Shadow of the Colossus (PS4)

Shadow of the Colossus is a remake of the original game from the PlayStation 2. It is done by Bluepoint Games, who has done wonderful remasters up until this game. It is a faithful remake of the game, although this is also a bad thing in that it has kept a lot of the frustrations and annoyances of the original. The story is simple, you play as Wander, who enters the Forbidden Lands in the hopes of resurrecting his love. Dormin, the sealed entity in this empty land, can retrieve her soul but in exchange, they require Wander to defeat the 16 colossi roaming the land. Wander sets out with his trust horse, Agro, and his sword.

The remake has added a ton of detail, and this can make the story cutscenes seem like they are revealing more. The bulk of the story cutscenes happen at the beginning and the end of the game. Despite that, the game and its world have a very mysterious charm to it that sucks you in. The mystique of each colossus when you find it, and the sadness that comes of killing such large and majestic creatures, despite no dialogue and limited exposure, is one of the most impressive parts of the game. You constantly wonder what the nature of the colossi are, and how these Forbidden Lands came to be. It’s left up to your imagination though since the game’s story is not intended to reveal everything.

The controls are improved compared to the original game, but you can still play with the original’s control scheme. Even though it is improved, there are still many elements to it that feels clunky and archaic. Wander can feel a bit slippery to control. He knows all the moves that are required to defeat each colossus from the very beginning. Wander carries a sword and a bow for offense. The bow is mapped to the shoulder button rather than the trigger. Climbing requires you to hold down the trigger button, which can take a bit of getting used to given most games nowadays has the character automatically grabbing onto things.

Riding Agro is probably the worst aspect of the controls thanks to the handling. You don’t control Agro, rather, you control Wander holding the reins. Basically, you use the analogue stick to move the reins rather than Agro itself, and you need to keep tapping or holding the triangle button to speed Agro up. Agro has her own pathfinding too, and the game doesn’t properly explain a lot of this. Horse riding was intentionally implemented in this specific way, but it just lends to a frustrating experience when Agro randomly heads towards an obstacle and instantly slows down. Or the way that there are several sections where Agro is forced to walk at an agonizingly slow pace.

However, the most frustrating aspect of the game is the camera. It will automatically pan and move. In theory, it is supposed to give an epic and cinematic feel to the game. In actuality, you will be constantly fighting the camera. This is because you might want to focus or keep something in frame, such as part of the environment when trying to the fruits that extends your health bar, but it will force itself to move behind Wander to face the direction he’s in. This is a terrible thing to endure through the whole game with. The only slight saving grace is that you can hold down the trigger button to force the camera to face the colossus, but this is not a preferred solution.

The gameplay loop consists only of Wander heading to the lair of the next colossus and then facing it. Each colossus is more of a puzzle, where you need to figure out how to climb onto its, find its weak points, and then stab those weak points. The climbing mechanic is important here. Once you’re on the colossus, it will move and shake itself to try and get rid of Wander. This is where the epic moments are, with Wander climbing on top of a giant colossus, the rousing orchestral music playing, and the colossus trying its hardest to shake Wander off.

It’s not all positive though given that many of the original game’s faults are still here. There are the aforementioned camera issues. The other issue is the colossus AI. The puzzle aspect of figuring out how to defeat each colossus is good, what is not good is that even if you’ve figured it out on how to defeat it, triggering those specific moments can be difficult. You might want the colossus to swing its weapon down or crouch down, but it won’t do that for minutes at a time and you’re left running about trying to trigger that movement. It’s not fun when this happens. The controls are slippery, like the original, so running and jumping can seem off and sloppy. Wander is a clumsy fellow as he easily trips and falls over anything and everything.

There are a scant few extra things to do apart from finding and defeating colossus. The Forbidden lands are nearly devoid of life, only some small wildlife remains. It is a vast empty space and that’s the whole point. There are shrines that are scattered across the lands, these used to be places to save in the original game, but since the remake now has autosaving and manual save anywhere, these shrines only act as collectables. You can try to find fruit and lizards to increase your stamina and health. Stamina is required to be able to climb and hold onto things for longer, so it is beneficial.

It is a short game even if you are a newcomer. It’ll take around five to six hours to complete and a lot of that is getting lost on the map trying to find the entrance to the next colossus. Your sword only points in the general direction of the next colossus, but you might need to find a specific path to get there. This is yet another annoyance of the game’s minimalistic design. The game isn’t bad, it’s just that it hasn’t aged as gracefully as it could and feels like it is stuck in a bygone era. The interesting thing are that the massively improved graphics removed some of the mysterious atmosphere of the original.

Given that each colossus is a puzzle in and of itself, the game doesn’t have much replay value. It tends to force you to repeat the same things to get the colossus to reveal its weak point so that you can attack it again. Once you’ve finished the game, you are forced to restart on a new game or new game plus, so if you didn’t already have a manual save before the last colossus, then you cannot explore the world at your leisure afterwards. The game has a few things for you to do but as the whole game is just fighting the colossus, that’s what all the extra content involves. You have three difficulties, and then you have time trials. The major sidequest, if it can be called that, is to max out Wander’s stamina so that he can climb to the top of the large shrine. The game has some nice bonus unlockable artworks though.

Overall, Shadow of the Colossus, for better or worse, is an extremely faithful remake of the original game. It basically just upgraded the graphics so that it looks phenomenal but retained everything else. Unfortunately, this also means that it is stuck with controls that are over a decade old and thus feels extremely clunky at this point. The colossi are still impressive, but there are some that are implemented well, and others that are not. It feels that there is artificial difficulty as you end up fighting the controls as much as you are fighting the colossus. It is still an impressive game but perhaps one that has a lot of baggage and expectations to live up to, and as games have progressed astronomically since its original release, it is not as impressive as it once was. It’s still worth experiencing but be prepared for some flaws.

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Toy Review: Transformers Generations Studio Series Gamer Edition Sideswipe (Deluxe)

Review:  #795

Name:  Sideswipe

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Autobot

Line:  Generations - Studio Series

Year of Release:  2024

Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 24)

Mold Status:  new

VEHICLE MODE:

Sideswipe transforms into a red Cybertronian sports car, based upon his appearance in the War for Cybertron game.

This new figure makes the vehicle sleeker than the original, and looks pretty nice as a result.

Size-wise, he is small-ish, unfortunately, he's a little bit hollow underneath as well, most of the vehicle is a shell.

His robot weapon can peg onto the roof, but there's nowhere to store it.

You can see from the side profile the slim side windows.  He has four rolling wheels and that pretty much encompasses all the play value in this mode.

He's well painted, with the silver highlights, red on his hubcaps, and the black windows, so this isn't a bad mode at all.

TRANSFORMATION:

Transformation scheme is not too hard and is fairly fun.  It'll pleasantly surprise you at how solid and intuitive it can feel.  The front folds onto his back, and his arms come from underneath the.  The back forms the torso and the feet from the sides.

ROBOT MODE:

Sideswipe's robot mode isn't perfect, but he looks better in person than in phot.s

He carries a fair bit of kibble on his back, namely the whole front of the car, but it is tucked quite closely against his torso, allowing him to feel solid in hand.

The head sculpt is fine, nothing spectacular and he has a neutral facial expression.

He's about on par with the standard Deluxe in terms of size and height.

As part of the Studio Series line, he comes with a cardboard stand that depicts a scene from the game.

Articulation is fine, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

He comes with a weapon, a gun.

Like other Gamer Edition figures, you unplug his right arm and replace it with the game, but the gun is too small for it to look good or like that his hand morphed into it...

The gun can peg onto his back when not in use.  The other good thing though, is that the peg used to peg it onto his back is 5mm in size, meaning he can actually hold it in his hands, rather than you having to replace his whole arm with it.  That is a great improvement over previous figures.

The other weakness of the robot mode are the feet, which looks insubstantial, being thin panels.  Thankfully, they hold up better in hand than photos show but it is another area for improvement.

To be fair, this is a good looking robot mode and that tiny change of allowing the weapon to be handheld now, really helps improve the line compared to previous offerings.

OVERALL:

Sideswipe is a solid figure.  The vehicle mode is really nice, it perfectly captures the alien but sleek and speedy nature of the vehicle.  The robot mode is also an improvement over the original figure from over a decade ago, with better proportions, although this figure is not without its own set of flaws.

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Little Witch Academia (2017)

Little Witch Academia is an original series of 25 episodes. It first started with a short film, followed by a second longer film. Watching the films beforehand is not required given that the anime retells the origin story and changes up a few things. This is more like a retelling or reboot. It follows Akko, who saw a magic show by Chariot, a witch, when she was young. Akko was inspired by the amazingness of magic and admired Chariot so much that she wanted to be a witch when she grows up and spread the same magic of magic to the world. She attends Luna Nova Magical Academy, and we see her journey to become a witch.

We quickly learn the history of magic and how it is perceived in this world. Magic used to be a strong and powerful thing in the past, but it seemed like with each passing day, the world is moving on from it. There are many doubters, and witches are not held in as high a regard as they once were. In fact, magic is well in decline, which is further emphasized with the poor financial state of the academy.

In other aspects, there are students where they come from a family of witches. However, Akko is not one of them and it shows in her magical ability. Her magical ability is limited, and you might expect that given that she’s the protagonist, she might be naturally gifted or would suddenly awaken to her power. The anime likes to tease this time and time again only for reality to hit. The only thing special about Akko is that she managed to obtain the Shiny Rod, the wand that Chariot used to use.

Akko’s goal is to meet Chariot, who had disappeared. Despite how much Akko had idolized Chariot, she is considered a joke amongst the witches, which can feel harsh. The beginning of the anime is a bit of a slow burn as it is a slice of life taking place at the magical academy. Akko gets into all sorts of trouble despite her limited magical ability. At least she manages to make friends quickly, as she is joined by Lotte, a nice girl, and Sucy, someone who is obsessed with poisons. Akko also promptly meets her rival, Diana, a much more gifted witch from a line of prestigious witches.

The season is mostly episodic as it focuses on Akko struggling to fit in at the academy. It’s not that she cannot make friends, but her weak magical abilities are causing issues. It doesn’t help that Akko’s personality is one of impatience and while it can be endearing, a lot of her actions are that of a petulant child. It feels like Akko wants a shortcut and the anime is about her learning that there are no shortcuts in life if you want to achieve your dream. It’s an interesting choice for a main character, but there are snippets here and there where the underlying plot of Chariot and her Shiny Rod comes into play.

All the hints about Chariot and her background come together by the middle of the season. However, since the hints were so obvious, the revelation will not surprise you. You would have figured most of it out, if not all of it. Obviously, it will involve Chariot, and the Shiny Rod, given their focus and obsession by Akko. Despite that, the rest of the season continues to feel episodic with the plots for each episode being shallow. They continue to highlight how Akko is not a loveable character. There’s nothing about her that you’d hate but she has too many flaws that crosses the line from being cute and adorable to being outright negative to a fault.

The anime lacks a villain for most of the season but when one arrives, they’re still constantly regulated to the background in favor of that episode’s plot of the week. That’s unfortunate since some direction would have allowed the anime to focus and shine. When Akko is getting into trouble due to her sticky beak nature for the twentieth time, it is hard to stay engaged. We rarely see Akko’s other friends except for a spotlight episode here and there.

What this means is that the anime has uneven pacing. Akko will progress several steps towards her goal in consecutive episodes only to stop all progress for the next several episodes. As suspected, the final few episodes of the season have an overload of plot to dump onto the viewer. Some of it is good and might surprise you in an otherwise predictable anime, and some of it is stuff you’ve already known. Was the payoff worth it? Not really. There is a lot of action in the final few episodes, much more than the rest of the season combined.

While the finale was explosive and visually spectacular, it left a lot of things untouched. It felt like the anime teased so much potential for several of the side characters, yet never did much with any of them. From Akko’s two best friends to her rivals Diana and Andrew, it’s like it was trying to play your expectations but instead of doing something clever with it, it just dropped them instead.

Overall, Little Witch Academia is an average anime. The studio’s past works are great, which might lead to some heightened expectations, but the slice of life aspect is too bland and boring here. Akko is not a likeable character, she has too many flaws with little else to help counterbalance it. She doesn’t seem to develop much as a character, since despite all that she’s gone through, her personality is pretty much the same as how she was in the beginning. In fact, there are several moments where Akko’s actions are completely stupid and unjustifiable.

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Toy Review: Transformers Generations Studio Series Scorponok (Deluxe)

Review:  #794

Name:  Scorponok

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Predacon

Line:  Generations - Studio Series

Year of Release:  2024

Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 23)

Mold Status:  new

ALTERNATE MODE:

Scorponok, based upon his appearance in the Rise of the Beasts movie, transforms into a purple robotic scorpion, seemingly also taking some inspiration in its color scheme from the Beast Wars version.

To be honest, this is a pretty decent robotic scorpion mode.  He looks good from all angles.

Size-wise, beast Transformers usually have an advantage, and Scorponok is an okay size here.

There are a few excellent details, such as the Predacon insignia on his back, and his claws just look really nice and wicked.

Unfortunately, he is not great in the poseability department, despite you probably thinking otherwise.  The most movement are in his arms and even then, it is limited.  You can give up on his legs as well, since they don't move too much either.

A good looking robotic scorpion mode, his only flaw is lacking some articulation.

TRANSFORMATION:

While simple, it is also clever enough to keep your interest.  The rear legs forms the robot legs, and that's to be expected.  The interesting part here is how the claws form the robot arms, which is that the hands had wrapped onto the scorpion claws, so now you can separate them.  The scorpion claws form the shoulder pads and it's simple but effective.  After that, you just basically stand him up and fold the other legs and tail onto his back, out of the way.

ROBOT MODE:

This is a much better effort than the first movie, and Scorponok actually looks good here.

The back is a bit messy given how the scorpion legs just kind of hang there.  There's no way to move them out of the way so you'll have to live with it.

The head is the same one as the scorpion head.  This always seems lazy whenever a Transformer uses it.  It's not a bad head sculpt though.

Robot mode, you can see that Scorponok is the similar small size that most Deluxes are these days.

He comes with a cardboard stand but the movie never really had Scorponok appear in that location...

Articulation is great here, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles.

You might notice that his tail is plugged on his back and doesn't have enough articulation to hang menacingly over his head, instead, it can detach to form a weapon.

The tail pegs onto the underside of his forearm and his hand then kind of grips over it.  It looks awkward at first.

Yet you'll soon start to appreciate how menacing this weapon can look.

This is a strong robot mode, even though it never appeared in the film.

OVERALL:

Scorponok is a surprisingly good figure for a character that only showed up on the finale of the film as cannon fodder, and one that doesn't even transform.  He looks great in both modes, and his transformation is simple yet effective.

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