Godzilla in Hell Review

Posted on April 17, 2016 by dreager1

This comic review is a pretty big landmark for me because it is the first Godzilla comic book that I have ever read. That is probably a little surprising to hear since I’m such a big Godzilla fan, but my library simply doesn’t order the comics very often. I’m a comic reader, but not necessarily a collector. It’s the opposite with video games. When I saw that the library had picked this trade paperback up, I grabbed it instantly. I heard that this comic was quite different from the average Godzilla adventure and that is certainly true, but I suppose that it’s as good a way to enter the Godzilla comic part of the franchise as any other. It is a good comic although I feel like it could have gone a lot farther with this ambitious concept.

On the back of the book they have a quote from legendary comic reviewer Daniel Alvarez of Unleash The Fanboy about how this is the most unique Godzilla tale of them all. It is a little…sketchy how they completely took the quote out of context although I certainly agree with it and would argue that the reviewer would as well. This is the most unique Godzilla tale of them all and there will likely never be another one quite like it. That doesn’t mean that it is the best Godzilla tale of all time. Certainly not, but it’s a good one and that’s why I feel this mini series should have ran for a little longer. Another 5-6 issues would have given it time to really explore Godzilla’s time in hell. Who knows, if this sells well enough then maybe we will get a sequel.

As the title outright states, this series is about Godzilla being in Hell. (Or is he really there?) It works as a bit of an anthology as each issue has a different team behind it and Godzilla faces a new threat each time. The stories are still held together by the loose plot of Godzilla trying to get out and most anthologies have some kind of string holding the plot together, but for all intents and purposes, the comics are all separate. As such, I’ll review this in the style of an anthology with a paragraph for each individual issue rather than talking about it as a whole until the end.

The first issue sees Godzilla literally fall into Hell where he fights off a Dark version of himself who turns into a very deformed version of Biollante and threatens to eat him whole. Godzilla fends off his attack and makes his way into the next layer of Hell. It is a solid start to the collection and I dare say that it is the most compelling issue of the bunch. It doesn’t have as much action as some of the issues coming up, but it handled the concept better than the others. The big sign saying to abandon hope is something that you would expect to find in Hell, at least conceptually. Once you are in Hell, there is no hope at all. Simply put, the race is over and you made the wrong choice. Of course, Godzilla is not dead yet so he is not truly out of time. Plus, let’s face it, Godzilla doesn’t feel fear. The art for this issue was solid. It did a good job of showing the facial expressions for Godzilla and the fight was well done. This is really what a comic version of Godzilla should strive to look like and I definitely liked the design of the made up villain.

Following that strong start was the worst comic in the collection. The series tried to go for a live action look and it didn’t work. As far as I’m concerned, if DC’s Kingdom Come event couldn’t pull it off, nothing ever will. The fight scenes are very choppy and it’s a shame since this issue could have had the most action. This level of hell has demons transform into lookalikes from Godzilla’s past. Fake Rodan, Anguirus, Varan, and Ghidorah all attack the hero. Godzilla fends them all off and it should have been a really good issue. The art just takes you out of the adventure. I do like the use of the word bubbles here as they add more context and hint at what is actually going on here. Godzilla passes this trial with flying colors as he proves that he is more than a match for any demon. Of course, the trials will get stronger from here.

The third issue was the most colorful and went for more of a cartoony feel than the other two. This made for a great fight between Godzilla and Space Godzilla, but the facial expressions could be a little odd at times. It was uncharacteristic for Godzilla, but the fight scenes were worth it. Space Godzilla is definitely a worthy opponent for the King of the Monsters. This was also the strangest issue in the collection. So, this trial is essentially that Godzilla must defeat Space Godzilla without resorting to the temptations from both sides. Half of Hell wants him to become their god and rule while the others want him to work for Hell. You are led to believe at first that half of them worship God and want Godzilla to join, but they quickly switch to believers of Godzilla and also don’t seem trust worthy. Regardless, Godzilla eats them all and crushes the rest, but neither side seemed to have a clue as to what they were doing.

They were yelling about submitting to peace the entire time. Godzilla just kept on blasting them which is probably a safe bet. Why would angels be in Hell anyway unless they were fallen ones? I guess some Earthlings tried to come here as well since we saw that Moguera was toasted. It was an odd comic, but it also helps support the argument that this is all real and not simply a dream the most in my opinion. I don’t have a lot of concrete arguments to support that, but this issue felt like it could be real. More on that at the end.

Issue 4 also had some pretty nice art. It was a little more realistic, but still pretty vibrant which is good because the whole issue is a big fight with King Ghidorah and Destoroyah. Godzilla has to use his wits to defeat these two since their combined might is far greater than his. It is cool to see him actually using strategy like dividing the opponents and taking them out on at a time. He loses though and the second half of the issue sees him die over and over again. The problem is that since he is in Hell, he cannot die for good. He has been cursed with immortality and it is a somber thought. At the end he breaks out of this part of hell and makes his way to the final challenges. This was my favorite story. As a big action fan, it was fun to see some fights here and Godzilla being portrayed as more than a mindless monster is always good.

Finally, the collection ended with Godzilla facing off against the elements and the actual demons from Hell. In their true forms, they were finally playing for keeps here. Unfortunately, they got a little too overconfident and after destroying Godzilla, they reanimated him with fire, which was enough to jump start his body and allow him to regenerate. They should have quit while they were ahead. It ends with Godzilla rising out of the water and you have to ask, did this all really happen or was it in his head? The answer will come in a moment. Meanwhile, the art here was not as good as the last few issues. The final shot with Godzilla rising it great and it’s better than the live action issue, but it is too gray-scale for me. Comics don’t always have to be vibrant, but it just didn’t look that good and everything was just too faded. Still a good issue, but it’s always sad to see Godzilla lose due to sheer numbers. It is part of why I don’t like the Megaguirus film.

In the end, my answer is that this was all a dream. The final issue does state that winning against yourself is greater than a thousand victories. It said that such a win can never be taken away and those lines of dialogue really support the fact that this was in Godzilla’s head. It is still a little iffy as Godzilla is not the type to ever doubt himself and I don’t think he would need to conquer his inner demons. Still, I suppose that even Kaiju have things that they need to think about so it is not totally unreasonable to believe that Godzilla has to come to terms with himself now and again. I’ve never been all that opposed to reading a series that ended with the plot twist of it all being a dream so it is not all that bad. It is open to interpretation so feel free to choose another theory to follow, but this is definitely the one that I follow.

Overall, I think this series definitely could have benefited from being longer. Of course, it could have had the opposite effect as it really depends on an issue to issue basis. If the writers started to run out of ideas, then it is always best to quit while you are ahead. I definitely recommend this to any Godzilla fan. The concept is simply too priceless to pass up. I think the average comic reader should be able to enjoy it as well. There is very little dialogue here so it is more of a visual experience than anything else. That’s something that everyone can ultimately appreciate in a comic as long as there is some kind of interesting plot/good characters to go alongside it. I’ve finally entered the world of Godzilla comics, hopefully I am able to read another one someday!

Overall 7/10

Lego Scooby Doo Knight Time Terror Review

Posted on March 23, 2016 by dreager1

It’s time to take a look at a Lego Scooby Doo film. Legos aren’t my favorite animation style to say the least, but they beat the puppets so I’ll take it I suppose. The special did feel incredibly short so that’s a good thing since it would have still dragged on a little if the plot had been boring. It’s a standard mini Scooby Doo adventure so the mystery’s fun and I still like the main cast. They get the job done and don’t pull their punches. That’s what I like to see from the heroes.

They head to a mansion where there is supposedly some treasure that’s been hidden. Unfortunately, the Mystery Gang may not be able to make it there alive since there is a mysterious Knight that haunts the castle. He has an axe and isn’t afraid to use it so one good hit would mean curtains for Fred and the gang. They’ll have to get to the bottom of this before something dicey happens!

The Knight was pretty hype. He actually had a lethal weapon and he had a good chase scene so I’ll give the villain a thumbs up. In a Scooby Doo film, you always want a villain who’s hardcore, but still has enough character to pull off the comedy moments. For the rest of the gang, they’re about the same as usual. Fred’s still the best member as he takes charge and never backs down from a good mystery. The gang wouldn’t have even heard about the treasure if not for good ole Fred. Daphne doesn’t really get a role this time as she mostly stays on the sidelines and allows Scooby and Shaggy to do the hard work.

They’re classic as per usual. Since Legos still don’t have enough parts to actually eat food, it wasn’t surprising to see that the heroes did’t get to eat this time. I’m sure that they could have bluffed it with some cut aways and shifty camera angles though. Shaggy did try his best to stop the Knight, but it proved to all be for naught. The villain was simply too strong this time. I do wish that Shaggy and Scooby would fight a little more, but I suppose that such a big change might be too much for the fanbase. The status quo would never be the same after that.

Unfortunately, Velma once again reminds me why she is the worst member of the group. She falls for yet another guy in this special and the romance is handled poorly as expected. It’s crammed in for no real reason and just serves to bring the whole thing down. Luckily, the subplot isn’t on screen for very long since the actual special isn’t that long either. We can’t forget about the suspects either although I didn’t bother trying to guess who it was this time. I privately figured that it was the nice assistant, but turns out that I wasn’t right on the money this time.

The first suspect is the owner of the house. Maybe he wants to collect on the insurance by scaring everyone away. There’s also the two guys in the monster costumes. Maybe they finally cracked and have decided to take things too far. Finally, there’s the nice assistant, but you can rule her out from this equation. Choose wisely since your bragging rights are on the line this time. There’s not really anything to say about the soundtrack of the animation. It’s legos so you know how it looks and the soundtrack is basically nonexistent this time. It works well enough, which will have to do. It’s not a bad soundtrack by any means.

Overall, Knight Time Terror is a good Scooby Doo special. Lego has really gotten popular over the last few years. I think Scooby Doo probably waited a little too long to jump on the bandwagon, but Lego’s still got a lot of products coming out so it’s not toooo late I suppose. If you like the Scooby Doo films then you’ll like this one. If you don’t, then this won’t change your mind either. At the very least, just remember that this is only around 20 minutes, if not shorter. It’ll be over in the blink of an eye and the plot never drags on so you don’t need to worry about that. Prepare yourself for the mystery!

Overall 7/10

Pokken Tournament Review

Posted on March 21, 2016 by dreager1

Nintendo has churned out another winner folks. The Wii U has gotten a lot of heat over the infamous Gamepad as well as the lack of third party games, but it’s always very easy to forgive these oversights when you look at the first party titles. Super Smash Bros for Wii U is the greatest game of all time and Mario Maker is an all star title as well. Pokken continues to set the bar very high and isn’t afraid of those other titles. In fact, I’d say that this game beats Mario Maker and it’s automatically my 2nd favorite Wii U game. It has a lot of replay value and I can definitely see myself playing it for a very long time. This one’s a keeper all right.

Pokken is a mix of 2D and 3D fighting. There are two phases which have different rules and strategies so the game is deeper than you would expect. In 3D mode, you want to either overwhelm your opponent with projectile spam or quickly hit them with a close attack. 2D mode plays more like Street Fighter and you have to really think about which move you are going to use or it’ll all be for naught. The game has a bit of a rock paper scissors mechanic so it’s all about out thinking your opponent.

Your standard attacks beat out grabs. Grabs beat out Focus Attacks. Focus Attacks beat out Power Modes. Power Moves usually beat out strong moves and strong moves are basically pointless, but I’m guessing that they beat out standard ones. String them together for combos and then you also have the Burst Mode at your disposal once you have enough meter. That mode essentially gives you super armor on just about all of your attacks as well as a great final smash which can eat through just about every single attack. I highly recommend using it after performing an unsafe combo, the opponent will try to punish you and that’s when the final smash really comes through.

I’m not usually a fan of the classic Rock Paper Scissors for fighting games, but it’s implemented well here. It doesn’t feel like luck and it’s really more tactical than anything else. Conditioning an opponent feels more important here than in Super Smash as you want to lead an opponent to your destination. (For example, spending the first 2 rounds of a set always going for a Focus Attack when getting up to set up the grab for the third round where you’ll go for a strong combo instead.)

An interesting choice that the game made was to include a level up system. I suppose that this is a feature that has always been in the Pokemon games so getting rid of it may not have gone over well with the older fans, but it does give you a bit of an advantage online. It actually applies to your online “For Glory” mode and that means that the person with the higher leveled fighter has the edge. The level caps at 100 and you should have that after 2-3 days, but until then you better watch out. You can choose to use your level up points on Attack, Defense, Synergy, or Support I believe. I put everything into attack so my Final Smash is truly awesome now!

The bulk of your playtime will likely go towards the local multiplayer mode or online to fight with friends and rivals as you rise through the ranks. I really like how the leaderboard rankings are set up because it’s less discouraging than some other games. For example, a loss won’t get rid of any of your points until you make it to C rank. That’s when the true struggle will begin. This differs from a game like Street Fighter where you’ll lose points each time you lose and one loss can force you to have to make up a lot of ground and you can even lose your rank. That can happen here, but it’s a little safer and going on a losing streak is just as tricky as going on a win streak due to the solid matchmaking algorithms in place.

Right now my For Glory Win% is around 80% and I’ve made it to E1. I expect to be in the D ranks by tomorrow and my progress will likely start to slow around that point as the opponents will get a lot tougher. The rounds are short and fun so it’s easy to play this game for hours and hours. It’s easy to see how streamers can keep on playing in front of their audience for so long. It’s the kind of game that has unlimited replay value.

The offline modes are not quite as brilliant. There’s a nice tutorial/practice mode, but you may not want to spend much..or any time there. I recommend at least giving it a quick stop, but you should use Story Mode to practice your moves since it’s so long and the opponents in the first league won’t really fight back anyway. The plot of the story is that a mysterious Shadow Mewtwo has been challenging players and defeating them all. He continues to get stronger, which is a problem since it’s draining synergy, the life force of the planet. If he’s not stopped then the planet will blow up so the main character has to get strong enough to end this.

The plot shows up at the end of each tournament before finally coming into play after the third one. The plot is actually pretty enjoyable. The exposition was a little unnaturally long, but for the most part the characters were interesting and the universe was nicely developed. Shadow Mewtwo’s boss themes were also incredible and I’ll never forget the very first time that he showed up. It was such an epic moment and easily the best part of the whole story experience. Unfortunately, the gameplay of the story is what I’m not crazy about like with DBZ’s Budokai 2.

There are 4 (Possibly 5 from what I’ve heard) tournaments. Each tournament has you start by moving up the ranks as you face 5 opponents. You must then fight them again and again to move past that part and enter the 8 man tournament. After you win that, then you fight the Promotion Battle and then you rinse and repeat after a quick cinematic fight. It gets longer and longer and according to Reddit/Gamefaqs calculations, the story is around 110-120 fights long and that number will vary if you happen to lose during the run. I completed the first 3 tournaments so far and I’ll admit that I’m not too crazy about the prospect of going for the next 2. I will do them, even if only to get Mewtwo and the final support Pokemon, but the story didn’t have to be artificially extended quite so far. There was just no reason for it.

The short part that is actually the story is quite interesting though and I really would have liked the whole story mode to be about that. Maybe next time I guess. The voice acting has been chuckled at a lot online and I can see why. As one guy said for the first big promotion battle master, he sounded like he was eating while talking. The voice was very muffled. Still, it’s pretty funny and I’d say that the voice acting is pretty well done depending on how intentional it all is. I actually like Nia as she constantly rubs the losses in your face and takes credit for your wins. “You’re like a Magikarp out of water” “They made you their punching bag that time!” Those are epic quotes that may seem mean spirited, but that’s just who Nia is. It’s not personal, even when she gives you advice like “Keep your guard up” right before the opponent grabs you. You have the option to turn her off, but I can’t bring myself to do that. The constant dialogue is hype and she’s much better at her role than Navi. Mewtwo’s owner is also a pretty cool character. She’s a mysterious figure and even her ending is rather sudden so I guess that’ll leave some room for the sequel. Hopefully the main character gets to talk if there is a Pokken 2.

The gameplay is great, which is lucky for me because it makes this a lot more bearable than it would have been otherwise, but it’s still really long. My recommendation is, don’t lose when you’re in the main tournament phase. Trust me, it’ll make the whole cycle even tougher. You can cheese most of the opponents though, but make sure that you are truly good by the time the last tournaments roll around because the cheese tactics won’t be nearly as effective.

Each round earns you up to 20K and winning tournaments gives you significantly higher amounts. I’ve earned almost 10 million already, but the money goes very quickly. I don’t even know how many accessories and clothes you can buy, but it’s a lot and I’m nowhere near rich enough to purchase them all. That’ll come with time since the game is quite generous with the money. Local battles and friendly matches still give you the 20K so just play a lot and eventually you’ll have all the money that you could ever want. I can’t say that most of the clothes are anything that I would want to use for my avatar, but to be honest I haven’t looked through most of the choices yet.

The graphics for Pokken are very well done. It has the semi realistic look of Tekken while still being very bright and fancy. As you may know from the Brawl days, I’m not a super big fan of darker, more live action esque designs, but these stay colorful enough that they still feel like Pokemon and it does leave a trail of epicness for the fights to escalate to even greater heights. It’s part of why I like maining Blaziken so much, his fiery attacks look so great when you’re in the middle of a good ole fashioned fist fight. Blaziken was the very first Pokemon that I ever got in Pokemon Ruby, my first Pokemon game so he has a lot of sentimental value for me. He may be a low tier fighter next to most of the others in Pokken, but he’s currently my main and he’s taken me pretty far.

The soundtrack’s decent for the most part. I’ll admit that most of the stages are fairly unmemorable when it comes to the music and I tried to listen to a few of them on Youtube, but some of them just aren’t that good. Luckily, Shadow Mewtwo makes up for that with his incredible themes. I could listen to those for hours and the tunes are great enough to raise the whole soundtrack for me. Still, that’s reason enough for me to just call the soundtrack decent, it doesn’t really live up to my expectations of how good it would sound. Most of the handheld games have a better overall soundtrack.

As possibly mentioned earlier, there are 16 fighters. This is a really low amount and I’ll admit that a few of the choices were pretty underwhelming. Chandelure and that Fire Fox? Really? I don’t think they’ve earned a spot on the roster to be honest although I support Shadow Mewtwo and Pikachu Libre so..my opinion is a little unique. Unlike Super Smash where you’ll have memorized all of the attacks for all 50+ characters right away, it’s tricky to do that in this game since there are 4 different attack types for each character and then you have to double that for 3D mode + 2D mode while also accounting for their attacks in both modes while in Burst Mode. Simply put, it’ll take a while unless you make this game your top priority.

I’m going to be spending a lot of time with this game, but it’ll never be my top priority the way that Smash Bros is. I’ve put in well over 100 hours on that game just watching gameplay footage from the top players around the world. I’ve maybe put in 2 hours for that with Pokken, but I’ll really just spend my time playing it as opposed to watching. I am entering the Pokken event at Apex 2016, but I’ll see how far I can go as I am. Back to the main point, the 16 characters limit doesn’t feel as bad as it could. As it is, it’s very hard to pull out another fighter once you’ve chosen a main and do well enough to win the fight. I have pulled it off with my classic pockets, Pikachu Libre and Chandelure, but it’s tricky since I’m relying on pure fundamentals and button mashing.

Blaziken’s definitely my guy right now. He unfortunately has a very tough time against projectiles though. If I see any strong Gengars or Chandelure players, I can probably count the match as a loss although I’ll try to keep it real. I like Pikachu since he really has a lot of good projectiles and Libre’s command grabs make him a real threat. Each of the characters have their strengths with the only one that just feels weak is Charizard. He’s just soooo slow, although I pulled off a nice win with him online, I doubt I will play him again for a while. I still haven’t even tried out around 5-6 of the characters so I have to get around to that. This is the kind of game where you don’t spend much time choosing different characters since there’s not much merit to it. Just pick 2 characters to cover your matchups and you’re set.

By the way, you’ll want to stay active online or your ranking will plummet. You won’t lose points, but people will just leapfrog you. I made it into the 8000s on my first day, but then I took a break from online for a day to focus on the story. When I got back I was in the 14000s. I’ve since made it back to the 10000s, but it just goes to show how many people are playing it right now. I kind of want to make the top 1000, but that’s unlikely unless I really play it a bunch. I’ll probably look at the overall sales figures and then I’ll try to stay in the top 10% or 5% by the end. That’s a reasonable goal I’d say.

Overall, Pokken is a fighting game that you’ve got to get right away. The gameplay mechanics can be a little complex and overwhelming at first, but put in an hour or two of just fighting normally in Story Mode and you’ll start to pick up all of the little rules. It’s not a game like Virtua Fighter where you can play for days and still not pick up most of the terms. Once you’re in, you’ll see how much fun the game is. There may only be 16 fighters, but you’ll still have a tough time learning all of their attacks and now you can really prove your stuff with your main. The replay value is endless and you also unlock a lot of titles from time to time, which are fun to use online. There are so many choices that it’s tough to decide on one. Aim to become the world champ with your character and I’ll see you at the top!

Overall 9/10

The Perfect Storm

Posted on March 1, 2016 by dreager1

The Perfect Storm is based on a real life event where two storms of immense proportions clashed and a boat was destroyed along with its crew. I don’t remember hearing about this event before so I suppose that it was before my time. (After all, I hear about all the big news….sorta) There are a few big sideplots to try and pad out the time, but I’m afraid that they certainly don’t contribute anything to the narrative.

One of the subplots is about a little boat that also got caught in the storm. The Captain reminded his passengers that he’s never needed a map before and he doesn’t need one now. As a result, they’re tossed around in the waves for a while. I like the Captain’s gusto, although he is endangering everyone else just to prove his gusto. That’s certainly not the wisest course of action and he’s pretty much just there for comedy. He was a well done character though so I’ll give him some props there. Another subplot is that the Captain of the main ship is warned by the Captain of another one that he is in a dangerous zone. He barely listens to her though and while she almost saves him in time by calling in a chopper, it was too late.

Naturally, the main plot is where the meat of the story is, but unfortunately the characters do drag it down. The beginning is pretty sad and reminded me of Cloverfield to an extent. Especially considering that these guys are based on real individuals, you’d think that they would try to make the characters look better. One guy’s a flirt who only really cares about one night stands and never develops into a likable person. Another one doesn’t listen to his wife’s warnings about going to see and decides that the adventure is worth the money. The Captain yells at his crew quite a bit to remind them who’s in charge and to stop any betrayals before they can occur.

Without any likable characters, any film would have an issue being good. The characters constantly getting into fights with each other just makes you wait for the inevitable storm so that something can advance the plot. I also think that the film put too much emphasis on random fish scenes to pad out the time. We saw so many fish get chopped up that I was starting to feel in the mood for a good Salmon. We don’t need excessive animal violence in any film. The excuse of fishing being a sport just won’t cut it here. We don’t need that to be featured in the movie.

I’d also argue that the situation made the characters look a little bad, but naturally there may have been different circumstances in the real life event. The characters have to choose between their fish going bad and heading into the super storm that’s directly in front of them. Their boat’s good, but it’s not exactly military grade so the mission is effectively suicide as soon as it is mentioned. If you ask me, they should just let the fish spoil. A really inconvenient moment was definitely the fact that the characters ran out of ice, which meant that they couldn’t get any more fish. Returning home empty handed would have been humiliating and some of them would have probably been fired, but at least they’d be alive. It’s a tough personal choice to make, but when you have friends and family back home waiting for you, it’s time to make the tough calls.

If anything, it’s very impressive to see the military get involved and ride into the storm. I’m sure that it was the last thing any of them wanted to do since it was a dangerous situation. They’re probably wondering why everyone was out in the middle of the storm when it had been predicted for a while, but that’s how it goes. I feel like they could have been able to refuel in the film. They kept missing the shot, but why not try and try again until you literally can’t? I didn’t agree with the decision to just give up.

Overall, The Perfect Storm could have been a much better adaption. Based on the Wikipedia section of possible errors, it could have been more accurate as well. Although I’m sure that people would have been tackling them with denials and such no matter what so I can’t really comment on the accuracy. A lot of the padding could have been removed and the characters should have looked a lot better. Just as it’s said “Don’t speak ill of the dead” they should be portrayed as fairly good characters. They don’t have to be perfect, but I doubt the families would be thrilled about how some of these guys looked. Well, getting caught in a double storm would certainly be dicey so I advise you to stay ashore and if you have to choose between fish and your life…I trust that you’ll really think about the options before making a move. I don’t believe in going outside to find adventure or anything like that so when the next storm hits, I’ll be in bed with a chocolate chip cookie playing a nice round of Super Smash Bros.

The Last Witch Hunter Review

Posted on February 20, 2016 by dreager1

It’s time for a Witch film! Witches aren’t explored quite as much as vampires and werewolves so a film about them always has the potential to be promising. Magic can be interesting after all, but can it really be handled right? I thought that the trailer really didn’t look that good and I wasn’t surprised by the fact that this film didn’t exactly break the box office. It’s not Jupiter Ascending levels of cringe, but I still wouldn’t call it a good film either.

A lot of films like to go with the tried and failed approach of opening in the olden days where everyone was still banging rocks together and attacking with spears. I’ve never liked this approach since the olden days are no fun to watch and may as well be forgotten at this point. We get to watch the final battle between the humans and the witches as Kaulder destroys the queen, but not before becoming immortal. Now he is forced to live on and destroy witches through the years. Gee…was this a good move Witch Queen? It actually is thanks to a plot twist at the end so the move was quite impressive. Still, the witches as a whole are probably disappointed with this development.

Skip to the present, Kaulder is now a man who has lost his morals and likes to have one time flings for the lolz. It’s quite disappointing as he could have been a likable character, but we’re quickly reminded not to get attached to any of the players here. His old partner decides to retire so that Kaulder can work with a new cadet. Kaulder is saddened, but he’ll move on as he always does. Unfortunately, his partner is attacked and roughed up as well as cursed. Kaulder will have to find the person who placed the spell on his partner in order to free him, but finding the main villain will be tough.

Realizing that he needs to find a secret in his past, Kaulder seeks the help of a young witch (Who can’t fight) named Chloe. Chloe can walk in dreams and help you relive the past so she is helpful, but as per the curse of being next to the main character, her bar is destroyed and her best friend as well. Now she really has no choice, but to help Kaulder so that she can avenge her pal. The two of them may be outnumbered and these villains may be too powerful, but Kaulder’s immortal so what’s the worst that can happen?

As you can tell, I don’t care for Kaulder. Chloe’s the main heroine and gets a rather large role. She definitely seems like an unlikable character at first, but thankfully gets better as the film goes on and even gets away from the trope of falling for the main lead. The film did good there and I’ll give it some props, but now we need Chloe to get some offensive abilities. Let’s face it, she only won her main battle because her opponent was asleep. Had he been awake, she still has no spells to fight the other witches with. Walking in dreams is cool, but it’ll rarely be useful in a fight.

The ending of the film leaves room for the sequel since the Witch Queen is not altogether vanquished. Spoiler for the ending folks so tread carefully. The Witch Queen essentially tied her life force to Kaulder’s so if Kaulder were to die, then she would as well. As long as Kaulder lives, the Witch Queen cannot be destroyed either. For years they simply had her locked away and that’s what they plan to do again, but the threat of her return will always be around. Of course, it’s not as if Kaulder can just destroy himself in good conscience. For starters, destroying yourself is a no no and secondly, he’s the only Witch Hunter left on he planet. If he were to be gone, the war between witches and humans would commence once again. Especially considering the fact that the council of humans was wrecked so easily. There is no real human defense against the witches at the moment.

It’s an interesting world that Kaulder lives on though as magic is used very regularly by the witches in all forms of occupations, but the humans don’t suspect a thing. We even learn that they are eating worms instead of ice cream as magical powers simply shapeshift them. The whole situation is really bad for the mere mortals and I’d like to see them rise up to stop this. They just have to stay civilized about the whole thing.

Going back to the climax for a sec, sadly there is a lot of plot hax involved. During the fight, Kaulder had no immortality and was very weakened thanks to a last second betrayal while the Witch Queen was at her peak. She’s fast and has many abilities so this should be easy right? Well, she was so busy powering up that she didn’t notice Kaulder pick up the glowing sword and hurl it straight at her. She was also too busy to think of dodging and it made for a very anticlimactic finish. That’s why you should always be careful about making the villains so much stronger than the heroes.

Even when Kaulder was strong, the villains would keep messing with his mind since he is very weak against telepathic blasts. It was embarrassing when he lost the second time since it was pretty personal by that point. They never explain why the guy that he was fighting looked very similar to how Kaulder was back in the Pre Historic days. Perhaps it was just coincidence I suppose.

The action scenes were mainly 50/50. I didn’t care for the intro battles as the old people fought with flame swords and realized how futile the whole attempt was as they got taken down one by one. They eventually won thanks to some convenient plot hax, but it was a rather dull fight scene and was mostly just about how weak they all were. In the present, the fights were more entertaining when they actually occurred. A lot of the “fights” ended up being one hit KOs like Kaulder against the big Witch Guardian. The Witch Queen had a good fight with him until that last moment so that would be a highlight.

Part of the problem is that grass powers are never that entertaining and another part is simply that the Witch Queen and her minions are so ugly that it takes away from the battle scenes. The Queen looks like an undead zombie or like a vampire rather than a witch. I want my classic witch design with the crooked hat back! The film’s soundtrack is fairly unmemorable although I remember is being fairly decent. It’s just that the tunes won’t stick with you once they’re over and done with.

Overall, The Last Witch Hunter is a fairly dreary film that showed some promise, but couldn’t quite live up to it. The Airplane scene where Kaulder disabled the magical entanglement for example was a good scene. I wouldn’t mind seeing him stop similar threats as he went around the world. The daytime rarely appears or even has time for it since night always falls, but the action scenes don’t take advantage of the night. Above all, it’s just not a very fun film and I would have liked to have had a better villain. Better heroes would help too and considering that this is an action film with a lot of magical elements, the witches didn’t use any real impressive spells the whole time. I wanted some neat elemental spells and some great visuals. Looks like I’ll have to wait for Dr. Strange to get those. If you’re not very particular about your fights and just want a run of the mill action film then this one’s for you. If you want an action film with a purpose, watch Tron Legacy! That film has great visuals and great action scenes!

Overall 4/10

07 Ghost Review

Posted on February 17, 2016 by dreager1

Most manga and anime titles may start out a little nonsensical, but then everything clears up once the battles start. Every plot can be followed as long as you have flashy fights, but once in a while you end up meeting an exception. That would be 07 Ghost, a series that never bothered to clear itself up and instead it ends up just as convoluted as it originally started. I don’t mind complexity, but most of 07 Ghost was simply padding and distracted you from the plot and the art did not help with this either. A lot of the characters looked similar by the end and there were also many time jumps between the past and the present to keep you guessing. The only other series as confusing as this one would be Pandora Hearts and even that one started to make some sense towards the end once the climax of the series happened. 07 Ghost can’t really say the same nor was the character cast quite as good.

Well, there was once a slave who was forced to serve in gladiatorial fights, but he finally escaped one day. He was placed under the protection of a few shinigami who work under divine powers. They are very powerful and intend to protect him. To provide some more context thanks to Wikipedia, Teito had escaped along with his friend (Who died shortly afterwards) and then took sanctuary inside of the Church where the bishops protected him. In case you have not suspected yet, the bishops are the shinigamis and even the villains do not dare to attack the Church…yet. Teito is the chosen one and he has “The Eye” which means that there is another person living inside of him who aims to protect Teito at all costs. In order to fulfill this objective, he is given great levels of power. The enemy country wants this power so they can blow people up. The villains are already on the brink of taking over the world so obtaining the eye would mean Game Over for all.

The series could have been a lot better, but again, the plot makes no real sense at times. It’s like the author is just trying to stay afloat in the popularity rankings and adds as many interesting plot ideas as possible, but with no way to sew them all together. With series like Naruto and Bleach, the plot is so simple that you can read it while half asleep. With Ghost, you’ll want to re read and re read, but there is rarely time for that sort of thing. Instead, you just roll with whatever’s happening and just hope for the best. Perhaps you can still enjoy the fights if nothing else.

Also, being convoluted is not necessarily the same as being intricate. Death Note, Hunter X Hunter, One Piece, and Liar Game are intricate. Those series have been well thought out in advance and are able to add in dozens of characters or lines of logic without leaving the reader behind. It’s easy to see where the series are headed at all points. In particular, Liar Game was always able to think of incredibly complex games where many different plans would be implemented only to have someone else counter it. It was like a real life version of Chess although I’ll discuss it more in an upcoming review. In 07 Ghost, it’s more like the author had a vague idea of what he wanted to do and then filled the story with so many pointless details that you ended up losing perspective of the actual plot.

As already mentioned, the art is pretty iffy during the battles. Whenever an action scene occurs, you’ll have to strain yourself to keep up with what’s happening. It doesn’t help that the “magic” in this series is all water color based so everything’s dripping across the pages. It’s hard to even tell what kind of spell is being used as a result and it’s probably the worst depiction of magic that I’ve seen in quite a bit. Many of the characters look very similar so good luck keeping up with the names by the end of the series.

However, the art can be downright great when it comes to scenes without any movement. I actually had a decently tough time choosing the images for this review since there are so many good ones. The author knows how to draw a visual that you’ll find exciting to look at. It helps that the true Shinigami forms that most of the characters have can be quite good and a lot of the weapons are shadow based so those are epic as well.

Perhaps that’s the most frustrating thing about the series and why I cut it so much slack on the premise of possibly enjoying it more a second time around. If you can get through all of the fluff and the unnecessary side adventures and plots, you’ve got a real good story here. Seeing the death gods choose who goes where and Teito trying to escape from his past are two plots that can certainly work well. The main villain was pretty intense and there were many parts that showed some promise throughout the series. Give the title better artwork, erase a few characters and this could have easily been a great title. Of course, you could fill a book series with the amount of what ifs that you encounter in life.

Teito’s a decent main character, but he doesn’t have a lot going for him that other heroes don’t already possess. He’s a decently nice guy who wants to move past his shady past of being an assassin. Throughout the series he tries to find out more about those days and his plot is similar to Cammy’s from Street Fighter. When the third eye is activated, another being from inside of him takes control and he’s easily one of the best characters in the series. Probably second to Ayanami. He can fight and “Shadow Teito” never backs down from a fight. It’s a shame that he’s not immune to telepathy though as that trick seems to always work against him. There’s another angel being inside another kid who ends up fighting Teito at one point, but it’s a plot that never really went anywhere or it simply wasn’t as developed as it could have been.

Frau’s the main character of the bishops and is arguably the strongest one. He wants to help Teito on his quest and is typically proficient at just about any activity. He’d be a great character if not for the completely unnecessary trait of him being an immoral guy…even though he’s a Bishop. That doesn’t even get brought up all that often so there was really no point to including the trait. Still, it’s there and Frau quickly died as far as the character roster went. The other Bishops are around and they get to fight once and a while, but none of them ever got a big role. Still, there was a big twist involving the true mastermind behind the whole series that was fairly neat.

Ayanami is the main villain of the series and he’s easily the most interesting character. At times you do wonder why he’s doing what he’s doing, but then again, does a villain even need a reason sometimes? He has some faithful followers and it’s hinted that he wasn’t always such a bad guy. He has a lot of abilities and he’s one of the only characters who can hold his own against a Bishop without actually being one of them. He’s also fairly cunning and was able to trap Teito in a realistic dream which completely simulated the real world except for the fact that Teito was on the villain side this time.

The thing is, Ayanami’s a villain, but most of his underlings don’t even know it since they operate from a government base as well as the school next door. In fact, Teito becomes friends with quite a few of the characters there during that time until he realizes what has happened. Ayanami’s abilities are difficult to explain as you would expect from this series, but at the very least they all look pretty cool so that’s got to count for something right?

Most of the other characters are around, but they don’t have a lot of presence. Teito has a best friend, but he dies almost immediately in volume 1 and for the rest of the series we just have an animal who was named after him. It’s hinted several times that he could be the reincarnated form of the friend, but it could also just be Teito being desperate for a friend and just hoping that this is the case. That is also hinted at several points in the series. Other characters can be a little annoying like a little orphan that Teito took care of for a while. He certainly didn’t add anything to the series, which you could say about a lot of the characters.

The series was long, but you couldn’t really get invested into what was happening due to the lackluster characters and the artwork. Technically, a lot of the plot revolves around the fact that two countries were at war way back in the day and after one of them lost, the government took control and Ayanami is one of the corrupt heads who leads them. There’s no political intrigue to really speak of and that’s a shame since I always love to see politics in these kinds of things.

Not that most people really care about the power levels, but I wouldn’t say that the characters are all that strong in this series. Some of them have a decent amount of magical power at their disposal, but I wasn’t overly impressed with any of the speed feats that were shown. These guys may be around Kenshin level and slightly higher, but considering that they’re death gods, you’d expect them to be a little more impressive. One of the bishop’s had string abilities which were impressive. If only he was physically able to keep up with his opponents, he would be a very strong fighter. At the very least, the Bishops have a decent amount of immortality, but it’s not quite legitimate compared to most immortals.

It’s also worth noting that this series did a really good job of avoiding the fanservice trap. I can’t think of any scene that featured any. Granted, it’s been quite a while since I read the series (This review’s been on the backlog for a while) but if there was any, it was very slight. That’s another positive for the series and it’d be good if more titles could follow this one’s example.

Overall, I can’t say that I enjoyed 07 Ghost all that much. None of the characters were very inspiring and the whole series was very confusing. That being said, I’ll give it some props for still being fairly interesting and I do think that it would be considerably more entertaining with a re-read, but you would need to have all of the volumes in front of you so that you can marathon it. As far as I’m concerned, that’s really the only way to get the maximum amount of enjoyment from this. The only series that’s more confusing than this one is Pandora Hearts and I personally think that 07 Ghost is better, but it’ll be interesting to see if any other titles can surpass those 2 someday. If you want a very convoluted story, this one’s up your ally. Otherwise, I’d recommend going for an action that’s not as all over the place like Heroman!

Overall 6/10

Avengers Battle For Earth Review

Posted on February 15, 2016 by dreager1

I’ve wanted to get this Avengers game for years. Ever since it first came out, the game has looked like a blast and a half. Alas, it just never quite made the cut when I was looking to buy games for Christmas or my Birthday. Well, the wait is over and the game has certainly lived up to my expectations. It’s great even if you can tell that it’s not exactly a AAA title of technical mastery. A sequel would have definitely been a blast.

The plot of the game is based on the Secret Invasion arc from the comics. Skrulls have taken over the planet through deception and the heroes have to weed the fakes out from among the real heroes. The best way to do that is to beat them all up and that’s exactly what the heroes do. Some villains even decide to join in by the end like Magneto, Loki, Venom, and Dr Doom. Together, these guys can’t lose to the Skrulls right!?

The main campaign for the game is fairly short. There are 40 battles and each battle is a best of 3. Each individual round can sometimes only take about 10-20 seconds while the later battle are harder. This is one of the only games that you can play and complete for the most part with your eyes closed. With the exception of the final level in each of the 5 areas (5 Areas with 8 levels each) all of the battles can be won by simply flicking the nunchuck’s control stick up. Do that and you’re guaranteed to win just about every fight. It’s probably one of the easiest games of all time.

You can take a snooze while playing if you really want too. Granted, you can also use the Gamepad for similar results. Surprisingly, I found that the Wii Remote is much more effective in this game. Using special attacks is much quicker with that setup, which gives you a noticeable advantage in battle. For the remotes, you just have to flail around. For the gamepad, you have to draw the correct shape to use the attack. It’ll work out if you just main 2 characters and memorize the shapes, but if you’re playing around with a bunch of characters, you’ll be at a noticeable disadvantage. Such is the fate of Gamepad users this time around although I’ll admit that it may feel like more of an actual fighting game since you can just keep on swinging to victory with the Wii Remote.

The main reason why I used the Wii Remote in the first place was that using the Gamepad meant that you could only see the cutscenes on it. A work around is using the Wii Remote to shift the camera angle, but then you have to do that for every fight, which can get quite tedious. It’s an odd feature and one of the main hints that this isn’t your big budget 60$ Avengers game.

If fans were mad that Super Smash Bros had a few clone characters, they would be furious at this game. All of the characters are essentially clones. Sure, there are some cosmetic changes to the attacks, but every fighter basically has the same 5 moves along with a final smash. Some look better than others, but aside from the gestures being different (Or in different areas anyway as it cycles from around 5) you’re basically playing the same character the entire time. Hey, I said that it was fun, not that it was high budget!

The graphics are decently good, although this is where I may disagree with some of the reviews. The character models aren’t incredibly detailed and can come across as a little “free to play.” Certainly not what you’d consider Next Gen, but a lot of the attacks are very flashy and the character designs are all on point. The opening movie was a blast even if the graphics would not wow someone. The fights were neat to see and the animation certainly isn’t bad. It’s not great, but it works for me and I was satisfied with what I saw. Once again, I have to point out that all of the energy attacks look great.

The game also has an epic feeling to it. The story mode is actually really engaging. It’s a shame that there are only 11 big cutscenes in the whole game as the other levels just get a quick line of dialogue. Still, the cutscenes that we do get really show the importance of why comic panels can be good if used right and not as rather uninspired pages like in Mario Galaxy 2. The game’s ending also leads up to Siege/Dark Reign, which would have made for a very enjoyable sequel. Obviously, this game did not succeed nearly enough to warrant a sequel, but boy would I have enjoyed one!

The soundtrack’s a little forgettable, although it wasn’t bad. Mostly the themes are the kinds of music that you would expect from a game that doesn’t want to spend a lot in that area. Luckily, the presentation before the fights is always good as each character has a quick introduction and the 2 vs 2 format works well. It pops out at you and the matches feel really official. I wouldn’t mind Super Smash Bros taking a cue from that and having a similar introduction for 2 on 2 battles someday. It could be optional of course so it wouldn’t always slow a match down.

I can’t say that there is a whole lot of replay value though. You can finish Story Mode in under 2 hours and probably much quicker than that if you’re good at spamming the nunchuk control stick. Once you’ve beaten the game, you can play Arcade Mode, Challenges, or Trials to unlock costumes and character panels to use as your avatar. The unfortunate part is that there is a lot of on disc DLC like Street Fighter X Tekken. Some of these things you have to buy on the E Shop and others are related to UPlay. I’m not sure if UPlay is even up and running anymore, but either way it’s always unfortunate. I’m cool with DLC, but don’t clutter the mission select with it. As a result, my Game Completion% looks a lot smaller than it should because the DLC is actually counted. Boooo. There’s really no reason to play the game again unless you want to have a good multiplayer match.

Naturally, that’s the big hook of the game. The multiplayer is a lot of fun and even if it is a total button masher, it’s the kind of fighting game that is easy to play and you can have a lot of rounds in it without getting bored. It’s like a discount version of Marvel vs Capcom 3. Certainly not as good as that game when it comes to gameplay, replay value, graphics, or soundtrack, but it’s good for Wii U fans who want a piece of the action. The character roster is also quite good with non Avengers like Dr. Doom, Venom, Spider Man, and the Phoenix. It may just be me, but I feel like Phoenix is the strongest fighter in the game, although Black Widow has the best charge attack. You can easily defeat a foe just by spamming her slide attack. It’s quick and packs a punch.

Overall, Battle For Earth is a game that’s worth your investment. The price isn’t all that high nowadays anyway and you’ll be surprised at how well done the gameplay is. Considering that the game must have had a limited budget, it’s actually very exciting. There’s voice acting for all of the characters, the avatar pictures are cool, and the character roster is solid. Not to mention that the opening scene was a blast as well. The whole game had an epic feel to it, yet you can still tell that a higher budget would have improved the game immensely. I can only imagine how much fun a sequel would have been. Naturally, this game is best if you have someone to play it with you, but if not there’s still enough here to satisfy you with the single player experience.

Overall 8/10

Rodea The Sky Soldier Review

Posted on January 29, 2016 by dreager1

Honestly, Rodea’s situation was pretty sad for its fans. It’s universally agreed that the Wii version of the game is the definitive one, but it was held back for around 5 years so that the Wii U one could get made. Furthermore, the only way to get the Wii version is to buy the Wii U game day 1. Pretty interesting eh? I like to draw myself away from the crowd though so I went ahead and played the Wii U version (But I have the Wii one as well for future reference) anyway. Besides, I don’t care how bad the controls are supposed to be. They’ve got to still be better than using the ole Wii Remote right?

It is the future and robots are the enemy of humankind. One day, a robot named Rodea is fixed by a girl named Iron. She isn’t afraid of robots and just wants to have a good time. Rodea has lost all of his memories and doesn’t know why but he has made a promise to protect Garuda. (Earth’s greatest civilization. Or Garuda is actually the name of the planet) Together, the two of them aim to save the planet and hopefully restore Rodea’s memories, but knowing the past could force the team to part ways so…do the memories really need to come back?

It’s definitely a fun game and I easily would have awarded it an 8..if not for the controls. Unfortunately, the reviews are right about the Wii U’s controls being quite bad. Naturally, I can’t vouch for the Wii ones, but I have heard that they are significantly better. Prepare to die a few times because you end up flying in a different direction from where you wanted to go. Jumping and flying often ends up being a lot riskier than you would have guessed. It’s also worth noting that the Wii U version changed a lot of things from the Wii one. The Wii U took out all of Rodea’s power gimmicks. Think of Sonic Colors or another video game where you would find items that give you temporary powers. There’s none of that in the Wii U version so it’s more of a straight platforming adventure as you try to reach the goal with your original abilities.

The most intriguing change is that the Wii U has a very dark color scheme. It’s more grayscale and takes itself very seriously compared to the Wii version which has a more anime type feel to it. The Wii version certainly looks far superior, but the graphics for the Wii U are still quite good. It’s relatively bad, but absolutely good so just don’t let yourself compare it to the Wii version or it’s cooked. I enjoyed the soundtrack as well. There aren’t a whole lot of themes, but most of the ones that are present are quite catchy. Upon beating the game, you even get a lyrical song that you can play during the levels instead of the background music. It gives the game a more cinematic experience although since it’s just one song, you don’t want to overuse it.

The game takes a lot of cues from the classic Sonic Adventure days. The final world looks a little like the climax of Sonic Adventure 2’s Hero story and Rodea’s whole character arc very closely mirrors Shadow’s from Adventure 2 Battle. Even the gameplay feels a lot like Sonic’s if you used your homing attack a lot back in the day. Naturally, flying is very important in this game and the aerial combat is fun. You’ve also got a gun which you can use and while I never used it at first, it came in handy towards the end. Don’t forget that you can also roll away from an attack, but typically jumping is your best bet. Your homing attack (Dash Attack) is your best form of attack against most villains and just remember that you can use it in rapid fire mode against bosses in order to end them quickly.

The bosses typically have fun attack patterns. The only one that wasn’t fun to fight was ironically the last boss. He’s a classic example of why bigger isn’t always better. It’s not so much a fight as it is just a long adventure of trying to get close to him. More parrallels to Sonic here as it’s very similar to Sonic DX’s Final Chaos, but with more jumping around before actually charging in. The best boss was probably in the second last level with the Geardo attack followed by his subordinate. It was pretty tough.

That being said, all of the bosses were a little limited in the sense that they would have 3-4 attacks and would always use them in the same sequence. The whole time I was expecting them to shift tactics upon crossing the halfway mark of their health bar, but it never happened. As a result, the battles would be more about waiting for the inevitable weak spot than actually doing anything. Still fun fights though and they never felt “cheap.”

The game’s story was pretty fun whenever the villains would show up. I didn’t really care for the supporting characters here. Ion’s grandfather was a boring character who would always yell each one of his lines because that was the only personality that he ever got. The other townsfolk were just there to slow Rodea down. Ion’s a good heroine. Her personality is essentially that she’s ultra happy the entire time and may be smarter than she lets on, but her fixes don’t always work. It would be great if she learned how to fight in the sequel, but I couldn’t ask for much more out of her.

Rodea’s a pretty hardcore main character. It’s too bad that we couldn’t see too much of him though since he’s still in shock for about half of the game. Once he decides to just roll with the current situation, he becomes a lot better. He’s similar to Shadow The Hedgehog at first and then Pit from Kid Icarus Uprising. He’s now a little cocky and overconfident, which are great traits for a main character. I doubt that he will be remembered all that much as the years go on, but I was satisfied with him.

The villains were a little less engaging. Most of them were Rodea’s friends, but as they never grew a heart, they were forced to simply obey their orders. They were like the enemies in Mega Man Powered Up and Maverick Hunter. Rodea destroyed them all, but they all missed the days when they were comrades. It was interesting how Rodea took no prisoners, but the ending was still happy for everyone since Rodea ended up going back in time and the future is essentially a utopia. The only one who didn’t turn good was Geardo and he was a pretty poor villain. I liked his design in the second to last level, but his giant monster form was pretty bad. He also went delusional and thought that Ion was his daughter, Cecilia. He may regret it now, but Geardo is the reason why Cecilia jumped off a cliff so the villain is way too late. He should have changed his plans sooner.

Speaking of which, the whole scene was a little odd. Rodea went back in time to save the princess, but made a very half hearted attempt to do so and basically watched as she plummetted down the mountain and died. Then he somehow found out that she survived the fall and nursed her back to health as she led a golden age. It was all rather unbelievable. She’s a good character and essentially the Maria of the Rodea universe, but it felt like the writers couldn’t actually think of a way to make her survive so they made the reason up. Also, jumping off of a cliff is essentially giving up and it would only delay Geardo’s plans so she may as well have just kept on rebelling for a while. Even if she was kidnapped, she would have been fine since Geardo was definitely not planning on destroying her.

One level was a total 3D flying stage, which was cool. It would have been more fitting as the final level or if it at least had a boss in it. It came out of nowhere and was a fun level although I wonder why the game didn’t take advantage of this more. Meanwhile, the game has a lot of replay value if you want to keep on playing through. You can try to get all S ranks and all of the medals to unlock various things like more level ups, music, and levels for an island where you can grab more materials. Beating the main game took almost 9 hours so gathering everything else should take a considerable amount of time as well. The actual gameplay is pretty fun as well so this is definitely a game that’s worth the time and commitment.

Overall, Rodea is a very fun game and I agree with the opinion that this would have been known as one of the Wii’s final big sendoffs had it actually come out on time. The story and presentation make this feel like a big AAA game (Which it may be, I actually don’t know what it’s categorized as) and it’s a blast. Unfortunately, the controls are quite annoying. You’ll learn how to effectively make do with them by the end, but they’re a lot more trouble than they should be. At 25 levels, the game’s duration is quite good so you won’t feel cheated out of your purchase. You can easily think of this game as a spinoff of the Sonic Universe since it really plays out like one and it’s a game that you should add to your collection. Trust me, I’ve played a lot of cash grab games as of late so when I play a game that’s really polished like this one, you can feel the difference. Just remember to grab as many materials as possible so you can upgrade your gun, it always comes in handy.

Overall 7/10

Big Hero 6 Review

Posted on January 26, 2016 by dreager1

It’s been a while since I saw the film so it’s near to quickly relive the adventures over in manga format. The series was only 2 volumes so it makes for a quick read. It’s a fairly straight adaption of the film so it’s a good way of rewatching the film if you want to accomplish the task in about 30-40 minutes instead of the film’s run-time. Alternately, you could also do it for the action scenes since they’re a little better in the manga.

Hiro was having a good ole time showing off his science skills at a new school while his brother showed him around. He didn’t have many friends, but that never bothered Hiro. Unfortunately, everything changed when his brother was murdered and his invention was stolen by a mysterious villain. Hiro realized that the only thing he could do now was use his brother’s invention to beat the new villain black and blue. The problem is that the invention is a Marshmallow looking robot that has no real combat experience. Time to see if his big brain is just for show or not!

So, it’s partially a revenge story, but along the way Hiro realizes that he has to beat the villain by the book. His brother’s friends decide to help Hiro out and in exchange they receive power suits, which simulate powers. The friends can definitely hold Hiro back at times, but it’s always useful to have some backup for the big battles. One of the kids can roller skate, another one has a monster suit, etc. Some abilities are more useful than others of course, but Hiro can’t make everything appear to be super brilliant.

Fred’s the one with the monster suit and he’s always joking around. Turns out that the guy is rich, which is certainly useful and he’s the comedy of the series. None of his jokes are remotely funny, but he’s a good character and you need someone to mess with the team dynamic at times. GoGo is the roller skates girl and probably the only member who’s always ready for a fight. She does a good job of fighting back against the mysterious villain, but there’s only so much you can do with hockey pucks and roller skates.

Honey Lemon’s the most bland character of the bunch and as a result, she doesn’t really get any powers. She had something to do with bubbles or lights I believe, but her ability was not impressive. Wasabi easily had the best powers even if he didn’t use them to their fullest extent. He had Ice blades, which could really deal some massive damage if they could ever hit. Don’t underestimate good tech, but the problem is that the villain had the best tech.

The villain went by the name of Yokai although I never remember anyone actually calling him that. Using the nanobots at his disposal, he can essentially do just about anything. They can lift, move things, transport him around at high speeds, etc. He essentially had the upper hand against the heroes a lot of the time and whenever the heroes would come close to defeating him, they’d stop Hiro and remind him that they’re supposed to be heroes and must play by the books. Yokai gets a sob story as you might have expected. It’s a touching story I suppose, but it doesn’t really excuse the fact that he went about obtaining his goal in a very iffy way. Let’s face it, Hiro and Tadashi (Hiro’s brother) would have been glad to have helped him.

Sadly, the after credits scene of the film isn’t in the manga version, but that’s okay. It’s harder to do a twist ending in a manga although it would certainly have been awesome if it was included. The ending is rather complete and the mission of saving Tadashi can be considered as enough of a cliff hanger. I think another 2-4 volumes would have helped the series pacing wise though. It would have given the team more time to train, fight other villains to gain experience, and then they could have tackled the final boss. As it stands, the manga moves at a very high speed and that’s a good thing, but it also means that the adventure is over that much sooner. There’s not a whole lot of time to get to know the characters.

For example, Hiro’s a main character, but there’s not a lot of time to get to know him. He comes across as a little generic, which could have been eliminated had the series been longer. Still, he’s a good hero and someone that you can root for. I’m not a fan of Baymax though. I don’t find him charismatic or likable and I was just never able to get into the character. I would have preferred the comic design or a more aggressive personality. His A.I. is just a little too limited and the personality doesn’t match the character design. He can fight a little, but typically only as a last resort and by then the odds are stacked against him. He puts the heroes in a tough spot a few times.

The art’s a little cluttered during the fight scenes, but pretty good otherwise. In a sense, it has that “adaption” feel to it so you can tell that it’s not an original story. Most manga series have that effect like Kingdom Hearts or the Pokemon movie adventures. It’s probably intentional or perhaps the artists are trying really hard to emulate the movie’s style, which is how that happens. Either way, the art is fairly good and I was glad that the manga tried to stretch out the fights as much as possible. More action is always a good way to pad the volumes.

Overall, Big Hero 6 is a fun manga. It’s not very deep so don’t expect much more from it than a quick action adventure, but that’s all it needs. You know what you’re getting into from the get go and there’s not a whole lot that you can do in 2 short volumes. There are no really bad characters and no really big negatives. It’s a lack of positives versus having negatives that limits it from a higher score, but a solid seven is the end goal that should always be desired as a minimum. Getting lower than a 7 is what’s a cause for worry. This score is certainly a lot higher than my next few manga reviews so…prepare yourself!

Overall 7/10

Nova Classic Volume 1 Review

Posted on January 26, 2016 by dreager1

Boooo, the cover image is small, but it’s the best I could do this time. Richard Rider’s always been a pretty fun cosmic character so when I saw his classic comic on the shelf, I knew that I had to snag it. Another incentive was the debut of Megaman in the Marvel comics. I’m happy to say that the comic ended up being a blast and I never would have suspected that Nova turned out this way. There’s always time to learn something new after all!

Turns out that Nova used to be a normal kid who attended school and had rivals/friends just like Peter Parker. You can draw a lot of parallels between the two characters and it’s cool because I always assumed that Nova had started out as an adult. It’s always interesting because some characters like him and Spider-Man are currently adults while the guys who were already adults like Iron Man and Ant Man haven’t aged nearly as rapidly. It’s just how these things go I suppose. Nova has to quickly wrap his head around his new powers since evil never rests. The origin is similar to Green Lantern’s as the original Nova is destroyed while following a criminal and quickly transfers his powers to Richard.

Richard avenges him and decides to be a superhero, but he still has to deal with his real life dramas. There’s a bully who likes to pick on him and Richard’s “friends” don’t really do a whole lot to stop him. It’s probably the friendliest bully that I’ve ever seen though because everyone still talks and hangs out with each other even though the guy’s a bully. It’s all very intriguing to say the least. The main heroine is Ginger, but she hasn’t done a whole lot yet. There’s a slight chance that she figured out Richard’s true identity, but I we certainly won’t know for sure for quite some time.

Richard does have two friends though. A little kid who ends up getting kidnapped by Megaman and is one of the weaker supporting characters, and the kid’s pal. The pal is the trickster of the group and I have to admit that he gets a lot of really good lines throughout the comics. One of them was something along the lines of (When talking about the bully to Richard) “Don’t let him bother you Rich. Just remember that if you take away his smarts and his strength, then you get us…whoops!” He’s constantly insulting himself and Richard through his comebacks which makes for a very interesting style of humor. I can’t say that I’ve seen it done before or maybe I simply haven’t seen it done this effectively before. Either way, it’s definitely a blast.

Other supporting characters include Nova’s family. His brother’s a self proclaimed genius who can’t get any of his inventions to work, but he likes to remind Nova that he’s the smart one of the family. He’s always acing his tests. Nova’s Dad is usually busy with work drama so he’s always rather upset. Nova tries to keep him in check, but since he’s failing his classes, it’s been very difficult so far. The Mom is reasonable, but she only helps Nova in secret so as not to make the Dad more irritable than he already is. It’s tough being Nova, but Richard knows that he can take it.

He’s already amassed a bit of a villain’s gallery as well. Condor is the brains of the villain group, but he’s not as tough as you can think. He’s essentially the Vulture with Forge’s energy gun and 10% of Iron Man’s intellect. He puts up a good fight, but that’s mainly because Nova still isn’t very experienced. Once he gets his powers under control, he should be able to beat this guy with ease. Powerhouse is easily the worst villain of the trio. He’s constantly whining about how everyone is using him, but he’s the one who’s standing there and taking it. Now, blaming the victim is one thing, but I can’t even call this guy a victim since he’s clearly stronger than Condor. Yet, Condor slaps him about 40-50 times and it happens so often that it’s practically a comedy subplot by the end. The various heroes and villains keep commenting about it, but Powerhouse always ends up choosing the dark side over the light. Well, he made his choice and he’ll likely keep getting slapped around.

Diamondhead is the only true threat of the three and he’s impressively tough. His whole body is made of diamond so his physical strength is very impressive. Nova essentially broke his hand just by punching the guy. Even once Nova is more experienced, this guy was able to give him a good fight and he’s easily my favorite villain of the group. One thing that the three villains had in common was that they were all deathly afraid of another villain, the mighty Sphinx. It was cool to see the villains wage war against the super being and he easily bested all of the characters. If only Nova’s Power Cosmic had been a little stronger during his early years. It was a great ongoing plot though and it’s a shame that it ended so abruptly. As it stands, Sphinx was very overpowered compared to the rest of the characters, but it was always a blast to see him. He also wasn’t afraid to show his fear once in a while as his underling always tried to make him look at the future. (The villain is a mirror who shows you things that you don’t want to know) The other underling was a traitor who tried to destroy Sphinx so the villain placed him in a painful illusion.

What separates Sphinx from the average villain is that he inflated the body count right away. He punched Diamond Head so hard that he was partially merged into a Pyramid and supposedly he is effectively dead. Condor was turned into an actual bird so he’ll never mess with anyone again. Sphinx wasn’t playing games and he was definitely cool. The final notable villain was Megaman. For obvious reasons, I was very hyped to see him appear. Unfortunately, the guy is fairly petty and just wants revenge because his nephew ran off and left him to die. It was a salty moment, but a better man would have just kept on going. He doesn’t get to really have an ending in his fight because a futuristic being takes him away, but it was cool to see Marvel’s take on the iconic character. Nowadays, this kind of move would definitely generate a lot of headlines.

There were also two storylines for guest stars. The first had Thor appear to help Nova. Naturally, what’s a team up without a quick fight right? Thor was being mind controlled by a villain (I call plot hax here. At least it didn’t work on him a second time) and had a brief scuffle with Nova. Nova wasn’t doing too well, but at least he slowed Thor a little. The two of them fought a demon and then called it a day. The villain wasn’t great, but just seeing Thor and Nova go at it made the comic worthwhile.

The other team up was with Spider Man and that was cool. It was a classic mystery case as Nova’s uncle was murdered and one of the people in the room must have been the culprit. The suspects included an A.I.M. agent, a member of the Mafia, a corrupt business man, the Butler, A co-worker who believes that he was cheated out of fame, The Detective, and one more. Ironically, I think I may be missing the actual culprit in this description. Peter Parker is a suspect as well, but readers will know that it wasn’t him. It was a good feat for Spider Man though since he was able to endure a punch from an enraged Nova. Spider Man’s been in the game for a while so he held his own and I was glad that Nova listened to reason although I wouldn’t have minded an extended fight. Those are always a blast.

As always, Marvel’s retro art is really good here. It really helps reinforce the atmosphere that they were going with here. You’d think that this was a 60’s comic from how the characters talk and act. It can be hard to properly make a comic feel old without it also feeling old in a negative way, but the comic pulled it off quite well. The character designs are all on point and you’ll definitely be eager to keep on reading. I essentially read most of the comic in a single blast and it does have that Spider-Man feel where it’s all very interesting. I can never get enough of the retro adventures although they aren’t all equal. (For example, retro Fantastic Four comics were usually not quite as interesting) If I had to make a tier list, I’d put Spider-Man, Nova, Blue Beetle, Superman, Batman, Daredevil, Green Lantern, and Iron Man comics at S rank. A rank would be titles like Thor and Avengers. (Mainly due to the drought once the main members left) B would be some random titles, but it’s hard to think of them. C rank would probably be Fantastic Four, Captain America, Hulk, and most of the others that are remaining. They’re all essentially good comics, but some are just more fun than others.

Overall, I highly recommend reading the Nova comics. If you liked the old Spider-Man comics, then you are certainly going to like these. For the most part, Nova’s a very good character. He has one passing line that’s pretty wince worthy, but by and large he’s a noble hero who does his best even if it takes the kid a long time to really use his powers. He can take a hit and that’s the important thing. He even gets a lot of hype against Sphinx as he keeps on getting up after each blow. I hope that my library gets Nova Classic Volume 2 someday so I can wrap up the saga. Who knows, maybe Megaman will return since the series is running low on villains. Watching his ascent into one of Marvel’s toughest characters will definitely be intense!

Overall 8/10

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