Toy Story 3 (Game) (PS3)

For the longest time, big-name feature films would often receive a tie-in video game released on major platforms alongside their theatrical run, either adapting the film based on older scripts or telling an original story related to it; while this model hasn't entirely disappeared, the proliferation of mobile gaming has changed this approach for the most part. The Toy Story franchise is no stranger to such tie-in media, with Toy Story 3 being the last of its kind under the original model. However, the Toy Story 3 game takes a different approach that still remains unique to it, featuring both the expected Story Mode and a highly-lauded Toy Box Mode that served as a precursor to the short-lived toys-to-life game Disney Infinity. While I have had experience with the PS3 version of this game, which is old enough to still have an expired free ticket offer inside, it wasn't a hands-on one, until I decided to look at the game myself while revisiting the series in anticipation of Toy Story 5. Surprisingly, the game actually holds up pretty well on its own, with the Toy Box Mode in particular still living up to the hype even 16 years later.

Toy Story 3 (Film)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.

While a third entry to the popular Toy Story franchise would seem inevitable due to high box office returns, Toy Story 3 had quite a rough development. The short version is that, due to the distribution contract Pixar had signed, Disney owned the rights to all of their characters and could make sequels for any of their films, which strained the relationship between the two companies. Disney would push forward with their own Toy Story 3, to be produced by new studio Circle Seven Animation, for a 2008 release. Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, however, placed Disney Animation under new management, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, with Circle Seven shutting down shortly after and sequel production transferred to Pixar. Pixar would craft a whole new story, which would eventually see the light of day as the final version of Toy Story 3 in 2010. Although the film would cost about $200 million to create, making it one of the most expensive films ever made at the time, it was the first animated film to make over $1 billion, even becoming the highest-grossing animated film ever until Frozen, and would receive numerous nominations and awards, including an Oscar for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (“We Belong Together”).

At the time the film came out, when I was in high school, I felt cautious optimism going in; optimism from Pixar’s flawless track record up to then and caution from how the third film in a series usually isn’t as good as the first two. Fortunately, it stuck the landing as perhaps the perfect ending to the trilogy (with not a dry eye in the audience by the time the credits rolled). Admittedly, I hadn’t seen this entry as much in the interim, partly due to the devastating emotional core and some rather heavy imagery, but by the time I finished watching it now, over 15 years later, I remembered why it had left an impact at the time it had come out. However, I had also forgotten how intense it could be at the same time.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)

Sequels seem inevitable after a successful game release, especially for a series as popular as Super Mario. What makes Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Galaxy 2) stand out, however, is that it was originally intended as an updated version of the original Super Mario Galaxy (Galaxy) called Super Mario Galaxy More, but there was enough new content that the development team turned it into a full sequel. When Galaxy 2 released for the Nintendo Wii in 2010, it garnered instant acclaim, with many considering it on par with or even better than the original and became one of the best-selling titles for the system (though it would still fall a few million units short of the original). Since I played the original Galaxy in anticipation of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, I continued my journey with Galaxy 2, this time through the original Wii release via the Wii U’s backwards compatibility. While it did deserve the praise it had received, I felt more mixed about the presentation overall compared with its predecessor.

Second Look - God of War (WildStorm/DC Comic)

Note: This review contains spoilers for God of War (WildStorm/DC), God of War (2005) and God of War II.

While 2010 would see the release of two God of War titles, including the much-anticipated God of War III and the prequel game Ghost of Sparta, this would not be the only God of War media released that year. Coinciding with the release of the former, a God of War comic book was published on a bi-monthly schedule and ran for six issues, filling in yet another unseen gap in Kratos’ life. Rather notably, while the comic was initially published by WildStorm, an imprint of DC Comics at the time, only five issues would be published before WildStorm was shut down, with the sixth issue and trade paperback collection being published by DC. While I would witness this happen in real time from buying the single issues as they came, including a copy of the first issue signed by writer Marv Wolfman and a less-documented variant cover of said issue, I was still dumb enough to also buy a copy of the trade when it came out, though it has made re-reads a lot easier. While revisiting the God of War series, I thought it fair to also take another look at this comic, not only due to its canon status, but also to hopefully make up for my more lackluster first review. Revisiting this comic again after so many years, I thought it still held up as both a good God of War comic and a decent book on its own merits, but it’s definitely not for people who aren’t already familiar with the games.

Second Look - God of War: Ghost of Sparta

Note: This review contains spoilers for the God of War series.

Following the release of God of War III, a second God of War game was released on the PSP, subtitled Ghost of Sparta, which sought to expand on the character of Deimos teased in the original game and tie up loose ends with Kratos’ character arc. Like its other PSP contemporary, Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta was later ported to the PS3, along with its original pre-order content, as part of God of War: Origins Collection, allowing players to experience the games in full HD and with minor gameplay tweaks to better suit the new platform. Much like Chains of Olympus, I had previously experienced the game on both platforms and found myself preferring the latter for its presentation and gameplay experience, and so chose to experience the game that way when reevaluating it. While I did like the game when I played it before, I felt like I got more out of it on my most recent playthrough, appreciating it even more as an integral part of Kratos’ backstory and motivations.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Note: This review contains spoilers for Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

Whether or not you’re familiar with middle grade fiction, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Percy Jackson & the Olympians, a novel series by Rick Riordan about a young demigod named Percy Jackson. The series proved popular enough that a film based on the first book, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (The Lightning Thief), was released in 2010. The film, directed by Chris Columbus, did well at the box office, but was criticized, even by the author, for the way it deviated from the source material. It was actually around when the film released that I first became aware of Percy Jackson, although I didn’t do anything with that knowledge at the time because both the Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events series had reached their end around that time and I thought I had outgrown middle grade fiction. As an adult, however, when I rediscovered the joy of reading middle grade fiction, I finally dipped my toe into Percy Jackson and read the first book in time for the Disney+ adaptation, which I enjoyed. Afterwards, I decided to try watching the film just to see how badly it had apparently handled the same material. By the end, I realized that my past self was right in not watching it.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)

If you were around in the mid-2000s, there was a chance you had heard of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a series of still-ongoing children’s novels written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney. If not that, you may have heard of the series of live-action films based on the books, with the first one, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, released in 2010. I had some awareness of both, though for whatever reason it never really caught my interest. Fast forward to 2021 and Disney+ released a new adaptation of the original book, also titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid, though I noticed more fans of the series compare it unfavorably to the original adaptation. This finally motivated me to try and see what all the fuss was about and although I went in with no expectations about its quality, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of heart in the writing and the honestly great life lesson it can impart on its target audience.

Shrek Forever After - The Years Start Coming and They Don't Stop Coming

 

Following the release of Shrek 2, I will admit I originally didn’t have much of a desire to invest in the series any further, mainly due to overexposure of the second film and the ads making the third look bad. After watching Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, however, I decided to go back and fill in some story gaps. While I would normally continue with Shrek the Third, I was convinced that I could easily skip it and not miss anything, and so jumped straight to Shrek Forever After, which was originally billed as the final chapter of Shrek’s story prior to the announcement of the elusive Shrek 5. Not only did Shrek Forever After prove to be far better than I anticipated, it seemed to confirm that DreamWorks Animation’s change in story direction was ultimately for the better.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (PS3)

While IO Interactive (IOI) is best known for their long running Hitman franchise, they have developed a handful of other titles. One of these was Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, which garnered a mixed reception from critics and indirectly led to the creation of gaming outlet Giant Bomb after GameSpot fired editor Jeff Gertsman for his 6/10 review score for the game. Despite the reception, IOI announced a sequel, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, which Square Enix would publish in 2010. Upon release, Dog Days received a mixed reception from critics, with criticism aimed at its short length, story and experimental visual style.

Despite all the negativity that surrounded the game when it came out, I actually always had an interest in playing Dog Days, largely due to the unique and gritty presentation that resembled footage from a cheap handheld camera. Sometime after release, I ended up ignoring the game until I was made aware that the game had developed a cult following over the years for the exact reason it caught my attention (and convinced that I didn’t need to play Dead Men beforehand). Although you can easily buy the game cheap secondhand for about $10-15, I bought a brand-new sealed PS3 copy off the Square Enix store (normally $20 now), largely because I could and partly so I could have the freshest experience in honor of this blog’s 12th anniversary.

As it turns out, while there is plenty that one could criticize about Dog Days, largely when it comes to its gameplay, there truly is something about its presentation, and to an extent its story, that keeps the experience engaging and worth (re-)visiting.

Stubs - Batman: Under the Red Hood

Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010) Voices of Bruce Greenwood, Jensen Ackles, John DiMaggio, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Isaacs, Wade Williams Directed by Brandon Vietti. Screenplay by Judd Winick.  Based on Batman: Under the Hood by Judd Winick, Doug Mahnke and characters created by Bob Kane (and Bill Finger). Produced by Bruce Timm and Bobbie Page. Run time 75 minutes. USA Color. Animated, Action, Superheroes.

Batman is a staple of the DC comics, if not the staple. There seems to be no other character to have appeared in so many live-action and animated features. For some reason, the stories seem to work better animated than they do in live-action.  The animated films seem to tell a wider range of Batman stories, while the live-action films seem to be constantly rebooting the story.

Case in point, Batman: Under the Red Hood, which is based on "Batman: Under the Hood" a comic book written by Judd Winick with art by Doug Mahnke, originally published in 2005. The story brings back to life former Robin, Jason Todd, a character first created in 1983 by writer Gerry Conway, and artist Don Newton and killed off in 1988 following a telephone poll that voted for the character to be killed off.

Second Look - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (PS3)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.

After the success of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, LucasArts capitalized on its success with a sequel, The Force Unleashed II. Unfortunately, the end result fared far worse critically, followed by lower sales numbers. As I would learn later on, the state of the finished product came as a result of a rather troubled development, which included an unusually short production period of only nine months. This made me curious how well the game had aged, so I fired up my PS3 copy after over eleven years and played through the entire campaign. Suffice to say, my outlook on it has since lightened up, but its short development certainly held it back from greatness.

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut (Switch)

When the original Shantae released back in 2002, it didn’t sell very well, partly due to its low print run and poor distribution. However, that didn’t stop WayForward from envisioning a sequel, which wouldn’t see the light of day until it finally released in October 2010 for, of all things, the Nintendo DSi. This game, Shantae: Risky’s Revenge would then receive an iOS port the following year with a new Magic Mode, followed by a Windows port in 2014, now called Shantae: Risky’s Revenge – Director’s Cut, featuring a new Warp system and the iOS version’s Magic Mode. Following my playthrough of Shantae, I naturally went to Risky’s Revenge – Director’s Cut, but much like the original game, I opted for the physical Switch port from Limited Run Games instead of any of the downloadable versions. While perhaps not as fleshed out as later entries, Risky’s Revenge still proved itself a great step up from the original.

Octodad

In the world of independent games, perhaps one of the better-known titles is Octodad: Dadliest Catch, a game about an octopus disguised as a human. After I played Bugsnax, developed by Young Horses, I felt more compelled to check it out, but decided to first see its roots through the original freeware game, Octodad. Interestingly, this comparatively lesser-known game was developed in four months by the Young Horses team while they were students at DePaul University for the Student Showcase of the 2011 Independent Games Festival, in which they placed in the top eight. Knowing this context, the short development cycle and amateur presentation are more noticeable, but it’s still an impressive feat nonetheless and doesn’t make it any less worth checking out.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Film)

After the success of Prince of Persia: The Sands ofTime, Jerry Bruckheimer Films sought the film rights to the game for distribution under Walt Disney Pictures. Series creator Jordan Mechner, who couldn’t resist the offer, was also hired to write the script. However, production wouldn’t begin until after the 2007-2008 WGA strike was resolved, as Disney wanted to ensure that Prince of Persia would become their next Pirates of the Caribbean. Unfortunately, these plans fell through, with poor critical reception and an underwhelming box office in its original 2010 release. I remembered liking the film when it came out and re-watched it after finally playing the original game as part of a deep dive of the Sands of Time trilogy. While I can agree there are better films, I’m not sure I understand why critics at the time were so harsh.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (PS3)

Five years after The Two Thrones, and two years after a failed Prince of Persia reboot, Ubisoft released The Forgotten Sands as a tie-in to the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time film. Despite this, however, The Forgotten Sands is actually the collective title of four games set between the events of The Sands of Time and Warrior Within, with a different story and gameplay style between each platform (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; Wii; Nintendo DS; and PSP). Due to timing, the PS3 version of The Forgotten Sands was actually my first exposure to Prince of Persia and I remember enjoying it back in 2010 before I picked up the PS2 games or was even aware of the differences in other platforms. Ten years later, I returned to The Forgotten Sands after giving myself the full context of the PS2 trilogy and, while it did mess with my muscle memory, I still had a good time.

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Switch)

After playing through both the original Wii and updated PS3 versions of No More Heroes, the next natural step was to play No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, originally released on the Wii in 2010. Much like the original game, however, we didn’t own a Wii at the time Desperate Struggle came out, so when we wanted a copy of our own, we found that due to its low initial sales, it was harder to find. As such, we opted for the physical Nintendo Switch release from Limited Run Games for the purpose of this review. We also discovered that at this point in Suda51’s career, he had less direct involvement in the games developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, so Nobutaka Ichiki directed Desperate Struggle instead. While the game still has merit, the general lack of involvement from Suda51 still shows.

How to Train Your Dragon

Note: This review contains spoilers for How to Train Your Dragon.

I will admit that when the original How to Train Your Dragon film, based on the 2003 Cressida Cowell book of the same name, first came out, it didn’t really appeal to me at the time for whatever reason, so I didn’t end up watching it, its two sequels or its spinoff Cartoon Network/Netflix series, DreamWorks Dragons. After the third film, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, came out, I had been hearing a lot of positive word-of-mouth about the trilogy, and so decided to check it out due to pandemic boredom, via a 3-in-1 Blu-ray collection of the films. Watching the first film on what happened to be shortly after its 11^th anniversary, I found it to be a lot better than I expected, even going so far as to compare it to Kung Fu Panda in terms of quality.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game (PS3)

Back in 2010, Ubisoft developed and released Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game as a tie-in to Universal’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, both based on the Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels. Though the game released to critical acclaim, Ubisoft delisted it and its DLC from digital storefronts on December 30, 2014, as Universal’s license expired. For the longest time, no new users could play it legally and the game subsequently turned into a poster child for the dangers of digital-only titles. However, in August 2020, Ubisoft struck a deal and announced a miraculous re-release, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition, which would also include both pieces of DLC. To tie in with this new release, it felt right to go back and play my copy of the game to see how well it held up after a decade. It turns out that it aged pretty well, but there’s still some jank that I hope the re-release irons out.

Phineas and Ferb Ride Again

About a year after the release of Phineas and Ferb on DS, Disney Interactive Studios released a direct sequel, Phineas and Ferb Ride Again, developed by the same studio, Altron. Reviews were generally more positive and, nearly ten years later, it’s apparent that Altron had managed to improve the formula set by the previous game within such a short development window. However, there are still a few issues that were hard to gloss over.

Second Look - Transformers: War for Cybertron (PS3)

For much of Transformers history, the video game offerings have often been considered one of the weaker aspects of the franchise, with the most tolerated one being the 2004 Transformers game based on the Transformers Armada cartoon. In 2010, the High Moon Studios-developed game Transformers: War for Cybertron displayed that it was, indeed, possible to make a good game based on the franchise and its core concepts, with the overall quality of Transformers games having largely improved since then. To celebrate the 10^th anniversary of this (for its time) ground-breaking game, I decided to revisit it to see how well it held up, as well as offer a bit of a retrospective on its place in canon and overall impact on the brand. Despite some issues with the game on a technical level, I found it to still be a solid experience after all this time.