Tag Archives: Action

A Quiet Place: Day One Review

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That tagline is ripped right out of the Wolverine tie-in game for Gamecube. I can’t believe it. “Stay low. Stay quiet. Stay alive!” Still one of the more memorable superhero lines since I had to hear it over and over and over and over again since I died so many times on that level. It was definitely not a game for the faint of heart. Unfortunately that tagline is tough to follow for the main characters of this film who panic continually and can’t stop yelling. I didn’t like the main characters much at all and the whole film feels like a bit of a waste of time. They didn’t bother answering any of the important questions about what happened when the aliens first landed which defeats the purpose of a prequel.

The film starts off by introducing us to Sam who has cancer and it seems to be pretty far along as she doesn’t know how much longer she has to live. She is taken care of at a hospice along with a lot of others and one day the nurse Reuben says he is taking everyone to see a show. Sam gets lured in by the promise of pizza but once they’re there, the plans are changed as the government has declared a state of emergency. Giant monsters are showing up and eating everybody. Sam decides she will get her pizza anyway but along the way she bumps into a guy called Eric who is super annoying the whole time. Can she shake him and get her pizza or is it too late?

No offense to the characters or anything but who asked for this? We wanted a prequel to explain how the government possibly lost to a race of aliens that are extremely primitive and have numerous weaknesses? You can drown them, burn them, overwhelm them with sound….they’re not even bullet proof. So I was hoping this prequel would answer that. It could focus on the army the whole time as we learn some uncomfortable truths about how they were helping the aliens or something. No…once again we’re following some humans who are outmatched and outgunned here.

I mean the main heroine is dying of cancer, obviously she isn’t going to be able to fight these monsters. It’s just a really strange choice and I can tell you now that the film doesn’t bother even trying to tell you how we lost to these things. It’s just taken as a fact and you really have to stretch your disbelief here. Ah well maybe we’ll get a spinoff to the prequel one of these days that focuses on the army. That would be a good idea I’d say.

Okay so for Sam, she’s not a terrible main character or anything. She doesn’t have the best attitude but she’s in a pretty sucky situation as it is since cancer is rough. So I can cut her a bit of slack even if I think she still doesn’t handle the situations very well. Yelling through the rain is just not a good tactical decision and can get you in a whole lot of trouble right out of the gate. Also her final decision was not a good one. Yes, it’s always tempting to end things quickly with a decisive move like that but you have to try and survive for as long as possible. You can’t just give up no matter how rough it looks.

As for Eric, I have less patience for this guy. For starters, he keeps on following Sam around everywhere even when she doesn’t want to be followed and in a world like this it puts her in direct danger. He needed to mind his own business and stay away. That would have been the only smart thing to do here. Then when he is around he’s bumping into stuff and also yelling a lot. She now had to take care of someone in addition to her cat which isn’t easy. If he could fight that would help but he’s mainly here to hold her back.

I will give the film kudos for not bumping off the cat. That would have been terrible so the film at least managed to avoid doing that. Would have really blown the film’s score up. Even without that, the film has a lot of problems though. A good portion of this feels like a complete retread to the first film. It’s not really doing anything exciting or different with the premise. It’s just the characters hiding around trying not to make noise like last time. Sure, to an extent that is going to be the case due to the nature of the monsters but at the same time there has to be some way to differentiate it at least a little bit. Otherwise what is really the point of all these adventures.

That’s part of why it feels like a waste. It’s just everybody getting murdered by the monsters and since it’s a prequel you can’t even say that they’re making progress or learning any new information. Instead we actually know less than we did the last time since these characters have no way to have learned anything about these beasts. We do get quick cameos and guest star roles from future characters that will be showing up like the guy from the second movie so at least that’s neat.

The film could stand to tone down the violence somewhat. Seeing the monsters ripping up the humans and devouring them the whole time gets old pretty quick. Maybe if the humans could fight back more it could be better but as it stands it is just one more thing against the film. I also think that the film could benefit from having the characters talking more. It’s something they can’t do because of the plot though so the movie sort of starts to trap itself here. It’s hard to keep your interest when everything is so silent the whole time. It ends up making the film drag on which is not the effect that you want to have.

You also have to really stretch your disbelief every time the heroes are running away from the monsters. Seriously this happens over and over again where they start running and the monsters don’t catch up immediately. This should be a really quick catch for the monsters based on how fast they run. Almost every scene feels like plot armor so you’ll start shaking your head very quickly here. It ultimately just doesn’t add up at all.

Overall, A Quiet Place isn’t treading any new ground here. You may as well watch the first one again and I hope that they find some way to change up the formula in the next title. There is just so much more that you should be able to do with this series. Lets start humanity’s comeback or something. Or if we get another film in the past, it needs to be about the government. I need to understand what happened to cripple the planet so badly because the current responses leave a lot to be desired.

Overall 3/10

Final Fantasy XV Review

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Final Fantasy XV got so much hype when it was coming out. It seemed like Square’s push to bring in a bunch of people who had never played the series before along with a bunch of veterans. It seemed super ambitious and the marketing was everywhere. Final Fantasy is one of those games that has always been equipped with a ton of content and really live up to the AAA brand. Well, I was eager to see what this one was like even though the promos for this never looked as interesting as the others. Less fantastical and more realistic. Well, it does have a slower start than some of the Final Fantasies and I dare say that it’s easily the shortest out of the modern titles (VI and up) but it does really turn up in the second half. It’s an elite title even if it loses to a lot of its rivals.

The story follows a prince named Noctis. He is going to be married soon and so for now he is travelling with his body guards/friends for one last ride. Unfortunately, while his country was working on a ceasefire/peace treaty with the opposing nation, they were betrayed. The army never came for peace and so instead they quickly assassinate the King and take over. Noctis is now a wanted man and nobody is safe with the evil empire in charge. Noctis needs to make sure that his fiancé is okay and then head on over to the kingdom to save it. Noctis will need to gather the 15 weapons of power among the various tombs in order to win the day but is he worthy of the title of king?

A lot of the game is about Noctis learning what it means to be royalty. He complains a whole lot at first and never seems to see the cup as half full. To his defense, it feels like the friends are rather harsh on him the whole time too. They are constantly yelling and so this ends up having a ripple effect where everybody is yelling at each other. They are all good friends though, they just bicker a lot. Noctis does mature a lot as the game goes on though, he’s really forced to as the stakes get higher and more people start to be lost.

Like I said before though, the beginning is a bit slow. For a while it’s really like the characters are hanging out. You get to check out the various sites across the country and handle side missions. It’s clear that the game wants you to have fun exploring as you are given a car and get to drive around in real time. This is a mixed bag though. The quick travel system is way too convoluted as you can only warp to different places when you’re in a car and even then it can only be some locations. If you want to drive somewhere, the game will default to the long drive instead of quick travel if the location isn’t exact.

Then they are going for full realism with the drive but because of that some drives can actually take 10-15 minutes in real time. This is a game where you almost want to take out a book midway. Additionally the characters often want to stop to take photos and such. It’s a good idea for extra EXP though. When it’s night time you have to get off the road or you will be hit with encounters every few second and their levels are really high initially. Eventually once you get the ring of power you can one shot all of them but you don’t get that until the very end of the game.

It makes sense though because that ring makes any enemy encounter absolutely trivial except for the few who can resist it. It’s great for grinding at the end of the game though. There are many ways to get EXP outside of battling so feel free to go dishing and help people cross the street. It all adds up and you get the feeling that you will be super OP in the game once you have collected everything. The recommended level to beat the game is in the 40s after all.

The game is reasonably difficult and does scale well. Better make sure you are keeping up with your training or you will be in trouble. The game has a lot of different environments but generally the toughest parts are the underground dungeons. Because of how narrow the passageways are, it’s very difficult to dodge so you better be really good at parrying. When you go into those dungeons you really need to keep your guard up at all times.

As for the gameplay, it’s a real time action title. It reminds me a bit of .Hack, there aren’t breaks but your attacks deal no stun damage. So you and the enemy will be hitting each other at the same time and you have to keep track of your health very carefully. The wrong hit will land you into a real world of hurt. The way death works is a bit complicated but basically you can die tons of times as long as you hit yourself with a potion fast enough. Eventually it runs out though. As a good way to avoid a hit, use an ally skill. You get 2 seconds of invincibility each time which you can exploit real easily.

The graphics are really good as you can expect. The visuals are top notch and the energy blasts are always fun. The fire summon skill is really crazy as it looks like the whole place got hit by a meteor. The cinematics are also on point so the game never slows down. The soundtrack is also pretty good. It’s not quite as solid as something like FFXIII but it holds its own without a doubt. The technicals don’t fail here.

While I may have some issues like with the general travel and the hub world sometimes being more tedious than it should be, I definitely respect the effort put into this one. There are a bunch of games within this game like the Justice Blasters and of course a whole fishing gameplay mode. When checking the trophies online, I see this is the hardest one for people to get aside from the Platinum and I can see why. I only did fishing once so to get that to max level will probably take a very long time.

It’s all fun though so that won’t stop me. So some menus and quality of life features aside, the only real negative I would say is the long loading times. People clown on Sonic 2006 all the time but I would say those loading times were considerably shorter than this one. You get massive loading times every time you fast travel or change regions. Sometimes a cutscene will have two loading screens back to back. Mix that in with all of the driving and it feels like there is a whole lot of idle time. Remove the loading times and without a doubt the game would be more streamlined. Who knows, maybe that’s the case in the deluxe versions that came out later on. I know this game got tons of DLCs so that could be fun some day although realistically I rarely play DLCs. Just not enough time.

Overall, Final Fantasy XV takes some getting used to but as with all titles in the series it does really drive up the intensity as you play through the game. You won’t wan to stop as you just enjoy what is going on all the way through. It could stand to be longer but I won’t use that as a serious knock against the game because of all the extra content. The priority seems to be on the side content this time with well over 100 side missions and an absolutely massive hub world that would even do Breath of the Wild proud. I would recommend checking out this game. It’s definitely a blast.

Overall 9/10

Scarface Review

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It’s time to look at a film that’s all about gang violence. You’ve got a bunch of people all fighting to be number 1 but of course you’d expect a guy with the codename Scarface to quickly rise to the top. Most of the film is really about him climbing as he goes from being a nobody to one of the most feared names out there. He really gets everything that he wants but you can never keep that level of success for long and so things get dicey for him.

As the movie begins, we get to see that Scarface is good at his job right away. He does whatever the boss needs from him whether it be bouncing or shooting folks. We also see his weakness right away which is that he is very aggressive and wants to keep moving upwards. While the boss is happy to settle for the territory that he has now, Scarface wants everything. He just keeps on picking fights and shooting more people until he has more and more power. Eventually the cops will catch him right?

Well a big part of the film is about how the cops basically had their hands tied the whole time. They want to get Scarface and they know he’s guilty but there’s nothing that’ll stick. The witnesses quickly become blind and no there’s nobody to let them prosecute the guy. It makes sense because when the mafia had this much power, they could easily get some retribution on the witness. It’s one of the big problems with the justice system that you even see nowadays. Not in the national headlines or the big cases but on a local level people can be afraid to report a crime because that information isn’t always private. In other cases it may also be that it will become obvious who snitched when the cops showed up.

You do feel like there should be a way around that when you know the guy is guilty but that gets into a whole debate on admissible proof and everything. Generally I think all proof should be admissible but that’s another topic. All villains have a weakness and Scarface’s ends up being the ladies. He likes Poppy who was the girlfriend of his boss but Scarface eventually took over. He started disrespecting the guy publicly and moving up so she quickly went to him. You sort of wonder why he would want to be with her at all when she clearly didn’t like him at all until he got rich. Do you really want a fake girlfriend like that?

Well I guess he was desperate enough and in the end that didn’t help matters. It causes him to to have to show off and get even more status the whole time. Meanwhile his sister also wants to live a glamorous life and so the more that Scarface tries to shelter her, the more she acts out and gets even more provocative. Obviously Scarface was in the wrong here as well so he was really a full on villain everywhere. It’s one thing to want her to be careful and not mix in with the gangsters but it’s another to basically tell her to stay home all day and even get physical when she doesn’t listen.

It makes Scarface look terrible and it’s a hard plot to understand because of how extreme he was. Honestly it would have been a satisfying ending if she was the one to take him out but ultimately she falters. I guess the film didn’t want her to have to sink to that level but I thought that ending would have been rather poetic the whole time. It would have been pretty justified with everything that she had been through. Yeah, going with one of Scarface’s pals was a bad move but he was going to have that reaction with anybody.

With all these crooks running around, you’re definitely rooting for the cops to get their win later on. It takes a while for them to be able to do anything here but they were written really well. I particularly liked he detective who would walk in and call Scarface out. Even outnumbered the guy was as confident as could be and said he wasn’t afraid of Scarface. He also wasn’t taking any disrespect and really landed a solid punch on the guy at the barber shop.

It’s naturally going to be frustrating to not be able to take the villains down on sight so you definitely feel that the whole time. The movie conveys this well and with the quality writing the whole time, you are definitely engaged with what’s going on. The pacing is good and the film has a solid climax. There is definitely a good amount of action going on here and the whole thing has aged well.

At most I would have just liked to have seen the enemy gang a little more. They really don’t get to do much at all and get taken out with incredible ease. Showing them taking more of Scarface’s allies down would have been good to establish why the previous boss didn’t want to mess with them. Based on the events of the film, it seems like Scarface was correct in expanding the territory and picking this fight. The enemies were definitely not ready for them even if there was some collateral damage.

Overall, Scarface is a pretty interesting movie. While none of the main characters are likable since they’re all crooks, it does show you what a dangerous lifestyle it all is. When you live by the gun you are very likely to die by it as well. You also can’t go to the cops when you’re in trouble either so then you have to try and find some friends you can trust. And that list will be getting smaller and smaller as the days go on. It’s just not the kind of business where you can even afford to trust anybody after all. When you watch it, you’ll definitely appreciate how you don’t have to worry about the mafia as often anymore.

Overall 7/10

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Review

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I was never the biggest fan of Beetlejuice admittedly. It relies a bit too much on shocking humor and gross visuals. That said, it definitely beats the sequel which tried going a little too far into this direction. It had some good humor but for every fun joke, there was another cringe one thrown in. Definitely not the kind of movie that typically uses a whole lot of restraint. They even managed to squeeze in animal violence which I was completely not expecting.

The movie starts off with Lydia hosting her big spooky show where she helps people who need to see ghosts. Her daughter Astrid thinks it’s all fake and wants no part of this so the two have really fallen apart. They are forced back together though when Delia’s husband dies tragically out at sea and she wants everyone at the funeral. Lydia’s manager Rory figures this is his chance to marry her and Lydia has almost no free will of her own so she basically just says yeah. In the supernatural world Betelgeuse is making his move though as he is being chased by his ex-wife Delores and so now’s a good time to marry Lydia again.

He has spent years trying to get her attention and slowly she is starting to see visions of him in the real world. The boundary between life and death has never been weaker. Meanwhile Astrid meets an emotionless hack named Jeremy who is really eager to have a relationship and Astrid is lonely herself so she figures she may as well but she will have to try and keep her composure. Mustn’t show too much emotion herself. There’s definitely a lot going on here.

So right away one of the big issues here is how ugly everyone is in the spirit world. I know that’s part of the point with how you move to the next stage of existence with whatever injuries you died with but even so, this just felt like a bit much. You have people with live fish still eating them, a skeleton that’s constantly gushing out blood and a janitor that is pretty much mid vomit. You’re constantly waiting for the real world to return because every scene in the spirit world is just plain gross. It may be the film’s main gimmick but it definitely could have held back a decent amount here. You basically want to look away whenever they are in this world.

Then for no reason two chickens get eaten and there is quite a lot of violence everywhere. Putting in animals in any context had no purpose being here to be honest. It just doesn’t make any kind of sense so that was annoying. In the real world the characters may have always made the wrong decisions and so they weren’t easy to root for but at least nothing too crazy was happening on screen. Although lets dive into the characters now because they didn’t help the film much either.

First up is Delia who feels like a waste of a character. She’s just way too over the top the whole time with how far into the supernatural bubble she’s fallen into. Her scenes were rarely funny because of how exaggerated they were. then you have Jeremy who is annoying from the jump. It’s obvious that he is trying too hard to be the perfect match for Astrid and the fact that she is buying this at all is what will also have you shaking your head. Astrid is supposed to be the smart one except for when she’s not.

Although while Astrid makes her share of mistakes she could be worse. Lydia is 100X worse and her character has been thoroughly assassinated since the first film. She is so crushed by life that she is willing to let herself get married to Rory just because he asked her. She doesn’t actually love him but is going to go through with it anyway? That’s just terrible and no reasonable main character would ever do that. It’s a massive L against her character and throughout the movie she is being manipulated so easily. It’s easy to see why the family fell apart.

The film doesn’t give us much reason to even feel bad for her either. Since it’s part comedy, it’s not like Rory is even being subtle here. Lydia didn’t trust her feelings and that’s always going to lead you to disaster. As for Rory, well he’s your average villain. He does his job pretty well and considering that his plan would have succeeded if not for Betelgeuse I can’t even say it was a bad plan. It felt like a bad plan but it was working.

As for Betelgeuse, well he’s about as crazy as ever. He fears nothing and treats every part of life like it’s a joke. I suppose to him it is all just a big grand joke though so that makes sense. With his reality warping abilities he can defeat anyone as needed and only loses when he feels like it. It does make the film feel a bit aimless though since everyone is at the mercy of his whims. This even undercuts the main villain of the film.

Delores is the main villain here and she has the ability to suck the life out of someone. Honestly I think that plot point is the only reason why she was even added in the first place. At no point is she even a threat to Betelgeuse and the way she goes out is very lackluster. The film seemed to want to include some tension but couldn’t figure out a way to weaken Betelgeuse and so they just gave up halfway.

There is a lot going on throughout the movie and that’s a good thing I suppose but just about none of the plots have a satisfying conclusion. Everything is just jumbled together and none of the characters are interesting enough to hold their own. The only really fun character was the actor because I like over the top villains like him. That said, it’s not like the guy even did much. Then as far as the comedy is concerned, one of the only really good gags was when Betelgeuse took on Jeremy near the end. Beyond that, there were way more misses than hits this time around.

Overall, Beetlejuice couldn’t really manage to have a solid second film. This film comes across more distasteful than the first one and the film didn’t have enough of a focus. You don’t really get the whole plot of Betelgeuse wanting to marry Lydia because if he was serious about it then they would be married already. The fact that he even caused her to have a kid as a gag is crazy. I know you can just say it’s a comedy over and over again but there still needs to be some kind of a real plot to hold it together. I don’t see how the series can continue without Betelgeuse facing off against an actual threat. Or maybe just write him out, he was gone for large portions of this film anyway. Although…the film wasn’t much better for it so maybe I shouldn’t hold out much hope here.

Overall 3/10

Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition Review

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This is one of those games where the title is absolutely legendary. I’ve heard of this game for so long but didn’t know anything about it. Well, I finally got to play through the game and it’s definitely a great title. It actually even managed to make taking pictures fun. The game ends up feeling a bit short but it really does set up the sequel well so I’m definitely eager to see where the story goes. A lot of potential here.

The game follows a reporter named Jade who lives on a planet that is constantly terrorized by aliens. She ends up joining the resistance and they aim to let the public know just how evil these aliens are. Most people are seriously brainwashed at this point so it won’t be easy but that’s their goal. In order to turn public sentiment to their side they will definitely need a lot of photos and evidence though. Is Jade up to the task?

The core gameplay is that of a 3D platformer. You can jump and roll but also smash away at opponents with your staff. Then a big part of the gameplay involves your camera for taking pictures of evidence against the villains or also for snapping photos of animals. Every 10 animals gets you a new pearl so you want to snap away at every one that you pass. You need a lot of pearls in the game in order to beat the game after all so you don’t want to miss any. The game is generous with giving you a lot of these as you play through but even then I still did need to beat all of the looter chases and the 2 races in order to get enough to beat the game.

The more pearls you find naturally, the less grinding you will have to do in the end. That’s always something worth considering here. It’s also fun because the side missions tend to switch up the gameplay a bit by having you use the various vehicles. By the end of the game you will have both a boat and an aerial vehicle so you will want to get used to using them both. Nothing beats the classic running around and swinging at enemies of course but every gameplay style has its moments here.

You also have various teammates who will show up to help for puzzles. Often times you will need to send one away to step on a platform or something like that while you take care of business. The main thing to remember is that they have very small health bars so you want to protect them as much as possible. If they take the wrong kind of hit then they’ll go down and you warp back to the last save point.

Fortunately that’s where the quality of life comes in. The save points are very close to each other and the game has constant auto saves. Losing a life never makes you lose a significant amount of progress which is nice. It’s especially handy because the espionage sections are actually really difficult. You need proper planning there and sometimes I even had to rely on a bit of good ole fashioned RNG like when I fell off a level and got back up but the enemy forgot about me so I landed the KO.

The combat is generally easier but the final boss was challenging. He took me down to a last hit scenario so I only barely defeated him. That could have easily gone sideways but it’s good for a final boss to be tough like that. He really tested my reaction times and everything. Having to fight while the controls were inverted was also a nice touch.

I did fall into two glitches during the game but at least they weren’t major. In one of them an enemy got stuck in a wall while holding the pearl so I had to restart and another time a gate closed while I was halfway through it. Again the auto saves come in clutch here because then I only lost like 2 seconds max. Really nothing to worry about at all in the grand scheme of things.

The graphics are definitely solid. The character designs are on point and there is a lot of variety here. The special effects when blowing up enemies are good and the cinematics go smoothly. The soundtrack is also good although it’s definitely more on the low key side. I can’t say that I would really be looking up any of the tunes on Youtube but they worked well enough within the game.

In terms of replay value, you can definitely aim for the Platinum trophy. I haven’t looked this up yet so I don’t know how hard it would be to obtain that but it will definitely add some time to your playthrough. The main campaign is around 7-10 hours so you’re in the double digits either way which is always the important part. Hopefully the sequel can maybe be a tad longer and keeps in the smooth picture aspect. There aren’t many games that are able to seamlessly add in the photo features without it being super forced or annoying so the game gets big kudos there.

Overall, Beyond Good & Evil is a game that mixed in a lot of classic combat with espionage while even fitting in a bit of a cosmic plot by the end. No way you can play through the whole game without admiring that. The sequel is certainly high up on my radar now and I would definitely recommend picking this title up. The story has aged very well and the overall game design was really on point. Some of the puzzles can get a little tricky and some mazes like the slaughterhouse can really be intense but there is always a fair answer to them. The game has a great amount of quality of life features here which is the cherry on top. You don’t want to miss out on this one.

Overall 8/10

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Review

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Prince of Persia is one of those titles that seems to vanish for long periods of time but when it returns, it returns with a vengeance! The Gamecube titles may have gone a little too into edgy territory but I remember the soundtracks being used for DBZ AMVs because of how intense they were. Then you had the PS3 title which was absolutely top tier. Even the movie was quite excellent and so the franchise really operates at a high level. Well after playing this game I can safely say that it is the best game in the series. It is absolutely elite at every level and should be used as a teaching moment for all other Metroid-vania titles. This is absolutely how you make a game like this.

The story starts by introducing us to the immortals who are a powerful group of fighters who protect the royal family such as the prince. They are all very skilled and good at what they do but one day the prince is captured by the main hero’s mentor. The immortals all follow her into a weird realm where time seems to work differently. They now exist in the past, present, and future with branching timelines. They meet people who have been in here for decades despite only jumping into the realm a few hours before us. Then you even have kid versions of the characters. Something weird is going on but saving the prince comes first!

The story really uses time manipulation in a fresh way and it’s definitely a great approach. It reminds me a bit of the Blame! series where time seems to be a very flexible concept. The main character must even tackle various other versions of himself, some who have been corrupted by power and others who have given up. You also have various gods and other immortal creatures who seem amused by this and others who have just grown used to the whole thing. It’s a pretty big world with a lot of concepts to accept but they all work pretty well.

The gameplay is a 2D brawler type. You have your blade to land solid combos with and then you have your evasion techniques and counter moves. There are over 15 different tutorials for how to play the game but most of it is very intuitive. I only did the tutorials near the end for some more currency to buy unlockables with. You’ll quickly understand the system and then it really comes down to your reaction times for the parry mechanics. If you aren’t good at timing blows then this will really help you get to that high comfort level.

Now when it comes to the Metroid-Vania part, you have a large map that fills in as you explore it. You can also buy maps which show the all of the treasure within a certain location. These don’t fill the dots on collectibles or side mission content though so you will have to find those on your own. Still the treasure is where you get most of your big power ups and currency to buy others. There are many different collectibles here which could have been overwhelming in a different game but in this one it is all handled exceptionally well.

You can equip amulets with different properties, choose which super attacks you want at the ready, and you can even leave little spy pictures when you notice a collectible that you can’t reach just yet. You can store quite a few of those and it’s a good idea because otherwise you will probably forget them. You can use quick travel between any portals you have unlocked but then right before the final boss you also get the ability to warp to any save point. This is a game changer because there are constant save points almost everywhere.

The reason I really liked this is because it rewards you for playing the game. Now in the post game if you want to get everything, you have an easy means to do this as opposed to running everywhere. There is no reason not to make that part a bit easier on the players by this point so I was completely on board with it. The more you explore, the stronger you get which makes exploring even easier. A proper vania title should always make you feel stronger as you play and that definitely happened here.

Meanwhile I really enjoyed the general atmosphere of the game. We had DBZ type interactions as the various immortals fought and all showed off their abilities. It’s not something I would expect to see here as it’s a very specific type of approach. The story was super compelling and cinematic the whole time as a result. I really liked the energy effects as well. This game had really good graphics which also helped a great deal. It feels like a big PS5 game the whole time.

Of course the soundtrack is not far behind either with a number of really good tracks. I’ll need to seek those out at some point to hear them again. The bosses all have different mechanics and due to the wide upgrade selection, your gameplay will likely be very different compared to the next person’s playthrough. There is a ton of freedom here and the gameplay style allows for that. There is a ton of replay value here in exploring the map because you’ll just have a great time doing so. It’s not the longest title but at over 10 hours, it’s long enough to justify the purchase. The value here is pretty good without a doubt.

Overall, Prince of Persia is a top tier game and I recommend playing it as soon as possible. The gameplay and exploration elements are extremely rewarding and there are just so many things to uncover here. I’d definitely like to Platinum this game someday because it just feels that fulfilling to explore and see what else the devs have hidden. The game has a fair amount of difficulty as well so you will have a good challenge here and need to really understand the gameplay mechanics. Hopefully the next game uses a lot of the mechanics from this title, then the series will definitely be in a good position to keep on dominating.

Overall 9/10

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Review

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It’s time to look at one of the all time best films. Sonic 3 is the kind of title that reminds you just how awesome the franchise is. It’s got nonstop action and laughs for all of the viewers. You won’t be the same person you were by the time you finish this movie, that’s just how good it is. Now the tough part is going to be waiting for that sequel!

The movie starts out with the ultimate life form known as Shadow breaking out of his containment unit. He quickly takes down GUN and starts a fire fight in Japan. At this point they are forced to call in Team Sonic but the heroes are quickly taken out as well. Their only hope may be in Eggman but the villain is in retirement after his crushing defeat in the second film. Is he even in a position to help this time or the heroes are barking up the wrong tree here?

Within 15 minutes we’ve already got different action scenes and the film keeps that energy up the whole time. How much you enjoy the film will really be connected to how much you enjoy the action and the characters running around. Fortunately that is all handled really well by the film. There really aren’t any bad characters here and everyone has their roles to play. Additionally the fights are all really intense and show how far the franchise has come.

Naturally the highlight of the film is Sonic vs Shadow but beyond that it was fun seeing the various chase scenes. Eggman even gets a big fight of his own near the end of the film which was pretty fun. His battle is definitely super over the top which is really the whole point of it but it works well. You’ll probably be cackling the whole time. The effects have never looked better so you can expect to see top tier visuals throughout the movie. This really should have been 2 hours so the movie could show off even more but I have no real issues here. Naturally the climax is absolutely top tier. You will be at the edge of your seat here.

As for the soundtrack, quite a few really good tracks there as well. The Shadow danger theme works really well and there were some really nice nods to the games. Some jingles here and there and even a big remix. It’s clear that they really wanted to make this a nice tribute to the fans and it definitely worked out well. Of course the big deciding factor for folks was always going to be the humans. Would they be able to keep up with the creatures or would the humans hold all of the scenes back.

Well, fortunately the humans are really solid. Generally speaking the humor was operating at a very high level. I was cracking up for most of the jokes. In any comedy film there will be some that don’t land of course and that was the case here as well but the important thing is that most of them landed. I was consistently chuckling as the characters got up to all of their nonsense. Sonic has the best jokes for the most part and they really nailed his cocky persona. The fact that he is always making light of everyone and not feeling like he is in danger is a really big deal. I would expect nothing else from the blue blur! I guess some highlights are the marble scene, the play on kunichiwaaaaaat, and reminding an opponent that if you’re gunning for the fastest thing alive then you better not miss.

Sonic learns about teamwork and things here but for the most part he’s still a one man show. When the going gets tough, Sonic gets going and doesn’t have time to wait for the others. I could really appreciate this because Tails and Knuckles mean well but obviously they are nowhere near Sonic’s level. So when there is a big threat that needs to be defeated, it’s not like Sonic can just wait and let them help. Worst case, they would just get in the way. This solo effort is portrayed as a bad thing but if Sonic had waited then they all would have died.

So yeah Sonic was on point here. I’d also give a shoutout to both Knuckles and Tails for both getting some really important moments. Knuckles in particular saved the day on multiple occasions which was really impressive. Meanwhile on the human side of things, Sonic’s guardians got their moments to shine as well. The whole GUN scenes were pretty cheesy of course but it’s probably hard to write in a plausible way for them to help out anymore so I’ll cut them some slack.

On the villain side, Agent Stone looks pretty solid here. He gets a really intense opening scene to the point where I was wondering what character was easily taking out the drones. Stone’s got more of an emotional subplot compared to the others which is tactfully handled with a good blend of humor and seriousness. That’s what the movies really specialize in after all. It can be hard to tell when a scene is supposed to be serious and emotional or when you’re laughing with the characters. The movie really plays with your emotions in all the best ways.

As for Eggman, he gets a lot of good insults and burns the entire time. His opening scene may have been a bit rough but after that he was really ready for action. The way he easily betrays everyone reminds you how the guy is a complete villain through and through. Don’t let all the joking fool you, this is a man who will do whatever he needs to in order to win. Then of course we have Gerald as well who acts a lot like Eggman but a bit more serious. He was another fun villain. I may have preferred Eggman but he was a good contrast.

Now I’m not going to say the movie is absolutely perfect. For every fun comedy scene that really landed like Wade showing up briefly you would eventually get a joke that didn’t quite land. Well the ratio might be more like 10-1 of jokes that worked vs didn’t. I would say Sonic not knowing where his heart is might be a little weak for example. Still, nothing that would really knock you out of the film at any point. Then of course you always have a lot of fun moments where the film wins you back anyway.

A good example of this is the Chao Garden when we get a double fake out. It’s just a really brilliant scene because it shakes you up multiple times. I dare say that a lot of films would not be able to pull that off. The movie gets a whole lot done in under 2 hours so this is also an example of top tier pacing. This even carries over to after the film is over. There are two scenes after the credits and the second is solid but the first may be the best across all of movie history. I have to think about it carefully but I can’t see anything else passing it.

Typically these scenes are very short, maybe a few seconds or so. This one includes a whole fight, real dialogue, and just continues things really well. It was an amazing moment and I can only imagine all the yelling in theaters when this happened. This is absolutely great news for Sonic 4 and I will be there for sure. Sonic continues to prove why it is such a top tier franchise. After the climax of this film with all the DBZ type action, it’s pretty easy to see how they can handle the rest of the fights that will be coming up. This looks better than 99% of all live action movies and I expect that to remain as the case for the sequels.

Meanwhile Shadow’s character arc was really top tier. They did the game justice for sure and I can already see how they will adapt his future story arcs. There is a ton of potential here without a doubt. Because of his high power level it might be a little tough to balance him though. They properly showed that he is significantly stronger than Sonic to the point where we needed some plot armor so who could possibly come in to challenge him? The main villain for 4 seems like a good pick and then we have Infinite but after that it’ll get difficult. Well, at this point I trust the writers. They seem to really have a strong understanding of the characters so I have absolutely no worries here.

Overall, Sonic 3 is an absolute masterpiece! Definitely check it out as soon as possible. I’m definitely going to be rewatching the fight a whole lot! Right now the quality online isn’t all that great though so it’ll be more fun in a few months or so. This was really a great adaption of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and really hit just about all of the major notes I could have hoped for. It may not have done everything and left a little meat on the bone but I was still content. The Sonic movies continue to be better and better each time so the stakes are really high for the 4th one.

Overall 9/10

Fairy Tail 2 Review

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Man did it take years to get to this sequel but at long last Fairy Tail has returned! It’s one of those franchises that is perfect for the video game world because the storylines and fights were always dynamic. The series just got plagued by fanservice issues which are far less noticeable in a video game. Like with the last game, this is a pretty elite title. I would give the first game the edge overall as I thought the menus and hub world layout was a bit clearer. Everything there was perfect while here it’s all elite but slightly less user friendly. The gameplay is also a bit different and I would give the original the edge there as well.

This adapts the final arc of the series as the villains launch an all out invasion to destroy Fairy Tail. They have hundreds of thousands of fighters while the heroes just have their family and friends. That said, they are still not going to give up without a fight! They are fighting for a whole lot here and the game really gives time for everyone to shine. You’ll get to play as a whole bunch of characters and fortunately EXP share is always on so you don’t have to worry about them lagging behind the rest.

The only criticism you could probably give the game is that it is extremely easy. To put it one way, I didn’t have to even open up my item bag until the final post game boss. Nothing in the main campaign was worth it, most of them died really quickly. It helps that you have several attacks and super attacks which replenish your health. I’m not talking about a little either, Juvia’s basic healing attack restores close to 80% of your health. The health bars here are pretty massive too so that’s a lot of health that you are saving each time.

You get level ups very quickly and then you’ve also got equipment that can make you stronger. Even if you don’t bother fighting most of the enemies you will be in a decent spot. The fights are so fast and give so much EXP that I would often fight the minion battles anyway though. There are a lot of different collectibles to be found around the world and I decided to grab most of them. From chests to mini creatures to orbs of knowledge, they’re always close to being within your grasp so it’s too tempting to let linger.

The main campaign is pretty long and then the post game adds on a few hours to that. You also have a bunch of optional bosses and individual character stories to go through. I have no doubt that you will be here for at least 30-40 hours by the end of your run. So it definitely makes the value of the purchase worth it. You won’t feel short changed or anything like that. The story is also very captivating so you won’t get bored or anything. Like I said it’s just an excellent game around the board.

The gameplay is a classic turn based style mixed in with real time action. I’d compare it to Final Fantasy XIII. You have turns but if you don’t attack fast, the opponent can just take his turn and attack you anyway. So you really need to have a plan at the ready and can’t just be wondering what to do next. Always be moving forward. Do that and you will be in a really good position here.

The graphics are really solid as you’d expect. The character models and environments all work really well and the fights that we get are a lot of fun. The soundtrack is also pretty good. It could maybe use a few extra tunes but the ones that are there all match up well with the individual scenes so I can’t say that I have any complaints. Because the character all level up with you, you should have fun just playing whoever you want to at any given point in time. Yes there are type advantages in the game but they don’t actually make a bunch of difference. You can use Natsu against a water type and you’ll still be fine. Maybe there’s a hard mode that will make more of a difference but at least in a standard match you won’t experience any issues.

It was only the final boss that really gave me a hard time. I almost thought that I might lose at one point but I was still able to pull through in the end. Using all of the healing attacks was definitely a must though. Keep those in mind because they are absolutely broken but it does keep in with the themes of friendship and family. Healing should be very powerful in such a world.

Overall, Fairy Tail 2 is another elite title. This is a perfect example of how you make a big action RPG with hundreds of collectibles while not letting it feel overwhelming. At no point did I want to give up on opening chests and just focusing on the story because it was not an inconvenience. The devs place everything in a way that makes you want to succeed and that’s a pretty important skill. It’s why designing is such an art because if you make a mistake then it will impact the rest of the game. I highly recommend this to all gamers in general as a result. Good game design is good game design after all. I think anyone can really appreciate what they did here.

Overall 9/10

Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash Review

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Jujutsu Kaisen really got big so it makes sense that it would get a video game. Anime brawlers are fairly common after all. This one is a bit of a step down from some of the others though. If the gameplay was just a tad bit better then it could have reached the next stage but ultimately I didn’t think it would quite reach that point. I had a good time with it but you feel like the game definitely left a lot of meat on the bone.

The story covers the first season of the show along with the movie. It’s a reasonable amount of content particularly since the game goes very in detail with this. There are over 80 missions in the game, I think maybe 100 if you count all of the bonus ones. Not every mission involves a fight though so some are really just big cutscenes. The game has full voice acting which is nice but I didn’t love the presentation of the cutscenes. It’s sort of like panels out of a comic book that are stuck together but not very organically so there is often a little break before the next person starts talking. There are also portions where it will just get silent as someone types up a report.

I can see the attempt there as it’s spooky and all but I didn’t think it worked great. At the end of each main chapter was one CG cutscene though and those always looked good. Getting more of them would have been a good idea. In general the graphics are pretty good here. Not amazing or anything like that but the characters are on model and the quality is good so I can’t ask for much more out of them. The soundtrack also isn’t bad. I’d like a few more tunes but the ones that we do have are pretty solid. Some are downright catchy.

Where the game got messed with is the general gameplay. They decided to make it so that normal attacks don’t deal damage. You can only effect people with cursed energy which is typically only the last 2 hits of a combo or with special moves. You gain this energy gradually as you fight but I just never like the idea or not being able to generally damage someone outside of certain conditions. It lengthens the match for no reason and doesn’t feel organic. It’s sort of like Playstation All Stars. It’s fine to want to be a little different but this is one gimmick in particular that I think is really hard to pull off.

The stages are also impressively big but this also means that it can be tough to land blows at times. You’ll punch the enemy across town and then have to go find him. You have to jump rather high at times and sometimes that won’t be enough. There is even a super jump button for that reason and then you can attack once you’re on the same level as the enemy. It’s a bit excessive but this could have been fixed with better movement options. The game is also meant as a big online title but it’s hard to synergize with your partner since your hit will often mess up with the timing of their combo and vice versa.

It makes it so that you almost want your partner to stay out of the fight and just let you handle it so it all goes down quicker. Since you need the last hits of the combo, it basically means that your hits were meaningless when your ally hits them out of the combo. You can control your partner’s tactics at least like aggressive and co-operative but to be honest I didn’t notice much of a difference there during the game. I suppose I would need to play for a longer amount of time to really see the difference there.

The game also doesn’t feel super well balanced but I only know it on a surface level so that really might not be correct. For all I know, the game is better than most 3D titles. The trophies look rather difficult with a huge focus on online content so I don’t see myself getting the Platinum here but a few more to increase my percentage still sounds good. We’ll see if they end up adding Shibuya to the game as DLC or if they just keep that for a sequel some day. This game doesn’t seem to be super well liked so the odds of a sequel could be dicey.

Overall, Jujutsu Kaisen made some mistakes on the gameplay side but it still a pretty good game. It’s impressive how detailed the story mode is. They really wanted to cover everything to the point where we almost could call this a visual novel to an extent. There are a ton of cutscenes, then the gameplay, then cutscenes, etc. If we get a sequel I’d like it to be streamlined somewhat but it’s clear that the game was doing its best to try and make sure gave a good amount of content in the single player mode. I didn’t even touch a bunch of the side missions and mini stories for that replay value. If you’re a big fan of Jujutsu Kaisen then you should check this one out but otherwise you could do better in the fighting games arena.

Overall 7/10

Light Crusader Review

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I’m venturing further into the Genesis library and Light Crusader was the next one on the list. It’s a pretty fun game and one that feels retro while still getting some unique mechanics in. It’s a game that was well made for its time and I had a good time in the present. It is fairly short so you’ll need to keep that in mind but it does a better job of being a big dungeon/maze than most of the newer ones that show up.

The game starts with a lot of people being kidnapped by a cult and so the main character heads off to save them. Underneath the castle is a 7 floor dungeon where these people are being kept. His mission, should he choose to accept it is to rescue them all and destroy all of the villains and monsters down there. The hero is equipped with a sword and has basic mastery over all elements. With these abilities at the ready he can handle these guys.

The gameplay style is mainly that of an overhead exploration game. The idea is to get to each set of staircases to reach the next floor. On the way there you will need to defeat the boss of the floor and solve a lot of puzzles to get there. The puzzles range from using boulders to fall into the right holes or trying to jump and hit different switches in order. They range from being extremely easy to sometimes being completely unknown. Some of these puzzles just felt like good ole fashioned button mashing to me. One of them for example was to hit 4 numbers in a certain sequence and I didn’t come across any hints in the game. So I just got cracking on trying every combo out until it worked.

If there were too many puzzles like that then it would have definitely hurt the game but fortunately that wasn’t the main focus. They would appear from time to time in the background but most of the game was about running and defeating enemies which is more up my speed. I also enjoyed the platforming puzzles because those tend to be run fair and square You can absolutely solve those puzzles just by deductive reasoning and without using any gimmicks or relying on hints. Those are the best kinds of puzzles I’d say. Since those represented the majority of puzzles in this game, I was all set.

Additionally this game has one of the better maps that I’ve seen. It was very detailed and easy to comprehend at a glance. I didn’t have to be wondering if I was looking at the screen right or anything like that. No, this was a map that would let me get to the end. The game’s length is fairly short as it’s only a few hours long. That said, it’s better to be short than to have had some forced length at the end. With this amount it felt like the game was running at full speed the whole time and never had to pause or try to buy some time.

We even got to squeeze in a classic boss rush as you have to save 8 wizards near the end and fight all of the old bosses there. That was pretty fun. Each boss has a very different gameplay style to them so there aren’t any clones here. Additionally, the final boss has a pretty cool design. It makes for a very impactful climax with a lot of color and depth to him.

The only area where the game is a bit weak is with the hitboxes. For most of the game they don’t even make much sense. There will be times where you know that you hit the enemy but nothing happens and other times when your blow seems to fall short but you land the move. I don’t think it was lag or anything like that but instead it just felt like for some reason the hit boxes were added to odd areas. Eventually you just get used to the difference and adjust accordingly but for a while there it definitely ends up feeling weird.

The soundtrack is solid here. No tunes that I will remember by the end of the week but they still work well enough with what the game is going for. Likewise the graphics are pretty good. Perhaps not out of this world good but they are clear and it is always obvious what is happening on screen. The art style is appealing too so I really have no issues there.

Overall, Light Crusader is a pretty good game. I definitely had a solid amount of fun with it and this would be a good template for how you should do a platforming puzzle game. It’s a genre that would definitely be difficult for most titles to pull off after all. It takes a whole lot of engineering and quality of life features but this game was clearly up to the task. There are even different collectibles and rooms that I didn’t get to explore so there’s even a bit of replay value here. If you have the Switch Online then you should definitely check it out. The experience is a very memorable one and while you might be annoyed at the short length if you had paid for it, that’s the perks of getting it through the Switch Online. If they ever wanted to bring this franchise back I would say there is a lot of potential there.

Overall 7/10