Movie Review: Five Nights at Freddy's

Happy Halloween!

Yeah, I stilll have that mask. As for the film, how could I not see this on opening weekend? I acknowledge the games for the important gaming and cultural phenomenon they've become as well as the indie horror milestones they represent. But I always felt more attracted to the franchise's lore than to its gameplay, so while I did review the first six games, I can't say I played them all for very long. A movie based on this universe was always going to appeal to me more in terms of presentation.

I understand Scott Cawthon wanting this product to be as close to how he views his creation as possible, hence his status as producer and his name repeatedly appearing in the intro credits. We also have Emma Tammi as director and Jason Blum (of Blumhouse) also as producer. This film spent long enough in development Hell that knockoffs had time to be greenlit, filmed and released before this one did. (Speaking of, doing a compare/contrast with one of those, Willy's Wonderland, would be wild.) Cawthon can safely say the bet paid off, because the end result, story-wise, is exactly what we could expect, yet throws enough curveballs to keep things interesting to those familiar with the franchise. When it comes to horror, however? It's a little light. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The story

Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) is a young adult down on his luck. Goes from a job to the next, without much success. He is taking care of his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio) after their mother died and their father up and left. He is plagued by traumatic memories of the time when he was a child and his brother Garrett was kidnapped while the Schmidts were having a picnic. He has been reliving the scene in his dreams to catch any details that could let him recognize the kidnapper, without luck.

Threatened with eviction, struggling with his role as caretaker, dealing with an aunt (Mary Stuart Masterson) who wants to take Abby away not out of love and worry but for the government funding it would lend her, and losing yet another job, Mike sees a counselor who makes the dreadful suggestion. The pay will suck, the hours will suck, but it's not like he has any other options. Mike ends up taking the job as security nightguard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a joint once home to bustling arcades and state-of-the-art animatronic performers, now an old and decrepit building that should have been torn down years ago. Really, all he has to do is hold this job down long enough to prove that he can be steady, and that'll be it.

WarioWare: Get It Together! (Part 2)

Continuing from Part 1… and we’re already at the (not quite) final stage! No time to waste, let’s get to it.

The missing folks

Oh, this boss is so cool. The glitchy effects before
the fight were really cool, too.

"Win!"

Wario's “Anything Goes” stage, the classic closer of the main Story Mode (with all microgames therein involving him in some way) is the one most bugged out. The glitches have even taken over the space between games! The greedy developer jumps in with a few friends. This stage is the longest yet, but also, between microgames, you have to fight the boss bug in the background. This is one of the most unique ideas I’ve seen in WarioWare, and it’s brilliant. Still, at the end of the usual number of microgames, we have won, and we kick the final bug out. Or… do we?

It's the first time that the "space between games"
serves a real purpose and it's amazing.

Woo, the crew's all reunited! ...Or is it?

After a little bit of deliberation, Wario realizes that he likes the fresh spin this bug adds to his stage, so he agrees to let it stay in this area. Still unsure how to leave, though, the gang soon meets the Supreme Developer. This godly being bearing Wario’s nose admits to being the one who pulled the crew into the game to clear out the bugs. He lets them leave, but welcomes them to return anytime to play some more.

When they have returned to their world, the developers wonder what exactly caused those glitches. Some ancient artefact? Messing with the wrong person? Nah. Just Wario being a mighty sloppy dev as usual. Wario's angry employees chase him around the room. Must be a Wednesday at the office.

However, Wario realizes there are people missing still – so a few devs must still be trapped! The whole crew goes back in and meets the Supreme Developer again, who informs them that something else is out there and has captured them… The group has to face the next stages, all of which are classic remixes. One with all of the microgames at random; one with all of the microgames starting on the third difficulty; and a last one with the full remix, but only one life. Through this, we rescue…

WarioWare: Get It Together! (Part 1)

Didn’t expect me to review a Switch game before the end of 2023, did you? Gotta slip one into my schedule. And I went for an easy one to talk about. Or… rather, so I thought. Anyway!

Show of hands, who knew
about this one? Thought so.

Past Smooth Moves for the Nintendo Wii and its focus on motion controls, the WarioWare franchise entered a bit of a slump. WarioWare D.I.Y., despite being a fantastic introduction to game design, did not do too well sales-wise and its pre-existing elements were lacking, especially when it came to microgames, the series’ bread and butter. Snapped!, for exclusive use of the DSi’s camera feature, well… you can imagine its limited use wasn’t going to help it. Game & Wario, for the Wii U, ditched the classic microgames for regular mini-games instead and, while creative, those felt too different from the formula.

WarioWare Gold for the Nintendo 3DS was ambitious; not only are all of the main characters voiced, but the 300+ microgames (more than any other entry in the franchise) featured classic controls and ones akin to those in Twisted! and Touched!, owing to the portable console’s touch screen AND built-in gyro sensor. The mix included both new microgames and remakes of classic ones. However, the game was released in 2018, in the dying breaths of the 3DS, which did not help its sales.

A classic from Mega Microgame$!, back
for Gold, 15 years later.

The challenge with WarioWare is to find a new gameplay gimmick to base the entire title on. When the console itself doesn’t provide one, that is. The Switch brought back motion controls… but for those, WarioWare: Move It! is coming out very soon. Before that, we got the very quirky idea of WarioWare: Get It Together, released on September 10th, 2021. You know all those characters we’ve been following since 2003 and who are glorified hosts for their games? We can finally play as them.

Them Darned Glitches

Screenshots for this review were taken from a
Let's Play by Zebra Gamer. Go check it out
if you'd like to see the full game.

We open in the crowded WarioWare offices as Wario puts the finishing touches on a new game, in a cool portable console. He tries to show the gang, but the game glitches. In his anger, Wario throws the game upwards, but the console sucks in all of the developers, turning them into Chibis. Now, they’re all trapped, scattered inside the game, and must find a way out. Wario observes his new form, and laments the presence of bugs all over his usual intro stage! Guess we’d better find the others, as well.

(Most of what comes next will be me reviewing all the playable characters, since they are a core element of gameplay and I’ve played enough to know their strengths and flaws. Also of note, when I say “Action button”, I mean A/B/X/Y, because all can be used to perform a character’s action.)

Sonic Forces (Part 3)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Still no time to lose!

Liberation

The Resistance has liberated 1/4th of the world, so it's far from over. Eggman’s ultimatum ends tomorrow. We finally have a plan: Tails has found out that the Phantom Ruby needs an immense amount of power to work, and that its remote source is on the Death Egg. Time to destroy it! Considering how often Eggman builds those moon-sized ships and has them destroyed, I guess this is a day that ends in Y.

Avy started out anxious. Scared. Now they fight giant robots.

Vector, disappointed, isn't the one this time around
who has to find the computer room.

In Stage #20, Avy creates a distraction at Guardian Rock, near Green Hills. Meanwhile, Sonic sneaks into the Chemical Plant to break Eggman’s contact with his Death Egg’s weapons, by destroying the supercomputer in the plant. This liberates the area; we finally have over 50% of the world’s population freed. With the Egg’s weapons system down, the Resistance sneaks Classic Sonic onto the giant ship to shut down its power source and destroy it, which is Stage #22.

"The OC saves the main hero from uncertain doom" - Check.
We're 75% down the list of fanfic tropes. Most of 'em have
been seen so far.

One major area under the mad doctor’s boot is the Metropolis. Since the Phantom Ruby’s power has been diminished, the heroes focus their efforts on that area. Sonic runs through the Metropolitan Highway to face Eggman. However, the doctor has two nasty surprises; one, he has a backup power supply under Metropolis, so the Ruby was not weakened. Two, the Phantom Ruby can create the Null Space, a pocket dimension where nothing exists. As Sonic is sucked in, Avy jumps in to try and rescue the hedgehog, only to fall in with him. This is the start of stage #24, but the Null Space part is almost nothing; Sonic and our avatar just double boost all the way into an exit and then run through Metropolis together to find Eggman. We don’t even spend 30 seconds in that pocket dimension. The hero come back and confront the scientist who, cornered, does a tactical retreat to his tower.

Eggman, bring your worst. We're coming, and we're angry.

Sonic Forces (Part 2)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

I didn’t cover much of the story in Part 1, so I’ll remedy to that today.

Answering the Call

Ohhhhh HOT HOT HOT!

When we come back to Avy (our avatar), they’re at the Prison Hall of the Death Egg, looking to rescue Sonic. We get to try their skills out a little more. Story-wise, it’s their big chance to prove themselves. Not like they need to bail Sonic out, as the villains do it for them.

Hey, couldn't Zavok turn giant in Sonic Lost World?
Yet here he is, piloting a robot bee. Laaaaaame.

Eggman considers the planet conquered, so the Resistance is barely a blip on his radar. He is ready to execute Sonic, so he sends Zavok out to bring the hedgehog to his fate. Zavok frees Sonic from his shackles; a battle ensues. Zavok pilots a large bee robot and is too high for Sonic to reach him. This battle was the first real challenge the game had for me, in part because of the small arena surrounded by endless pits and my struggles with frame rate. It’s also a tough fight because it’s counter-intuitive. Zavok will slam the ground with his robot, causing a shockwave. Usually, in games, those hurt you. Here, they’ll propel Sonic upwards, high enough to attack. But what would be your normal reaction to a ground shockwave in a boss fight? To jump and avoid it! Not a fan of that boss. At least it’s over relatively quick. Sonic defeats Zavok, who  disappears in a flurry of glitches.

I do have to give it to this game; when its abundance of
background details aren't a distraction to gameplay,
they can be friggin' GOR-GEOUS.

Sonic makes a run for it, learning that he was in outer space the whole time. This is Stage 6 and at the end of it, Sonic jumps onto a spaceship and finds himself in the hangar. This is done through a quick-time event; somewhat uncommon, they help make the game feel more cinematic at times, but it also means you have to constantly be prepared for when they’ll pop up, as they may happen when you least expect them. Thankfully, the time window you’re given to react is lenient, but still – I’m surprised QTEs are even included at all.

The Double Boost is the most prominent "QTE-like" here.
You don't need to learn how it works... yet.
Also, Avy radiates joy. He LOVES being here. Daaw.

Sonic Forces (Part 1)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

After Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, returning to Sonic platformers is like a cold shower. Welcome back to reality! When it comes to this franchise, the highs are really high (especially in the 2D realm), and the lows… oh, the lows can get really low. The blue hedgehog hasn’t been able to catch much of a break since… 2006 maybe? Yeah, he’s never living that one down.

Needless to say, there's a
lot of history to this series.

It’s like for every good game we can mention since then, there’s been one that wasn’t up to par… if not an outright stinker. It’s unclear whether it’s the fans or SEGA who still don’t know what they want the Sonic franchise to be. If we tried to split the Sonic games released over the last 20 years into the good, the mid and the bad, every Sonic fan’s list would be different.

All this to finally get to today’s game, which… well, it’s certainly divisive. Sonic Forces, developed by Sonic Team (with the PC version developed by Hardlight) and published by SEGA, was released on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Windows and Xbox One on November 7th, 2017. This is the second of two games released that year to celebrate the franchise’s 25th anniversary, the other being Sonic Mania. As far as opinions go, I’ve heard both extremes, so I’m really not sure what to expect and where I’ll stand on that debate. Guess there’s no better way to figure it out than to play it, right?

(Obviously: Spoilers, so tread lightly if you haven’t played the game and don’t want to know what happens.)

Gaming Memories: WarioWare: Twisted!

The reviews I'm working on need a little more time, so I'm posting this instead today.

WarioWare: Twisted!

Game Boy Advance

Release date: May 23rd, 2005 (NA)

The WarioWare franchise started out a little kooky, with its unique concept of "microgames" (meaning mini-games so short they're completed in just a few seconds) and its cast of crazy characters. The very first game in the series, Mega Microgame$!, set the tone. It would become tradition for new entries to the series to introduce new characters (developers) and gimmicks, often basing their entire collection on said gimmicks.

Which takes us to Twisted, the first game in the series that I owned, also for the Game Boy Advance. I didn't cover this one in the early days of the blog; you'll see why soon. The cartridge, larger than normal, actually had a built-in gyro sensor. The sensor would calibrate upon the game being turned on, so that it would work no matter which type of GBA you owned (with a top slot for the regular GBA, or the bottom slot for an SP model, which is what I had).

The story here: Wario and Doctor Crygor end up inventing a strange Game Boy Advance that reacts to being tilted left and right... so Wario, true to form, decides to market the Heck out of it, even asking his crew to make new microgames using this new feature. Most, if not all, of the microgames involve tilting the console. Shave a guy by moving the razor around his face? Spin the console upside-down to drop a hat off a guy's head? Sure. Several games here also require pressing the A button. Notably, one "boss" (read: A longer microgame at the end of a stage) only asks you to turn the console on the side to play a shmup... against noses. This is one of only two games on the GBA to use a gyro sensor, the other being Drill Dozer.

I recall loving the weirdness of that one - then again, weird is just normal for WarioWare. But spinning the console? Yeah, that was especially bizarre. Later entries in the franchise would focus on the new Nintendo console's features, like the touch screen and microphone of the DS, the motion controls of the Wii, or the digital camera of the DSi. A new one is coming soon, focusing on the Switch's motion controls as well.

As for why I never covered this one in a full-length article? Well, that's because I didn't own it anymore. One day, I had friends come over and one of them brought some other guy we didn't really know. One of them had brought her games, including her own copy of this one; at the end of the day, she lost it. We genuinely believe it was stolen by the guy we didn't know. I gave her my copy. I'm pretty mad that it was stolen, but I did the right thing in the end. Let's just say I never allowed for +1s I didn't know at home from then on.