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The Shaggy Dog (1959) Review

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It’s time for a retro dog film with a good amount of fun cheer to it. The Shaggy Dog is one of those titles that moves at a quick pace and delivers on a fun premise. It even randomly throws in a big climax with high stakes and I hadn’t been expecting that. It’s a very retro experience that knows how to have a good time even if the cast themselves are a bit on the weaker side. Lets just say there aren’t a lot of likable characters here.

The movie starts off with Wilby messing up on another one of his inventions. He’s a kid genius but it does take him a lot of trial and error to get where he wants to go and often his father, Wilson has to clean up after him. Wilson is a nice guy overall except that he can’t stand dogs and even has a PTSD type allergy to them. He intends to shoot them all if they ever get into his house. Well one day they get a rich next door neighbor named Francesca who has a big dog and now this could be trouble. Wilby and his friend Buzz both like her and after a fateful trip to the museum, Wilby ends up with an amulet that turns him into a copy of her dog. How will he end this curse?

The way the magic works is also a little unique here. Ordinarily you would expect the human and dog to change places or something but that’s actually not what happens here. Instead the dog just vanishes from existence temporarily while Wilby slowly transforms into a lookalike. The transformation lasts a while until he turns back but it is difficult to predict when this will happen and for how long. So it’s definitely inconvenient for Wilby and even dangerous since of course Wilson will be shooting on sight.

Of course as a dog, most people don’t pay attention to Wilby which gives him a chance to hear some villainous secrets. So I enjoyed the whole gimmick here as the scenes were pretty fun. Wilby really got to show just how helpful it can be to turn into a dog. I do think he could have done a much better job of convincing everyone that he was actually Wilby though since the film didn’t really place any limitations on him. Wilby can still walk around and talk in human language so automatically you figure it shouldn’t be too hard. Wilby doesn’t try this much until the very end though.

As a character Wilby is okay but definitely a bit of a pushover. He gets taken advantage of by Buzz and is also easy to trick. The museum trip didn’t go well because he let his guard down too quickly and then even in the climax he’s put in the same boat as Buzz instead of being one step ahead. I don’t see the dynamic ever getting a whole lot better for him. Wilby needs to just focus on his inventions and hopefully make a real game changer at some point.

Meanwhile for Buzz, the guy is no real friend. He is always quick to blame Wilby when the lead isn’t around and quickly goes from girl to girl. Buzz is certainly not a serious character and so you really aren’t rooting for the guy. You hope that the girls will know better around him but until they figure out what’s up, it was up to Wilby to mess up the guy’s plans while in his disguise as a dog.

As for Wilson, he was a little too extreme in how he was actually shooting at the dog. Even ignoring the body swap, that means he was willingly shooting at his neighbor’s dog just for getting into the house. It’s just such an extreme response and makes him look really bad. Throughout the film Wilson is always proving himself to be the kind of guy who jumps to conclusions and then at the end he is basically just basking in the glory of something that he only played a small part in.

It all works well enough for some laughs but it doesn’t make the character super likable. Even Francesca looks pretty bad as she is quick to be tricked by Buzz and then even starts to go after Wilby just to make another girl jealous. The fact that she gave away her dog in the end was also absolutely crazy after everything he did for her. A really bizarre way for the film to end if you ask me.

Still, the important thing is that the film is fun like I said. The writing is on point with a really solid script all the way through. The retro writing style really works well for this movie and the pacing is good. I may not say that it’s laugh out loud levels of being funny but it didn’t really have any issues either. The movie never drags and it has plenty of replay value. I also enjoyed the sub plot with the one cop who was going crazy after seeing the dog so many times and then how the government shut down Wilson on suspicion of being a traitor. That was a pretty fun battle even if Wilby’s younger brother sold the dad out there.

Overall, The Shaggy Dog is a pretty good movie. I like the concept of turning into a dog as there are a lot of fun gags you can do with that. Clearly the industry thought so too since this wouldn’t be the last Shaggy Dog film. This may not be the kind of film that you walk away from every year to point out how awesome it was but it is something you could watch at any time. The intense climax also helps with the replay value. I’ll be curious to see if the newer films can really match this one and if they can’t, hopefully they will at least be close.

Overall 7/10

Super Ninja Boy Review

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Super Ninja Boy is a very unique game because it’s sort of trying to be 3 different games at once. For starters it is a turn based RPG for the big boss fights. Then it becomes a full platformer adventure for some of the minion encounters. For the others it becomes a 2D beat em up. During the hub world you have an overhead style like Final Fantasy. The game has you travelling the world on foot, then in a boat, and then in a giant mecha. It’s tackling everything but unfortunately excels at nothing and that’s probably what doomed the title.

You play as the Super Ninja Boys who are needed to save the world. Villains are emerging from all parts of the planet and some of them aren’t even human. Their father (Or uncle) went missing as well. These two have formal training but are they really ready for an adventure like this? They will really have to travel the entire world so this is no picnic. At the same time, these two boys know that they are the last hope for humanity.

The story’s fairly forgettable but it does have a fun script. I appreciated all of the one liners and burns that came up during the game. There are quite a large number of villains running around as well. Now like I said before I do think the game is too ambitious. If they had just picked one genre they could have succeeded. For example, the reason the overhead part fails is because the encounter rate was set up to be way too high. You have a minion trying to attack you every few seconds. Your odds of fleeing are near 0 unless you are considerably stronger than the enemies. The other problem is that you barely get any EXP from fighting minions so it’s not like you can easily power level.

Eventually you will need some level ups but the grinding sessions are annoying at best when they show up. It’s just not something that you really want to be doing at this point in time. Then for the RPG battles, they have a ton of RNG at every point. None of the attacks have descriptions or show how much damage they do so you really have to wing it here. Trial and error is how you get used to all of the attacks and that feels like sloppy game design to me. There should be a better way of knowing what’s next.

There is no map in the game for the massive hub world so good luck remembering where everything is. If you take the wrong path then you have to play through a whole platforming level before you return. This gets old quick. I can safely say that the game would be really difficult to navigate without the rewind feature. At least that helps to mitigate the worst parts of the game’s design. It doesn’t mean that you are totally safe or anything but at least you can quickly retreat.

These all feel like pretty basic game design choices as well so I don’t know how the game launched like that. It’s a shame because the novelty of actually having multiple games in one is a pretty good one. I would like another game to try this in the present with a big budget studio behind them. If the game pulls that off then it will have really made history. Well, at least you can’t say that the game is short. It’s a true RPG through and through and it took me even longer than all the estimates had guessed.

I suppose most gamers were able to figure out where they had to go right away. I definitely can’t say that was true for me. I really had to put on my thinking hat and exploit the rewind to visit a lot of towns at times before I found the right ones. The NPCs aren’t typically handy and there is also a glitch where sometimes you will enter someone’s house twice and stay in a bit of a loop. More sloppy game design, it just doesn’t stop.

Overall, Super Ninja Boy made quite a lot of mistakes. So why am I not calling it a bad game? Well, for all its faults, the game still does some things right. It does provide a lot of content, the story can be fun, and the actual beat em up/RPG gameplay isn’t bad. It’s just the various mechanics around those which really hold the game back. So while I won’t say that it’s a good game by any means, it does enough to stay in the middle. Just make sure you beat up as many enemies as possible and you will shorten the grinding time needed. Learn which enemies go down quickly and ignore the ones that don’t. No enemy that survives a lot is worth fighting. Trust me on that.

Overall 5/10

DC: Dark Legion Review

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It’s time for the latest DC app game! I gotta say it’s pretty crazy how the last one is completely dead and has no online presence despite being fairly new while this one is already way more popular. It’s not even as fun which is the ultimate irony for me but I am glad that people are having fun. It won’t be sticking around for me on this journey but I do see the potential.

The story begins with the Batman Who Laughs taking over the multiverse. He has destroyed all who opposed him in every timeline. We are finally down to the last timeline where the player, Terry must put a stop to his evil designs. Terry will be working with Earth’s mightiest heroes but when he gets to Earth they are already on the losing side of the battle. Green Arrow, Catwoman, Batman, and Wonder Woman appear to be the last fighters left as Superman vanished recently. Can they find and rescue all of the heroes and villains to unite against this common foe?

The fact that there is a mysterious tower in the middle of the city drawing everyone towards it just like in the last mobile game for DC is a fun coincidence. Still, everything else is very different here. For starters the art style is definitely way more comic book inspired. Everybody looks like their traditional selves this time around. I would also say the art style is just a lot better even if the animation itself may lag behind the former game. I enjoyed the fact that we do have real cutscenes and voice acting here. Yes it may be a bit cheesy to have Superman punching Batman around and the latter surviving but Batman does say he could feel that Superman was fighting the mind control.

Just imagining Batman tanking hits from Superman like that while in an evil state is a bit intense. The Batman Who Laughs is an interesting villain, although I’d need to see more out of him before saying if he is really good or not. He is absolutely crazy without a doubt but that doesn’t automatically mean he is a great character. This guy basically destroyed the multiverse but doesn’t seem to have any goals beyond just trolling. Trolling is in itself fun though so maybe that works, again we just have to see how it goes and I can tell that this is the kind of story that won’t be moving too much.

I played through the first 8 chapters before putting the game down. I don’t actually know how many chapters there are but it seemed like a good batch before writing the review. First up I can say the amount of content that the game has is very impressive. There are at least 10 different modes including story, PVP, missions, guild content, etc. You have a lot going on here and there aren’t really any advertisements. There are constant places asking you to buy items with real currency but you can largely ignore those. The HUD is rather jam packed so it can be tough to maneuver around at first though.

I can always appreciate when a game launches with a lot of content so that was nice to see. It can really make the difference in a title like this. There are about 30 playable characters so far, I unlocked about 8. My best fighter was Black Adam whose attacks are super handy. The gameplay is your standard auto based combat system where the heroes attack on their own and you just click on the supers when ready. You can put that on auto too though and speed everything 2X. I did that since there isn’t much reason to assume direct control most of the time.

The problem is the heavy focus on building. You’re building different parts of the bat cave, new homes, different facilities, etc. Each one takes between 20 seconds to 3 minutes for the opening levels and you can spend in game currency to shorten it but you know that it’s ultimately a trick to waste your resources in the early game. I built and upgraded over 50 things before I stopped and I can tell you that it is repetitive. You can only build one thing at a time unless you spend real money and this needed a quality of life update badly. Something to really make the whole experience smoother. There is just too much clicking over and over again.

If you really like building then you will love this game. Otherwise I don’t see the combat being important enough to keep you interested. The gameplay style could stand to be a lot more interesting since as it stands every character is pretty interchangeable. It also takes too long to get to the point of things as the tutorial itself takes around 1-2 hours to complete. It’s not even like the concepts are that hard, the game just explains things very slowly.

Overall, I like the direction the game is going in and it does look to be an interesting playthrough. It’s just going with the classic drip feed approach and you will need to be committed to the game for a very long time in order to pull this off. To me the game just isn’t interesting enough for that. That’s the nature of mobile games though. Put it this way, with an actual ending and if this was a console game I would play it through to the end. The game itself is good but when it comes to mobile you really have to pick and choose your battles since they are basically endless until the servers give way. So I’ll be curious to see how many people stick with this one but for me at least? This was the end of the road.

Overall 7/10

Mario’s Picross Review

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I remember playing the Legend of Zelda Picross a long time ago and it was surprisingly fun. I’m more familiar with Sudoku than Picross but they have a lot of similarities. It’s satisfying to see the picture that you have created by making all of the matches. While Mario may not have quite the same amount of polish that the Link title had, I would say that it holds its own. The levels also throw you into the deep end right away with how many rows and columns there are.

For those who don’t play Picross, the basic goal is to try and figure out whether each tile is an X or an O. You do this by reading the numbers listed on each column and row. There are 15 rows and 15 columns. So lets say a row says “15” on it. Then you know that every tile in that row is an O. Likewise if it says zero, then every tile is an X. You start the level with one “hint” where the game completed 1 row and 1 column for you. Then from there you have to figure out the rest with logical deduction. After the first levels you won’t see any 15 or 0 indicators. Instead there will be numbers in the middle like 5, 7, etc. So for those you just have to check every field and narrow down your search. Don’t try to solve everything at once and eventually you will get there. You can get a few guesses wrong but each one hurts your score.

So that’s the gameplay and of course like I said you get to see a fun image related to Mario once you have completed the puzzle. It’s a nice incentive for pulling this off. Perhaps if you recognize the image that will appear it can also work as a hint but to be honest that’s never worked for me. It’s just too specific to really zoom in and make a great guess like that. You will need to really be a genius to pull that off so you’re probably going to be stuck trying to solve the puzzle the normal way.

How much you enjoy the game will all depend on how much you like Picross because that’s literally the only mode here. You won’t be doing anything else. Now if you do like the style, then you’ll be glad to know that there are over 100 levels to go through here! That’s a lot of Picross to get through and so you can’t say that the game is lacking in content. I’m curious which symbols are used but I guess across the Mario franchise it should be easy to make 100 pictures. I wouldn’t be surprised if the last one is a Mario face or something.

The graphics aren’t bad here. I’m not going to say they’re amazing or anything but they hold their own and don’t show the age all that much. The art style works well and then you’ve also got a decent soundtrack. Surprisingly they don’t go ahead and throw in all of the big Mario tunes though. That would have been really fun to have gotten a large variety of those. Maybe next time if they were to ever make a new Picross title.

It’s hard to estimate how long it would take you to complete every level but surely it would be at least a few hours. After all the puzzles only get harder and harder the more you go on. I wouldn’t be surprised if they increased the size to a 20 by 20 or even a 30 by 30 in the end. The difficulty should feel really hard by the end and so this works as a real educational game as well. You have to really focus and give it your all in order to reach your way to the top. One wrong move or bad guess will send you back.

There’s not much else to say about the game because of how direct it is. Likewise you should know if you will like it or not right away based on this as well. Picross is Picross at the end of the day. There may be some slight differences in how it can be presented but there certainly are no differences in how the game itself is played. Although if anyone was to ever add items or gimmicks to the game, it would definitely be Nintendo.

Overall, Mario Picross is a good game. It’s definitely not all that ambitious but you don’t need to be for a game like this. The real fun is in trying to see how far you can go. You can even implement big challenges on yourself like considering it a game over if you get any wrong responses or turning down the hint at the beginning. Just keep on going and your skills are bound to continue improving over and over again. Soon you will be a Picross champion!

Overall 6/10

My Hero Academia Season 7 Review

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All right folks, it’s time for what I dare say is the best season of My Hero Academia. The whole thing is basically a big string of fights with only some select periods of downtime. We’re clearly approaching the end game as every character gets some final moments to show what they can do. It’s a really satisfying watch and it’s also impressive to see how many seasons the show has got. It sadly won’t make it to 10 seasons since the manga ended but this was a generational run.

We start off with Star and Stripe showing up to foil Shigaraki’s plans and buy the heroes some more time. With her incredible abilities she is able to make a difference while Deku and the other heroes finally pull out the traitor from their midst. Now they are ready for the final showdown with the league of villains. All for One and Shigaraki are both in the picture. This whole war may very well ride on Deku and his mastery of the One for All quirk. Is he ready for the burden of protecting the planet or are we about to see a lot of deaths coming up?

Any show that is 7 seasons deep is going to have some incredible advantages like being able to jump right into the action since we’ve already had whole seasons of development for the characters. This show is no exception. For example we have Star vs Shigaraki in the very first episode which is really quite the way to start things off. Now the fight is a on the controversial side since we all know that Star should have won this match rather easily. Her moveset is one of the few on the planet that is a terrible match for him. Shigaraki is top 3 in the verse at this point in time and yet Star is still stronger. It still feels like her part of the story is a bit rushed but this season will be tough for power level viewers.

Shigaraki is already said to be All Might level even without his powers. So that should mean he turns everyone into a red mist instantly during the battle with the exception of Deku and possibly Bakugo depending on his full speed. Instead various heroes are able to hang out during the fight. I don’t buy it but hey that’s how it goes. At the end of the day power levels are not something that will drag a series down no matter how much I might disagree with an outcome. I’m here for the pure hype and epic storytelling either way.

Also as you can expect the animation is still great here. The fights get a very large budget and all of the characters are at the pinnacle of their power so things get really explosive. The series doesn’t take any breaks here and every fight is given a good amount of respect. The spectacle won’t disappoint. Meanwhile the soundtrack is good as always. The openings may not be the greatest but they are still a step up from some of the earlier ones. The series has a pretty rich amount of tunes to choose from during the battles as well after 7 seasons of hype. The good variety means that a lot of songs get to shine.

Naturally the season ends off on a pretty big cliffhanger for the next/final season. You will be at the edge of your seat waiting for the next set of adventures after this season ends. A good cliffhanger goes a long way and it’s just another example of how you should handle a season. Never end on a closed note when you can leave some plot threads open. I mean that was pretty much inevitable here but still a good rule of thumb.

In terms of characters, Star is the biggest new character to jump in here. She’s a lot of fun and has way more backbone than the average character. She is actively defying orders to get out here and fight the enemies. Also props to the rest of her unit who go in with her in order to contribute and fight. They are especially at a huge risk here since they don’t have any kind of super powers to fall back on. Star even gets a brief origin story and background to explain how strong she is. I love the concept behind the power as well since it is strong while also being unique. It really shows you just how powerful a quirk can be in the right hands. This was also just a super good spectacle to start the season with.

All for One is really the opponent here even though it’s Shigaraki’s body. The latter will still make his presence known later on but for now this was All For One’s show. He still makes for a good mastermind villain even if you can see how he is quickly losing control of the situation here. All Might also really knows how to push the guy’s buttons and get him to make big mistakes. As a result he makes several errors in this series but hey that’s just how good All Might is. The villain may lose a lot of hype here but he is still one of the strongest villains out there and a true threat to have to account for. I’d also argue he should have easily been wiping out the various heroes if things were going as they should.

As for Shigaraki, he is a lot of fun as always. At this point the guy just really wants destruction and will do whatever he has to in order to accomplish this. The whole thing is super personal to him at this point as well so he goes out of his way to make the whole thing as traumatic for Deku as possible. It’s always good when the main villain and hero absolutely hate each other like this. Although Deku exits his rage modes rather quickly and does his best to still try and reason with Shigaraki. It’s to a dangerous extent to be sure but that’s how he intends to be a hero.

Now during the big battles we’re taken to several different battlefields thanks to the heroes’ plan of dividing the villains up. So I’ll mainly go into the characters based on what battlefield they’re at although I’ll jump around a bit as it goes on. First up we have the girls battle as Tsuyu and Uravity go up against Toga. Deku is also there briefly and lets himself get jumped quite a bit. Lets be honest here Deku should have immediately beaten Toga in an instant before she could even make too many clones and that would be it for her. He would have made the rest of the arc way easier but instead he sandbags and then runs off. It wasn’t his best moment but it’s how it goes.

Generally speaking Deku is still a solid main character. I like his mindset and he’s a good kid trying to do the right thing. At times I would like to see a bit more imitative out of him and maybe some longer rage modes though. With his abilities it seems like there is just so much that he could really do to establish world peace. So what I would say is…get to work on that! We do get to see his tactical mind at work during the end season battle with Shigaraki though since he can’t let the guy touch him or the ground. In either event the situation would get disastrous and so he has to use his abilities creatively. That’s a really fun battle.

As for Tsuyu, she’s not bad but heavily outgunned in this fight. There simply isn’t a whole lot that she can do in this battle. Toga is much too powerful for her so at best Tsuyu can try to beat a few clones and buy some time. Uravity’s also out of her depth to be sure but at least the gravity gives her some more options. I wouldn’t say she looks all that good though because of how easily she finds herself buying into Toga’s sob story. Look, Toga’s gone through some tough stuff but that really isn’t enough to justify any of this. The more Toga talks about her tough life, the more you’re rooting for the heroes to just take her out already.

Everybody has a sob story and everyone’s gone through tough times. It doesn’t mean you can suddenly just be murdering everyone in your way. That’s not how this works…that’s not how any of this works. So Toga missed me with all of that but as a fighter she does well. In fact she should have easily won this match and I didn’t buy how long the heroes lasted against her. That’s just not happening no matter how you slice it. Toga has a good amount of speed to keep up with Deku and was making millions of clones. Those would overwhelm the heroes with sheer numbers even if you ignore how good the stats are.

In another battlefield we had the big Dabi family drama. Dabi continues to be the best villain in the series as he really puts Todoroki and the others in a tough spot. You have to remember that his body is literally not set up to be a proper match for the fire ability and yet he pulls through it with sheer will power. His body is a large collection of numerous burns everywhere and it doesn’t stop him from pressing on. The guy is absolutely deranged and a total psycho but that’s what makes him a solid villain. You really don’t see Todoroki, Endeavor, or any of the others being able to take him down. The guy is just too powerful and skilled at this point.

Todoroki is trying hard though and even uses some new techniques. At this point he has also been training for a very long time and his movements have become more precise. I still would pick him to lose quickly though and you can see that’s a theme of the final arc in general. The villains all got crazy power ups and abilities to the point where they were made to perhaps be a little too broken. There’s just nothing the heroes should really be able to do in order to even make this an even fight. The author should have maybe given them some more powerful quirk evolutions or something.

For a while there Endeavor is on a different battlefield but he eventually joins in. Endeavor is one of those characters working on his big redemption arc. To me he ultimately went too far back in the day so I don’t see him as anything other than a villain but of course it’s better to be working to improve himself now than to not be doing anything. He also has constant reminders of how everything went wrong with how Dabi is always showing up to cause more damage. Dabi is one of those really persistent villains who appears around every corner.

Then of course we have All for One taking on All Might. I was always a big All Might doubter after he lost his powers so it’s really impressive that he is still fighting on such a high level. To an extent it might be a little cheesy but you know at the end of the day it is fitting for his brand. He was always the beacon of hope and being a little cheesy goes along with that. At the same time, now that he is no longer the symbol he is free to be a little more unhinged and really get into the fight. Trust me when I say you haven’t seen All Might quite like this before. It’s a nice change of pace.

Finally you’ve got the main battlefield with Shigaraki taking on all challengers. The guy goes on a crazy run here as he just keeps getting back up. Nejire is powerful with her energy blasts but for the most part all they do is slow him down. I give her a lot of credit for getting in there and risking her life against an opponent who is really out of her depth. Likewise Tamaki gets past his fears and also uses his true powers here. Ultimately they may not have done much against Shigaraki but it showed how everybody was really going plus ultra in this fight. They were not going to just roll over.

Mirio even gets some action. His power is still broken in that he can’t be hit but he’s also not strong enough to damage Shigaraki which means that the guy basically just ignores him the whole time. That’s a rather embarrassing place for Mirio to be in but it’s just a rough matchup. Mirio’s desperate measure to distract Shigaraki really ends up being the only cringe part of the season. I think there were definitely some better options to go with that would have been a whole lot better.

Mirko is never one to miss a big fight so you can bet that she was here as well. Her close quarter skills are still legendary and she gets some good bows in. At this point she has mainly been power creeped out of the action but she still keeps on fighting to the end. She shows the true power of being an S rank hero. Certainly more than Edgeshot who is mainly useful in a support role but doesn’t do much when it comes to fighting. I suppose he’s not the strongest physically to start with so I can cut him some slack. The guy never did much before o at least this way the guy got some proper screentime.

Monoma was a secret MVP here as well. The guy helping to seal off Shigaraki’s powers for most of the season. If he wasn’t here then the deck would really be stacked against the heroes and they’d have been dusted. The guy always talks a lot and can be annoying if you look at it the wrong way but I rather appreciated his gusto. He’s the kind of guy who backs up his tough talk which is the important thing.

Aizawa is also doing well to stay in the fight considering his injuries. By this point most people would have folded but he will keep on fighting to the end. He’s definitely a worthy teacher to the characters. Even his pal Present Mic gets some good moments here even if he was too slow to stop Kurogiri from making his big comeback. I was glad to see Kurogiri doing something since he was on the sideline for so long. The heroes were lucky on that since his teleportation would be a real big problem otherwise.

We also got some backup as Lady Nagant showed up later on. Her sniper skills are still top tier and the blasts that she fired can actually hurt Shigaraki which is real impressive. Nagant already came in clutch for just surviving the bomb from last season so to see her back in action already is really something else. She’s not the only old character to make a big appearance as Gentle and La Brava show up as well. La Brava’s hacking abilities come in real handy to break up the enemy’s coordination and then Gentle buys a lot of time for the heroes by physically lifting the battlefield.

It really keeps up the theme of teamwork as everyone has a role to play. If any individual hero was gone then they would all be in trouble. Even someone like Hawks who is super injured at this point manages to get in there and help out. That guy is about as determined as Mirko with how hard he keeps fighting even when things are at their bleakest. He really needs a good vacation once this series is over.

I should also mention we have the Spinner plot where he and his cronies are heading over to a hospital to mess things up. The various characters all mention how this is really going to hurt the case of people with mutated quirks who already have a hard time. Unfortunately Spinner is already virtually mindless after All For One gave him a powerful quirk. As a result Spinner looks pretty terrible here. I suppose there wasn’t much that he could have done here either way when All for One was the guy messing him up but it’s still sad for his fans who were waiting for this fight.

Shoji gets a bit role thanks to this though. He steps in to stop Spinner and since he has had one of the smallest roles among the students, that was nice to see. I’m not a big fan of Shoji myself but having more scenes like this certainly can’t hurt. Some characters like Ida and Kirishima don’t get quite as much to do this time. They each have supporting roles though so their presence is still felt. Jiro and Mina get more offensive roles here as they actually deal some damage when they get into the fight. Likewise Tokoyami gets some hype as his shadow ability is still one of the stronger ones. All for One deciding not to take it was definitely a big mistake.

Aoyama is a character that I didn’t end up liking here. He just made too many mistake and while I understand that the circumstances were difficult he could have done better. Being a hero means being able to find a way through that circumstance and not doing anything is actively helping the villains. Hagakure did well in her brief role although I would have liked some more action for her. She has basically missed out on the whole series thanks to her quirk which is a shame.

Shinso gets a good role here as his mind control power comes n handy. It really is a great power and has a lot of utility in a big battlefield like this. Gigantomachia would be particularly susceptible since he’s not the smartest guy around. The villain does look strong as always though and is definitely a true powerhouse. Not someone that you should underestimate even if he is on the slower side.

Finally we have Bakugo who really steals the show here. He has what I’d call a basic quirk but he has kept on honing and improving it until he’s actually to the point where he is keeping up with Deku. It really is a big achievement and Bakugo should feel really proud of himself. He fights hard and very strategically, his action scenes tend to have the most intense animation as well. Bakugo has really come a long way and gotten tons of development over the years. True star treatment that is absolutely deserved.

There was definitely a lot going on here and even more characters that I didn’t mention were involved. The war arc will continue into the next season so I look forward to all of the great animation. If you haven’t seen this season yet then you should definitely change that. It’s intense and fast paced which is always an absolutely dominant combo. The battles are all very interesting and this is the big payoff that the franchise has been building up to so there was no way it would end up being bad.

Overall, My Hero Academia shines once again. It’s definitely going to blow you away once you watch it. Bakugo and Deku both fighting at their peak is definitely something that fans have looked forward to ever since the opening season. Gone are the days when they would be fighting each other (Which was Bakugo’s fault anyway) and now is the time to put aside all differences. The animation has been consistently great so I don’t really have any worries for the next season.

Overall 9/10

Komi Can’t Communicate Review

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It’s time to look at a series that lasted quite a while. I think just about anyone would be impressed at Komi’s final chapter count even if it was a little slick by having some chapters be only 3 pages each to it could release 3 at once. The overall page count would end up being quite low next to the chapters compared to other titles. Still it was quite the ride. I don’t think it ended up matching the average romance series for several reasons that I will get into but you definitely can’t deny that the series got rather popular for a while there.

The series revolves around a lady named Komi. She is a top student and considered by many to be the most beautiful girl at the school. What none of them realize is that she is incredibly shy to the point where she can’t really say a single word to anybody. There are always a lot of wild reasons for how people don’t realize this and she has a very strong aura that the characters always interpret as Komi being really cool. Well one day a boy named Tadano shows up and he’s as average as can be. Nothing about him stands out. He’s basically the most normal guy ever and he isn’t afraid to walk up to Komi and strike up a conversation. He becomes her first friend and now Komi has a plan to make 100 friends before she graduates. She will confront of social fears head on. Will she manage to make 100 friends in this time frame though?

Obviously making 100 friends is tough. Not even just tough, it’s near impossible when you think about it. Most people only make a few friends in their lifetime, making 100 would make you wonder how loose the person’s definition of a friend is. Typically speaking a friend would be something more than simply a co-worker or acquaintance. A friend is someone you hang out with and chat or do fun activities with. If you consider a friend to just be someone that you get along with then that’s a different story. Now you can throw most of this away within the context of a show since here you can have a lot of friends but it does show what a steep goal Komi has set up for herself. It also means that the series is going to have to introduce a bunch of characters. It certainly does meet that challenge but a lot of the characters don’t get much to do. Effectively each character is generally one trait that becomes the character. Only the main ones are immune to this. I can’t think of any other realistic ways to make 100 characters here without the series being 100 volumes or something like that.

So Komi did its best on this but it does serve as one of the series’ weak points. I would argue that its cast is quite a bit weaker than the average title’s. I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of most of the characters. I like a small handful but even then I wouldn’t say that any character here is great. It means I’m going to be a little less invested in what’s going on compared to another series. If a new chapter came out for this series vs any other ongoing title I was reading, this one would typically be in last. Quite a few of the quirky characters end up being more disturbing or creepy than funny.

The series also goes for more of a drama feel than comedy I’d say. Now I’m not sure if this is technically correct but the series rarely feels all that funny. If i is trying to be a comedy then it’s not really succeeding. I see it more as a slice of life drama that has a lot of romantic plots going on in the background. Usually these titles won’t work quite as well though because I just prefer to be laughing and having a good time throughout. The more a series is cheery and having fun, the more it all works out for me.

That also brings me to the art which I would say is more on the sub par side. It’s definitely not holding its own next to the average title. The artist seems to be going for a realistic feel at times that doesn’t translate over very well. It’s a good attempt to be sure but it’s just not working. It can take away from the serious scenes and such. At least it does help mitigate the fanservice though. In general I’d say that the series doesn’t have too much fanservice but it does creep in there from time to time.

You also have several characters who are creeps the whole time and always trying to mess with Komi. For the most part the guys in the series come across as super desperate. The craziest one is a girl though which is a nice twist of fate but of course she only serves to hurt the series so it’s not like the title gains any standing there. At the end of the day you’re not going to be super impressed with the writing and the extremely short chapters can hurt the plot’s progression. That being said, lets take a look at the characters more in depth. I won’t go into all 100 friends as a lot of them don’t really do much but we’ll at least talk about the big ones.

So first up we have Komi of course and she isn’t bad. Now she’s not my kind of character because of how quiet and subdued she is the whole time. I generally prefer when characters are more tough and outgoing. It just works as a better dynamic. Even as Komi improves in this regard by the end of the series, she never quite hits her stride. It is nice to see her open up more and actually talk though. It takes a while for her to defeat her timid nature but it is an absolute victory and that’s something to be proud of. Some people aren’t able to overcome their fears like this.

Komi also does well in not letting Tadano go to one of the other girls although I do think she was a bit too timid when Manbagi was involved for a while there. Fighting over a guy is usually not a great thing to have to do but in this case if she actually wants him then she shouldn’t have encouraged Manbagi at all. The big three-way romance was a large part of the series and in many ways the peak of the title. It was very interesting throughout so I appreciated that even if I was rooting for Manbagi a lot more than Komi.

At the end of the day, Komi confronted her fears and accomplished her goals. She may not have been a particularly interesting main character but she wasn’t a bad one. As for Tadano, being normal and uninteresting is his whole gimmick so it works in an ironic sort of sense. I can’t say I’m a big fan of his either though. He’s okay, nothing particularly wrong with him but the author goes in so hard on the average gimmick that there is no time for him to really break out as a character.

The most interesting part of his character was ultimately the brief relationship with Manbagi. Initially he basically says yes because nobody’s asked him out before and then he was torn on how he should feel. It felt like a pretty realistic storyline because if a girl suddenly asks you out, it might be easy to say yes on the spot. You’re not sure why you would say no and if you’ve never been in a relationship before then it might be a good idea. He ultimately breaks it off after thinking the whole thing through more which was pretty devastating for Manbagi but better sooner than later.

It’s probably the saddest part of the whole series to be honest as the drama was at an all time high there. The series never managed to match this energy later on to the point where the author was basically forced to recycle the plot with a different character for more drama. Manbagi is also forced to rebound with a sports player and that was a plot that wasn’t all that interesting. Still you always knew Tadano would end up with Komi so you shouldn’t let yourself get too ruffled by the ending. You just know that a breakup will always hurt somebody once it happens.

Then there is Najimi who is always an interesting figure in the series. For starters we don’t know if Najimi is a girl or a boy since the character dodges the question every time. It definitely underscores how much of a troll Najimi can be which is pretty fun. Tadano was lucky to have this friend from the start who was always good at breaking the ice. As the series goes on Najimi gets less of a role but that character has so many friends that it seems intentional. In a way Najimi was looking out for Komi and Tadano and once they were totally good, Najimi was able to help everyone else. That’s how I interpret it all at least.

As the series goes on, Komi’s brother Shousuke also gets a bigger role. He’s rather quiet like Komi but not because he’s super timid. He just doesn’t have anything to say and so one girl in his class is always trying to get him to talk and smile. These chapters were pretty fun and I dare say they had a much better dynamic than Komi and Tadano. That could also just be because the storylines were rare though. Small does of something can be really misleading since I might be singing a different tune if it was reversed.

Komi’s whole family is fun though. Her father is also pretty awkward socially and his attempts to bond with Tadano usually get rather rocky. Fortunately Tadano is great at reading people which works out. Then you have Komi’s mother Shuuko who loves gossip and feeling young again. She’s super extroverted and can make anyone feel at home right away. She was a really nice character and it’s always good to have someone who can break the ice.

As for the main rival Manbagi, well I already went into most of her plot earlier. What I like about her is that she is very outgoing and goes for what she wants. She liked Tadano and so she worked up the courage to ask him out. Even when she was really scared and knew it was a longshot, she took the shot. That’s more guts than 99% of the case in this series who all hide behind their personas and issues. That’s why you feel bad for Manbagi because from the start you knew that she was doomed. Sure the author throws her a bone by introducing a new character but that’s still more of a backup pick. It feels like a desperate consolation. Also she gets a new design after the rejection that wasn’t nearly as good so pair that with her reduced screentime and it was a rough finish for her.

We can’t forget about Yamai who was the most unhinged character in the series. She literally kidnaps Tadano at one point and threatens to kidnap him. She attempts to drug Komi multiple times and is always acting perverted. The biggest problem with Yamai is that this is generally played for laughs but it’s taken to such uncomfortable extremes that there is no humor to be had here. You’re actually hoping the characters will properly call her out on this but it just doesn’t happen. Sure Komi might tell her to cut it out but then Yamai is back to her tricks the next day. Definitely a bad character that absolutely holds the series back.

Then we have Hitomi who is Tadano’s little sister. She’s a lot of fun in the subplot as she messes with Komi’s brother. Hitomi has more character to her than Tadano does which helps her scenes work well. I would say she comes the closest to being a true comedic character in the series as well. Her scenes work really well and it’s just always fun to see her in action.

Katai is one of the relatively few male characters with a role here. He ends up being a good friend to Tadano despite all of the numerous misunderstandings that happen throughout the series. He looks really tough but ends up being a good guy during the series. He’s easy to root for because he’s always doing his best no matter what. He’s just socially awkward in his own way, much like the rest of the characters in the series.

Shiroki is a really minor character but she gets a shout-out for being a good friend to Manbagi. She really looked out for the girl and did her best throughout. It’s just nice to get to see another friend group in action outside of the main characters. Kiyoko is one of the weaker friends. She is very serious and has a hard time sharing her feelings. By the end of the series she lightens up a little bit but as far as character gimmicks go her was one of the less interesting ones.

Inaka is your classic country girl. She always overestimates how much people think about that though to the point where she is really sensitive on that area. I suppose it’s easier said than done to ignore that though. It’s something that she eventually makes peace with though. Not a bad character once she has her confidence back. Hafuru is one of the more absurd characters since he always has a baby pacifier in his mouth. He’s just too far gone to root for at this point. When you’re putting in a pacifier like that, there’s just no going back. It’s also not really a gimmick that you can do a lot with so it gets repetitive very quickly.

Kaede and Agari are fairly similar although Kaede is definitely a little more outgoing. They’re both fairly nice and quiet as they help Komi out. Nice characters to be sure but they could stand to be a little more aggressive to really stand out here. That would give them a nice boost to really get ahead. It’s better than a negative gimmick which is what Shibuki has to deal with. Basically she sweats a whole lot. No matter what she does, the sweat just keeps on coming. I can definitely sympathize with that since sweating is no fun. Particularly if you’re the only one sweating and everyone else is feeling real cold or normal.

She has a huge complex about that and it’s probably the most realistic form of social anxiety in the series. So you definitely feel bad for Shibuki and she is easy to root for throughout the series. She ends up being paired with Naruse who tends to be very self absorbed. He thinks that everyone loves him even when they aren’t thinking about him at all. Beneath this shell he’s quiet nice though and does look out for hi fellow classmates. His role within the series is definitely a solid one especially once he is able to talk genuinely.

Nakanaka is another fun character. She has fun with the occult and is great at video games so how do you beat that combo? She is a bit on the weird side which is why she doesn’t have many friends but I think if she put in more of an effort she would have a lot of them. She’s just a very nice character who is easy to get along with and also gets very competitive. Likewise Netsuno is also very competitive and gets to fight a lot. She is often outgunned but it’s the thought that counts. These are the characters who are fun to have around since they really push the others forward.

Rei is a fun little character as one of the only relevant kids. She ends up bonding with Komi fairly quick. It’s too bad that she ended up missing out on most of the series because I thought she was rather fun and added a different dynamic than most of the other characters. Emoyama is someone whose gimmick didn’t work all that well though. She basically just uses the word “emo” a lot and her chapters tended to be complete snoozefests. You would just wait for her to leave because she just didn’t really add much to the series.

Then you’ve got all the guys in the delusions group where they imagine dating the various heroines. Those chapters are as painful as they sound and I wish these guys didn’t have to get so much screentime. It’s completely undeserved and I would have liked for Tadano to properly scold them a bit more. He shouldn’t even play along and stay in the discussion, as soon as the topic changes to that he should be out there. You don’t want to even be complicit in that whole thing, all it does is destroy your reputation.

I’d say that’s a good amount of characters to get into. Naturally there are a bunch of others involved like Komi’s final rival who was in love with Tadano and advocated for a threeway wedding. Another example of when Komi and Tadano should have had a harder stance because this girl absolutely doesn’t listen to the word no. Sometimes these quirky personalities just shouldn’t be tolerated but that’s just my two cents. Tadano and Komi have a strong bond but there’s no point in letting others try and test that.

Overall, Komi Can’t Communicate is definitely a series that had a massive cast and a ton of chapters but it is held back by those very same characters. Without comedy or a stronger main romance to root for, there is little replay value to be had here. So the series is not bad by any means but I also can’t see myself ever going back to read it again. It’s just not that kind of series and so that’s why I would put it in the middle. If you think the premise sounds good then you should check it out but it’s not about to wow you or anything like that.

Overall 5/10

Poppy Playtime Triple Pack Review

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I’m sure everybody here has heard of Poppy’s Playtime. Well, the name may not have an s in it, but that’s the way I’m used to saying it. This thing was aiming to be the next Five Nights at Freddy’s or Bendy. The horror and scares were going to be next level and now I finally get to play it as a triple pack. It’s definitely a solid title with a lot of scares the whole time. The lore may ultimately start getting a bit try hard edgy near the end but ultimately this is an experience you will not forget.

The game starts with the main character inside the ominous Poppy’s Playground. The game is in first person so we never see the main character. I suspect that he is one of the animatronics to be honest or a zombie since he might be dead but either way there are a lot of theories you can go with. I’m sure the fans who listened to every tape and 100% completed every chapter will have a better idea of this though. Either way you now have to try and get out of here but to do so you will have to find a way past these vicious monsters.

The first part mainly has you trying to escape Huggy Wuggy. Part of the fun in playing a collection like this is that you get to see the subtle gameplay shifts as you go on. This one is the simplest as you are basically walking around and interacting with objects. There are no special abilities or anything like that. You have to make sure and run fast too because one hug from this villain and it’s curtains for you. We don’t learn much about any of the characters or lore yet but this is just the beginning. For this reason the first part is the most ominous and I dare say that it is the scariest. You just don’t forget a title that has such an intense climax. Neither following part could match the sheer intensity of this one.

In the second part, we start getting a bit more technical with the puzzles. At one point you gain a new hand which helps with that. You are interacting with less random objects and now it’s more about specific puzzles. You are tested with a lot of new minigames to conquer by the Mother who is the main villain this time around. We start getting more lore here as well thanks to Poppy herself. Definitely not a character I would trust but then again I suppose I wouldn’t trust any character in this game. Being locked in a horror environment like this would just give me trust issues I have to admit.

The increase in platforming works well and in terms of pure gameplay I would say this one has the best mixture out of the 3 parts. It does well in keeping the main horror gameplay while also putting in a bit of that platformer kind of energy. The main hub world is also quite large with all the different areas to go through. The climax is also pretty intense and we have our full plot by this point. The Prototype is out there trying to murder us all.

In the third part the game goes even more ambitious as we enter full platformer territory. The puzzles are the largest yet as you run from room to room to deal with each impending threat. The hub world is also the biggest by far, the game is the most difficult as well with some really tricky segments as well. You even get a flare gun in this part which may be pushing the envelope a bit since a game is inherently less scary the instant you get a weapon. There are a lot of scares still for sure but slowly you’re more worried about the other creatures running around as they get picked off instead of being worried for yourself. There are still a lot of close calls though and I’d find myself flinching in every game. Even when you know that the monster is coming, you just can’t help but get terrified.

Each game has a really solid cliffhanger which is nice since it absolutely gets you ready for the next big adventure. I’m eager to see what happens in part 4 now and the main character does seem to get closer and closer to getting out of this place. Once he has escaped then things will really be looking up for him but it doesn’t seem like the kind of game where there will be a happy ending. Something tells me that the main character is going to be absolutely cooked here. He just needs to make sure that he doesn’t go alone and at least takes most of the monsters with him.

As with most of these big horror games the more of the lore you know, the less you want to know. I would say the best thing to do with these games is to not really explain anything. Just let me try to escape the monsters while getting some evil speeches and such. Keep it all shrouded in mystery because inevitably it involves a bunch of kids dying and gets all so tragic. At least based on how this game is going, you’re rooting for the monsters to wipe out humanity because all the people here seem super evil. At least all of the grownups I should say since they are constantly pulling off crazy experiments. No mercy or escape here.

The graphics are solid as it really feels like a horror title through and through. It’s part of what makes all of the jump scares work. Additionally the sound effects and quick musical tracks really work well to that end. They even made a whole parody of a happy intro at the start of the second chapter which was really unexpected. The game definitely has a lot of effort put into it which I appreciate. I would have liked to keep the flashlight in part 3 as sometimes it could be a little hard to see but I also get how it would make the game a little less scary.

In terms of replay value there are trophies to get and they seem quite difficult. You have to beat parts 2 and 3 in a very fast time to get the Platinum. It basically means mastering each game which takes a lot of dedication. I see that a lot of people have pulled this off based on the trophy percentages so maybe it’s not as hard as it sounds. Maybe… but I have some doubts on this. Either way at some point I’ll try to improve my rank since I have a D in two of the parts.

Overall, Poppy’s Playtime is a game you won’t want to miss. It is definitely intense and disturbing at times so you have to make sure that you’re into horror titles but as long as you are then you should be having a good time here. There is a lot of exploring to do within the game and more details that you will pick up each time. The games go fast but as a trilogy there is a good amount of content to enjoy. I’m ready for that next bundle pack at some point.

Overall 7/10

Penny’s Big Breakaway Review

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It’s time for a wholesome 3D platformer. Penny is a new IP so it’s always impressive to see one of those grow and become the next big thing. It seems like everyone liked this one quite a bit and I can confirm that it’s a good title. It’s the kind of game that is easy to jump into and there is plenty to do after the main campaign is over. There’s no reason to leave this title on the shelf, just play through it and you will see what all the hype is about.

The general plot involves Penny heading to the Gala but unfortunately she ends up messing with the big political figure by mistake. I think he’s the mayor but now he wants her taken down. She must run fast, taking down every boss in her way as well as the proper authorities until she can get back into the gala and clear her name. Does Penny have what it takes to pull this off or is she about to be in for a very rude awakening?

Fortunately Penny is very skilled with a Yo-Yo. The general gameplay is all built around this as you use it to leap over obstacles, directly smash enemies, etc. It’s a fun way to make the gameplay a little different than just being your average 3D title. The game also moves at a pretty fast pace so you are really encouraged to learn the movement options well so that you can keep going at full speeds. The game isn’t all that hard but the real difficulty comes in trying to beat the levels as fast as possible to get the max ranks. I didn’t get a single max rank during my playthrough so it seems like this is definitely something you would need a good amount of practice for.

Additionally each level has several people asking you for help and I can only imagine that they will probably reward you with trophies for completing all of these. The main campaign is probably around 6-7 hours so throw in the bonus content and you’ve got a decent amount of things to do in order to really keep you busy here. You’ll really get to have tested your platforming skills by the end of it. There are also a lot of fun quality of life features here like a game over allowing you to continue but you lose all of your points. So if you actually want a high rank then you better prepare to play the level again while not dying so often.

Once you know the route to go for the goal you shouldn’t have a problem but sometimes it does take a bit of trial and error. Later on you also get invisible platforms so by that point in the game you really want to have mastered how far you can jump. Knowing the different distances by heart will really go a long way here. Without that then you may be in trouble but that’s why you have the option to keep on trying until you have succeeded.

Meanwhile the bright artstyle and graphics works really well here. Each world is distinct and you can tell that a whole lot of effort was put into the game. It’s all very polished and likewise the soundtrack is also super good. There are a lot of really catchy themes here and the soundtrack has a lot of variety to it. No two worlds sound the same at all. The technical elements here are all definitely on point.

The only part that can be confusing at times are the boss battles. It’s not always readily apparent what you have to do. Yes you have the trial and error but sometimes the game could stand to be a little clearer. The main example of this is the big boss where you have to use a magnet to attack him. Dodging his attacks was really hard to understand because of the odd hitboxes and the magnet’s range seemed a bit off.

All small things at the end of the day though. The gameplay itself is definitely a total win either way and I would definitely say that the sequels should stick to this kind of game design. Keep things fast to differentiate from other platformers and that momentum can easily be used to keep this title near the top of its genre. They can also start expanding the main cast a bit. It’s something that is good to begin doing sooner than later so the characters all have time to become fan favorites and everything. There are already some named characters here but none that strike you as the playable type. They seem like supporting characters, not main characters. At least that’s the way I would explain it.

Overall, Penny’s Big Breakthrough is a fun game. It’s fast paced and clever with the various mechanics. It looks and sounds good as well so you’ve really got the complete package here. There’s definitely a lot to take in and there is good room for a sequel. I’d definitely be interested in playing a follow up so lets keep our fingers crossed for that. In the meantime pick this game up and it’s the kind of title that you can really recommend to anyone. A simple but effective title that has no real issues.

Overall 7/10

Yoshi’s Island DS Review

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Yoshi’s Island is one of those games that I would have imagined that I’d have played years ago but it always fell through the cracks. As a result it feels really retro to be playing this one because it’s just from such a different time. This was back when Nintendo really did not hold back on the difficulty. Some of these levels are really quite hard but never in an unfair way. Your platforming skills will simply be tested in ways that you wouldn’t have thought possible.

The story is fairly basic but with one little twist that was nice. Basically babies around the world are being kidnapped and this includes poor Luigi. Fortunately the stork is able to save Mario and quickly locates Yoshi so that they can team up to save the world once again. These two are no strangers to mixing it up with the likes of Bowser and so they quickly get ready for this. What they don’t realize is that King Bowser has come from the future as well to really complicate matters. Dealing with two fierce opponents may be a bit much and then we have Wario as a wild card.

Right off the bat I can appreciate the wide character roster here. At least for a Platformer this feels pretty big. You can use Baby Mario, Peach, Wario, DK, and even Bowser at one point. Each character has their own special abilities while riding on Yoshi and this even affects your running speed. Additionally Mario has the ability to grow his cape while using a power star and you temporarily control him instead of Yoshi. It’s clear that Nintendo was really working hard to ensure there was a whole lot of depth to the gameplay. It’s certainly doing more than the original.

That said, more isn’t always better. How much you enjoy this game will really come down to how much you like playing as all of the characters. If for any reason you do not like playing as them, then you will probably miss the standard Yoshi gameplay. As its core the gameplay still has many of the same elements like running through the levels and getting past all the obstacles but then you use the character specific items like DK’s climbing to get past different barriers in the level.

I mostly stuck with Mario as his basic gameplay is the most comforting but the game does force you to switch on many occasions. So get used to playing as everyone. Like I said before the difficulty is also quite high so don’t think that you will just be sleep walking through this adventure. No, you’re going to have to really put in a lot of effort. Stock up on as many lives as possible in the first few worlds. I nearly didn’t spend enough focus on that since I figured lives wouldn’t be important but the difficulty really spikes starting with world 4. I had around 65 lives by that point and ended up with less than 20 by the end.

There are a lot of check points in the game which is good but some of the jumps and timings are really intense. It’s fun to see how creatively Nintendo added this difficulty while preserving the basic concept of Yoshi not having a health bar. You die if you fall through a pit, touch lava, or let your baby get away from you for a long period of time. The latter is the easiest way to die so just be careful where you’re at when you take damage.

For the most part the bosses are all really easy though as even the final boss moves fairly slow and only has a few different attacks. I suspect that it is harder to balance a boss than it is for a level which explains the huge disparity between them. So at least that’s one part you don’t have to worry about, for the most part you will be blowing the bosses away with ease. For the levels, you just have to keep going at them over and over again until you’ve found a way to win. Over 90% of the challenging parts are just about execution though so you don’t have to worry about solving puzzles or anything like that. Just put your best foot forward and you’ll be fine.

The graphics are pretty solid here. Again it has a very nostalgic kind of vibe to it with the looks and designs really being classic Mario all the way. It’s an easy game to enjoy visually and the soundtrack is also good. A solid array of themes even if I can’t point to any one theme and say that it’s an all star. They all work well within the context that they appear in which is good enough for me. Nintendo typically always does a good job on that front so I’m not surprised.

There is also a formidable amount of replay value here. The main campaign is fairly long with 5 worlds of 8 levels each but then each world has 3-4 bonus levels as well. Then you have the collectibles and there are a ton of those to grab in each level. We’re talking massive Yoshi coins as well as red coins. It will take a very long time to achieve all of those so that will add more than a few hours to your total docket.

Overall, This is a very complete Yoshi game. It holds its own with the classic Mario titles although I will always prefer the Mario gameplay over Yoshi overall. Nothing wrong with Yoshi’s but Mario’s tends to be more fast paced. Here you do often have to wait for things to get set up. The worst are the auto scroller levels but that is true for any platformer title since the movement is so slow. You should definitely check this game out if you are looking for a good challenge. I can definitely guarantee that you will find one here. It’s the kind of game that you really can’t underestimate.

Overall 7/10

Donnie Darko Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited 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 for one of those films where the main character is slowly going crazy but you have to determine if this is actually what’s going on or if there’s more to the situation than meets the eye. You’ve got the classic delusions and even a giant 6 foot Rabbit so this film isn’t afraid to get supernatural. Unfortunately the build up is rather large to what I would consider to be a lackluster climax and getting there is rough with the characters all being super annoying and terrible for the most part. There aren’t really many people to root for here and so that’s something sequels will need to try and fix.

The film starts off by introducing us to Donnie who has been having some mental issues for a while now. He takes pills to reduce the effects but sometimes he skips them and starts to crash out. He’s been wandering around the city at night and seeing a large rabbit man named Frank. Frank tells Donnie that the world is going to end in a few days. Donnie might even believe him but officially tells his therapist that he doesn’t think the world will end. Donnie actually has two friends and then even gets a girlfriend in Gretchen but for the most part has trouble connecting to people. Even the famous motivational speaker gets on Donnie’s nerves. Will he be able to stop the world from ending or is Fran really just a figment of his imagination?

This is one of those films where you will definitely need to stay focused because we jump from day to day. There is a timer about how many days are left until the end of the world and so sometimes there are whole weeks left and then there are just a few days in others. So you have to read through these carefully because the film isn’t always linear but the events are normal enough where you might not even notice at times. A engine fell through Donnie’s house but fortunately he wasn’t hurt but the cops are acting a bit weird about the whole thing.

Like I said before the main problem here does come from the characters though. Donnie is extremely hard to root for. He shows up with a bad attitude from the start and never really gets any better. From insulting his sister and mother to crashing out during lessons, he just isn’t a very heroic figure. During his therapy sessions he has a hard time focusing and it doesn’t seem like anything really interests him. He’s very odd the whole time and you can be odd without being a jerk but he never really chooses that option. I would have liked to have seen him resist Frank’s influence more as well.

Donnie seems easy to manipulate and always tends to choose the worst outcomes. Even through to the end I don’t think he made the right call. He basically decides to give up, at least that’s how I would frame it. He could have tried a lot of other paths but he chose the easiest one which doesn’t even guarantee a happy ending. In fact you could say that in some ways this is now the dark ending but it depends on how you interpret it. I’ll go into my interpretation near the end of the film.

For the most part I’d say the film has a generally dark tone. Everyone’s been through a lot and there is another tragedy along each corner. You’ve got Gretchen’s backstory which is naturally dark and then gets even darker with what happens in the present. You have the motivational speaker’s secret which is again super dark and so the town doesn’t seem to have a lot of hope with it. One girl is bullied a whole lot and naturally the main character doesn’t do much about it. Just about everyone is needlessly mean spirited like when a bunch of kids make fun of an old lady.

There’s quite a bit of language here and none of the characters seem like someone you would want to be friends with. Of course the characters are not responsible while the parents are away and throw a big fight as well. People are doing drugs, the romance is rushed, etc. This film definitely takes itself very seriously but this kind of grim title needs a bit more of a hook.

That’s where Frank really should come in. Lets get some more answers out of this guy and learn about the end of the world. Well, for the most part he just talks cryptically the whole time and isn’t very helpful. Sometimes he helps out like when he had Donnie burn down a house that exposed a villain. That was good but is takes him a while to get to that point. Before that Frank just seems generally demonic and it’s still hard to tell what his actual goals are. Is he just here to spread chaos? Because I could definitely believe that.

Okay now to discuss the ending. Skip these next two paragraphs if you haven’t seen the film yet. My main theory here is that there was no real time travel per say and instead we got taken to a new dimension. Throughout the film they talk about time travel by going through a ship and entering a portal to go back. Well, we get to see Donnie arrive back at the start but he chooses to stay in his room so the engine crashes through and murders him. At this point all of the characters across the film wake up, seemingly very startled. Some are panicking, sweating, etc.

It seems like they all regained their memories of the lost time here. So even though it’s the past, the events all seemed to happen. For that reason I would say that Donnie was able to open a portal through dimensions. In this way it’s like a parallel universe where everybody is around but now events are playing out a bit differently. Unfortunately because Donnie won’t be around to burn the house, that means the speaker will still be up to his criminal activities. Then again if everyone remembers, maybe they can shut him down quickly. That’s basically how I interpret the ending and so it’s a pretty sad one since Donnie gave up and just let himself get blasted. He should have gotten out of there and used his advanced knowledge to really make a difference. There are a ton of ways you can change the world when you have an early start like that. It also seems like this kind of thing has happened before with the old lady who wrote a book but Donnie should have checked in with her right away. The whole alternate universe would also tie in with the planet ending like Frank said. In this way it really did end as that universe/timeline no longer exists.

Well, there are a lot of ways to look at the ending. The film is definitely weird enough for it all. Unfortunately it’s just no weird in a good way. You absolutely could have pulled this off if the characters were better but this cast? Yeah they were definitely not even remotely ready for this. A good surreal kind of film needs to have quality characters, a really engaging plot, and of course an interesting climax. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is an example of a really weird film that works after all.

Overall, Donnie Darko is held back in a lot of ways by Donnie Darko himself. He isn’t quite the lead character that you need to make a film like this succeed. Instead he just keeps the film from reaching its true potential. The rest of the characters don’t really help matters either though. Frank had potential here but the way his character goes out is pretty lame and he lost all of his aura the instant that the mask came off. There just isn’t much that is appealing about this film. I give it some props for trying to have a very unique story but it did not work.

Overall 2/10