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(10/12/18 6:46am)
by Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of God Friended Me.
In the introduction of last episode’s review, I talked about Pure Flix films and how God Friended Me gave off a similar vibe. This episode, titled “The Good Samaritan,” makes me re-think that comparison a little bit.
Pure Flix films tend to depict atheists or the concept of atheism as an “antagonist” of sorts. Take the movie God’s Not Dead, for example. In that film, the only character that could really be called an “antagonist” is the professor who lost his faith when his mother died. He’s hateful, spiteful, and outwardly negative against the good religious people shown in the film. They aren’t trying to create an open dialogue; Pure Flix films are quite literally preaching to the choir.
God Friended Me takes a different approach. This episode literally has Miles Finer mention that he wants his podcast to create a dialogue between people with faith and people without, and the show almost reaches that idea. It doesn’t quite achieve in creating a discussion, but it does send a message of acceptance for people on both sides of the argument. It’s admirable that a show with a premise this dumb tries to do that. It doesn’t make it any better of a show to watch, but it’s still admirable.
“The Good Samaritan” delivers a refreshing message despite stale problems
This episode is a direct continuation of episode one, following podcaster Miles Finer as he tracks down and tries to help the friend request of the week: a woman named Katie Banks. Katie is a single mom struggling to make ends meet when Miles inadvertently gets her fired from a waitress job. In an attempt to fix his mistake, Miles, possibly illegally, finds Katie’s home address and discovers that Katie’s son, Nate, has autism. Miles is then roped into helping babysit Nate while Katie interviews for a job, in which Miles accidentally does a better job parenting and ruins the whole situation. Some time later, it’s discovered that Nate wandered off, and our cast of characters finds him playing his mother’s favorite song on a stray piano in Central Park. Katie and her son connect through music, and a bunch of C and D plots resolve themselves quietly in the background. It’s all a part of some hack writer’s plan.
This episode shares a lot of the same issues that the first episode had. The writing isn’t much better, though there were some better bits of humor in this episode than the first one. The acting is as good as it can be with this script, with a lot of bad line reads once again coming from Rakesh. The lack of any real establishing shots make it hard to get a good judge of the scope of the show. It takes place in New York City, obviously, but there’s no real connective tissue so we can get an idea of where everyone is in relation to each other. And finally, once again, the ridiculous amount of in-your-face symbolism and ridiculous coincidences make the show a bit of a joke, but it’s still kind of funny to see it all come together.
A new issue is that there’s no real sense of time within the show; things just happen and resolve within what feels and looks like minutes worth of time. The pacing of conflict within this episode is bizarre as well. A character would show up, exchange one or two lines of dialogue with another character, and then they would be mad at each other almost instantly. Then, when the plot demands the characters patch things up, they do it just as quickly. It’s particularly noticeable in the scene in the music shop where Cara speaks with Miles about helping Katie. In mere moments, they are sour towards each other for pretty much no reason. Pacing was a problem in the first episode as well, but this one escalates the problem as quickly as problems do in the episode itself.
There’s also a point that I’d like to talk about here: the depiction of autism within the show. Hollywood has this problem where it likes to depict what can be described as something akin to “romanticized autism.” An example of this would be The Good Doctor on ABC, a show where the main character is an extraordinary doctor but also has autism and struggles to communicate. In situations like this, autism is treated like magic that makes someone really good at something. There’s a huge spectrum of autism disorders, and a lot of shows don’t do a very good job a depicting autism accurately. So, color me surprised when I say that God Friended Me has one of the most accurate depictions of non-verbal autism I think I’ve seen in any piece of media.
Nate is non-verbal, meaning he isn't able to communicate his thoughts and interests verbally. He sort of just operates independently of what’s happening around him, although it’s evident that he’s listening to what people are saying and is aware of his surroundings. While Miles is babysitting him, something catches his eye and he follows it. The attention to detail with Miles actually respecting the kid’s space and not touching him was nice to see. Plus, credit given to the child actor playing Nate, he did a phenomenal job playing the role. Although the resolution had him magically learning to play the piano flawlessly despite no actual training or preparation, aside from that it was pretty much pinpoint accurate. As someone who has a little brother with non-verbal autism, I’m glad to see a show depicting it properly, even if it is God Friended Me.
Aside from that shining element of the episode, the idea of the show trying to create a discussion between those who are religious and those who aren’t is an unexpected twist on the typical Pure Flix fare. As mentioned in the introduction, the show puts in effort to try to bridge the gap between millennials who are questioning faith and older religious folks (read: baby boomers watching primetime CBS on Sundays). Does it succeed in sending the message? It tries, but it misses the landing just a little bit. The show doesn’t really depict the point of view of an atheist, or even a religious person for that matter. There is conflict between characters but, aside from the podcast producer being cartoonishly anti-religion, it paints them all in a positive light. It just shows that there are signs and odd coincidences that are evidence of a higher power working in mysterious ways.
Except, this show writes God as incredibly predictable and, again, surprisingly petty. Plus, coincidences in real life may seem like evidence of a higher power, but coincidences in a TV show are signs of lazy writers. At the very least, it treats everyone (and the audience) with at least a little respect, which is definitely admirable for both Christian programming AND a primetime CBS show.
Images: CBS
Featured Image: CBS
(10/12/18 12:03am)
by Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review is of the PC version and was conducted on a PC with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960, i7, 8GBs of RAM.
For a franchise as legendary as Mega Man, it still remains a shock that the series was dormant for so long. Capcom famously attempted to destroy the franchise during the dark ages of the company, cancelling game after game after game at varying stages of development. The cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 remains the most heart-breaking, considering the game had a fully fleshed out demo before getting iced by corporate. The rise of Kickstarter didn’t do the Blue Bomber any more favors, as his bootleg brother Beck ended up in one of the highest profile disasters of 2016, Mighty No. 9. Even with an appearance in Smash 4, it seemed the character would simply fade to dust and nostalgic merchandise.
Then, out of nowhere following successful releases of the Mega Man Legacy Collections, Capcom drops their announcement of Mega Man 11, a modern revival of the classic series. With a promising demo and only good news coming out of development, it is my pleasure to say that Mega Man 11 is a fantastic return to form for a once-dead legend.
A tune-up to presentation leaves a couple screws loose
Mega Man 11 is everything a fan has been hoping to get for years now. While Mega Man 9 and 10 are both great games, they always just seemed to lean too heavy on nostalgia with the 8-bit art style rather than letting the series finally evolve to the modern age. Mega Man 11 doesn’t deliver cutting edge graphics or anything, but it manages to clearly recreate that classic look with a brand new coat of paint. The character and enemy designs are all classicaly inspired, but distinct and memorable. It’s like if they made 3D models directly from the 2D artwork, and it all looks great in motion. The Robot Masters in particular all look great, even if Blast Man is possibly a knock-off of Bakugo from My Hero Academia. The stages also all look wonderful, with some aspects looking hand-drawn and blending in beautifully with the detailed 3D designs. A personal favorite of mine is Bounce Man’s stage, with all of its bright colors and lovely looking balloons. They took the one great aspect of Mega Man 8, the stunning artwork, and gave it new life.
So, visually the game is a stunner, but what about musically? The Mega Man franchise is famous for its incredible soundtracks full of upbeat and hype tunes that drive the player through the sometimes insanely hard levels. Unfortunately, this is one aspect of Mega Man 11 that is a bit of a miss for me. The soundtrack is overall good, but that’s just because its great at parts and not-so-great at other parts. For instance, I love the music in Blast Man’s stage, but Torch Man’s stage has music that made playing through the level three times as difficult. The sound design is also hit-and-miss, with the new weapons all having satisfying sound effects, but iconic sounds like the charging of the Mega Buster and picking up an E-Tank are noticeably absent. The voice acting, at least, is pretty good, especially when you consider the series’s past relationship with… below average voice acting.
Get-equipped with a classic Mega Man experience
So it looks like Mega Man, sounds (mostly) like Mega Man, but the real question is this: does it PLAY like Mega Man? The answer is a massive glowing neon YES! This game plays exactly like you expect it to play. Mega Man runs, jumps, shoots, slides, flies, and dies in spike pits just like the classics. Add in a few quality of life changes to how movement works with sliding getting a slight redesign, the Rush Coil and Jet always being available at the press of a button, and the quick weapon swap being mapped to the right analog stick and you have one of the best feeling platformers in a year of fantastic platformers. It may not change much up in how it plays, but considering the pain fans went through with Mighty No. 9, it’s like laying in your bed at home after sleeping in hotel beds of various qualities for years.
Yet, the series still needs a bit of innovation to stay fresh and Capcom delivers the goods with a mechanic that quickly integrates into Mega Man’s arsenal. The tool added the Mega’s utility belt is the Gear Shift mechanic. This new trick allows the player to switch on the fly between the Speed Gear, which slows down the level and any hazards it may contain, and the Power Gear, which enhances Mega Man’s attacks similarly to how the upgraded Mega Busters in Mega Man X would. At first, being a veteran of the series it felt weird to use the gear changes, but by the Wily stages at the end of the game it came as easily as any other tool making the flow of stages even better. It always felt satisfying to see dangerous looking obstacles being made child’s play by the speed gear, especially in some of the more difficult stages.
Speaking of which the level design in this game is on point. Each stage is longer than your traditional Mega Man level, turning stages into more of an endurance run than previous games. While some might find issue in this I appreciate the longer levels a lot. The developers get to experiment with a whole range of stage hazards and gimmicks, sometimes all within a single level. Another great thing is the lack of RNG within level design. If someone were to execute a stage perfectly consistently they would likely get the exact same time in every single run. It comes down to pure skill whether or not the player can conquer a level, which is a delight to see. My only complaint is that some longer levels could use a definitive continue point, a mechanic from Mega Man 8 that I would have highly appreciated here.
A Yellow Devil of a game
In terms of difficulty, don’t be concerned Mega Man fans, this game has teeth. The normal difficulty for the game, said to be designed for veterans of the series, is perfectly tuned to bring back the highs and lows of the classic series. Some stages and Robot Masters are a breeze, Tundra Man's in particular being a gentle day out ice-skating when compared to the spikey-watery Hell that is Acid Man’s stage. The Wily stages also provide an appropriate challenge, including a Yellow Devil that may be one of the toughest Devils in the series’s history. The player is expected to use every weapon at their disposal to get through the stages, but there’s always something satisfying to just running-and-gunning your way through using only the trusty Mega Buster and few extra lives.
The only aspect that I would say makes the game easier is the return of the shop mechanic. In previous titles with the shop, bolts were infrequent enough that purchases had to be made intelligently. In Mega Man 11, however, the shop can be a bit of a crutch to get through tougher stages. The upgrades are fantastic additions and make the game even more enjoyable, particularly the upgrade to the speed gear, but the ability to buy extra lives on the cheap may be a little too tempting for the weak-willed. This includes me, of course, I abused the heck out of the easy extra lives. To the game’s credit, a lot of stages still managed to devour them faster than I could load my saved data to try again. It’s tough, but it’s fun in a way that only Mega Man can capture.
And for those who want to get into the series but don’t want to get pounded into the dust by the Yellow Devil so quickly, easier difficulties are added for people of various skill levels. I haven’t tried them out myself, but I’m sure they are a lovely addition for those looking for it.
Images: Steam
Featured Image: Nintendo
(10/03/18 4:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review is of the Android version and was conducted on a Samsung Galaxy S6
(10/03/18 1:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode of God Friended Me.
(10/02/18 3:47am)
by Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode of God Friended Me.
Have you ever seen a Pure Flix film? The films are cheap, contain varying qualities of acting, and have a message that, no matter how you view it, is definitely hamfisted. As in like a full holiday ham is delivering the message about God to the silver screen. Some of these films have managed to blend in with real films and get shown in actual cinemas, and they even have a streaming service for those who are interested in having their films on-demand. None of those films are particularly good, though some are entertaining in ways the directors likely never intended. Having seen more than my fair share of these films, I have to say the only one worth watching is Faith of Our Fathers, because it was so unintentionally hilarious that it was oddly compelling.
In a way, God Friended Me captures that kind of essence, creating a show that can in no objective way be considered “good,” but still manages to deliver something compelling to watch.
“Pilot” sets a clear-cut course, but the ride is turbulent
The first episode, “Pilot,” follows Miles Finer, a proud atheist podcaster, who receives a friend request on actual Facebook from God. Following through with friend suggestions given to him by God, Miles saves a man who attempts to commit suicide, helps his cooky friend hook up with a nice lady friend, and finally helps a journalist reconnect with her mother (along with writing a spicy clickbait article). The story is rather simple, and sets up nicely for what will likely be a procedural of sorts. The overall narrative of the episode isn't very interesting, but the core of it and the pieces that make up the narrative are all fascinating, for better or for worse.
The core idea of the show is, admittedly, more interesting than anything Pure Flix has tried to deliver. The show is essentially a detective procedural, with Miles Finer and journalist Cara Bloom serving as the investigative duo doing the footwork, while wacky co-worker Rakesh Sehgal serves as the hacker/computer expert/guy-in-the-chair. Except, instead of solving crimes, they piece together the mystery of why God sent a friend suggestion for the person of the day. It makes for a surprisingly compelling core narrative, even if the meat around it is a little raw.
The problem with this episode is, well, pretty much everything else. The show is extremely funny, and I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time at a TV show. The only problem is that I laughed with the show once, and spent the rest of the time laughing at the ridiculous amount of conveniences and coincidences within the show’s narrative. The fact that the show has God as a central character does not excuse all of the contrivances within the plot. For example, the climax of the episode has Cara Bloom getting hit by a car, only to have the first person Miles saved be in the taxi nearby. This first person is also a doctor who brings Cara back from the brink of death. It’s so dumb that it’s hard to believe someone genuinely scripted it.
The episode also doesn’t really escape the hamfisted nature of many similar shows/films to this. All of the pop songs are on the nose to a point, with atheist podcaster Miles walking around at the start of the episode to “I’m Different” by 2 Chainz. In a conversation with his podcast guest, Miles brings up that “you would think I’m crazy if I said a bush burning was a sign from God.” Not even five minutes later, as a sign from God, a bush lights on fire right in front of him. The ultimate hilariously bad moment is when God hacks Miles’s computer to replace his atheist podcast presentation with clips of sermons and The Ten Commandments. If I knew God was that petty, I would go to church more often. We can relate.
The regular dialogue in this episode, when it isn’t delivering the hamfisted message, is also embarrassing in different ways. Most of the worst lines are delivered by the wacky friend Rakesh, with such classic lines as “I’m not a hacker, I’m a video game enthusiast” and “The God account is being protected by a firewall I’ve never seen before.” The line delivery also ranges from believable to questionable to “did they actually not do a second take for that.” The lead, played by Brandon Michael Hall, has a particularly large number of these bad line reads, which is shocking considering he did a great job as the lead of ABC’s The Mayor. It could just be a problem of this being a pilot episode, since the bad line reads get better as the show progresses, so maybe future episodes will be a much better experience.
The final question is: Does this show entice viewers to keep watching past this episode? The honest and surprising answer is yes, this show is worth continuing to watch. This episode was wildly entertaining and, even though a lot of enjoyment wasn’t due to it actually being good, the core of it has potential to genuinely expand into something kind of interesting. That or the show will stay terrible, but will still be a riot to watch regardless.
Images: CBS
Featured image: CBS
(10/02/18 1:42am)
by Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review is of the Android version and was conducted on a Samsung Galaxy S6
Mobile gaming is, and has for a while been, the new wild west of video gaming. However, we aren’t talking about the lawless, stand-off at high noon, romanticized wild west that Flash gaming was. Mobile gaming is the wild west where everyone is trying to rob and scam you until you die of dysentery. There are so many devious mobile games that seemingly only exist to dupe naive kids into spending their parents money on games with titles like Strange Rope Hero or Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. At the very least, with more competent developers entering the mobile gaming scene, we start to see more quality, fleshed-out experiences that only nickel-and-dime you a little bit.
Nintendo, for instance, has been putting out a number of solid mobile games that don’t feel like extreme cash grabs to a casual player. Super Mario Run was a solid game, Fire Emblem Heroes was surprisingly good despite a lack of depth, and Pokemon Quest might actually be my favorite of the bunch because of how well designed its progression is. I’ve also heard that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp was pretty entertaining, despite not having played it myself. Now, with Dragalia Lost, Nintendo has proven that despite making a quality game, they too can aggressively nickel-and-dime you like every other mobile developer on the market.
A fable of dragons with stellar presentation
Dragalia Lost is essentially a JRPG experience, except now a mobile game. The story isn’t too wild or complex, but has enough fun characters to make it worth watching the cutscenes for the freemium currency. The story revolves around Prince Main Character going on a quest to recruit all six dragons of Alberia so he can have the power to stop his evil father from destroying the realm. Along the way he meets Elisanne, a lady knight who loves cute things, Ranzal, a rough and tumble mercenary, Cleo, who is nerd-bait rabbit waifu, and the only good character with Luca, a basically shirtless archer pretty boy. The main cast actually gives me a lot of Tales vibes, with each cast member having their own quirks and butting heads like a group of adventurers should. It sure is a massive improvement from the non-characters that Fire Emblem Heroes had in its story.
Along with the main story and characters, each of the adventurers obtained through the game’s gacha system are all fairly detailed as well, each with their own stories and personalities. They remind me a lot of the Blades from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, where each new unit is fully customizable and can even be played as during combat. A personal favorite of mine is the mad scientist Kleimann, who essentially just travels with Prince MC to perform horrible experiments. His voice seals the deal for me, considering in combat he just screams “RIPPER” and laughs maniacally.
Graphically the game also matches this JRPG-style, again being very reminiscent of Xenoblade to a degree. The consistent 2D art-style for all of the units is much appreciated, especially when compared to Fire Emblem Heroes. Each character is loaded with detail and there really isn’t one I don’t like. The in-game 3D characters look like they’d belong on a Nintendo 3DS title, but it works for a game this size. The soundtrack is the only real low-point of the presentation, containing a strange style for a lot of songs that doesn’t really gel with me. It’s pleasant enough to not have to turn off the music, but nothing that gets stuck in your head (aside from maybe the menu theme).
Anime Diablo-em-up on the go
Dragalia Lost’s actual gameplay is actually kind of incredible, or at least 90 percent of it is. Okay, probably more like 70 percent, but that’s still passing! Quests in the game throw the player and three allied units in a small dungeon, where the party must then battle their way to the end with a very Diablo-lite combat system. Swarms of fiends stand in your way, and you must cut/shoot/magic them down. When compared to other games in the genre on all platforms, it’s nothing special if a little above average. Compared to other mobile titles however? This game is an incredible feat and definitely worth giving a try. When it works, the game feels super fun and satisfying to play, as you mow down waves of enemies to gentle J-Pop. The length of the dungeons is also very solid for a “pick up and play on the bus” sort of game. Additionally, as you progress, the game actually starts to grow some fangs and provides a nice (lean) meaty challenge.
This is, of course, when it works. The biggest thing working against Dragalia Lost is the platform it is on. Imagine playing Diablo, but you have one ability and can only control it with one of those weird one-button mouses that Apple uses. If it wasn’t for the brevity of levels, the game would likely become stale and definitely become frustrating. Since Dragalia Lost is controlled entirely through the touchscreen, all of your combat maneuvers are essentially tied to a joystick that also functions as a button. Tapping the screen to attack works, and combat rolls (generally) work. Movement is very finicky, with the game sometimes registering “drag-and-hold” as “tap” or “swipe.” The focus attacks, required to break enemy shields, work about 20 percent of the time. The game has trouble registering the difference between “press-and-hold” and “drag-and-hold.” If your finger is registered as moving at all, you end up just walking into enemies and usually dangerous attacks. It’s frustrating, and makes fights that would be relatively simple with an actual controller much more unfairly difficult.
Along with story quests, there are also online co-op quests you can do. Or, at least you can do them once you perform the right pagan rituals to get the thing to work. If you’re like me, you might have gotten stuck on the “co-op event tutorial,” where the game softlocks in a loading screen upon trying to create a co-op room. This prevented me from playing for roughly five hours until I messed with my phone settings in the right way to get it to work. It’s the modern day equivalent of flipping switches on your Atari until you get the right video feed, and it is absolute madness that it isn’t fixed as of time of writing. At the very least, once you actually get into co-op, it is loads of fun playing with other people and having everyone spam the “NOPE” emote constantly.
The Gacha question
Now, the first question a sensible person has when seeing a free-to-play mobile game is “how will this game try to steal my money/bombard me with ads.” For what it’s worth, at least in my experience, Dragalia Lost is entirely ad-free, much like the other Nintendo mobile titles. It also gives a decent amount of freemium currency at the start, which is much appreciated. The freemium “wall” is really decided by how good your Gacha pulls are. With some good luck, you can get through a lot of the game on the backs of a couple of rare adventurers/dragons. If you get unlucky though? The “wall” approaches suddenly, and is near insurmountable without paying some money to speed up the grinding/upgrading process.
So then, how does the premium currency fair? Well, I’m glad to say that Dragalia Lost has one of the worst cash shops I’ve seen in a major mobile title. Let’s compare it to Fire Emblem Heroes, their other major mobile title. For a full pull of units entirely through premium currency, it costs $15. A little pricey, but this guarantees five units of varying qualities, depending on the types of summonings you can do. A “ten-fold summoning” in Dragalia Lost requires you to pay $31. That’s right, for the price of two indie games you can get the chance to be disappointed by the Gacha system. This isn’t even including all of the other “value packs” that are just as egregious and, inevitably, necessary to make any progress without doing serious grinding. That’s just the nature of these kinds of games, and it’s sad to see a game as solid as Dragalia Lost weighed down by mobile gaming greed.
The cherry on top? The freemium currency and premium currency are identical in value. The same can be said about Fire Emblem Heroes, but at least you don’t have to take out a third mortgage to pull the same cleric three times.
Images: Google Play Store, Newsline, Dragalia Lost
Featured Image: Droidgamers
(09/28/18 4:00am)
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
(09/27/18 6:16pm)
by Tanner Kinney
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Warner Bros. has a problem. The market is booming with superheroes and superhero accessories, with Marvel making a killing, and pseudo-superhero films fairing pretty well too. Meanwhile, DC was recently coming off the Christopher Nolan Batman films when this trend started, and so they attempted to keep that style. As it turns out, audiences don’t react well to dark, gritty, confusing, and boring superhero films. They managed to squander one of the most anticipated film concepts with Batman v. Superman, and not even their big ensemble Justice League movie did well. Now, with news of various characters like Batman, Superman, and The Joker getting recast due to their original actors abandoning the project, it seems like DC’s ship has holes that can’t be plugged by CGI lips and reshoots.
Can Warner Bros. still save their superhero goldmine? Or has it already gone too far towards collapse that it can’t be saved? Let’s examine what DC has coming up soon, and if there’s even a slim chance that they can start making money again.
Aquaman: Everyone’s favorite superhero?
The first thing DC has coming up is their Aquaman movie. This was one of the first movies teased to join Man of Steel in DC’s own superhero cinematic universe, along with Wonder Woman. Considering Aquaman was one of the core Superfriends, along with Batman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Robin (for some reason), it’s no surprise. Although an Aquaman film was in the works beforehand, this new iteration actually hasn’t gone through too much in the way of production hell (as far as we know); just a confusing mess of writers.
Over the course of four years, the movie went through four different writers who all cycled in and out of the project like they were going through a revolving door. Initially, in 2014, Will Beall and Kurt Johnstad were set to write two different scripts at the same time, with the better one being chosen for production. Then, Warner Bros decided to bring on director James Wan to write his own script in 2015. Deciding that was a bad idea, later in 2015 WB then brought in David Leslie Johnson to work with James Wan to write the script (either that or write his own version, it’s not clear). Then, in 2016, WB burnt all of that hard work to the ground to bring back in Will Beall to rewrite the entire script with the help of Wan. Finally, in 2017, they brought David Leslie Johnson back in once again to do rewrites of the second Will Beall script. Did you follow all that? No? Imagine how the movie must look then!
Seriously though, have you ever had to do a “group essay?” It’s a mess, with everyone constantly butting heads and one person (me) eventually just saying “frick y’all” and doing it themselves. That’s how this Aquaman movie must be looking. Also, coincidentally, isn’t it funny how the major scriptwriter changes came about after criticism (or praise) from previous DC films? 2016 saw the first major change only four months after the release of Batman v. Superman. After that, 2017 saw a major change after the success of Wonder Woman, and likely during the period of time when WB knew that Justice League was going to be a disaster. This really doesn’t provide confidence that DC has an actual vision for their movies, as opposed to just throwing things out at random and seeing what works. They did bring in professional hypocrite Joss Whedon to direct reshoots for Justice League, hoping that he would make the movie more palatable. It didn’t help.
Shazam!: DC’s dark horse
A movie based on the hero Captain Marvel (no, not that Captain Marvel, DC’s Captain Marvel. It’s a long story) has been in the works for a very long time. I remember hearing about tons of different people set to play Shazam for the past decade, with people like Dwayne “I willingly starred in Rampage” Johnson being eyed for both Shazam and the villain, Black Adam, at different points. The film has definitely gone through production hell, but that was before the modern era of DC movies, so in my mind it doesn’t really count. Well, at least before 2014 it doesn’t count.
Why do I say that? Well, because this film was announced alongside Justice League in 2014, and was allegedly set to release around 2016, but was pushed back. There certainly isn’t some multi-million dollar reason to why it had to be shelved for a bit, but for now let’s just say it was Batman v. Superman’s fault. So, after a little more time for DC to try and find their direction, does this film at all resemble past projects? Is it at all consistent with the established universe? Nope, and really, that’s what makes Shazam the most interesting thing DC has coming out.
This film looks cheap. Certainly cheaper than Aquaman, which looks super expensive with all of its CGI. Shazam, as of right now, is just a guy in a suit. We’ve seen very little to indicate extensive budgeting has gone into CGI. There has also not been any huge marketing pushes yet, aside from the one trailer shown at Comic Con. DC has clearly decided to aim for a more Deadpool-esque budget, and are hoping for Deadpool-esque results. If DC’s gamble pays off, I wouldn’t be surprised if it pays back the major losses from Justice League and (most likely) Aquaman. If it doesn’t pay off? Well, DC has one last chance.
Wonder Woman 1984: The last hope
A sequel for Wonder Woman was a no-brainer after it scored DC’s first critical and commercial success. So far in production, we’ve heard nothing but success stories in how things have gone. Does that make this film a winner? Possibly, but it’ll have to follow up two potential disasters if DC decides to continue with it. Maybe DC will just start calling it the Wonder Woman Extended Universe, which would be shortened down simply to WWE Universe. It’ll be a smash hit, but will make people irrationally angry for no reason other than that the booking was terrible or some other strange thing they don’t like. There’s not much else to say about Wonder Woman 1984, other than that I really hope DC doesn’t go under before it at gets released. Please don’t sell your franchise to Disney yet, I want to get this film before Disney gives it to Joss Whedon to actually direct for real. I don’t want Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman, him screwing it up would be quite an easy feet. He’d write dialogue that would put his foot in his mouth. You following me? Because that’s how what we’d get.
(09/18/18 5:02am)
By Tanner Kinney
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Another year, another terrible awards show. The Emmys have a long standing history and this year is celebrating the diversity of their nominees and hosts. Unfortunately, that’s the only diversity the 70th primetime Emmys can celebrate. Despite their numerous hosts celebrating the “evolution of TV” and the “diversity of TV”, the primetime show is still too terrified to give an award to someone who might scare the mildly racist elderly people. Like really? Donald Glover loses so many awards despite being nominated for so many? And to shows that are objectively worse in quality? That sounds like a scandal waiting to happen.
Sure, you can see that more women are winning awards on primetime TV, but we’re still missing color. Even the hosts are making jokes about how white the Emmys are. When you have James Corden even making jokes about it, you’ve achieved something truly terrible. And just so we’re clear, making jokes about it doesn’t make it go away. Just Googling “Emmys 2018 winners” and scrolling that bar to the right reveals 50 shades of white. Maybe they are more deserving though? That’s a fair argument to make, so let’s look at some of the nominations.
The first example comes from “outstanding lead actor in a comedy series.” You have people like Anthony Anderson from black-ish and Donald Glover from Atlanta. Who wins? Bill Hader, you know, the guy from Trainwreck, that Amy Schumer comedy? What about lead comedy actress? Rachel Brosnahan, another white woman from an admittedly pretty good show. Alright, so how about “lead actor from a limited TV show or series”? John Legend as actual Jesus Christ? Nope, give it to Darren Chris, which makes my 12-year-old self very happy but horribly disappoints my 20-year-old self. Sure, you can point out that they gave an Emmy to Regina King and Thandie Newton, but that’s the only two out of so many other Emmys given out on the live show. And if you really want to talk about robbed, just look at Anthony Anderson's reaction to when his show lost best comedy to a show that had already been sweeping tons of other awards.
The only real justice in this show is RuPaul winning an award for best reality show competition, and even that was ruined by the award being presented by Rick and Morty. Does NBC even have a high enough IQ to comprehend Rick and Morty? Because, to be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand what in the world NBC was thinking with this show.
This trend here completely contrasts with how the Emmy’s projects their image. The hosts are all talking about how “progressive” the industry is, making left-leaning comments and bashing modern politics. They literally had a segment giving “reparation Emmys,” complete with bad jokes and actual real fake hip-hop music, which may be possibly the most poorly thought out thing NBC has done yet. The joke was that they were giving awards to black people who got robbed because “awards shows used to be so bigoted.” Get it? The industry was so racist giving awards to only white people! Good thing we’ve moved past that, giving awards to only a majority of white people.
The segment was not only painful, but horribly hypocritical and almost as tone-deaf as CBS’s The Neighborhood. It’s clear that the Emmys are just acting progressive for brownie points, despite the fact that they are still an Academy run by, and ultimately for, white people.
If you need another sign about how terrible this Emmy awards show was, they gave an Emmy to THE OSCARS! I didn’t even know that was a thing that was possible! That’s like if I reviewed my features and gave myself an award for them. It’s legitimately the most embarrassing thing I’ve seen in a long time. All I’m saying is: Glenn Weiss? More like Glenn White. Yeah, I get it, that joke wasn’t funny. Just like this joke of an award show.
The strangest thing? If you look online, you’ll see that that there are so many people-of-color winning awards. Awards offline, not on TV. Why is that NBC? What makes you so afraid of giving an award to a black person on live television? What demographic are you really targeting? You speak out about how progressive television is, nominate so many incredible black actors and actresses, and you give awards to people like Bill Hader? Henry Winkler, the freaking Fonz won an award, and he hasn’t done actual TV since he starting peddling life insurance to old people watching The Price is Right. That’s a sign right there that the Emmy’s have jumped the shark.
I think the answer to why the Emmys are doing this is obvious. Who is actually watching TV right now? Live, real television? Grandma. That’s who, and I’m not talking the sweet old Grandma who bakes you cookies; I’m talking your other Grandma. The Grandma you can’t invite to family outings ever since cousin Gary married that sweet black lady who works at Target. She can’t actually hear what’s being said on the TV, but she can see. She sees a person-of-color win an award, starts mailing letters to NBC full of complaints and comments that would make a 4Chaner blush-- Now, I’m not saying that NBC is catering to bigots. What I am saying is that there’s gotta be a reason somewhere. And if Letitia Wright's reaction to getting robbed for her award is any indication, it's the worst reason possible.
Now, when the Oscars roll around and they give a majority of awards to white people, are we gonna get angry again? Why do we have to keep getting angry? It’s clear the industry is leaning towards a private position that is nearly opposite to its public position. You can only claim “deserving contenders” for so long before people start to question what you consider a “deserving” trait. And when the Oscars are so white? I’ll be back here again, picketing with everyone else for more real diversity in this industry.
Featured Image from NBC
(09/18/18 4:47am)
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
(09/07/18 7:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review is of the PC version and was conducted on a PC with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960, i7, 8GBs of RAM.
(09/06/18 4:00pm)
By Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review is of the PC version and was conducted on a PC with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960, i7, 8GBs of RAM.
Retro-style platformers are not a new thing. The popularity of indie games made it so any hack with GameMaker Studio could go about crafting their own platformer. I even attempted to make my own Mega Man style platformer when I was younger. That’s why, if someone were to deep dive into fan games based on a platforming franchise, they’d find pretty much only trash there. It used to be rare for retro platformers to break the mold. Nowadays, thanks to Kickstarter and publishers like Devolver Digital, more truly unique platformers make it to market. Most recently, a Ninja Gaiden/Shinobi inspired game titled The Messenger has proven that in a genre as overdone as the platformer, there’s still room to make something truly incredible.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QcMMp8vFvM[/embed]
Ninja Gaiden gameplay with an emphasis on flow
The Messenger is a 2D platformer that wears its Ninja Gaiden inspiration on its sleeve. One of the character even makes a joke about how the Messenger shares almost all of his abilities with Ninja Gaiden's protagonist Ryu Hayabusa. The Messenger can jump, wall climb, throw shuriken, and glide like a real ninja (or echidna). The Messenger, however, has an ability that completely unlocks the game from being a copy-paste platformer to something that really flows: cloudstepping.
Cloudstepping is a simple mechanic. After landing an attack while in the air, the Messenger can perform another jump to gain extra height and distance. And he can continue to do this as long as he keeps landing attacks. This turns everything in the game, whether it is an enemy or a lamppost or other strange objects that the game has, into a way to move faster and farther through the game. There are a number of platforming challenges within the game that requires expert usage of cloudstepping, and due to the ease of execution, these seemingly impossible challenges can be handled with relative ease. Even as someone who isn’t amazing at platformers, this mechanic is not only easy to use, but also extremely satisfying.
Cloudstepping, along with the glide and grappling hook, encourage flow and speed through levels. If everything is a tool for platforming, then there are a lot of crazy skips and movement tricks the player can do to tackle the levels in their own way. It’s very reminiscent of how A Hat in Time tackled 3D platforming, giving tons of movement tools to the player and letting them solve platforming challenges their own way. The Messenger highlights this freedom of movement in the optional platforming challenges for power seals. Each power seal requires skilled usage of all the game mechanics, and some can even be taken down in ways the developers likely didn’t necessarily plan. It’s exhilarating to tackle a challenge and take it down in a different way than the game clearly intends.
The boss fights are also very impressive, with highly detailed sprite-work and animations that sometimes push the limits of their 8-bit recreation. Each fight is unique and fun to take down, although many aren’t much more difficult than your average Mega Man robot master. This is where the different tools in the Messenger’s arsenal really get to shine, particularly cloudstepping. Some bosses can be destroyed instantaneously with a little bit of finesse, while others will take more effort but are still fun and satisfying to take down. However, they mostly disappear after the first half of the game, which is disappointing since the couple boss fights that happen after the timeskip are my favorite ones in the game.
A meta style that crosses time and space
The most unique part about The Messenger, however, isn’t the cloudstepping or boss battles or even the superb level design. The best part about The Messenger is how it crosses time and space to bridge the gap between the retro 8-bit platformer and retro 16-bit platformer. Although many games will use chiptune music but with 16-bit visuals, The Messenger goes above and beyond by incorporating the two different styles as their own unique worlds and levels. The music, visuals, and even certain level designs will change greatly depending on whether or not the Messenger is in the past or the future. The time-travel meta narrative is the backbone to all of the features within the game.
To explain, after around the three hour mark of the game, the Messenger is sent into the future. This quite literally sends the 8-bit platformer into the future, turning into a Sega Genesis title, complete with an incredible Sega Genesis sound recreation. From the time-skip and onward, the game transforms from a standard platformer into a Metroidvania, complete with non-linear stages, things to discover, and optional platforming challenges that pushed my death count well into the triple-digits. There’s even some puzzle-solving that’s done by traveling between time-periods mid-level.
This gameplay element is what helps The Messenger transcend the average retro platformer. It’s honestly incredible how much the development team was able to accomplish with this time-travel mechanic, and it keeps the game very fresh throughout its surprisingly beefy runtime. My main complaint is that some of the later stages drag on a bit too long, particularly Forlorn Temple. Additionally, while the difficulty curve is mostly fair, some of the later levels have absurd difficulty spikes that tend to last for a single checkpoint before returning to a reasonable level. The game is nowhere near as hard as classic Ninja Gaiden, but it still has teeth and will bite.
Era-appropriate presentation enhances the experience
As explained previously, the game is a retro platformer with retro gameplay mechanics and style. Both the 8-bit and 16-bit styles on their own would be excellent examples for future retro platformers. The fact that both are directly woven together, along with a narrative that’s actually fairly complex and interesting for a retro-styled platformer, makes it so much better. Just looking at screenshots from the game shows how impressive it is visually, but in motion it’s a completely different beast. While other retro-platformers like Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon try to emulate console limitations with choppy animations, The Messenger is not afraid to have the game look and feel as good as possible. Retro purists might be a little disappointed, but defending things like the intentional framerate lag in Mega Man 9 and 10 is not a hill I want to die on.
On top of that, the 16-bit era style is incredibly impressive looking, even by the standards of more recent games like Owlboy. It’s probably not 1-to-1 accurate as to how a Sega Genesis game would actually run or look, but it’s close enough without sacrificing gameplay that, once again, I don’t mind. Plus, when the game opens up and the player seamlessly transitions between the past and future, the game’s visual style really get to shine.
Then there’s the soundtrack. The soundtrack is absolutely incredible. Each song in the game has renditions for both the past and the future that seamlessly transition with the visuals during the latter portions of the game. The past has a sound similar to classic Konami/Tecmo platformers, with some bits that are more Nintendo-esque. The 8-bit death jingle in particular sounds very much like something out of Super Mario Bros. 3. The future, instead of going for the Super Nintendo soundfont, went for the much more interesting and underused Sega Genesis soundfont. This includes the stanky basslines from Genesis titles, and as a fan of classic Genesis titles it’s a treat to hear the soundfont in a modern retro platformer, considering many 16-bit platformers these days tend to lean toward Super Nintendo rather than Genesis. Each song is an upbeat jam that drives the player forward and keeps them going. A personal favorite song of mine is the shop theme, particularly the future version of the song. It just reeks of that magical Genesis style.
Featured image from NintendoEverything
(08/23/18 1:00pm)
There was once somebody that told me, “Being a child is like being high all the time.” At first, this concept didn’t make much sense, but it’s actually a pretty interesting thought. After all, there are many activities, games, songs, television shows, and movies that are beloved by children, but are later discovered to be utter trash. Even the imaginary games played in the woods were exciting and fun. Eventually though, adult sensibilities and responsibilities block the act of having dumb fun. Doing nothing and enjoying life, instead of grinding for wealth or power or social media clout. At least, for a lot of children there are no serious worries, only good times.
(08/20/18 4:36pm)
by Tanner Kinney
There was once somebody that told me, “Being a child is like being high all the time.” At first, this concept didn’t make much sense, but it’s actually a pretty interesting thought. After all, there are many activities, games, songs, television shows, and movies that are beloved by children, but are later discovered to be utter trash. Even the imaginary games played in the woods were exciting and fun. Eventually though, adult sensibilities and responsibilities block the act of having dumb fun. Doing nothing and enjoying life, instead of grinding for wealth or power or social media clout. At least, for a lot of children there are no serious worries, only good times.
Despite this idea being shown in the film Christopher Robin, the unfortunate thing is that kids would probably not enjoy watching this movie. And for adults, it leaves… mixed feelings.
Christopher Robin goes to war on family fun
Christopher Robin tells the tale of an adult, well, Christopher Robin (played by Ewan McGregor), the child from Winnie the Pooh. After being torn away from the Hundred Acre Wood to go to boarding school, Christopher forgets all about his childhood playtime and becomes an adult. Through the years he finds work, finds love, goes to war (yes, including actual war flashbacks), and now is dealing with choosing between family and work. With fun now being a foreign concept in Christopher’s mind, only his old Hundred Acre friends can come back in to save him from himself.
The general story of “adult remembering how to be a kid again” is not a new concept, but with such beloved and iconic characters as those within the Winnie the Pooh lore, it should be able to be a simple story told well. Christopher Robin fumbles this by being a little too heavy-handed in the writing and dialogue. The most clear example of this is when Roo asks Christopher Robin pretty much word for word “is your briefcase more important than your daughter?” If the obvious themes weren’t enough, then the heavy-handed visual symbolism makes it even more obnoxious. A child would easily catch on to this, but of course, this message is not designed for a child. The message of this movie is targeted at jaded adults who are too cynical to have fun anymore, which I guess now includes me. In that sense, the story did hit close to home, so it was a success there. That doesn’t really make it any less overbearing.
This movie, however, was marketed as a nice, wholesome, feel good movie. The previous Winnie the Pooh animated films have had dynamic emotion (especially The Tigger Movie), but it all starts positive and ends positive. They feel good to watch through and through. The first act of Christopher Robin is legitimately one of the most gloomy, brown/grey, and depressing family film first acts in recent memory. If the war flashbacks and corporate talk about “efficiency” weren’t enough, some of the terrible things Christopher says to Pooh are excessively mean. On top of being depressing, it’s also boring. There were several families within the showing I went to that bailed on the movie before the halfway mark because the kids were getting restless. If the goal of this movie is to be a fun family picture, then families walking out of the theatre is not a good sign.
Cartoons that actually belong in the real world
One of the major concerns going into Christopher Robin is that it had the faint smell of similar family films with formerly cartoon characters entering a real world. Films like The Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Looney Toons: Back in Action come to mind, and those aren’t exactly the best of films. Disney, however, manages to nail the visuals and charm of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, at least with the design of the characters.
Almost all of the characters are CGI stuffed animals, and they look, move, and interact with the world like stuffed animals would. The worn down nature of beloved plush dolls is shown in the time-skip between the start of the movie and when the Hundred Acre Wood re-enters the picture. Tigger especially looks fantastic in motion, with his plush nature still intact while bouncing around the world. The “fur” on the stuffed animals also responds to the world like actual stuffed animals would, like with Pooh and his excessive consumption of honey making the “fur” look sticky. They look natural in the real world of London, which is an impressive feat compared to similar films.
The other impressive visual aspect is the cinematography. Although the early parts of the film are lacking color and life, they are still interesting to look at. The Silent Hill-esque fog that lingers in the Hundred Acre Wood while Christopher and Pooh are first searching for their old friends is genuinely creepy, and it creates fantastic atmosphere. The second half of the movie is much brighter and still has great moments of cinematography. Particularly the scene where Ewan McGregor fights “the heffalump” (aka nothing), which was more believable than when he fought CGI characters in the Star Wars prequels. And, again, the scenes with the CGI cast in London look fantastic as well, with lots of movement and actions that’s well-paced and exciting to watch.
A warm blanket of nostalgia
Despite all of the problems with how the film is paced, how it is written, and the overall botched narrative that Christopher Robin has, this film still manages to provide some simple joyous feelings. At least, it provides feelings for those nostalgic towards the classic Winnie the Pooh animation. Pooh doing his stoutness exercises, Tigger singing his song, the music overall (particularly the coffee house piano version of the opening theme from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh), and even many of the lines within the film just bring back fond memories. Typically I try not to let nostalgia bait like this get to me, but this one time, I was okay just cozying up in a nostalgia blanket.
The individual lines for most of the cast were also pretty entertaining as well. Eeyore had a lot of great, relatable lines, and Pooh had a number of fantastic lines as well. The line Pooh has of, “People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing everything day,” is one of the best single lines any character has had in any film I’ve seen. And all of the acting is incredibly solid and nostalgic, especially Jim Cummings returning as Pooh and Tigger. Although, for some reason his mic sounds worse than the rest of the cast. Ewan McGregor does a great job at both playing an adult and playing an adult that’s embracing his childhood. The film is nothing if not well-produced and well-acted to remind people of the good old days.
Featured image from IMDb
(07/22/18 1:00pm)
One of the most iconic games of the golden days of game developer Rare is Conker’s Bad Fur Day. A game that originally was another collect-a-thon with cute animals and wacky antics, Rare rebuilt the game and made it an M-Rated classic. People always talk about how deceptive the game was, with its cutesy Rare art style combined with well-endowed flowers, heavy drinking, and a reaper named Greg. Yet, the game made its intentions very clear from the get-go, with plenty of warnings for those who aren’t comfortable with its brand of humor.
(07/17/18 12:17am)
by Tanner Kinney
One of the most iconic games of the golden days of game developer Rare is Conker’s Bad Fur Day. A game that originally was another collect-a-thon with cute animals and wacky antics, Rare rebuilt the game and made it an M-Rated classic. People always talk about how deceptive the game was, with its cutesy Rare art style combined with well-endowed flowers, heavy drinking, and a reaper named Greg. Yet, the game made its intentions very clear from the get-go, with plenty of warnings for those who aren’t comfortable with its brand of humor.
I mention Conker, because The Spiral Scouts is a perfect successor in the line of cutesy-raunchy adventure games, complete with excellent puzzles, incredible music, a lovely art style, and an absolutely disgusting sense of humor that is a treat to experience. What else could be expected from the minds behind Huniepop?
Art like a pop-up book and music like Animal Crossing
The Spiral Scouts’ easily most defined feature (aside from its writing) is its art style. Inspired by classic children’s pop-up books, this game gives Paper Mario and Don’t Starve a run for their money in nailing the pop-up style. It’s pretty to look at, with many varied locations that are all well-defined. The scenery is pretty, and the areas that are used for puzzles all make it very clear what can and can’t be worked with, which is very helpful. It’s definitely lovely to look at, and there are plenty of cutesy characters that melt hearts until they start speaking. The only complaint is that usage of perspective, something Paper Mario does well with this art style, is very limited. The only times where things hidden behind objects come into play is with the collection quest for pubes. Yes, that’s real, and it’s really not that rewarding hunting them all down.
The part of Spiral Scouts that hopefully won’t be underrated is the absolutely incredible soundtrack. It has shades of Animal Crossing, with how the music changes depending on location and time of day but keeps common motifs between all parts of the soundtrack. There are plenty of earworms, particularly the theme that plays at nighttime in the Realm of Life or the daytime music in the Realm of Chaos. The genius composer behind the soundtrack to Huniepop, the unsung hero of that game, puts out even more fantastic work in this game.
The double-edged “sword” of raunchy writing
To contrast The Spiral Scouts’ cutesy cartoon visuals and dynamic soundtrack is the writing. From the deranged, degenerate and beautiful mind behind Huniepop is another game that isn’t afraid to swear and make darker jokes. Alcoholism, depression, erectile dysfunction, pirates and butts all play a key role in the first area of game, and it only gets weirder and raunchier from there. Most of the time, the jokes absolutely land and do their job well. The result of solving the puzzle with the moon boy had me laughing out loud for way longer than it should have. As a mature adult, I have no regrets at how many times the toilet humor made me laugh or how many times the jokes about anxiety made me rethink my life while laughing. It made talking to the colorful NPC’s to get hints to solve puzzles so much more rewarding, since there was generally a good joke at the end of the rainbow.
Yet, there are times when the humor gets excessive. Some people are capable of stomaching the constant barrage of raunchy jokes, and for the most part this game paces them out nicely between the puzzles, but sometimes it’s too much. By the end of the game I felt similarly to how I felt after finishing South Park: The Stick of Truth. The experience was enjoyable but probably not worth revisiting, especially after seeing everything there is to be seen. Additionally, for those who think themselves above toilet humor, this game likely isn’t for them either. In that way, the game’s writing is both its best asset and biggest weakness.
Despite all that, it’s still worth it to play for moments like when I spent a solid twenty minutes on a puzzle, had a bolt of inspiration on how to solve it, and yelled out, “Aha! I knew it! The answer is P-O-R-N!”
Unique, intelligently designed, and fun puzzles tie it all together
The most surprising part of The Spiral Scouts is how the actual puzzle-adventure part of this game is possibly some of the best in genre. The puzzles are unique, interesting, varied and, most importantly, logical. As long as the player takes the game’s advice and keeps diligent notes while solving the puzzles, each one feels rewarding to solve. There are times when the sheer ridiculousness of the instructions for solving puzzles becomes completely normalized while trying to solve them, which leads to looking over the notes that were taken and then giggling like an idiot. The difficulty of the puzzles also ramps up nicely, with the more challenging puzzles appropriately being at the end of the game.
As stated before, this game recommends the player to take notes. This is advice to be taken to heart, and as someone who has never really had to take notes to solve puzzles in most games like this, it was a breath of fresh air. There are so many puzzles in the game where just drawing a diagram of what’s right in front of one’s face makes it easier to solve, and that’s neat to see. Especially when compared games that tell the player to take notes, but the game is so easy it doesn’t matter at all (*cough* Omensight *cough*), this is a nice touch. My favorite puzzles in the game were the ones that involved elaborate diagrams and experimentation before they could be solved. It’s a lot more of a cerebral experience than the toilet humor of the game would make it seem. Perhaps that’s why the low-brow humor works so well in contrast with the intellectual puzzle solving.
That’s not to say every puzzle requires notes. Some are simpler than others, and a couple can indeed be solved just by hitting switches randomly. Those who can solve the completely illogical puzzles from old point-and-clicks might not be satisfied with this game’s puzzles either. Despite that, anyone looking for puzzles that are actually interesting and well-designed will not be disappointed with this game.
Images: YouTube, Steam
(07/13/18 9:00pm)
Marvel’s long-term plans led up to a really stunning and impressive film with Infinity War, where there were actual stakes, a threatening villain, and actions with consequences. Unfortunately, in an effort to not spoil the events of Infinity War, Disney-Marvel had to keep movies on schedule. Staying on schedule meant that, inevitably, the film to follow up Infinity War would feel like a step down on every level. Ant-Man drew the short straw, and got its sequel slotted not even three months after Infinity War.
(07/11/18 1:00pm)
By Tanner Kinney
Marvel’s long-term plans led up to a really stunning and impressive film with Infinity War, where there were actual stakes, a threatening villain, and actions with consequences. Unfortunately, in an effort to not spoil the events of Infinity War, Disney-Marvel had to keep movies on schedule. Staying on schedule meant that, inevitably, the film to follow up Infinity War would feel like a step down on every level. Ant-Man drew the short straw, and got its sequel slotted not even three months after Infinity War.
While Ant-Man and the Wasp can’t escape its fate of being pretty pointless and small compared to Infinity War, it’s still a good enough film that provides some good laughs and decent action despite its boring visuals.
A Paul Rudd comedy disguised as a superhero blockbuster
Don’t let the Marvel name fool you: this film is not actually a superhero blockbuster. Sure, it has action beats, it has punching dudes, and it comes out during the summer blockbuster season. That does not make this a superhero blockbuster. And that’s the most interesting part of this movie. If they had tried to follow up Infinity War in terms of action, this film would seem quaint and terrible by comparison, and admittedly sometimes it does. So they didn’t even try to compete there, instead leaning hard on the comedy edge that the first Ant-Man had thanks to the superstar at the lead: Paul Rudd.
Paul Rudd is absolutely fantastic in this film. He once again plays the dopey idiot that is Scott Lang so well, it almost seems genuine. This is a guy who is way in over his head, but loves his family, cares for his friends, and wants to just make himself a better person. He knows nothing about the science behind the suit, the stakes of the film, or even why any of what’s happening matters. He’s just some guy who wants to help his friends out, and Paul Rudd nails that aspect perfectly. The other characters try to joke around as well, but none of them have the comedic timing that Paul Rudd has, aside from maybe Michael Peña. It’s also great to see how he contrasts with the super seriousness of Wasp, Hank Pym, and Ghost. A particular favorite scene of mine is when three protagonists are captured by Ghost, and during some expositing by Laurence Fishburne, Scott receives a video call from his daughter, complete with obnoxious duck ringtone. It’s adorable, and Paul Rudd plays it off so well.
Unfortunately, not everyone does their job well. The trophy of trash goes to the Walton Goggins, who plays the throwaway villain who refuses to be thrown away in Sonny Burch. The character is not only useless to the plot, but also incredibly obnoxious. He serves as a joke villain that, while is perfectly fine during the opening parts of the film he was in, overstays his welcome hard. There’s a couple scenes in the middle of the film and the absolutely terrible car chase sequence at the end of the film where his character is just a waste of everyone’s time. He took a lot of valuable time away from Ghost, where actual character development could have been done for her beyond the straight five minutes of exposition that gets dumped on the audience half-way through the film. Additionally, not all of the jokes land, and the jokes that do fall flat do so in a spectacular fashion. At the very least, the Paul Rudd core of this film is incredible solid and hilarious to watch for good reasons.
Unimpressive visuals that disappoint
One of the biggest surprises of the original Ant-Man was how great the visual spectacle was in the film. The use of perspective and size was ingeniously done, and made what was an average Marvel film to be something so much bigger. Most of that cool usage of perspective from the first film, however, is said to be a leftover from when Edgar Wright was at the helm of the project. Now, with hack behind The Break-Up and Yes Man firmly at the wheel, how does it compare? Not well, considering Ant-Man and the Wasp is probably the most amateurish looking film since the inception of the MCU.
The cinematography in Ant-Man and the Wasp isn’t anything special, it’s all very standard Marvel film stuff. None of the scenes really stood out as a “wow” moment, like the final battle with Yellow Jacket or the first look in the quantum realm from the first Ant-Man. This film compliments its dull direction with CGI that’s sometimes okay, sometimes unnecessary, and sometimes absolutely god-awful. The final chase scene at the end of the film gets special mention for being especially terrible. The use of the size gimmick in this film was kind of neat at first, but then started to become overdone by the end of the film. It’s just not that great visually, which is disappointing.
Another very awkward thing within the film was how they did the dubbing of Ant-Man while he was both very small and very big. Particularly the scenes where he went huge were uncomfortable to watch. Instead of inspiring wonder, it inspired an image in my head of Paul Rudd sitting in a recording booth, reading lines off of his script inbetween sips of coffee. There were no adjustments done to the sound to account for the different perspectives. Shouldn’t a giant Ant-Man sound more imposing than a regular-sized Paul Rudd? It’s kind of a nitpick, but sound design not matching visuals is very off-putting in a film like this.
The pointlessness of it all
There are two ideas that follow Ant-Man and the Wasp for me. The first is that this film was set to follow Infinity War, and in that way, it stood no chance. No matter how good the film could’ve been, there’s no way it could properly follow Infinity War without feeling like a waste of time. The whole story is all very small-scale, and in terms of everything going on in the world during the events of the film (which was noticeably absent. Do these people just not watch the news?), Paul Rudd cracking jokes and making celebrity-insect name puns seems very small potatoes. The absolute joke of an "antagonists" that are Sonny Burch and Ghost also just seems like an insult after how amazing Thanos was in Infinity War.
The other side is that this film is not a follow-up to Infinity War, but rather to Ant-Man. In that case, the film still can’t escape feeling pointless. The first Ant-Man was a pretty standard film with amazing visuals that did its job in establishing the character. This film does nothing to develop any of the characters involved, other than reaffirming character traits we already knew about all the characters. With nothing new visually, nothing new character-wise, and nothing new in the grand scheme of things, Ant-Man and the Wasp can’t help but feel like a was just here as filler: no more, no less.
Featured image from IMDb
(07/05/18 8:37pm)
Disclaimer: This review is of the Nintendo Switch version of the game and was played primarily in docked mode. This copy of the game was provided free of charge by the developer for review purposes.
(07/05/18 4:47pm)
by Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review is of the Nintendo Switch version of the game and was played primarily in docked mode. This copy of the game was provided free of charge by the developer for review purposes.
When Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was announced for the PS4, long-time Playstation fans were both shocked and amazed. Finally, a developer was going to give Crash Bandicoot the love it was missing for so long since the IP was acquired by Activision. However, the more incredible thing is that for the first time, the entire Crash Bandicoot trilogy would be available on non-Sony platforms. Particularly, die-hard Nintendo fans could finally experience the trilogy on a Nintendo console. Aside from the fact that Nintendo has claimed the head of another former rival mascot (first Sonic, now Crash), portability for these games is also something that’s great to have in theory.
The Switch port has everything intact from the PS4 version, along with all additional content that was added after release but now with portable capabilities. It’s nothing too special, but for those who’ve never gotten to experience one of pioneers in 3D platforming, it’s a very good treat.
Presentation that defines how remakes should be done
Vicarious Visions, a developer with a long and storied history of making shovelware, handheld ports, and Skylanders, does some impressive necromancy reviving the long-dead Crash Bandicoot series. Considering the developer previously worked on the less-than-impressive GBA Crash Bandicoot games, it's clear that the developer's history with the series encouraged them to turn the remakes up to eleven. Each remake has impeccable animation, sound design and music that brings the beloved bandicoot back in a big way. Crash and Coco especially are incredibly well-animated, with tons of personality into their faces and movements. I may not personally be a fan of the Crash Bandicoot soundtrack, but it’s a pretty faithful recreation. Then again, that’s all the same from the original PS4 release of this title. What does the port add to the experience?
The main draw of buying the game is either not having played it before or wanting to play it portably on Switch. As someone in both of those categories, this port has a lot of value. The main drawback is how the game runs in portable mode. Although they put effort into making the game run as smoothly as possible, menus are slow and choppy, and the game runs at a lower framerate in portable mode. The game doesn’t necessarily feel worse to play, but it is noticeably worse looking in portable mode compared to docked mode. If that’s a dealbreaker, then it’s not worth buying again for those who’ve played the game on PS4. The experience is still definitely worth having for those who own a Switch and haven’t played the game before.
One great game, one good game with flaws, and one game that’s absolutely infuriating
The best part about the N. Sane Trilogy is the fact is contains three games for roughly $40-$60. That’s a pretty sweet value for those looking for some bang for their buck. It should provide plenty of game time, though some of the games are longer than others, and some games are artificially lengthened by their difficulty.
Each game is roughly the same platforming experience. Crash Bandicoot is a 2.5D series at its core, not really true 3D like Super Mario 64. The levels are a series of 3D corridors and “2D” sections, based more around getting through the level as efficiently and as cleanly as possible, picking up any collectibles along the way, rather than exploration. It’s a very welcome retro experience, and as someone who loves retro platformers but never played Crash Bandicoot, it’s an absolute joy to get to play these games.
Yet, the games are all fairly inconsistent, and especially as a whole package it’s obvious which games are newer than the others. Even if levels were selected at random from each game, it’d be pretty obvious which ones belong to which game based purely on level design. Here’s a quick overview of each game individually:
Crash Bandicoot: This game is a rollercoaster of emotions. There’s something that just feels wrong with how the game plays. It’s likely due to the fact that designing levels for a 3D space was a new thing, and things like precision platforming sections were still being done when the controls did not suit it. The game starts out pretty standard, but the player doesn't get very far before they are given difficulty spike after difficulty spike. Even those who are experienced with retro platformers will get curb stomped by levels in Crash. It’s frustrating to the point of madness, but it is also very satisfying when a level that has caused double-digit game overs is finally conquered. This game is not for the faint of heart, and I would actually recommend playing this one last, after getting accustomed to the Crash formula and general level design.
Crash Bandicoot 2: This game is the best of the three. It provides a reasonable challenge, a variety of good levels, and entertaining character moments that were missing from the first game. Some levels start to feel pretty samey as the game progresses (in particular, any of the sewer levels), but the game overall feels so much better to play than the first. If there was a game to start with of the three, it would be this one. Just trust that there isn’t much deep Bandicoot lore missed from skipping the first one.
Crash Bandicoot Warped: This game is another rollercoaster, but for different reasons. The traditional Crash Bandicoot levels are probably the best in the series, with plenty of branching paths and varying environments to make the game exciting to platform through. The platforming sections are probably the easiest in this game though, with game overs only occurring during the… non-traditional levels. The worst parts of this game come from the vehicle levels and the underwater levels. The underwater levels are okay but odd to play. The vehicle levels are a nightmare to control. The first jet-ski level is absolutely infuriating to control, and the second motorcycle level creates frenzies of madness not seen since the first game. Overall, this game is still very solid on its own.
In terms of how the game plays on Switch, it feels pretty great to play with the Joycons in handheld mode, and the D-Pad isn’t bad for the first game. The pro controller is much more fit to play these games when the system is docked. The d-pad on the pro controller is nicer for the first Crash, and the analog stick works better for Crash 2 and Crash 3. Again, it does feel slower in portable mode, but it’s not game-altering. The game is a perfect fit for the Switch.
The value of the port is the value of the port-ability
This game is still a port of a game that’s still a pretty fresh release. In a market where a majority of gamers either already own a PS4 and MAYBE have purchased a Switch recently, it’s a hard sell to say that this game is worth it for those who have already played it. This isn’t a case like Stardew Valley or Hollow Knight; the game doesn’t really benefit that much from the portability. In fact, the overall experience is worse in portable mode as a whole. That’s something to consider if buying the game again is something desired. Owners of both a PS4 and Xbox One probably don’t get much from buying the game twice either. There is value in buying the PC version, specifically to achieve 4K and 60 FPS. For the owner of a rig with the right specs, the game is pretty worthwhile to buy again.
For those who do not own the game on PS4, don’t own a PS4, or have never played Crash Bandicoot before, this game is an incredibly solid purchase that fits in with the line-up on the Nintendo Switch. It’s not even weird seeing these flagship Playstation games on a Nintendo console, Crash blends in pretty well with the Nintendo brand. Just, maybe skip portable mode for the Switch version. It’s cool to play Crash Bandicoot on the toilet, but maybe not optimal.
Images: WindowsCentral, Activision
