#krissiefox reviews

[krissiefox]

Lethal Company (PC) Game Review

Lethal Company is a survival horror game that came out roughly a year ago, which I was introduced to by my little brother. You play as a scrap scavenger working for a cold and ruthless company, and must travel to different planets looking for items inside of abandoned structures. Every time you visit a planet you are given a quota to meet, and if you fail to do so, then you will be killed by your own employers upon leaving the planet!

As a survival horror game, it is very effective and atmospheric. The graphics are intentionally murky, being seen through your characters dirty helmet. Every planet is populated by all sorts of freaky creatures and monsters that can be encountered both indoors and outdoors. The sound design is fantastic, with lots of creepy ambience and unsettling background music when you're wandering inside the old structures. There are little bits of humor here and there but most of the time things are quite eerie.

Gameplay wise, Lethal Company is quite difficult for me, even when playing online co-op. It's very dark inside of buildings, and I feel it's almost mandatory to have a flashlight with you, which you unfortunately can only get by purchasing one (though they are pretty cheap) . I would have preferred a flashlight just being built into the players suit or something, but the game does seem to have a robust modding community, so perhaps someone has made a mod for that!

While the game's multiplayer mode can take away from the horror experience in some ways, it also has some nice features to it and some features that add horror in different ways! For example, some monsters in the game can hear if people are talking on their microphone, and will discover you unless you keep quiet. Another great spooky feature is that players voices can no longer be heard if they die, and they also have limited range, meaning if you get separated from your group, you won't be able to hear anyone and you'll be all alone with the monsters looking for you. Other nice general game-play features for the multiplayer include things like being able to save your teammates by teleporting them back to the ship if a monster is after them, or working with a friend to watch for monsters while they carry a large scrap object around.

Outside of the excessively dark environments at times, Lethal Company is a great horror title and a cool spooky multiplayer experience as well. I definitely recommend giving it a look, and it's also DRM free (at least in single player mode)!

More screenshots below!

[krissiefox]

Klonoa: Door To Phantomile (Xbox One) Review

Klonoa was one of the many, many colorful plat-former games that captured my imagination as a youngster, but I had never managed to get myself a copy on PSOne when games for said system were much easier to come by. Thankfully, my wife found it re-released on the Xbox One and bought it for me!

The rest of the review is below the cut!

The game stars Klonoa, an adorable little rabbit-dog creature on his quest to save his world from Ghadius, a spooky guy with a cool bird mask who wants to turn the land into one big nightmare. Joining Klonoa is also his best friend Huepow, a little water bubble guy, and he will also make many other friends along his quest.

The game plays on a 2d plane but uses 3d graphics and twisty curvy level designs, which makes for a very fun feel to the world and it's movement. Klonoa can do little flutter jumps with his fluffy ears, and use his magic ring to grab items and capture enemies, which he can then toss or use to do a jump boost.

The gameplay is very solid and the controls are great, though every once in a while the game threw a really difficult puzzle or fight at me, which could get frustrating. Thankfully the game includes both a normal and easy mode, so if a level is too frustrating you can always switch off to easy mode which is much more forgiving as it gives you more health, infinite retries and more reach with your magic ring.

The game's art and music are fantastic and mesmerizing, with tons of cute characters and bright varied environments. Even most of the enemies are pretty freakin' adorable and colorful.

Outside of the occasional difficulty spikes, I can't really think of any other criticisms. It's just that damn good. This one comes highly recommended from me, and if you get this modern Xbox One version it also comes bundled with Klonoa 2! As far as how this compares to the original version of the game, I only played the demo of that one - so I can't say for sure - but I assume it's just as good, though I am not sure which features from the new version it will have.

[krissiefox]

Sonic The Hedgehog (2020) Movie Review!

While I was sick recently, I was holed up in my room trying not to infect the rest of my family. I'd been reading Sonic fanfics in the meantime, and this gave me the idea to finally watch the DVD I got of the the 2020 Sonic movie, and then of course, I wanted to write a review, because it's fun (and my wife seems to like them)! I'll put a divider here, because this review does contain spoilers for most of the plot points, so this is your warning before you read on!

To get the unfortunate bits out of the way, the movie had a rough start, with the strange first design of Sonic becoming a social media trend of snark and negativity that I remember making me pretty depressed. In response to the backlash, Paramount changed up Sonic's design to something cuter. I've heard mixed claims saying that during this time the artists for the movie were abused with crunch, while others claim this didn't occur, so I'm not sure about whether or not it happened, but I hope not.

A worried Sonic ball, hiding from badniks....

With that unpleasantness out of the way, the movie eventually finished and came out, and at-least on tumblr I saw a lot of folks seemed to really enjoy it. My little brother expressed interest in watching it with me, so eventually while out shopping with my wife I picked up copies of the first two movies.

This movie does commit the act of "Hollywood Video Game Adaptations" by largely changing the source material and basically creating another AU for the Sonicverse, and I know that's a turnoff for some, so this wouldn't be every one's cup of tea as many folks would prefer something rooted in one the already established Sonic worlds. I was able to enjoy the film though, and found it quite cute, sweet and funny. It also gave warm fuzzies to see my favorite childhood video game hero in his first big screen movie adaption.

The Story follows Sonic as he is ousted from his home world by his owl mom to live on Earth, after a tribe of echidnas attacks their house. Sonic is ordered to live in hiding, and is given a bag of magic teleportation rings that he is to use only in an emergency to escape to another place.

As ordered, Sonic lives on Earth in secret, in a town called Green Hills. He spies on the humans and enjoys learning about Earth, but is still very lonely as he isn't allowed to interact with them. Some of his favorite humans are a local couple that he has named "Donut Lord" and "Pretzel Lady". One night, while playing at a baseball field at night, Sonic gets so upset about his isolated life that he causes a massive power surge with his speed, drawing attention to his location.

Dr. Robotnik meets Donut Lord!

The government calls in Dr. Robotnik (and his minion/boyfriend Agent Stone), whom in this universe is an earthling rather than a resident of Mobius. He is played by Jim Carrey as a delightfully fun and strange villain throughout the film. He takes over the search for the source of the power surge, and eventually closes in on the cave Sonic has been living in.

In a panic, Sonic decides he'll need to bail on this world, though he hates the thought of having to do so, being so fond oft it. He sneaks into Donut Lords home to use one of his teleport rings, when Donut (aka Tom) finds him and shoots him with a tranquilizer dart gun. One of Sonic's rings opens up and since Donut's shirt made Sonic think of San Francisco, that's where the portal leads to and Sonic's rings end up there.

After getting to know each-other, Sonic and Donut end up fleeing as vigilantes both from the government and Dr. Robotnik. Eventually they make it to San Francisco, Sonic gets his rings back, and he has a big showdown with Robotnik where he ends up sending Robotnik through a portal to the mushroom world he was originally going to go to. Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady end up adopting Sonic, and the movie wraps up as Sonic sees his new bedroom in a really sweet scene. Mid credits, we also get a teaser showing Tails arriving on Earth!

One of the movie's more badass looking scenes.

Outside of the aforementioned issue that creating an entirely new Sonic AU for the film will alienate some folks, my only other criticism is that I would have liked to learn more Sonic's owl mom, as she seemed pretty cool. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the film quite a bit. It was colorful, pretty, Sonic was adorable, Robotnik was very funny, and Sonic's new friends were quite likeable. Definitely a recommended watch for anyone curious about the film. :) I may end up watching the sequel sometime soon, too!

[krissiefox]

Golf vs Zombies (PC) (Demo) Mini-Review

I've never understood the appeal of regular golfing, especially compared to the awesomeness of mini golf. However, a lighthearted golf video game where you get to clobber zombies is a different story!

Golf vs Zombies, judging by the demo, is a simple but charming title. You play as a rednecky golfer dude trying to relax in a Fallout-esque post apocalyptic world. When you go out into the fields you can golf normally of course but you'll also encounter zombies, which you have clobber with golf balls before they eat your brains! Also peppered throughout the golf course are goodies such as money boxes or blueprints for new gadgets. The game features which is very limited in the demo but promises cool things such as exploding golf balls and zombie radar. The game has pretty decent art, though sometimes the scenery could be a little hard for me to read (for example I once launched my golf ball right into a river because I couldn't see it from where I was standing). It also has nice sound design, with eerie ambience and music fitting the apocalyptic theme, and exciting music when the zombies start closing in on you. There's also a mini-game between levels where you drive a golf cart down a road, squishing zombies and grabbing cash. It's quite fun but for some reason my stanky old wizard eyes had a bit of trouble visually reading it at times. Perhaps it could do with more color contrast, or a different camera angle?

A couple of visual design issues aside, this still looks like a nice little arcade-y game! The golfing mechanic is very simple so if you know next to nothing about sports (like me) you don't have to worry about any complicated stuff. You can get the game drm free here or on steam here (which may have drm, as the steam demo does)

[krissiefox]

Joe (Megan McVey) (Short Film) (Mini-Review)

Last in trilogy of Fayetteville Film Fest "Joe Films" I found is the uploaded by Megan Mcvey, which, interestingly, strikes a balance between the very light and very dark moods of the first two Joe films.

The story of this one follows some poor guy who is an extreme germaphobe, to the point of having mental breakdowns about germs or uncleanliness. However, we mostly see him seemingly enjoying his isolated existence, until a strange pushy neighbor leaves him in care of her (very cute) dog, which terrifies Joe at first, but in the end, the dog just may be what helps him feel a little less afraid of germs, so it's a nice and sweet note to end on.

Production wise, the film is shot well, but I am a bit baffled by the fact that the film doesn't actually start until about 1:30 or so in, and you spend a great deal of time listening to a tone at the beginning and seeing one of those color test bar things on screen. I'm not sure if this was meant to be part of the short film so as to set an unsettling tone for Joe's neurosis, or if it was just someone not bothering to crop out technical parts of the original film cut. Almost as odd is the long gap of black screen at the end.

This short film was made a couple years before the COVID 19 outbreak, and to a degree I can empathize with Joe's fears as when I went back to work I dealt with a great deal of stress a I took things like social distancing and masks very seriously, to which almost every single coworker and customer treated me like a freak or a pest. After a long time, I just gave up on trying to get other people to care about others because it was really fucking up my mental health. I still wear masks when I go out and even after just ignoring other people's complete disregard for COVID safely, I've gotten rude comments for doing so. Humans are fun.

I remember also having a germaphobe phase as a kid where I would aggressively wash my hands every time I touched something that had been on the floor. Thankfully that stopped for me, eventually.

On another side note, Joe wears his hair in a bun, and I can remember that period a few years ago when people were throwing the term man bun as a derogatory term. Do y'all realize what sexist assholes you were being? I hope so. Much like the term "man purse" these terms are just an admission that you see men adopting traditionally feminine traits as "wrong", that you neither respect men or women, and you probably have some very shitty opinions on queer folks too.

Well, I know I spent like half my mini-review getting off-topic, so now seems like a good time to share the short film itself for anyone who'd like to see it! Feel free to start the video at around 1:30, everything before that is.....odd, and likely not related to the story.

[krissiefox]

Joe (Bandit Media) (Short Film) (Mini-Review)

The next Fayetteville Film fest I looked up ending up giving me three different short films named, "Joe", so I decided, what the heck, I'll watch 'em all! The site is vague as ever, so I have no idea which is the right one, but hopefully I'll enjoy them all.

This first one was a nice treat, a short comedy with a cute love story between a goofy barista gal and a nice fellow named Joe. In addition to being funny and sweet it also comes with a nice moral message about being honest and also not about trying to appeal to people through shallow displays such as "I have a fancy job".

If you'd like to watch this cute short film for yourself, you can do so here:

[krissiefox]

A Song Of The Bluff (Short Film) (Mini-Review)

Next up in the Fayetteville Film Fest is a short documentary on the history of Pine Bluff, a town in Arkansas. I'm not sure if I've never been here - Arkansas is so big to me that there still feels like there's a lot to explore and discover in this one state alone! But it was nice to learn about it.

In history, the town sadly originating in an unethical way (as seems to be the norm for the USA) where it was stolen from the original Native Tribe living on the land. It feels weird then to have anything further good to say about the town, but unfortunately the stolen land issue of the USA is one of those problems that doesn't seem fixable at this point, and the best inhabitants of the land today can do is learn to be more caring, compassionate and respectful of others than those old-timey racist motherfuckers were.

Getting back on topic of the town, the story of the documentary follows how the town did end up thriving and doing well for a while, but eventually at the point of the 80s and 90s white families held most of the wealth and starting moving out, and thus sadly the many problems created by racism come back into focus as the town gained a reputation for being "crime ridden" and "boring" even by it's own occupants.

Thankfully, the documentary does end on a hopeful note for the town, as it seems to be getting back on its feet and getting cool new places built such as a new library and a technology learning center. I hope everyone there is doing well!

If you'd like to watch this little short film for yourself, you can do so here:

Lastly, here's some more screenshots!

[krissiefox]

Magpie (Short Film) (Mini Review)

Next in the Fayetteville Film Festival is a short film titled Magpie! It follows the story of a handful of post apocalyptic survivors.

The story moves very slowly, as this is a very atmospheric film with almost no dialogue. I can't give away much or the story gets ruined, but I like how the escalation builds up to an exciting ending. And the tense and eerie atmosphere of surviving alone in the woods (especially at night) is well presented too, with great sound design and grimy aesthetics.

You can watch this short film for yourself here:

and enjoy more screenshots below!

[krissiefox]

Super Mario Sunshine (Gamecube) (Review)

"I'm having Sonic Unleashed flashbacks…"*

Despite my love for the genre of platformer games, I seem to be having a rough time with 3D offerings of the genre as of late…

Super Mario Sunshine is one of the many Mario titles in my collection I was long overdue for sitting down and trying to complete, and finally began to do so when my wife suggested I play it alongside her while we were resting in our Bungalow lodge on a trip a couple years ago. It starts with Mario, along with Princess Peach, Toadsworth, a bunch of other unnamed Toadstool folk, traveling to a resort island named Delfino. Unfortunately, shortly after arriving, a strange imposter of Mario begins causing messes of weird slime and graffiti around the island, and even cursing away the sunshine!

Shortly after meeting a seemingly sentient robotic back-mounted water pump machine named F.L.U.D.D., poor Mario gets blamed by their not very good court system, lacking any hard evidence and sentencing him based on the fact that "he looks kinda like the guy who did it". Mario is then sentenced to clean up all of the pollution and graffiti using F.L.U.D.D.

The water-themed game play gimmicks are a fun idea, but already present one of the difficulties I had with this game - one of the more important functions F.L.U.D.D. can perform is to spray water forward at enemies to stun or defeat them. Unfortunately, the aiming for this system is very awkward, and you have to very lightly press the fire button if you want to be able to shoot water while running, something that also barely worked for me. These awkward controls resulted in me suffering a lot of cheap-feelings hits, being unable to orient both the camera and my aiming in time to stop an approaching enemy. Thankfully, the other special F.L.U.D.D. moves are more reliable - there's a water jet-pack move that lets you briefly hover after jumping, helping with both reaching far platforms and making a precision landing. You also get to eventually unlock a water-blast jump that sends you flying high into the sky. Sadly, while the controls for both these functions are quite responsive, they tie into another big problem I had with the game - the camera and the physics. Every time Mario goes airborne, he always feels kind of awkward and floaty to me, and because of how the normal high jump works, I'd sometimes send Mario back-flipping in the opposite direction I wanted to send him. The camera seems to be a semi-cinematic style, sometimes moving involuntarily while I'm on a moving platform making it really hard to line up my next jump or rocket blast.

The game's world is set up like it was in Super Mario 64 - You have your main Hub world, Delfino Island, with magical portals that you can eventually discover and unlock that send you into other locations. Each of these special locations contain many different missions. Some of the missions I found pretty enjoyable, even with the awkward controls and camera, the environments are lovely to look at and fun to explore. Some missions will send you into what I call "obstacle courses" where Mario gets F.L.U.D.D. taken away and is tasked with navigating platforms over a bottomless pit -meaning that the controls and camera become just that much more of a nightmare. I dreaded every one of these obstacle courses and couldn't wait for them to be over so I could go back to hopping around on solid ground again.

Graphically, the game is delightful. Being one of the Gamecube's launch titles, it did a nice job of showcasing the water motion and shader effects the new console could pull off, which are pretty impressive for a game from 2000, and it still looks really nice to me now. As with any Mario game it is also bright, colorful and full of fun character designs. The music and sound design are great, though the limited voice acting in the game made the cut scenes feel kind of strange and disquieting - characters would often speak to Mario, but Mario would just stare back at them and barely emote at all, making him feel kind of creepy. This is a shame because having gotten to meet Charles Martinet (Mario's voice actor) last year, I find Mario all the more charming as a character because whenever he makes his happy Mario sounds I think of Mr. martinet having himself a good time in his little voice recording booth, and can't help but smile at that.

Outside of wonky controls and a fussy camera, another problem with the game is the usual Nintendo sexism. Not long after starting the game, Peach is once again treated like a trophy object and repeatedly kidnapped, needing rescuing multiple times over. This sort of thing i off-putting when it happens, and makes me glad that they aren't doing this to her in that recent Super Mario movie.

Overall, I have very mixed feelings about this game. Much like with Sonic Unleashed, I love the visual presentation, the audio design, and some of the level missions are a lot of fun - while others are a slog to be simply endured. If you have a lot of patience for difficult 3D platforming, you may have a good time, but otherwise I might suggest looking into one of Mario's other game offerings - there's certainly no shortage of them!

*Note: This is another game I decided to just post up my review of even though I haven't finished it, due to continuous frustration and loss of interest.

[krissiefox]

Welcome welcome welcome welcome!

Hello. Welcome to the world of KrissieFox! I'm also known as Krissie Van Hammer.

Pronouns are she/her, age 37

Some tags:

my writing

my Minecraft Stuff

My Photography

Unlucky, a game I am part of the dev team for!

My interests include art, animation, video games, game design, horror, liminal spaces, Sonic the Hedgehog, My Little Pony, Sesame Street, Minecraft, Photography, media preservation, and more!

Trigger warnings for this blog include: -Horror themed media (I do my best to tag anything bloody or gorey) -Discussion of anti-lgbtq bigotry and christian abuse (again, I always make an effort to tag these)

Feel free to send asks or say hello!

-Like my blog? Help support me on paypal @ krissiefox1@gmail.com

Links and Lists!

- Here is a collection of links to of all my Video Game/Mod Reviews! - Here is a list of DRM-Free games I recommend!

-Here is my list of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Episode Reviews! (Under Construction)

-Here's a link to my Planet Minecraft account where you can find most of my Minecraft creations. - Many of my maps and mods can be found on my mod db page here. - And my videos can be found on my Youtube channel.

My wife has a tumblr account too! She draws lots of wonderful My Little Pony art and writes many lovely stories. Please have a look!

[krissiefox]

Revisiting Sesame Street in 2024 - What's it like nowadays?

Taking a break from the Fayetteville Film festival to review some other shows! Sesame Street is a classic show that many folks need no introduction to. Debuting all the way back in 1969, this adorable children's program starred a variety of lovable Jim Henson Muppet characters who would teach kids about the world around them. The show is broken into many different segments and even different visual styles such as live action muppetry, cartoon animations, and cg animations.

The show has many fun characters including:

The huge and sweet Big Bird

His best friend Mr. Snuffleupagus (who scared me as a kid but I think he's a sweetheart now)

The treat-loving Cookie Monster

The tiny Elmo with his little heart of gold

Grover, a silly monster who also happens to be a superhero!

the trash-can dwelling Oscar The Grouch (who is actually pretty nice despite his grumpiness)

The Count, a number loving vampire

and adorably dysfunctional couple Bert and Ernie (Fuck whatever's "canon", they're cute together).

Big Bird gives Snuffy a hug.

Impressively - and thankfully - it is still going strong all these years later, with many episodes being available to watch right on youtube. I certainly don't have time to collect and watch all of a TV show that's been running longer than I've been alive, so I'm glad there was a nice sampling of episodes I could watch for free.

Grover is a beautiful butterfly!

Being a show aimed at little kids, the humor and content isn't as adult-oriented as in The Muppet Show, so while a lot of the jokes may be a bit too cheesy for grown-ups, it's still a wholesome, sweet show with some really catchy music too (Several of their little songs are stick stuck in my head)! That being said, The one Super Grover segment I watched actually did get a few chuckles out of me, Grover in general is just wonderfully goofy and cute. He has a sort of Peridot or Trixie Lulamoon confidence to him that's incredibly charming. As for the show's educational content, most of it will be simple stuff that most adults already know, but sometimes even I got to see some new things! (for example, I remember learning about how the water flow inside a sink works from an Sesame Street short.).

This slow-mo shot of Big Bird happily frolicking during the intro is delightful.

Modern technology is shown off in the show quite well, while thankfully not abandoning the charming physical sets and of course the live action Muppet characters themselves. The show's intro has some really nice little slow motion effects that are both whimsical and also feel like someone is having a lot of fun with their fancy camera. 😁 CGI effects feel seamless, aside from this one really weird looking cg animation on a pile of hay in a super Grover short. Interestingly, I found out from The Muppet Wiki that Sesame street has been utilizing digital effects as far back as the 70s!

Another aspect of the show that is more enjoyable for me as an adult is seeing all of the celebrity cameos that have appeared on the show over the years! Just from the random YouTube episodes I watched, I got to see cameos from Patton Oswalt, Bill Nye, and Whoopi Goldberg! I actually collected a list from various sites of all the celebrities I like who have appeared on the show, and I'm hoping to look up and see if I watch all the clips of them. :) Similarly, the show has done various parodies over the years as well. One of my favorites was their Game of Thrones Parody titled "Respect is Coming". One of their newer parodies is "Jurassic Cookie", where Cookie monster has to figure out how to calm down a giant rampaging dinosaur cookie.

Cameos galore!

I think the last bit I wanted to touch on was the adorable character Mr. Noodle and his surprisingly large family. Mr. Noodle is a character always seen in the Elmo's World segments, and it's unclear as to whether this character just exists in Elmo's imagination or if he actually has a magical world he travels to with his little Elmo powers. Anyway, Mr. Noodle is a friend who lives in a mysterious backrooms like area and he doesn't speak but instead only communicates in gestures and pantomimes. He has a really cool mustache and when you can't see his hair, he even kinda looks like Dr. Robotnik. He's also got multiple family members living with him too, including atleast 3 siblings, and a dog (There's even more siblings on the wiki page!)! The whole Noodle family is adorable and I admire the talent of the actors who can convey so much energy and whimsy without even speaking.

Revisiting the show was a lot of fun, and I'm probably going to go searching for all those celebrity cameo videos after I post this review up. Despite being aimed at kids, it has a heartwarming feel that adults can enjoy too, and with so much ugliness in the world, we can always use more sweet, positive characters like Elmo and Big Bird. <3

[krissiefox]

And thus ends my journey to review every single episode of Aosth and its pilot! This Was quite a hefty task that I just kinda started on a  whim a few years ago, and sometimes I almost got burned out on it, but I'm glad I stuck with it because my wife enjoys reading them, and it makes me happy to know some of y'all do, too!

My wife is already asking if I plan to move on to reviewing other Sonic cartoons in the future, and I have considered the idea! If any of my followers really want me to, I could try doing SatAm, or Sonic Underground. I still need to check out that new Sonic show on Netflix I've seen so many folks drawing fanart of lately. Also wouldn't mind hunting down a dvd set of Sonic Boom, if such a thing exists. From what I have seen of that series, I did usually enjoy the humorous tone and Robotnik was especially adorable in it.

Also, I may also attempt to turn my Aosth reviews into a youtube series at some point!