The Crossing Review: “A Shadow Out of Time”

The lady who couldn’t sit still

(This review contains spoilers!)

          I’ve reached a point in my TV show-watching career where I’m able to point out sets I’ve seen before on other shows. Last week I spied a staircase used to film a scene in the Timeless finale, and this week several scenes took place in areas that Once Upon a Time shot in. This isn’t a slight against the show, just a funny thing I noticed that probably means I should get out more.

          This was another really good episode of The Crossing. I think the writers definitely know they’re sitting on a very exciting concept, and they’re doing everything in their power to get us invested in the world of the show and what’s going on. This week introduced us to the disease that Apex created to wipe out the humans in the far future, as well as give us more background to Jude and Reese.

          Picking up where last week left off, Reese is demanding to be brought to Leah, but Jude isn’t super keen on taking her there on the grounds that he doesn’t want to get involved in another conspiracy. We still don’t know what exactly happened to bring him to this town, but they definitely imply that whatever happened was enough to mess up his marriage and send him out to the middle of nowhere for good.

Meanwhile, we got to see a bit more of what the future is like and how Reese and Leah got together. Reese found her as a baby and raised her as her own, even though it was illegal for an Apex to raise a normal human. Leah then got the mysterious sickness created by the Apex to wipe out humanity, leading Reese to keep her alive using her enhanced blood. This is why the two of them are so desperate to need to get back together.

          And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We also learned more about the government guy this week, who turned out to be the leader of an anti-Apex resistance who travelled to the past to prevent them from ever rising up. He answers to a mysterious female superior who’s face we didn’t get to see, definitely implying she’s someone we’ve already met. We didn’t get too much of this plotline this week, but enough to get me intrigued.

          The one thing we didn’t find much about that I really would’ve liked more of is Emma, the FBI agent in charge of the case. I couldn’t tell you anything about her character right now except that she’s a typical government lady. I know more about some of the secondary characters than I do her. I really hope that next week we get a bit more background on her.

            This is a very strong episode that does a great job at developing Jude and Reese more while still giving enough additions to the overall mystery of the show to keep viewers invested in the arching plot. I do wish we saw more of Emma, who is still little more than a blank slate, but the development we got for the other two leads more than made up for it.

FINAL SCORE

8/10

Great

Editorial: Fortnite does it right

Fortnite does it right

          If you’ve been paying attention to the gaming community over the past few months, you’ve surely noticed that Fortnite has taken the world by storm. And why wouldn’t it? Despite still being in Early Access the game feels like PUBG fully realized, without the graphical and gameplay errors that plague that game.

          While I’m not a huge fan of the Battle Royale concept as a whole (a 1 in 100 chance of winning just doesn’t appeal to me), I can definitely see how Fortnite managed to become the early king of the gaming ring this year, as well as how it managed to get away with stuff like microtransactions and the like.

          First and foremost: Fortnite has quickly become the poster boy for Free to Play gaming. While you can buy cosmetic stuff with real money, you never have to drop a dime on the game if you don’t want to. In a world with games like Battlefront II costing $79.99 to get basically the starter pack with the microtransactions to get the real stuff waiting inside, Fortnite decided to prove once and for all that you can still make a good game that garners massive popularity while having said microtransactions inside.

          The only cost? The game has to be free to play.

          I feel that this is partially why Fortnite has exploded in popularity so massively. You don’t need to drop a single cent to give it a try. All you need is some empty space on your hard drive and the game is yours to play. If you don’t like it, you uninstall it and you don’t need to give it a second thought. But if you do like it there are a bunch of options to give back to the developers who made this game by buying some of the bonus cosmetic stuff they have available.

          At the end of the day it’s a win-win. The people playing the game don’t have to fork over an $80 shell price just to have access to the base game, instead getting one they can try at their leisure and forget about quickly if it doesn’t appeal to them. And if the game turns out to be good and garner itself a fanbase the developers will still garner a profit from microtransaction sales.

          Of course, for companies like EA and Activision there can never be enough profit, and that’s how stuff like Star Wars Battlefront II and Destiny 2 happen.

          But here’s the good news: Fortnite has quickly emerged as one of, if not the most popular online multiplayer game in the wake of Overwatch. While PUBG certainly garnered some attention last year, once this fancy new kid on the block showed up boasting about how it could actually run on something less than a supercomputer, wasn’t plagued by hackers from foreign countries, and, best of all, was free, heads quickly began to turn. It even reached a point where Drake, perhaps one of today’s biggest musical superstars, was playing it. That’s some damn nice free advertising if Drake of all people says your game is good.

          While I do have my doubts that this’ll actually happen, I would very much like to see Triple-A publishers try to replicate Fortnite’s success the same way they tried to replicate Overwatch’s success by making 2017 the Year of the Loot Box. But I think there’s only one way to take down Fortnite, and that’s by doing it one better. Thing is, there’s no way anyone’s going to prefer a $70 knockoff of the game to the $0 real McCoy, so if they want to throw their hat in the ring of Battle Royale they’ll have to learn to dance like Fortnite does.

Timeless Review: “The Salem Witch Hunt”

Sick burns

(This review contains spoilers!)

          Man, I’m so gonna miss this show when the season’s over.

          Timeless continued its seemingly non-stop winning streak with a trip to Salem this time, with Flynn along for the ride as Wyatt is…busy with other things. Of course, going to a village full of crazy people isn’t really the best idea, and things quickly to awry for the team as they always seem to.

          First off, the elephant in the room: Wyatt’s dead wife is back, and she’s none too happy that he’s been gone for two months. So unhappy that she’s filed for divorce. Wyatt decides to make things right by doing something incredibly silly: he shows her around the base!

          I’m sticking to my guns from the last episode that his wife is Rittenhouse, especially considering her seeing all the Mason stuff was such a big deal. But, to their credits, there’s still a chance that her coming back was just an accident. We know that Rittenhouse made a secret trip to 1980, but we don’t know what they did there. Maybe the wife is Rittenhouse and they were deliberately trying to bring her back, or maybe they were doing something else and this is just collateral damage to the timeline. I honestly can’t wait to find out what’s going on here.

          We also got a bit of further development of Jiya’s premonitions as she finally told Rufus what was going on, and that he killed a Pilgrim-looking guy in one of her visions. Another thing I loved about this episode is the resolution of this subplot. Rufus knows going in that he doesn’t want to kill anybody, so when they come across the exact Pilgrim Jiya described, they immediately go after him and assume he’s Rittenhouse. He turns out to be okay, but because they attacked him he confronts Rufus later on and dies as a result. If Rufus had never known that he was a potential problem, that guy would never have died, and Jiya’s vision wouldn’t have come true. Talk about some awesome writing, and again, I can’t wait to see how this subplot ends up.

          And those weren’t even the best part of the episode! That honour goes to Flynn, who’s madcap adventure through Salem was both hilarious and kinda dark. With Wyatt busy he has to go alongside them, and it doesn’t take long before he’s back to his old ways of shooting his way through problems. His more extreme methods were really fun to watch contrasted with Lucy and Rufus’ more pacifistic ways of getting information. I also found it great how the only way they were getting out of the hanging situation was with Flynn showing up and taking out the judges. Sometimes the best defense really is offense, I suppose.

          And, as always, the set and costuming design was on point this episode. Without fail Timeless always manages to truly bring you to the period they’re travelling to every week, never once breaking immersion. It’s always a true sight to behold, and the various designers working on the show really deserve special recognition.

          Seriously, more people need to watch this show. It’s unbelievably consistent with its writing, visuals, story and surprises, and it’s easily the show I look forward to watching the most week after week. This episode was no exception, blending great action and adventure with lots of awesome teases of surprises brewing for later.

          #RenewTimelessAgain

FINAL SCORE

9/10

Amazing

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Review: “Inside Voices”

In memory of Cap’n Crunch

(This review contains spoilers!)

          After two great episodes in a row, I was really hoping we’d finally reached a point where S.H.I.E.L.D could be consistently good again. Turns out it was a fool’s hope, as this episode was by and large a complete disaster. Characters acted out of character, the dialogue was pretty weird at times, and I didn’t really feel invested very much.

          Coulson, Talbot and Creel trying to break out of the HYDRA base was pretty awesome though.

          Daisy and May are trying to figure out where Coulson is, and they’ve enlisted Robin’s help in finding him. Only problem is, she’s not talking. Meanwhile, Coulson is trying to escape the base with Talbot and Creel, but Ruby is making things difficult. And meanwhile again, Simmons is trying to prove that she’s invincible…for some reason.

          Let’s talk about that last one first. Simmons decides she needs to get Fitz out…for some reason, I guess. To do this, she needs to convince Mack to open the door. How does she go about doing this?

          By filling three cups with water and one cup with acid and drinking them one at a time to prove she’s invincible.

          Not only is this an incredibly stupid thing to do even with the whole “we make it to the future” thing, it flies directly in the face of Simmons’ character. If it was just a trick to convince Mack to open the door I would’ve been fine with it, but she reveals at the end that she actually filled one of the cups with acid. You mean to tell me that Simmons, a character that we’ve spent 100+ episodes with seeing her develop and seeing her form emotional bonds with the rest of the cast, would risk her life just to prove a point?

          I don’t think so.

          And while I thought Coulson’s great escape this week was awesome and made great use of Creel, it did have two major problems. Firstly, there wasn’t enough of it. It felt less like a major plot in the episode and more like a fun treat after sitting through the May and Simmons plots. And secondly, a problem I’ve been having for a while now: it’s impossible for me to take Ruby seriously as a villain. Sure, she cut Yo-Yo’s arms off, but “dangerous” does not create a compelling character. Think back to Hive and Aida and how three-dimensional their beliefs and motivations were. Ruby has all the personality and qualities of a tornado. She shows up, does some damage, and then leaves. She has no character, no personality, and no reason for us, the audience, to understand why she does what she does. She’s a villain for the sake of having a villain.

          This episode was a mess, to say the least. May’s storyline was heartwarming albeit unmemorable, Coulson’s storyline was fun albeit lacking in several qualities, and Simmons’ storyline was a complete joke. After this, I think I’m finally ready to write this potentially final season off as a wash.

FINAL SCORE

4/10

Mediocre

The Crossing Review: “Pilot”

Stranger fins

(This review contains spoilers!)

          Yep, looks like it’s about time I started to review a new show. The Crossing caught my eye as soon as I watched the SuperBowl ad for it, and I’ve spent the time since then with my fingers crossed hoping it’ll be good.

          Good news is that with this pilot episode we’re off to a great start.

          The biggest winner to come out of the show is the concept itself. A small fishing town discovers 400 bodies in the ocean one morning, and those that didn’t drown tell the sheriff that they came from 180 years in the future where humanity is being hunted down by a superior race. Just the idea of a bunch of people suddenly appearing from the future is awesome, but having them pop up from the ocean instead of just materializing is super cool. It’s a fantastic concept and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

          Things get even more interesting when the superior race is explained. Called the Apex, these are enhanced humans smarter and stronger than your Average Joe. They’ve apparently been working to eradicate the humans 180 years from now, leading to this group of intrepid travellers somehow finding a way to time-travel to 2018.

          Speaking of that, why is it every show I review on here has a secret society as the villains? First HYDRA, then Rittenhouse, and now Apex. Next you’ll tell me Jeff Probst is involved with the Illuminati.

          The main crux of the plot right now is that the mother of one of the kids that showed up on the beach has been separated from her daughter, and it’s up to Sheriff Steve Zahn to reunite them. Zahn does a good job, playing a single parent trying to create a new life for himself in this small town. He’s instantly very likeable and relatable, which are always good qualities to have when you’re the leading man. We don’t really know enough about the other characters to give a solid opinion on them just yet, but there’s no outlying bad one just yet.

          That’s my biggest problem with this pilot: at times it seems like it’s more interested in moving the plot along as fast as it can rather than allowing us to take this time to get to know the leads. Once we’re past the halfway point of the episode it’s mostly important story threads from there on out with little new info given to us about the leads. I know the show only has 45 minutes to get all the information it has to into the viewers’ heads, but it would’ve been nice to learn a little more about Zahn’s character or the FBI agent.

          We do get one big surprise towards the end though. It quickly becomes apparent that Apex have come to the past alongside the other travellers, and some might’ve already integrated themselves into society. This is implied when one of the travellers meets with the FBI agent’s higher-up to tell him the bad news, but is shocked to see him. While we don’t get confirmation that he’s actually Apex, it’s definitely implied, and it’s a great reveal. I’m really hoping that this show does something similar to what Timeless has been doing this season and sprinkles a bunch of sleeper agents throughout the show.

          This was a really good premiere. The concept alone makes it worth a watch, and the story threads said concept leads too are pretty promising as well. I would’ve liked more time getting to know the main cast, but I expect we’ll be getting that in the coming weeks. If you’re into crazy ideas and good TV, definitely give The Crossing a shot.

FINAL SCORE

8/10

Great

Editorial: Characters I want in Smash 5

Characters I want in Smash 5

          The next Smash Bros is on the horizon, and that means it’s time once again to speculate what new characters will appear as playable fighters. It’s always a blast seeing who people come up with, and I have a few choices myself.

          My one rule for this list is that the inclusions have to be plausible. As much as I’d like to see Nathan Drake or Darth Vader show up, there’s basically 0% chance that’s gonna happen, so I won’t waste your time with that. This is also just a list of what I want to see in the game. We’re probably going to be getting characters from Xenoblade, Fire Emblem and Yokai Watch, but since I don’t really know any of those games I’ll just be sticking to the characters I want.

Nintendo Characters

Revamped veterans

          With the tease that Link will be adopting his Breath of the Wild look in this game, fans have been speculating that his moveset will be updated to closer reflect that game. Personally I think that the changes won’t be too drastic, especially since he can use his sword, arrows, bombs, boomerangs and the spin attack in Breath of the Wild, but I digress.

          I definitely think it’s time we gave some older characters a bit of a tune-up. We don’t need a compete rehaul and make them completely different than they were before, but just a few tweaks to make them closer resemble how they play in their core series. I’d love to see Ganondorf finally become more than a worse clone of Captain Falcon. It’d also be great to see Mario get some of his new moves from Odyssey, including Cappy.

Spring-Man

          ARMS might be Nintendo’s biggest love-it-or-hate-it game of all time. While some really enjoy it to this day, others were bored in minutes and haven’t picked it up since then. I really enjoyed my time with the game personally, even if it’s been a while since I played.

          It makes perfect sense to include a representative from Nintendo’s other fighting game in Smash, and Spring-Man, the face of the franchise, is a no-brainer. His stretchy arms could be used for both close up and ranged combat, while he would be a bit of a sitting duck when using them. The diverse roster of punching gloves in ARMS could also be used for a variety of attacks, making him seem like a truly diverse character.

A new Zelda character

          Can you believe we haven’t gotten a truly new Zelda character in Smash since Melee? Sure, we got Toon Link in Brawl, but let’s be honest, he’s just an updated version of Melee’s Young Link. I want a true-blue new representative from Zelda. Not a clone, not just another version of Link or Zelda, but a brand new character.

          Thanks to Hyrule Warriors we now have a lot more moveset potential for many secondary characters from the franchise, like Impa, Midna and Skull Kid. We also have the Champions from Breath of the Wild, who each have pretty unique designs and abilities that can be used as attacks. I don’t even care if it ends up being Tingle, I just want a new Zelda rep in Smash!

Ridley

          Yeah, yeah, I know, but come on, even as someone who isn’t a huge Metroid fan having Ridley in the game is just too cool to pass up.

          We’ve all heard the stories about how Smash developer Masahiro Sakurai thinks Ridley is just too big to be a playable character and that making him smaller wouldn’t do the character justice, but they resize characters all the time for Smash! Captain Olimar is canonically about the size of a nickel but in Smash he stands just a bit shorter than Mario. Plus Smash has literally never had a non-Samus Metroid representative, and with Prime 4 on the horizon I think it’s time for one of Nintendo’s original three franchises to get it’s due.

Third-Party Characters

The Dragonborn

          I already mentioned this one in yesterday’s April Fools’ version of the list, but I actually really think this could happen. Last year Skyrim on Switch was pushed big-time by Nintendo, going so far as to be featured in the reveal trailer for the system. We also know that Smash is unafraid to include an M-Rated character or two, such as Solid Snake or Bayonetta.

          There’s also the possibility that Doomguy will make it into Smash with how iconic the franchise he’s from is (plus the fact that DOOM 2016 made it to Switch), but if I were to choose which of the two Bethesda-published characters would make it to Smash, for me The Dragonborn is way more iconic and has a lot more moveset potential.

Indie Representatives

          The Nintendo Switch has become such a haven for indie titles that it’d be crazy not to represent a few of the biggest names as playable fighters in Smash. These characters have so much potential that I’m sure there’s a great one in there somewhere.

          The two I can definitely see the most likely chance of happening are Steve from Minecraft and Shovel Knight from…well, Shovel Knight. Minecraft was one of the first games to be brought to Nintendo Switch after launch day, and has one of the biggest playerbases of any game ever. I can definitely see a character with a moveset based around building and crafting being a really cool concept. On the other hand, Shovel Knight was there on Switch launch day, has his own set of amiibo and has an extremely diverse moveset in his game, including several abilities perfect for Smash.

          If we were only going to get one I think Steve would be the more likely pick just because of how ubiquitous Minecraft has become with video games, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Shovel Knight join the fight as well after he was so robbed of a spot in the Smash Ballot for last game.

          Also, I know it’s a meme at this point, but I wouldn’t mind a bit of Undertale representation. I have no idea how they’d make that work or what character they’d pick, but it’d be cool.

Crash Bandicoot

          It was a huge surprise seeing that Nintendo was bringing the awesome Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy to Switch (and if you never played that game on PS4 definitely check it out), so hey, why not include one of gaming’s biggest platforming mascots from the 90’s in the new Smash?

          There was a time that Crash was as iconic for PlayStation as Mario is for Nintendo and Sonic is for Sega, but he was basically shoved out of the spotlight the second cartoony animal platformers stopped being the big thing and Naughty Dog moved onto other projects. But now that he’s gotten a chance at redemption with the awesome remaster of his classic PS1 trilogy and a spot on the Switch, I think it’s only fair to give the guy his due.

Banjo-Kazooie

          My #1 pick to be included in the new Smash as well as probably the least likely character out of the eight I just listed off to be included is none other than Rareware’s own Banjo-Kazooie.

          Back in the days of the N64 Banjo and Kazooie were unstoppable. Their pictures would appear alongside Mario and Link’s in Nintendo ads. Their games were hailed as the greatest platformers of their time, and even to this day both Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie are some of the most beloved games from that era. I guarantee that if Rare hadn’t been bought by Microsoft in the early 2000’s Banjo would’ve made it to Smash years ago.

         

          But they were. And he didn’t. And so here we are.

          Poor Banjo and Kazooie haven’t seen any action in a decade now, ever since the great disappointment that was Nuts and Bolts. There was a glimmer of hope last year when Yooka-Laylee was coming out that they could fill the void left behind by the bear and bird, but…nope, that game sucked too. It’s time the original duo made a comeback, and bring Rare back from the brink with them.

          Phil Spencer, head of the Xbox team, has expressed numerous times that he’d be more than happy to allow Banjo and Kazooie into the game, even as recently as last month! While the characters are essentially retired these days, as someone who grew up in the N64 age I can tell you that back then Banjo was as quintessential a name for Nintendo as Mario and Link were. If the Duck Hunt Dog can make it in to represent the NES era and the Wii Fit Trainer can make it in to represent the Wii era, Banjo-Kazooie should be here to represent the N64 era. It’s only fitting.

          So those are my picks! Who do you want to see in the game? Let me know and I’ll see you next week!

Editorial: Top 5 Characters who will DEFINITELY be in Smash 5 (April Fools 2018)

Top 5 Characters who will DEFINITELY be in Smash 5

          As at least 2 of you know, the new Smash Bros. for Nintendo Switch is on the way, and that means it’s time for character speculation. But lucky for me, I know for sure five brand new characters that are definitely going to make it into the game!

#5

          Recently Nintendo’s been a huge pusher of small indie titles, and you can’t get an indie title smaller than Skyrim. I definitely think we’ll be seeing The Dragonborn make it into Smash, but I do have to wonder if any of the casual crowd will even recognize them.

          It’s such a hidden gem of a game that people will probably be like “What? Who’s this?” at first before they finally discover how great this little-known classic really is. It also helps that Skyrim was one of the games featured in the Switch announcement trailer, so that just makes it all the more likely.

#4

          Assist Trophies have been a major part of Smash’s item roster since Brawl, and last game we got our first example of a character getting promoted from Assist Trophy to playable with Little Mac. I think we’ll be seeing this happen again with the new game, specifically with a character people have been wanting in Smash for years…

          That’s right, The Legendary Starfy is gonna be playable! We all adored the hit DS classic, and now it’s his time to shine in the fighting arena!

#3

          Alright, this one is more speculation than anything, but hear me out. While watching the trailer for the millionth time I noticed something I hadn’t spotted before, and I think it’s teasing one of the new characters.

          When you see the lineup of characters in front of the logo, look closely and you can see the Inklings from Splatoon standing in the foreground. 

          Could this mean they’re going to make it into the game? Only time will tell.

#2

          Nintendo listens to what the fans want for Smash, and sometimes they even add a character based on that. Both Sonic and Bayonetta only made it into the game because of fan demand, and I think we’ll see this happen again with a much-hyped character.

          Take one look at the Splatoon 2 community posts, and what do you see?

          KNACK CONFIRMED FOR SMASH BABY

#1

          Okay, so remember how I said that the Dragonborn had a good chance because of how Skyrim was one of the games featured in the Switch announcement trailer? Well, there was another non-Nintendo game in that trailer that I think is finally going to make it into the game…

          That’s right, NBA Playgrounds! And that means that none other than Charles Barkley is going to dribble his way into Smash this holiday season. 

          I’ve even heard rumours that the dev team are so excited to have Barkley in the game that they’ll be redesigning fan-favourite stage Final Destination to closer resemble a basketball court.