On Borrowed Time Review

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It’s time to look at a film that proves how senior citizens can still hold their own against agents of Death. It’s a pretty interesting story in that sense. The film tackles the themes of death and in some ways enters tricky territory there since they own a dog. Fortunately this is a film where we actually see how it all turns out and it manages to avoid any real animal violence. It was certainly a close call though and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the film got off lucky this time.

The film starts off with Mr. Brink destroying Pud’s parents and then escaping off into the night. We get a bit of a time skip at this point as Pud goes to live with his grandparents Julian and Nellie. He bonds very quickly with Julian, but Nellie feels like the old man is a bad influence to him. Unfortunately there is a mean aunt named Demetria who wants to steal Pud for herself so that she can get his money as the kid’s parents were quite rich. She first has to convince everyone that Julian isn’t fit to be the kid’s guardian. Her job grows easier when Mr. Brink shows up to end Nellie’s life. He goes after Julian next, but fortunately the old man’s tree has magical properties. Anyone who is trapped in the tree cannot get out unless he gives the okay. Certainly a pretty useful ability to have and he tricks Brink into the tree. Brink then curses it so that anyone who touches the tree will die instantly. How can Brink convince everyone to stay away from the tree without them thinking that he is crazy. Meanwhile, how can he keep custody of Pud when Demetria is so clever?

As you can tell Mr. Brink is a pretty serious villain. Don’t get the wrong idea here, the guy isn’t human so that makes him even more dangerous in the long run. How do you stop an agent of Death who is immortal and fairly indestructible? It’s certainly a tough case either way. If he so much as makes contact with you then it’s all over. He also typically waits until his victims are rather old so they are delirious and don’t realize that they are heading to their doom. While the guy is rather polite and may even seem like a nice person at times, don’t be fooled. Once it comes time to bring death upon his victims, he doesn’t play games. He will destroy as many people as it takes to bring his victim to death’s door. Until Julian eventually relents he murders his wife, grand kid, and even the local animals. Julian hardly had a choice by the end. This guy is merciless.

As far as Julian goes, he is a quality character. He definitely isn’t afraid of Mr. Brink or of anyone really. He talks a good game from start to finish and the guy was in the war after all so he’s ready for whatever these guys can throw his way. He even has a gun and isn’t afraid to use it. It was easy to root for him when he got attacked in his own home no matter what their reasons were. If you break into a house then you’ve got to be ready for the consequences, especially when they were using deceit as well. Julian is rather old so at times he can be slow on the uptake but for the most part he is pretty solid.

Then we’ve got Nellie who is unfortunately a little gullible. She is easily tricked by the aunt into doubting her own maid and from there descends into sickness. She should have quickly chosen Julian over Demetria and not making the right choice seems to have cost her in the long run. It’s a shame but she just didn’t make the right calls when they were needed. Naturally you’re not meant to like Demetria either. She just wants Pud for the money and is even determined to send him to an all girl’s school to try and convert him while Pud is still a kid. I think her odds of success are fairly bad since he is already old enough to realize that this is a little strange, but it doesn’t help her case as a character. She is also a little gullible.

There is also Pud of course and he’s about as good as most kids are I guess. He can just be a little annoying at times and in the end makes one of the worst decisions that I’ve seen in recent cinema. He knows that touching the tree were Brink is will cause instant death but all it takes is for Brink to call him a chicken and Pud is ready to jump in. What happened to common sense? Pud basically forced Julian’s hand at the end.

Finally we have also got the doctor who used to be Julian’s friend. This is definitely one guy that you don’t want on your side as he will betray you at the drop of a hat. It certainly doesn’t take long for him to try to turn Julian in and he even does so by trying to sacrifice Pud to Demetria. That’s really underhanded and at that point there was no way he could get any better. Julian could have maybe explained the situation better, but that doesn’t excuse the Doc.

The writing for the film is pretty solid which is good. The pacing is on point as well so it’s definitely off to a good start. At times the film can even throw some humor in which is always good. It’s a fairly soothing film as well. Now, the only issue is that it can also be a little boring as well as annoying. In a more reasonable town this situation wouldn’t have been so major, but it only ended up being kind of big since the town wasn’t very smart.

Overall, On Borrowed Time was a decent movie. It can just be a little annoying though since all of the characters are against Julian. He should have a pretty cushy end to his life, but it’s all wrecked by the Aunt who is out to get him along with all of the other corrupt characters in the town. If you think about it, everyone dies at the end. Of course, we do see that the after life is a lot of fun for everyone which helps the film skirt by the issue of the pets and all that, but it’s barely a win for the humans. I also have to wonder if the Aunt ended up getting her money after all since everyone else died. If so, she got a much happier ending than I think she deserved considering the circumstances. The ending wasn’t too satisfying, but it could have been worse. If you want to watch an interesting take on Death then this is a good film for you. It definitely has personality as the gunshot scene will prove.

Overall 6/10

Sherlock Holmes: The Scarlet Claw Review

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It’s time to look at another Sherlock Holmes film. This one’s definitely a pretty intense mystery with a lot of suspects and various red herrings to keep you guessing. It’ll be rather difficult to sniff out the culprit here and even if you do you may end up mixing some of the suspects around since quite a few of the characters look really similar. Still, it’s the kind of case you would expect for Holmes since only a master detective can put it all together.

He was enjoying a nice vacation over with Watson when a lady is murdered. It’s a tragic thing, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a mystery about it so the heroes prepare to go back to London. That’s when they receive a letter from the dead person before she passed asking for their assistance. Holmes officially puts himself into the case and must now find out who is using this claw to murder everyone. Surely there is some kind of explanation for it, but what can it be? You’ve got the local judge, the husband of the girl who was murdered, a maid, an old man with a shotgun, and a few other characters running around. Holmes will have to tread carefully as even the slightest miscalculation could end up costing him his life.

As always the writing and pacing for the film are on point. It’s entertaining from start to finish and the mystery should have you engaged. Sherlock Holmes always acts in a very professional manner and the cops give him his due credit. He can be a little extra sarcastic to Watson at times though. He’s not saying anything mean so don’t worry about that, but it’s pretty obvious that he is just tricking Watson into feeling like he is helpful most of the time. Other times Holmes will actually insult Watson to his face but in a subtle way so Watson doesn’t even notice. It wasn’t Watson’s best showing so I guess even Holmes got tired of that, but still worth pointing out.

Watson is a lot of fun as always and it’s just easy to see why he has a lot of fans. “Rubbish” has started to become his main catchphrase. He is always muttering about something or other and I suppose he has good reason to grumble. He may be a doctor, but nobody really respects him all that much and they certainly don’t seem to buy into his intelligence. Watson ends up falling into a ditch multiple times which didn’t help his case, but at least he always means well. Watson is a very genuine person who speaks his mind. It just doesn’t often work out very well for him unless he is holding a gun. When in combat he is always ready.

Usually Sherlock Holmes is the master of disguises, but in this film the main villain really took that role. His disguises were so intricate and detailed that he would really appear to be more than one person. Quite a few people had alternate forms here though as even the girl who died was actually another person. That’s why it could be tough to keep track of everyone since you had extra characters who were actually not characters at all and were merely trying to fool everyone else. You can’t trust anyone.

In a sense the guy with the shotgun had the best idea. He knew that everyone kept dying so he decided to sit down on his char and get the gun ready. People don’t seem to die during the day so he’ll shoot anyone who tries to enter the room until the next day. He even pretends to have a bad leg to make the villain underestimate him. Unfortunately his whole plan was rendered moot as he decided not to have his chair actually face the door where the villain would come through. Isn’t that a terrible plan then? The whole point of a plan like this is to be able to see every direction from where the villains might come through. Otherwise there just isn’t much point to the plan at all and you might as well have just waited outside. Of course, this guy wasn’t exactly the smartest tool in the shed as Holmes warned him of his impending doom and the guy refused to listen. You should always hear Sherlock Holmes out.

The ending of the film is also fairly unique as one of the suspects decides to take things into his own hands. Usually it is Sherlock Holmes who either captures the villain or forces him to fall into his doom or into the hands of the police. This time he really did lose the guy in the fog and was just fortunate that one of the other characters was around or the villain could have possibly escaped. I was also glad that the character didn’t go out like a 2 bit character and actually managed to block the Scarlet Claw. After all, that weapon is hardly long range so once you manage to grab the opponent’s hand it will lose most of its lethal potential.

Overall , Sherlock Holmes: The Scarlet Claw is a really solid film. It’s probably the most thorough mystery of them all. (From the Holmes films that I’ve seen so far) While it’s still not as high ranked as some of the other mysteries thanks to the cast of suspects being a little less interesting, you can’t really ask for much more than what this film gives you. It has all of the classic Sherlock Holmes’ fundamentals in one clean package. Watson and Holmes still have a great dynamic as always even if I would like to see Watson win a verbal battle one of these days. He’s just too polite to properly defend himself though.

Overall 8/10

Draco Malfoy vs Lan

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Suggested by Megapot Network Lan is a pretty tough kid. He was able to learn Crossfusion with ease and that also multiplied his abilities many times over. He became a global threat at least when it comes to sheer power. Draco would probably have a tough time destroying a mountain in comparison. Couple that with Lan’s speed and there just isn’t any way for Draco to keep it close. The kid is doomed. Lan wins.

Dumbledore vs Protoman

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Suggested by Megapot Network Dumbledore is a fairly talented wizard. He can conjure up spells with the best of them and don’t let his age fool you, the guy still has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. However if we’re being honest here, he still doesn’t have any chance against Protoman. Protoman is simply too fast for the old guy and the spell’s attack power doesn’t matter if he can’t even hit this guy. Protoman is really in a league of his own here and the gap between them is simply too vast. Dumbledore is 100 years too early to be challenging an opponent of Protoman’s caliber. Protoman wins.

MotorStorm Stats and Records

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Stats Time!

Total Points 530/2340

Ticket 1 60/60
Ticket 2 90/90
Ticket 3 90/120
Ticket 4 90/120
Ticket 5 60/60
Ticket 6 40/60
Ticket 7 –
Ticket 8 20/120
Ticket 9 50/90
Ticket 10 –
Ticket 11 30/90
Ticket 12 –
Ticket 13 –
Ticket 14 –
Ticket 15 –
Ticket 16 –
Ticket 17 –
Ticket 18 –
Ticket 19 –
Ticket 20 –
Ticket 21 –

MotorStorm Review

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It’s time to look at a racing game that I have had on the backburner for a very long time. I’ve always been a big fan of racing games although admittedly the one drawback to the genre is that the CPU racers can seem a little cheesy at times. On the other hand, it’s a little hard to see how to nerf that. It’s very hard to make the computers appear to be fair or they may seem too weak. Still, this one doesn’t do a bad job of it. I do think that the star requirements to unlock the various worlds are a little steep though so don’t count on unlocking all of the different tickets (worlds) unless you are prepared to play this game’s levels over quite a few times.

The gameplay is probably obvious from the cover but it’s a racing game. You try to drive to the goal as quickly as you can and lead the pack. Each race is 3 laps and the duration varies, but most levels are roughly 4-5 minutes. You have a boost which you can use quite regularly but give it a little time to recharge or it’ll overhear and effectively blow up. That’s really the only gimmick here as it’s a normal driving game otherwise. That definitely works for me. I don’t mind the boost and if anything it can be fun to have. Racing games with items have their place as well considering that Mario Kart Double Dash is probably still the best racing game. At the same time, sometimes it’s great to just hop in the car and use nothing but your skills to reach the end.

The main mode here is the campaign. There are a series of tickets which grant you access to a group of races ranging from 1-4. Winning each race will give you some points depending on if you placed in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Gain enough points and you unlock the next ticket. There are 21 tickets, but to unlock all of them you will need a significant amount of 1st place finishes. Most likely you may get around 10 tickets unlocked, but of course if you are willing to put in the time you can go farther. There are also free races and the like to play through.

Conquering all of the races will take a significant amount of time so the game has a lot of replay value. In general, I feel like racing games are often very good at this. You really get the value that you’d expect from a game like this one. The sequel looks pretty interesting as well, but at the same time I do think that the racing genre is often one that you don’t want to overstay your welcome in. Best to take it slow and simply enjoy the races that you’re in.

One thing that the game does to make itself stand out among the crowd is by having a full soundtrack. It has a wide range of lyrical songs and they are all loud, fast paced titles that really make you feel the intensity of the race. I can’t vouch for the lyrics of the songs, but at the very least the beats are pretty solid. The developers understood what kind of music would be really fitting for this genre. The graphics also look pretty good although there isn’t much to say about them. They look like what you would expect, but aren’t any better or worse than that. They are simply standard and I’d say that this is good enough.

Another area where the game did a good job was with making each vehicle feel different. You can play as a car, buggy, motorcycle, or a large truck. My favorite one is easily the motorcycle as you really zoom by there and the turns are really smooth. Of course it is sad to get completely knocked over if another vehicle so much as touches you. That’s the price for being light though and I’m used to it from playing Sheik in Super Smash Bros. It does make the campaign a little harder though since every other race has you switch styles so it is hard to get used to any one version. It’d be nice if they had separated them from the start so you could take your time and master each one.

The crashes are definitely a lot of fun in this game. Some racing titles certainly give more emphasis to the crashes than others and this is definitely one that had a lot of fun with the animations. You crash in slow motion and seeing the driver get slammed out of the car never gets old. Occasionally you do have to wonder why the cars are so weak though. Just going too fast on a muddy surface will cause you to tip over. The worst situations are where you don’t blow up though. At the very least you want to be eliminated right away so you can respawn. Sometimes you will simply be stuck upside down so then you have to try boosting to blow the car up intentionally. However, this takes so much time that you may as well give up the match at that point since you won’t really have a chance at first.

Finally, I enjoyed the level designs quite a bit. You have a lot of freedom to explore here. The levels are huge and there are many different paths to take. Part of the fun is picking a path and hoping that it is the optimal one. There is no way to find out except for trial and error so it encourages multiple playthroughs. I ultimately prefer linear tracks, but this makes it feel a lot more like a real outside race. I can certainly appreciate the attempt here since MotorStorm doesn’t exactly feel like a friendly Mario Kart kind of exhibition here based on how violently everyone crashes. It’s a bunch of races to the death for sure.

Overall, MotorStorm is pretty fun. The gameplay is really good and it’s just fundamentally a good game. There is nothing weak about it and there is a lot of content to stay busy with. A story mode would be nice, but I can’t say that it was expected. If you are a fan of the racing genre then there is certainly no good reason not to buy this game. It just has everything that you could possibly want with it. The game isn’t very forgiving though so prepare for a lot of tough competition from the computers. You may not win the races in one try, but find the fastest route and eventually you will be acing the competition. It’s all about practice, practice, and more practice.

Overall 7/10

Nami vs Arthur

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Nami's_Fourth_Clima-Tact
Suggested by Adrogoz Arthur is usually a nice kid but he actually seems to work out as seen with his big punch against DW. That could deliver some damage to his own ego at least but I don’t think the punch would actually hurt Nami. Meanwhile she is skilled enough in combat to take him down without actually hurting the kid. Nami wins.

Nami vs Fred

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Suggested by Adrogoz Fred is an expert at trapping ghosts so trapping people should be similar right? Well I don’t think it will be quite as easy as all that since Nami’s weather rod can easily break any old net that is thrown over her. Fred has some decent fighting moves but it’s nothing that Nami can’t handle. It will be a fairly easy win for her. Nami wins.

Snoopy’s Grand Adventure Stats and Records

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Stats Time!

PS4 Trophies 20/23

Level Stats (Jewels, Birds found)

Skies of Paris

Windy Passage 176/250 6/6
Beagle Flight 112/250 6/6
Cloudy Clash 103//250 6/6

Parisian Underground

Dripping Ducts 50/300 0/6
Soggy Station 81/300 0/6
Dust Magnets 56/300 0/6
Goopy Gutters 49/300 1/6

Melody Chateau

Musical Vestibule 96/300 0/6
Ludwig’s Lodge 90/300 1/6
Hymnal Halls 129/300 1/6
Virtuoso Vaults 90/300 1/6

Temple of Bunnies

Block Van Pelt 73/300 2/6
Potty Pumpkins 76/300 0/6
Stone Blanket 137/300 1/6
Bunny Blitz 97/300 0/6

Lunar Surface

Fly Balls 50/300 0/6
Right Field Space 64/300 1/6
Cosmic Punters 35/300 0/6
Blue Cosmos 98/300 2/6

Peppermint Jungle

Green Glade 300/300 6/6
Pepperbosk 139/300 0/6
Outfield Grove 75/300 1/6
Tricky Track 61/300 2/6

Snoopy’s Grand Adventure Review

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I’ve always wanted to get the original Snoopy and the Red Baron game but it just hasn’t been in the cards as of yet. Not deterred, I quickly went to Toys R Us and took advantage of their current 60% off all video games sale. It doesn’t get much better than that so I saved a good amount on this Snoopy game. Good thing to since the game is incredibly short but more on that in a bit.

The plot revolves around all of the kids going missing so Snoopy decides to find them. He will have to go to a lot of crazy environments to save the kids but as a hero he has no choice but to risk it all. Some of the kids are just hiding in the middle of nowhere while others are actually transformed into giant monsters. No worries, Snoopy has got this.

The gameplay is that of your typical 2D platformer. You jump and run past obstacles as you get to the goal. You also find different hats along the way that give you various abilities. One of them lets you climb vines while another has you jump really high. Typically you will want to stick with your usual power up though which is what lets you hover as you go through the air. This can be used to cheese most of the stages and is part of why the game is so quick. It’s not as if this is necessary though since dying would be very hard here. I didn’t manage to lose and you likely won’t as well. When Snoopy is hit you are still given a few seconds to jump up and grab the heart. That’s pretty generous so there is no reason why you can’t simply grab it. Dying is extremely difficult here.

The graphics are all fairly cutting edge. I mean, this isn’t exactly Final Fantasy, but the character models are on point and the backgrounds are real nice. Everything looks nice and clear which is good. I can’t say much about the soundtrack though since it is basically nonexistent. I doubt you will be able to recall a single theme by the time it is all over. Perhaps if the game was longer I guess.

I’ve been alluding to it long enough. The game only lasts you a little over an hour. That’s considering that I played the final bonus world as well. At most it is an hour and a half which still isn’t great. I can’t imagine buying this for 50 to be honest. Length isn’t really a deciding factor most of the time, but that still has a limit. You at least want a game to last you during a whole trip from Golden Corral to the hotel rather than cutting out halfway. With the game being extremely easy and short that isn’t really a great mix. The average length is apparently 3 hours so maybe I was simply too good. Still, keep this in mind if you’re going to buy this for the going price of 50. It’s simply not worth it at that point.

The only replay value here is really to get the Platinum. That won’t take you long, but I guess it will force you to replay all of the stages as you collect everything that there is to collect over there. None of the collectibles are hard to get so it’s just a matter of taking the time to grab them all. Even with the Platinum the game will almost certainly be under 4 hours though so just be prepared for that.

This is the kind of game where there really isn’t much more to talk about. I suppose I can say that the bonus world was a pretty good homage to Snoopy’s ongoing dream about fighting the Red Baron. Just like in the TV specials his bullets are invisible so you just see little destruction effects. It makes it a little difficult to tell when the big ships will get destroyed but that’s not really a big deal. They can barely fight back anyway and winning is a piece of cake. As long as you know how to move and shoot you will definitely be fine.

Overall, Snoopy’s Grand Adventure is pretty fun. As they always say, it’s about quality over quantity. The game may not be the longest one out there, but the developers did a pretty decent job of making sure that it was good. I also applaud the fact that the game’s trophies are really reasonable as well. It doesn’t really help the replay value’s case, but it is what it is. I’m still eager t get the other Snoopy game at some point even if it definitely doesn’t seem all that likely for quite a while.

Overall 6/10