Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn (3DS)

Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn is a port of the Wii game for the 3DS. It comes with minor new additions such as new yarn abilities for Kirby and mini-games. This was the last big first-party game for the 3DS and it’s not a bad swan song for the system. As with a lot of the later releases for the 3DS, it doesn’t support 3D. The concept of the game is that it takes place in a world made of yarn, this includes Kirby. This is explained via the story where Kirby encounters an evil yarn sorcerer by the name of Yin Yarn, who warps Kirby into Patch Land. There, Kirby becomes yarn and loses the ability to suck. Instead, Kirby retains the transform power by rearranging the yarn that makes up Kirby’s body. It is explained that Kirby has to help Prince Fluff recover all seven pieces of magic yarn in order to save Patch Land.

The game is a sidescrolling platformer and despite the yarn influence, plays somewhat similarly with previous Kirby games. Kirby can still jump and float by turning into a parachute. Running is replaced with Kirby transforming into a car and swimming by turning into a submarine. The main change is that instead of inhaling, Kirby can whip out a piece of yarn to turn enemies into yarn balls that Kirby can throw. The whip is also used to latch onto pulleys, levers and swing points. Transformation only happens if Kirby collects a special piece and once transformed, these give Kirby special abilities such as making and throwing bombs, slashing a sword and spinning like a tornado. Some of the best parts of the game are the special transformations that take over a part of a level. These are imaginative and clever, such as transforming Kirby into a giant tank so you can glomp and stomp your way through the level, or have Kirby surfing through a level.

Each level has beads to collect which are scattered about or by defeating enemies. These are plentiful and acts as currency to buy furniture so you can decorate your own apartment. There are three special collectibles in each level which are usually hidden away from the main path. Being hit by an enemy will cause you to lose a lunch chunk of your collected beads but if you’re fast enough, you’ll be able to collect most of it back. One thing to note is that Kirby cannot die but you can restart the level at any time. The game on the whole is on the easier side. The levels are imaginative and clever, often playing around with the foreground and background. The opening levels are pretty stock standard and a bit generic. However, it soon opens up with some clever ideas. Kirby may get a drill to drill through the ground, or have a boss battle against a yarn dragon where you dodge obstacles. The UFO special transformation allows you to suck up enemies and use a shockwave to clear the screen, and the game eventually has shoot ‘em up sections which are heaps of fun.

The levels get a tad bit harder towards the end of the game such that the collectibles aren’t as straightforward or naturally stumbled upon. You’ll have to go out of your way and do some slightly tricky platforming. It’s nothing that can’t be handled since at its hardest, it still isn’t too difficult. Boss battles are pretty fun actually. They’re not hard and rely on pattern recognition but there are enough variety and slightly challenging so that these levels aren’t boring. You’ll only have minor frustrations with the later bosses before you recognize their patterns (once you do, they’re a cakewalk) and areas where enemies keep getting in your way by respawning as soon as they’re out of the screen and you move back. The game is overall cute and happy. It gives everything a chipper personality and it works really well. There is just something charming and relaxing about a colorful world filled with inhabitants made of yarn. This is a fun and relaxing game that isn’t too long. It takes around seven hours to finish the fifty levels. All the new characters, including the villain, felt right at home within the Kirby universe.

If you thought the normal difficulty was too easy, then the newly added Devilish Mode is a harder mode where a bat constantly follows you. It hounds you and tries to hurt you. You’d want to avoid being hit since you can unlock new collectibles by doing so. In traditional Kirby fashion, there are various mini-games including bead collecting, hide and seek, Slash and Bead where you control Meta Knight to slash your way through four stages, and Dedede Gogogo where you rush through a level as Dedede to finish within the time limit. Overall, Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn is a great port of a fun game. Despite its transition into the smaller screen, it works flawlessly. The platforming is still as fun as ever, the yarn abilities is new and refreshing, and the game has a great cute overall upbeat atmosphere that’s perfect for a break between darker and more serious games.

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Toy Review: Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Kingdom Megatron (Leader)

Review:  #671

Name:  Megatron

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Predacon

Line:  Generations: - War for Cybertron:  Kingdom

Year of Release:  2020

Size Class:  Leader (Wave 1)

Mold Status:  new

BEAST MODE:

Based upon the character from the first season of Beast Wars, Megatron transforms into a purple T-rex.

This is a really good beast mode, and the sculpting gives him a more realistic appearance rather than the smoother surface of the show.

The beast mode's head also opts for a different take than the show, and it is very impressive at how detailed it is, right down to the glare of the eyes, the shape of the mouth and the two rows of teeth.

This is a Leader sized figure and we finally get a figure that is more appropriately sized than just a chunky Voyager.  Above is a comparison against two Leader figures in different modes to give an idea of how big Megatron is.

The challenging aspect of a beast Transformer is how to make the beast mode look good but also not a brick.  Impressively Megatron is extremely poseable in this mode.  His jaw can open wide.

Furthermore, the front stubby arms are on balljoints, while the legs have a great amount of motion in the hips, knees and ankles.

The tail is impressive as well, with two joints, enough to curl his tail to one side.

All of this combines into an impressive dinosaur, and one that can easily balance on his two legs.

One thing to note is that a lot of the dinosaur's "skin" is made from a softer more rubbery plastic, instead of hard plastic.  This is an interesting choice but it works here.

An amazing beast mode with no flaws at all.

TRANSFORMATION:

The transformation in general takes cues from the original figure and the show model, since that is the optimal way to place certain beast mode parts into robot mode.  However, it brings with it its own twist that makes the figure just the right amount of difficulty.  A lot of the beast mode has panels that fold up onto his back, but the legs basically remain unchanged for robot mode.  The head and tail becomes the arms without much manipulation.

ROBOT MODE:

Megatron's robot mode is equally as amazing.  While he lacks the metallic shine of the character model, this captures the character quite well.

He carries a huge amount of kibble on his back.  The most noteworthy piece are the dinosaur thigh pieces.  The designer opted to give Megatron smaller thigh guns, so a bigger chunk was left to be put into a backpack.

The headsculpt has Megatron in a frown, it might have been better to give him a smile instead since that's more iconic.

A size comparison against the Leader figures as well as Voyagers, to show that Megatron is very decent in height and bulk, one of the biggest Leader figures we've had in a while.

A shot from the side shows how big the backpack it.  To be fair, while it has a decent amount of panels, they are fairly compacted and sticks close to the body so generally does not get in the way.

Naturally, Megatron is extremely poseable.  He has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

Furthermore, the dinosaur head for his right arm can open and close its mouth, as well as peg an effects part in there.

The tail on his left arm is more restricted, but has a panel that acts as a claw of some sorts.  At least he still has a regular fist.

Unfortunately, he lacks any other weapon, namely a handheld weapon.

This is a near perfect robot, the only negative is the backpack and even then it is manageable.

OVERALL:

This is one of the best figures we've had in the Kingdom line and apart from the Masterpiece version, the best Beast Wars Megatron we've had.  He is amazing in both modes, and is a ton of fun.  He captures the character perfectly in robot mode, and he relatively large size for a Leader is just icing on the cake.

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Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! (2017)

Super Size Me 2:  Holy Chicken! is a sequel film to the one from 13 years ago (at the release of this film) where Morgan Spurlock exclusively ate at McDonald's.  Instead of repeating what he did then (and frankly, that would be fairly boring and repetitive), he explores and talks about the rebranding that fast food chains has done in order to present themselves as more healthy, without actually being so.  His approach is to actually open up his own fast-food restaurant and exploring what goes on in the background in the process.  As a result, he grows his own chickens, and this is quite an eye-opener in terms of what happens.  From how fast the chicken grows, to the sad reality that there is always a cost.  He engages in several firms to find a way to make his unhealthy product feel a lot healthier with the use of colors and specific words.  He exposes the flaws in the the law in terms of how companies can choose words that might have a specific legal meaning, but leaves the general populace to have their own incorrect interpretations.  While it has a specific view and will only present footage that reinforces that view, the documentary film is engaging and eye-opening.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Season 4 (2016-17)

The fourth season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is 22 episodes long. The general premise of the show is that it follows Precinct Nine Nine of the NYPD, focusing around a team of detectives and their day to day antics. By this point, viewers should be familiar with the cast and know what they get up to.

After the last season’s finale showing off how Figgis is going after Captain Holt and Detective Jake Peralta, they are now living in Florida as part of the witness protection program. The beginning of this season deals with and resolves that arc, giving it a strong ending. From the onset, the humor is done really well, especially with Jake’s constant insults of Florida, Holt and pretty much everything else. It hammers home the good relationship between Jake and Holt. There are excellent scenes involving the ridiculousness of the situation, especially when the pair finds themselves in situations that you don’t expect them to be in at all given their personalities.

After that, the show gets back to episodic plots, where at times it might spread over multiple episodes. There are the usual annual events such as the Halloween heist but it does like to play around with your expectations and then subvert it. Considering that some of these types of events and themes have been done three times before in previous seasons, it’s impressive that the writers managed to keep thinking up of new and creative ways to deal with them.

It becomes more and more prominent as time goes on but it constantly reinforces that Nine Nine is a family, and they all have a strong bond. Jake and Amy’s relationship is slowly progressing. They encounter several obstacles including time spent far apart from each other. Through overcoming those issues, their relationship becomes stronger. Boyle also seems to be developing since he now has a son that he looks after but it’s pretty complex deep down. While Captain Holt is more expressive and tends to join in with the crazy stuff a lot more readily. He isn’t as strict or uptight as he originally was and this is a good thing.

This is a common problem in sitcoms and it is present here. There is a tendency to emphasize certain traits of each of the characters to the point of it being excessive. Jake is a massive fan of Die Hard, constantly referencing the movie, while Amy has her love for excessive organization. Holt is stoic, Terry is a big softy (but note that Terry flexing his muscles never gets old) and Gina is just weird. Speaking of Gina, there are moments in the past where Gina might have been annoying but there were always good bits. In this season, Gina has a lot of shining scenes where it taps into her selfish personality really well, and puts her in a more positive light as she uses that personality for the benefit of the district.

Time does not stand still and neither do the characters. They are moving forward with their careers, even if it is a small step at a time. Terry is considering extra duties while Amy is aiming for a promotion. While done for laughs, Jake getting tricked and used way too easy, but then finding things out by accident and getting the credit happens way too often.

The season contains a lot of unexpected happenings and random events when you least expect it. It is done for the shock factor and it works, but whether it makes sense or not is another story. There are heaps of weird characters, including Pimento, who resurfaces in one episode only to disappear in another. There are various returning supporting characters, for good or bad. It takes to take the odd characters and make them seem normal within the show where everything accepts it with no questions asked. There is an annoying knack for useless characters to get credit and gain power. The team stuck doing the night shift forms a major part of the season. There is also a stronger theme of the episodes tackling sensitive issues. It spins them in a more humorous way while still getting the serious points across.

The season finale closes off an excellent season. As expected, it leaves on a cliffhanger; however, this is the biggest in the series yet. As you are watching the final two episodes, you knew something was up and that it potentially would not be able to be resolved with the time left. While it can be painful to watch as you see the characters struggling in despair, you still cling to the hope that they might make it through. Overall, the fourth season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is filled with crazy events, things that come out of nowhere, and great humor. It is the best season thus far in terms of humor and sheer interesting things that happen. It has a strong opening, manages to keep that quality for the duration of the season, and then ends with a whopper of an ending.

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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is a remaster / remake of one of the greatest games of all time. The game was originally for the Nintendo 64 and this 3DS version has improved upon the graphics, added some quality of life improvements and included the Master Quest version after you have finished the game once. While at first the graphics may not be amazing, keep playing and you start to appreciate it more. Yes, some of the walls and textures are still flat but there is plenty of detail packed into the 3DS’s screen. The 3D effect is really well done for most of the game, and very impressive in certain scenes. Ocarina of Time was the first 3D Zelda game. Playing through the first dungeon, you can just imagine how awestruck you would have been if you had only played the 2D games up until this point. Then you get to the big open area and your mind would have been blown again and again. Then there is the day / night cycle, which is a fairly short cycle. Townsfolk are in different places depending on the time of day, and it plays into the puzzles and exploration. Night is usually when enemies pop up and is more dangerous and thankfully, you’ll quickly learn of a way to manually change to day or night as you wish.

With the transition to 3D, the gameplay had to adjust from the previous 2D games. The basic controls remain the same where you can get Link to slash with his sword or block with his shield. There are four hotkeys that you can map an item or weapon to. Two hotkeys are mapped to physical buttons, and two are mapped to the touchscreen. It works well enough. One of the buttons are used as an all purpose action, changing depending on context. As a result, Link also automatically jumps when he nears a gap. Unfortunately, this is an obvious early 3D era game because the camera control is clunky. Given the 3DS’s lack of a second analogue stick, you have to make do with the L shoulder button to target and lock onto enemies, which allow Link to strafe. If there are no enemies, then it will reset the camera to behind Link. While holding down the L shoulder button, you can use the gyroscope to move the camera around. The camera is okay when used to explore but can be messy during boss battles when you want to quickly turn the camera around to keep the boss in view. The lock on system is required for accurate slashing of your sword and executing various moves.

Dungeons are an obvious part of the game and its biggest draw. They have clever designs, while it is sometimes hard to figure out what to do in order to advance; it all feels like a natural extension of the Zelda formula. There are plenty of secrets to find and optional upgrades to aid in your quest. There are changes made to the infamous Water Temple dungeon to make it clearer on where to go. It’s still confusing if it is our first time but the challenge there is on the layout, rather than tough enemies, so you have the luxury of taking your time and fully exploring every nook and cranny. At the end of each dungeon is a boss, with some mini bosses along the way. All the bosses rely on pattern recognition and can be daunting on your first try. Once you realize what the trick is, then they are fairly simple to defeat.

A key part of the game is the titular ocarina. Once Link gains possession of this, he can learn songs that have special effects. The usage of the ocarina is crucial in progression, with a few optional songs too. Playing the ocarina is just pressing the correct button combination and it is made easier when you can bring up a page with all the songs you’ve learnt and the buttons required. There are a few negatives though. It is annoying when you save and load the game; it sets you back in Link’s village where you began the game. This isn’t cool when you have to run everywhere with limited fast travel options that only unlock later in the game. It can be a pain when you have to run everywhere and the game requires you to go all around the place. Thankfully, leaving and re-entering a dungeon won’t reset the progress, and this includes dying. The game is filled with tricks and gimmicks, some of which can be annoying. There are things like Like Likes that steal your equipment, timed puzzles, hidden passages to progress and invisible enemies. Every time you go into a new room in a dungeon, you feel like you have to be careful and go through the list to see if you have missed anything.

If you had been used to the limited stories in the 2D games, then Ocarina of Time really fleshes it out with more depth. Link lives in a village where everyone except him has a fairy partner. After a nightmare, he wakes up to find his own fairy and is summoned by the Great Deku Tree to journey on a quest to save Princess Zelda and the world from a mysterious desert horseback rider. It explores the origins of the Triforce and gives us a lot of details about the world. There is a surprising twist midway through the game which was kind of like a false ending but wasn’t. After this point, the difficulty spikes up and the enemies are more powerful and difficult, this can be a shock if you were not expecting it.

The final boss was quite easy compared to some of the previous bosses but the ending was still very epic. Once you finish the game, you get that sense of wonder at what an accomplishment this game was, and how it is still so much fun and impressive after over a decade. The game takes around 20 to 30 hours to complete but it really depends on your puzzle solving skills and whether you explore to try and obtain everything. After you finish the game, you unlock Master Quest. This is sort of a New Game Plus, so to speak. The whole game is mirrored, so what’s left is right and right is left. This is very disorientating when you first start up the game and have to readjust to where things are. The second major change are the dungeons, most of which are completely revamped with new puzzles. Enemies are also tougher as they hit twice as hard, which makes the early game difficult.

Overall, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is a fantastic game and you can see why it was hailed as one of the best games of all time. The combat and camera system is still a bit clunky but once you get used to it, the game is unstoppable. From the moment you first step out to the world of Hyrule, to clearing the dungeons and finding the secrets, it is addictive. The game’s difficulty is good but it can be difficult in some areas when you first get to it, once you know what to do, it’s achievable. The graphical touch up is well done and this is a great remaster of an already great game.

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Toy Review: Transformers Generations Studio Series 86 Grimlock (Leader)

Review:  #670

Name:  Grimlock

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Autobot

Line:  Generations - Studio Series

Year of Release:  2021

Size Class:  Leader (Wave 6)

Mold Status:  new

ALTERNATE MODE:

Studio Series Grimlock, based upon his appearance in the G1 movie (hence the SS-86 moniker), transforms into his classic gold and grey robotic dinosaur.

We've seen many G1 inspired Grimlock in the past, so the dino mode, which while awesome, is not something that will blow you away.

Grimlock is fairly sizeable, above is a comparison against POTP Leader Optimus Primal and you can see in beast mode, Grimlock is almost the same height as the robot mode of a Leader figure.

The robot gun can peg onto his back for storage.

Articulation is fairly good, since he has balljointed shoulders for his arms, and joints for his hips and knees, since they are the robot arms.  Grimlock is also well balanced so he can stand either upright with his tail on the ground, or forward with his tail off the ground.

Furthermore, his jaws can open, and the head and rotate from side to side.

Grimlock comes with a mini Wheelie figure and Wheelie can ride his back, although he doesn't peg on.  Nevertheless, this is a fantastic robotic dino mode.

WHEELIE:

If we focus on Wheelie first, Grimlock comes with a non-transforming version of the character, which can seem disappointing at first but Wheelie is actually not too bad.

While he is designed to sit on Grimlock (either in robot or dino mode), Wheelie is actually capable of standing up by himself.

Wheelie is roughly Legion sized, but you can see that Wheelie has hollow limbs, and the degree at which the figure is hollow is quite distracting.

He has balljoints for both shoulders and both hips, while his head can turn from side to side.  Still quite restrictive but actually more poseable than you would first expect.

This is a nice bonus, considering that it doesn't appear to have caused too many compromises to Grimlock (particularly since Wheelie is so well painted himself).  Would a sword be better instead of Wheelie?  That depends on your preferences.

TRANSFORMATION (GRIMLOCK):

If you've ever transformed the G1 figure and the Masterpiece figure, then the transformation here is extremely similar.  There's really only so many ways you can design the transformation.  The back, including the tail, splits and unfolds to form the robot legs.  The torso then splits in half and the two shells, along with the dino head, act as a backpack with wings.  The dino legs form the robot arms, and that's about it.

ROBOT MODE:

Grimlock's robot mode is pretty great and this is also where the figure shines the most as it is a wonderful robot mode.

He's got a bit of a backpack but this is fairly accurate to the original, and is always something that G1 Grimlock has, so he kind of gets a pass here.

The head sculpt while simple, nails the character.

Perhaps the most surprising here is simply how big Grimlock is.  Considering Leaders are now just chunkier Voyagers, Grimlock breaks that trend by being near the size Leaders used to be.  Yes, he has hollow parts (the feet being the major culprit) but he still feels hefty in your hands.

As part of the Studio Series line, Grimlock comes with a cardboard stand formed from the inner packaging.

The stand depicts the scene from the movie in which Grimlock was about to burst in to save Hot Rod.

For articulation, Grimlock has all the standard joints you'll come to expect:  head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

While it is accurate to the character, the fact that the dino claws stick out like that from the hands does look lazy.

Wheelie here can sit on either of his shoulders, but Grimlock's left one is the best as it is easier to angle Wheelie's slingshot.  What's nice is that Grimlock's shoulders have a port for Wheelie to securely peg onto.

Grimlock comes with his double barreled gun.

The gun can be held in either hand.  One thing to note is that there is an Autobot insignia behind the dark smoky transparent plastic on his chest, it's just hard to make out.

The knees are also prone to unclipping when you're trying to bend them.  It's not a huge issue but for a figure that feels so solid, that is the one weak point.

A fantastic robot mode and one that'll surpass your expectations.

OVERALL:

Grimlock feels like a return to the glory days of Leader classed figures.  He's big and he's fun.  Granted, the transformation is simple, but this works in his favor as we get a bigger figure and better paint apps.  The inclusion of Wheelie without compromising on the core figure too much is impressive.  Grimlock is definitely a worthwhile figure to purchase.

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