It's New Year's Eve, and I've got one more blog post before 2018 ends. As promised last week, I'm reading another RWBY manga anthology, and this time, it's about Weiss! BACKGROUND:
As I talked about last week, I'm a fan of RWBY, so this purchase was a no-brainer for me. I actually bought this along with the first volume that I've already discussed. SUMMARY: Like the first volume, Mirror, Mirror is a collection of short stories in manga format, but this time, the stories revolve around Weiss. While Ruby's anthology goes into her struggles at being team leader and her desire to be a good friend and teammate, Weiss's gives us a look at how her privileged upbringing affected her way of thinking, as well as how others interact with her. In addition to seeing more of her dynamic with the rest of Team RWBY, we also see a bit of her relationship with her sister Winter, whom she very much admires. Weiss is one of those characters who seems like she's a walking stereotype: a posh, arrogant princess who looks down on others. But, as both the show and this manga shows us, there's a lot more to her than her background and her hard-to-approach demeanor. Many of the stories really capture what endeared me to Weiss's character, and helped cement her as one of my favorite huntresses in the entire series. VERDICT: If you're a fan of Weiss's character like I am, Mirror, Mirror is well worth picking up. These manga anthologies add a lot more depth to our beloved RWBY characters, despite containing stories that are only loosely connected to more important events within the series. I can't wait to collect the rest of this series; I heard the Blake-centric manga is already in stores! Read Mirror, Mirror on Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/RWBY-Official-Manga-Anthology-MIRROR-MIRROR-Vol-2/digital-comic/691447?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9pdGVtU2xpZGVy Well, that's it for 2018. I hope the rest of you had a great year, and I wish you the best as we ring in the new one. There'll be more ramblings for me to put up on the blog in 2019, and I hope you'll check them out. - end -
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I've played a respectable amount of games in 2018 thanks to my Switch, and, as the year draws to a close, I've got one more game to talk about. In my last game-related blog entry of 2018, I'll be discussing Grim Fandango Remastered. BACKGROUND:
I did not grow up playing games on PC. I didn't get into shit like Doom, Counter Strike, or the myriad of silly Flash games on the Internet until I was a bit older. In the same vein, I never got to experience the point-and-click adventure games of old until I started learning about them online. It doesn't help that I didn't grow up in the '80s and '90s when the genre was wildly popular. With all that said, when I discovered that a) Grim Fandango Remastered was ported to Switch, and b) it was on a 70% markdown, I had to check it out. The most I've interacted with the defining games of the point-and-click genre is watching Let's Plays of them, so this felt like a perfect opportunity to experience one of its most highly acclaimed titles. PLOT: You play as Manuel "Manny" Calavera, a sales agent in the Land of the Dead in charge of providing travel packages for all the incoming souls of the recently deceased. These souls are on their way to eternal rest, and it's Manny's job to determine in what manner they get there. Souls who've led a good life can make the trip on various modes of transportation to get to the end faster, with the most ideal being the Number Nine, an express train. Less kind souls must make their way through the Land of the Dead on foot, which takes much longer. Some of these souls end up disillusioned, or have debts to pay, and take up jobs instead. As Manny goes about his work, he ends up under the threat of being fired for underperforming. Desperate, he finds a way to get a leg up on the job, but ends up caught in a criminal conspiracy that affects just about every soul in the Land of the Dead. Manny's story is divided into four story arcs, each a year apart. Each year, you'll find Manny in an entirely new place in his life, but still very much focused on undoing his mistakes and rectifying the consequences the conspiracy have caused. It's pretty exciting to see the shifts in setting when you get to the "one year later" screens. The plot has a kind of film noir vibe to it, and coupled with the clear Día de los Muertos inspirations for the setting and character designs, it's a peculiar, but very welcome mix of styles. Some of the voice actors were Latino, whose dialogue complemented the setting. Grim Fandango's characters range from the obvious trope to the more nuanced, but for the most part, you'll get a fun conversation out of majority of the NPCs. I found myself exhausting every dialogue option, both to make sure I get everything I need to solve the puzzles, as well as to see if they have something funny to say. PRESENTATION: Although this game originally came out in 1998, the game's aged pretty well. Most of the original visual elements (the backgrounds, the pre-rendered cutscenes) remain mostly untouched, with the only notable things being truly remastered are the character models. You can toggle between the original, low-poly look and the remastered models if you so desire. The music is fully orchestrated, with most of the tracks taking a jazz route that complements the film noir vibe of the story. There are a few tracks here and there that take inspiration from mariachi music. Overall, they made wonderful background music as I shuffled through my inventory trying to figure out this one fucking puzzle. Unique to the remastered version is the option to turn on developer commentary. If you're interested in hearing about what the devs think about certain sections of the game, this is an option well worth exploring. GAMEPLAY: Like most point-and-click adventure games, you move around your character (Manny, in this case) around the environment, interacting with people and objects, picking up items, and using these items on said people or objects. You pretty much do this for the entirety of the game in order to solve puzzles and progress through the story. Unlike older point-and-click games where you saw the entire area on the screen, Grim Fandango features fixed camera angles that may give some players trouble when moving from place to place. And since this game is in 3D (again, unlike older point-and-clicks, which were often 2D), it's a little tricky to pick up some out-of-the-way items, and activating certain things may prove to be finicky. This may frustrate people early on, but an important thing to note is that if you can interact with something, Manny will often turn his gaze upon it. In contrast, Grim Fandango follows the norm of most point-and-clicks by having a variety of tough puzzles. If you're not familiar with the genre, figuring out some of the puzzles in these older games is almost always a challenge. Some puzzles are (slightly) straightforward, others require a bit of ingenuity, while a few may be considered obtuse. If you find yourself stuck and unable to progress, you'll likely end up backtracking through literally everywhere, trying every goddamn item in your inventory on every other object in the environment. Don't get too mad, though; there's no time limit here, and there's never a situation where you die or end up in a no-win scenario. VERDICT: Twenty years after its release, I now understand why Grim Fandango is revered. Though the whole 3D environment takes some getting used to, the unique setting, visuals that aged well, great music, and some good, ol'-fashioned hard as fuck puzzles make the game quite the adventure. If you're like me and kind of missed the boat on the heyday of point-and-click games, this is a good place to start. Grim Fandango's on a number of platforms. Here are links to a couple of them: The game's official soundtrack is on Spotify as well. Give that a listen if you wish. - end - I just spent about two or so hours going through Black Mirror's new game— er, special, Bandersnatch. I'll be talking about the experience without getting into any spoiler territory. For the unfamiliar, here's the trailer for the episode: Choose Your Own Adventure books were my jam back in grade school. I used to borrow them all the time at the school library and spend hours combing through every possible outcome. The whole multiple endings gimmick eventually became more prevalent in games, with notable examples being the Telltale games (RIP). When I heard Black Mirror was going to try its hand at the idea, I was intrigued, though not impressed. The concept of a visual novel with player choice isn't that mind-blowing in 2018, so I wondered how Bandersnatch would differentiate itself (other than the fact that it's on a streaming service). Before you start watching the special, you are shown what's basically a tutorial on how Bandersnatch works. If you play a lot of games like I do, this tutorial seems dumb and kind of an insult to one's intelligence, but do remember that many game elements don't come naturally to a lot of people. Besides, it's not like the tutorial lasts two hours. Once you move on to the episode itself, the integration of picking your choice is seamless and intuitive. The UI isn't intrusive and doesn't disrupt the story (stuff still happens while you're on the selection menu), and there's a very noticeable bar that tells you how long you have to make a choice. If you don't pick anything (intentionally or not), a choice is made for you, ensuring that the story's flow isn't interrupted. Like most Choose Your Own Adventure books, some choices take the narrative to an abrupt end, others push it forwards, and there are even a few that are mostly inconsequential. These choices range from the seemingly benign (e.g. a choice near the beginning decides what background music you hear) to the pivotal. If you come across a choice that ends the story, you're taken to a menu where you can return to certain points of the narrative, where you're free to choose the other options. There are several endings (with many of them being slight variations on a couple of scenes), but only two take you to a credits screen. With there being only two choices in every decision, it's pretty easy to see most of what Bandersnatch has to offer, but some of the other scenes take a bit of finagling to access. Making certain choices can alter what options you have in a later decision, meaning some decisions actually have three options. Other scenes can only be accessed via the replay option (i.e. starting the episode over cold turkey won't work). This is exciting and all, but the fact that there aren't "checkpoints" (for lack of a better term) that allow you to start immediately at a certain scene makes experiencing all of Bandersnatch a tad cumbersome. The story itself starts out rather simple. It focuses on the life of Stefan Butler, a budding game developer in the '80s who's looking to get his game, the eponymous Bandersnatch, published. Though the initial premise isn't anything spectacular, what makes it special is the viewer interaction itself. Your choices don't just alter what happens in the episode; what you do has a direct impact on Stefan's life, and possibly his psyche. Once you've progressed through a good amount of the episode, stuff will start to unravel. The show will beat you over the head with the whole "illusion of free will" spiel, characters will have deja vu moments, and shit will generally spiral into "what the fuck is real anymore" territory (complete with possible anachronisms and demolishing the fourth wall). The show even takes a jab at itself when you get certain endings. Hell, sometimes your choices end up not mattering at all. It's this variety that really hooked me on Bandersnatch; the journey of seeing the consequence of every single choice became less a chore and more a discovery. With the breadth of outcomes one could encounter in the episode, it's hard for me to narrow down on how I feel about the story overall. Some endings hit, others miss, and a couple were really weird. There isn't really a perfect ending, or a "true ending" (as some games have), and while that may be the point, perhaps this is why I can't decide on how to feel about the plot as a whole. Honestly, I didn't expect much from Bandersnatch. After all, its main gimmick isn't exactly a groundbreaking concept. Despite this, the surprisingly varied effects my choices had on the narrative made playing through/watching the episode an enjoyable experience. I wouldn't call it Black Mirror's best, but it's certainly up there as one of the most unique offerings in the show's history.
- end - I hope you all had a merry Christmas/happy holidays/[greeting that won't offend a pedantic asshole] this past Tuesday! I'm continuing the festivities this week with my latest MCU Rewatch: The First Avenger. BACKGROUND:
Captain America wasn't one of my favorite comic characters growing up. I never found his power set to be all that impressive, though I did think that having a shield as a primary weapon was a cool idea. I also never really gravitated towards his very cut and dry personality in the comics (this is also why I'm not big on Superman). To his credit, though, Cap had a bunch of my favorite Marvel villains and supporting characters (e.g. Baron Zemo, Falcon). Having learned my mistake from skipping Thor, I went to see this movie with some friends after a school day, and had a good time. COMICS TO READ:
MY FAVORITE MOMENTS:
THE EASTER EGGS:
THE HERO: I was worried at the time that they'd make Cap overtly patriotic, but thankfully, it's not the case. He's simply a man with a strong moral compass who wants to do the right thing, no matter the danger. Everything from his refusal to give up (be it in a fistfight or on the soldiers in the HYDRA prison) to his selfless sacrifice (plural if you count the dummy grenade) is a testament to the man's character. I'm still no sucker for the "boy scout" archetype, but this take isn't insufferable, and I can live with that. THE VILLAIN: Although not that remarkable in terms of power set or motivations, we get a memorable Red Skull performance out of Hugo Weaving. He felt menacing, and sounded completely deranged and utterly obsessed (both with world domination and Asgardian myth). It doesn't make sense for me to expect nuance in a Nazi leader analogue, so I'll take what I can get here. OTHER THINGS:
THE AFTER-CREDITS: The post-credits scene is a glorified teaser trailer for the first Avengers movie. Exciting at the time, means nothing now. I do have fond memories of this stinger, however; seeing it and knowing that the whole thing was coming in less than a year filled me with hype that I'd never felt before. VERDICT: Though now overshadowed by its sequels, The First Avenger is a fantastic origin tale for Cap that focuses more on his heroic traits over his cool new powers. On top of that, it's got a war movie vibe, an enjoyable Red Skull, and Agent Carter. Still a great rewatch, but this isn't the movie that made me a fan of the Captain (we'll get to that in a couple of weeks). My first blog entry of 2019 might be an MCU Rewatch post, and it's a big one: The Avengers. Drop by again next Friday for that! - end - I just spent the bulk of my Christmas Eve watching through the second season of Runaways, which is rather indicative of how sad my life is. Nonetheless, I'd like to talk more about my favorite comic series turned Hulu series at length, because believe me, I've got nothing else going on this holiday season. If you haven't watched the show, a) why?, and b) I'll have to warn you about some S1 spoilers. No spoilers for this season, however. After a solid-but-still-weirdly-paced first season, the kids finally run away, and the bulk of the season is spent seeing how ill-equipped they are to survive on their own. What's more, the Pride are relentlessly hunting them, and the threat of Jonah is still very much present. This season can be split up into two halves: the first deals with what was established in the first season with Jonah, and that's wrapped up rather neatly. The second half focuses more on what the first volume of the Runaways comic was essentially about: evil parents trying to get their kids back. However, the second half eventually reveals that the conflict in the first half wasn't so resolved after all, and although I find the twists interesting, some aspects feel a little contrived. By the second half, it felt like there was no clear endgame in sight, so I found myself wondering where the show was heading at times. There's also subplots and smaller story arcs up the ass this season, and while some are pretty enjoyable, some kind of go nowhere. It also doesn't help that there are a shit ton of characters to keep track of, and that there are more episodes to watch than last season. Though I wouldn't say I'm particularly bothered about S2's plot overall (I like some stuff; other stuff, I can do without), the unevenness of the pacing does stick out to me a little bit. My gripes with the overall narrative aside, I still very much enjoyed this season, and that's almost entirely because of the characters. The kids get even more time to shine this time around, and you get to see them grow as people and see how their circumstances change them. You also see how some of the deeper connections within the group (Gert-Chase, Nico-Karolina) evolve, perhaps to a fault. What this show did way better than the comics was giving the Pride actual personalities and character development, and you see even more of that in S2. They're all fun to watch, though a certain twist in the latter half of the season kind of gets in the way of some of these established characters. Although the kids are supposedly trying to run away from their parents, the show finds ways for them to cross paths with the Pride, leading to some fascinating character interactions. However, I do worry that having this many characters to juggle with may feel like too much, but S2 handles this quite well. Of course, it's not a comic book adaptation if there aren't some Easter eggs for me to scream about. Some elements from the original Runaways comics, such as the Hostel and the introduction of Topher, are brought into the fold, although with various changes from the source material. And, as expected from a Marvel TV project, the MCU nods are few and far between, with one cheeky name-drop, and a more impressive, but subtle tie-in to Doctor Strange that blew my fucking mind. Despite my ambivalence towards this season's plot and pacing, I still enjoyed Runaways S2, and I'm not just saying that because I grew up loving the source material. The heart of the show has been within its characters, and on that front, it delivers. That might not be enough for other people, but as someone who's known and loved these characters longer than most, that's good enough for me.
I'm hoping we get a third season, and not just because there was a cliffhanger in the finale. - end - It's the midnight before Christmas, so I thought I'd get a head start on this week's read and take on the RWBY manga centered on the main woman herself, Ruby Rose. BACKGROUND:
As I've probably mentioned before, I'm a big fan of RWBY, Rooster Teeth's hit animated series. As such, I was completely floored during a random trip to the bookstore and I spotted RWBY books in the manga section. While I didn't buy them on impulse right then and there, I picked them up at a book fair not long after. SUMMARY: It should probably go without saying that you'd have to be familiar with the RWBY series to fully enjoy this manga. It should also go without saying that I recommend that show and you should binge watch it whenever you can. If the word "anthology" hasn't already given it away, Red Like Roses is a collection of short stories in manga form, all revolving around RWBY's de facto main character, Ruby Rose. These stories don't really tie into the larger RWBY canon and focus more on Ruby as a character. Most of the stories dive into an aspect of her character or her relationship with her teammates, and if Ruby is your favorite huntress, you'll be sure to appreciate how much these stories flesh her character out. You'll also get a smattering of silly stories that could've easily been RWBY Chibi skits, and they're just as great. Since each of these stories are done by different people, you'll see a bunch of different art styles, though none of them deviate too far from typical manga art. All the artists did a wonderful job, especially with all the zany facial expressions. VERDICT: Though I wouldn't call it "essential reading" in terms of RWBY's lore at large, Red Like Roses should still be in the radars of RWBY fans who want to see Ruby outside of the main series. There is no narrative through line, but the nature of this being a collection of short stories makes it perfect for reading in short bursts. I'm excited for more of these manga anthologies covering other RWBY characters. In fact, I'll let you in on a little secret: next week's read will also be a RWBY manga anthology! You can check out this manga on Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/RWBY-Official-Manga-Anthology-RED-LIKE-ROSES-Vol-1/digital-comic/671774?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9pdGVtU2xpZGVy - end - It's Friday night once more, so the MCU Rewatch continues. This week, I start the tail end of Phase 1 with the first Thor movie. BACKGROUND:
This is the other of the two MCU movies that I never saw in theaters, mostly because I didn't care for the Thor character at the time. I never found him an interesting character growing up, and I only started getting into Norse mythology when I was much older. I got around to watching this movie before the first Avengers movie premiered, and I liked it. I still feel like an asshole for letting my preconceived notions stop me from giving the movie a fair chance. As I talked about last week, the introduction of Thor meant that the MCU (which was predominantly sci-fi at the time) was about to add more fantastical elements into the universe. This was met by skepticism by many fans (myself included), but, looking back now, the worries that fantasy wouldn't mesh well with sci-fi were quite unfounded. COMICS TO READ:
MY FAVORITE MOMENTS:
THE EASTER EGGS:
THE HERO: Thor is brash, arrogant, stubborn, and everything you don't want in a leader, and the movie makes this quite clear in the beginning. He makes a lot of ill-informed decisions and is motivated by some form of machismo. He's clearly a douche, and barring any physical attraction you may have for the guy, you'll easily be annoyed by his bullshit. His origin story is different in an interesting way, as it isn't Thor stumbling upon his powers and deriving a purpose from them. He's already a jacked thunder god, and his journey is him being kicked down a peg, learning to act selflessly, and learning to solve problems with something other than his fists. It's not the typical hero's journey, and that's great. THE VILLAIN: Loki is often touted as one of the MCU's best villains, and that is with good reason. His motivations are clear and sensible: he's driven by envy and resentment towards his brother, and desperate for his father's approval. He's every bit the foil to Thor; Loki is conniving, manipulative, and tries to talk his way out of things, as opposed to Thor, who is content punching his way out of a situation. He's such a good character, he upstages Thor in his own movie. OTHER THINGS:
THE AFTER-CREDITS: The post-credits scene has Nick Fury bring in Erik Selvig to take a look at... a glowing cube. Selvig, who is already under Loki's influence, agrees. Of course, we now know that this cube is the Tesseract, AKA the Space Gem. But at the time, I assumed that it was simply the Cosmic Cube, a classic Captain America macguffin that Red Skull is often seen using. The idea of the Infinity Gems in the movies was still a ridiculous notion, so no one really thought it was anything other than the Cosmic Cube. VERDICT: Thor was, at one point, the MCU's biggest gamble, and I think it's safe to say that it worked out. It's a little light on the action, and has a romance that I don't really care about, but the movie makes up for it with the spectacle of Asgard (even if it is just a glorified backdrop) and solid character work from the hero and the villain (but mostly the villain). Still an enjoyable watch, and I certainly appreciate it more than I did when it first came out. Get your stars and stripes ready for Captain America: The First Avenger, because that's next week's rewatch. - end - I'm back with another physical TPB this week, and this time, it's one of my many Runaways books. I want to hold off on covering them here until I've completed the collection, but I made an exception for this book, as it's more of a standalone affair. BACKGROUND:
I love the Runaways. It's probably my all-time favorite comic. I've slowly been collecting every Runaways TPB over the years, and as of now, I'm only missing a few volumes (plus some miscellaneous tie-in comics). I obviously had to have this book. THE WRITING: This version of the Runaways is set in the midst of Marvel's Secret Wars event from a few years ago, so if you're hoping for the original six kids, you're out of luck. You get an entirely different cast of kids in this one, with Molly being the only one from the original Runaways. During Secret Wars, the Marvel multiverse got fucked, and all that remained of it was Battleworld, which was an amalgam of a number of different alternate universes. This version of Battleworld is ruled by Doctor Doom, and he has created the Institute for Gifted Youths, where kids from all over are molded to become his loyal soldiers. The book follows the escapades of a group stuck in detention who end up becoming a team during final exams. When they discover the horrible truth behind these exams, they attempt to escape from school. Of course, the school's not gonna take that sitting down, so the kids must figure out what to do next while being hunted down. Although the plot is very far removed from the original Runaways comic, it still has the essentials: a group of gifted kids discover some sort of conspiracy, they run away, they're being hunted, all mixed with a dash of teen drama. It's not quite on the level of the original, but it still has some great character moments worth checking out. This TPB also contains issue #1 of Secret Wars: Secret Love, which is a compilation of short comics dealing with romance and all that mushy shit. The stories are nice and wholesome, and some of them are funny, but I personally enjoyed the different art styles a lot more. THE ART: They go for a "rougher", simpler overall look for the characters and use a more toned down palette, which is also kind of a departure from classic Runaways, but it's still some solid art. I like all the animated facial expressions many characters had, because some of the faces got hilariously weird (in the best way). VERDICT: Runaways: Battleworld is completely different from the Runaways most readers know and love, but different doesn't necessarily mean bad. This comic takes the essence of Runaways and puts a new spin on it, and it's a shame that it doesn't really go anywhere (this series, as far as I know, begins and ends with this book). Given more issues, they could've made something that rivals the original, but as it stands, the original's still the one to beat. Check out the comic over at Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/Runaways-Battleworld/digital-comic/314229?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9pdGVtU2xpZGVy - end - We're at week 3 of the rewatch, and today, I'm revisiting the MCU's first sequel: Iron Man 2. We're still months away from Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, but with the rewatch in full swing, the wait won't feel agonizing. BACKGROUND:
Iron Man became a huge hit when it came out, so most people I knew (myself included) were pretty excited for this sequel. I was already sold on it, but then they revealed that War Machine is in the movie, turning my hype up to 11. COMICS TO READ:
MY FAVORITE MOMENTS:
THE EASTER EGGS:
THE HERO: We still get the Tony Stark we know and love from the first movie, except now, we see him struggling with the fact that he's dying. It's a little sad to see him give into self-destructive behavior and make incredibly rash decisions (even if the situations he gets himself into are kinda funny). We also see a bit of what his relationship with his dad looked like, albeit only for a short time. THE VILLAIN: Ivan Vanko (who is a mix between Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo in this movie) isn't all that interesting, apart from his motivation to avenge his dad. It doesn't help that he's "bad guy in armor #5, except with whips", which isn't exactly a fresh idea when we've already seen Iron Monger. Justin Hammer, on the other hand, felt like a more interesting antagonist, thanks in no small part to Sam Rockwell's charismatic performance. I wish we get him back in future MCU films, doing shit like making the Super Adaptoid to defeat the Avengers or something. OTHER THINGS:
THE AFTER-CREDITS: We see where exactly Coulson goes after he leaves Stark's mansion, and it's a crater in New Mexico where, lo and behold, Thor's Mjölnir rests. This was mind-blowing at the time; not only did the MCU dream start to feel more real, it meant that the (so far) sci-fi heavy MCU was about to cross over with the more fantastical side of the Marvel Universe. It also means that Thor, Iron Man 2, and Incredible Hulk all happened within a week of each other, which means SHIELD's got their hands full. VERDICT: Though not quite on the level of the first movie, Iron Man 2 still has awesome moments and great character work from Tony Stark. It suffers a bit from an uninteresting villain and a penchant for setting up the Avengers, but I wouldn't call it terrible. That's it for this week. Check in again on Friday for Thor. - end - I'm a little late to this party, but nonetheless, I'll be talking about the new games on the NES library that dropped earlier this week. I've created a new NES Online blog category in the Categories list where you can see my thoughts from previous months. THE GAMES: ![]() ADVENTURES OF LOLO: - Each level is a single room where you have to collect all the hearts to open a chest and exit to the next room. Really fun puzzle game despite only having a handful of simple mechanics. ![]() NINJA GAIDEN: - A beloved platforming classic, featuring tough-as-nails gameplay, a meaty story (for its time period, anyway), and good ol' ninja action. Should be played at least once. ![]() WARIO'S WOODS: - An interesting blend between a puzzle game and a platformer where you move around as Toad trying to clear the screen of monsters by picking up bombs. Rather tricky to get a hang of. For this month, we get two SP games instead of one: ![]() DR. MARIO: SP - Starts you at the end of Lv. 20 on high. It's basically a save state that makes it easier for you to access the secret 21st level, which I'm pretty sure is fucking impossible. ![]() METROID: SP - The same game, except you have all the shit unlocked, and you start outside Ridley's boss room. Again, it's a save state that lets you see the latter parts of the game. December brought us some solid games, although I can't help but be a little disappointed with the new SP entries. They're nice for people who find these older games difficult, but they don't really feel "special"; perhaps it's on me to have expected some sort of wacky romhack where they change some shit, but surely "special" should refer to something more than a glorified save state?
My gripes aside, I'm excited for what 2019 holds for the NES Online library. I know most people think this isn't worth paying online for (they're right), but as somebody who grew up way after this era of games, it's nice to be able to play a good number of them in one place. I hope they keep adding new shit, and I'm crossing my fingers for Online libraries for, say, SNES or N64 games. - end - I would have watched this sooner, but Into the Spider-Verse coming out within the same time frame messed with my schedule. In any case, here are my spoiler-free thoughts on Aquaman. The plot isn't anything revolutionary. Ocean Master's a cunt, Aquaman's gotta beat him up. That's pretty standard fare for an Aquaman story. While this doesn't bother me at all, what irks me about it is all the jumping around from place to place. One minute, it's "we gotta go here to do this", to "fuck, wait, we gotta go do this first." Nothing about it is illogical; it just seems like a lot of hoops to jump through to get to the good shit.
The one good thing about the jumping about is that it provides a good amount of world-building for Atlantis. You get to see some of the seven kingdoms, learn some expository bullshit, and see the other races of Atlantis. It's all just kinda there, though, so maybe we'll get better looks at it in a sequel. Aquaman is back from doing jack shit in Justice League, and he's pretty enjoyable when, you know, he gets to do shit. They did a great job of taking the one Justice League member who's been treated like a joke for decades and making him look sick as shit. Stuff like his classic orange/green costume to how they handled his ability to communicate with marine life are very well done (especially the latter, considering people love to make fun of Aquaman for having such a situational ability). His aloof bro personality might not be for everyone, though. Standing by Aquaman's side is Mera, AKA the more interesting Atlantean in Justice League. She gets to do more cool-looking Atlantean sorcery (also known as waterbending), does parkour, and jumps off planes. I wish we got a little more character-wise, but what we got in terms of action was wonderful. Opposing our intrepid heroes is Ocean Master, who, despite a sensible motivation, isn't all that interesting overall. He's also weirdly fixated on the name "Ocean Master", and I found that kind of strange. He at least has his comic book look, helmet and all, so that's something. You know who is interesting, though? Black fucking Manta, who has always been the superior Aquaman villain. They did a spin of his origin tale in the movie, which gave him a fantastic motivation to go after Aquaman. Most importantly, he got his badass suit, complete with laser eyes, and was the sickest looking motherfucker in the entire movie. Wish we got more of him, though, but I guess that's what a sequel's for. This movie is a sight to behold, especially in the underwater segments. The deep is filled with vibrant, bioluminescent flora and fauna, Atlantean architecture and technology looked advanced yet organic, and the fictional creatures (giant sea horses, etc.) reached kaiju levels of awesome. Every time the setting would go to land, I went, "go back, damn it!" I imagine it must look much more spectacular in 3D. The action, for the most part, is pretty enjoyable. It helps to have characters with cool power sets like Mera and Black Manta around, but Aquaman and Ocean Master are no slouches with trident combat. Other than Black Manta, my personal highlight was the fight at the end. I don't want to spoil it, but a good way to describe it is "this is exactly how you make Aquaman a badass motherfucker." There is one mid-credits scene, and it's mostly setting up a potential sequel. You may leave the cinema after watching it, as nothing else follows. Overall, Aquaman was a fun time. The story might not be much (except in terms of length, in which case it might feel too much), but for me, the amazing visuals and impressive action make up for it. If you still think Aquaman is the shittiest DC hero after this movie, then there's no saving your damned soul. Also, Willem Dafoe is in this movie. As someone who's watched the original Spider-Man movie by Sam Raimi too many times, it is rather distracting. - end - Welp. That might just be the greatest Spider-Man movie of all time. Today, I talk about Into the Spider-Verse, free of spoilers The first thing about this movie that caught my attention was the art style; the animation is beautiful, vibrant, and is the epitome of "comic book come to life", with speech bubbles, caption boxes, and written sound effects to really drive it home. Everything about this movie is a feast for the eyes, and I kinda wish I could afford to see it in 3D.
Into the Spider-Verse's story is a mix of Miles Morales's origin tale from Ultimate Comics and elements of the Spider-Verse comic event. If you're familiar with either story, nothing will really come as a surprise (apart from maybe one or two things), but thankfully, the movie combines the two comics in such a way that it feels like its own thing. The highlight of the film lies within its characters. Miles is obviously the heart of the story, and if you aren't already familiar with the guy, his hero's journey in this movie might be the perfect introduction to the character. The other Spideys don't get as much screen time, but they get just enough that you get a good sense of who they are and what they've been through (because nearly every Spidey has been through some shit). Even Kingpin, who is the main villain in this one, has a compelling motivation for his shenanigans, and it's about as tragic as most Spidey origin stories. Of course, it's not a comic book movie without Easter eggs, and this movie's got plenty. From callbacks to the Raimi trilogy, nods to the likes of Brian Michael Bendis (the co-creator of Miles Morales), background elements like Peter Parker's alternate suits (look for the one based on the PS4 suit!), and more, there's plenty for assholes with no life like me to overanalyze. There's also a heartfelt tribute to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, which makes this movie just a touch bittersweet considering we lost them both this year. And yes, there's a post-credits scene, and it is probably up there as one of the greatest after-credits scenes of all time. It was equal parts "big reveal only losers like me would understand" and absolutely fucking hysterical. Definitely worth the wait. All in all, Into the Spider-Verse feels like a love letter to a time-honored and beloved character. It also serves as a wonderful introduction to a cast of Spider-folks not many people have heard about. Between its amazing visuals, spectacular characters, and [other adjective typically used to describe Spider-Man] references, Spidey fans, casual or hardcore, will probably enjoy watching this. - end - For the first time on this blog series, I'm covering a comic from my digital backlog! I'll probably go back to finishing the rest of my physical books for the foreseeable future, but for this week, I thought I'd get started with clearing the comics on my phone. BACKGROUND:
Brian K. Vaughan has my eternal respect and my admiration for creating the Runaways, my favorite comic series of all time. As such, when I got older, I started looking for his work outside of Marvel. Paper Girls is one of those works. THE WRITING: It is the 1st of November, 1988 in a little suburb in Cleveland. Four newspaper delivery girls are making the rounds in the early hours when they stumble upon some weird goings-on in their town. All of a sudden, they're caught in a war between two factions of time travelers from the future. It becomes clear early on that this is a time travel story, but the comic still manages to have an air of mystery around it as you read on. You only get bits and pieces of what's really going on in the first volume, and the little I've seen has me raring to buy the next book. There isn't a lot of character development for the main characters in the first volume, but the comic establishes their distinct personalities almost immediately. In the same vein as the plot, I'd love to uncover more of how they grow as characters due to the events of the comic, especially with how the first volume ends. THE ART: What grabbed me at first was the abundant use of thick lines, which I thought looked great and made everything pop out. My favorite thing about the art, however, has to be the palette; the colors they used are muted in contrast to the line art, and they seem to favor tints of pink, purple, and blue. These two elements combine to form a rather distinct visual style. VERDICT: Although Vol. 1 is mostly setting things up, the premise has me excited to see where the story leads. It has dawned on me that I don't read too many mystery/thriller stories, so it's a nice change of pace to be excited to turn the page and be completely surprised. It also helps that the art looks great and I'm hyped to see more of it. I got Paper Girls Vol. 1 on Comixology, and so can you: https://www.comixology.com/Paper-Girls-Vol-1/digital-comic/343522?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9pdGVtU2xpZGVy - end - This is it. This is the big one. It's finally here.
I managed to stop myself from playing Smash long enough to write this. It has already consumed my life. Send help. BACKGROUND: I grew up a Nintendo fan. For each generation of Nintendo handhelds, I owned one handheld from that generation. I spent a good part of my childhood playing through games from the NES/SNES era by any means necessary. It's a no-brainer that I am the target demographic for Smash Bros. Strangely enough, I didn't really have an interest in Smash until I was much older. I didn't own an N64 or a GameCube, so the original Smash Bros. and Melee were out of reach (until I discovered the black magic that was emulation). I also never played Brawl for whatever reason, despite owning a Wii. My interest in Smash grew when the 3DS version was announced, so I went and played the older ones to get a sense of what it was. Needless to say, I was hooked. THE ROSTER: "Everyone is here." It's amazing how these three simple words were enough to sell Ultimate. Literally every character who's ever been in Smash (even if they were only in one game, or they were DLC) is playable in Ultimate. That includes several Nintendo characters, ranging from the iconic to the obscure, plus a selection of reps from other game companies (ranging from "it makes sense to have this guy in Smash", like Mega Man, to "how the fuck is this possible", like Cloud). This alone would have satisfied me. But no, they went and raised the bar. In addition to the 60+ characters from previous Smash games (which is already an absurdly ludicrous number), there's also a handful of newcomers to the roster. From no-brainer picks like Inkling, longtime fan requests in Ridley and K. Rool, and amazing third party reps in Simon and Richter, the new characters add even more flavor to the already diverse Smash roster. With Ultimate, they introduced the concept of "Echo Fighters", which is just a fancy way of saying "clones". This concept opened the door for a couple more characters, like Daisy and Chrom, to be part of the roster, even if their movesets are only facsimiles of other, existing characters. The idea of having clones be called Echo Fighters was also a brilliant strategy on Nintendo's part; people complained about clone characters a lot before Ultimate, but it seems putting them in their own category has made people more receptive to their inclusion. STAGES: There are 103 stages in this game. That's a fuck ton. Sure, only a few are actually brand new, but that's still an unfathomable number. Plus, some of the returning stages were from the 3DS version, which were never in HD, so that's basically new. Not only are there a ton of stages, there's plenty you can do with them, too. You can toggle stage hazards, change the layouts with Battlefield and Omega forms, and customize the music to your liking. There's even a Stage Morph feature which allows you to switch between two different stages mid-battle. GAME MODES: Unlike Smash 4, which didn't have much in the way of single player content, Ultimate has plenty for one to do. Classic Mode is back, and it's unique for every character (it wasn't in the previous Smash, which made playing through it multiple times boring). You also have the Spirit Board, plus a sizeable Adventure Mode (I will discuss these at length in their own sections). Modes like 100-Man Smash (now called Century Smash), All-Star Mode, and Cruel Smash also make a return. Of course, the bread and butter of Smash is still here with multiplayer. In addition to normal Smash matches (which already have a plethora of customization options in terms of the rulesets), you also have Custom Smash (i.e. more rules), Squad Strike (a 3v3 or 5v5 mode that can be played either by two opponents or two teams), Smashdown (a mode where players can only pick characters once, and they keep playing until they've gone through the entire roster). As of this writing, I haven't tried online yet, but I'll be sure to see how that goes once I get a couple of friends to play with me later. However, seeing that this is Nintendo's online, I'm not too optimistic. SPIRITS: The big new gimmick of Ultimate is Spirits. Spirits are essentially the collectible trophies of older games, except they now serve a function. You equip these Spirits to your characters, and these, in turn, grant your characters buffs that'll give them the edge in Spirit Battles. You can partake in Spirit Battles by visiting the Spirit Board. You can choose one of an assortment of Spirits to challenge, and once you've chosen one, you'll face a character representing that Spirit in a match. Spirit Battles are like the Event Matches of old, where instead of a typical match, there's some sort of gimmick involved. These gimmicks are tied to the Spirit in question, and I have to say, they went all out with the creativity in some of these Spirit Battles. It's an inventive way of representing a character in Smash without them necessarily being a playable fighter. The Spirits themselves are just as diverse as the roster itself, and range from iconic characters to obscure ones. And by obscure, I mean really obscure. It's a testament to how deep the team behind the game were willing to go to pull from as much of Nintendo's history as possible. However, I do wish they kept the little descriptive blurb that trophies used to have, because I'd love to learn about some of these characters. There's also more to do with Spirits, such as training, leveling up, summoning, and more, but honestly, that felt like an overwhelming amount of features, especially paired with the fact that there are already a fuck ton of Spirits to keep track of. I'm content with the Spirit Battles, though I really wish there were an easier way to replay them. These complaints aside, Spirits are a solid addition to the Smash series. ADVENTURE MODE: Smash Ultimate's main adventure mode is called World of Light. The story begins with nearly everyone being vaporized by an entity known as Galeem. You start the adventure playing as Kirby, and must travel the world to set the other characters free so you can beat the fuck out of Galeem. Apart from a couple of cutscenes, there's not a lot of story to World of Light. The story is merely there to contextualize what you're doing, which is exploring the world map and engaging in Spirit Battles in order to progress. If you were expecting Subspace Emissary 2, this ain't it. Speaking of the world map, it is fucking massive. Not only are there a shit ton of Spirit Battles for you to do, there are also secrets and hidden paths that require certain Spirits to access (in a manner not unlike HMs from Pokémon). Unlocking the other characters will require you to go off the beaten path in many instances, so I'd suggest using other unlock methods if you want everyone unlocked as quickly as possible. In addition to the ridiculous amount of Spirit Battles, World of Light also features boss battles. You'll fight classics like Master Hand and Crazy Hand along with a bunch of other boss characters, and they're a lot of fun (and rather difficult). There's also a certain battle that blew my fucking mind, but I won't spoil it here. Overall, World of Light is pretty enjoyable. Though it can feel tedious to do Spirit Battle after Spirit Battle, the majority of them are fun. Between that, the boss battles, and exploring the overworld, it's a meaty single player campaign. OTHER THINGS:
VERDICT: Be it the roster, the stages, or the content, Smash Ultimate lives up to its name. What else is there to say? This is the best one of them all. Sure, the breadth of content can feel a bit much, and there are certainly stuff they could have done better, but I don't have it in me to complain. As it is, the game's fucking fantastic. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go play some more. - end - It's Friday night, and that means the latest MCU Rewatch! For this week, I'm watching the often forgotten sophomore entry into the franchise: The Incredible Hulk. BACKGROUND:
The Incredible Hulk is one of two MCU films I never got to see in theaters. I wasn't too keen on the details of the MCU at the time, so I initially thought it was some sort of sequel of the Hulk movie from 2003 (which I'm not really a fan of). I got to watch it after some time (a year or more, at least), and thought it was OK. COMICS TO READ:
MY FAVORITE MOMENTS:
THE EASTER EGGS:
THE HERO: This take on Bruce Banner isn't anything revolutionary; he's the incredibly smart, but rather sheepish scientist fans have known for decades. Although his quest to get rid of the Hulk and his penchant for being a fugitive doesn't exactly lend itself well as a superhero action movie, it's interesting from a character standpoint. I'm glad they took more steps to having Hulk be less of a mindless brute and actually have some semblance of sentience like he usually does in the comics. Though we only get three lines or something, it's also nice to have the big guy speak. I wish they'd stop leaning too much into the whole King Kong "beauty tames the beast" trope, though, but hey, what're you gonna do? THE VILLAIN: Blonsky could've easily been "generic military bad guy #747", but they actually make his journey into becoming Abomination fairly interesting. It starts with a fascination with the Hulk that gradually devolves into an obsession (likely exacerbated by the Weapon Plus serum's side effects). Though we didn't get much of Abomination himself, I thought he was a serviceable character, and I hope they find a way to bring him back into the MCU. Thunderbolt Ross, on the other hand, that's your generic military bad guy. He thankfully has a personality here, so it's not all bad. OTHER THINGS:
THE AFTER-CREDITS: The stinger (which actually comes before the credits) has Tony Stark visiting General Ross in a bar and talking about putting a team together. At this stage, the Avengers were still a pipe dream, but with this big cameo, the chances of it actually happening felt less slim. VERDICT: Is Incredible Hulk one of MCU's finest? Not really, but I don't think it's bad by any means. The plot's nothing to write home about, sure, but it personally doesn't bother me. It's worth a second look, in my opinion, but I'm not going to fault anyone for skipping it on rewatches. It might be a long shot, but I'm still hoping we get a proper Hulk sequel (preferably with Leader involved). Stay tuned for next week, when I'll rewatch and talk about Iron Man 2! - end - |
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