. This helps to ensure the gameplay is always adapting since you’re never in any one form for too long. Turning and jumping can be a bit more on the annoying side here but you do have some features like the rewind to help with that. It’s not exactly Mario in terms of how smooth the game is, but few titles are right? It’s not exactly a knock against the game because nothing should be expected to go toe to toe with Mario like that.

As mentioned earlier though, the biggest issue here is really the fact that I could not get into world 2. Seemingly this was because I didn’t have the piece of the puzzle from every level but they’re really hidden. I only happened to come across one of them so the rest are probably buried deep into the levels. This really goes against the concept of a platformer in the first place since it’s supposed to be a very calming experience where you have fun with the levels and keep it moving. By giving you something to look for, the game is no longer than leisurely experience you once craved. Quite a few platformers seem to make this mistake.

Now the graphics are good at least. I thought they did a good job with the artwork for each of the characters and the color schemes as a whole. The game looks good even though it’s so old. The soundtrack is also okay. Nothing super memorable but it is catchy enough and so the game flows rather well. On a technical aspect I do think they did their best here and you can tell that some effort was put in.

There’s not a whole lot more to say about this one. It’s always fun to play the more retro games but in some cases like this one, it just reminds you how far we have come. Nowadays a game like this would probably still be a little bit better because either there would be more of a real story or the gameplay would just be smoother. This one hasn’t aged particularly well and that’s probably why you wouldn’t have heard of it before Nintendo announced that it would be in the next online wave. A title like this just would not have stood out for very long at the toy store. Not when you had bigger titles always coming out to overshadow it.

Now if you could remove the collectibles and tighten up the gameplay a bit, then I think this would have really had some potential. The gimmick of turning into objects and other people is one that would work really well. Right now that’s still a big thing like how Odyssey let you control others with the hat and Kirby would transform in the latest game. People like to have different gameplay styles and that’s where Slime Boy would come in. Who knows, maybe one day they will make a sequel or a full remake. The odds seem slight but you never know.

Overall, Jelly Boy is okay at best. You can see some promise in the game as you go through it but it just made too many mistakes and that’s why this one never hit it big. The biggest thing to remember is you never want collectibles to be mandatory. Perhaps there was another reason I couldn’t get into world 2 but if there was then that’s just as bad because there was no indicator of that. All in all, it just means that accessing the rest of the game is more difficult than it should be. You’ll probably want to avoid this one but if you need a new platformer to check out then I suppose this one will do the trick at least for a little while.

Overall 5/10

Bombuzal Review

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It’s been quite a while since I went back to play the old SNES titles so this was certainly nostalgic. Can the new ones possibly beat the classics though? Bombuzal has an interesting concept that reminds me of Bomberman to an extent. It’s an interesting puzzle game but one that ultimately could have benefited big time from actually having more of a story or at least some kind of illustrations between the levels. It would make the whole thing come alive because otherwise you don’t see the point of continuing after a while. There are a ton of levels here so you’re absolutely getting a lot of bang for your buck but it all starts to feel the same after a while.

The gameplay has you starting on a field with a bunch of bombs. The idea is to set them all off without being caught up in the explosion. Initially this just means setting them off and walking away. You can only move 1 space after setting off a bomb so you would go in the opposite direction. The levels quickly get more difficult though as you have to set off multiple bombs and stay out of the way. You can even cause a ripple effect where everything blows up except your square.

If you pick the wrong spot then it’s all over though. Additionally some levels will have switches and other gimmicks to help you move the bombs around. There are even teleportation squares and naturally ones that disintegrate so you can’t use the same route to go back. The puzzles are impressive here because the levels are really not that big and the controls are simple so you’re surprised that you don’t find the right answer right away.

With the game being on the simple side, you really feel like the difficulty is earned and nothing about it is cheesy. If there’s a level you aren’t able to beat then that’s on you and not the developers. Yeah some of the controls may not be made apparent at first but you’ll certainly get it after some trial and error. Some bombs even move around so you have to time it carefully on when you want to detonate them. Do it too quickly or too late and it will wreck your chances at clearing the level.

The soundtrack’s okay. The game feels like it has one main theme but it’s a catchy one that works for the levels. I’d also say that the graphics aren’t bad and hold up fairly well for their time. The explosions are nice and the controls are smooth so you don’t feel like you’re just stuck. If you lose it’s because you didn’t interpret the level correctly, not because you slipped or something like that.

With over 100 levels this game will last you quite a while. As mentioned earlier, I just think it could have used more of a story or something to break up the monotony though. Now if a gameplay is good enough then you don’t need anything else. You can play endless levels because it’s just that fun like Lollipop or Fruits Mania. The problem is that Bombuzal just isn’t in that league. If I had to guess on why that is, I would say it’s because the puzzles are a bit longer but less active. You’ll spend a lot of time thinking about what to do as opposed to just doing it. In other puzzle titles you are always moving things around to try and get a clearer picture. So in a way this one has you in the backseat for a bit. It makes all of the levels a bit longer.

There’s not much bad to say about the game except that it’s just very limited. There really isn’t a whole lot to do here and so you’ll probably grow bored of it long before you end up beating all of the levels. I would say it’s one you can just pick up and continue in the future but it’s not an easy one to plug and play since you’ll have to remember how each of the bombs work through the level designs. Otherwise you’re just going to be dying a whole lot.

Overall, Bombuzal is a reasonable game but one where the limitations really show themselves. This is an example of an old game that feels old. It couldn’t pass for more of a modern title and needed some other options to improve its replay value. If you have the Switch Online this is free so you should definitely check it out for a little while. I don’t think you’ll be going back to this one though so it’ll likely end up being forgotten after that.

Overall 5/10