This is not a prank; we're doing this again. THE THEME: Because it's April Fool's Day again, I thought it'd be fun to revisit this theme, which I did for April 1st a couple of years back. For the uninitiated, this theme is based on a bit of wordplay with the title: I have five comics here specifically written for kids. THE COMICS: ![]() ITTY BITTY MASK #1 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Writers: Art Baltazar, Franco Artist: Art Baltazar The legendary mask finds its way into the possession of Herman Shazbert, a zookeeper who bought it as an anniversary gift for his wife. And as with any story involving this mask, chaos ensues when people put it on and transform into the green-faced lunatic. Thankfully, this is a kids' comic, so no murders occur and no crime is involved; it's mostly just Grandma Shazbert going nuts as The Mask and pampering her grandkids in the most over-the-top manner possible. ![]() DIANA: PRINCESS OF THE AMAZONS (WONDER WOMAN DAY 2021 SPECIAL EDITION) Publisher: DC Comics Writers: Shannon Hale, Dean Hale Artist: Victoria Ying This is the first chapter of a graphic novel that features a young Diana who's struggling to find her place in Themyscira, as she's pretty much the only kid there and can't really participate in what most of the Amazons are doing. With her mother too busy being the queen, all Diana wants is a friend, and she might just get her wish. Kind of a sad premise, but I suppose many kids might be able to relate to the situation. ![]() ANIMAL JAM #0 Publisher: Dynamite Writer: Fernando Ruiz Artist: Fernando Ruiz Apparently, Animal Jam is one of those online games for kids (something like Club Penguin, but this seems more educational), and this is a comic adapting that. The game is set in the land of Jamaa, which is inhabited by talking animals. This comic follows Clover, a rabbit who is new to the place, and every other character dumps exposition on her explaining all the basics of the story, including the presence of Phantoms, evil creatures bent on ruining the peace of Jamaa. ![]() THE SECRET SPIRAL OF SWAMP KID (HALLOWEEN COMICFEST 2019 SPECIAL EDITION) Publisher: DC Comics Writers: Kirk Scroggs. Meg Cabot Artists: Kirk Scroggs, Cara McGee This comic features an alternate, kid version of Swamp Thing named Russell Weinwright, and we get an amusing journal-style look at his everyday life complete with the spiral notebook aesthetic and neat-looking doodles. I'm pretty interested to see his origin (which they hint at by the end). Also included in this comic is a preview of Black Canary: Ignite, written by the author of The Princess Diaries, which has a young Dinah Lance aspire to become part of the Gotham City Police Department. ![]() ITTY BITTY HELLBOY #1 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Writers: Art Baltazar, Franco Artist: Art Baltazar This is a series of shorts featuring everyone's favorite demon in silly, kid-appropriate adventures with his BPRD friends. My favorite bit is the one where Johann Kraus (who is normally a ghost trapped in a suit) accidentally sneezes himself out of containment. The comic also comes with a preview of The Star Wars, a comic adapting the original screenplay George Lucas wrote for Star Wars. It's quite different from what the movie turned out to be, so I would really like to read it. Checking out the super cartoony art styles of comics made for kids is perhaps what I enjoy the most about reading them, and I thought most of the art I encountered here looked great. And while the stories themselves don't really have someone like me in mind as the target audience, I can still appreciate some of the humor and the wholesome vibe. PANEL OF THE WEEK: - end -
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This game sat in my backlog for a lot longer than it should have. BACKGROUND:
I didn't hear about this game at all until a good friend of mine streamed it for the friend group on Discord to show it off. I recall finding the gameplay intriguing at the time, so I put it on my Switch wish list. I forgot about it for a while, then months later, the same friend who introduced us to the game insisted that I play it on PC. PLOT: The game starts out strange off the bat, as it straight up asks you, the player, whether or not you wish to accept immortality. Saying yes kicks everything off in proper, as you assume control of Red, a wooden doll who wakes up in the middle of the forest. Shortly after, the Blue Thief steals Red's arm, and you give chase in an attempt to retrieve it. Things get weirder after a pivotal encounter against Gold Pig, the creature in possession of your arm, as a bizarre sequence hints at the fact that nothing is as it seems in the land of Everhood. You are then whisked away to the Cosmic Hub, a nexus of doors leading to different areas of Everhood. You'll have to explore every door as you go on your way to retrieve your arm, and along the way, you'll meet quite the cast of quirky characters. Eventually, you'll regain your arm from the clutches of Gold Pig, and it is then that the true nature of Everhood is revealed, and what Red is actually meant to do within it. It's pretty dark and is tied to themes of mortality and existence. You know, classic kids' stuff. It's at this point that you are free to pursue a variety of endings. One of them is silly, requiring a substantial amount of time to complete something incredibly tedious, while another is a sort of Easter egg that requires you to accomplish a bunch of side quests beforehand. In terms of being a conclusion for the story, however, I wouldn't look to these ancillary endings as definitive. Two of the endings are directly tied to what you do upon the revelation of Red's purpose. You can choose to carry out the deed, or you can refuse. Either way, it's quite the moral dilemma, but I am told that the former is the "true" ending. Regardless, you'll face challenges in pursuit of your goal, and things only get weirder from this point. It's at this point where the game kind of loses me, since it throws in all sorts of reveals on top of the one you've just had to reckon with, and the game's penchant for ethereal, disembodied voices runs its course (I personally didn't really see the point in being esoteric this deep into the game). Some may also describe bits of dialogue as pretentious (especially all the bits about "Absolute Truths" and other similar talking points). I can see how it can feel that way since some of that dialogue doesn't really contribute to the main narrative and just seems to be there to make you ponder either your existence or what's really going on in the game. Personally, I wouldn't go that far to say something as derisive, but I will say that I totally understand how some of this dialogue would put some people off. Something I found off about the true ending is how the game goes out of its way to convince you that it's the only way and how it's the right thing to do, despite very clearly presenting the dilemma that comes with it. Seeing the ending through makes it seem like it all works out in the end, which I guess feels nice, but I think I would have liked it better if they made it really feel like a difficult, but necessary choice to go through with the true ending (whether by adding more weight to the actions you take in pursuit of the true ending, or by making the circumstances of the opposite ending more dire). Gripes aside, I did really like what they were going for with the story. I don't know if this game was directly inspired by Undertale or not, but it shares a similar theme of putting the lives of the NPCs in the player's hands and exploring the in-universe moral repercussions of your actions. Some may write it off as derivative, and I would disagree. It's pretty distinct from Undertale in that there's an actual moral dilemma that's presented, whereas Undertale leaves you to your devices and shifts the narrative according to the sum of the decisions you make. I thought most of the characters in the game were memorable in one way or another, whether it's because of their humorous dialogue, distinct personality quirks, or how they react if you choose to go for the true ending. Again, it's the same vibe as Undertale where you have a cast of rather cartoony characters who occasionally get into wacky situations, but the story gets much heavier than a fun little romp. However, I will say that I wasn't really invested in these characters, which diminishes the impact of the game's big moral dilemma a little bit. PRESENTATION: Everhood goes old school for its visuals (or perhaps takes another page from Undetale's playbook), taking on an 8-bit pixel art style for its environments and character sprites. I wouldn't call the style fully retro, however, as there's an impressive amount of detail (especially for the characters) and lots of flashy visual effects. The character designs are all quite distinct, and the effects can get real trippy. Some of the more psychedelic moments should have honestly been toned down since they were slightly disorienting during gameplay, but apart from that, I liked what the game was doing visually. Music is easily the game's strongest aspect in this department, as nearly every track is a banger. Every battle has a unique theme, and not only are they so enjoyable I found it worthwhile to listen to them again, the tracks overall encompassed a surprisingly wide variety of genres. You have some jazz-sounding tracks, a bunch that had a techno/electronic vibe, and even tracks that touched on genres like rock or flamenco. Having all this great music to accompany the gameplay with made my playthrough an absolute delight. GAMEPLAY: At first glance, Everhood looks like one of those top-down adventure games where you walk around, explore, and talk to NPCs. For the most part, that is what you do. However, you can also get into battles against a variety of characters, and that is where Everhood stands out in terms of gameplay. I would describe battles in this game as a reverse rhythm game. Similar to typical rhythm games like Guitar Hero, you have a set of five lanes where the "notes" will travel through, but instead of timing button presses to hit those notes, you're trying to avoid the notes bullet hell-style. You can dodge these notes (which are how the enemy attacks, and yes, they are timed to their theme) by moving your character from lane to lane, or by performing a short hop (some attacks can't be jumped over, though). If you get hit, it's not the end, as you have some HP that lets you take some hits, and you can regenerate HP if you manage to avoid getting hit for a few seconds. You can adjust the difficulty of battles whenever you want, and this will adjust HP count and regeneration rates accordingly, among other things. I played on Normal, which I found sufficiently challenging in that a good number of fights took me a few tries to clear. Clearing fights is typically about surviving the onslaught of notes until the song ends. Dying feels pretty rough, since you'll naturally have to start over from the beginning of the song. Some fights have multiple phases, and those thankfully have checkpoints. In my experience, quick reaction time can only get you so far, and it takes some trial and error to get the note patterns down. That said, some of the fights have note patterns that border on absurd, as there seems to be only one or a couple of specific ways to avoid getting hit. I found this odd (and sometimes frustrating) since most battles give you a bit of leeway to dodge however you feel most comfortable instead of forcing you to conform to a specific movement pattern. At some point, you'll gain the ability to deflect notes back at the enemy, and be able to clear fights by getting their HP down to zero. Here, the color of the notes matters, as in a few fights, only one color type can be deflected. Majority of the fights, however, require you to deflect two notes of the same color before you can retaliate with an attack of your own. Enemies take a good amount of hits before they go down (at least on Normal), and it's not as easy as it looks to get your hits in. Deflecting attacks while also dodging is a tough juggling act, and finding an opening on top of that adds an extra wrinkle of challenge (since incoming notes can block your shots). Sometimes you have to deal with a barrage of black notes, which cannot be deflected, so you'll have to survive that before you get to the section of the song with colored notes you can use to attack. There's actually no guarantee that you'll be able to defeat an enemy, since it's entirely possible that the song ends before you can do enough damage. If you're adamant about beating them, you'll have to start over, which can be frustrating, but it's an interesting challenge nonetheless that you must capitalize on as many openings you can find as possible. If you enjoyed the game's battles so much, you can conveniently replay them from the main menu (and even get yourself on the leaderboards). And if even that isn't enough, then you're in luck, because you can access Custom Battles created by many talented community members. I did not mess around with this feature too much, but it's awesome that there's a way to make your own battles and play what seems to be an endless amount of levels. Completing the true ending unlocks New Game+, which is actually worth playing since you can run into another ending. And on the subject of endings, nearly all of them are worth going for since you'll encounter unique fights. VERDICT: I really enjoyed Everhood's unique gameplay, which makes great use of its phenomenal soundtrack to deliver a challenging, one-of-a-kind rhythm game-bullet hell hybrid. And while the story had the tendency to go off the rails at certain points, I thought that discovering the nature of Everhood and the moral dilemma of your role in it leads to an interesting exploration of mortality. I'm quite glad I had the opportunity to play this game. If anything about the story intrigues you, or the gameplay sounds unique to you, I think you should indulge your curiosity and check this game out. It's got difficulty settings to accommodate both people who just want to check out the story or want a formidable challenge, as well as a surprising amount of replay value between the multiple endings and community-created content. And did I mention that the soundtrack is great? Here's the game on Steam: Everhood on Steam (steampowered.com) The soundtrack is on Spotify, and is split into three albums: - end - The month is almost over, so here's one more of these to send us off. THE THEME: You read the title. You know the drill. Today's selection of five female-led comics are all published under the Berger Books imprint, which is a part of Dark Horse Comics. Berger Books is overseen by none other than Karen Berger, a longtime veteran of the industry whose editorial contributions in DC Comics led to the creation of Vertigo, the mature content-focused DC imprint that produced such legendary titles as The Sandman, Hellblazer, and more. Needless to say, Karen Berger is a pretty important figure in comics. I thought having the Berger Books imprint be the connecting thread for my picks made for a fitting end for what I had in mind this month. March is Women's History Month, and I challenged myself to exclusively read comics with female protagonists. While I'm certain I achieved that goal here, I wanted to also try and show that there are just as plenty real-life women writing and drawing these very comics that I enjoy reading. Highlighting Berger Books, which was created and is overseen by a woman who has made a significant mark on the comics industry, is perhaps the best way I can illustrate that. THE COMICS: ![]() THE GIRL IN THE BAY #1 Publisher: Berger Books Writer: J.M. DeMatteis Artist: Corin Howell In 1969, Kathy Sartori was stabbed, and her body fell into Sheepshead Bay. Turns out, she survived.... or did she? Once she recovered, she finds that it's 50 years in the future, and that she's got a doppelganger who's lived out that entire 50 years in her stead. It's an intriguing, possibly otherworldly mystery, and I'm interested to see where the story leads. ![]() INVISIBLE KINGDOM #1 Publisher: Berger Books Writer: G. Willow Wilson Artist: Christian Ward Invisible Kingdom is set in a sci-fi universe and follows the stories of two women: Grix, a freighter pilot for Lux (which is like Amazon, but for aliens, I guess), and Vess, a pilgrim who joins the Sisters of Severity, which are pretty much an order of space nuns. Both women stumble upon a shocking secret tied to their callings that calls everything they know into question, and it seems their paths are destined to cross because of it. I was quite fascinated by this conspiracy angle, and I'm particularly interested to see how it affects Vess, since she seems to be quite devout and the revelation is going to be a crisis of faith. ![]() LAGUARDIA #1 Publisher: Berger Books Writer: Nnedi Okorafor Artist: Tana Ford Set in a future where aliens have immigrated to Earth, LaGuardia is about a Nigerian-American doctor named Future who returns to New York. On her way, she smuggles in an alien plant, but what for? And what else is she back in the US for? All interesting questions, but what stood out to me more was how this book directly tackles issues of xenophobia, racism, bigotry surrounding immigrants (all problems the alien visitors face on their way to Earth), and the very real-life scenario of people of African descent facing discrimination at the airport (an experience the writer of this comic has dealt with firsthand). ![]() RUBY FALLS #1 Publisher: Berger Books Writer: Ann Nocenti Artist: Flavia Blondi Lana lives in the quiet town of Ruby Falls, and between hanging out with her friend Blair and catching up with her parents (who are not on speaking terms), she visits her grandmother, who is being taken care of in a nursing home for her dementia. One day, Lana's grandmother recalls a possible murder that happened long ago, and Lana becomes determined to uncover the truth. I must say I'm quite interested in reading a murder mystery that may or may not involve three generations of Lana's family. ![]() SHE COULD FLY #1 Publisher: Berger Books Writer: Christopher Cantwell Artist: Martin Morazzo Luna is a 15-year-old with OCD, which means she deals with highly disturbing intrusive thoughts on a regular basis. Her only solace is a mysterious flying woman she sees often on the news, and she dreams of flying just like her. All that goes to hell, however, when that flying woman apparently explodes in midair. The mystery of the flying woman is fascinating, sure (the comic plants some seeds that may connect to the truth), but the thing that I found most remarkable is how this comic depicts OCD, and how it's all based on the writer's personal experiences. I hope I've done a sufficient job this month showing that women (be it characters, or the writers/artists/editors that bring them to life) are prominent in comics, more so than some would think. Believe me, there's a lot more of these comics where they came from, and I'll definitely be busting out this theme several more times in the future. PANEL(s) OF THE WEEK: - end -
I had to set some time aside for this one, but I'm really glad I did, because it's one off the bucket list. BACKGROUND:
Like a significant number of people, all my knowledge of the Earthbound series (or Mother, as it is known in Japan) was all derived from Smash Bros. Ness, along with the likes of Captain Falcon or Marth, was one of those "who the fuck is this" characters on the roster, but despite this, Earthbound amassed quite the cult following, to the point that it became one major inspiration for a good number of modern RPG titles today (the most notable of which is Undertale, one of the biggest indie games of the last decade). I've surely told the story of how Smash Bros. being the crossover it is ignited my passion for video games (especially its more historical aspects) already, so I won't repeat myself there too much. The point is, I've been making the effort to play all the unfamiliar (to me) game franchises represented in Smash, but one of the few titles left on the list is Earthbound. I suppose I never got curious enough back in my emulation days, and I never got around to buying the Virtual Console releases back in the 3DS/Wii U era. Well, that changes today, because this bad boy is finally in the Switch Online emulator service, and it only took Nintendo close to three years. Goddamn it. SUMMARY: Earthbound is a 2D turn-based RPG where you play as Ness (the default name; you can name the protagonist), a young boy who lives near Onett, a small town in the country of Eagleland (a great name for a parody of the United States, I should say). One fateful night, a meteorite crashes near Ness's house, and upon investigation, Ness learns that an alien invader named Giygas has come to Earth and is attempting to conquer the planet by consuming the inhabitants with evil thoughts and hate. Ness also learns that he and three other kids are destined to defeat Giygas, and thus he must journey across the world to find a way to stop Giygas. It's got the recipe for a standard RPG plot: unwitting protagonist turns out to be chosen one, a journey across the world to collect magic bullshit, a powerful, world-destroying evil who must be destroyed, a party of friends... you get the idea. Where the story becomes memorable for me is its willingness to be bizarre or even unnerving (like when you meet the Mr. Saturns with zero context), its cast of quirky characters (my personal favorite is this group of five moles who talk mad shit about being the third strongest in their group), and its off-the-wall humor (which sometimes gets meta). Hell, the fact that such an RPG with a bunch of classic tropes is set in what's just a variant of the real world set in the late 20th century (but with aliens) is novel in itself. I must admit that the plot's themes of friendship and human connection didn't really land for me until close to the end, as the game doesn't really establish the bond between the four friends in dialogue too much. That said, it's the smaller moments like in the side stories (e.g. helping the Runaway Five band with their contractual troubles) or even in throwaway NPC dialogue or interactions that made the ending more poignant to me. Even the completely bizarre moments when some random dude flies in to take photos has an effective payoff by the end. The gameplay has a lot of traditional RPG mechanics, too. You've got a party of four each with different unique abilities, stats, and spells (called PSI in the game) that range from offense, buffs, and debuffs. You can also acquire various equippables to raise your stats, and consumables from healing items to single-use items that can deal damage or inflict status ailments. There's a fair bit of exploration, you got a few fetch quests (they don't feel too bad, though), and dungeons filled with enemies and bosses. Basically, a lot of stuff should feel familiar to seasoned RPG players. It takes a little bit for your full party to assemble, but once you do, you've got a solid team that covers all the roles you'll need to succeed. Ness is the all-rounder with good physical damage and a diverse set of PSI powers, Paula is the full-on "mage" with all the offensive and support spells you can want, Jeff is interesting since a lot of his utility comes from the inventions in his inventory, and Poo is a decent spellcaster who can be just as flexible as Ness in terms of usage. The other party members also have unique actions and passives; Paula can spend a turn to Pray (which has a chance to provide helpful support to the entire party), Jeff can Spy on enemies (revealing their stats and possible weaknesses), and Poo can Mirror enemies (become a copy of them with their abilities). The most interesting trait to me is Jeff's innate ability to repair broken items; if you sleep with Jeff holding such items in his inventory, there's a chance he can repair them to create gadgets that he can use or beneficial consumables. I thought this was a novel mechanic, and I don't think I've seen it anywhere else. Every party member has an individual inventory, allowing you to hold several items across all four kids. That said, the limited inventory is probably one of my biggest gripes in the game, as all your equippable items take up a slot (meaning if you're fully decked out, that's four slots taken), and there are a lot of stray items lying about that you can pick up, meaning inventories fill up quickly without you realizing. I ended up not buying too many consumables not just because I didn't really rely on them, but because it was a pain in the ass to manage inventories by moving stuff between each party member. The only character I really buy stuff for is Jeff, and even that is a pain because all his special gadgets take up space in his inventory. The game's solution for inventory woes is Escargo Express, a pickup/delivery service you can call on the phone to pick up items to be stored. It would work just fine if you could call it wherever, but you can't (phones can only be found in specific facilities), so forget about managing your inventory in the middle of a dungeon. Also, there's a maximum number of items you can store, so that might be annoying. I mostly used the service to offload key items that were no longer needed, which was another reason why managing items was a pain in the ass to me. I didn't know if key items had served their purpose until it was too far into the game, so I let such items take a slot and saved the extra space for other key items. Lastly, some items are straight up useless or serve a very niche purpose, which can be frustrating for some players. This, I didn't much as much, as I could at least appreciate the humor in it. For example, using the Picture Postcard just gives you hilariously sad dialogue, and Fresh Eggs hatch into Chicks if you don't use them to heal. Instead of the usual random encounters (which was typical of the time for most RPGs), enemies actually have sprites that move around as you navigate the overworld. Running into them initiates a battle, but often, it is they who bumrush you to start shit. Interestingly, the angle you approach from can give you an advantage, as jumping an enemy from behind gives you a free turn. On the flip side, enemies can do the same to you; if they manage to run into you while your back is turned, they're the ones who get a free turn. There are a good variety of enemies in this game, and they all ooze personality with their memorable designs (you can fight living taxis and the melting Salvador Dali clocks in this), weird names (with such great hits like Stinky Ghost and Overzealous Cop), charming battle dialogue (e.g. the Annoying Reveler complains about "today's youth", which lowers your Guts stat), or are just straight up gimmicks (like the Clumsy Robot, which rarely ever attacks, and you just get many hilarious dialogue lines that mean the same thing: it has wasted its turn). I actually found it worthwhile to fight as many unique enemies as I could, since I got to see all sorts of neat sprites and got a laugh out the dialogue. Battles can be tough in this game, as not only are there instances where you take on multiple enemies at a time, some of them can do a variety of things that can kick your ass. From attacks that target multiple party members, annoying status ailments like paralysis or uncontrollable crying (yes, this is a thing, and it affects attack accuracy), and even shit like summoning extra enemies or a self-destruct that damages you on the enemy's death, there's a lot of things that can potentially piss you off. It takes a while before you have access to PSI spells that let you not worry about most of these things, so it might be a challenge to reserve inventory slots for specific healing items or to backtrack to a town's hospital just to heal up. As you may expect, bosses take a considerable amount of effort to defeat, with their large HP pools, immunities to certain spells or items, and scary attacks. I wasn't really severely underleveled, so I can't say for certain, but I didn't feel like any of them were real damage sponges that took an eternity to beat. Also, I found various ways to wreck a lot of these bosses (whether by exploiting weaknesses or using stuff like Bottle Rockets), and it was often satisfying to rinse them in only a few turns. Some of the bosses required a gimmick to beat, and while the most notable instance of this in the game isn't quite intuitive, I was amused by the creativity of said gimmicks. Though leveling up to get stronger is important, and you can certainly grind to get there, I personally got through most of the game simply killing whatever got in my way as I tried to progress the story. If you feel the need to go that route, the game makes things easier for you when you reach a certain point. For one, vanquishing the boss of the dungeon makes it so the regular enemies actually flee from you instead of running toward you, making it easy to jump them from behind and get a free turn. Additionally, if you're at a high enough level, low-level enemies just die instantly on contact, and you get XP without having to do anything. Granted, you do have to make the effort to get to this point, but it's a cool way to mitigate the tedium of grinding. Just as much stuff is unique to this game (or, at least, different from what was around in RPGs at the time of its release). For example, there are weird status conditions outside of the typical ones you may have encountered, and the most notable one of these to me was homesickness. Yes, Ness can get homesick, and it basically means he can't do anything. In order to cure it, you have to call your mom on the phone. It's such a weird thing to put into the game, but I was charmed by its inclusion. Another memorable one was getting mushroomized; if you let it go untreated, your controls are eventually jumbled, which made navigating in the overworld hilariously infuriating. Another oddity was the game's HP counter, which counts up or down slowly as opposed to displaying any damage or healing instantaneously. This leads to some interesting moments when you take damage that would kill you, but since the counter hasn't hit zero yet, you have a chance to heal or finish the battle before it does provided you act quickly. I thought this was an interesting way to handle health since it sort of gives you a chance against powerful enemies. Though you earn money in this game the same way you would in most RPGs (win battles), the game actually has you go through the rigamarole of withdrawing the money from the ATM. That's because all the money you'd earn has to be deposited into the bank first by your dad, which only occurs when you call him (which you'll do a lot since calling him is how you save the game). You'd think it'd be a hassle, but you actually only really need money when you're in a place with a shop, and shops always have both a phone to call your dad from and an ATM. I'm also just amused that your dad, despite never appearing onscreen at any point in the game, actually helps you on your journey, which is more than most dads in Pokemon could ever say for themselves. Despite being a Super Nintendo game, Earthbound's visuals are closer to that of an 8-bit style, with relatively simpler sprites and colors. However, the game still looks significantly more impressive than almost everything that ever came out on the NES, as it has a noticeably more vibrant palette, striking designs (especially for the enemies), and highly varied environments to walk around in (from the quaint town of Onett, the bustling city of Fourside, and the complete hallucination that is Moonside). This game is not afraid to get trippy, as there are many instances where the game has psychedelic visuals, from when you encounter otherworldly areas throughout the story, or even in the background of the battle screen. The effects are just as wild for the PSI attacks, as they're often highly colorful and abstract animations of random geometry. This is also probably a good time to mention that the game can sometimes overdo it with the flashing lights, so if you have photosensitivity issues, take great care when playing this. The music isn't afraid to be experimental, either, as the soundtrack takes inspiration from a wide variety of genres (jazz being the one I noticed the most) and overall complements the peculiar nature of the game and its visuals. One of the most notable aspects to me is how nearly all the battle themes sound absolutely chill and upbeat (as opposed to the convention of a track that gets your blood pumping). VERDICT: I'm so glad to have finally played Earthbound, because I had a ton of fun playing through it and exploring the world. Though plenty of aspects of its RPG gameplay aren't all that unique, and I have a few grievances (mostly with the inventory management), the game does more than enough to establish its own unique, if bizarre identity among the sea of RPGs that exist. I loved the overall weird vibe (accomplished with the unorthodox presentation and strange humor) mixed in with the close-to-realistic American setting, and as straightforward as the main gameplay and story can be, I liked the bits of personality sprinkled into everything (from enemy actions, silly NPC dialogue, peculiar status ailments, and more). This is up there as one of the most memorable RPG experiences I've ever had, and while it took me longer than I should have to play this game, I'd say it was worth the wait. It's also great to have played this game and appreciate how many of its elements ended up inspiring modern games. Looking back, I can now clearly see how much of this game's DNA is present in something like Undertale. Better yet, I can now fully appreciate the Earthbound representation in Smash, as I now understand where most of Ness's moves come from (fun fact: he doesn't actually learn most of his special moves in his actual game), and I get every reference in the Earthbound stages now. I'm willing to argue that this is one of those "essential" games that must be played by video game enthusiasts at least once. I think the combination of its status as a cult classic, its enduring presence in a massive crossover like Smash, and how its quirky aspects served as inspiration for many modern titles all provide ample merit to its significance in video game history. One could certainly argue that there are more classic RPGs out there, but I'd assert that Earthbound stands out from the crowd with its many unique twists. - end - I fully intend to maintain my goal to highlight female-led comics for the entirety of this month, so here's another one of these. THE THEME: Again, you've already seen this before. Don't think it needs explaining at this point. My selection of five this time around is from Image Comics, the biggest publisher in the industry for creator-owned comics. Publishers like Marvel and DC more or less have full control of the IPs the writers and artists get to work with, whereas creators who publish works under Image fully own their creations. Since Image is pretty much just a platform for creators to get their own comics published, you can expect there to be a wide variety of stories under the umbrella. Some popular works include Spawn (one of the original Image titles), Invincible, Saga, The Walking Dead, and Sex Criminals, and that list alone is pretty diverse when it comes to genres encompassed. I wanted to highlight a bit of that variety of stories with my selection and picked out five comics with that in mind. THE COMICS: ![]() I HATE FAIRYLAND #1 Publisher: Image Comics Writer: Skottie Young Artist: Skottie Young I'm quite familiar with Skottie Young's artwork (he's drawn a shit ton of fun and cute cartoon variant covers for a lot of Marvel comics), but I'm not as well-versed with the stuff he's written (I've only read a bit of that one Rocket Raccoon comic he did in the mid-2010s). To my knowledge, this is his first creator-owned work, and it's about a little girl named Gertrude who gets stuck in Fairyland... for nearly 30 years. In her quest to escape, she's become exceedingly violent, and the juxtaposition of her crass nature with the cutesy (yet still horrifically gory) art is quite hilarious to me. ![]() MONSTRESS #1 Publisher: Image Comics Writer: Marjorie Liu Artist: Sana Takeda Monstress is set in a fantasy world ravaged by a war between Cumaeans (humans with magical knowledge) and Arcanics (magical creatures who can appear human). Maika is one such Arcanic, and she goes on a dangerous mission deep in the heart of Cumaean territory to find answers and avenge her dead mother. It seems she's got an immense power within her that will help her achieve her goals, but there seems to be a catch; it seems like some other being's in her head. The first issue sets up an interesting world off the bat, and the art looks awesome; I want to read more just so I can understand more of the lore. ![]() MOTOR CRUSH #1 Publisher: Image Comics Writers: Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr Artists: Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr In the world of Motor Crush, motorcycle racing is all the rage, but there's an ugly side to it. There exists something called Crush, which is like steroids, but for your bikes, and it's extremely dangerous. The comic focuses on Domino Swift, and up-and-coming racer in the league who's training for the big grand prix, but at night, she's takes on gangs on illegal street races to acquire more vials of Crush. I was hooked from the start both because of the interesting premise and the super dynamic art. I definitely want to read more of this. ![]() PRETTY VIOLENT #1 Publisher: Image Comics Writers: Derek Hunter, Jason Young Artist: Derek Hunter Gamma Rae is trying quite hard to be a superhero, attempting to thwart villains and save the city.... except she absolutely fucking sucks at it. Much like I Hate Fairyland, this comic looks like a Saturday morning cartoon, except with a lot of gruesome gore and long strings of swearing. I found the dissonance between the art style and the actual content equally amusing here as well. I also like that Gamma Rae is the only one trying to be a hero in a family of supervillains, which adds another layer of shame to her many fuck-ups. ![]() SNOTGIRL #1 Publisher: Image Comics Writer: Bryan Lee O'Malley Artist: Leslie Hung From the mind behind Scott Pilgrim comes this comic about Lottie Person, a fashion blogger who looks gorgeous in every photo. Except her life isn't as glamorous as her blog makes it seem, as she juggles having allergies (hence the title), being ditched by friends, and relationship troubles. It seems like her luck's turned around when she meets a new friend and tries new medication for her allergies, but I was rather shocked to see the story take such a dark turn. I felt for a lot of Lottie's struggles, and I'm quite curious to see how the story goes after that surprise at the end. I always make it a point to show people that comics are more than just superhero stories, so I really hope my selection this week highlights the variety of genres you can run into when exploring comics. It's also great to see that the books I picked out featured protagonists with such distinct personalities and motivations, which I hope shows that there are plenty of women in comics who are fully-realized characters and are the focus of their respective stories. PANEL(s) OF THE WEEK: - end -
I really wanted to watch this in theaters, but it just wasn't safe at the time. So here we are. No Way Home starts off immediately where Far From Home ends, when Mysterio reveals Spider-Man's secret identity. This obviously sends Peter Parker's life into complete chaos, as even the lives of the people he cares about are negatively impacted. Desperate, Peter seeks out Doctor Strange for a mystical solution, but the plan goes awry, and now Peter must clean up the rather multiversal mess before things get any worse.
The trailers reveal the movie's ambitious conceit right off the bat by reintroducing villains from previous Spider-Man movie franchises. It would seem at first that this is all for the sake of fan service, but I found that the movie does an amazing job balancing that aspect while also furthering Peter Parker's character arc throughout the movie. These villains aren't just here for the nostalgia pop; their presence serves to also teach Peter that with great power comes great responsibility. This movie continues the thread started in Far From Home that Peter still makes a ton of mistakes, and No Way Home doesn't shy away from showing that some of the events that occur are Peter's fault. I appreciate that we get to see that our hero's far from perfect, but despite that, he does his best to make things right and take responsibility for the chaos that ensues. Peter's supporting cast is solid as ever, with Aunt May serving as an excellent moral anchor, Ned being the perfect ride-or-die best friend, and MJ being the ever-supportive significant other. It really comes across that Peter cares for them and vice versa, as Peter sticks his neck out to make sure they don't face consequences because of his identity being outed, while the three still do all they can to support Peter despite the danger and increased scrutiny they face. Doctor Strange is naturally a big character in the movie, but unlike previous MCU Spidey movies, he's not really a mentor the way Iron Man or Nick Fury were. Instead, he serves mostly as the main catalyst for the events of the movie, and other than that (and a couple of other moments), his involvement in Spidey's adventure is minor. I liked his dynamic with Peter, as he obviously has a good deal of respect for the guy after fighting alongside him in Infinity War, but recognizes that he's still just a kid and calls that out when he does something reckless. Also, he gets a badass action sequence that heavily borrows the mind-bending visuals of the first Doctor Strange movie. With there being multiple villains close to the point that this might as well be a Sinister Six movie, I was quite worried that this movie would become bloated. I think the movie does the best it can and gives most of the villains time to shine, but some of them definitely got way more to do than others. Appreciating these characters also requires some prerequisite memory of their original appearances, which may take away from viewers who never watched the Raimi trilogy or the Amazing Spider-Man movies. For the most part, the movie does a good job honoring what made many of these villains so memorable the first time around. People had certain.... expectations going into No Way Home, and I'm elated to say that the movie delivers on those expectations in a truly satisfactory way. This is obvious spoiler territory that I won't expound on, but if you've seen the movie, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's been a couple of years since Endgame gave comic fans like me a truly cathartic onscreen moment, and not only does No Way Home follow through on such moments, but it does so in a way that serves the main story and helps define what it truly means to be Spider-Man. Like the villains, these moments were more than just cheap fan service; their inclusion helped Peter grow as a character. As far as MCU tie-ins go, the most significant is the obvious intersection of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange's paths, but everything else is minor (like a blink-and-you'll-miss-it nod to a MCU Disney+ show). However, that doesn't mean the movie doesn't have shit-your-pants reveals (well, outside of the [big spoiler]), because in the first ten minutes, we get a bombshell moment that I am personally very excited to see in the MCU proper (without giving anything away, it pertains to one of my all-time favorite Marvel things ever). I thought the ending was bold, as it's essentially the freshest start Peter Parker can get in the MCU. There's something certainly tragic about how he gets to the point he does at the end, but at the same time, it blows the door open for brand new adventures. While I think the next MCU Spider-Man movie is probably far, far away, I am very excited for the possibilities. There are two after-credits scenes, but only one is worth talking about because the second stinger is actually just the first trailer of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (which you can freely watch on YouTube now). The other scene is a rather shocking tie-in to an unexpected IP, and the ending sets up a possible story thread for Spidey down the line. I was kind of ambivalent about this for reasons I will avoid expounding as to not spoil things, but the gist is that I felt that it didn't mesh as well with the greater MCU as elegantly as I'd like. In any case, the aforementioned story thread is sure to raise some eyebrows, though that does leave my comic book lore-overloaded brain with more questions than excitement. Overall, No Way Home was a spectacular movie that, to me, rivals even Into the Spider-Verse in terms of making a longtime Spider-Man fan like me ecstatic to be a fan. Not only does it deftly avoid the dreaded "bloated Spider-Man sequel curse", it delivers a great Peter Parker story that honors 20 years of Spider-Man movie legacy without relying too heavily on the nostalgia factor. I thought it cemented Tom Holland as a phenomenal Spider-Man, my younger self was giddy over all the old Spidey callbacks, the supporting characters felt important, Doctor Strange was an interesting presence in the movie, and there were so many awesome moments that made me geek out completely. This is up there with Endgame for me as a comic book movie that's simply satisfying to watch as a hardcore fan, and I'll definitely rewatch this every time I'm in the mood for it. - end - Mercifully, this did not take more than three months to beat. BACKGROUND:
This was the next game my college friend group wanted to tackle as the next big co-op game we'd tackle together. I was on the fence about joining in (we hadn't finished Raft when everyone else bought the game in preparation), but like true friends, the others dragged me kicking and screaming through Steam's ability to gift people games. Many thanks, you manipulative sons of bitches! PLOT: I went into this not really expecting a plot, so I was quite surprised to see how deep the lore goes. The basic premise is that you're former reality TV star Eric LeBlanc, and your plane has crashed on a mysterious forest. You wake up to find your son Timmy is missing, and you must find him fast. You'll quickly find that this forest is full of horrible dangers like cannibals, as well has horrific mutant abomination that look like disgusting amalgamations of random body parts. Along the way, you'll pick up pieces of lore that reveal the dark history of the island, from the supernatural secrets it hides, the true origins of the mutants, and the people who used to explore the area (both in the distant past, and in recent times). These story bits seem disconnected, but finding enough details reveals a shocking tale that ties most of these details together, and it paints a disturbing picture. Even more shocking is the possibility that the very circumstances the protagonist finds himself in may not be just a freak accident. Unfortunately, a lot of the narrative is up to the player to figure out, either by observing the environment, or picking up lore items in the world (most of which are optional). Again, not the most popular storytelling method for a lot of people, but I personally found it rewarding to piece as much of the story together as we could. I thought the lore was overall interesting, and I liked the surprise of the events that occur to your character and the story details we found turned out to be interconnected. The game has two endings, with one being the definitive canon ending, and the other allowing players to continue their playthrough in a sort of endless mode. The former will probably not sit well as a choice for many people (our group only agreed upon it for its canonicity), but it sets up the sequel (which has been confirmed). The latter made more sense to us as a narrative choice, but since it doesn't really go anywhere (you just continue playing as before), it may not end up being a satisfying ending for some in that respect. PRESENTATION: This game boasts almost AAA levels of visual fidelity, which goes rather well with its highly realistic style. There's a respectable amount of polish to everything (even little things like brushing against foliage are animated, for example), and a level of detail that I could probably describe as "gruesome." The violence you must to inflict on cannibals to defend yourself will look gnarly and bloody, and the mutants you'll run into look downright hideous. Warning to the squeamish. The lighting in particular is where shit gets too real, as when it's dark at night, it's fucking dark as shit. This can make gameplay mildly inconvenient, but my friends found a workaround by adjusting some graphics settings that mitigate the darkness. There's not much in the way of music, with more ambient environmental sounds and effects being the more dominant audio aspect. The sounds of the forest are mostly on the subdued side, and it feels simultaneously natural and eerie. The only things that'll break the silence are the wails of the various enemies you'll have to face, and they all sound quite unsettling (the mutants in particular sound extra freaky). Other sound effects sound pretty close to realistic, which is impressive (or, in the case of weapons hitting cannibal flesh, disturbing). There's little to no voice acting, either, apart from the grunts of the player character (which do well to get across the amount of effort he puts into swinging weapons, or the pain he's in when he's getting his ass kicked). GAMEPLAY: The Forest is a first-person survival game with a lot of the mechanics you can expect from similar titles in the genre. As such, you can expect things such as crafting, exploration, base-building, and combat. The game's world is modestly large (but nowhere near close to something like Breath of the Wild), and there's plenty to find in it. As the name may suggest, most of the world is indeed forest, but you can also encounter coastal areas, bodies of freshwater, snowcapped mountains, incredibly dark caves, abandoned camps, and even cannibal settlements. It can be quite tricky to keep track of your location while exploring (especially in caves, which are actually an interconnected network on top of being dark as shit), but thankfully you can find or craft items that make navigation easily. Exploring the world is key, as many useful and important items can be found by looking around. First, you can live off the land and get materials like logs, sticks, and rocks that you can use for crafting. You can also find animals that you can kill for their hides and for their meat. You can even encounter manmade items, like supplies from the plane crash, and tools left behind by past explorers (from a breathing apparatus that will help you breathe underwater, to valuable utilities like flares, and even weapons). Lastly, you can run into cannibals, whose corpses you can burn so you can use their bones and skulls for armor and weapons. What's surprising to me was how much of the game's world was for optional stuff. Only a couple of caves and landmarks were critical to the game's story, while the bulk of it is simply for nice-to-have items. We went out of our way for these optional areas, and I found it worthwhile both for the gameplay-related stuff we found as well as the bits of lore that we encountered. Crafting was initially confusing, as the game splits it up between two menus. There's a separate menu for crafting structures, divided into straightforward categories, and all you have to do is set down where you want it and provide the necessary materials. The other side of crafting involves going into your inventory, where you select items to combine. Doing so will reveal the recipes for various things such as tools, weapons, and convenient utilities such as bags that increase carrying capacity for certain items. I found this latter one somewhat counterintuitive at first, because you had to know what the raw materials for things at first, but this was assuaged quickly when I figured out that you can view all possible recipes an item can be used for by selecting just one item. The structures you can make are fairly diverse. You can make fires for light and warmth, drying racks and water collectors for sustenance, storage for raw materials, traps to dispatch unwitting cannibals, camps to save and sleep in, and structures for custom setups like foundations, walls, and ceilings. I must admit I underestimated the possibilities for base-building in this game until my more construction-savvy friends started building three-floor buildings and a whole zipline setup to move us between our two bases. There are also a few options for purely cosmetic decorations, though we didn't really mess around with these too much (except for the gazebo; I thought it was hilarious that it was even a thing in the game). Inventory crafting is more or less what I expected. You can make a lot of the usual shit, with some added mechanics like weapon upgrades (something I found interesting) and modifications, and the aforementioned item capacity expansions. Perhaps my only real issue is how disorganized the actual inventory screen is; it took me quite a while to figure out where everything was. I wished it were sorted more properly if they weren't going to give players the option to sort the inventory themselves. Certain items lend themselves to special interactions, like being able to stoke fires with leaves, filling pots with food or water and being able to place them on fires to cook/boil stuff, sending logs down ziplines for convenient transportation, or resetting triggered traps with sticks. Most amusing to us was the ability to use turtle shells as sleds to go down slopes or decrease fall damage. You can even do things like breeding rabbits and raising a garden of plants (which is certainly not unheard of in games of this genre, but I personally didn't expect it here). There's a surprising amount of depth to the game thanks to these little interactions, and I appreciate that. There's a decent variety of flora and fauna you can encounter. Most things serve an expected purpose (i.e. a food source), but certain animals provide hides/coats that are valuable crafting materials on top of the meat you can harvest. Plants are much the same, but you can encounter poisonous berries that you really shouldn't eat, but can be used for tipping weapons with poison, a feature I found really neat in particular. Combat is more or less simple, with a small handful of weapons you can craft or find (axes, spears, bows, clubs, and even bladed weapons like machetes), each with a basic attack and a guard to block incoming damage. As straightforward as it is, you can get rather creative when fighting, since you can craft burning weapons for incendiary damage, tip arrows with poison, and even do things like charge a club swing or throw your spear like a javelin at enemies. You can even craft Molotov cocktails, create explosives that stick onto enemies, and even find stuff like flares or dynamite to really lay the smackdown on enemies. Our group found a particular sick enjoyment out of setting one another on fire with Molotovs, because we're all just a bunch of fucking griefers. The enemies you can encounter either fall into the cannibal category and the mutant category. Cannibals generally fight the same across the board, attacking in groups, charging savagely at players, and occasionally dodging your attacks like they're in a fucking Dark Souls game. Some of the cannibals use clubs, others can also throw fire, and there's a chance they can revive downed allies, which meant we had to quickly dispatch the entire group before we get overwhelmed. Apart from that, they're generally no trouble unless you get swarmed by five or six of them (and even then, you can use shit like fire to fuck them up). Killing cannibals not only keeps you alive, but you can burn their corpses for bones (which I mentioned earlier). Additionally, you can sever their limbs. Why? Because... you can eat them. Yes, you can become a cannibal yourself. I went out of my way to hunt animals just so our group didn't have to go full cannibal, because as handy as it is to have human parts to eat in a pinch, it's still pretty messed up to me. Mutants are a little tougher, since they hit hard, their movements are difficult to stifle, and take a good amount of damage to take down. They were scary to encounter at first, but we quickly figured out that the combination of fire and ranged attacks are extremely effective at taking them down, and since we usually attack as a team, these abominations rarely ever got the jump on us. Eventually, we could beat these guys solo, since pretty much all their attacks are telegraphed and are easy to avoid if you just keep distance. Though we found our groove against these hostiles relatively quickly, we still had to exercise a bit of caution when fighting since these freaks can wreck the structures we built, and recrafting/repairing them can take some effort. In practice, however, it was usually us that tend to destroy our own structures since we can sometimes be careless about where we swing our weapons. Enemy spawn behavior and frequency ramp up over time, as mutants become more common the longer you go, and cannibals habitually patrol the forest and get curious the more you chop down trees. It eventually got to the point where multiple mutants would launch an assault on our base, making for quite the exciting battle. Your character has a whole bunch of stats that you can keep track of, but the most important are hunger and thirst (both straightforward), and stamina. Stamina's split into two bars, interestingly enough: one bar decreases when you perform strenuous actions (swinging weapons, sprinting, climbing, etc.) and slowly regenerates when you take it easy. The other stamina bar decreases more slowly, but it determines how full the first bar is, which means the less full this second bar is, the less stamina you can actually spend at a time. Unlike the first stamina bar, this second bar doesn't regenerate over time, and you have to sleep or sit on benches to restore it. I found this to be an interesting take on stamina management; you actually have to take time to restore the second max stamina bar or else you won't have the capacity to keep sprinting or be effective in combat. There are also a bunch of other status ailments you can run into (infections, poisoning), but our group generally did a decent job avoiding getting them (and even if we did, we could sleep it off or craft special healing items to cure ourselves). The game also keeps track of other, more complicated stats like weight, athleticism, and sanity, but we observed that these mechanics were never fleshed out well enough to impact our gameplay, meaning there was no point to manage them. I wonder how they'd have affected survival if they had been implemented more fully. We obviously played this game co-op, where we got to do our usual divide and conquer approach (some of us build, others explore, I hold down the fort), but it's entirely possible to play this game single player. In fact, one of my friends did a solo playthrough in between co-op sessions, and they got through the game pretty quickly since they didn't take time to do all the base-building and general fucking around that we do in co-op. There are also alternate game modes outside of the normal mode we played. There's peaceful for people who just want to explore without having to worry about running into hostiles, hard modes for ones seeking a challenge, and a creative mode for those who want to push the limits of the game's structure system. VERDICT: Although many elements of The Forest aren't treading new ground in terms of survival game mechanics, I still had a great time with the game. I liked the small but meaningful twists on established mechanics (weapon upgrades, the stamina split), neat structure additions like ziplines, and the amount of optional points of exploration despite the relatively small world size. I had a blast playing this game with my friends; teaming up on mutants felt great, exploring the world together felt like an adventure, and piecing together the surprisingly rich lore was rewarding. If you're looking for a survival game that you can enjoy with friends that has a healthy mix of combat, base-building, and exploration, this is a pretty solid game to try out. I don't think it'll be the most innovative experience for most people, but some players may get a kick out of the story, find some satisfaction in fighting mutants, or enjoy the game's custom building features. My main caveat for the curious would be the graphic nature of some visuals and actions you perform in the game; chopping up cannibal limbs looks pretty nasty in the game's realistic style. Pick up The Forest on Steam here: The Forest on Steam (steampowered.com) - end - International Women's Day was a couple of days ago as I write this, and with that in mind, I challenged myself to ensure all my weekly reads for the month of March fit the Leading Ladies theme, but with a greater emphasis on variety. THE THEME: I've done the Leading Ladies Five Comics theme to death at this point, so I don't think I need to elaborate on what it entails. I enjoy revisiting this theme because I realized upon looking at my comics backlog that it's actually one of the easiest themes to put together for this blog series. That's because there turns out to be a ton of female-led comic book stories, especially when talking about modern titles. I think it's awesome that this is the case in present day. Also, this theme is one of the many ways I can sardonically prove a point to some ignorant folk I've personally encountered who cast aspersions about a medium they don't respect and care to learn about. But enough about my spite. I said I'd put a greater emphasis on variety for my reads this month, and that begins with the particular selection I have today. All the comics I have here are published by Dynamite Entertainment, a publisher most known for The Boys (the comic the hit show is based on), but has a bunch of licensed titles and acquired IPs under their umbrella. The "acquired IPs" bit is where things get a little interesting, since most of the comics I've picked out today are relaunches of old comic series that Dynamite was able to acquire the rights for, which means I got to do a bit of research to brush up on my history. THE COMICS: ![]() BARBARELLA (2017) #1 Publisher: Dynamite Comics Writer: Mike Carey Artist: Kenan Yar The original Barbarella comics were published in the '60s, and it turns out that it's a straight up erotic comic book in a sci-fi universe. This first issue is also quite erotic in one specific part, but to my surprise, the sexy times actually serve an interesting narrative purpose. Basically, Barbarella gets sexy to defy a cruel alien theocracy that violates its citizens' bodily autonomy in a very invasive manner. I'll admit that I wasn't expecting a story that alludes to real-life human rights issues; color me impressed. ![]() RED SONJA: SHE-DEVIL WITH A SWORD (2010-2013) #1 Publisher: Dynamite Comics Writers: Michael Avon Oeming, Mike Carey Artist: Mel Rubi I'm only familiar with the Dynamite incarnation of Red Sonja (having read a bit of Gail Simone's acclaimed run with the character), but she's actually been around since the '70s, and back then, she was technically a Marvel character (well, only in the Conan the Barbarian comics). Her latest adventure here sees her journey to the mysterious land of Gathia to deliver a grim message, and the citizens don't take the news well. Really liked the detailed art style here. ![]() VAMPIRELLA (2011-2014) #1 Publisher: Dynamite Comics Writer: Eric Trautmann Artist: Wagner Reis Vampirella is another classic comics character who's been in books since the '70s, and has been a vampire heroine for most of her history. In this one, Vampirella is a brooding hunter trying to eliminate Dracula's children, and she's managed to track down a whole nest of them. Interesting note: she's not wearing her iconic costume here and wears fancy street clothes. ![]() SHEENA: QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE (2017) #1 Publisher: Dynamite Comics Writers: Marguerite Bennett, Christina Trujillo Artists: Moritat, Dimi Macheras Sheena is a Golden Age character dating all the way back to the late '30s, and is also one of the earliest examples of the "jungle girl" archetype. She serves as the protector of a village deep in the Amazon, and here, she must find an outsider lost in the forest to prevent a massacre by a group of armed soldiers, while also trying to figure out why drones have been scouting the forest. I found the mystery intriguing. ![]() DAMSELS (2012) #1 Publisher: Dynamite Comics Writers: Leah Moore, John Reppion Artist: Aneke Set in a fantasy world full of magic and fairies, and featuring new interpretations of classic fairy tale characters like Rapunzel and the Sleeping Beauty, Damsels starts out with a curious mystery. A red-haired amnesiac girl is hunted by the royal guard (for some unknown reason), and a mysterious mermaid girl comes to her aid. I have no idea what's going on, so I kinda want to read more just so I can understand. I had a lot of fun with this week's selection, since nearly all of them were modern takes on decades-old characters that I was at best only a little familiar with. I was quite excited to learn something new and add to my comics history knowledge, and hopefully my little bits of trivia were interesting to you as well. PANEL(s) OF THE WEEK: - end -
It's time yet again for another AEW PPV! It's a pretty stacked card, and like usual, I'm here to share my thoughts on each match.
A good friend of mine lent me some of their Switch games for me to play, so I'll be setting some time aside to play them for the next couple of months. BACKGROUND:
My history with Kirby games has been documented here quite a bit, so I won't reiterate shit I've said before. The only thing I can add here is that I've never played this one before, and I didn't really have any interest in getting it at the time it came out. PLOT: Surprise, surprise: Dream Land and Planet Popstar have been invaded by yet another evil force, and it's up to Kirby to stop what is probably another primordial cosmic entity. This time around, corrupted hearts have landed all across the land, possessing the likes of King Dedede and Meta Knight. In the process, Kirby somehow gains the ability to throw Friend Hearts to convert regular enemies to allies, which means the power of friendship is quite literally the key to victory. This story is pretty standard stuff for Kirby games at this point, so I didn't really bat an eye at it. I suppose things get a little interesting when you take the stories of the alternate campaigns into account, but even then, it's more of the same. PRESENTATION: As expected, the latest Kirby game takes on a delightfully cartoony art style, with polished 3D models, cute character designs, and vibrant colors. Apart from the occasional frame rate drops when there's too much shit on the screen, the game looks great in my eyes, especially during the cutscenes. The music is also par for the course, with a majority of the tracks fitting the cheerful adventure vibe, with a few tracks that work for epic battle encounters to mix things up. There are a couple of tracks that are straight up from older Kirby games, though these are reserved for bonus areas. GAMEPLAY: For the most part, Kirby Star Allies plays like nearly every 2D Kirby ever. Kirby has access to the exact moveset he's had for over 20 years now, he can inhale and copy the abilities of various enemies (some old, some new; the new abilities are pretty fun), and the levels are straightforward romps where you try to get to the end/beat the boss, with the occasional secret area hidden away. If you've played a 2D Kirby game before, very little about this one should feel foreign. The main gimmick of Star Allies is all about the allies. In addition to his usual arsenal, Kirby can throw Friend Hearts at certain enemies to make them his allies, and he can have up to three friends that can help him in combat or to solve specific puzzles with their abilities. In addition, you or your allies can combine certain abilities to make yourselves stronger (e.g. combine a weapon ability like Sword with an elemental ability like Fire), unleash a unique attack (e.g. Ice with Stone launches a Curling Stone), or create something more unorthodox (e.g. ESP with Stone creates a floating electric statue you can control freely). I personally wished there were more varied ability combinations (since weapon + element was way too good for most of the game), but I liked the overall concept a lot. As for the allies mechanic as a whole, I felt like it made the game trivial in a lot of places (which I suppose says something considering this is already a Kirby game), since you can just have all the abilities required to solve puzzles on you, plus they can carry you in boss fights (even if the CPU AI can be inconsistent at times). I suppose the former point offsets the latter a little bit, though, since if you want to 100% a level, you want to mix up your ability lineup regularly, and I did appreciate that aspect. In addition to regular Kirby enemies, you can have special Dream Friends as allies, and this is where shit gets fun. See, the Dream Friends you can have by your side are characters from past Kirby games, ranging from classics like King Dedede and Meta Knight, old allies from Gooey (of Kirby's Dream Land 3) and Bandana Waddle Dee, and a whole bunch of bosses from older games (like Marx, Magolor, and even that one bug dude from Triple Deluxe). Getting Dream Friends isn't as easy as regular enemies, but they're a lot of fun to have when you have them alongside you. There's also a mechanic called Friend Actions, which you activate on a specific pedestal and transforms Kirby and co. into some sort of friendship-powered juggernaut, like the Friend Circle (which rolls over anything in its path), Friend Star (which makes the game a shmup for a given period of time), or Friend Bridge (which is used to guide key-holding Waddle Dees across gaps into doors). I like the abilities that briefly switch up the gameplay a little bit, while the other ones I liken to Triple Deluxe's Hypermode where it's just a fun little break where you get to demolish everything until you get to the end of a section. The collectibles in the game are puzzle pieces, which are put together to form celebration pictures (featuring neat-looking Kirby art) that you can view in the gallery. There are multiple ways to grind for pieces in the game, so it's more of a chore than a collection challenge. Only the special pink pieces require any substantial effort in collecting, but those are fun since it requires exploration and puzzle-solving instead of mindlessly playing the game. Like Kirby Super Star, this game is split into various modes, which I will list down and describe below: Story Mode This is the main mode, and you need to beat it to unlock pretty much every other mode. You must navigate four worlds (each laid out like a Mario 3-style world map), beat all the required levels, kick the shit out of some bosses, and defeat the final shithead at the end. This plays most like the standard Kirby game, and has a bunch of optional collectibles and extra levels. Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! This is more of a time attack kind of mode where you try and beat an abridged version of the story mode's levels. The twist here is that you can't play as Kirby; you have to play as one of the many possible friends you can make along the way (this includes Dream Friends). I found the faster pace of this mode fun, and I enjoyed playing as the other characters. The Ultimate Choice This is your standard boss rush mode, where you choose a difficulty, pick your ability and your allies at the start, and get break rooms in between fights. Another Kirby staple, this one. Heroes in Another Dimension An alternate campaign set after the events of the main story, this is a mode where you go through multiple gauntlets playing as specific Dream Friends or with a specific Kirby Copy Ability, and you must solve puzzles with said abilities in order to get through and collect Friend Hearts. Actually poses a solid challenge. Chop Champs A minigame where you compete with three other players to chop a giant tree very quickly while avoiding obstacles. Simple yet challenging. Star Slam Heroes A timing-based minigame where you try to whack a meteor as far as possible back into space. Not as challenging as Chop Champs, but the cutscenes of the meteor obliterating everything in its path was hilarious to me. VERDICT: Kirby Star Allies is a mostly standard 2D Kirby romp, and while its main gimmick can make things a little too easy at times, the four-player madness still provides a good amount of fun. The Copy Ability variety was satisfactory to me (though the ability combos probably could've been expanded upon), I liked the addition of the Dream Friends, and the alternate campaigns provided a different experience from the straightforward main story. I had a good time for the most part, but I've likely had my fill of all this game has to offer. I'd only recommend this game if you have three players who can take over Kirby's allies, since the idea of four-player co-op with this game sounds like a healthy amount of chaotic fun. Otherwise, I'd still go for trying out Kirby's Adventure or Kirby Super Star if you're new to Kirby games (both can be accessed via the emulators if you're a Switch Online member). If you're that hard pressed about getting this game, I would suggest for a sale or to get a secondhand physical copy, since this still goes for a pretty steep price. - end - Before anybody gets excited, no, this isn't a Marvel game. BACKGROUND:
Like Centipede, Black Widow was also an '80s arcade game by Atari, and much like Asteroids (also by Atari) is one of the earliest examples of the twin-stick shooter. This is one I actually haven't played yet (it wasn't in the arcade game collection I played as a kid), so this'll actually be a new experience for me. PLOT: Part of me wanted to make a joke out of this section by copy-pasting the synopsis of the MCU Black Widow movie here, but it's probably only funny in my head, so I'm not going to do it. Anyway, no, this game doesn't have a story. PRESENTATION: Black Widow: Recharged has the same aesthetic and soundtrack style as Centipede: Recharged, so I won't repeat myself in this section. Refer to that blog entry if you want my thoughts, because my feelings on the matter are much the same here. GAMEPLAY: Black Widow is a twin-stick shooter where you control the titular spider and shoot bugs crawling around your web. As you may expect from an arcade game, the idea is to not get hit and do your best to get as many points as possible. You know the drill. You'll run into various insects that'll eventually swarm your web and kill you on contact, and the longer you survive, the more likely tougher enemies will spawn. They each have distinct movement patterns, and tougher bugs have additional behaviors. One enemy type (which I think is some sort of wasp or hornet) lays eggs that, if left unchecked, can hatch more bugs, while another explodes on death (which can be both good or bad depending on how close you are to the explosion). There are even bugs that shoot projectiles and a group of bugs that fly in a formation. Aside from blasting bugs, you can earn points by grabbing $ icons that dead enemies drop. If you really want that high score, you'll want to do this a lot, but this carries the obvious risk of putting you in tight spots in exchange for points. Another way to earn points is to grab the eggs the wasps/hornets lay and dropping them into the middle of the web. Not only is this worth a lot of points, but it has the added benefit of preventing something bad from spawning. That said, it can be challenging to both maneuver an egg to the middle while also aiming your shots to defend yourself. Occasionally, sections of the web will glow, indicating that the given thread is now a wall and is thus impassable. This happens at random throughout the course of the game, and it's a significant x-factor that can get you killed if you're not paying attention. Unlike Centipede, there's nothing really you can do to eliminate the obstacle, but it at least doesn't block your shots, so I can live with it. You can also acquire power-ups by shooting specific bugs, and much like Centipede: Recharged, the effects range from attack modification (spread shot, explosive shot, etc.) or other helpful buffs (orbiting bullets, slow motion). There's a great deal of similarity between the power-ups here and in Centipede: Recharged, but they serve their purpose just as well here (they're quite effective in clearing out enemies, and they're a lot of fun to use), so I don't really think reusing them is an issue. In addition, you have constant access to a powerful web blast that you can trigger at will, but you have to charge it by collecting $. I thought this was a neat addition, since it gives you a guaranteed "break glass in case of emergency" option even in moments when power-ups aren't spawning, but you have to work for it if you want it handy. It's certainly saved me more than once. Like Centipede: Recharged, you have a set of Challenges with predetermined spawns and specific objectives, local and global leaderboards, plus the ability to play local co-op. All good stuff to have. VERDICT: Black Widow: Recharged is a straightforward arcade twin-stick shooter experience, but goddamn, did I find it addictive. It scratches the same shooter itch that Asteroids does (note: Asteroids is one of my favorite old-school arcade games), except this game is endless and isn't segmented into levels. I like this game a lot, and I will definitely play more of this whenever I have a few minutes to kill. Much like most other arcade-style games, I recommend this for people who want a casual yet addictive game to kill some time with and enjoy the short burst nature of similar games one may download for free on their phone. On the flip side, if you want something with a bit more meat on the bones in terms of content, you may want to look elsewhere (but definitely try emulating the old one first to see if that's your kind of thing). Check out Black Widow: Recharged on the following platforms:
- end - Figured I could squeeze in some time to play this due to the game's nature. Thank goodness, too, because it's an easy cross off the list. BACKGROUND:
For those who are as young as I am (or possibly younger), the original Centipede is a classic arcade game from the 1980s (1981, to be exact) made by Atari, one of the old titans of the video game industry. When people talk retro games, this is definitely one of many titles name-dropped alongside the likes of Pac-Man, the original Donkey Kong, Pong, or Space Invaders. While I obviously wasn't alive for the '80s era of arcade games, I actually have played the original Centipede before via one of those Atari arcade game collections on the Nintendo DS, so I know what I'm getting into here. From what I understand, this is more or less the same game with a modern coat of paint and a few other extras. PLOT: This may surprise you, but like most arcade games of the era, this didn't have a story. Just shoot the fucking bugs, dude. PRESENTATION: A far cry from the 4:3, 8-bit aesthetic of the original, Centipede: Recharged features vibrant visuals in a synthwave-esque neon lights style with a 16:9 aspect ratio that fits most screens available today. It looks quite modern in terms of fidelity, but the vibe is still evocative of the decade the original came out in, and the sprites are still as simple in terms of design as its predecessor. I don't remember what the original Centipede soundtrack was (or if it even had any), but the music here is far from the old chiptune sound that was common back then, and it's got the kind of techno sound that goes along well with the visuals. There's also a bunch of different tracks that play at random each attempt; I rarely observed variety in soundtracks for early '80s arcade games, so this is another sort of modern step the game takes. GAMEPLAY: Centipede is a fixed-screen shmup where you control some sort of cannon (I never figured out what it was supposed to be canonically) to shoot various multi-legged creatures descending from the top of the screen. Like most arcade games at the time, the goal is simple: survive as long as possible and go for that high score. And if anything touches you, you're dead, and it's game over. You have free movement in the lower portion of the board, which is in contrast to something like Space Invaders where your movement is strictly horizontal. From what I've looked up, the original arcade cabinet used a trackball to control movement, and with Recharged, the game was adjusted such that you can move around with a mouse or your controller's analog stick. You'll want to tune the sensitivity at the start, but aiming feels natural otherwise. Most of what you'll be shooting are the titular centipedes, who crawl from the top towards the bottom. Their movement is consistent, moving side to side until an obstacle is hit, then theygo down a level and move in the opposite direction. Each segment is worth points when you shoot them, but shorter segments will become their own smaller centipede and continue crawling until you shoot off every segment. Multiple centipedes will get overwhelming over time, since you'll have to weave around them once they hit the bottom of the screen and make their way back up, so believe it or not, shooting the centipedes is a really good idea. The board spawns with a random configuration of pink mushrooms that serve as obstacles for both you and the centipedes. These aren't worth points, but clearing them out is a good idea since they can get in the way of a clear shot or even restrict your movement if they spawn on your side of the screen. It's also worth noting that shooting segments of a centipede leave pink mushrooms in their wake. These pink mushrooms are the only thing I don't much enjoy about the game, since not only do they spawn constantly as you play and block you in two different contexts, they take considerable effort to remove. Despite the title, you'll also encounter other arthropods in the game. There are spiders, which spawn on your section of the board (and cause trouble accordingly). Fleas, which are worth a good amount of points, descend straight down rather quickly (sometimes leaving a trail of pink mushrooms), and can catch you off guard. Scorpions are quick little bastards (and are appropriately worth a lot of points), scurrying horizontally and converting any pink mushrooms they touch into poison mushrooms. When centipedes touch poison mushrooms, their behavior completely changes and they make a beeline towards the bottom, which can either overwhelm you or be a great opportunity to quickly kill them depending on the situation. New to this game are power-ups, which can be acquired by killing spiders and touching the icon they leave behind. There's a fun assortment of these things, from changes to your main attack (spread shot, rapid fire, and a big fucking laser, among others) and other helpful buffs (orbiting bullets, slow motion enemies, to name a few). This was a more than welcome addition; not only is it fun to exterminate swarms of enemies in one go, a lot of these power-ups help with my issue with the pink mushrooms. Also new to this game are Challenges, which are a couple dozen or so pre-made boards with specific objectives you have to clear. These range from reaching a certain score threshold or killing a given number of enemies, usually with modifiers like a specific configuration of mushrooms or access to only a specific set of power-ups. There's a good number of these, and most of them present a decent and interesting challenge. Of course, it's not an arcade game without leaderboards, and this game's got both local and online. You can opt to go old school and shoot for the high score in the default arcade mode, or you can go at it speedrunner-style and see if you get the best time in the Challenges leaderboards. I'm mostly a "compete with myself" kind of person when playing games like these, so I'm content with the local leaderboards. Lastly, you can play local co-op with this game, which is great if you want to play with friends who come over to your place. I'd wager the Switch version would be the go-to for this experience since it's portable and has two Joy-Cons handy for quick co-op. VERDICT: Centipede: Recharged retains a lot of the core mechanics of the classic while also breathing new life into the presentation, adding power-ups to spice things up, and introducing special Challenges to mix things up. While I found the original to be just fine, I enjoyed Recharged way more simply because the power-ups made playing more satisfying while also mitigating the one gripe I've always had with the game. I can see myself killing some free time with a few rounds of this a lot more in the future. Though this is a game that came out in 2021, Centipede: Recharged is an experience from yesteryear in that it's a single-screen arcade romp with nothing much to it other than trying to get a better score. As such, players who may be seeking more substantial gameplay with complex mechanics or a big story may not find some remastered '80s game like this interesting or engaging. That said, I'd still argue that the original version is worth playing at least once, if only to appreciate its historical significance. You could probably just search "play Centipede" on Google and be able to play it on your browser. On the flip side, mobile games kind of brought back the arcade-style experience of playing a couple rounds in short bursts simply for the hell of it, and if you're into games like that, I think Centipede: Recharged is an excellent time-killer. It's simple to learn, and can get pretty addictive if you're not careful, which pertains to both old arcade games and many present-day mobile games. Centipede: Recharged is available on PC via these platforms:
- end - Don't think that I've forgotten my resolution to read more manga! BACKGROUND:
I've only heard the title in the context of the anime, but I know nothing about that or the manga. This is as brand new to me as it gets. THE WRITING: Chihaya Ayase is a young girl whose only ambition is to support her older sister's modeling career. All that changes when she meets a transfer student named Arata Wataya. Arata is a prodigy at competitive karuta (a playing card game where you try to match verses in a poem), and his skill inspires Chihaya to have aspirations for herself. The two form a bond when Chihaya makes an effort to befriend Arata despite him being an outcast, and when Arata notes that Chihaya has a natural talent for the game. Together with Chihaya's longtime friend Taichi Mashima (who has a rocky relationship with Arata initially), the three become close friends who bond over the card game. I knew nothing about karuta going into this manga, but it does an excellent job of explaining the basics and establishing what it takes to be skilled at the game. The manga also manages to make an otherwise innocuous card game feel exciting by putting over the speed and memorization skills of the highly skilled players like Arata. Needless to say, my fascination with the game was immediately piqued, since it's unlike any of the dozens of card games I've played in my lifetime, and there's an added historical context to its real-life origins. Each main character has something going for them that made me more interested in reading. It's cool to see Chihaya find a dream of her own (and the struggle of not having anyone else support her), Arata's struggle to find friends (along with his home situation) was something I could sympathize with, and Taichi living under constant pressure to succeed due to his parents was all too relatable. The three becoming friends because of the game was endearing, and while the book fast-tracks a lot of the buildup, I still found their bond believable. The first volume ends on an interesting note, as a series of situations forces the trio to go their separate ways. From my understanding, the later volumes focus on what happens years later and shows how the lives of the three kids changes, and I'm told that their reunion is something that's built up to. This makes Vol. 1 feel more like the prologue than the actual start of the story (and the quick pace lends credence to that), so on its own, it doesn't feel like a satisfying read. On the flip side, the story they set up here has me interested in reading more, since I want to see how the main characters change and how their reunion goes down the line. THE ART: I found the art to lean close to a more realistic style, with fairly intricate detail especially for characters. The motion is surprisingly dynamic, too, which really helps sell how intense karuta can apparently be. I also observed a ton of variety in terms of the textures used to provide detail, which I suppose is analogous to a varied color palette in other printed works. VERDICT: Although it's very much a prelude to the bigger story, I still liked the setup this first volume of Chihayafuru provided. It managed to build up three decently likeable characters and establish a believable bond between them (almost too quickly, I might add), and I also learned something completely new in the form of karuta (though I doubt I'd ever get the chance to play it for myself). I'm very much interested in seeing where the rest of the story goes. I'm not sure reading this volume on its own would feel particularly satisfying for most readers since it's only the very beginning, so I can't really recommend this book by itself. That said, I think it sets up some interesting plot threads that some readers may want to see more of. Of course, I don't know how the rest of the series goes, so I can't evaluate for sure if the later volumes do well to follow up the first. - end - |
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