Tag Archives: Review

The Stingiest Man in Town Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for another Christmas Carol and this one has to move really fast as a bite sized version. The length of the film is very short for example so that means the ghosts have to really run in there and Scrooge has to be convinced awful fast. Fortunately I can say that it works well and this is one of the better Christmas Carol adaptions. Scrooge even manages to defeat one of the ghosts which was real impressive. I was definitely not expecting that.

The story starts with Scrooge yelling bah humbug at the world and showing why he doesn’t believe in Christmas. Scrooge only has one master and that is the power of the all powerful profits. Scrooge is even mad that he will have to pay his partner for the day off on Christmas but the assistant isn’t very smart and offers to go without pay. Scrooge naturally accepts and that was a light spot to his day. Well, at night he is visited by his old partner who died a while back and he says that Scrooge will be visited by 3 ghosts. Scrooge is skeptical but they show up and start causing a lot of problems by working to guilt trip Scrooge on his past, present, and future. Can Scrooge stop them?

It’s fair to say that Scrooge is on the back foot right from the jump though. He is scared right away when the ghosts show up and quickly realizes the error of his ways. The only time he shows real resistance is when he murders the first ghost by extinguishing his flame. It was actually a really impressive moment and showed how Scrooge could think on his feet. He clearly didn’t become rich by being the kind of guy who didn’t know how to take action. It made absolute sense that Scrooge would be jumping into action. That’s just the kind of guy that he is.

I would have liked to have seen more of that but this is meant to be an uplifting story filled with hope. Adding too much violence and Scrooge messing everyone over may not have gone over very well with the audience. The writing is pretty good either way. Everyone seems rather happy and of course by the end Scrooge can be counted among those folks as well. He is the kind of guy who may grumble and tumble a lot but now with his money he can make the world a better place.

I would have liked the third ghost to have done more since he is always the coolest one but in this special he doesn’t have much time. One of those time constraints and all. Even little Timmy gets a little less to do this time but you can still feel his impact. It’s a film where you can infer everything from what you already know about the story and it would be interesting to see what one would think if this was their first version.

Like I said, I enjoyed it quite a lot but I do think subconsciously I likely plug in a lot of my former knowledge from the other versions of the story. The animation helps give this one a bump as well though because I really enjoyed the expressions here. The film looks really good and the characters are a lot of fun. You can’t help but grin as you watch the film and it’s something that a cleaner style would be lacking.

I should also mention that there are a number of songs in this one and for once it actually worked. I tend to be rather harsh on musicals as the songs usually aren’t all that good but in this case that was not true. The songs were actually really sharp and catchy. I had a good amount of fun with them and they fit the vibe really well. They felt less like forced musical songs and instead were actual Christmas songs that had a solid level of quality. So that really helped the overall experience as well.

So if I had one complaint it’s that I would have liked to have seen Scrooge fighting back more. If anything he set the bar too high by taking down the first ghost. Sure, he got scared by the doorknob at the very beginning of the film but this had been a good rebound. I absolutely think it should be possible to make Scrooge very combative without taking away from the film’s overall message. I just need a writer to really take the risk and make this happen at some point.

Overall, Stingiest Man in Town is a pretty good film. It works as an abridged version of the Christmas Carol for people who want to get to the meat of the story but don’t have 90 minutes to spare. So in that case this is really the film for you. The pacing is fast but it still hits all of the big details. The writing is good and on the whole the film has no big weaknesses. I can recommend this to anyone looking for a fun Christmas film. Additionally, the hand drawn style has just aged really well.

Overall 7/10

Astalon: Tears Of The Earth Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for another Metroidvania and this time it even has rogue elements! You can’t go wrong with that, at this point it’s safe to say that I love rogue elements. Throw those into every game. For those who are not familiar, it basically refers to any game where you can obtain permanent upgrades once you die. In essence, every death gets you closer to completing the game. I like when you have something to show for your efforts. It is also why I really enjoy RPG titles because that’s how level ups work. If it were up to me, you would be able to do this in every game.

The game starts with a party of 3 approaching a tower. They need to stop the villains here because right now the waters are all being poisoned and people are dying. Just about everyone in their village was destroyed as well. A mysterious Black Knight stands in their way as well as a legion of Gorgon monsters. It’s unknown exactly how they will get past them but they haven’t died yet..or have they? Well, it turns out that the spellcastor made a deal with an evil deity of death where he can be revived along with his two comrades every time they die. Only he will remember though and once they have conquered the tower, he will surrender his soul.

It’s essentially a classic deal with the devil but the mage felt that there was no other way and it’s easy to see why. They die many times in this tower so without the deal they would all be dead and the world would be over. Your soul is naturally an absolutely huge price to pay but in a story like this it’s hard to say how you could succeed otherwise. Additionally this is how the story explains all the power ups so the party literally gets stronger at all times.

The gameplay differs depending on who you are playing as. You have the swordsman who is good for classic hack and slash gameplay. He’s basically average in every way. Then you have the archer who is extremely quick but she also ends up having low defense. Her double jump is immensely handy for platforming too. Then you have the mage who is slow but packs an absolute punch. His energy blasts can go through walls and hit enemies from a distance. The game will have you constantly switching between the three of them as you go through the game to solve each of the puzzles.

Metroidvanias will be good or bad all depending on how you handle the world at large. Is it easy to travel? Are there any quick travel points or shortcuts? Do you actually feel stronger as you go through the map? These are all absolutely critical pieces of the puzzle and I have to admit that a lot of games surprisingly mess this up. It really shouldn’t be hard but I suppose it might be a case where this is easier said than done.

Well, this one pulls it off as long as you can find these things. For example, the quick travel key is found in a random room on the map. I found it fairly quick but it easily could have taken me a long while. Same with the portal key and every other quality of life key. The fact that the game made each quality of life feature a physical item in the map was pretty fun. It helped make the place feel rather massive. Like at first you have to find a campfire to switch between party members and eventually you get an item where you could do that at any point.

For most of the game you have to die in order to access the shop and then later on you are able to access the shop from different points on the map. There are also a lot of secrets in the game that I didn’t fully understand. I recommend holding down the attack button as the mage because attacking invisible things seems to work sometimes. Some switches are invisible for example and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Later on you will end up finding a statue that wakes up when you blast 8 randomly glowing skulls throughout the hub world.

I don’t know what it does yet because I only found 5. The map is so huge that by the time you beat the game there will still be around 20% unexplored. This is because you need a bunch of blue key to unlock the white/red keys and then you use those to find more blue doors and then you need more blue keys. Every room has tons of secrets and while it can be a little overwhelming, it’s also fun because you know this way that there are always more ways to get stronger.

Whether it is in finding health items, magic items, or even just beating more enemies to put into the bestiary, you are always doing something. There are enough elevators and your speed is high enough where that is all really fun throughout. The game really feels smooth the way that a modern game should. I was really satisfied with the gameplay and I ended up making the mage my best fighter. He seems to easily do the most damage so you can just run up to a boss and really beat the health out of him.

There are a lot of different power up options to choose from when you die. I recommend grabbing the one offs first like being able to see all secrets on the map and getting the description ability. You can also buy 3 extra cutscenes which shows you the whole history for the main villain. After that, you should focus on only one character and max him out. I went with the mage of course but you can power up the others once you have beaten the game. You want one solitary fighter who can be the best.

I gotta admit that some of the things to buy are a little too vague. I feel like the game should give you descriptions when you buy items instead of just having to go by the title. Personally I got the wrong impression of the item on a few different occasions as a result of their being so vague. I suppose it’s meant to work well with the fact that the game is super vague in general but there are limits to that. Let me see what I’m buying!

The artstyle is really good. It’s got that retro look but stays very colorful and I also appreciated the rare illustration like right when you are about to fight the final boss. It looks really good all around and the game has to load a bunch of villains at all times with no real lag. The processing within the game is on point. The music is also good enough. It’s not super notable but works with the story.

The game’s story will probably take you around 8-10 hour or so. Then if you want to get the platinum that’ll probably take longer still. It’s a game that has a good amount of bonus content and that comes with more story and lore details. So I’d say it’s definitely worth it and I guess many agree with me because nearly half of all players got the 100% ending. That’s super impressive and I’ll have to go for that at some point because right now I’ve got an E rank in the game even after beating the campaign. Now that’s surprising!

Overall, I definitely recommend this game! Rogue elements go hand in hand with a Metroidvania experience like this and make the whole thing better. The game was a real blast and it’s why from the Christmas batch I had to jump into this one right away. If they ever make a sequel to this one then I will definitely be ready to play it. You really can’t go wrong here so even if you aren’t a big fan of the vania style, I recommend trying this one.

Overall 8/10

Tonic Trouble Review

Posted on by
Reply


This is a game that I was not particularly familiar with and that’s surprising because it seems to be a fairly big game that was well thought out. It’s a 3D platformer that can hold its own with all the big guns. I had a lot of fun here and while the game is a little on the short side, I thought it worked well. It made sure that the collectathon parts never got to be too overbearing or anything like that. Fun was the priority here and I appreciate that. You do need to have a lot of orbs to access the final boss but none were hidden away too crazily like they were trying to stump you.

The story starts with the main character making an oopsie and a chemically powered drink lands on a nearby planet and infects everything. He needs to go and clean things up but unfortunately a local viking lord took the serum and has now become extra huge and powerful. Defeating him will not be easy so our lead is going to have to lock in! Fortunately there is a genius inventor who can help you. He will need a lot of orbs and relics in order to create a final instrument of destruction though.

So that’s the format for what you will be doing. Each world has a number of collectibles to be obtained and a bunch of enemies trying to stop you. The game is light on actual bosses though so a lot of the platforming is really about solving puzzles and using a whole lot of athletics. Nothing that you haven’t contended with before though. What I like about this game right off the bat is how fun the hub world is. It’s colorful and big without being a chore to get through. It’s fairly quick to run from world to world as well.

At times it may take you a little while to get it all memorized though. The main menu is also a great way of keeping track of how many collectibles you are missing. The quality of life features are really on point here. The developers did everything they could in order to make this a fun experience. There are still a few puzzles that will give you some trouble and one that I never figured out but you don’t need literally all of the collectibles in order to beat the game. So just get enough of them and you will be all set.

The graphics have aged really well. Like I mentioned, the artstyle is really colorful which fits the game really well. Then we have the soundtrack which is good. There aren’t any tunes in particular that really stood out for me but they all did their part in enhancing the overall experience. This was very well balanced on all sides. While there isn’t really a post game, you can grab all of the collectibles. Maybe that would at least get you a bonus scene at least.

So there is a decent amount of replay value here. Also for platformers you are generally playing them to just have a good time so this definitely works in that respect. I’m surprised they didn’t make a bunch of Tonic games, I guess in general people were less impressed with it than I was. It had good gameplay and a solid amount of cutscenes so you know that would in me over right away.

Aside from smacking your opponents, you also have a little gun at the ready. It’s really useful and for that reason it has limited ammo until the final world begins. You can hit enemies from really long distances and of course it also works on various traps that are out of range. I recommend using this as often as possible. Then you eventually learn how to glide which is super useful. You will quickly wonder how you ever played without it.

It’s another basic, but important fundamental of the game. After each world you will learn a new skill which allows you to reach more locations. The game doesn’t force you to backtrack as often as other titles though. Generally you can reach around 80-90% of the collectibles on your first visit to a location. Then you would go back to grab the very last ones. This is exactly how this kind of game should play out. It’s how you make collectathons fun.

Then in one of the last levels you get a marathon of classic puzzles. For example arranging blocks into a specific image is one of them. Another is connecting lights together where each switch activates all adjacent spots. I always like these brain teasers so those are fun puzzles to go with. They are puzzles that always feel fair as it’s just up to you to logically make your moves. There is also a reset option for all of these if you want a fresh slate.

I’m not saying the game is a walk in the park either. It’s not the most difficult platformer I’ve played but I did die a number of times. I also did use the rewind a bit when falling to save time. So you can’t exactly close your eyes and play this one. Still, I thought that the difficulty was fair the whole time. When you die, it’s generally because of something you did. Only exception is an occasional camera angle that’s kinda wonky.

Overall, Tonic Trouble is a fun game to play through. It’s a very old school platformer and yet it’s one that has more quality of life features than some modern games. It really felt like the devs were thinking of the player the whole time and I appreciate that. If you have the Nintendo Switch Online then you should play this game asap. It’s not one that you will want to keep on the backburner for long.

Overall 7/10

The Bell Rings in the Holy Night Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a very short story but with only 20 pages it manages to properly develop two different romances. I would highly recommend this to any aspiring writers out there and naturally it’s a blast to read through as well. You won’t look at other romance titles in the same way after this one and you almost wish they could have made a whole series out of this.

The story starts on Christmas Eve with Ken preparing to assassinate a big crime lord on orders from his boss. He definitely doesn’t really want to do this but at the same time he feels trapped. He is basically out of money and feels like he’s never proven himself as a man. Ken hasn’t even been able to give his girlfriend Meg an engagement ring yet. Well, she’s not okay with this idea at all. Ken is a minor so he figures he would only go to jail for 5 years and then they could be together but Meg fears that he will have lost a part of himself. Fortunately an older man named Joe shows up and warns Ken not to go through with it.

See, Joe was in the same position 40 years ago and he actually succeeded in murdering his crime lord. What happened is this ended up making it so that he went to jail for far longer than 5 years. He was on the run for a long time even after that and couldn’t bear to show himself to his girlfriend. They had agreed to meet in front of the chapel on Christmas Eve but it took him 40 years to actually make it. He figured that the girl had forgotten all about him by now but it turns out that she had waited all the way until her dying day. Her grand daughter still goes there every year to pass on the message.

So Joe realizes that he really made a mess and wants to make sure that Ken doesn’t make the same mistake. Ken takes this message to heart and ultimately doesn’t sacrifice himself. It’s a really emotional scene and a reminder to never take the shortcuts in life. It’s the kind of message that hits hard because Ken was only a few minutes away from making a decision that would have ruined his life forevermore. That’s a tough pill to swallow.

Meg gets a lot of credit here too for telling Ken that this was a bad idea from the start. She knew that the easy money wasn’t going to make them happy and that turned out to be correct. While we don’t see much of Alice, I appreciated how loyal she was. She didn’t run around looking for a rebound or anything like that. There’s noting more romantic than hanging in there no matter what. They can have eternity in the future even if it didn’t work out in the present.

That’s the true spirit of romance, to never waver and remain together until the end. Even if things don’t work out the way you hoped like one person dies tragically young, you just keep on going with the memories and then make it to the end. I have high hopes that Ken and Meg will last as well since their devotion already appears to be very strong.

The art is really strong. You can see how similar it is to the Saint Seiya series and can imagine how good the fights would be. The artstyle is very expressive which works well for a story like this. Additionally the characters are all really likable. This is just a complete story and the pacing is also on point. It’s really impressive how much ground was covered in a mere 20 pages. It’s a reminder that you can really do a lot and can execute on an excellent story with even a limited page count.

Overall, I would recommend checking this story out. It’s a really good title for Christmas and is how you want to write a steady romance without needing to build it up for 50 volumes. You could believe in the bond here through the characters’ actions. Maybe one day they will make a short animated special of it or something like that. I’d definitely check it out and of course there are enough plot elements to make this into a movie if you really wanted to do that. You’d probably just expand on Joe’s story and we see how everything plays out in real time.

Overall 8/10

The Great Escape Review

Posted on by
Reply


It was about time that I finally played the video game for this one. I can safely say that is wasn’t one of the more impressive games though. It is a good example of a stealth game that feels like a stealth game in all the worst ways. You can’t let enemies make contact with you or you get crushed and there are no checkpoints within the level. That is absolutely crazy! This game desperately needed some powerful quality of life updates to even begin to turn things around.

The game roughly follow the adventure of the movie but starts out a bit sooner. We actually get to play through the adventures of the different soldiers before they all landed in the base so that was different. There are 18 levels in the game and around 15 of them are pure stealth missions, with two driving ones and one shooter mission. I can tell you now that those 3 levels were the best ones in the game. I will give the game credit for having a full story and everything though.

The gameplay is fully in 3D and the main objective in most of the levels are to go through areas undetected and grab different objects. The levels will keep updating the objectives as you go through them and then by the end you will have cleared the level. If you are spotted, there is a slight chance you can hide long enough for the enemy to forget about you but it’s really unlikely. The game is not forgiving in the slightest and if you are spotted then you are most likely dead.

With the exception of a few levels where you have a gun, you have no way of actually defeating the enemy soldiers. Meanwhile if you stop for too long then they can just arrest you which is an instant death. They can also shoot you from long range. There are a lot of ways to die here basically and you have to factor in that some of the stealth missions are timed so you have to move quickly. Should I mention again that there are no checkpoints in these missions?

Now what about saving? Well, fortunately you can save 4 times per level. So you want to be really careful where you save. Even if you load an older save, you don’t replenish saves so that gets real tricky. In a way it’s like access points but the limited amount of saves is rough. By the way, 4 saves is if you play easy mode. If you go to normal mode then that drops to 3 which is even crazier. I can say without a doubt that this is one of the tougher games that I’ve played in a minute. It was really intense.

The problem is that it’s just not in a fun way. You have to replay large portions of the game over and over again. The compass doesn’t make a whole lot of sense so it’s hard to tell where the nearest soldier is. Then you also have to factor in that the controls are rather clunky. It’s really hard to aim with the gun and the auto aim isn’t reliable. If you get too close then you will try to punch an opponent instead of shooting them.

The enemies also seem to regenerate mid battle. Now I can’t prove this…but it seems to be the case. I would be taking down so many of them and more would appear. This may just be to show how you’re not supposed to beat the villains with force but it was still annoying. Just let me get in a car and drive around for more levels then. Those were a lot of fun.

The graphics are decent though. Sometimes it could be a little hard to see but that is more due to my TV than the game itself. The game looks good when it needs to. The soundtrack is surprisingly decent though. There are more tunes than I would have expected and they can be rather catchy. It helps to make up for the fact that there aren’t many stages in the game so they have to keep on reusing them. If anything that’s just a bit funny though. I always appreciated the rare daylight levels since the night ones were brutal though.

There’s not a ton of replay value here but if you beat the game then you get to play it again on great escape mode which adds a timer to each of the levels. Very fun right? Well, in the end if this game was more fun than it would have been higher. My main issue is just that it’s not super enjoyable. There are too many annoying segments of the game with the whole stealth approach. If they could just tone that down a bit then I think we would be in good shape but as it stands that wasn’t in the cards.

If this was more of a proper shooter then it would have been good or of course if there were more save points and such. I also think there should always be a way to fight a bit even in a stealth game. I imagine that a lot of people may disagree with that though. As a silver lining, I did feel a sense of accomplishment when I completed the game because this one was seriously no walk in the park. I felt like I had to earn it every step of the way.

Overall, This is a game that I wouldn’t recommend too highly. You can find better titles to play on the IOS App Store tbh. That being said, if you like stealth games then I suppose it is worth checking this one out. It’s not like it’s terrible or anything, it just isn’t my genre. Titles like Carmen Sandiego and Stolen handled this a lot better. For a stealth game like this where you are expected to die a lot, you need consistent save states. That’s really the crucial aspect here if you want the game to succeed. If you get away from that then it is game over.

Overall 5/10

A Very Brady Christmas Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for the return of the Brady Bunch. I saw the show a lot when I was growing up and it was pretty fun. I wouldn’t say it could compete with the older old time shows like Twilight Zone or the Odd Couple but it was good wholesome fun. The film brings them all back to give you more of the same but I have to say that a lot of the characters really don’t look good. As a result you will have a hard time rooting for some of them in their sub plots.

The film starts with Mr and Mrs Brady enjoying their retired life. At this point the house belongs to just the two of them as their families have fully grown up. It’s peaceful this way and they each plan a big Christmas trip but ultimately decide to invite all the kids over for one last adventure. The kids get ready to arrive but what the parents don’t know is that they are all dealing with some issues. Looks like the parents are going to have to play the role of the guardian one last time here.

Like I said, the problem here is that a lot of the kids don’t look particularly good. Lets look through their problems for a minute here. The first guy is feeling embarrassed because his girlfriend makes more money than him and is actually his boss at the job. This is one of those issues that I will never be able to sympathize with. If your girlfriend makes more money than you, that’s great. You two can put that in a nice 401K and in the meantime can live a much more luxurious life than before. It takes a real sensitive ego to be upset about that. So as a result he decided not to propose to er for a very long time until she was finally forced to consider doing it herself. Definitely the most petty out of all the issues.

The next kid’s problem is that her husband got fired right before the holidays. So he’s still feeling rather sore about that and has a hard time containing this. He grumbles about the situation rather loudly even when he’s already at the Christmas party with his wife and daughter. It’s the most serious problem since losing your job is a big deal but I just wish he would have taken it a little better. Maybe not make such a big scene and all that. Ultimately his ego is a problem like the first kid’s and so Mr. Brady has to effectively trick him into getting a new job. She probably could have chosen a guy with a little more courage.

I’ll say now that Mr and Mrs. Brady were definitely the standout characters here since they were having to clean up all these messes while still having a fun party. It may make them reconsider doing this next year though. Their housekeeper also had some drama of her own as her boyfriend left her for a younger woman. This subplot was handled rather poorly as she quickly accepts him upon his return. He likely got dumped by the younger girl he was after, why would you just let him return so easily? Definitely a bad look.

Back to the kids, the one’s problem was that he dropped out of school a while back to become a race car driver. This was a super reckless move and so he doesn’t want to tell his parents until he is already winning races. Well, I think it’s a bad decision but it’s his life and he’s not grumbling about it so I much preferred him to the other two. This guy understood the consequences of his actions.

The next kid’s problem is that she was in the middle of a failing marriage. They are quickly falling apart because she feels like she does a lot of things without any appreciation and he is rather oblivious. The fact that it got this far was pretty rough. Yes, the party has them squash their differences but I don’t think it can ever be the same after their relationship was strained that hard. The husband in particular looked bad here since he left things get to this point and somehow didn’t notice all the extra work he was causing her. That’s a bit baffling.

Then we have one kid where his wife chose to visit her family instead of his for Christmas so that takes some of the fun out of it. What fun can you really have at a party without your wife? Technically it might be the smallest problem after all but you can still feel a little bad for him. In a way at least they had the healthiest dynamic here which is nice to see.

The final kid’s problem is more that she is still treated as the youngest. She is seated with the kids at the party instead of the grownups and doesn’t know how to say no. She shows up at the party when she already had plans with the other teens at the dorm. Meeting with your family is probably a better idea anyway but it would be nice to have presented this as her actively making a decision as opposed to just not knowing what to do.

You can see the problem here which is that there are so many problems that a lot of the kids just don’t look good by the end of this. There’s quite a lot of drama and not enough laughs to really take it over the edge. It’s a decent gathering and the build up to the reunion is fun but I do think it could have been more explosive. It’s still a good film but one without much replay value. I actually think it might have been better without all the kids. Make it just about Mr. and Mrs. Brady as they prepare their Christmas gifts and crazy shenanigans ensue. That is a winning formula.

Overall, A Very Brady Christmas will deliver an extra punch for folks who grew up watching the original show. It’ll definitely end up being nostalgic but that’s mostly what the film has going for it. Remove the Brady names and it’s a film about a lot of problem solving that doesn’t get quite as emotional as it could have been. I will say that the climax at least did its best to increase the stakes right at the end. We got to see a true hero in action and that is the kind of explosive plot that I’m talking about. If we got that for more of the movie then this would be an even higher one. Still, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a Christmas title to set up the season.

Overall 6/10

The Gathering Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a film about a man who has to come to terms with his own mortality. It makes for a fun premise, after all what would you do if you knew you only had a short amount of time to live? This should make you really ponder what you believe happens after death. For a Christian, this may be rather exciting news as you know you’ll be going to Heaven and this is just speeding up the journey. If you think you’re going to hell or some kind of a void, well then this is going to be a bit stressful. So to me that means the film isn’t going to feel as somber as it might to other viewers but the movie is still good overall.

The movie starts with the doctor telling Adam that he has up to 3 months left to live. Adam is fairly well off but it has come at a great expense. He no longer stays in contact with any of his family members. In fact, he’s on rather bad terms with just about all of them. So this is his chance to reconcile with them before the end but it will be difficult to find them all and travel to them since they are scattered across the planet. His wife Kate finds out about the plan and suggests they host a Christmas party themselves and will invite all of the kids. It’s a long shot, but maybe they will all come home.

One of the big choices in the film that Adam has to make is if he will tell the kids about his impending demise or not. He decides not to because he feels like then he won’t be able to authentically connect with them all since that would almost be like guilt tripping. You can probably debate that one quite a bit, but ultimately I do think he was probably right there. I don’t think he needs to mention that he will die as they’ll find out before long and this way they will all get to have an enjoyable Christmas with no extra worries.

A good chunk of the film is about setting up all of the characters. We see that most of the characters have really gotten their own lives and it’s not so easy to attend a party right away. Some of the characters hold grudges while others don’t. It is fun to see all of the characters finally meet up later on and they get to act like a real family, even if it was only a brief adventure.

That said, the film does take itself so extremely serious that I don’t think it made the most of this situation. I would have appreciated some more witty banter or a little injection of humor. If anything that would have helped make the family feel much more like a close knit unit instead of a bunch of strangers who came together for the holidays. In a sense the film tries a bit too hard to go for the ultra realism. I could picture this being an actual family gathering as everyone exchanges pleasantries but only in a very formal family. They needed to loosen up a bit.

I thought the film did a good job of sticking the landing though. We didn’t have the big scene where he tells everyone and they all cry and have very emotional moments with each other. Adam stuck to his plan even if it was found out by some of them and saw them all off with a smile. He can’t undo all the decisions he made in the last 20 years but he did what he could to end off on a high note. At the end of the day that’s all you really can do.

It’s why it is important to always live your best life at all times even when nobody is watching or when you think you have a lot of time left. You never know when it’s all going to end and so that is a good message on the film’s part. I did think the writing was good and the pacing wasn’t bad. This film just doesn’t have a ton of replay value though because of how dry it is. I wouldn’t be watching this one a second time but I could recommend it to someone who wants a very down to Earth film.

The different trials that go on here revolve around pride over a job, political differences with someone avoiding the draft, etc. None of them are Earth shattering and it adds to the grounded atmosphere. There are also quite a lot of characters here so the film would have been in trouble if it was trying to solve all of the issues in a single film. Instead it solves the parts that can be mended emotionally and for the rest you trust that the characters are on the right path now. It also helps that each character already has their own life going on so it’s not like anyone is in pure desperation mode. They’ve all become rather independent over the years which is at least a silver lining for them.

Overall, The Gathering is a film that lives up to the title. The whole thing is about the gathering and getting all of the characters to meet up. They put aside their petty differences and get along in time for Christmas. It was good to see the characters reconciling. It doesn’t mean that they’re all going to become best friends all of a sudden but life’s too large for small differences and pride to get in the way. So it was nice that the characters were able to succeed there.

Overall 6/10

A Christmas Story Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for another wholesome Christmas story and this is another one that I was really not familiar with. It has a very nice animation style that is retro but still looks really good. The story also shows just how fast Santa is and why it would be hard to catch such a guy. When you think about it, he would need to be fast to visit every child on Christmas. The movie does not disappoint with his depiction of speed.

The story starts with Christmas rapidly approaching but unfortunately Timmy forgot to mail his letter to Santa. The parents hadn’t noticed either and so it wound up under the table. Gumdrop realizes this and lets his pal Goober know that they have to save Timmy’s Christmas. The problem is that it’s already Christmas Eve and so there are only a few hours left until Santa is supposed to arrive. If the two animals don’t hurry, Timmy will be doomed.

Now you do have to allot a certain level of blame over to Timmy and his parents here. They should have been more prepared considering that it’s Christmas. I suppose the parents especially since in this world we know that Santa Claus is real which changes things up quite a bit. You would assume that the parents definitely know what is going on here since mysterious presents appear each year. At the end of the day though, Timmy needed to be ready and make sure that everything was on point. It’s his gifts after all.

Now you do have to wonder if Santa would have managed to turn up with the gifts anyway. It all depends on just how powerful he is in this version. Based on how he succeeded at the end, I’m betting that he probably would have known about the letter anyway. You can interpret the scene to mean that he saw the letter while the animals were resting too so in that case then you’d give the heroes some more credit.

Gumdrop gets most of the credit here for being the instigator. He was the one running around and making sure that everyone searched for the letter. If he didn’t notice and force the issue then Goober was going to be sleeping through the whole thing. Goober is still the most enjoyable character though. I like how relaxed he is the whole time. Goober is the kind of character who doesn’t really get stressed on his own and just looks at the positive side of things.

Also once Goober was in on the mission, he definitely made a difference. He has the size and speed to cover a whole lot of ground. The special also had a good amount of teamwork as we saw all of the various animals from the neighborhood chipping in to try and get Santa’s attention. Ultimately numbers alone just aren’t going to be enough to catch up to someone like Santa. His sheer speed and skill are just too good.

When it comes to the animation, it’s really solid like I mentioned before. It’s very traditional and the kind of hand drawn style that really ages well. The colors are striking and the expressions can look rather funny which adds to the humor. It makes for a special that thrives beyond its years on the visual side. There isn’t as much to say on the soundtrack side so it loses on that front.

A good story doesn’t need a whole bunch of extra details and this one really focused on that as a strength. Santa is well known enough where it’s not like he needed a bunch of screen time after all and you still felt his presence the whole time. It would be interesting to learn more about the world and how Santa affects it but in a way the mystery is the fun part. With a special like this, you’re seeing the proof of concept and can fill in the blanks on your own.

Overall, A Christmas Story is a pretty fun film. It has a good amount of humor and the whole thing is very frantic. The pacing is always fast and it’s just a nice story. You’re given a solid premise about getting a letter to Santa and then it’s really on the animation to sell this. It definitely works out and I would recommend watching this one if you’re looking for something fun for Christmas.

Overall 7/10

Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a film that actually gets pretty wholesome. I don’t think many people will be familiar with Nestor, the film even addresses this at the start. Well, he has a solid story that even draws a lot of comparisons to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The movie is fairly short as with most Rankin/Bass productions but still covers a good amount of ground here.

The movie starts off by showing us how Nestor has it rough because of his long ears. He is always tripping as a result and has to be reminded on how to use his ears by his Mom every days. Unfortunately she passes away after saving him from the elements and now Nestor is all on his own. He will have to learn how to grow up as he deals with some shady folks and then some wholesome ones. An angel tells him to hang in there because he still has a purpose that will be coming along soon.

The story actually gets to tie Nestor into the real meaning of Christmas as he turns out to be the legendary donkey that gets Mary over to the stable for the birth of Jesus Christ. Definitely a powerful way to conclude this and it really shows how far Nestor has come. He was in the right place at the right time although I suppose I was hoping he would have more of an individual moment of toughness. Sort of show that he has mastered his ears and use them to fight off a tornado or something in the desert.

He definitely had to endure past a lot of corrupt folks in the meantime although one of the owners actually got a last second redemption arc. Then eventually this led to Nestor being a legend within the Santa community as well. So the special goes over well and has solid pacing but I would have liked to have added a few more scenes Maybe one day we’ll get a Rudolph vs Nestor movie or something.

The animation is the classic stop motion style so it’s not really my style but it’s okay enough. You know I tend to gravitate more to a flashy hand drawn style but that’s just me. The stop motion still gets the job done when it counts. This time the soundtrack isn’t quite as grand as some of their other productions though. So it needs to really get by on the strong writing which is still good enough to keep it in the green.

There are a lot of cameos from other big Rankin/Bass characters at the end though like Santa and Rudolph. It was good to see the whole gang although it would have been even nicer if they could have gotten some lines. I suppose it might have been hard to get voice actors for such a quick scene but it would have been fun and really helped to cement the shared universe. In the end I suppose one of the MVPs here would have to be the guy telling the story from the beginning. It seems like even more people wouldn’t know about Nestor in universe without this guy spreading the word. It would have been sad for him to have been forgotten after all of this.

Overall, Nestor is one of those Christmas specials that never got all that much attention next to the others but you owe it to yourself to check this one out. It is a quality adventure and it’s not like it takes a big time commitment either. I would have liked his Mom to have survived though as that was a little sad. Maybe have her show up at the stable and explain that it was a Christmas miracle. Could have worked pretty well I think. On the whole this is definitely a happy special though and it was great to see it have that Christian influence in there. That’s always going to get the film some extra credit for remembering the true meaning of Christmas. The stop motion animation may give you pause for a little while there, but push through it and you’ll be rewarded with a good story.

Overall 6/10

Batman Arkham Origins: Blackgate Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for an Arkham game that quite a lot of people never really got to experience. I can say after playing through it that it is a worthy addition to the franchise. The ending does start to drag on a little bit though which is what just barely keeps it from getting an 8. It could have used some quality of life updates to the travel but otherwise does a good job of feeling like a miny version of the main Arkham games.

The game starts off with Batman chasing Catwoman but ends up getting some unexpected help from a private military force. They lock Catwoman up in Blackgate but then a big riot happens and all of the prisoners escape. The place is ruled by three factions led by the Penguin, Joker, and Black Mask. Catwoman agrees to help Batman gather intel as long as he can break her out and have her transferred to a safer jail afterwards. He agrees and now begins his tough mission of taking down all of the villains.

I enjoyed getting to see some different opponents here. This game has boss fights with Catwoman and the Bronze Tiger for example. Bronze Tiger is probably my favorite boss fight in the game because it is straight up hand to hand combat the whole time. It’s really smooth and makes good use of the quick time events. That was a lot of fun and really tests your timing. The Catwoman boss fight continues this but the timing is even tighter so that ended up being an incredibly difficult boss fight. She actually defeated me multiple times before I was able to win.

The gameplay is similar to the main Arkham games, just in more of a 2D setting. You have your combos and the parry option for all of the serious attacks. Then as you play through the game you get various gadgets that help you get through the different areas. The main difference compared to the main games is that this one’s actually a Metroidvania. Trust me I was surprised about that as well. You will be going back and forth among the different areas and that is where the game can be a bit weaker.

My main problem there is that it isn’t always easy to get from world to world and the map layouts can be a little confusing. The use layers instead of stretching the map out so you will have multiple doors on the map and it’s hard to tell which one goes where. I ended up going to the wrong place several times as a result. In the climax you have to go back to every world again which got old pretty fast. So I could have done without a lot of the backtracking there.

The game isn’t too long but just long enough where the travelling adds up. Should take you around 5-6 hours to complete the game. There is a decent amount of replay value with all of the collectibles and multiple endings though. You have to beat the game at minimum 3 times in order to get all of the endings and the Platinum. I like the fact that each path gives you new cutscenes which adds some incentive to playing the game over again. Perhaps someday I’ll go after the other routes. It’s not super high on my list but I ended up with a D for the trophy list so I would like to get that up to a C average at least.

The graphics are pretty solid. I really liked the artstyle for the cutscenes. It was very artistic and stood out as a result. Batman always looked really intimidating the way they set him up as well. The levels look solid and everything is easy to keep track of. There isn’t much of a soundtrack but the voice acting is very good. So all in all there is really a lot to enjoy here. Mix in the great gameplay and you’ve got a solid title.

It would be nice if you could have unlocked more costumes and such to wear during the game. The way they are spread out, you won’t be unlocking any until the very end though. The way you play the game will vary a lot from player to player since it’s very non-linear though so maybe some ill pull that off. Since you often need power ups to enter new areas, I’m thinking that will definitely be limited though.

If you do really enjoy Metroidvania titles then that will probably bump the game up for you though. It’s not a genre that I can see returning to Batman anytime soon after all so you will want to enjoy it now. The combat itself is extremely easy outside of boss fights though. This is a game where you can generally ignore stealth and just run into the enemies every time. Everyone goes down in a few hits and that’s why the bosses will take you by surprise since they are really difficult. I want to say that nearly every boss beat me at least once. Not exactly a flex, but it shows how tough the game could be.

Overall, I would recommend checking this game out. If you want to play it on the PS3, keep in mind that their shop is still open but you have to have a pre filled card or PS credit first since you can’t reload on the older console. It was cool to find this out since I thought the shop was completely shut down. So that’s a little tip if there are any other PS3 games you want to play. I’m not sure when I’ll be playing another PS3 game in the future so for now this was a fun nostalgia visit. I’m basically caught up with Batman games now as well so hopefully we get a new one soon.

Overall 7/10