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[hotgarden]

In The News: November 12th

Hey guys, ShadowSect here, and this is part of a new series titled “In The News”. This will occur on a weekly schedule, every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I’ll basically be covering the top news stories of the day, as humorously and unbiased as possible. We’ll see how that goes.

Hit the jump for the news!

World News

A musician in Vietnam was locked in her home this Saturday after flashing a sign reading “Piss on you Trump” as the US President was in town for a visit. Vietnam is known for jailing critics and has been accused of waging a crackdown on dissidents in the months leading up to Trump’s visit. A lot of countries have laws against insulting visiting leaders, including Germany, Norway, and Sweden.

Trump is nearing the end of his lengthy trip in Asia. He flattered the Chinese president, and pressed his case for “America First” in Vietnam, but to no effect. Trump walked away with looming trade disputes, and the TPP was quickly finished without the US being in it. Guess you can’t win everything.

The Spanish Prime Minister has vowed to end the “havoc” in Catalonia. After imposing direct rule, the Prime Minister is making his first trip to Catalonia. Speaking at a campaign event, PM Mariano Rajoy has called on the “silent majority” to convert their voice to votes.

Politics

Time for some nasty history about Roy Moore. In 2015, while he was sitting on the Alabama Supreme Court, he cast the sole vote in favor of a man who raped a four-year old. Although the case wasn’t that clear cut, as it was whether or not a 17-year-old’s sexual assault of a four-year-old was enough to produce an “implied threat of physical injury”... ok, actually that is pretty clear cut. What the hell, Roy?

If you haven’t been around in the past week, Democrats have completely stole the show, and the Republican Party is in disarray. Anger against Trump drew strong Democratic turnout in the suburbs, and a rising coalition of women, minorities, and gay/transgender people gave Democrats groundbreaking wins across the country. 

Two former US intelligence chiefs say Donald Trump’s stance on Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election is putting the US at risk. The President himself has sparked uproar by suggesting he believed Putin when he said there had been no interference. “Every time Putin sees me, he says I didn’t do that, and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.” Ex-intelligence chiefs were alarmed, with Mr. Clapper stating “Putin is committed to undermining our system, our democracy, and our whole process. To try to paint it in any other way is, I think, astounding and in fact poses a peril to this country.”

Interesting Stories

The city of Denver, Colorado has moved to ban the practice of declawing cats by a unanimous vote. Unless there’s a medical reason such as a tumor, it’s illegal to declaw cats in Denver. A lot of cities in California have also banned the practice. I’m not a cat person, so no comment here. (gets killed by cat fanatics)

YouTube is in the process of implementing a new policy that age restricts content that makes inappropriate use of family friendly characters, such as using them in scenes of violence or sexuality. This is mainly for the YouTube Kids platform, which makes you think... why wasn’t this fixed in the first place? Better late than never, I guess.

Louis CK has responded to the accounts of five women in his field accusing him of asking them to watch him masturbate. He confirmed the reports while expressing remorse of his actions, saying he used his powers “irresponsibly”. “I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen.”

And that’s the news! See you next time on Tuesday!

-- ShadowSect

[hotgarden]

Shadow Reviews Movies: Iron Man

Content just keeps coming! Or does it? I’m watching all the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, and to start, we have Iron Man! Hope you enjoy my critique of it!

Hit the jump for the review!

This is definitely one of the most liked Marvel movies, and is generally considered the community’s favorite, up there with Guardians of the Galaxy and The Winter Soldier, and it’s hard not to see why. Iron Man has a lot of things to like, whether it’s the ingenious dialogue (brought to you by improvisation because there was no real script for dialogue), the bombastic performance by Robert Downey Jr., or the great action setpieces.

Starting with the visual effects and cinematography, Iron Man does a great job all around. Action is fluid and seamless, with barely any jumpcuts, and while it’s the Marvel filter of how shots are taken, there are some cool shots like the outside shot of Tony Stark’s Malibu location. CGI was used brilliantly, considering the Iron Man is almost all CGI, and the visual effects are great for their time.

The writing is some of the best for a superhero movie, bar none, which is incredible since most of the dialogue was improvised. The movie didn’t have a general script, just a general story and scenes. Dialogue was mostly made up by the cast, which was surreal for many of the actors (especially Jeff Bridges), but they ran through it extremely well. It has a great balance of serious and funny, keeping the movie fresh.

The story itself is a great yarn to this day. Humanizing a superhero isn’t easy if you’re also trying to keep the action steady and not making it super gritty, and Iron Man was one of the first to do this successfully. Tony Stark faces the cold reality of his weapons, and through an arduous life in a cave for about a week, he becomes a better person. There’s, of course, more to the story, but no spoilers!

Also, have to say, the cast kills it. Jeff Bridges as the bad guy was a new thing, but he delivered, and Robert Downey Jr.... what’s not to say about him? He manages to deliver his lines with wit, and after his role, it’s hard to imagine anybody else as Tony Stark. He completely humanizes the role while also fitting the wit and jerkass attitude of the character. Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard also do great jobs as Pepper and Rhodey.

The issues? The movie requires some suspension of disbelief in some moments. The ending especially, as it has a lot of plot conveniences and character moments that don’t quite fit. The stinger to poke at the next movie is also kinda thrown in, and while it’s a small issue, it’s noticeable.

Overall, this movie is still amazing today. Even if there’s some suspension of disbelief scattered throughout, it’s a blast to watch. Action scenes are great, it’s an emotional yarn, and the comedic moments are killer. Robert Downey Jr. is well known for the right reasons, and this is one of the best MCU movies, and it’s the start!

Rating: A-

So what’d you think of the review? If there’s anything I missed, or you have something to say about the movie, let me know in the comments below!

See you next time, probably with some music!

-- ShadowSect

[hotgarden]

Shadow Quickies: Wii Sports for Wii

Hey guys! It’s ShadowSect, and coming at you live with some content about a game I just had the time to play. Straight from my childhood, it’s Wii Sports!

Hit the jump for the quickie!

Plot Summary: You’re kidding, right? There’s no plot in Wii Sports. Just people playing sports, no context needed.

Methodology: Got to at least 500 in each sport, though I hit Pro with Tennis because it’s fun. Played on my Wii U’s backwards compatibility.

Play Time: An hour and a half for all the activities I did. You can get much more out of the game, though. I also played some multiplayer without timing it.

Quickie Review:

Almost every Nintendo system had its launch title that either tested the waters of the system’s new capabilities or showed what the graphics could do. For the NES onwards to the N64, it was Super Mario launch titles. For the GameCube, it was Luigi’s Mansion or Super Monkey Ball, take your pick. For the Wii, we got the first “beta test” game, testing out the motions controls the Wii added.

As always, graphics are up first, and unfortunately this is the weakest link with Wii Sports, because it looks like something out of the GameCube. The colors are nice and the menu screen looks great, but the blocky low-res outfielders for the sports and the looks of the golf courses aren’t always up to snuff, even for Wii standards. It looks about as good as Super Monkey Ball, and that’s a pre-gen game that was also launched with its system. The game won’t hurt your eyes, and it’s still fine to look at, but it hasn’t aged as much as I’d like.

Sound effects are good. Hitting a bat sounds like a bat, and that is mainly the trend of the game. Nothing sounds out of place, and hitting a ball hard in tennis is as sweet as it was then. Music is also surprisingly good, as the main theme is undoubtedly catchy. The soundtrack sounds like synth 80s music, which isn’t bad. It mainly consists of some guitars and some sounds the Wii itself makes, and that isn’t bad.

For a motion controlled game, you’d think you would be cowering in fear, but nay! The motion controls are actually up to snuff! Tennis works like a charm, utilizing the motion controls in the best way, and there wasn’t any glitches on my end. Baseball is the same way, even if pitching was kinda underutilized. Bowling was perfect, as the ball reacts the way you want it to. As for golf, it wasn’t always peachy, specifically for the putter. Sometimes it’d shoot with way more power than I was giving it, and the general range felt very finicky. Boxing is fine, although sometimes it didn’t quite read my movements, and sometimes it does “uppercuts” and stuff like that, and you can’t repeat them ever. All in all, great controls for a beta test sort of game.

The meat of the gameplay is sports, and there’s 5 gamemodes: Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf, and Boxing. Winning a game against the AI nets you points, and if you get 1000 points you go pro, which for Bowling nets you a cool bowling ball, and in Boxing gets you cool gloves. There’s also training modes to help you out with the games, and a fitness activity that basically insults your age by making you go through some training exercises. The baseline is at 20 for fitness, so if you’re younger, probably not a good way to test your fitness (as if it was good for testing fitness in the first place).

Time to detail the five gamemodes, and can I say that you should immediately feast your eyes on Tennis and Boxing. Tennis works like a charm, with the AI never being too good and your people doing the walking for you (you can also pull off a wicked serve). Boxing is a great way to relieve stress, and the blocking and punching works the way I’d want it too, and it never got too hard. 

Baseball, on the other hand, is a crapshoot. People move not by when the ball is thrown to base, but rather where the ball lands and how long it takes for it to be picked up (except for Homers). Also, catching is down to luck and how fast they run to grab the ball. Hitting and pitching works the way it’s intended to, and you can even do underhand pitches, but blimey the AI for baseball is mean as hell. Once you get above 400 or so, suddenly the AI hates your guts, throwing mean pitches almost impossible to hit, and again, the RNG of the catching and bases you get is.... not fun.

Golf is standard. You can set it to a 3-course difficulty or all 9 courses, and it works fine. There’s wind that affects where the ball goes, so every playthrough is different, and the game really rewards skilled shots. I suck ass at golf, so I never did super well, but I got birdie on course 8! BEAT THAT. Finally, there’s Bowling, which works just fine, it’s bowling. I’m not a huge fan of bowling in general, so it wasn’t an ecstatic experience, but getting a strike is always good. There unfortunately isn’t much leeway when there’s a split, since the motion controls sometimes fight with you.

This game is massively improved by multiplayer, even if Boxing requires another nunchuck (CURSES). Not only does tennis become a massive smack back and forth until one of us dies or wears out, but baseball’s RNG is less bad when you can just tell the other player you won because you’re skilled. Golf is the best, with 4-player possibilities and a lot of swearing.

This game is probably best for its relaxing Golf, the fun as hell Tennis, or the stress ball that is Boxing. If you’ve got friends, I definitely recommend going to town with almost all modes (except Boxing), and honestly I recommend the multiplayer most of all. It’s really that fun, and makes it completely worth the purchase. Unfortunately, the game isn’t super replayable on your own, outside of Golf. You could always use different Miis to start back at Square One, but there’s only so much mileage you can get out of 5 sports, without friends that is.

Overall, Wii Sports is still a fun game to sink time into with a couple of friends, and unlike Mario Party you’re not bound to shout obscenities (unless it’s Baseball). Golf and Tennis are great, and Boxing is a great activity. Bowling is dependent on whether you like Bowling or not, and Baseball is awful don’t try it without friends. It has some catchy music, the motion controls are up to snuff, and despite some low-res graphics, it holds up well today.

Purchase Score: Get It On Sale. It’s currently $60 on Amazon for a New copy, and $30 for a Used copy, but I recommend getting it for less if it’s for yourself (unless you’re just getting it for multiplayer, in which case Used sounds like a good deal in my opinion). 

Pros:

Catchy music

Tennis and Golf are brilliant

Huge multiplayer fun for years

Motion controls work well (most of the time)

Boxing is great way to relieve stress

Lot of fun with Training

Cons:

Graphics haven’t aged well

Not a lot of depth

Baseball AI is difficult af

Baseball is RNG (WHYYYYYYY)

Recommended Most For:

Gamers with a Wii (if you don’t already own this)

Fans of local multiplayer

People who like motion control when it works

So, what’d you think of the review? If there’s anything I missed, or you have something to say about this game, let us know in the comments below!

-- ShadowSect

[hotgarden]

Shadow Plays: Final Fantasy (NES) PART 1: Beginnings (1/2)

Hello guys, this is ShadowSect, and welcome to the world of Final Fantasy! I’ll be your guide.... not. I’ve never really played a Final Fantasy game, so if you have, consider me your trainee, because I don’t know what I’m doing.

In any case, this will be an image let’s play of sorts, instead of the usual stream. There will be characters and such considering this is an RPG, so consider this a humorous playthrough with commentary and stuff.

Anyway, hit the jump for the playthrough!

♩ ♩ ♩ Title Theme.mp4  ♩ ♩ ♩

Obligatory backstory dump! So I guess there’s a prophecy about four warriors holding an ORB that will save the entire region. Can’t wait to see who they’ll be.

Menu screen! There’s actually no save available so I don’t know why continue is showing up, but in any case, the response rate is how fast text speech is. How would I know that? I’m using a guide. Fun stuff, amirite?

Let’s click new game and see our four warriors!

???: ....

???: Who the hell are all of you guys?

???: The better question is where are we right now? It’s pitch black.

???: Since it’s pitch black, how the hell do you know we’re guys? I’m a lady you ass!

???: I’M NOT SEXIST I’M SORRY DON’T KILL ME

???: .... let’s introduce ourselves.

Frey: I’m Freya! I’m known for hitting first and asking questions later, though I’m known for helping out a lot of people from fucking up, I’m not that much of a fighter... despite being dressed up like one. And cutting my hair as one. And being as strong as one.

???: Um... should I introduce next?

???: Don’t see why not.

Tick: I’m Tick. I’m a thief in training. I’m known for being quiet, helpful, and also I like watching from a distance as funny stuff goes down. It’s great to get out popcorn and steal people’s stuff amid the chaos.

??: The hell is popcorn?

Tick: I.... don’t know. This is a fantasy setting. I think I just made that word up.

??: Well, might as well introduce myself.

Shad: I’m Shadow, the White Mage. I’m known for probably having to heal all of your asses, because that’s what I do. Heal people.

??: Doesn’t that conflict with the whole point of being a White Mage?

Shad: Shut up! You don’t know me, or my spells! I bet you can’t cast a Heal spell worth a damn!

??: Pfft. Happy magic? That’s for pussies. Let me introduce myself.

Quil: I’m the Black Mage, Quil. I specialize in destructive magic that’s hard to control, but I control it just fine. I’m known for helping people work out shit, destroying a whole town (THEY SOLD INN ROOM FOR 400 GOLD! THEY DESERVED IT!), and I also helped a puppy.

Shad: Oh, look at me! I’m the edgy alternative of a white mage! I’m the coolest with a hat over my head, not being able to see my face, and my destruction because I don’t care about others lives but my own! I’m so edgyyyyy

Quil: I can end you like that.

Shad: Try me. You’re so stupid you didn’t even realize I knew how you looked even though it’s supposed to be pitch black, and didn’t notice I case some light to help us see.

Quil: I noticed, I just thought it was so obvious it wasn’t worth mentioning. Otherwise I would’ve, prick.

Frey: Please stop fighting--

Quil & Shad: SHUT UP STAY OUT OF THIS

Tick: *eating popcorn*

... Lovable bunch, aren’t they.

♩  ♩   ♩ Overworld Theme.mp4  ♩   ♩   ♩

Frey: Oh cool we’re magically in the middle of nowhere.

Tick: I think I know where we are....

Shad: Don’t tell us. It’ll spoil the readers.

Tick: What readers?

Quil: IN ANY CASE I think we should check this place out.

Shad: We?!? Whoa whoa whoa. Who said I’d be joining you guys? I just barged into you.

Quil: Do you know where you’re going?

Shad: .... No.

Quil: Then I suggest we stick together. It’s dangerous out here. And your sissy magic isn’t going to do anything.

Shad: ..........................

Frey: Let’s just get into town.

♩ ♩ ♩ Village Theme.mp4  ♩ ♩ ♩

Corneria, the Dream City. The place has an inn, stores for weapons and armor, and stores for magic. Let’s see what our *cough* heroes, do.

Tick: I think the first thing we should do is find a place to stay. There’s an inn around the corner...

Frey: WEAPONS STORE

Tick: What?

Frey: WEAPONSSSSSS

Quil: She’s got the right idea. We need weapons to defend ourselves, especially me and Shadow if our magic should fail.

Shad: You mean Shadow and I?

Quil: Fuck you Shadow.

Tick: Might as well. I need something to do my thievery, or so my teacher told me.

*Frey opens the door*

Weapons Shopkeeper: Welcome to my armory! What can I sell you? My merchandise is dirt cheap!

Frey: .... did any of us bring gold?

Quil: I have 120 G.

Tick: I have 200 G.

Frey: Good. That’s 320 G, plus my 78 G. That’s 398 G.

Shad: I CAN MAKE IT A ROUND NUMBER *throws Frey 2 G*

Frey: ....... only 2 G?

Shad: Hey, we white mages work with what we can.... I already spent some of the gold on betting anyway.

Quil: What kind of white mage gambles?

Shad: The same white mage who--

Frey: Okayyyyyyyyyy so we have 400 G for glorious weapons. What do you guys want to buy? 

Shad: Iron Hammer. I want to feel like a god, swinging my hammer around...

Tick: Oh, we’re sharing? In that case I’m buying a rapier.

Shad: Why not a dagger, Tick?

Tick: Wasn’t trained with one. My teacher was picky

Quil: Strange teacher.... I’m buying a dagger so I can teach Tick.

Tick: Really??

Quil: Why not?

Tick: Thanks :D

Frey: Buying myself a rapier too. In case you mess up Tick. (But I’m just glad to have a weapon, I lovvvvvvve weapons)

Tick: I won’t mess up. I’ve been training with this for years.

Side Note: You have to equip everything you buy? It doesn’t auto-equip? SO DUMBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

This is the menu screen, by the way. As you can see, Freya has a lot of health, while Quil is basically a glass cannon.

Frey: So, 365 G left. Where to next?

Quil: There’s another armory around the corner that sells armor. We can buy stuff to protect ourselves.

Shad: How can you tell it sells armor when this one didn’t?

Quil: BECAUSE IT HAS A SHIELD ON THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE

Shad: Oh.... I’m dumb.

Tick: No surprise.

Armor Shopkeeper: Welcome to my armory! You folks don’t look like you’re from around here, but that doesn’t matter to me! Take your pick of my finest armor!

Quil: Hmm.... doesn’t look so fine to me. Is this your best stock?

Armor Shopkeeper: Take it or leave it you no-faced creature.

Quil: ........

And that’s the end of this half of Part 1. What will happen next? Will Quil burn the armory down for the insult the shopkeeper threw at him? Will our warriors actually start working together instead of insulting one another? Or are these the wrong warriors and we’re following rejects?

Find out next time, on DRAGON BALL Z Final Fantasy Let’s Play! See you guys around!

Don’t forget to comment with any critiques, problems, etc. Also, no, I’m not killing off any of them... I hope.

-- ShadowSect

[hotgarden]

Kab's Weekly Playlist Article #1, Memories, Desire and Evolution.

Hello fellow music enthusiasts! Welcome to the first article of mine called “Kab’s Weekly Playlist”

Here, I’ll be discussing some of the music I’ve been listening to this week. To keep myself from going insane, I’ll only cover the 3 songs I’ve been listening to the most this week. This is my first piece of content on this site, so tell me what you think, show me what you’ve been listening to, and let me know if I should do more of these! 

Hit the jump for the music!

Entree #1: Pierce Fulton - Life In Letters

Starting off today’s article is a very clean, well produced, poppy, summer tune by Pierce Fulton. This track was my favorite off the Better Places LP that came out this summer, which I encourage all of you to check out if you want a little bit of summer to come rushing through you. As for this specific track, I recently re-discovered it while going on a massive killing spree in my music library, and upon re-listening to this, I remember how much this song meant to me back when it was first released. I had just started track, the weather was warming up for the summer, and I met a lot of new friends out on that circular track. The sappy, addictive melody that kicks in at the start floods me with super fun memories of my friends and me making fun of people fucking up in the long jump, chugging and spraying each other with water in-between exhausting sprint sessions, and just having a blast in general. 

Those weeks I spent doing track were some of my favorite weeks of the year, and this song really captured the warm, sort of bittersweet moments of those long-gone weeks. I say “bittersweet” because as I was having a blast, in the back of my mind I knew some of the people I grew to be close friends with would move away soon, and I’d probably never see them again. It was sad to think about, but this track and it’s upbeat vibe helped me keep my head up high. I guess it all comes down to is this phrase Pierce says in the track. “If you live a life in letters you might never feel alive.” Well don’t worry Pierce, I sure as hell did feel alive back then, and thank you for this lovely track to help me re-live those memories. 

Entree #2: Yung Lean - Hennessy & Sailor Moon ft. bladee

Continuing our little piece of weekly content is a rap track by Yung Lean and bladee. Lean is a very hit or miss artist for many, because of his odd, monotone style of rapping. Understandably so, many people can find this off-putting, but personally I love it. This track in particular really showcases how well his monotone and dreary style of rapping can be used. This track in particular is a somber, sort of cry for help and outburst of want from somebody Lean really cares about. In my humble and very valued opinion, a sort of exhausted, sad tone of voice works very well with a song that is absolutely dripping with want and desire for somebody Lean wants.

The production on this track is great too. The melody is sort of sad, but bittersweet as well, which is exactly what the song is. A song of love, but also a song of sadness. The very subtle ambient/orchestral influences really add a nice touch into the instrumental as well. Overall a really good track for evenings that make you feel sad and lonely. 

Entree #3: Korn - Evolution

Finishing off our countdown is a metal banger by Korn, titled Evolution. Korn is incredibly popular, and despite the fact, I haven’t heard everything they’ve put out yet. However, this banger from 2007 might be my favorite from them yet. The aggressive tone, gritty guitar and screaming just makes me feel so alive and makes me want to break something from all the energy. Granted, that’s what metal does in general, but this one in particular really gets to me. 

The music video for this track, which kinda ties into the lyrics of this song, is really interesting too. It’s about the human population decreasing in IQ, becoming stupider and stupider. Backwards evolution. Although not entirely plausible in our situation, according to what I know regarding evolution, it’s fascinating to think about the human race slowly slipping into mediocrity and being taken over by a new, more improved species. So this song ended up being a rage inducing banger, and the match for a new flame of interest for science fiction stuff like this. A double win!

So, what do you think of the article? Did you like the music or not? In any case, I hope you enjoyed at least some of the music!

In any case, if there’s anything I missed, or you have some opinions about the music yourself, hop into the comments section! You’re always welcome there!

– Kabobz

[hotgarden]

Shadow’s Dungeon Reviews: Breath of the Wild: Great Plateau Shrines

Hey guys. Been a while. You’ve probably been waiting what feels like a year for this, but dungeon reviews are back baby! Starting with Breath of the Wild’s dungeons! But since it’ll take a while for the Divine Beasts, I will hold you over with my shrine reviews! We’re starting with:

Great Plateau Shrines

Hit the jump for the review by me, ShadowSect!

Well, since it’s been a while, it’s time for change.... specifically shines aren’t exactly dungeons. So here is my new Shrine Point System! (Combat Shrines will work differently)

Puzzles (65 Points): Are the puzzles memorable? How creative are the puzzles with the theme of the shrine? Do the puzzles challenge your brain and treat you like you’re a functioning human? How is the variety of the puzzles?

Danger (10 Points): How is the combat, if any? Are you in any danger in the shrine, or is it just a walk in the park? If it’s super easy, is it because it’s puzzle-focused? Does the challenge work based on context?

Fun Factor (25 Points): How did I feel about the shrine? Did it stick in my head? Was it entertaining and did I ever get bored? Was it too short or too long? Is there anything in the shrine that was repetitive?

Oh yeah, and if you’re new here, I don’t mince with the reviews, so this will spoil your experience of the shrines/dungeons. So I highly suggest playing the game first if you haven’t already.

Onto the shrines!

Oman Au Shrine -- Magnesis Trial

First up, we have the Magnesis Trial, the first shrine you have to do, and it’s structurally built like most of the shrines of Great Plateau, actually. Found next to a particular block you can’t move and a chest in the water you can’t reach, the old man says there’s a treasure here for you to receive.

First up is the puzzles, and this is very standard puzzle fare that is more of a walkthrough than anything mentally stimulating. You’re netted with the Magnesis rune from the slate on the left, a rune that lets you move anything metal or anything magnetic (but is usually picky to stuff that looks like the thing in front of Link in the pic above). It takes less than three seconds to realize you need to move the stuff blocking the way down, and then it’s simply move the thing that looks out of place, i.e. move the doors, pull the block out, and then a very minor movement of one face down slab to another side of a walkway to create a bridge. This is a first shrine, so I’m not too picky about the supreme ease of the shrine, but for a shrine utilizing magnesis for the first time, it’s sad to just use it to... basically move stuff. 40 points.

Next up is danger, which is basically a fancy word here for when there’s any combat or if there’s any risk in the shrine. In this case, yes. Surprise surprise, but there’s a mini-guardian right behind the blocks you push. He doesn’t do much damage compared to all the enemies you fought outside, which is.... actually quite weird to be honest, but it’s a little creative in that you can use the block or the slab to push the enemy into the conveniently placed water, which will short circuit him. Other than that, this is extremely puzzle-focused with no danger whatsoever, which is fine considering this is the first shrine. 7 points.

Finally for the fun factor, which is a bigger tilt here than it ever was in my dungeon reviews. Honestly I don’t have any memories of this shrine unless I look at pictures, which speaks volumes, but it is a “neat” first shrine. It was way too short, taking like 2-3 minutes to complete, and there are other shrines on Great Plateau that take longer than that at bare minimum. Can’t knock it for not being too repetitive since it was so short. 15 points.

Overall, that’s 62 points. OK. For a starting shrine, it’s a neat little distraction. Outside the dungeon, Magnesis is a fun little rune to use, since the application of moving the block right outside and getting the chest from under the water is cool. Unfortunately, this shrine is just too easy, even for a first shrine, and doesn’t do anything inventive with a creative rune you receive. Also of note is a little chest you can spot in the distance and pull by using Magnesis, but it’s more about noticing and can easily be missed.

Ja Baij Shrine -- Bomb Trial

One sentence into this shrine review and I must immediately note that I’m going to compliment this shrine on having different ways of going at it through my three playthroughs of Great Plateau. Yes, I played through it three times. Dedication, amirite? More like craziness. This is one of the three shrines that you can go at from any angle, so it’s assumed for each shrine you only have the Magnesis one.

In any case, in this shrine you receive the bomb rune, which lets you place square bombs that don’t roll and explode whenever you click the button, or regular bombs that roll and are privy to the physics engine of BotW, but only explode when you click the button. The first puzzles are pretty rudimentary, with crumble walls to simply blow up, although you go right instead of left to get a secret chest, but it’s behind a wall that also is a crumble wall so it’s not really secret. Then you reach a moving platform that you have to time a bomb to, which can either go at it by throwing a regular bomb and hope to god it explodes as quickly as possible as you mash the explode button, or you can be smart about it and place a square bomb on the platform and wait for it to get close to the wall. 

Finally, you have a puzzle that makes use of what I like to call “priming”. On the left side are launching devices, with one able to launch you to a chest, and another launching a circular sphere back and forth in the room, and on the right is one launching device, a convenient hole to put something circular in, and a bunch of crumble blocks on the other side. You could be me and try to put the sphere into the convenient hole, but it’s too big, and then you get frustrated and just go towards the crumble blocks on the other side and throw bombs until they’re all gone while hurting yourself. Or you could be smart, and place a bomb which IS small enough to go into the hole to be thrown onto the other side and blow up all the blocks at once. I’m a dumbass, ladies and gentleman, and it took me the 2nd go-around to realize that was a thing. In any case, the puzzles in this dungeon ARE memorable in the latter portion, and are decently creative with the launching mechanism and learning to time your bombs. Wish there something like a bomb activating mechanism, but maybe save the bomb ideas for other shrines, I’m presuming. It’s great puzzles for a starting region though. 55 points.

Is there any danger in this shrine? Um..... hurting yourself with your own bombs, which is a real thing and can happen (I did this to myself on accident, but not in the shrine itself, outside against a Guardian). Other than that, it’s no danger to serve for the puzzle. It’s just fine, and there’s no problems here. 8 points.

I do really enjoy this shrine. I think the latter portion was really neat, especially with the chest you can propel to and the small confusion you can have if you’re as dumb as me. If the first portion was a little neater than “blow up walls”, it’d be nice, but I understand that a puzzle has to progress. For a bomb shrine, I think it’s suitable. 20 points.

Overall, 83 points. Great. This is a neat shrine for the starting area, and like the previous shrine there are extras within inches of the shrine that you can notice immediately with the bomb rune you receive. It’s a nice shrine, you can have some fun in it, and it’s easy enough for the starting grounds. Maybe BotW is creative with its shrines? We shall see.

Owa Daim Shrine -- Stasis Trial

Now for a completely new shrine based off of a completely new concept to the Zelda series: Stasis! Found next to a rock you can’t move, even with Magnesis or bombs, this is one of the three shrines the old man points you to, and it’s also assumed you’ll have just Magnesis here, but bombs could make for some of a blast anyway. For my 3 playthroughs of Great Plateau, the first two did this second, and the third one did this last with the other rune you can receive, which didn’t affect anything.

The name of the rune game here is Stasis, which can freeze any object in time, and what you can do with it depends on the context, which this shrine shows each, which is neat. The first example is a rotating platform, which you can freeze to walk across, i.e. you’re using it to create a path of exploration. The second example are rocks falling down a hallway you need to walk up, otherwise they’ll roll over you and probably do a lot of damage (or kill you), in which case you’re using it to avoid. Also neat thing is if you go to the very top because you’re a badass, there’s a chest for you. The last example is a rock in the middle of a place you need to get across, but you can’t move it with bombs or magnesis. The trick? Freeze it with Stasis, and if you attack it while it’s frozen in time, it shows a place of propulsion with an arrow. The more you strike it, the further it goes, and the direction you strike it affects where it moves, and at the end of the timer the object propels based off the arrow. It’s a cool way of showing this feature, and I thought it was genius and reminded me of Super Mario Bros. game design.

If you can’t tell, the puzzles in this shrine are pretty genius in how they show how a rune works more than the previous ones. It’s creative with the different ways you can use Stasis, which is a benefit of the versatility of the rune, and the cooldown makes you have to think smart for when you can use it. The puzzles are memorable, and they serve to capitalize your use outside the shrine. The variety is neat, and honestly I couldn’t have it any other way. 60 points.

It shocks me to say there is danger in this puzzle! If you don’t freeze the platform right, you could fall and lose a heart. The rock can kill you if you’re not careful, so it gives a sense of urgency to stop the rock or run if you feel brave, which you’ll realize it’s hard to do without Stasis. It’s the right amount of danger for a starting area. 9 points.

This is another neat shrine that stuck in my head from the Great Plateau. Propelling that rock was fun when I hit it with a fully charged hammer and watched it fly, and I’m biased in that the rune is one of my favorite items I’ve ever received in a Zelda game. It’s memorable, it has the amount of puzzles I’m looking for, and it shows the versatility of an item you receive. 21 points.

Overall, 90 points. Fantastic. As a starting shrine, this is most certainly the best you’ll find in Great Plateau. Smart ideas, good pacing, and showing off a rune in the best way possible. It opens up a world of possibility into the overworld as a whole, and the shrine itself has the amount of challenge and intelligence required in context with the area and with 4-5 min of your time.

Keh Namut Shrine -- Cryonis Trial

You know that item that creates blocks in Link to the Past? Well say welcome back, except it only works in water, and it’s only ice. This shrine is usually the last shrine you’ll go in Great Plateau due to distance, and introduces the Cryonis Rune. Usually done last, but I did it before the Stasis one just so I could get to the old man at the top of the mountain and get me some sweet ass armor... which you could just get from an inn later.

This dungeon is like the Magnesis one but mildly more difficult. It’s just as much of a walkthrough, but with a new concept. The rune Cryonis makes ice pillars, which you can make up to three of, but only in water, though they are climbable and go up to three times the height of Link. It’s mainly used in the shrine to unblock a gate by placing it under water, get a vantage point, and progress forward, though there is a cool instance where you can find a platform you can turn into a ramp by placing a pillar below one side. Physics!

The puzzles backpedal back compared to the Stasis shrine. They’re all easy and feel like a tutorial much like the Magnesis one, besides the platform one. Using it to journey forward is easy, there’s not much creativity, and this shrine is easily forgotten about. There’s a neat little chest you can spot, but it’s easily missed, and like the Magnesis one, it’s easily gotten to by simply creating an ice block to jump to it. In the words of Trump: Sad! 40 points.

Another mini-Guardian is lurking around the corner, if you can see the image up above. That’s the only danger here, and by this point you’ll have the capabilities to take it out quick, though if you’re creative you could make an ice block and propel him upward. 7 points.

Fun fact, I forgot about this shrine until I looked it up for the purpose of this shrine review. “Oh yeah, that shrine where I propelled the ramp.... and avoided a mini-Guardian? Do I need to play through it again?” It’s an extremely minor shrine. It’s short, it’s a walkthrough, and it’s not very creative. Did you think I’d like it? Nope. 10 points.

Overall, 57 points. OK. Don’t make this the last shrine you do, or you’ll be disappointed. It doesn’t have much to show, and it’ll pass by just as quickly. It’s serviceable for the Great Plateau, and I’m not going to complain that it shouldn’t exist, but maybe repeating the Magnesis way of structure wasn’t the smartest way of doing things?

And that’s my opinion of the Great Plateau shrines. Not as short as you expected, huh? I hope you’re happy that my dungeon reviews are sort of back! And don’t worry if you think BotW will be the only thing in the next few weeks. I promise you there’s more to come.

So what’d you think of the shrine opinions? Too forgiving? Too mean? Let me know in the comments.

In any case, if there’s anything I missed, or you have some opinions about the shrines yourself, hop into the comments section! You’re always welcome there!

Next 5 content:

1. Composers Countdown: David Wise (#10)

2. Wii U Countdown: Splatoon (#10)

3. X-Men: First Class Review

4. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels Review

5. Shadow’s Dungeon Reviews: Zelda II: Parapa Palace (REMAKE, not a port)

-- ShadowSect

[hotgarden]

Music Spotlight: Hyper Potions, Undertale, and A Day to Remember

Hey guys, this is ShadowSect! Welcome to my new series, the Music Spotlight! In this series, I shout out 3 awesome musicians or music groups, whether it be bands, singers, EDM, video game soundtracks/composers, classical composers, orchestras, etc.

For our first go, we’re going to look at Hyper Potions, the people behind Sonic Mania’s trailers and a part of the EDM label Monstercat, the Undertale soundtrack, created by the awesome Toby Fox, and A Day to Remember, a pop punk band that started in the late 2000s as a metalcore band. Hit the jump for the article!

Tip: If you’re lazy and don’t want to read the article, just scroll down to the videos featured, as well as click on any links that will be highlighted. I’d really prefer if you read the whole thing though, even if it’s super long.

Hyper Potions

If you don’t know Hyper Potions, I don’t blame you. They’re relatively new to the EDM music genre, but they’ve recently made a name for themselves by making the music for the Sonic Mania trailers, which immediately netted them a load of popularity. Nowadays, they compose music for some video games, as well as their own EDM music.

Hyper Potions is an American duo made up of Sushi Killer and Kevin Villecco, starting out with their collab Anime Bae. They eventually moved on as a group named Hyper Potions, after the Pokemon in-game item, and released their first track named “Porta Vista”, and they jumped into the field of Future Bass, which is basically a broad EDM genre.

2015

They didn’t compose much, but now we’re going to actually highlight their music (not all of them mind you), so fun stuff! Starting with first year, 2015, we have Adventures, a collab with Subtact. It’s an extremely upbeat EDM song, somewhat taking inspiration from 8-bit tunes, and it’s a kickass beat. It’s a great song to help cheer you up. We then have Legends, a song originally by Razihel featuring TeamMate, but remixed Future Bass-style by Hyper Potions. Following the trend of being upbeat, but what was originally more of a soothing song becomes a rejoiceful song, changing the mood to something happy or hopeful.

We then have yet another collab, this time with Richard Caddock for Distance, definitely their first FULL song, since this was a huge collab. Both adding synth as well as vocals to the mix, it’s a beautiful track with an amazing drop in the second half. It’s a bit simple, but it gels so well, probably one of their best collabs. Finally for 2015, we have Christmas Morning, their wrap-up of 2015 in a nutshell. Taking elements of Porta Vista, Adventures, and Distance all in one drop, it’s a celebration of all their music so far. It’d be called a mashup if it didn’t more than that with some bells and acoustics to sound like a warm house in the middle of winter, with a cup of eggnog in one hand.

2016

Now it gets cooking. First off we have Unbreakable, their first song by themselves with a feature instead of a collab, in this case featuring Danyka Nadeau. Instead of being Future Bass, we have Tropical House, which is hard to define so I’m just gonna link a Wikipedia article here. The acoustics are brilliant, mixing well with tropical major chords and other beach elements, making for a great summer song. Then we have Checkpoint, which I must feature because now their music goes from great to amazing in my opinion, so it’s right below here. Functioning as both a collab with Nitro Fun and as a partnership deal with SEGA for the Sonic Mania Premiere Trailer, this song doesn’t really fit under a genre and at best would be classified as EDM in all its glory. Mixing around with 8-bit elements, synth effects, and some house drops, the song progresses into a fantastic cacophony of sound, building and building and building the whole way through. This was the song that really made them popular, and they deserve it here. The rain at the end really nails the whole thing, along with the climax in general.

We end 2016 with yet another remix, which I’m again going to feature because it’s their best remix yet. The song this time around is Matches, the song originally by Ephixa and Stephen Walking, which featured Aaron Richards. We’re once again in the realm of Tropical House, unfortunately for the last time here (sorry). Featuring the acoustic guitar more than ever, it’s their quintessential summer song. It’s sunny, it’s happy, it’s upbeat, and the vocals just make it sound like a song you’d hear in the car driving down the highway with the roof off.

2017

Ok, this is their best year by far, and also when they start uploading their music on their own without the Monstercat label! We’ll start with Surf, a sort of summer song with House elements and Future Bass, back to their roots. The guitar in the beginning is icing for what becomes a lovely synth extravaganza. The middle with the quick-beat tapping really keeps the song fresh and upbeat. Next is Time Trials, another song they made for Sonic Mania, this time for their pre-order trailer. We immediately start with a leitmotif that the whole song plays on, plucky notes on what sounds like a xylophone, and then we’re in synth territory, where they add more to the theme as the song goes on. They also add a really slow and thoughtful section, consisting of 8-bit sounds, a piano, and an acoustic guitar, which then goes right into a brilliant climax, again putting twists on the theme.

For our last two songs, we have Tropical Resort and Friends (linked below). Tropical Resort is a remix of the Sonic Colors song from the beginning of the game, which starts with the same tune, but is immediately slapped with a Hyper Potions touch. You have the best of both worlds, with great Sonic music on one hand, and the best of Hyper Potions on the other. Finally, we have their latest song for the Launch Trailer of Sonic Mania, Friends. If you haven’t seen the trailer itself, check it out here, because it’s amazing. Probably the best of their music, reliving some of the nostalgia with Sonic, with an upbeat song that goes as fast as Sonic goes. It has enough brevity so it doesn’t get degrading, and... just check it out below.

And that’s Hyper Potions! An EDM group that originally worked with Monstercat but now on their own! Known for Tropical House, Future Bass, and their VGM music (not just Sonic Mania, check out their YouTube page), they’re an awesome group that deserves mention on here!

Undertale -- Toby Fox

If you haven’t heard about Undertale, then first off, where have you been living, under a rock? And second off, is it nice under there because I would like to join you it’s hot as hell out here. In any case, it’s a huge indie game, probably one of the biggest up there with Terraria and Minecraft, well known for its story, subverted expectations, and, of course, the bloody soundtrack. Composed entirely by Toby Fox, this soundtrack is one of the best for a video game, and I’m going to step through 10 songs from the soundtrack. Let’s do this.

Let’s start with a peaceful song, Home. Played in the comforts of a warm house, it’s a relaxing tune played by acoustic guitars. It’s comforting and calm, but the tempo is off a bit. The notes jumble together, a little confused, like someone is learning how to dance and is messing up a bit. It’s a neat touch. Next up is Bonetrousle, the song played when fighting Papyrus, that really meets all of my standards (get it?!?! ..... sorry). The music sounds somewhat European in its chords, and it’s an upbeat melody for a really fun boss battle. It’s a funky tune that I wish was longer, but unfortunately doesn’t stay long enough to really please.

Next up is Another Medium, and damn is this song good. The area it encompasses is techno and hot, so what we have is an upbeat song utilizing synth, snares, drums, bass, and toms to create an atmospheric electronic track for walking through the area. Next up is Spider Dance, a fast paced, jazzy song for the boss fight against a spider. Taking cues from the music played for fights against ghosts, the sixteenth notes really makes you feel like you’re surrounded by creepy, crawling spiders, not to mention the accidentals.

Now for my favorite song of the soundtrack, Death by Glamour. I love jazz, and this song has a lot of jazz. Taking tunes from Another Medium and Mettaton’s previous songs in the game, using electronic sounds, what vaguely sounds like a saxophone, and more synth! The amazing part is how it progresses, keeping one theme going from the very beginning while having completely different stuff for the melody throughout, always energized and always fast. Then we have what is probably the most renowned of the soundtrack... Undertale. This 6-minute song plays during an extremely plot important portion of the game, and only advances the song as you progress. Utilizing the theme of Undertale that’s played through a majority of the soundtrack, it utilizes a piano to the fullest extent along with an acoustic guitar. However, it gradually picks up, adding harmonies, small melodies, and key changes, getting louder and louder. It’s subdued in the middle, but only for a short time before it picks up again. And it’s still using the original melody, yet it never gets old! It’s an incredible song, and you should listen to the whole thing in all its glory.

Time for a fan favorite on this site, ASGORE. It’s a fan favorite for good reasons. It utilizes its own theme for the song, but also the theme for Toriel, Heartache, the Game Over theme, and Determination. It’s a complex track for a powerful battle, using low notes on a piano, synth effects on the top, and electro all the way through. Then we have Finale, another fan favorite for good reasons. Adding bass and orchestra to the theme of Flowey (Your Best Friend), it adds so much more to the theme. It’s the final tune, the curtain call, and the it just revels in repeating the theme louder and louder. It has the feeling of despair, but you will prevail, and you will see this battle to the end, no matter what. Everyone is relying on you.

Time for the last two. Hopes and Dreams, a fan favorite of mine other than Death by Glamour. What makes it so cool is how it changes in the game. At first it’s black and this song is playing, but right when the drop hits at :20-22, suddenly there’s a huge amount of color and the boss battle it plays during just picks up immensely. Largely a fast-paced remix of the previous Undertale theme, it’s hard to put into words how happy this song makes me feel. Finally, we have MEGALOVANIA, by far the most popular song of Undertale because of one particular boss battle everyone seems to know about but I’m going to avoid mentioning in case someone doesn’t. Using its complete and original own theme for the song (though it’s history is from Toby Fox’s older games), it’s an upbeat melody used for probably one of the hardest boss fights in video game history.

And that’s the Undertale soundtrack. I want to mention much, much more, but then I’d go all day with so many songs. To help, I put a playlist of my favorite songs from the soundtrack linked here, so do check it out if you have the time.

A Day to Remember

A Day to Remember, one of my favorite bands of all time, although it’s purely because of nostalgia. I grew up on this band. It became a punk pop band from what was originally metalcore, and throughout has had elements of each throughout its albums. The guy in the middle right there is Jeremy McKinnon, the lead singer (and the guy who’s screaming sometimes) of ADTR. Of course, we’re going to go album by album here, and don’t worry they’re not very old so there’s only 6 albums to go through, 2-3 songs from each.

We start with their 2004 and first album, And Their Name Was Treason. This album... frankly wasn’t that good, even for metalcore standards, but it had one good song in it, and it wasn’t even metalcore. You Had Me at Hello. Utilizing an acoustic guitar, a rarity for ADTR, it’s a melody about falling in love with somebody who already broke him apart, because she’s different now and he’s missed her. It’s sweet, the vocal backups are really good, and the bridge to the final chorus is brilliant.

Next up is For Those Who Have Heart in 2007, still in metalcore territory (though they’re picking up some Pop Punk vibes). First up we have The Plot to Bomb the Panhandle, a hate song at an ex living in the place where ADTR grew up, Ocala, Florida. Jeremy absolutely hates her, and completely rips at her throughout the song. On the topic of the actual music, the song has a great guitar melody and energizing screams and vocals. Then we have a bonus track, Heartless, a re-release from the first album, though MUCH better this time. It’s completely metalcore, going completely hard and being insulting throughout the song. It has great guitar rips, and while this song won’t be for everyone with the ending part, it’s a great twist for me.

Now we’re entering pop punk territory, with Homesick in 2009, their most popular album by far. Let’s go with their most popular song of the album first, The Downfall of Us All, a song about leaving Ocala to become the band they wanted to be because everyone in their old town just wants to live simple lives, which is a common theme for some of the best songs from ADTR. The song is super catchy and easy to sing along to, and yet again the guitar is lit. Next is I’m Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of? Werd name of a song from some movie, and it personifies their roughest song in the album, with harsh guitar rips and a great chorus. The backup vocals are really good in this song too. Finally, we have If It Means A Lot To You, their most popular song... ever. A modern day example of a great ballad, it’s a story from the perspective of a singer and the girl he’s in love with, who are two steps away from breaking up and going their separate ways. It’s a sad song with acoustic guitar, but ends in a climax with a repetitive outro, everybody singing along to Jeremy’s music. It’s a brilliant song.

Before the next album, we have their EP Attack of the Killer B-Sides in 2010. First up is their Christmas song, Right Where You Want Me To Be, which I’m posting a video of below because it’s decently funny but also one of their best. It’s just a group of friends coming home for Christmas, making music to get by but also to sing with their friends, and it’s great, stepping away from metalcore to just sing. Finally, we have their cover for The Fray, Over My Head (Cable Car). Though this is a cover, it shouldn’t be compared to the original, as ADTR makes it their own song, with the screaming, the guitar part, and Jeremy’s badass vocals. This song also introduced a lot of people to ADTR, which I think is pretty awesome.

Next is What Separates Me From You, also in 2010, and while this isn’t their most successful, it is by far their most popular album in terms of fan favorites and views, which is... weird. First up is All I Want, a callout to the fans that all Jeremy wants is to mend the hearts “of everyone who feels alone”, for them to dream big but stay humble, and we can move forward. It’s super catchy and if you don’t know some of the lyrics by the first listen, you’re the exception. Next is 2nd Sucks, the most popular song of the album, and also the obligatory metalcore song, and it is all screamed and there is almost no singing whatsoever (along with having some video game references). It’s by far their roughest song ever, lashing out at all the people criticizing them, hitting chords about being self-reliant, and letting the critics know they’ll be ignored in the long term. Finally, there’s All Signs Point to Lauderdale, a song that should reach out to anybody who’s always hated their hometown (I know this should reach a few of you). Jeremy here feels like he’s trapped, and desires to be somewhere he belongs, because again, the town fucking sucks. It has great lyrics, awesome vocals, and the last part is amazing.

Two more! Next is Common Courtesy in 2013, by far my favorite album from them, because every song in it is great, so link to that here. It’s also their first self-published album, since they had a fallout with Victory Records (they’re a crap publisher). This song has a lot of great guitar punk songs like Right Back At It Again, City of Ocala, and Sometimes You’re The Hammer, Sometimes You’re the Nail, but I’m gonna highlight the underrated non-punk songs. First up is I’m Already Gone, my favorite song from ADTR in general. The song is about a guy leaving his life behind him to keep on moving on, because he doesn’t want to get stuck in the past. It’s a great acoustic guitar piece, really hitting home with me personally, and the melody is just so gooooooooood. Next up is Leave All The Lights On, a bonus track from the album that’s criminally underrated. It starts with acoustics, but it moves upward and onward to electric, drums, and other instruments to create a huge song about spending time alone without a girl you love because things aren’t working out, and maybe they’ll figure out how to get home if they “leave all the lights on”. Finally, and this is usually considered their best song, End Of Me, which I’m linking below. While the song is about breaking up and struggling to move on because it hurt him more than her, the video is about cruelty, a father’s abuse, and a kid struggling to stay focus when in the end, it’s over. It’s a heartbreaking track both musically and in the video, and I recommend you watch the video, not just the music. It’s powerful, it tugs at heartstrings, and it’s a beautiful song.

Finally, we have their newest album that came out last year, Bad Vibrations. It’s not one of their greatest, but it has a good mix of metalcore and pop punk which should appease both sides. If you want metalcore, may I suggest Reassemble and Bad Vibrations, and if you want pop punk, may I suggest We Got This and the bonus track In Florida. However, it has three hits that blend both sides. First up is Bullfight, which starts out slow and methodical, but after a minute the song picks up and just kills from there. It doesn’t sound great the first time you listen to it, but it grows on you with each listen. Next is Paranoia, the main single of the album (yeah no, not Bad Vibrations). Not one of their greatest, but it’s a super catchy song, and the chorus is really good. Finally, we have Forgive and Forget, their obligatory intense song with emotions and strength. Notice a trend that some of their best songs are either about hating where they are or about relationship? This one is the latter, a relationship with a narcissist. This song just builds and builds, making for an amazing climax and a good ending song to this whole article.

So that’s A Day To Remember. Did I convince you to listen to my childhood nostalgia, or have I plagued you with music you’re not a fan of? I hope you like them ;_;

And that was the Music Spotlight! We have the EDM of Hyper Potions, the video game soundtrack of Toby Fox and Undertale, and the nostalgia favorite band of A Day To Remember! What did you think? Do you like this new series? What do you think of the songs and musicians? Let me know!

Also, this is important, but you can recommend artists for the next Music Spotlight below. The 3 most upvoted will have a poll to decide the one that gets into the next Music Spotlight. Happy choosing!

In any case, if there’s anything I missed, or you want to talk about these delightful composers above, hop into the comment section. See you next time!

Next 5 content:

1. Shadow’s Dungeon Reviews: Breath of the Wild: Great Plateau Shrines

2. Composers Countdown: David Wise (#10)

3. Wii U Countdown: Splatoon (#10)

4. X-Men: First Class Review

5. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels Review

-- ShadowSect

[hotgarden]

Shadow Reviews: Mario Bros. for NES

Hey guys, ShadowSect here! Another port-esque post of a review I’ve already done, though I changed it quite a bit. I promise there’s a lot of content coming your way, if you haven’t looked at the bottom of these posts.

Today’s review is Mario Bros. for the NES! Hit the jump for the review!

Plot Summary: Basically there’s these guys called Mario and Luigi who are plumbers, and something’s clogging the plumbing. So who do you call? Them. And in order to clear it, they have to kill a bunch of enemies by jumping underneath them and then kicking them. Woohoo!

Methodology: Played as far as Phase 15, but kept going to Phase 20, and then quit (it was already repeating stages). No cheats or guide were used. Save states were used at the beginning of each level because of emulator dumb stuff.

Play Time: 30 minutes for just Main Story.

Review:

This is it. Mario Bros. The game that started it all. Originally made for the Arcades, it was eventually ported by Nintendo to the Nintendo Entertainment System, so everybody could play the origin of Jumpman, Mario, etc. Fast forward to today, does it still hold up? Let’s find out.

Graphics are up first, and since it’s the NES there’s only so much they can do. The problem is, these graphics are definitely not at their full potential, even if it’s on the NES. Considering it’s a port from the Arcade system, it’s hard to expect much, but it looks much worse than the Arcade, and it can’t just be that the Arcade system is more powerful. Chrysalis looks absolutely gorgeous. I’m sure those graphics were nice then, but they’re not so decent now.

Sound effects were… eh. The pitter-patter of Mario’s footsteps are only competed by the sound effects of other enemies when they buzz or come out of the pipes. There’s isn’t any music to speak of, save for the little tunes that play when a stage starts. Not great sound design, and definitely not great music. The controls are alright. Mario is stiff and hard to turn, but the game is built that way. It does suck that you can’t move or turn when jumping, which causes most of the deaths. Jumping is responsive with a game that’s about jumping, but sometimes can be too tight to get full enjoyment, which is a shame.

The meat of the gameplay consists of jumping below platforms to smack those evil monsters upside down, which in this case consists of Koopa Troopas, Crabs, and…. moths? They’re all pretty simple. You can also collect coins that fall, which if you get enough I think you get a life, but I never really figured that out. They do give points. You can also smack ice before it makes your platform into a slip and slide catastrophe, though honestly they don’t add much frustration since you can easily avoid the icy platforms. You can also dodge the fireballs that punish you for staying in one tier of the stage for too long… except the Red one, I don’t know when it shows up and when it does, it’s annoying. It’s fun gameplay, but it’s best enjoyed in chunks. Play for too long and you’ll start going through the same routine every time you die, which is usually due to stiff controls. You’re going to die a lot, or I just suck at the game. Both could be true.

Story-wise, the manual says you’re a plumber getting rid of stuff with your bro Luigi. I never saw my bro, but I can only assume he was taken off the edge by some rogue crabs. Poor bro…. This is standard NES manual story fare just to excuse the gameplay. Nothing more. Then again, it’s Mario, so I assume you weren’t expecting much either. While you can greatly enjoy the first 10-20 minutes with the title, after about Stage 15, you’re probably going to drop it like a hot rock. The stages repeat, and you’ll see the same stuff over and over again, so why not. I kept going because there is something endearing about this title after many a decade that escapes me even in this review, but it only held me for another 4 stages. After seeing Stage 20 or so you will call it quits, because those controls will make you want to scream for freedom.

The replay value only comes along if you have a friend to yell with you. It’s a blast to come back and play, but you have to go with it in small chunks, less you face the wrath of middling repetition. After 12 stages, it just repeats? FUN STUFF Overall, as a port of an Arcade game to the NES, you can’t expect much. While I’m sure the Arcade version has much more to please the eye, this game is at best a delightful distraction, which I would not suggest buying. Age hasn’t been kind to the red plumber for his first incarnation, but what do you expect when Super isn’t in the title? It’s not super, get it?!? … I deserve every single ounce of hate for that pun. Rating: C

Pros:

Good structure/pacing

Good variety

Fun gameplay in short chunks

Good to play with friends

Cons:

Low-rez graphics

No music and lacking sounds

Stiff controls = lot of deaths

Repetitive

Excuse plot

There are much better ports than this

Recommended Most For:

Mario fans

Retro enthusiasts

Generous for something below the average quality for a NES game, but if you enjoy the game in small chunks for like 10 min, I can’t see you having a problem. It’s only repetitive in the longterm.

So, what’d you think of the review? If there’s anything I missed, or you have something to say about this game, let me know!

Next 5 content:

1. Music Spotlight: Undertale, Hyper Potions, and A Day to Remember

2. Shadow’s Dungeon Reviews: Breath of the Wild: Great Plateau Shrines

3. Composers Countdown: David Wise (#10)

4. Wii U Countdown: Splatoon (#10)

5. X-Men: First Class Review

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Paper Mario Final Bosses From Worst To Best (by Ally)

So, Paper Mario. Originally one of the most charm filled and fun RPG’s to hit the market, now a laughing stock due to flawed games and horrible concepts. BUT! Every game has a well made boss, ranging from “Okay” To “Magnificent!” Today, I’ll take you through the best and worst bosses the Paper Mario series has to offer!

Hit the jump for the list!

5: Bowser (Sticker Star)

The worst boss comes from the worst game, both of those are almost indisputable. But as bad at SS is, the final boss is quite fun and challenging if you don’t have a guide book or access to a basic internet connection. Many “Thing” Stickers can be used to help you defeat certain waves or even block out damage all together. Not an amazing boss, but more than i expected from such a half-assed game like SS

4: Bowser (Color Splash)

An actually decent game was spawned off of SS? WHUT? Well, the masterminds behind TTYD can fix a majorly flawed game archetype… (Why can’t they just make TTYD2 instead of wasting it on games like these?) Anyway, this boss actually isn’t Bowser, but black paint… inhibiting his body. Could have been so cool! A paint dragon? A massive paint… something! But nope! Bowser! The boss is actually quite well made, perfect for a well made game.

3: Super Dimentio (Super Paper Mario)

This hurt me to put here because i think its actually much better than I’m giving it credit for, but all things considered: SPM is not a Paper Mario game. It takes the most important factor of PM gameplay and chunks it out the window like it doesn’t exist. That’s fine and dandy, but what it was replaced with was unfun and downright broken at times. All things considered, even if the fight is way to easy, its still a super fun and interesting boss.

2: Shadow Queen (TTYD)

This might surprise some that this isn’t number one, and i have a good reason for that: Way too much was scripted. That’s a problem with #1 as well, but here its for 2 full segments out of 3 segments. With many cutscenes that, while on the first watch can tear your heart apart, are stupidly long with no way to skip them. And it’s very challenging without some form of grinding. All things considered, however, this boss is so amazingly well crafted that you can forgive the rest of the junk it does wrong. AMAZING build up, great dialog, and and overall wonderful, fun, and scary boss that requires a whole lot of skill, this boss in #2.

1: Bowser (PM64)

This might surprise many, but Bowser from the first PM wins out in my mind. A really challenging boss that doesn’t require much grinding, Interesting invincibility mechanics, and only 2 phases, one is really short and the other is the actual fight. The buildup and previous fake out final boss really builds the tension,  and the fight is extremely skill based. Its a final boss every final boss should strive to be. Amazing dialog, amazing setting, amazing buildup, and gets right to the fight. Super fun and magnificent indeed.

So, what’d you think of the Top 5 List?  If there’s anything I missed, or you have something to say about the movie (which will probably be negative), let me know!

From ShadowSect: This was a creator spotlight, this one from Ally! If you ever want to post any content for the site, be sure to hit that pencil in the top right of the post!

In any case, I’ll see you on the Discord!

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Shadow Reviews Movies: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

​Hey guys, ShadowSect here, coming to you daily with content. As you know, I’ve been on a movie buzz, and I’ve been starting with the X-Men franchise! This review is a bit short, but hopefully you’ll enjoy it!

Hit the jump for the review!

This movie is hated on. A lot. Whether it’s a character they completely ruined in the end, or the constant jump cuts that are around every corner, it’s not a pleasant movie. That all being said, does this movie deserve as harsh a rap as it gets? Mostly.

Let’s start with the positives. This movie has enjoyment in it. Some of the fight scenes are awesome to watch, especially the one in the end. The movie has some witty dialogue and some arrow-in-the-heart emotion near the beginning. The casting was done well. Hugh Jackman is obviously going to own the role of Wolverine, and Liev Schreiber just owned Victor. Lynn Collins didn’t really show that much emotion, though, but she’s the exception of the cast.

Unfortunately, this movie made a lot of mistakes. For one, it’s jump cuts the movie. There’s so…. many…. jump cuts. The intro to the movie with the opening credits has more jump cuts than I could count. It’s like the new Taken movies. It’s distracting and hurt the fluidity of the fights. Secondly, the suspension of disbelief that you’ll need to get through it. Some of these characters do a lot of stupid things, especially Stryker. Hint: If there’s a mutant in your base of operations, maybe you should…. do something about it?!? And who knew making somebody invincible meant it was hard to take them down? People could go all day about how much they ruined Wade Wilson, but I don’t really want to waste my time and say what has already been said many times.

The story itself is ridiculously simple. The trailer of the movie sums up the whole story, one minor plot twist notwithstanding. It does leave a lot of brevity, as it makes this movie a great popcorn flick to sit back, turn off your mind, and relax. It’s kind of muddled as this movie really wants you to take it seriously, but that can easily be ignored as the action scenes…. don’t take it seriously. At the opposite spectrum, there are details that will ruin this movie for those looking at it as it fits in the X-Men series. There’s a bunch of continuity mishaps in this movie, retcons included.

As someone who likes action movies a lot if they can sell it well, this movie definitely checked some of my boxes. They do a good job of attaching you to Wolverine in the first half, even if they don’t do as good a job with the other characters. But this is a movie about Wolverine, so Wolverine is the spotlight. Even if the end of the movie felt way more like an X-Men movie with its attempts at trying to work with the continuity and falling flat. Overall, should you give this a shot? Probably not. It’s a forgettable movie that doesn’t have enough enjoyment to warrant a watch. At the very least you could pirate it to see how it goes. “Hey that’s illegal man”. Don’t care, don’t give them money for this movie. Enjoy it for free and laugh at the studio. Rating: C-

So, what’d you think of the review? If there’s anything I missed, or you have something to say about the movie (which will probably be negative), let me know!

Next 5 content:

1. Mario Bros. for NES Review

2. Music Spotlight: Undertale, Hyper Potions, and A Day to Remember

3. Shadow’s Dungeon Reviews: Breath of the Wild: Great Plateau Shrines

4: Composers Countdown: David Wise (#10)

5. Wii U Countdown: Splatoon (#10)

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Shadow Reviews: Super Mario Bros. (NES)

Hey guys, ShadowSect here. Let’s start with the first game review on the site!

Note: There is a surprise at the end of this review, so stay tuned.

Today’s review is Super Mario Bros. for the NES! Hit the jump for the review!

Plot Summary: Assuming you’ve been living under a rock, the premise is that Bowser, the “King of the Koopas”, has conquered the Mushroom Kingdom while holding Princess Peach captive. In the meantime, he’s had all of the Toads turned into bricks and… Shrubbery…. Is this Super Mario Bros.? …… It’s not just a damsel in distress story?

Well, it is. The princess is the only one who can revert the black magic that the King Koopa is using, but that’s the main reason why Bowser has Peach captive, among other things. Mario, a brave plumber straight out of 5th Avenue, storms several castles looking for her. Unfortunately for Mario, Bowser has several body doubles and no way to tell who’s the real one (minus using FIRE), so it’s a challenge Mario must take one step at a time… By jumping on enemies and destroying the Toads.

Methodology: Completion of the game, which means every level run on Regular, no warps, no cheats. Save states were used sparingly because of emulator save reasons. One map was used for a puzzle.

Estimated Play Time: Main+Extras took me about 54 minutes.

Review:

Assuming you haven’t been living under a rock, the premise of Super Mario Bros. is that Bowser, the King of the Koopas, has conquered the Mushroom Kingdom, while holding Princess Peach captive. In the meantime, he’s had all the Toads turned into bricks and shrubbery (Yep. Read the manual). The princess is the only one who can revert Bowser’s evil magic, which is why Bowser has peach captive, among other things. Mario, a brave plumber from 5th Avenue (not literally), storms several castles looking for her, but Bowser has several body doubles, so it’s a challenge Mario must take one step at a time…. by jumping on enemies and destroying the Toads.

If you know Mario, you probably know that plot isn’t an essential part of the game. It’s the means to an end, and nothing else. The plot itself isn’t original nowadays, although macabre to hear those blocks you’re destroying to get precious items used to be people, and you’re slaughtering millions for those coins…. Despite how long it has been since this game’s release, the visuals haven’t aged too well, but it’s Super Mario Bros., and it looks it too. Mario is lively as ever, with the red overalls and cap we recognize today. The background is crisp, the Fire Flower and Star stick out, and the sprites and enemies are noticeable and iconic (with the infamous Goomba and Koopa Troopa looking like what they should look like). These are graphical hiccups, however, like sprite flickering in later levels, mainly times where there are too many things on screen, but it doesn’t happen often. The pasty, photo-negative background changes in later levels aren’t winning browning points, though.

The soundtrack of Super Mario Bros. is still lively as ever. The traditional Level 1 music is still iconic today as the main theme of Super Mario Bros., and it’ll be remembered until the end of time. Koji Kondo’s work is pure art, and it’s so catchy too, even after hearing it a thousand times. The underground theme, while minimalist, is also very iconic, and the underwater theme isn’t bad either, and never gets repetitive. The sound effects are nice too, from the breaking of bricks to bopping enemies in midair.

The meat of the game is your basic side-scroller platformer. Mario starts tiny and moves across a linear landscape, using A to jump and holding B to run, and he can jump over blocks and pipes to his destination. Mario can also destroy blocks by jumping from underneath, and Question ? blocks leaves prizes, which 90% of the time are coins, but they could also drop a mushroom to make Mario bigger, a Fire Flower to grant him pyromaniac powers of shooting fire at enemies, or the lovely Starman to give you a temporary invulnerability.

You start the game with 3 lives, increased by 1-Ups you can find in some blocks or collecting 100 coins spread out throughout the level. Lose all your lives is game over, making you start at the very beginning (unless you cheat with A-Start to restart in the world you die in). It only takes one hit to kill you, although the Fire Flower and Mushroom give you breathing room, granting you an extra hit before death (first hit makes you small).

At the end of each level is a flagpole, the ending of a level. The journey to get there isn’t easy, since Bowser has minions across the map to make your life hard. There are 8 worlds to journey through, and each has 4 levels. There are, of course, variations to each level, as some level are in sky mushrooms where everything is tight knit jumping, or other levels take place underwater where you dodge fish and getting sucked into a vortex. There’s also underground levels with claustrophobic level design brought about with a dark background and some machinations like moving platforms or a bunch of bricks. Finally, there’s castle levels, where Bowser holds no punches.

Level design is the name of the game in Super Mario Bros., and it’s stellar. The first level itself is a model for many platformers today, introducing the game’s mechanics without having a tutorial, serving to show the player how to handle tougher obstacles by first forcing Mario to deal with the easy versions. There’s also bonus rooms under the surface in pipes, where you can get a ton of free coins. Added to that are secret warp places which only the most clever of players find. Add all this and you have a great formula for level design, that when combined with creativity, you have a ton of high quality levels you can play at your whimsy. Unfortunately, the dev team’s creativity eventually ran out and several levels ended up being reused with harder elements in later worlds. The castle levels are also guilty of unforgiving design, with no room to breathe. You’ll occasionally find insane enemy placement as well to give you nightmares. The controls for the NES are pretty smooth, considering how basic the controller is. The two buttons become natural pretty quickly, and the D-pad has no issues at all in responsiveness, as Mario turns quickly. That said, the usage of the jump button leaves something to be desired. Sometimes it won’t let you jump, as if you have to press the button as hard as humanely possible. This happens often enough that it’s a problem. In addition, when Mario picks up enough speed with the run button, he gets a lot of momentum, making it hard to slow down, turn, or even cause problems with jumping, as if that didn’t have enough problems already. You’ll find yourself dying quite often, not because of poor judgment calls, but because you’ll go way further than you mean after a jump and you can’t slow down no matter how hard you try. Occasionally it won’t even let you jump as you leave a platform, causing you to fall to your death.

Enemies come in all shapes and sizes, and most of the enemies in this game make their iconic appearance in style. We have the standard mooks, such as the Goomba and Koopa Troopa, but what you’ll really see the most are Piranha Plants, coming out of pipes to snap your feet. There’s also the invulnerable to fire Buzzy Beetle and the winged Koopa Paratroopa. There are some rather unfair enemies, though, such as the Blooper, a squid that pursues Mario underwater, and the Hammer Bro., a helmeted Koopa that throws an endless supply of hammers. The Blooper only takes damage from the Fire Flower, and the Hammer Bro is almost impossible to jump on because the hammers get in the way, and they’re usually not alone. There’s also infernal Lakitus that throw Spinies at you from above, chasing you until the end of a stage. Bosses are on short supply… well there’s only really one. They’re all very similar with small variations, and they’re a cakewalk with the right powerup, although without it is an entirely different story. They make for remarkably repetitive but not altogether boring bosses, and the game could’ve used more variety in the boss category. Don’t underestimate them, though, because sometimes the small variation can be pretty threatening.

There isn’t a lot of content in the game. There are, of course, the earlier mentioned bonus rooms under the surface, but other than that, the only feature besides the regular playthrough is Hard Mode, where all the Goombas are replaced with Buzzy Beetles to further infuriate your Fire Flower love, while stages are replaced with harder counterparts (and enemies move faster). Other than that, there’s nothing else. The difficulty is Nintendo Hard. 1-Ups are uncommon unless you exploit a technique, but otherwise there are only 8 in the entire game, and coins are also uncommon, strangely enough. No save feature can also be bad assuming you’re not playing on VC, and then there’s the fact that you start at the beginning of the world you died last in. Add that to problematic momentum, not the most responsive of jump buttons, Hammer Bros. that throw hammers at an absurd rate that makes it almost impossible to jump on them, and finally, punishing castle levels, and you have an infuriating Mario adventure. Of course, difficulty is subjective, and you may find it easier than most, but I’m sure you won’t feel it’s your fault sometimes when you die in Super Mario Bros. The difficulty isn’t linear, either, and if anything it’s rather schizophrenic. This is especially apparent in later worlds, where short, easy levels are surrounded by harder ones.

Replayability value is relatively small but rather fun. Hard Mode is an extra feature to add another hour to your playtime, if you feel brave enough (or if you can stomach it), and warps add different playthroughs, as you can skip entire worlds. It’s not a lot, but it’s something. You’ll die often, but the game will keep you going. The unfair difficulty spikes, the fight with jumping, and Mario’s momentum can be frustrating, but it’s Super Mario Bros. It’s still a platformer to enjoy today, and it still has a lot of great level design and good gameplay that hasn’t aged as much as it probably could’ve. Not one of the best platformers out there, but it’s not just a piece of history. It’s a great Mario game.

Rating: A-

Pros: + Interesting excuse plot + Good 8-bit graphics + Catchy soundtrack + Platformer goodness + Level variety + Stellar level design + Mostly smooth controls + Variety of enemies + Very replayable + Innovation + Great piece of history Cons: - Sprite flickering w/ Fire Flower - Lack of 1-Ups - Some repetitive and unforgiving levels - Mario’s frustrating momentum - Blooper and Hammer Bro. - Repetitive bosses - Short - Nintendo Hard difficulty Recommended Most For: – People who own a NES – Mario fans – People who enjoy platformers – People who want a taste of Mario history

So, what’d you think of the review? If there’s anything I missed, or you have something to say about this game, let me know!

Next 5 content will be as follows:

1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

2. Mario Bros. for NES Review

3. Music Spotlight: Undertale, Hyper Potions, and A Day to Remember

4. Shadow’s Dungeon Reviews: Breath of the Wild: Great Plateau Shrines

5. Composers Countdown: David Wise (#10)

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Shadow Reviews Movies: X-Men Original Trilogy

Hey guys, ShadowSect here. Finally some content for this site, amirite? I’ve been on a movie buzz recently, so I’m reviewing movies. Since these reviews are short, I felt it was more appropriate to pile them all together.

We’re starting off with the X-Men Original Trilogy! The original timeline, not the First Class and Wolverine stuff. Old-fashioned X-Men… and I watched these movies all for the first time. Hit the jump for the reviews!

X-Men (2000) Review

This movie was a roller coaster of fun. Despite giving off many vibes of your average superhero flick, the progressive themes and brilliant social themes reverberated as strongly as it did in the comics.

Casting was brilliant. Hugh Jackman, now a common household name but at the time wasn’t known in the slightest, was stellar as Wolverine. Patrick Stewart, obviously, did a good job as Professor X, and Anna Paquin did a surprisingly good job performance as Rogue, really putting her down to earth and selling very realistic dialogue.

On that note, the dialogue was excellent, making fun of its comic book universe while also being realistic. Special effects were pretty good, but haven’t aged so well with the times, save for Wolverine’s awesome 360 around the Statue of Liberty. Would be easily recommendable if not for the missteps made during the latter half, and a few mutants who only served to advance the plot and being relatively unimportant. Looking at you, Toad and the Ice guy.

Despite that, recommend getting this on DVD or streaming it on YouTube in HD. Deserves your money.

Rating: B+

X2: X-Men United (2003) Review

How could I have possibly missed this movie?!? This is one of the best superhero movies I’ve watched. It’s emotional, it has great dialogue, it has some of the best acting in the franchise (yes, including the First Class trilogy and Wolverine trilogy), and it really hit on a lot of themes.

This is what I would reference as an X-Men movie, through and through. They stood together as a team, really pushed the themes of X-Men (equality, being different, the dangers and in-fighting of mutants, etc.), and it showed the dark and good parts of humanity. They characterized almost every character of the cast, and dang the choreography of the fights was epic. Mad props to the Wolverine vs. Yuriko. It was awesome and pretty gruesome for PG-13.

The casting was also excellent. Special props to Hugh Jackman once again, and Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler. Really stole the show, and was probably my favorite character other than Wolverine in this movie. The cinematography was also stellar, especially the transitions with the hallucination person.

What knocks this movie? The very end of this movie… it really didn’t make any sense. There’s also a few moments where suspension of disbelief is a thing, and this movie tends to focus more on Wolverine way more than the rest of the X-Men. Would still recommend this movie regardless. Buy it on Blu-Ray if possible.

Rating: A-

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) Review

This movie probably doesn’t deserve as harsh a rap as it gets, even though there are definitely things to criticize. Since there are… let’s go with the negative stuff first.

Jean’s character was completely ruined. Who thought this was a good idea? “I know guys! Let’s make Jean into this super sexualized character that absolutely no one is going to have a problem with! Fan service for the guys, right?” Yeah no, it wasn’t pretty. Completely destroyed her character, only saved by the ending.

The first half was also pretty garbage. Cyclops is moody? Let’s just kill him off. Lot of characters were thrown away from the previous movies. Nightcrawler is nowhere to be seen, and the mutants that are added are just there for a fight or to be thrown away like garbage. Dishonorable mention to the angel, who is just there to advance the plot and save one guy. It’s unnecessary and padding, despite the movie being only an hour and a half.

Now for the positives. The second half of the movie was the BOMB. The whole sequence at the base was pretty astounding, with witty dialogue, good fights, and some really emotional damage. Character development was in spades, and last part was…. damn. There’s a reason this movie is referenced after-the-fact, and not tossed aside like X-Men Origins: Wolverine (who thought Deadpool being mute was a good idea? NOBODY)

The themes were still there too, maybe closer than ever. There’s also a moment in the movie that will completely blindside you that I won’t spoil. It really shocked me, and hit me right in the heart. That moment is also the turning point for when it gets really good, so you’ll know it when you see it. This movie was also a lot more popcorn-y. That can be good or bad to some people.

It’s unfortunate that the fate of this movie was, overall, a popcorn superhero flick, something the first two films tried to avoid (and did a good job), but that doesn’t mean this movie is bad and ruins the trilogy as it stands. It’s just disappointing to leave off on not the greatest of movies. Getting Matrix flashbacks. Though this is better compared to The Matrix Reloaded, NOT the godawful Revolutions.

I’d still give it a shot. Rent it or find it on TV if you can. I may be overly critical, but the second half is worth it. (Not the after-credits scene. Do me a favor and don’t stick around for that or it’ll ruin some of the emotion of this movie). Gave this movie a higher rating on movies sites to bump up it’s miserably low score, but on here…

Rating: C

So, what’d you think of the reviews? Did you think they were good or bad? Let me know in the comments!

Anyway, if there’s anything I missed, or you have something to say about this movie, hit it up in the comments.

See you next time with some dungeon reviews!

–ShadowSect