Tag Archives: Indie

GI Joe: Wrath of Cobra Review

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It’s been a while since I played a GI Joe game so it was time to change that. Wrath of Cobra is one of those games that never got a physical release so it was time to finally grab it on the PSN. It’s definitely a short game so I would feel bad for anyone who might have gotten it on opening day. The gameplay is fun enough and all but you really feel like they could have put way more effort into this. At least make it a few hours longer right? I don’t think that would have been so unreasonable.

The game starts with Cobra Commander deciding to take over the world but there is also a clone of him and both think that they are the real deal. So they attack the Joes and along the way will have to watch their backs or they will be absolutely dominated. One wrong step and that is game over. So Duke and friends prepare to fight them. There isn’t much more of a story than that but I do appreciate that the game will actually throw in the occasional cutscene. It helped to liven things up and we even get to see a glimpse of the outside world as Cobra Commander tries to get some kids to support his cause. It helps to flesh the world out a tiny bit.

Of course, the whole game is still only around 2 hours so it really goes by in a flash. There are 12 levels and each level tends to be around 7-9 minutes. You have your basic attacks as well as a super move. You have to use these attacks to try and claim total victory. You have 4 lives to play the game with although if you lose them all, you get infinite continues. So that’s pretty handy. There are trophies for beating levels without getting hit or dying which sounds insane to me. I just don’t know how anyone would really be pulling that off.

I suppose with enough practice but this is not a game that I think most people would end up sticking with. I definitely wouldn’t be playing the game more than once. The reason does come down to how basic it is. I prefer 3D beat em ups but the 2D ones can be good too. There just isn’t much to it because the moveset is too low. You only have two main attacks to combo with. Then the enemies don’t have a whole lot of variety to them either. I suppose you could have fun switching characters since you have several options here but even then that is not going to buy you a ton of time.

It was always fun to exploit the occasional glitch though. A few times there would be a boss or an enemy who would not realize that you were standing slightly beneath him so he would keep striking out at empty air. Was a good way to cheese some of these guys who had really large health bars. For my playthrough I decided to play as Snake Eyes because he has incredibly high attack power. I think I made the right choice there. His super attack is that he summons a dog to come in and deal a lot of damage. A bit random but a fun super since even the bosses would take a lot of damage from that.

As far as the graphics go, they look good enough. I liked how colorful everyone is in order to match the old show. The cutscenes we get definitely aren’t very high quality but at least we had cutscenes which was cool. The soundtrack is okay but also not something that I would call really memorable. You’ll have forgotten the tunes real quickly once the game ends.

My main advice when playing is to jump a lot. It’s a great way to clear the distance over to your opponents and of course you get to dodge attacks along the way. Then once you have the enemies in one spot, you can really combo them all to death. Keep on swinging even once they are in the air and usually you can finish each opponent before they had a chance to hit the ground. Pretty sneaky eh? It’s a pretty good way to whittle down the odds.

The game would be really difficult without the infinite continues but since you have them, this one is a true cake walk. While the length is extremely short, the trophies do add a lot of replay value since I think it would be incredibly difficult to get them all. Getting the Platinum for a game like this would really feel like a pipe dream. Not totally impossible or anything like that but not really worth the amount of time it would take. To me at least, maybe you could see it as a badge of honor.

Overall, Wrath of Cobra feels very much like the kind of game you would find on the app store. It’s not particularly high quality and is a very short experience. The gameplay is simple and while it’s not bad, you get the feeling that there wasn’t a ton of time spent on it. This game was just churned out quickly to take advantage of the retro beat em up feeling that everyone has been enjoying. This one loses to most of the other games I’ve played in this genre. If you really like GI Joe though, perhaps the nostalgia alone will make it worth it for you.

Overall 6/10

Underhero Review

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I can’t say I had heard of Underhero until fairly recently. There are so many indie games out there after all that it can be hard to know of them all and that’s why you need those irl recommendations to filter out the crazy ones. Underhero makes for a fun platformer with some good level up elements and a good degree of difficulty. There are a few areas where it could have used some quality of life updates to smooth out the ride but I’d say it did really well for its budget overall. It’s an adventure you won’t want to miss.

The game starts with the hero finally making it to the big boss in order to save the princess. He has worked hard to get here and is currently level 99. Unfortunately right before he can make it to the final fight, he ends up getting squashed by a chandelier, courtesy of minion 745. The demon king is thrilled and tells the minion to go give the bosses their magical stones back. Then he will be richly rewarded. What the demon king doesn’t realize is that this minion feels rather guilty about what happened and the hero’s sentient sword Elizabeth has convinced him to help her out. He will now be gathering his strength to save the world. This will not be an easy fight.

How can a minion hope to defeat his boss right? Well, having a super legendary sword at the ready is certainly helpful for that and you get stronger as you take on the various worlds. One of the mechanics is even similar to Undertale which is that you can choose to destroy the enemies or bribe them using money. The latter cuts your exp point gain in half while the former corrupts you but gives a lot of EXP. Me personally? I decided to take out every enemy I came across because at the end of the day they are still on the villain’s side. That being said, I did spare the other minions who were just caught up in the chaos so I didn’t go too crazy.

Every time you get a level up you get to choose between increasing your attack power, health, or stamina bar. Personally I went for attack power every single time. It just felt like it made a massive amount of difference but you can make decent arguments for any of the 3. The game has a whole lot of freedom to it. You can also find various upgrades along the worlds and others within the shop. I was nearly able to buy all of the upgrades but I spent enough money during the game where the last few were just out of reach.

There isn’t a level select or anything like that so if you miss out on something then unfortunately you’re probably not getting it back. So try to be thorough in each of the worlds. The game took me around 10 hours to clear so it’s a pretty decent length. Additionally the enemies can be challenging so make sure you save whenever possible. I got jumped by a snail creature after completing a long series of ice skating events so then I had to beat them all again. It’s always a rough feeling so you want to minimize that whenever possible. It’s not always easy though as the save points can be rather far apart at times. That’s something I would like to see the game address if it ever gets a sequel.

The two things the game needed were a quick level select like fast travel, and more save points. I would also add respawning enemies but since this directly ties into the game’s story, it might be a bit unreasonable for me to suggest that. Either way the other things are easier to implement. The game’s difficulty mainly comes from trying to learn the parry timings and the opponent’s moves after all. So you don’t necessarily need high stats in order to crush the enemies. It just makes things easier.

By the end of the game we have quite a few noteworthy characters. I really liked the rival who gets a solid twist by the end. The villains were mainly pretty good and the true boss behind it all made for a good obstacle even if I wasn’t a big fan of the character himself. The game wasn’t afraid to break the 4th wall or subvert your expectations either. At one point the game starts to send you off on what sounds like a super annoying fetch quest but then a volcano blows up which skips the whole thing.

Or another time when you are getting ready to fight the boss but you are told to go back to the hub world first, the game just trolls you and you start the battle anyway. It’s little moments like this which help to make the game extra memorable so I appreciated that. The writing is good and the story is on point so the game had its fundamentals down. The graphics are also solid, this is a good looking sprite game with a lot of solid combat animations. The soundtrack is a bit more forgettable though. I wouldn’t say there were any big themes in the game that stood out, but I did appreciate the horror type jump scares near the end. The boss battles were definitely real creative.

Overall, Underhero is a pretty good game. It was well planned out and I wouldn’t say that it had any big weak points. You can get it for a good price online and it gives you a good amount of value. There were also quite a lot of trophies it gave you just for completing the game and the platinum seems doable even if it would end up requiring some extra playing time. I can safely recommend this to anyone looking for a solid gameplay experience. Due to the nature of the parry system, it’s also a game that anyone can beat so long as they keep on practicing and learning each of the boss’ tells ahead of time. Focus on conquering those and you will be all set.

Overall 7/10

Vampire Survivors Review

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Now here is a game that takes me back. I’ve never played it before but I used to see it on streams all the time and it looked like a lot of fun. I like the idea of a survival game like this where you are surrounded by never ending legions of enemies. You really have a lot of decisions to make each time with the power ups and win or lose, it feels like it was all on you. It’s also a unique title that you can completely play with just one hand which is also cool. You could be texting while playing, watching a tv show, reading a book, etc. You’ll probably die quickly if you’re too distracted but it’s just such a novel idea.

So like I said, the idea is to survive here. You start out with a whip or an energy blast scepter. (You can buy other characters with your gold) When the game starts, there are only some enemies at first. You blast them and level up which lets you upgrade your default weapon, select a new one, or upgrade one of your other weapons. As the levels up continue, you have to make hard decisions. Do you boost all your attacks by 10%, unlock a 4th weapon or strengthen the original? I would say a good thing to do is try and craft a strategy. Pick the build you want to create based on what you start with. Like I love having a scepter/garlic build because it lets me shoot tons of energy blasts while I also have the garlic to protect me up close. This is the strategy that finally let me survive the full 30 minutes and effectively beat the game. That being said, there is no guarantee that I get the garlic option.

It’s why you can’t be too stubborn about the build you want. If the garlic never comes up, you will have to pick something else up and if garlic shows up too late in the game then it might not even be worth picking. A level 1 garlic won’t be doing much once you’re already level 20 after all. So definitely keep that in mind. It’s also fun to be experimenting with all kinds of different decks anyway. That’s how you really have a lot of fun. The game will take you a very long time to complete anyway. I finally made it to the 30 minute mark where I fought the super demon who destroys you in one hit. I heard there is actually a way to get past him which sounds crazy but I would consider that to be the end of the game.

Of course if you own the game and want to continue then this is amazing because it adds a ton of replay value. You will have to really trin properly there. Fortunately this is a Rogue title which means that you will gradually get stronger in every playthrough. While you fight off the legions, you want to grab as many coins as possible since that is how you unlock more characters and permanent upgrades. So if you just play long enough, you’ll eventually be starting off with 10% increases in damage, speed, and exp. Things like that make a massive amount of difference the more that you play. Personally I really like the EXP one. That’s how I made it to level 50 on the run where I finally survived the 30 minutes. Without that I would have definitely died earlier.

One big thing to remember during gameplay is to always defeat the sparkling enemies or any enemy that looks very different from the others. Why? Because those guys will drop treasure chests which always have at least 100 coins in them. They also drop an extra level up upgrade bonus so you really want that. These enemies are absolutely more durable and can be a royal pain to destroy but they are still worth it 100%. You can’t just think about the current run after all, you have to factor in your future runs and this is where those chests come in handy. So just keep on earning those coins, trust me there are so many power ups that it’ll take ages to get every power up anyway.

The graphics look pretty good. I’m impressed that the game can handle so many enemies on screen at a time even without a bigger budget. There is no lag or anything like that, the game run really smoothly. It’s super nice to see and of course all of the action is clear at all times. So the graphics are good and I also really like the main theme of the game. It’s catchy and definitely fills you with energy right out of the gate. It works perfectly with the gameplay to further enhance the game.

Overall, Vampire Survivors absolutely elevates this genre of game. I haven’t played any other title quite like this one and apparently it got so big that other games like this are named after it as Survivors now. I’d be curious to play more games like this one but I’ve heard that so far there has never been another game even close to this one. That’s a shame but I suppose it would definitely be really hard to stop. The game has a ton of replay value and is incredibly filled with content for the price. This is a game that I could absolutely recommend purchasing even at its normal price. You are bound to have a whole lot of fun with this game and it will be hard to tear yourself away from it. It’s why I say that games with a power up system where you feel yourself getting stronger are absolutely awesome.

Overall 8/10

A Little to the Left Review

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It’s time for a puzzle game and you know those can be very hit or miss for me. For these types of games I either want a good story or I want something that’s just a lot of fun and really addictive like gem matching. That’s where it’s at but this game unfortunately doesn’t seem to have either. There are a lot of levels so I can’t knock the game in terms of content but the puzzles themselves really aren’t very fun to play and that’s really a big deal. Ultimately I would even say that it’s a game breaking deal.

There isn’t really any kind of preview of build up when you start the game. You are thrown right into the mix. The puzzles are divided into around 5 chapters. Each chapter has over 20 puzzles and you try to solve them until you win. If you are totally stuck you can ask for a hint or skip the puzzle and return to it for later. The puzzles are generally about organizing things. For example, putting everything into a basket, lining up books from smallest to largest, etc. You’re mainly going things like this until you get to the end of the game. As you go on, the puzzles naturally get a lot tougher to figure out.

The toughest part here is that outside of asking for a hint, you are given no context to the puzzles whatsoever. You have to try and use deductive reasoning here which is an interesting idea in concept, but I don’t think it really works. I would like to at least have a basic idea of what I’m doing here. Some are self explanatory like with the books as you try to sort them from smallest to largest. Others are a lot trickier like where you have 3 paintings. It seem like you have to try and tilt them a little but I don’t get the logic of that one and the tilts didn’t seem to stick. I should mention now that there is also no tutorial on how the controls work.

You are just thrown into the mix and have to try and work it out. Again this could work depending on how the puzzle goes but this game was definitely not up to the task. I think one of the reasons for this is also how silent the game is. It could have really used a hype soundtrack. Even just 4-5 different songs that cycle through would add a whole lot of life to the game. Without that, it just ends up being completely forgotten and you will have soon left it in the dust. The fact that it’s not free by default was also a bit surprising for me.

Sometimes games just don’t click though and that’s just how it goes. Believe it or not I’ve still played worse games than this one. As negative as this one sounds, at least it is a very basic title that manages your expectations right from the jump. It could absolutely be wayyyyy worse than that. I guess if there was ever a sequel to this one, I would say it should add some kind of a basic plot even if it’s only through text. Maybe every puzzle you complete lets you learn about 2 paragraphs worth of new information. Some kind of hook right?

I’m not sure if there’s a post game here but with the large amount of puzzles the game has, it is already plenty long. It’s hard to picture anyone just flying by the game because of how varied the puzzles are. There will surely be some of them mixed in there that will give you a little trouble here and there. Those are the ones that you will definitely need to watch out for and while you can skip them, I assume you need to complete all puzzles to truly complete the game. Not that there is likely to be any kind of story ending though but maybe they did sneak a secret cutscene in at the end. Technically speaking, there’s no reason to assume that would be impossible right?

Overall, A Little to the Left is not a game I would recommend. There’s just not enough detail to it so it really ends up holding itself back. The controls are pretty simple yet sometimes not very intuitive. I could see this working as a mobile game between subway stations to buy yourself some time but as a full fledged video game I don’t see there being many reasons to pick this over something else. At least for people who really do enjoy the game, there is a lot to do here. For everyone else, yeah it’s time to go back to Professor Layton or something like that instead for the quality puzzle gameplay. That also has the added benefit of having a full fledged story mode with it as well. How do you top that?

Overall 3/10

Animal Well Review

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It’s time to talk about the new game that Dunkey recently released. It’s a Metroidvania which isn’t really my thing but I figured I’d check it out since it’s for free with the PS+. (Which has to suck for Dunkey since that probably takes a huge chunk out of his profits) Well..unfortunately the game doesn’t really work too well for me. It’s missing a lot of the quality of life features that I would really want to see in a game like this. There’s also no real story to speak of which hits hard.

The game starts off with some spooky sound effects and then you start off in a dark room. It’s hard to say exactly why but you have to find a bunch of eggs and then put out the 4 flames. If you can pull this off then perhaps you will escape the animal well. It will take all of your skills to pull this off though so is it really possible or are you just living in a delusion? There is only one way to find out.

The basic gameplay is that of a 2D platformer. You run and jump as you try to get around the obstacles and make it to the end of the room. Each room leads into another room and then you will typically find an egg or a new power up. The new items allow you to reach new rooms that you couldn’t reach before. So keep on doing this and eventually you will beat the game. Of course the one problem is that this means you will probably need to replay the same rooms over and over again. Unless you take very precise notes you will also not remember which room had an exit that you were previously unable to navigate either. So that’s another thing to keep in perspective.

Now, travelling back and forth isn’t a bad thing in itself. Shantae actually does this to extremely good effect where you actually have a lot of fun backtracking. You feel stronger every time and you can typically make it across in record time. The problem with Animal Well is that most of the power ups don’t make you faster or anything like that so it can be a real chore to keep going through the same rooms. Additionally one of the things you have to keep in mind is that a lot of the passageways are super hidden.

So you might check off a room that you feel holds no more secrets and then it turns out that it does. So you can never be sure as you are approaching the game. Sometimes you will be super far into one of the paths and then you die to a one hit KO like a block falling on you. You then warp back to the last phone save point which is super far away. Your quick travel (Which takes a lot of eggs to unlock) only works through the save points too. There just aren’t enough save points and too many rooms. If you die you should be taken back to the room where you died in it. Still use the phones as save points for when you exit the game but while playing you should be able to restart where you are.

That will help a great deal in making the game more fun. The graphics are also very basic although I think this is an intentional move. It’s trying to look really old so I can respect that even if I don’t think that the game looks all that solid. The lack of a soundtrack is a big issue though. It’s way too silent and yes that could be seen as spooky but more importantly that can be seen as rather boring. I need something to listen too and so not having that is really a big deal. I mean you can put on a Youtube video or something but just make some spooky music.

In a way the problem is that the game is trying to be old school in every respect which isn’t a good idea. I’ve said before that the very old era of gaming was more of a hit or miss for me. I generally like just about every modern game but if we’re talking original Atari or something then there are many more that I wouldn’t have liked. It’s important not to throw away the quality of life features that we have at this point just to make the game’s older or something like that. Trust me it’s not the way to do it.

Also there should be some way to fight back. Every time you are shredded by an enemy you feel like you could have won if you had some kind of weapon. Your items just don’t interact with the enemies. At least the Yoyo should be able to hit them or the frisbee should knock one around. The only offensive weapon is the Firecracker and even then it works on most enemies but not all of them. Give me something for self defense or maybe make it so you get collectibles quicker to minimize the backtracking just a little. There are a lot of ways you could have made this game a lot more fun than the way that it is currently.

Overall, Animal Well is a game that has a lot of depth to it. There are secrets around every corner and lots of reasons to keep on playing. The problem is that the game missed something that is absolutely fundamental. It forgot to be fun. That’s the thing here, I just don’t feel like solving every puzzle. There are some games where I can keep on dying over and over while having fun like Super Smash or games where I need to keep backtracking like Has Been Heroes but in both of those cases you don’t feel like it’s a time grind. You’re just doing what you have to do and there is a straight forward reason why you are losing and backtracking. Animal Well doesn’t have that. Even just adding a #complete ticker to the screens would be nice or maybe color a room differently when there are no secrets left. Those would be great quality of life updates that would make the game more fun. Without those, then there’s just not much in the game to keep you addicted and having fun.

Overall 4/10

Cursed to Golf Review

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Golf has never really been my thing. The game doesn’t move fast enough for me and the gameplay didn’t translate well onto the video game screen. The only exception to this has really been the Gamecube Mario Golf which was rather good. I figured this one could change things since it has the whole rogue genre going for it so I figured that would entail some fun gameplay. Unfortunately while there are a lot of gimmicks and items here, none of them really help to make Golf any more fun than it usually is. Instead I dare say that it may have been weaker than normal.

There is a general plot here which is that the main character was about to go and win the world championships when unfortunately he died and is now in the underworld. He will have to try and climb his way back to the surface but the only way to do that is to complete the 18 hole set in the underworld. If he can’t get the golf ball into the hole fast enough in any of the holes then he will be sent all the way back to the start. The stakes are high but hey the main character has his entire after life to figure this out. So he definitely has time on his side.

The general gameplay is your classic Golf of course. You have to use one of your 3 clubs in order to hit the ball into the hole before all of your turns are done. You may start with 10 balls for example, then that means you have 10 turns to sink it. Your clubs each have different specialties. One is good for ground balls, one to launch balls in the air, etc. Using them effectively will really determine just how far you get here. If you mess up then that will be it for you.

You will want to take a good look around the stage though or you may end up hitting your ball into the water or a ditch. If that happens then you will have really wasted a turn. You also have cards which work as special abilities. These cards can grant you extra turns, stop time, split your ball into multiple copies, etc. There are a whole lot of possibilities here so you will want to use them efficiently. As you progress through the stages you will bump into shops where you can buy more items or get other bonuses. Then there are the boss rooms which have a lot of holes and you have to figure out which one to use. This is the one I couldn’t figure out though. You have unlimited balls so running out isn’t a concern but I felt like I used every hole more than once and I still couldn’t win. There’s probably some kind of trick to it but I wasn’t a big fan.

You really need to like Golf to play through this game though because otherwise there isn’t much to keep you focused here. It’s really just golf with a bunch of items and special abilities but that makes things more chaotic without solving the main issue of making golf more fun. I would put a lot of the blame on how long each of the levels are though. It takes forever to actually get through each level and that’s a problem. I’d rather start off with half the balls but the levels are half length. That would be a much better balance. The length of the levels here make the whole game a lot more daunting than it really needs to be. It would take so many different attempts to win the whole thing and losing at the end would be absolutely demoralizing.

In general I’ve always been very pro check points though. Keep them coming fast and often. That is the best way to handle a game like this. It makes the whole experience better, maybe they could do that for a sequel. In the meantime to beat this one you will need a lot of training because the game is really difficult. Unless you get a lot of permanent upgrades which to be fair is standard for a rogue title, you are going to be in a lot of trouble here.

The graphics are really good though. It’s got that cute indie style which works well and all of the character models are sharp. The backgrounds all look sharp and I like all of the effects. The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side though. It’s fairly calm and that works well with the golf gameplay but I’d definitely have preferred something with a lot more energy to it. That could have helped to energize the gameplay at least a little.

Overall, Cursed to Golf is a game with a really interesting premise but that’s enough to carry it to safety. The actual gameplay is just not very fun and the levels are way too long. Mix that in with the very heavy penalty of having to start from scratch when you lose and that’s it. The all time best rogue game has easily been TMNT Splintered Fate but I’ve heard good things about many other titles over the years. I just haven’t played many games in the genre but so far they’ve all been pretty solid except this one. This one I definitely do need to give a thumbs down to. Of course if you like Golf then you should definitely check it out.

Overall 4/10

Cuphead Review

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Cuphead is one of those games that made a lot of waves when it first came out. This was known as the ultimate platformer with a high level of difficulty. You don’t see too many crazy hard platformers like this nowadays and Cuphead lives up to the hype. It is very difficult and some of the bosses will take a whole lot of tries but the game is so well designed that it’s never frustrating. It’s always difficult in a fair way where you know that you can defeat the opponent eventually and the levels aren’t very long so you don’t mind retrying over and over again.

The game starts off with Mugman and Cuphead getting a little too overconfident and making a deal with the devil. If they win the game then they’ll get rich but if they lose then he will claim their souls. Naturally they lose so all hope is lost but the devil gives them a deal. If they steal the souls of a bunch of people who escaped then they can get theirs back but an elder warns the heroes not to be fooled a second time. So instead they will get the souls and then try to defeat the devil, but do they have the power to pull this off?

One thing that stands out about this game is that it’s basically a big boss rush. You constantly go up against all of these absolutely massive bosses and you have to defeat them before they defeat you. There are no health upgrades or levels to grind. You have to use pure talent to try and overcome the boss. The only thing you can switch up are your weapons and much like a Mega Man game you will find that some weapons are best for different circumstances. None will deal extra elemental damage but the way they work is different.

For example you have the homing gun which is really weak but will go after an opponent anywhere. So if you are confident in your dodging skills you should use this one. It will prolong every fight but you can focus completely on dodging while holding down the shoot button since it won’t matter what direction you’re facing. I used this one for a pair of bosses because it was handy. Then you have the shotgun spreader which does a ton of damage but it super short range. I liked using that one as my sub weapon near the end so when the boss would gloat or stop moving I would run in and start blasting.

I didn’t use the rest of the weapons though. For the vast majority of the game I stuck with the normal peashooter because it’s really a terrific balanced weapon. It’s like using a Mega Buster in Mega Man and gets the job done. Additionally I think it’s the best for practicing your fundamentals because you have to fight carefully in order to use it well. I would say to usually use the first round or two to just focus on learning the enemy attack patterns and then after that you can really go in and start playing aggressively. You just don’t want to do that at the start because you’ll be taking damage like crazy that way.

As I said the levels are short though and they’re a lot of fun. You really feel a sense of accomplishment when you go through the bosses and learn how to get around their attacks. There is also a parry system to block but I never got too good on that one so I really focused on dodging instead. For me at least that seemed to be a better approach. There are also a few normal platformer levels which are always fun to play through. They were never as difficult as the boss battles but they still had their own challenges to be sure. The enemies all keep on respawning there so you have to do your best to work around them.

The graphics here are really solid. The game is bright and colorful as it goes for that very retro appeal. The cutscenes are also drawn like a very old Disney cartoon. If this gets a sequel I’d like to see more fully animated cutscenes but the game really focused the attention on gameplay and that’s never a bad move. The soundtrack is also really fun. I like the little intro quotes from the narrator at the beginning of each boss battle and the characters have great intro animations as well. There are a lot of small touches like that which help to take the game to the next level.

The physical version of the game even brought the DLC along with it so that was cool. It’s pretty short but more content is always a good thing. I don’t think I’ll be getting the Platinum for this game though. You’d have to S rank every boss which sounds incredibly difficult. I didn’t get a single S rank after all so I was quite far from that. It does help the overall replay value of the game though. It’s not the longest title out there but the sheer difficulty should extend the playtime. I consider myself to be a master of bullet hell and platforming games and even I had to retry some bosses a significant amount of times. So don’t worry about trying to blast through the game and just enjoy each attempt. Failing and trying to improve are part of what makes the game so much fun after all.

Overall, Cuphead is a great game. I definitely had a lot of fun with it and I’d really be up for a sequel at some point. There’s a whole lot more that you can do with the Cuphead mythos after all and nobody else has really jumped on the idea of a platformer game that focuses on bosses so Cuphead can still grab that as its main gimmick. Who doesn’t like boss fights right? I’m sure it’s difficult to create so many unique ones like this one did but it worked perfectly. I definitely recommend playing through this one 100%. It doesn’t get much better than this!

Overall 8/10

Cube Review

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This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Time for one of those death trap films where you have to survive until the end to win. Of course it won’t be very easy and if you know your genre well then it’s unlikely that more than 2 will survive. In fact, sometimes you can’t even expect 2 to make it. So as you watch the film you will be wondering just when these guys are gonna die. Unfortunately the film is pretty bad and doesn’t end up using the concept to its full potential.

The movie starts with all of the characters waking up in a mysterious Cube. Each room is lit up by the same 4-5 colors and it’s easy to get lost. The place seems to be endless as well which causes the characters to start cracking. Making matters even worse is the fact that many rooms have death traps installed within them. Can the heroes really find a way out of here or is it game over for them?

A movie like this is usually doomed as soon as you see the cast since the characters tend to be unlikable and this one is no exception. The characters always end up being either mean, evil, or complain a lot. They’re not ready for this kind of adventure and it’s why you always wish they would do a film with a group of trained professionals instead. For once it would be nice to see the characters not be panicking the whole time and actually just make the right calls when it counted. This isn’t that film though.

First you have Quentin who’s the worst character in the film. You know how his character arc is going to play out almost as soon as he starts talking. Maybe it’s an escape room type gimmick but you know that you’ve seen this character arc play out before. It’s a shame since the drama should really be focused on the literal death traps instead. Quentin’s scenes just get worse and worse as he film goes on which is a shame since it just drives the film lower and lower.

Granted, the film was always going to be a really low one. It’s a pretty violent film with the death traps everywhere and each death is always rather gruesome. One guy gets his face melted off, others are stabbed. There aren’t really any happy moments in the film. Since the characters started off already in the cube, we don’t even get a happy intro with the characters talking as they walked in an area for a test or something. The film is part mystery as they don’t even know why they are in the Cube in the first place.

Joan is effectively the main character here. She’s a math genius which really comes in handy here due to how the Cube works. The film throws a lot of twists about this but the key thing to remember is that as a trap/puzzle there is a right way to move around. If you find this method then you will end up going far and claiming victory. Of course it isn’t easy though. Joan definitely goes through quite a lot in the film. I wasn’t particularly a fan of hers either though. She complains a lot with the rest of the group and isn’t particularly nice to Kazan.

Nobody is safe from cracking in this film. Kazan is one of the biggest examples as the whole experience basically broke him completely. Unfortunately you feel like he’s just here to make everything more uncomfortable for the rest of the characters. One of the worst scenes is when he has to use the bathroom and it’s crude moments like that which will hold the film back even more. You don’t need anything like that in this film or any other.

David is the cynic of the group who thinks everyone is dead anyway so we may as well not try further. He is hiding some secrets which strengthen his case on why they shouldn’t do much but of course that’s not very helpful in trying to stay alive. He’s really not being helpful to the cast at all. Someone like this is just really annoying to have in the group spreading more negativity.

Helen also can’t stay focused as she talks about the government conspiracies and how someone is always watching. Her theories only serve to aggravate the rest of the characters even more. She seems nicer than most of the other characters at least even if she breaks down a lot. The only character who seemed likable was Wren. He wasn’t panicking and was at least making some moves in trying to get out of here. I can at least respect that.

But yeah this is the kind of film that’s just very mean spirited the whole time. It’s about throwing the cast into an unwinnable situation as you watch them all get bumped off and turn on each other. If the film had stayed about survival and didn’t go down the “Lord of the Flies” route then it would have been better. Likely not good of course but at least it would have been better. The death traps are all you need and everyone turning on each other is always one of the worst plot points.

In fighting is bad enough but the films always have to go way too far with it. If everyone was just upset at each other or snapping with insults that would be fine. It’s when they try to murder each other or go further that we have a problem. That’s most of the second half unfortunately because the characters figure out how to get around the traps reasonably early on and so after that the people are the real danger.

The ending is your classic horror ending so I won’t say how it goes but you aren’t expecting a happy ending here anyway. We get a few jump scares but the last one doesn’t even make any sense. I don’t see how this person would be here given what we just saw. That’s absolutely impossible, it’s just not going to happen and is here for pure shock value. The film simply couldn’t leave well enough alone and it makes the whole journey feel even more pointless.

Overall, This film is just pretty bad. There’s already not much to salvage within the sub genre when you take it to the horror extreme and this one lowers the bar further by adding all kinds of unnecessary plot elements. The only thing I would say for it is that the design of the Cube is rather solid. I liked the various colors and there were some decent background music tracks within. The mystery itself might compel you a bit but as the film goes on you get the sense that you’re not going to be getting any answers to it anyway. You will have your headcanon at least which will have to do. Of course with more films out you may get all of the answers there. I wouldn’t advise checking this film out or any of the sequels though.

Overall 1/10

Redemption Review

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This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Redemption is one of those films that could have worked really well as a stylistic action blockbuster where things are happening around every corner. Instead the film goes for grit and more often than not this ends up hurting the film. By the end everyone’s in rather poor shape and the film does not go for a happy ending. You just know that they’re all doomed.

The movie starts by introducing us to Joe. He’s currently homeless and just trying to survive in the back alleys. Unfortunately there are a group of thugs who go around beating up the homeless every night. Joe ends up escaping but not before getting roughed up quite a bit. He ends up falling into an empty apartment and takes refuge there. The owner won’t be back for a while so this may be his chance to finally start over. Joe stops taking drugs and even gets a job in a restaurant washing dishes. Things are looking up but then he starts getting into some dangerous territory when he accepts a job as an enforcer. On one hand the pay is excellent, but on the other hand he’s basically become a thug now. Can he find true romance like this?

A big part of the film is that he likes a lady named Cristina who works as a nun and as a result can’t actually date him. Joe doesn’t seem to care about that and pressures her into an affair all the time. She half heartedly tries rejecting him a few times but the issue is that she does enjoy the presents. At one point he gives her a ton of cash which she uses to buy some opera tickets. As the film goes on she definitely starts to lower her defenses but Joe tends to make things harder on himself by getting mixed into more dangerous situations so he isn’t always ready at the right time.

The romance is just pretty bad here. If Christina is interested then she should have just retired right away. The life of a nun isn’t for everyone and if that is the case for her then there’s no shame in walking away from that. It would have definitely been a much better option than trying to have it both ways. That’s what gets her into trouble quite a bit. She is a nice person who does a lot for the community so I won’t knock Christina entirely, but this plot just really dragged on throughout.

Never one to miss up a chance for adding some dark elements to the story, we also find out that Christina has a very dark backstory. It’s got to point being in the film except to add some shock value. Likewise we eventually learn about how Joe got into his present situation and lets just say it was not a pleasant experience. The film goes into it but effectively he was a soldier who ended up going on a bit of a revenge mission that rewarded him with a lot of guilt for the rest of his life. While it does explain how he became so broken in the film, it doesn’t make the rest of it any more enjoyable.

We’ve got a lead character here who is an excellent fighter, is intelligent, and resourceful. When Joe puts his mind to it he is able to quickly get a job and turn his life around. He gets off the drugs and even gets in shape again. It was a really solid turnaround but then the ending just throws that on its head for no real reason. There’s no good explanation for why he would just throw his life back out of whack like that. He can try to atone for his previous crimes or ignore it and push on. Intentionally putting himself back in a position where he’s going to be getting beat up and hunted again just isn’t a good way to end things.

There is a mild subplot where people are hunting him down with some security drones. By the end of the film we know who these guys are and this had potential but the film really doesn’t go into it very much. This ends up being more of an after thought that occurs so randomly you may forget it is even happening at some points. If this plot was played up more as Joe is on the run from this group then that would be interesting. I could have definitely gotten behind that.

Instead the film is mainly about showing us just how corrupt the place is. Joe never ends up being a likable character because he does a really bad job of coping with what’s going on. For example, becoming a shady enforcer was a bad move right from the jump. The instant he took that position he lost a lot of credit with me. There were so many other things he could have done instead. Had Joe kept on focusing on feeding the homeless and bettering himself then I think the movie would have been better off for it.

Maybe throw in some more fight scenes to show that he still has skills. We get a few fights but not really the stylized ones you would expect. They’re street fights through and through but at least they give us a break from how depressing the rest of the film can be. Even the main villain of the film naturally can’t be some random evil gangster but instead he’s really depraved. The film gives a whole lot of detail on how he takes down his victims and it’s just more grit.

Overall, Redemption is a film you will definitely want to avoid. If the film is supposed to be about Joe trying to redeem himself then it definitely failed at that approach. Joe starts off on a decent path for that and then just falls off the cliff. There are a whole lot of ways he could have helped people out with his skillset. A film about him taking the city back over from the gangs or something like that could have potentially been inspiring. Whether you’re looking for a dramatic film or a romance thriller, you’ll want to stay far away from this one.

Overall 2/10

Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling Review

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Bug Fables is a fun story about a group of bugs that must ultimately band together to save the world. It’s fairly common knowledge that this was inspired by the Paper Mario series and the game does a really good job there. It does feel like the classic paper experience with no gimmicks to hold the title back. The story is definitely fun and there is quite a lot to do here so this is the kind of RPG that can really last you for quite a while.

The story starts with Kabbu and Vi both trying to convince the kingdom to let them become explorers. The thing is, both of them aren’t exactly qualified for this. Still, a concession is made and they can do this if they team up so they at least have a 2 man squad like everyone else. They reluctantly agree to this and head off to the first dungeon to prove themselves. That’s when they meet up with a guy named Leif who seems like he may have time travelled or something as his descriptions don’t match with the current reality. There is little time to think about this though as the Wasp Kingdom continues to make moves against the Ants. The only thing that can stop them is to find the Everlasting Sapling to give to the queen and we will need to find some relics to locate that. It is a race against time!

As you gather the relics in the game you gradually begin to learn more about the kingdoms and exactly what is going on here. Think of it like Dynasty Warriors where you have multiple warring countries and nobody gets along due to grudges passed on through generations. Vi is a bee, Leif’s some kind of cricket, then you have Kabbu the beetle. The kingdoms are run by a bunch of different insect tribes and none of them get along very well in part due to the current Ant Queen not being a great diplomat. As the game goes on all of the kingdoms start learning to work together against the wasps.

It’s a fun story and the main villain is solid as well. His fire abilities are impressive and he has some solid lines like when the heroes say “Think we’ll fall for that again?” to which he responds “Yes” as he one shots them with his fire abilities. As the characters are all insects you can imagine how useful a fire technique would be. Most fighters go down in a single hit to that kind of move and it’s what makes the main villain such an impressive threat. The cast is fairly memorable here and the adventure is long enough where everyone gets to have their moment.

There are even some rivals at the ready like a famous singer and her bodyguard who tries to keep up a tough image while he is in her presence. Ultimately he is always ready to put up a tough fight although it’s safe to say that the main characters are the strongest ones around. From the 3 I would say that Vi steals the show. Vi’s always talking tough and is the most aggressive of the 3. If anyone tries to talk the team down then Vi will set them straight. Kabbu is also solid and he’s the wise mentor of the group. He doesn’t jump into action as quickly as the others but has enough power to defend himself.

Then there’s Leif who is a lot more sarcastic compared to the other two and isn’t quite a people person. That said, you can certainly count on him in a pinch. Even the Ant Queen gets some solid development by the end of the game and isn’t just some figurehead that you don’t see until the end of the game. She does contribute in the game when needed instead of staying in the shadows the whole time.

The graphics are good and are certainly Paper Mario inspired just like the gameplay. The worlds are colorful and quite memorable. The towns can be a bit large though and there is no map so you really have to find everything out through trial and error. If there’s one thing the game lacked, it’s a better map system. Something to let you know where to go and what to grab. It took me a while to find one of the shops for example but at least once you find a place you are unlikely to forget where it is.

The soundtrack is also good. In particular there’s one danger track that I liked a lot and it shows up whenever a boss is approaching. The main campaign is also fairly long so you’re going to get the full RPG treatment here. On the whole I wouldn’t say the game is too hard but there will likely be one or two times where you may need to get an extra level up. As far as RPGs go I would consider this to be one of the ones on the lower rung in terms of grinding. You don’t need to worry about spending hours fighting minions or anything like that. If you’re really in a pickle, just buy some recovery items and you’ll be all set.

After each level up you can decide if you want to increase your health bar, magic meter, or badge space. Personally I recommend focusing on magic meter and badge space since those are crucial. You can use badges to increase health as well so that’s why I rarely went with Health. Maybe upgrade that 2 ties but the rest you can pour into the other attributes. There are only around 37 levels in the game so you want to choose where you allocate everything pretty carefully so you’re in a good position.

The gameplay is a turn based system where you use your reaction times to maximize the damage and how much you shield from their attacks. For example you may have to input commands as shown on the screen or tap one button repeatedly. The more you master each skill, the better you will do in a fight. When you’re not in combat there are some puzzles you will need to solve by using each character’s signature move. The puzzles here are well done though and you shouldn’t worry about them being unclear or cheesy. Each one can definitely be solved with the knowledge the game gives you.

Overall, Bug Fables is a solid RPG. It’s a good bit of fun throughout and the characters are likable. The story gradually raises the tension throughout to the climax so you get to end off with a bang. There’s a decent amount of replay value here as you take on the side missions. It seems like doing so will allow you to learn more about each of the characters as finishing up their stories is like a post game to each of them. It’ll be cool if the game gets a sequel, there’s definitely more you can do with this world for sure.

Overall 7/10