No Man's Sky Review

The result of the chaos

(This review is spoiler-free!)

          No Man’s Sky is finally here, after all the problems and setbacks. So what’s my verdict on this experience?

          Well, it’s far from perfect, but I enjoyed my time with it.

          What’s amazing about this game to me is just how little most people, myself included, seemed to know about it in the days leading up to release. Knowing I was going to buy it, I only looked at the absolute basics about the game, avoiding lengthy gameplay demonstrations and the like. So imagine my surprise on day 1 when I finally bit the bullet to watch Jim Sterling’s video of the game, only to find that it was a survival game.

          Now, these are a real hit or miss for me. I enjoy playing Minecraft’s survival mode every once in a while, although it never really holds my attention for too long. However, I played an hour of Subnautica, and got so bored that I couldn’t even be bothered to continue.

          Unfortunately, survival, the main aspect of No Man’s Sky, isn’t great. The opening few hours of the game are spent foraging for crafting materials to fix your crashed spacecraft, and it couldn’t be more agonizingly boring. Although each planet is randomly generated, they’ll always have the basic materials you need to fix your ship, just in case some new player starts there. Exactly where to find said materials are is another question.

          My first planet had radioactive air, requiring me to manage two different life meters when I barely had enough resources to manage both one and fix my ship at the same time. I spent the first 2 hours of gameplay running up and down horribly ugly mountains coloured like mounds of elephant poo, searching desperately for resources, all the while being bored to tears. Not a great first impression.

          The other huge problem is that your starting inventory is smaller than a real life hiking backpack. You can only carry an extremely small amount of gear at once, and what’s worse is that tools necessary to survive also take up inventory space. If I had a unit for every time the game told me my inventory was full, I’d be able to buy the fanciest ship in the galaxy.

          Fortunately, when you finally fix your ship and launch into the cosmos, the game takes a leap in improvement. No Man’s Sky is at its best when you’re exploring a colourful planet either from the sky or the ground. The sense of discovery and exploration you get when discovering a new planet or system is fantastic. I had lots of fun just wandering around new places, admiring the visuals, creatures, and colours. At least, that’s what I when I didn’t have to worry about collecting meaningless bits of ore to refuel whichever tool of mine was currently malfunctioning.

          No Man’s Sky feels the need to constantly swarm your HUD with an onslaught of updates and notifications, more often than not getting in the way of your experience. Whenever your life support or toxic air filter goes down by at least 25% (which happens a lot, might I add), you’re greeted by a robot voice who alerts you to what’s going on, as well as a bit of text right in the middle of the screen. Similarly, whenever you accomplish something new or get an achievement, the entire game grinds to a halt just to congratulate you. You can’t interact with anything until the game’s finished giving you your literal 15 seconds of fame, and in the early hours when you’re accomplishing something new quite often, the game feels the need to pat you on the back and slow down your quest way too much.

          Going back to how great the exploration is, I feel that I must need to congratulate Hello Games on their accomplishment of creating such a massive universe to explore. There’s so many planets here, it’s insane. Just one look at the galaxy map and how many planets reside in there, and thinking about how small the team was that made this game is, it’s kind of crazy. Good job, guys.

          And now for the news you don’t want to hear. Every planet is, aside from the weather and colour scheme, essentially the same. I hopped around a sector, visiting each planet, and I came off feeling that there wasn’t a single planet that was unique in any way, aside from the initial excitement of “ooh, a snow planet!” They’re all littered with the same types of resources (there’s rocks of every colour imaginable, but they all turn into iron), and while it’s cool to see a large t-rex looking creature walking across the horizon, the animals are ultimately just there to look pretty. As far as I can tell, they don’t serve any other purpose, and more often than not, it’s clear that they’re cobbled together from a large pool of animal parts, resulting in some Frankensteinian beast. You can name the animals (and plants, rocks, planets, solar systems, and anything else you can think of), but once you realize that no one will likely ever visit this area of the game and admire your discoveries, naming things sort of loses its luster. Still, I enjoy naming the planets and quadrants. Naming things in video games is a sort of a weird, simple joy I’ve had since I was a child, when I always named all my different animals in Zoo Tycoon, so that’s fun.

          Still, despite the planets being arguably the same over and over again, you get a real sense of accomplishment whenever you discover one, and going on a quiet stroll in a new world can be a lot of fun. If you’re the type of person who picks a direction and just walks that way in a game like Skyrim, you’ll love No Man’s Sky. When you find a planet that isn’t just brown and grey slabs of mud endlessly, and actually has trees, water, and other cool natural features, the visuals of No Man’s Sky are very tranquil. The graphics don’t exactly push the PS4 to its limits (they look like they’re from the PS3, but given how many planets this game needs to render, it’s easy to forgive), but for what they are, I really like them.

          The two other big features No Man’s Sky touts are the trading and combat segments. Let’s just get this out of the way quickly: the combat is awful. Both space and land battles are extremely stacked against you, the aiming is horrible, often forcing you to flail around wildly and hope you hit something, and you’d be better off just accepting your death and then recovering your loot from your grave after respawning. That is all.

          As for the trading, this is where some of No Man’s Sky’s visual novel aspects come in. Every once in a while, you’ll bump into an alien of varying species who’ll either give you some gear or trade you something. You don’t speak their language, but you can learn it through various magical stones strewn across galaxies. I really like this! It’s kind of frustrating to have to pick blindly which option you think will make the alien happiest, but the idea of slowly learning their language and becoming friends with them is really cool.

          There seems to be some sort of lore going on in the background, but it really feels like the type of story that thinks it’s a lot smarter than it actually is. Hello Games is clearly taking some influence from old sci-fi novels here, but your character’s occasional musings as he zooms around this candy coloured universe are more than pretentious. When presented with a triangular monolith, he goes on and on about how it’s opened his eyes to the truths of the galaxy and how it’s revealed many secrets to him. However, to the player, the monolith is nothing more than a stone structure. It’s a Class A case of telling instead of showing.

          And that’s No Man’s Sky. It’s a lot simpler than I was hoping it would be, and there are several things about it I dislike, but overall I had a positive experience with it. I’m sure I’ll go back to play some more before too long, and discover even more planets. I think that it might be better to rent this game before you buy it and see how you feel.

          And if you ever run into a planet called Panika, you probably shouldn’t land on it. There’s a crab there that doesn’t like people messing with his stuff.

FINAL SCORE

7/10

Good

Amaama to Inazuma Episode 6 Review

The food’s going to spoil

(This review contains spoilers!)

          Well, we’re halfway through the season, and while Amaama to Inazuma continues to be as sweet and relaxing as ever, there’s still a definite worry that the same structured plot over and over again will grow stale before Episode 12 is reached.

          This episode decides to mix things up a bit by finally giving us the proper introduction of Shinobu, Iida’s friend. As first impressions go, she’s kind of funny every once in a while, but more often than not she just feels like she’s there to fill the “annoying friend” trope.

          What was really good was the overarching theme of this episode. Tsumugi decides she wants to throw a party at Iida’s house and invite all her friends. Her father isn’t happy about this at first, but after a flashback where we get our first appearance of Tsumugi’s mother, he compromises to let them come over later.

          Unfortunately, the rest of the episode kind of falls flat on it’s face. For the first time ever in this series, I found Tsumugi annoying this week. She was way louder and more over the top than usual, and in turn she felt a lot more like what a writer thinks a kid sounds like as opposed to the real thing. This is too bad, because up until now they’d pretty much nailed Tsumugi’s character, awkward moments and all.

          Basically, aside from the all too brief flashback, this episode relaxed back into the “everything is perfect!” world that caused some of the earlier episodes to be so slow. Without a real problem or storyline to follow, I feel like I’m watching an anime version of the Food Network, and while that sounds fun on paper, in practice it’s really boring. That’s why Episode 3 worked so well: it blended the cooking segment with the story from the first half of the episode. Here, the story is resolved 8 minutes in, leaving us with just the cooking segment.

          Another problem was that, what with all the over exaggerated expressions and loud screamy voices, this almost felt like an episode of a completely different show. Amaama to Inazuma is usually a realistic slice of life show, but here, the characters reacting to things were so bananas that it wouldn’t feel out of place in Nichijou.

          It was cool to see new characters join in the cooking, but at this point, it’s all formulaic. They prepare the food, do something while they wait, some problem comes up, they fix it, they finish cooking and eat it, somebody cries, roll credits. How can I keep being excited for each new episode when I know it’s exactly the same thing I saw last week and the week before that? If something doesn’t change soon (and sadly, I doubt it will), I might lose interest and stop watching.

FINAL SCORE

4/10

Mediocre

Steven Universe: Summer Adventures August 8-12 Reviews

Week 4

(These reviews contain spoilers!)

          The final week of the Summer of Steven is upon us! If you missed my review of Beta, I watched the Canadian airing last Friday, so it’s in my Week 3 post.

Week 1: http://hyenareviews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/steven-universe-summer-adventures-july.html

Week 2: http://hyenareviews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/steven-universe-summer-adventures-july_25.html

Week 3: http://hyenareviews.blogspot.ca/2016/08/steven-universe-summer-adventures.html

Earthlings

          Wow. That’s all I have to say to describe this episode. Wow.

          I’m going to say this right here and right now, just so everyone can hear it: This was my favourite episode of Steven Universe to date. Not necessarily the best (Jail Break is still probably the best thing they’ve ever done), but as a personal opinion, this is my new favourite.

          Sometimes it feels like the 11-minute time limit is surprisingly too much for the smaller stories the crew has for us (Drop Beat Dad and The New Lars were good examples of this), but more often than not I’m on my hands and knees wishing that these episodes were longer, especially when the episode was packed with lore. Considering this is a three-parter with Beta and tomorrow’s episode, I suppose this could be referred to as a 45 minute special, but I digress.

          Earthlings threw everything it could at us, providing what I assume to be the end of the current Amethyst arc (but who knows?), the end of Jasper’s little adventure, a new fusion, some great humour courtesy of Peridot, and a LOT of lore.

          We pick up exactly where we left off last time, with Amethyst challenging Jasper to a rematch. Once again, she’s barely able to land a scratch on the perfect Quartz soldier, and gets wrecked. Steven, against Amethyst’s wishes, jumps into the fight, and after he reinvigorates her by telling her that she’s great the way she is, the two of them fuse into a brand new character: Smoky Quartz.

          She’s my favourite new fusion since Malachite, easily. Her design is great, her voice is fantastic, her weapon is genius (whoever decided to give her a yo-yo should get an award), and she’s all-around a great new inclusion into the vast library of fusions we have.

          After Jasper gets destroyed by a fusion again (that’s 4 times now, right?), she attempts to fight back by fusing with one of the corrupted gems, but this doesn’t go well for obvious reasons. What happens after is what really matters. Jasper begins to corrupt. Despite Steven and Peridot practically begging to allow them to help her, Jasper refuses, and is corrupted and bubbled, but not before dropping a significant lore bomb: Rose Quartz betrayed her diamond, Pink Diamond. The fandom’s been buzzing about the identity of Pink Diamond ever since the diamond sigil first appeared in the show, and this is really going to add fuel to the fire now that it’s confirmed Pink Diamond isn’t Rose herself.

          Even after all this, the Gems returned to the Barn to find a surprise: the Ruby Squad is back! I’m surprised they made it to Neptune and came back this quickly, but I guess their space travel is pretty fast. In any case, I’m happy to see them again, and I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen tomorrow.

          I loved every second of Earthlings. I was laughing, gasping, and on the edge of my seat the whole time. This was Steven Universe at its absolute best, and it was absolutely waiting those extra two days for.

FINAL SCORE

10/10

Legendary

Back to the Moon

          The arc that began with Gem Hunt is showing no signs of slowing down, as we had yet another cliffhanger to deal with tonight!

The Ruby Squad was back in action after their short adventure around the galaxy, demanding to know where Jasper really is. Without any other options, Amethyst shapeshifted into Jasper to convince them, and the Rubies demanded they return to the Moon Base to file a form so “Jasper” can keep her “prisoners” on Earth instead of returning to Homeworld with them.

It was cool to see the Moon Base again, especially as we got the long-awaited reveal of the Pink Diamond mural which was infamously ignored back in It Could’ve Been Great. Unfortunately, we didn’t get an answer as to what was in that room Garnet hurried Steven past last time we were here, but there’s always tomorrow.

As for Pink Diamond, we learned what nearly everyone expected given yesterday’s lore bomb: Rose Quartz shattered her during the Gem War. Steven naturally is in disbelief over this, and then…just kind of gets over it. Huh. I’m hoping that this subject comes up in more detail later on, because it kind of came out of nowhere and then vanished.

          The rest of the episode, aside from the lore, wasn’t really anything super special unfortunately. We spend way too much precious time outside of the barn trying to convince the Rubies that Amethyst was Jasper. I did like that the Eyeball Ruby got some character development in the reveal that she participated in the Gem War as a soldier, and the group is always fun to spend time with. Pearl was especially funny in this episode to, with her over-the-top reaction to being “captured”.

          There’s not really much else to say about this one, except about the ending. We know from episodes like Space Race and Warp Tour that Steven can survive in space longer than a normal human can, but even then his human side requires breathing before long. Considering tomorrow’s episode is called “Bubbled”, I think I have a good idea of how he’s going to save himself, but you never know.

          So anyways, a good episode, just without many good laughs and poor pacing. I liked that we got an answer to the Pink Diamond question so fast, but Steven kind of forgot about it two minutes later. Hopefully tomorrow will improve on it.

FINAL SCORE

7/10

Good

Bubbled

          So I guess this is Steven Universe’s take on the movie Gravity.

          What a crazy episode this was. If you told me 5 years ago that I’d be watching a cartoon where a boy was launched into space, accepted his fate, and then curled up into fetal position after fighting an alien to the death, I would’ve said you were crazy.

          But, here we are. Picking up immediately after yesterday, the Season 3 finale featured some of the best background art I’ve ever seen in this show, and that’s saying something. All the stars, planets, and galaxies in the background were so amazingly rendered, it really felt like outer space.

          It was really smart for the Crew to bring back Eyeball Ruby for this episode, because as interesting as it would’ve been to see Steven’s internal struggle about what his mother did to Pink Diamond, it wouldn’t have made for great kid’s TV. Instead, this episode had a lot of really good humour, like Steven imitating the famous portrait of Rose Quartz, and his all too relatable grouchiness about changing phone plans.

          Eyeball Ruby was really fun, and it was amazing how threatening they made this little red gem. Her little knife looked downright intimidating in the tight space, and although it was a kind of obvious solution how to get rid of her, it didn’t make it any less tense. I feel that now’s a good time to say goodbye to the Ruby Squad. In my opinion, they served their purpose, and having them back again and again would get a little repetitive.

          But two things stood out to me above all else. One is that the Gems are now in capacity of a ship with space travel, so that opens up a literal universe of possibilities for new settings. The other is that we finally got the full version of the credits song, Love Like You. It’s a song we’ve been hearing since Episode 1, and it’s nice to finally be able to listen to the proper version in full, although it really feels like the end of an era. One can only hope we get a new song for the next season or two.

          Overall, Bubbled was a great way to end Season 3, and the future looking towards Seasons 4 and 5 looks bright. Here’s to more Steven Universe!

FINAL SCORE

8/10

Great

The Kindergarten Kid

          And now for something entirely different.

          At first glance, the word Kindergarten in Steven Universe context means a dark episode exploring the creation of gems and usually focuses on Amethyst. I remember when the title for this episode was announced nearly a year ago everyone assumed it would be a part of the now finished Amethyst arc (which was predicted through the titles of other episodes). Instead, we got a Road Runner vs. Coyote style episode starring Peridot as she tries in vain to capture a corrupted gem.

          Surprisingly, it turned out to be really funny, even if it wasn’t one of Steven Universe’s better episodes. Peridot is my favourite character, and we got a little more information about her abilities here. She’s surprisingly resilient, managing to go through all kinds of trauma without being poofed. We also learned she’s able to bubble gems, although she mistakenly didn’t send the bubble to the heart of the Temple.

          The physical humour was really on point with this one, with all the cartoon physics really feeling straight out of a Looney Tunes cartoon. The animators used the desert backgrounds and the hills of the Beta Kindergarten to their advantage to make a real playground for Steven, Peridot and the corrupted gem to run around.

          That’s really all there is to say about this one. It was a simple, funny episode. A bit of a weird way to start Season 4, since in the past we’ve had premieres like Full Disclosure and Super Watermelon Island. I don’t know if I’ll ever watch The Kindergarten Kid again, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

FINAL SCORE

6/10

Okay

Know your Fusion

          Much like the fusion gems themselves, this episode was…bizarre, to say the least.

          I like it when the show decides to nonchalantly include the fusions. They’re usually only saved for big, groundbreaking events, but when one pops up when you’re not expecting it, it’s a bit of a treat. Think back to when Pearl and Amethyst formed Opal back in Log Date. Although it wasn’t a speaking part, it was nice of the crew to acknowledge they haven’t forgotten about her.

          This episode, surprisingly, gave Smoky Quartz and Sardonyx starring roles, as Steven and Amethyst introduced their new fusion to Garnet and Pearl. The two are understandably ecstatic, and form Sardonyx so that the two can…go on a talk show.

          Yeah, that’s not what I was hoping for, but okay.

          Honestly, it would’ve been really cool to be out in the field with Smoky Quartz as Sardonyx tries to have her unlock her full potential, but here it was just nothing being accomplished for 10 minutes straight. Sardonyx asks Smoky what her power is. Smoky doesn’t know. Sardonyx asks again. Smoky doesn’t know. Rinse and repeat until credits.

          The pacing in this episode is all off. Remember, the primary rule of storytelling is show, don’t tell. How fun is it to listen to two characters talking about what one of them can do? It’s not fun at all. I wanted to see Smoky Quartz really trying to figure out who she is, instead of watching her participate in stupid games that you know she’s going to fail at.

          This one episode’s saving grace is that there’s some humour in it I really didn’t expect from Steven Universe. Sardonyx breaks the fourth wall several times, acknowledging the fact she’s in a cartoon, having the clips she used carried with the watermark “Provided by Cartoon Network”, and even a quick jab at the fact that Sugilite is probably never going to have a speaking role again. It was really unexpected and funny because of that.

          Immediately after watching Know your Fusion, I thought to myself “If I were to show Steven Universe to someone new, would I show them this one?” My answer would probably be no. Very little was accomplished at all, aside from a 30 second reveal that Smoky Quartz can use her yo-yo as a grappling hook, which you honestly could figure out just from watching Earthlings. Aside from some of the good jokes, the always delightful fusions, and the ending, this episode is one you can definitely skip in my opinion.

FINAL SCORE

4/10

Mediocre

          Well, that’s a disappointing end to Steven’s Summer Adventures. I’m glad that weekly episodes are coming back, because that would be a bit of a lackluster way to go on a hiatus. See you next Thursday for the next episode!

Editorial: No Man's Sky's Wild and Wacky Road to Release

No Man’s Sky’s Wild and Wacky Road to Release

          This year’s been filled with nothing but hotly anticipated games. We finally got the long-awaited fourth Uncharted game, the revival of Doom, a Mirror’s Edge sequel, and there’s more to come in the later months, like the launch of the long delayed The Last Guardian and our first steps into the seventh generation of Pokémon.

          However, what many consider to be the biggest game of the year will be arriving at store shelves Tuesday. A game long shrouded in mystery, yet has everyone in uproar with how potentially game changing it could be.

          I am, of course, talking about No Man’s Sky.

          First seen at The Game Awards in 2013, this has been one of the most talked about and anticipated games of all time. Just the implication of a near endless universe to explore, with every inch of the over quintillion planets being procedurally and randomly generated, was tantalizing to gamers everywhere.

          However, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for developer Hello Games. It seemed as if No Man’s Sky was the Murphy’s Law of video games for some time, as it suffered delay after delay, as disaster struck again and again.

          Shortly after the first trailer was released, Hello Games’ office was flooded, destroying nearly everything inside. At this point, it seemed as if that this game of the future had been lost to Mother Nature, but the developers were determined. They cleaned up, and started again.

          At 2014’s E3, No Man’s Sky was finally unveiled in full, and people were blown away. See, this console generation hadn’t really seen much innovation so far. The new systems were all still trying to find their footing at this point, and while we had a lot of really cool games, there wasn’t anything that really stood out as new or original.

          But with this trailer, everything seemed to change. This game looked unbelievable. Hello Games representative Sean Murray showed off what the game could do, how the procedural generation worked, and more. As the year went on, they pulled back the curtain more and more on the game, showing us just enough to get us excited, but not too much that any of the surprises were spoiled.

          However, the game wasn’t without more issues as it slowly made it’s way closer to release. A lawsuit over the use of the word “Sky” plagued the game for ages, only being resolved a few months ago. Even more recently, another lawsuit came up claiming that Hello Games stole the “superformula” used to create all the planets in the game. This game’s been so plagued with controversy and disaster that in the last few days before release, gamers have been joking that “they only have a few more days to fit a couple more controversies in”.

          Arguably the biggest misstep came after the final delay. The game was originally set to launch in June of this year, however, it wound up being delayed because they needed just a little more time to make sure everything was working. That’s perfectly fine, in my opinion. Better have it later and good than right now and broken. However, some others didn’t feel the same way. Conspiracy theories flew with reckless abandon, with some people claiming that Sony themselves was keeping the game from them.

          Amidst all the chaos, there was still a lot of good. People wouldn’t get this upset about a game they didn’t care about, after all. A PC release was confirmed, the game had an excellent presentation at E3 2015, and a few songs from the soundtrack were revealed. To say No Man’s Sky had almost unlimited potential is putting it lightly.

          And what is the end result of all these wacky races? We’ll just have to wait for Tuesday to find out. I’m going to be picking it up on launch day, and reviewing it right here on this blog once I feel I have a good enough grasp on everything to give a proper discussion. This is a game I’ve been waiting for for a long time. I hope it doesn’t let me down.

Song of the Week

          Well, I really had no other choice this week. I’ve selected Supermoon, one of the main themes from the No Man’s Sky soundtrack. I’ve held off on listening to the rest of the songs as of right now (I like to experience soundtracks in-game first before I listen to them online), but if the rest of the music is as good as this song, we’re in for a wild ride. 

Amaama to Inazuma Episode 5 Review

Do or donut

(This review contains spoilers!)

          This week’s episode of Amaama to Inazuma started out with the implication that Tsumugi was getting kidnapped by a creepy guy.

          So, uh, that was different.

          Of course, this turned out not to be the case, as it turned out to be a friend of Tsumugi’s father who was taking care of her for the day. It was nice to see him have a relationship outside of with Tsumugi or Iida. This new character, Yagi, doesn’t seem to have too much of a personality right now aside from being chilled out and nonchalant about everything, a trait I’m honestly really sick of. I do like that he genuinely cared about Tsumugi, instead of having him be like “I’m only doing this for your father” type of deal.

          He did mention that when Tsumugi grows up, she’ll look just like her mother. It’s been odd how the mother hasn’t been mentioned that much in the series thus far. We had the explanation in episode 1, and unless I’m wrong, she hasn’t been mentioned since. I guess this is understandable, since it could be a bit of a downer on the normally happy-go-lucky feel of the show, and they might be saving it for towards the end.

          The cooking is the same process as usual, nothing special there. As we approach the halfway mark on this series, I have a definite fear that it could start to get stale before long. Maybe if they accidentally screwed up the meal, that’d make things more interesting? And in turn, next episode Tsumugi could be a little less trusting of her father’s cooking, and they’d need to remedy that. They sort of went that route with this episode, with the donuts initially coming out burnt, but as they were able to recover from it by baking a second batch, it didn’t really matter in the long run. If the results had been more permanent, that might’ve had more of a lasting impact.

          So while this was another fine episode of Amaama to Inazuma, and the introduction of Yagi wasn’t too bad, there’s a definite concern of the show grinding to a halt in the near future, as the episodes blend more and more together in terms of content. Hopefully next week they’ll shake things up again like they did last time this happened.

FINAL SCORE

5/10

Average

Steven Universe: Summer Adventures August 1-5 Reviews

Week 3

(These reviews contain spoilers!)

          There’s some big episodes coming up this week, so as usual, keep an eye on this space every night to hear my thoughts on them!

Week 1: http://hyenareviews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/steven-universe-summer-adventures-july.html

Week 2: http://hyenareviews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/steven-universe-summer-adventures-july_25.html

Gem Hunt

          It’s cool to see that the crew is bringing back some elements from Season 1 that I thought were finished for good, such as corrupted gems and one-off adventures to faraway places. The thing is, since we’ve seen so many episodes like this in Season 1, it’s hard to do them in a way that’s new and interesting.

          Gem Hunt tries to accomplish this by bringing Connie alongside Steven and Pearl for her first corrupted gem mission. I’m so glad we skipped over the whole “Should she go? It might be dangerous. Can she handle herself?” rigmarole we had to endure when Steven was still training to be a part of the Crystal Gems. We started the episode at the start of the mission, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.

          The problem with this episode for me is Connie. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a good character, especially in episodes like Full Disclosure. Here, though, she just felt annoying. It was like that friend who invites you to build a snow fort with him, and then makes you sit and watch while he does all the work himself. As soon as she and Steven were released from Pearl’s grasp, she started talking and talking, with no end to how prepared she was to face the wilderness and how much she knew about how to survive. It honestly got really annoying towards the end, and she even felt a bit condescending towards Steven after a while.

          Steven and Pearl, on the other hand, had some of the funniest moments they’ve had in a while. I liked Pearl’s joke about “Who’s your favourite Gem?” and the way she brought it back towards the end. Steven’s running gag with his camera was also really funny, but I do wish it was used a bit more, instead of just at the beginning and end of the episode.

          As for the visuals, as someone who loves snowy and winter backdrops, this episode was fantastic for me. It’s weird that we really haven’t seen Steven Universe explore this kind of climate yet. The design of the corrupted gems was cool too, and I liked the implications that they were Quartzes (going by the way their hair looked).

          As for the big ending, with the reveal of Jasper collecting corrupted gems for her own sinister machinations, it kind of came out of nowhere for me. I guess Jasper’s going to be like Peridot was in early Season 2, popping up in random places, being chased by the gems, and then escaping. It was a little bizarre seeing her in the snowy mountains after we last saw her in the middle of the ocean, but this is still a cartoon made for kids, so I can forgive that. I guess this is going to be setup for whatever she’s planning for the future, and she’s way more of an intimidating villain than Peridot ever was, but it still was a little too much “Surprise! Look who’s here!” for my tastes.

          Gem Hunt is one of those episodes that pretty much evens out the good and the bad, leaving you with a very middle-ground episode that doesn’t seem very memorable, aside from Jasper’s appearance. Exactly what she means to do with those corrupted gems is unclear at the moment, but I look forward to seeing how it plays out.

FINAL SCORE

6/10

 Okay

Crack the Whip

          Amethyst’s episodes are always really interesting. She’s always been a sort of a “bad influence” character, but with a good side. But ever since On the Run, it’s clear that she knows she’s a bad influence, and doesn’t like that about herself. This is such an interesting concept, especially for a kids show. I love that she’s not the basic “edgy and cool” character made for the target demographic. She has way more to her than people give her credit for.

          But anyways, on to the episode. We pick up almost directly where we left off, with Pearl and Garnet off to find Jasper, leaving Amethyst to take care of Steven and Connie. It basically goes the way you’d think: Amethyst convinces them to stop sparring, and they have a day out running around Beach City. Although I liked this part, I felt that it went on for a little too long, and I would’ve liked to see a bit more of the climax.

          Speaking of the climax, it was fantastic. Lots of fanservice here, and it was delivered really well. Jasper came back again (that’s three times in the span of a week), accompanied by the two corrupted gems from Gem Hunt in an attempt to singlehandedly take out the Crystal Gems.

          I know that there’s a throng of people out there who want Jasper to be redeemed in the same vein as Peridot, but I feel that this episode is a prime reason as to why that’s not going to happen. Don’t get me wrong, if they decide to go the redemption route, I’m all for it. I just feel that Jasper’s character is one that isn’t going to have a happy ending.

          She completely annihilated Amethyst in combat without breaking a sweat, and without the slightest hint of holding back. She was also more than ready to do the same to Steven and Connie, and if they hadn’t fused, it probably would’ve happened. Like I’ve said before, she’s the closest thing we have to a recurring villain on the show (besides Onion, I guess), and the Crew are doing an excellent job in making her as threatening as possible.

          Seeing Steven and Connie use Stevonnie as more than an excuse to run around and have a good time was awesome too. I figured she would use their sword/shield combo at some point, but I’d guessed that they’d save it for some big season or series finale. It was cool to see here, even if we didn’t get too much of it.

          Considering the title of tomorrow’s episode (plus her new outfit!), I think it’s safe to say we’re not finished with Amethyst episodes just yet. I really feel that there’s a lot to her we haven’t explored yet, and I can’t wait to see more.

FINAL SCORE

8/10

Great

Steven vs. Amethyst

          What a surprisingly sweet episode this was. You’d never guess it from the title, but that’s what it turned out to be.

          We picked up directly where Crack the Whip left off, with Pearl and Garnet being thrilled by the story of Steven’s success, and Amethyst feeling left out. Steven decided to ask her to accompany him to a training session with Pearl, which she agrees to. They spend the rest of the episode competing, both to be the best and worst.

          First off, this is something I’ve noticed in the last few episodes, but I feel it’d be best to bring up here. Ever since Mr. Greg, it seems that Pearl’s become a happier character to be around. Her personality in this episode reminded me of a really, really good Grade 1 teacher. We’ve also seen more of her cheerful, mom-like side in episodes like Gem Hunt and Monster Reunion. I’m glad that they’re developing her like this after she began to let go of her past with Rose. It really demonstrates how dedicated the crew is to the continuity of the show.

          As for the actual episode, I felt that it’s a worthy companion to Crack the Whip, as well as an excellent episode on its own. It reminded me a lot of Reformed, in that it focused on Amethyst trying to be better, but also reminding us how little she thought of herself, with a happy ending to cap it off.

          There were a lot of jabs at Steven as well, such as how often he gets new powers (to the point where he nonchalantly unveiled a spike-ball ability we’d never seen before), plus how he seems to forget to use his floating powers sometimes.

          The ending was fantastic too, as Steven and Amethyst bonded over both being something other than what people want them to be, in a delightful little conversation that says more than enough with very few words. So often we forget how the Gems (particularly Pearl in earlier episodes) see Steven as his mother, and how he’s trying his hardest to live up to that expectation. It’s something I’d really like to be explored again later, because it’s such an interesting issue.

          I loved Steven vs. Amethyst. It’s been my favourite episode this week so far. The conflict, the characters, the animation, the ending, it was all amazingly done. But since this was such a landmark episode, I figure tomorrow will probably be more or less filler, right?

          Right?

FINAL SCORE

9/10

Amazing

Bismuth

          Well, that happened.

          The fact that Bismuth was finally going to show up was something I knew ahead of time (they didn’t exactly hide it, with promos and screenshots floating around the internet weeks ago), but it’s so cool to finally have something that’s been hinted at since Lion 3: Straight to Video come to pass. It also helped that she got a fantastic introduction, one of the best we’ve had for a new character since Ruby and Sapphire first appeared on the scene.

          As it turns out, that bubbled gem in Lion’s mane is actually Bismuth, a member of the original Crystal Gems alongside Pearl and Garnet, as well as the one who forged all those physical weapons that seem to be everywhere. I also have a sneaking suspicion that she was the one who poofed Lapis back in the Gem War (watch Same Old World again! It’s definitely a Bismuth, but it’s unclear if it’s the Bismuth).

          As this was our first ever Steven Universe half-hour special, there was a lot of ground to cover, and this episode was paced perfectly. Each character got their fair share of screen time, with nobody feeling left out. The crew even found room to continue Amethyst’s ongoing arc in here a little bit.

          As for Bismuth herself, her design is very creative, with the rainbow dreadlocks resembling the rainbow colour scheme of a real bismuth gem. I also liked how her costume resembled an apron, because of how she worked with metal in a forgery like a blacksmith would. Her weapon is the only weak point for me, though. She shapeshifts her hands into hammers, blades, whatever she needs. While it’s creative, because we’ve seen gems shapeshift before, it’s not exactly something new for Steven Universe. 

What’s stopping someone like Amethyst from doing the exact same thing?

          Speaking of the Forge, let’s talk about that. It’s a sort of Kindergarten-looking place, filled with lava and weapons of every shape and size. Bismuth even upgraded the Gem’s existing weapons, giving Garnet’s gauntlets spikes, turning Pearl’s spear into a trident, and giving Amethyst flails for her whip. It was creepy, yet at the same time exciting to see a new place from gem history.

          The absolute best part of the episode, hands-down, was the entire climax and ending. Bismuth and Steven returned to the Forge alone, where she showed him a new weapon she created: the Breaking Point, which is capable of shattering gems with ease, killing them instantly. It’s a dark subject for a show as lighthearted as Steven Universe, so much so that the other Gems have never even mentioned shattering as a possibility for when they’re dealing with corrupted or Homeworld gems. They always bubble them and be done with it.

          Naturally, Steven objects, which convinces Bismuth that Rose still remembers her, and demands to know why she was trapped in the bubble for so long, and why she never told the others that she was still alive. When Steven has no answers, she refuses to believe that Rose is gone, and attempts to force it out of him by means of…well, force.

          Steven Universe, while not exactly shying away from beating up Steven a bit, is a little more friendly towards their main character than, say, Gravity Falls was towards Dipper. Only Jasper’s really ever beaten him up, and she’s a clear villain character. Most times when he takes a hit he just bounces back, ready for more. But here, we had the most brutal fight in the show’s history. It really felt like these two were really evenly matched. It got so dark that towards the end, I actually thought for a second that the show had gone the whole way and had Bismuth be shattered.

          While this wasn’t the case, I’ll leave her ultimate fate unspoiled if for some reason you’re reading my spoiler-filled review before watching the episode. Needless to say, the aftermath of the fight was quiet, with very little words being spoken by Steven and the Gems, but it was pitch-perfect in every way.

          While Bismuth hasn’t been my favourite episode of Steven’s Summer Adventures so far (that honour still goes to Mr. Greg), it was everything I wanted it to be and then some. It really felt like an entire StevenBomb’s worth of lore and information in one double length episode, and I’m sure the internet will be buzzing with theories soon, because like every great mystery, Bismuth raised as many questions as it did answer. I hope it’s not too long before Bismuth makes her grand return, as I can’t wait to see what she does next.

          Oh, by the way, because I’m Canadian, I’m getting an episode early tomorrow. Mwa ha ha.

FINAL SCORE

10/10

Legendary

Beta

(As of the time I’m writing this, this episode hasn’t officially aired in the US yet! If you haven’t watched Beta yet, stop reading now!!!)

          Well, that was an adventure. As happy as I am to have an episode three days early here in Canada, it’s going to be difficult waiting for the resolution of that cliffhanger.

          Ah well, I’ve waited through longer ones. Let’s begin the review!

          We returned back to the Amethyst arc after yesterday’s detour for Bismuth, and the tension has gotten even stronger. We’ve reached a point where Amethyst is moodier than Lapis. This should be a certified state of cartoon emergency.

          Thankfully, Peridot and Lapis returned to lighten the mood, and we got to see what they’ve been up to for the past little while. It seems that they’ve bonded over a mutual love of Camp Pining Hearts, which is both adorable and hilarious. They’ve also turned the barn into their own personal art museum, and I loved all the clever jabs the show took at the frankly condescending world of modern art. It was also nice to see Lapis participating in the fun for once. She’s really making slow but steady leaps in character growth. I just wish we could get more of it.

          But as Amethyst’s move refused to improve as she couldn’t get Jasper off her mind, Peridot decided to take her and Steven on a tour of another new location: the Beta Kindergarten, a haphazardly built creation dug into some sandstone in the middle of a desert.

          Frankly, I think I liked the design of the Beta Kindergarten more than the regular one. The desert colours are really creative, and I liked how all the holes where the gems came out were shaped differently. I know that the two Kindergartens are supposed to contrast visually (as the Beta one is supposed to be more or less unfinished), but the wild, unusualness of this one was much more visually appealing.

          More Jasper lore was dropped, as the group found her hole, and upon examination, Peridot confirmed that she was the most perfectly made quartz she had ever seen. It seems that the crew is working to make Jasper as much as a threat to the Crystal Gems as possible, which really begs the question: what’s the endgame here? I’m almost certain that redemption is off the table for her, but as we saw in Bismuth, Steven considers shattering gems to be out of the question. If Jasper is to ultimately be bubbled and left in the Temple Heart, I’m hoping they give her a strong finale.

          The episode left on a groan-worthy cliffhanger, and I’m sure I’ll be waiting impatiently all weekend for the next part in this 3-part storyline. I’m assuming that the rest of the Summer of Steven will be focusing on the Amethyst arc, so I’m excited to see how that plays out.

FINAL SCORE

8/10

Great

          Week 3 of the Summer of Steven really blew the others out of the water. So many really good and lore-building episodes, plus the long awaited introduction of Bismuth! One can only hope that Week 4, the final week, lives up to it’s predecessor.

Editorial: They will remember that

They will remember that

          You know what’s cool? Choose-your-own-adventure books. As a kid, I was all about these. I loved how there were different ways the story could end, and I loved going back and reading through them over and over to take different paths and see where they’d lead me.

          As games evolve, we’ve seen them use more and more aspects from these books. Now it’s commonplace for a game to have a dialogue wheel, and even occasionally choices that will change the flow of the game. We’ve seen games like Until Dawn, Undertale, Life is Strange, and pretty much every installment from Telltale Games do this.

          Last week, thanks to YouTuber ProJared, I discovered and played through a little-known indie game from 2013 called Moirai. The game is incredibly short (it can be beaten in about 2 minutes if you know what you’re doing), very simplistic, but it begs replay just to see how different the game will be each time.

          See, beneath its retro graphics and Doom-style controls, Moirai holds a secret. Towards the end of the game, you meet a farmer covered in blood, who you interrogate. After hearing his answers, you decide whether to kill or spare him. A minute later, you’re presented with a similar choice, but one that ends up covering you in blood no matter what your answer is. Then, finally, you meet with another farmer, who asks you the same questions you asked earlier.

          This is when the twist comes in. Your answers to the questions are saved, and the next person who plays the game will decide whether to kill you or not. You are e-mailed your fate every time, and it’s interesting to see the results of your different actions.

          Moirai is completely free on Steam, and I’d recommend it if it sounds like an interesting concept to you. I feel like this could be the start of something really interesting.

          While the choices in Moirai really don’t have any consequence (it’s more of an experiment than a game), there are games out there that bend their story entirely to your will. Sometimes your choices will prove to be completely arbitrary, with the same ending every time, like in Minecraft: Story Mode. Other times every little decision you make will follow you to the end, with several different endings, like in Undertale.

          But the thing is, as people have said, it’s hard for developers to add choice to games. Why program something that only half of the players will see, especially if the ending is the same every time? I feel like we sort of saw this in Uncharted 4. In that game, every once in a while you’d get a dialogue wheel where you could choose what Nate said next. This had no impact on the plot whatsoever, and at the end of the game it felt like a weird thing that was just sort of there.

          In the end, as much as I love choice, I feel like there’s really a time and place to allow the player to dictate where the story goes. In Until Dawn, it works because the game is smaller and built entirely around choice. But if you added choice to a story focused game like Uncharted, it might not go over as well, because of how large the game is, and how much programming it would take to do that.

          Personally, I have high hopes that Detroit: Become Human will be the next evolution of choice based games (although it is a David Cage game). I love getting to choose my own path, even if the end goal is always the same. I feel like you build a stronger bond with characters if you’re the one deciding their fate.

Song of the Week

          This week I’ve chosen It’s Raining Somewhere Else from Undertale. I just finished replaying it, and the scene where this song plays really sticks out in my mind, during your dinner date with Sans. If you haven’t listened to this phenomenal soundtrack or played the equally fantastic game yet, what are you waiting for!?