Guacamelee! (PS3)

Guacamelee! has a distinctive graphical design coupled with vibrant colours, which while it isn't instant love, you will start to grow to love it.  It suits the tone of the game well and meshes with all other elements perfectly.  The music is great, being upbeat and pushes the game along.  The game is mainly a side scroller beat 'em up with a heavy dose of platforming.  This is a great combination, the fighting mechanics and controls are smooth while the platforming is challenging, but not hard to the point of frustration.  There will be a few areas where you will try the platforming a few times but you know what to do and it is just pulling off the timing and button combinations.  It progressively gets harder later in the game and some areas require multiple button presses in different order that can get confusing just due to how many moves there are.  You know in your head how to do it, it's just getting your fingers to press the right buttons at the right time.

The enemies have variety and you're constantly introduced to new ones.  This, coupled with frequent unlocks of new moves and the game does not allow itself to get stale or repetitive.  The platforming challenges in the last level required more trial and error and timing, testing all your skills up to this point, although they were nothing compared to the orb collectible challenges...  The combat is deeper than you'd expect with a wide variety of moves and chaining them together perfectly requires precise timing and skills.  The structure of the game feels similar to classic games of yore; the boss battles have patterns and are interesting.  As you progress through each boss, the important of recognising the patterns increases, to the point where you have to die at each boss several times to get a feel for their moves.  The environment and stage designs are clever, there are secrets all over the place and it's a lot of fun exploring them to find all the chests.  The areas are big with multiple paths.  This is one of those games that tease you with side paths but that you cannot access them right now, rather, you have to wait until you gain the ability later on in the game and then backtrack

 In addition, there are various sidequests (all of which are short and easy) to divert your attention to.  The story is basic but it provides enough motivation for the player to find out what is going to happen next.  There is no voice acting, only dialogue bubbles (no big loss).  Perhaps one of the standouts is the humour.  It took me completely by surprise by how good it was.  The dialogue, character quirks and actions, they all blend in with the designs and storytelling that you can't wait to see what funny scene is going to come up next.  The game has a lot of charm in this area and this is one of the biggest factors for the player to move forward.  Just when you thought that it'll be as funny as it gets, something would pop up that will exceed your expectations.  The ending was sad... both the regular and alternate ending, although they were sad in a bittersweet way (it was still a happy ending).  Overall, this is a great game that I enjoyed very much.

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Something, Something, Something, Dark Side (Family Guy)

The second part where Family Guy parodies The Empire Strikes Back.  This one is better than the original.  The humor was much more well done, with way more hits than misses.  There were a few good laughs along the way that just came out of the blue, which made it much more enjoyable.  There were a few scenes where they dragged it out much longer than it was necessary.  It feels that they wanted to drag out the running time while trying to mask it as humor but it didn't really mesh well.  Once again, the storyline is very faithful to the movie, but much more fast paced and relying on the fact that viewers are familiar with the source material (since it leaves out so many plot elements).  Being nearly one hour long, it was the perfect length, not too short such that it doesn't fully flesh out the story enough and not too long to overstay it's welcome.

Book Review: Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters: The Graphic Novel

Review:  #402
Title:  Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters:  The Graphic Novel
Series:  Percy Jackson and the Olympians - graphic novel book 2
Author:  Rick Riordan; adapted by Robert Venditti
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  While it adapted The Sea of Monsters faithfully, it didn’t manage to capture the fun and humor of the source material.  I am not sure if it is just in my head, but it feels like the art has improved over the first graphic novel, it is less ugly to look at.  As you’d expect, the plot is accelerated, with the downside of not feeling as complex or intricate.  You lack the “piece falling into place” feel once the plot twists are revealed.  The climax also feels too short; it didn’t feel much like a climax at all.  In short, one for the fans as while the art is nice and it keeps the majority of the plot points, it lacks humor and thins the plot too much to be understandable for a reader coming in fresh.

Rating:  6/10

Blue Harvest (Family Guy)

A retelling of Star War Episode IV, I was surprised that it was so faithful to the original.  As it's only 45 mins long, naturally it had to cut out a lot of stuff but most of those were just non-essential stuff like Luke's life and laser fights.  It's interesting to see which Family Guy characters they use to portray the different Star Wars characters, and I thought that they made some good choices.  Obi-Wan Kenobi was slightly disappointing, no cool tricks up his sleeves this time.  The humor is mostly from random stuff in the scenes, which can be jarring at times.  The humor could be done better, and I would rather some clever witty dialogue that random stupid stuff (which may or may not be funny) that parodies love doing.  Of course, there are a number of references to things other than Star Wars so your enjoyment depends on how well versed you are in a wide range of entertainment.  Overall, it was an amusing watch, it was a bit too short though, an hour of running time would be better.

Book Review: A Hero for WondLa

Review:  #401
Title:  A Hero for WondLa
Series:  WondLa - 2nd book
Author:  Tony DiTerlizzi
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  Very addictive.  The first book was good but A Hero of WondLa, improves, refines and expands.  The first book feels more refreshing and ‘natural’, as this one explores a darker nature and seems less innocent.  However, it gets you right from the start, and explains things one after another.  You find out more about what happened to Orbona and its original inhabitants, you discover the antagonist and you learn just how special Eva (the protagonist) is.  It was like while Eva was learning all this, you were right be her side, learning it all either.  It was perfect in that you and the character realize things at the same time (it wasn’t the typical situation where the reader knows what is going to happen and expecting it when the character overlooks a crucial element).  When Eight first appeared, you thought that everything was going to be fine but slowly, her dark side appears.  In the end, you feel that the character is a bit crazy and mind-broke, it feels inconsistent.  Things get a little bit weird at the end and it seems to end rather abruptly just when events started colliding and the real fun begins.  This is an amazing novel.

Rating:  8/10

Toy Review: Transformers Robots in Disguise (RiD) Rapid Run (J-Seven)

Review:  #167
Name:  Rapid Run (J-Seven)
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Autobot
Line:  Robots in Disguise
Year of Release:  2001
Variations:  the Japanese version had transparent windows while the Hasbro version replaced it all with opaque plastic

TRAIN MODE:

Rapid Run transforms into a Rail Star 700 bullet train.  He features transparent green cockpit and side windows.

This is a well formed train mode.  There are panel gaps and with age, there will be some mismatch of colours between the paint and plastic.  You can see the connector (formed by his robot mode weapon) at the back.

There are generic sculpting, Rapid Run basically transforms into a long rectangular block... so it's really not too hard.  He features rolling wheels.

The terms "Rail Star Cybertron" is tampographed onto the sides, mimicking real life bullet trains.

While fairly long, he's also narrow so doesn't quite feel up to Mega sized.  Yet he is distinctly heavier than Deluxes.

This is a packed train with barely any gaps left when you look at the underside.

In terms of length, he is the shortest member of Team Bullet Train.

They look well together and my second favourite train out of the trio.

Some extra play value include the ability to connect with Railspike and Midnight Express to form a long chain.  While you'll never see this kind of configuration in real life, it is a nice bonus in play value.

Each train has a slot at the bottom of the nose to connect into the peg at the back, in any order you like.

A decent train mode only hampered with the panel lines and small-ish size.

TRANSFORMATION:

One of the more unsurprising transformation schemes of the trio.  It's basically a train standing up, with the nose folding down to form the chest.  It is still well done and is easy enough to be fun.  Things pegs together well but some joints may be tight.

ROBOT MODE:

Rapid Run's robot mode should theoretically be a good one, he's got the train cockpit as his chest and the legs are the train rear extended but what we end up have a tall and lanky robot with some slight proportion problems.

That said, kibble is a rare sight on this figure.  He has nothing on his back.  You can see the extent of transparent plastic used on this figure (for the Japanese version) which is worrying.

The proportion issue is really just his legs.  They're big chunky affairs which stands at odds with the rest of the figure.  Add restricted range of movement to them and it brings the robot down.

The head sculpt, by today's standards, is a bit lacking in the sculpting department.  I feels as if the angles aren't sharp enough.  Nevertheless, it is still decent.

Rapid Run is about Deluxe height in this mode, and looks the mass too.  While he may feel heavier, you still can't help but feel cheated that this was passed off as a Mega (basing on size alone).

Rapid Run's figure is a shield, that is obviously made from a part of the train.  It still looks decent though and this weapon also carries a spring loaded missile launcher (or grenade launcher per the instructions).

Rapid Run can hold it in either hand (I should note that the Team Bullet Train figures don't have the standard 5mm fist holes, they're smaller than that, not yet 3mm though) although the shield can look a little bit too big and unwieldy.

I don't think this is official but you can also detach the missile and have Rapid Run hold it like a gun so at least he has some sort of long ranged weapon.

Like so.  It actually doesn't look too bad like this.

This is a bit awkward but if you prefer a bulkier gun you can keep the missile attached and the shield to wrap around it.  His arms are not long enough to make this truly work though.

The poseability is average, I say because while the upper body is okay (even if he is lacking elbow swivels), his legs are much more restricted than I like.  His hips need a bigger balljoint cut to free up some movement and coupled with an absence of knee swivels and Rapid Run can be annoying to pose in the way you've imagined.

A quick comparison with the other team members.

Rapid Run has huge heelspurs so he's very stable.

A solid robot that's let down by some proportion issues and limited poseability.  However, he looks great with the other members of Team Bullet Train and is worthwhile for that fact alone.

OVERALL:

An amazing train mode with an average robot mode.  Rapid Run is still very worth your money.  Now don't forget, Rapid Run is also part of an amazing combiner so the fact that there are basically no compromises made to this robot mode makes it much more impressive.  For the people who love posing out there, Rapid Run leaves some to be desired.

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Gravity Rush (Vita)

When you first boot up the game, you're treated to a strikingly designed environment and character design.  It's unique and the characters are cel-shaded.  It's aesthetically pleasant, however, I found that the world tend to be tinged with red, green or yellow (depending on the colour theme of that city).  I wouldn't say the environments are beautiful but they do have some neat designs.  When you're standing on the roof of a building and gaze down, it's impressive, especially considering that this is on handheld hardware.  The graphics are gorgeous and beautifully rendered but you have to admit that the draw distance isn't great.  Buildings from afar appear as outlines, it fits into the aesthetics and tone of the game but it still feels as if the hardware can't handle the world.

Speaking of which, at the beginning, in the town that you start off in, you would have thought that was the whole game world.  It's a decent size but not big, then as you play, you come to realize that the game world is much bigger.  The game play here is smooth and controls are responsive.  The game play twist here is that the protagonist, Kat, can control gravity in that she can walk on walls (or upside down).  Therefore, it is only logical that the game world is very vertical, with places everywhere for you to stand on.  Actually, Kat doesn't control gravity in the sense that she can fling stuff around (although she can still do that), it's more like that she can control how gravity affects her, so for example, she can 'fall' into the sky.

Understandably, at the beginning, this concept has limited use since the length of time you can use your gravity powers is limited.  Once you've upgraded the gravity gauge to a higher level, it's fun flying through the city.  The controls can be tough to master, while it is easy enough in the tutorials, it can feel awkward and it takes time to get used to it.  You basically use the right stick to aim where you want to go or attack but in the heat of battle, the camera can swing wildly making it hard to aim accurately without taking time to do so.  Yet you can't take the time aiming as enemies move...  This is the only thing that's hard, especially if the monster you're aiming for likes to move around (by the time you get there, the monster's moved away and you've missed it, it can be frustrating).

You're introduced to Kat's abilities throughout the first few chapters and you'll come to realize that there is much more to this game than just the basic gravity kick and travelling.  Once you've played with the controls for a while, you'll learn what works and what doesn't and attacking becomes second nature.  Add the special attacks which more often than not, decimates any enemy and the game is quite easy.  The design of the nevi (the monsters in the game) is interesting.  They feel somewhat spooky and reminds me of shadow demons (particularly No Face in Spirited Away).  The boss battles are good, they're not hard and are actually quite easy in the beginning (they just seem intimidating with their size or some combat restrictions).  In the heat of battle, it's easy to disorient yourself as you fly around.  This is purely due to the nature of the gravity gimmick and I don't think the developers could have done anything to make it easier to keep track of where Kat is.

The story starts off slow (I found the opening cutscene to be boring) and it is told mainly through comic strips.  It suits the design style of the characters well.  These comic strips tell the story well enough and I actually like them better than the in-game cutscenes just because the strips are so much prettier.  They've added a nice touch in that as you tilt the Vita, it also tilts the comic strip scene.  The contents are on different layers so it gives a 3D effect.  Again, this is a nice touch but nothing exceptional.  It was disappointing the characters talk in a made-up language instead of English, which makes it harder to invest into these characters.  I found the story to be too open-ended overall, as it presents too many mysteries and does not answer many of them by the end of the game.

The ending feels rushed and truncated because there you are, defeating the final boss, expecting some revelations and it ends.  It feels as if there should be more (at least there is a sequel, which we can hope will address these open plot points).  There is also a lack of a decent overall plot arc.  Each chapter generally fairly episodic and it can be a huge contrast to the previous chapter that the experience can feel disjointed (one moment you're fighting all these nevi, the next you're doing errands then the next, you're helping this random citizen).  The coherent themes are Kat slowly getting better and gaining superhero status but there's no "gotta save the world" type plot that you would expect.  There are also a few chapters in which it felt like filler material, like the ones where Kat performs some odd jobs (that does not have an obvious link to the overall story).

There were some good characters (Raven was cool), some where weird but all in all, most of them were likeable.  Once thing that feels overdone is Kat keeps occupying herself with thoughts of if she is cute (she is) and if she'll ever get a boyfriend.  The frequency that that this happens is somewhat... oddly high.  It's enough to detract from the game.  The music is solid but not memorable or amazing.  There are a few tunes which are good enough to make you notice them.  Overall, Gravity Rush is a solid game but not an superb one.  The concept of controlling gravity and floating around is awesome but the open-endedness of the story and lack of a proper hook in terms of gameplay holds the game back.  It's more like you can see the potential of the game but what you actually get, doesn't tap fully into that potential.

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