Blaster Master Review

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It’s time to look at another classic NES game. Blaster Master is pretty well known compared to most of the other titles on the console. This is due to an extent to newer games in the series being released but also because the original was simply ahead of the curve at the time. It has two different gameplay styles and even switches from 2D to 3D at different points. This is something that was really unheard of back in the day so that’s pretty crazy.

The game even has an intro cutscene which is also super cool. Basically a frog falls into the Earth and gets lost somewhere in the caverns so now the lead has to find him. Fortunately the main character has his trusty robot at the ready and is definitely going to cause some waves. He’ll destroy monster after monster until he finds his friend. That’s part of why this main character is so good. He is absolutely determined to find his pet and won’t rest until he does so. I’d be game for this getting a film at some point. The sci-fi/fantasy elements would really work quite well.

The gameplay varies as I mentioned, but for the most part it’s a 2D shooting platformer. The hub world has this style and then it switches to 3D when you enter a labyrinth. As a result it’s fair to say that you’ll be spending most of your time here. Make sure you figure out how to leave your robot to run around, that part took me a long time and I can guarantee you that you won’t get far if you stay in the robot. For one thing it’s impossible to climb ladders or enter labyrinths if you stay in the bot. The robot is fun though with how it can shoot powerful energy blasts. Naturally it’s a lot stronger than your human self. It seems like you can recover your health if you leave the robot for a little while so if you’re low on health that may be a good exploit. I only used this briefly though so I can’t guarantee that it works all of the time.

When you’re in the labyrinth you need to keep exploring until you see a boss. Sometimes these mazes can get confusing so you’ll find yourself back at the entrance but don’t leave. I did that a few times but ultimately I would need to go back and it would turn out that there actually was a boss there. I’m not sure if every labyrinth has a boss so it’s possible you will be aimlessly wandering but in all of the ones I went too there seemed to be bosses. The game gives you a cool special effect where the whole screen goes dark and then the boss shows up. The game seems to low key have some horror elements to it with that. It’s incorporating some Resident Evil/Metroid there. I’m curious how the final boss would look. Maybe like one of those creatures from the box art?

The graphics are pretty solid. There are quite a few backdrops to explore here and a lot of moving character models. The energy blasts are solid and I like the design for the robot. It feels like a real threat and not a machine you would want to fight in a life or death situation. The soundtrack is less memorable, but it sounded okay to me. The story mode being real was still overloading my mind at the time. The story is a pretty good length especially when you take into account that a lot of the levels are mazes. It can take a while to clear these dungeons. I managed to beat around 3 before I ran out of time. These are the real deal.

When it comes to replay value I don’t imagine there is much after beating the game. I guess you could try to beat the game quicker or through losing fewer lives but there aren’t really any other modes. Your main incentive for playing through this game is absolutely the story. Fortunately it’s a good story and with the quality gameplay at the ready that’s a winning combo. The game is also free if you have the Nintendo Switch Online so you can’t really go wrong there either right?

Overall, Blaster Master is one of those classics that actually lives up to the term. This is a game that has aged quite well to the modern day. You can plug it in and start playing right now. As long as you enjoy platformers or shooters then you will have fun here. It’s also got that Legend of Zelda dungeon exploring so that helps it appeal to even more audiences. This game was surprisingly sophisticated so I’m definitely up for playing future installments at some point.

Overall 7/10

The Office Review

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It’s time to look at a show that is often regarded as the ultimate comedy show. You typically see other titles up there in people’s top 3 like Seinfeld and Parks and Recreation or if you go a bit further then Friends gets brought up too. The Office is often looked to as the absolute best though and while I haven’t watched the others, I can definitely believe it. It’s hard to see any of the others passing this one. The Mockumentary style that the show goes with is just perfect and the episodes are a blast. Parks and Rec seems to have a bit of a similar nature so that would probably be the highest on my list if I check out another sitcom at some point. This show certainly lasted quite a while so there was time for a lot of adventures.

Usually a long show would automatically mean a crazy long review. That being said, The Office is a little different from other long running shows I’ve seen in part because it is a comedy. Sure, there are story arcs and such but it’s different from a more plot based show. It’s not like I can discuss power levels, special effects, and the OST here because this show doesn’t really have that. It’s all about the humor and the characters so I’ll be focusing on that. Season 1 is supposed to be a pretty rough start so I see people mostly recommend the show starting with season 2. I can see the logic although I thought it started pretty strongly. Admittedly season 2 or 3 would probably be my favorite ones. The period from 2-7 is definitely the show at its peak though. Once Michael leaves there is a noticeable dip although the seasons are still pretty fun. Michael Scott just makes the show and I can directly say that it wouldn’t have been the same without him. This is one case where removing a single character makes a huge difference.

The general plot of the show revolves around a paper company named Dunder Mifflin. Michael Scott is the location’s manager and he supervises a quirky cast of characters. Some of them work super hard, some hardly work, and others are just here for the gossip. The location is often under hard times so there is quite a bit of downsizing. Scott looks at his crew at a big family so he does his best to always make every day a blast. As a result there are a ton of crazy shenanigans that go on throughout the show. You never really know what’s going to happen in the episode. Each episode also starts off with a quick skit for a few minutes and often times those are pretty incredible as well.

The show’s humor is similar to Airplane in a lot of ways. Crazy things happen a lot with the characters reacting as if things are normal. They’re all very exaggerated and yet relatable at the same time. It deals with every possible workplace scenario you can think of and you can see a little bit of each person you know in each character. They’re all cleverly crafted to the point where you can identify with just about all of the main characters. They all have their likable moments and by the end of the show you’ll probably like most of them. Even though every character does at least something crazy by the end of the series it’s easy to overlook it with how many quality moments they have.

At the same time, the show’s humor isn’t afraid to get a little crazy. It’s a tactic that definitely would not work for every title. Being able to use edgy humor has to be done extremely carefully or you’ll end up being either a mean spirited show or just one that is being obnoxiously inappropriate for no reason. This show manages to pull off its share of crazy moments. Not every joke lands of course as that is impossible for even the best of shows, but in The Office more jokes land than miss. The episodes always have something funny happening to the point where I can’t really think of a downright bad episode in those peak seasons. Granted, I marathoned quite a lot of them so splitting up episodes could get tricky.

I think part of the show’s weakness towards the end of its run once Michael left is because it shifted more into a serious romance drama. The majority of the seasons would deal with various romance plots like Jim and Pam or Angela and Dwight but they were the subplots and the main parts were still about the happy comedy. Some episodes at the end are just fairly grim. In particular I’d say Jim and Pam’s romance drama after getting together felt a lot more forced. They didn’t really need to have so many issues. Then you have the fact that just about everyone was cheating on each other with others towards the end. Technically it’s probably just a handful of people but the plots would come up so often that it would be a bit distracting.

Michael Scott is easily the best character of the series as I already mentioned a bit. Part of what makes him such a great character is how he is able to establish good banter with every character in the series. He always seems to want to do the right thing even if it all gets messed up. He can be a bit selfish and always has to be the center of attention but at least he does throw constant parties for his crew. His true intelligence also shows when he is backed into a corner. Michael doesn’t back down and at the end of the day he did live up to his title as the World’s Best Boss.

Then you have Dwight who is a great character due in large part to his banter with Jim. Outside of Michael their interactions are the best part of the series. Dwight is always trying to impress Michael and as a result can be pretty stuffy and literal about things. Jim can’t help but poke fun at him every chance he gets. Jim almost always instigates the fights but is definitely one of those characters who can dish it out but can’t take it. I still remember how he panicked after getting hit with a snow ball. Dwight’s definitely a lot of fun.

Jim’s one of the most entertaining characters as well. I like him best as a salesman though as when he became a boss Jim was a lot less likable. He became the office killjoy as he would keep squashing all of Michael’s plans. Eventually he went back to being a salesman and improved as a result. His plotline with Pam was definitely the most tragic one in the show for many episodes as she was already with Roy but he clearly liked her. They were best friends during this period but in a way that helped make it sting even more. One of the only times I was totally against Jim though was when he made a move on Pam when he knew she was taken.

Encouraging her to cheat is a pretty bad look. Then there’s the fact that both of them kept rebounding with other people until eventually landing each other again. The whole plotline is a bit sketchy and it’s why the romance in the show is its weakest element. Their banter was definitely at its best when they were friends. Pam was the receptionist for a while and had a lot of fun moments in that role. She would do her best to help salvage Michael’s image at times and did seem to have some interest in her work. She’s another character who was integral to the show’s structure for a while as she is the first person each character sees and gets a lot of interactions.

Ryan is another one of the best characters in the series. He’s a good example of the worst kind of worker you could have on your side. He’s super lazy and never gets any work done. Then when he gets a promotion the power goes to his head and he treats everyone terribly. The show does its best to always make him look pretty terrible and that’s part of why he’s so great. You know where you stand with him because everything he says is a lie. The guy definitely took a lot of hard hits in his career even going to jail at one point but he would always bounce back. He definitely had a nice rivalry with Jim and Pam at one point.

Then you have Andy who got a whole lot of character development throughout the series. He started out as a rival to Dwight, became a boss at one point, and then was just a guy who would add to the office atmosphere. I liked him quite a lot although his plot lines near the end of the show were rather odd. The whole growing a beard and getting on a boat plot was a low moment for him. He was at his best as Drew and also when he was a boss before getting pushed around by the next one. It’s crazy how many people wanted to step in as boss once Michael left. The power vacuum was crazy.

Robert Now we’re getting to the secondary characters who are always around and have a lot of character of course but get less of a role than the main ones. Stanley is the character who does his job but doesn’t like to participate in any of the extra activities. He sees his co-workers as just that, not friends. As a result he clashes with Michael quite a bit but can always get happy for food. He’s a solid character and seems easy to get along with. Then we have Kevin who grows less and less intelligent with each season. From the various characters he would be one of the weaker ones for me. He has some solid scenes as with every character of course but his humor moments are a lot more obvious and considerably less funny.

The weakest member of the cast is Meredith though. Her thing is that she will have an affair with anyone but that’s about it. Out of all the characters I feel like she is the only one who may not have had her own episode which is quite telling when you think about it. There’s just not much to her character. You can say the same for Creed to an extent but at least he has his shady past to help as a subplot. The guy is definitely pretty crazy so you never know what he’s going to do.

Oscar often plays it seriously compared to everyone else. When people suggest crazy ideas he tries to keep them all on track although he is not very successful at this. He’s definitely another funny character though. The series drags him through the mud by the end of the series with all the cheating he does though. The same can be said for Angela who consistently cheats on everyone throughout the series. Even once she gets married she started cheating a lot once again. She’s a very strict/serious character who has a hard time showing her emotions. Despite this character arc I wasn’t a huge fan of her either.

In general I still say the cast was really strong though because all of the true main characters were solid and so the secondaries could bounce off of them. One of the more unlikable characters was Phyllis who always seems to be trying to get revenge. She’s easily the most petty character and a lot of the time she gets away with it which is what makes her even worse. Part of why you don’t hold much against the other characters is because they usually get their comeuppance by the end of the episode. That rarely happens with Phyllis though.

Jan’s character goes in a very different direction than I could have possibly expected from her first appearances. She seemed like a tough boss who just got a little too emotionally involved. By the end of the series though we see that she was actually a bit insane and Michael sure put up with a whole lot. She’s a fun enough character but she was at her best before she officially got together with Michael. Then later on we have Holly who is basically a nice version of Jan. I don’t think her character worked because she was a little too perfect the whole time though.

Next up is Kelly who is the group’s main gossip. She loves to talk and talk but that helps her fit in even more with this group. Let’s face it, most of the characters in this show gossip a lot so that’s not unheard of. She gets in several affairs throughout the show so she’s always in the mix. Darryl is the only member of the Warehouse staff who gets a sizable role here and he’s cool. He had a pretty interesting subplot where he got his own office at one point and so it was good to see him move up.

Meanwhile Erin was another one of the new additions to the team. While she wasn’t quite as fun as Pam, Erin was pretty solid. She was a nice character as well. Gave on the other hand could come off as a bit of a creep the whole time. He does his best to defend corporate, but a corporate sympathizer was never going to look all that good. It was just never going to happen. Karen is a character who didn’t last long and got a pretty unfortunate ending. At the end of the day Jim really ditched her without much reason just because Pam was back in the mix. The whole show never seemed very fair to Karen and it’s unfortunate because she was fun. She was always willing to go along with the office hi-jinx so I think she had a lot of potential.

David Wallace is one of the big bosses in the series and so I thought he deserved a mention. He’s pretty patient with Michael. He may get exasperated a whole lot but at the end of the day he seems like a really nice guy. He was definitely the most reasonable boss. You also had Robert California but he was a little too odd. Even for this show he could be a bit crazy and most of the time I can’t really say that he was really entertaining. Part of the problem with him is that when push came to shove he got thrown around by a random lady who walked in the office and stole a job. Robert never recovered from that.

Finally we have Toby. Aside from his rather odd plot with Pam that would show up once in a while he was a blast to have around. His banter with Michael was possibly even better than Jim and Dwight although it’s very one sided. How much you enjoy the plot will depend on if you think it’s too mean spirited to Toby or not. I personally thought it was pretty hilarious but it’s not for everyone. Toby works for H.R. so absolutely nobody likes him in the series but Michael especially can’t stand the guy because it’s basically his job to stop all of Michael’s quick parties.

I think it goes without saying that the writing is phenomenal in this series. You’re pretty much guaranteed to find every episode hilarious. I really don’t think there will ever be another show as entertaining as this one. Ultimately it can’t get a higher score because it is held back a bit by the romance and some of the dicier scenes in the show, but it’s still got another great moments for me to easily recommend it. I would say maybe don’t watch the final two seasons though unless you really enjoy the other characters. I still did like the final two seasons but if the others were a 9 on the funny scale, those would be more of a 7. The final episode in particular is easily one of the worst ones in the series for me. As a finale it just fell flat.

Overall, The Office is definitely a blast. It’s really a totally different level of comedy. I’ve seen quite a few comedy shows in my day although they were usually pretty old or Disney type shows so I can’t say that I’ve really seen too many mainstream ones. The gimmick of the interview style just works really well. I see a lot of people say they binge watch the show over and over again and it definitely does have a lot of replay value. There are so many episodes you could easily run through them again and there’s even an Office Youtube account that uploads old clips every few days and still gets ton of clicks. If you like humor and think the premise sounds good then I would recommend it. The show can definitely get intense and keep in mind that the humor takes shots at everything. Nothing is off limits for the title, but once it gets going the show is hard to put down. If you’re on the fence with the show then starting at Season 2 makes sense and you can always go back to watch Season 1 later on but otherwise I’d say you’re fine with starting from the beginning.

Overall 7/10

TwinBee Review

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I actually played the sequel to this game before the original back when I was blasting through all of the SNES games. So it’s definitely pretty nostalgic to go back to the original here. The cover still looks like it’s saying TwinBoo to me until I look at it closer. I blame it on the fancy way they wrote the boxart. Either way this is a fun shooter game. It’s definitely one of those really quick one that loops almost right away though. It’s got a pretty fun dynamic to it though and some interesting mechanics even if they take a while to figure out.

So the gameplay here is that of a shooter where the screen is always scrolling up. You have to keep up with the screen and blast away at all of the enemies that get in your way. There are enemies on the ground as well which are tough to deal with since your normal blaster only shoots forward. At the beginning of the game you are able to shoot down a bit with the other button (A or B) but I ran out of ammo very quickly and couldn’t figure out how to get more. I’m sure there’s a way though. For the most part you just keep focusing on blasting away and eventually you will reach the top. At the end of each level there is a boss that must be defeated. There are 6 levels so this may take you around 20 minutes give or take a few.

One interesting mechanic here are the bells. They show up when you blast a cloud and change colors as you blast them. I only noticed white and blue, but I believe yellow and red may be present somewhere too. I couldn’t really figure out what they do though. White seemed to just increase your score and Blue would maybe give you a bit of extra speed. Beyond that they didn’t have a noticeable impact. It’s an interesting mechanic to have to blast your power ups as you go through the stage. I can’t think of any other games that really do that and it gives you an extra thing to focus on. It gives the gameplay a little more depth because now you have to decide what to prioritize, getting the power up or blasting the enemies away.

As always the rewind feature will be super helpful here. Without it the game may ultimately prove to be a little too tricky. These games have definitely proven to be extremely difficult in the modern day. I still think I wouldn’t be quite as big a gaming fan back then as I am today with all of the modern conveniences. If anything I probably would have mostly stuck to RPGs once they started coming out since they always had save features at least. RPGs and fighting games, the rest of the genres would have lagged behind a bit.

As for the graphics, I’d say that they hold up pretty well. The levels are nice and bright with a good amount of variety. The enemy designs are good too and I didn’t notice any lag during the game so the system was able to handle all of the models pretty well. The sound is more on the generic side so I don’t think you’ll be remembering much there. Lately quite a few games haven’t exactly wowed me with the soundtrack but they can’t all be winners.

Sometimes I’ll throw in a tip or two for a game like this, but there isn’t a whole lot to say beyond the obvious. Be careful with going too high up in the screen or you’ll be surrounded and will likely be defeated. Always take down as many enemies as possible. If you can’t take down the grounded units then at least beat the aerial ones. I’d also say to keep all of your aerial bullets during the opening levels because they will be incredibly handy later on in the game. That’ll be when you will really wish that you had some at the ready.

Overall, TwinBee is a pretty fun game. Ultimately what holds it back from a higher score is what holds most of the NES games back. It’s just too short. As fun as a game is I can’t totally recommend it when it’s under 30 minutes. This one’s free so you should still check it out but it won’t last long. There is also effectively no replay value here since there is nothing to do after beating the game. I suppose you can work on increasing your score at least.

Overall 5/10

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Review

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It’s time to look at the Pac-Man Championship Edition title now that it’s free on the PS4 for a little while. I’ve always been a fan of the Pac-Man style gameplay. It’s simple yet effective. You could play it for hours as you try to get a higher and higher score. After a while though when your score is super high you have to play for very long periods of time before you even think about smashing the record. Well, this one’s a remixed style of the game. It’s not quite as fun as the original, but it still works out well and it’s nice to see Pac-Man experimenting.

When you boot up the game you’re forced to run through a bunch of tutorials. These shouldn’t take you long though and there is a second wave that is optional. I’d recommend playing through them as well. Then you jump into the mission mode where you take on a bunch of levels and try to get good ranks. Eventually this unlocks the Adventure Mode where you blast through worlds with a bunch of levels and a boss at the end. It’s pretty fun although fairly similar to the Mission Mode. I think you could have put them in the same category but the more content the better right? I played through a bunch of the levels although there are quite a lot so I didn’t beat them all.

The levels tend to all be about the same in the end with some slight differences in between them. For the Score Attack levels you have 5 minutes to get as many points as you can. You get infinite lives in the meantime I believe or at least it never seemed like you were in danger of losing them all. I got a few A ranks but it seems like it would be incredibly hard to get an S rank. Perhaps there is some kind of trick to moving faster or getting more points. It was pretty fun though and I do like how high-tech the gameplay feels. Even the fact that you can bump into ghosts intentionally to get them out of the way is definitely something new.

One area where the game missed out on though was not having the original game as an option here. I would have very quickly jumped on that. Pac-Man is just so much fun to play and I suppose the developers would be sad to see you playing that instead of their game but at least it would push sales a little more too right? It’s a win-win in my book. My main issue is that the variety of content seems very low. You’ve got a lot of levels to play through here but they’re all effectively the same level in the first mode and in the Adventure Mode they’re all super short. There isn’t really a mode here where you can just free play until you’re defeated and match scores with everyone. At least you can match scores on the 5 minute levels but in those you know you could have lived longer if they didn’t cut you off.

The graphics here are definitely pretty solid. I like the colors and the backdrops. It all works out pretty nicely if you ask me. It’s not like it’s AAA level but it’s all very clear and I like the art direction. As for the soundtrack, it was nice enough. It’s very fast paced which is important for a game like this. I dare say that you need fast music since slow tunes would throw you out of your rhythm very quickly.

It’s hard to say quite how long a game like this is. If it’s about how long it’ll take for you to beat all of the levels then I’d say around 7-8 most likely. Of course you’ve also got the replay value of trying to increase your score or getting the Platinum Trophy. It seems to me like that would be incredibly hard and even a lot of the individual trophies are tagged as Ultra Rare on the site which is not something you see every day. The game doesn’t have a lot of trophies so if you’re really good at Pac-Man then this could be one to go for.

Overall, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 is a pretty solid game. I never got the first but this seems like it would be a solid sequel. At the very least it does hold up on its own which is always the important thing. I don’t know how long it”ll be free or even if it still is so I’d advise dashing if you want to play it. Who wants to turn down a free game right? This is the perfect opportunity to make a move for it so you should definitely do that. In the meantime I’ll keep on waiting for a new Pac-Man game to show up. I feel like it’s been ages since we got a big title.

Overall 7/10

Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King Review

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It’s time to take a look at a classic sprite game. The actual release is pretty new but the game is trying to capture that retro Legend of Zelda feel. It’s always nice to have a game for nostalgia and this one holds up pretty well. It’s got all of the gameplay elements you would want to see and solid level designs. It’s a good way to spend the weekend.

The game starts with an old man telling his grand kids a story. So unfortunately, that does mean the game’s story probably didn’t happen. He even changes details at times. So in this story there is a girl named Lily who has just become a knight. She’s pretty thrilled about this, but then finds out of a plot that involves the army deciding to take over the Kingdom. She reports this to the knights, but they din’t believe her until it’s too late. Now the King has been put into a deep slumber of which he will never wake again. The only way to cure him is to find 3 special ingredients guarded by various elemental monsters. The Knights are powerless to do anything so Lily must take up her blade and save the world.

As the game progresses you get more power ups and skills to use. At first you have a sword but as soon as you get your next weapons you probably won’t use it again until the final world. The gameplay style is that of an overhead look as you solve puzzles and slay enemies. Each dungeon has a wide assortment of rooms and each room usually has either a puzzle or enemies to defeat. Each dungeon you conquer unlocks either a new skill or another weapon and so by the end of the game you can easily shred through previous dungeons if you ever feel like going back. In the final world they finally buff your sword so it’ll then be your best weapon. For a little while there I was getting nervous that the sword was always going to be a terrible option. I do happen to like using swords typically after all.

The puzzles were all solid and felt fair. They weren’t trying to hide the outcomes after all and I always liked logic based puzzles. Give me a maze to run through while only touching each tile once for example. That’s a quality puzzle and one you can definitely figure out. The bosses are all pretty different which is nice. I definitely prefer when games don’t try to just re-use the bosses. This way feels a lot more genuine because you know that time and dedication went into getting everything right.

The game’s very simple and it works well here. You can master the controls easily and just dive into the levels. It’s one of those games where you can just “plug and play” at any given time. There are a good amount of collectibles to obtain as well and earning money seems like it’ll take a little while, but it won’t drag on since taking down enemies is pretty fun. Lily’s also a pretty fun lead. The King I’m a bit more mixed on because the guy sure sleeps a lot. Also, just by waving his hand he can fire off powerful energy blasts so you’d think that he would go fight off the main villain instead of sending Lily. Perhaps he was still sleepy I suppose.

The graphics are pretty solid. Everything is pretty colorful and it’s easy to tell the levels apart. The soundtrack isn’t very memorable but it’s all good stuff. One quality of life feature I liked here is the teleportation system. In a large map like this it can be a bit of a drag to have to run everywhere so fortunately you unlock the teleport path once you clear the area. Not every square has one, but most do so you never have to run for very long. By the time you clear the game you should have most of the map cleared out so with a little post game adventures you should be able to clear it all. I imagine that’s the main replay value here. The actual game campaign is a little on the short side at 3.5 hours but with the replay value you should be able to stretch that to 5-6 hours.

Overall, Blossom Tales is a pretty fun game. I wonder if we’ll get more in the series. The title may not be that long but in a way that helps it fit even more in with the other retro games it is trying to be like. Eventually I’ll be working on the original Legend of Zelda so it’ll be fun to see it in action. This game was definitely going for a similar feel although I imagine it’s a lot smoother than LoZ in almost all aspects thanks in part to how modern it is. In comparison that one’s probably going to feel pretty dated. If you haven’t picked this game up then I’d recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers Review

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It’s time to take a look at a classic Noir film. It’s a tale of deception and blackmail with the villains thinking a little too highly of the lead which gets them into trouble. It’s a pretty engaging film for most of its run but by the end the drama ramps up a bit too much at the expense of Sam’s character. The ending may play out as a happy one but Sam made far too many mistakes. The plot still gives you enough twists and turns to stay engaging though.

The film starts off with Martha and Sam running from home yet again. Sam is a pretty down to Earth guy who likes being a rebel while Martha is getting ready to inherit a ton of money but doesn’t like her aunt. Unfortunately for Martha the aunt has a lot of power so these attempts never work out. Well, one day Martha murders the aunt and is finally out of the woods. The thing is, Walter and his father saw this so they help her cover it up, but this does lead to Walter becoming the district attorney and the two characters get married. Martha still doesn’t like Walter all these years later but that’s just how it is.

Meanwhile Sam passes through town and figures he’ll look his old friends up. He was friends with Martha at least, he never got along with Walter as much. He meets up with a girl named Toni though and the two of them become good friends. The problem is that Toni is breaking parole by hanging out with Sam and not going home. Ultimately she is picked up and so Sam decides to ask Walter to help him get her off the charge. Walter thinks Sam is here to blackmail him for the murder all those years ago but Sam doesn’t actually know about it. If Walter keeps hinting at it though, he ultimately may help Sam find out.

It’s always interesting when the villains actually overestimate the heroes because it’s so rare. One other case is in RWBY as Salem tells Cinder and the others to be very careful since Ruby has Silver Eyes, but little did they know that Oz had never shown her how to master it yet. That’s a similar case to how it’s all playing out here. Sam really had no way to suspect any of this since he had put the town on high alert. Honestly he probably wouldn’t have had a whole lot of swing with Walter otherwise though.

This does lead to Sam getting beat up at one point though and a lot of back and forth with the characters. Sam can fight pretty well so he doesn’t get intimidated easily. He trades a lot of barbs with Walter. Despite Sam calling him scared all the time Walter does hold his ground. Perhaps being constantly drunk and working for the government helped him get a little braver. It’s definitely a pretty interesting dynamic. Sam was a solid character for most of the film, but where he ultimately faltered was in how he handled the second half.

He definitely did like Martha once upon a time but she is married now and he likes Toni. That should absolutely be the end of it right? Unfortunately that is not the case and he falls for the grass is always greener approach. He betrays Toni pretty late in the game for what amounts to a pretty meaningless affair with Martha. It really takes away from his character because that’s absolutely the last thing he should be doing right now. He’s already been in so much trouble in this town as it is you’d think he would just get out quick. Unfortunately he got a bit greedy by the end. Once he actually did have the blackmail he quickly used it just like Walter thought he would. In a way Walter was right from the start, he was just too early.

So I couldn’t come to like Sam. Martha isn’t really any better. She seemed pretty spoiled right from the start of the film. The intro was brief but it didn’t really set up Martha as a sympathetic character. Then we have Walter who is at the very least still complicit in everything that went on. He clearly knew Martha didn’t like him but got married anyway so it’s hard to sympathize with him either. The only good character here was Toni and she definitely shouldn’t have stuck with Sam. After being betrayed like that I would have split town and then that would be it. If Sam can fall away so easily once then it will happen again.

Finally, the film also fumbled the ball early on with some animal violence. Why did we need the aunt to murder the cat at the beginning of the film? All that does it give the film a bit of a mean edge from the start. You can’t really recover from that. I suppose an amazing film could try to make a comeback I suppose, but it’s very difficult and you are starting from a disadvantage. I’m guessing the film couldn’t find any other way to make the Aunt look bad because otherwise she hadn’t been nearly as sinister as Martha would suggest. It’s an easy out, but one that did not do the film any favors.

Overall, This was a pretty interesting film. It unfortunately just lasted too long by watering down Sam’s character at the end and I definitely could have done without the animal violence. Those are the two elements that really drag the film down. The writing is on point as with most classic Noir films and otherwise the pacing is good. As I said at the beginning of the review, this is a pretty engaging film. Usually that goes hand in hand with being a good film but unfortunately that was not true in this case. As far as the recent Noir films I’ve seen go this would have to be one of the weaker ones.

Overall 3/10

Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced Review

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Looks like it’s time for another Crash adventure. The last two games were both pretty short and the same is true of this one. You can beat it in under 90 minutes so I wonder how you would be feeling about that if you bought it on launch day. Granted, if you paid full price then perhaps you would go ahead and grab all of the collectibles to get the true ending. As it stands, this one is very similar to the last Crash game. It’s a pretty fun adventure that may be brief, but the gameplay is quite sound. It also has more of a plot than the last one so I was all for that.

The game starts with the Mask finally deciding that Cortex has failed him for the last time. He turns to one of the other members of the Cabal, a Time Master. The Master is pretty confident that he can stop Crash so he hires a mind control villain to kidnap everyone. The guy succeeds except for Crash who gets lucky thanks to his own Mask protecting him. The villains now have all of Crash’s friends + an evil version of Crash. Can Crash really save all of his friends and defeat someone who manipulates time with such ease? One thing’s for sure, this is not going to be an easy win for our young Bandicoot. Crash is going to need some kind of plan here.

It’s a pretty epic plot and unlike the last one we do get more cutscenes throughout each world. You get that sense of danger after clearing each world and I do like the idea of fighting all of Crash’s allies. I was a little surprised to see Crash among them though. I guess he was actually a good guy? Based on his dialogue it seems like he was mind controlled the whole time so he’s always been a hero. You can certainly color me surprised on that twist but it was good to see him again. As with last time the bosses are pretty well varied. The final boss even has two phases this time which makes him a true threat. You’ll want to really memorize his movement patterns or you’re in for a tough time. I would recommend sliding under him after every two jumps and then in phase two if he starts shooting the fast energy blasts go directly under him. He can’t shoot at that angle so you’ll be safe and then you can just hope he doesn’t fire off the homing energy blast instead. At that point you’re pretty much just plain ole doomed.

As for the levels, they’re mainly your usual Crash 2D Platforming levels. The actual levels feel a little shorter than the last game’s, but it’s pretty close so that could just be placebo. Either way the controls are smooth and one thing that I liked was how you have all of the power ups from the start this time. It does make the game as a whole considerably easier than the last one, but I really enjoy the double jump. It’s just hard not to play with it so I’m fine with the game being a little easier if that’s what it takes. Just go through the level cautiously and you should be fine. If you’ve made it this far in the series you’ll definitely be okay and if not the game actually has a pretty helpful tutorial at the beginning.

One of the alternate gameplay styles that made a return here is the Monkey Ball style. It’s my least favorite style in this game though. The levels have too many obstacles so you end up having to go really slow the whole time. As a result you don’t get to really capture that fun Monkey Ball spirit. Another gameplay style is the space missions where you have to boost through the levels and blast alien ships. I don’t think the boost mechanic was necessary here but I’m always up for some space blasting. There are only 2-3 of these levels in the game so make them count. Finally you also have the boat levels where you have to try and escape Jaws. These levels are a bit random but pretty fun. I consider them to be an upgrade over the running towards the screen levels from the earlier games.

So I don’t really have any complaints with this game except for one. Naturally that’s the length. 1 hour is pretty short for any console, but especially for one as modern as the GBA. Clearly the goal is to get you to replay it a few times until you collect everything, but I think the main campaign still could have been longer. If it was between the game being short or padding it out though then they made the right move. Collectibles should always be optional so I’m glad that the game made them that way. Forcing you to grab everything has always been a risky gamble and not one that I was a fan of.

As for the soundtrack, I’m finally starting to recognize the tunes after hearing them so much. The music in the game is pretty fun. It may not be the most dynamic, but the tunes are easy to listen to and help capture that Adventure spirit. You feel like you’re on a fun quest with Crash and the gang. Who can ask for more than that right? The graphics are also pretty good. They’re about the same as the last installment, but if it isn’t broken don’t fix it right? The character models are still on point and the whole thing looks pretty good.

Overall, Crash Bandicoot strikes again with another quality game that is just held back by the length. At around an hour to an hour and 20 minutes this game won’t really last you for very long. You could go and grab the collectibles to extend the game though. The levels are quick so playing them all 2-3 times isn’t a big deal if you’re interested in seeing how it ends. It’s always a tempting offer once I have less games on my backlog but at the moment I mainly just play the games to their original completion and just go from there. If you’re a big platforming fan or just want to relive the good ole days of the GBA then this is a solid adventure to check out. The fundamentals are all here so you should have a good time.

Overall 6/10