Well, honestly, this is about five years overdue. Seriously, this game shut down my blog for SEVEN MONTHS! Seven months where I didn't post a thing, I didn't do anything. It completely consumed by gaming life for seven months, fueled on the insane amount of hype. At the time, this game was literally everything I could have hoped for in a fantasy RPG: running around the landscape with a sword in hand as I completed quests, stood stalwart against the forces of evil, and battled...wait for it...FREAKING DRAGONS!
Had I reviewed this game in 2011, it would have been me gibbering in fanboy-induced insanity, likely in the form of a video of me belting out a Dragon-themed version of the Narwhals song at the top of my lungs to a montage of me killing said dragons.
...in an alternate universe where I can make videos that aren't me sitting in a room with really, really poor lighting and bad audio, but I'm working on it!
Wow...2016 was a shit year, wasn't it? Let's get on with some of the good games I played in the Year That We Wish Never Was. Remember, like my worst list from last week, this is a list of games that I played within the year 2016 and reviewed, not necessarily games that came out in 2016. So, without further adieu, here's some shining gems that I managed to dig out of the cesspool.
I'm not much for the god games, but this was just fun. Managing the ins and outs of a Hollywood movie studio was an enjoyable experience, getting to be a part of every facet of it from the writing of scripts (as sophisticated as that wasn't) to casting to shooting to post-production and beyond! Sure, it could be monotonous at times, but overall its a very enjoyable experience and there's plenty of wiggle room to allow the creativity to flow.
...also, Randy Pitchford is still off my Christmas card list. 9. Until Dawn review here
Now, I know a lot of people really don't like this game, but I did. Sure, it barely qualifies as a game in the strictest sense that you can move an avatar and complete objectives, focusing a great deal more on the story (such as it is), but I did really like the story despite the fact that it hit pretty much every single horror trope ever in rapid succession. The only reason this isn't higher on the list is because of the fact that, ultimately, your choices don't really mean anything, which ultimately hurts the experience overall.
I hate myself for having this on this list, considering how much I absolutely abhorred so much about it. I still call it completely and control-eatingly unfair...but I can't deny it's just damn good. It's a slog to get through, for sure, but there is a clear feeling of elation whenever I do actually manage through either skill or sheer luck to plow through a part I've been having difficulty on. It's...not an elegant weapon...and one could hardly call the early 90s civilized, but...
...yeah, nevermind. The metaphor is dead. Next game.
Like I said last week, I do genuinely like this game. It drives me absolutely mad, but I love it. Like the original, it's fun, it's visceral, and there's something about the masculine brain that gets a lovely itch when we're tearing apart Hellspawn with big guns.
Building robots? Yes. Fallout 3 reference? Yes. Complete waste of time? Yes. But, like I said in my review, it's a fun one. It really makes it worth to it to go looking for the components you need to make yet another robotic sidekick.
...still need more adhesive opportunities though, Bethesda.
Retro homage to the likes of Mega Man and Super Mario, set in a universe of medieval shovel and sorcery? Sign. Me. Up! 3. Fallout 4 - Nuka-World review here
Also, the DLC in general feels well thought out, oozing with creativity and ingenuity, and fitting right in with Fallout's major theme of things that seem all bright and clean and pretty being some of the deadliest and most frightening things out there...from before the Bombs fell and ended the world.
QUENCH YOUR THIRST FOR ADVENTURE A NUKAAAAAAAAAAAWORLD!!!! 2. Dragonball Xenoverse 2 Review here
Pretty much improvement on the first game in every way, minus the constant attacks on Guru's House. Also, humans are still lame.
...seriously, this game is great. Absolutely, completely, and utterly great. Free Lives. Revolver Digital. You guys are forever on my good list and I hope to see great things from you in the future.
Let's look forward to some more great games in 2017!
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
Well, it's time that time once again! One of the worst years on record is now getting its due thrashing...in games, anyway. It's not like we call kill off a a year for killing off a slew of our favorite celebrities, allowing an rotting Pumpkin with a loud mouth to be elected President, and overall sucking more intensely than a well-maintained Hoover vacuum. But here are the worst games of 2016 as told by me. And, like previous years, this is not a comprehensive list of games that just came out this year, but a list of games that I personally have reviewed this year. So, if it's not something I reviewed this year, it doesn't have the remotest chance to be on this list. This is admittedly also a biased list, as it has been in years past. If I didn't like it, I'll at least come up with a good defense as to why I didn't like it.
Now with that in mind, let's get into number 10...
Now now...don't start panicking, you haven't gone completely insane. Maybe.
This is on this list for two reasons: the blunt force trauma in getting the story along (something which previous games in the series didn't do, at least not nearly as heavy handed a manner), and the crafting mechanics. I understand Bethesda wanted to do something new and were no doubt following the wide-spread popularity of creativity games like Minecraft.
You know what I don't come to the Fallout series for? Settlement building. Running around to find every scrap of adhesive and steel I can to upgrade my Power Armor. It's ridiculous. Sure, it's true to the situation of being in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but I don't look for realism in a game where I regularly fight scorpions the size of a mini-van.
Apart from those complaints, the game is actually not too bad, which is probably why it's so low on this list. I do actually like Fallout 4, it's just that so much was changed that didn't really have any reason to be changed. Would Fallout 3 or New Vegas have been improved by you traipsing about the Wasteland for scraps in order to build up settlements in the Capital or Mojave Wastelands? I have my doubts.
And yes, you can easily leave the Minutemen to rot up in Sanctuary and just horde your own things, but that still ultimately has the same problem of either finding it all for yourself or just having to outright ignore a major part of the game that Bethesda was clearly very proud of, and that irks me more than a little.
Again, another low entry on the list because I do genuinely like the game, it's just a certain aspect that I feel the need to re-iterate: it does its job too well. I recently tried to boot it up again and found myself still in that panicked state whenever combat got more than a little fusterclucky. It's visceral and enjoyable, but I find myself getting anxious very quickly.
Good game. Too good, really. Hence why it's so low on the list. 8. Star Wars Battlefront Review here
Yes, EA got the rights to produce Star Wars games for the forseeable future. No, there's nothing you can do about it unless you stop supporting any games that offer online multiplayer, which you aren't going to do. No, this is not a tirade against people who can't enjoy the single player experience. Move on! 7. Pokemon Go Review here
"Hey, have you ever wanted to play Pokemon anywhere?"
"...I can do that, I have a 2DS."
"No, no...I mean, like...on your phone."
"...why would I do that? That sounds really stupid."
"No, man! It's great! And you can use a satellite to track your movements and it's great! Honest!"
"...y'know, I'm just gonna go back to playing my 2DS and wait for Sun and Moon. Bye!"
"But MadCap, you know that Sun and Moon are already out, right?"
"...CRAP!" 6. Dragon Age - The Descent Review here
If you're going to send me on a trip for several hours, Bioware, there better actually be a good reason other than vague foreshadowing about Dwarven things. Or to let Steve Martin explain it to you...
Want to be Batman crossed with a Sith Lord on Mars? Too bad! Ultimately, a game that's too big for its britches. As I said in my review, it wants to be a Bioware game so bad when it grows up, but its ultimately bogged down by the same problem as Final Fantasy 13 - namely not telling you anything and still expecting you to be invested. 4. Fallout 4 - Vault-Tec Workshop Review here
See my complaints about the crafting mechanic in the #10 slot. Really, it's all that and then multiplied by a thousand. I actually went to video review because the mere existence of this depressed me as much as it did. I know I was really mean to Hearthfire when it came out, not undeservedly so, but at least that was just building one player home, not scrimping and hording away every single resource you could find to build and expand settlements.
Building your own Vault should have been fun, if you were going to do it at all (Vault-Tec, canonically, are bastards and so is anyone following in their footsteps), not a chore to this extent. Much less having to run experiments and the like after setting everything up for the lazy ghoul Overseer. 3. Alice the Madness Returns Review here
I stand by what I said in my review: It's boring, it's been done, and there's long stretches of absolutely nothing that serve no purpose. Even the Mad Hatter won't touch this... 2. Pokemon Black and Blue Review here
Once again, Nintendo, if you come please sue PETA into the ground so they will stop making these incredibly boring, preachy, and overall idiotic parody games, that'd be great. I know you guys have read my e-mails. Get on this! 1. No Man's Sky Review here
Yeah, I tried hard to avoid the controversy here, but I was unable. This game just blows. And that's sad, because it literally had so much potential behind it. Hello Games promised an epic masterpiece and while we got a beautiful visual side to things...that's all we got. It's very pretty to look at, but ultimately is lacking in any substance.
Which is sad, because the pieces of a great exploration game are most definitely here, they're just so muddied and dimmed out that they might as well not be there at all. When you give an endless sandbox to explore, but nothing to do in it, I get bored very quickly. And get bored very quickly I did. The exhilaration of taking off from the starting planet and going to another galaxy...very quickly shriveled up like a cold day in the locker room when I realized that that was literally all there was.
And that, ultimately, is why this game ranks so low. It had such promise...and it failed so amazingly. Why it failed isn't necessarily important, but the results are before us and...frankly, it's sad. Rather like the year 2016 in general.
And so, that's my list. As always, feel free to tell me why I'm wrong in the comments or on Twitter. I look forward to the new year and I hope all of you will join me in staying up until midnight on New Year's Eve just to watch this annoying pain in the ass of a year die.
Happy New Year!
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
How many lives are affected by your own? How many choices lead to the opportunities for choices for so many others? What difference do you really make in the grand scheme of things? Almost none of us ever really see how much we affect the people in our lives, and indeed even people that we come into contact with in the world as we live our lives. George Bailey (James Stewart) is a man who gets the rare opportunity to see just how much differently the lives of everyone around him would be if he never existed, on the most terrible night of his life.
The film details the life of George as seen by several angels from heaven itself. Clarence Odbody, Angel Second Class (Henry Travers) is briefed by his superiors on the details of George's life from his early days all the way through to the present, covering a time gap between 1919 and 1945. The many acts that George performs are made plain, up to his marriage to Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) and the birth of his children, as well as taking over the Savings & Loan in the town of Bedford Falls and building affordable housing for the people there.
Why is this important? Because on Christmas Eve 1945, George Bailey is nearly driven to suicide when it appears as though he's going to go to prison for being unable to pay the debts of the Savings & Loan. Luckily for him, that's when divine intervention literally comes to him in the form of Clarence, who shows him a world where he was never born. The town taken over by the evil Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), his brother having died in 1919 and thus being unable to save the soldiers he did in the Pacific during World War II, his wife being a lonely spinster...all of these in more just examples of all the things that were different because he had never existed.
In the end, much like Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, George learns that his life is a precious thing that hasn't at all been a waste. While he was unable to pursue his childhood dreams of traveling the world, seeing new sights and learning new things, he has spent his life building a community and raising up others. It's deep, touching, and highly sentimental. Sure, it can be incredibly sappy at times and critics even back in its day hailed it as having surprisingly unrealistic portrayals of people. But it's still a touching story and a reminder that we never know just whose lives we touch with our own.
Consider the life of George Bailey. So many people's lives were changed simply by his very existence. Some died, some suffered greatly, some had never even been born. Indeed, without his selfless generosity that had led him to help so many others, Bedford Falls would have - and, in the alternate timeline, did - become a much, much darker place.
There's no debating that this film is dated. And very much so. But, much like A Christmas Carol, it has endured through the ages as a story that virtually everyone can connect with regardless of its time. There are times where everyone feels like they're worthless and their lives are without meaning, and this film serves as a nice reminder that we may feel that way, but we really have no idea how much we mean to others, even outside of our loved ones. It says something when so many people in Bedford Falls were praying for someone to help George Bailey through his darkest hour.
Really, beyond a few jarring moments where it shows its age, there's no reason to not like this movie. James Stewart is an absolute joy to behold as George Bailey, showing off his acting chops like the master he is. Some might question his casting in the film before seeing it, and I would respond by placing "This is why" in subtitles under many of the scenes in the film. He manages to go from a young man in the bloom of youth to a tenacious and perceptive man just trying to do the best he can for his customers to a man about to end his own life in grief to a man who realizes that his life is, in fact, a wonderful thing and the world has been made so much better by his existence than it would have been without him.
As this will be the last movie review before it happens, Merry Christmas to my readers who celebrate it! I wish you all the very best, and I'll see you again on the 26th for one last Christmas film...and it's one I've been admittedly somewhat dreading...
It's A Wonderful Life was originally made by Liberty Films and RKO Radio Pictures, current rights rest with Paramount. For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...actually, last year and around this time of year, I reviewed the first six films in the Star Wars saga to celebrate the premiere of The Force Awakens. This year to celebrate the premiere of Rogue One I...did absolutely nothing. Unless you count me reviewing Super Star Wars, but that doesn't exactly count as a celebration of the franchise up until that point. Naturally, I wouldn't want to just retread ground and just do the films leading up to this one...because that would mean I'd have to acknowledge George Lucas' fanfiction jamboree, and who wants that? So, naturally, I try not to retread ground by going back to the past.
I can say with complete confidence that Star Wars fans finally have a prequel movie that they don't have to be ashamed of. Set directly before A New Hope (which, if haven't been paying attention, is the first movie...which is really the fourth - and now fifth - in chronology), Rogue One details the adventure of Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) as she becomes involved in that epic struggle of the Rebellion against the Empire. Her father, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen), is a scientist who is strong-armed by the Empire into a secret project to construct the ultimate weapon - the Death Star.
Jyn manages to avoid capture after her father is taken in and her mother killed, being raised by Saw Gurrera (Forrest Whitaker) and eventually becoming a drifter who is constantly getting into scrapes with the Empire, getting herself arrested repeatedly until the Rebel Alliance finds her, hoping to get to Saw and eventually her father, who they know is working for the Empire.
She is joined by a cast of all sorts: a blind monk (Donnie Yen), a weapons specialist (Jiang Wen), a wise-cracking reprogrammed Imperial statistics droid (Alan Tudyk), and a Rebel soldier named Cassian (Diego Luna) and together, they embark on a mission to find the plans for the Death Star and help the Rebel Alliance to exploit the one weakness that Galen left in its design - a small thermal exhaust shaft that's only two meters wide.
...and yes, we all know how this story goes. But really, this story is just a good one overall. Rather than taking an already established story and throwing our mental picture of it out the window for the George Lucas Fanfiction Hour(s), Rogue One actually bothered to try and answer a question that we'd never thought to ask...mostly because the Expanded Universe already did it with Kyle Katarn. That being said, bringing Jyn in and making it more personal to her does make me a little bit more invested than "badass mercenary does it for the Alliance because that's what he does", so there's that.
That also, however, means that Jyn gets the lion's share of the character development in the story. She goes from being the nihilist to being one of the most passionate believers in the cause of the Rebel Alliance, stirring them to the belief that right is right regardless of its futility or cost. She wants to clear her father's name and prove that he wasn't a traitor to the galaxy for submitting to the Empire's orders and that he did, in fact, get the last laugh...as we know from the movie that follows.
Of course, that means the other characters don't get a great deal of development. We see some things hinted at and doors are left open for things to be explored but, without wishing to spoil, there's not a lot of potential for that going forward. Not that that's a bad thing, but referring to things without any actual intention of explaining what they mean is a old Russell T. Davies trick, and you all know how I feel about that particular brand of cow manure that erupts violently from the tip of that man's pen. Cassian's backstory about losing people? More details about the Order of the Whills and their connection to the Jedi Order? Not a word. Though, ultimately, this isn't their story. It's Jyn's.
Visually, just about everything is lovely here right down to the production design that does its best to blend the old and new of Star Wars into a cohesive whole. This goes right down to how you have new props and CGI standing alongside the 70s style of A New Hope and it works very well. However, there are two glaring flaws in the parchment that are notable simply because everything else in the film looks so good that it makes it even more apparent - Grand Moff Tarkin (Guy Henry) and Princess Leia (Ingvild Deila).
The two have stand-ins for their actors in their scenes, but they have the likenesses of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher as they appeared in A New Hope CGI'd over them and it's...unnerving, to say the least. Very much in the Uncanny Valley, looking so close to life-like but falling just short of it. One of my friends who went to the theater with me to see it said it looked to her as though they'd taken a Pixar character and placed it in the "real" world, and I think that's an accurate description. Really, words don't do it justice, it has to be seen in both instances.
Not having John Williams do the score for a Star Wars film is something akin to murder as a crime, but Michael Giacchino has proven his pedigree time and again with films such as the Abrams Star Trek and Doctor Strange, as well as following in Williams' footsteps quite well before with Jurassic World. He brings some new sounds to the table while also paying homage to Williams' original score in, what I thought, was a respectful manner. Side note to Disney, when the day finally does come for a main series Star Wars film that isn't scored by John Williams, this is the guy to do it.
Indeed, the score is very much indicative of the film, blending the old and the new to bring out something excellent. It's not so great as to overshadow what came before (or after), but it's a wholly unique thing that is definitely an excellent entry into the series despite the lack of polish as far as the characters go. I stand by the statement I started this all with, Star Wars fans finally have a prequel film that they don't have to be embarrassed by and that has to be a good thing.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Storyis now in theaters from Disney and Lucasfilm.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
...and that's enough of that. Sorry. Point is, it's been quite a bit since I reviewed a game based on Dungeons & Dragons. And why is that, exactly? I love Dungeons & Dragons! Besides being my favorite tabletop game, it's also something I've written several pieces on in what is totally not a shameless rip-off of an idea that TheSpoonyOne did with Counter Monkey (by the way, on the off-chance that he reads this: big fan, please don't sue!). Regardless of the lawsuits pending against me (either real or imagined), I love tabletop and Dungeons & Dragons is where that love was inspired from to begin with.
So, naturally, I picked up The Temple of Elemental Evil and took a crack at it to see if it was up to snuff. After all, it ran off of the 3.5 Edition Ruleset, which - as we all know - is the very best ruleset and is totally better than that 2nd Edition crap where they calculated negative hit points or...um...or...
Okay, yeah, truth be told, I only know about 2nd edition from my folks and have only even played editions past 3rd. 3.5 has just been the one my group and I have most consistently used. We've actually started using Pathfinder more after we started a rousing game in that setting, and I honestly like it a lot better...and this is just proof that I need to bring back Tabletop Tales and get back on track, sorry.
The Temple of Elemental Evil actually has its origins in a D&D module that was written by none other than Gary Gygax himself, the creator of Dungeons & Dragons. I've never actually played said module myself, instead only knowing about it by reputation (unlike Tomb of Horrors, but that's a story for another day...and also, Tabletop Tales). I've been told that the game is actually a faithful recreation of events. Without mods, you show up to the town of Hommlet destitute, penniless, and must build themselves up into an effective fighting force to battle the forces of naughty evil running around in the world of Greyhawk.
And indeed, the game only lets you (without mods) go up to about level 8 unless you use exploits and the like. You can build a party of up to five player characters that can be any of the D&D vanilla races and any of the D&D vanilla classes. Like in a good D&D game, it's good to have a good party balance. Like in an actual D&D game, you're probably not going to have that, but that's okay. The good news is, for anyone who is bored by doing your own dice rolls (and, if you are, why are you playing a Dungeons and Dragons game?), the game does it for you much like other D&D-based video games do.
The bad news? Combat is still turn-based...but that's not necessarily a bad thing here. The style makes the player work on strategy and tactics...though if you're like me, your tactics basically amount to "beef everyone up with the appropriate feats and then make them hit the thing until it dies". But, in all honesty, this is about as close to an actual D&D game as you can get in a video game.
That being said, it isn't perfect. I had to work very hard to get it to work on my computer (something that Troika Games has an unfortunate history of and is buggy and sometimes crash prone even when it does work, but I don't necessarily count that as making it a bad game. It didn't have any game-breaking bugs like Bloodlines did, and I even still gave that game a positive review, much like I'm giving this one a positive review. It's not perfect, but it's definitely nothing to turn your nose up at. If you want a good representation of what playing the 3.5 edition of Dungeons & Dragons is like, you could do a lot worse than this.
It may not have the polish of Neverwinter Nights (the Bioware game, not the MMO), but it definitely shines, albeit with a little more dully.
The Temple of Elemental Evil is now available from Atari and Troika Games. For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
It's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad in a mediocre comedy that any first year film student can write in their sleep. And it would still be better than this. It's an open and shut story about an overworking father who tries to do the most American thing in the world for Christmas and buy the love of his child (Jake Lloyd) that he's neglected.
Yes, it gave us memes. Yes, Schwarzenegger is as enjoyably bad as ever in his role. Sinbad is...someone I look upon more charitably after his stint on American Dad!. Jake Lloyd...is Jake Lloyd and a grand total of "nope" comes out of giving any credit there, even if he was only a child at the time.
His acting's totally wizard, guys!
I know it's a holiday classic. I know that a lot of people love this movie. I don't. It's trite, it's cliched, and it's moderately funny but ultimately goes nowhere. Which is depressing when you realize it was produced by Chris Columbus...yes, that Chris Columbus who directed Young Sherlock Holmes and either directed and/or produced the first three Harry Potter films.
I guess even a broken clock, etc.
If you wanna watch it, do it, enjoy it. I'm going for the eggnog.
Jingle All the Way is now available from 1492 Productions and Fox. For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
