I finally have my hands on my most anticipated game of this year, and I cannot wait to talk about it. BACKGROUND:
I've been into the Metroid series since I was a kid, and I've played almost every game in the series. Naturally, I was pretty excited when Metroid Dread was announced, as I was itching for more Metroid games. I was even more excited when I learned the devs behind Samus Returns (the remake of the Game Boy title Return of Samus released on 3DS) are making this game as well, since I enjoyed their take on the Metroid formula and was intrigued to see what they'd do with a completely new game. PLOT: This game is set after the events of Metroid Fusion, which saw Samus face off against the deadly X Parasites. Just when she thought the threat has been completely eradicated, the X have been reportedly spotted on a planet called ZDR, alive and well. After the Galactic Federation's reconnaissance mission to ZDR goes dark, Samus is deployed to handle things, as she is uniquely equipped to deal with the X Parasites thanks to being infused with Metroid DNA. Once she arrives, however, she encounters a threat unlike anything she's ever seen before. As it turns out, Planet ZDR is yet another settlement of the Chozo (the bird people who raised Samus), and it's in this game that we learn the most of what they've been up to throughout the series. This is probably the most we see of the Chozo lore in the actual games (we only get bits and pieces in the games, and the rest is built up in external media), and some of the revelations were pretty substantial. I enjoyed every bit of this; it was so cool to me to actually have the Chozo be a big part of the story for once (even if I do enjoy the overall mystique that they've had since the beginning). Metroid has been traditionally light on the storytelling, so Dread is a bit of an outlier with the amount of exposition it has throughout the game. I could see how the info dump at the beginning could be off-putting to some players, but I feel that those are necessary for context (I am certain that the ending of this game would be real fucking weird if you didn't get a recap of the previous games). On the flip side, I do wish they cut back on all the talking done by the Adam AI (who assists Samus throughout the journey); a lot of its exposition takes away from the whole appeal of Metroid, which is simply exploring the planet and figuring shit out on your own. A lot of what Adam says is stuff you've likely already figured out just by playing or can come off as too much hand-holding, and the rest of the story stuff could have easily just been told in other places. Samus remains the mostly silent badass I've grown to love, and the cinematic cutscenes do a lot to portray her as a fearless and skilled fighter. All I really want to see from Samus in Metroid games is her kicking ass and persevering against seemingly impossible odds, and Dread delivers on that in spades. I also love how cheeky a specific moment in the ending is. I'm not going to give away why; just know that I found it incredibly amusing as a longtime fan. PRESENTATION: Metroid Dread retains a lot of the 2.5D art style of Samus Returns, but at a more impressive resolution. The game looks really great, with the dynamic backgrounds feeling more alive, the creature models (especially the bosses) looking quite detailed, lots of polish in the animation (quite apparent if you observe Samus's more subtle movements, like when she free aims), and the visual effects looking more flashy. This game is also quite cinematic, more so than Samus Returns. There are plenty more cutscenes than before, and the camera work is quite impressive in a lot of the more action-oriented sequences. There are also some gameplay moments where the view changes from the regular side-scrolling perspective, and not only are they cool, the transitions feel seamless. The cutscenes themselves are exciting, especially the ones that involve Samus facing off against bosses. In terms of designs, there's a lot of new to go around. Samus's trademark Power Suit now starts out with a blue-white color scheme, which looks quite nice. There's a lot more texture to the suit this time around, and the later iterations of the suit retain a lot of the newer elements despite changing color and feeling more in line with older designs. While I'm still partial to Samus's design in Samus Returns, I think her suit in this game looks fantastic. There are a ton of new enemy designs in the game, and the standouts are the many bosses you face throughout the adventure. Most of the monstrous bosses look appropriately grotesque and look distinct from what has come before. The fresh new robot enemy known as the EMMI look quite threatening as well, and the game does an excellent job of establishing its menace with animation that hammers home how Terminator-like it can be. The other enemy types lean into spoiler territory, so the most I can say is that one enemy type looks badass and another looks appropriately terrifying. When it comes to the environments, the zones are mostly new spins on classic areas (Cataris is meant to be the Norfair analog, for example, but has a more industrial feel to it), with a few that feel brand new in terms of design (Ferenia falls into this category; Chozo ruins aren't anything new in Metroid, but Ferenia's aesthetic feels more ornate). Overall, many of the areas feel familiar, but have their fair share of elements that give them a distinct feel to what came before. The aforementioned dynamic backgrounds are visually impressive, and also do a fantastic job of world-building, as you'll encounter all sorts of elements that tell Planet ZDR's story. The music is solid, with many of the tracks leaning towards the more atmospheric vibe that's common in most Metroid games. A bunch of the tracks use familiar motifs or are straight up remixes of classic themes, which was nice to hear. GAMEPLAY: Metroid Dread is as traditional Metroid as it gets: you got a large, interconnected map, you pick up abilities to help you unlock previously inaccessible areas, and you beat the shit out of enemies and bosses as Samus. It's a formula that defines the Metroidvania genre, and it's alive and well in Dread. A lot of the abilities Samus gets are standard fare. The upgraded suits are mostly the same as what's come before function-wise, you have your traditional beam upgrades, and the Morph Ball (plus bombs). Other classic power-ups also return, like the Grapple Beam, Power Bombs, Screw Attack, and the Speed Booster (which actually wasn't in Samus Returns). Missile and energy tank upgrades are also back, though with the added twist that there are Missile+ Tanks (which increase capacity by a lot more than the standard tanks) and Energy Tank Parts (which function like Zelda Heart Pieces in that you need to collect four of them to get the additional health upgrade). There are some new abilities to go along with the classics, as well as some remixes of older stuff. For example, the Spider Ball from Samus Returns is gone, but has been reworked as the Spider Magnet. Super Missiles have also been reworked to simply just be an improved version of missiles (as opposed to completely separate missiles that have its own ammo count), plus you can upgrade Missiles further to become Ice Missiles and have a seeker function (both of which are taken from Metroid Prime 3). You also get Cross Bombs, a completely different Morph Ball bomb type, which, while cool, doesn't see much use. There's also the Diffusion Beam, which is a precursor to the Wave Beam (since it lets Charge Beam shots partially go through terrain), though that gets outclassed eventually. Overall, the list of abilities is solid, with some expected returns and some neat surprises. Though some of them feel obsolete after a while (a common Metroid occurrence), most of them feel like meaningful upgrades that also see use in combat (as opposed to just being glorified keys to locked areas). The thing I appreciated about Samus Returns is how some of these abilities are used for more than just the thing they're meant to do, and that remains true here. The Grapple Beam, for instance, is more for just swinging across gaps: you can use it to unlock certain doors, break certain blocks, and even use it in the occasional combat situation. I appreciate it when abilities are versatile and can be used for various things, even if it's something small as the Spazer/Wide Beam also working as a key for certain doors. Aeion Abilities from Samus Returns are back, but only one specific ability (the Scan Pulse/Pulse Radar that reveals hidden blocks) actually makes a return. In place of the older abilities, we get two new ones: the Phantom Cloak (which camouflages Samus at the cost of Aeion meter) and the Flash Shift (a quick horizontal dash that works fantastic as a dodge maneuver). Both these new abilities add a lot to the combat aspect of the game, giving you something to do other than just jump to avoid danger. Speaking of avoiding danger, the Melee Counter from Samus Returns is back, too. I really enjoyed this ability in its original game, since it rewarded observing your enemy and timing your movements. Here, it does largely the same thing, letting you obliterate regular enemies by punishing their attacks, as well as rewarding you with big damage opportunities (and badass interactive cutscenes) during boss fights. Its use can come off as quick-time events in some instances (which I generally don't mind, but I know it's a sticking point for some players), but for the most part, the Melee Counter is a more than welcome addition to Metroid that I'm glad made it back to Dread. Another returning feature from Samus Returns is the free aim, which lets Samus aim a full 360 degrees from a standing position. It's still a fantastic quality of life addition that makes combat much smoother. Interestingly, they also gave Samus a Mega Man-style slide that lets her slide through Morph Ball-size gaps. Overall, it's not a revolutionary addition, but I like how it feels: it makes traversing certain sections go slightly quicker, and it just looks cool. It also sees an interesting use in specific boss fights, which I thought was really neat. I've been touching on the boss fights a lot thus far, and I have to say that the bosses in Dread are among the most enjoyable fights I've ever had the pleasure of facing in the entire Metroid series. There's a good variety of unique bosses, all of which feel distinct from each other not only in terms of design, but in the manner you dodge their attacks and the way you open them up for damage. Some of the fights are straightforward (read their moves, blast them with missiles), while others feel elaborate (some have multiple phases, while others require quick puzzle-solving or platforming to beat/survive). Plus, pretty much all of them have a couple of moves you can counter, which lead to incredible cinematic moments where you can blast their asses with missiles for free. There's also a bunch of recurring boss fights where you encounter variants of a similar enemy multiple times throughout the playthrough. These feel in line with Samus Returns, which was all about fighting the same four varieties of Metroids, albeit with slight changes. Dread's recurring boss fights are much the same way: you get essentially the same enemy, but there can be slight differences in terrain, or there can be a fun twist to make things extra tough. The fights also escalate over time, with the same enemy gaining new attacks or abilities that you have to adapt to. While there are a small number of recurring boss fights in the game involving different enemy types, the most notable of these is the encounters with the EMMI robots. The EMMI patrol a set area in each zone, and most of your encounters with them is not about fighting, but avoiding them outright (either through outrunning them or through stealth). See, EMMI are immune to all of Samus's normal abilities, and getting captured by them is pretty much instant death (unless you hit the Melee Counter before they kill you, the timing for which is insanely hard to get right). I found racing to avoid the EMMI to be perhaps the most thrilling thing about this game (the chase feels urgent and the punishment for failure is clear), and there's actually a payoff to going through the ordeal that feels satisfying as hell. I understand that recurring fights are obviously repetitive, but I enjoy them as a bit of a skill check as you go through the game. There's also the cathartic element of seeing these special enemies again after you get significant upgrades, which was what I enjoyed about Samus Returns and its many repeat bosses; it's extra satisfying to whoop ass in a fight you once struggled with after gaining more ways to dodge, acquiring a stronger weapon, or simply just mastering the boss's patterns. In terms of the exploration, the flow of the game is actually more linear than it initially appears (it was more apparent to me when I did my "speedrun" playthroughs), but in my first playthrough, there were still a few moments when I was just wandering around trying to figure out where I was supposed to go. Once stuff opens up and you have access to a bunch of different zones, there's a lot of places you can look around, but the game overall nudges you along the critical path mostly well. Those who really enjoy the exploration aspect of Metroid may not be fully satisfied with how Dread handles it, but I personally didn't mind. For the most part, unlocking inaccessible areas simply requires that you find the corresponding ability (done so through exploration or beating the shit out of a boss that's guarding the ability), which is standard Metroidvania fare. Dread mixes things up a little bit, which I appreciate, since you can also blast away certain terrain to open shit up or interact with switches that activate certain doors or interactables. There's even a moment where you have to beat a boss to stop it from altering the planet's environment (which locks off a bunch of areas at one point in the game). Many of the optional collectibles are either well-hidden or have a neat puzzle to them; when it comes to the latter, I was quite impressed (and also challenged) by the amount of collectibles locked behind tricky Shinespark puzzles. Item completion is also tracked neatly, with percentages calculated per area. I do wish the game did away with the bit where a part of the map flashes to indicate a secret is nearby (or at least gave the player a choice to toggle it on or off); I personally like scouring the entire map and checking every nook and cranny myself as opposed to the game simply telling me where to look. As is tradition in Metroid games, there is incentive to beat the game quickly and to get 100% items. This time around, the reward is some amazing-looking art that you can view in the Extras menu once you meet certain requirements. It's not much, but I appreciate the art all the same since some of it is Chozo lore and some of it is art that depicts key moments throughout the whole Metroid series (sans Prime, sadly). The only gripe I have is that the extras are tied to a single save file, so if you want the complete art gallery, you have to save your multiple playthroughs over one save slot. Seems like it'd be simpler to just have the Extras menu be its own thing. There's also a Hard Mode you can tackle after you beat the game once, and it's the usual stuff (enemies have more health, everything hurts more). Many of the boss fights are actually quite challenging (at least the first time), so this mode narrows the margin of error by quite a bit and can make getting the speedrun rewards tough. Definitely a worthwhile challenge. VERDICT: Metroid Dread has a lot of what I want from a new Metroid game and more, and I couldn't be happier. It's got the classic Metroid feel with a lot of its core mechanics, the improvements I enjoyed from Samus Returns, a bunch of new abilities, amazingly fun boss fights and EMMI chases, and a story that builds on the Chozo's backstory like never before. I do have my qualms, but overall, I absolutely adore this game, so much so that I completed my first playthrough in pretty much one sitting. I would still recommend starting with Super Metroid if you're new to the series (simply for the sake of history), but there's absolutely no problem jumping into this game first since the story before Dread is summarized well at the start. Also, a lot of the defining gameplay elements of Metroid are present here, so you can't go wrong starting with Dread. On the flip side, if you're a seasoned Metroid fan (or enjoy the Metroidvania genre in general), I think this is more than worth checking out. Oh, here's a fun thing I'll try to do with these blog entries moving forward: I recorded my first playthrough of this game and uploaded it to YouTube. Here's Part 1 and Part 2 respectively. I don't really share my thoughts out loud as I play (if I do, I'm just reacting to things as they happen and not really articulating much), but hopefully you, mysterious reader, can find some enjoyment in me fumbling through the game. - end -
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I'm doing my best to follow through on the promise to get back into reading like I used to. I've already prepared a list of Five Comics themes and still have a backlog of full graphic novels; all that remains is to get back into my weekly rhythm from before, and that begins today. THE THEME: Between the new Suicide Squad movie, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and the MODOK show (which I haven't seen yet), there's been a bit of villain/antihero-focused media this year. With that in mind, another edition of a villain-centric Five Comics theme seemed appropriate. THE COMICS: ![]() ABSOLUTE CARNAGE #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Donny Cates Artists: Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer Tying in with the landmark Venom saga that the Cates/Stegman duo started in 2018, this comic saw the grand return of Carnage, who was resurrected by a manic cult, and is now empowered by the Grendel dragon symbiote (more on that in my spoilery post on Vol. 1 of the 2018 Venom run). This issue sees Venom and Spider-Man race against Carnage to protect everyone who's been a host to the symbiote, including Norman Osborn (who was Red Goblin at one point; I talk about that arc here). Exciting stuff. - Comixology link ![]() MODOK ASSASSIN #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Christopher Yost Artists: Amilcar Pinna, Terry Pallot Set in the Battleworld created by Doctor Doom during 2015's Secret Wars (I read that too; my thoughts on that here), this comic features MODOK ruling over the domain known as Killville. It's a wild ride with lots of unhinged violence and manic dialogue from the main character, and it's neat to see different sections of Battleworld not tackled in the main series. - Comixology link ![]() MORBIUS: THE LIVING VAMPIRE (2013) #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Joe Keatinge Artist: Richard Elson Morbius is one of the more interesting Marvel villains/antiheroes on the account of his origin story, but this comic is more of a setup tale that puts him in a shitty town and struggling to deal with his condition. You do get small glimpses of his backstory and an intriguing mystery at the end, but as far as this issue goes, there's not much going on quite yet. - Comixology link ![]() SUICIDE SQUAD: KING SHARK (FCBD 2021 SPECIAL EDITION) Publisher: DC Comics Writers: Tim Seeley, Brian Azzarello Artists: Scott Kolins, Alex Maleev This FCBD offering is actually a double feature. The main story involving King Shark sees him return to his home waters and undertake a trial from his shark god father. The other preview is from Suicide Squad: Get Joker, which sees Amanda Waller attempt to recruit Jason Todd to lead Task Force X on a hit against the Joker. I found both stories to be interesting, but it's the latter that left me wanting to read more. - FREE on Comixology ![]() X-MEN BLACK: MOJO Publisher: Marvel Writers: Scott Aukerman, Zac Thompson, Lonnie Nadler Artists: Nick Bradshaw, Andre Lima Araujo, Geraldo Borges Mojo is perhaps the weirdest X-Men villain, being a freaky alienwith powerful abilities and is in charge of inhumane TV programming in his own dimension. Here, he gets a fun story where he tries to ask a girl out and makes a friend in the mutant known as Glob. The comic also features a story focusing on Apocalypse, who is currently stranded on an unknown planet and is seemingly regressing, losing his powers. It's only one chapter of a greater tale, and I want to see how it goes. - Comixology link There's been quite an influx of villain-centric media as of late, with stuff like Joker having come out, Morbius still to come (albeit that was delayed several times), and the trend extending outside the comic book realm with movies like Cruella (haven't seen that yet, either). I find it a curious trend, and while there are arguments to be made on whether stories like these can kill the mystique of villains or perhaps make them too sympathetic, I'm always personally intrigued by the exploration of these characters.
PANEL OF THE WEEK: I have a rather interesting one for you today: it's a game I've been enjoying with my friends (no shit) for a couple of weeks now. BACKGROUND:
I've watched a good amount of this game via Let's Plays on YouTube, enjoying hilarious videos from the likes of Achievement Hunter and Markiplier. There really is something about golf games that's just entertaining to watch. My friends and I all bought this game while it was on sale on a whim, and the hilarity that's ensued from our playthroughs has made the purchase more than worth it. PLOT: Nope. PRESENTATION: The game looks nice with some pretty-looking visuals for its courses, but I don't find anything too remarkable about the overall art style. There's a good variety of course themes, from a chill forest to a saccharine-looking candy land, and they all have pleasant music to go along with them. There's also a fun customization where you can change your golf ball's look. You can edit the ball's color, equip neat hats, and even give it a cool trail with neat visual effects. There's only a small variety of these customization options, and the quality can be hit-or-miss, but it's cool that you can personalize your golf ball. GAMEPLAY: As you may expect, this is a golf game played across some inventive minigolf-style courses. If you have even the roughest idea of golf as a concept, you should be fine. The controls are simple, making this accessible to even the most casual of players. You have a good sense of the power of your swings, and you can even add spins to the ball for neat trick shots. The ball behavior is mostly consistent, but the game definitely has the odd glitch here or there that can be annoying. The base game has a small amount of courses, each with 18 unique holes of varying difficulty you can play through. The selection itself is fine, and there's a bunch of fun level gimmicks (like cannons in the pirate stage or waterways you can swim through), but on successive playthroughs, the limited course count does become noticeable. There's a lot of customizability when it comes to the rulesets. You can change a lot of granular options, from stroke limit to time limit, add challenge by limiting the free-cam view, or even add wacky options like adjusted gravity and ball bounce. Most notably, you can add a jump (which mixes things up by giving your ball a jump), and even mess around with random ball shapes, allowing you to suffer through courses as incredibly annoying shapes like cylinders and acorns. There are even power-ups you can pick up, which can either help you get a hole-in-one or piss off other players. While I do like the selection of power-ups in the game, I do wish there were more than just the four you can get. You even choose alternate game modes from regular golf, like a hockey mode where you shoot pucks with ice physics into goalie-defended nets, or a "Dunk" mode where you try to use the jump to leap into a basketball hoop. These provide their own level of challenge, and they feel quite different from regular golf, even on the same exact courses. Even with all the rule options, there's only so much you can do until people get sick of the base game's stages, which is where the Steam Workshop functionality comes in. You can download a wide variety of user-made stages to keep things fresh, though with most user-made content, the quality of what you can access can vary greatly. Thankfully, there's a good amount of well-made courses out there. Alternatively, one can make their own courses with the built-in level editor. It's great that such a function is available within the game, but it's got quite a learning curve to it, and while there's a bunch of things you can do with level elements to make things unique, you're mostly limited to preexisting game assets in terms of aesthetic. While you can choose to play this game solo, this is meant to be played with multiple people. Setting up lobbies with custom rulesets is easy, and apart from what I assume are latency issues with the spectate function, games run mostly smoothly. I have a blast every time I play this game with my friends, not only because of the innate competitive aspect of the game, but with all the ways you can fuck over other people (from ball collisions to the annoying-ass power-ups). The game lends itself well to a hilarious amount of trash talk because of all these elements (heaven forbid you're the last person in the hole in our lobbies, because you're getting shit on). VERDICT: Golf With Your Friends is unironically one of the most enjoyable games I've played this year. Even if it doesn't have the most options or the most innovative mechanics, it has exactly what I want from a game like this: decent golf gameplay, lots of ruleset options, and potential for multiplayer hilarity. Are there better options out there? Probably. But my friends and I always have a fun time when firing this up, and that, to me, tells me that this game does a bunch of things right. If you're in the mood for a silly golf game or want a multiplayer experience that mostly everyone can get into, this is a fantastic option to get into largely for how inexpensive it is. Again, there are probably more polished options out there, but if you're not a stickler for that sort of thing, this is a mighty fine game for goofy golf shenanigans. Check out the game on Steam: Golf With Your Friends on Steam (steampowered.com) - end - The long road finally ends here for Smash Ultimate, and it might be the best possible way to bring things to a close. BACKGROUND:
There was rightly a lot of buzz for Smash Ultimate's final DLC. Who's it gonna be? Is it gonna blow everyone's mind? Is it gonna piss people off? The anticipation was high, so much so that I felt like no matter who was revealed, a lot of people would be upset. The character was eventually revealed in a standalone Smash stream, and holy fucking shit, it's Sora from Kingdom Hearts. I personally have no strong attachment to the series (most of my experience with it is secondhand, so I retained little knowledge on most things), but I recognized how much of a big goddamn deal this is. Sora's inclusion is a legal nightmare, due to the fact that the character (and most aspects of Kingdom Hearts) is owned by Disney. The fact that he's here is a fucking triumph, and that alone was more than enough to get me excited. Strangely enough, the only chatter I really noticed online about Sora's inclusion is of the positive kind. This doesn't surprise me, given that Sora has been a longtime fan request, Kingdom Hearts in general is a beloved series, and many people also recognize how much of a logistical triumph it is to get him into the crossover series. I'm sure there are the usual "anime swordsman" complaints buried in there somewhere, but for the most part, it seems most people were receptive to Sora. With all that in mind, he certainly feels like the perfect final character to end things on: Sora is a character that a lot of people wanted/have a special attachment to, and it's Nintendo declaring "we fucking did it" on something most people felt was an impossibility (Disney letting the dream crossover happen). There's not too many other characters who could have handled the unenviable spot of being Smash Ultimate's final character, and Sora's definitely one of the elite few who could pull it off. WHAT'S NEW: Our main attraction is Sora himself, and as far as DLC characters go, he's pretty straightforward in that he's got no big (or weird) gimmicks. He's akin to Banjo-Kazooie and Byleth in that, apart from a few moves, he fits right in with the base roster in terms of a simple moveset. Overall, Sora's a very air-focused combatant, with high, floaty jumps that let him go deep offstage. It can feel a bit weird to control him unless you play similarly floaty characters, but apart from that, I found it easy to grasp his play style. Pretty much all his normals are easy to understand, with the most unique thing here are his three-hit combos that can be performed out of four of his moves. These combos have decent utility, since you can stagger the combos or interrupt them outright for some mix-ups. Sora's specials are similarly straightforward. Neutral-b is a neat take on KH magic, as it automatically cycles through Firaga (spammable projectile), Thundaga (an amazing triple lightning strike attack), and Blizzaga (a typical freeze move) automatically. Down-b is a standard counter with minor variations (it behaves like Shulk's vision, and projectiles pass through Sora). Up-b is a rising spin attack (and a decent kill move), and side-b functions like Pikachu's Quick Attack, except you get three dashes plus a homing attack function if you mash the button. Where things get interesting is the fact that up-b can be chained into side-b, allowing Sora to recover from all but the furthest of offstage interactions. This lets Sora get away with some nutty edgeguarding situations, which I find quite wild. He can already go pretty far offstage just by the nature of his jumps and the properties of up-b and side-b by themselves, so having this unique movement tech seems like overkill (in a hilarious way). In terms of neat references, Sora has a fantastic set of costumes, repping four different KH games, and even one that calls back to the Steamboat Willie world. He also "uses" additional spells with his up taunt, has a Final Smash that I'm sure is some kind of spoiler, and he gets a special victory animation during Stamina Mode that calls back to boss fights in KH. Also, it would be a crime not to point out that the goddamn Mickey keychain to his Keyblade is in this game. Fucking wild. We get the Hollow Bastion stage along with Sora, which makes sense both in terms of its significance in the series and the fact that Disney probably would not allow any of their IPs to be represented at all. As a stage, it's like the Northern Crater in that it's got no gimmicks, has a tournament-legal layout, and is a traveling stage with a dynamic background. There's a cool interaction during low-health/stock situations where the stage transforms to Dive to the Heart (another important realm in KH lore), which I thought was brilliant. The stage gets nine songs, which isn't a lot (to be expected given Square Enix's previous track record with music + the additional Disney hurdle), but I found the selection to be solid. Bit of a shame that there aren't any remixes, though. Of course, we have the usual selection of Spirits (of which there are eight, none of whom are Disney characters), a new Classic Mode, and a few new Mii Costumes (the most notable of which is the Doom Slayer, who sadly doesn't come with Doom music). VERDICT: I still can't believe Sora is in Smash, and I found the character himself to be a fitting conclusion to the crossover triumph that is Smash Bros. Even as a complete Kingdom Hearts novice, the reverence shown to the character is apparent, and Sora himself offers something interesting to the table gameplay-wise despite not being a gimmicky character. POSTSCRIPT: While I'm here, I want to take the time to reflect on my journey with Smash Ultimate. This game series is one that means a lot to people, and I'm definitely included in that group. Not only was Smash my gateway to a lot of game franchises I wasn't familiar with, I can say with confidence that my eagerness to check out games the way I do now is because of Smash. The amount of love put into depicting the many characters did a lot to pique my curiosity towards the games I didn't know about, and deepened my appreciation towards the games I was familiar with. The smallest of details that Sakurai and his team have included in order to represent these game series led me to scrutinize other games I was playing, and that helped me appreciate elements I never used to pay mind to (like music, sound effects, and even UI elements). The very crossover nature of Smash also gave me a deeper appreciation of the historical aspect of games, and the fact that Smash covers both modern entries and retro picks is a big reason why I enjoy exploring old games the way I do with NES and SNES Online today. Aside from being a big reason why I have such a passion for video games today, Smash is just a really fun game to play, especially with friends. Smash 3DS was a defining title for my college life, as a close friend of mine would play it a lot on our commutes home, and while my friend was infinitely better at the game than I was, every match was a lot of fun. It's such a fantastic casual game in that pretty much anyone can pick it up, but it also has a surprising amount of depth to it if you wish to get better at the game. Smash was also how I was able to appreciate the eSports scene (it's really the only competitive scene I follow), and while the competitive Smash community itself is its own can of worms, I generally find it exciting to watch tournament matches. It's bittersweet to see the game end its run, but I can't be sad about all it's managed to accomplish. It is pretty much the greatest crossover there is, assembling some of the most iconic video game characters ever in one place. I take one look at the full roster and still can't fathom that it's real; this started out with twelve Nintendo characters, and now it has Sora, Ryu, and fucking Minecraft Steve. Even if you didn't get the characters you wanted, I really think one should take a step back and try to appreciate the innate triumph of even assembling such a roster. A crossover of this magnitude took a tremendous amount of effort to pull off, and it probably won't ever happen again. - end - The MCU's first animated outing just finished its first season, and it's a wild one. There's a lot of interesting stuff to touch on, so let's get started. What If...? is based on the comic series of the same name, which explores alternate outcomes and events from the Marvel Universe. While the comics explored a wide range of things such as "What if Spider-Man became the Punisher", the What If animated series specifically explores alternate events of the MCU. This first season explores nine such events, eight of which I will summarize below (the finale is a massive spoiler, and will have its own section). Like the comics, these episodes are narrated by The Watcher, a cosmic being who observes all that transpires in the universe, but vows to never interfere. S1E1 The first episode explores a straightforward What If: what if Peggy Carter received the Super Soldier Serum instead of Steve Rogers? It's kind of just a creative retelling of The First Avenger, so things aren't wild yet, but there are some neat surprises in here. I also just like that Captain Carter (who was pretty much just a one-off character from the Exiles series) gets a spotlight on some mainstream media. S1E2 Episode 2 is where What If starts taking advantage of its alternate reality premise, exploring the question of what would happen if T'Challa had become Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill. That seems like a complete impossibility if you're going off of the movies, but the episode gives a decent explanation as to how it could have happened. Other characters are reimagined in an interesting way, and the episode overall is a fun romp where the late Chadwick Boseman shines as a charismatic lead. S1E3 Here's where shit gets dark, as this episode sees what would happen if the Avengers were assassinated before they had a chance to assemble. This is set during what's called "Fury's Big Week" (the span of time in the MCU when the events of Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor are occurring), and it's a cool take on a murder mystery where Nick Fury races against time to identify the killer (the identity of which is a pleasant surprise). I thought this was a cool episode, but it could have used an extra couple of minutes to really build the mystery. S1E4 Another origin is reimagined here, as instead of losing the ability to use his hands (and perform surgery), the Doctor Strange of this universe loses the love of his life Christine Palmer. Both events send him on a path to becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, but this alternate take is significantly more dark and tragic. I was quite impressed at how bleak they made this episode, and there were some incredible visuals here as well. This version of Doctor Strange was such a fascinating character to watch, both in terms of his emotional journey and his capabilities (which appear to surpass that of his live-action counterpart). S1E5 This episode is essentially an adaptation of Marvel Zombies (the classic alternate universe comic series by Robert Kirkman), and shows us a world where Earth's Mightiest Heroes become zombies. I didn't think this was as strong as an episode it could have been, as it didn't have time to build the drama and missed a few key elements of the original comic. That said, it was still a decent MCU post-apocalypse, with weird (in a good way) character team-ups and fascinating plot points (like the origin of the "zombie virus" and a couple of neat plot twists). S1E6 Yet another origin story is given the ol' remix, as this episode takes a look at what would happen if Tony Stark was saved by Killmonger (and thus never became Iron Man). It was awesome to see Killmonger back in some form, and we get to see a neat story where he and Stark (who never has his life-changing experience) work together. Wakanda is heavily featured in this episode, and I quite enjoyed how Killmonger's journey to return to the nation is changed with one fateful encounter. S1E7 After a string of dark or otherwise bleak episodes (something that's also common in the original What If comics), this episode takes a backseat and is pure cartoony fun. It asks what would happen to Thor character-wise if Odin had never adopted Loki, and the result is a hell of a lot sillier than I expected. This one was just hijinks and laughs, which was refreshing after the trajectory of the episodes before this point, and there were plenty of cheeky references to boot. S1E8 We have another post-apocalypse here, as this episode looks at a world where Ultron succeeds with its original plan in the movie and uploads its consciousness to Vision's body. This is where shit goes off the rails, and while there are some plot points I have my qualms with, I enjoyed this episode on the account that it establishes Ultron as the Avengers-level threat it was meant to be (and never really became in Age of Ultron). Plus, there were some neat twists in this episode, which I'll get into in the spoiler section. [spoilers come after the fifth paragraph]
Like any anthology series, What If has its amazing episodes and not-so-amazing episodes, but I'd say my experience is a net positive. That said, I do still have my criticisms. I wish some of the episodes had more time to breathe (they were all around 30 mins); it would have helped flesh out some of the more ambitious episode concepts. The shorter runtimes work for some episodes, but for episodes like the murder mystery and the zombies episode, I feel like the extra time would have been beneficial. I also wish they fully took advantage of the whole idea of exploring alternate realities to further build on the main MCU's lore. The fact that this whole show is about viewing established and familiar events from a different lens makes it an amazing world-building tool for the main universe, and there are some episodes that do capitalize on this. For example, the murder mystery episode reveals a previously unknown connection to Black Widow and The Incredible Hulk, while the Ultron episode adds a new layer to HYDRA as it was during Winter Soldier. Unfortunately, the show only does this world-building like this sparingly, and while it doesn't really affect the show's quality, I personally would have loved more storytelling like this. On the flip side, the liberties this show takes with the MCU can go a bit too far, and some of the changes they made for the episodes start to really muddy what's already becoming a convoluted main continuity. Examples of this include how certain characters/character interactions were handled, events or possibilities that are glaringly omitted or altered, or straight up anachronistic appearances. Now, granted, you can hand-wave these off to be "oh, that's just an oddity of this specific universe", but I feel like alternate reality stories require some level of consistency with certain elements of the main reality to be really enjoyable (for me, at least). There were definitely a few moments in this season that felt super jarring because it clashes with what has been established in the main MCU. Despite all this, I still had a fun time watching What If overall, with its neat concepts and nice animation. If you're an MCU fan whose slowly getting overwhelmed with all the content that's slated to come out in the coming months, I can understand why you maybe want to just skip this one. As it is right now, I can agree with the notion that S1 isn't necessary viewing, but even then, I still insist that you check it out. It may not be connected to the main MCU (yet), but I think the show can be enjoyed as it is: an exploration of alternate events to a well-established story. [spoilers directly below; you've been warned] |
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June 2024
Derryck
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