Doing some more catching up on stuff I missed on the forced Switch hiatus. Here's another Smash DLC character to look at. BACKGROUND:
Back during the game's launch, Rex (Xenoblade 2's protagonist) was essentially deconfirmed as a character, as he was demoted to a Mii costume when DLC was first confirmed. As someone who loved Xenoblade 2, I was gutted that we didn't get fighter representation for the game, and while I held out hope for the entirety of the first Fighters Pass, I was kind of resigned to the notion that we wouldn't get a second Xenoblade character. And then.... they announced a second Fighters Pass. With both Byleth and Min Min getting in, my hope was renewed for a Xenoblade character. As luck would have it, my hopes were fulfilled, and Pyra/Mythra were confirmed as the latest DLC additions. I found this unexpected, as I figured Rex would be the rep if Xenoblade 2 were to make it into Smash, but I much preferred this outcome, as I like the girls more as characters (plus, they're more the stars of the show than Rex is). It was also just hilarious to see Rex get robbed. Of course, we once again have the "anime swordperson" complaints, and with this being Xenoblade, we have additional "not a popular game, this doesn't need a rep" complaints. I know how this dance goes. There's nothing more I can say here other than "Jesus Christ, get over it." WHAT'S NEW: This time around, we're getting Pyra and Mythra, and they're a package deal. Their main gimmick is that they're like Zelda/Sheik from Melee, which means you can switch between them freely. Though their normals are practically identical, Pyra is slow but strong, and Mythra is speedy but doesn't do as much damage. The moves are standard sword character fare as well, but the ability to switch up your play style on a whim is more than enough to make things interesting. I love the stance change gimmick a lot, and it feels quite satisfying to switch out often and adjust my game plan accordingly. Pyra and Mythra have different specials from one another, and the moves are taken straight from their Blade specials of the original game. For the neutral-b, Pyra's Flame Nova is kind of like Incineroar's Darkest Lariat, while Mythra's Lightning Buster is a multi-hit charge move. Both characters' side-b are a lot of fun; Pyra's Blazing End is a fun projectile, and Mythra's Photon Edge is a stylish spin on Sephiroth's Octaslash. I like the up-b moves as well, as Pyra's Prominence Revolt is an explosive take on recoveries like Ike's Aether, and Mythra's Ray of Punishment is the rare instance of a projectile-based up-b (plus it looks cool). Mythra even has a charged variant called Chroma Dust that turns the projectile into a spread shot. Mythra has a special trait called Foresight, which functions like Bayonetta's Bat Within (a pseudo-counter that triggers during a last-minute dodge). I expected it to be a standard counter move, but the fact that it's just an innate property of Mythra's rolls/spot dodge was quite interesting to me. I wish they could retcon Shulk's Vision to work like that instead, and just give him a new down-b. Both characters also have a unique Final Smash depending on who's active, and it's their respective Lv. 4 Blade special from the original game. I was half-expecting something more spoilery for the Final Smash, so I was briefly taken aback by how standard these were. I thought what we got here was fine, and I do like that Rex gets to cameo in it. Overall, Pyra/Mythra may be my favorite character of the second pass so far. The stance change mechanic is really simple, but offers a ton of depth because of the girls having different properties, and both have really neat specials. I can see myself playing them more regularly because I think they're so much fun. I also like their costume designs for this game; due to the game's age rating, the girls can't exactly wear their original outfits, and I have to say that I actually prefer their look here compared to the original designs (and it's not just because I think leggings are hot). Per usual, we have a new stage, and it's the Cloud Sea of Alrest. It's a small stage where you fight atop the titan Azurda, and it also doubles as a traveling stage where you fly by the other titans. The most the stage has for a gimmick is Azurda's somewhat erratic movement, and while it's not the most exciting thing in the world, the occasional moment when he tilts his head and denies someone a recovery is amusing. I like the stage for what it is, and it's pretty much what I envisioned for a Xenoblade 2 stage. I also enjoy that Azurda comments on whatever's happening; that's a nice touch. We also get a bunch of Xenoblade 2 music along with the package. The game already had a few Xenoblade 2 tracks, but now we have more. Xenoblade 2's music is fucking phenomenal, and I couldn't be happier that we have more awesome tracks like You Will Recall Our Names. Most of all, I got my favorite track: Counterattack. Lastly, we have a new Classic Mode (which is all about fighting duos), new Spirits (only a few, because there were already a bunch of Xenoblade 2 spirits in the base game), and new Mii costumes (which seemingly deconfirm Monster Hunter, plus a hell of a Ghosts 'n Goblins shoutout). Again, the usual. VERDICT: Not only did I get exactly what I want in a Xenoblade 2 character, but that character happens to be one of the most enjoyable I've gotten to play in the entire roster. Along with a decent stage and more awesome Xenoblade 2 music, I'm a happy fan. -end -
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So... I'm three months late to the party. Back in December, my old Switch broke down completely, and it took me a long while to acquire a replacement unit. As such, I missed a whole bunch of stuff that came out for Switch, like Animal Crossing events, new Switch Online offerings, and new Smash Ultimate DLC. Today, I begin my quest to make up for lost time. BACKGROUND:
Sephiroth was the bombshell reveal back at the 2020 Game Awards, sending the Internet into a collective uproar. Given how much effort Nintendo had to go through just to get Cloud back for Ultimate, the idea of another Final Fantasy character seemed highly unlikely, so Sephiroth flying in was completely unexpected. Of course, you have the usual slew of complaining from the "ugh anime swordsman" crowd, but I'm quite OK with the fact that he made it in. After all, he's one of gaming's most iconic villains. Leading up to Sephiroth's release, they had a fun limited-time mode in Smash where you go into a special boss fight against Sephiroth. If you win, you got to unlock the character early (if you have the Fighters Pass). I unfortunately missed it since my Switch was bricked by that time, but I thought it was a cool idea. Also, Mario fucking "dies" in the trailer (again). That was hysterical. WHAT'S NEW: Our main attraction is the One-Winged Angel himself. He's got a big-ass sword (meaning long range), really strong normals (some of them are pretty quick too), decent mobility, and some neat specials. Apart from Shadow Flare (which is a neat spin on Mega Man's Crash Bomb) and Scintilla (a counter that isn't really a counter), Sephiroth feels mostly straightforward in terms of moveset. But it can't be DLC without some potentially busted gimmick, right? Well, Sephiroth's got one of those, and it's his One-Winged Angel form. It functions similarly to Joker's Arsene in that it's an install-style comeback mechanic, but instead of filling a meter, the form activates at a certain damage threshold (which varies depending on the current situation). Sephiroth doesn't get any new moves, but he gains an extra jump, super armor on his smashes, and everything basically just hurts more. I can't really tell how oppressive it is since I'm only playing with AI at the moment, but when it activates, the opponent has good cause to be afraid. All in all, Sephiroth provides the kind of ridiculous fun that only a hilariously strong character can, with some pretty lethal tools in his arsenal and a mechanic that makes you kind of afraid to damage him. The moveset is more or less standard fare for a sword character, but he does have some neat specials that I enjoy using a lot. Sword characters also tend to not have a very referential moveset (i.e. a lot of their normals are kind of just made specifically for this game), but Sephiroth does have a couple moves that reference FFVII (like the infamous downward stab). Unfortunately, his palette swaps leave something to be desired, but the shirtless alts are great. I was hoping Sephiroth's Final Smash would be his Super Nova move in the final boss fight (it's the one with an animation that takes like three full minutes), and while it's fast forwarded here, I did get what I want. That attack is over-the-top as hell and I'm glad that it's here. Sephiroth arrives along with a second Final Fantasy VII stage, and it's the Northern Cave, the area where the game's finale takes place. It's kind of a spin on the classic traveling stage, where the stage transitions from location to location. However, instead of being a simple tour of classic FFVII locations, the background plays out what is essentially the finale of FFVII (it is pretty much one big spoiler). The layout itself is pretty standard (it's just a slightly larger Small Battlefield), and I'm kind of over traveling stages at this point, but the stage looks pretty, and I like that the background is essentially telling a story. It is a little distracting, though. With a new stage comes new music, and holy shit, we now have more than two Final Fantasy songs. They don't add many more tracks, and the selection is exclusively FFVII, but I think we have a solid assortment here. JENOVA (a highly requested track) is in there, One-Winged Angel is there (of course), and some personal favorites of mine (like the main theme, Aerith's theme, and the opening track) make it as well. As much as I like the regular battle theme, I'm glad there's more variety to FF tracks now; perhaps playing on Midgar won't feel as stale with new tunes to listen to. As with every other DLC character, you get the usual DLC Spirits, Mii costumes, and a new Classic Mode. The Spirits are notable, as before this, Final Fantasy had exactly zero Spirits (other than Cloud's fighter Spirit). The Spirit battles, like always, contain neat references to the characters. As for the Mii costumes, we actually got costumes for other FFVII characters, like Tifa, Aerith, and Barrett, which is fantastic. Classic Mode is unique, as Sephiroth's route is essentially a boss rush. I wish boss rush were a proper mode, because Sephiroth's Classic Mode is so much fun. I don't recall any other big changes, but the most notable one outside of Sephiroth-related updates is the change to Cloud's Final Smash. If you're using his Advent Children alt, his Omnislash becomes Omnislash Version 5, which is the move he uses in the movie. Needless to say, it looks awesome. VERDICT: Sephiroth himself is a lot of fun, but I think the biggest win of this DLC is that FFVII gets significantly more love than it did during the game's launch. Brand new stage, new music tracks, Spirits, and even Mii costumes.... it feels like FFVII is well represented in Smash now. "Anime swordsman" complaints be damned, I'm glad Sephiroth made it in. - end - I felt compelled to read this immediately after watching the latest episode of Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Important note: I give away many significant story points in this entry, as I thought a lot of it was well worth talking about. Don't read on if you want to check out the comic for yourself. For the first time in three years, I bought games during a Steam sale. Here's one of my purchases. BACKGROUND:
Tomb Raider is one of the most popular franchises of the late '90s, and Lara Croft is one of the most iconic protagonists in all of gaming, so I've known about it since I was a child. With that said, I only have very vague memories of the originals on PS1 (which I don't remember playing; maybe I just watched my dad play or something), and I never even heard about the dozens of sequels the old publishers apparently churned out. I heard about a complete reboot back in the early 2010s (and was very interested in playing it), but I've never checked out any of the reboot titles until today. PLOT: Set in what I assume to be a completely separate continuity from the previous games, Tomb Raider 2013 sees Lara Croft in her first major archaeological expedition. Lara sets sail aboard the ship named Endurance in search of the fabled kingdom of Yamatai, a fictional island that's part of the Japanese archipelago. Unfortunately, disaster strikes, and the ship capsizes. Shortly after, Lara awakens on the island, separated from her comrades, and to make matters worse, the island is inhabited by deranged lunatics out to kill. Now, Lara must learn to survive on the island in order to save her friends, and on the way, she will learn the fascinating truth about Yamatai. Yamatai's history in this game is somewhat similar to the real-life Yamatai: it's an ancient kingdom ruled by Himiko, a queen who, in legend, possessed shamanistic powers. In Tomb Raider, the line between myth and reality is quite blurred, and as Lara explores the island, she'll come to realize that some of the supernatural bits of Himiko and Yamatai's story turn out to be true. Moreover, she'll discover that her expedition wasn't the only one to end up on Yamatai when the place faded into legend, and she'll unravel the mysteries of the people who arrived on the lost kingdom, including the island's current inhabitants. Overall, I found it a fascinating story, and I really liked the aspect of learning what happened to the expeditions that came before Lara's, especially because it goes across multiple eras (from ancient Japan to WWII, among others). Though you can glean a lot of the ancillary story elements from simply exploring the island (the game does environmental storytelling well), the details require you to find often missable collectibles like artifacts and documents. Given that Lara Croft is an archaeologist, the fact that you have to really look around to find answers works perfectly fine within the context of the game, but of course, not everyone is into that kind of storytelling. Lara Croft is obviously the star of the show, and she gets quite the origin story here. Her transformation into this absolute badass of a survivor was so satisfying to watch, and. I also love how she gets to showcase her archaeological acumen every time you encounter ancient ruins and such on the island. Her emotional journey is rather compelling as well, as she holds herself responsible for the disasters that befall her comrades and tries her damnedest to make things right. The other characters aren't as strongly characterized (one of them is pretty much a plot device for most of the game), but they had distinct enough personalities that played off of Lara decently well. A few of the characters have history with Lara prior to the expedition, but stuff from the past (including information on Lara's parents) are only ever briefly touched upon in the campaign. I would assume the rest of the trilogy takes the time to flesh a few of these things out. PRESENTATION: Though it came out in the twilight years of the PS3/Xbox 360 era, Tomb Raider's polished visuals can still hang with its more modern counterparts, even if certain aspects do show their age a bit. The visuals really shine in the game's more cinematic moments, and those moments are straight out of an over-the-top action movie. It never gets old to see Lara narrowly escape danger and leap impossibly far gaps. Lara's design has always been a point of controversy, and her look here strikes a balance between an homage to the classic look and something that isn't overtly sexual. Again, I'm not a stickler for this sort of thing, but I do like Lara's design in this game more than the old one. The soundtrack is pretty solid, with epic tracks for action sequences, and more atmospheric music for exploration segments. Overall sound design is decent as well (which is good, as audio does factor in a bit during gameplay), and the voice acting for most of the cast is excellent. GAMEPLAY: As a whole, Tomb Raider has aspects of many different game genres, but it is mainly a third person action-adventure game where you explore the island of Yamatai, solve puzzles to progress, and fight enemies. In terms of exploration, the island isn't quite an open world, but all the areas are connected in some way. Though the game is mostly linear, there's room in a lot of places to look around and find all sorts of secrets. There are also a few areas that are completely optional, but for the most part, it's a straightforward path to the finish. As you go along, you'll find camps that serve as save points as well as fast travel points, which makes revisiting areas easy. Although this isn't a Metroidvania, some previous locations will have locked areas that require an upgrade/tool from later in the game to access, which is neat. Traversing the island will require a bit of platforming (jumping, climbing, using zip lines), but few sections demand any sort of technical precision. Majority of progression is dependent on you solving the game's various puzzles (many of which simply need you to be observant of your surroundings), but a few of the more intense, cinematic sections involve quick-time events and fast reflexes. Though I would have probably enjoyed something more execution-based in terms of the platforming, I still think what they did here was fun enough. The big platforming sequences were certainly exciting. Next, you have the combat, which takes on the form of a third person shooter. Lara starts out with a bow, but will eventually acquire a pistol, a shotgun, and an assault rifle (with a grenade launcher attachment). The guns are pretty straightforward and have their uses, but I found the most fun in using the bow. It's incredibly satisfying to get headshots with it, and its upgrades (like the rope arrow and the fire arrow) give it uses outside of combat (mostly for puzzles). You also get a dodge and a melee attack with the climbing axe, which are quite helpful when you're getting overwhelmed. While you can certainly go into every fight guns blazing, the game highly encourages using stealth and killing enemies silently. The stealth mechanics aren't that complex; you automatically hide behind cover, and your silent kill options are a bow or getting close to an enemy. That said, you can do some neat things like distract enemies by hitting a wall or object with an arrow, or use environmental hazards like explosive barrels to take everyone out, but aside from that, there's not much to the stealth. I certainly would have liked more mechanics in this department, but again, what they had here was already quite enjoyable to me. Despite the relative simplicity of the stealth, clearing an entire room of enemies can be tricky, as they do more "human" things like have conversations with one another or keep each other in the line of sight. I love that the enemies acted naturally like that instead of just standing around; it made assassinating them one by one more satisfying because it really felt like I was getting away with it. There were moments that the AI kind of show their stupidity (some enemies don't really seem bothered about nearby corpses, for example), but despite those flaws, I think they did a fine job here. The game also has a bit of an RPG element to it. Most activities in this game (killing, progressing, finding collectibles, even shooting animals) gives you XP, and every time you level up, you get a skill point that you can spend on passive buffs. You can get a solid variety of skills, like combat-related buffs (more ammo, more health), stuff that helps with progression (XP boosts for certain actions), and even exploration-based upgrades (like all the secrets being marked on the map). I couldn't tell how bad the grind was since I was doing plenty of optional stuff in my playthrough, but it seemed that making progress in the story and completing most of the mandatory fights got you plenty of XP. There's also a minor looting/crafting mechanic in the game where you can collect salvage, which serves as currency. You use salvage to upgrade your weapons and make them stronger or more efficient. You can even find parts for your weapons to change them significantly, and doing so will unlock more upgrades for you to spend salvage on. Again, I can't really tell how bad the grind was because I went out of my way to collect shit, but it seems like collecting a lot of salvage requires quite a bit of exploring. The weapon parts also seem like they're random chance if you get them, but I honestly can't tell if that's the case or if they're acquired at specific spots. Of course, it's not Tomb Raider without some tombs to raid. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of optional tombs you can find, but those (along with various sections of the main game) feature a ton of neat puzzles. None of them are particularly difficult, but they all use a wide variety of mechanics, like burning stuff with your torch/fire arrows, pulling objects with the rope arrow, taking advantage of the wind, and even a few weight-based puzzles. I just wish there were more of the optional puzzle rooms, because I loved those a lot. There are a fuckton of collectibles to find, and some of them take a keen eye to find. Most of these collectibles help flesh out the story of Yamatai, and given what I learned upon finding them, they're worth looking for if you think the story is interesting. You also get XP for finding these things, so if you're committed to getting all the skill upgrades, you'll want to look out for these as well. Strangely, this game has a multiplayer component. I didn't mess around with it because it just looked like a run-of-the-mill team-based shooter. And given that this game is eight years old, I highly doubt it has an active playerbase anyway. VERDICT: I had a lot of fun with the Tomb Raider reboot. The bow was an incredibly fun main weapon, the stealth is satisfying, the puzzles were cool, the story was interesting, and this version of Lara completely won me over with how fucking awesome she is. While I definitely wish there were more of the things I liked about this game (like more of the optional tombs and more complex stealth), I think that only speaks to how much I enjoyed what it did have to offer. I'm definitely gonna play the rest of the trilogy now. Since I don't really have any nostalgic attachment to classic Tomb Raider, I can't really say if this is something longtime fans will enjoy. If you're not concerned about reverence to the older games, or are new to the series yourself, I highly recommend starting with this one. Here's the game on Steam: Tomb Raider on Steam (steampowered.com) - end - Can't talk, too busy gathering Monkey Knowledge. BACKGROUND:
One of my friends happened to stream this game one day, and while I liked what I saw, I was still on the fence about buying it. Eventually, my other friends who were watching ended up buying the game as well, and after watching their streams of the game (and waiting for a perfectly-timed sale), I bit the bullet. PLOT: Most of what you can call a "story" is limited to a couple of lines of text during the tutorial. The gist is that some evil balloons are invading the land, and it's up to a bunch of monkeys to stop them. Tower defense games aren't usually the most story-driven, so the story being that shallow doesn't really affect my overall opinion of it. Also, I just like the cartoonish absurdity of it; I mean, who the fuck is sending these balloons? PRESENTATION: Bloons has a bright and cheery art style with chibi cartoon monkeys, barely any shading, and not a black outline in sight. It's not really remarkable in terms of visuals (the style reminds me of a lot of mobile games, and I don't mean that statement to be derisive towards mobile games), but it does have a certain charm to it. The music is cheery and upbeat, but in games like this, I prefer to use my own playlists or to listen to podcasts, so I didn't really spend much time listening to the soundtrack. GAMEPLAY: Bloons TD 6 is a tower defense game. If you've never played one of those before (which I feel is unlikely if you know what Plants vs. Zombies is), the basic idea is to place towers that will damage the incoming enemies (in this case, balloons) and stop them from reaching the end of a map. In games like this, strategic placement and resource management will see you success, as towers cost money, and you only gain so much per round. Tower defense games live and die by the variety of their towers, and Bloons has a pretty diverse selection. You've got standard damaging towers, towers that cast debuffs (like slowing shit down), towers that lay traps, support towers that strengthen existing towers or help you earn more money, and even special towers that can move or can only be placed in certain terrain. Each one has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it's a lot of fun to figure out where to place them to get the most out of their abilities. The balloons you need to destroy come in many varieties, and they all have their weaknesses and resistances. You'll need to have a diverse lineup of towers to deal with tricky enemy types like the camo balloons (which can only be attacked by certain units), lead balloons (can resist regular piercing damage), and even full-on blimps. Although most normal modes have a set order of balloon types, there are some modes where the game mixes things up. What's cool about the towers in Bloons is that there's an upgrade system that allows you to further strengthen the towers you've already placed. There are essentially three upgrade paths, each with five tiers, and you can spend money to upgrade the tower to a higher tier and make them stronger. The game is balanced such that you can only have two paths open at one time per tower, and only one path can go past Tier 2 (and only one instance of a Tier 5 tower can exist per game). It's a mechanic that I really enjoyed, though the only drawback is that you have to grind to even unlock the upgrades for use in-game. Towers earn XP the more you use them in games, and XP is what you use to unlock the upgrades. Thankfully, it's a one-time purchase, but unlocking everything will take a while especially if you don't favor certain towers; in contrast, getting everything unlocked for your favorite towers won't take long at all as long as you use them regularly. Some of the upgrades for particular towers give you active skills instead of buffing the tower itself. These are skills you can activate at any time during a round, but they have a cooldown to prevent you from spamming them. It adds another layer of strategy that I didn't quite expect, and it makes some upgrade paths for certain towers worthwhile even if they don't function as your most efficient tower. Aside from the regular towers, you also have the Monkey Heroes, which are unique towers that you can only have one of per game. These heroes possess unique abilities and come with active skills, and they have their own leveling system that dictates when their attacks get stronger. They're certainly worth using and can turn the tide of a round depending on how early you place them, but I found myself not really relying on them too much. There are a couple dozen maps to choose from, each with wildly unique layouts, meaning you can't quite use the same strategy for everything. In addition, you can play each map on various difficulties, and there are a number of alternate game modes you can try to mix things up. You can play this game many different ways, and the amount of choice you have can be overwhelming at times. If the normal modes aren't enough for you, Bloons has daily challenges and event modes with unique gameplay changes to existing maps. You also get rewards from these alternate modes, like Powers (consumable power-ups). Perhaps the most surprising thing we learned about this game is that it has co-op multiplayer. Up to four players can work together to tackle a map, and it's a lot of fun to strategize with your friends. Everyone works mostly independently (each player has a designated area to place towers on in most instances, and everyone has a separate cash pool), but there's still a sense of collaboration, and you can also lend people cash to finance their towers. The game also has something called Monkey Money, which is the game's premium currency. You can spend it on various items, but the most significant use for it is buying new Monkey Heroes. Bloons isn't a pay-to-win game per se, but there are an unsettling amount of things that can only be acquired with Monkey Money. You can also acquire something called Monkey Knowledge, which can be spent on a global skill tree that permanently buffs your tower classes. It unfortunately takes quite a while to earn Monkey Knowledge, and some skills also require Monkey Money on top of Monkey Knowledge, but it's a cool system that rewards you for playing a lot. VERDICT: I haven't played a tower defense game in a very long time, and I'm happy to say that Bloons TD 6 scratches that very specific itch. There's a wide variety of maps and plenty of depth to the towers, lots of alternate modes, and the co-op is a really cool feature. It's a little aggressive with the grind and there's a bunch of microtransactions, but thankfully I can avoid most of that stuff easily. It's a solid game, and I'll be playing it for months to come. If you like tower defense games, Bloons is worth a try. Don't let its cartoony appearance deceive you; there's a lot of strategy underneath that surface. Buy Bloons TD 6 on a variety of platforms: - end - Falcon and The Winter Soldier premieres today, and I've got just the comic to commemorate the occasion. BACKGROUND:
Falcon is one of my "underrated" favorites in the Marvel Universe. I've always taken a liking to the fact that he uses actual wings to fly, and I thought having an animal sidekick like Redwing was awesome when I was younger. He's always been my go-to Captain America teammate ever since the beginning, so I was pretty excited to see him not only show up in the MCU, but eventually get his own show. I didn't know they wrote a new Falcon series after he became the new Captain America, so this is completely new to me. THE WRITING: Sam Wilson has reverted to his Falcon persona after the events of Secret Empire, and with the weight of HYDRA Cap still burdening him, he's decided to take on cases closer to home and help settle gang conflicts in Black communities. His latest excursion takes him to Chicago, and he attempts to negotiate peace with two warring factions. Unfortunately, things take a horrible turn, as Blackheart, the son of Mephisto, interferes and causes widespread chaos in the city. I've never really seen Falcon take on a supernatural threat before, so this story was a real treat. Along with that, they also involved Mephisto (a high caliber big bad) and Blackheart (one of my favorite Marvel villains). It was cool to see him fight from underneath, but he isn't alone here. He's got the help of his two proteges Patriot and the new Falcon (who took over the name while he was Captain America), as well as the assistance of Doctor Voodoo (classic Marvel sorcerer) and Daimon Hellstrom (also a son of the devil). Even Blade gets involved at some point, which is awesome. Though the themes of systemic racism are ever present in the book, the main focus is Sam Wilson's struggle to find his identity after the HYDRA Cap debacle. With a lot of his adult life influenced by or tied to the legendary Steve Rogers, who is he when Cap turns out to be a traitor (sort of)? Along with his efforts in mentoring Patriot and attempts to have a relationship with Misty Knight, Sam's got a lot on his mind, and I enjoyed reading about how he grapples with all these thoughts. Patriot is also a rather prominent character here, and you get to see his admiration of Falcon and his struggles at accepting his worthiness as a hero throughout the book. His relationship with Sam is the classic master-apprentice dynamic, but with a lot more banter, and a ton of mutual respect. THE ART: The style has a bit of a gritty feel to it, and a dark palette to boot, giving Falcon a look I've never really seen in other comics. I like the art a lot, though I can see its more subdued vibe not being for everybody. VERDICT: Falcon: Take Flight is an enjoyable story featuring everyone's favorite avian-themed hero. I like how we got to see the character in an emotionally vulnerable place, and I'm super thrilled that he gets to tussle with more supernatural threats this time around. It's definitely worth reading if you're interested in the Falcon character, and while the main story itself is sufficiently standalone, it kind of requires a bit of familiarity with past events (primarily, Falcon's time taking on apprentices). Check out the comic on Comixology: Falcon: Take Flight - Comics by comiXology - end - Why do I feel like I'm gonna get in trouble for mentioning that I played this game? BACKGROUND:
I've heard the name "Helltaker" thrown around before but never really knew anything about it. Looked it up on Steam, saw it was free, downloaded it immediately without reading anything else. PLOT: You play as a dude who goes to hell because he wants a harem of demon girls. That's it. That's the whole story. Shallow as the story may be, the humor more than makes up for it. Each of the demon girls has a distinct personality, and you get fun dialogue when you fail to romance them or when you access the "hints" feature of the game. It's not at all meant to be deep, but it's a fun, hilarious time, and for a harem story, it doesn't really come off as weirdly creepy. PRESENTATION: The main gameplay looks like a cutesy mobile game with chibi art, while the character art for dialogue screens fall into more of an anime style with a bit of a rough sketch quality to it. The game's palette falls more into the deep reds and black, and the gloomy vibe contrasts well with the decidedly cuter visuals. When I first saw the word "harem", I was immediately concerned over the designs of the demon girls. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong about skimpy designs, but designs like that (especially those that go out of their way to show a lot) tend to fall way outside my personal tastes. But in a fun twist, the girls are dressed in dashing corporate/business outfits, and I happen to find that incredibly attractive in real life. Each girl also has design elements that convey their defining personality trait/s or roles in Hell effectively, so they all get to be unique from a visual standpoint as well. Perhaps the main highlight here is the game's exciting, upbeat music. Each track gets your blood pumping, and it oddly fits well despite the gameplay being slower paced. Idling on each level was never boring because of how great the soundtrack is. GAMEPLAY: Helltaker's gameplay is a sokoban-style puzzle game. If you don't know what that is, it's that subgenre where you try to push boxes or blocks in order to clear a path to the finish line. In this case, your end goal is to reach the demon girl at the end of each level. In Helltaker, you have a limited amount of moves to solve each puzzle. If you move after hitting zero, your character dies and you reset. It's a simple yet effective way to make every level challenging, and each level also happens to have rather perplexinglayouts to boot. There's not much in the way of unique mechanics, but the game makes excellent use of the few mechanics it does have (like the spikes or the lock box). Once you reach the demon girl, you'll get a dialogue prompt where you attempt to persuade the girl to join the harem dating sim-style. There are only two choices, so there isn't really a challenge in that respect, but picking the wrong answer results in some funny dialogue from the girl. The game also has a "hints" system that you can access at any time, but it doesn't really give you anything substantial in terms of how to solve the puzzle. You mostly check it out for the funny dialogue. The game's final level is completely out of left field, as it's instead a reaction-based boss fight where you have to avoid attacks with the right timing. It's not that hard (I didn't think so, anyway), and I liked the idea, but I can see some players souring on this game after being caught off guard by how different (and tough) it is. Unfortunately, this game is dreadfully short, having only ten levels that I beat in less than two hours. It would have been cool if they made a full game with a ton of levels and all sorts of mechanics, but I appreciated the short and sweet nature of Helltaker. If you'd rather just see how the story plays out, you can actually just skip most of the levels. I'm not sure why anyone would do that, but hey, the option exists. VERDICT: Helltaker is a quick game with a humorous story, solid puzzle gameplay, delightful art style, funny (and cute) characters, and fantastic music. There's really not much I can hold against it other than its short length, but even that works in favor of its simple story. Even with the brief time I spent playing, the game left a great impression on me, and I wouldn't be opposed to replaying it for the sake of replaying it. You don't have to guess if this game is for you, because it is completely free to play. No strings attached, no microtransactions, just play the entire game for free. Go see if it's for you: Helltaker on Steam (steampowered.com) And in case anyone asks: Pandemonica is my favorite. - end - If you've been following this blog for the past three months, you've likely noticed that I've inundated the feed with dozens upon dozens of blog posts on games. I was able to play that many games thanks to a free subscription for Xbox Game Pass for PC. For those who are unfamiliar, Game Pass is a service provided by Xbox that allows you to play its wide catalog of games on-demand, all for a monthly fee. It's basically Netflix for games, if you think about it. The service has a console version available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X, as well as a service specifically for PC (which uses the Windows Xbox App). As someone who has never owned an Xbox console but was intrigued by the concept of Game Pass, I found the free sub to be a quite enlightening experience. Now, I want to evaluate what I thought of the service as a whole across a number of different aspects. Game Selection Game Pass on Xbox and PC have different offerings for their individual catalogs, but my evaluation here will apply in general. At first, I was overwhelmed by the amount of games on Game Pass, as there's literally over a hundred games you can play as much as you want, all for a modest fee of $10 per month (but in my case, I played for completely free since I redeemed a code). The selection is pretty diverse, from big AAA games like Resident Evil 7 and Doom Eternal, high-profile indies like Celeste and The Messenger, Microsoft exclusives like Halo's Master Chief Collection, and even a few niche or obscure games peppered in. The genres are pretty diverse, too, offering everything from shooters, RPGs, platformers, and more, and the games vary from recent releases to much older games. It may not be a catalog everyone will find appealing, but as someone who is always game to play pretty much anything, I was quite excited by the smorgasbord of offerings. The only thing I found more mind-blowing than being able to play multiple $60 games for a substantially reduced price was the fact that the catalog is constantly being updated. New games get added pretty frequently, giving players new games to try out. Occasionally, newly-released games get added to the service Day 1, which was how I was able to play games like Cyber Shadow and The Medium, which were both just released in January. The only drawback here is that some games eventually leave the service (with no guarantee that they'll return), but overall, Microsoft does a decent job keeping the catalog fresh while also maintaining some of the more popular offerings. My grand total after three months is a whopping 54 games played! Needless to say, I made the most out of this service, and even then, I still have games I want to check out that I didn't get a chance to. If you want the complete list of everything I've played, I've created a brand new blog category on the sidebar where you can check out all the posts I made for each game I played on Game Pass. The Xbox App For the most part, using the Windows Xbox App was a smooth experience, but one glaring issue I found was how save files were handled. I discovered that if your connection to Xbox Live is ever interrupted, the cloud sync is thrown completely off and the game can no longer read the save on your local machine. This thankfully happened to me only twice, but the fact that I had to consciously back up saves because of this weirdness was a bit frustrating. Most of the games themselves run fine, but there were a few that had annoying errors preventing me from playing it. On my first install, Battletoads was frozen on the "creating save" screen, and I had to uninstall/reinstall to get it to work. In another case, Tales of Vesperia had resolution issues, and I literally couldn't play the Windows 10 version because I tried to adjust it, which triggered a brand new bug that forcibly Alt-Tabs me out of the game every time I attempt to switch to it. I do hope whoever is in charge of vetting these Windows 10 versions address seemingly platform-exclusive issues like these. Region Locking I had to set my PC's region to US just to avail of this service. Region locking in 2021 is not fun, and there is no reason this service should be unavailable for international players. Xbox Live Just like in the console, many of the games on the Xbox App have Xbox Live integration, which means you can play multiplayer on supported games and earn achievements. Apart from a few games that strangely only have achievements on console and not PC (my gamerscore for Donut County is still 0 because of this), I liked that you can earn achievements through PC versions, too. For reference, here's my final gamerscore after three months of Game Pass PC. Subtract 1475 points (that was my gamerscore prior to starting the service). Final Thoughts
Game Pass PC isn't a perfect service, but the entire concept of it plus its actual catalog of games is more than enough to get me to consider paying for the service in the coming months. It's a service that feels tailor-made for a person like me, who likes to check out all sorts of games, and I was certainly able to check out games I never would have been able to play otherwise. I was able to play brand new releases I probably wouldn't have been able to buy until many months later, check out recent games that I missed out on because I couldn't afford them, and even finally explore games and series that I've been meaning to play for years or franchises that I was curious about but never really cared for. Whether or not such a service is worth it for you depends on how you value the Game Pass catalog as a whole (it's more than likely that you'll only be interested in playing a small percentage of the games being offered), but if you ask me specifically, this is definitely worth paying $10 a month for. A diverse selection of games that I can play on-demand, all for a fixed monthly fee? That has a lot of value to me. Of course, owning games outright is still the most ideal scenario, but in terms of my personal quest to play as many different kinds of games as I can, Game Pass is a valuable supplement to my gaming needs. Hell, this has singlehandedly given me a compelling reason to buy an Xbox Series X. - end - It took quite a while, but I've managed to make a whole 50 butterflies for my wall! I'm not sure this wall can fit 50 more, but I'll try to get close to that magic 100. DIFFICULTY: Some of the inside reverse folds and squash folds you'll have to do require quite a bit of precision. Aside from that, however, this is a pretty straightforward butterfly to make. INSTRUCTION SOURCE: This butterfly was designed by Jo Nakashima, who is one of the more popular origami artists of the past decade or so (at least from what I've seen online). You can check out the instructions directly from their website here. OTHER THINGS: If you check the instruction page above, you'll notice that there's a V1 and V2 butterfly. I made the V2 version, as it uses square paper, whereas V1 needs 2:1 paper (which takes an extra step to prepare). Appearance-wise, both versions look pretty much identical, so make whichever version you want. Jo Nakashima also has a YouTube channel, and you can watch the video for making the V2 butterfly here. Although I strictly prefer going off of diagrams when making origami models, videos like this do help with clearing up steps that I may not understand initially from the diagrams. THE WALL'S PROGRESS: - end -
Well, this is it. Three months of free Game Pass PC, and I've beaten as many games as I could. For now, this shall mark the end. I'll talk more about Game Pass as a service in a separate blog entry. BACKGROUND:
I haven't heard of this game until I saw it on the Game Pass catalog. The art style was sufficient enough to interest me. PLOT: The events of CrossCode are set within a fictional video game (the game within a game, if you will) called CrossWorlds, a super advanced MMORPG players all over the world play. It's so advanced, it uses futuristic augmented reality tech where game elements actually exist in physical space. The game itself is styled like most traditional MMOs, with character classes, party systems, dungeons, raids, and all the usual trappings, but with a more sci-fi flair. CrossCode focuses on a girl named Lea, an avatar within CrossWorlds who has no memory of her real life, and lacks the ability to speak. Aided by a man named Sergey, she plays through the main campaign of CrossWorlds in search of answers. Along the way, she makes some friends, and she gradually uncovers her past, and how it connects to CrossWorlds itself. I found the story super interesting, not only because the entire mystery surrounding Lea was quite intriguing, but how CrossWorlds itself figures into the whole plot. Funny enough, CrossWorlds has its own lore, and while it's a basic RPG plot, it actually has little to do with the main tale of finding out who Lea is. Rather, the more important thing about CrossWorlds are the behind-the-scenes aspects of the game, like the game studio behind it, real-life events that influenced the game's development, and the real-world people involved. The story takes quite a while to get going, and the pacing is quite uneven at points (Chapter 8 in particular was a dead stop, which I found quite glaring), but seeing how all those outside elements relate to Lea's past ended up being a fascinating tale. Despite not being able to communicate verbally, Lea is a solid protagonist, able to fully express her emotions (and communicate her kind, caring personality) nonverbally. Seeing her attempts at communicating with the other players she encounters is both charming and a bit heartbreaking to see. The big reveal about her past (and how she handles regaining her memories) makes Lea all the more compelling, and I really wanted to see what would happen next after I got to that point. The other characters aren't as fleshed out, but they have distinct personalities and serve their function as the foil to Lea's silence (and the source of exposition) well. Some of them are a bit over-the-top, but when you think about how these are real-life players turning up their personality in-game, it kind of makes sense. I enjoyed a lot of the interactions between the supporting cast and Lea; there's a good amount of humor, but there are also more serious emotional moments on occasion. PRESENTATION: CrossCode's visuals feel like they were ripped straight out of the mid-'90s, sporting a 16-bit aesthetic that reminds me of games like Breath of Fire. The game's sprites have significantly more detail and depth than the era the visuals are inspired by, and the polish is quite evident with the character portraits and the fluid animations. A lot of the game's designs are pretty inspired. The characters have a clear sci-fi look to them, there's a good amount of variety to the environments, and a lot of the enemy designs are weird in a good way. The music isn't as much of a nostalgia trip as the graphics, but nonetheless, I thought the soundtrack was great. There's a good mix of more somber tracks for emotional moments, upbeat battle themes, and ambient tracks for the dungeons, and I enjoyed listening to a lot of them. GAMEPLAY: As a whole, CrossCode is top-down action RPG (kinda like classic Zelda), but its gameplay can be split up into a few distinct parts: exploration, combat, and puzzles. Exploration is pretty straightforward. You get to explore a pretty large, interconnected world, where you can encounter enemies in the overworld, find secret chests, and get item drops by chopping down plants. Per usual, you'll find shops and trading areas, talk to NPCs who can give you quests, and even solve mini-puzzles to unlock other sections of the overworld. Though you'll mainly be walking around, there are plenty of opportunities to jump to and fro to explore the world. Unlike most games where jump is a dedicated button, you auto-jump onto low enough ledges and across small gaps. It's quite fun to explore the game this way, and there are plenty of platforming sections that take full advantage of the jumping, as well as areas with a surprising amount of verticality. Plus, a lot of the game's secrets are found by jumping about, so there's incentive to get on top of things. Lea's combat abilities consist of a swift, three-hit melee combo, a projectile that can be aimed with the right stick, a charged version of the projectile that can ricochet off surfaces, a front-facing shield that can block a certain amount of damage, and a quick dash/evade. It's pretty straightforward, but beneath the simple surface of the mechanics hides surprisingly deep combat. There are plenty of enemies to fight within CrossWorlds, and unless you're criminally overleveled, mindlessly mashing buttons isn't gonna cut it. Even the earliest enemies require a bit of thinking to take down, as many have quick attacks that can shred your health, or can only be attacked during brief windows or under certain conditions. Others still require you to inflict Break (basically a brief stun state) on them before you can hurt them. The conditions for inflicting Break also vary from enemy to enemy, giving you more things to think about in the heat of battle. Overall, the combat is the furthest thing from a pushover, and shit only escalates once you encounter gauntlets where you have to clear an entire room of enemies, or the game's assortment of bosses (more on that later). Progression is straightforward as well, with XP earned via battles or through completing side quests. Not only do your stats increase when you level up, but you also earn what's called CP, which you can spend on your skill tree. In the skill tree, you can unlock all sorts of things, like stat increases, passive buffs, and new abilities called Combat Arts. There are four Combat Arts, one for each basic ability (Melee, Guard, Dash, and Throw AKA projectile). These are usually powerful attacks that require SP and a lengthy charge-up to use, and they are quite helpful in fights. There are also multiple levels of Combat Arts, with higher levels requiring more SP to use. Another standard RPG element that exists in this game is gear. Lea has five equipment slots, and you'll be able to buy stuff for all five slots in the game's many shops. Alternatively, you can trade in item drops you get from plants or enemies and get gear that way, but with how the item drop system works, you'll be grinding a lot for the good gear. The game has a mechanic where you are more likely to get rarer drops the more enemies you kill in quick succession, but that obviously requires you to seek out a lot of fights. You can also acquire consumables the same way you get gear. Again, it's mostly standard stuff, like healing and temporary buffs. Given how challenging the combat in this game can be, you definitely want to consider having some of these handy. I say this because I'm a stubborn asshole who usually refrains from using such items, and that mentality only got me so far. As this is an MMO (in-universe), you have opportunities to party up with the supporting characters in the story. This mechanic is largely inconsequential and is only really helpful when exploring (as they can take aggro away from you in fights), but I thought it was a neat touch that you could team up with people. In order to progress the story, you have to take on the game's seven main dungeons. Not only do the dungeons give you the keys to unlock new areas, but they also unlock new sections of your skill tree. More importantly, you acquire what is perhaps the game's most interesting mechanic: elemental abilities. By default, Lea has a "neutral" mode (i.e. no elements), but once you clear dungeons and acquire the elemental modes, you'll be able to switch between the Heat, Cold, Shock, and Wave Modes. Most enemies have elemental weaknesses and resistances, and if you want to be effective in combat, you'll want to take full advantage of this. In addition, staying in one element mode leaves you vulnerable to an opposite element (e.g. you take extra damage from Heat-type attacks when you're in Cold Mode), so that's another thing to worry about during combat. While it sounds appealing to stay in a particular element mode, the game has a mechanic called Element Overload that prevents you from sticking to an element. As you perform attacks while in an element mode, a meter fills up. If it fills all the way, you enter Element Overload, and you are forced back into neutral mode. You won't be able to switch back to another element mode until the cooldown expires. It's an interesting way to balance the elements, but in practice, I found it to be a bit much given how quickly the Overload meter fills up. Each element mode also has its own separate skill tree, each with its own set of Combat Arts and such. There are plenty of unique Arts across all four elements, and the best part is that you can switch up the Arts you want to currently use freely. The elements aren't just used in combat; they're your primary puzzle-solving tool in the game's many dungeons. Each dungeon is absolutely massive and filled with challenging puzzles, and they all feature a ton of mechanics that have all sorts of unique interactions with your elemental powers. You have sliding block puzzles, angling projectile shots into switches, freezing or evaporating water, activating circuits with Shock... there's an impressive amount of variety here, and I am quite delighted by it. I was also astounded by both the amount of and the difficulty level of the puzzles in each dungeon, to the point that I felt overwhelmed at times. I can see this aspect causing a considerable amount of fatigue for many players, especially those who aren't really into puzzles. I feel like they could have paced the dungeons better and cut down on the amount of puzzles in the game, as even I (a person who is all about puzzles) got quite exhausted by the tail end of a lot of the dungeons. It's particularly bad in Chapter 8, which, for some reason, makes you go through three full dungeons pretty much in a row. If the puzzles aren't enough, each dungeon also has a bunch of tough combat-related challenges for you to contend with. Some of the fights are puzzles in themselves, integrating puzzle mechanics you've learned throughout the dungeon and using them as the enemy's kryptonite. I found this aspect both quite engaging and frustrating; on one hand, combat is made super interesting, but on the other, these types of fights really push one's multitasking abilities. Of course, it's not a dungeon without a boss at the end, and holy shit, a lot of these bosses will kick your ass. In true Zelda fashion, many of the fights will require you to use your newly-acquired knowledge and abilities in order to take the bastards down. The fights can get a bit frustrating, but if I learned anything from 120+ hours of playing Hollow Knight, it's how to be patient and learn boss patterns. The bosses are tough, but they're not unbeatable. It definitely helps to have good gear or to have a high level, though. If all my talk of difficulty or challenge has you worried, fret not, as CrossCode has an Assist Mode that allows you to lower certain aspects of the difficulty. In terms of combat, you can lower enemy damage and enemy attack frequency; from what I can tell, these do make a difference, but they don't outright trivialize fights, as you still need to make the effort to damage the enemies. You can also lower the speed of timing-based puzzle elements, and oh boy, it is a godsend. Many of the puzzles in the dungeons are timing-based, and some of the timing windows can be downright cruel. You should definitely lower this at the start; it doesn't make the puzzles easier (you still have to actually figure out the puzzle), but it makes them more lenient. Though I mainly focused on the story, there's some optional stuff you can tackle, like a smorgasbord of side quests, the Arena (a combat-focused challenge mode), finding secrets in the overworld, or just the traditional "minmax the shit out of your gear and stats." And if the main game isn't enough, you can try New Game Plus. VERDICT: While certain aspects of the game like its pacing don't sit well with me, I thought CrossCode was a fantastic experience overall. The story was fascinating, and the combination of the deep combat, fun exploration, and complex puzzles provided a solid amount of variety and a hefty amount of challenge. This game pretty much flew under the radar last year, and given how it excels in many departments, it's kind of a shame that it's not more known. I highly recommend this game for people who want an action RPG experience that both scratches the SNES-era nostalgia itch and the aforementioned challenge and variety in both combat and puzzles. I can see elements like the difficulty of combat and the amount of puzzles being a reasonable point of frustration from some players, however, so take that into consideration if that's a personal concern of yours. Of course, you don't have to take my word for it, as CrossCode has a free demo! Find out for yourself if it's a game for you and download the demo via the Steam store page: CrossCode on Steam (steampowered.com) - end - Origami can be a delicate art, but in this case, I had to be extra delicate. DIFFICULTY: This is another spin on the usual waterbomb base butterfly, and its initial construction is similar to that of Chapter 41's butterfly. Compared to that, this one is on the easier side in terms of the folds you have to perform. Shouldn't pose too much of an issue for beginners. INSTRUCTION SOURCE: Yep, it's another one from Klaus-Dieter Ennen. Like I said, they had plenty of butterfly models, and I'm trying my hand at making most of them. Check the instructions here. OTHER THINGS: I used a spare table napkin to make this model, and while it isn't particularly fragile, I still had to be cautious with making creases and such. Folding napkin paper/tissue paper isn't all that different from using more standard paper, but there is still the obvious risk of tearing especially if the paper isn't that thick. This is only tangential, but napkin folding (like the ones you see for cloth napkins at fancy restaurants) is a pretty fun subgenre that's worth exploring if you're into origami. You can pull off some of the models with paper napkins, too. THE WALL'S PROGRESS: - end -
I think I've exhausted all the colors I had available in my pack of construction paper. I've now been resorting to repurposing unused paper to make these butterflies. DIFFICULTY: Nothing about the construction of this butterfly is hard at all in terms of folds. Most beginner-level folk can make this with no issues, I think. INSTRUCTION SOURCE: This is another one I learned from Klaus-Dieter Ennen. Here are the instructions from their website. OTHER THINGS: Ennen still has a whole bunch of butterfly diagrams on their website, so expect the next few additions to the wall to be of their design. THE WALL'S PROGRESS: - end -
Falcon and The Winter Soldier premieres at the end of this week, so I'll keep the hype going by reading more comics that feature Captain America. BACKGROUND:
Civil War was one of those comics my friends and I talked about a lot back in grade school, so I know quite a bit about it. That said, it's been an incredibly long time since I've read it in full, so I'm going into this with a semi-fresh perspective. THE WRITING: After a tragedy involving the New Warriors kills hundreds in Stamford, Connecticut, the superheroes in America are being pressured by the government and the public to hold themselves accountable. The pressure culminates in the creation in the Superhero Registration Act, which essentially makes heroes public servants, but with the tradeoff of their freedom to act and the luxury of secret identities. The heroes are rather split by this development. Some agree with public opinion and recognize the glaring issues with operating with zero oversight, while others fear that the act not only threatens their personal lives but is also a recipe for the government to use them as soldiers. A few parties, like the X-Men and Doctor Strange, remain neutral; the former is all too familiar with being persecuted for being heroes, while the latter has essentially gone full Watcher and thinks he shouldn't interfere. The battle lines are drawn pretty quickly. In one corner, you have the pro-registration team led by Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, and Hank Pym (currently Yellowjacket). These three in particular work close with SHIELD and the government to both quell resistance and reform superhero activity, developing maximum security prisons and launching initiatives to spread out heroes across all fifty states. On the other side, you have the opposition led by Captain America, who are actively resisting arrest while still trying to help others on the way. Everything kicks off in short order, with lots of big moments throughout. Pivotal battles cause people on both sides to question their actions, or even defect, with the likes of Spider-Man going from one side to the other after witnessing a brutal death. The pro-registration team escalates in increasingly terrifying ways, like employing the Thunderbolts and a clone of Thor (the real Thor is still dead because of Ragnarok at this point) to help round up the resistance. On the flip side, the anti-registration team struggle against overwhelming odds, going as far as to team up with the likes of The Punisher to have a fighting chance. There are a lot of gray areas to go around for sure. Overall, I think Civil War is one of the most interesting superhero stories I've ever read. The political debate of freedom vs. security meshed well with classic superhero action. Neither side is portrayed as 100% right, with both having sensible perspectives but also doing highly questionable things to further their cause. The neutral parties and the people who change sides also have sensible reasoning to their choices, adding a bit more depth than the typical dichotomy you might expect from a story like this. My only gripe is that the comic's brisk pace doesn't really give the debate much room to breathe. The pacing goes as far as to make the story feel rushed at points, with the conflict escalating to surprising degrees in short order. It feels as though both sides just immediately hate each other right out the gate, and the book seemed antsy to just get to all the punching by the end. One of the biggest "complaints" I heard about the Civil War movie is how it didn't have a lot of heroes. While the inner child in me is excited at the prospect of everyone beating the shit out of each other, I'm not sure having this many heroes was as crucial to the story as other people think it is. Reading this as an adult, I found myself noticing characters in the background who are on one team, but you never really get to see why they chose the side they're on. I suppose having this many characters helps get across the scale and impact of the Superhero Registration Act, but from a narrative standpoint, the book doesn't really take full advantage of the cast by exploring the perspectives of more than a handful of characters. THE ART: The style leans towards a realistic look, and it looks fantastic. The detailing is impressive, the shading gives everything a lot of depth, and the action looks spectacular. The color palette is a little subdued for my taste, but other than that, I really like the art. VERDICT: Although I have my issues with some of the narrative choices, Civil War remains one of the most impactful comic stories for me, as it explores a classic debate rather effectively within a superhero lens. There were plenty of big moments, interesting character interactions, and the resulting aftermath of the events led to some solid storylines afterward. Revisiting the story as an adult also allowed me to appreciate the story even more, and I got to fully appreciate the themes it was trying to explore (even if it falters in execution at times). I would argue that Civil War is essential reading given how significant it is within the world of comics, so I think people who are interested in comics should read this book at least once. If you're simply curious between the many differences between the comic and the movie, that works, too. Either way, do be wary that Civil War has way too many tie-in comics that you have to seek out to get the full picture of the story. Here's Civil War on Comixology: Civil War - Comics by comiXology - end - Throughout the course of this project, I have learned how to say "butterfly" in six different languages (excluding the two languages I speak fluently). Today, I add a seventh language to the list: German. For reference, here are the words I've learned:
DIFFICULTY: The only particularly challenging bit I encountered while making this butterfly were the few outside reverse folds required to shape the wings. Other than that, most of the construction involves rather basic folds. INSTRUCTION SOURCE: This was designed by Klaus-Dieter Ennen from Germany, and I got the instructions from their website. OTHER THINGS: I think this butterfly would look great if you use paper with different colors on either side. Consider that if you want to make this one. THE WALL'S PROGRESS: - end -
Butterflies come in all sizes, even in origami. DIFFICULTY: Apart from a few tricky squash folds, this is a decently easy butterfly that isn't too complex in terms of folds but still requires a good level of precision to make. It's not quite beginner-level, but if you already have a bit of experience making other models, you should be OK. INSTRUCTION SOURCE: This was designed by a Malaysian fellow named T.P. Kong, and I got the instructions from their website. Here's a link. OTHER THINGS: This model is pretty compact. I used a square made from A4-size paper and the final product ended up substantially smaller. Consider using bigger paper if you want a larger butterfly. Also, given how compact it is, the paper can get considerably thick at certain spots. Be wary of using thicker types of paper when making it. I was pleasantly surprised by this model. Not only does its considerably smaller size set it apart from the other butterflies I've made so far, but it's also the second model here that has antennae. I love little flourishes like that in origami models. Also unique is how the butterfly's construction starts out with a crane base, which (if I recall) is also pretty uncommon across all the designs I've encountered. THE WALL'S PROGRESS: - end -
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