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Spirit Photographer Saburo Kono Review

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It’s time to look at a one shot that recently came out from the Promised Neverland author. In theory if it does well enough then this will get picked up for a whole series. I can already see the kind of vibe they’re going for so this would be something like Neuro or Hell Girl. Based on how the first chapter goes I’m sure we’ll have quite a few tragedies occurring here on the regular before we transition into the more antagonistic spirits. I can’t say that it grabbed me though. This isn’t a series I’d be particularly interested in but due to the anthology format it is going for some volumes would likely be better than others.

The story here is about a boy named Sota who has been rather depressed as of late. His next door neighbors are always moving out every few months because of a ghost that supposedly resides there. One day a suspicious guy named Saburo shows up while Sota’s mother is out. He says he is a photographer and forces Sota to accompany him to the haunted apartment. He then has Sota give him the full history of the place which is basically that a lady used to live there until she committed suicide. Sota asks why he’s needed anyway and that’s when the ghost shows up. It is the lady and for some reason she is after Sota.

This is just a one shot so I feel like there’s no such things as spoilers. Either you read it or you didn’t. So if you haven’t then skip the next few paragraphs or just go and read it before reading the review. Not much point in reviewing a one shot but skipping the plot right? So here’s the plot twist. Sota tried committing suicide so the lady stopped him but ended up slipping due to the rain and fell out of her apartment. Sota then kept quiet and let everyone believe she simply tripped. The ghost was just the lady saying she didn’t blame him so Saburo took a picture and she moved on. See, Saburo is a spirit photographer so he takes pictures of the spirits when they get to finish their business. He makes it a point to say that he’s not an exorcist so he doesn’t handle evil spirits or anything like that. I think this already implies that they will appear soon. I have a few problems with the story though.

The first is rather superficial but I feel like Saburo will need some work before he becomes the main character here. Granted, if this is like Hell Girl then he will show up in every story but won’t really be the main character. Still, the dynamic doesn’t work as well. He is portrayed as very shady and he did completely force the kid to go to the haunted hallway under the implied threat of violence. This is going to be our main character? The guy’s design and actions scream villain. You can certainly have a character like this to subvert expectations but I really don’t see him working well as the lead. Certainly he has less charisma than almost any other lead I’ve seen. Seriously, read chapter 1 of almost any other manga and I bet they’re a better character. So he needs work.

Next, the whole anthology string of tragedies isn’t going to work for me either. So we’re already starting with a indirect murder/suicide attempt? The whole thing’s pretty tragic for the lady who was just trying to help out. It doesn’t do wonders for Sota. He’s just a kid of course and I expect he would never appear again but this just isn’t a strong first chapter. Aside from being tragic there just isn’t much to this. There’s no big incentive to keep on watching because the premise itself just isn’t very interesting. What helps Hell Girl out a bit is that she acts as the punisher and sees that vengeance is carried out. Now, that’s a series that I doubt would get high marks if I reviewed it because of how dark things get, but at least it’s an interesting angle. Then Neuro quickly went full on action which was exciting at least.

There’s no way to guess how this one would progress so I can only go off the pilot. Suffice it to say, this is not a pilot that would really get me interested. There’s not a whole lot more to say beyond that. I wouldn’t say the art is particularly good but it’s basically the same as the Promised Neverland so if you liked the art there then you should be good here. It works well enough for the horror atmosphere I suppose but it doesn’t flow as smoothly as a lot of the other titles on the block. I imagine the author will continue to improve as the series goes on though.

Overall, We’ll see if this ends up becoming a series. I’m not really pulling for it, but if it happens it happens. It’s not like it’ll be a bad thing if it does, but I’m hoping for more action type titles. A lot of the other recent jump titles look more interesting so I’d be hoping that those continue to go strongly. Pilots usually end up being quite different than the actual series though so we’ll see how it’s restructured. My personal recommendation to the author would be to change the main character’s design and for the camera stories either go for more of a Yotsuba type of adventure with the spirits or have Saburo take a more active role in the adventures rather than scaring people for kicks. If you start out with smaller cases first that would make sense. Due to the nature of unfinished business though, I imagine a lot of the would turn out rather dark like this.

Overall 5/10

The Comic Review

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It’s time to look at an old film about an actor letting the fame go to his head and falling from grace. This seems to be a pretty popular sub genre to be honest as it happens quite a bit. This one plays out like you would expect although I dare say that Billy’s decline happens even quicker than usual this time. He almost immediately becomes corrupt and starts causing a bunch of chaos. He certainly wasn’t wasting any time. The film may hold your attention for a bit but it does drag on and the fact that there are no likable characters doesn’t help either. It ends up being a bit of a miss as a result.

The movie starts with Billy getting a role as an extra in a film. He decides to take it over though and the execs actually like this so he quickly becomes a star. This leads him to get Mary as his wife from the director but then Billy cheats on her with a bunch of other people. Throughout his career he is shown to have no real self control and even swings at his friends. Mix this in with the fact that he doesn’t like movies which have sound and he has really limited his own options. There just isn’t much left for him by the end and the film starts off with his death so you know that’s going to happen. The real question is how long the film will drag out his demise.

It’s hard to tell what’s sadder here, the fact that you see Billy’s life continuing to go down the tubes and that it’s all completely due to his own decisions, or the fact that he doesn’t even realize this. There’s no mistaking the fact that Billy is sabotaging himself here constantly. He really could have had a great and successful life but chose to throw it away over quick flights of fancy. Or in a more direct way, he chose to lose his morals and cheat on his loyal wife just for a moment of pleasure. He deserves what he gets and that’s part of what also hurts the film.

It’s really hard to follow the adventures of a character who is simply this unlikable. Billy’s just not a good guy, that part is clear as day. He keeps on deflecting this throughout the film but since we know better as the viewer it doesn’t work. I wouldn’t even say it works as comedy because it’s more tragic than anything. The best scenes are probably the old black and white bits about him in his early roles. It’s not really my kind of film to the extent that I feel like I’d be a little bored watching them. I enjoy slapstick personally but I need to hear something. These kinds of films only work with sound if you ask me and a silent film just doesn’t have enough going on in it. The film shows us quite a few of them to eat up screen time though.

Aside from Billy I guess the biggest characters would be Mary and Martin. Mary’s not really a great character either though. None of this excuses Billy cheating on her later. We also don’t want to forget the fact that Mary was cheating with Billy while she was still with the director though. It’s part of why she should have sen this coming. If someone is willing to be a homewrecker with one person, what’s to say he or she won’t just keep on doing it with the next person? The only way a relationship can be established is with trust so if you’re building the whole foundation on a lie then that’s just not going to work. you’re setting yourself up for failure right from the get go.

Finally we have Martin who is probably the only nice guy around. If anything you feel bad for him being stuck with Billy. Billy’s definitely not a nice friend but Martin sticks with him anyway. The film maybe went a little overboard with the special effects for his eye though. It’s an actual part of the film’s story but it doesn’t make it easy for his screen time either. There are other supporting characters here and there like Billy’s son but they don’t do a whole lot. I don’t even think the son had much of a purpose appearing near the end either. I suppose it shows that he got to be a decent guy while Billy is up to his old tricks but wasn’t really needed.

The film really just needed one thing to turn it around, have Billy not be such a bad person. There are a lot of ways they could have still made things not work out for him while keeping him sympathetic. One would have been to play up the fact that he doesn’t like films with sound without making him a cheater. He would keep turning down roles so eventually what would happen is Mary leaves since he isn’t earning any money and the whole industry turns on him. It would portray him as a very selfish guy but one who is at least obeying some kind of internal rules. You could at least buy into it a bit as actors naturally have a lot of pride since it helps them perform well and focus. It would have been a great improvement if you ask me.

Overall, the film goes a little overboard with the main character being unlikable. It’s near impossible to get past cheating as that’ll wreck any character and the film can just be a bit mean spirited. There’s not a whole lot of fun to be had here as for every joke scene you’ll get something tragic. If anything the film would have probably worked better if the whole thing took place after Billy died. You could have him giving commentary the whole time while the characters are running around. I dare say that this would have worked a whole lot better. If you’re up for another film about an actor’s decline then I guess this is a fair bet to check out but otherwise I’d recommend something with a little more energy.

Overall 4/10

Oh, God! Review

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All right, it’s time to look at a comedy film from a while back. The plot is definitely a tricky one since it’s about God showing up and the film’s going to be poking some fun at it. I’d say it’s pretty harmless though and you never feel like the film is trying to be mean spirited about it. It’s not going out of its way to do anything crazy at the very least unlike certain other films that are coming out soon. It’s a pretty enjoyable film I’d say and the movie never really makes any critical mistakes.

The movie starts with an average day in Jerry’s life. He’s trying to make his supermarket the best one in the country and he’s doing rather well with it to be honest. One day things take a turn though when he is contacted by God for an interview. Jerry has not been given a message to spread the word and get people to believe again. God appears to Jerry as an older man who may not be very smart at times but does have all the powers that you would expect. For the purposes of the review we’ll call him George though just because even if that’s how he’s addressed I’d rather keep the word for when it’s about the genuine article. Can Jerry really convince the media that this is happening?

Jerry’s definitely very skeptical at first but who wouldn’t be? As a Christian myself I’d be extremely hard pressed to believe that he would appear and start talking to me out of the blue. Why? Because the Anti Christ will also be showing up soon and it’s already confirmed that he will have all kinds of supernatural abilities and will perform miracles. So, I don’t even know what would convince me. That’s part of the point though, it would have to be something utterly crazy that only God could think of. In the meanwhile if I see someone come back to life or other big things like that I’d first assume it’s the other guy to be honest. When God actually returns we’ll certainly know about it.

Back to the film, Jerry does go on board with this after a miracle or two and really tries his best. I was pleasantly surprised at how eager Jerry was to accomplish the mission. Usually the main character grumbles for what feels like the entire film before being bullied into action. Here Jerry takes quite a few losses but he always tries his best. If anything George appears quite ungrateful at times as you can tell that Jerry was giving this all. He put his career and life on the line to deliver the message. It may not have worked out perfectly but I don’t really see what else he can do.

The film has fun with this as Jerry goes just about everywhere to help out. At most he can just be a little slow on the uptake with the whole changing appearances thing. He probably could have handled that better instead of making himself look bad every time. At least Jerry never gave up though. His family wasn’t quite as supportive at times. The kids were definitely a little more on the annoying side. They should have had his back instead of literally backing off instead. Only Bobbie was there to help even if she wasn’t the best at it. She has good reason to think that he’s making a lot of this up though as Jerry doesn’t always do a good job of explaining his experiences. Bobbie definitely had to go through a lot the whole film so she gets more slack than the other characters.

The pacing is solid and the film just flies through. It feels like we got to accomplish a lot as well which is probably what helps the pacing. I enjoyed the round table discussion when Jerry met with the religious leaders. While one of them definitely ended up being corrupt the others felt fairly reasonable. Although as students of the scripture they should have remembered Matthew 4:7 ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” before giving Jerry the equivalent of a pop quiz. The whole point of faith is that you don’t know all of the answers so there’s no reason why God actually would do such a thing. He could, but that’s not the same thing as saying he would.

At the end of the day with the writing and script being solid, the only thing that could stop you from enjoying this film is if you simply dislike how the movie handles the premise. This certainly isn’t a serious look at what could happen if God were to return like this so the film has a lot of laughs. As I mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t say it’s mean spirited though and does at least reference some interesting topics. I was fine with the film. My only complaint would be that they went too far in trying to portray God as not being very smart at all. I thought that was overblown, I understand making him appear to be a kind old man who’s very calm about everything. Flat out not being intelligent? You lost me there film.

Jerry asks a lot of questions that the film doesn’t give great answers to. One of them “Is Jesus your son?” is an easy one. Yes he is. Jesus Christ is the Son of God who dies for our sins and was resurrected after 3 days. The film quickly misdirects the answers so that God takes it as a figurative question so as not to offend any other religions, but you can’t have it both ways. Jesus is his one and only son when we’re talking in the literal and of course we all are Children of God when you talk about it in a meta sense. It’s important to make the distinction though so as not to undermine the importance of Jesus himself. I remember a long time ago I met someone who said they believed all religions and that can’t be true inherently because to believe one is not to believe the other. There’s no scenario where you can pick and choose.

As for the classic “Why do bad things happen?” well, that’s the struggle of life. If God solved everything for us then there would be no choice. It’s the same reason why he won’t suddenly show up in a bolt of lightning or anything like that. Anyone can believe in God if given absolute proof which defeats the entire purpose of Faith. You have to be able to believe in him without having any proof. The possibility that he is not real is what makes are faith legitimate. Everyone knows that the Sky is real because we can see it so it would be impossible for us to believe in the Sky. This is really the same concept when you think about it. It’s easy to feel like life is unfair and that some have it easier than others. Sure, to an extent that may be true but everyone faces their own personal trials and tribulations. Some may do a better job of hiding it than others, but I don’t believe it’s possible to go through life with no problems. God never gives you more than you can handle but nobody has a perfect life.

There are always a lot of good debates on that kind of subject and you could go back and forth for hours but that’s why it’s all so interesting. Also, Religion is different than having a personal relationship with God. That’s something the film gets right even though several characters seemingly aren’t able to wrap their heads around it in the movie. It’s very different to know about God vs knowing God intimately. Then there’s the third step of actually taking him into your heart. Put it this way, The Devil fits into the first two sections, he just loses out in the third. Anyone can know about God and there are those who believe in him but choose not to serve him. It’s the third category that really counts.

Finally, the film also talks about God not being comprehendable which is why he takes a human form. That’s something I can buy into. I don’t think it would be possible for a mere human to really be able to understand or see God. It’s why in the Bible people die or go blind if they even get a glimpse of him. He’s a being we can never fully grasp which is why he is God. Of course it’s well within his ability to help us comprehend him and I believe in Heaven he would take a form similar to Jesus or something we can’t yet understand but will as Angels. It’s all about waiting until then.

So I went off on a bit of a side tangent there, but while the film is entertaining I also think it’s good to straighten up some of the topics the movie tackles but doesn’t go into. At the end of the day it’s a film that’s not meant to be used for study so you should never take these things at face value. Do your own due diligence and it’ll pay off quite well. Whether you’re a Christian or not I believe you would be able to find this film entertaining. If you’re bothered by the premise and would rather skip it, there’s nothing wrong with that either. I don’t expect this movie would be for everyone. It does have a court case at the end though which I always tend to enjoy. I doubt the sequels would be quite as good but you never know. Maybe they would be legitimate follow-ups.

Overall 7/10

Icey Review

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It’s time for a look at a beat em up I wasn’t really familiar with. I definitely hadn’t heard of it until the game arrived. Pretty neat cover though and right away you can see the fun sci-fi/anime aesthetic they’re going for. The game also has a lot of breaking the fourth wall moments and has an Undertale kind of vibe. It’s definitely on the short side though as you should beat it in about 2-3 hours but the difficulty helps it from getting much shorter than that. The enemies absolutely don’t mess around in this game.

The game starts with Icey waking up in her tube. Her mission is to destroy Judas since he wiped out the planet a long time ago. It is now a desolate wasteland overrun with monsters. Icey won’t stop until he is destroyed but is this really the right thing to do? Icey has started to lose track of who she is and her true goals. Is she after Judas because it was her idea or is someone manipulating her? The truth seems to fade in and out now to the point where everything is brought into question. The narrator of the world himself offers up suggestions and talks to her quite a bit as well. A common theme in the game is, will you listen to this guy or make your own choices?

I wouldn’t be surprised if this game already has a lot of theory videos out there. There’s definitely a lot to explore within this game and there’s certainly room for a sequel. I didn’t actually go and try out one of the other endings but the game makes it all very accessible. You can use the level select to go back and try something else. There are only two main decisions with regard to the ending as far as I can see but throughout the game you can choose to ignore the narrator and do whatever you want. I did that a lot early on but it would usually backfire as I would just get a few coins or something. It can be worth it just to troll the guy though. Sometimes he would also be right and by disobeying him you would end up going up against a boss that was too powerful or something like that.

As I mentioned, the game is definitely very difficult. Be careful how you answer the opening questions as that determines the difficulty level. Initially I ended up starting the game on hard mode as a result and quickly had to restart so it would be on normal. Even on normal I lost quite a few times. The checkpoints are pretty nearby at least. Grinding isn’t the easiest thing in the world here but it is possible through the level select. I recommend amping up your health and attack power first. Those will come in handy right away and you feel the immediate benefit which is why they’re good picks. They’re attacks you can count on but there are a lot of different attacks you can go for as well so at the end of the day it’s up to you.

There isn’t any hitstun in this game so when you get hit prepare for the opponent to combo you for a little while. Button mashing helps you get up a little faster so I recommend it. Mainly just try to make sure you’re never in between two enemies. You can dash so I recommend using that a lot. It’ll help you evade attacks and even counter strike if your timing is on point. It’s definitely something worth spamming. By the end of the game I did quite a lot of button mashing to activate combos. It has always worked well for me in Marvel vs Capcom and the same was true here.

The graphics are definitely fun. It reminds me of Gunvolt or at least that style although there aren’t sprites in this game. The attacks are pretty flashy and the backgrounds stand out. There’s always something going on in the screen which is good. The whole thing has a lot of detail which is good. As for the soundtrack, that part’s a little more forgettable. I don’t really remember any tunes. I think a little rock could have been a nice touch to the game. I think it would have worked rather well especially with all of the bosses running around. Those guys command respect as it is.

For a sequel I’d like to see Judas either return and try to fight back a little this time or maybe have the narrator try and do something. The guy seems about as shady as they get so he should definitely have a good influence here. A prequel could also work but I almost prefer not knowing how everything went down. Why ruin the mystery when we’re so deep in right? If we never know how this all started it allows for quite a lot of extra possibilities. It also lends itself well to online theories in the meantime.

Overall, Icey is a fun game. It’s definitely going for a unique vibe which is fun. I like a good mystery and the whole plot is fairly shrouded. The gameplay is naturally pretty hype as well. I love a good beat em up and mixing that in with Sci-Fi is a good combo. Ultimately the only thing that holds the game back is the length. It really feels very short. It only lasted as long as it did because I kept dying and even had to restart the game once. Otherwise you would likely beat it even quicker. It’s sort of like a boss rush though so you do get your share of fights in the meantime. If you get the game for a decent price then it’s definitely worth it. Will you take the enemies down or spare them? Only time will tell.

Overall 7/10

Need For Speed Nitro Review

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I’ve really been making great headway on these Need for Speed titles haven’t I? Nitro is the only Need for Speed game that I have on the Wii and it makes for a very different experience. All of the other Need for Speed titles that I’ve played have felt a lot more on the realistic side compared to this one. Maybe at most you could say that Hot Pursuit II was closer to Arcade style but even that one wasn’t to the same extent. This one’s definitely going for that retro feel and it works out quite nicely. While I would have to say that it’s probably the weakest Need for Speed game by default, it does understand the series a lot more than Drift.

You start the game by being introduced to the main campaign. There are 3 cups, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Effectively they are all the same game but just with different difficulty levels. You have to do them in order though. When you enter the Bronze cup you are given around 5-6 cities. Your goal is to earn 100 stars which will let you enter the Grand Prix. Once you win that, you will unlock the Silver Cup so rinse and repeat until you’ve won them all. Not a bad deal right? The star system is very similar to Drift. It means that you don’t necessarily have to win every race but it does help. There is less margin for error here compared to Drift as you do need the majority of the stars in order to qualify. I believe there are 128 stars in each world so you can only miss 28. I recommend not losing.

On a more serious note, this game does introduce a certain amount of RNG within the game that means you can’t always guarantee yourself a victory. Sometimes things will happen that you just can’t control. For example, a new mechanic to this game is the Shield weapon that you can use. What this does is it summons the cops to attack a player of your choice. It’s a pretty powerful attack because there’s not much you can do. They run you off the road or if you’re really unlucky they’ll keep spinning you in a circle so that you can’t reset. It’s a fun way to include the cop presence here since there’s no free roam available. Drift probably should have done something similar although I’d say in just one kind of mode. For the most part I still like my normal racing.

This is the kind of thing that’s good as a side gimmick because of how it’s a change of pace. I don’t know if it would work quite as well if this was happening constantly. As the title suggests, this game also focuses a whole lot on the Nitro mechanic. So you’ve really got to make sure and boost a lot. It’s also crucial for a lot of the bonus stars which are score related. When you do a super boost it really has a noticeable impact on your points. I dare say that getting some of these bonus stars would not be possible otherwise. Boosting is fun though so I recommend it either way. It really gives you a jump on the competition.

The game can be a little tricky at times but really just because of the controls. I played this one through the Wii U so I wasn’t able to use the adapter to play it. As a result, I had to use the ole Wii remote. Surprisingly they don’t let you hold the remote sideways, you have to use it pointing at the screen and tilting which is an odd way to approach this. I suppose I’ll give the game some credit for going in a different way but I dare say that it was the wrong way. In particular this gets tough for the drifting levels where you have to try not to hit too many objects as you get to the goal. Not to be confused with the Drift levels where you max out your score. I believe the former is officially called Time Attack here.

I do like the graphic style though. It’s definitely going for a bit more of a cartoony hand drawn style. You have little cutscenes before every world which I appreciated. It at least makes the game appear to have more of a story. It may not be much but it’s a start I suppose. The game isn’t particularly long if you stop after 1 cup but playing all 3 should stretch the time out to around 7 hours which is pretty solid. Once again, the cars you buy are important here. There’s no upgrading so just focus on buying. I say try to survive on your present car for as long as possible and then upgrade. It can be a difficult thing to do of course, but it really pays off in the end.

Overall, Need For Speed Intro is definitely very original and in this case it worked out in a good way. Perhaps total free roam would have been a little too much for a quick Wii game so going full on arcade racer was the next best thing. With non motion controls this game would be even better. I like how fast you can drive around and the level designs were on point. I feel like this game had a good amount of energy behind it which really makes a difference here. It didn’t feel phoned in or anything like that. If you’re looking for a more upbeat kind of Need for Speed title then this is the one for you. It’s very easy to just plug and play which is probably the idea.

Overall 7/10

Need for Speed Shift Review

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It’s time to look at another Need for Speed title. This one takes the series in a much different direction compared to the rest of the titles in the series. For starters, there is no actual running from the cops in this title or anything like that. You’re actually racing on a pro track the whole time as you work to become the best. It’s interesting that the series would go in this direction but it doesn’t work particularly well. By doing this, the game becomes “Just another car game” which is not something that a franchise wants to be. It had such originality and creativity before this. Still, I can’t deny that the game has quite a lot of content at its disposal and the controls are good so it’s still solid.

The main campaign mode here consists of you jumping into a bunch of different races and doing your best to obtain stars. These stars are what allow you to unlock more races to get into. Once you have obtained enough stars then you unlock the championship where you can race to be the best. The star system means that you don’t necessarily have to complete every race in first. You can also skip some if you’re not confident. The important thing is getting as many stars as possible so that you qualify. An average race will usually have 5 stars, you get 3 for coming in first, 1 for breaking a lap record, and one for some kind of miscellaneous achievement. On average if you’re placing first in events then you don’t need to worry about the bonus stars but this way if you come in second or third a lot then you should be okay.

You will definitely still need to play a lot of races though. The game may give you extra stars to work with but it’s not like you can take that as an excuse to lose every race. You want to realistically still win quite a lot. The game can be difficult, but I wouldn’t call it crazy either. A lot of the races are very winnable since your car can keep up. I’d say it’s once you go around 2 tiers higher than where you start that the game really starts to jump the difficulty up pretty high. It gets hard to deal with and you have to upgrade your car quite a bit to stay ahead of the game. Money gets to be a concern because you run out of it very quickly. So you always have to balance out upgrading with buying a new car. It’s also best to stay with the older car as long as possible because that’ll allow for better cars to be on the market.

Personally I’ve always preferred just having 1 car so you don’t have to worry about all of that but I understand that this does make things more realistic. I suppose it increases the replay value as well as you have fun customizing the car to your liking. It’s definitely something that it vitally important to the career mode so keep that in mind. The game is fairly long and I imagine it’ll take over 10 hours to complete. That’s due in part to the difficulty but also because there are just a lot of races here. You’re not going to finish it too quickly to be sure and that’s a good thing. It’s always nice to have a lot to do in a game even before you consider the replay value. Need For Speed tends to always deliver on that front.

So there’s not much to say about the gameplay but it’s your standard 3D racing title. You speed through the streets in one of the cars you’ve chosen and try to stay in the lead. There are also other kind of events like drifting where you keep a turn for as long as possible and other such events. The Nitro is always a fun boost as well. I definitely have no problem with the controls. It’s all very smooth and on point. Meanwhile the graphics are also top notch. The backgrounds are rather limited so it’s not as impressive as some of the other installments but I think the studio still did a good job of keeping it as smooth as possible. Then of course you’ve got a pretty big soundtrack although not all of the songs will be great. I recommend keeping the music low so you can focus on the driving.

At its core my main problem is that this just doesn’t really feel like a Need For Speed game. There are no cop chases throughout the game nor are there any night levels with fun backgrounds. As a result you feel rather closed in the whole time. I also don’t like the new mechanic that causes you to lose a level if you go off the track too often. That limits your freedom even more and the game should let you explore. If I see a shortcut, why shouldn’t I take it? That’s always been the spirit of the series. While minor, I also didn’t appreciate the new realistic collision mechanic. Now when you bump into something the screen gets really dizzy as you recover from the concussion. It’s definitely realistic I guess but you can actually get pretty dizzy from that. I tend to crash a lot as well which doesn’t really help matters.

Overall, Need For Speed Shift is definitely a very different kind of game for the series. It was an experiment, but one that I don’t feel worked out very well. It just feels a little soulless and if you want such a game there are many others to choose from. You should always have a real story to back a title up even if it’s brief. If you really enjoy racing games then I suppose this is a good one to go for, but otherwise I would say to give it a pass and pick just about any other up. It’s true that this is a very solid game, but at the same time it doesn’t offer you anything that the others don’t even improve on. As a result there is little reason to go back to this one.

Overall 7/10

Yoshi’s New Island Review

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It’s time to look at a game that I conquered really quickly. The whole game was over in one day which makes sense because the game is only about 3-4 hours. It’s also extremely easy to the point where you won’t lose much at all. Even if you do lose you can get back to where you were at within a minute or two tops. The levels are short and since you have endless health as long as you get to the baby in time there’s not a whole lot for you to worry about. There are no big gimmicks to worry about either so half the time you can keep running and jumping.

The plot of the game is that the stork actually delivered Mario and Luigi to the wrong house. Yoshi and his clan must now get them to the right place. If I were the Yoshis I would definitely be a little upset at this. Seriously they have to do this again? Well, at least they have a lot of experience in doing so. They will have to get past Kamaek and all of his minions in order to do this though. The heroes can’t lower their guard and must press on at all costs!

The gameplay is your classic 2D platformer. You jump past enemies and obstacles to get to the goal. Along the way you will see a lot of collectibles and may even solve a few puzzles. You can eat enemies and turn them into eggs. The eggs you shoot are used to activate controls and things like that. I guess the game’s main gimmick would be that Yoshi can turn into several vehicles. This doesn’t happen a whole lot though and even seems to be optional at times. Those controls were a bit weaker so I’m definitely cool with this not being a regular occurrence. I feel like that would not have been a good idea for the game long term. Part of why this game succeeds is because it’s going back to basics. It’s basically a Mario game just with the ability to throw eggs. It is fun to throw the large ones as well and it’s all well thought out. I had no issue with the gameplay.

The bosses also have a lot of variety. The Kamek bosses tend to be similar but even those switch up the background elements which is nice. Changing up the bosses so much is what separates Nintendo platformers from others. The final boss is also intense with quite a lot of forms and even a plot twist I didn’t see coming. It’s probably the most impressive part of the game because it feels like this is a moment when the game decided to go further than expected. It also had more difficulty than the rest of the game since falling into the lava would instantly cause you to lose a life. I imagine you would have to restart all of the phases again but fortunately I didn’t lose during the climax.

The level designs are on point as well. The levels are pretty short and you’re still given a checkpoint during the game so it never feels like you’re going to lose a lot of progress. It may feel unnecessary since the game is pretty easy but it’s the kind of quality of life enhancement that I always like to see. It’s important to have this kind of thing because it’s just a lot more convenient for the player. Who actually wants to have to replay a large chunk of a game that they have already cleared? It helps you improve but since this game is going for a relaxing feel then it works out quite nicely I’d say. You can play a few levels before bed or just blast through the whole thing at once.

The soundtrack is definitely very different compared to most of the big Nintendo titles. It uses the Kazoo a lot and most of the tunes sound like they’re just complete parodies of the normal themes. I suppose they would all technically be considered remixes but it had to be a little self aware. The soundtrack is just very unique. It works well enough I suppose but does make the game feel like it’s aiming even younger than usual. It does support the game’s low difficulty level though. The graphics look fine. It’s not exactly Nintendo’s A game but I think it’s going for a retro look so it succeeds in that approach. I’d rather they go with traditional graphics though because Nintendo games can look really amazing when they try.

There is a decent amount of replay value to be found here though. Each level has a number of collectibles. You can grab the red coins, flowers, and even medals. The medals are RNG though which sounds annoying to me. Fortunately the game made it so that you don’t need to grab these to complete the game which I thought was a really good move. Things like that should always be optional if you ask me. That way you don’t feel like you were penalized for trying to pay the game your way. It is part of why I cleared the game so quickly because I didn’t need to worry about stopping. If you want to explore then that’s fine but it shouldn’t be mandatory. So the main game is about 3 hours and if you try for all collectibles you can probably stretch this to about 7 I’d say.

Overall, Yoshi’s New Island is a pretty fun game. It feels like a standard platformer. It’s true that this game doesn’t really do anything new nor does it try to shatter its own limits, but that’s fine. I still would feel like i got my money’s worth on this one. It’s not the kind of game that I can find a lot of fault with. The level designs are on point and while the story is the bare minimum, I’ll give the title props for the final boss and actually having dialogue between each world. They’re little touches but things that add up. This feels like more of a complete experience than the Squeak Squad game I played for example because of this. The game may be short but it feels fleshed out. I’d recommend this one if you like platformers.

Overall 7/10

Makai Senki Disgaea Review

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It’s time to take a look at the anime adaption to a game I played pretty recently. This anime isn’t a straight adaption and has quite a bit of fun along the way. It’s certainly not a great show and mileage will very but I thought it was solid. It’s certainly entertaining and the cast is strong enough to hold their own here. With solid writing behind it, Disgaea is a show that is good to pass the time with and they do quite a bit with the 12 episodes they had. I’d definitely be game for the second title getting an anime someday as well.

The show starts with an angel trainee named Flonne showing up in the demon world to assassinate the King. She finds a boy who is asleep and wakes him up. It turns out that this is Prince Laharl and his father actually died by choking on some food. Laharl is now the demon king and Flonne decides to accompany him and prove that demons have feelings too. Laharl isn’t thrilled to have company but he won’t let this distract him from assuming command. The demons won’t follow Laharl until he possesses the legendary book which proves ownership and also gets back to his real castle. His “loyal” retainer Etna also arrives to come with him on the journey. Will these 3 really be able to get alone and is Flonne right that Laharl has the potential to be a good guy?

This is a main plot in the show that is actually played pretty seriously or at least relatively so for this title like in the game. The idea of demons being capable of feeling emotions and being heroic is quite foreign for a lot of characters. The demons themselves certainly don’t think it’s possible but at the same time they all act like regular people so you never find the idea to be all that outlandish. If you’re familiar with this kind of plot you’ll also be very willing to believe that it might happen as well. Flonne can be a little naive about it but she’s still on the right track here.

I’d say that the biggest difference here compared to the game is while the game was a blend of action and comedy, this show is going for full comedy. There are rarely any serious moments until the final episode. For the most part the show is actually going for a slice of life feel as the main character visit different areas and have a lot of stand alone adventures. There are plots that reach through the whole series in the background but they don’t really take center stage here for quite a while. So how much you enjoy the series will really come down to how funny you find it to be.

As I mentioned earlier I thought it was pretty entertaining. The dynamic between the three main characters is a solid one. Laharl definitely takes everything pretty personally so he’s always fighting with the other two. Etna is openly antagonistic with Laharl and is constantly trying to get him assassinated which is a fun subplot. Then you have Flonne who keeps talking about love and forgetting that the mere mention of the word ends up weakening Laharl considerably. This also means that Laharl is rarely able to go all out in a fight. It might be for the best as he is clearly one of the strongest characters in the series and would end most fights really quick.

He’s definitely a solid lead character. Laharl’s design is certainly memorable and he would make for a really good overlord. The guy knows how to run a kingdom even if he acts like a kid a lot. The most memorable part of his character is easily his laugh though. It’s brilliant and I dare say it’s the best laugh in media. It’s just epic and the shows even ends off with this laugh. That’s when you know that the laugh itself has hit the big time. You just can’t watch this show without giving it some credit.

Etna is a fun side character to have around as well. I do think she looked a bit weaker than I expected at times though. If she really wants to be the overlord then she is going to need to hit the gym quite a bit if she wants to compete. As it stands right now she is nowhere near strong enough to become the leader that everyone will end up following. It’s another reason why the sequel needs an adaption because she got much more powerful in that title. She may be constantly trying to destroy Laharl but she’s still someone he can count on in the meantime. It may seem like a contradiction but that’s a crucial part of her character. Logic is flipped with demons so the fact that Etna wants to murder Laharl is why he wants her by his side. The show also has a nice gag with this when someone tries to take some demons hostage. As if that would work on Lahalr.

Flonne is definitely the nicest character in the series and always trying to convert the characters around her. She may not always live up to her standards such as accepting the Prinnies carrying the heroes around for a while even when told that she should probably get off to help them out. Flonne has her limits but at the end of the day she tries her best to make the right move. Laharl doesn’t make things easy for her though by doing things like stranding her in the desert and such. Flonne always takes on each new challenge with a smile. I would argue that she had no reason to accept such a punishment in the final episode of the show but heroic sacrifice is the whole idea of her character.

Then we’ve got the Team Rocket of the series which is Gordon, Jennifer, and Thursday. As the protector of Earth Gordon is pretty full of himself but he really can’t fight at all. I like the team because the camp works quite well in this setting. I would have liked Gordon to have looked a bit better against Curtis though. I think the fact that the show uses them as a full Team Rocket blasting off again approach weakens their characters a bit but they still work well enough. Similarly Kurtis doesn’t appear nearly as much here. He was one of the best characters in the game but I couldn’t rank him quite as high up here as a result. Still, he is fun to have around.

Then you have one of the standout characters, The Dark Adonis. The show pretty much spoils his twist early on but I suppose they thought people might find it obvious anyway. Now this guy is a show stealer. He’s always around with a cool line and shows up whenever the heroes are in trouble. Unlike Laharl he doesn’t mind being openly heroic although that doesn’t mean he will always do the right thing. The guy is as chaotic as can be and just does whatever he feels like. He is not someone you can count on. Even if he is usually portrayed as more of a good guy the fact that you are never sure means he is not the guy you want to absolutely have in your corner. You want someone that you know will have your back right?

Then you’ve got the Angels. Vulcanus gets a big role and is one of the main villains here. The guy can’t fight much though so he focuses on summoning demons to help him out. That definitely means you won’t really be seeing him as a threat here. The tougher angel is Lamington who is also a villain. The guy may try to justify his actions later on but there’s just no way he can. At the end of the day his decision was to try and murder a bunch of people to answer the question of if love was real or not. The guy does a lot of back pedaling. Laharl doesn’t buy it and neither do I. If anything Lamington seems to get off really easy by the end of the series. If only Laharl could have acted a little quicker.

While parts of the ending feel a bit forced due to one character making a terrible move, the show still manages to have a pretty satisfying conclusion by the end of it. The ending is definitely close to ideal if you ask me with the final twist being excellent. The ending could have easily swung the wrong way if you left out the final scene because that is critical. It just provides the closure we need for such an adventure.

The animation for the show isn’t all that good. I liked the art and the character model style though. The character designs look like they’re out of the show but when they start moving that’s when things fall apart. It’s not very consistent and a lot of shortcuts are taken. We maybe get 3-4 very solid animation scenes throughout the whole series. It’s rare to see so when the scenes pop up it’s pretty nice to see. It feels like the show had a very low budget and perhaps that’s why it decided to go for the comedy angle. That takes up less budget than if you decided to go full action. The soundtrack is certainly good and nostalgic though. It grabs all of the classic themes from the video game which work really well with all of the scenes. The game did a masterful job with all the tunes.

While there’s definitely lots of room for a sequel the show stands up well on its own so you don’t feel like there needed to be a second season. I imagine it would have gone more into some of the plots here like Laharl’s fake sister. At the end of the day that plot didn’t appear as much and goes about how you would expect. I have to say Laharl absolutely did get punked there though. It happens to him a few times though so it’s nothing new for the overlord. He’ll only improve from here though. I should also quickly mention that the Prinny makes for pretty fun creatures. Their plot is a little sad if you think about it, but they really are nice followers. They put up with a lot and their whole purpose is to support an overlord and his army of demons who don’t actually care for them in return. The idea is that they’re working towards their salvation in the end though so that’s probably what gets them going. The world has quite a few unique rules and the show lays them out nicely.

Overall, Disgaea is a solid story. If you could only choose one way to experience this series then you should do it with the games. The game does a much better job of telling the story. Still, if you want to see it in another way then going with the show is not a bad idea. The show is still a lot of fun. It may add a lot of gags and extra stories but at the end of the day it’s still relatively close to the main game’s plot. The creative liberties help you to experience things in a fresh way which is not a bad idea. It’s only 12 episodes too so you’ll definitely be blasting through it and whenever you see a critical story moment from the games the show does its best to adapt it sometimes even word for word. I definitely need to go and get Disgaea 3 at some point even if it will be with whole new characters.

Overall 7/10

John Wick Review

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

It’s time to look at a pretty big film from back in the day. Pretty much any fan of the action genre knows about John Wick. Unfortunately you also know what comes with the territory as the plot itself is quite well known as well. The film is unable to get past the unfortunate decision to have the dog die in the beginning. It’s a cheap way to force in some tension and just doesn’t work. You absolutely can’t have the dog die like that. At least the sequels shouldn’t have the same problem unless they literally do this again.

The movie starts with John’s wife dying. She was sick for a long time and finally passed on. While dying she was able to send John a puppy so that he could have a reason to keep on going. Unfortunately a Russian mafia group shows up and murders John’s dog. He’s now decided to take revenge by murdering all of them. It’s been a while since he was in the mafia game but now he will have to return for one last ride. Fortunately for John you never really lose those skills. He’s got a lot of guns and at this point nothing else to do. He is 100% focused on his task and nothing is going to stop him.

It’s a pretty unique direction to have John Wick be so feared by the villains. They constantly refer to him as Baba Yaga which is effectively a Russian Witch. The definition they used here is a little different though and they’re just saying that he is extremely scary like a monster. The instant his name is mentioned the villains start cowering and wishing that they had messed with someone else. They were all gangster until Wick showed up. He lives up to the legend pretty well as he murders a ton of the agents after him. He definitely wasn’t playing around here and definitely did not take any prisoners. Whoever got in his way was doomed. The only time he didn’t end up finishing his opponent it came back to bite him.

I liked the hotel idea too where villains don’t go after each other. It’s a safe haven and it’s important that you obey the rules. It also shows that the owners of the hotel have a lot of power since everyone obeys this rule. The hotel itself has a great end scene and I liked the concierge the whole time. The guy was quick on his feet and just felt like a veteran. He knew what was going on and always had the answers. Part of what makes the film so different is how it relies on prior knowledge that you don’t know and doesn’t try to throw it at you via origin stories. We really don’t need John’s origin. You can piece everything together on your own without help and it’s just more fun that way.

The soundtrack is quite large for this film. There are quite a number of different themes that play during the film. Certainly a lot of battle themes to accompany the fights and rock themes to get you pumping. The themes all work and Wick himself has a theme that plays during some of his big moments. The film really knows how to score its scenes and when you mix that with the intense fight scenes there is not a dull moment in the film.

John makes for a great lead and it was good to see him go to any length to avenge his dog. It’s certainly a noble mission and the villains can’t really defend themselves for these actions. John did give the leader a chance to surrender his son for this blunder and the villain didn’t take it. John wasn’t crazy or anything, he spared those he could and just focused on taking out all of the characters who were threats. There are quite a few other supporting characters here who were fun but the best one was definitely Marcus. That guy came in clutch quite a bit. John wouldn’t have done nearly as well without him. It’s definitely a shame how he went out although that was inevitable by the end.

So there’s a lot to like here and it’s a very interesting thriller. The characters were carefully constructed and as far as revenge thrillers go this one can compete with all the rest. An indestructible main character like John is fun to follow and of course it’s always nice to see all of the villains getting taken down a few pegs. That being said, the negatives are even stronger than the positives which is why this film ultimately fell all the way down instead of managing to win out.

The obvious negative here is the dog death. It destroys the whole film particularly because of how it goes down. The film makes the scene rather brutal and what makes it even worse is that this is a puppy. The film gives us quite a few scenes with the puppy so we can grow to like him. Again, this is a very easy way to build tension and it’s a cheap shortcut. The three ways that films usually do this is by having an animal die, a person close to the lead get tortured to death, or have the wife/girlfriend get assaulted. All 3 of these ways are definitely not good ideas in the slightest and will usually doom a film’s score. The animal one in particular is hard to get around and with a dog of all choices. There’s just no way the film could recover from this. It’s a very direct negative so it may look like it’s outnumbered by the positives but the scene is not one that you will forget so easily.

John Wick is also a very violent film. It’s certainly about as violent as you’ll get with a shooter film. Characters are tortured and there are quite a few headshots that don’t shy away from showing them completely. Characters meet their end in very violent ways as well. This film is definitely trying to live out the revenge fantasy where you put yourself in the main character’s shoes and revel in what’s going on. The film definitely could stand to tone down the violence though. If you did that and change the part about the dog then this film would be in much better shape.

Overall, John Wick is a pretty engaging film. It may have lost its traction from the start with the Puppy’s death but even though the movie is misguided, a lot of effort was clearly put into it. The soundtrack alone is evidence of that and then you’ve got the strong character cast to back it up as well. It’ll be interesting to see what plot the sequels go with. Something has to get him back in on the action right? I assume the movies are going to bump more people off but just about everyone he knows is already dead. Either way I guess John won’t be getting his happy ending yet. I hope the hotel appears again though, that was a pretty interesting locale.

Overall 1/10

Ready Player One Review

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It’s time to look at a film that I remember hearing a lot about back in the day. It was certainly a big deal to see popular characters like Mecha Godzilla and Gundam showing up here. There are definitely a whole lot of cameos and it works really well give the film’s plot. This is almost like a crossover and it’s a movie that I suspect will age really well over the years. It’s just got everything that you could want here. A solid blend of action and mystery keep this film operating at peak levels throughout.

The movie starts off with Wade explaining that the world has pretty much fallen to ruin. Nothing is going well to the point where people have basically decided not to even try and fix the current state of society anymore. Instead they retreat to a virtual game known as the Oasis. It’s a fully comprehensive VRMMO where you can do or be just about anyone. It’s a way for everyone to live out their ideal lives. It’s a fun existence for Wade and occasionally he enters a big race alongside his friends to try and solve a mystery. See, the creator of Oasis died a while back but he left a recording that there is an Easter Egg in the game. Whoever manages to grab it will be rich and also have full access over modifying the game. Nobody’s ever been able to even clear the first race though. Wade has to hurry because corporate, led by Nolan is also after the egg. The hunt is on!

The trick to beating the first race is definitely pretty clever. I also feel like this is a reference in itself and fans of the original Metroid game should know what I’m talking about. It’s certainly not something you would really think to do on your own as it’s really specific. Aside from Wade’s friends Aech, Daito, ad Sho, he also meets a girl named Artemis. Artemis is a popular Twitch streamer and she has become rather famous. Artemis is after the Easter Egg as well and Wade’s friends advise him not to drop his guard around her. That could be tough for the lad though.

From the characters here, Wade is one of the weakest one. The film’s very good but Wade is a bit of an annoying lead. He makes every big mistake possible like giving away his real name. It definitely makes him look pretty naive, Aech had a great point that Wade really knows nothing about Artemis. To be so quick to give out his real information is incredibly dangerous. It’s also not a good idea when people can overhear the conversation and that naturally becomes an issue. Wade appears to be rather desperate for romance the whole time. He should have focused on just having fun in the game and clearing all of the levels.

Artemmis has a pretty big role in the story too of course. She definitely has more personal reasons for wanting to end things compared to Wade. She’s definitely a good character and I liked her more than Wade. I always appreciate the characters who have a real motivation for stopping the villain and she’s definitely got that. Then you have Aech who was a very loyal ally as well. Without him the heroes would have been doomed from the start. He’s got a lot of solid tech and is also great at repairing. His business is also smart since even if he zeroes out (loses all data) he will be able to climb up again rather quickly with people paying him for projects. Aech is definitely thinking further ahead than some of the other characters.

Daito and Sho don’t get to do a whole lot for most of the film but come in clutch near the end. In particular Daito did really good when up against Zandor in the real world. I was not expecting an actual fight scene outside of the VR so this stood out as a very solid scene. I was also surprised at how skilled Daito was in hand to hand combat. He definitely knows how to fight. While he was losing to Zandor 1 on 1, she was definitely older so all things considered he did well. Meanwhile Sho definitely did good in the game as well. Everyone got their key moments when it counted although in the end Daito was definitely the best character if you ask me.

Zandor’s role was a bit smaller than I expected but she looked good. Definitely the most useful villain for carrying out orders. At first I suspected she was Artemis but I suppose that twist was not in the cards. Then you have Nolan who is a very solid corporate villain. He talks a good game and has a lot of money to back him up. How can you not be impressed by a villain like that? His company is run rather well and he put himself in a good position to win in the end. I also like how he is basically used to poke fun at EA and all the micro transaction companies as he brought up those ideas while he was an intern at the vr company. I did feel like the main inventor was a little rude to him though. I guess he really didn’t want to consider making his game pay to win.

The soundtrack is definitely really good. We get a lot of classic songs here which are nostalgic. Even a remix of the Godzilla theme plays which was particularly intense. The film didn’t just limit the easter eggs to character appearances. Clearly music was on the table as well. I’ll also give the film props for the special effects. Everything looks really good and high end. You can definitely believe that this is a future society. Everything is sleek and new as it should be. I’m also still excited for the potential of a real game like this someday. I believe it’ll still be a very long time before we get anything like this but it’s nice to dream.

Overall, Ready Player One is a great movie. We have a solid cast of characters and good writing. The only part of the film that can be a bit shaky is the romance. Otherwise this is about as solid as you can get. If copyright wasn’t such a big thing it’d be nice to have a big war scene like this with the actual characters. I suspect this won’t be possible for a very long time but if it ever did happen that would definitely be awesome. It’s the kind of film that likely won’t get a sequel but it definitely contained everything you need within it in order to be a complete movie. I’d definitely recommend it.

Overall 8/10