Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Based upon the game on PlayStation consoles, Ratchet &Clank retells the origin story.  The plot is similar to the original game on the PS2 but with some changes, including the introduction of an additional villain.  The games have always been praised for their wacky humour and at its best, this movie replicates it really well.  The references to the games are nice, from the different weapons to the PlayStation 2 boot up sound to the references to other PS2 platformers.  However, somehow they managed to make a very bland story that fails to capture your attention.  There are too many scenes where there’s not enough humour to keep it going and the plot is too clichéd and paper thin to boot.  Even in gun fights the movie fails to entertain, with Ratchet only using each weapon briefly and making it hard for viewers who haven’t played the games to make sense of what each weapon does.  The plot centers on Chairman Drek who is out destroying planets to build his own perfect one for his people.  Along the way Ratchet joins Captain Quark to save the galaxy and teams up with his partner Clank.  Sadly, the chemistry and dynamic between Ratchet and Clank isn’t fleshed out at all and fails to capture their essence as a team built from trust.  You don’t feel that Ratchet and Clank are a good team at all.  The animation is top notch and the usage of the same voice actors as the games is fantastic.  Overall, the movie just doesn’t manage to keep the same wacky atmosphere and tone enough to carry the full 1.5 hours.

Book Review: Dragonar Academy Volume 8

Review:  #662
Title:  Dragonar Academy Volume 8
Series:  Dragonar Academy - 8th volume
Author:  Shiki Mizuchi
Read Before:  no
Comments:  Ash’s relationships get a lot more complicated here as Eco begins the move towards Ash.  It is a bit weird at times since Eco is a dragon, and she’s taken on the form of a young girl.  Anyway, Princess Sylvia gets jealous, and the whole volume ends up becoming dialogue about their feelings.  A little tidbit of information about the dragon ecology is revealed, the biggest being the role of the Mother Dragon.  With the flashbacks in previous volumes of when Ash had his orphan ceremony and obtained the dragon, we always knew that Ash had met Sylvia back in the day.  Now, finally, they are starting to realize this but the author is making a huge deal out of it and it is hard to decipher why this is the case.  The volume ends with a summon by the Mother Dragon so the next volume has promise.

Rating:  6/10

Toy Review: Transformers Unite Warriors UW-EX Dangar (Armorhide)

Review:  #381
Name:  Dangar
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Decepticon
Line:  Unite Warriors
Year of Release:  2017
Size Class:  Deluxe
Mold Status:  repaint of Generations Combiner Wars Brawl

TANK MODE:

Dangar, otherwise known as Armorhide in the RiD English dub, transforms into a tank.

This tank is pretty good although the turret is fixed into place, it does not swivel at all.

On comparison with Combiner Wars Brawl, of which this is a pure repaint, the extra robot gun pegs onto the top of the turret and doesn't look too bad there.

In terms of size, Brawl is compact.

A solid tank mode.  While lacking a bit in paint applications, his treads are fully painted and he has camouflage.

TRASNFORMATION:

Dangar has a simple transformation and reminiscent of all the other Combiner Wars Deluxes.  However, there is a severe flaw in its engineering and that is how the torso forms.  It does not click into place and it is shocking at how this even went passed the QA phase.

ROBOT MODE:

Dangar's robot mode has more of the brown coming out, which makes Dangar probably one of the worse color schemes in the set.

He carries the turret on his back but it isn't much of a problem since it is hollow after all.

The sculpting for his head is nice, although the brown plastic makes it look a bit icky.

In comparison with Brawl, the lighter colors help bring out the sculpted details.

Dangar is standard height for a Deluxe.

Dangar's poseability, while not bad, is more restricted than others in the line.  This is due to the short forearms and weird jointing of the elbows.

Not to mention the terrible design of the torso which leaves a hollow gap and doesn't securely lock into place, so more than likely, it's going to come apart and flop around.

Dangar comes with an additional gun, a repaint of the one from Unite Warriors Scavenger.

The good thing with coming with an additional gun is of course, that you can leave the cannon pointing up from behind, which gives him Dangar his iconic silhouette.

If you wish though, you can detach the cannon and either have Dangar hold it like a traditional gun, or peg it onto the outside of his arm.

It's not a terrible figure, just slightly disappointing with the flawed torso.

OVERALL:

Dangar is an average figure.  He isn't disastrous since he has a solid tank mode, and the robot mode is only really marred by the short arms and loose torso.  Otherwise, Dangar has good poseability and an okay color scheme.

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Dangar can transform into an arm or leg to form Baldigus (Ruination).

Dangar's standard configuration is a leg and looks great here.  However, the original Ruination toy has Dangar flipped around, which is not possible here since the back of the leg is flat (unlike the original toy which has the front of the tank pointing forward).

The arm mode is short and bulky, which looks powerful.  That's all for this review, thanks for reading!

Mass Effect 2 (PS3)

Mass Effect 2 was released on PS3 a year after the Xbox 360 and PC versions but is the first game in the series to be playable on PS3.  When you begin the game, you are given the option of importing a save from the original Mass Effect or create a new game.  If you haven't played the first game or decide to create a new game anyway, then you are able to make the significant plot choices of Mass Effect although this in no way makes up for playing the game itself.  Mass Effect 2 remains a RPG but the RPG elements are toned down quite a bit.  They are now regulated to earning experience from missions to level up and earn points, then distributing those points to power up various abilities.  There are various different classes to use, each of which will have a different type of gameplay.  Some will be more guns blazing while others will be upon using abilities.  Abilities range from special ammo, becoming undetectable by enemies and special attacks.  Using your abilities is easier as you can hotkey them to three face buttons on the controller.  You can still pull up the radial menu to pause the action and calmly aim and select your abilities though.

You are also able to use your squads abilities which is helpful as they will usually have access to some abilities that your character doesn't.  Mass Effect 2 remains as a shooter although the tweaks to the combat system makes it more action oriented.  All weaponry now have limited ammo and shooting feels more satisfying, bringing it closer to other third-person shooters.  However, it can feel off initially if you have played the original and it is still quite different to a typical shooter since you feel that enemies doesn't quite recoil from the impact as you'd expected.  There is heavy emphasis on being a cover-based shooter; therefore there are a lot of barriers in the levels for Shepherd to duck behind.  Unfortunately, this makes climbing up different platforms a pain since you end up crouching behind it, and then pressing another button to climb over it.  You are able to direct your two squad members to special areas to help flank enemies.  Furthermore, your characters have regenerating health.  Some of the levels can be overwhelming with enemies rushing at you.  It's made worse when melee attacks are awkward to use leading to various mission restarts where it feels unfair.

Certain enemies have Shields, Armor or Barriers which act as an additional health bar or if you want to speed it up, each requires a different power to whittle it down.  This combined with varied enemy types keeps the gameplay engaging.  The first game was infamous with constant and long elevator rides which were an attempt to mask the loading time.  In Mass Effect 2, the developers have gotten rid of that and replaced it with loading screens instead.  There is the occasional long loading times which mainly occur when you're travelling between the different levels of the Normandy ship.  However, there are a lot of doors to open which is another attempt to mask the loading.  The story is Mass Effect 2's biggest draw.  After the surprising and explosive beginning, it only takes another one or two missions before it becomes gripping.  The plot is Shepherd recruiting various aliens to join him to defeat the Collectors who are abducting whole human colonies.  Since there are up to 12 characters that you can recruit, and each have an extra mission to gain their loyalty expanding on their backstories, this makes up most of the 20 to 25 hours playthrough to finish the game.  Thanks to this, the plot also does not seem to be as epic or to a grander scale as the original.

During each of the game's cutscenes, there are heaps of instances where the player can select from a range of dialogue choices which changes what happens during later scenes in the game helping to create a much more personal story.  Granted, most of the choices doesn't have significant impact to the direction of the plot, but there are enough changes to make it worthwhile and not just a throwaway gimmick.  Unfortunately, Shepherd's team is nearly completely changed from the first game.  You will get various opportunities to meet up with some of the characters again but the interactions may be disappointing.  The game boasts non-linearity since at any point, there are multiple missions for you to pick and choose.  However, exploration during missions is limited since they're all linear paths from the start of a level to the objective.  That being said, there are various items to interact which help earn Credits (currency used in the game), minerals and upgrades.  When you take control of the Normandy, you can also start scanning planets for minerals which are used for upgrades to weapons, armor, the ship itself and other elements.  You don't actually go onto the planet anymore but it's a minigame where you move the cursor over the surface of a planet.

The resource scanning minigame is fun for the first few times but very repetitive, slow and boring when you have to do it so many times to be able to afford the upgrades.  The PS3 version includes several DLC packs into the package, including Firewalker, Lair of the Shadow Broker and Overload.  This presents heaps of additional value at no extra cost compared to the Xbox version.  Replacing the Mako from the first game is a hovercraft called the Hammerhead.  The controls remain pretty bad since the vehicle feels too floaty.  The framerate can slow down significantly at some points, seemingly randomly.  It can get so bad that it runs at 2-5 frames per second and the game becomes unplayable.  It takes a few seconds before it gets back to running normally.  The graphics leaves some to be desired as while Shepherd himself has an excellent character model, the other characters at times are not so good.  Overall, Mass Effect 2 is a fun shooter RPG.  While the game is a big recruiting mission, it builds up to a big final with a great surprise and a teaser for the third game, with plenty of content to make it worth your time.

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Book Review: Dragonar Academy Volume 7

Review:  #661
Title:  Dragonar Academy Volume 7
Series:  Dragonar Academy - 7th volume
Author:  Shiki Mizuchi
Read Before:  no
Comments:  The mystery surrounding Eco’s “Princess of Avalon” is somewhat revealed in this volume.  It is still vague in what it actually entails and what sort of powers Eco has.  A new character/villain is introduced, represented as the anti-Eco, the Dark Dragon King.  She has an impressive name but at the end of the day, still takes on the form of a young girl.  When disaster looms for the city once again, Ash is naturally the only one capable of stopping it.  He gets another Ark armor but through some extremely cringe-worthy dialogue and totally predictable actions, he saves the day.  It feels as if Dragonar Academy tries to tell a story that you can take a bit more seriously but everything else about it, from the fan service to the clichéd dialogue, stops the reader from doing so.

Rating:  6/10

Doraemon: Nobita Drifts in the Universe (1999)

Drifts in the Universe is the 20th movie in the Doraemon series.  Nobita, Doraemon and their friends find themselves accidentally travelling into space and becoming entangled in a war and eventual invasion into Planet Earth.  The best part of the animation is the space exploration during the middle of the film, where the gang travels to various planets and discovers different environments and habitats.  It takes some effort to make it slightly plausible such as sprays to mimic the equivalent of a spacesuit and vacuums.  The different alien species they encounter were interesting and the designs can be a bit freaky.  Unfortunately, the beginning and climax of the film ends up feeling like a bloated TV episode as just nothing much is happening, stretching out the length.  Overall, Drifts in the Universe is fun to watch if you're a fan of Doraemon but watching it more than once may be a bit difficult.

Toy Review: Transformers Unite Warriors UW-EX Hepter (Ro-Tor)

Review:  #380
Name:  Hepter
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Decepticon
Line:  Unite Warriors
Year of Release:  2017
Size Class:  Deluxe
Mold Status:  repaint of Unite Warriors Vortex which itself was a remold of Generations Combiner Wars Alpha Bravo

HELICOPTER MODE:

Hepter transforms into a sleek dark green and red combat helicopter.

He lacks any landing gear but easily lays flat on the table.  The guns peg on either side.

For a quick comparison to Combiner Wars Vortex, you can see Hepter has an extra pair of rotors.

Size-wise, Hepter is a Deluxe figure and while slim, is about the size you'd expect (above is a comparison against United Dirge).

A decent helicopter although the color scheme is a bit subdued.

TRANSFORMATION:

Transforming into robot mode is easily and being released this late into the Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors line, a bit tiring and repetitive.  The only slight difference is that you fold up the extra pair of rotors onto the robot's back.

ROBOT MODE:

Hepter's robot mode brings out a lot more colors, being the orange and red.

The rotors is a bit more awkward now, with a pair sticking out to the sides and it doesn't tuck in as securely either.

The headsculpt remain great.  It's on a balljoint so has a lot of range there.

A comparison against Vortex, the figure doesn't have much kibble.

Once again slim in robot mode, he is average height for a Deluxe.

Poseability is decent although his hips are severely restricted, even though there shouldn't be any reason.  It is on a balljoint but it cannot move to the sides that much.

The rotors on his back also seems to be a bane in this mode, feeling awkwardly out of place and can get in the way although you can fold it up even further (depending on the tolerances of your figure since the rotors can be fairly tight).

Hepter comes with the original gun that goes with this mold, and also a recolour of the one that came with Unite Warriors Mixmaster.

These guns are in addition to the missile pods on the outside of his arms, so Hepter is well armed.

The figure is also very stable thanks to the large footprint.

A solid robot mode just slightly hampered with the rotor on his back.

OVERALL:

Hepter is a good figure.  It has two solid modes and an easy transformation between them.  The remolded rotor is nice in vehicle mode but gets in the way somewhat in robot mode.  The color scheme is nice and homages a character we're unlikely to see homaged in the first place.

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Hepter combines to form Ruination, either as an arm or a leg.

Hepter usually forms the arm and this is a good arm mode, albeit a bit long proportionally.  The four-bladed robot also makes the robot mode more authentic to the character.

As a leg, it's basically a shortened helicopter mode.  Unfortunately, the two additional blades on the rotor once again gets in the way if you don't tuck them completely in, sticking out to the sides.  That's all for this review, thanks for reading!