First Reaction: Doctor Who The Bells of St John

 

 

Sadly this is the longest we'll be going straight episodes in 2 and a half years more or less.if series 8 is split we'll all need medical help

Doctor who Revived series review: The Planet of the dead and the waters of mars.

 

 

 

Oh I got some splainin' to do.

 

Yeah sorry for how long this has taken but even now I can't do two full reviews for these.I just don't have the time at the moment due to work.But however I can give the general jist and give my thoughts.

 

 

First thing I want to say is both of these episodes are great for differents reasons. Planet of the dead is a classic adventure with alot of really nice characters. Kind of like a better version of "Voyage of the damned." While Waters of mars is a darker thriller that ends in one of the darkest moments in doctor who history. They're almost a complete 180 of each other and show off the better of each type of  episode; The light and the dark.

Planet of the dead follows the tenth doctor as always played by David Tennant and his for the episode companion christina de souza played by michelle ryan as they and a group of assorted people travelling in a bus are sent into another dimension and try to find their way out.Simple story and alot of fun.

On the other hand the waters of mars is dark and very cerebral.The doctor finds himself on mars in 2059 running into a group of explorers from earth making the first colony on mars.The problem being that the doctor knows they're all destined to die the next day and there is nothing he can do about due to it being his responsibility as a time lord to keep time as it is and not manipulate it as well the reprocussions involving space travel years from then.This one is damn fascinating and I won't dare spoil how this ends.

Like I said these are both great episodes for different reasons but my god waters of mars is beautiful and tragic and in my opinion the better of the two.

There is one more thing I wanna mention that being the storyline that starts in planet of the dead and ends in the next episode  "The end of time" and that's a prophecy mentioned by a psychic woman in planet of the dead.....don't ask. She said that the doctor is coming to an end and that the one who does the deed will "Knock four times". I'll get more into that with the end of time but it sets up some things very nicely and adds alot of size to the end of time.....not like an episode with that name needed it but you get the idea.

Nonetheless watch these two eps.They're an oddly perfect way to summarize the tenth doctor and being two of the last three episodes of the tenth It's a very good way summarize the tenth but the we have end of time which I'll talk about next time.One of my favorite episodes in the franchise.



ISWT Review: Bayonetta

 

Well I'm writing this on Valentine's Day so close enough.After I played through DmC I was still in a beat 'em up mood so I decided to finally pick up bayonetta after years of hearing how this is the greatest beat em up game in existance....and I still think Devil may cry 3 is better,And DmC,And What I recall of god of war 2.....Yeah I think this game is a touch overrated to be honest.

 

 

Now don't misunderstand me I think the game is quite good it's just not nearly as great as most people think at least in my opinion.But I'm gonna give you a short version of the review up front.When you beat the game one of the things you get is this video

 

 

 

 

I think this video sums up alot of my feelings perfectly.While I usually start with the story I have a reason to get to that later but first I'll start with something about this game I do love and that's the soundtrack

 

 

I really don't think I need to say much if you watched that video.This games soundtrack is glorious....when it wants to be.Some tracks are okay,some are forgettable,but some songs like let's dance boys,or the fly me to the moon cover,or some of the boss themes are downright amazing.Ranging from the jazzy and energetic themes like the aforementioned let's dance boys to the latin chorus beauty of the 4 elemental angels fights.This game does soundtrack perfectly....again in places.The basic combat theme goes from a fly me to the moon cover that I both love and hate.(it's catchy but I can't help thinking frank sinatra is spinning like a blender right now.) And a track that....is both boring and really unfitting for a combat theme.That combined with a few very forgettable tracks here and there and it's a mixed bag with some amazing tracks mixed in.

 

Oh also I think one of the tracks is a remix of a song from afterburner....random but alright.

 

 

And then we have the gameplay.This is a very back and forth thing for me.It's solid and pretty good but nothing really special to me.It does have uniqueness to it though.Being able to essentially equip two pyhsical weapons at once.One in the hands and one on the legs.This is a pretty cool concept and it does work I have to admit but the other gimmick of the game always rubbed me the wrong way.Instead of guarding attacks you dodge them and dodging at the last second gives you a few seconds of slo mo time.You need to get good at doing this cause otherwise you are FUCKED!!

 

Not what I meant.....I'll get to that in a minute though....er also not what I.....You know what nevermind.

 

 

If you can't dodge enemies attacks constantly you will die,and die and die again because enemies hit like 18 wheelers with jet engines.This game can be brutal unless you get real good at dodging real fast.Some people may find it insanely easy but I've seen people,friends of me sell the game because the dodge system can at times be complete horse crap.If you get caught in a combo as well you can't dodge out of it as far as I know and it gets to the point of pretty decent rage considering how many ememies can be attacking you at once.So really your enjoyment of this game will be determined by how well you can dodge so if you know a friend who has it or if there is a demo out there for this game try it before you get it cause this is where the polarity split happens.

 

So music is split,as is gameplay depending,how's the story and characters....A little worse then split.The only character who is even memorable is bayonetta.And even then only when she's not just spewing innuendoes....again I'll get to that.She's pretty clever,funny and even charming when she wants to be but again only when she's not spewing constant sex jokes.Her rival,love interest and a little girl she finds....I have trouble recalling their names at times so yeah.Sans the main the characters are forgettable.

 

So what about the story?.....That's a really good question cause I have no fucking clue what just happened.Seriously they throw a crap ton of exposition at the beginning and then throw some absolutly rediculous scenes after and it just distracts you and never ever gets you back at any point in the game.The only real plot point I was following was who the little girl turned out to be and that ended in one of the most random twists ever and I do not mean that in a good way.

 

The graphics are quite good.Everything looks quite nice and nothing really looks off sans one or two character models but even then not terrible just a little off.but what do the graphics show off?.....See bayonetta's ass earlier for details.Yeah this game has a lot of fanservice in it.it wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting but it was a decent part of the game.but here's where the game's tone comes in.This game has a tone that says it's very over the top and very cartoonish in alot of elements.The sheer amount of references should give you a hint there.But between that,the fanservice,the moves she can do in combat and everything is so over the top but then the story kind of messes that up.

 

While again I'm not sure what the plot even is it's does in such a way that I think it's meant to be taken seriously and that really does not jive with the over the top style.It's the biggest problem with the game cause at least the combat could be practiced and you could learn to deal with the dodging mechanic.But mood whiplash and expecting to a not serious game serious all of a sudden is just not a good idea.

 

 

So let's take a look at what we have here.A game with good graphics.A decent soundtrack with some very stand out songs that elevate it to awesome.Good gameplay with a gimmick that can really mess some people up even if it can be practiced to fix it and a very confused story and tone.This game is the definition of mixed bag.When it's good it's great but when it's bad it's very confusing.The game is probably around 20 dollars now and for that price i'd say give it a shot definatly especially considering when people do like it they love it.Like I said I'll stick with Devil may cry 3 thank you very much.

 

By the way there is one line bayonetta says

 

 "There are two things I hate.Crying children and cockroaches.I guess that would make a young crying cockroach the worst thing ever"

 

Anyone else get a Doctor vibe from that line?

ISWT Review: DMC: Devil may cry

Hoo boy.Can you smell the fanboy rage on this one?

 

 



 

I was going to do a Vlog review on this but I couldn't find a way to properly say things with the controversy involved.I was going to do a not review and just avoid the situation but you know what? FUCK IT.I really enjoy this game and yes I like the new Dante.I think he's on par with the old one if not better and yes I am serious.but you know what let's get down to details before I have to bring out a riot shield.

 

 

.We begin with the new dante the morning after one hell of a party and I will say that the fact he lives in a trailer is pretty scummy.I'll give you that.But he's awoken by Kat a member of a group called "The order" who need Dante to take down a tyrant named Mundus who has taken control of mankind via debt and kept them tame via mindcontrol,surveilance,and violence when necessary.The only people who can stop his power given to him by a hellgate is a nephilim.A half angel,half demon hybrid which only two exist; Dante and the leader of the order as well as dante's twin brother Vergil.Dante,Kat,and Vergil spend basically the entire game trying to take out the mind control and surveilance systems to get mundus' dander up and get him away from the hell gate to sever it's power and in his weakened state Kill mundus.That is the incredibly abridged version.There is alot more to it but to avoid spoilers I won't get too far into details.The story is one of the better ones in the franchise and I would actually say it's Pretty good in general.A story of rebellion,rebirth,and revenge against a man who wants to control the world for his own means..

To be fair the rather Obvious Fox news parody is a bit Blatent for my taste even if does get a laugh every time I see bob barbas cause my mind just goes to "Fuck it! We'll do it live"


But one of my favorite things with this game is the main theme of it; Perseverance.Now that's what I got out of it anyway but between the news media turning The order into a terrorist group and literally the world turning against him in Limbo(I'll get to it in a second) it all feels like everything is against dante.Hell even the fanbase is against the new dante but again I'll get to that later.Between that and what I at least consider to be the new dante's theme (Never surrender by combichrist) it all adds into the theme of dante overcoming odds and everything being against him.Maybe I'm exaggeratting and that's not what was intended but it seems right to me and to me it makes everything feel alot stronger.


Like I mentioned earlier the levels seem too want to kill you sometimes and that is because of limbo.Demons don't live in the real world sans a few powerful ones like mundus they live in a mirrored dimension that can affect the real world called limbo.Limbo is a genius idea and the single best idea in the game in my opinion.It removes all boundaries when it comes to level design and because of this and the pretty damn good graphic quality this game looks gorgeous.Not to mention having walls shift or close around you can cause some cool moments.

But it's not just the levels trying to kill you.The enemies are.....well kinda bland design wise and some of them can get a little rage inducing on harder difficulties.I would say the enemies are easily the worst part of the game to me.bad design and often just hard to fight even if the combat is amazing.Oh by the way the combat is amazing.The use of angelic and demonic weapons and the hooks make combat a blast.In the second stage you gain access to A demonic axe called arbiter and an angelic scythe called osiris.You can use them by holding The R2(Right trigger) and attacking as normal for demonic and L2(Left trigger) for angelic and because of the fact you can switch between different angelic and demonic weapons via the left and right D-pad buttons respectivly you can use every weapon on the fly without having to equip them specifically or go into a menu and I love it.That combined with the hooks whcih can either bring you towards an enemy or bring an enemy towards you.It's a really nice and flexible combat system that allows you alot of comfort and variety.With some tweeking it could be one of best combat systems for hack and slash type games and considering the style system really good for the devil may cry franchise in particular.


Speaking of the style system this is another thing that alot of people seem to turn against with this game.The style system from devil may cry promotes using different weapons and variety in combat by giving you style points which would serve different purposes in different games.The general thought is that's it's much easier then the original games to get to triple S rank and while I do agree that it is I actually think it's more balanced now.In Devil may cry 3 I would rarely if ever get a maxed style rating.In DmC I may have ten times so far after the equivalent of two playthroughs.It's still very difficult to do it just a bit easier.


Alright.Let's talk about Dante.I will say from this point on is my opinion especially considering the division of the fanbase considering the matter.In other words....

What the sign said.


So when DmC was first announced and the new dante revealed I was actually one of the angry ones.Not so much because I didn't want them to change the old dante or because I thought a reboot was stupid (In fact to be honest after 4 I'm glad they did cause the only thing they could have done was keep nero on as the main character and no thank you) It was mostly because of what the new dante was like in the trailer.A quiet smoker.Okay smoking was just a weird decision but quiet was a bad move.Seriously The game series title is a play on devil may care meaning recklessness.I don't get that from the First new dante and had they stuck with that I think I could understand alot of the rage people have against the new dante.That being said they did change his personality and slightly altered his appearance.Very slightly.He was no longer a quiet smoker and now more of a rebellious punk and that was a sigh of relief for me.However I hear alot of people thought that this was an attempt to suck up to fans by making him more like the old dante.Now whether that was the case I have no idea but regardless I think it happened for the better.

He's a rebel punk and I think that works quite well.In fact now that I think of it I do like him more then the older dante.I think the main reason is that the character actually has an arc,and theming unlike the original who just had anime-esque badassery.There is nothing wrong with that and in 3 it worked quite well for him but I'll take depth over badassery any day of the week.

That's just my opinion and I'm sticking to it dammit


Now while devil may cry 3 has better characters and a better villain in arkham then Dmc,(seriously Kat is pretty bare in terms of characteristics and mundus is okay but compared to lady and arkham it's not even a contest) everything else is just above Devil may cry 3 but not quite enough.Like I said I think Dmc is the second best game in the franchise and I seriously hope people can get past their reasons for hating it and give it a chance.....and man am I glad to get that off my chest.
 

ISWT Review: Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal

 

 

 

So after buying Playstation all stars Battle Roayle I'm kind of on a massive sony binge.The Jak Series,The Killzone games and of course my favorite The Ratchet and Clank series.Oh man do I love these games.Well after three anyway.The First game had a few too many frustrating parts and with no weapon upgrades or nearly the quality in comedy It was a rough title.Not terrible just rough.The second title Going commando was a huge step up giving weapons an upgrade.It's an improvement to say the least and I do reccomend it.But I only recently played The first two on the HD collection for the original trilogy.The third game on the other hand I have alot of experience with.I got it as a kid and between the comedy,the amazing weapons and one of my favorite villains This game is amazing,but lemme start at the beginning.

 

 

 The main story is basically self contained.While some back stories like Quark's are nice to have it's nowhere near considered and really the main reason to play the other games first is A. To play them for yourself (Duh) or B for the Discounts you get on weapons from having save data from said previous games.It's basically A three fold story, First off An alien race being unleahsed on the galaxy called the tyrannoids by An Insane robot named Dr Nefarious.Round 2 being against a massive celebrity who spreads nefarious' word against organic beings.and round three against nefarious himself.It's simple but it all goes together quite well.for the sake of spoilers I won;t go too far into details but it's not really the story that drives you.It's the characters and the comedy.The characters are a bit cartoony and whatnot but they're well written in that they're one note but not beaten over your head to the point of annoyance.Used when can be used for a good joke.

Seriously I fucking love this guy.In Fact I prefer him Over Dr.Eggman.....Oh yes...I went there.

In fact two of the best Comedic relief characters ever Are in this game.The complete Idiot/Super hero Captain quark and the aforementioned Dr.nefarious.Now It may sound beyond cheesy with some of the names like Dr nefarious or The aforementioned robotic Celebrity Courtney gears,And trust me that is the point.These games have a very old school cartoony feel to them in terms of comedy and while that may result in a few groaners (emphasis on few)  alot of the old school cartoon humor is dead on and it's done perfectly.It can be polarizing but I myself love it.

While the graphics and soundtrack may be A dime a dozen (Not bad just average sans a few tracks on the soundtrack which are fantastic,namely the nefarious and courtney gears boss music.) the gameplay is a hell of alot of fun.Incredibly simplistic but well implemented 3rd person shooter.Made in large part by the weapon variety.My god does this game have great weapons.From robot body guards to a lava gun(Which originated in Ratchet 2) to the almighty RY3NO (Or rip you 3 new ones) The weapons make this game fun.The level up system and how varied the upgrades are give massive drive to using different weapons to see how crazy things could get.

But Ratchet 3 has something extra.The captain quark vid comics.While playing you'll run into Quark Vid comics which are side scrolling platforming and beat 'em up sections and while simplistic they are kick ass.They just add a nice bit of cheesy fun to the game that adds just a little kick to the game as is.It's what pushes this game into a really good place in my mind.

 

 

I ALMOST want a full maybe 10-15 dollar title of that stuff.Seriously It's pretty neat.

 

 

But let's be fair here.The gameplay really is driven by the weapons and the desire to level them up and see what they do.The actual gameplay is pretty generic as far as 3rd person shooters go.Not bad just generic.The story really is again just okay.It has a few moments you don't expect but past that it's pretty by the numbers and at times can be a little contrived.Really what drives this game isn't the base gameplay it's the unique gimmicks that make this game good.The ability to level weapons,your own health,The comedy,the characters,and the level design are what make this game good.It's a very polarizing game I think.Some people will love it for the little things it has others will find it generic for the big things.I myself love this game to death.It's very hard not to say it's my favorite game ever and I kinda want to but sonic generations still tops it.I really reccomend this game.

 

In Sane We Trust Review: Playstation all stars battle royale.

 

 

Well it was a weird road leading up to this one wasn't it? This game had so much oddness following it right from the very start.When we all saw this we all thought the same thing I guarentee you.

 

 

 

"So It's smash bros with sony characters....huh"

 

 

No one was really certain what to think of this game other then it was a massive clone of the super smash brothers series from nintendo.For those who don't know what the smash bros series is.....what the hell are you doing on a gaming blog site? But for the record it's a massive series of fighting games with the characters being from a multitude of nintendo franchises such as Mario from super mario,Link from legend of zelda,Ness from earthbound Etc. and these games are big.By large one of the biggest franchises in the history of fighting games.One of the reasons it's as big as it is now is due to the size of franchises is takes from as well as the gameplay that fans have stuck to very closely and agressivly and really there are only two other companies which even have characters rosters that could make a decent sized roster; Sega who have made use of it with the sonic and all stars racing games and Sony.

 

 

But oddly enough it's the roster that gains the most controversy.While most of the roster is Sony exclusives it includes The Big Daddy from the Bioshock franchise which started on the Xbox 360 and moved to sony as a multiplatformer.The Opposite of which is true for Heihachi from Tekken and Dante From DMC (A version of the character that is fan hated generally and I'm not opening that can of worms one way or another until I do a review on that myself.) Both games that started on Sony and moved to multiplatform.Not to mention for some reason they put in both a good and evil version of cole from Infamous for some reason.That combined with the lack of massive sony characters from the PS1 era and you have alot of people very confused and angry.But when it comes down to it does the game suffer because of it?

 

 

Let's start off with the most obvious,Gameplay.Unlike the smash series from which it's concept comes Battle Royale does not use the percent system (Attacking increases a a damage percent and with higher percent you fly farther resulting in a ring out) It does however use a special system which baffled me at first.You attack filling up a bar and once it's full you can use a special attack that differs from character to character.You can fill this bar up to three times giving you three different specials each being (supposedly) stronger depending on the higher the level.The ONLY way to kill someone (sans the medusa head weapon) Is with a special.I was very unsure of that decision at first.It siunded very gimmicky and just off but after playing the game it honestly works rather well sans some balancing issues (Example.Sweet tooth's level 1 special is a massive kick that travels a very small distance but is generally reliable to hit.Meanwhile his level 2 is a remote control missle that moves insanely slowly,turns like a drunken elephant,and leaves you completly open to be attacked while you're doing it.

 

In terms of just how combat feels it's alot more arcadey then smash if that makes sense.More about combos and feels a bit less weighted in attack.It's honestly a matter of opinion with which is better and I'm not going to say where Battle Royale fits in because I'm not opening that can of worms either.It's fine gameplay one way or another.

 

 

Though to be fair alot of concepts like Colonel Radec of Killzone's Level 3 is very close to Snakes Special from Smash bros. Brawl.There are a fair amount of these but there is only some much you can do I guess.

 

 

 So the gameplay is good and often satisfying if a bit unbalanced in the special system at times.How is the graphics then? I hesitate to say great but certainly good to look at.In both gameplay and In game cinematics the game looks quite good for what it needs to be but I have one major gripe with the opening and ending cinematics.They look very wrong in some cases.I mean not only is the look off but my god in some cases it just looks terrible.Sweet tooth is not meant to be seen in Non live action sequences.I'd put a pic here from one but just look it up on youtube if you're curious.I do wish they had actual game style cinematics for each game but that may have been a bit more work considering game engines and whatnot but nonetheless they're okay and have some good moments to be fair.Colonel Radec's ending looks pretty cool I think with how they use lighting for the final scene.

 

 

So gameplay,graphics,What about the sound quality? Well The quality is great and the tracks from the original games were nice choices but it really depends on what you thought of their soundtracks to start with.I really enjoy ratchet and clanks metropolis track but the hades track from God of war is kinda bland I think.Like I said it all depends on how you find the original tracks and whatnot but in and of itself it's fine.

 

There is one more thing I wanna mention which is the use of the franchises.Every stage starts off as a stage from a game.Let's use the Metropolis stage from ratchet and clank as an example.After a while Captain quark shows up and so does the hydra from god of war and it turns into a double themed stage.Every stage does this and it's just fun to see what kind of things will pop up in a killzone or twisted metal themed stage.But that's not all they do.The rivalry system which has two characters at random.Some make sense like ratchet and jak or Sweet Tooth and Kratos.And then there is Evil cole and fat princess or Colonel Radec and Sir Daniel.It's entertaining if a touch random.The attention to detail is fantastic.Alot of the smaller things you see can be just cool.Like the use of the jump panels in metropolis.

 

 

Because of this,the good enough graphics,the pretty damn good gameplay, The Opinion based soundtrack and the sheer amount of customizables(Things like victory music,Taunts,Openings and ending can be customized) and the fact that for the first two weeks the dlc that was announced will be free this game is a very good buy.It's your opinion whether to wait or not for a price drop but I paid full and I'm very content with what I got.

Pokemon Retrospective.Gen 2/Johto

 

My apoligies if I tend to exaggerate a bit here but I feel a bit strongly about this and all things considered.That plus the fact this is completly off the top of my head And I do exaggerate a bit so my apoligies.Oh and also team rocket in gen 2 suck.