Category Archives: Reviews

REVIEW: Skyfall

by

Ah, finals are over, and my exceptionally long winter break is here! With that comes the review of Skyfall that I was going to write last week!

Plot:

The plot is pretty standard Bond, actually, except for the beginning. Bond is killed mid-mission, and comes back to help fight against someone who has attacked MI6. It’s that classic, “Bond goes to get the bad guy” plot.

There are some cool twists, and some that I saw miles away, but the ones that surprised me were really good.

Acting:

I want to touch upon Daniel Craig, here. I really like him as Bond, and I really don’t. There are times when I think he’s absolutely spot-on, and there are times that I just want him to stop talking and tell him to be more…well, Bond!

This is one of those movies where I, for the most part, enjoyed him playing the part of James Bond. I think he was smooth, cool, and not the James Bond of Quantum of Solace.

Atmosphere:

The atmosphere in Skyfall is a mix of awesome, explosions, gunshots, and hand-to-hand combat. Oh, and some swag. Lots of swag. It has a lot of that classic Bond feel to it, which I loved. The music is very good, and the classic Bond melodies and riffs always send a shiver down my spine, because you know something awesome is happening.

——

Skyfall is a must-see for those that are fans of the James Bond movies and those who enjoy a good action film (like myself). Anyone looking for something more substantive might be disappointed.

Rating: 3 out of 5 (stars)

Just sayin’.

REVIEW: Wreck-It Ralph

by

1

Last weekend, after much hyping on my friends’ parts, I finally got to go see Wreck-It Ralph, a movie that is not so much about video games as it is a movie featuring a video game theme. This film could easily be the best video game-themed film I’ve seen. Ever. So, let’s get into the review!

Plot:

Wreck-It Ralph is the bad guy of Fix It Felix Jr. During the game, he gets thrown off a building while Felix gets a medal if the player wins the game. He’s okay with that. What he’s not okay with is how the game’s characters continue to treat him like a bad guy when the arcade is closed. To fix this, he decides to prove that he can be a good guy and go get a medal and bring it back.

This is a really interesting (and completely character-driven) plot, and I really enjoyed it. When I think of a good movie, I think of a movie that doesn’t waste a single scene. I think Wreck-It Ralph does that, so kudos to Disney. You’ve made the video game equivalent of Toy Story!

Acting:

The acting is spot-on. Every character is casted perfectly (and I love Jane Lynch). To add some bonus points, every recognizable video game character (besides the zombie and the Pac Man ghost) was voiced by their respective actors in the game. How can you go wrong with that?

Atmosphere:

I’ll admit, I’m a little biased towards the atmosphere because I’m a gamer, but I want to point out something about this film that I thought really made it stand out: you don’t have to be a gamer to truly enjoy this film. Gamer’s get that nostalgia boost and will be excited to see some recognizable video game characters (Sonic, Bowser, Zangief, Ken, Ryu, Pac Man, etc…), but really, that’s it. The games portrayed (to my knowledge) are completely original games, and so gamers and non-gamers alike are introduced to it.

This is really important. Everyone’s calling Wreck-It Ralph a “video game” movie. To me, placing that label on it kind of pushes a few prospective viewers away, but the film does an absolutely fantastic job not excluding anyone in terms of its look and feel. This is a film any non-gamer will enjoy, maybe even more than a gamer would.

The music is great. The 8-bit retro was awesome when it was played, but the only composition that really stood out was the ending theme (I admit I love Owl City).

Character:

The characters are fantastic, and complement each other really well. The humor that comes from these characters interacting is great! And, they all have clear-cut arcs that you can see change in throughout the film, and all of them are resolved. It’s nice to see every major character resolving their arcs instead of being left in the dark.

——

Wreck-It Ralph, while being hyped as one of the best “video game” films of all time, is one of the finest films I’ve seen all year. If you love games, go see it. If you don’t love games, go see it. If you love Pixar or Toy Story, go see it!

Actually, don’t even put the if statement in there. Just go see it!

Rating: 5 out of 5 (stars)

Just sayin’.

REVIEW: Code of Princess

by

A couple weeks ago, I bought Code of Princess, a new game for the 3DS by one of my coveted campaniles, Atlus. I didn’t have a lot of time when I bought it to really play and formulate an opinion on it, but now I’ve had some time and have finally beaten it. So, let’s jump into this fun little beat-’em-up RPG!

Plot:

The plot is pretty subpar. You’re Sloange, the princess of DeLuxia, and are wielding the DeLuxcalibur, a legendary sword with unfathomable power. In this world, monsters and humans have coexisted, but suddenly the monsters have become violent, and it’s up to you to find out why. Along the way, you discover that some demon is trying to take over the world and defy the Gods. That’s pretty much it. But, while it is subpar, the characters advancing the plot more than make up for it.

Characters:

The characters are, simply put, fantastic. They all have unique personalities, but the best part is they play with their own stereotypes and game. The banter between Allegro and Ali about how Allegro’s level 99 and is ‘almost’ a Sage is hilarious. The game knows its story is there just to advance the plot and give some sort of substance to the game (besides the combat), and toys around with it, which is awesome.

Atmosphere (Music/Graphics):

The backgrounds and effects are nice, and the music is good, but nothing really stands out to me. It was all very subpar, which is disappointing because I was hoping for some awesome music. I haven’t listened to the included bonus CD, so my opinion might change once I hear that, but the in-game music never impressed me.

Gameplay:

The meat of this game comes from it’s AMAZING combat. Every character has their own specific combos, strings, and special skills, and learning what chains, what doesn’t, and combining combos and strings makes this combat a very deep experience. In Campaign, you can only choose 4 characters (Solange, Ali, Zozo, and Allegro), but in Free Play you can choose from more than 30 characters, which is awesome!

Another important part of combat is locking on and bursting. Locking on lets you see that specific enemy’s HP bar, and you do double damage. It’s a nice perk, but once you burst, you do double damage to all enemies, meaning that you have a built-in boss destroyer by doing quadruple the damage you would normally do. That’s huge, and the best part is, it’s doesn’t make the game any easier because of how quickly your MP drains while using it. And, you can be doing a combo, burst midway, and still continue it, giving strategic timing to when you should and shouldn’t burst.

There’s an equipment system, but these do nothing but increase some of your stats (which, by the way, you can increase in any order after leaving up), except for your weapon. If your character can, equipping a weapon can change some aspects of your burst (like doing damage to enemies and knocking them down, having unblock able attacks while bursting, etc…) Sometimes, a certain burst is much more useful than just stunning everyone. My favorite is the one that knocks enemies down. It’s saved me in the harder missions.

Oh, and let’s not forget that this has local co-op for up to 4 players, meaning you can string together some truly ridiculous combos on enemies, making the game that much more fun.

All in all, Code of Princess is a fun little game that offers you a surprisingly deep combat experience and an awesome multiplayer. I highly recommend!

Score:

Plot: 5/10

Characters: 9/10

Atmosphere: 5/10

Gameplay: 10/10

Final Score: 7/10

Old Woman is over-powered.

Just sayin’

REVIEW: Soul Eater

by

Fools!

A couple weeks ago, before school started, I decided to try to start watching anime again. While I haven’t started anything recently, I did manage to power through an anime I’ve been meaning to watch thanks to the godlike powers of Netflix: Soul Eater. Don’t worry, the English Dub is good! I’m starting to really appreciate Funimation and the effort they put into making English dubs great. Anyway, onto the review!

Background: Fool!

This is pretty straightforward – there’s an academy run by Death to help prevent evil (known as Kishin) from coming to the world. To do this, a human Meister and their weapon partner (a human that can transform into a weapon) must collect 99 Kishin Eggs (souls that are on the verge of becoming a Kishin soul), and 1 Witch Soul. Only then may that weapon become a Death Scythe and allow Death himself to use them.

Maka and her weapon, Soul, are two such students of the academy, and are very close to turning Soul into a Death Scythe.

Animation/Art: Fool!

The animation is very Halloween, and I liked that about the show since it ties in so well with the theme and characters. I never once saw a reduction in quality, and the battle scenes are very well-done. I think my favorite art aspects of the show are the sun and the moon, which are shown as being living things (they even have the moon bleed when there’s death, which I think is really awesome). There’s a very surreal look to it all, and I kind of wish I had watched it near the end of October.

Music: Fool!

The music was…OK. There’s one opening theme and two ending themes I really enjoyed, and during the show the battle music and other music was just OK. Nothing really stood out and really caught me.

Plot Direction: Fool!

The plot, while looking very simple at first, soon grows very complex, and I liked that it never jumped too far whenever it decided to. And most of the direction of the plot stems from the characters themselves, which is always a big plus in my book. The only iffy part to me is the ending, where they suddenly pull out all this plot-changing stuff that was never really touched on in the series. And, in the end, they do nothing to help the characters achieve their goals.

Character: Fool!

I really enjoyed most of the characters in Soul Eater. Many of the characters (Maka, Soul, Dr. Stein, Crona, Death the Kid, to name a few) all grow and change. Some stay the same, but are understandable (Liz, Patty, Death, Spirit). And then there’s Excalibur, the worst character to exist since Ryou in Clannad. Most of the characters are great. They all change, some of them who don’t facilitate the change in others well, and with so many characters in the series, it’s really quite impressive they were able to pull off the amount of change they did without leaving anyone out. I was a little disappointed with Black Star, but he does change, even if it’s miniscule.

Did I mention Excalibur is bad? I hate him. Although, I have to say, they got the perfect voice actor for him.

Animation/Art: 9/10

Music: 5/10

Plot Direction: 7/10

Character: 9/10

Final Score: 7/10

Just sayi-(Fool!).

REVIEW: New Super Mario Bros. 2

by

New Super Mario Bros. 2, according to most reviews that I was reading online, was sub-par compared to its predecessor, New Super Mario Bros. So when I picked it up and started playing with my brother, I wasn’t expecting too much, and what I got was something that, to me, was just as good as – if not better – than New Super Mario Bros.

Atmosphere (Music/Graphics):

This is the worst part of New Super Mario Bros. 2. The graphics and music are exactly the same as New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. While those worlds, models, backgrounds, and music are all passable and allow you to enjoy the game, I was hoping for something a little different. Maybe a different song here and an entirely new level there. If you look at New Super Mario Bros. U, you notice that the style of the game is completely different in backgrounds and in actual models (except for Mario), and I was hoping they’d do something like that with New Super Mario Bros. 2. I mean, would it have killed Nintendo to put in a monochrome or all gold/silver world? That would’ve been cool!

Gameplay:

Where New Super Mario Bros. 2 excels is in its gameplay. I haven’t really played the game solo yet, instead opting to complete the game with my brother, but I would assume it’s still as fun as the rest of the New Super Mario Bros. series. The amount of coins is the only difference you’re going to see in gameplay, and while you’ll probably be obtaining a ridiculous amount of lives, the levels aren’t drop-dead easy, and trying to get as many coins as possible is harder than you think. But let’s talk about the co-op.

The co-op is, simply put, fantastic. Not only do you get a x2 coin bonus when both Mario and Luigi are on-screen, but the levels are just begging to be played in co-op. So far, there is only one level my brother and I found ridiculously difficult with two players, but other than that, every level has been awesome for co-op. In reviews, I heard that the camera is a gripe, but I disagree. My brother and I have been able to stay on-screen for most of our time playing, and when we haven’t, there’s the ever-omnipotent bubble to bring us back together. Many of the harder challenges in single-player (like getting to a specific warp pipe) is made simple in co-op, but it still requires a degree of skill to learn how to bounce each other around (especially when moving forward).

The camera itself will not only focus on Mario. If Mario dies, Luigi is the first to go through a warp pipe, or Luigi reaches the checkpoint first, the camera will switch to him (and vice-versa if the camera is on Luigi). Also, you can take the camera away performing a ground pound on the bro with the camera. Sometimes, the bro without the camera will fall behind and be caught in a bubble loop, but this has happened so few times that it’s negligible to really talk about. If you and your friend are roughly the same level of player, you shouldn’t be having any problems with the camera.

Aside from the co-op, there’s one extra feature that I am currently addicted to, and that is Coin Rush. Coin Rush is very simple – you are randomly selected 3 levels (the last always being a mid-point or ending castle), and you have 100 seconds for each level to get through it as fast as you can and collect as many coins as you can. As a gamer who loves to speed run, this mode is right up my alley, and I love it.

The best part is the ability to play as either regular Mario or White Raccoon Mario (which is a Tanooki Suit and Star combined). This lends itself to some rather interesting strategy – should you play as regular Mario or White Raccoon Mario? I’m sure some of you are thinking White Raccoon Mario, but you’d be wrong – regular Mario is usually the better choice, and here’s why: golden hoops. If you go through a red hoop, you have the ability to get 8 red coins – if you go through a golden hoop, then every enemy becomes golden and has different properties to earn coins (Koopas leave a trail of coins behind them, Lakitus throw coins, Boos spawn coins behind them and run away from you, etc…). As regular Mario, you can take advantage of jumping on Goombas and earning more coins with every consecutive bounce or following a golden koopa shell as it spawns coins after being kicked. Regular Mario has access to the Gold Fire Flower, which makes Mario’s Fire Ball turn everything into coins. White Raccoon Mario does not have access to those, and that really makes the difference in the amount of coins you can get. However, there are certain levels where White Raccoon Mario outperforms regular Mario.

Now, since it’s random when playing normal Coin Rush, this isn’t really something to think about – but when you start using Street Pass to pass along your best record (which you can save), you can challenge those records (meaning you play the same three levels they did), and that’s where picking which Mario to play becomes important.

New Super Mario Bros. 2, while really lacking new graphics and music, makes up for it with its incredible co-op and surprisingly deep Coin Rush mode. If you’re a fan of the New Super Mario Bros. series, definitely pick this game up.

Score:

Atmosphere: 5/10

Gameplay: 10/10

Overall: 7/10

Just sayin’

REVIEW: The Last Story

by

A week ago, I finally got my hands on The Last Story. For those who don’t know, The Last Story was one of the games that was made out to be a Japan exclusive, but a couple weeks ago it was released to the states, much to the happiness of many a gamer. But does The Last Story live up to the hype it had before it was released to the US? I think so. Let’s jump in!

Plot:

The plot is your standard JRPG. I’m not going to go too in-depth, but to nutshell it, you’re Zael, a mercenary who finds a mysterious power and uses it to accomplish missions and strive to fulfill Zael’s dream of becoming a knight. Along the way, Zael encounters typical themes like corruption, power, following your heart, being the ‘chosen one’, worldwide disaster, etc… And while it may be typical story fare, it’s pulled off well. There are a few twists (although can be seen if you’re looking for them), but the plot paces itself nicely and it’s always interesting. The best part is the plot is almost entirely character-driven, with very few plot-driven elements. I found myself really enjoying it. The only part that was iffy is the somewhat rushed romance between Zael and Calista. There was so much potential for it.

Characters:

The characters are all great. They all have personality and definitely clash with each other because of it, and that’s great, because the dialogue is fantastic between the characters. And, they all grow by the end of the game and go through complete arcs, which is (sadly) pretty rare these days. The NPC characters in the hub world also have some personality, which is pretty surprising, but they’re all very cookie cutter in the way they act. Still, it’s better than them being ridiculously bland and being the same over and over.

Atmosphere (Music/Graphics):

The Last Story is your typical atmosphere for a JRPG. A little bit of a steampunk, a lot of medieval, and plenty of ancient technology and magic. Still, like the other elements of The Last Story, these are represented really well. Lazulis City (the hub for the game) is awesome, and it really feels like a city. Stuff is always happening, and the entire city moves with the plot, so you’ll always see people talking about something different. The caves, Lazulis Castle, and the many other levels all are nicely detailed. I never once found myself bored with how the game looked.

The music is great. I have a thing for violins, so hearing the violin in the title screen music was already awesome, but the music in-game is also great, and it always feels like it’s supporting the mood rather than being completely intrusive. I got the soundtrack for preordering the game, and already have most of it on my iPod.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is interesting and incredible at the same time. It’s interesting because combat is, literally, running up to an opponent and attacking. You don’t press a button to attack. Now, I find that weird, and I still find it weird, but thankfully the designers thought, “Hey, most people use the A button!” and they give you the option to attack with the A button. That’s the only bad part about combat. Otherwise, combat is fantastic.

While some encounters are random and you fight, most of them are a sort of preview where you get to see the formations of enemies and you see the characters discussing a strategy. Sometimes they’ll tell Zael to decide what to do, but other times they give out orders and if you don’t follow them, the AI do get obliterated because they’re expecting you to do what they told Zael to do. And to lead into AI – they’re smart. They’re the best AI I’ve ever played with. They heal if they’re low on health, they take cover during stealth missions, and they try to cover you when you’re being attacked. Of course, you can command your allies if you want them to do a specific spell or unleash a special movie, but it’s really awesome to have competent AI that you don’t need to babysit. Even the enemies are smart; they take out mages first every time, and to combat this, you have a special power that makes every single enemy focus on you exclusively. However, having every single enemy focus you means that you die faster and it can be overwhelming, so you can’t just rush in every time with it, making it an interesting balance between using and not using the power you have. It’s a very tactical game for a real-time RPG, and pulling off tactics that you’re ordered to do and see it work perfectly is awesome!

Non-combat wise, the side quests and missions are actually pretty good, even though some of them are pretty lame (one of them is literally buying ingredients from a market), but a lot of them are awesome and are actually mini dungeons, which is really cool and helps you to prepare for the later levels. You can also revisit dungeons to get bonus stuff and face much harder enemies.

The actual flow of the game is nice. I never once had to legitimately grind in order to proceed. Tactics win the day over that, and that’s really nice. There are a few places where you can grind, but the focus is on progressing the story, so those are very few and far between.

Overall, The Last Story delivers, and I’m very happy it came to the states. If you enjoy JRPGs (or real-time RPGs), get this game. It’s worth every single penny!

Score:

Plot: 8/10

Characters: 9/10

Atmosphere: 9/10

Gameplay: 10/10

Final Score: 9/10

Just sayin’