While not exactly a response to Tumblr’s changing policies, I think it’s time for a new home for my ramblings about things. I’ll slowly migrate the old content over, but from now …
Summary: The Spyro adventure that started it all has been rebuilt from the ground up by the studio that brought the world Skylanders. What could possibly go wrong?
Overall: The answer is everything. I cannot recommend this remaster at all. Outside the updated camera controls, every update somehow actively makes this game worse in some way. Just play the original release.
Controls: You can finally control the camera with the right stick. An option exists to let L1 and R1 rotate it as well, but that moves the useless directional rolls to L2 and R2 which means the odd ability to use flame breath with R2 is removed. I always thought it’d make more sense to have the charge on a trigger, but that’s not an option here.
Otherwise the game controls the same, just a lot worse. The jumps are oddly floaty in a way that makes it hard to get a decent glide in. I’ve missed a lot of ledges because my glides just didn’t start from the right height. The free flying segments are a nightmare. The movement is incredibly slow which means you have zero room for mistakes. I’ll get back to these when I talk about the graphics, but spending upwards of half an hour on the second one of these is ridiculous considering I breezed through these earlier this year.
Character Designs: I hate them. I know I said I was going to be more positive going forward but hate is the appropriate word. I have a strong and passionate dislike for these redesigns. Spyro is the only one I’m sort of okay with. I’d rather it be one to one with the character art from the boxes of the original games, but I don’t dislike it. It’s just passable.
Sparx looks terrible. His eyes are so far apart that he looks like he has a mental disability. I do not understand why anyone thought this looked good. I could go on endlessly about the dragons, but I will cut things short and simply say that they are all over designed. I like that there are a variety of body types and that they are much more animated in their appearances, but each one is wearing a bunch of gear which is strange when you consider Spyro is the only one who isn’t wearing any. I’m still baffled that they didn’t do something about the fact that the game is a total sausage fest. Was anyone really going to be mad that one of the 80 dragons got replaced with a female dragon?
And now for the baddies. It’s safe to say a lot of the charm was lost while adding polygons. This comes back the the graphics as well, but none of them really pop anymore. The classic shiny texture that indicates an enemy is resistant to fire is gone. This was an easy way to decide how to attack a foe, but it’s gone because repetitive textures don’t look pretty. Imagine if Portal had changed up the texture of walls you can place portals on so that it was never consistent. This failure to account for the thought process behind these sorts of things just keeps coming up again and again in this remaster. As for the new designs themselves they are sort of faithful. Certain foes like the Magic Crafters and the basic Gnorcs have a lot of issues. The additional detail of the Magic Crafters baddies makes them look less cartoony. I always thought they were wearing oversized sweaters up past their mouths. The Gnorcs just don’t pop against the rest of the grass in their levels.
I never really cared for Gnasty Gnorc as a villain, but I really don’t like the update. Particularly the introduction. The interview opening to the original game I always thought was silly, but it zooming back to show Gnasty watching a TV is strange. Mostly because it raises the question of what does it mean that a TV exists in this universe, especially considering all of the motivational posters around Gnasty’s room. I never questioned the boom microphone in the original games, but when it is all compounded with these additions they somehow broke immersion in a fantasy setting. That’s a rather impressive failing.
Graphics: Graphics over gameplay. That was clearly the design philosophy here. Otherwise I can’t possibly see how some of this got through. I’ve already mentioned the fire proof texture no longer being a thing, but let’s double back to the flight course.
I’m going to go on a brief tangent here, but I’ll come back to make my point. People who are really into music prefer to listen on vinyl records. You may think it’s a bit pretentious, but there is a reason. When you listen on a record the record is all you are listening to. It is not edited for radio. On the radio music is all loud all the time. This is because loud things stand out so you listen. The problem is when everything is loud nothing is loud because loud is what is considered normal. On a record there is no competition so music is edited so that it isn’t all loud all the time. The music can change volume to put emphasis on something.
So what does this have to do with Spyro? Well when everything is bright, nothing pops. The original game had one shade of green for the grass and a darker green for the Gnorcs. This made the Gnorcs pop against the grass. The same goes for the green gems. They popped. Here they are all about the same color so not only does it all look bland, but I’ve had to double back for gems multiple times because I couldn’t see them since they were hidden under the grass or blended into the background. Now you might say “well what about the glimmer of the gems?” and I did check, and it is there. The problem is that it is tiny and blends into the background. If I wasn’t looking for it I wouldn’t have seen it. It’s insanely small in the screen.
So how does this mess with the flight courses? Well the second and third of these are all filled with vibrant colors and crystals that are the same color as the things you’re looking for. They’re also occasionally obscured by the models environment itself. It’s a combination of bad choices and controls that made these flight segments unbearable.
Now I have no idea of these complaints are lessened by having an HDR/4K capable display/console, but that should not matter. If the game design doesn’t work across all console skews than you’ve failed at game design.
One last addition I must make is a comment on the motion blur used in this game. It’s excessive. Now I honestly don’t know what to look for when it’s in motion to spot it, but when I decided to check out all my screen shots it was clear as day. Over half if my screen shots were a blurry mess. Now while this all looks fine in motion it is very clear that they failed to take into account the ability to capture a screen shot. It’s no wonder the pause menu isn’t s paused screen with a menu overly. It’d reveal how awful the game looks when not in motion.
Skill Points: This game originally didn’t have skill points. These new ones are hit and miss. There are quite a few don’t get hit ones and a lot of random tasks, but that seems pretty on par with the other games.
Trophies:
This shouldn’t have been hard. Trophies for the newly added skill points, some for the harder to reach dragons, and some for various completion criteria. Instead they suck. You can double back to most of these, but most of these can easily be missed. Things like flaming the arrow fairies in the speedway or taking out a certain enemy class a certain way in a certain level are oddly specific. It’s just really poor design. It’s not hard, but it is certainly obtuse. If you don’t go in knowing what tasks are required to obtain the trophies, a 110% completion run could end with an incredibly small amount of trophies.
Summary: Take on the ultimate power at the ultimate cost in order to save your clan from destruction in the remaster of the previously XBLA exclusive 2D stealth action epic: Mark of the Ninja.
Overall: Mark of the Ninja is a must play game for fans of stealth games. It uses a 2D playing field to set the standard for what a stealth game can be while telling a great story at the same time. This game is worth its price tag on any platform.
Story: Mark of the Ninja is the story of a clan if ninjas in modern day Japan. In order to strike back at a group of mercenaries who sought to take them out, the nameless protagonist has taken on the Mark of the Ninja, a tattoo done with a special ink that grants extraordinary abilities at the cost of the individuals mind. The ink will slowly drive the wearer insane so it makes sense you have a partner joining you. Both in game play and in narrative this device is used brilliantly. For the narrative it gives an immediate ticking clock element and in regards to some of the late game revelations it allows for some unique twists and turns and moral questions as the player dances with what will remain once they are gone.
The game uses its few cut scenes in partner with a small cast of characters and dialogue to tell a rather effective story that follows the typical Hollywood three act structure. The tutorial is a fitting prologue and each act is partnered with a new setting. I wouldn’t call the story Hollywood quality or anything, but for what little story telling the game has, it pays off big time. The end of the story is great and something that lets successive play throughs have something more to look at. Good twists leave things just as interesting as they were prior if not more so.
Gameplay: As I stated earlier each act of the story has a new setting. On top of that you receive a new ink power during each act. Each has a catch however. At the very start of the game you can hold LT to stop time and aim up to three items to be deployed when you release that trigger. The catch is that one of the unlock-able costumes disables this ability. The second ability allows you to see enemies through any surface as well as the wires behind any traps or electrical circuits. The catch is time doesn’t stop when you use it. The final ability allows you to teleport, but it is only usable when you select a specific costume which removes your ability to use nonlethal items.
Now speaking of that last power I need to discuss its introductory level and how it is counter intuitive to the rest of the game’s design. Mark of the Ninja is about player choice. Outside tutorials and your targets, killing is optional, your approach to each objective is pretty open, and what gear you bring with you is also really open ended. The large exception is the mission the teleportation move is unlocked. You are stripped of all but this move and you’re throwing darts. Other levels may let you get around such restrictions on subsequent play throughs, but this level doesn’t let that happen. An early obstacle cannot be passed without teleportation. As a result I’ve never replayed this level. If the game has one misstep it’s this choice.
As for the gameplay it is a 2D stealth game where players navigate obstacles in the form of various security methods to complete objectives on your way to deal with targets. For instance the tutorial ends with you having to explore a building freeing our captures Ninja brethren while a later level will have you disabling power to a building or closing off exit routes. While these include a lot of simple get from A to B objectives, the areas and equipment load outs let the player explore with a great degree of freedom.
The player slowly unlocks a wide array of items, costumes, and maneuvers. The moves and items are mostly unlocked by spending medals. Each level contains 9. Three for achieving a certain score, one for each of the three scrolls, and one for each of the three bonus objectives. It is not to difficult to earn all 9 in one play through, though this will limit your options of play. The moves are mostly for killing, but the items are a balance between lethal and non-lethal. Almost all of these can be upgraded as well.
The scoring system is polarizing. The player earns a bonus for no kills or detections at the end of the level, and that’s usually equivalent to the amount of points you’d receive for killing everyone in the level. This means you get more points for sticking with one style of play for a whole level. That’s not particularly difficult to do in some levels, but in others it can be limiting. Certain enemy types require equipment to kill which makes a pacifist approach almost always the easier option if simply because it is always an option.
Now it may sound like I’m nitpicking a lot, and I am, but when it comes to the bones of this game I have no complaints. Mark of the Ninja has more or less perfected instant visual feedback in a stealth game. Part of that is because the game is built on a lot of easily visualizable true or false scenarios. The player is either in the shadows or he isn’t. While like most games this is shown via a character icon in the corner, here it is also shown on the player ninja. As soon as they step out of the shadows the ninja’s costume shows it’s vibrant blues and reds. All enemies have a view cone and their flashlights have the same. Anything that makes a sound creates a ring emanating out from the source and showing who will hear it. The player view is also limited to what the player could realistically see. So you can’t see through walls and doors or under ledges unless you peer over them which will limit your view in other ways. All of these are tweaked for further realism in the games new game plus mode. These systems all work together to let the player quickly know what’s what and it feels really empowering.
Art: The visual feedback wouldn’t work without the visuals, and even prior to the remaster they were stunning. The game is built using a series repeated tiles and interior objects, but I barely even noticed. Every environment is built in such a way that you instantly know your options and any reused assets always make sense.
The visual elements that give the player quick feedback also are brilliant in design. Sound rings are white or blur and always stand out from the background while the outline of where you last saw a guard is in a bold red. The area a guard is looking at is highlighted in a gold circle, and every one of these elements stand out from the background.
I’d also be remiss to not talk about the character art and cut scenes. They are gorgeous. It has a sort of cell shaded Samurai Jack vibe to the characters. The animation is super fluid and each level starts and ends with around 30 seconds of animation to set the stage.
Remaster: Mark of the Ninja was originally published by Microsoft. As a result the original title and its oddly named “Special Edition” DLC were exclusive to the Xbox 360 and PC. Now the game is finally available on multiple platforms like Nintendo Switch and Play Station 4, though owners of the original game will be happy to know that owning the base game will let you upgrade to the remaster on the same platform or it’s successor for $5, and if you own the DLC as well the remaster is free. The achievement list has also obtained updated game score values to double the total to a full thousand.
The visuals all around gave been updated to run in 4K on platforms that support it. This includes the cut scenes which considering they are animated wasn’t a guarantee.
Including the original’s DLC was an obvious choice. This added in a lengthy new level set in the past where you play as Dosan and defend the source of the special ink from the security force that discovered what they were protecting. The initial play through forces you to use this new non-lethal costume, but also unlocks a new distraction and attack item. Moths can stun enemies and block lights without breaking them while the fungus turn the body it hits into an instant kill for the first person to check on it. The level itself is great and the fact that all of these new tools can be brought into the main game is great. The other major addition is developer commentary. Once turned on in the options you can hit little speech bubbles in the environment to make the info pop up in game. You can also just read them in the pause menu, but that doesn’t work for the achievements. They can get into spoilers so leave them off for your first run through.
I’ve tried to be good about keeping this blog updated once a week all year, and I’ve managed to do a pretty good job of that. I’ve got a review of Mark of the Ninja Remastered coming up and next week I’ll drop a review of Spyro the Dragon in the Reignited Trilogy or maybr another bulk film review, but that might be it for awhile.
Between the final weeks of my college semester and serious family issues going on in my life right now, I don’t have time to play as much as I’d like. If all works out well I’m going to try and populate the last days of this year with at least a review a day, if not more. I’ve got a lot of games I’ve half played and of course plenty of films to see.
I know this blog is mostly followed by porn bots, but for those that do reblog and what not, it means a lot to me.
My hopes and dreams may have been dashed by the Jim Carrey who stole Christmas and a Tony the Tiger’s luchador cousin, but we still have DLC to look forward to. Here are my out there and not so out there ideas on who should join the roster in the Smash Pass.
Rules: No echos. The announcement claimed these types of new fighters won’t be a part of the pass. This doesn’t mean a new fighter may not come bundled with an echo of themselves, but these types of fighters won’t be a part of this list.
Also no Assist trophies. As much as I want Spring man and Ribbon girl to punch in I don’t see them replacing or removing an existing assist trophy to add a character in.
Fighter: Banjo & Kazooie
I am still holding onto the dream. The duo of bear and bird are tied to the Nintendo 64 despite no longer being owned by the big N. Phil Spencer is down to get Banjo in the game so the only real question is if Sakurai thinks they are worth adding. As far as Nintendo wanting them, it would only be if some deal was worked out for the N64 classic. I’d assume both announcements would be near one another.
I’ve gone over their endless potential for moves before and that hasn’t changed. Grant Kirkhope killed it on the soundtrack for these games so there are plenty of tracks to choose from. The only real question is what the stage will be. Smash is usually inspired by stages more often than it copies a direct area, so in that regard I think Spiral Mountain would probably make the most sense. I think the Rusty Bucket has a lot of potential as well, but if the idea is to go for something iconic I think you have to go Spiral Mountain.
Fighter: Doom Slayer
Not giving up on this one either. Odds probably aren’t great though. Doom is a very western franchise and not one super linked to Nintendo, and let’s not even get into the violence and religious aspects. The one thing it has going for it is that it is a very important franchise to the history of gaming and Bethesda seems to be on good terms with Nintendo. Doom Eternal is coming to the Nintendo Switch so it could be a cool marketing move to drop this fighter in to build up hype.
Just because he wouldn’t be a Snake echo anymore doesn’t mean he doesn’t have potential. The Doom Marine has plenty of weapons to pull from in his past games and it wouldn’t be too hard to pull some from the upcoming Doom Eternal. I also don’t think it’d be much of a stretch to give the Doom Marine an echo fighter in the form of B.J. Blazkowicz. He is equally important to the history of first person shooters. Doom Marine would certainly get the stage though as Nazi Germany isn’t something I see getting shown off in Smash. A space station on Mars with maybe a transition to hell seems perfect for a stage.
Fighter: Lara Croft
Odds are if we get another Square Enix representative it would be Geno, but Lara Croft is another major gaming icon, just again more western focused. She has appeared on Nintendo consoles so the only issue is coming up with her moves, and I don’t have many ideas for this. Her combat style is very weapons heavy, but she doesn’t have much that would work for close range at least from my experience with the franchise. Like Doom Slayer, I only see Nintendo green lighting this if we are getting some Tomb Raider title on the platform before February 2020.
Stage wise Lara Croft has tons of crazy set pieces to draw from. I assume the stage would be a tomb of some kind with plenty of hazards and maybe even a guest appearance by the iconic T-rex. Lara has plenty of costumes to pull from. If one major thing keeps Lara out it’ll be her moves.
Fighter: Geno
People want Geno. I am not one of those people. I have never played Super Mario RPG, and unless it comes to Nintendo Switch I probably never will. I really have nothing else to say except that I think he is rather likely to be in the game as DLC. Geno could be tied into a remaster or rerelease of the game on Switch, but it is possible Nintendo will just bring him in because fans want him.
Fighter: Shantae
Being a spirt does not preclude one from being a fighter. Despite having yet to review it, I was a backer of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero despite having zero history with the franchise. Shantae has history with Nintendo. Debuting on the Gameboy Color Shantae is a mix of traditional platforming and some metroidvania mechanics. Now I’m sure plenty of people would be pissed if she got in over Shovel Knight, but I think she has a lot more to offer.
For one thing we don’t have another fighter who uses their hair. That alone will give her some interesting standard attacks. She also has a plethora of magic and transformations that could make for an interesting set of special and smash attacks. As far as a stage goes I think the central town would be the best representation of the series as a whole. Maybe have part of the stage feature a dock so that Risky Boots can dock.
The music in the latest game is fantastic. You could bring everything over unchanged and it’d fit in. Every track has a beat that makes you want to get up and dance while still getting across the mood. Overall I don’t think Shantae’s chances are great. Mostly because she is an indie character and she’d be pretty obscure for Nintendo to pick for one of five DLC fighters. Let’s just say I’m not holding my breath on this one.
Fighter: Dixie (& Kiddy?) Kong
Another much more likely fighter with a ponytail. I have not played a Donkey Kong game featuring Dixie. I also don’t like the Donkey Kong Country games, though I do like DK64. That all being said I understand people want Dixie in. She is one of two playable characters in DKC2 which is regarded as the best of the trilogy.
Now why did I say Dixie and Kiddy? Well I think there is potential to make Dixie unique by having her nephew help out in some way. One thing that neither DK nor Diddy get across is the weird health system of the old games. If a Kong is hit you switch to the other one who was running alongside. I think using that relationship between the two could make Dixie really stand out. That being said I could also see her coming in on her own. Potential have it be a Zelda/Sheik style swap.
Now I also think there is echo potential with Tiny and Chunky, though I think it’d be more likely to have s singular Dixie have Tiny as an echo than getting all four. Dixie’s single ponytail versus Tiny’s two could change the range and speed. People talk about Tiny as Dixie’s replacement so I don’t think it’s a stretch. I have no idea what sort of announcement this could tie into. Maybe another DKC game or a DK64 remaster.
Fighter: Gen 3, 5, or 8 Pokémon
I expect this would be a gen 8 Pokémon over a gen 3 or 5 one if only because outside gen 1 additions new fighters have been from the latest generation. Melee added Mewtwo and Pichu. Brawl added Pokémon trainer and Lucario. 4 added Greninja and Ultimate is adding Incenaroar. Who knows what Pokémon it’ll be, but I’m for a grass type.
If we do roll back to gen 3 I’d hope for Sceptile or Grovyle. We need a fully evolved Grass starter in the battle. As far as gen 5 goes Emolga would be a third electric type but it’d be interesting to have in there with its flight and thunder. Outside that maybe Krookodile. I’d also not be opposed to a new Pokémon Trainer as long as the Fire starter isn’t the third stage. Ideally it’d be Tepig, Dewott, Serpirior or any combination if the Hoenn starters without Blaziken.
If the stage is gen 8 I don’t know where it’d be obviously. As for gen 3 the Sky Pillar could work, but I would not be opposed to a plethora of locals. Fortree city, and Mt. Chimney come to mind. I think Shoal cave could be interesting using the games internal clock to change the stage with the tide. Gen 5 I’m not picky. Mostly because I hated gen 5 and forget almost everything about it.
Fighter: Fire Emblem: Three Houses character
I actively do not want this, but knowing Sakurai it’s possible that we will see another anime sword boy or girl. With Nintendo selecting odds are lowered, but it is still a possibility.
Fighter: Tetris Block
Yes I watch GameXplain. I think this might be a bit far outside the box for Nintendo to pick, but if a Gameboy Classic is in the works this is some easy cross promotion with the system’s killer app. Music is obvious. Having the stage be a game of Tetris seems to be obvious. If the Tetris block is a fighter the stage would need a different art style than the character. Don’t ask me how it’d fight. Only Sakurai truly knows.
Fighter: Steve & Alex (Minecraft)
Most people know Steve’s name, but less know Alex. This is again Microsoft owned, and outside getting representation from the second bestselling game of all time, I don’t know what would compel Nintendo to select them as fighters. Stage wise the possibilities are endless. In a world of blocks and biomes it is hard to pick just one. I could see a stage divided into multiple areas like Delfino Plaza. I could also see a destructible stage that rebuilds like Luigi’s Mansion, though maybe not always the same way.
Move wise the two have a lot of tools, potions, and blocks to pull from. If a Creeper doesn’t show up here or as a stage hazard, than it needs to be an assist trophy. Music may be an issue. The music doesn’t seem like it’d transition well to battle music.
Fighter: Tails
I have never owned a Sonic game. I am not a Sonic fan. That being said with Shadow out of the picture I think Tails could be a great addition. From what I know of the character he seems to be more about verticality than speed. He also has gadgets that could make up his final smash.
As for a new stage maybe pull something from Mania or Forces. I assume most of the music is already going to be in the game so that might be an issue.
During the final Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Direct prior to the game’s launch it was announced that trophies will not be a collectible in this game due to the time and resource investment required to implement them. I think this is a terrible idea, and I’m going to explain why in detail.
My first experience with The Legend of Zelda, Earthbound, Star Fox, Metroid, F-zero, Ice Climbers, Game & Watch, and Fire Emblem was all through Super Smash Bros. Melee. That means I had zero knowledge about over half of the roster of the game. Melee had my back though. When I beat Classic or Adventure mode as one of those characters I got a trophy. From there I could read about this character and begin to understand them, and maybe even become intrigued enough to explore their franchise. My experience may be an extreme, but I’m sure plenty of people had their first meeting with Ness via the original Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64, and it’s an actual fact that Fire Emblem only made its way to the United States after Marth and Roy made it into Melee.
Now there are two arguments against this idea that players need trophies to explain these characters that I can think of, and both have holes. One is that people can just google everything, and that’s not wrong, but it’s less convenient than having a succinct summarizations of a character or moment in the game you’re playing. Destiny got shit for having all of its story and lore on an app. It’s better when it is in the game.
The other argument against it is that people already know these characters, and this argument simply isn’t true. Of the franchises I rattled off earlier I’ve only dipped into three of them, and the only one I’ve beaten a game in is Zelda. The other thing people are forgetting is that each new entry in the series is a new jumping on point for players. The Nintendo Switch is someone’s first Nintendo console. The Switch is selling like hotcakes and there will be people who jump in for the first time with this game. People probably know their Marios, but some of these franchises haven’t had new entries in decades. A mascot fighter loses its appeal when you don’t recognize the mascots.
Now there is a potential fix for this that hasn’t been a feature since before the trophies and that is character bios. That would cover the fighters, but not everything. Stages, items, Assist trophies, Pokémon, and let’s not even get into the spirits, all would be nothing but tools.
Some people look at Super Smash Bros as a fighting game. Some look at it as a party game. Others still see it as a celebration of Nintendo and gaming as a whole. To me at least Super Smash Bros. is a museum come to life. It’s all of those other things too, but since Melee it’s been where I get exposed to all sorts of strange characters I’ve never heard of before. Even with Ultimate I will be having my first experience with the Castlevania franchise, but I’ll never really know the characters. They’ll just be bodies on the roster, and that’s not something I’m looking forward to.
With the XO18 event coming up, I think it’s time to lay down some predictions.
I originally started writing this with hopes that Banjo and Kazooie would be announced for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at this event. I still think they have a shot as DLC, but I don’t think it’s going to happen at this event anymore, at least not as much as I once did. If it’s going to be announced by the end of the year it’ll probably be at the game awards. Otherwise I don’t expect anything until E3 or around when the N64 classic is announced. If the duo is in Smash they will be on the N64 classic. It’s all or nothing in that regard.
There are rumors of a new Banjo Kazooie game. As cool as that could be, I think it’s more likely the original and maybe Tooie get a remake from the ground up like Spyro and Crash received. In response to the negative reception to the Nuts & Bolts designs the characters will resemble their character art from the game boxes, guide books, and other promotional materials. Mumbo will lean towards his Tooie design for both games. The game will be out within a year and Mumbo’s Mountain and maybe Mayahem Temple will be fully playable at the event.
One of the three Gears of War games will be shown off at least. Probably the Funko one, though all three could be shown. I have no predictions for the franchise outside of that because I have never played anything in the series. I also expect some talk of Halo at the event. Not Infinite, but maybe Master Chief Collection will finally add Reach or something.
I expect one major game to come to Game Pass at the event. If the Banjo stuff is true I could see Rare Replay being that title. With Gwent set to launch this December, putting Witcher 3 on the service seems like a logical move. If Microsoft does buy Obsidian the more likely addition is one of their independent titles or maybe Stick of Truth or New Vegas.
This is a bolder prediction, but I think it’s not impossible we get some information about the next Xbox. I could see it coming out within the next year if the rumors of Project Scarlet are true. I am leaning towards a release date for around this time next year, but I’d expect that only if it’s the streaming box skew.
Tune in 11/1 for roughly 40 minutes of new information in the final Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct before the game’s launch, hosted by Director Masahiro Sakurai. The Direct will be followed by a post-show Nintendo Treehouse: Live presentation, featuring live gameplay of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, Yoshi’s Crafted World, and Diablo III: Eternal Edition.
I’ve not seen a lot since my last movie post, but I’ve got nothing better to post so here are my thoughts on the movies I’ve seen recently.
BlackkKlansman: Never before have I seen a movie actively try and succeed in falling apart in the last 3 minutes. Up until that point the film is great. It addresses the political topics it handles with care. It’s just a shame it throws all of that in the trash before it ends.
Spider-Man Homecoming: I wasn’t able to catch most of the rescreenings for the 10th anniversary of the MCU, but I did manage to finally see this in IMAX. It’s a good film. I wish the final fight was easier to watch, but it still has a great villain regardless. It’s a fun watch.
Avengers Infinity War: I’ve now seen this movie 6 times in theaters. Twice in IMAX, once in 3D, and three times in standard. The nearly three hour film is still fantastic. It’s a visual marvel full of fantastic characters all playing off one another expertly. If it was the last Marvel movie ever I’d be completely okay with that because they would have went out on top.
The Meg: This is a movie that is better than it has any right to be. I didn’t expect this movie to get me teary-eyed but it did. The Meg is mostly just a by the numbers Jaws knock off, but for whatever reason it worked really well. It’s less horror than Jaws and more dumb action movie, and that surprisingly gives the film the distance needed to not have you compare them too much.
Searching: This is a solid mystery film that uses it’s unique gimmick to great effect. The entire film is a computer scene with the actors appearing via FaceTime, YouTube, and home videos. This is used to get across the story and emotions in a way most films can’t. The first 10 minutes alone make this movie a must see.
Venom: An entirely Sony led superhero film with trailers that had me going from no to okay all the way back to no again. I was ready for this film to suck, but I actually really enjoyed it. It’s a pretty stupid movie, but it’s entertaining. Despite seeing it in IMAX 3D I didn’t get a headache or anything.
A Star is Born 2018: Did you know this film has been remade three separate times now? I mean it makes sense. Going from a nobody to a star changes from decade to decade. I loved the music I was supposed to like, the rest I’m mixed on. The film sort of drags in the middle and the ending doesn’t really feel earned. I didn’t expect it to go the direction it did, but I don’t think it goes there gracefully. The acting is good all around as is the singing, but I can’t say it’ll be something I sit down and watch again.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween: I can summarize this movie with one word, and that word is “unnecessary”. The first Goosebumps movie covered all of the bases, had a leading duo with surprisingly good chemistry, and it was a funny and fun ride. This sequel is just worse all around. The cast isn’t terrible, but the script just isn’t as good. The film comes off as creepier than the original, but I wouldn’t say that’s a plus. The film has one funny joke and a hackneyed plot full of holes that if I’d probably have turned off if I was watching it at home.
Halloween 2018: This film exists for the last 20 minutes. The film just takes its sweet time getting there. For a horror film it just wasn’t scary. I actually laughed more than I jumped in my seat. The little black kid in the middle of the film is a riot. The film builds suspense for such long periods of time that it never pays off. I am far from a Halloween fan, but I got all the callbacks and I’m grateful that they didn’t dwell on them. And for the love-of god has there ever been a Halloween dance in the history of ever? Not only is it pointless in the film, but it creates at least one plot-hole.
Summary: Georgio Manos is the worlds first revolving limousine driver. Join her on the ride of her life full of metaphorical and literal twists and turns in 2014’s hidden gem: Roundabout.
Overall: For $10 it is hard not to recommend this game. It’s unique hybrid of mechanics and story that doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s on PC, PS4, Vita, and as of right now it is included in Xbox Game Pass.
Control: Roundabout is a driving puzzle game. Georgio Manos drives an ever turning limousine. While you simply move with the left stick or d-pad, the challenge comes in moving with the constant turning to dodge obstacles. From the start you can boost with the right trigger. Outside of just speed, this can be used to get Georgio synced up with the moving obstacles. The camera can be moved a little with the right stick, but the isometric camera is pretty fixed. Y will start missions or challenges when Georgio is over top the start point, and upon completion tapping LB or RB will restart the mission and bring up the bonus objectives respectively. Later on Georgio gets access to upgrades she can use with X. These are on a charge so you can’t spam them and are unlocked through various criteria ranging from killing pedestrians to completing the campaign. Just as the third act comes to a close Georgio gets the ability to jump by pressing A.
Missions: Roundabout is an open world game where the player starts missions by driving to yellow stars on the map. All of these are checkpoint races. Occasionally a checkpoint will be replaced with a unique one off task, but those are a rarity. The missions do not get boring however because every last one is given a juicy narrative. The world is designed in a way that gives the developers and players a large number of routes and each hub is used just enough so that everything is used without getting repetitive. Missions also occasionally add unique obstacles to further freshen things up. The late game gets really linear, but that’s an exception to the rule. Every mission has bonus objectives like collecting coins, not taking damage, and of course beating certain times. There are other more unique bonuses like not bouncing off of tires or not jumping, but these aren’t always included like the above ones. The missions are not this games strongest aspect, but they offer some satisfying structure to the crazy concept.
Challenges: Challenges take the games more unique objectives and turn them into score/time attack challenges. Some are unique to the challenge themselves. These are hard. I mean I’m not very good at the game, but I hit par on one of these. I am glad these exist though. Particularly the two unlocked for beating the game. One of these is a speed run of the whole game without cutscenes which is tied to three unique achievements: completing it, not dying while completing it, and beating a rather vague developer time which is somewhere in the 25 minute range. The other is also the game’s credits, and it is a lovely tribute to a classic bad game with a fittingly terrible achievement to boot. You can look it up if you want, but I refuse to spoil it as it not only was a great surprise, but spoils the game’s story.
Collectibles: Roundabout is an open world game so outside driving from mission to mission there are collectibles to grab. Wads of cash are hidden across the map and they can be used to buy real-estate which can be used to make more money and buy more real-estate so you can buy new hats and paint jobs for Georgio’s limousine. You can earn money by building up a combo, but that is a slow process. Other collectibles include sick jumps. Which are found off the beaten path. Alternate horn sounds are also hidden about as well. While I only ever collected all the real-estate I had a blast finding and collecting all of these. My one complaint would be that the checkpoints can really make some of these a pain, particularly in the late game.
Story: Roundabout is one of the funniest games I’ve ever played. Not the funniest, and the humor is derived almost entirely from camp, but this game is hilarious and full of heart.
Once the story gained focus in act two I was actually invested in where it was going. Act 1 introduces all the wacky characters, act 2 gives Georgio a goal, and act 3 is the fallout of achieving that goal. It’s a good story. The acting isn’t great, but it’s not supposed to be like the setting of the late 70s, the cutscenes themselves are designed to evoke the low budget production of that era. The cutscenes are entirely shot in the front and back seat of a car with green-screened windows with one angle for both seats. There are minor exceptions where a character is outside the limo, and some out of copyright b-roll is used to hilarious affect, but the story is all told from inside a “limo”.
The limitations of what can be filmed is used to push the humor. Costumes are Halloween quality and not one character doesn’t get reused. This not only emphasizes the low budget, but in a roundabout way makes all of the characters feel a little more important. Each character gets a story arc of some form. They don’t all grow as characters, but they all end up somewhere different than where they started.
Summary: Sean and Daniel’s journey even one episode in is filled with shocking twists and easter eggs. Here are my thoughts on them and what will probably come next.
Spoilers after break for Life is Strange 1 and 2
I guess it’s best to start off with the big one. When you start your game you are asked if you’ve played the original game. If you have you are asked if you chose Bae or Bay. How much this will impact future episodes I don’t know, but it impacts one scene here. In the penultimate scene Sean and Daniel escape from the gas station where the owner seeks to hand the two over to the cops and ride off with Brody. They briefly stop at an overlook and without the music or the placard I’d still have known it was Arcadia Bay. The view is that of the original games start menu. I saved Arcadia so the town was still standing. If you saved Chole the town is gone and the dialogue between Sean and Brody changes slightly. I loved this scene. It acknowledges that your actions had consequences in the last game.
Now back to the actual beginning. The game does a hood job of establishing what Sean’s life is like in the opening segment. It was about an hour before the title card popped which I expect will be an outlier for the series. During this time you get to learn about Sean, Daniel, and their soon to be deceased father Esteban. Lyla is also given a healthy amount of development here which is why I think she’ll be back in some way before the series ends. The house is used to great affect to help define who these people are.
It’s a shame the antagonists don’t get that same luxury. Bully McBullyface and the ill-tempered gas station owner are woefully underdeveloped. The former gets zero development before his altercation with Daniel leads to a cop shooting Esteban and Daniel unintentionally using his powers in fear, and is gone from the story afterwards. The gas station owner gets some development, but not much. I’m curious if he will be a reoccurring antagonist or new stereotypes will show up to try and foil the quest Sean and Daniel.
Let me be entirely clear. I am absolutely fine with this game being politically charged, but so far the messaging is weakened by having the developed characters face off against underdeveloped foils. I have no doubt there are people like Bully McBullyface and the ill-tempered gas station owner, but they are more complicated than a single character trait. This is the idea of boiling down an individual to a single undesirable character trait personified. I hope they can handle this better in future episodes and seeing how the antagonists developed in the original I know they can given the time.
The shooting is something that everyone is avoiding talking about in spoiler free talk for obvious reasons since it’s the inciting incident for the story. That initial teaser was giving off some Chronicle vibes. Turns out instead it’s mostly just a generic textbook example of a police shooting. I know I’m supposed to take this whole thing seriously, but the rate at which the situation escalates is comical. No matter what choices you make the same events unfold. Bully McBullyface falls on a rock with fake blood on his shirt so a cop comes over and while the leading duo listens, daddy gets involved and gets shot. I am not going to say what happened was right, but within the context of this scene I’m siding with the officer. He told Esteban to back off and he didn’t listen. Nothing the officer did was racially charged. The most effective part of this whole scene at putting me into Sean’s shoes was having Bully McBullyface throw all that racist speech at him.
It seems pretty obvious that what comes next will tie into Captain Spirit. Apparently the dates line up so that Sean and Daniel will meet Chris in December, months after the initial episode. The snow alone was enough to put the idea in my head. I’m curious how my choices in the demo will tie into episode 2 and if the episode will focus on helping Chris with his father. Obviously there will be some training of Daniel’s powers involved. With this time jump now known I wonder how long the season will last in terms of the passage of time. Obviously the original lasted 5 days and the prequel 3, but jumping forward this much already has me curious if Sean and Daniel’s journey will last a full year.
Summary: Sean Diaz must flee his home with his younger brother Daniel. But is Sean ready to take on the challenges of looking after his rambunctious sibling?
Overall: Life is Strange 2 Episode 1 is good. It’s a solid episode that has me excited to see where things go next which is exactly what an episode 1 should do.
No spoilers below.
Story: Life is Strange 2 episode 1 takes place in late October 2016. As for a location that’s a bit broader. Instead of being confined to a single town, after an inciting incident the lead duo is on the road. This means that not a single environment gets repeated in this episode and there is a possibility that this will remain the case. The first episode already breaks the 24 hour episode mold of the previous seasons as well. Episode one starts as Sean gets off the bus and ends four days later. While the amount of playable content is the same the distance between these points chronologically is greater.
In my opinion this jump is part of a pretty significant problem. A problem that seems to be inherited from Telltale’s Walking Dead: I don’t know who I am playing as. In the first episode of Telltale’s only success, you play as a man you know nothing about. Because of this you don’t know if you are lying because you don’t know what you’ve done. When you jump forward several months in the next episode new characters you’ve apparently known for a while now you are forced to make choices about without knowing anything about them or your relationship. While Life is Strange 2’s time jumps don’t as significantly impact the game so far, it’s entirely possible that they will eventually. This wasn’t a problem in the original Life is Strange or even it’s prequel. The solution to the time jumps is pretty easy: don’t do them. The solution to not knowing the character is simple and clever, text messages and the characters journal or diary. Before Max or Chloe need to make any significant choices the player is guided to these things which explain the character’s headspace and personality as of that moment and the events that led them there. Even in mid season episodes if you had somehow forgot what happened in the previous episode or scene the diary is updated on the fly. This game does have the text messages snd journal, but both are hampered by different things. The text messages because the scrolling is super slow and you lose access to it half way through the episode. The journal could have picked up the slack if it wasn’t all drawings. Max and Chloe had drawings too, but it was mostly text. I know boys tend to prefer to draw than write, but this hampers my ability to quickly get into Sean’s shoes.
The story isn’t all bad though. The younger sibling you need to look after though has me convinced not worried this game will go the same direction as Telltale’s Walking Dead. I already care about the leading duo on some level. While the characters we’ve met are fine, I’m curious about how much we will see of them. The traveling aspect has me leaning on the fact that maybe two of these side characters at most will pop back up. Maybe a third, but I think the focus looks to be the lead duo and their relationship which is fine.
Gameplay: While the story has its issues, the gameplay so far has made strides forward. For one thing there is some resource management going on that means you need to balance your moral fiber, your money, and your need for food. Sean needs to manage funds wisely to keep his brother and him alive. You can try and steal as well, but that’s not something I never did. The mechanic adds a unique extra dimension to the game.
Choices can’t be rewound anymore either since time travel isn’t a part of this game. More importantly however is the fact that choices now fall into three categories. They will impact Sean, Daniel, or both if them. Gone is the vagueness of “This action will have consequences”. It’s a minor change at a glance, but still pretty significant as it means there is a lot more going on under the hood in terms of paths.
The collectibles have shrunk in number. There are only six in total. The issue is the chapter lengths vary greatly and some of these pop up super late into chapters. Some feel pretty random, but so far none of them broke the pacing. These collectibles can be used to decorate Sean’s bag which is cool. There is also another collectible in the form of drawings that Sean can do. You only need to do one for an achievement.
Graphics/Performance:
Unlike the original Life is Strange, the sequel is a game developed for the PS4 and Xbox One without the restrictions of the PS3 and 360. This is both a blessing and a curse. The environments of Life is Strange 2 are much larger in scale. An extensive hour long section of this episode takes place in a forest and this is easily the largest environment in the series to date. That all being said the game has some ridiculous loading times on the Xbox One. I can’t speak for the PS4 or PC versions. I also had some issues with some audio issues with the voice acting. Occasionally it would get a little staticy.
Summary: Rifts have torn open between our world and the world of Fortnite changing the world of Fortnite forever. Yet the Battle Royale rages on in what is still the biggest name in Battle Royale.
Overall: Fortnite season 5 tweaks the maps modes and mechanics enough to keep things fun for another 10 weeks. It kept the fun going and managed to keep me invested for better or worse the whole time.
Gameplay: Fortnite is still the premier free to play Battle Royale game that is playable on everything but a toaster. Up to 100 players drop from the sky onto an island and players battle it out to be the last individual or team remaining. All the while a storm slowly shrinks the safe area of the map to keep the remaining players closer together as the survivor count dwindles. Outside a trusty pick ax for melee combat and harvesting materials all weapons, gear, and building materials are procured on site.
Not a lot has changed with the core gameplay. To keep the late game from becoming too reliant on rapid building and camping, the eye of the storm can shift into previously covered area. This means that the storm will simultaneously shrink and slide. This means players need to keep moving which is great for keeping the pace of the action up. Stealth is still vital to survival, but doing it via camping isn’t always viable.
New weapons and gear have been added, tweaked, and in some cases already removed. That removed weapon is the drum gun. Apparently it was not well balanced, which I didn’t notice because with all the other options I never get a chance to play around with any one weapon for too long. I still favor the tactical shotgun, but I can make do with anything but the sniper rifle category. A lot of new gear was added as well. With the nee season, rifts appeared letting players jump in and parachute once more from a lower height. An item now let’s players deploy that ability anywhere and drag in nearby players. Portable forts got a cousin in the portable fortress which is bigger and badder than its cousin.
The biggest new addition is the All-Terrain-Kart, or ATK for short. While the shopping cart is fun, it is limited to two users: a pusher and a shooter. It also is a lot better when going down hill. The ATK has room for four, and controls like any modern driving game, complete with power sliding and drift based speed boosts. You can use the roof as a bounce pad and if both back seat riders synchronize a lean back and forth the kart can jump. Solo or in a full squad the ATK is a great addition and adds a much needed mobility option. Also both the ATK and the Shopping cart have a point system for sick jumps that don’t crash and burn.
Overall these little changes have kept the core gameplay fresh. I actually managed to win a handful of games this season outside 50 v 50.
Graphics: I play Fortnite across 3 different platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and very rarely iOS. My Xbox One is a launch model with a built in Kinect port and my iPhone is an SE. None of these are the highest end devices but the game runs well on all of them.
Xbox One runs at a pretty smooth 60 frames per second though it occasionally dips. Pop in isn’t as noticeable and I’ve never had an issue where I’ll enter into and area that is using the LOD models by accident. After having finally dipped into Save the World mode there is a distinct lack of some more detailed effects, and I am curious if it’s just not feasible on Xbox One or if it’s to keep parity with the lesser platforms.
And the Nintendo Switch is lesser. During the back half of season 5 Fortnite started running pretty poorly. Numerous times I’d drop into a low detail map, sometimes so low that the interiors I was in were not loaded so I was killed because I couldn’t see where I was going. They also pulled support for clips on the Nintendo Switch, though I’m unsure if this is a temporary or permanent tweak. Draw distances are noticeably worse on the Switch as is the frame rate and resolution, 30 frames and 720p hand held respectively. I’m not sure what the he’ll happened here. This game was running great at launch but quality took a major dip.
I pity those who can only play on iPhone, well at least if the experience is like it is in my SE. This screen was not made for gaming. It’s to damn small to be covered in buttons. I’m not sure if it varies by phone, but this game runs at the same specs as the Switch or lower. I don’t play on my phone regularly so I can’t claim to know if it is having similar issues to what I was having on the Switch.
Modes: As Season 4 ended I said that they needed to offer more variety in modes. While survival is at the core, the map and mechanics are open ended enough to offer a lot of a variety. While it wasn’t dipped into much, the limited time modes were good. Most of these kept the core mechanics virtually unchanged with maybe some special gear or slight but significant tweaks to the mechanics, but two of these modes were significant changes to the game.
For the minute changes Steady Storm had the storm constantly shrink as opposed to briefly pausing. Soaring 50s was 50 v 50 with the ability to redeploy your gliders whenever you want, not just via launch pads and rifts. Solid Gold made all weapons Epic ranked and Fly Explosives brought back jet packs which were apparently a thing and limited the weapons to ones that go boom. The team sizes varied for these modes, but most of the time it was squads or duos.
These modes were fine, but Score Royale and The Getaway were the type of changes I was talking about. Score Royale can be won by eliminating all the opposition, but it can also be won by hitting a point score total which fluctuated based on the team size. 2000 for solo, 3000 for duos, and 4500 for squads. While kills would net you 100 points, you also got points for looting chests, llamas, supply drops, ammo boxes, mushrooms and apples, and collecting coins that spawned in. It essentially turns the game into a collectathon and it’s awesome. Exploration is just as important as going for the kill. The Getaway is a squad based mode where teams collect one of four jewels that drop onto the map. From there the team needs to keep the carrier alive as they head to one of four Getaway vans. What makes this mode interesting is that four teams can win. It combines elements of traditional capture the flag games with the mechanics of a battle royale game.
World: With this season like the last the map of Fortnite went through changes. Four major ones hit a launch. First off the northern farm was replaced with a golf resort. The soccer stadium was removed. In the South East corner of the map a mountain top was covered with a Viking town. The biggest changes is that all of Moisty Mire was replaced with a vast desert known as paradise palms. While personally I liked Moisty Mire, I like the variety the desert added. The issue is that these areas at the edge of the map are often quickly swallowed up by the storm so they don’t see a lot of play. A few other changes hit late in the season. Tomato Town was mostly swallowed up and replaced by Tomato Temple. Dusty Depot filled in with trees now that the alien mystery was wrapped, but the remains of the warehouses turned into a dinner.
I overall like the change to the map, and from what I’m hearing about season 6 most of the areas I feel are growing tired are getting a makeover. I’m hoping that eventually we get more variety to break the mostly green map. I’m hoping for snowy mountain tops.
Challenges: Two major changes hit the season 5 battle pass. One was that people who didn’t buy it still had access to three of the seven challenges. This means they have access to 20 of each week’s 50 battle stars. Number two is that the challenges for additional styles are not capped at the end of the season. It’s also tied to how much experience you earn not your level. As long as you hit level 100 you can eventually get all of Permafrost’s outfits, and the same goes for drift if you buy the battle pass.
The challenges had some gems, but there was certainly a negative through line. Bad stuff first, the emphasis on kills and damage with certain weapons sucked. It especially sucks when one weak you need kills with snipers and two weeks later you need a certain amount of damage with them. It stinks of a lack of creativity that the other challenges show. Finding collectibles scattered about the map is fun. Finding and following treasure maps and searching between objects is fun. Challenges forcing you to play the game a certain way are not as fun as ones that make you play an entirely different way.
The best challenge though was easily the timed trials. First off you need to find a clock on the map. You then need to collect all the clocks that spawn in a time limit. What makes this challenge so special is that it led to a truce in solos for me and some random. We both stopped and worked together to build the platforms needed to beat a trial and when all was said and done we didn’t kill each other. We celebrated with some emote dancing and went are separate ways. Other highlights include shooting hoops, playing golf, and jumping through hoops in ATKs and Shopping Carts.
It’s hard to talk about a lot of Marvel’s Spider-Man without spoilers, so here is everything I couldn’t talk about prior.
Spoilers!!
Gameplay: Gameplay is king. Spider-Man does this pretty well on the whole, but one thing I couldn’t delve into very deeply without spoilers was the stealth and the boss fights.
The best stealth in this game is when you are MJ or Miles Morales. A lot of people will disagree with that statement, but it’s something I wholeheartedly believe. Unlike when playing as Spider-Man there is tension. Both Miles and MJ have fail animations before a game over screen pops that adds to the sense of vulnerability. Spider-Man doesn’t get that as far as I know because any mandatory stealth is usually super easy and I never failed. MJ and Miles need to carefully navigate enemy sight lines and make distractions to get past enemies who can go anywhere you can. The best stealth segment is in Grand Central when MJ gets a Spider-Man sneak attack for taking out isolated guards. The best villain encounter is when Miles must out smart Rhino in an incredibly tense segment. In fact every stealth segment with these two starting with that epic at Grand Central onward is a highlight of my experience.
That’s more than I can say for any of the boss fights. Boss fights are cinematic. At their best they’re as good as the finale of Uncharted 4. At they’re worst they’re glorified quick time events. All of them consist of dodging attacks until an opening shows up. There are two exceptions in the form of the final two battles against Mr. Negative and Doctor Octopus. Mr. Negative’s final fight consists of waves of enemies in addition to large attacks while you wait for an opening. Doctor Octopus might be one of the worst boss fights in history. Cinematically it looks great, but you repeat the same process of webbing him up and punching him until he climbs a tower and you strike him off it three times. After that its dodge dodge punch. It’s a bad fight that makes one if Spider-Man’s most intelligent foes look like a moron for repeatedly falling for the same attack.
Side Content: The side content has some highs and lows, but the highs are all spoilers.
Black Cat’s collectibles are a nice change of pace and lead to a fun mini-story. I was shocked to see Task Master here, but he was an awesome addition. I wish his boss fight was a little better but it comes in number two to Tombstone. Tombstone’s boss fight is the best boss fight in the game because it’s actually a fight. Any repetition makes sense because Tombstone is invincible and you ate trying to tire him out. I also don’t hate the pigeons and liked the few other villains that guested in the side content.
Story: I have incredibly mixed feelings on this games story, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that I am a Spider-Man fan who has played almost every game featuring the wall crawler and seen a lot of the shows too. I’ve seen so much of this stuff before so it loses a lot of its impact. Despite all of the negativity about to come note that this story is still no less than good.
Positives first. This game shines when it breaks the mold, just like Spider-Man Homecoming. Jumping forward 8 years into Spider-Man existing is a great idea. We don’t need to Peter’s origin for the hundredth time. It also let’s Insomniac skip a bunch of other things like introducing select villains and Peter going through school and the Daily Bugle. Mary Jane being a reporter was a fantastic choice as it makes her more than a damsel in distress and let’s her naturally be a part of the story outside relationship drama. Having J Jonah Jameson be a podcaster is perfect. Mr. Negative is awesome and it’s great to see a fresh villain in these games. Having Aunt May die is a bold choice. When this game changes things up or tackles nee ground it works.
When the game covers previously tread ground however it stumbles. Marvel’s Spider-Man is the 3rd Spider-Man game in a decade to feature a quarantined Manhattan. Marvel’s Spider-Man features a lead villain who puts together who Spider-Man is. The final fight as pointed out by HiTopFilms is a combination of Spider-Man 1, 2, and The Amazing Spider-Man’s finales. It’s hard to have an original idea for Spider-Man when the franchise is fifty plus years old.
The one thing that disappointed me the most was Doctor Octopus. His arc makes sense, but I fully believed he was being built up to maybe work with Spider-Man. Imagine having the two work together. That’d be cool and could make a potential fall into villainy even more tragic. Even when the Raft security blue prints and AIM grants started popping up I thought that maybe it was all an act of misdirection. Maybe Otto was unaware of what AIM was or that someone would frame him with his work. Not this generic revenge crap. I know it carries through the theme started with Mr. Negative, but it still feels somewhat been there done that because of that.
Good stuff again. Miles’s origin is greatly changed so that Peter and Miles can both be Spider-Man at the same time. I still am sort of bummed MJ didn’t get bit, but there is still time.
Summary: When Spider-Man finally manages to get Kingpin locked up, a new threat emerges to push Spider-Man to his limits.
Overall: Spider-Man combines the game design of the Arkham games and Beenox’s Amazing Spider-Man with the presentation of an Uncharted game to deliver a good game. It is worth $60, but I don’t think it’s the best Spider-Man game.
Story: I’ve rewritten this section three times now. It’s very hard to talk about what I like or dislike without spoilers so if you want details check out my separate post.
What I can say without spoilers is that the story is disjointed, unbalanced, and not wholly original. That all being said when it goes in a new direction or gives its characters time to shine it is really good.
What do I mean the story is disjointed? Well that’s tied to the fact that the game’s story is also unbalanced. The meat of this story is back loaded into the game’s third act. Before that the game has a focus on Mr Negative but keeps jumping back and forth with unrelated stuff that doesn’t form into anything until the end. The third act is strong, but it revolves around a twist anyone who has a knowledge of Spider-Man can see coming at least half a mile away.
The third act also doesn’t feel super original. The character motivations and reasons for everything make sense, but the evil plan and even some of the late game missions feel like something I’ve already seen done before in other Spider-Man games. There was a lot of possibilities squandered by going the route they did even if it is sound on a thematic level.
Let’s close out on the good. Spider-Man jumps 8 years into Peter Parker being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. While we skip a lot of material, the past isn’t entirely tried and true. Mary Jane is a reporter for the Daily Bugle who knows Peter is Spider-Man but they’ve broke up and this turns her relationship with Peter into one more inline with Nate and Elena of Uncharted which means Mary Jane is an actual character here. There are a lot of other changes that involve spoilers, but this one alone is one of the strongest examples of this story making smart changes with series conventions.
The characters are what make this story work. The criminal power vacuum plot while not previously seen in any Spider-Man game to my knowledge, isn’t particularly strong in carrying an interesting narrative since it quickly devolves into Peter and MJ trying to prove that Martin Li is Mr. Negative. In fact it’s less a power vacuum and more an opportunity for him to enact his plans. If the character or villain doesn’t have ties to Peter Parker, they don’t get time to develop as a character. This really hurts just about every villain in the game as they feel like and are often treated as lesser characters. I said we’d end on the good and we will. Insomniac’s focus on a story where Peter and Spider-Man’s worlds collide is played really damn well as it allows for interesting character dynamics and storytelling that hasn’t been in previous games. The emphasis on the story is hindered by the plethora of previous Spider-man tales this story draws inspiration from, but it’s still hard to say this isn’t the best story in any Spider-man game.
Movement: While I never reviewed it, from what I played of Insomniac’s Sunset Overdrive I felt was super stiff for a game about movement. That had me scared for Spider-Man. Luckily Insomniac had a lot of great games to look at when building this game and they took inspiration from them all.
Web swinging isn’t Spider-Man 2 levels of intricate, but it’s not your only form of transversal. In what feels some what reminiscent of The Amazing Spider-Man’s fancy cinematic web zipping, Spidey can zip to predefined point by tapping L2 and R2. You can web zip by tapping Cross in the air but what’s most impressive is when Spider-Man runs.
On the ground Spider-Man will parkour over obstacles as long as you’re holding R2. It’s fun to see Spidey flip over cars and fences. If Spidey gets high enough he’ll even transfer into a web swing, which is done by holding and releasing R2. On the walls is when Spidey is the most fun to control. Holding R2 will make Spidey run on the wall. Tapping X will give Spidey a web boost, and doing so as you reach the top of a building will propel Spidey over it. Running parallel to the ground doesn’t need to stop at the end of the building. Holding Circle will have Spidey swing around the side of the building.
The one time it’s not fun to control Spidey is when you are going slow. Trying to climb onto a ceiling is a slow process and navigating ledges in stealth feels stiff. Zipping helps in the stealth bits, but climbing walls doesn’t get that luxury. The difference in speed from basic wall crawling to wall running is night and day and led to me dashing out of cover on multiple occasions.
Overall it’s fun to move fast, but when it comes to precision Spider-Man feels like a tank.
Combat: Web of Shadows this is not. Combat feels like a less refined Arkham game. Spider-Man battles with dodges and gadgets, but it doesn’t feel like I can do whatever a spider can. Spider-Man has two forms of combat. You have the stealth stuff and the not so stealth stuff. Both have issues.
When Spider-Man is unabashedly bashing skulls the combat has one major problem, and that’s that the gadget system isn’t at all intuitive. Spider-Man’s default gadget is his web shooter’s rapid fire that can immobilize foes. It’s a good gadget. The issue is that if you want to use anything else you need to use a gadget wheel mid fight. There is no equivalent to Arkham’s hold a trigger and press a button to quickly pop off a gadget shot. This means you’ll almost never use them because it’s just not convenient too swap mid fight. It’s just a not a particularly intuitive system.
A more minor problem is that for me at least this combat system isn’t as fun as Web of Shadow. I know saying that is probably controversial but its how I feel. Web of Shadows was a game built around its combat and in my opinion it shined at that. The story was an excuse to create an endless stream of foes in numbers large enough that Spider-Man could literally hold a combo from one end of New York to the other. Fighting was also more than just on the ground. Enemies could fight you on the walls and in the sky and each of these could be transitioned between seamlessly and they all felt pretty unique with their own combos and a quick click of the stick would swap between the agile red and blue suit and the heavy hitting black suit. Is it fair to compare these two games? Maybe. Maybe not. I can’t help but compare them through as Web of Shadows is my favorite Spider-Man game.
The issue with the stealth is an issue with the movement. Spider-Man just doesn’t feel good to control when he’s moving slow or with precision. While Spider-Man has a lot more movement options than Batman does, he also has less gadgets and paths. Batman can swing from perch to perch, climb through vents, and generally sneak about. He’s got a massive amount of gadgets as well to aid in taking out his foes from the shadows and the amount of paths and variety of foes makes these sequences tense. Spider-Man does not have a variety of gadgets or paths. Spider-Man is slow and lumbering in the rafters, but as soon as he leaves them he’s helpless. Instead of paths of movement Spider-Man has planes of movement. Most of Spider-Man’s options are web related and most of them require staying up high since red and blue spandex sticks out in the shadows.
I wrote this above paragraph based on the game’s first stealth segment and I still stand by it once Spider-Man got more gadgets and could sneak around outdoors. Spider-Man is still helpless on the ground. Even outdoors when Spider-Man has the sky as his limit he can’t sneak under his foes. This system doesn’t feel like that much of an improvement over Amazing Spider-Man and those are some harsh words. The best stealth segments in the game are when you’re not playing as Spider-Man at all.
Side Content: As the story unfolds Spider-Man gains access to more and more side content. These include side missions which occasionally form there own multipart stories and some are just collectible hunts. All of these however have context. Even the races and combat arenas have context given which is something the Arkham game’s sort of half assed. Now that’s not to say all side content is equal, or that the way it’s dished out is okay.
Side missions are relatively meaty as are the hideouts. The latter are all replay-able so you can complete bonus objectives. I can’t say I’m as big a fan of the rest of the side content. Medal based challenge missions require near perfect play in all categories of play. Perfect and time efficient combat, stealth, and movement are a pain in the ass. I eventually settled for silvers across the board. The research stations are creative, but it feels like something is missing from them. They just feel hollow. The collectibles I like just fine. I don’t like how they are dolled out though.
All side content in this game is gated behind story progression. I’m fine with that for side missions. I’m not fine with challenges not popping up until half way through the game. I understand why the story related stuff is gated, but the other stuff generally doesn’t make sense being gated. My completionist tendency had me stopping the story constantly as this stuff is being opened up in waves. There has got to be a better way to handle these side missions than arbitrarily handing them out over the course of the story.
Trophies: Marvel’s Insomniac’s Spider-Man has a trophy list that is relatively simple to get. You will need to do a lot, just not everything.
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. Way too much of this list is hidden trophies. Now some of them make sense as they’re spoilers, but a lot of them aren’t. Hiding story or spoiler stuff is fine, but is activating all the surveillance towers worth being a hidden trophy?
Outside that you can play on any difficulty and with smart saves or spending you don’t need to do every bonus objective or ultimate medal. Your most time consuming task is 100% completing the city which requires completing every thing in every district, and outside Central Park each district is packed.
Summary: Step on a crack and you’ll break your own back. It’s the stepping sensation that’s sweeping the nation so gather round and step on down.
Overall: For a free to play mobile title, Steppy Pants turns a novel concept into a satisfying pick up and play experience. I’d highly recommend giving this game a shot.
Steppy Pants is a super simple game. Each tap moves a foot forward while you’re holding it. You automatically alternate feet between taps. You use this simple system to walk forward to the next checkpoint building up combos on the way. Your combo breaks if you stop moving for too long or have both feet on the same step able platform.
The game has 6 modes. Traditional Steppy Streets is the main mode. You’ll need to progress a certain distance before you unlock other modes. As I said in the description you need to avoid the cracks while stepping, but the blocks of sidewalk are not uniform in size, and some are even TNT. You’ll also need to step across blocks in ponds and occasionally cross streets. Checkpoints are pretty common, but getting high scores is a bit more difficult. If you’ve made it past a new checkpoint without falling coffee shows up in your path that will speed you up meaning you need faster taps for that small precision movement.
Floor is Lava Mode has you stepping across furniture in a hellish wasteland where the floor is indeed lava. The size of furniture varies greatly and while TNT is gone, instead some blocks will crumble if you stay on them too long and you might need to time your steps to avoid lava geysers. Checkpoints are hard to reach here, but the rewards are doubled here as well.
Haunted Woods has no cracks to worry about. Everywhere is safe to step and even stepping super wide can’t stop you. The only thing to fear is the monster chasing you. Of course you might want to avoid the webbing on the floor that will slow you down. This mode is a bit too simple. It’s all about speed and precision, but another mode does it better.
Snowy Hills has you walking across roofs collecting presents. Checkpoints are insanely fast to reach. The trick here is your feet. Presents are on the left and right of the roof and you need to step with the corresponding foot to grab it and keep the combo up. Ice on the roof follows a similar pattern of being on one side or the other, and of course the roof panels are split by cracks you better not step on. Trying to find a balance between collecting presents for combos and avoiding ice is a different experience from the other modes.
I do not like Checkpoint Challenge. This mode has the checkpoints get farther and farther away. You need to hit each block on the way forward. The environment is bland and for an endurance mode it’s not very interesting.
Steppy Sprint is the last mode. How fast can you step 100 meters? Hitting every block speeds you up, but messing up resets your speed. As long as you keep going you hit the checkpoint, even if you mess up every step. Alright not really, but you restart where you last successfully stepped with the timer still going so you’ve got forever to get it right.
All of these modes have scoring systems and leader boards, but the progression system is all cosmetic. Every 100 coins you collect let’s your character be randomly flung onto some cosmetic item be it a head, torso, or legs. You can buy these pieces for a dollar a piece, but since it’s all cosmetic there is no real push. Badges cost more coins and some are rewarded for certain achievements, but you cannot spend real money to get them. Some costumes are only available for purchase with real money though, but the prices are fair.
Now this game has one other monetization strategy: ads. In between rounds you can play an ad to get coins or play an ad to restart a walk where you fell down with the next couple of blocks cleared out for you, though these options will show up randomly so they can’t be relied on. I actually really like this system. You can buy a $3 suit to stop all ads, but I’ve never had an issue with them so I’ve never been compelled to buy it.
Summary: When a supposedly dead Cortana contacts Master Chief, he and his unit go rogue to find her themselves. Sergeant Locke is sent to bring his unit in, but what starts as a simple arrest quest may decide the fate of the universe.
Overall: Now at a price of around $20 or as a title on Game Pass it’s hard to say Halo 5 isn’t worth a try. It’s certainly not my favorite Halo, but it’s an improvement over 4 and considering the word on the street I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe you will be too.
Control: I don’t have fond memories of the controls of Halo 4. The game moved away from Halo’s traditional control scheme where aiming down sights was done with the sticks. I also didn’t love the controls of the Halo 5 beta, though obviously those were in development. Times have changed though. I’ve since diversified my self in terms of shooty-shooty bang-bang games I’ve played so I’ve learned that maybe using a trigger to aim down sights isn’t the end of the world.
Halo 5 sought to add something to Halo’s core gameplay and that was an emphasis on movement. On top of a sprint, Spartans can now dash. This brief burst of movement can be done in any direction with a brief cool down and can even be done in the air, though you’ll need to land before you can use it again. What’s cool is that this aerial burst cancels your momentum. This means you can quickly stop yourself when you’ve been sent flying by an attack or some sort of launcher. Holding the melee button in the air lets you aim what is essentially a ground pound. The higher up you are the greater the radius you have in which to aim. Spartans also have a charge attack that can be performed by melee attacking from a sprint. Now to get his dash unfortunately Amor abilities have gotten the boot. It sucks but without armor lock it just wasn’t the same anyway.
Oh and you can pull yourself up ledges now. Simply pressing A will pull you up. This allows for much more intended verticality in level design without vehicles or ramps. Sadly this has a decidedly negative impact on the hunt for skulls in the game. Previous Halo games were not built for platforming, but by hiding the skulls in crazy nooks and crannies people figured out how to reach these places using the game’s physics to make platforming out of it. The hunt isn’t as fun when it’s as easy as walking over to something. I’ll always have fond memories of searching for skulls in the Bungie games. Here though it’s sort of meh.
Overall I like the changes. It feels different but not in a bad way. Outside of the skulls it all makes the combat feel a little more dynamic. It’s not as fast or fluid as Titanfall, but going that far would mean Halo wouldn’t feel like Halo at all.
Story: I don’t hate it. In fact I honestly consider it an improvement over 4. Probably even more controversial is that I like Locke. Is he Chief? No, but Chief doesn’t have a lot of depth either. I’m perfectly fine passing the torch. Mostly playing as Locke is fine because it adds sort of a mystery element to what is going on with Cortana and where Chief’s allegiances lie for most of the game.
Now this story isn’t perfect. The reason I didn’t get this game at launch is because it was bringing in more shit from the books and expecting players to just get it. Expecting players to have an encyclopedic knowledge of Halo for 4 turned me off hard. That fear was mostly unwarranted with the sequel. You can follow the story with just a knowledge of the main games, assuming you struggled through 4. Some of the lore brought in is jarring though, even the stuff from the mainline games. Master Chief apparently not always being a one man wrecking crew is really strange to wrap my head around. Outside Reach we haven’t really seen a unit of Spartans working together in game, especially Chief. In the books however he had this squad he rolled with. Also Buck from ODST is suddenly a Spartan. That’s weird. The game also brings up how Locke was looking into assassinating Arbiter at one point or something. This was like a side thing attached to Master Chief Collection.
Missions: They are short. No getting around it. These missions are not very long. Angry Joe’s famous 4 hours bit isn’t crazy. I played on Normal and breezed through the game in 3 days. All the missions are built for 4 player co-op with squad commands for when you’re playing solo. Outside of a few specific late game types of attacks, running out of health just downs you and your team can revive you within a few seconds so you can keep going. This makes the game much more forgiving and as a result lowers the difficulty and shortens the game. Regardless of the difficulty the missions are still short.
I don’t hate the super short missions though. One thing I hated about Halo 4 was the environment the game was set in. Every environment looked the same. Here every level looks very different outside an escape mission where you back track through an area you explored previously. Even the Forerunner areas look and play more uniquely. It’s a major improvement in my opinion and I’ll always take variety over length. I’m not against length. Halo 3 has some long levels but it manages to keep things varied in terms of terrain and look. If I only get one or the other through I’ll take variety every time.
That being said the game constantly bringing back the same boss gets pretty tiresome. Outside the final bought with it it seems to get progressively easier. Oh and there are 3 out of the game’s 15 missions that are completely devoid of combat and are completed in about 5 minutes each. Not great game design.
Multiplayer: It’s hard to talk about my thoughts on Halo 5’s multiplayer without talking about my experience with every online shooter I’ve ever played, because Halo was my first online first person shooter. Hell it was my first modern shooter. In early 2008 I got an Xbox 360 and Halo 3. I had never played a Halo game, but I needed something to tide me over until Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts came out that fall. I also had my brother’s copy of Call of Duty 4, but I never played that game online and gravitated toward Halo more so than Call of Duty in general. I wasn’t playing online until a year later, and while I wasn’t playing Halo daily, it was the only first person shooter I played. I bought Halo ODST and enjoyed that as well, but as a glorified expansion to 3, I had yet to have a day one brand new Halo experience. That changed with Reach.
I had that game day one and played that game daily for the better part of a year. To this day it’s my favorite first person shooter with only Titanfall 2 rivaling it. But all good things come to an end. As Bungie left to go into development on Destiny, server management and DLC duties were handed off to 343 studios who would carry on the Halo franchise. From the first DLC things weren’t the same. I’ll go into more detail in an almost inevitable Halo Reach review, but not even half way through the campaign of Halo Anniversary I stopped playing all together. I had tried to come back multiple times but that magic was gone. I never touched Halo 4 until Master Chief Collection and that further put me off of 343.
You can see the years after in my previous reviews. I eventually started looking for a first person shooter fix elsewhere. Wolfenstein was fine, but until Titanfall 2 and later Fortnite nothing was able to get me to play a shooter online regularly. The only reason I ever even got this game was because it was on Game Pass.
I don’t like Halo 5’s multiplayer very much. While it’s not load out based like Halo 4 apparently was, it lacks the chaotic fun that Reach had. Maybe it’s because all that’s left of the player base is hardcore players and anything unbalanced has been patched to appeal to the core players, but if that’s all that there is to play against than that makes the experience generally less fun. Even the War Zone mode is restricted by its card based weapon redemption which is cheapened by being tied to a micro transaction system. The mode could be a lot of fun if it didn’t have that pay to win stink lingering over it. It sort of feels like an OG Battlefront match with capturing bases. I’ve never liked the ultra competitive side of Halo. I like the frantic and chaotic aspect of it. Titanfall 2 captures that chaos. Fortnite gives me a stealth fix along with the chaos. Even Doom 2016 online feels fast, frantic, and fun (expect that review soon). Halo 5 is just hyper competitive and that’s not fun to me.
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