Editorial: How kids and squids changed gaming: One year of Splatoon

How kids and squids changed gaming: One year of Splatoon

          In the years after Call of Duty hit it big, the shooter genre kind of hit a weird speedbump. Everyone was trying to beat CoD, and to do this, they seemed to think that copying CoD was the best idea. This led to a revolution of sorts of the first-person shooter, as with the graphical advances, everyone was able to put their two cents into the pot of which game is the most realistic looking. The problem here was that they often felt like carbon copies of each other, so you were kind of stuck if you wanted an original, creative shooter.

          When this happened, I was certain that we’d seen the end of third-person shooters. Aside from games like Uncharted and what’s left of the Resident Evil franchise, there weren’t many coming out. You still don’t see that many today, to be honest, compared to their first-person cousins.

          Enter Splatoon. First seen at Nintendo’s E3 presentation in 2014, this game was huge when it was coming out. If you were there for the marketing campaign, you know what I’m talking about. It’s clear Nintendo of America knew that they had a winner on their hands, because the advertising was all over the place. Commercials played constantly (including the now infamous “You’re a kid now you’re a squid now” ad), posters and billboards lined the walls of anywhere that sold video games, and one company even introduced two flavours of Splatoon themed frozen yogurt. It was crazy.

          Ironically, one year later we’re seeing another creatively designed shooter being advertised all over the place. Though instead of themed ice cream, we're getting giant action figures.

          With marketing like this, one had to wonder if the game would live up to the hype. Could this game about squid kids playing paintball be the rejuvenation the shooter genre needed? Or would it just be another cash-in for the pile?

          Well, as I’m sure you’re all aware, the game was a huge success. Not only was the gameplay fantastic, earning itself several awards, including Best Multiplayer and Best Shooter at The Game Awards, but to this day, I still maintain that Splatoon’s content release system is one of the best ideas modern gaming has had to date.

          In case you missed it, here’s how it worked. When Splatoon launched, it had one online mode (Turf War), five different maps, several different weapons and gear, a full single player campaign, couch co-op, and a promise that more was on the way. After this, for nearly every week from June to January, new content was given bit by bit. Some weeks there would be new weapons, or maybe a new stage, or even a new game mode. And the best part? It was all included on the disc for free. If you paid for the game, you got the goods, no extra fees necessary.

          While people complained at first about the lack of content, as it was slowly given to us, they kept coming back to see what was new. This ensured that the game wouldn’t be left collecting dust, as so many other shooters do when they stop being fun. Instead, you kept checking back to see what was new. The occasional Splatfest events, where you choose a team to represent and try to win as many games as possible, still happen every month or so. Plus, the long-awaited Squid Sisters amiibo are coming in July, and rumours abound about an NX version of the game being available at launch. Nintendo is clearly not stopping the Splatoon train anytime soon.

          Compare this to games like Star Wars Battlefront or Evolve, both shooters that launched last year with minimal content, with the promise of more…for a fee. If you wanted the new weapon packs or gear, you had to fork over real money to get them, and as a result, those games were dropped like hot coffee shortly after launch, and quickly forgotten about. Because Splatoon included everything on the disc right away, and you just had to be patient, people were more than happy to wait for the content to come out.

          For a company that has made several mistakes in recent years, Splatoon really feels like the breath of fresh air Nintendo needed. It shows that they still know how to make a creative, original, and fun game. They know how to please their customers, and they can still take an established genre and put their own personal touch on it. There’s a reason Splatoon is still being played around the world one year later. It’s because it showed the world that sometimes to be successful, you have to do something a little different from the norm.

My final thoughts on Ace Attorney

          As I said at the start of these reviews, I’ve only played the first Ace Attorney game. While it’s not the amazing game that everyone seems to think it is, I really enjoyed the storylines and the characters.

          When an anime adaption was announced, I thought it was a match made in heaven. Seeing the fun storylines and high-energy court cases animated sounded like it was meant to be from the start. I’m aware that there is a Japanese live-action adaptation as well, but apparently that didn’t go over so well.

          Unfortunately, this anime fell to the same fate. The animation was uneven, the performances bland, the characters uninteresting, and the storylines completely butchered. I couldn’t even bring myself to continue through what was ultimately my favourite case in the game, it was so boring. I have no interest in seeing what comes next, so I'm just stopping at episode 9 and moving onto something better.

          It wasn’t even bad in a “Wow, I need to keep going to see how much worse this can get” way, like last year’s Comet Lucifer was. Ace Attorney was just a boring, uninteresting show. There wasn’t anything exceptional about it, it was just a thing that existed this season.

          There were a few bright spots, however. The portrayal of prosecutor Miles Edgeworth was good for the most part. He was the closest the writers got to correctly adapting a character through both dialogue and animation, and the voice actor sounded pretty much exactly like you’d expect Edgeworth to sound. I’d also have to admit some of the jokes lifted from the game got a few chuckles from me when read out loud by the voice actors.

          But then the rest of the show happened. Phoenix, Maya, Gumshoe, and the rest have all been reduced to the bare minimum of their characters from the game. Phoenix is goofy but smart, Maya is hyper, and Gumshoe is the bumbling detective that somehow gets the job done. That’s it. It gets even worse for poor Maya in that it’s never really established why she and Phoenix start working together, because they never really form a strong bond. She just sort of jumps in.

          Then, there’s the animation. It’s not terrible by any means, but it never even comes close to the heights of shows like Non Non Biyori or Yona of the Dawn. Even this month’s Space Patrol Luluco looks better. Characters are often off model, animation is jumpy and often moves awkwardly fast, and let’s not forget those terrifying CGI models used for the crowd once, and then never seen again. They still haunt my nightmares.

          While I thought Ace Attorney would be an excellent fit to watch, I think I’d have to go back on that. After sitting through three cases, I’ve realized that it doesn’t quite translate well. Ace Attorney worked because you were in the thick of the courtroom actions, making split-second decisions and solving for the cases yourself. In the anime, you have no involvement, so you might as well be watching jury duty.

          Ace Attorney is not a good show, but it doesn’t completely bomb either. If it seems like the type of thing you’d be interested, go for it. I think it would also help if you’ve never played an Ace Attorney game either. If you haven’t, I’d recommend giving the first one a shot. You’ll have more fun that way.

FINAL SCORE

3/10

Bad

Space Patrol Luluco Episode 9 Review

Mafia Wars

(This review contains spoilers!)

          To say this episode left me confused would be an understatement. With the third storyline coming to a close, I would’ve thought that it would’ve ended off a little better than this, but oh well.

          We rejoin Luluco as she’s run away to an orange hued planet run entirely by mafia sharks after Nova’s rejection of her last week. I’m sure that this planet is a reference to something, I just couldn’t tell you what. There, she meets a group of detectives who she tries to get her to help both find Ogikubo and help her with her boy troubles.

          The first problem of this episode is that, unlike the previous two, this planet isn’t interesting in the slightest. The fact that everything is coloured orange with black outlines is more distracting than it is a good art style choice, and it’s hard to follow exactly what the characters are doing because everything sort of blends together. My solution for this was to just follow Luluco, as she kept her usual colours.

          The new characters are also not very interesting. Unlike the last two weeks, where we had the shapeshifter and the little witch girl, all these characters feel tropey and boring. This is even further pounded in with the fact that none of them really get any screen time, and almost all the characters onscreen look pretty much identical, which is a shame for a show that’s proved time and time again that it’s exceptional at writing characters.

          After several minutes of yelling and fighting, Nova swoops in to save Luluco, and he confesses his love. This is all fine and dandy, but because we saw last week that he didn’t really share her feelings for him, it kind of comes out of nowhere. Still, it’s a nice scene, and I’m glad Nova finally has something to do other than stand around and look pretty.

          The episode ended with the crew arriving at the center of the universe, at Space Patrol HQ. Upon arriving, the head of Space Patrol gives everyone a promotion and Ogikubo is found!

          That just begs the question, though; where’s Luluco’s mother? She still has the rest of her dad’s body, so I get the feeling that we haven’t seen the last of her. Plus, with how quickly everything wrapped up, plus the Chief’s comments on how headquarters seems different than usual, I get the feeling that all may not be what it seems.

          To be completely honest, I’m kind of glad this arc’s over. While it had a fantastic start, it felt a bit like filler as it went on. Plus, the whole “hunting for Ogikubo” and how there are millions of Ogikubos in the universe wasn’t explained very well, so it wasn’t hard to feel like they were just going in circles the whole time. Hopefully Luluco can swing back in full force for the final storyline next week.

FINAL SCORE

5/10

Average

Steven Universe Review: “Barn Mates”

H2Oh my gosh

(This review contains spoilers!)

          I remember when I was watching through Steven Universe for the first time, I read someone online say that Peridot was their favourite character overall. At this point, Friend Ship was the newest episode, and I was a little confused. Yes, Peridot was fun, but I still felt she really couldn’t compare to characters like Steven, Garnet, and even Lapis in terms of both how likeable and how interesting she was.

          If anything, Barn Mates displays just how far Peridot’s come over the course of the Cluster Arc. A character I once considered to be only good for a few gags is now one of the most relatable, and my personal favourite overall.

          So let’s dig into the episode. We pick up where we left off last time, with Lapis and Peridot battling it out over who gets to stay in the barn. Peridot is more than happy to share, but Lapis just wants to be alone. So we follow Peridot and Steven as they try to impress her.

          Lapis, being Lapis, isn’t impressed by anything, unless Steven is involved. I found it hilarious how she refused to come down from the silo when Peridot called her repeatedly, but when Steven called her once, she was down there in a second.

          Still, this episode really hammered home just how gray of a character Lapis is. Between her telling Peridot to leave, rejecting all of her gift offers, and (gasp!) breaking her precious tape recorder, it’s clear now that Lapis is carrying a lot more personal baggage that Peridot ever did. I’m starting to have my doubts that she’ll ever follow in Peridot’s footsteps and join the Crystal Gems.

          The episode ended with Homeworld sending a small ship in an effort to capture Peridot, and Lapis saving her. Then the Crystal Gems showed up at the very last second, when all the danger had passed. Good job, guys.

          With yet another surprise waiting at the end of the episode (that I won’t spoil), next week’s episode is looking more tantalizing than ever. And I know, some episodes have been leaked online beforehand, but I’m going to keep it pure for myself and play the waiting game. Wish me luck.

FINAL SCORE

8/10

Great

Editorial: What’s next for Uncharted?

What’s next for Uncharted?

(Warning: This editorial includes MAJOR spoilers for Uncharted 4! If you haven’t finished the game and you wish to do so, stop reading!)

          To be completely honest, I wasn’t super impressed by the Uncharted 4 marketing campaign. Sure, the game itself looked amazing, but I felt like the cinematics went a little too heavy on explaining the overall themes of the game. It was pounded in that Nate might’ve gotten too greedy with this one, and that this treasure might just be another coin in the pile. While these worked amazingly in the game itself, in the promotional material it felt more than a little preachy.

          The other thing that we heard endlessly was “This is Nathan Drake’s final adventure!” or “Will this be the end of Nathan Drake?” and the like. Take it from someone who sat through the Halo 5 marketing campaign, where Microsoft kept saying that Master Chief himself might pay the ultimate price at the end of the game. I knew that Nate was going to make it to the end of the game. He’s the most iconic character from the PS3 and 4, aside from maybe Sackboy.

          Needless to say, neither Drake nor Chief will be six feet under anytime soon. However, the ending to Uncharted 4 does imply that Nate is retiring from his adventures. With Nate and Elena buying the salvaging company and having a child together, it really feels like this could be the end for this beloved franchise.

          But as the credits rolled on Uncharted 4, I had to think to myself: why would Sony allow their golden goose to stop laying eggs? Uncharted is arguably their most popular exclusive franchise. It’s their equivalent to Microsoft’s Halo or Nintendo’s Zelda. While I felt the ending really wrapped up everything perfectly, it really was hard to figure out exactly why this series ended after only 4 games, plus some spinoffs.

          Was it so Naughty Dog could work more on The Last of Us 2 and other projects? Or maybe the devs decided to take the Gravity Falls route and come to an end before they jumped the shark. Both are completely valid reasons to stop creating, even when it comes to something as successful as Uncharted.

          There is, however, a few ways to continue the story. While it’s kind of obvious that this is Nathan Drake’s last adventure, no one said that there can’t be an Uncharted 5 starring Sam Drake. At the end of the game, Sully offers Sam to accompany him on a new adventure, to which Sam readily agrees. While I’m not the biggest fan of Sam, if it means more Uncharted, I’d be more than happy to follow him.

          The other option I figured is that we follow Nate and Elena’s daughter Cassie on her own adventures. I’d assume we’d have to have more of a time skip until she’s an adult (I don’t think shooting at children would go over well with the ESRB), but she’s already proven to be a fun character to be around. Like with Sam, if it meant I could go on another rock wall scaling adventure, I’d be first in line to play as her.

          While discussing the ending with my brother, he also brought up the point that there’s no reason we couldn’t have a prequel series. We’ve already had several parts in both Uncharted 3 and 4 playing as young Nate, so why not go on one of Nate’s first adventures with Sully, while he’s still learning the ropes of treasure hunting?

          I’m sure that, even if they don’t go with any of these ideas, Naughty Dog can come up with a way to continue this series. Even if it takes years and years for the next installment to arrive, and the developers try something else for a while, I believe we haven’t truly seen the end of Uncharted just yet.

Ace Attorney Episode 8 Review

The beginning of the end

(This review contains spoilers!)

          Let me just start off this review by saying that after episode 12, I’m not going to be continuing this show. I haven’t played the second Ace Attorney game, so I won’t have anything to compare it to, plus, this show can be so dull at times I honestly have no urge to see any more of it after this arc wraps up.

          With that said, how’d Ace Attorney fare this week? With the final storyline finally having arrived, I was hoping that the show would reflect the darker atmosphere that the case brought in the game.

          Well, firstly, the old animation quality seems to be back. It’s still nothing compared to shows like Madoka Magica or Non Non Biyori, or even last season’s Erased, but it’s decent enough. I’m glad they recovered from whatever happened these last two weeks. Part of me thinks that they knew how boring the Steel Samurai case was that they just put the most effort into this next one. While I can’t say I blame them, if my theory is correct, that’s awfully lazy on their part.

          As for the plot, it essentially follows the game point for point. This is probably for the best, as I’ve always considered the final case to be an excellent ending for the entire game, as it really puts all the skills you’ve learned to the test, and ties together lots of loose ends.

          For the first time ever, the anime finally seems to understand what makes the games so great: the characters and the mysteries are both entertaining in their own right, and you don’t have to choose one over the other. The Turnabout Sisters adaption focused too much on the mystery, leaving us with forgettable characters and an underdeveloped Maya. The Steel Samurai adaption focused too much on the characters, leaving us with a terrible plot. At long last, both elements seem to be going hand in hand.

          Speaking of Maya, she finally got her time to shine, as more of her family history was revealed, and we got to see her really be determined to help solve the case. One of my main griping points for Ace Attorney has been how it reduced Maya to the goofy sidekick who really doesn’t need to be there, so I’m glad that she’s finally coming into her own as a character.

          I’m not getting my hopes too high though. Ace Attorney’s notoriously uneven quality could strike back at any time, and the final case might be completely botched. If this episode is any indication, however, we may get lucky.

FINAL SCORE

6/10

Okay

Space Patrol Luluco Episode 8 Review

Six minutes to live

(This review contains spoilers!)

          After last week’s ridiculous episode, I thought that Space Patrol Luluco would need to pull out all the stops to do it one better. Well, if that is to happen, this episode wasn’t the one to do it. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a good episode with a lot of laughs and fantastic animation. It’s just that following last week, it felt a bit weak.

          This week put the rest of the cast on the backburner, focusing primarily on Luluco and Nova’s relationship as they made their way to discount Hogwarts in the continuing search for Ogikubo.

          There, they met with a witch named Sucy, who poisoned Luluco and told her she had six minutes to live, forcing Luluco to go through the stages of grief in record pace. Her indecisiveness on whether she wanted to accept her death or not was really funny, but it did start to get a bit tired the longer it went on.

          Still, it’s nice to add some more meat to the relationship, even if Nova remains the most boring character on the show. I suppose that the humour in him is sort of just how bland and nonchalant he is about everything, but I personally don’t find it all that funny. I’d much rather spend time with Midori or the Chief than him.

          Unfortunately, that was all that was really in this episode. We didn’t get any leads on the location of Ogikubo, and while I found Sucy a decently funny character (especially her counting down how many minutes Luluco had left), I doubt I’ll remember her the same way I do the shapeshifter from last week.

          Even if this was a weaker episode for Space Patrol Luluco, especially riding on the coattails of last week, it was still leaps and bounds above several other comedy anime in quality. One thing I especially love is that it never really falls back on the same easy jokes we’ve seen so many times in comedy anime before. It’s always surprising, and always funny. The ending reveals of the actual timeframe for the poison and how Nova felt about his kiss with Luluco were both perfectly done, and Luluco’s reactions were hilarious. The expressions on the characters will never stop being funny.

          One less-than-stellar episode is to be expected in every show, and for Luluco to go 8 episodes before we hit it is impressive, especially for a comedy anime. Still, I hope we can bounce back next week and see what else lies ahead for our Space Patrol crew.

FINAL SCORE

7/10

 Good

Steven Universe Review: “Same Old World”

Welcome to Empire City

(This review contains spoilers!)

          After going almost a whole year without a speaking role, Lapis Lazuli has finally made her long awaited return! Rejoice!

          This was a great episode for her as well, as we finally got some more character development for her. As cool a character as she is, it’s interesting to think that we really haven’t learned that much about her since her premiere way back in Mirror/Ocean Gem. In this episode, we finally got the origin of the mirror, and how she got there in the first place.

          The flashback to Lapis’s origins also brought back the stylized art we first saw in The Answer, and as much as I like it, I worry that if it’s used too much, it might become tiring. I know that for now there’s still very little we know about the gems and Homeworld as a whole, but I really hope we get some more detail soon.

          I was very satisfied by the explanation we got as to why Lapis ended up in the mirror and why she was never freed. All the theories I saw had extremely complicated and tragic reasons as to why it happened, but I kind of like that it was a simple case of misunderstanding during the Gem Wars. The fact that Homeworld never once wondered if Lapis was on their side really shows how cruel and heartless it must be there.

          Also, that rainbow dreadlocks gem that took out Lapis. I can’t not bring that up. The fact that it was fully animated and coloured in unlike the others probably means it’ll be significant in some way later on, but I couldn’t tell you what.

          Aside from the long-awaited backstory, we also got some very sweet scenes of Steven interacting with Lapis. The two Beach Summer Fun Buddies got to fly around in a very Whole New World-style sequence, and we got to see what more of the area surrounding Beach City looks like!

          I really liked the Empire City, especially how it seemed to be a hodgepodge of real cities such as New York and Paris. Even better was Jersey, the smog filled city next door where traffic is horrible and everyone is yelling at each other. It’s just a shame we never stopped by the ill-fated Ocean Town.

          As nice as all this was, I can’t help but feel though that this is more or less the first part of Lapis’s path to joining the Crystal Gems. Not much was accomplished overall, aside from Steven convincing Lapis to stick around, with the ending setting up her conflict with Peridot for next week.

           Still, it’s nice to finally have Lapis as a permanent character, for the time being at least. Hopefully we can explore her character more, and maybe eventually she will follow Peridot and join the Crystal Gems once and for all.

FINAL SCORE

8/10

Great

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Review: “Absolution”/”Ascension”

A lovely game of pass the cross

(This review contains spoilers!)

          We’ve finally arrived at the grand finale of Shield’s third season, and along with it comes the conclusion of the Fallen Agent storyline. I’ll admit, going in I was almost certain that we were going to get some sort of bait-and-switch, and the whole team was going to survive. Well, I was wrong. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s take this thing from the top.

          The overarching plot this week is that Hive is plotting to use a warhead to cover a significant part of the Earth in terrigen mist, turning humans into those primitives. The opening of the first episode is excellent, as every member of the team got their chance to shine as they raid the launch base and capture Hive.

          Speaking of that, how ridiculous was it for them to leave the frozen Hive just lying out in the middle of the base? Especially with Coulson having dealt with captured godlike beings escaping before, with one of them ending significantly less than favourably for him, it was kind of stupid for them to do that. It made it even more obvious than it already was that he’d escape.

          Unfortunately, in the time between the opening raid and the ending with Hive breaking free, the first half of the finale didn’t add much to the overall plot, except for a way to pass that cursed cross around from character to character.

          The second half, on the other hand, completely blew the first out of the water. Between the base losing power and being attacked by primitives, looking like something out of a horror movie, and Fitz and May stowing away on the stolen quinjet to save a captured Daisy, there was never a dull moment.

          Each of the main cast got their moment in the spotlight this episode, with the exception of Joey, who was conspicuously absent. I guess that when he said he was ready to leave, he meant it.

          Between May fighting off a group of primitives by herself, Fitz finally taking out Giyera, Daisy’s one-on-one showdown against Hive, Yo-yo saving Mack, who then later brought back his famous shotgun-axe, Radcliffe’s one-liners, Simmons figuring out the trick to avoiding the primitives, and Lincoln’s big moment at the end, everyone got a moment in the spotlight.

          The real stars of the show here, however, were Clark Gregg and Brett Dalton as Coulson and Hive respectively. Their one on one conversation was easily one of the best scenes the show’s ever done, with Coulson dropping some of his famous jokes and puns, counteracting how deadly Hive seemed.

          We also got to see Hive’s true form in all its glory (which I am officially dubbing SquidWard), and it looked incredible, at least by Shield’s usual standards. The best way I can compare it is with a lesser version of Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It looked like it jumped right off the comic page.

          I’d also like to take a moment here to appreciate my new favourite line from the show: “I’ve always wanted to do this. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.” as said by Coulson just before Hive fizzles his hologram. I actually had to pause the show I was laughing so hard.

           The storyline came to its conclusion with Lincoln sacrificing himself to launch the quinjet carrying the warhead and Hive into space, destroying them both. They both got a really nice moment together as they waited for the inevitable, with Hive confessing that all he really wanted was to help people become better. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: despite the fact that I wasn’t a huge fan of what they did to Grant Ward post-Season 1 (especially that weird girlfriend plot he had), Brett Dalton has always been one of the best things about Shield, and I’m sad to finally see him go.

          Then after that, we abruptly jumped 6 months into the future. Daisy is now a vigilante/criminal calling herself Quake (as in her name from the comics). Coulson and Mack are hunting her down, and apparently there’s a new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Plus, Daisy’s wearing a truly terrible outfit, Radcliffe’s building some sort of Vision-like robot, and Mack bought sandwiches. Not a great ending, but it was a decent enough peek into Season 4.

          One final thought before I close this off: With Daisy gone rogue, Lincoln dead, and Joey having apparently quit, I guess that means we’re never going to truly see the Secret Warriors in all their glory. I’m not gonna lie, I’m kind of disappointed by this. They spent all season building them up, and we got about 15 minutes at most of them working together. It feels like a huge waste of potential.

          Anyways, Shield ended off an excellent season with a great ending, and I look forward to see what Coulson and the team get up to next.

FINAL SCORE

8/10

Great

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Review

A pirate’s life for me!

(This review contains spoilers!)

          Wow. Just wow.

          I’m looking out on a beautiful Madagascar vista, rendered so perfectly it almost looks like it’s real. If you showed someone a picture of it without any prior knowledge of where it came from, I’m certain they’d say it was real.

          Then it dawned on me. This year celebrates the 20^th anniversary of Super Mario 64, one of the first full 3D games ever made. In 20 years, we’ve gone from blocky Mario and polygonal Goombas to gorgeously lifelike backdrops. It’s almost unbelievable.

          But anyways, onto the game. Uncharted 4 is the (supposed) final installment of Naughty Dog’s action-adventure franchise, and if this is truly the end, it goes out on the highest note possible.

          Before now, my favourite game of the original trilogy was Among Thieves, the second installment. I felt it really captured that adventurous spirit in a way neither 1 nor 3 was able to do. But just a few hours into 4, it’s clear who the real winner here is.

          Everything is done with so much love, affection, care, and painstaking detail, it’s obvious that everyone working on the project wanted it to be the best it possibly could. Playing Uncharted 4 is like reading a really great book before bed, where you have no idea what’s going to be around the next page and you just need to see what happens in the next chapter before you sign off for the night.

          This is partly thanks to the work of the cutscenes and voice acting. Whereas in several games it feels like the story, graphics and gameplay are each battling it out for the spotlight, the three blend so seamlessly together in Uncharted 4 that you’d never notice the difference. Nolan North, Richard McGonagle, and Emily Rose all make their return as Nate, Sully, and Elena respectively, each of them bringing as much charm as ever to the table and remind you why you love these characters so much. North especially does an excellent job as always, mixing his usual sarcastic wit with some excellent serious moments that really bring the character together.

          Newcomer Troy Baker joins the cast as Nate’s brother Sam, and while Baker is just as excellent as everyone else, Sam starts to feel sort of cookie cutter after a while. That’s not to say he’s a bad character, because he isn’t, but when compared to such big personalities of the other 3, he sort of falls flat.

          The villains in this game are also excellent, matching the deadly Zoran Lazarevic from game 2 in both personality and diabolicalness. Rafe absolutely feels like the kind of person that would meet with Nate at the end of his adventures, and their conversation during the climax only escalates that.

          The gameplay is fantastic as well, mixing what was great about the original 3 with several new tricks of its own. Nate’s new rope is lots of fun to use, as you Tarzan your way around from rock wall to rock wall. The sliding is really fun as well, but it does pop up a little too much in my opinion. Towards the end of the game, it starts to feel like Nate is exploring a giant slip n’ slide instead of a catacomb. Still, it’s a really fun mechanic, and one I hope they build on, should they decide to return for round 5.

          The Uncharted staple shoot-outs make a return as well, but they feel a lot smoother than they ever did before. The arenas you’re placed into are much bigger, and give you much more room to breathe and alternate paths to take as you make your way through your enemies. If you want to swing your way up to the top and take them out from above, there’s probably a way to do that.

          Cars, boats, and deep sea diving all make their Uncharted debut, and they work very well. The diving controls work very well, and while it can sometimes be difficult to see where you’re going while underwater, it really adds to the experience. I also enjoyed the driving mechanics, but I wasn’t quite so much a fan of the sections in the car where you have to bring it with you everywhere, forcing you to drive it in some very awkward positions and go through some very drawn-out and unnecessary puzzle solving to try and get it through. When chasing down baddies at high speeds, however, the car is one of the most fun toys in the whole game. My absolute favourite part in the game is in the car, as you make your way downhill in a fantastic sequence as seen at last year’s E3.

          Speaking of great parts, the climax is one of the best. Unfortunately, the third acts gets off to a very sluggish start, but all that is forgiven once you make it towards the end. Your knowledge of Uncharted mechanics, both old and new, will be put to the test, and it all culminates in a fantastic boss fight I’m sure we’ll be talking about for years.

          I’m not sure what else I can say about Uncharted 4. It’s just that good. It really feels like the grand adventure we’ve been waiting so long for, and it completely goes beyond any expectations I had for it. You’d have to be as insane as Henry Avery to pass this one up.

FINAL SCORE

10/10

Legendary

Editorial: What Animal Crossing means to me

What Animal Crossing means to me

          Animal Crossing has always held a special place in my heart. I was only about 6 years old when the GameCube original came out, and I remember that I’d play that game every single day for months upon months.

          It wasn’t just me, either. My parents, brothers, aunt and uncle, cousins, and even more got hooked on the simple pleasure of Animal Crossing as well. When I think of the series, one of my first thoughts immediately goes to that feeling of family, and how much fun I’ve always had playing with them.

          After Wild World, which I didn’t like, and City Folk, which I enjoyed, we got the magnum-opus of the series: Animal Crossing New Leaf. New Leaf was everything I ever wanted in an Animal Crossing game, and more. You can swim, build more than just bridges around your town, there are dozens of shops plus a tropical island, loads of new villagers to hang out with, special characters and holidays are back, and it’s all wrapped together in a lovely package that would bring a smile to even the most cynical of people.

          The strange part is, no matter how long I leave the game, I’ll always come back. Just this week, as I was taking a break from Uncharted 4, I got the strange urge to play New Leaf again. I started it up, and played around a little more. One hour turned to another, and suddenly I had accomplished a lot more. I finished paying off the Moai Statue I commissioned to be built months earlier. I was warned about and then able to stop one of my favourite characters moving away. I finally accomplished something I haven’t ever had the courage to do in an Animal Crossing game, and catch the deadly bees.

          Then, I came back the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. My 3DS is sitting next to me as I write this, and I’m planning on playing again sometime later. Part of me has to wonder, though, what is it about New Leaf that keeps me coming back over and over again?

          As I strolled through my small town of Endor for what must be the thousandth time, I thought to myself about what exactly made this game so special. I stopped into the Roost Café, spending 200 of my hard earned Bells on a cup of coffee that does absolutely nothing.

          After leaving, I said hello to my favourite villager: Alfonso the crocodile. He’s one of the final two villagers who’ve been living in my town since Day 1, the other being Mac the dog. I’ve heard almost all his dialogue before, but sometimes he’ll surprise me with something new. Even if he’s just repeating the same things over and over again, I never miss a chance to say hi.

          With summer coming up, this meant that the rarest bugs and fish would be up for grabs once more. I’ve decided to set a goal for myself: before the end of the summer, catch myself a coelacanth, a tarantula, and a scorpion. Those are the three rarest catchable critters, and I haven’t been able to get my hands on them yet.

          But still, I didn’t know why I was doing that. It had been almost three years since New Leaf’s launch. Why was I only setting this goal for myself now?

          Then, it dawned on me. The reason I kept going back to New Leaf. It’s because Animal Crossing does something that no other game does. Instead of being a race to the finish line, you can take a quiet stroll on your way there. Say hello to the wolves, cats, and anteaters you meet along the way as well. Try and find that rare fish you’ve been looking for, and if it doesn’t show up, try again the next day. Animal Crossing is one of the few games where you can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride, without feeling pressured to complete your goal in record time.

          I feel like New Leaf calling me back came at the absolute perfect time. As I venture through Nathan Drake’s wild and violent world again, it’s nice to take a break from guys shooting at you every once in a while, and just relax and dig for some fossils to relaxing music.

Star Fox Guard Review

Five Nights at Slippy’s

(This review is spoiler-free!)

          It’s a sad day for the Star Fox franchise. Not only was Zero a disappointment on a massive scale, but as it turns out, Star Fox Guard, the game included as basically a pack-in bonus to the main game, somehow manages to run circles around it.

          When I first heard about Guard, it sent tons of red flags up for me. It’s basically a Wii U tech demo from an E3 long since passed, reskinned with a Star Fox design, and it stars Slippy, arguably the most hated of the four leads.

          Yet surprisingly, it somehow works. Not only that, but I’d say that whereas Zero is a disaster that should absolutely be avoided by all except the most passionate of Star Fox fans, Guard is a fun time that I’d absolutely recommend to fans of puzzle or RTS games.

          So what’s the point of Guard? Well, you’re in control of the camera system of a mining colony/maze that is currently being attacked by robots. Your job is to flip through the cameras and take out the bots with lasers before they make it to the core.

          It sounds simple, but I had a lot of close calls while playing. I’d often be down to my last line of camera defences as I tried to locate and take out the robot threat.

          Speaking of the robots, while the designs aren’t great and are by no means original, it’s fun to see all the different types that show up. Some of them look like radar dishes that take out cameras, others explode into smoke bombs, and still others are shaped like miniature tanks that can cost you the game if you let them get far enough. They aren’t exactly memorable enemies, but for a game like this, they work just fine.

          The rest of the presentation is about the same. The graphics are no better than Zero’s were, looking more like a late Wii game than a late Wii U game. Onscreen, all the cameras are displayed on monitors, surrounding one large monitor that displays the feed of the camera you’re currently in control of. This may seem like a bit nitpicky, but the other cameras show a choppy, 1 fps version of the main cameras. I would’ve liked to see a live feed instead, but it really doesn’t matter. For a smaller game like this, I can forgive that.

The sound design and music is nothing special either. Each area only gets one song that loops endlessly, and by the time you’ve reached the final level and are ready to move onto the next planet, you’ll be on your hands and knees praying you’ll never hear that specific tune ever again.

          The controls I found were a little more hit-or-miss than I would’ve liked. Guard thankfully drops the gyro-controlled nightmare Zero insisted on you, going instead for the standard control stick movement. However, the cameras movement is extremely sensitive, often requiring you to make the slightest of adjustments to properly aim at the robots. In a game where aiming is one of the most important parts, this can be a big problem.

          Moving through the cameras also takes some time to get used to. Instead of cycling through them looking for the one you need, you look down at the GamePad to find which one you need, and then tap it with the stylus to activate the feed on the TV screen. It can be a little disorienting at times, especially when you’re in a rush and desperately looking for the right camera, but it works for the most part. As an added plus, you can see the robots on the GamePad as well, so you’re able to keep a close eye on them while you scramble around to find the camera you need.

          Right now, Star Fox Guard is available for $15 on the Wii U eShop. I’d say look at some videos of the game first before deciding if it’s worth the price, and you should absolutely not buy the physical bundle with Zero. For what it is, Guard is a fun puzzle/RTS/tower defence game that’s good if you have some time to waste, but not much else. If you feel like it’s something you’d like, I’d say you should absolutely go for it.

FINAL SCORE

6/10

Okay

Ace Attorney Episode 7 Review

The show must drag on

(This review contains minor spoilers!)

          Last week’s episode of Ace Attorney has the dubious honour of being the first thing on this site to ever receive my lowest possible score, thanks to how boring, useless, and skippable it was. Considering that, how did this week fare?

          Well firstly, I don’t know if the budget’s been slashed or something, but the animation quality’s continuing the nosedive I first noticed last week. Character movement is choppy, the facial expressions are weak, and shots often linger for awkward amounts of time with very little going on to warrant our attention. There’s even a scene where Edgeworth throws a spear for Phoenix to catch. We see him hold out his arms, and then the spear magically appears in his hands, which then, in a single frame of animation, fall to the floor under the weapon’s weight. If you blinked, you would miss it, and that’s completely inexcusable.

          There’s also the continuing problem of the characters. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but I actually really like the way the show portrays Edgeworth. He’s the one thing that feels like he jumped right off the game screen and transitioned perfectly into the anime. The voice actor for him always does an excellent job as well.

          Aside from Edgeworth, all the characters continue to be as bland as stale bread. Phoenix, Maya, the Judge, and even the witnesses have all been reduced to one note personalities, and none of them really make even the most exciting of court cases fun to watch.

          That’s the main problem with Ace Attorney: It’s not fun to watch.

          I can see it being enjoyable if you haven’t played the games, but if you have and you enjoyed them, all that’s waiting for you here is a watered-down version of the storyline. I remembered playing through the first game, I kept going back to it because not only was I invested in the storyline, I was having a blast uncovering the mysteries.

          Here, I just feel like I’m watching one play by numbers murder mystery after another, with nothing to really take away from it.

          If I must say one good thing about this episode, the conclusion is one I didn’t remember from the game, and is a very satisfying wrap up to an ultimately boring case. I still don’t think it’s worth sifting through all the garbage to get to it, though.

          With the final case on the horizon, Ace Attorney has one last chance from me to pull it together and really prove itself as able to exist on its own without resting on the laurels of nostalgia for the games. With that, I wish it luck.

FINAL SCORE

3/10

Bad

Space Patrol Luluco Episode 7 Review

The Quest for Ogikubo

(This review contains spoilers!)

          I don’t know how, but week after week this show never fails to surprise me with what it has up its sleeve next. This episode is nothing less than a shining example of how to make a comedy anime. A plot thread is introduced, including a major threat, and it’s solved in the most hilarious way possible.

          After being transported through the universe at the conclusion of Episode 6, Luluco and crew have stumbled upon a planet made entirely of yarn that has an exact replica of Ogikubo on it. They figure that they can locate Earth’s Ogikubo somehow, but are captured by some villain who is able to manipulate people using the threads of string from the planet.

          This one-off villain is the episode’s first success. He supposedly takes the appearance of whoever you desire the most, resulting in Luluco seeing him as Nova. I’m sure he gave a very interesting speech about his diabolical plans, but Luluco hilariously talked over it all, theorizing about who Nova saw him as and whether it looked like her.

          The animation was top-notch in this episode as well, even if all the other aliens were just plain white. The reactions on Luluco, Midori, and the others were a riot to watch, and I found them all to be extremely expressive. That’s to say nothing about the always excellent Judgement Gun Morphing scenes and the artwork used for the ending.

          Ah, the ending. Let’s talk about that. After escaping from the villain’s clutches, the Space Patrol morphs into their weapons to arrest him for his space crime. Not wanting to be defeated by their hand, the villain blows himself up, igniting the entire planet on fire, all set to what I’m pretty sure is a song from Kill la Kill. I really need to watch that show, especially after seeing this one.

          The aftermath of the explosion is handled pitch-perfectly for a comedy anime, as the Space Patrol declare their job done and rush off, ignoring all the aliens panicking as their planet burns to the ground. As tragic as it sounds, it’s handled perfectly, and I had to actually pause the episode I was laughing so hard.

          This episode was the best of Luluco we’ve seen so far, but at the same time I’d really like to see how the showrunners top this one. You’d really need to pull out all the stops to do it one better. With this, Space Patrol Luluco has officially cemented itself alongside the likes of Watamote and Non Non Biyori as my favourite comedy anime of all time.

FINAL SCORE

10/10

Legendary

Steven Universe Review: “Gem Drill”

Use the D-Pad

(This review contains spoilers!)

          Immediately following the events of Super Watermelon Island, we have Gem Drill, Steven and Peridot’s own adventure!

          This really feels like the showrunners were trying to tie up most of the loose ends still dangling from earlier episodes so Season 3 can become its own beast, as we got the defeat of both Malachite and the Cluster back-to-back.

          Speaking of the Cluster, I was a little underwhelmed by it. Sure, it looked fantastic, and we had some excellent psychedelic moments when Steven connected and spoke with it, but I feel like we kind of got gipped on this giant world-destroying beast. I mostly blame the show’s length on why the problem was solved so quickly, but did we really have to solve it right now? Why not go down and see the Cluster, have to go back for whatever reason, and then go back down and have Steven talk to it. It gives us more time to understand the Cluster and really see why this is such a huge threat.

          Anyways, pacing issues aside, this was a really good episode. Peridot had lots of great jokes as usual, and we even got a little insight on what it was like for her back on Homeworld. It’s nice to see that she’s already happy to be a Crystal Gem now, and we don’t have to go through the typical “fine, I’ll join you, but I won’t be happy about it” arc that so many redeemed villains have to go through.

          The scene when Steven talked to the Cluster was really great as well. One has to wonder if Steven can use this power to heal corrupted Gems like the Centipeetle.

          The resolution was really good as well, with Steven continuing to prove that it’s better to talk your way out of problems rather than fight. I especially like the design of the bubbled Cluster. It’s really colourful, and I hope we get to see it again.

          All in all, a good episode, despite the pacing issues. With the promise of Lapis’s return on the horizon, the latest batch of Steven Universe episodes look incredibly promising.

FINAL SCORE

8/10

Great