__Hello again.🙂
__Let's not beat around the bush. This month's set of mini reviews begins with a few movies I felt like watching. And no, I haven't seen Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness yet, so you'll have to wait until next time for my comments on it.
It's kind of like a teenage girl version of the Hulk.🙂 The transformation is a metaphor for her frustrations, mainly stemming from the pressure of putting other people's happiness before her own, which I myself find very relatable indeed.
My rating: 75%.
A likeable drama that follows four teachers conducting an experiment to prove a theory about alcohol blood level. At first, it seems to benefit their work performance and social lives, but begins teetering closer and closer to alcoholism.
My rating: 75%.
A mother escapes her abusive husband and, failing to find proper housing, decides to build a home herself. The premise is enough to keep it engaging, and you feel the joy from her friends' aid and the frustration at the ex's continued presence.
My rating: 75%.
It cleverly simulates the effect of Alzheimer's on the father's mind in several ways, like playing events out of order due to his confusion about the passage of time, and replacing characters with other actors when he doesn't recognise them.
My rating: 75%.
This came out the same year as Empire Strikes Back and has a few noticeable similarities, like the swamp landing and the fall down the chute, which is ironic because Star Wars was heavily inspired by the original Flash Gordon serials.
My rating: 65%.
__Interestingly, those were the last few 2020 movies on my watchlist, so I've now seen everything I want to from that year! Except for the Demon Slayer movie, but that'll have to wait until I've seen the show anyway.
__Next, the games I've been previewing via longplays. Before starting on my own games from each year, I make a watchlist of other games from that year to watch as longplays and see if any of them are worth getting myself. This month, we're looking at the last couple from 2005 (left over from my previous post) and the ones from 2006. For the most part, I decided they weren't worth getting, but I'm still on the fence about three of them, all for essentially the same reason:
• Sonic Rush – It depends on what I think of its sequel, Sonic Rush Adventure, when I get to it.
• Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin – There's one DS Castlevania title left, so I'm waiting to see if I should get a DS emulator for all three of them.
• Gears of War – I'm considering getting an Xbox Series S to play some Xbox-exclusive titles. Again, this game's sequels will be the deciding factor. (I don't think I need the much beefier Series X. I don't care about the higher graphics processing, and the Series S's much lower storage shouldn't be a problem, since I only plan on getting a few games.)
Its efforts to be dark and "mature" are ludicrous, but my main issue is the convoluted branching paths. Depending on whether you do each level's hero, dark or normal missions, you could get a confusing, incomplete mess of a story.
My rating: 45%.
The first portable Sonic game to use full 3D rendering, most prominently in the boss battles. The levels seem largely inspired by Sonic 2 and 3, and one new addition is the Tension Gauge that aids in speed boosting and taking out enemies.
My rating: 65%.
The writing comes off like a corny soap opera, with commanders berating their men for perceived cowardice, and Corporal Keith making tactless racist jokes. So it's more memorable than the first two games, but not necessarily in a good way.
My rating: 55%.
This one stands out for having two characters playing cooperatively. The plot and music are among the best of the series. Only problem: Jonathan's cockiness and his constantly saying, "No problem," gets a little tiring.
My rating: 75%.
This was the game that popularised cover-based shooters, so I couldn't help but be reminded of Mass Effect by its gameplay style.🙂 It's nonstop macho action with little to no explanation of the world's back-story or who the Locust are.
My rating: 70%.
Not hugely appealing to me, but it does have some cool aspects, including the variable gravity system. Between switches that flip gravity and tracks that allow you to walk on the walls or ceiling, it's often hard to tell which way up you are.
My rating: 60%.
There are three storylines to complete at your leisure. Not a bad game, but not my thing at all. It's often compared to Grand Theft Auto – sometimes favourably, I hear. If you want to play as a street gang member, go right ahead. I don't.
My rating: 50%.
Apparently more stable than the infamously buggy Xbox 360 version. The loading screens are no less absurdly frequent, Blaze's role ignores continuity with Sonic Rush, and at the end of the day, the plot just isn't very interesting.
My rating: 45%.
__I have some additional comments to make on a couple of those games before we move on.
__Another interesting feature of Prey is that you can't get a game over; if you lose all your health, you go into a spiritual arena to regain your life. (It's also worth mentioning that I decided to check out Prey because I've heard the Mooncrash expansion of the 2017 game compared favourably to Deathloop, so that's piqued my curiosity, but I thought I might as well see what the first game to bear the name was like.)
__Among the many, many issues with Sonic '06, a big one for me is that it seems like parts of the story are missing, particularly transitional moments that establish how characters get to certain locations. And don't even get me started on the "romance" between Sonic and Elise!
__And finally, the games in my collection that I played at least in part before getting stuck and watching a longplay to see the rest. They're all from 2005 – which, by the way, is actually one of the least represented years in my library (of the new millennium, at least). For comparison, I have twenty-three from 2001, twenty-one from 2002, eighteen from 2003 and twenty-four from 2004. And 2005? Only nine, including the recent addition of Guitar Hero! Then again, two of those nine are among my favourite games of all time: Fahrenheit and Psychonauts.
__Anyway…
I'm not the biggest fan of fantasy RPGs to begin with, and this one did little to stand out aside from the sheer brutality of the bandit antagonists. Like many of its peers, it offers plenty of choice in terms of combat and morals.
My rating: 60%.
The gameplay is inane drivel, and exiting the level each time you collect a Triwizard Shield makes it even more tedious. They got very lazy with the cutscenes; they're often just still images with minimal animation.
My rating: 35%.
One neat addition is the speed kill system that's ideal for those who favour stealth, like me. The best part is the Prince's personality: he now has a cynical sense of humour that's understandable given his experiences.
My rating: 70%.
Not a fan, I'm afraid. The third-person shooter style is a welcome change of pace, but the dialogue has seen no improvement, you can still only shoot from a standstill, and neither the plot nor the Illuminados cult interest me very much.
My rating: 60%.
It's visually spectacular, and the music is great. Each colossus has its own method for how you reach its weak points. But the dodgy controls often make progression very frustrating, especially when the colossus is thrashing around.
My rating: 75%.
Just like the first two, the gameplay is superficially fun, but I have total apathy for the story it serves. It's very dry: little more than government spies doing their job. Even Fisher's sarcastic jokes fall flat.
My rating: 55%.
__Again, a couple of extra comments here.
__In Goblet of Fire, there's also a fundamental flaw with the Prefects' Bathroom level. The whole point is to get the golden egg back. Why doesn't Harry just use a Summoning Charm? Seriously, I can't overstate how lackadaisical this game is!
__Many of the longplays I've watched have stretched the game to widescreen, so I have to set the aspect ratio to 4:3 in VLC media player. But Resident Evil 4 is the only instance so far where the opposite has happened!
__And now, before starting on my games from 2006, I'm taking a break for a while to work on video versions of the various top ten lists I've written. I'm not sure how long that'll take. So there may or may not be a "first impressions" post next month, and if there is, it'll be a relatively short one.
__Whenever it turns out to be, see you next time.🙂 Take care.
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