Stats time!
Rank 7
Heroes 17/63
Character Levels
Fighter Diane 40
Ban 40
Hawk & Elizabeth 37
Meliodas 40
Dreyfus 12
Weinheidt 1
Gustav 9
Jericho 1
Griamore 1
Diane 30
Taizoo 1
Simon 1
Marmas 1
Jude 1
Ruin 1
Golgius 1
Twigo 1
It’s time to take a look at a fairly recent mobile game that came out. The Seven Deadly Sins game got quite a lot of hype because it looked to be very high budget for a mobile title. We have seen a trend of companies actually putting a lot of effort into these games because the free to play model works so well. I hope this game ends up succeeding because it really is quite impressive. I played through around half of the game and it was definitely very fun.
The game’s story follows that of the manga. It’s hard to say how far along the game is right now, but I’d expect it is still early on. Typically mobile games like this want to go very slowly, especially since in this case the manga actually ended so there is a tangible goal in sight. Most mobile games want to survive for 5-10 years so expect them to drip feed content soon. That being said, it’s important to launch with a lot of content and this game did exactly that. You’ve probably got 15-20 hours of content here already and that’s a very conservative estimate. That’s also only counting the story and there are countless other things to do here. I didn’t even make it to the more exciting parts of the story and I was hooked. The presentation and interface in the game are quite seamless. Grand Cross has a lot of energy throughout and it really brings out the best of the adventures.
Mobile games can almost be a bit overwhelming with how much content there is to absorb. First of all you’ve got the online battles you can jump into. Then there are the limited time events. You will also want to replay old levels to farm equipments and materials to level your characters up. There is no need to ever run out of things to do in this game with all that you’ve got going on. That’s why the key here is if the gameplay is fun and fortunately I can confirm that it is. The gameplay is your typical turn based mobile style. You get a few cards in your hand during every turn and you play them to trigger different attack animations.
The game’s pretty easy at the start and it’s built in a way where your level will rise with the opponent’s so you should rarely be in trouble. That being said, you can have fun experimenting with attacks. It’s easy to learn the controls, but significantly more difficult to master them. Using proper strategy will help you a lot in the competitive aspects of the game. The gameplay is very flashy with a lot of really cool animations. Fortunately you can skip them though. As nice as they are to look at you won’t want to see the same thing 1000 times. You can also turn on auto battle so the A.I. takes care of things for you. I understand why some people are hesitant to use such a feature since it’s like you’re not playing but it helps with grinding. The A.I. isn’t that good either so for the more difficult levels you’ll need to beat them yourself anyway. It’s just a nice quality of life feature.
As mentioned the graphics are stunning. We get a lot of solid cutscenes with actual fight scenes in them. It’s a similar cell shaded style to something like Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm and then you get a lot of great screen grabs from the show. The soundtrack is a lot more limited with the same tune showing up over and over but it’s a great theme so I can see why it was selected. For a mobile game you want a catchy track so it was selected quite well.
So far this review’s been super positive so you can tell that I’m a pretty big fan of it. If I had less games on the backlog I’d probably stick around with this one long term. It’s definitely one of the best mobile games I’ve played. The only boring part in comparison is maintaining the inn and wandering around town on side quests. Making a beer and the food dishes is easy but you don’t really feel engaged. I suppose it adds to the realism but I’m always ready to jump right back into the combat. Fortunately these tasks don’t last long so as long as the game doesn’t go down that route in the future I don’t expect that it will be a problem.
Overall, Grand Cross really does a great job of taking the Seven Deadly Sins into video game format. It takes the best aspects of the series while dropping the weakest elements. If you’re looking for a fun mobile game to play then this is one I would recommend. It’s free so it’s not like you have to worry about spending money. You can spend money to get items and such, but the game is quite generous so you never feel like you need to do so. You’ll be able to clear the game just fine without doing anything like that. I look forward to seeing mobile games continue to improve. At this rate they will really feel like AAA console games before long. This one for example could easily be ported to PS4 or the Switch and pass itself off as a home console game from the start.
Overall 8/10
I’ve never seen a movie series hit rock bottom quicker than this one. In general I’ve never seen such a big drop because typically if your first movie is pretty good then the sequels will at least stay in the same realm. The first film in this series was a very solid 8 so I really thought that the whole thing was safe. The second film was a drop to a 5 but the third went back up to a 6. This one literally hits rock bottom…..so lets take a look at why that is.
The movie starts off by introducing us to Chris and his new life situation. He is now married and the sheriff of a little town. Chris runs a pretty tight ship and has been doing pretty well for himself. He locks people up and ships them out to the big jails. The latest one he arrested was a guy who has been robbing stores and wasting all of the money. His wife and the guy’s mother tell Chris that it won’t happen again and so he goes against his better judgment and releases the guy. This crook promptly murders his wife and escapes town. Chris is determined to avenge her but the guy has made friends with a powerful tribe of bandits. Chris is forced to round up 6 allies once again to set things right.
His team of 7 is tied together in more of a reluctant sense this time. Most of Chris’ allies are guys he locked up personally so they all want to end his life. Chris has to keep coercing them into helping his cause by using every trick in the book. It’s a bit of a stretch at times since they could end him many different times before his plan comes together but it is what it is. It’s lucky for Chris that this is the case because otherwise taking on the villains would be difficult. The villains have no real character though so that is similar to the second film. The main villain only appears at the very end and the guy who murdered Chris’ wife at the beginning dies early on off screen as well so the villains really got the shaft here.
What really hurts the film here is how needlessly dark it is. The movie goes out of its way to be as edgy as possible without adding anything to the film. There’s quite a bit of rape here to the various supporting characters and Chris’ wife. This doesn’t add anything to the story and even if the film were to try and use that as an integral part of the film I can guarantee it would still be getting a sinking score. That’s not an element you ever need to put in a film. It just makes you wait for the ending to come that much sooner.
A huge part of the film’s focus is Chris on his mission of revenge. This is a cheap tool to get you to root for Chris to murder everyone and continue on the cycle of violence. The movie seems to forget this though because when Chris gets to the village he quickly gets a romantic subplot with one of the women there. For context, his wife just died in a very brutal way. There’s no way he should be moving on to a new girl so quickly. The plot is in terrible taste and makes no sense. It further illustrates how bad the writing was in this movie. Chris is also really quick to give up on the village before being guilt tripped into helping out. It’s even hinted he would have totally left them if not for the fact that his target got murdered anyway.
There’s not much to say about Chris’ band of followers because they’re all basically the same one note characters who all want vengeance and dislike Chris. None of them can really think of anything other than trying to murder the guy. The best one is probably the ex commander who is used to being the boss. At least he got a little character and seems to have some dignity. The others I can’t really say the same for. For added edge all of these guys were tortured a bunch in prison so their mental states aren’t as sound as they usually would be.
The movie is just filled with cringe scenes that have no awareness. One such moment is when Chris tells his members to each pick various ladies as partners for the upcoming fight. It should obviously be the other way around given what just happened in the village and all the mental scars that are still in place. You just don’t know what the film is thinking half the time. All of these choices just make you scratch your head and it’s why the film is no fun to watch. There’s never a sense of joy or adventure like you had in the previous films.
That’s why the soundtrack is so odd. As always the movie chooses to keep on re-using the same happy hero theme constantly. In the older films it at least made sense sometimes because the films were generally upbeat. This one is never upbeat yet you have the happy theme showing up constantly. After Chris shoots two of the accomplices and heads back out on the trail the theme plays but we just got through some of the darkest scenes in the film so there is nothing to cheer about. It’s like the sound director just made sure to put the music on every time the heroes are travelling on horseback without looking at the context for why they are travelling. The whole movie feels like it was just slapped together.
Overall, The Magnificent Seven Ride is a terrible film and one that tries to destroy the series’ reputation with how bad this one is. There’s no redeemable qualities about the movie. The characters are all pretty unlikable and the movie is just very mean spirited throughout. There should always be a fine line between trying to make a dark film and one that is simply edgy. You can be serious without crossing the line and this film was not able to handle that nuance. It jumps straight from 0-10 and so it sunk all the way to the bottom. I highly recommend staying far away from this film and if anything maybe you should just stick to the original film. It was easily the best one in the series.
Overall 0/10
Howdy gang! I’ve been nominated for the Real Neat Blog Award by Jiraiyan of Otaku Orbit. Check out his site for reviews on current anime/manga as well as various editorials and lists. He presented 7 questions which I have answered below.
Who’s your favorite mangaka?
There have definitely been a lot of great ones over the years. Toriyama and Kubo have created really great stories over the years. In the end I’d go with Murata as my all time favorite though. While he mainly just does the art I believe he does help ONE with the story a bit as well. His art is transcendent and the best I’ve ever seen in a manga. It’s still hard to imagine another artist ever surpassing him. It’s just crazy not just how detailed the art is but how quickly he is able to churn it out. As someone who tries to draw a bit every now and then I can’t really imagine drawing on this level.
If you had to choose: Anime or Manga?
Anime wins this one. If it’s a series where I have to choose between which one to check out I’d go with the anime version. Seeing the material flowing in real time always helps me appreciate it more and I also remember the material a lot better. It’s rare for the manga version to defeat the anime one although it does happen for sure. Anime also comes along with an OST and voices which is just too valuable for me to miss out on. Both are amazing mediums, but anime does take the clean win here.
What’s your favorite type of blog post?
I love reading reviews where the reviewer really puts his/her thoughts into it. The more detailed the better and so when I see that a review is 1000+ words long I always get excited. It really makes me want to read the whole thing even more. Particularly I like reading negative ones. Even if I’m a big fan of the item being torn apart it makes for more engaging reading than when I check out something really positive. Both have their place of course but this is what I would put as my ideal blog post.
What’s the type of blog post you wish you did more of? (like lists)
I’d like to write more editorials. I always have a lot of ideas for them, but I rarely find the time to do em. I write a lot of reviews and publish a ton of fights so with what spare time I have left I’m usually playing video games or doing some reading. To try and get around this I made myself a formal schedule where I need to write at least one editorial a month. I’m hoping this will help to give me the incentive I need to keep writing them. Then in theory once I have more time I can start writing even more editorials. For example one I have in mind is comparing the old Big 3 (Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach) vs the current ones (Black Clover, Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia)
Which magical anime universe would you rather live in? Fairy Tail, Black Clover or Little Witch Academia.
I’d like to live in Fairy Tail world. The main reason why I choose that one over Black Clover is I feel like the latter world is a lot more corrupt. We constantly see how the nobles treat the commoners and there is always an abuse of power. On the chance I’d be born into the world with low magic or a terrible ability then I’m sunk. Meanwhile there is a lot more camaraderie in Fairy Tail world and I’d have a better chance of survival and making a lot of great friends.
What’s your favorite sports anime?
Surprisingly I haven’t watched a lot of sports anime. I think Prince of Tennis would be my favorite but I technically haven’t seen it yet so that shouldn’t count. I’d have to go with Scan2Go. Race car driving is a sport so I think it’s fair game. It’s definitely more toyetic in nature but I love the thrill of each race and by the end it even becomes a bit of a battle show. I never would have thought that toy cars could be so engaging but it was one of the best anime that I saw that year.
What anime movie did you watch recently (within the year)?
I saw the new One Piece film pretty recently which was a lot of fun. Bullet made for a solid villain and the ost was spectacular. I would have liked the final fight to not have been against a giant monster but I suppose you just can’t avoid that sometimes. I also saw the new Pokemon Mewtwo remake movie recently which was pretty fun. It was definitely faithful to the original even if it couldn’t quite match up to that one.
That was definitely a fun array of questions to answer. I feel like I always learn more about myself in the process of asking them. All right, here’s my 7 questions!
1. What’s one hobby you’d like to start but haven’t gotten around to doing so yet?
2. What video game are you most looking forward to in 2020?
3. What do you consider to be the most stacked year in cinema?
4. What anime was the most disappointing that you’ve seen in the last year?
5. What flavor of pizza is your favorite?
6. If you could time travel back 10 years to tell yourself one thing before jumping back to the present what would you say?
7. Do you prefer a tragic ending to an otherwise happy anime or a happy ending to a very tragic anime?
I nominate anyone reading this post who wants to take a swing at these questions. It’s always just a fun writing exercise in general!
