LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS4)

LittleBigPlanet 3 is the third numbered sequel in the series, and the first for the PlayStation 4, although it was also released for the PlayStation 3.  However, unlike the previous games, it is not developed by Media Molecule but by Sumo Digital and the quality shows.  This is because LittleBigPlanet 3 was filled with game-breaking bugs at launch and it took multiple patches before it was finally relatively bug-free.

While LittleBigPlanet is all about user generated content, there is still a story mode, being a platformer at heart.  The story this time takes place in Bunkum where Sackboy meets the new character Newton.  This world had a history where Titans were rampaging the lands and three heroes rose up to avert the crisis.  Sackboy must journey through Bunkum to reawaken these heroes.  It isn't too deep but does the job of justifying the things that you are doing.

The platforming controls remain familiar to anyone who has played the games before.  Supporting three layers most of the time, Sackboy can jump between these different layers to pass obstacles.  His other abilities include being able to jump, climb and drag stuff.  The main new addition is that Sackboy now has access to various gadgets that you use to solve the environmental puzzles, such as a gun that blows or sucks wind, and a helmet that lets Sackboy warp to specific places.

The puzzles in story mode are easy enough to solve and it doesn't get too frustrating.  While Sackboy has limited lives at each checkpoint, it's plentiful enough to not make it frustrating.  There are plenty of collectibles where most of them double up as actual items you can use in the game's other modes, as well as boosting up your score for the level.  Annoyingly, but standard for the series, you cannot get everything unless you either have three other players with you or you're adept at using up to four controllers yourself.

The other new addition is the new characters.  At certain points in the story, you're able to control characters other than Sackboy.  While Sackboy is the most versatile, the other characters have abilities that are fun.  Toggle can change size while Oddsock can wall jump.  These inject much needed variety into the levels, making the ones where you control them feel much more fast-paced and refreshing.  While the game is easy for the most part, it's really simple to complete the levels, the final two levels are a massive pain.  Not only is there a difficulty spike but if you die enough times to use up all your lives in the final checkpoint, you have to start from the very beginning... that's up to three levels.  It is such a poor design that gets you, it's the fact that you have to complete the beginning levels again and again and again, artificially increasing the longevity of this extremely short story mode.

The problem with a lot of the later levels is that they end up having a reliance on chase sections that require memorization of what comes next.  Since you're under an artificial time pressure, coupled with the fast pace, it can be hard to know what's happening the first time around.  This ends up coming back to repeating the same section again and again to get through and it's not good level design design when that happens.  It's a shame because at its best, LittleBigPlanet 3 is a ton of fun.

The story mode is very short with only four worlds including the prologue, and each world only has 3-5 big levels in it.  There are other sidequests but they are all minigames and it'll take you 5-7 hours to complete it.  There is the Poppit Academy which introduces to the players the various Create mode features and how to use them.  It is presented in a fun way as you traverse through the level, overcoming obstacles using these abilities.  While it is like a glorified tutorial, it works really well.

Of course, the Create Mode is one of LittleBigPlanet's biggest draws and features.  A neat aspect is how the game is fully compatible with the first and second game's levels, even on the PlayStation 4.  The controls to create your own level take a while to get used to though.  If creating isn't your thing then there's the huge amount of user generated content.  While there are plenty of throwaway levels there are gems that you can find.  You can always filter to help find the good stuff that others enjoyed.

Even with all the patches, the game still feels it needs some extra polish.  Load screens are frequent and feel obnoxious.  Framerate drops randomly for no reason and you feel like the game is going to crash (although it never actually did).  You'll randomly change layers and get stuck inside requiring you to retry from the last checkpoint.  Overall, while LittleBigPlanet isn't a bad game per se, it is a noticeable drop in quality compared to its predecessors.  The story levels have some fun platforming action and new features, but hampered by being extremely short and poor level designs.  The glitches, some of which continue to this day, really ruin the experience.

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Assassin's Creed (2016)

Assassin's Creed is a film based on the video game series of the same name.  It holds promise, starring Michael Fassbender and tells an original story set in the universe, focusing on the Spanish Inquisition period.  Unfortunately, it drops the ball early on and never recovers but only getting worse.  The protagonist is Cal, whose ancestor Aguilar was one of the last to handle the artifact Apple of Eden.  This makes Cal an Assassin and naturally, in the present day, he is captured by the Templars and forced into the Animus to relive his memories to find where the Apple is currently.  First of all, the way the Animus is presented, some sort of mechanical arm that moves along with Cal as he jumps and rolls is ridiculous as well as highly impractical, this makes it hard to take seriously.  Second, the story is so basic.  Split into two parts, the film constantly shifts between present day and the past, this makes both portions incoherent and with horrible pacing.  Aguilar's story is inconsequential while Cal's story is a mess with characters acting mysterious but ultimately holds no weight.  It never feels like the film builds up to a climax and the ending falls flat.  Assassin's Creed is a disappointing film that expects too much of the viewer to already know some of the terminology and significantly of certain items but doesn't quite make sense either.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Season 1 (2013-2014)

The first season of the comedy sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine is 22 episodes long.  The series is set in New York Police Department's fictional 99th precinct and starts off with a new Captain coming on board.  The new Captain, Holt, is completely different from the previous one who had let the team do anything they want.  Holt is a lot more serious and focused.  Widely known as the first gay black police officer, he is determined to make a mark and not fail.

Unfortunately for Jake Peralta, a detective, his leash is immediately tightened.  We're introduced to Peralta as a highly competent detective, but full of wisecracks and a less than serious attitude.  Peralta is the source of a lot of the comedy in the series and while he may be a pain to work with in real life, he is likable as a character.  His over confidence, smile and dialogue fits perfectly with the character.  Peralta's rival, so to speak, is Amy Santiago, who is nearly the complete opposite of Peralta.  She's more serious at her job but equally competent.  She finds Peralta's methods annoying and not by the rule book.  Peralta and Santiago are constantly at odds, so no prizes for knowing that they'll probably be a couple.  There are plenty of teases throughout the season to support this.

Rounding out the cast are your standard archetypes from characters that are useless at their jobs to the muscular Terry actually being a softy inside.  Some other characters, who could potentially be annoying, such as Gina being selfish and sarcastic, ends up being likable thanks to their funny quips.  While you can't help but feel sorry for Boyle at times, as he's constantly being insults and made fun of.  Other characters think he is disgusting but he's a good guy at heart.

Initially, Holt brings with him a raft of changes and these clashes mainly with Peralta.  As Peralta tests how far he can push Holt, we get to learn more about them both.  Holt is funny in that no one knows what he is thinking; he always keeps a stoic face.  He can be hard but at the same time, you suspect that he may have a heart of gold and is actually teaching a lesson to the characters.  A key highlight is how Peralta slowly defrosts him and how they play off with each other.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine doesn't have an overarching plot, rather opting for an episodic style of storytelling.  Each episode can be watched standalone and focuses in various matters and cases.  In one, Peralta may be experiencing a slump, while in another, one of the side characters may be worrying about their love life.  There are plenty of times where Peralta will cause issues thanks to his personality.  He constantly jumps the gun and everyone else has to pay the price along with him.  A few of the laughs is how he ropes the team in to help him resolve the problem that he caused himself.

The pacing and humor gets better as the season goes on.  The amount of stupid things that the characters do are numerous but also extremely funny at the same time.  The episode involving the challenge between Peralta and Holt worked really well, especially seeing the teamwork between some of the characters.  In most episodes, there are various subplots happening involving the different groups of characters, pretty much like any other sitcom.

Everything we know about the characters that were set up in the beginning of the series doesn't stick.  They overcome them and move on, which makes it more interesting as new things come into play.  Just as the season is heating up and the final episode hits, it leaves you with a cliffhanger.  It's somewhat annoying particularly since Peralta was put into a situation with major consequences.  It's at this point that you'll realize how much you were enjoying the series and how much better it got over time.

Overall, the first season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is fun and enjoyable.  While the early episodes weren't bad, it's really noticeable at how much better it gets as the season progresses.  Once you get to know the characters, the jokes are funnier, the situations are crazier and the episodes are very enjoyable.  It leaves you wanting to watch the second season straight away.

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Book Review: Red Rackham’s Treasure

Review:  #877
Title:  Red Rackham’s Treasure
Series:  The Adventures of Tintin – 12th book
Author:  Herge
Comments:  Red Rackham’s Treasure is a direction continuation from the previous entry and deals with Tintin heading off to find the sunken treasure.  It takes a short while as the characters prepare for the journey ahead, including the introduction of Professor Calculus, who is pretty funny with his tendency to mishear things.  You can’t help but get excited when Tintin and Captain Haddock starts to get close to the treasure but in a typical Tintin twist, the final answer was right before their eyes.  The gags in this book are some of the series’ best and you really feel that the characters are very defined and coming into their own.
Rating:  6/10

Toy Review: Transformers Cyberverse Starscream (Scout)

Review:  #522
Name:  Starscream
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Decepticon
Line:  Cyberverse
Year of Release:  2018
Size Class:  Scout (Wave 1)
Mold Status:  new

ALTERNATE MODE:

Starscream transforms into an incomplete jet, this is because the gimmick for Cyberverse Scouts is half-transformed alternate modes.

Needless to say, it's pretty stupid although as far as half-formed modes go in this line, Starscream is somewhat complete and you can fold the legs back to form a vague back half of the jet.

Above is a size comparison against Legends Beachcomber.  Starscream is in a similar size class but is fairly small.

You can splay the legs open for a "Gerwalk" mode.  His gimmick is an "air attack", folding the waist/legs up and down will spin the wings.  Although as they are only on friction joints, the wings can easily fall off.

Half the jet mode is good, so it's a shame that this is such a lame gimmick.

TRANSFORMATION:

As Starscream is half transformed already, the rest is super easy.  Fold the legs down, flip the cockpit down and detach the arms.  You're done, very simple and bland.

ROBOT MODE:

Think what you will of the alternate mode but Starscream's robot mode looks pretty good.

Unfortunately, the null-rays are molded into the wings so they're stuck there.

The headsculpt is decent but the head is molded in one piece so it lacks movement.

He's approximately the standard height of a typical Legends figure.

Articulation could be a lot better.  While he has knee joints, they only bend until around 45 degrees.

He has shoulder balljoints but no elbows so Starscream's ability to pull off poses is limited.

While the design of the character is neat and the robot looks good, the lack of articulation lets it down.

OVERALL:

Starscream is not a great toy.  Too much is compromised for the gimmick, from the half-baked alternate mode to the lack of articulation in robot mode.  The spinning wings is fun until the wings start falling off even in robot mode.  The only saving grace is that it looks decent in robot mode but ultimate, the figure is not worth the price.

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Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom (PS4)

Attack on Titan:  Wings of Freedom is based upon the manga and anime series for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One and PC.  It covers the events of season one of the anime as well as bits of season two.  It is recommended to have already watched the anime as the game does a high level retelling which lacks a lot of the explanations and assumes the player already knows the background details.  Despite that, the game does flesh out events that happened in the background of the manga and anime that we never got to see.  It's quite fun to actually play out how the Survey Corps captured the two titans, and what they were doing when the battle in the Trost District was happening.

The game is cel-shaded and looks fantastic.  While it doesn't use the music from the anime, what we have is still some adrenaline pumping beats that suits the fast paced action.  The game is developed by Koei Tecmo, the same developers behind the Dynasty Warriors series and you can see elements of it in the game.  The combat is a bit more varied thanks to the omni-directional maneuvering gear that the series is known for.  While it looks flashy and complicated using the anchors fired from the gear attached to the characters' hips, it's as simple as pressing one button and the game does the rest.  It doesn't diminish how fun it is to swing around the place.

As you approach a titan you lock on using the shoulder button and then can reel yourself in at high speed to unleash an attack.  Titans can only be defeated by cutting the napes below their necks but you can also cut off their limbs to make this easier.  While the controls and mechanics are easy, as it is all in real time, the camera can swing wildly and you lose track of where you are due to the motion blur and various text popping up onscreen when you kill a titan.  You will need to get your angle correct too since attacking them head on naturally means you can't cut their nape.  It's easy to swap targets and swing to the right angle.  Trees, buildings and other titans can get in the way of your line too.  That's about the gist of the combat system and it's fun for the first few hours before it starts to become repetitive.

The story is told via pre-rendered and in-game cutscenes.  As mentioned, it is a high level summary of the anime and skips many of the non-combat scenarios.  Despite that, the cutscenes can still be lengthy.  The game only has Japanese voiceovers and since it uses the same voice actors as the anime, you really do feel like you're playing the anime.

The premise is that titans suddenly appears, not much is known about them except they come in various sizes and only targets humans to eat them.  Humanity managed to build three walls to keep them out and managed to have peace for a hundred years before the wall is suddenly broken down and the titans come rushing in.  Eren, along with his childhood friends Mikasa and Armin, joins the army and train in order to eliminate the titans.  There are various playable characters and each one is slightly different.  While they all have the same swinging and slashing mechanic, they each have their own ability.  Mikasa can slash consecutively, while Eren can turn into a titan and Levi is a powerhouse.  This gives a little bit of extra variety but ultimately doesn't change anything too much.

The general structure of the game is that you watch a bunch of cutscenes and then start off at your base.  At your base, you can upgrade equipment, change equipment and interact with characters.  You then play through stages, mainly eliminate as many titans as possible and then get a ranking at the end.  You obtain materials and money after each stage which is used to repeat the process and get stronger.  Each character also has their own levels, gaining skills upon leveling up.

The game's story mode isn't too long, containing four chapters.  The first three chapters covers season one and takes around 5-8 hours to complete depending if you aim for the objective straight away or take your time to defeat all the titans in each map.  Then in order to access the last chapter which covers a part of season two, it forces you to play through the "Survey Missions".  These missions basically put you back onto the maps to slay a bunch of titans and you have to do five to ten of these before one fifth of the chapter is unlocked.  This is a horrible decision and this is the point where repetitive starts to set in.

The "Survey Missions" are also where the game pits you against the same bosses again and again and again.  This is the point where the game shows it lack of enemy variety most visibly and it gets super repetitive and annoying when you have to fight against the same set of gimmicks.  This is not helped with a huge number of mooks getting in your way.

Overall, Attack on Titan:  Wings of Freedom is a fun and fast paced action game.  The swinging mechanic is awesome and once you get used to the controls, swinging from titan to titan as you subjugate them in quick succession feels fantastic.  While the decision to have filler content before you can complete the last few stages of the game makes repetition start to set in, this is a game well worth playing if you are a fan of the anime.

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Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

The third Kung Fu Panda feels like that it doesn't live up to the previous two entries in terms of awesomeness.  It starts off strong enough, setting up a strong villain, ready to take over China.  Unfortunately, the pacing then slows down and falls into a cliche storm.  Po discovers his parents and that other pandas continue to exist to this day.  On the other hand, the villain begins his task of tracking down the Dragon Warrior and his allies, taking them down one by one.  The best parts of Kung Fu Panda 3 comes down to the inventive and clever fight scenes in which the characters use their distinctive animal characteristics to great effect.  The bulk of the film is dialogue around being yourself and jealously between his parents.  The humor is hit and miss, it seems to rely more on simple crude humor now which feels lazy.  While not a boring film by any means, it just feels that it could have been a lot better.