Tag Archives: Sci-Fi

Scarlet Nexus Review

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The Scarlet Nexus game was definitely a blast and so it’s nice that it got a full anime adaption as well. You don’t see that very often and especially with a big RPG like this. I’d say that the story is adapted pretty well so you can definitely follow along even if the anime is the only thing that you have absorbed from the franchise. It works like any normal anime would so you have all of the context that you could possibly need here.

The story follows two main characters. The first one is Yuito Sumeragi who has to live up to a rather impressive family history. He is determined to succeed on his own merits. He joins the OSF which is effectively the sci-fi police of this region and they fight off monsters as they keep the peace. These monsters are seemingly endless and so far there has not been a way to get rid of them. Perhaps Yuito will be able to accomplish this since he seems to hold some kind of pivotal role in the situation. So much so that people even want him dead.

Meanwhile we have the heroine Kasane who is an experienced member of the OSF. A girl who looks exactly like her saved Yuito when he was a kid but she doesn’t recognize him. Unfortunately it looks like the only way to save the world is to murder Yuito. Can she really murder an innocent person even if doing so would save the world? Her options begin to narrow as something happens to her sister and there is a serious time crunch. Now she just has to make sure that her information is reliable.

There is a lot going on here and to an extent you can even say that it’s like a government conspiracy type of series. The government here knows a whole lot but they don’t like to share intel. Additionally there isn’t only one faction. No that’d be too simple for something like this. So you have the OSF as a whole, then you have Karen who commands a resistance army that breaks away from the OSF. There is also the tribe of the Moon which has a lot of plans and there is even one more group. So you can see why the whole world is in chaos because humanity is absolutely not close to any kind of unified front. They would sooner continue to fight each other than actually manage to save the world.

In this world most people grow up with a kind of psychic power. The type varies as you can have flames, invisibility, etc. If you don’t have one, then you are literally called a dud and will have a hard time doing much of anything. Almost the whole world is set up for people with mental abilities so basic things like signs don’t tend to exist. We briefly see this as one character grew up as a dud and we see one lady get lost at the hospital. It’s a pretty interesting plotline which shows just how hard it is to not have powers when everybody else does. The show doesn’t really have time to get into this at all beyond the one scene though. It would have been nice to have addressed this a bit more.

As per always, the government is the side you don’t want to be on. They run a ton of crazy experiments and are really a big part of the problem. We see that they have ideas on getting rid of the monsters but in the meantime they are making more and basically hiding it. Once you learn the truth behind the monsters, it makes them look so much worse. Even the drugs they use to help Yuito have a dark secret behind them. There was really no coming back for the government from this and quite a few characters are complicit after they know about it.

The common theme from the higher ups is that you have to make some sacrifices but that’s an attitude that I will basically never side with. After a point you end up causing more harm than good. At least Karen’s motivation is one that I can get behind. Basically he is trying to change time in order to save Alice from an untimely death. As always my train of thought here is that if you have the ability of time travel then you have to do whatever you can in order to save someone who has died. You just keep trying over and over and over again until you have pulled this off. You owe the character at least that much.

So Karen is putting the world at risk in order to do this but that’s fine. He’s the standout character of the series because of his determination. He just never gives up and keeps on trying the whole time. The series gives his character a pretty solid end. Ultimately you just have to remember to never give up and keep on trying for as long as you can. He was also the most powerful character in the series by a longshot to the point where the heroes needed considerable amounts of plot armor in order to even stay close against him. The ability to copy all other powers always tends to be a broken one.

As for the main character Yuito, he’s a solid lead. The guy may not be overflowing with personality or anything like that but he is doing his best to help everyone out. Unlike Karen it does feel like Yuito gave up in the end as we saw what happened to him when he grew old. Not a great look for the guy but he did put up with a lot. Yuito just needed to trust in his own abilities a little more. His power level fluctuates a lot based on his emotions and he is also dealing with a psychic illness for most of the series which limits him quite a bit. Things would have been a whole lot smoother for him otherwise.

Kasane definitely handles herself with a lot more poise throughout the series. She is more skilled with her abilities at first although Yuito quickly begins to catch up in that arena. She can be a bit too reckless in jumping to conclusions though. Particularly when she decided to murder Yuito since that just seems like a crazy gamble and of course there are no takebacks. I do like her tough persona though.

Of course you can’t have a full squad without teammates so lets talk about those. First up is Luka who is Karen’s younger brother. His teleportation is handy and Luka would probably be a huge threat in battle if he didn’t have to always go up against someone crazy strong like Karen. Luka knows how to fight well and while he can be a bit timid, he’s a solid ally to have around. Arashi is a lot more fun when it comes to the seniors though. She likes to slack off and knows how to be subtle about it as well. She can move at super speed which you’d think would make her super broken but she doesn’t actually fight that much.

In general the show isn’t the best at showing power levels. Despite how many monsters there are, it feels like the heroes should have an easy time rounding them up. Arashi alone could crush a great number with her speed but she rarely feels much more useful than the average fighter. Her high rank reflects her ability but it’s more lore than showings. Someone like Gemma I can understand having a tough time since he’s more of a brawn guy. Not the fastest or anything and instead relies on his blows to make a difference. I lost a lot of respect for the guy early on when he was shown to be gullible and change sides quickly. He is an example of someone that you do not want to have on your side because you just can’t trust him.

Hanabi serves as the childhood friend role and has some good fire abilities. Despite this, her role is fairly small and she’s mostly just around to fill out the cast. I would have expected her to have had a much bigger influence especially since fire powers are always awesome. Ah well, at least she does look after Yuito. Then we have Kagero who is another one of those guys who can’t be trusted. He gets a fairly big origin story and at least has a much better reason for the deception than Gamma. I tend to like Kagero but the heroes forgave him a bit too easily. Particularly Yuito who really could have gone to town on the guy. Invisibility is a handy power although slightly less handy when you’re always fighting with other psychics.

Kyoka continues the trend of nobody being all that trust worthy here. She has ties to the moon clan and naturally didn’t tell anybody. She was absolutely ready to leave the heroes for dead and had the worst reason for being a traitor. Not only should the characters not have forgiven her but they should have definitely locked her up. You just can’t leave someone like that out in the open or you are really asking for trouble.

Then we have Shiden who talks tough but doesn’t really accomplish anything in the show. He’s super jealous of Yuito and anyone else who has a fancy family and lineage. That’s the kind of petty guy that he is and the show doesn’t give him enough screentime to really grow out of that. Then you have Tsugumi who is the really timid character of the group. That kind of character never tends to be my favorite and she continues in that trend. She’s okay but definitely gets overwhelmed by all the other characters.

Nagi is one of those guys who is a bit on the annoying side. He tries too hard at pretty much everything including flirting. He wants to be more skilled but is quick to fall for brainwashing and getting wrecked. Now you don’t want to be too harsh to a character for that since most would have folded as well but he was really getting in the way the whole time. He made things considerably harder on Yuito than they would have been otherwise. I do like his wind powers though.

Poor Naomi doesn’t get to appear much but she was a nice character. She did her best to be nice to everybody and was a good cadet. Ultimately she was just not put in a situation to succeed. Then we have Fubuki who is one of the commanders so he’s definitely competent and very skilled. Alas, he is rarely on the front lines so it’s not like this helps the heroes all that much against the monsters.

The animation for the show looks good. It’s definitely not a top level budget or anything like that but it flows together well and the animation is solid. Karen talking to his various other selves and then going for the speed blitz was really smooth. The colors can be striking as well and so overall I would definitely give this one a thumbs up. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also good. Nothing amazing but I did like the two openings. The battle themes are also catchy. So in a lot of ways the soundtrack matches the rest of the show. It’s all pretty good but not great. It’s not a show that you’d expect to be winning awards and making the news or anything like that after all.

Overall, Scarlet Nexus will be remembered as a pretty good show and I’d say that’s still satisfying enough for the fans. I had a good time with it and the ending was really solid. The action really ramped up as the series went on and I would say Karen played a major role in making the series as hype as it was. It’s why it is extremely important to have a good villain. He ties everything together here and the general story was also interesting from the jump. As long as you enjoy a good sci-fi title then you will enjoy this one. It’s got those end of the world stakes and everything. It doesn’t feel like the kind of show that would get a sequel but I’d definitely enjoy one.

Overall 7/10

Timecop Review

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

It’s time for a time travel title and those always tend to be pretty good. It’s a concept that brings a lot of interesting ideas with it and this one is no exception. My favorite time travel system is where interacting with the past creates a new timeline rather than immediately changing the future but they all have their merits. This one is a good action title that ends up being satisfying in the end.

The movie starts off with someone at the government revealing that time travel has been discovered. He now wants a federal agency to monitor it and senator Aaron agrees with this. So the bureau is created and Max joins after his wife was blown up in a home invasion. He is not allowed to go back in time and save her because of ethics and butterfly effects even though it happened rather recently. That said, many people are changing time and this is becoming a big deal so Max brings those people to justice. There seems to be a ringleader at the top of this though and Max needs to find out who it is immediately.

Naturally you probably know what I’m going to say here. Max should go ahead and save his wife immediately. There are several reasons for this. The first and most important reason is that the instant we have time travel, there is no longer any guarantee on what the correct timeline is. There’s no way to tell if someone has already gone to the past and changed things. Perhaps a butterfly effect happened a while back and that’s why his wife died. So I would say Max is absolutely obligated to save her life. That’s absolutely how this should work.

The second reason ties in which is that people don’t remember the previous timeline anyway. That’s also why it is so dangerous because everyone’s memories are automatically reset so they think this is how things always were. So when Max saved his wife then that’ll just be how it always was. No harm no foul. Some might push back against this but that’s always been my frame of mind for these things. When time travel is on the table then anything goes.

Max is a solid main character though. He’s good at his job and a solid fighter all around. He takes down quite a few enemies over the course of the movie. He can get a little sloppy though like the way he was taken out by the villains at the beginning of the movie. You’d just think that he would be more on guard due to his line of work. Even once he has the element of surprise near the end it’s a little closer than you’d figure it should be. I won’t fault him for the way the tables turn during the earlier climax since there are only so many contingency plans you can have when a traitor is involved.

The main villain Aaron is decent. He’s not anything to write home about but I like how direct the guy was about his goals. He wants to be the President of the United States and will do whatever it takes in order to achieve that goal. He’s a very determined guy and thanks to the time travel we get to see just how much more corrupt and bold he has gotten over the years. He makes his original self look super tame in comparison.

Sarah is someone who you feel gets off rather easy during the film. Yes she has her reasons and everything but ultimately she came up short when it counted. The timeline shifting isn’t enough to make her blameless here. I’d definitely have switched up her final scene a bit. I’d also argue that she should either have her memories back or be gone from the current timeline based on how the logic works.

Meanwhile the head of the department seemed really out of his league here. He is extremely slow on the uptake about the idea of the timeline changing. Why? Shouldn’t that be required reading in his position? Every time Max would try to explain something the guy would look at him like he was nuts. Yes it makes for good comedy but it didn’t really make sense in context. Even if he may not believe Max in the end, he should at least have considered the possibility right away.

Ah well, this is why Max has to carry the agency. They would be absolutely doomed without him and the villains would just go ahead and keep on changing the past. You can only squeeze so much into a single movie at least but the rest of the agents really do nothing. At best they just get shot while running around which buys Max another second or two. Max is the only one actually doing any real detective work.

Timecop is one of those classic 90s films that has a fun tone and good amount of action the whole time. We get some good banter and one liners as well. It’s a film that is having a lot of fun throughout the journey even while making time for a lot of serious moments and good fight scenes. It’s very well balanced and most importantly, it’s a really fun film. It’s the kind of title you can easily rewatch down the line because it all ends up aging well.

Overall, Timecop is a pretty good film. Being in charge of regulating time is an absolutely massive responsibility and it would definitely be a stressful job. You don’t envy Max for having to put up with it the whole time. While there are some sci-fi phenomenon like teleporting that I think will be true in the future, I don’t think we will ever get time travel. Seems unlikely to me but at least in the meantime we have all kinds of fun films like this one. There’s so much you can do with the concept that this should have gotten a bunch of sequels.

Overall 7/10

Borderlands Review

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Whenever a film like Borderlands gets bad reviews you have to consider if it bombed for not being faithful to the games, it was too much like the games, or it just ended up being boring. The first two can result in really fun films while the latter is definitely a miss. I don’t even know which category this one falls into because I never played the games but to me it does feel like it’s leaning hard into being a video game film. This one goes through a whole lot of funny story beats as it pokes fun at itself the whole time. As a result it really ends up being a fun film and I would definitely recommend it. We don’t get enough parody type titles like this nowadays.

The movie starts off with Tina being rescued from some kind of sci-fi ship by Roland. He has defected from the corrupt army and wants to help her out. They are assisted by an escaped inmate named Krieg. In the future, everything basically went bad but out of all the planets, Pandora is the worst. It’s like a Mad Max wasteland there and crime rules the day. We cut to a bounty hunter named Lilith who is constantly complaining and is glad to have left that place. Well, she is hired by a man named Atlas to find his daughter Tina and rescue her from this Roland fellow. Lilith agrees due to the big pay day but is she really on the right side?

So first off, the whole introduction phase to the film is great. First we get a full Star Wars parody and then after that we get a parody to the usual bounty hunter intro. Lilith is approached by a bunch of thugs and immediately takes them out. Just straight up obliterates all of them. If she’s anything like this in the games then we’re looking at a top tier video game protagonist right out of the gate. Then when the “Mysterious leader” figure shows up, she shoots him dead too. It’s just such a great deconstruction of the usual scene and like I emphasized before, we need more well written parodies like this.

Ultimately Lilith decides to help not out of the goodness of her heart or anything like that but just because of the money. When she lands on the planet we see the Mad Max fighters except they’re basically all losers who get immediately crushed. You will always get points from me for making fun of that overrated series. Yeah they look more impressive deeper in the film when a bunch of them rush the heroes but this was a great introduction. As with most parodies, I would say the film tends to be a bit weaker once we get to the serious stuff.

I didn’t really care about Lilith’s origin story and it’s played a little too straight. Maybe there can be some parody appeal in being as generic as possible? Eh that’s probably a stretch. Either way the film wasn’t quite able to sell me on the emotional/serious bits. Fortunately that is a pretty small part of the film. For the most part this is a film that is just having a good time with itself and that’s the right tone for this film. It adds a lot of replay value and there are a ton of laugh out loud moments.

Claptrap is really one of the standout characters here. Pretty much all of his lines are absolutely great. The guy pulls off being the sarcastic bot persona really well. He is always there to make the heroes feel worse and to kick them while they’re down. In his defense they tend to treat him terribly so what goes around comes around. He is quite helpful a lot of the time even if he also gets them into trouble at other circumstances. Basically he is a true wild card and one that both sides really have to account for or they will get crushed in the process.

I already talked about her a bit but Lilith is really an excellent character here. She is completely jaded with everything and tries to always keep a large distance away from everyone. She’s not looking to create any bonds or relationships. She is just trying to get this mission over with for the money. As the film goes on her true heroic side comes out and all but not without a whole lot of journeying to get there. Additionally by the end she gets some fun abilities that will be fun for the sequel.

The movie had a bigger scale climax than I was expecting that’s for sure. I could see that being a final boss in the games. The main guy Roland was also pretty fun. Now it can be a little tough to take him seriously but I’d argue that’s the point. He’s very easy to overlook and that’s when he crushes his enemies. He’s a solid all around fighter and is around to help Tina the whole time. You have to give him credit for his drive the whole time.

Krieg gets overshadowed a bit in comparison but definitely seems like a great ally. The kind of guy who will really put it all on the line to help Tina. He also does really good in all of his fights and shows off some true super strength. Definitely nothing to dislike about him. As for Tina, I was a little unsure of her at first but the way she handled Lilith the first time they met definitely put her on the good side. She’s really crafty and quick witted. She can take care of herself without any problems and is very proactive. Most kids would be panicking the whole time but not her.

Out of all the characters, Tina is probably the biggest surprise at how much fun she is. I would have assumed that she would be more annoying. The villains tend to be more on the forgettable side though. You got some army grunts and Mr. Atlas himself but none of them are that noteworthy. They do have cool costumes though and Atlas’ protective energy barrier is actually extremely useful. It keeps him in the fight a lot more than you may have expected that it would.

Meanwhile the soundtrack is excellent. It’s extremely good and dominates every scene. You do see a lot of the “bad films” tend to have great soundtracks. I think it’s because some would say that the music shouldn’t dominate the scene so the big films tend to have more generic scores but this one goes hard with the rock music. It’s all really catchy and upbeat holding its own with Mortal Kombat 2, The Resident Evil films, etc. I was really surprised because the games didn’t strike me as having this kind of music.

Now as with all comedy films I wouldn’t expect every joke to land with you. The film does have a big crude humor sequence with some jokes which aren’t really my style. On the whole the jokes tend to work well though so the film is a lot funnier than it isn’t. The pacing is good with a lot happening the whole time as well. The fight scenes are a lot of fun and all the uniforms for the heroes and villains are on point. Again it feels very video game inspired without trying to tone the colors down. That’s the way to do an adaption, everything should really pop out at you.

Overall, I don’t know much at all about the Borderland games. They always looked pretty boring and unappealing but if this film is any indication then maybe they are actually really solid. Still don’t see myself ever playing them but if the film were to get a sequel I would definitely be up for that. That would be absolutely historic! I somehow get the feeling that the odds of that are not very high though. So in the meantime you should definitely check this film out. It may very well surprise you.

Overall 8/10

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV Review

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It’s always impressive to see a video game getting an entire prequel film. It really shows how they tried to make Final Fantasy XV a huge hit. Now I remember people being a bit salty since supposedly this content would have all been within the video game had it not decided to be a multi media hit. The fact that Final Fantasy XV is by far the shortest mainline game definitely supports this but either way it’s fun to see the events here. The movie is mainly a political thriller I’d say with a lot of moves being made on both sides and so it makes for a captivating watch. It may be a far cry from Advent Children but most things are.

The movie starts with some lore about how one kingdom decided to aggressively start taking over massive chunks of land. It got to the point where they quickly took over half of the planet. Now there are just 2 kingdoms left, the kingdom that Regis presides over which is protected by an all powerful magical barrier and his ancient energies, and the kingdom of technology which uses robots and demons in order to progress. Both kingdoms could not be more different if they tried. The Kingsglaive are the elite warriors who use King Regis powers in order to fight but there are only so many of them. The kingdom is gradually losing this war.

When you are losing a war you always have to consider at exactly what point should you consider surrender. Do you literally continue to fight until the last people are murdered or do you eventually concede? The enemies come in with terms of full surrender where Regis will give up all territories except their capital city which is as close to full surrender as you are going to get. I would say the big mistake was in accepting this. Whether you surrender ground or not, you don’t accept a treaty that involves a total surrender while also taking them behind enemy lines. That is just a recipe for total disaster.

It was well established that the enemies were not able to break into the main city. The magic barrier was that powerful which is really impressive. Everyone outside the barrier was being slaughtered though and Regis was getting older so once he died of old age then that would be it. Still, there are things you could do like training up Noctis and seeing if he was worthy of the ring. Since he has the birthright I would expect he would be able to pull this off. You have to at least try though and I’d argue sending Noctis away was the worst decision here. It pretty much dooms the team to not have a chance.

Now in hindsight we know Regis would fall anyway given the amount of traitors and such but that doesn’t negate the plan of strengthening the army. Allowing the villains to bring all of their heavy hitters within the walls is lunacy. It was obvious that they would cause trouble right away. The instant you let villains in behind the unbreakable barrier is when it’s all over. There’s just no coming back from that so I would say Regis really didn’t do a good job. I can’t say he did good during the opening either when he abandoned the princess and just kept on running. With his abilities he should have been doing really good.

I guess the main idea here is that the heroes are hopelessly outmatched and that’s fine but I would want to go down swinging. From the villains, the most impressive is the general Glauca. Technically we know that Ardyn is even more powerful but in the film he doesn’t fight while Glauca is taking on the combined might of several generations of kings. That is a really impressive showing and the guy is fighting all on his own. It’s easy to see how they would have dominated the entire planet with how many fighters they had. Even having the ability to drop demons around the planet to cause chao is another effective tactic.

Way I see it, the only possible way to win this war would be to assassinate the heads of the opposing kingdom. You’d have to risk it all and really send your guys in because playing defense was a losing battle. That’s why I enjoy all of this political intrigue though. There isn’t a whole lot of action here until the climax but the dialogue is all pretty strong. We get a good view into how the kingdom was losing hope with the surrender and having to see everything going on. I can see how you would lose all faith in the kingdom if your village was one of the places that had to be sacrificed as collateral damage to the enemies.

The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side though. It all sounds a bit generic and doesn’t scream Final Fantasy the way you would like it to. This is one of those films that is not embracing its status as a big video game. Give me some really energetic beats with fast paced music and a lot going on the whole time. That would be a good way to set the stage and also amp up the music. Again, look at Advent Children as an example here. The graphics are really good though and I enjoyed the battling. The teleportation combos are always a lot of fun and it is definitely a creative way to fight. It guarantees that every battle will be really fast paced and energetic. It’s also shown to not be completely invincible since your weapon telegraphs where you will teleport so you have to do this carefully. Most soldiers can’t do this on repeat except for Nyx.

Nyx is a solid character even if he doesn’t have a ton of personality. He’s doing his best to defend his kingdom and stop the enemies so you can give him a good amount of props. He is a strong fighter and isn’t easily led astray like most of his teammates. Libertus is more on the annoying side. He has some valid points but they are drowned out by how he handles the situation. If you want to make a difference then you need to get out there and do something. Also since he is badly injured, there are big limits to what he can do.

I have a ton of issues with King Regis and how slow he is to act but I’ve already gone over that. Lunefreya is pretty solid with how much she has to put up with here. She does her best to help out but isn’t an active fighter so it’s not like she can do everything on her own. Not panicking and continuing to bide her time is a credit in itself. When even Nyx was thinking about retreat she forces him to push on forward which was the correct move.

Overall, This is very much a slow burn movie. You have to really like the various scenes about how the war is going and the characters talking about this or you will get bored. It’s all pretty high stakes and the writing was really solid so I had no problems on my end. It’s not quite an elite movie since I would need more action for that but it has a good amount of replay value and would make for an easy watch. The climax is also a lot of fun to be sure. One of the twists near the end may be hard to believe but with how careless the heroes can be, I suppose that adds a bit of credibility there. Either way, I hope we get more Final Fantasy films soon and I would still recommend this one. With or without context, you can appreciate a good fight as the soldiers do their best in what is basically a futile war after a point.

Overall 8/10

Venus Wars Review

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Time for an anime film that I wasn’t too familiar. It’s got that classic sci-fi flare to it though and it’s a good bit of fun. We get action, racing, and a good exploration of the futuristic world. It’s the kind of film that starts you off in the middle of a big adventure and ends while it’s still going but still works really well as a snapshot of what’s going on. It clues you in to the adventure without having to break everything down scene by scene.

So in the future Earth has become a Utopia. Everyone basically gets along and there isn’t crime. We’ve also taken over Venus but now that planet is where all the action is. There’s a big civil war going on between two sides and the fighting never stops. The reporter known as Susan arrives on Venus to get the big scoop on this since most people on Earth have no idea of what’s going on. Even Susan is surprised to find out for example that they have death racing games as a casual spectator sport on Venus. Not exactly what you would have guessed right? Well, she came at a big time as one side finally wins the war and takes over. Now the losing side is being forced to attack its own citizens and basically become traitors.

This takes us to the main character Hiro. He’s always been a bit of a rebel and he loves the death racing. He’s fairly good at it too although his team always ends up losing. Well he is determined not to be controlled by the government and has a lot of resentment towards everybody. He will now be fighting off the oppression and defying the local authorities along with the help of his friends. Can they make a difference or is this like a water gun taking on a flood?

A common theme in the film is that both sides are pretty corrupt. The aggressor that won the war is definitely ruling as a full authoritarian but the losing side was very quick to fall in line and start attacking everyone. Hiro gets shot by the local cops early on after all. So he has a hard time knowing which side to help and to an extent he doesn’t really want to help anybody. He doesn’t want to be weighed down by anything and just live his life. To an extent I would say this is pretty selfish though. I think it’s pretty obvious that the invading side is worse so you still need to fight against them. Choosing to do nothing isn’t particularly helpful here.

Hiro is also good at making a tough situation even tougher with how he picks fights. I do like that confident attitude of his though. He may not be the toughest guy on the block but he will keep on fighting for as long as it takes to win once it’s something he believes in. He does pretty well in the final fight and in the big race with Kurtz he nearly took the win. So Hiro definitely has a high degree of skill.

Then we have Susan who is a fun character but has to put up with a lot. The very first scene of the film is quite jarring as she has to get inspected by a group of evil officers. The movie doesn’t have much fanservice outside of that intro but it was a wildly bad way to start the movie. For a minute there I was getting worried on what the rest of the film would be like but it doesn’t go down that path.

To Susan’s credit, she is in a dangerous territory that has been devastated by war and she doesn’t let it get to you. When you factor in that she’s from Earth where everything is peaceful and calm you would probably have expected her to be a little shellshocked or unable to continue. I would not have been able to blame her if that had been the case. It certainly wouldn’t be her fault but instead she manages to persevere on through and I have to give her major props for that. It was really quite impressive.

She may have ended up fighting the heroes at different points but it shows how passionate she is. Her only unfortunate appearance was in the climax when she makes a rookie mistake after having someone at gunpoint. That is absolutely the point where you can’t afford to make any mistakes. Meanwhile the other heroine here is Maggy who is pretty much the opposite of Susan. She is a lot more softspoken and is fully about peace. She just wishes things could go back to normal and tries not to think about all of the violence. Her role isn’t particularly big but she serves as one of the main reasons why Hiro wants to get back home to everyone.

There is also Miranda who is one of the key members among Hiro’s friends. She seems to be the oldest member of the main group and is quicker on the uptake like when she figured out that Gary was aiding the rebels. Miranda is excellent in the races and is also one of the main characters who seems to really understand Hiro. I liked her character, she is another example of the film not giving you all the answers and just letting you come to your own conclusions. She seems to likely have some kind of past involving the army and knows a lot for a civilian but we don’t get a grand sob story or anything like that. She’s just around to contribute as one of the main characters and that’s all we need to know.

As for Gary, he was a solid character. He was doing his best to keep the kids out of danger but ultimately couldn’t stop them forever. He did his best though and also seemed more likable than most of them. Hiro’s friends could be a bit forgettable at times and also had some unfortunate moments. Will probably had one of the biggest roles from them and did his best although you could tell he wasn’t quite as skilled as Hiro. I do think he had a better attitude though. I agreed with him on at least doing something to help the cause instead of staying inside and wishing both sides would lose.

The main villain Gerhard is pretty solid although he starts to get really extreme at the very end since the film drove itself into a corner. There is no logical way for him to lose except to have the guy completely panic for next to no reason. If not for that then the heroes would have been absolutely cooked. He had a good amount of confidence and a fun design which helped him stand out.

Then we had Kurtz on the rebel side who was good at riling Hiro up. The guy did a good job of handling him and leading his team to success. Without him the rebels wouldn’t have stood a chance. He’s definitely merciless but in the middle of war it’s hard not to be that way. His main duty is to protect everyone on his side and that’s exactly what he did. It’s an honorable role without a doubt.

The animation was definitely really good and expressive. All of the effects were looking really sharp and it’s clear that the film has aged well. It looks nostalgic but not in a “Very Old” way but just the way the aesthetic was. Sci-Fi films at the time had a certain look and feel that this one absolutely captures. The same goes for the music which was really good. It definitely gets you feeling pumped and works well with the action that is on screen. I definitely had no issues at all with it. It worked quite well for the adventure.

Overall, Venus Wars is a fun film. As it ends we know that the battles will keep raging on and Hiro will likely still be a part of them. It’s still a hopeful ending though as things have been made better. They squeeze in a whole lot of adventure here and the fights are fun. I do think some characters could be a little better though as several of Hiro’s friends just hold them all back. I’d also have liked a little more racing here since that was a big hobby for Hiro and the others but we really only got the one race. I know their world got turned upside down but it felt like we didn’t get much of a build up. This is one film that probably could have stood to be a little longer if anything. I don’t think it’ll end up being super memorable but it’s still a good time so I would say to check it out.

Overall 6/10

A Quiet Place: Day One Review

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That tagline is ripped right out of the Wolverine tie-in game for Gamecube. I can’t believe it. “Stay low. Stay quiet. Stay alive!” Still one of the more memorable superhero lines since I had to hear it over and over and over and over again since I died so many times on that level. It was definitely not a game for the faint of heart. Unfortunately that tagline is tough to follow for the main characters of this film who panic continually and can’t stop yelling. I didn’t like the main characters much at all and the whole film feels like a bit of a waste of time. They didn’t bother answering any of the important questions about what happened when the aliens first landed which defeats the purpose of a prequel.

The film starts off by introducing us to Sam who has cancer and it seems to be pretty far along as she doesn’t know how much longer she has to live. She is taken care of at a hospice along with a lot of others and one day the nurse Reuben says he is taking everyone to see a show. Sam gets lured in by the promise of pizza but once they’re there, the plans are changed as the government has declared a state of emergency. Giant monsters are showing up and eating everybody. Sam decides she will get her pizza anyway but along the way she bumps into a guy called Eric who is super annoying the whole time. Can she shake him and get her pizza or is it too late?

No offense to the characters or anything but who asked for this? We wanted a prequel to explain how the government possibly lost to a race of aliens that are extremely primitive and have numerous weaknesses? You can drown them, burn them, overwhelm them with sound….they’re not even bullet proof. So I was hoping this prequel would answer that. It could focus on the army the whole time as we learn some uncomfortable truths about how they were helping the aliens or something. No…once again we’re following some humans who are outmatched and outgunned here.

I mean the main heroine is dying of cancer, obviously she isn’t going to be able to fight these monsters. It’s just a really strange choice and I can tell you now that the film doesn’t bother even trying to tell you how we lost to these things. It’s just taken as a fact and you really have to stretch your disbelief here. Ah well maybe we’ll get a spinoff to the prequel one of these days that focuses on the army. That would be a good idea I’d say.

Okay so for Sam, she’s not a terrible main character or anything. She doesn’t have the best attitude but she’s in a pretty sucky situation as it is since cancer is rough. So I can cut her a bit of slack even if I think she still doesn’t handle the situations very well. Yelling through the rain is just not a good tactical decision and can get you in a whole lot of trouble right out of the gate. Also her final decision was not a good one. Yes, it’s always tempting to end things quickly with a decisive move like that but you have to try and survive for as long as possible. You can’t just give up no matter how rough it looks.

As for Eric, I have less patience for this guy. For starters, he keeps on following Sam around everywhere even when she doesn’t want to be followed and in a world like this it puts her in direct danger. He needed to mind his own business and stay away. That would have been the only smart thing to do here. Then when he is around he’s bumping into stuff and also yelling a lot. She now had to take care of someone in addition to her cat which isn’t easy. If he could fight that would help but he’s mainly here to hold her back.

I will give the film kudos for not bumping off the cat. That would have been terrible so the film at least managed to avoid doing that. Would have really blown the film’s score up. Even without that, the film has a lot of problems though. A good portion of this feels like a complete retread to the first film. It’s not really doing anything exciting or different with the premise. It’s just the characters hiding around trying not to make noise like last time. Sure, to an extent that is going to be the case due to the nature of the monsters but at the same time there has to be some way to differentiate it at least a little bit. Otherwise what is really the point of all these adventures.

That’s part of why it feels like a waste. It’s just everybody getting murdered by the monsters and since it’s a prequel you can’t even say that they’re making progress or learning any new information. Instead we actually know less than we did the last time since these characters have no way to have learned anything about these beasts. We do get quick cameos and guest star roles from future characters that will be showing up like the guy from the second movie so at least that’s neat.

The film could stand to tone down the violence somewhat. Seeing the monsters ripping up the humans and devouring them the whole time gets old pretty quick. Maybe if the humans could fight back more it could be better but as it stands it is just one more thing against the film. I also think that the film could benefit from having the characters talking more. It’s something they can’t do because of the plot though so the movie sort of starts to trap itself here. It’s hard to keep your interest when everything is so silent the whole time. It ends up making the film drag on which is not the effect that you want to have.

You also have to really stretch your disbelief every time the heroes are running away from the monsters. Seriously this happens over and over again where they start running and the monsters don’t catch up immediately. This should be a really quick catch for the monsters based on how fast they run. Almost every scene feels like plot armor so you’ll start shaking your head very quickly here. It ultimately just doesn’t add up at all.

Overall, A Quiet Place isn’t treading any new ground here. You may as well watch the first one again and I hope that they find some way to change up the formula in the next title. There is just so much more that you should be able to do with this series. Lets start humanity’s comeback or something. Or if we get another film in the past, it needs to be about the government. I need to understand what happened to cripple the planet so badly because the current responses leave a lot to be desired.

Overall 3/10

The Wild Robot Review

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It’s time for a movie that is very much like Wall-E. It’s an emotional story about a robot trying to connect with an animal and along the way we even get some action scenes near the end. There’s a lot going on here and while the beginning does tend to be a little on the slow side, it picks up as the movie goes on. I would say that the movie had a good balance of good and bad things happening throughout while maintaining a positive tone. Ultimately I would recommend checking it out.

The movie starts with Roz landing in a forest area within Earth. As a proud robot belonging to a massive corporation, her mission to enrich the lives of those around her and fulfill their goals. The problem is that there was an accident and she was never supposed to land in a place like this where there are no humans. She tries to help out the animals initially but can’t understand them so she trains until he is able to do so. Roz then ends up assisting a little bird named Brightbill when hatching and so the bird thinks of her as his mother. A local fox named Fink initially appears as a tricky antagonist but quickly ends up helping her out. The two of them need to help Brightbill learn how to fly and survive on his own. This little bird was the runt of the litter and otherwise would have likely died without any help.

It’s a pretty heartwarming family story going on here with Roz and the gang. It’s got a good message the whole time with the characters all pitching in to help each other out and it has a very strong sense of community. The whole climax is about getting everyone to band together after all. Now this will never be perfect in a forest setting as the cycle of life and the food chain will force some tough realities into existing. That said, it’s still nice to at least see everyone band together against a common enemy.

I do want to underscore again that this is not an action movie. So don’t let me trick you into getting the tone wrong. This is a family movie first and foremost about the bonds of friendship. The climax at the end does give us some action but it’s not played super serious for the most part and these are hardly the strongest foes out there. The main villain A.I. is pretty impressive though. She is certainly persistent and has quite a few methods available to use in attacking the heroes. It really ended the film on a high note.

The literal ending of the film I was not a big fan of though. We got a heart warming moment but I thought Roz made the wrong call here. Hopefully a sequel would address this. Back to the characters though, Roz makes for a fun lead. She can be a little slow on the uptake initially, but then learns what it really means to look out for other people. It becomes less about the programming and more about her individually which was really nice. It was the kind of character development you like to see.

As for Fink, he brings a lot of the heart to the film. His quick wit is always a lot of fun and he brings up the film’s energy. Now it is fair to say that he does take some of the gags a little far. You get the feeling that he actually was serious about ending Brightbill for a little while in the beginning. Still, he turns over the leaf and becomes a force for good which is ultimately the important thing. The film would lose a lot if he wasn’t there because he just brings a lot of depth to it. You could argue that he definitely had the roughest upbringing among the characters.

Finally for Brightbill, well I wasn’t a big fan of his. I thought that the other two characters were considerably better. He’s earnest and means well but I didn’t like how easy it was to turn him against Roz. I felt like that plot development needed to have happened a lot sooner for it to be believable. For it to have happened so late in the game just makes him look absolutely terrible. Yeah, I was not really a fan of that at all. It was tough for him to recover, which may sound a bit harsh but I consider this to be a kind of betrayal which is never cool.

I’ll give the film props for also not making the bullying too overdone or anything. Brightbill got teased quite a bit for sure but it’s not like they were beating up on him the whole time. I guess the closest to that was when they started dunking him in the water and Roz quickly broke that up. The film just feels fairly realistic and you could substitute the animals for humans and quickly understand the message just as clearly. It is a well written film, I could stand by that 100%.

As for the animation, it looks decent. I wouldn’t say I was crazy about it but I don’t really have any big complaints. It’s not going to touch the hand drawn animation for the last 30-40 years but it can hold its own with the average CG production. I would just say it’s a film that will be relying more on the writing and story than any technical elements. There isn’t much of a soundtrack either with the exception of a song or two in there. Nothing in particular to really write home about though.

As a final note, the film also did good with the supporting characters. I liked Brightbill’s mentor who taught him how to really fly with a high level of skill. I also liked the elder who did his best to try and help Brightbill fit in. There were a real number of characters all doing their best here and the film did a good job of establishing their characters. There would probably be quite a few new characters if they ever did a sequel to this one but I’m confident that they would work out well enough.

Overall, The Wild Robot is a good movie from start to finish. Yes, it can be a little understated and I will admit that I tend to miss the humans a bit from time to time. The first half was a bit slow as Roz is getting used to things and the fox could have used one more character to help him with all the snappy quips and such but at the end of the day the positives outweigh these. You will be entertained and I would recommend checking it out if you are looking for a fun family film. It’s definitely quality content and the movie goes by quickly. The climax is also fun since you may not be expecting things to get quite as explosive as it did. Ultimately that makes for a fun film and I’d definitely check out a sequel.

Overall 6/10

They Live 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 a classic alien invasion title but with one big twist, what if they had already invaded? It’s a pretty clever film and one that has aged pretty well overall. I do have some issues with it that keep me from being able to completely recommend the title but on the whole I had a good time. The film knows how to have a good action scene when needed and of course that is crucial.

All right so the film starts off by introducing us to Nada who is homeless and just trying to get by right now. He finds a construction gig and gets to work but the people at the nearby church are acting a little strange. Nada busts in there and grabs a pair of glasses. When he puts them on, he is able to see the truth. Aliens have already infiltrated the Earth, posing as most of the rich people. The class wars have been manufactured! Every TV channel and radio program is giving subliminal messaging to make people lose their free will. The media is not on the side of the humans! Nada needs to quickly get some more people to the cause but is it already too late?

So yeah a very interesting premise right out of the gate here. I thought this was super interesting for sure. Nada isn’t always the best at handling his business though. For example after he gets his glasses, one of the first things he does is to start picking a fight with a nearby alien. That’s really not the best idea out there, like why would you even do that? Definitely a shaky decision at best. He does take out a number of them with his gun but the guy has no plan and is super outnumbered so eventually he has to retreat. We do get a reason for why he was acting so erratically later on though.

It turns out that the glasses work like a drug and give you an artificial high while you are wearing them. This means that you are going to be acting a little overconfident and then crash afterwards. Nada finds this out the hard way and is lucky that he survived after letting his guard down and having a lady named Holly shove him out of a window. The whole scene was super unexpected and at the same time, you do feel like Nada should have been more careful. He did literally keep her at home against her will as a prisoner so of course she would strike back as soon as possible. Anyone else would do the same in a heartbeat.

Where Nada looks worse is when he trusts her later on. Remember, we know that the big shots at the media company are in on this and she is one of the big supervisors. A little suspicious eh? She does make for a compelling character but just not someone that you should really be trusting at all. That is, as long as you have some kind of functioning survival instincts. If you don’t, then I can let you pass a little easier there.

Nada also has a long fight with Frank in order to convince him and while I think it was drawn out a little too much, I give the film points for its bravery here. I don’t think just about any film would really even try to have an action scene go on for this long. It’s just a crazy thing to even suggest and yet they pulled it off. That’s pretty impressive. The fight stops and starts so many times that it will probably fake you out at least 3-4 times. You wonder how either character can even stand up after that as it’s absolutely brutal.

In general the film isn’t so violent but that fight definitely gets real intense. There is a body count to be sure but this feels more like a summer blockbuster than a horror most of the time. So it doesn’t feel particularly gruesome even if you know it technically is on the back-end. The film does have some rather unnecessary fanservice though. They definitely could have gotten by without that. The film has its hiccups as I said, but on the whole the story is still engaging enough where you can get past that.

It also has a good degree of humor that works well with all of the serious moments. It’s never over the top goofy or anything like that to get you out of the mood but the heroes know how to banter and have a good time with each other throughout. It all comes down to this film having a lot of action and the runtime is also fairly short so you really have to move fast the whole time. I think this would make for a really good TV show. There are a lot of ways you could stretch it across multiple seasons because the sheer amount of moving parts if extensive. Then of course you could even have a whole saga about the events that take place after the ending. Clearly things are going to change a lot now and the question is if the humans can possibly win or if it’s too late. I feel like by this point it is probably too late for them but they can still last for a long while using guerilla warfare tactics.

Overall, They Live is a really interesting film. I do think aliens tend to make for a very interesting premise in general. Mix in the fact that they are shapeshifters who can appear as anyone and that becomes even more intense. The film isn’t really able to dive into every plot point here but that would be tough for any title to pull off because of how huge the actual storyline is the whole time. Either way I would recommend this title. It’s a storyline that we surprisingly don’t see as often as I would like so you really can’t pass up on any film like this. Even in real life they say you can never know someone 100%, well this film may make you a bit paranoid after that but it’s still worth the watch.

Overall 6/10

Sonic X Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings Review

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It’s time to talk about one of the best animated features that Sega has ever put out. Shadow has been getting a lot of hype recently between the new live action movie and his upcoming video game. Mix in a whole miniseries and we’re talking about peak content right from start to finish. At the end of the day this is less than 15 minutes so you can’t squeeze everything in, but it still works really well as a stand alone story. You feel the emotion packed into each saga and now the whole thing has been compiled into a single video so that makes it even easier to watch.

The saga takes place across the past to the present. Shadow remembers his days with Maria in the Ark and then we see in the present that he has to make it back up there to stop a super menace. Along the way he gets to see his old allies Rouge and Omega. The 3 of them are still a powerful team, but then again any team with the Ultimate Life Form would be quite formidable. This saga all leads right into the video game so you will definitely want to get that as soon as possible. Still, even if you don’t buy the game, this is one of the best characterizations of Shadow.

He’s a very complete character. Someone who is now a hero of the world but goes by a different set of rules compared to Sonic. We see Shadow busting into an army installation to steal a rocket after all. Sonic would do that if needed, but he would first try to talk things out. Shadow is all about making things happen and that doesn’t change here either. Sonic also doesn’t appear at all so this is really Shadow’s show all the way around and that’s pretty nice to see. As the one true rival to Sonic, he deserves to be getting his own stuff. It’s been a long time since he was relevant in the games so this is cool to see.

The animation is also really solid. I’ve heard it was made using Blender technology which is really cool since I remember that being used in part for a lot of other cool projects back in the day. I think even Super Mario Bros Z used it for some movement. The colors are sharp and everything is very dynamic. The attacks all pack a punch like the incredible Shadow vs Emerl battle which I’ve seen quite a few times at this point. That was great stuff and it’s also cool how this finally adapts some lore that we first learned about in Sonic Battle. The fact that Emerl was this powerful in base is also quite impressive. It makes you appreciate Sonic even more for being able to stop him.

Then we have the soundtrack which is really good. A lot of great tracks everywhere but in particular hearing Casey Lee Williams from RWBY show up to sing the final song was great. That was the perfect way to end it with one of the most tearful scenes you’ll ever see in animation. You’re crying right there with Shadow as things go sideways. He may be the ultimate life form but he still has the dark past and you never really get over that. I imagine it will continue to be a factor as his career goes on.

It would be nice to get everything else in the Sonic verse animated that we only know the lore of. Seeing the Shadow flashbacks in real time without any cuts, seeing Chaos emerge in the past with the Tikal origin, etc. You could absolutely do a whole lot of this and really expand the lore. It would have the ripple effect of also fleshing the games out and making replays even more fun. I’d be getting my hopes too high if I wish for all of that though so I’m just saying it would be neat.

Overall, I could go on about how awesome this was but at the end of the day it is only 15 minutes so I would start repeating myself after a while. You should definitely check it out, there is really nothing bad to say about it at all. It’s just pure greatness in its raw form. Every scene is critical and the pacing is on point at all times. If they ever made a full length TV show out of this I would definitely be ready. There is a whole lot of untapped potential for Sonic media so hopefully this is really just the beginning. I like the Chaos but their upcoming miniseries isn’t exactly what I’m talking about.

Overall 9/10

Reynatis Review

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All right, it’s time for one of the big games that was getting a lot of hype around the bend. Yes, the season is stacked so it started to get overshadowed to a degree by other big titles like Metaphor and Sparking Zero, but make no mistake this is still a top tier title. What it may lack in length it makes up for with an excellent story and really smooth gameplay. It’s one of those titles you do not want to miss out on.

The game is marketed as dual main characters but very quickly you will see that there is one true main character. Marin is the guy and he is determined to be the strongest sorcerer in the world. He believes that this will allow him to be free so that he will not succumb to any of the rules set by the world. He can make his own choices and does not have to align himself with anyone. He is a “Stray” meaning that he is on his own right now which is very dangerous. Typically magicians who are on their own are bumped off.

The other main character is Sari and she is a part of the MEA. They are a big group of sorcerers who basically bend everyone to their will. You either work for them or you are squashed in record time. They are really not all that flexible. She really wants to destroy the source of the evil drug that has turned the world into a nightmare but for now has not received any real support. As someone who is a part of the big government, she will naturally be coming into opposition with Marin who is all about freedom.

Part of the problem with the dual leads mechanic is that Sari is really framed as the villain the whole time. You’re never really left wondering who you should root for because it’s obviously Marin. She attacks him for basically no reason and follows corrupt commands. She gets better as the game goes on but after a little bit, all of the chapters focus on Marin instead of switching every time. So even the game gave up on the idea. I should note that the story is still really good, but this angle didn’t work and it’s worth mentioning because it seems to be something they had really been striving towards.

This is a game that has a huge amount of world building and yet you are left wanting for more at times. It feels like the game introduces more topics than it actually ends up solving which is a little surprising. There are like 6 different groups throughout the game and while the ending does find a way to deal with all of them, there is a lot of meat left on the table. I could absolutely see a sequel for this someday. As it is, the game has two different post game chapters but I’m not at a high enough level to challenge those. I did play the World Ends crossover which was a lot of fun though. Would have been even more fun with the voice acting but maybe it would have cost extra.

Like I said the gameplay is super smooth though and that’s the main reason we are here. It’s a 3D action title that focuses a lot on dodging. You are supposed to trust in your magic abilities so the idea is that if you don’t move or attack, you are given the chance to parry an opponent’s move and absorb magic. Once you have magic, you can transform and attack until you run out. Then you repeat the process. You cannot parry purple attacks so you have to be able to react right away and dodge instead of waiting for the parry option. It’s a good bit of tactics at play here.

Then of course you have different badges that you can set which activate different powers. You will want to plan things out and test different combos to see which work the best for you. I tend to enjoy the long range powers and stick to my standard combos for the close range hits. For me that worked well but again you will want to find out what works for you. There are a pretty good amount of options at play here. Once you are strong enough to wipe out enemies with a single string of combos, then you are set.

Leveling up is fairly quick here. I got up to level 73 by the time I beat the game which is not half bad I must admit. Still got destroyed in the post game but at least I felt like I could grind if I had to. In fact, that’s a large part of the fun here. I actually enjoyed wandering through the town and scanning graffiti (Which unlocks new powers) and completing side missions. I ended up beating over half of the side missions and would have fun clearing out the rest. It’s a game that makes you want to play it. That’s the best way I could describe it. In some games side missions are just too much of a hassle but they make it so easy here. You just go to where it shows on the map and get the job done.

The map is good and the quick travel is great. When you mix those things together then you are really in a good spot. The graphics are naturally really good as well. The attacks stand out and the city looks nice. You’ve also got a really good soundtrack here. It may be a little limited in terms of how many tunes there are but fortunately I did enjoy the ones that were present. That makes a pretty big difference.

As for length, I beat the game in around 15 hours but I did take about 2 hours off to have fun with side quests. It’s not a super long game and even beating all of the bonus content will probably only buy you another 2-3 hours or so. There is a case to be made for buying this game when it’s a bit cheaper as the price will probably dip. That being said, the quality is still worth it. I think the shortness stands out because you expect more out of an RPG type game, but just think of this more as a fighting game or something. It’s still considerably longer than the average game of that title or any platformer really. It may be losing out in replay value compared to those though so it’s not really a 1 to 1 comparison. It all just depends on how far you get absorbed into the game and the cinematic experience really did it for me.

Overall, Reynatis is definitely an elite game. I would recommend checking it out right away. You’re really going to want to go for 100% completion right out of the gate, or at least everything aside from the post game mission. Even being level 100 doesn’t stop that from being a super hard challenge but hey it’ll be satisfying when you complete it right? The game is not as long as the average RPG but for an action game it’s not bad. You can tell they put a whole lot of effort into this one. The technicals are all good and I would definitely be in line for a sequel.

Overall 9/10