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Doug Flutie’s Maximum Football 2020 Review

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It’s been a while since I played one of the Madden rivals. This one I hadn’t even heard about before I bought it and well…it is definitely the low budget version to be sure but it’s always nice to have more Football options. If it could just clean up a lot of the bugs and glitches while giving us more options that could really do the trick. As it stands, it’s a pretty good game but there is virtually 0 reason to ever play it because Madden and NCAA just offer better products. You can buy a Madden game from 10 years ago for a dollar or two and it’s better than this one.

So the game has 8 teams that you can play as. I thought they were made up at first but it seems that these are college teams. The play now mode was disabled for some reason but you can jump right into a season to have fun there. The drawback is that unlike most season modes, you don’t actually get to play as a team and automatically go through the season. Instead you have to manually select the team and game each time, then simulate the rest. The annoying thing about this is that’s a lot of extra clicks each time and it turns what should have been a completely automatic process into something that’s super manual.

I would also note that the games are much longer than Madden but I’m sure you can alter the settings somewhere (Hopefully) so that’s not really a negative. But to put it one way, one game took me around 2 hours to complete while the average Madden game is closer to 30-40 minutes. It’s because there is no accelerated clock running or an easier way to run back and do your next play. You can speed it up with the hurry up offense but the game is just missing all of the bells and whistles that really allow you to move quickly. That is what the game is lacking here without a doubt.

I mentioned glitches earlier and those are very noticeable throughout the game. You’ll have characters teleporting as if they just fell through a portal and there is actual lag sometimes which is weird for an offline game. When you are controlling the defense it doesn’t feel like you have complete control with how the characters will move and miss obvious interceptions. It’s like you’re always a few steps too late no matter what you do. Now there is a slight positive here which is that you can actually throw deep balls here without worrying about being picked off all the time.

Now your receiver won’t always move to catch it so that’s a new worry but still it’s a part of the game that I have missed. One thing’s for sure though, running in this game is incredibly overpowered. Your players are always faster than the defense. It doesn’t matter if you use a WR, RB, or the QB, you will be able to run at will. Once I scored over 100 points in the game and it was still the 3rd quarter I decided to run out the time by running around the field. You’re so much faster that you can keep running the defense in a circle to just waste all of the time out. It is a lot of fun since I love to run but they should probably make the guy a bit slower.

Of course your QB is Doug Flutie himself so maybe the game just wanted to make sure that his stats were through the roof. They definitely succeeded if that was the aim and I got quite a few trophies while playing as him. There may not be a ton of replay value here due to the limited amount of modes but I could see this being fun if you have someone to play it with. Then the shaky mechanics and low budget nature of the game would become an endearing part of the experience instead of something that holds it back.

You can see the players stop moving in the distance once they are further than what the game processes and it looks funny at least. Everyone just gets frozen and it certainly makes it easy for you to really take your time and pick who you want to throw the ball too. If the game did really well maybe a sequel would get a higher budget. I do think it needs some kind of explosive factor to get this on the map. Until then people may not like Madden but it still offers the better Football product so people are going to gravitate to that. That’s just how this works, you want the game that better simulates the Football experience.

While the graphics may be very sub par, at least it does work in a retro sense. It looks like a PS2 era title and one thing those did have going for it were the really bright colors. There’s something nice about seeing the uniforms without a whole lot of detail, all of the colors really contrast. There isn’t much of a soundtrack but you don’t really want music while playing much anyway. For the menu I didn’t even notice it much but you should probably have something very energetic there to really keep people on their toes.

Overall, Considering that the game is only a few bucks to buy I had a good amount of fun with it. The fact that it goes for $5 is a warning bell in itself but if you’re looking for something a little different than Madden then this is the game to pick up. You can march up and down the field at will and just relax with how easy it all is. Then when you go back to Madden you’ll have more appreciation for how much work was put in there. It’s certainly true that they haven’t innovated in a very long time but even just having the amount of features and quality of life updates over the years still makes Madden a definitive product that I really don’t see being overtaken anytime soon.

Overall 7/10

My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure Review

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When I saw this as one of the games on sale at GameStop I knew I had to grab it! While I may not have kept up with the latest My Little Pony series….pretty much at all since the movie I still knew this would be a very wholesome adventure which is perfect for Christmas. It’s a very short game though and you can tell that there wasn’t a whole lot of content put into this one. It’s absolutely not worth paying full price for but when the going rate is around 15-20 you have to snag it.

The game involves a pony mysteriously defacing a lot of posters all around the festival. The Ponies are just trying to have a good time here with all kinds of events going on like fashion shows and aerial tricks but this is putting a damper on things. Sunny has to stop this pony but when the evidence begins to point to her friends she has to wonder if she really should solve this mystery. Her friends should have no cause to spoil such a grand day for her right? The time is ticking as the case gets more and more serious.

On a fundamental level the game is very sound. It doesn’t try to do a whole lot but what it does do is very smooth. I would say this game is aimed at a very young crowd, even more so than the Mario and Sonic games at least from a difficulty perspective. There is no way to lose or take damage in this game. There are a few events like herding animals and running but they are given to you with very generous timers to make sure you can clear them. Even obtaining the Platinum trophy is something that you can do very quickly. You should get it within 15 minutes of completing the game since you just have to complete one post story race.

It’s good for there to be some games for the kids. I think this one does the job well but the only sore spot is the length. Short games are nothing new of course but it just feels like they did the bare minimum for this one because they figured most people wouldn’t be playing it. You’ve got a really big hub world here but most of it is just empty. There isn’t really anything to do outside of the story. So as a result by the time you’ve completed the story there aren’t other side missions to finish.

The story itself is fun though with full voice acting and solid cinematics. The graphics here are absolutely top tier with the CG looking just like the real character models. They do have that CG gimmick where the eyes appear a bit distorted so the characters almost look scary at times but all in all I thought it was rather sharp. The graphics continue to look good during the game as well. I’d say some of this can also be attributed to the art direction which was really on point. The soundtrack is a lot more bland though to the point where large chunks of the game are completely quiet. It’s a little eery since you think of music when thinking about MLP ordinarily.

So the silence is almost deafening. We do get a song for the end credits though so that was neat but the game should have embraced this a bit more. I appreciated having a real villain here but I’d say for the sequel they can take it a little farther while still keeping the game as kid friendly. Friendship is Magic had a lot of big villains after all and you could also have the characters have some disagreements if you don’t want to go the full villain angle. This will help extend the game and if you can get the sequel to more like 6 hours then you’ll really have more bang for your buck.

There’s a case to be made that the longer the game went on, the more the cracks would show. That’s certainly possible so it is a risk but at the same time you have to throw the players a little bone. When they can complete the game in an instant like this it just overshadows all of the work that went into the animation and gameplay here. It doesn’t matter how smooth it all is if there’s just nothing to do after a while. Give us a bunch of extra minigames and story content and you’d have yourself a winner. As a result there’s not a ton to talk about here though.

Overall, My Little Pony is always a fun franchise and it’s nice that it got this game. It just would have been nice if the devs challenged themselves to add some more content here. If this was sort of a trial game to see how things would work then I’d say it succeeds. The gameplay is really on point and it succeeds in all technical aspects but I can’t imagine buying this one on day 1. I would say the company should still want to maximize sales and for this game to do well you really need to put a little more effort into it. If a sequel were to show this then I’d definitely be glad to pick it up. Until then I’d only recommend this game if you see it’s still on sale or the price has been permanently lowered. Then it’s a good amount of fun.

Overall 6/10

He-Man: Power of Grayskull Review

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It’s time for a classic He Man game! It’s been a long while since this one came out so you could say that it’s about time I got to play it. The franchise has so much potential for video games so it’s a shame that it doesn’t have more. This one’s fairly short and I wouldn’t say that it’s the highest budget GBA game out there but it still does the trick. I had a good time with it at least. You may finish it at turbo speeds but you’ll have a good time and there are no slow parts in the game.

The basic plot is that Skeletor is up to no good and He Man has to stop him. I mean that may be oversimplifying a bit but that’s what is boils down too. Different characters like Cringer and Teela get captured so you have to save them. Along the way you get to face off with all of the classic He Man villains as our hero takes them down one at a time. Nobody is ready to handle the Man of Might as He Man just keeps going to town on everyone. There is a reason why he is known as the strongest in the 9 realms after all. His power just never stopped rising and with the sword he is unbeatable.

It is nice that they got some voice acting here for the iconic “I have the power!!” moment. That was really cool and I’d like to see them keep that up. That is the only real voice acting here but it started the game on the right note. Now when it comes to sound effects the game is a bit lazy because there is only a single damage effect used for every minion and it’s not the most flattering one. It’s not a deep growl or anything but more of a whimper. Surely they could have switched that up a bit.

The graphics are pretty solid though. I thought they looked good for the GBA era. Each character is clearly defined and you won’t have any issues navigating through the levels. The soundtrack may not be very memorable but it’s not bad either. It’s just a little limited which is what holds it back here. I’d like to throw in some more songs, maybe even the opening to the TV show for the final level but I realize that is pretty much unheard of so it’s not something you’d expect.

The game has 13 levels and they are split between normal platforming levels and racing ones. Racing levels are extremely easy so you shouldn’t have any trouble there. Just keep on moving and you’ll make it to the end eventually. It’s an overhead racer so you’re just moving side to side and jumping. You don’t need to worry about going fast since you’re automatically moving as it is.

As for the platforming levels, usually you have to get somewhere which means beating up a bunch of villains. The villains are limited and don’t respawn so don’t worry about fighting them. Sometimes it’s nice to get them out of the way so you can concentrate but other times you can just keep it moving. Each level lets you know the full stats and what you may have missed there. There isn’t a lot to each level so you could 100% complete it if you want to. The game shouldn’t take you longer than 2 hours and you’ll probably beat it well before that.

The only really tricky boss would be the final one I’d say. Skeletor hits hard and he can also heal himself by using the green orbs in the room. Each orb restores your full health and does the same for Skeletor. So the trick here is to position yourself in front of the orb. When you are going low on health, just use it first so that he can’t. Then run to the other orb and repeat the process. You can win this with pure button mashing as a result and it only gets tricky if you let him get to the max health. That’s when it’s all a bit dicey. So long as you keep outsmarting Skeletor then you should be in good position.

Of course the length is the main drawback against the game so that’s the only thing to consider here. If the game is a lot of money then you may want to wait since 1-2 hours is all you’ll be playing this for. There aren’t any unlockable levels or post game to extend the timer for either so the main story is it. Once you’re done with that then you are done with the game. Also there are no save files so you actually do need to put in a password when you turn the system off. Fortunately someone wrote down the passwords for each level online so you can do that if you forgot to write it down. People are definitely dedicated with writing things down which is always appreciated. Trying to write it on your own would be possible of course but it’s nice to not have to worry about that.

Overall, He Man is a fun game. It may not last long but the fundamentals are there. With more of a budget I’d like some more attacking options and more sound effects but it does well enough. There are no parts that dragged on and of course I like the He Man franchise so that part was definitely a plus. If you’ve still got a GBA or a DS lying around then I’d recommend picking this one up. You can probably get it for a fairly decent price and it’s unlikely that we’re getting a big He Man game anytime soon so you have to enjoy it now while you can. It’s also got that retro GBA overhead fighting game feel that’s hard to replicate.

Overall 7/10

Madden 23 Review

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Madden is back!! Yesssss. Now I’m caught up and of course this has always been a thrilling series from cover to cover. In many ways it is completely unchanged from Madden 22 so you can really just jump right back into the mix without learning any new combos or things like that. As always to test the game out I played a full season. Only difference from usual is that I decided to play the season as a custom made QB in face of the franchise instead of doing a normal season. I have some issues with the mode but at the end of the day it is an elite game as you would expect.

First off the graphics are top tier as you’d expect. A whole lot of work goes into the visuals and it was certainly worth it. Everything just looks very modern and the presentation is really nice while playing. You get highlights, stats, and announcers talking the whole time. It feels like a very genuine Football product. Then the soundtrack may never be my favorite for the menus but the sound effects while in the game are on point. Those are the ones that you want to watch out for after all to make sure it feels real and it does.

There are a ton of modes to play here. If you have PS+ then you can jump online for some games which is absolutely what I would do if I had it but otherwise playing offline will still get you unlimited enjoyment. The fun never has to stop while you’re here and you can quote me on that. Switch things up by changing your position or playing a different mode. You can even mess with the camera angles now to change things up.

The gameplay is fantastic as always and the games go fast so lets talk about the small things that I didn’t like. One is what I’d consider to be a major oversight. In the face of the franchise mode there is no way to see the league standings. You can look at each individual schedule one by one and calculate this or pick apart the records but the fact that there is no league standings to view is really crazy. It’s the kind of oversight you just can’t believe you’re seeing because it feels so obvious. I cycled through the menus so many times before finally googling it and saw people came up with the same issue all over the place. That’s just crazy, I’m still pretty shocked about it.

Then the other one is that the camera tends to break down randomly during the franchise mode. I’ve noticed this usually happens on the first play of your possession if the glitch triggers. Basically the camera goes in front of you so you can see your backfield but nothing in front. This makes passing the ball impossible because you literally cannot see where you’re throwing. I would always audible to a run and calling a time-out works but it’s a very odd glitch. I didn’t really know what to make of it.

The Madden series definitely still has a bunch of kinks to fix. It seems like most glitches just stick around year to year because they don’t want to fix the source code. It’s something fans have complained about for a long time now and you absolutely get it. That said, fortunately these bugs are not ones that you are likely to run into on your daily adventures. While playing through the game I didn’t encounter anything crazy outside of the camera after all.

In terms of gameplay the only thing I would like to see if the receivers get more aggressive. It’s very impractical to throw any deep ball unless your receiver is massively wide open because otherwise the cornerback starts sprinting and just jumps for the ball while the receiver waits for it the whole time. It’s not a great look for the offense and it means you will usually be throwing small slants and screens. It works but it doesn’t feel like the most realistic way to play the game. You don’t want to be gunning it every down but it’s something that really separates the older Maddens from the newer ones. It’s why I loved Madden 2004 so much and still consider it to be the best.

As always scrambling is a blast though. I absolutely recommend playing a team with a fast QB because nothing beats just getting out there and running a lot. It’s why with my self made QB I prioritized speed over power and accuracy. I wanted to be able to get a 1st down with my legs when I had to. Unfortunately I didn’t make the playoffs as I finished my year 9-8 and lost out due to a tiebreaker but I got it close. There was just one losing streak early on that hurt me a lot as I was getting used to the 3D camera. Once I went back to the standard view then I started getting the good wins again. All Pro is a very fair difficulty to use where you have a challenge but it’s not too crazy.

Overall, There’s not a ton more to say beyond that as this is still the Madden that you know and love. It hasn’t changed much but that’s part of what keeps the appeal going for so long. I do hope they sit down one day and really try to optimize this as the best game it can be but in the meantime I’ll still be around and ready to buy the game whenever the new title comes out. There is no better game to simulate the Football experience after all. It may have some issues but it’s still supremely entertaining to watch and I do feel like there is a good budget here for the technical elements. I’d highly recommend checking it out.

Overall 9/10

Armed Emeth Review

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I wrapped up the next Kemco game just in time with the big Christmas batch coming up. This one has a lot of the fun parts of the Kemco formula but it also dropped some of the fun quality of life features that had always made these games stand apart. As a result I would not call this the strongest title in the lineup but you’ll still have a good time with this one. You’ll also feel the RPG horror of maxing all of your characters to level 99 but still being unable to defeat some of the bosses. Whenever that happens you know things are getting tricky.

You play as a guy who is a golem bounty hunter. Basically it’s like being a normal bounty hunter but he also goes after golems and will use them in order to fight. Think of them as old time mech suits that you can use to dish out a whole lot of damage. Well one day he comes across a Golem/Human hybrid who says that the hero’s mother has been kidnapped by an evil organization. The two weren’t particularly close but the hero still can’t let this stand. He will have to trust this golem for now and head out. Along the way he will meet a bunch of allies who are here to help him out for when the going gets tough.

The game does utilize the golems into the gameplay which I thought was a good idea. It helps make the story hit a bit more since you actually see what it’s like to be fighting in a mech. As you can probably guess the mechs help you deal a whole lot more damage than when you are out of it. One thing that I liked is when you r mech is destroyed you can keep fighting as a human rather than instantly dying as well. It is almost like having a second health bar. The golems also have their own equipment and everything so you want to train for them in addition to your actual character. They don’t have level ups though so you don’t need to worry about that.

As I mentioned, getting to Level 99 is not enough for you to win every fight. It helps a lot but the best equipment on the block is something that you will need in order to get further. Additionally it helps to buy items from the store that increase your stats. It takes a while to earn the shop currency though so make each purchase count. I recommend buying the double EXP items as soon as you can though, you can worry about the rest once you’re actually level 99 and not before. You have your basic attacks, supers, and combo moves here as well. It’s a classic turn based combat strategy and you should pick it up before long.

The game is reasonably long although there is a bit less replay value than usual. I ended up platinuming the game right after beating it which is certainly rare. There were still a few more guild missions to complete that weren’t needed for the platinum though so that’s always something that you could do for the championship. Just saying, it is definitely an effective way to go about it! Not like you need that though, the main game is still long enough where you’ll feel the value was worth the price.

One thing that’s missing here is unfortunately the characters don’t have illustrations for the cutscenes. Usually you see a character portrait which is nice because it stands out and you get to see how the characters are meant to look outside of the sprite. This one just goes back to normal text so there are no cinematic cutscenes like that. I feel like they’re a benefit so I would have liked to have kept that. In some ways this one just feels a bit older than some of the others. The map is unlabeled so sometimes it can be extremely difficult to know where you are going. I got lost on several occasions which was unfortunate.

A map is really important in any big adventure game like this so I was hoping it could have been better. Ah well, most of the other quality of life features were here like the auto battle and speeding up effects. So it’s not like it lost all the charm or anything like that, it could have gone a bit higher but I can’t really say much in the end. The gameplay itself is still a lot of fun after all.

The graphics are good even f they’re missing illustrations and of course the soundtrack is great as always. These Kemco games always have incredible soundtracks so I was not surprised that this one was also really good. There are a ton of great fast paced themes all throughout the game. So you’ll never find a slow moment here. The game’s story always feels like something is happening so you’ll be engaged all the way through.

Overall, I may have had some issues with the game like removing the illustrations and having a map with no locations marked on it but it still had all of the core fundamentals that I would expect from a Kemco game. I appreciated the smooth gameplay here and the series in general is always just very enjoyable to read. I’d recommend picking this one up if you’ve liked the other games by them. These are almost like light novels where the titles may be shorter than a normal RPG but they still pack a punch regardless.

Overall 7/10

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

The Christmas Contest Review

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It’s time for the next Hallmark Christmas movie! This time we get a contest between exes who did not split up on the best of terms. As a result there is a whole lot of bitterness in the air and you can tell that things are going to get a little tricky for these two. I like the premise since a contest is always fun and it’s a cool change of pace. Some parts of the film definitely don’t work as well as they could have but at the end of the day it’s still a wholesome movie with a lot of fun parts.

Lara is a girl who is too busy for Christmas nowadays. She’s a super successful business person now and has even become the COO and she just doesn’t look back at the past. Unfortunately she will need to confront it now as her mother asks her to enter a Christmas contest. So she reluctantly enters and of course her ex Ben is there as well. Now she really needs to win this contest to make sure that he doesn’t get the last laugh but it won’t be easy. This guy is also really good at Christmas trivia. Still, if she doesn’t defeat him then she will never know peace from her past.

The contest has different phases. The first round was a quiz show, then you have the baking competition, a singing competition, and the final one is to decorate a Christmas tree. I actually thought it made for a fun contest even if some parts of the contest weren’t too well thought out. For example, last place gets the same prize as third place which is $1000. Why would that possibly be the case? What’s the incentive to coming close to first? That was a bit of a mistake if you ask me because there is just no way that this should be right.

Then towards the end the film starts to get a little cheesy as the characters feel that competing at Christmas against each other isn’t something that they want to do and it really feels like they are throwing the contest under the bus. These guys worked hard to set up this Christmas contest and did their best to make it a lot of fun. You’re going to throw it all out just like that? That’s just bad sportsmanship and the company shouldn’t have let them get away with this. Sure, it’s likely that the contest was rigged by the time the finals were around since the check was already printed with both of their names but it just doesn’t feel deserved.

If I was the guy in charge of the contest, I’d have handed them an empty check. If they don’t want to properly complete the contest that they signed up for then they don’t get to have any real money. It’s as simple as that and it would have been 100% justified. That’s the crazy part here. It’s still meant to be a feel good moment of course but I was a little salty on behalf of the competitors who tried their best but lost out. They didn’t lose just to see this happen.

It goes without saying that the romance is on the weaker side here. Lara and Ben were already together and it didn’t work out. Sure they’re both feeling festive for the holidays but that’s even more reason to think that this won’t last and this is just them being very emotional. It’s a super risky move to restart the romance again and I actually think it would have worked a lot better if they had just stayed as friends. Trust me on this, the whole movie would have really been executed to perfection if that was the case. Just make it a fun competition and they see that they get along really great as friends. It was never going to happen but I can dream right?

After all the best part of the movie is when they are having a lot of banter at each other. The two characters can’t help but constantly take shots at each other whenever they’re on screen. The shots never go too far though and it’s just enough to keep them on their toes. Lara may have been reluctant to enter but ultimately she does a good job and makes for a solid heroine. She really wants to win and ultimately stays classy about it like not badmouthing Ben in front of his mother when her cake gets sabotaged.

Then we have Ben who is a little more openly manipulative like with getting kids on his team to win brownie points from the audience. That’s why it took me a little longer to realize that he would be the main love interest and not the mean ex who gets defeated by a childhood friend. Gradually Ben starts to be a little nicer and I guess we can just interpret it to his being desperate to win. It still makes for an odd subplot though because it’s hard to root for Ben since he doesn’t seem to care about the kids nearly as much as he should. Not exactly the role model of the year right? Well he knows his Christmas knowledge at least.

One of this film’s strengths though is that it takes up a decent amount of time to give the side characters some development as well. I could have done without the subplot for one of the kids who was worried that he would mess up and cause trouble for everyone. The plot barely went anywhere. Then we had Ben’s mother who was always very set in her ways and didn’t want to make friends. This was a good story arc as Ben shows her that you’re never too old to shake up the routine and have a good time. I’m not sure I picture myself making any new friends when I’m older but you shouldn’t be cut off to the possibility.

Then we have Lara’s mother who was always very business focused and tried to get the heroine on that path. I thought she was solid and at one point Lara is too dramatic with how she tells her off. This is a trend I’ve seen in more than one Hallmark film where the leads blows up on the parent(s) for being too controlling but the problem is that the movie never showed them being anything other than super nice so the moment kind of falls flat a bit. It doesn’t feel as earned as it could have been.

As always the film is fairly short and with so much going on the pacing is on point too. While I had some issues with the film, you could say it’s also because I was really invested in this one. I always love contests and the writing was really good here. You still get your usual Christmas backdrops and baking but with the addition of some fun banter. I’d say there was a lot more of it than usual due to the story and that was a big plus.

Overall, The Christmas Contest is a pretty good film. Hallmark delivers as always and even if you know how the film will play out, you will enjoy the journey there. At the end of the day that is always the most important part for any movie since you need to be able to enjoy it. I’d definitely change the ending but would still recommend it to anyone looking for a fun Christmas movie. You may even learn some Christmas trivia. I assume the trivia here was legit but you’d probably want to look it up just in case the movie is messing with you.

Overall 7/10

Obsession Review

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Obsession is a pretty interesting mystery/thriller. Things get a little trippy at times and there’s a whole lot going on. It’s got a very unique vibe to it where you just don’t know if you’re expecting a happy ending or not. It’s got that retro atmosphere to it that works well and while the final twist is big and yet not, I wasn’t sure how to feel about that one. It makes some earlier scenes a bit iffy. So all in all….this film is all over the place and you won’t be forgetting it at least.

The movie starts with Michael going through a big tragedy as his wife and daughter are kidnapped. There is a ransom but the police tell him not to pay it so he grabs a suitcase of plain paper and tries to fool them. This doesn’t go well as there is unfortunately no good plan here at all. The cops follow the villains to the base but beyond yelling “Hands in the air” don’t seem to know how to protect the hostages. The wife is murdered in the car crash while Michael’s daughter Amy was left in the house and then vanished. She is presumed to be dead though.

Many years later Michael is trying to restart his life and things are going well on the job at least. On a trip to Italy he meets a lady named Sandra who looks a lot like his old wife. He figures that this is a perfect chance to go on the rebound so he asks her out and the two are getting along really well but is this almost too good to be true? He starts to get obsessed into turning her into his wife as he searches for the part of his heart that is still missing.

You could maybe go deeper into the plot but I like to think of this as the general synopsis before then plot goes deeper or any twists in there. One thing I liked about this one a lot more than Vertigo which had a similar plot was that the main character doesn’t seem as deranged. Yes Michael starts to really go off the deep end here as you can see with him asking Sandra to start walking and talking like his late wife did. The difference is that it doesn’t seem as threatening. In Vertigo you felt like the guy would snap at any second while here I didn’t get the impression that he was downright dangerous. It’s a thin line of course but I don’t think he crossed it.

It does make him look bad regardless though. Michael is clearly still going through a lot of trauma and this is how he’s coping but it’s not a healthy way to go about it. Then of course he also has a lot of regrets about how he handled the original kidnapping case by not bringing the money and wants a chance to do it right this time. The climax gets really intense for him in this angle. He makes a lot of mistakes but you can sympathize with how rough things got for him as well. If he could have kept more of a clear head then the movie would have likely gone very differently for him.

Then you have his business partner Robert who is doing his best to keep the company afloat. He wants Michael to move on and hopes this trip to Italy can help. He’s always rather understanding even when Michael is starting to go crazy but Robert does put the company first. He gets a fairly big role in the film and makes for a very intense character. I would say he is one of the standouts here. The guy does very well in his role.

Finally you have Sandra and of course she is a pivotal player here. The romance may seem a bit easy and she definitely gives Michael too much leeway in ordering her around though. At first things were okay so the instant he started to be a little off she needed to call him out and put a stop to that immediately. You can’t let things escalate and then you’re on a good path. She barely even knows this guy too so letting him take too much control would put things in a really bad place.

Now of course the twists at the end of the film can change some or a lot of what I’ve put in below as far as context goes. I won’t give away the big twist here but basically it was a very longshot plan. Things had to happen just right for this film to really happen. One character in particular had to look very bad unfortunately. I’d say the romance itself also got very iffy by the end of this. The ending is memorable with more explosions and tension than I was expecting though. The film really ended up having a grand climax.

In general deciding whether to give the kidnappers the money or not is always tough because if things go sideways then you will wish you had done the other thing. No matter what option you pick, there is no guarantee that things will go well and that’s what makes it a tough choice. So throughout the whole film you have that undercurrent of regret. The movie is well written and my only real issue would be the weak romance and how Michael starts to quickly deteriorate as a character. On the whole it’s good though.

Overall, What you think of the twist will likely impact how effective the film is for you. Personally I do think the movie tipped its hand to the twist really early on if you pay attention to the opening scene but the good part of that is the film isn’t pulling this twist out of a hat. So it really makes sense both in the moment and in hindsight. The writing there is solid and at the end of the day you will be intrigued by what’s going on. There was a lot of planning here in the movie and it would help in a re-watch as something to think about. Maybe not the greatest thriller out there but I would recommend it to see what you think. It’s a cautionary tale on why you don’t want to ever get to obsessive over anything or anyone.

Overall 6/10

See How They Run Review

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See How They Run was a really fun mystery film. It’s poking fun at the genre a bit while also delivering on a very solid murder mystery. You’ve got solid music here and a really solid opening. Throw in the good cast and this is a movie that you don’t really forget. You don’t see a ton of mysteries compared to other genres so it’s always fun to pick out a winner. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out.

The movie starts off with Leo narrating as he talks about how the murders are always predictable and he takes a ton of shots at “The Mouse Trap” which is a play that’s being turned into a movie. The guy holds nothing back but then he ends up being bumped off himself. It made for a nice twist since the film had been leading him up to being the main character but that wasn’t the case. Instead Inspector Stoppard and Constable Stalker are the main characters as they take on the case. Yes, Stalker is actually her name which was another bit of fun by the film. Can these two solve the case or will their differing styles come between them?

The Inspector is a hardened detective type who likes to slowly gather the clues and figure things out. That’s his style and he’s rather good at it. Constable Stalker is more about quickly gathering the clues and jumping to the ending. She likes the thrill of the chase and means well but tends to jump to conclusions as a result which annoys the Inspector a lot. This makes for a fun dynamic with a whole lot of banter though so I definitely enjoyed that. A big part of why the film succeeds is because of these two characters who really steal the movie.

The Inspector has a whole lot of obstacles in his path like the police commissioner who is more worried about optics than what is actually going on. That guy is easily caught up in jumping to the end as well and gives promises that he can’t keep so he’s not exactly the highlight character here. The Inspector has to succeed in spite of him and does a good job. Even Stalker tends to get in the way sometimes but at least she also has a large list of contributions to offset that.

It was a bit underhanded that she wrote down a private conversation between the two of them and used it against him later on though. She nearly got the Inspector in a whole lot of trouble. Yes she was just trying her best to do the right thing but that’s why it’s important not to jump to conclusions. That nearly got very dicey for sure. At least she doesn’t let it get her down though, Stalker never lets her enthusiasm for the case wane.

Then we have Leo who may have died early but keeps a large presence in the film through a bunch of flashbacks. Basically every time the characters meet a suspect we get to see how this guy did something mean to them. Leo is basically as antagonistic as possible. He messes with the characters, tries to get characters to cheat with him, is full of himself, etc. He goes out of his way to antagonize every character in the movie which is impressive…but of course that is also what led to his end.

It was also fun to see Agatha Christie also get to appear here. For a bit there I thought they were going to keep her off screen throughout the movie but she actually has an active role in the climax and gets to interact with the characters. That was definitely a really intense moment and I like how she picked up a few things from her murder mystery novels. She actually came close to having the villain on the ropes.

As for the actual villain, of course I can’t say who that was, but the reveal worked well. The villain had a good motive so you can see how the villain cracked in the end and started bumping everyone off. There is something almost funny about the explanation too and how it led to all of this. It’s true that the reactions to the murders in a way incentivized them to keep on going because the intended effect wasn’t working. “The Show must go on!” is a powerful mantra that is used a lot but of course if someone is trying to stop the play then that means they will have to keep on going over and over again until it actually stops.

One thing I have to give the film a shout-out for are the visual techniques that are used here. You constantly get different boxes on screen at the same time so you see the moment from different perspectives. It’s almost like a comic book in some ways and it’s not overplayed. These moments always just help to enhance the scene and make it more memorable. It’s like going the extra mile for the actual mystery.

You also have a fair chance to try and guess who the murderer is. All of the characters have a good amount of screen time and have definitive personalities. If you’re really paying attention to the dialogue then you should have a good chance here. My pick ended up not being correct so we’ll see how it goes for you. The film is always ready to throw you a few curve balls as well.

Overall, See How They Run is a great mystery film. It’s got a lot of replay value and the fact that the movie is able to tie it into the original play while being different was very clever. The climax uses this really well and there was a lot of detail put into this one. The writing never falters and it works really well in being a bit self aware on what usually happens in murder mysteries while still taking itself very seriously. I was quite impressed with how this went and if we ever get a sequel that could be fun.

Overall 8/10

Beastars Review

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Beastars is a manga that really didn’t work for me even by the end. You could probably guess that things were going to be dicey as soon as you saw the cover since this is a manga all about animals and it takes place in a gritty world. So animal violence is going to happen here right off the bat. The animals walk and talk like humans but at the end of the day they still look like animals and so with their losing limbs and being bumped off, the series never stood a chance. Ultimately this one should have just stuck to using human characters but the level of grit here would have doomed it anyway.

The series follows Legoshi, a wolf who lives in a world where carnivores and herbivores have a very strained peace. After all carnivores eat herbivores which comes down to their very nature and yet they have to try going to school together and getting through life. There are those who believe both groups should be completely segregated and others who want to keep them together. There is always a “Beastar” around who acts as a symbol of peace and hope among the species. The goal for those attending school is to hopefully become the next Beastar. Legoshi isn’t super interested in that being his end goal though and just wants to get through school. As the series goes on his goals certainly change though and a lot happens.

So first up we have what I would consider is more of the pre arc. We are introduced to how the world is and Legoshi gets to meet with different characters. Initially he isn’t too aware of all that goes on with the tensions between the species beyond the basics but then he meets a rabbit known as Haru who he gets interested in. The thing is he’s a wolf so naturally there are a lot of stigmas against herbivores being together with carnivores. The relationship will have a tough time forming and this also starts to make him hyper sensitive to carnivores that badmouth herbivores or who want to eat them.

This really becomes the foundation for his desire to change the world a bit. He would ideally like everyone to be in control of themselves so all the species could get along but it won’t be easy since he himself has a tough time controlling his natural instincts as well. It’s not as easy as just deciding he won’t eat the other animals and he has to work hard at it. He ends up joining the drama club which is a good way to mingle with the others and decide what to do. Unfortunately an animal is eaten and it seems to have been done by one of his classmates. Figuring out who did this is top priority since that’s a taboo that can’t be ignored but it’s not an easy mystery to solve either. The answer to this question could even get a little tricky for him since he knows most of his classmates. So it’s going to be emotional no matter who it is.

It’s a pretty tense environment all around and the series sets the tone early as we’re also introduced to a black market where animals basically sell themselves to the carnivores. This way they’re eaten on their own terms and also make some money out of it. It’s definitely a very dark look at how grim this world can really be for them. At the end of the day it doesn’t offer a big hope of finding a magical solution like in Animal Land. This series does start to get more and more supernatural by the end but for the most part it’s very realistic.

So much so that it’s a really big moment when someone pulls out a gun for the first time. You just never forgot that because it was a big turning point in the series. From here on out we would have gangs and a lot of other action coming up. I wouldn’t say the series ever becomes a full action but the final arc definitely does have a lot of fighting in it. Even by the end most characters would have trouble with a gun so personally I think more fighters should carry one.

Where the series really drops off early though is how gritty it is. You feel like the author gets away with a lot because they’re animals and he uses this as an excuse to take a really intense look at humanity. The themes here are things that you wouldn’t ordinarily see in any title like this. Some may appreciate the boldness for the series but for me it just means that you won’t be having very much fun here at all. When things aren’t being gritty or over the top violent then you have characters talking about love and getting together or animal fun facts that are usually more detailed than they would need to be. This is the kind of world you would not want to live in because your odds of getting out in one piece aren’t great.

The author should get a lot of props for building such a detailed world and figuring out the ground rules but that’s really where the props would end. You have characters sleeping around, getting arms hacked off, and others who are eating each other. It just feels like the world is way grimmer than it ought to be and even by the end I wouldn’t say it’s all very hopeful. Sure there may be a bit of a temporary solution that will help things out but from what we’ve seen it won’t last and it won’t be enough. A common theme in the manga is that this divide will always exist and the animals just have to keep living and surviving as best they can.

So even without the animal violence I’m not sure this would get more than 1 star. Imagining the series with all humans instead, it would still be super dark and violent the whole time with a bunch of very unfortunate characters. I do think it would be toned down somewhat but enough to make this a good title? I don’t see it. Best bet would be to have turned this into more of a true action manga like the final arc and then you have a chance.

As for the artwork, it’s going for a very realistic/detailed look. It actually worked decently well, I would say the art is good. It may not be my favorite style but the action scenes are clear and you’ll never mix up the characters so that’s important. You can easily read through the whole adventure without any issues. There’s usually a lot of text so the average volume will take longer than most but with the artwork it’s always clear.

While part 1 of the story is really about the school days, eventually Legoshi goes out into the real world. He has to try and get a job and interact with everyone outside of the sheltered school life. It was interesting to see him in a new setting and it felt like a whole new saga in the manga. Sort of like your classic Shonen Jump timeskip and it always makes for a very effective tool to get the character in a new setting. You can flush out the old cast and bring in a bunch of newer ones. This would also send the series more into its action setting. Even the fight scenes you won’t enjoy as much as the average one since they are still animals fighting which takes away from the whole thing but I’ll take it over exploring the black market.

This eventually leads us to the final part of the story where we get a true main villain, Melon. He has a pretty tragic backstory as you could probably guess and his thing is that he’s super insane. He basically wants to create as much chaos as possible and really put the world on its head. If he has his way the world will revert back to a jungle where only the strongest survive and everything is settled through combat. Naturally that means he has to be taken down and so the Beastar is ready to fight but Legoshi may have to step in as well. It’s actually impressive how well Melon does because at the end of the day he is still one guy. So if a few animals ganged up they could probably beat him but it’s always easier said than done since nobody wants to be the guy who is bumped off.

We even get a tournament at the end of the series although unfortunately this is where the series starts to rush towards the ending at full speed. It’s too bad because I was looking forward to getting through the whole competition. The first round was actually intense with a very long explosives battle that had a lot of strategy and good defensive feats for Legoshi. The second round started to look very solid as well even if Legoshi was holding his punches a lot since he was fighting a lady but then the rest is basically skipped.

We do get a lot of action either way though which works out and some twists near the end. Beastars may not have ended up being a winner for me but a whole lot definitely ended up happening and it’s a very memorable manga. You aren’t likely to forget it in the end because the title/setting is very unique. It’s a manga that is taking things in a very different direction from most. For me that’s for the best since you want to keep animals as far out of the rotation as possible. You may end up being very memorable but in the end it’s just not worth it.

Now lets talk about the characters in more detail. First up we have Legoshi and I can’t say I liked him too much as the lead. First off he can be way too timid with Haru which often leads to him running around and keeping her in the dark. He’s also too oblivious to romance which leads to the series needing to have a lot of conversations about it as they basically teach him how it works. His self control isn’t very good with how often he needs crazy strict training programs and pep talks to move forward.

A lot of the series is about how this is all biological so it’s hard to resist the natural urges but it’s just way too tough. He isn’t able to do a whole lot on his own there. It’s good that he had a solid mentor in Gohin who helped show him the way. Now that guy ended up being one of the best characters here without a doubt. He’s actively making a difference in the world by helping animals overcome their hunger and protecting anyone he sees. He also trains Legoshi a whole lot which directly helps a whole lot of characters that exist within the world.

Jack is more of a minor character but he really works as a very loyal friend to Legoshi. It’s good to have someone like that in your corner who can give you a pep talk when you’re feeling down. I’d say he ends up helping a whole lot in that way. He may not be ready to tackle the more serious elements of the world but he keeps Legoshi grounded in that sense.
Haru is the main heroine here and initially she is very much a free spirit but in all the wrong ways. She can’t really find much satisfaction or purpose in her life so she started sleeping around but gradually met Legoshi and changed her ways. At that point things would always be very complicated for her since he had a tendency to vanish all the time and show up out of the blue. As a result her role in the series can also be a bit sporadic as she will go long periods of time without appearing. I can’t say that I ever became a fan of hers though. Even by the end she was close to letting one of the villains eat her on a whim. Her lack of a survival instinct would really hurt her at different points.

Yahya on the other hand is easily a highlight of the series. The guy is a top fighter and it’s easy to see how he became the Beastar. That’s not to say that he is a big hero though, In fact he has his dark secrets as well and there is one disturbing scene where we find out what he uses as fertilizer for his plants. He basically became an extremist in his pursuit of Justice. He still helps a whole lot of people out but uses some rather murky methods to do it. It was just nice to see someone trying to make a difference though and he did get lots of results. In fact he even took out Melon quite easily initially. Unfortunately Legoshi ruined it which was a low moment for his character.

Gosha is Legoshi’s grandfather and has done a good job of just living his life and not letting things get to him. His family had a really tragic turn in life but he’s done his best to stick it out and look out for Legoshi when he can. His acid makes him a very dangerous fighter if he ever wanted to cause a lot of chaos. The others should consider themselves lucky that he is a pacifist although he will act if Legoshi is in trouble. I liked him well enough and it was nice to have a calm character to balance out the rest. Almost nothing would faze this guy.

Then there is Louis who you could consider the main rival of the series. He’s really popular at school and the favorite to be one the next Beastar. He has a ton of confidence and doesn’t back down from Carnivores. He’s a deer so that puts him at a physical disadvantage in a fight which he is well aware of but he works hard to get around that. He can fight his battles with intellect and resources. When that doesn’t work he pulls out the gun and so people don’t really mess with him.  He gets to see even more of the world than Legoshi for a while due to his joining a gang of lions. He definitely got even tougher with them and ultimately does a whole lot of work in the shadows.

His father Ogma was always a fun character. His screen time is a lot more limited to be sure but he definitely makes the most of it in every occasion. The guy has a hard time sharing his feelings due to having to be emotionless and cold as the head of his company. Louis isn’t great at dealing with him either so the two are often at a bit of a crossroads. It can be tense but that’s why their scenes are always fun.

Juno is a wolf who usually has a lot of bad luck in who she goes after. Initially she wants to go out with Legoshi since society dictates that you date within your species but he’s not interested and then she goes after Louis but he’s got a fiancé so it’s all rather tough on her. I like her boldness though and she does fight hard for who she wants. Not the type of character who just throws in the towel really quick.

Bill is more of an annoying character because he doesn’t have a lot of willpower and he’s really okay with going to the black market. Not the guy you would really trust too much if he starts to get hungry. By the end he gets some development but he had a really rough start that is hard to forget. Then you’ve got Riz who is one of the most unlikable characters in the series. He likes to justify things a whole lot but ultimately they’re just excuses. He’s someone you’re just hoping will get taken out the whole time.

Then you have the main villain Melon. He’s okay, Melon is one of those characters who wants to watch the world burn and is super crazy the whole time. I feel like the heroes should have been able to stop him way sooner since I wouldn’t say that he’s a top tier threat or anything though. He can use the soul animal ability and he is quick but scenes like where he is threatening the lions are a bit much to me. They should absolutely be able to crush him with sheer numbers and the fact that they just let him boss them around the whole time is absolutely crazy. He openly mocks them and does his best to make their lives a living nightmare so they really have nothing to lose.

It’s why I ended up not being a big fan of the Shishigumi. Those guys can’t stand up for themselves and are too eager to be led all the time. They need to stand up for themselves and fight hard instead of always waiting to have someone lead them around. That’s absolutely not the best path for them and they have the muscle to be able to fight on their own. That would have helped their characters immensely, make them a full threat. You can’t help but think that all of the other groups in the final tournament look more impressive as a result since they don’t take orders from other people or get infiltrated so easily.

I did like that we were introduced to astral forms and basically supernatural super forms to help make any animal more of a threat. It was a good way to increase the power levels. It may have been a bit of a vague mechanic but I thought that it worked out pretty well. Legoshi could have used a much cooler super form though as I didn’t care for this one’s design much. It made sense for his psyche but it’s just not as threatening as it could have been. In a way it’s rough for Legoshi because throughout the series he trains really hard physically and mentally but rarely gets the definitive wins that you would expect. Often times he is outclassed physically or needs help even though you feel like he puts in more work than his opponents.

If the series focused more on the battles and this supernatural angle over the hyper realism then that would have at least salvaged some things. Focus it more on the Shonen elements and you’re good. Even in terms of dialogue it would help be an improvement if the characters were talking more like normal people. I think a more confident main character instead of Legoshi would have been a good idea as well since even by the end of the series he’s fairly timid.

Overall, Beastars gets a point for putting in a lot of effort but that’s about it. It basically runs into just about every issue I could possibly have with a title. It’s overly violent, has a ton of animal violence, gets really gritty, the romance is no good, and we even have characters running around having affairs. It pretty much avoids the fanservice issue since they’re all animals at least. At the end of the day I wouldn’t recommend the title. If you want something with a lot of novelty value for being unique then you should check out Law of Ueki instead for how to make a power like “Trash into Trees” very effective. Now that’s a title that is hype and stays that way the whole time.

Overall 1/10