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Mega Man Legends Review

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It feels great to finally play Mega Man Legends because that game has been around for so many years. I had hoped Capcom would go ahead and start a remake but they really dragged their feet on that. So it was time to play through all of the games thanks to PSN. The game is retro in all of the right ways with a fun artstyle and even full voice acting. No excuse for newer Mega Man games to not follow suit if you ask me. The game is a bit short but does have plenty of extra content.

The game follows Mega Man and his friends who crash land near a small town one day. They figure it won’t take long to get a power source and leave but it turns out that a crew of treasure hunters is around. They are not going to make things easy and then Mega Man finds himself knee deep in a big conspiracy. He will need to see this through to the end now and must make sure that the town is safe. This won’t be easy, but it is absolutely a job for Mega Man.

Right away you will be impressed by the 3D environments. The town is extremely large to the point where it takes up almost 7 areas. There are plenty of people to talk to and shops to visit. The amount of replay value in here is really impressive because of the side quests. I didn’t really touch those when playing through the game but can see how they would be useful. This game is fairly difficult and so a big part of the game is about earning money. You want enough cash to get a lot of upgrades and power ups.

I spent a full 90 minutes on just grinding money and I’m glad it did. I got my missiles leveled up a whole lot and this came in handy for a 3 phase boss fight in the sky. It worked for the whole game with the exception of the final boss who is actually a bad match up for the missiles. I had to finish the game with the basic mega buster but it does the job. Just make sure you open up every chest because the parts in there are incredibly useful. Without them it is safe to say that I would have been on the back foot.

The best tip I can give you is to constantly be moving side to side. You can fire the buster as long as you do that, but note that you can’t shoot while moving backwards. So keep making a circle around the boss and jump when an attack is about to land. With a little practice you’ll be able to dodge just about everything that gets thrown at you. The missiles are incredible for damage but do add a second of end lag to the beginning and ending of your attacks so you should keep that in mind.

You are always given the choice to choose between attack, range, ammo, and speed. Choose wisely since it isn’t possible to max everything out. Fortunately you can change your allocations at any point so you really should experiment. Range and attack are the most important if you ask me. Some enemies literally cannot be hit if you don’t have enough range after all. Ammo is the least critical since it’s rare to run out of weapons but I guess that may depend on your gameplay style.

The graphics are definitely really good and have held up throughout the years. The soundtrack can be a little less memorable but still sounds good on the whole. I don’t really have any issue with the technicals here although it’s worth noting that the voice acting can be really hard to hear at times. It felt like the audio was going up and down throughout. I was still impressed to have had full voice acting here though. The game probably just needed some subs or text boxes.

You’re going to be spending a lot of time in the dungeons throughout the game so keep in mind that you don’t have to beat them in one shot. If you want to just farm money you can go through a few rooms and then leave. I did that a lot while trying to get money for the various power ups. It’s a really good strategy so I would say to just keep that in mind. The game will be a lot easier if you even just buy a few power ups so you shouldn’t try to go it alone.

As for if you want to focus on your weapons or Mega Man himself, that’s up to you. You won’t have enough money to do everything and that’s why for the weapons I would recommend just sticking to one of them. If you mix and match too much then you’re going to not see as much progress. By sticking to the missiles, I was able to get it very overpowered before long.

We’ll see if the next game can beat this one. There are a few quality of life things that could be improved like your running speed. I know I said the town was large before but part of that is also because Mega Man can’t run very fast. So it takes him longer than you would like to get places. Especially if you get lost which can happen once or twice. Near the end of the game you’re told to go to the old city but turns out you were supposed to go to the re right outside of Old City. That threw me off for a while there.

Overall, Mega Man Legends is definitely a game that I would recommend. The most important thing to consider here is just how fun the game is. It’s really a blast and a half throughout which is really important. Additionally the story gets a little more intricate than I may have guessed by the end of it. The voice acting helps a lot but same with the characters just being a lot of fun. This is certainly not your average Mega Man adventure that’s for sure. There is a lot of room left over for the next game to pick up on some story elements and I’ll be playing that before long. The city environment is also just such a great backdrop because you don’t get to experience that very often.

Overall 7/10

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages Review

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The Legend of Zelda has returned but of course long time fans remember when the series was not doing so well. It has had some really impressive highs but unfortunately the lows are quite strong as well. It’s what keeps me from putting the series higher than where I have it. You just never know if it’s going to end up being the next top tier showcase or if it’ll be more of a stinker. Unfortunately this one was the latter.

The game follows a young man named Link who is tasked with saving the world. A queen has turned evil in the past and this is having a negative effect on the present. Link will now have to travel back and forth from the past to the present to find a way to save the day. It won’t be easy though as the villain appears to have similar abilities. Link may need some help this time around.

Now first up I do want to say the game has some interesting ideas. I was glad to have a different setting re than the usual Hyrule days. The supporting cast wasn’t even bad like another hero who wants to be the one to save the day and a happy witch that is always flying around. There is a decent plot going on in the background here which can be more than what you see for other Zelda titles. That said, it can still vanish for large chunks of time since this isn’t first and foremost a story driven title.

I would also say that the soundtrack is pretty good. There is one track in particular that is much better than I would have expected. It just works really well as a suspense theme. Of course on the flip side, the worst themes are pretty bad. The hub world theme in particular is super jarring because of how loud it is. Your ears will definitely be hurting by the end of that because you’ll be hearing the tune so often.

This is where most of the game’s issues come from. It just isn’t fun to play for decently large periods of time. The levels are tedious and the backtracking makes this worse. We needed a better form of quick travel and other movement options to help with the quality of life. In theory you should always be able to get past an area quicker the next time you enter it. I felt like the series didn’t really understand that part and that just made things tougher than it needed to be.

The hints aren’t always very helpful so you will be wandering around for a lot of the time. Ironically the dungeon puzzles ended up not being as difficult in comparison. The hub world is what took up the most amount of time. This ended up being my game with the most amount of play time on the Nintendo Switch Online’s game boy section.

A big problem with the gameplay is how you can only equip 2 weapons. As a result you have to constantly be pausing the game to switch weapons over and over. Let me tell you, that part’s not fun after the 20th time. You want to be able to just quick change your weapon. It’s those little things that make such a big difference after a while because it heavily inflates the play time but not for any fun reasons. It’s almost funny how quickly the bosses go down in contrast.

Still, the story is a bright light here. If they ever made a 3D remake of the game with great quality of life features then I actually think it could be really good. The potential is absolutely there after all, the game just has to live up to it. You also won’t be able to play the complete game without having a file for the other game. The true ending is only obtained by having save data for both oracle games which is a really bold strategy. Not one I’d recommend since it seems a bit greedy towards the gamer.

I’d also say the game’s graphics are pretty good. A minor nitpick is that it can be hard to tell when you are in the present or the past though. The coloring is just so similar at that point. The past has a slight blue tint but trust me when I say that it is incredibly slight. You need to have a really strong pair of glasses to be able to consistently note the difference. Otherwise you are really out of luck there. There’s not really any replay value but the main campaign is long enough where this doesn’t feel like a problem.

In theory if you don’t get lost at all and crush every boss then the game will be much shorter but that still feels like a stretch to me. I don’t see how you would be able to ace everything on your first go. It would be very impressive though and would make the game more fun. It steadily becomes less and less fun as you run around in circles so if you are able to counter that, then it goes without saying that the game itself would improve quite a bit. It would almost allow the game to hide its biggest flaws from you but maybe for that reason it is better than you do run into them.

Overall, Oracle of Ages is about on par with the Oracle of Seasons title but that’s not a big complement. The game just has too many downsides that take away from the experience the whole time. With modern quality of life upgrades it would be easy to fix this title. It’s not something that you an ever take as a given though. Some companies just aren’t as on the ball about that and I suppose this may be one of those times. I would only get this game if you are a massive Legend of Zelda fan. Otherwise it’s time to skip this one.

Overall 4/10

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Review

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Demon Slayer continues to dominate the box office every time it appears. People have really been enjoying the action here and I look forward to the next two films seeing similar success. Ultimately this one lives up to the hype of essentially being 2+ hours of nonstop action as the only breaks are with the various sob stories. While I wouldn’t put it above Mugen Train and its masterful climax, this one is very close.

The movie starts off with all of the slayers falling into Mugen’s trap. His infinity castle comes with an infinite amount of demons in addition to the last of the upper ranks. The heroes must try and destroy the immortal Muzan while he is still weakened from the various poisons. The most difficult part will be in tracking him down though. The guy could be anywhere in this labyrinth and the heroes have to keep their guards up at all times. A single misstep and it will mean their end.

As this is just the first part of a 3 part saga, you should expect a lot of characters to get the shaft. Most of the various Hashira appear but only two of them actually get big fights in this one. Fortunately for Tanjiro he gets to step into one of the fights so the main character will not be absent from the proceedings. If you tend to be a plot first kind of guy then the film might end up lacking for you but know that the true story of any title is hidden within each blade clash.

There are 3 main plots in the film. First up is Shinobu against Doma. Doma is the 2nd strongest of the Upper Rank demons and generally you would need two Hashira ranking fighters from the heroes to go up against one of these. Shinobu has never been known for her raw power either as she strikes with poisons. Unfortunately upper ranks are pretty resistant to such tactics. This battle is all about Shinobu trying to find a way to stop Doma and to avenge her elder sister who fell prey to him in the past.

Each fight in the film tends to follow the same pattern of fight, then origin story before the climax. Doma’s is certainly not about making him look sympathetic at all but showing just how desperate the humans around him can be. They were desperate to find easy answers instead of just realizing that the real world doesn’t work like that. Meanwhile Shinobu got a brief backstory but just to explain why the fight was so personal. Doma is one of the creepier villains with how sadistic he is so that’s a lot or Shinobu to have to deal with.

The fight is super solid although it does feel like Doma is toying with her for most of it. If he got serious, she would seemingly not be much of a threat to him. The movie definitely establishes why Doma is such a big threat but Shinobu does good the whole time and never gives up. She really did justice to her title as a Hashira. The rest of the characters would have been proud.

Then in the second fight we have Zenitsu going up against Upper Rank 6, Kaigaku. On the surface this should be a stomp in the demon’s favor because Zenitsu is several ranks below a Hashira. He is hoping that Kaigaku’s lack of skill will be the difference here. Naturally this also involves a backstory and a lot of personal feelings all the way. Kaigaku is another guy who isn’t really meant to be sympathetic and you can appreciate that for a villain. That being said, it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t care when Zenitsu tries telling him about their old mentor.

The guy’s a demon, I bet he stopped caring many years ago. I did like his design though and the fight was definitely real intense. Zenitsu is also someone who may seem out of character to people who watched the anime. Usually he is the comic relief character who is always panicking but this fight is an exception. He looks tough from the start and really does great. I like the idea of someone being able to lock in for the most important fight of his life. If not then, when would you ever be able to gather up the courage right? This was a good way to cap off Zenitsu’s combat career but hopefully he’ll show up more soon.

This film’s really about the finial fight though and that’s where the hype was coming from. Akaza shows up once more as Upper 3 to take down Giyu and Tanjiro. It’s clear from the start that only Giyu has a chance and yet it’s tough to defeat someone who has infinite stamina. The longer a fight drags out, the more a demon gets the advantage. No sunlight will be making it into the castle either so that makes things even more difficult. The fight is the longest out of the bunch and really has a top tier animation budget behind it.

We get to see different power ups from the heroes as well as Akaza while the fight is underway. It was nice to see Tanjiro improve as he was mostly just a liability for the start of the fight. He means well though and I would say that Tanjiro is definitely a quality main character all the way. Even in this film which is more about showing each member of the cast, you can tell that Tanjiro is the main character. He has the big emotional flashback near the end and gets the big power up after all.

Akaza is the only villain with a sad backstory. It does a good job of not absolving Akaza’s crimes in it though. A lot of what happened to him is directly the guy’s fault after all. He made some really big mistakes and paid quite heavily for them. Ultimately he was probably the most dangerous of the villains, I dare say I would put him above Upper 1 and Upper 2. Fans may disagree on that based on the ranking system itself but nobody had Akaza’s sheer adaptation.

As for Giyu, he continues to be one of the best characters in the series. He’s certainly not big on showing emotions but doesn’t let it dull his blade. He does get annoyed when Tanjiro ruins the element of surprise but I get it. Tanjiro could have gotten a clean kill there instead of showing off. Sometimes when the stakes are so high you need to go for the sneak shot. It may not seem super honorable and all but this is a fight to the death with demons.

I was surprised that the film didn’t end with more of a cliffhanger though. I would have had a quick ending with Inosuke joining a fight or something like that. I guess the one catch to a part 1 fight like this is that some characters really didn’t get to do anything. It’s probably why we had almost 20 minutes at the start of the film to show everyone fighting off a bunch of demons. That was definitely an intense opener and I’ll take those crumbs until we get the next two films.

The animation is top tier as you would expect. The colors are incredible and the choreography is great. Ufotable is still one of the best animation companies of our generation and they do not hold back with all of these battles. This title does get pretty violent at times so I would say to keep this in mind if you’re not too good with violence. There is a high body count particularly thanks to the backstories and the humans tend to meet rather painful ends. There is also a random scene of a bear getting murdered that could have been cut. We already knew understood the concept of hiding aura so that could have been done a different way.

I would say that generally the film doesn’t linger on any one kill for too long. It’s probably a bit borderline though, the kind of title where just a bit more would probably have started to affect the score somewhat. You never want to go full Attack on Titan after all but at least we didn’t have people begging for their lives while being eaten or anything like that. This one is still more of a battle Shonen first and foremost. The soundtrack is also pretty good with a solid amount of variety and a good Akaza remix. I was listening to some of the tunes while writing this review and will continue to check some of the others out as I go forward.

Overall, I would definitely recommend checking this film out. As long as you enjoy good fight scenes then you’ll have a real blast here. The only context you need is given during the battles and honestly it’s always clear who the hero and villains are. This isn’t one of those titles like Netflix’s DMC series where they’re trying to make the demons sympathetic. The demons are self explanatorily evil and the humans have to wipe them out so nobody else gets hurt. From there you can just enjoy the excellent choreography and maybe it’ll inspire you to go back and check out the previous seasons of the anime.

Overall 8/10

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Review

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Aquaman has returned for the big sequel. This one’s definitely taking a bit of a different approach from the first as it goes for the buddycop genre this time. It’s a pretty good idea since the banter tends to be fun but Aquaman himself tends to hold that back. Ultimately this one’s a bit of a roller coaster with a lot of ups and downs but by the end I’d still say it was a good film.

The movie starts off by showing how Aquaman has been a terrible ruler to Atlantis. He has let the council walk all over him and finds himself bored with all of his official duties. What he doesn’t realize is that Black Manta has been taking this time to work on a plan to destroy the ruler. Manta is working with a mysterious villain in the shadows who has been granting him great technology and physical abilities. Aquaman will need to find a way to track this guy down before his plan can succeed. The only way to get around this is to team up with his old foe…the Ocean Master!

Ocean Master, aka Orm is definitely the best character here. It’s easy to see how he would have been a great king. He has the right temperament for it and also has a lot of experience and general knowledge. It makes sense since he was raised to take the throne from birth after all. Now to balance this out the film does show that Aquaman is the stronger fighter. Still, it’s not by a wide margin and Orm tends to outshine him in all other categories. If the series had kept going it would be interesting to have had Orm be the main villain again. Have him make a play for the throne, not because he is crazy but because he thinks that Aquaman will be the downfall of Atlantis. Additionally more screentime for him would not be a bad thing since Orm is also responsible for all of the film’s funniest moments.

I mentioned earlier that the banter doesn’t match some other titles and none of that is Orm’s fault. He dominates in every scene that he has with the exception of Aquaman tricking him into some gross humor. Yes, Aquaman is one of the weakest parts of the film. I can’t say that I’ve been a big fan of his portrayal over the years and this may be his most drastic one yet. The guy can’t really handle any serious conversations and constantly thinks with his muscles. He gets the two of them into trouble many times and never grows into the ruler that he could be. You just wouldn’t want to be friends with this guy.

I would argue that he doesn’t have much of a character arc here because I don’t think he would handle any of the situations differently in a future film. With solid writing you could probably get around that but this isn’t really the film for that. The humor tends to miss most of the time and relies on more crude humor than I’ve seen in a long while. The movie even has to repeat the worst jokes more than once in case the audience didn’t get it.

The movie can have some decent humor like Manta toying with one of his minions or Orm subtlety insulting Aquaman but it does tend to get overwhelmed by the negative moments. The worst jokes are what keeps this film from having real replay value because you just wouldn’t want to go through it all again. It’s the type of movie that will do its best through Youtube shorts for the best moments.

There is definitely a lot of action in the film but not too many fight scenes. The two best fights in the film are when Aquaman fights Manta in round 1 and then the 2 v 1 against him in the climax. I wanted to see more of that because those fights were bright and fast paced. You really get to enjoy the choreography there and feel the intensity of the battles. The film nearly gives us one more but chooses to end the climax on more of a gag this time. It’s a decent gag but personally I wanted to see the big villain get to fight. Based on the hype he was getting, that would have been a really epic showdown.

The general action scenes don’t work as well because of how many involve being underwater. It’s been many years and films still have yet to make underwater fighting all that much fun. Without a place to land and pivot, fight scenes don’t have the same depth. There tend to be a lot of giant encounters as well so you’re not getting much choreography there. I still appreciate having the action of course but will always prefer fight scenes. The special effects were pretty solid all around though. I’m glad they kept in the shockwaves for all of the big power attacks because that’s still the best way to show off super strength.

Black Manta is the main villain for most of the film and definitely does a good job there. He constantly makes sure that his underlings are following his lead. He’s not looking for sympathy or anything and is just focused on his big revenge mission. He comes close to taking out Aquaman on different occasions and honestly should have the edge most of the time since his heat laser can take out just about anyone in a single shot.

Stephen is a particularly weak character though as he just seems wishy washy the whole time. He knew from the start that he was joining the villains by working for Black Manta. It’s way too late in the game to be having second thoughts about that and I certainly didn’t take them seriously. I would have preferred for Manta to take him down at some point.

Manta has another much more loyal subordinate but she ultimately doesn’t get to do too much. Of course there is Manta’s partner from the shadows who is really solid but ultimately doesn’t get to do a whole lot here. Aquaman’s supporting cast get to show off their powers a bit but for the most part this is the Orm and Aquaman show on the heroes side. If they ever made an Orm solo title that could be a lot of fun. The stakes by the end of the film are high enough where I dare say we should have seen some guest star appearances but I suppose everyone might have been busy.

Overall, How much you enjoy the film will probably depend on how much you enjoy Aquaman and the humor style of the film. If you enjoy them both then this will probably be an elite film because the rest of the film’s fundamentals are sound. If you don’t enjoy them, then you are counting on the action being enough to get you through this. Hopefully if we get another Aquaman film someday the humor style will be a bit more mature. At the very least you don’t want scenes that really make you cringe like some of the moments here. Just try to focus on the fights and Orm showing why he should be the proper king of Atlantis.

Overall 6/10

The Aristocats Review

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It’s time for a classic film about danger and true love. I’d say it’s a good adventure overall but definitely more forgettable than a lot of its rivals. The movie doesn’t really make any big mistakes but just doesn’t have as many strengths as you would normally expect. So you’ll be kept entertained but give it a few weeks and this one will be a distant memory.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Duchess and her three kittens. They live a nice life as they are owned by an incredibly rich woman who really loves them. In fact she intends to leave a massive amount of her will to the cats. Unfortunately her butler Edgar finds out about this and decides to destroy the cats. One night he kidnaps them and strands the cats many miles away from home. They aren’t exactly used to the outside world though and now their only hope is to rely on a strong cat named Thomas. Thomas certainly seems to know what he is doing but can they really trust him?

You’ve got a bigger cast here than you might expect. Thomas has a few friends, then you have a subplot with two dogs, another plot with a mouse, and of course there are 4 main cats. The movie is pretty short too so you shouldn’t expect these characters to do too much. It’s fairly stuffed so the pacing is pretty good but the film probably could have stood to shrunk the cast and give them bigger roles. Well, ultimately it works out well enough.

I would say the surprise hit here is the main villain Edgar. The guy wants to be rich and is willing to do anything towards this goal. He’s an evil villain through and through but has quite a lot of power. Not only is he able to overcome the two dogs who were trying to get him but at the end of the film he is fighting off a 1 vs 5-6 and somehow holds his own. That’s not an easy feat and Edgar doesn’t give up right to the very end. He has no tearful backstory or secret origins here. The guy is just super selfish and that simple motive works this time.

In part he also stands out because there just isn’t much to the main characters. For example Dutchess’ 3 kids don’t have a whole lot to do. You have the guy who wants to be a tough street cat, the girl who loves romance and tries to act dignified, as well as the third kitten who never got much of a personality. They are a little too young to really contribute to the plot and for the most part are just here to slow down Duchess. You could say they fit the role of being the cute characters but don’t really do anything beyond that which is unfortunate.

Duchess is a decent enough character but gives in to the romance a little too quickly. Thomas starts flirting with her almost immediately and Duchess seems charmed right away. You know I’m always more of a fan of the slow burn kind of romance. A romance moving this quickly with a guy who clearly seems like a player doesn’t make for the strongest romance. It’s not a massive part of the story but I do think it should have been earned more. Maybe we see them start to get closer after he saves her from Edgar or something like that.

As for Thomas, well I appreciate his confidence. He knows just about everyone and has made a lot of friends. It’s easy to see why he has so much confidence. The guy has been very successful throughout his life and is the kind of character that you want in his corner. Since his kind of character is fairly well known, the film doesn’t have to flesh it out too much and you immediately have a good feel for the character. It’s a fairly clever way of writing the character.

I’d say he would have really shined if there was more banter between the characters though. That’s where someone like Thomas would have really gotten to shine. Without that element it just feels like the film is missing something. His friends help to establish Thomas’ background a bit but even then they don’t get to appear a ton either. They help by the climax though and still have more of a role than the mouse. The mouse was a good friend to Duchess so you appreciate his efforts though. He jumped into situations that were pretty dangerous for him and took a lot of risks to save the day.

Finally we have the subplot with the two dogs. It was probably the funniest plot in the film even if the jokes could be a little limited. Basically you have the leader and his super loyal follower as they get into a lot of shenanigans. They still couldn’t even defeat Edgar so it’s not like they are super strong but they do their best. Their humor style is either something you like or you don’t though as the leader is constantly bashing his friend who just sits there and takes it the whole time. Ultimately they are good friends but the leader probably wouldn’t admit it. I liked the dynamic well enough but I would have liked the leader to have been a little stronger. Yeah that’s part of the joke but still it would have been since to have seen them get some more solid wins.

The music is definitely forgettable though. None of the songs are particularly strong and this sounds the way you would expect some musicals to sound like. There isn’t much soul behind the tunes and it all sounds like free domain type of music. A song should really have some strong emotions behind it along with a fast beat. None of these songs are ones that will get stuck in your head and you certainly won’t be singing them. That’s an L in my book.

The animation isn’t bad. Fairly standard stuff but certainly nothing bad. You have a lot of movement here throughout the adventure and even some fight scenes. I may even say this was the strongest part of the movie because it was going all out the whole time. It may be the most memorable part of the film overall and part of what would give it some replay value. At the end of the day that’s the position the film is in. I could easily see it again at any time but it’s like eating a sandwich. It doesn’t really do anything for you and just gives you a fun enough time during the experience.

Overall, If you like animated films like this then I would recommend The Aristocats. It doesn’t do anything new or different with the genre but brings you all of the familiar elements that you have come to expect. As long as you enter the film with reasonable expectations then I think you’ll have a good time here. If they decide to make a remake of this someday, I’d say to cut out the songs and just spend more time on the actual adventure. Have them pass different towns with strange traditions and make every part of the film more memorable. It wouldn’t be a super hard thing to do and that would be an improvement here.

Overall 6/10

Lost Soul Aside Review

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It’s time for one of those PS5 games that you see everywhere. It always looked pretty fun although I don’t think the cover does it any favors. Almost looks a bit uncanny like an action figure or something. The actual game’s artstyle is more like a typical Final Fantasy adventure though so don’t let the cover fool you. This is a great game but one that could have stood to have more content overall.

The story starts by introducing us to a world where the empire owns its country with an iron fist. The people have risen up through a resistance group known as GLIMMER. The main character is a member of this group and is also a “gifted one” which means that he has super powers. Unfortunately these powers are not enough to turn the tides of battle so he went off to train. Upon his return, the lead ends up meeting an ancient dragon lord named Arena who gives him true power. This would be enough to end the world but then the kingdom is attacked by aliens who are led by Aramon. This guy wants to end the human race and in the process he absorbed the souls of many humans. We now have to stop him as well as the emperor and in particular save the soul of Kaser’s sister.

The plot definitely starts fast here and introduces a whole lot of characters right away. I really enjoyed the fact that there were 3 factions here because it immediately makes things more interesting. Kaser is essentially forced to work with his life long enemies here but knows that they can betray him at any moment. That’s a good amount of tension to be working with here. Ther is also a lot of extra lore through the pages that you pick up along the way but generally I wouldn’t say any of it is too crucial. The main plot is within the game that you’re playing after all.

I will say that the story can get a little slow during the middle part though. You’re really interested in fighting Aramon and the Emperor so when you have to fight a bunch of reskinned bosses you just want to get to the next cutscene. There is an impressive amount of boss battles here with at least 50 but a bunch of them are reused as the game goes on which makes this a little less impressive. The game does leave a little room for a sequel should they ever want to do that.

The strongest aspect of the game is the gameplay though. It plays like a 3D beat em up and you have to use a mix of dodging and blocking to get past the waves of enemies. I spent most of the game blocking but by the end it was incredibly difficult to read the opponent moves so I relied more on dodging. Each style has its set of pros and cons but blocking is best if you are comfortable with the timing. By blocking an opponent’s attack you reduce a lot of their stamina and it also causes them to freeze up for a good chunk of time. This gives you some more free hits right away.

The beginning of the game is when it is the most difficult because you don’t have any arena powers or upgrades yet. Interestingly this is an example of a game that continues to get easier as you go on because your upgrades are incredibly broken. Additionally the game has a great XP system so you are leveling up constantly. The more you die, the stronger upgrades you unlock so I dare say there are even some roguelite elements to this title. I guess everyone wants to add those nowadays. The combat is super smooth and there are so many different attacks that you can use. You can really have a field day equipping all of the fun ones that you want.

Now the game does have an issue with the menus though. I think the devs needed to workshop these a bit more because they are not intuitive at all. There is a whole crafting section of the game and I never used it because I just couldn’t figure it out. The parts you need to make the weapon are unclear and the weapons seemed weaker than the base ones so it seemed pointless. Every weapon I unlocked naturally were also weaker than the base one so I stayed with my starter equipment the whole game. There has to be something that I was missing.

There are also boss rushes and survival challenges but there didn’t seem to be an upside to doing them. I suppose they give you online trophies for completion so down the road they would be useful but not during the campaign. There are too many options in the main menu to choose from and as a result I didn’t pick any. It’s a fairly small deal but the kind of thing that does separate an average game from a top tier one.

I did enjoy how easy it was to acquire money and items though. Now I will mention that the game has a super guide type feature where you can skip any puzzle automatically by talking to a blue diamond. I decided not to do that since it felt cheesy but I guess that’s good if you really don’t like puzzles. Trust me, I’m not a big fan of them but skipping them entirely like that will always be a last ditch effort at best.

This game really had a lot of fun trying out different gameplay styles. For the most part these additions were a bit pointless but they don’t take away from the game. You’ve got skateboardig, mecha fights, aerial combat, grappling, platforming, puzzles, etc. The game was trying to use every kind of gameplay style it could think of. Ultimately it would always go back to the combat you were looking forward to though which is the important part. That is the ultimate highlight of the game after all.

The graphics are pretty good. This may not be a full AAA type title but it holds up well enough. I liked the character designs and the colors are striking. The gameplay itself is particularly colorful. The soundtrack is also pretty good with some really solid tunes. The boss themes definitely will not disappoint. The overall campaign length is around 15 hours too which is fairly solid. There is virtually no replay value though so your best bet is in trying to get all of the trophies. That will definitely take you some time because the game is really relentless on that front. I won’t even try to achieve the platinum in the foreseeable future.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this game. It may be a hard sell for $60, but I got it for $10 thanks to Prime Day. If you can get a price like that for this game then I highly recommend doing so. It’s a steal for that price and either way the gameplay alone is enough to make you want to get this game. If they ever do make a sequel, I’ll definitely be picking that one up.

Overall 8/10

What About Bob? Review

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It’s time for a pretty crazy film about what might happen if someone decides to stalk you across the city. This one’s a comedy though so we get to see the fun parts of the premise without dwelling on the darker elements. What this film does particularly well is not breaking character at all during the journey. Even right as we are getting to the end of the film, it resists the urge to suddenly get serious. I thought that was really impressive because 99% of the time the film will quickly get serious at the end to try and land some kind of message. This time the film wasn’t worried about any of that and I thought it was better off for it.

The main character here is debatably Bob or Leo but I’m going to say that it’s Leo. Leo is a professional psychiatrist who is getting ready for a long vacation. Unfortunately he has one last interview before he heads out and it is with a guy named Bob. Bob comes from another psychiatrist who retired suddenly but seems like a harmless guy. Bob suffers from numerous phobias but the biggest one is the fear of germs. He always carries a napkin so he doesn’t have to touch anything directly. Leo gives him some general advice and then heads on vacation. The problem? Bob has followed him over and declares that he won’t be leaving, Leo needs to be giving him guidance 24/7. Can Leo throw Bob out without hurting his reputation with his family?

Leo’s also got a big interview with Good Morning America about his new book and this is threatening that appointment quite a lot. So Leo is stressed throughout the film and you can definitely feel his pain. It doesn’t help that his family quickly become big fans of Bob. They want him around and even think that he is more fun than Lein general. That’s really not good for Leo’s chances of getting them on board. Every time he makes a move against Bob they end up getting more and more upset.

Leo is the antagonist by the end of the film though. He is absolutely trying to destroy Bob and is willing to use bombs for this approach. So as sympathetic as he gets you do have to remember that he is also crazy. It’s just in a different way than Bob. At one point you feel like the film is about to end with the interview but then we get a whole other act after that which was a really good fakeout. The constant battle with Leo and Bob is really where a lot of the humor comes from. I would say Leo is the standout character here and you couldn’t make the film without him.

The movie’s sense of humor is really good so you’ll be having a good time throughout. The pacing is solid as well and the film doesn’t really have any weaknesses here. This is an old school comedy film that manages to land just about all of its jokes. I guess the weakest part of the film would be the family for me. They tend to take Bob’s side a little too easily. That’s part of the joke of course so it works within the film’s context but for the characters themselves you’ll be shaking your head.

As for Bob, he’s fun because he is absolutely psychotic. If he wasn’t crazy then of course he would be a big antagonist as well. Instead you can just make the case that he is supremely oblivious and has no idea what is going on. In a way that is definitely a rough situation to be in. He does manage to get over his traumas pretty quickly but then he still has to get readjusted to real life where he doesn’t understand boundaries and common sense elements. Once he has those, then he would really be okay but that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

He clearly knows enough to get along with most people to the point where he is even getting married. So Bob has potential here but the specific mental block of his psychiatrist may just be something that’s cemented by this point. If we ever get a sequel, the film already set things up with a legal battle that is about to ensue. It’s more of a funny ending than anything trying to set up a sequel of course but it could work if they ever wanted to get some nostalgia money out of the audience.

The cast is pretty small which is good for this film. There wouldn’t be time to introduce a bunch of characters or anything like that. We did have some fun supporting characters though like the crazy next door neighbors who are always around. Additionally there is Leo’s colleague from the crazy ward but she ended up not being of any real help here. Somehow Bob took over the whole place in under a day which again shows just how charismatic he can be when he really wants to.

He also has a lot of good technical skills like getting a bus to where Leo lives and finding out all of the information on how to get there. Bob has a very one track mind and so I think Leo’s best chance to stop him would have been to trick the guy. Get him to use his one track mind for something but that is easier said than done. Leo tries to trick him on numerous occasions and it just never seems to work. Bob is always a few steps ahead of him. That’s just how it goes.

Overall, What About Bob? is a film that has a really crazy premise and just rolls with it. That’s so much better than trying to take this too seriously. Bob even pretends to off himself at one point to infiltrate a call center which is absolutely diabolical. If you like watching comedies like this then this one is absolutely up your alley. If you are looking for one of those films that has a very serious moral/message at the end…well then this one isn’t exactly for you.

Overall 7/10

Exit 8 Review

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It’s time for a horror title that came out recently. Exit 8 definitely delivers on the scares and especially hits hard if you are claustrophobic at all. I tend to not be great in small spaces but a train station is just large enough where I don’t think it would end up being a really big deal. As for clearing the challenges, well you better hope that you are really good at games.

The story starts with a guy getting on a train and noticing a young mother getting yelled at by a random guy. He stands by without doing anything and the same is true of everyone else on the train. He eventually gets to leave but then gets a call from his ex-girlfriend. She is pregnant and it seems to be his kid but she is unsure of what to do next. She is looking to the lead for some counsel but he’s not sure either which is not really helpful. Still, he says he will visit her at the hospital…but then he loses signal on his phone and suddenly there is no way out of the subway. There are 2 rooms that just keep on repeating forever and a sign on the wall which has some rules to follow. If he sees an anomaly, he must move backwards. If there is no anomaly, move forward. The rules sound simple but the game will prove to be difficult.

If you’ve played memory match games then that will be very helpful here. The subway station corridors are pretty uneventful. There are a number of posters and doors as well as a photo booth but that’s about it. Still, the changes can be really small things like doorhandles being in the wrong spot or the posters being a little more immersive than usual. Depending how paranoid you get by the end, you’ll also be fighting yourself. So there are a whole lot of variables to keep track of here.

Now there is a case to be made here for the game being a lot easier than the main character makes it appear. That’s fair because this guy does have asthma so he constantly runs out of breath and this makes it more difficult for him to move forward. Because of how small the distance is, most players would probably go at a quicker pace and try a lot of things before the slow and methodical approach that the lead does. I feel like you would only star to go crazy after doing the rounds for many, many times. It feels like the main character gets exhausted a little too quickly. Physically it makes sense but I’m talking mentally here.

Clearly he hasn’t played the kinds of video games that require you to grind for many hours at a time. It’s why on a serious note, it’s good to be prepared for those kind of situations because this is a trial that can be much easier if you are prepared for it. Now once the game stars to get close to cheating by summoning vicious animals and floods…well then that’s another story. So by that point you’re going to have to rely on some luck and plot armor. I guess you could just pick a direction and run to reset the room but that’s going to be a little unnerving. At least there doesn’t appear to be any rule that forces you to hurry so you can also just rest in a stable room for a while to get your energy up.

You don’t know that for a fact though so it’s possible that the rooms do have an invisible time limit and you would be doomed. It’s just impossible to say this for sure. As for how likable the main guy is, I thought he was decent at best. The guy is definitely a coward with how he didn’t step up at the beginning and even hesitates for a long time at the end. That said, the film is about his development so I would say that he has gotten better over the course of the film. He may not be a true standout by the end but he’s not bad.

The character cast is fairly small but we also have a girl who wanders the subways. Who is she exactly? Like with most of the film you can only speculate here. She was interesting though and did give one of the scarier moments of the film. For the most part the film is trying to scare you with its own concept as opposed to actual jump scares but there are a few exceptions to this. There is also the man who walks around the subway with a briefcase.

For the most part I thought he was okay. He had to deal with a pretty annoying teammate the whole time. The guy definitely did lose his cool by the end and fell for a really easy trap but at least had a decent mindset for the game. If he was by himself I think he would have maybe even lasted longer but probably would have fell for the trap. It’s why you should always play the game cautiously until you are sure about the win conditions.

As for the kid, well he’s got to be the weakest character. Yes he is a kid so you want to cut him some slack but being so quiet for most of the film was really not good. This is a situation of life and death after all so staying quiet really just puts you in a bad spot. Everyone has to do their part in order to try and escape this place alive after all.

I did appreciate how the film gives you just enough pieces to try and cobble the ending together on your own. There are quite a few plausible theories here. Is the main character still stuck in the loop or will it be broken by his action at the end? Does he have any relation to the man with the suitcase? If yes, then he must have a relation to the girl wandering there as well but if not then it appears to be a 1 victim at a time thing. Is the subway trap a moral trial for those who have made a big mistake in their life? The kid may suggest time travel or parallel worlds as well. Lots of fun theories to throw around there. I personally like the idea of full on time travel with 3 alternate versions of the lead but the theory does mostly fall apart around the little kid unless you realllllly stretch things. Probably makes more sense as a good and bad future but then the good one isn’t fully good because the kid went through a lot.

Well, theory crafting is fun at any time either way. The movie will keep your attention the whole time even though it is really just about people walking through a subway tunnel the whole time. Personally I could have done that for the full 2 hours. The only obstacle in the film that I didn’t care for were the rats with human parts. The special effects used definitely looked eerie but more in a gross way than in a scary one. I would have definitely skipped that part. I also think that this part and the flood just feel like the game cheating.

Maybe you could say that cheating makes the situation scarier and you could be right but it’s less satisfying. The idea of a difficult but fair game is much better because you still have the existential fear of never getting out but at least having a chance. You don’t want a rigged game where you know there is no way out. It doesn’t get to that point for the main character but there could be an implication that it would do that for the other characters. If you stick to objective rules then you don’t have to worry about that.

Overall, Exit 8 is a pretty solid film. I’d definitely recommend checking it out to anyone looking for a unique survival scenario. It’s a horror title that uses a lot of game elements and makes you wonder how you would perform. I may be a little overconfident but I think I’d do pretty well there. At the very least I wouldn’t be falling for the phone trap or talking to a random person in the hallway. The game would need to get a little more creative than that in order to take me down for the count.

Overall 7/10

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania Review

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It’s time for another big roguelite game! Hades really helped me get into the genre and it’s been nonstop Ws since then! This one isn’t quite as story based but there is definitely a lot of story content here to sink your teeth into. This collection also brings 9 DLC waves with it so that’s a lot of extra content at the ready. Get ready to lose a lot but every death will take you closer to your big victory.

You play as an undead guy who just won’t stay dead. For some reason you are doomed to regenerate after every death. There is some kind of a grand plan at work here and the hero knows that he will have to defeat an ultimate evil. Problem is he doesn’t have much of a memory either so the whole thing is like a never ending mystery. One thing’s for sure, escaping this realm is not possible so he will have to keep on moving forward.

There is a lot of lore within the game’s universe but it’s all told within interactable objects. There is the occasional cutscene with some vague dialogue but the atmosphere is the top priority here. Additionally if you want to get the true ending then you have to complete the game on all 5 difficulty levels. Props to anyone who is able to accomplish that because this seems like an incredibly difficult task to me. Beating the game on normal and hard was tough enough.

The gameplay feels a bit like a Castlevania title. It is 2D and you use your weapons to clear out the enemies and make it to the next room. Each room has around 2-3 exits which lead you to other levels. There is also a rest level in between each one for you to heal up and gather your bearings. You will be presented with many different weapons and bombs as you go through the levels and you need to choose the ones that you prefer to use. There are many different ending rooms since each of the DLCs are baked into the game as well. It makes for a lot of variety and of course the room layouts are randomized so don’t think that you can just memorize all of the spots.

Defeated enemies drop orbs which you can use to unlock permanent power ups as well as alternate costumes. Be warned that every weapon you unlock becomes part of the random rotations. So if you really don’t like a weapon, you should not unlock it. There is no way to turn off unlocked weapons unless you go into creative mode. For the most part I tried not to unlock new weapons after I got my initial set and just focused on mutations and the permanent ones. Still, it’s possible that you will miss out on some really cool ones as a result so you shouldn’t be too picky.

Each weapon has a rank from 0 to 10 and those ranks have 3 levels to them. As you progress through the levels in each run they will get higher. What that means is that you might start a run with your favorite weapon but it’s in your best interest to upgrade soon. Yes, that means getting rid of your favorite weapon sometimes but that’s just how it goes. There is no benefit to staying with a grade 0 weapon and in fact it’ll make defeating some bosses nearly impossible.

The enemies scale up with each room so you need to keep pace with them. In each level there are also scrolls which you can use to amp up the power of one type of weapon. Red, Green, or Purple. You want to focus on always using the power ups on whatever color you are going to prioritize. They scale like crazy with compound interest so trying to do a little of everything is a super bad idea. Definitely don’t fall for it and stick to one. That’s the best way to make a lot of ground here.

My favorite setup was the mega hammer and a freeze gun. I would just freeze the enemies in place and then land my power move. It’s not good against the boss at the shipyard but works on just about everyone else. I was able to use that combination to beat the game on my only 2 successful attempts. I have a harder time reading the enemy movements so going with the faster swords didn’t really work for once. The game also puts a lot of work in for setting up shields for parrying/blocking but admittedly I never really tried it. I mean literally I never used the shields. I feel like this game is more about DPS and I didn’t want to bother trying to learn how to use the shields effectively.

The game has over 110 trophies which is incredible. That’s thanks to the DLCs of course but I’ll take it. I got over 60 trophies during my run which was a satisfying number. Getting the platinum is not something that I’m really going to attempt though. It would definitely be really difficult as it is and you need total mastery of the genre. It would be a true milestone to get that though. It’s something that most players won’t get anywhere close to.

The graphics look pretty good. It has that indie type vibe to it while still being pretty colorful. It does well in the retro side of things and the soundtrack is also good. I would say that the Castlevania tracks tend to be the best ones though. The remixes were a blast and there was a lot of care put into that one. The Castlevania DLC also was the most story based one which was pretty cool. You’ll easily be here for at least 20 hours or so. Honestly I’ve been getting some pretty good bang for my buck lately as every game seems to last at least 20 hours or so. It’ll probably be time for the shorter games to make a comeback at some point but it’s just hard to turn down the longer ones.

Overall, I would definitely recommend Dead Cells. As long as you enjoy the Roguelite genre then you can definitely appreciate all the work they put into this one. The amount of content you get is super impressive and the gameplay is extremely smooth. Some things may be really difficult to figure out without a guide so I recommend checking in with the community. Then you will have fun unlocking the final levels and slowly improving your home base. You get to see new weapons and items pop up on the ceiling and I guess one goal you can have is to get them all up there. I don’t know if there is a reward for that but there might be one.

Overall 8/10

Sword Art Online: Echoes of Aincrad Review

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It’s time for a game that I had to pre order immediately! Sword Art Online is one of those franchises with unlimited potential but unfortunately does tend to stumble. This game is not one of those times. While there are some gameplay limitations which I will get into, it’s clear that the developers had a very grand view of the world. They wanted to make this title feel as massive as the actual game from the anime and they succeeded. The game is over 25 hours and only covers 2 floors which is really crazy. Sadly I doubt we will ever get to see all 100 but it was still nice to see how in depth this one was.

The game follows the adventure of you, the player! You have logged into this game to have some fun but unfortunately get stuck in there along with 9,999 other players. The only way out is to complete the game and if you die in the game…you die in real life! You meet up with a bunch of new characters as well as some familiar faces from the anime. Conquering the game may be a difficult ordeal but it’s something that you are absolutely ready for. Your whole life has been leading up to this moment!

So lets go into the weaker parts of the game first. There are some obvious quality of life items missing from this title like the ability to access parts of the map that are not related to the current mission. This means that you have to play around in different missions before you can actually unlock the whole map. It’s a bit arbitrary and clearly set up that way to extend the game. There are also some pointless mechanics that never end up mattering and are seemingly just there to check off a box. This would be the platforming (Which is not very well done to be honest) and the multiple answers part.

No matter what you answer, the story does not change at all and the characters hardly acknowledge your answer anyway. Most responses are limited to nodding your head or choosing to “look confused”. If these choices weren’t going to matter anyway then I’d have preferred they make the main character real. Give him some voice acting and personality. The self insert just doesn’t work very well for games and it can be jarring to see him looking oblivious the whole time while everyone is fighting for their lives.

The game also does reuse a whole lot of bosses and minions. The in game reason for this is that the 2 floors will naturally only have a very limited amount of bosses. It can just get a bit old to fight the same boss over 10 times. They just color swap the boss and call it a day. I think the funniest part is that the final boss is a reused one except for the final phase that was brand new. Cmon at least the final boss should be completely new right?

So it did feel like this game had a tough budget at times. Someone also called it a walking simulator and I get it. The game has you run for large distances at a time without combat. Other times there is combat everywhere so the run will take forever. There are no beacons to show you where you should be going so it is also easy to get lost. Perhaps this is by design but it wasn’t a good one.

Now that sounds bad but these are all more in the way of nitpicks. On the whole the gameplay is very strong because the combat is great. That’s why we’re here after all and you can seamlessly master all kinds of weapons. I used a sword for the first half of the game and then the hammer for the second half. Each weapon has a lot of pros and cons to it. You can also level up your weapon class in addition to leveling your character. There is a whole lot of customization to be had here and unlike the enemies, your character is always changing. It keeps the gameplay really fresh.

I also did enjoy the story. It may be a bit slow at times but it’s clear that this was made with the idea being that it would be the first step in a whole saga. Many more floors and adventures could be added as DLC. If not…well then it’s true that at least 5-6 plots were not actually ended in this game. Also I wasn’t able to find the Kirito side quest before I beat the game so in the end he did not show up almost at all here. We got to meet him twice and that was it. I like the idea of being a random side character but would like to see the main plot a bit more.

The soundtrack is definitely solid. The main theme song/intro is super good. It feels like something right out of the anime and was really handled perfectly. The themes within the game are a little less memorable but still good in the end. The graphics are also very solid. Not top tier, but more like high end AA. Again, you can tell that the budget wasn’t massive but they did a good job overall.

The biggest factor in why this game is great aside from the combat is how convenient all of the questing is. You can pick up quests at any time and resume whenever you want. Don’t want to be locked into a side quest for long? Well, you aren’t! You can resume progress at the exact point you left and keep on moving. You also keep your EXP whenever you lose a fight so you are constantly getting stronger. There is also a perma death mode for those who want to try that but fortunately there is no trophy for that.

Getting the platinum feels achievable here even if it would probably take a very long time. There is a side quest about defeating a level 200 enemy which seems absolutely crazy. I don’t see myself being able to conquer that for a little while but I do look forward to grabbing more trophies. I feel like the best time to aim for a platinum in a title like this is when the game is still fresh in your mind. You’ll have gotten a lot of the trophies naturally just by playing the story. There are no missable ones either so that’s another thing that is very gamer friendly.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this title. The game can be a little rough around the edges but never stops being an absolute blast. I’ve said this many times in the past but a game’s ultimate goal is to be fun. I had a lot of fun playing this one between all of the voice acting, solid combat, great story, etc. It’s the kind of game I could just keep on binging without needing any breaks. You just want to see what the other weapons feel like and slowly unlocking each map feels incredibly satisfying. If they ever make a sequel for this one then I’d definitely get it day 1. Less guarantees on DLC though since I don’t usually tend to buy any of that.

Overall 8/10