There were a couple of shadow drops a couple of days ago on the eShop, courtesy of Nintendo's Indie World Showcase. Today, I try out one of those games. BACKGROUND:
We've known Dauntless was coming to Switch for a while now, so while its shadow drop was a pleasant surprise, most people knew it was only a matter of time until it graced the console. I personally have not heard of this game until it was shown at some Direct a while back, and nothing about it stood out to me as blow-your-mind must-play. I learned that it was free-to-play shortly after, so I promptly reserved my judgment until I got a chance to play it. PLOT: Dauntless is set in a world shattered into several "islands" floating in space, a situation caused by a man-made cataclysm. Humanity has since bounced back, making their homes on some of the habitable planet chunks. Unfortunately, the humans aren't alone, as fearsome monsters called Behemoths have also made their home on these islands. A select number of brave folk became Slayers, tasked to take down these Behemoths, in an effort to both protect and provide for their fellow people. I thought it was neat that there was a bit of world-building at the beginning, but from what I can tell, this premise seems to be all there is to the story. If you're looking for a story-driven experience, this may not be for you. PRESENTATION: There's not much to write home about in this aspect. In the case of the Switch version that I played, it looks like a downscaled Fortnite (which already looks meh on Switch). It's not at all bad, and it gets the job done, but there's really nothing distinct or striking about how the game looks. Much like many other games of this nature, monster and armor designs can be hit or miss. Some look cool, others unremarkable, but thankfully, not many things look straight up awful. There are also ways to customize existing armor and weapons, via skins and palette swaps, but they seem to be locked behind either paywalls or game progression. The character creator provides a bit of freedom for your avatar's basic appearance, though some aspects (like granular body adjustments) are rather lacking. In terms of the face, there's plenty of room for experimentation, but overall, most avatars will end up looking a little samey. GAMEPLAY: It's Monster Hunter. I don't know what you want me to say. That's what this game is: Monster Hunter, but F2P. The fundamentals of Dauntless are the same: gear up, gather your squad, kill some monsters, loot their corpses, make cool, stronger gear, kill stronger monsters, repeat. It's a tried-and-true gameplay loop. You can switch freely between a small assortment of weapons, ranging from your jack-of-all-trades sword, slow but strong axes and hammers, a ranged gun that works better in close quarters, or rapid damage punch gauntlets and double pikes. It's not a lot, but there seems to be something for most types of players. Combat is pretty simple, with only two attack buttons and not a lot of combos to keep track of. Defensively, you have a combat roll and the ability to sprint, but that's about it. Most of the challenge is figuring out the monster's patterns and finding the opening to lay the smackdown, and even the early monsters have some tricky attacks to avoid. The unique gimmick of the game is Overdrive, which is akin to super meters in fighting games. Inflicting damage builds up this meter, and once it's full, you can activate it to temporarily get a boost in damage, and gain access to special abilities and buffs. In addition, you also have a lantern, which gives you a temporary buff depending on what kind you have. You also have the ability to forage, which allows you to make things like healing items and the like. Armor is split into four pieces: helmets, chestplates, leggings, and boots. They each give you an individual boost to your defense stat, and you can equip them with special cores (earned by finishing hunts) to give yourself all sorts of passive buffs. Both weapons and armor are crafted from the parts of the monsters you slay, and both can be upgraded to increase your stats. Getting the materials you need for crafting or upgrading varies from simply killing the monster or targeting a specific body part (like the tail) until you get the drop you want. Some armor sets have elemental attributes, which can give you an advantage (or disadvantage) versus certain monsters. Weapons function similarly, with some weapons being more or less useful depending on what monster you're facing. Going on hunts with no team doesn't seem to be much trouble (at least i the early game), as there are likely to be players within the same skill level playing as well. I think this game has crossplay, so I doubt there will be a shortage of teammates anytime soon. The tutorial quests are plenty helpful, though the game is simple enough that you can figure it out yourself (even the weirdly large hub area with tons of important NPCs in it). There are also plenty of useful UI elements (quest markers, teammate markers, etc.), so getting lost isn't much of an issue. I didn't take much of a look at the microtransaction aspect of the game, but from what I can tell, it seems to be limited to cosmetic options, so it doesn't seem to be a problem. VERDICT: Dauntless is a solid experience for what it is: a free-to-play co-op monster killing action RPG. That said, I honestly can't say if it does anything different or offers something truly unique compared to the likes of Monster Hunter, which is a long-running series that has had time to polish its formula. I don't want to make a habit of comparing new things to other existing things, but it feels appropriate in this case. If you haven't played a game like this before, this is the perfect opportunity to get a feel for this sub-genre, as it's pretty simple to get into and there seems to be a decent player base. Otherwise, if you're like me and have played a Monster Hunter game before, you may be left with the feeling that you'd rather be playing Monster Hunter instead. In any case, it's free to download, so in the end, it's for you to decide if you like it or not. You can play it for free on all current gen consoles. Alternatively, you can play it on PC (I know it's heresy, but it's only on the Epic Games Store): https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/dauntless/home - end -
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It's been quite a while since Switch Online's NES library got an update — four months, in fact. People have since moved onto SNES Online and have been waiting for updates to that, but I was still hoping the NES side of things would get some love, too. When a surprise announcement dropped last week that both services would be getting new games, I was naturally excited. While I will get to talking about the SNES games real soon, I thought I'd start by talking about the NES games first. Let's dive in. THE GAMES: ![]() JOURNEY TO SILIUS - This is a sci-fi run-and-gun platformer in the same vein as Contra, but less frenetic. It has some Mega Man elements to it, because getting to the end of the level awards you with a new weapon type to use. Other than that, it's a pretty average platformer, with only five levels, mildly challenging (but not too stressful) level design and enemy placement, and some fairly basic boss fights. ![]() CRYSTALIS - The best description I can think of is that Crystalis is like a blend of the original Legend of Zelda and the first Dragon Quest. Its layout and combat is like that of the former (top-down perspective, stab shit in the overworld with your sword, dungeons), but it also has the RPG conceits of the latter (equipment, towns, shops, spells, XP, stats, quests, etc.). The story is your typical RPG fare (evil is rising, collect the magic bullshit to kill said evil), but there's a bit of a post-apocalytpic, sorta sci-fi flavor to it. I found it a lot of fun, even if it's a little grindy. Once again, it's not a huge update to the existing library (there isn't even an SP game this time), but I feel like Crystalis alone was more than worthwhile. And with the SNES Online getting its own set of new games alongside NES Online, the painful drip feed of content isn't as evident this time.
Like everyone else, my interest going forward will likely lean more towards the SNES side, but I'm still impressed that Nintendo is able to pull a few more gems from the NES pantheon. I still question what more they could possibly add without leaning into third-party/Japan-exclusive games, but given their track record so far, I expect to be pleasantly surprised. Stay tuned for my ramblings on the new SNES games that came along with this update. - end - It's not quite a Nintendo Direct, but regardless, there's another out-of-the-blue Nintendo presentation for me to take a look at. Like always, I'm going to share some brief thoughts on everything showcased in the presentation. If you haven't yet, watch the video below. The games:
Overall, I thought this was a solid indie showcase, with a wide variety of interesting titles getting the spotlight. I was kinda sad that there's still nothing about Hollow Knight: Silksong and Indivisible, but I can't hold that against this presentation. 2020's shaping up to be great on the indie side judging by this showcase alone, and I can't wait to see what the future holds. - end - I've been saving covering my Runaways books on the blog for a special occasion, and this week, such an occasion is happening. I'm very excited about this! BACKGROUND:
My love for Runaways is well-documented at this point. I grew up loving the characters, I enjoy the Hulu show, and I have a Runaways TPB collection that's only missing a few entries. While I've yet to get the rest of the 2017 run in paperback form, it should be no surprise that I own this book. Speaking of the show, its final season premieres this week, so of course I had to read a Runaways comic for today. The opportunity was too perfect to pass up. THE WRITING: By the time the events of this book happen, the Runaways have drifted apart years ago. Between then and now, Nico had both become a member of A-Force and endured the events of Avengers Academy, Victor Mancha became a full-time Avenger and was destroyed, and the rest of the kids have gone on to live quiet, relatively normal lives. That relative peace was disturbed when Chase went back in time in an attempt to save his once-girlfriend and fellow Runaway Gert from certain death (which happened during the climax of the Vol. 2 run of the series way back in 2004/2005). He and Nico actually succeed in bringing her back, but the reunion is bittersweet; Gert realized how things have changed since she died, and was heartbroken that the people who she's come to know as her family have all gone their separate ways. Gert is adamant in bringing everyone back together, and insists that they go and see the rest of the Runaways. Here, you see how drastically different everyone's lives have changed, and once the old gang starts interacting again, past memories and feelings start resurfacing. Everything that was once familiar now feels foreign to the characters, and that uncomfortable clash of emotions also came across to me as a reader. Eventually, a shocking discovery forces all of them to come together (not unlike how circumstances brought them together in the very beginning), and suddenly, it's 2003 all over again. The difference now is that they've spent years apart from one another, and that's sure to throw a wrench into their already tumultuous relationships with each other. As a longtime fan, everything about this book hit all the right notes. The characters are still how I remember them personality-wise, but have changed and grown since I first read about them. They call back to past relationships and events, but leave plenty of room to move forward and have new adventures. It truly feels like a brand new chapter to the original story as opposed to a complete reboot, and it has me excited to catch up on this new series to see how the story goes forward from here. While the book does recap some things from previous series and reintroduces the characters in a way, there is a clear assumption being made that you're already familiar with the Runaways and all they've been through. I don't imagine certain things (for example, storied relationships like Gert-Chase and Karolina-Nico) having the impact it should if you don't already have some form of familiarity or attachment to the series. This book is very much for fans who followed the original runs in that respect. THE ART: In terms of visuals, the Runaways are pretty much revitalized for the new decade thanks to the fantastic work of Kris Anka. The overall style feels fresh, the detail is impressive across the board, and the character redesigns are topnotch, perfectly showcasing how much they've all grown while also still remaining true to how they would dress in the original comics. On top of that, the color work is phenomenal, too. I remember seeing the cover art for the first time and being blown away that it was art of the same characters I grew up reading about. I wasn't familiar with Anka's work before this, but now I can't imagine a better artist to bring these characters to life. VERDICT: Runaways: Find Your Way Home is the perfect mix of old and new Runaways, calling back to the good old days while also building towards a future of completely new stories going forward. It's both nostalgic and uncertain, and I imagine other longtime Runaways fans will feel the same mix of emotions I did seeing all the characters interact with each other once again. If you're new to the Runaways, it's best that you read the original series first (also known as Vol. 1) and then Vol. 2 before checking this out, because a lot of things they call back to are presented as if you already know them. I know I give away a pretty massive spoiler talking about this book (it's impossible not to since the big selling point of this series when it first came out revolved around the return of a dead character), but there should be more than enough surprises left for you to uncover before you think about reading the new stuff. Alternatively, you can watch the show (and you should), but that won't really help you understand some of the callbacks in this comic since the show does a lot of stuff differently. In any case, here's Find Your Way Home in digital form on Comixology: https://m.comixology.com/Runaways-by-Rainbow-Rowell-Vol-1-Find-Your-Way-Home/digital-comic/638271?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L21vYmlsZS9zbGlkZXJMaXN0L2l0ZW1TbGlkZXI - end - I got another game to talk about this week (a rare occurrence, I know)! Today, it's time to DUEL. BACKGROUND:
Of all the early 2000s anime crazes that I watched on Toonami as a kid, Yu-Gi-Oh! is probably one of the very few that really stuck with me. Something about the mystical elements of the story (especially the Millennium items) really captured my imagination back then, and that's not even taking into account the wide variety of monster designs featured in the card game. As opposed to other shows of its nature (e.g. Beyblade, Crush Gear, etc.), the product Yu-Gi-Oh! was selling me wasn't just a toy, but a game, and that was way more interesting to me back then. It probably helped that, with the exception of Zoids, I didn't really care for toys that weren't Bionicle or Lego, though. In any case, the show made me want to play the game, and for a time, I did (albeit mostly with shitty fake cards, because I don't like asking my parents to buy me things). I never did end up playing the game for that long, mostly because I didn't have too many people to play against. I eventually lost interest in the game and moved on to some other distraction (as most kids do). The same went for the anime, but that was mostly because the local Cartoon Network/Toonami took 500 decades to air the new episodes. My interest in Yu-Gi-Oh! didn't resurface until college, when I learned that a small group of people on campus regularly dueled each other. While I didn't go as far as to start spending a fuckton of money on cards myself, the discovery led me to start reading up on what has changed in the game, and needless to say, I was overwhelmed. I wasn't any good at the game back when I used to play to begin with, and the added bulk of information made the prospect of relearning how to play didn't do a lot to bolster my confidence. At some point, I looked into checking out a bunch of Yu-Gi-Oh! video games to get my dueling fix, but never got around to actually buying/playing any of them. The title that fully reawakened my enthusiasm for the game was one called Legacy of the Duelist, and after watching a bunch of streams of people playing it, I was hooked all over again. As luck would have it, the game was ported to Switch, and here we are. PLOT: This game has a campaign mode where you can relive important duels from each of the anime series. The game contextualizes these duels with some written narration and character dialogue (in text form). While you can follow what's going on with no issue, it's quite obvious how abridged this retelling is, and having the foreknowledge of the actual anime helps enhance the experience. In my case, I only ever followed the original series (which features Yugi and the gang), so all the other Yu-Gi-Oh! series that followed are completely foreign to me. As such, I can only really speak about the original with a degree of certainty. The original story of Yu-Gi-Oh! is driven by Duel Monsters (that's what the game is called within the universe), and the story moves forward when key characters duel each other within this game. You follow Yugi Muto, a gifted duelist with a mystical connection to the game thanks to his Millennium Puzzle, and his friends as they are dragged about into all sorts of situations where they have to duel opposing forces to save the day or get out alive. There's a lot of lore behind the story, like the ties to ancient Egypt, the Millennium items, and more, and while that's interesting in itself, what appeals to me personally is the innate absurdity of having important shit (like the fate of humanity) be decided via a stupid card game. It's one of those stories where you question the real life logistics of the premise, laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, and then just sit back and enjoy the ride. PRESENTATION: There's not much I can really say about the visuals about this game. The UI serves its function well, with the entire play field labeled clearly, the information of individual cards are legible and easy to decipher, and the original art of the cards are somewhat preserved. I never expected a graphically impressive game, but what matters in a game like this is a clear interface with no clutter, and Legacy of the Duelist executes that well. The game does try to add its own visual flair by playing special animations when certain monsters are summoned. These are usually reserved for the iconic monsters like your Dark Magicians and Blue-Eyes White Dragons. Honestly, they don't look that impressive, and the fact that you can't turn them off or even skip them is annoying. They also made the effort to add some variety to the playing field backgrounds, which is nice. I would have appreciated the option to customize these backgrounds, but it's not really a big deal. The music is mostly unremarkable but inoffensive, but if in you're a particularly long duel, it'll probably get real repetitive. Thankfully, you can adjust the audio to your tastes and choose to mute it outright. GAMEPLAY: If you haven't already figured it out, Legacy of the Duelist is pretty much just the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game in video game form. Really not much to say there. If you're not familiar with the card game, the basic idea is to summon monsters to damage your opponent's Life Points, and to keep your opponent from returning the favor. There are way too many rules to get into, so I'll leave my explanation at that. Thankfully, there is a comprehensive tutorial for beginners to play through, so if you're new to the game, there's no need to worry. You'll also have access to a How to Play menu, which has some valuable information for new players. As I've already mentioned, there is a campaign mode, and that allows you to reenact important and iconic duels throughout the various anime series in the game. This is the perfect place to learn the ropes, so you'll want to start here if you're new to the game. There's also a shitload of duels to get through in the campaign, so you won't have a shortage of content in this case. In these campaign duels, you have the option to use your own custom decks or use the canon story deck of the character you're assuming the role of. The latter is a lot more fun, in my opinion, as not only do you get to explore a variety of deck builds and strategies via this method, the whole making believe that you're x character by playing all their iconic cards is simply a lot of fun. If that's not enough bang for your buck, there's also something called the Reverse Duel. This allows you to switch the sides of the duelist, i.e. now you play the other guy. This is just as fun, if not more, as now you have the pleasure of employing the very strategies that were used against you in the original duel if you use the story deck. With Reverse Duel taken into account, the entire campaign essentially has double the content, so there's no shortage of duels to play out. In addition to the campaign duels, there are also challenge duels, which consist of special duels against specific deck builds. These are unlocked by playing through the campaign, and while you don't get the option of story decks here, the fact that there are even more deck builds for you to test your skill against is more than welcome. The payoff for winning these campaign duels and challenge duels is entirely in what you unlock afterward. When you win a single player duel, you unlock new cards (which you can use in your custom decks), deck recipes (deck builds based on the ones you just played against that you can now copy), and tokens (the in-game currency, which you spend to acquire even more cards). All these enable you to start building your own custom decks suited to your play style, so going through the single player is all the more worthwhile. In particular, the token method of acquiring cards functions much like in real life, where you buy a booster pack filled with random cards and hope for the best. In the case of this game, it's less stressful, as you earn a good amount of tokens just playing the game (even when you lose), so you can pull at your leisure with little consequence. You also have the option of spending your tokens to build a temporary deck out of specific booster packs the game provides. It's a quicker alternative to continuously pulling random booster packs hoping you get what you need, but it's for temporary use, so it's more of a short term solution if you're in need of a custom deck. While you can use your custom decks in single player, it will be of the most use in the online modes. You can face off against players in either ranked or casual matches, and in the case of the latter, you can tweak a few rules to your liking. I haven't messed around with these modes too much, but I imagine the main appeal of this game is in these modes if you're a more experienced duelist. The game does provide you with a number of default decks right off the bat, so you can use those if you want, but given how this game has a metric shit ton of cards to unlock, you might as well try and get some of them and build your own deck. In duels, the game flow is quite smooth and presents everything (e.g. turn flow, card activations, summons, battles, etc.) in a clear manner. The only thing that gets in the way of that are the constant prompts asking you if you want to activate a card effect, but given the importance of properly timing effect activations, these are a necessary annoyance. Despite how informative the game is in its presentation, it can only tell you so much, so you still have to do your fair bit of reading and pay a good amount of attention. Some turns may have a lot of shit going on (like a long chain of effect activations, for example), so if you're inattentive, you may miss out on some crucial information. VERDICT: Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution is the next best thing to playing the physical card game, thanks to its clean presentation, a plethora of cards to build decks out of, and a variety of single player and multiplayer modes to test those decks in. Whether you're a beginner with an interest in the game, a lapsed fan, or a dedicated veteran, it's a convenient way to get your duel on, so if you have a dueling itch, this is worth checking out. Here's the game on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/480650/YuGiOh_Legacy_of_the_Duelist/ - end - I've got another helping of platformer goodness to share with you today, as I have just finished my playthrough of the latest Shantae game. You know the drill by now, so let's get right to it. BACKGROUND:
Shantae has been one of those series I've been aware of for a while, thanks to its recent resurgence through the indie scene. I've watched plenty of Let's Plays and speedruns of the game, but I never got around to playing it until now. I actually intended to start with Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (the game that preceded this one), but Half-Genie Hero was on sale and that wasn't, so I bit the bullet in this case. From what I understand, the story of this game is standalone anyway, so I don't think my decision was troublesome. PLOT: Shantae, for the unfamiliar, is a half-genie (duh) who lives in Sequin Land and is the de facto protector of Scuttle Town. She spends the entirety of the game thwarting the plans of the various villains of the series, including that of her rival Risky Boots, the pirate queen. Simple enough, right. The game is structured in such a way that Shantae's encounters with the villains are episodic in nature, meaning there's no explicit narrative through line binding those adventures together. Instead, the connecting thread of the game's story is established via the B-plot, where Shantae assist her inventor uncle with a contraption of his. Missions connected to this plot are interspersed between Shantae's showdowns with the bosses, and it's not until the very end where the two sides of the game converge. It's a novel approach to a story, and I think it works better than some contrivance that forces everything to be connected. The many characters of the game have their own quirks to them and are overall charming, though people averse to cheesy stories or scenarios may not feel the same way. Though there are inklings of a darker story beneath the surface, majority of Shantae's setting is light-hearted and humorous. PRESENTATION: Shantae's visuals are strikingly vibrant, with tons of bright colors and an interesting decision to use very little black/shades of gray for outlines, leading to a distinct, almost painterly aesthetic. I don't quite know how to describe it in terms of other art styles, but it looks fantastic nonetheless. Character designs lean towards the cutesy anime aesthetic, though they're definitely not afraid to get a little sexy or creepy with some of the designs. Every character has fluid animations and a decent assortment of facial expressions (via the static dialogue sprites), and their personalities shine through phenomenally thanks to these elements. The music is equally cheery and just as incredible, which is to be expected, given that the one and only Jake Kaufman (mastermind behind the impeccable Shovel Knight soundtrack) composed the OST. And while you only get brief snippets of dialogue, the voice acting was solid, too. GAMEPLAY: As established, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is a platformer. On the surface, it has all the tropes: run, jump, attack, get to the end of the level. So what makes this one special? For one, Shantae's main ability is her transformations, which allows her to turn into various creatures. These creatures grant her special abilities that allow her to access otherwise inaccessible areas (e.g. her mermaid transformation allows her to swim, her monkey form allows her to scale walls, etc.). They're mostly used for the purpose of opening new areas, but there are a few sections where you are presented a platforming challenge using these abilities. I wish there were more of these in the game, but that's just me. The interesting (or annoying, depending on who you ask) thing about these transformations is that when you first unlock them, they don't actually have their full capabilities unlocked alongside them. What this means is that while you can start discovering secrets using their innate abilities right off the bat, you can't actually open everything you find just yet. Unlocking each transformation's exclusive ability (which is either an attack, something that opens specific barriers, or a combination of both) is an entirely separate endeavor, making 100% completion a bit of a journey at the start. For the most part, the transformations are useful, but once you get to the latter portions of the game, you'll quickly discover that some of the later transformations render the others completely obsolete. In addition, some of the secondary abilities you unlock for these transformations are incredibly situational (one in particular is only used in one room). As fun as they are to unlock and to mess around with, I felt like they could have done more to integrate these transformations more into the level designs. Not to be outdone, regular Shantae has access to magic, which allows her to use various power-ups by spending meter. These, on the other hand, tend to be incredibly helpful, and upgrading them early on is worth the trouble. Speaking of upgrades, you're able to purchase a whole bunch of these and more at the shop, using the gems you collect throughout your journey. Some of the items you can buy are useful passive upgrades (attack boost, damage reduction), the aforementioned power-ups, special skills (like a dance that restores health at the cost of magic), and consumable potions. While you'll probably want to manage your money well early to get the good upgrades, having enough to spend is usually not an issue. There are six levels total (excluding the starting town), and while that doesn't seem like a lot, the game does a good job of making those six levels count. The first go-around has you go through each level (often split into multiple sections) as normal, and at the end, you fight a boss. Typical platformer fare, right? Well, yes, but once you've beaten the level, you'll realize that's only half the game. Remember when I talked about that B-plot where you help Shantae's uncle build some doohickey? Well, in between beating bosses, you'll be doing some fetch quests to help him acquire the materials he needs to finish his invention. To do that, you have to revisit the levels you just cleared and find the stuff you need to proceed. That's where your transformations come in, because once you have those things in your arsenal, the linear levels now become a little more open for exploration, allowing you to pick up shit you previously couldn't before. It's not quite a Metroidvania in terms of scale, but this aspect was satisfying nonetheless. Required quest items aren't the only secrets you can uncover when revisiting the levels. You can also find heart holders (which give you more HP), the previously mentioned transformation upgrades, gallery keys (which unlock concept art for your viewing pleasure), and even secret transformations. Going off the beaten path is almost always rewarded, and even the most arbitrary of collectibles (like the gallery keys) actually have a worthwhile payoff, with a number of them actually required for the game's true ending. Keeping track of your completion progress is easy thanks to the trackers displayed on each level when in the world select menu, though the actual collecting of the items may be a bit tedious. There is no in-game map, so often, you have to scour the level to find that one nook you haven't looked in yet. This is mitigated by an unlockable ability to warp to different sections of a level, a late-game transformation that makes exploration easy, and the fact that the levels are generally linear anyway, so it's not that bad. That said, once you get to your last few collectibles, the whole process starts to get annoying. While a lot of this game is collecting things, Shantae is still a platformer at heart. The platforming itself is easy enough, though there are sections that provide a modicum of challenge (or frustration). Boss fights are mostly manageable, but some are unintuitive and others are overly simple. Enemies are annoying early on, but once you have enough health and decent power-ups, it becomes a trivial task to avoid/dispatch them. In these aspects, the game does all right, but there is room for improvement, I feel. Once you beat the game, you unlock Hero Mode (which is basically New Game Plus) and Hardcore Mode (the game, but harder). Again, typical platformer offering, but if you like that sort of thing, the option is available. The game also has a bunch of paid DLC (which I did not buy), and they seem to be alternate campaigns of some kind. They all seemed quite different from the original campaign (based on what I've read and seen), so it may be worth it for me to pick these up down the line. The only unique post-launch thing that was free is Jammies Mode, which is an alternate version of the game where the story is Shantae trying to set up a slumber party (which I found amusing). This mode is a slightly remixed playthrough of the same six levels where you only have a basic pillow attack, the ability to send attack sheep, the ability to float, and the ability to boost your damage by collecting gems. It's equal parts fun and frustrating to blast through the original levels with these new abilities, so I recommend checking it out after you've beaten the main game. VERDICT: Though there are aspects I wish were executed better, I still enjoyed my time with Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. The gameplay is solid despite my few issues with it, the characters are funny, and the presentation is on another level. If you're unfamiliar with Shantae, this game is a great place to start. Here's the game on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/253840/Shantae_HalfGenie_Hero/ Check out the soundtrack on Bandcamp: https://virt.bandcamp.com/album/shantae-half-genie-hero-ost - end - Here's another arbitrary theme for you to ring in the last month of the year. I don't have any Christmas-themed comics on hand, so let's just pretend that these are festive. Regardless, this is one I've wanted to write for a while, because it involves some deep lore, and I love me some deep lore. Scroll on down and I'll tell you all about it. THE THEME: To set the stage for this week's theme, allow me to talk about some in-universe Marvel history. If you're familiar with X-Men and Wolverine (specifically, if you've seen movies such as the shitty Origins movie and Logan), the term "Weapon X" may ring a bell. This is the designation given to Wolverine when he was experimented on to become a one-man, well, weapon. The thing is, "Weapon X" isn't just a cute nickname alluding to the X gene Wolverine possesses; the "X" is actually a Roman numeral, which means Wolverine is the tenth "weapon" of his kind. That leads us into the Weapon Plus program. This is a program encompassing many human experiments in the Marvel universe with the intent of making them into living weapons or creating super soldiers. Now, "super soldier" is sure to be another familiar term for some of you, because that is what Captain America is referred to. Cap is the first super soldier created through experimentation chronologically in the Marvel universe, and has been designated as Weapon I as a result. Over the years, many entities have tried to replicate the experiment that made Captain America, with varying degrees of success. These experiments used different methods to go about empowering people, some of which are connected to various other Marvel characters. Examples of this include Weapon IV (which indirectly resulted in Man-Thing's origin), Weapon V (which used the Venom symbiote), Weapon VI (which gave Luke Cage his powers), Weapon VII (which gave Nuke his pill-based powers) the aforementioned Weapon X (which experimented on mutants like Wolverine), and more. There are also various other characters who fit the same bill of "experimented on and given powers" but don't have an explicit designation, such as Deadpool (who was given a healing factor), Deathlok (who is a cyborg), X-23 (who was cloned from Wolverine), and even the Ultimates version of Hulk (whose gamma experiments were attempts at recreating Captain America). Some of these fall outside the Weapon Plus program, but are nonetheless connected in some way. As you can probably tell, Weapon Plus is an important pillar of Marvel lore with connections to many facets of the universe, and this theme aims to celebrate that with five comics featuring characters and series who share said connections. As there are a lot of comics that fit the bill, I tried to narrow it down to stuff with more explicit connections to Weapon Plus (like comic series actually titled Weapon X), but anything with even a tenuous connection is fair game. THE COMICS: ![]() WEAPON X (2002–2004) #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Frank Tieri Artists: Georges Jeanty, Dexter Vines - This series follows an incarnation of Weapon X led by a mutant-hating director, and he's busy sending a team of (ironically) mutants to recruit more prospective individuals to the program. Unfortunately, someone's caught wind of Weapon X's activities, and it's not other than Sabretooth (a product of Weapon X himself). Now, it's a race for the two sides to stop the other from enacting their plans. - Comixology link ![]() WEAPON X (2017–2018) #1 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Greg Pak Artists: Greg Land, Jay Leisten -We have another, different Weapon X incarnation here, and their mission has slightly changed: create a new army of killers to exterminate mutants. These murder machines were unsuccessful in taking down Old Man Logan, and now he's looking to an unlikely ally to help take down this new, more dangerous Weapon X. - Comixology link ![]() WEAPON X (2017–2018) #26 Publisher: Marvel Writers: Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente Artists: Luca Pizzari, Roberto Di Salvo - This is further into the Weapon X series I described above. The team trying to take down Weapon X has been sent to hell (like, actual hell) by Azazel, in an effort to stop the soul of William Stryker (renowned for his hate of mutants) from returning to Earth. It's a surreal ride that takes a number of characters through their own personal hells, and features (strangely enough) some Deadpool silliness. - Comixology link ![]() WEAPON H (2018–2019) #7 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Greg Pak Artist: Ario Anindito - Weapon H is the alter ego of an ex-soldier named Clayton, who was experimented on and turned into a Hulk-Wolverine hybrid (a "Hulkverine", if you will), possessing the powers of both and that of a bunch of other mutants. In this one, he's teaming up with the one and only Captain America to take down the Skrullduggers (dragon creatures that can shapeshift like Skrulls), which have found their way to Earth thanks to the shenanigans of the Roxxon Corporation. Weapon H's admiration of Cap shines through here, further cementing the Captain's legend. - Comixology link ![]() WEAPON H (2018–2019) #10 Publisher: Marvel Writer: Greg Pak Artist: Guiu Vilanova - This issue continues Weapon H's adventures from before, and now, he and his team find themselves in a realm called the Weirdworld in an effort to rescue the Roxxon Corporation employees stranded there. What tthey find is classic Roxxon horseshit, as it turns out the corporation is using Morgan le Fay (evil sorceress extraordinaire) as a power source, and she is not happy about it. Features Korg, Titania, and Man-Thing. - Comixology link When I first found out about the Weapon Plus program as a kid, I went into a rabbit hole of reading, trying to uncover as much of its history as I can. It ended up being one of my favorite pieces of lore in Marvel and comics in general, and I hope I did a good job of conveying how prominent it is within the Marvel Universe. Perhaps this has piqued your interest enough to jump into the rabbit hole yourself, and if this post does that for even one person, I'll be more than happy. PANEL(s) OF THE WEEK: - end -
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