Sonic Dash (Android)

Another endless runner, this time with a Sonic theme to it.  Actually, Sonic fits this kind of game so it has potential to be a good one.  Sadly, it isn't that addictive or fun, it doesn't provide enough of a unique twist to keep you coming back and put it one step above all the other good endless runners (Temple Run in particular).  One thing that I always didn't like about Sonic is that even if you have painstakingly acquired heaps of rings, you can potentially lose all of it by just getting hit once by an enemy.  The loss of rings is still the case here, the difference being that you don't get any chance of getting some of those rings back coz Sonic just keeps running onwards.  Occasionally, you get chances to "bank" those rings (permanently keep them).  Why?  It's because they are in-game currency for you to buy power-ups and the like.

This is all standard affair, then there's the "premium" currency in which you supposedly can still earn in-game, but it's so rare that it might as well not be as it costs something ridiculously high to purchase things like an additional character.  Of course, there are also in-app purchases, being a free game and all, it pushes those in-app purchases hard onto the player.  Then there are full screen advertisements frequently after each session but it's forgivable since they're not intrusive and are one tap away from being closed and ignored.  Onto the controls, they are not as intuitive as it might first seem.  You have to swipe left and right on a three lane runway which makes it awkward when you have to switch two lanes and jump/roll at the same time.  The controls also causes some cheap deaths when indestructible objects forces you to change two lanes in quick succession while you're running super fast.

These cheap deaths are by far the biggest annoyances of the game, sure, you'll recognize it with practice but it's a big factor in turning away players who have just started when they constantly get hit by some out of the blue.  However, there's more.  Impossible situations arise when multiple obstacles are placed right in front of each other across all three lanes.  Example?  There'll be spikes which require you to jump but right behind it, with no landing space, is a bridge which requires you to roll.  Therefore, you cannot jump or roll to get through it, you can rely on the "dash" function which makes Sonic temporarily invincible but you have to have the gauge full first.  There are also boss battles, well... in truth, I think there are only two.  I wouldn't say they are well-known and popular antagonists from the rich history of Sonic (only Zazz and Eggman makes an appearance).

Sadly, both of them are limited to the same style of attack, Sonic dodges their projectiles and then just tapping the screen three times for three homing attacks and that's it.  Yet you have to face them again and again especially when you just want to dash.  If they wanted to include the same repetitive nature of bosses, then they should have made this runner level based instead of having the random element it has now.  A nice feature is that the landscape can change (seaside hill, beach or a dock) which makes it more visually interesting (but you'll be spending most of the time at seaside hill).  The graphics are nice and looks great.  Character models are good and the game runs smoothly (taking note it's also dependent on hardware).  There are missions/objectives which adds an extra element of play.  Overall, a fairly bland and uninspired game which won't hold your attention for long.

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Ocean's Thirteen

Leaps and bounds better than Ocean's Twelve, at least there wasn't some lame plot device.  It was enjoyable to watch, especially since it centers around revenge over an unjust act, which is always fun to watch.  Basically, the new antagonist backstabs one of Ocean's team and the team decides to get revenge by breaking him in terms stealing his prized possessions and causing him to lose a lot of money.  The scene shifts back to Las Vegas and revolves around casinos, which is welcome.  While the planning and execution scenes in the movie aren't as up to par as Ocean's Eleven (and lacking a big revelation at the end), it was still good.  The dialogue was great, and I liked how they teamed up with the series' past antagonist.  There were a few odd events that happened where it felt messy and you couldn't figure out why they had included it.  The ending also wasn't as sweet as you would have hoped.  Then there's the inclusion of Toulour which was awkward and strange.  There were still some impossible/improbable elements but it was easy to overlook them.

Book Review: Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project 7

Review:  #424
Title:  Neon Genesis Evangelion:  The Shinji Ikari Raising Project 7
Series:  Neon Genesis Evangelion:  The Shinji Ikari Raising Project - 7th volume
Author:  Osamu Takahashi
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  The chapters of Shinji, Rei and Asuka’s everyday normal life (well, normal most of the time) is still entertaining.  A big chunk of the volume focuses upon Rei and Asuka’s rivalry, where while it may seem normal for Asuka due to her brash nature, it still feels a little bit unusual for Rei to be so competitive, when she is normally quiet and reserved.  Poor Shinji just gets into uncomfortable lose-lose situations (which are funny to read about).  There are a few manga clichés that happen but they were handled fairly well and it doesn’t feel like a retread or lazy.  The art is nice but sometimes character faces seem inconsistent.

Rating:  6/10

Ocean's Twelve

The plot sounds good in theory, following from the previous movie, they $160m split between eleven people, they're all spent it like there was no tomorrow.  Now, the person who they stole from found out about them and is forcing them to pay it back.  Sadly, whereas Ocean's Eleven delivers on its promise about a clever and elaborate heist, Ocean's Twelve fails, and fails even more.  From the beginning, the movie started to become a mess.  There was no direction and no clear goal on the things the characters were doing.  Fine, that can be forgiven if like the previous movie, the climax during which they pull their heist lives up and exceeds your expectations.  Yet, once we got to the whole Julia Roberts fiasco, the movie turned into a joke, and not in a good way.  It deteriorates as the film keeps going towards the end.  It's hard to believe that this script was actually approved, some of the plot devices seriously feel as though it should be in a low-budget parody movie.  The big revelation was pointless and doesn't feel natural, coherent or consistent with the character's actions.  An extremely disappointing movie that goes off in a completely different direction (and inferior in every way) with too many ridiculous events.

Book Review: Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project 6

Review:  #423
Title:  Neon Genesis Evangelion:  The Shinji Ikari Raising Project 6
Series:  Neon Genesis Evangelion:  The Shinji Ikari Raising Project - 6th volume
Author:  Osamu Takahashi
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  The whole focuses on the effects of a newly introduced character, Mana.  The first few chapters feel like your typical manga high school, with some over-the-top reactions and events.  It was kept interesting though.  It seems the a new contender has entered the Shinji’s love complex with Asuka taking the losing spot, which is surprising.  The final two chapters are more interesting, giving us a bigger hint of what the secret project is about (which we still don’t know after six volumes).  The last chapter also includes a hilarious scene.

Rating:  6/10

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

A big improvement over the first movie in that it is much less bland and spends less time reintroducing characters.  Another good thing is that Nick Fury and Black Widow have significant roles. On the bad side, the movie could have cut out a lot of things in the beginning, the story isn't too spectacular and the climax doesn't have a memorable or epic fight.  It's surprising to see how much this movie references the first one, such that it feels like a proper sequel and that it follows on logically.  Sadly, while the identity of the Winter Soldier is supposed to be a big twist, it didn't have as large an impact as it could have.  Not that it wasn't handled well, it just felt like it there was more to it.  Once The Winter Soldier got on its way, it was fun to watch and as the events kept unfolding, it was interesting and you would eagerly await the big revelation where the penny would drop.  Captain America is more down to earth, making the fight scenes much more intense and personal, this reduction in special effects is a nice change.  While not one of the greatest movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is still a solid flick worth watching.

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (PSP)

Ratchet & Clank:  Size Matters is a portable version of the best of the three well-known PS2 platformers.  The translation of the gameplay could have potentially caused problems thanks to the PSP's lack of two buttons, an analogue stick and clickable sticks.  However, the developers have found some clever ways to overcome these limitations making the transition nearly flawless.  Granted, if you have been used to the PS2 and PS3 Ratchet games, the slight change in controls will throw you off during the first planet but as you quickly grasp what works for you, it's a blast and every bit as fun to play.  The main control changes is that the shoulder buttons moves the camera left and right (or if you're using a Vita, you can map those buttons to the right stick which makes moving the camera much more natural).  The camera will still occasionally swing around wildly during combat when you're jumping around and frantically shooting, as well as getting stuck.  Anyway, this means that everything else is mapped to the face buttons... which doesn't sound like it'll bode well.  Through pressing various combinations of buttons at the same time you get to do those classic Ratchet moves such as throwing his wrench and high jumping.

One of the things I was most impressed with was how strafing was implemented.  As the shoulder buttons are taken up from moving the camera, this posed a problem.  Well, you can move Ratchet using either the directional buttons or the analogue stick and one will move Ratchet normally while the other strafes!  It's not perfect but works well enough and if you don't like the default configurations, you have the option to remap some of the buttons to your liking.  Size Matters is very much a PSP game and the graphics aren't the best.  Environments have a blocky look like a PS1 game but with just enough detailing to make it visually interesting.  Character models during game play looks jagged but weirdly enough, these models during cutscenes looks amazing (and no, they are not pre-rendered).  The game play is your typical Ratchet & Clank formula in which you break crates to collect bolts and spend them on some creative weapons.  The weapon designs aren't *that* original and creative though, compared to other Ratchet games, Size Matters features a downright normal and ordinary arsenal.

Anyway, you use those weapons to blast enemies while there are some platforming challenges (nothing too hard).  Aiming can be a slight annoyance as you need to get used to strafing and moving the camera using shoulder buttons, relying on the auto-aim which tends to occasionally miss.  This results in more than a few accidental deaths.  It's a bit aggravating when deaths by falling over the edge is so easy due to the camera angle issues.  The "dream" levels are notorious in this aspect as it blurs the sides of the screen, effectively covering 40% of the view.  This is the same with boss battles that takes place on small platforms.  Overall, the box smashing and bolt collecting are still as addictive as ever and the chimes you get when getting those bolts are ever so satisfying.  There are mini-games galore and as per usual, some work and some doesn't.  Most of the mini-games involve Clank (while he is controllable in some platforming sections, those sections are short and rare).  The mini-games that are the funner ones are a space shooter (move Clank around the screen shooting at enemies) and a derby destruction.  There's also a strategic puzzler (similar to Lemmings) in which you send out directions/instructions to move small drones to the end goal.  The worse of the bunch has to be Ratchet's air boarding, camera angle issues and a HORRIBLE control scheme makes it frustrating.

Size Matters is a tad bit on the easier side; you can breeze through the levels quickly (eight planets in total).  There is a tiny difficulty spike with one of the later bosses (relatively big damage and annoying attacks that makes Ratchet easy to get hit) which soon disappears afterwards when you buy a weapon that's available after you defeat the boss.  The easiness makes the game very short.  You can finish in around five to six hours (including backtracking to obtain more bolts to buy/upgrade your weapons) although the game is so fun that it makes that time feel even shorter.  There is a Challenge mode afterwards in which you play through the game again but on a harder difficulty with extra weapon upgrades.  There are also collectibles to find and 100% mini-game completion; there are enough extras to capture your attention.  The story is passable but very simple.  Of course you would expect it to be an excuse for all the platforming goodness so it doesn't matter.  Don't expect to be wowed but there are some funny sections during the cutscenes which doesn't make it a total write-off.  The ending is okay; the final boss being a bit repetitive since for the time it takes to defeat him, you would expect more variations to his move set.  Overall, this is a fun (albeit small) Ratchet & Clank adventure that's worth the price of admission.

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