Beyond Good and Evil (Part 2)

Resuming from Part 1, which you can read here.

Slaughterhouse

Today, 2 people protesting with signs. Tomorrow, 4.
The next day, 8? Give it two weeks, and the Alphas are toast!

Good thing we even have that hovercraft, since Hillys
is mostly water all over the place.

Jade’s photojournalism is working. People are rising up. It’s getting clearer that the Alpha Sections are in cahoots with the DomZ. But it’s not enough. The IRIS Network gives Jade her next mission: The victims taken to the Nutripils Factory get shipped into the abandoned slaughterhouse. Once more, she’ll have to sneak in there and take pictures proving the “guards” claiming to fight the aliens are actually working for them. The place is closed off, but there’s a secret hatch the hovercraft can sneak into from within the third circuit of the underground racing league.

The hovercraft will need the ability to jump in order to enter the hatch, so it’s off to Mammago’s again for a jump kit. 15 pearls, pay up. Of the 88 Pearls in the game, you spend 71 at the Garage, all mandatory upgrades for plot progression. As a result, you’re better off not leaving any Pearls behind, just in case you need them later.

Racing to save the world - why not?

Then, Jade and Double H join the race and find the secret passage. Props to this game, it tries to feature all of its major gameplay elements somewhat evenly; be it combat, the occasional puzzle or piloting the hovercraft, though stealth takes over at some point. Really, if it weren’t that the camera often goes haywire when you turn around too roughly with the hovercraft, it would be great. (The camera is a regular issue in the game, because you don't have control; it automatically positions itself where it deems necessary, and it often clashes with what you’re trying to do. Not a great system, but it was a frequent issue in games at the time.)

Beyond Good and Evil (Part 1)

I’m reaching a point in the year where I realize that many games in my to-do list for 2023 are well-regarded, with some of those having reached some degree of fame from both how long they’ve been around and long-lasting positive opinion of them. I’m kind of scared of hype aversion. Today’s game is one of the most beloved from Ubisoft; not one from their infancy, but assuredly one that helped make them into the big studio they are. (Or were? Between controversies, layoffs and mass cancellations, it’s become hard to tell.) It’s also considered by quite a few publications as one of the best games ever made, so… yeah. The hype is real.

Directed by Michel Ancel of Rayman fame, the game we have today was first released for the PlayStation 2 in North America on November 11th, 2003. It was further ported for Microsoft Windows on the 19th, for the original Xbox on December 2nd, for GameCube on December 11th, and had extra HD rereleases for Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2011. Blending genres, this science-fiction tale is an adventure, but several other gaming genres tack themselves onto it: Dungeon exploration, stealth, puzzle, a fair bit of freedom (the game’s progression is linear but some elements can be discovered by just driving around), and… photography? Oh yeah! There’s not enough photography games out there! Alright, I think we can jump in.

The scoop

She'll even rescue kids if she has to. She's already heroic!

Meet Jade, a young woman living in a lighthouse on mining planet Hillys, circa 25th century. The planet, like many others, has been under attack by the DomZ, an alien species, and they’re constantly being pushed away, but barely, by a special task team called the Alpha Section. The planets under attack have adapted in a variety of ways, notably by creating anti-DomZ force fields; however, the repeated attacks always result in casualties. Jade lives with her adoptive uncle Pey’j, who is a literal pig man (perhaps he would prefer the scientific term “sus sapien”; he does look kinda sus sometimes) and several human children rescued and kept safe as their families were taken by the menace. She also has a helping AI buddy who goes by Secundo and whose speech is a mishmash of languages.

Speaking of the kids at the lighthouse, you better not
touch them or you're getting destroyed.

She works as a photojournalist, but doesn’t see much success and money is rare. Her funds are insufficient to maintain the force field measure around the lighthouse, which is a problem when the DomZ attack again. She barely repeals them with Pey’j’s help, even having to defeat a stronger DomZ creature. Damn, she's an expert in fighting with that laser staff. They defend the lighthouse just fine, getting a pearl by killing the large DomZ. It’s after their victory that the Alpha Section arrives, late, to help. As usual.

From this fight, I feared Pey'j (bottom left) would end up
being not too good in battle, as frequently happens of allies
in video games, but he proves his worth later on.

Quick Review: The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Phew, this is a big one! We've been waiting 30 years for a Mario movie (...or rather, we've been waiting that long for a movie that DOESN'T SUCK!), and Illumination, on April 5th of this year, delivered. Now, I do have a handful of critiques, but just to be clear: This one's overall good. 

The story

Obviously, seeing as the film came out yesterday in theaters, I won't spoil much so as to entice readers into going to see it, but here's a semi-quick rundown.

Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are Brooklyn residents who left their previous job to start their own plumbing business. They aren't seeing much success with it, however, despite their best attempts to advertise their company. Everyone around them treats them like they're fools in pursuing that venture. And that's when people don't demean them on their diminutive sizes!

One night, as they try to prove that they're worth something by helping the city services during a broken water pipeline crisis, the brothers accidentally discover a large, abandoned underground complex. A massive green pipe down there sucks them in, and the brothers end up split in the following flight between worlds. Luigi, who is known for not being the bravest of the two, winds up in the Dark Lands, where he is swiftly captured. Mario, luckier, winds up near the Mushroom Kingdom, and is found by a Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) who takes him to the kingdom's castle to meet Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy).

Bowser (Jack Black), true to the text of the games, is a ruthless conqueror, but also has a disturbing crush on the Princess, hoping to marry her someday. He learns of Mario's existence and, jealous, kicks his plans into overdrive, keeping Luigi as prisoner. It thus becomes a race against time as Princess Peach has to swiftly teach Mario how to navigate this new universe filled with dangers. Among other ideas, she seeks an alliance with the kingdom of the Kongs, led by Cranky Kong (Fred Amisen) and his son Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen). And... that's as far as I want to go.

Critique Part 1: The before and after viewing

The film was produced by Illumination, which we know for the Despicable Me, Minions and Sing franchises. They can manage some truly impressive animation (they definitely earn their place among the titans of CGI art, alongside Pixar, Disney and Dreamworks, for their attention to detail). They further upped their game here; not only is every shot impressive, but frequently outright breathtaking. Kamek has friggin' age spots, for Pete's sake. 

My main issue with Illumination was the impression that they had learned the wrong lesson from the popularity of the Minions and that they felt the need to have Minions-like in a lot of their films. Thankfully, that's not what happens here; as though Bowser has a lot of baddies and the Toads also feel somewhat similar, they aren't used here in a way that could feel annoying. The Koopa Troopas and other assorted critters of Bowser's army have their funny moments, but never to the point of detracting too severely from the events.

There's been quite a few people with apprehensions due to Chris Pratt's casting as Mario, and I kind of understand; I'm somewhat neutral to the guy, but he falls into the issue of frequently playing the same character archetype. The film uses some of his trademark traits (have you noticed he's frequently "some guy who has something to prove to the rest of the world"?). He had big shoes to fill, replacing Charles Martinet for the feature (though Mr. Martinet actually has two roles, one of which is pretty important story-wise). The original fear that he'd play a heavily Italian-accented Mario is joked about early on in all languages, and dropped afterwards. I did not see the film in English, however, so I cannot speak on the original English cast's performances.

The overuse of shots from the Mario Kart portion of the film in the trailers had me worried that it would have a major importance in the story... read: That it would be the actual climax of the film. Thankfully, it isn't, but it is nonetheless a very important piece of the story. Makes sense that it would be there, as Mario kart is the best-selling Mario spin-off. I'm glad it was used correctly.

Critique part 2: Post-film thoughts

On to things I could not assume, from trailers and announcements, before viewing the film.

The first issue is that the movie is very fast-paced. It squeezes a lot of elements in a 92-minute runtime. While there are moments of breathing room, those feel rare. Mind you, this sort of length for a film is refreshing in the "massive movie length" era of blockbusters we're in as of late (many movies released recently come close to the 3-hour mark if not pass it), but a few extra minutes to give the viewers some additional chances to appreciate the sheer amount of work on screen would have been very appreciated.

The film is intensely heavy on fanservice, in that it pulls references from everywhere in the Mario franchise (One example: Mario and Luigi's former boss is Spike from Wrecking Crew, that's a deep cut if there ever was one). Several power-ups are seen, some classics, some modern; the Super Mushroom and the Fire Flower coexist alongside, say, the Super Bell. Every chance they had of featuring something from the Mario universe they took. Even nods to gameplay mechanics (such as the "snaking" mechanic from Mario Kart) are hidden all over the place. That's not without mentioning all the nods to non-Mario classic titles of the Nintendo Entertainment System sprinkled throughout, which an attentive eye can spot. As a result, the film is an absolute treat if you've kept up with this 43yo franchise, but it also assumes everyone knows the major references featured, and doesn't break the pace to stop and explain them.

The film does stumble into the classic pitfalls of being an origin story for the main characters Mario and Luigi, though it works well within these parameters. However, as a result, the story remains simple (some would call it simplistic, even), and rarely takes risks, which I can understand from Nintendo holding a tight grip on what Illumination could or couldn't do, likely in the hopes of preventing any chance of a mess like the original live-action Mario movie was. The end result is, therefore. fairly safe in the choices made. Some questions remain unanswered, leaving the door open for mysteries to solve in a sequel (let's hope there'll be one this time!). The tone is surprisingly dark for a Mario story, as well; characters don't mince words about death, and some sequences are pretty intense for an all-ages film, Luigi's arrival in the Dark Lands being among the standouts.

I welcome some of the reimaginings among the cast, with Bowser having some musical talent (it would have been a crime to NOT have Jack Black sing, heh) and his fixation for Princess Peach being treated in a manner that felt to me far creepier than the games would have ever dared to show. Peach, meanwhile, basically becomes Mario's mentor in this world and is one of the film's most badass characters, a nice change of pace from the constant damsel in distress problem of her counterpart. Mario, being a relatively blank slate emotionally in the games, had the most room to grow here (him not liking mushrooms at first, though? That's forced as all Heck). Even characters like Toad and Donkey Kong have new character traits that make sense within the context.

The original score for the film masterfully blends epic orchestration and several of the most famous themes from the Mario franchise, and yet again an attentive fan will be likely to recognize them despite the changes to make them boom and fit within the scenes. Fantastic composition work from Brian Tyler, nothing negative to say about that. That said, the movie also makes use of popular songs from time to time, though their inclusion often clashes. Explain to me how a-ha's Take on Me, a classic pop song, fits with scenes of Mario, Peach and Toad being taken around a kart on Kong Kingdom? It's not just that they don't all fit, it's that some are already overused in pop culture. ACDC's Thunderstruck for that moment where the protagonists are designing their karts? I Need A Hero during Mario's training montage? Come on! I know Chris Pratt is voicing the main character, but this wasn't directed by James Gunn and this isn't Guardians of the Galaxy, dammit.

(also, without spoiling, is it just me or the film takes a handful of elements of the plot in the original Mario movie from '93... and actually executes them correctly, makes them good even? I can't be the only one who had that impression!)

Yeah... that's it. The film hits a ton of right notes, missteps at times, but is overall a pretty great watch, especially for fans.

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams

I had promised myself I’d do this one much earlier; either in the same year where I released my original review of the first NiGHTS game, or perhaps the year after. Oh well, better late than never, as they say.

SEGA has a thing for
free-spirited protagonists.

If that name doesn’t ring a bell, I can understand; SEGA promotes the franchises that do well like Sonic, Persona and Yakuza. Still, due to a design that almost fits in Sonic’s world, NiGHTS benefits from having cameoed in the hedgehog's games every now and then, so they’re not completely unknown. The gender-neutral dream jester can only claim two full games to their name, with a third unofficial one that’s an add-on to the first, and has a cult following as a result. I already covered the original game, NiGHTS Into Dreams…, which first came out on the SEGA Saturn in 2006 before seeing a rerelease on Steam in 2012. Then at some point I got the "sequel", a Wii game titled NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, released in North America on December 18th, 2007, more than 11 years after its predecessor.

Semi-sequel, semi-reboot, this game carries over the themes, story and ideas (or should I say Ideya) of the previous entry. Journey of Dreams tries to bring the original idea of NiGHTS’ flight-based gameplay to a modern console. (…well, I say that, but this game has been out for 15 years so, depending on who you ask,  it may count as retro by now.) It’s probably easier to jump right into it so that we can compare and contrast.

Bloons TD 5

Every once in a while I think back to the era of Flash games and go… “wow, I played a lot of tower defense games back then”. They were definitely one of my favorite genres at the time, though I preferred the games that put a twist on the formula. Gemcraft, which I already discussed (and will discuss again), and Cursed Treasure, which I haven’t (yet), are two examples. The weirder one, though, might be the Bloons franchise.

Bloons is about the never-ending struggle between monkeys and balloons, all with different skill sets and power levels. At the core of the conflict, the Monkeys try to stop Bloons from traveling all the way across a path on the screen. Why? Who the Hell cares! Do we even need a reason? The Monkeys specialize in various types of weaponry, some of which toy with every possible facet of tower defense gameplay. The Bloons, meanwhile, just get stronger and stronger, occasionally gaining resistances to certain forms of attack or just taking more hits to go down.

I was planning to cover Bloons TD6 this year, but I felt the need to cover TD5 first, seeing as I had already played it before. I don’t plan to go over the entire history of the franchise, not that there’s a ton to be said about Bloons TD 1 to 4. The most notable difference between Bloons TD 5, released by Ninja Kiwi on November 19th, 2014, and previous installments, is the inclusion of classic free-to-play and return bonus elements.