Second Look - Starlink: Battle for Atlas (+ DLC) (Switch)

Back when the Toys-to-Life genre, established by the Skylanders franchise, was at its peak, the genre’s saturation and competition for physical shelf space led to a decline in popularity and eventually the dissolution of the big three brands, those being Skylanders itself, Disney Infinity and LEGO Dimensions. Many new IPs entering the market at the end of its lifespan went largely unnoticed as a result, one of which was Ubisoft’s Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Starlink), which sought to set itself apart with the premise of swappable and customizable ships, inspired by model kits. This announcement went largely ignored, that is until it was revealed that the Switch version would include a special appearance from Nintendo’s Star Fox franchise, complete with a playable Fox McCloud and Arwing. Even with the boost from a fanbase starved for new content after the divisive Wii U entry Star Fox: Zero, Ubisoft would eventually halt production of the physical toys due to poor sales, resulting in deep discounts, though they would still continue to support the game digitally.

When I first played the game out of curiosity, I picked up the Switch version just so I wouldn’t feel like I was missing out on anything, though I lacked the knowledge on Star Fox to truly appreciate the representation. After going through (nearly) all of the Star Fox games up until this writing, I decided to go back and revisit this game, this time putting more focus on the Star Fox content to see how well it was handled. Though a little rough in places, I had more of an appreciation for the content and thought it to be what Star Fox Zero should have been.

Sherlock Gnomes

Much like Romeo and Juliet, the famous detective Sherlock Homes, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, has seen many adaptations and reinterpretations over the decades since the character's creation. In this sense, reinterpreting him as a garden gnome seems equally inevitable, coming in the form of a sequel to the box office hit Gnomeo & Juliet, titled Sherlock Gnomes. Much like Gnomeo & Juliet, Sherlock Gnomes is a movie I had avoided seeing for the longest time because of negative reception and an advertising campaign that failed to impress me. After finally watching Gnomeo & Juliet, however, I decided I may as well give the sequel a watch to complete the experience, and while I did think it wasn’t quite as bad as I was expecting, it was still a major step down by comparison.

Second Look - Deadpool 2 (All Three Cuts)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Deadpool and Deadpool 2.

Deadpool 2 sits in a unique position within the X-Men film series. Not only did Fox greenlight this sequel by the time the first film released, but after its premiere in May 2018, it would receive two additional cuts within the same year: the direct-to-video extended Super Duper Cut in August and the theatrically-released PG-13 Once Upon a Deadpool in December. Due to a lack of an official word on the matter, one could conclude that Fox wanted to make as much money as possible ahead of the Disney/Fox merger that completed in March 2019, but in any case, Deadpool 2 did break additional box office records on in its initial release, including highest-grossing R-rated film of all time (by just $3 million over Deadpool) until 2019’s Joker.

Since I’ve made it no secret that I’m a fan of Deadpool, it should come as no surprise that Deadpool 2’s existence piqued my interest enough that I watched all three cuts of the film as they came out. Although I still liked the film after rewatching it in the context of the rest of the X-Men films, I now find that the difference between Deadpool and Deadpool 2 feels more like the difference between Shrek and Shrek 2: while the sequel has more narrative complexity and shows more technical competency than the original, it doesn’t age as well due to the dated humor rooted in the exact moment it came out.

God of War (Dark Horse Comic)

Around the launch of the 2018 God of War game, the franchise returned to the world of comics under Dark Horse, with a limited series of the same name set within the timeline of the Norse games. While the series ran for four issues, these were preceded by a digital-only #0, available through the PlayStation Store and included with copies of the game starting as low as the Deluxe Edition. While I did want to read the comic physically, and even waited for a trade before doing so, I never got around to obtaining it until I realized a trade was available for the second volume, subtitled Fallen God, but by then the trade for the first volume was becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to find. With some patience, however, I was finally able to acquire a physical trade, by intentionally getting a copy that had some minor wear on the covers to save money. Upon finally reading the trade, which even collects the #0 issue, I thought it was worth the effort, but would have felt differently if I caved to the more exorbitant asking prices.

Stubs - Batman: Gotham by Gaslight

 

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018) voices Bruce Greenwood, Jennifer Carpenter, Anthony Head, Scott Patterson. Directed by Sam Liu. Screenplay by Jim Krieg. Based on Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn, Mike Mignola. Produced by Sam Liu. Run time: 78 minutes. Color. USA. Animated. Superhero

The world of Batman has been transported to different times and places, take Feudal Japan in Batman Ninja (2018), which was released earlier the same year. In Gotham by Gaslight, Batman is transported back to the time of Jack the Ripper, but rather than the foggy alleys of London, the murders happen in Gotham perhaps a little later than they had actually happened.

The Testimony of Trixie Glimmer Smith

Genre changes between games in a series aren’t uncommon, but are still notable when they do happen. Case in point, whereas Parsnip is a point-and-click game, its sequel, The Testimony of Trixie Glimmer Smith (TToTGS) makes the jump to a visual novel format. Acquired through the same bundle where I obtained Parsnip, I wasn’t sure what to expect from it aside from its nature as a sequel. While it still has some hiccups along the way, I found myself surprised by what it was able to accomplish with the shift in gameplay style.

Parsnip

Note: This review contains spoilers for Parsnip.

If you think the oddly-specific horror game subgenre of “cute game turns out to be dark” has been oversaturated by now, you’re not alone there. In a sea of games included in a massive itch.io bundle, Parsnip stood out to me mainly due to its appealing art style, to where I thought to download and play it along with its two follow-up games included in the bundle. Once I finally got around to playing Parsnip, I was legitimately unaware that it was one of those types of aforementioned horror games, and while it is effective on a first playthrough, the game is not without flaws.

Stubs - The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein

The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein (2018) Starring: Jean-Claude Carrière, Béatrice Chéramy, Christopher Frayling, Gwyneth Jones, Laurent Lantieri, Miranda Seymour, Fiona Stafford. Directed by Jean Froment. Writer: None Credited. Produced by Matthieu Belghiti, Thibaut de Corday. Run time: 55 minutes. France. Color. Documentary, Horror, Sci-Fi

Written when she was only 18, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is considered by many to be the first true science-fiction story. The documentary The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein examines not only the writing of the novel, but also how it relates to Shelley’s life, science, literature and the theme of Man's quest for the secret of Life.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy

After the success of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy in 2017, a similar remaster of the original Spyro trilogy went into development and released in 2018 as Spyro Reignited Trilogy. Since the game required an additional download to have full access to everything, I didn’t buy it at first out of disdain for the practice. Eventually, however, I caved and got a copy so I could compare it to the original PS1 games, which I owned. While I think Toys for Bob made a valiant effort at bringing the original trilogy into the modern day, it does have issues that got increasingly more difficult to ignore with each game.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Switch)

Four years after the release of Shantae: Risky's Revenge, WayForward Technologies released their third Shantae game, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, in 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, marking the first home console release for the series. While I was aware of this entry for the longest time, including its growing legacy as a modern classic, I wouldn't actually get a chance to play it until the release of the physical Nintendo Switch port through Limited Run Games, which I played while waiting for the delivery of my Limited Run copy of Shantae and the Seven Sirens. In the time between when I first wrote and posted this review, the price of this particular release of the game rocketed to hundreds of dollars on the second-hand market, literally at least ten times that of the original 3DS cartridge. While the game is nowhere near worth paying that kind of money, I still agreed with the hype around Pirate's Curse after about 11 hours of play.

The 25th Ward: The Silver Case (PS4)

Note: This review contains spoilers for The 25th Ward: The Silver Case.

After the positive reception to The Silver Case, Suda51 developed a sequel, The 25th Ward, but released it for mobile phones rather the initial planned console release under the idea that he could get it out more quickly. Unfortunately, this meant that the game only saw a Japanese release and as soon as the game was eventually shut down in 2011, The 25th Ward became lost media or, as Suda51 put it, a “ghost game”. Once the remake of The Silver Case performed well, however, Suda51 decided to resurrect The 25th Ward as a full remake, The 25th Ward: The Silver Case, rather than a simple remaster and released the completed game through publisher Nippon Ichi Software in 2018. This release meant that international fans of the Kill the Past series could finally experience another chapter. As much as I enjoyed The Silver Case back when I played it, however, the unnecessary tedium in The 25th Ward, both in its writing and gameplay, made finishing it more of a chore.

Call of Cthulhu (Xbox One)

Note: This review contains spoilers for The Call of Cthulhu.

Regardless of one’s feelings about H.P. Lovecraft, there’s no doubt that his works are a continuing source of inspiration for other creative endeavors, including art, heavy metal songs, films and games. His perhaps best-known short story, “The Call of Cthulhu”, has alone inspired a lot of these, including a pen and paper RPG by Chaosium called Call of Cthulhu. Though I have no experience with that game, I had read enough of Lovecraft’s work that I had an interest in the 2018 video game Call of Cthulhu (aka Call of the Cthulhu: The Official Video Game), based on both the RPG and short story, to see how well it handled the source material. Though I found the experience intriguing at first, including the unique spin on Lovecraftian elements, a number of technical hiccups caused enough frustration that my opinion of the game sadly lowered the further I went on.

Return of the Obra Dinn

Shortly after Lucas Pope’s successful Papers, Please in 2013, he started development on Return of the Obra Dinn, which launched in 2018. Though I didn’t closely follow the game at all, I heard enough positive word of mouth that I eventually bought the physical PS4 version through Limited Run. Waiting for the opportunity to play it this way was well worth it, as it’s easily one of the best puzzle games in years.

Astro Bot Rescue Mission

After managing to get a PS5 at launch, the first game I played was the pre-installed Astro’s Playroom, a fun introduction to the system and the new DualSense controller. I enjoyed it so much that I soon sought out a copy of Astro’s debut title, the PlayStation VR exclusive Astro Bot Rescue Mission, partly to have an excuse to get more mileage out of the headset. When I got around to playing it, I found it very charming and a great example of third-person VR.

Minit

Sometimes you’re aware of a game, but don’t actually get around to playing it until much later. Such was the case for me with Minit, a game distributed by Devolver Digital, until I read the premise, which reminded me of the lesser-known Half-Minute Hero, which I loved back when I played it. While not the same experience as Half-Minute Hero, and likely under the developer’s radar, Minit still captured the core essence of that game and took it in its own uniquely enjoyable, creative and hilarious direction.

Tomb Raider (Film)

While Tomb Raider has existed since 1996, I didn’t really play any of the games until the 2013 reboot, Tomb Raider (2013), and its sequels, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Though they had flaws, I evidently enjoyed them enough to keep up with the series and felt interested in watching the 2018 film, Tomb Raider (2018). As with the games, I didn’t watch the other two Tomb Raider films with Angelina Jolie, so I didn’t have any expectations when I finally watched this film through Vudu. As both a video game adaptation and an action-adventure film, it’s not the worst but definitely needed some improvement.

Hitman 2 (2018)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Hitman (2016).

After the release of Hitman (2016), IO Interactive split from Square Enix, their previous publisher, and got to keep the rights to the Hitman franchise in an unprecedented move. This led to their partnership with Warner Bros., which resulted in the release of Hitman Steelbook Edition and continued development of the World of Assassination Trilogy, including Hitman 2 (2018). Unlike its predecessor, Hitman 2 (2018) did away with the episodic structure and got a full retail release from the start. While Hitman 2 (2018) does feel very much like an updated version of Hitman (2016), it introduces enough changes to the formula that it feels like a better overall experience.

Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion (PS4)

    

The quality of Adventure Time games is generally hit or miss, with Explore the Dungeon Because I Don’t Know! serving as the lowest point from my experience. However, when Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion was announced, it sounded like the Adventure Time game I always wanted and that alone piqued my interest, though it took a while for me to actually snag a copy and actually play it, eventually receiving one as a gift. For the most part the game delivers on these expectations, though it is somewhat held back by a number of bugs and glitches.

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner M∀RS (PS4)

Right after I took a dive into the world of Zone of the Enders, I thought it natural to immediately play the sequel, The 2nd Runner, to wrap up the remaining story threads. For the best possible experience, I played The 2nd Runner M∀RS, a 2018 updated release for PS4 with enhanced graphics, VR support and surround sound. This version not only felt great to play on modern hardware, it felt like a vast improvement over the original Zone of the Enders as well.

Donut County (Switch)

As with many games I had played I was intrigued by the premise of Donut County from a teaser trailer, due in part to its art style and interesting gameplay involving controlling a hole. Though the game had been on my radar, I got more serious about playing it once physical copies for PS4 and Switch began to be distributed via iam8bit. I missed my chance to snag a copy through them, however a local Best Buy in my area still had copies for the Switch, so I obtained a copy in the interest of having some form of entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic. After finally getting to play it, the game met my expectations, though there was a bit more to it than I initially thought.