Tag Archives: Action

Hades Review

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Hades is one of those games that was super well known so I’ve been meaning to get it for a little while. I’m not always the biggest fan of rogue type games but I do love survival titles against endless hordes. Additionally, I feel like I have gotten a lot softer towards the genre as of late because all of the rogue titles end up being really good. The overall quality for a title like this will come down to how quick you can pick up a new run or not. If you’re losing hours and hours of work then I’m not going to be too thrilled, but this game masters the edge of how long it should be.

The game follows the son of Hades as he wants to know more about himself. He is not allowed to leave the underworld and Hades sees to this personally. What secrets lie beyond the borders of death? Our hero is determined to find this out and along the way he may even learn the truth of what happened to his mother. The gods of Olympus pledge their support and offer different powers along the way but what ulterior motives do they have There are a lot of mysteries to uncover here but when you’re immortal without much else to do…time is always on your side.

Immediately one of the most impressive things about Hades is the sheer volume of content. These rogue games can sometimes be annoying because you will question why you are putting in all of this effort. The Justice League mobile game for example was fun and I stuck with it for around 3 months but after a point there was no real content left. For Hades that isn’t a problem. There are easily 50+ hours worth of content here between maxing out all of the god bonds to complete their subplots, getting the true ending, maxing out your database files, unlocking all weapons, etc.

I completed the game 10 times to unlock the base ending and I can tell that I’ve only scratched the surface here. I only managed to max one character by the end of this and beast the game with only 1 weapon. I don’t see myself going for the platinum anytime soon just because of how long it would take to do that but I do like how all of the trophies are reasonable ones. The game isn’t asking you to do anything crazy. Really you’re just asked to play the game a whole lot and try out every mechanic. Even if you don’t plan to go for it all, I do advise trying out each weapon to see which one ends up being your favorite.

Of course, all this content would mean nothing if the gameplay was poor. So fortunately it is excellent. Your movement is very crisp and all of the weapons are good ones to have. The game has an overhead view and then you use your 3 powers to get past the enemies and make it to the end. Each playthrough has 4 areas and around 50-60 rooms total. At first it will probably take around an hour to clear the game, then near the end each run will be more like 20 minutes. I’ve heard people can do it even quicker but even with a maxed out mirror I couldn’t get under 20 minutes so they must be insanely good at it.

The game really values repetition as you learn all of the enemy movements and attack patterns. Focus on learning those since it is crucial that you dodge a lot. You want to deal a lot of damage of course but your health can go down deceptively quick. At the end of each room you get to choose a power up. Some help your attack power directly while others will help speed or other aspects of your character. Choose your ability carefully and then you will be fine. Even if you do lose, the game is so much fun that you won’t mind.

By the time I won 10 runs, I had already lost 27. So I can assure you that it is a process. Now I have enough passive abilities where I can confidently win with the spear on every run but so far I am still having trouble winning with any other weapon. For hat I suppose I just have to keep on grinding and eventually I can win there too.

Also I give the game a thumbs up for all the voice acting. Yeah, you’d expect voice acting for a PS5 game but there are just so many lines here that it still ends up being impressive. Each main character has over 100 lines of dialogue as you go through their normal routines as well as bond dialogue. I am probably even underplaying it for a bunch of them. This is clearly a game where the developers wanted to give you a complete product without worrying about dlc.

Meanwhile the graphics are really good. Even with all of the action on screen the game didn’t lag once. The individual animations are all clear as well so you know what is happening throughout. Now there are times where you might have multiple abilities that can be hard to distinguish in the moment but that is the price of being overpowered. I consider it to be a good balance. The soundtrack is also super good. There were quite a few great tunes in here that really fit the atmosphere of the game.

I don’t have any real issues with the game. I felt like everything was accounted for here and all of the gameplay elements were polished. It deserved all of the game of the year attention it was getting and then some. I’ve heard that the sequel’s gameplay is even better which sounds really impressive. I definitely look forward to seeing how good that one is.

Overall, Hades is an extremely satisfying game. It has enough difficulty to give even the most seasoned of gamers a difficult time, while also having a lot of difficulty options to allow for newer gamers to have a good time as well. That is why it is a very inviting experience since I can easily recommend it to anyone. The game’s very intuitive and there are no shortage of helpful references included within. Everyone will have their own style of how to approach the game. When starting out I recommend finding out your preferred way to play rather than going online to copy a winning strategy. Trust me, it will feel more satisfying that way.

Overall 9/10

Megaman Star Force Tribe Review

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It’s been a long while since I got to check out a Star Force title so it was nice to be able to read this one. The oneshot has a pretty interesting angle to it but the story is ultimately too short to take full advantage. It’s a pretty good title but it definitely left a lot of meat on the bone and at times the tone shifts could be a bit jarring. If you thought some characters went easy on Eren for massacring millions of people in Attack on Titan, get ready for how the Mega crew handle this crisis!

The story begins with a flashback as the narrator explains how there was once a tribe of Megamen. They all lived in peace and harmony until Bly showed up. He massacred all of them and so the tribe was no more. None of the Mega Men could stand up against him and why did he destroy them all? To prove his own power! Yes, Bly simply wants a worthy challenge and will destroy everyone in his way. In the present we find out that one Mega Man survived, his name is Berserk and he intends to avenge his fallen comrades. Consumed by vengeance, he marches on to Bly’s castle.

This would actually be the perfect story for one of those old school 2D beat em ups. Berserk really isn’t holding back and the way he is drawn makes the guy look constantly psychotic. It’s pretty fun to have a main character like that and since his character’s revenge is portrayed as really justified, you don’t have to have any reservations about rooting for him. Stopping Bly is important because the guy will never stop murdering his opponents to achieve true power.

Alas, this probably seemed a bit too dark to the editors so very quickly we run into a “Last Kryptonian”/”Last Saiyan” kind of angle. Turned out other Mega Men survived the purge. One of them works for Bly now. He’s not mind controlled or anything, he just figures there is no way to fight back….or he might have a plan. Either way, Berserk has to prove himself and show why he was always the most powerful. I like the little detail that each Mega Man is based on a different form from within the Star Force games. The main 3 are naturally the 3 main forms from the second video game.

Where the tone problems come from is how the characters will goof off during battle. Now you may say this is just a normal Shonen thing but it’s just a bit overdone here. Think about super exaggerated facial expressions and things like that. It can be jarring with how suddenly it happens and this also impacts the story. For example, we actually get a comedic moment with Bly towards the end and then everyone’s joking around as if he didn’t just murder a ton of people. It should just be way too personal for all of that.

Additionally, the manga gets clearly rushed as we are given a traditional plot of 8 bosses who are protecting each floor. Then suddenly Bly shows up and one shots 4 of them because he just couldn’t wait any longer. Yeah I can always enjoy a good subversion but this felt more like the series had to suddenly end. We don’t even get to see the Tribe King form all that much as a result. It does get a lot of respect as being the most powerful form though so that was nice to see.

I also thought Bly was generally a really solid villain as you’d expect. He’s very powerful and is absolutely no nonsense when it comes to battle. He doesn’t get a ton of screentime due to the length of the series but each of his scenes are pretty good. The only other villain with a good amount of screentime is the evil magician but he’s more played for laughs. The guy isn’t a great fighter and has to rely on cheap tricks to stay in the game. He’s not much of a challenge to Berserk.

Berserk makes for a pretty good main character. I liked that he was so determined and wasn’t going to give up, even if it meant being outnumbered and having to go up against a ton of fighters. He was absolutely not going to hold back. He also didn’t fall for the whole “You can’t attack your allies!” strategy that the magician pulled and just snapped some sense into the other Mega Man. You can’t afford to be defeated in this kind of situation and it’s why I’m always annoyed when any hero fall for that. There’s a time and a place for mercy and this isn’t it.

While I enjoyed the intensity of the art, it was a bit rough at times. Almost like it was trying too hard to look intense and at times it just backfired instead. It was still clear enough so I enjoyed it but it’s a far cry from the NT Warrior or Gigamix titles. Megaman Starforce always felt like it got a bit of the shaft next to the other Mega series so either way I was glad to see another manga for it. It technically got more content than I give it credit for with 2 anime, 3 games, and multiple manga but it still felt like there was more that could have happened here.

Overall, Mega Man Star Force Tribe was a pretty good manga. There is only so much you can do in one volume after all. I liked the idea of a whole tribe filled with Mega Man but it does raise some questions on how they could all be defeated so easily. Were most of them just super weak or something? Even by the end, while it’s clear that Bly is stronger than any individual Mega Man, it wasn’t so much of a gap that you could picture him eating a ton of them. I guess you had the element of surprise and all but that’s an area where a longer series would have been able to flesh things out more. One volume titles always tend to be a bit of a tease but it’s fun to theory craft how things could have gone on your own. If you’re a Mega Man fan then I definitely recommend checking this one out!

Overall 7/10

Collide Review

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It’s time for a thriller but this one definitely isn’t going to be the next Taken. It has quite a few issues with the biggest one being the characters involved. I did like one of the villains but the film doesn’t use him as much as you would want. There was potential all around here, but ultimately I can see why nobody really talks about this film. It’s the kind of movie that just comes and goes with no real impact.

The film starts off by introducing us to Casey who works for a drug dealer. He basically does whatever the boss says. The job is certainly not a savory one but it pays the bills. His life feels rather empty though and he desperately wants a girlfriend. So while slumming it at the nearby bar, he noticed the bartender named Juliette. She agrees to become his girlfriend real quick if he just promises to give up the life of crime. He agrees…and surprisingly gets out of the business without being shot or killed. That’s a first. Well, it’s all going good until Juliette starts acting a bit extra crazy one snowy night but it’s not the cold that gets her…but a rare condition she has which involves a lot of seizures. She will be dead in a matter of weeks unless a really expensive operation can be performed on her. So Casey decides to go back to his old boss for one last job.

Naturally this job will be the toughest one yet since his boss Geran has been feuding with his boss Hagen. So he wants them to rob Hagen but the guy has a whole criminal network at his disposal and is also a lot smarter than Geran. Casey also realizes that this is likely a setup and so he decides to hatch a plan of his own. You’ve got 3 really big players running around here and of course the leverage against Casey will be simple. Whoever can capture Juliette, will have captured Casey.

The story itself is fairly straight forward so then it becomes all about the execution. Unfortunately this is where the film starts to fall flat. First off the romance is definitely weak. I appreciate the film showing that a lot of time has passed after they got together for their bond to be strong but those time jumps should have been used at the start. Instead of Juliette being convinced to be his girlfriend after a matter of minutes, make that part take weeks. It’s a rather simple fix and just like that you would have a compelling romance.

The film also goes out of its way to make both of the characters not all that likable. They’re the type of characters who are always getting drunk, going to suspect parties, and just don’t really seem like two people you’d generally get along with. Yeah Casey went straight for a while but working for the mob the way that he did, he’s certainly been involved in a lot of suspect stuff. You can write a solid anti hero but there just isn’t any real depth to the guy at all.

His big plan also revolves around the villains being absolute rookies at their own business. To stop the truck, they have to get the best hitman in the business to get out of the safety of the vehicle where they can knock him out. No way that should have happened but then it also revolves around the camera guy deciding to take a nap and not look at the truck for a few minutes. So that’s not a good plan, it’s just absolute plot armor at its finest.

I won’t fault Casey too hard for letting Juliette get captured since realistically there wouldn’t be much he could do about that but he does get the blame for the rest of the plan. Meanwhile his boss Geran is a little too quirky. He’s hard of hearing and constantly drunk. He doesn’t always make a lot of sense and yet he wants to be equal partners with the biggest crime lord on the planet? Yeah, I can see why Hagen doesn’t take him seriously.

Hagen is really the standout character here. I like how he just talks smack to Geran right to the guy’s face. He is absolutely confident that victory is around the corner and never falters. Hagen has a bit of a weak ending but for the most part he is always a few steps ahead. The last scenes just make him look sloppy, although I’d argue everyone looks sloppy there. When you’re a big crime lord, you’re probably not going to be going to a small diner without many escape routes unless you’ve either completely bought out the police or have a private army. It all just felt a little forced but I did enjoy the banter.

The best thing I can say about the film is that Hagen is so interesting that all of his scenes absolutely jump up a level. I love when a villain is really smug like this and he definitely made sure that the rest of the characters knew just how powerful he was. Now this does result in quite a bit of plot armor on his end too, but that’s just how these things go.

For example, at one point Casey runs into a small convenience shop and the villains chase him inside. The two owners both have guns and one of them is a really good shot. Despite this, they allow the villains to raise up their guns and fire. It’s probably the dumbest moment in the film. When an armed fighter runs into your shop, you need to fire quickly instead of waiting until they take their gun out. Obviously, the villains won’t hesitate so your hesitation will equal death.

Overall, Collide has a lot of action but not a whole lot of spirit. It’s going through the motions and could have been a solid emotional film but Casey and Juliette just aren’t likable enough to be convincing. The film’s got that Hollywood style of romance where there isn’t a whole lot of build up or getting to know each other as we jump straight to fanservice and action. It comes across as superficial and a single villain isn’t enough to hold this film up. You can do a lot better when it comes to action thrillers so I would say to skip this one.

Overall 4/10

Alligator II: The Mutation Review

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It’s time to see just how powerful an alligator can be! The first film was pretty terrible but maybe this one would be an improvement? I do think it was the better film although I ultimately still can’t say that it was a good one. The main problem is of course that with an evil alligator on the loose, you know that some animal violence will be soon to follow. The movie actually keeps itself a bit more tame than I would usually expect in this genre though so I will give it some credit here. Not a ton of credit mind you….but some.

The movie starts with two fishermen underestimating the terrors of the night as they are murdered by a giant alligator. This area has been heckled by the wealthy businessman named Vincent for a long while as he is trying to buy out all of the land and so they figure he had something to do with it. In a sense they’re right, but it’s not like they can prove it. So David decides to look into this as he’s used to doing things against the book as a cop. Unfortunately it’ll be difficult since Vincent has bought out the mayor and so now the cops are forced to be rather hands off. Vincent’s certainly not going to be of any help so David has to work with the rookie cop Rich in order to stop this threat. Meanwhile Vincent hires some pros of his own to do the job in the sneak. Which group will destroy the alligator first?

I guess corruption and evil millionaires are par for the course when it comes to these evil animal films. Vincent definitely carries himself well though. I appreciate all of the threats and he really did have the mayor cornered throughout the movie. Near the end he even managed to get him alone to finish the job. Vincent’s one of those villains who never let his guard down and by the end of the film it took quite a lot of people to defeat him. Most impressive I gotta say.

The mayor looked rather terrible throughout though. As soon as you let people blackmail you the way that he did, there is no way out. They’re just going to keep on doing it, over and over again until you are completely out of the running. I sort of expected that the mayor would do something but no, he just ended up staying scared all the way through to the end. His daughter Sherri had a lot more backbone as she was trying to fight against the injustice.

On the heroes side, we had the rookie cop, Rich. That guy wasn’t very good though. Letting himself get drunk is a terrible idea since a cop always needs to be ready. He also misses his shots when it counts so he’s not really the guy I would want to watch my back. He’s not a terrible character or anything but he is unreliable and that’s a really important factor in a mission like this.

David does well as the main cop. This is clearly not his first rodeo and he handles himself like an absolute professional. It’s what you would expect from the main character. He’s more concerned with justice than following the rules and that’s why he gets the job done. He has the respect of the people within the neighborhood for this same reason. The rest of the characters are definitely not able to catch him. Now the film does make it a point to show that he does take this a bit far to the point of obsession where he won’t be home much and that makes things tough on his wife and kid. He can probably find a better middle ground but at least he is getting results.

His wife also does well here as her scientist specialty helps her figure out different things like a possible weakness for the big alligator. It’s always nice to see both members of the main couple contributing like this. We also got some help from one of the local gator experts. He actually puts up a fight and lasts for a little while which is nice since initially his group was not looking very impressive at all. For a while there I was starting to think that they were all frauds.

The movie can’t avoid the animal violence in the end though as we do inevitably have to see the alligator get taken down. Additionally, it’s a shame for the gator since he doesn’t actually get a ton of screentime. Half the time when he’s eating people you aren’t really seeing him but at least his presence is felt throughout the movie. You may have been expecting a huge cliffhanger for this film like the first but surprisingly that’s not really the case.

The film also has a difficult time trying to make you buy into the main romance that is set up between the rookie and the mayor’s daughter here. I mean, finding the guy locked in the bathroom is not a great first impression and I would argue things only look worse for him from there. The main couple is already married which makes that romance a lot easier.

In the end I feel like the human plot was a lot more engaging than the animal stuff. I could have had fun with the whole thing being about Vincent trying to take over the neighborhood and shooting anyone in his way. He was clearly good at this and had the political power to pull this off. I’ll take the conspiracy stuff any day as opposed to the evil animal plot where the animal is really minding his own business and doesn’t want to fight. You feel bad for the creature.

Overall, Alligator II isn’t a whole lot of fun. It’s a decent adventure and another short film so the pacing is fine but it’s not really doing anything different with the creature. The alligator crawls around and looks menacing but that’s about it for most of the animal scenes. You are rooting for him to take down all the pesky humans invading his turf and it’s not nearly as bloody as something like Piranha. Still, the alligator is going to get stabbed and then blown to bits and you don’t want to see that. I’d recommend skipping this one. If you have to watch an evil animal film then it beats a lot of the alternatives, but it still doesn’t quite step into the realm of being a good movie.

Overall 3/10

The Mechanic Review

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It’s time for a film that definitely doesn’t have a very positive aura about it. This one is satisfied with being a bit more of a downer and unfortunately that does end up hurting the film. If the film could have balanced in some more upbeat moments or maybe gotten a better main character cast then things could have been different. You may still appreciate some of the creativity in the murder tactics here but that’s about it.

The film introduces us to Arthur who is one of the top hitmen in the world. He takes out the targets that he is given with pinpoint accuracy. He has been at this for a long time and so he is fairly wealthy and has a lot of resources but at the same time he can also be a bit lonely. He has even gotten desperate enough to hire a girl for a roleplay relationship which shows just how down he is. Well, one day a guy called Steven shows interest in his work and Arthur sees that this guy is a total psychopath. So he recruits him, will this be a fatal mistake?

The first rule of being a hitman is not to trust anyone after all. You see first hand what happens to people who do begin to trust others and it’s not pretty. Additionally, Arthur quickly finds some suspicious things about Steve but looks past them. He is really hoping this will work out but I give Arthur credit for having a backup plan which is more than most characters would have in his position. Without that, I would have been considerably harsher on him.

I don’t like Arthur either way, but at least his reputation is deserved. His most impressive scene was probably at the beginning where we see him prepare numerous death traps for someone so that if any of them fail, he will have a few backups. It was a good way to set the tone of just what he does. Arthur doesn’t like flashy kills. He’s not walking around with grenades or something like that. He likes the preparation phase and making sure that things are lined up just right.

This doesn’t work so well for his bosses who like their feeling of power even more than the results. Meanwhile Steve is far less likable because he just feels more psychotic. For Arthur this feels like a job while for Steve it’s a total infatuation. We get a long scene where one of his friends decides to check out of life and see if he will stop her. Naturally he doesn’t and just makes a bunch of jokes before leaving. Yeah it was a toxic move on her part but it doesn’t make his response any less disturbing.

You may need that kind of mindset to a degree to become a hitman but it definitely didn’t help his case at all. The guy was so smug that you definitely wanted someone to be able to take him out. He makes some basic mistakes during the missions as well and never seems to have a lot of self reflection. Definitely a liability so Arthur’s bosses were right about that. Also the more people you bring into the fold, the more that things can go wrong.

While the film could be a bit dreary, I do think that the ending was just about perfect. It’s a really satisfying climax that ensures one character doesn’t just walk away. That would have probably been one of the worst case scenarios here. it’s not like a villain can never end up winning in a film. I’ve seen a few where the heroes lose out and it works well enough but this guy is one where you’re just rooting really hard to keep him from securing a victory.

The writing is good enough here. You see everyone being polite and really fake the whole time. It’s a good reminder to be careful because even if someone seems really personable and sympathetic, they may actually have been hired to bump you off. One of Arthur’s victims certainly didn’t think that one of his old friends would be the murderer but that’s how it goes sometimes. You don’t have to live in a very paranoid way or anything like that, but just keep your guard up.

If you do want to be paranoid though, this film shows the importance of setting up little traps in your apartment. Tiny pieces of paper or things arranged in a way where you’ll know if someone was inside your apartment while you were gone. There are lots of clever ways to set this up and if I lived by myself I would definitely do that. In the worst case, you’re just doing an extra 10 minutes of work every day so that’s a really good risk/reward ratio.

Overall, This film wasn’t all that good but I wouldn’t call it awful or anything. In fact if you cut out the scene with the girl bleeding to death then I think the film would have broken even. To me that moment was just going a bit too far in how bleak things were. It’s sad to see so many empty characters in this film. At least with the main two, they knew the risks here and are primed for a rough outcome, but some random person who didn’t seem all there? That was a bit much. I also would have preferred if Arthur handled himself a bit better since that fake romance just made him look so bad. It may have just been a quick scene but it was a rough moment for him. So if you really enjoy films about hitmen then this could be worth checking out, but otherwise I would say to give it a skip. There are better films that focus more on the villains.

Overall 4/10

GI Joe: Operation Blackout Review

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The GI Joes have returned and you could say that his game is definitely a lot more intense than the previous one. I wouldn’t call it super high budget or anything but I appreciated that it was trying to be a full adventure. The third person shooter action works really well as you’d guess because that genre is one of the best. It’s a game that is reasonably short but not super short and since you can get the game for a good price, it doesn’t feel bad. I would definitely be recommending this one.

The main story sees the GI Joes going up against Cobra once more. Cobra had been quiet for a while but it turns out that they were just biding their time and they launch an all out offensive against the heroes. This results in most of the Joes being captured so the last remaining ones have to find a way to launch a counter attack. Meanwhile everything is not well within the Cobra household as 4 different members are all betraying the commander and working on their own plans. He will have to try and deal with them before it’s too late.

I’m not the biggest expert on GI Joe so based on the vibes in this game, it definitely looks like the Commander could use some more loyal allies. If he has to be constantly watching his back all while fighting with the Joes, then that’s not going to be a good combination for him. To be sure, he doesn’t end up looking good in this game and that’s impressive since part of the whole premise is that his side won for once. That’s why you can’t get overconfident.

The game was definitely made with a multiplayer mode in mind. Easch level has two playable characters, the second will be controlled by the AI when playing single player mode. You typically have to defeat all enemies in an area, proceed to a checkpoint, or stay inside of a circle to conquer it like in Overwatch. There are 17 missions in the game and each one tends to range from around 8-10 minutes. The default difficulty also gives you a mild challenge in some areas.

I died quite a few times but it never feels bad because the game has a really excellent checkpoint system. You will see respawn points constantly so you never lose more than a few minutes of progress. Some characters have better weapons than others so you really want to be careful who you pick on the character selection screen. That said, just try enough times and you’ll be fine. It’s one of those games where you just have to brute force it. Also sometimes when the mission is about getting to a checkpoint, the best thing to do is just run through the enemies without fighting.

Sometimes their aim isn’t that great and you will make it without any real issues. Other times you will end up dying and then you have to play it the traditional way. The different kinds of weapons vary between standard guns, explosives, and lasers. Generally lasers are the best. Yes, they deal the least amount of damage but the ammo and nonstop firing makes it worth it. They are on a completely different level. The enemies are always moving around so quickly that it’s just easier to follow them with an endless stream as opposed to trying to time the bullets perfectly.

Meanwhile the graphics are pretty good. The cutscenes don’t have a lot of movement to them but I’m just glad for the fact that we have cutscenes in general. That’s something you wouldn’t have expected too much of for a cheaper game. It would have been dialogue based or something. The voice acting is fun and the graphics within the gameplay as also on point. You definitely won’t see any complaints from me in that area. Unfortunately there isn’t much of a soundtrack so I guess you can’t win them all. I would have liked some fun rock themes or something there.

There are also a few vehicle levels. These tend to be pretty easy and seem to just be around as a change of pace. You have to try and dodge land mines and defeat opponents while racing to the goal. It’s essentially a straight road as you get to the end of the game. You just have to keep on driving and driving until you get there. There are a lot of health containers in these levels that are hard to miss which is why the levels feel so much easier.

One last gameplay tip for the standard levels, your close quarters attack is really good against most bosses. Don’t try it on Storm Shadow since his sword will slice your health bar apart but on the other bosses it is the best way to whittle down their health. I was able to complete the final boss way quicker than most of the others in the game because of that. I just went in swinging and they went down extremely quickly. This is because your close quarters attack cuts through the shield and straight to their health bar but of course the same is true of theirs so watch out for the counter attack.

Overall, Operation Blackout is a pretty fun game. It’s nothing fancy, you’re not going to find a lot of fancy gameplay mechanics or anything like that. At the same time, the fundamentals are sound enough to where this is the kind of game you could really recommend. It takes you back to a simpler time of gaming where you only needed a few buttons to play through a game. You can pick this one up and play it at any point without worrying about what the advanced combos were or how you’re supposed to be playing it. Not bad eh? Hopefully more GI Joe games come out in the future.

Overall 7/10

Hard Times Review

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It’s time for a film about boxing that is not Rocky. Rocky will always be the definitive film of this kind of genre but of course there are others that also throw their hat into the ring. Hard Times is definitely more of an underground kind of fighting film though and so it doesn’t have the classic glamour and sportsmanship of the tournament battles. In these fights, you can always expect things to get ugly.

The film starts off with Speed hoping his fighter will win a match but the guy is crushed again. That’s when a man named Chaney shows up and declares that he can win a few fights. Speed watches him demolish his first opponent and realizes that this guy is the real deal. So they make a deal to be partners and Chaney gets Speed to agree to his terms of 50/50. Things are going well at first as they win some fights but Speed quickly gets greedy and starts betting more and more money. He takes loans from some dangerous sources and also keeps up his gambling habits. It will all catch up to him soon, but will he bring Chaney down with him?

Now of course gambling is a serious addiction and not something that is easy to turn away from. So I’m not saying it would have been easy but Speed definitely needed to have had some level of restraint. He was already in a rough spot before the event started and then after that he should have been feeling really lucky that Chaney won the super high bet. Instead by wasting it, he has a run in with the mafia and things only get worse from there.

I wouldn’t have blamed Chaney if had just left Speed to the mess that he created and skipped town. It was absolutely not Chaney’s fault that things went that way but of course Speed would have been murdered and it’s hard to just leave knowing that is going to happen. So Chaney takes the high road and risks his life once again. Fighting is never a joke, things can escalate in an instant and so you don’t want to do it unless you had to. Chaney is good at what he does and fight in order to make some money to get to his next destination but he’s not just fighting anybody.

Also he got very fortunate that his opponent was a class act and refused to cheat. In a battle with the mafia present, that is certainly far from a guarantee. So I give his final opponent some respect there, I don’t think any of the other villains would have held back in the same circumstance. They would cheat as much as they could in order to win any fight.

Outside of the fights, it’s not like Chaney was a super good guy though. He has an affair with a lady named Lucy for a good chunk of the film and the whole romance is as shallow as possible. Definitely not the kind where you’re rooting for the pairing. There’s no love there, only convenience on both sides and hopefully Chaney can go a bit slower when he starts fresh in the next town.

I get the feeling that Speed and his doctor Poe are going to be continuing to get into more and more trouble on their side though. Poe never kicked his drinking problems and Speed is still gambling. Chaney has given them a true fighting chance though so hopefully they can keep themselves on track. The underground circuit will always exist but you definitely don’t have to be a part of it once you have all of the money.

The fights themselves are pretty solid as well. You definitely feel the power in some of those blows and it’s not like Chaney was blowing through his opponents. He was clearly the best fighter in the movie but still had to use a lot of good strategy to win. It’s always more impressive that way as opposed to coming in and winning with a single punch which feels less realistic when you’re battling other pros.

The dialogue and writing as also pretty solid. It’s one of those films where there are certainly a lot of threats being flung around but they generally still have the villains putting on the pretense of being polite. I also liked that while Chaney may not be as book smart as some of the others, he is extremely street smart and wasn’t being pushed around by anyone. The scene where he is ready to walk away from the deal when Speed is immediately trying to scam was a good moment for example.

I think to boost the film up a little, I would have either made Chaney more likable or the doctor. So instead of all 3 characters having their vices and not making the best decisions, have one of them actually be a true professional. That character would walk away midway through the film while the other two get greedy. For Chaney you could also just get rid of the romance angle or for Poe, not introducing him as an alcoholic from the start. I think it would have worked to have made the film not quite as grim since all of the leads ere gray at best.

Overall, Hard Times does a good job of showing how dangerous boxing can be. It’s definitely not a profession that most people choose for the joy of it. You’re either poor enough where you have to take a gamble, or one of the rare few who just enjoys fighting to such an extent that the risk is worth it. Chaney likes his lifestyle of travelling the country and not having to work a standard job so to him it makes sense. Win a few fights, then leave and restart. Still not something I’d advise, but to each their own. It’s a good film and doesn’t make any big mistakes but I’d also say it’s just not the most fun title out there. It’s a bit on the dreary side even if the ending does lean as positive as it can be.

Overall 6/10

Loki: Season 2 Review

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It’s time to close out the Loki saga over here. Season 1 was pretty fun with a lot of interesting concepts and the TVA actually worked rather well as a centerpiece. This season spends a lot more time, buying time, if that makes sense. As a result it does tend to be a little less exciting and I felt like the season didn’t really hit its stride until the final episode. You almost could have jumped right into that. It’s still a good season and you should definitely check it out if you watched the first one. Just be prepared for some of the slower pacing you’ll have seen in a while.

The last season ended with Loki failing to stop Sylvie from murdering Kang which started a whole chain reaction that changed the TVA. Now nobody even remembers Loki and he’s time spazzing all over the place. He needs to find a way to stop warping through time at random intervals, get everyone to remember the true timeline, and get things back on track. To do this, he will definitely need Mobius on his side and together they will have to convince Sylvie as well. This definitely won’t be easy.

The season is only 6 episodes but technically there isn’t actually a ton to cover. That’s why it does feel like the show tries to start buying time later on which can feel a bit obnoxious. This brings us to the worst character in the series, Timely. This guy takes forever to finish a single sentence and is always super nervous. It’s hard to take him serious even though he’s supposed to be a super genius. He gets the important things wrong anyway after all. I guess maybe it’s better to think of him as a red herring. Not the most flattering way to think about him, but ultimately that’s what he is reduced to.

The show also has to nerf Loki quite a lot in order to extend the chases. For example at one point you have Loki and Mobius trying to track down a defector named Brad. This should be easy. It’s 2 on 1, Brad’s just a normal human, and they have the element of surprise. Even with that, Brad manages to shake them for a good chunk of the episode. Keep in mind that Loki is still a powerful god with magical abilities. Stopping Brad even without hurting him should be absolutely easy. It should in fact be absolutely trivial.

Throughout the show Loki feels like he’s just a human with basic magic powers which feels off. He gets humiliated by Sylvie every time they fight and the rest of the characters don’t treat him like a powerful threat. It’s a classic case of Loki getting weaker the instant he became a protagonist. In one episode Brad just disrespects the guy for a long time. Loki gets the last laugh but you’re hoping he would just knock the guy out after a while.

This season is really aiming to complete his character arc of redemption though. So you could say in a sense that the fact that Loki feels more muzzled is intentional. It does lead up to him looking really good in the final episode which not surprisingly was my favorite one. Loki really got to cut loose there and while I would argue that he made the wrong decision, it was one that was very understandable. He did what he thought he had to. A certain anime named Madoka had the main character make the same choice and ultimately it’s up to everyone else to decide if they accept this or if they will help find another way. Unfortunately I don’t think Loki has any friends who are going to be selfless enough to try and help him here.

So power levels aside, Loki was a fun character here. I enjoyed his dialogue quite a bit and as always he had a great dynamic with Mobius. Mobius is the other standout character here and if anything I wish that his role could have been bigger. Anytime he’s on screen, you know the role is going to be really good. He’s great as being condescending and then sarcastic as the need arises. He’s perfect in the jaded, middle aged dude role. You really believe him when he just seems bored of everything at this point. He has mastered being detached from reality.

As a result you don’t really care about his serious plot of wondering about what his life could have been like. I think he’s at his best when none of that matters to him. If we had to get a new season without Loki, I actually think Mobius could hold his own show. The rest of the supporting characters would have to step it up a little bit though since he was way more charismatic than any of them. None of the others could even come close to his ability.

Ouroboros is one of the characters who gets a lot to do here. He’s one of those tech geniuses who isn’t great as social interactions but gets the job done. He isn’t bad but his array of jokes are a bit limited. He’s really got one gimmick and it will be spammed a lot. So not a bad character, but probably not someone who will make you raise an eyebrow. Ravonna gets a much smaller role than you would expect but she’s okay. My main issue with her would be that she didn’t have much of a grand plan.

It felt like she was easy to manipulate and the way she went out was rather anticlimactic. Ideally she will return with some kind of a power up, but if she never appears again, I will always remember her as being a little overconfident. Miss Minutes was a lot more compelling. She was good at hacking everything and getting in the way of the heroes. If anything you could say that she got off rather easy here. People are too trusting of A.I. and so she could definitely do more in the future. She’s one of those insane villains who can be fun to have around.

Then we have Brad who is a fairly reasonable villain. He’s very cocky and not one of the stronger characters here. What I mean by that is he will very easily be broken by anyone. Loki gets him to crack first, then Miss Minutes cracks him next, and by the end he gets mind controlled. Brad really can’t catch a break, nor does he deserve one. He’s a classic example of a guy who just does whatever he wants and ignores the consequences. Someone who is a good agent but not someone you can count on. The show handles his character well.

As for Sylvie, she was a bit too weak willed for me. She made her big decision in season 1 and at this point I feel like she just needs to stick to it. There’s nothing here that should be particularly surprising to her. She had to know what would happen by removing the cosmic lynchpin and just made the decision that aligned with her morals. I’ll get into this more later on but I would argue that it was actually the right move anyway. Loki was on the wrong side for most of this season and by the end he stumbles onto a new path but otherwise Sylvie would have been right.

So Sylvie falters a bit too easily. She is still a fun villain to have around but the heroes let her be too smug the whole time. They should probably at least try to arrest her in the meantime. I also don’t buy Loki losing to her every time when they fight a bunch in this season. Eventually he ought to find a way to win. We can assume that he did and we don’t get to see those futures but I would have liked the show to have made that clear. Otherwise it’s close to an unchangeable point in time which I always find dubious at best. Sylvie made a nice little life for herself on Earth and should have been satisfied with it.

Then we have He Who Remains, who is a solid villain. I liked him a lot more than in season 1 but the guy is still way too suicidal to be an impressive villain. The fact that he can defeat almost anyone but chooses to die just makes him a bit lame. I get that he’s been around forever and after some thousands of years anyone would want a break but then he should go out on his own terms. Go to a planet that’s about to explode and go with a bang. Don’t just let someone stab you to death. I liked that Loki called him out on it.

The mini theme song is pretty fun as always. I like the eerie music that plays when the Loki logo is being spelled out. It sets the tone nicely for the adventure although it would be nice to have more of a real theme song. The soundtrack doesn’t have many other tunes but this is still enough to be memorable. The visuals are also good, the effects are on point and the battles look good. There isn’t a ton of action here but what we do get is good.

Okay so one of the big debates here was on whether the TVA should prune timelines or not. Kang believes that this is necessary as you have to stop the timelines from splitting or it will introduce more Kangs who will eventually destroy the multiverse. There would just be too many of them to stop. Meanwhile Sylvie believes that doing this is immoral as you are destroying countless universes daily in order to ensure that there is only one sacred timeline. Since a new timeline comes into being for every decision that every person makes, it is quite literally infinite.

Of course it is prioritized to deal with ones that will have a Kang spawning and the TVA exists outside of time so it’s not like they’ll ever be late but it is something that will never end. I tend to be on Sylvie’s case here. The TVA is playing judge, jury, and executioner at the moment. They slaughter more people on a daily basis than anyone else in history. No matter how you slice it, that’s a really bad look. Their overall goals and visions may be ambitious but overall they don’t void this point. If the Kangs do start a war, then you will have to fight them and hope that good prevails.

Due to the way that time travel works, maybe they’d all be dead already if the war was going to come and so they shouldn’t worry about it either. Assigning themselves as the heads of time is certainly an abuse of power. You also have to trust that Kang was telling the truth. So yes I am firmly on Sylvie’s side. Even if saving everyone means they will eventually die, it’s your duty to save as many as possible. In the final episode we get a quick twist that allows Loki to bypass the whole debate but nobody could have predicted that so it doesn’t make Sylvie wrong in hindsight.

The final episode has a lot of Groundhog Day type moments and cool time loop discussions so that’s another reason why the episode ended on a super high note for me. I like the idea of time essentially being used as a rubber band for Loki to check things out and try many kinds of techniques. Ultimately we even get a thousand years+ timeskip so he’s lived more than almost any other character in existence. It’s hard to even wrap your head around that. It’s certainly impressive that he didn’t go crazy from doing all of that. He has definitely matured over the years and hopefully the franchise remembers that he is now a super genius for anything else that he appears in. Also that he can time travel at will and controls the multiverse. That should come in handy for many things…

So if I could make any changes here, it would be to speed up the events of the first 5 episodes into about 2. You can easily do this without stretching everything out. Then you have around 2 episodes for Loki doing a ton of time travelling and exploring ways to solve the situation. Finally you end as normal. I can’t stress enough how much more interesting it was to have Loki on the field than to be talking with Victor and the others about nothing. Maybe find a way for Mobius to go with Loki so we could still have good dialogue and banter the whole time.

Overall, Loki Season 2 has its share of fun moments and I do enjoy the debates on what the right move is. The focus on time travel and its many implications are also a lot of fun. While Loki may not have been on the right side for most of it, it doesn’t take away from the adventure. This show is going for a very cerebral approach and it works more than it doesn’t. It’ll be interesting to see how he loses in the Secret Wars film. However it happens, I’m expecting that I’ll be smirking as I won’t buy any of it but that’s what happens when you make the main character this powerful. Loki should be literally unbeatable now, unless he secretly wants to be defeated or something like that.

Overall 6/10

Hi-Fi Rush Review

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It’s time to look at a game that made a whole lot of waves when it first came out. This one was a really big deal and looked like a lot of fun, although it took a while to get ported. The physical release still isn’t out so it was time to take the plunge on this one. I can say that the game was even better than I expected it would be. This is an elite title with great artistic direction as well as excellent gameplay. As long as you like the beat em up style then you will have a great time here.

The story begins with a kid named Chai breaking into a government area in order to fix his arm with a robotic enhancement. The only problem is that he ends up falling inside the machine along with his IPod which gets embedded into him. Chai must now always move in tune with the beat and is also on the run from corporate. A mysterious cat shows up and offers to help him get out of the area as long as he also helps her. This may end up being a longer partnership than he had bargained for.

The first thing that was really impressive was the large extent of cinematics within the game. We get whole fight scenes within the cutscenes and a good amount of character development. The game isn’t even all that long and yet they still managed to cram a whole lot of content in here. You really can’t go wrong with that and it makes the whole thing fly by. The game even tries to pull off the emotional ending which could be tough since you barely know the characters and yet it actually works.

The script is very witty and all of the characters are very likable so that’s a winning combo. Meanwhile the soundtrack is pretty solid. The tunes all fit in with the gameplay as they are very fast paced. The graphics are most excellent as you would expect. Definitely no issues at all there. Then we have the gameplay which is of course a key element and I can safely say that this was also really great from top to bottom.

The main gameplay is a 3D beat em up as you smash your opponents with a guitar. You also gain the ability to summon your partners who can defeat specific types of enemy obstacles like barriers and shields. You want to strategically use them to complement your own fighting abilities and then win the day. By the end of the game you have 3 different allies who help you out here and basically make you a one man army. Now I will admit that this also made the game a bit easier than the devs were probably thinking.

The characters only have a cool down of around 3-5 seconds per use. So the best way to fight is by constantly spamming all 3 of the summons as you fight. Between switching from character to character while landing your hits, it makes for an unlimited stream of attacks. Yeah you still can’t close your eyes as they can land some shots in but for the most part you’re going to have a hard time losing. One of your special attacks restores 70% of your health and hitting enemies also makes them drop health containers. Mix the two things together and it really increases your overall fighting potential.

There is also a fairly extensive shop that lets you buy various power ups and badges to use. It’s so extensive that I didn’t touch close to 80% of it before I beat the game. There is an absolute mountain of things to buy and you simply won’t have enough money for all of them. The reason for this is likely in connection with the trophies where you are intended to complete the game 5 times in order to get the Platinum. So with the items carrying over, I could definitely see how you would have money for everything after playing through the game 5 times. How could you not right?

The Platinum trophy may not be extremely difficult but it does look to be a very lengthy one so I imagine that most people wouldn’t bother. Still, it does mean there is a lot of replay value here if you are wanting to get the most out of the game. The story itself is not particularly long but still gives you enough bang for your buck. I’d say the biggest advantage it has is in how much fun it is.

I tend to enjoy rhythm games like this and it definitely worked really well here. You will have a fun time rocking to the beats the whole time. Every bit of this game clearly had a whole lot of work and heart put into it. I’d say the only way you would not enjoy it is if you realllllly did not enjoy the beat em up genre. In that case it’s not like it would really be the game’s fault though. There would really be nothing that it could have done about that.

The game did add some mild platforming elements to the levels, maybe anticipating that people might think it was too straightforward. Honestly that’s the part that I could have skipped but it’s not like it was bad or anything. It just felt a bit unnecessary since the fighting gameplay was where the game really shined. There is a clear progression system and lots of achievements within the game to earn you more money to buy things. That’s why fighting always felt so rewarding.

Overall, Hi-Fi Rush is an elite game. Perhaps in a few months I’ll have cooled off on it or it’s just because I played this game after a bunch that all had some quick flaws. Regardless, this was just an absolutely epic game and the kind I could really play all day. It was a true blast and I definitely recommend you pick it up as soon as possible. It’s only around $30 right now which is a great price and also makes the shorter length not feel as bad. You don’t see a whole lot of games like this either so the originality will really stick out for you.

Overall 9/10

Fighting Girls Review

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It’s time to look at a recent one shot from Shonen Jump. It’s always fun when these come out to see just what kind of story can be concluded in one shot. I can safely say that this was a pretty good one all the way through with a fun parallel between the two characters. Naturally you could do a whole lot more with this one if it was a full series but the story still wraps up well enough here. The fights are mainly off screen but I guess that would have taken up a lot of pages.

The story starts by introducing us to Koume who wants to be a great fighter. She is really good and the best in her school until a girl named Tiara moves in and goes on an undefeated streak. Koume finally has a rival and does her best to surpass her but this seems like an impossible goal. Can she really accomplish it? Meanwhile the second half retells the story from Tiara’s point of view. She really wants to be a great fighter as well but unlike Koume, she gets 0 support from her parents. If anything they act as an active obstacle in her way by not getting her equipment and constantly discouraging her. Naturally this starts to affect her confidence and Tiara wonders if maybe she should give up on this career.

This makes for a solid contrast as both characters really have the exact opposite circumstances on their side. They’re both likable characters as well, although I’ll give Tiara the slight edge. It’s hard to root against a character who had the deck completely stacked against her and still managed to make it near the top. That takes a lot of grit and hard work. She also goes through a pretty nasty injury and is able to keep on going.

Tiara is a great example of how perseverance can really carry you a long way. She also worked really hard in order to have the level of talent needed to rise all the way to the top of the rankings. That certainly wasn’t easy. I also appreciated that she didn’t just randomly become the mean rival type. She was still kind the whole way through and never went out of her way to belittle Koume.

Of course Koume is also a solid character as she remains the hopeful underdog the whole time. She is extremely talented as well and only isn’t satisfied because she never wanted to just be second best. We’ll have to wait a while for her to get a proper rematch with Tiara as pros but the gap between them has certainly been reduced a great deal. It’s anyone’s guess who would win in the fight now.

The art is fairly good. It’s a bit rougher than you’d see for most of the big ongoing series but for a one shot that makes sense since it’s not like the artist has been able to draw the characters for a long time. It’s not like the art is bad either, it’s still clear enough to easily read and that’s the important thing. The oneshot is around 70 pages so you can read through it pretty quickly since it isn’t overly wordy. The page count also does let the series get to do a lot within this one chapter.

Now while I did say I understood why we didn’t get to really see the fights here, I do think the story would have absolutely been elevated by having some. When you have a story about fighting, you would expect some level of action right? Often times we just see the aftermath of a fight or maybe the first blow at most. That’s not exactly what I’m looking for when I’m talking about full fights. Seeing the danger up close like that would also help you better understand why some would be against the girls getting involved in such a tough career.

Of course that wasn’t the logic that Tiara’s parents had, but they were mainly just antagonists the whole time anyway. It would have been nice if they could have been more reasonable but sometimes you’re just going to have people who are very two dimensional like that. Tiara could have spent time complaining about it, but instead she just kept on going to work and improving herself.

Overall, This story achieves its objective of giving you an interesting premise for this self contained adventure. You can sympathize with the plight that the two girls have of deciding if they want to continue being pro fighters or not. It’s not as if this is the most popular career in Japan after all and so it’s certainly a risk. However, any job is a risk when you think about it so you might as well go for one that you’re interested in. Aside from Tiara’s parents, the supporting characters are all pretty supportive as well which is nice. Nobody is judging them too harshly for wanting to live out their lives on this path.

Overall 7/10