Before I get into the impression, call this irony but considering the reason for it... At the time of writing this, Hellfire comms, in association with other Youtubers, is currently hosting a marathon of Sonic games with all the money generated going to Child's Play. If you have a spare couple of hours, watch the streams (or the recordings if you're like me and am sleeping when they're on) and donate. The commentators are a joy to watch and the games are fun to see. Hell, it might even give you enough of a excuse to play Sonic games. The website for the "Sonic-a-thon" is here (http://hfc-marathons.co.uk/) or you can view the stream directly on Twitch. I do believe the streams are being recorded and going onto Youtube so there is that option as well. With that said, onward with Mario Party 10.
Do you hate your friendship with someone? Then Mario Party has you covered because, chances are, your friendship won't be the same after you play it, if it exists afterwards. Don't let your eyes deceive you, this game will test your patience with its randomness. So why is it still being made? The only answer I can give is money. So how does this new installment look in comparison to the last 9 console games and the 3 games on Nintendo's portable consoles?
So what did the Nintendo Treehouse show off... Not much actually. Most of the presentation was focused on the new mode for the game "Bowser Party", another way to punish your friends for being your friends. Its another 4v1 game, 4 players are in a car... train... thing to get through a game board (like in Mario Party 9) with the 5th player (who uses the Game Pad), who controls Bowser, chasing the kart. If Bowser catches up with said kart, the players in the kart have to survive a "Bowser Mini game". In the mini game, Bowser uses the game pad in some form to try and cut the health of the other 4 players. If a player runs out of health in the mini game, then that player is out and it goes back to board. Players can receive more health in the game board and Bowser can get more dice to roll (default of 4) to increase his chances of catching up to the kart. If all the players in the kart run out of health, Bowser wins, if the kart gets to the end of the stage, the other 4 players win. Half of the game board wasn't allowed to be shown so I can't talk about the game board, but it looks like the board that was shown was a "World 1" from the New Super Mario Bros series esque design.
Rides were also shown off, but not how you actually play them in the boards. they're just mini games to get more mini stars from Mario Party 9 so there isn't that much to talk about. There's also supposed to be a traditional Mario Party mode where its 4 players moving around the board individually,with the standards including Bowser spaces, chance time ect. This moment wasn't shown off so I can't talk about it.
For a 20 minute presentation, not much was shown off so I'm going to stop it there, the game is going to have a 2015 release so its expected to have a lack of information. As I said at the start, give the Sonic-a-thon a look and donate if you can, its going to a good cause. The final impression: Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.
Interested in Film, Television or Video Game reviews, how about Music, Comics and general opinions on the above? Then you've come to the right place. Enjoy.
Thursday 7 August 2014
Wednesday 6 August 2014
First Impressions: Far Cry 4
Is innovation that scarce in some companies that the only way they can sell a game is if they remake their last game and give it a bigger number? I'm serious about this because the only thing I've seen about Far Cry 4 that's different when comparing it to Far Cry 3 is that it has the number 4 on the box and not what its actually called, Far Cry 3 version 2. I could go on and talk about the trailers that were shown off, even the promotional artwork on steam but... its the same game.
Here's the artwork for Far Cry 3
Yes, the background is different, but looking at the trailers, its the exact same map. Hell, even the two villains who you can see on the artwork have the exact same personality. This is just lazy development and the only reason why this didn't get more attention was because of Assassin's Creed Unity and its developers being to lazy to create a female assassin model. I know that there are people who were expecting more of a analysis, but I genuinely found nothing new to talk about. I openly admit that I don't play the Far Cry games, but after looking on other review site to get some more information, I don't have to in order to see how lazy this is. Tomorrow, the tenth squeal to a series of games that will ruin friendships (not including portables): Mario Party 10.
Here's the artwork for Far Cry 3
And here's the artwork for Far Cry 4
Tuesday 5 August 2014
First Impressions: Code Name S.T.E.A.M
With a concept as crazy as this, combining American History (kinda), Sci-fi, Steampunk, Comic books, Action RPG, Shooters and Turn based statergy... this 3DS title is... questionable. I'm going to be linking the treehouse video that has more information at the end of this post but I will provide a brief explnation as to my thoughs on the matter.
The artstyle: I'm not a fan of Steampunk in general, I personally prefer futuristic tech, but the art style of S.T.E.A.M is still quite nice for the 3DS. I've been replaying Dragon Quest IX recently and the character models remind me of the 3D models in DQ IX, simplistic but detailed.
The intro cutscene (of the presentation): in true comic book style, its cheesy, its over the top, its funny. Thats all that I can really say on the matter.
Gameplay: The gameplay looks like its going to take some time for fans of turn based games to get used to as there are a lot of differences. The camera is always behind the characters (same as third person shooters), the mobility of the characters is dependent on the amount of steam they have in their tanks, the ability to attack is also affect by the amount of steam so the player will have to balance mobility and attacks. The party of 4 characters seam to have multiple weapons and abilities that they can use during the battle and the power of the attacks can also be edited so that weaker shots use less steam. Height seems to be a core part of gameplay, so that you can no whats happening on the battlefield. Control seems to be touch screen heavy and I didn't see any button controls used in the presentation.
Soundtrack: I couldn't tell what was S.T.E.A.M and what was other games at E3, so i'm not going to say anything about the audio for now.
That's pretty much it for Code Name S.T.E.A.M. Feel free to watch the video for more info on the game if your curious. I'll loo into it some more closer to its release and I'll probably give it a review. Tommorow, the reason why I didn't say much on Far Cry 4.
The artstyle: I'm not a fan of Steampunk in general, I personally prefer futuristic tech, but the art style of S.T.E.A.M is still quite nice for the 3DS. I've been replaying Dragon Quest IX recently and the character models remind me of the 3D models in DQ IX, simplistic but detailed.
The intro cutscene (of the presentation): in true comic book style, its cheesy, its over the top, its funny. Thats all that I can really say on the matter.
Gameplay: The gameplay looks like its going to take some time for fans of turn based games to get used to as there are a lot of differences. The camera is always behind the characters (same as third person shooters), the mobility of the characters is dependent on the amount of steam they have in their tanks, the ability to attack is also affect by the amount of steam so the player will have to balance mobility and attacks. The party of 4 characters seam to have multiple weapons and abilities that they can use during the battle and the power of the attacks can also be edited so that weaker shots use less steam. Height seems to be a core part of gameplay, so that you can no whats happening on the battlefield. Control seems to be touch screen heavy and I didn't see any button controls used in the presentation.
Soundtrack: I couldn't tell what was S.T.E.A.M and what was other games at E3, so i'm not going to say anything about the audio for now.
That's pretty much it for Code Name S.T.E.A.M. Feel free to watch the video for more info on the game if your curious. I'll loo into it some more closer to its release and I'll probably give it a review. Tommorow, the reason why I didn't say much on Far Cry 4.
Monday 4 August 2014
First Impressions: Yoshi's Woolly World
The art's and crafts art style seems to be relatively popular at the moment, at least for platformers. With the "success" of Kirby's Epic Yarn, it's only fitting that Nintendo would try the formula again for another of their mascots. So how does Yoshi's Woolly World (once known as either Yarn Yoshi or Yoshi's Epic Yarn because of how long fans have know about the project) take the fundamentals of Epic Yarn and update them (based on the trailer).
Well, on the subject of the aesthetics, "thanks to the amazing powers of the WiiU's technology, Yarn Yoshi (as he will now be called throughout the duration of this impression) can be rendered in 3D and is actually a solid mass, not a hollow 2D shell like Yarn Kirby and all the characters in Kirby's Epic Yarn". Yes, Yoshi is solid in this and he still has access to his power of converting enemies into egg projectiles, but the way its done now is actually kinda interesting. As with Epic Yarn, the world uses the wool motif to create hidden unlockable locations. Yoshi can throw his "eggs" at the shells of platforms and fill them in to create something to stand on. Yoshi can use the eggs to hinder some enemies ability to attack (like wrapping the mouth shut on a Piranha Plant) and the eggs can be thrown to clear away what looks like cotton. Some portions of the world can also be converted into eggs to unlock hidden paths and collectables. I've included the trailer at the bottom of the post so feel free to see these move in action along with others.
Aesthetics wise, like Kirby's Epic Yarn, the game looks adorable. I love this kind of aesthetic as you can do whatever you want with it, as shown by the Little Big Planet series. The Yoshi games have always had a sense of cute when it comes to visuals and this is no exception. One of my personal favorite enemies in this is the fire dog at then end of the trailer (which I think is a boss) for that reason, it's adorable... even though it wants to kill me...
I'm not sure if Yoshi's Woolly World is going to keep the "you can't die, you only loose beads" idea that Epic Yarn had, but if it does, I wouldn't mind. I don't care about difficulty in some games, hell I've never had a hard time with a Kirby game so it didn't bother me. The Yoshi games also haven't been a challenge to me so I wouldn't care if the system was brought back. The game still looks like a joy to play so I will be giving it a shot when I can. Because I only have 4 more impressions left to do, every day this week will have a new impression so tomorrow will be Code name S.T.E.A.M. Also, because this post will probably push it over, Blaster's Reviews will have reached the 1000 page view milestone, thank you for reading what I've been posting up here. The reviews will be coming soon, I have a few things planned so enjoy.
Well, on the subject of the aesthetics, "thanks to the amazing powers of the WiiU's technology, Yarn Yoshi (as he will now be called throughout the duration of this impression) can be rendered in 3D and is actually a solid mass, not a hollow 2D shell like Yarn Kirby and all the characters in Kirby's Epic Yarn". Yes, Yoshi is solid in this and he still has access to his power of converting enemies into egg projectiles, but the way its done now is actually kinda interesting. As with Epic Yarn, the world uses the wool motif to create hidden unlockable locations. Yoshi can throw his "eggs" at the shells of platforms and fill them in to create something to stand on. Yoshi can use the eggs to hinder some enemies ability to attack (like wrapping the mouth shut on a Piranha Plant) and the eggs can be thrown to clear away what looks like cotton. Some portions of the world can also be converted into eggs to unlock hidden paths and collectables. I've included the trailer at the bottom of the post so feel free to see these move in action along with others.
Aesthetics wise, like Kirby's Epic Yarn, the game looks adorable. I love this kind of aesthetic as you can do whatever you want with it, as shown by the Little Big Planet series. The Yoshi games have always had a sense of cute when it comes to visuals and this is no exception. One of my personal favorite enemies in this is the fire dog at then end of the trailer (which I think is a boss) for that reason, it's adorable... even though it wants to kill me...
I'm not sure if Yoshi's Woolly World is going to keep the "you can't die, you only loose beads" idea that Epic Yarn had, but if it does, I wouldn't mind. I don't care about difficulty in some games, hell I've never had a hard time with a Kirby game so it didn't bother me. The Yoshi games also haven't been a challenge to me so I wouldn't care if the system was brought back. The game still looks like a joy to play so I will be giving it a shot when I can. Because I only have 4 more impressions left to do, every day this week will have a new impression so tomorrow will be Code name S.T.E.A.M. Also, because this post will probably push it over, Blaster's Reviews will have reached the 1000 page view milestone, thank you for reading what I've been posting up here. The reviews will be coming soon, I have a few things planned so enjoy.
Friday 1 August 2014
First Impressions: Sonic Boom
My apologies for that, I got my documents messed up...
Sonic Boom, the upcoming Sonic game for 2014 along with the new TV show based on the two games. And as usual for Sonic games, they get unneeded hate from the fan base. Why? I'll answer that at the end of this.
I'll start with the games. As with Sonic Lost World, a 3DS version and a WiiU version will be made, but unlike Lost World, the consoles will have a different version of the game with a different plot, playable characters ect. In Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, you can play as Sonic, Tails, Amy and Knuckles, the main 4 characters for the franchise.
- Sonic: There is barely anything is different with him. I like the little bit of detail in his spines, yes the exsessive use of sports tape is a bit of a let down but the same thing applies to all the characters except the "new" character so I'm going to ignore it. I love the addition of the scarf as it adds that little bit of detail to the character that updates him properly for the first time since the Dreamcast.
- Tails: The short and sharp version of my opinions on Tails is that he actually looks like a engineer now, which I like
- Amy: Ever since the designs were revealed, I haven't had any thing to say about Amy spesifically. I like this design more so then her main design as it seems to be more functional then the main design in the main series (at this point in time, this is a spin off of the series). I like the update to the hammer, even though it will probably be as ridiculous as ever in terms of physics (Amy is the reason why "Hammer space" exists).
- Knuckles: The controversy magnet for these redesigns... Where do I begin with Knuckles... How about the fact that he's not that bad. Even when I first saw him I didn't think he was that bad. Not great, I will admit that there are flaws but its not the end of teh world that people are making him out to be. I'm not a fan of his height, I do think he could be a bit shorter. I do like the fact that he has a lot more bulk to him now as he is supposed to be the muscle of the group, something that doesn't make sense in the current series. I will admit that the lack of a neck is more of a problem with Knuckles then it is for anyone else but I can learn to live with it.
- And finally, defiantly not Marine the Racoon, original creation do not steel... aka Sticks the badger: In terms of design, when its not screaming "I SHOULD HAVE BEEN MARINE", she looks ok. I'm skeptical about her character at this point in time i'm going to hold off on my thoughts about her, until I can see her in action.
Story wise: I'm going to directly quote the Sonic Wiki because news on the plot is scarce.
The Rise of Lyric (WiiU): "Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric follows Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose and Sticks as they do battle against the evil Dr. Eggman. The group find themselves arriving on an island where they encounter an ancient tomb sealed deep within the island. There, they come across a powerful snake-like villain from a race called the Ancients, named Lyric, who plans to power his army of war mongering robots with the Chaos Crystals and destroy the world. To stop Lyric's evil plan, the group must put aside their differences and find the Chaos Crystals before Lyric. The stakes have never been higher, and the only chance to overcome Lyric is to band together and work as a team."
Shattered Crystal: "In Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, Amy discovers a secret ancient language and manuscript detailing the history and whereabouts of a Lost Crystal of Power. The evil and vile villain, Lyric, kidnaps Amy in his eagerness to get his claws on this long-forgotten power that has been hidden throughout the jungles and canyons of a mysterious new island. Sonic must team up with Tails, Knuckles and new friend Sticks to trace Amy’s footsteps and save her from the clutches of Lyric and his robot army. By trusting in their own abilities and working as a team, they will prove they are stronger together than they are apart."
Based on that, the plot for the WiiU version sounds interesting and I'm curious as to how it will be implemented. My only issue with the story is the 3DS version. Why is Amy being kidnapped? It doesn't make any sense based on her personality. The last time she was kidnapped was in Sonic Adventure and her kidnapper was the final boss in her part of the story so I hope something like this happens again.
Finally, the TV show. For the first time since Sonic X, we will be having another Sonic cartoon. from the two trailers we've seen, it looks like its going to have a comical side to it but I'm not sure how much humor is in the show. We've only had two trailers and they're being very vague as to what the show is about in my opinion. Only time will tell. The next impression will be Yoshi's Woolly world with Code Name S.T.E.A.M being the one after.
Monday 28 July 2014
First Impressions: Project Spark
Well... who didn't hear of Project Spark, the game that got a lot of hate at E3 (admittedly not as much as Ubisoft's laziness but I'm not going to go into that one). Rare fans were furious with Project Spark, and admittedly for good reason. But before I go into why, lets talk about the rest of the game first.
So what's in Project Spark... I don't know and the developers don't now much either. Its a "Game maker" game, all its content is player created. Imagine Microsoft's Little Big Planet and you have this in a nutshell. Players would be able to create and share content online for other player is use; whether that be to play around in or tinker with. Its a tested concept that does work for games as more and more players want to ease into games development and games like Project Spark help them to do that from a young age. Aesthetic wise, the game looks good. It uses a art style that works well with the amount of assets players can use to make their maps, something that's very hard to do because of how many different assets are in the game. It takes a lot of skill to make medieval assets, futuristic assets and steam punk assets to look good using the same art style (just to name a few that I've seen/ guessing will be in the game.
And now to the controversy behind Project Spark, the elephant in the room. The inclusion of Conker. Conker first appeared in the original Diddy Kong Racing (I'm not sure he was in the remake, because of legal issues) and has appeared in two games of his own. Conker's Bad Fur Day and Conker: Live and Reloaded, a remake of the original. Looks can be deceiving with character as he is probably the least qualified cartoon character to be in a kids game. He has a Alcohol issue, Bad Fur Day had a lot of... humor targeted to a specific demographic (take South Park for example but not as smart and multiply it to get Bad Fur Day. Don't believe me, look up The Great Mighty Poo, you can't miss it). Conker, when he became his own stand alone character, was never intended to be in a kids game. Fans of Rare's work were furious because it would mean that, to them, they would never get a new Conker game similar to the first one and its remake because the character will never be the same again. Personally, I think they might be able to pull it off but the game will get a lot of hate from parents (because the last two didn't...) because of the style of writing the series uses. The question will be, would the ends justify the means for the game. As for Project Spark, I'm going to keep my eye on it and I may review it someday because it is getting a PC release (on windows 8...). It will be time for a change of pace with Sonic Boom next.
So what's in Project Spark... I don't know and the developers don't now much either. Its a "Game maker" game, all its content is player created. Imagine Microsoft's Little Big Planet and you have this in a nutshell. Players would be able to create and share content online for other player is use; whether that be to play around in or tinker with. Its a tested concept that does work for games as more and more players want to ease into games development and games like Project Spark help them to do that from a young age. Aesthetic wise, the game looks good. It uses a art style that works well with the amount of assets players can use to make their maps, something that's very hard to do because of how many different assets are in the game. It takes a lot of skill to make medieval assets, futuristic assets and steam punk assets to look good using the same art style (just to name a few that I've seen/ guessing will be in the game.
And now to the controversy behind Project Spark, the elephant in the room. The inclusion of Conker. Conker first appeared in the original Diddy Kong Racing (I'm not sure he was in the remake, because of legal issues) and has appeared in two games of his own. Conker's Bad Fur Day and Conker: Live and Reloaded, a remake of the original. Looks can be deceiving with character as he is probably the least qualified cartoon character to be in a kids game. He has a Alcohol issue, Bad Fur Day had a lot of... humor targeted to a specific demographic (take South Park for example but not as smart and multiply it to get Bad Fur Day. Don't believe me, look up The Great Mighty Poo, you can't miss it). Conker, when he became his own stand alone character, was never intended to be in a kids game. Fans of Rare's work were furious because it would mean that, to them, they would never get a new Conker game similar to the first one and its remake because the character will never be the same again. Personally, I think they might be able to pull it off but the game will get a lot of hate from parents (because the last two didn't...) because of the style of writing the series uses. The question will be, would the ends justify the means for the game. As for Project Spark, I'm going to keep my eye on it and I may review it someday because it is getting a PC release (on windows 8...). It will be time for a change of pace with Sonic Boom next.
Friday 25 July 2014
Top 10: Disney villain songs
Note: There are sources that put "Love is a Open Door" as a villain song, I personally don't classify it as one so I put it on the last list. Its really down to personal opinion though.
Whats a good hero without a good villain? And in terms of Disney, what's a good villain without a good villain song? You know of the types of songs I'm talking about, these are the songs that praise the villain for being a villain, making look evil and yet amazing. These are normally the songs we know and remember and its for that reason why they get their own list. The rules from the last Disney list still apply, so lets see who's the baddie who can put out the best tune.
10. The Imperial March (Star wars):
If I don't get Star wars fans yelling at me, then I may or may not be doing my job properly... with that said, there is only one reason why this is so low on this list, if said reason wasn't a issue, this would have been number 1. So why 10? because while Disney did buy Lucas-arts and now owns Star wars, I still don't count it as a Disney IP. I love this theme and I love the films, and of this was a "best villain songs it would be higher. The theme itself is great, its melody is one that will never leave you, no matter how hard you try, and its the perfect theme for Lord Vader.
9: Pink Elephants on Parade (Dumbo):
I should note, one of the reasons why I'm doing these posts is because I herd about Disney's newest movie concept and I'm dreading the final product (never forget Skidds and Mudflap...). This song creeped me out when I was younger, and still kinda does but not to the same level (more unsettled rather then creeped out), not because of the music, though it does help, but instead its the visuals that turn this into something that borderline's nightmare fuel. The use of powerful instruments that match whats happening on the screen combined with the mindf*&^ that is the visuals on screen are the main reasons why I still get disturbed by this song. Don't do drugs kids, because the Pink Elephants are on parade.
8: Friends on the Other Side (The Princess and the Frog):
Like Tangled, I haven't seen Princess and the Frog so don't expect me to be able to tell you exactly what's happening in this one. While it is sad to see Disney's 2D animation studio gone because of the mediocre success of this movie, according to other critiques, I'm at least glad that Friends on the Other Side was the villain song that saw the studio out. This looks beautiful and its visuals like this that you won't be able to find in 3D animation, it just wouldn't look the same. Doctor Facilier is a gem to watch in this as well, you can tell that anyone involved with that number loved doing this song. Adding to the fact that its a shame Disney is no longer making this style of films and if you don't like the film or his service, you can blame his friends on the other side.
7: Shiver my Timbers (Muppet's Treasure Island):
Yes, The Muppet's are n this list, and for good reason. Shiver my Timbers is a great opening song for a pirate themed story and while I don't like the fact that the credits are blocking the good cinematography in portions of the video, the song itself is still great. The use of the creatures in the world to do the singing is a nice Muppet touch, the lyrics and instrumental's get you excited to see a pirate adventure. I'm not going to critique the movie itself (yet...) I would see it if only for that opening.
6: Oggie Boogie song (The Nightmare before Christmas):
How's this for a contrast? Oggie Boggie's song is a huge contrast from other songs in The Nightmare Before Christmas (because Jack does most of the singing). While most of the songs are much softer, Oggie Boogie's is bombastic and has a personality to back it up. The shifts between Oggie Boogy and Santa Clause, the glow in the dark lighting everywhere in the scene, its just a joy to watch. There are reasons why villain songs are generally the most remembered songs in any musical, and its songs like this that are why.
5: Gaston and The Mob Song (Beauty and the Beast):
This is the official villain song for Beauty and the Beast, but for me, it really isn't, The song's comical. I find it funny because while it's praising the villain, it's also mocking the villain. Its still a nice song, the instrumental matches what's happening on the screen, the performers are great, the animation is charming. Its good, but to me it isn't the villain song.
To me, this is the villain song. You have to admire the french and their mobs, weather its humans of furniture. Like any good villain song, its powerful: powerful instruments, powerful vocals, dark animation all building up to the finale of the film. The mob song is my favorite song from the film for these reasons.
4: Poor Unfortunate Souls (The Little Mermaid):
I can't be the only one who get's a "snake charmer" vibe from this? can I? Ursula can't sing (well... in comparison to the other entries) but her voice works so well for this song and it helped slow down the aging for this song. With Under the sea and Part of their world, if you listen close enough, you can hear the limitations of the equipment they used in the production of the film, especially if you hear them in the DVD/ Blu-Ray re release. You can't really do that here. Even today the audio is clear and clean. The animation is beautiful in this and helps with that snake charmer theme that I mentioned earlier.
3: Be Prepared (The Lion King):
First: "What Nazi symbolism?"
Generic joke aside, should it come as a surprise that I love the Lion King? (encase it getting the number 1 spot on the last list). I love I just can't wait to be king, Can you feel the love tonight but in particular, I love Be prepared. I love the way it looks, I love the instrumentals and I love the lyrics... So why isn't it higher up? Because Jeremy Irons isn't actually singing, but more "talking in tune" for most of the song.
2: Hellfire (Hunchback of Notre Dame):
Why is it the Gypsies in the film sing something more religious then the priest, who sings about lust... moving on...
Hellfire has all the pluses for me when it comes to a powerful song. Powerful instrumental, beautiful yet powerful visuals (the use of shadows, the red cloaks, the use of the fire), strong lyrics and a strong singer (watch the video, it explains itself), even a pseudo Latin choir (listen closely and you'll hear it). Remember when I said that Hunchback of Notre Dame got darker the further into the film you got... this is the case in point. People often have this as their number one, but I think there's one better...
Before I talk about the number 1 song. I'm going to do a 5 honorable mentions. I'm not going to talk about these, just include the videos. These also aren't in any order
5. Curella de Vil (101 Dalmations)
4. Mother knows best (Tangled)
3. Prince Ali (Aladdin)
2. My Lullaby (The Lion King II: Simba's Pride)
1. The elegant Captain Hook (Peter Pan)
And my number 1 best villain song...
1: Savages (Pocahontas):
Another song that has a message that is, while not as pronounced, still relevant to this day. The true villain in Pocahontas isn't the Ratchiffe, but the human fear of the unknown and this song is the perfect example of it. Notice how both sides are singing the same song, using the same language, the same terms to describe the other side, then when you throw in Pocahontas's part of the song and you get something to rival the songs in Les Miserables. Pocahontas isn't the best Disney film, by any stretch of the imagination. But it still looks beautiful, even if you just look at Savages. the use of the lighting, the imagery the instruments, its beautiful. People often say that we have to remember and acknowledge our past, so that we don't make the same mistakes, here's a reason why.
So those are my lists. If there's any that you agree with, and are there any songs that I forgot? Let me know in the comments. I'm working on another Top 10 list planned, but its not going to go live for a while so I'll keep it a surprise. Project Spark's impression is next week along with Sonic Boom. Until next week...
Whats a good hero without a good villain? And in terms of Disney, what's a good villain without a good villain song? You know of the types of songs I'm talking about, these are the songs that praise the villain for being a villain, making look evil and yet amazing. These are normally the songs we know and remember and its for that reason why they get their own list. The rules from the last Disney list still apply, so lets see who's the baddie who can put out the best tune.
10. The Imperial March (Star wars):
9: Pink Elephants on Parade (Dumbo):
8: Friends on the Other Side (The Princess and the Frog):
7: Shiver my Timbers (Muppet's Treasure Island):
6: Oggie Boogie song (The Nightmare before Christmas):
5: Gaston and The Mob Song (Beauty and the Beast):
4: Poor Unfortunate Souls (The Little Mermaid):
3: Be Prepared (The Lion King):
Generic joke aside, should it come as a surprise that I love the Lion King? (encase it getting the number 1 spot on the last list). I love I just can't wait to be king, Can you feel the love tonight but in particular, I love Be prepared. I love the way it looks, I love the instrumentals and I love the lyrics... So why isn't it higher up? Because Jeremy Irons isn't actually singing, but more "talking in tune" for most of the song.
2: Hellfire (Hunchback of Notre Dame):
Why is it the Gypsies in the film sing something more religious then the priest, who sings about lust... moving on...
Hellfire has all the pluses for me when it comes to a powerful song. Powerful instrumental, beautiful yet powerful visuals (the use of shadows, the red cloaks, the use of the fire), strong lyrics and a strong singer (watch the video, it explains itself), even a pseudo Latin choir (listen closely and you'll hear it). Remember when I said that Hunchback of Notre Dame got darker the further into the film you got... this is the case in point. People often have this as their number one, but I think there's one better...
Before I talk about the number 1 song. I'm going to do a 5 honorable mentions. I'm not going to talk about these, just include the videos. These also aren't in any order
4. Mother knows best (Tangled)
3. Prince Ali (Aladdin)
2. My Lullaby (The Lion King II: Simba's Pride)
1. The elegant Captain Hook (Peter Pan)
And my number 1 best villain song...
1: Savages (Pocahontas):
So those are my lists. If there's any that you agree with, and are there any songs that I forgot? Let me know in the comments. I'm working on another Top 10 list planned, but its not going to go live for a while so I'll keep it a surprise. Project Spark's impression is next week along with Sonic Boom. Until next week...
Wednesday 23 July 2014
The intentional content for Blaster's Reviews
As a slight extension to my post the other day on Blaster's Reviews, I want to briefly explain what is going to become a constant type of post here and how I'm going to structure them. If you don't want to read it, then by all means don't, I'm not forcing you to do so (even though this is also on Blaster's Reviews... hehehe...). But if you do, then feel free to yell at me when I don't meet these in a post going forward and I'll either remake the post or explain why i can't/ couldn't. With that underway
The reviews: The reason why this site is called "Blaster's Reviews". As I said in the very first post of this site, I'm going to review whatever I think I can, whether that be games, TV shows, movies ect. I will always be open to suggestions and I will get to any requests as soon as I can (bare in mind, some might take longer then others if i don't have the material in some way shape or form and can't find a way of reviewing it (for example, I'm not going to review a game until I can play it on its intended console, I'm also not going to review movies while they're at the cinema due to how I write the reviews). I keep a list of reviews that i'm going to do and the order I'm going to release them and any requests will get added to that list. The way I review content is that I have a series of dot points that I add to as a watch/ play, then I structure a review around that and any issues I find, I try and come up with a way to fix that or I leave it up to interpretation. I always review something within its entirety story wise. For a game, I'll review the main campaign and (something I'm going to do from now on) mention any post game content that isn't apart of the story or if its a new story entirely, I'll review that (or what I've gotten done up to the time of writing). I will always review a TV show by its season, as indicated by K-On and the Transformers Marathon. As for movies, I will review movies as a stand alone product but will look at how it fits in with the other films continuing that plot.
The impressions: These are literally just going to be my thoughts as a consumer, not as a reviewer. I'm not going to look at a product like Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as a reviewer until I have my hands on the product released to the public. If I do a impression of something, then don't be surprised if my review says something completely different to the impression. Aside from the E3 impressions, don't expect these to come out at set times, it really just depends on releases and what catches my interest (in most cases), but I will do impressions on topics that I get enough requests for, though they might not have a lot of content in them.
The rants and opinion pieces: There isn't much distinguishing the difference between these. Opinion pieces like the conclusion to the Transformers Marathon are when I've put thought into how something is done whereas a rant is me expressing my views on a particular, current affair concerning the content I review. As with the impressions, don't expect these often but I'm willing to take requests (just assume that I take requests for anything in this post)
Top (Insert number here) lists: I hopefully shouldn't have to explain these.
The reviews: The reason why this site is called "Blaster's Reviews". As I said in the very first post of this site, I'm going to review whatever I think I can, whether that be games, TV shows, movies ect. I will always be open to suggestions and I will get to any requests as soon as I can (bare in mind, some might take longer then others if i don't have the material in some way shape or form and can't find a way of reviewing it (for example, I'm not going to review a game until I can play it on its intended console, I'm also not going to review movies while they're at the cinema due to how I write the reviews). I keep a list of reviews that i'm going to do and the order I'm going to release them and any requests will get added to that list. The way I review content is that I have a series of dot points that I add to as a watch/ play, then I structure a review around that and any issues I find, I try and come up with a way to fix that or I leave it up to interpretation. I always review something within its entirety story wise. For a game, I'll review the main campaign and (something I'm going to do from now on) mention any post game content that isn't apart of the story or if its a new story entirely, I'll review that (or what I've gotten done up to the time of writing). I will always review a TV show by its season, as indicated by K-On and the Transformers Marathon. As for movies, I will review movies as a stand alone product but will look at how it fits in with the other films continuing that plot.
The impressions: These are literally just going to be my thoughts as a consumer, not as a reviewer. I'm not going to look at a product like Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as a reviewer until I have my hands on the product released to the public. If I do a impression of something, then don't be surprised if my review says something completely different to the impression. Aside from the E3 impressions, don't expect these to come out at set times, it really just depends on releases and what catches my interest (in most cases), but I will do impressions on topics that I get enough requests for, though they might not have a lot of content in them.
The rants and opinion pieces: There isn't much distinguishing the difference between these. Opinion pieces like the conclusion to the Transformers Marathon are when I've put thought into how something is done whereas a rant is me expressing my views on a particular, current affair concerning the content I review. As with the impressions, don't expect these often but I'm willing to take requests (just assume that I take requests for anything in this post)
Top (Insert number here) lists: I hopefully shouldn't have to explain these.
Just a small thing, what the intentional content on this site is
As a slight extension to my post the other day, I want to briefly explain what is going to become a constant type of post here and how I'm going to structure them. If you don't want to read it, then by all means don't, I'm not forcing you to do so (even though this will also go onto Blaster's Projects... hehehe...). But if you do, then feel free to yell at me when I don't meet these in a post going forward and I'll either remake the post or explain why i can't/ couldn't. With that underway
The reviews: The reason why this site is called "Blaster's Reviews". As I said in the very first post of this site, I'm going to review whatever I think I can, whether that be games, TV shows, movies ect. I will always be open to suggestions and I will get to any requests as soon as I can (bare in mind, some might take longer then others if i don't have the material in some way shape or form and can't find a way of reviewing it (for example, I'm not going to review a game until I can play it on its intended console, I'm also not going to review movies while they're at the cinema due to how I write the reviews). I keep a list of reviews that i'm going to do and the order I'm going to release them and any requests will get added to that list. The way I review content is that I have a series of dot points that I add to as a watch/ play, then I structure a review around that and any issues I find, I try and come up with a way to fix that or I leave it up to interpretation. I always review something within its entirety story wise. For a game, I'll review the main campaign and (something I'm going to do from now on) mention any post game content that isn't apart of the story or if its a new story entirely, I'll review that (or what I've gotten done up to the time of writing). I will always review a TV show by its season, as indicated by K-On and the Transformers Marathon. As for movies, I will review movies as a stand alone product but will look at how it fits in with the other films continuing that plot.
The impressions: These are literally just going to be my thoughts as a consumer, not as a reviewer. I'm not going to look at a product like Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as a reviewer until I have my hands on the product released to the public. If I do a impression of something, then don't be surprised if my review says something completely different to the impression. Aside from the E3 impressions, don't expect these to come out at set times, it really just depends on releases and what catches my interest (in most cases), but I will do impressions on topics that I get enough requests for, though they might not have a lot of content in them.
The rants and opinion pieces: There isn't much distinguishing the difference between these. Opinion pieces like the conclusion to the Transformers Marathon are when I've put thought into how something is done whereas a rant is me expressing my views on a particular, current affair concerning the content I review. As with the impressions, don't expect these often but I'm willing to take requests (just assume that I take requests for anything in this post)
Top (Insert number here) lists: I hopefully shouldn't have to explain these.
The reviews: The reason why this site is called "Blaster's Reviews". As I said in the very first post of this site, I'm going to review whatever I think I can, whether that be games, TV shows, movies ect. I will always be open to suggestions and I will get to any requests as soon as I can (bare in mind, some might take longer then others if i don't have the material in some way shape or form and can't find a way of reviewing it (for example, I'm not going to review a game until I can play it on its intended console, I'm also not going to review movies while they're at the cinema due to how I write the reviews). I keep a list of reviews that i'm going to do and the order I'm going to release them and any requests will get added to that list. The way I review content is that I have a series of dot points that I add to as a watch/ play, then I structure a review around that and any issues I find, I try and come up with a way to fix that or I leave it up to interpretation. I always review something within its entirety story wise. For a game, I'll review the main campaign and (something I'm going to do from now on) mention any post game content that isn't apart of the story or if its a new story entirely, I'll review that (or what I've gotten done up to the time of writing). I will always review a TV show by its season, as indicated by K-On and the Transformers Marathon. As for movies, I will review movies as a stand alone product but will look at how it fits in with the other films continuing that plot.
The impressions: These are literally just going to be my thoughts as a consumer, not as a reviewer. I'm not going to look at a product like Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as a reviewer until I have my hands on the product released to the public. If I do a impression of something, then don't be surprised if my review says something completely different to the impression. Aside from the E3 impressions, don't expect these to come out at set times, it really just depends on releases and what catches my interest (in most cases), but I will do impressions on topics that I get enough requests for, though they might not have a lot of content in them.
The rants and opinion pieces: There isn't much distinguishing the difference between these. Opinion pieces like the conclusion to the Transformers Marathon are when I've put thought into how something is done whereas a rant is me expressing my views on a particular, current affair concerning the content I review. As with the impressions, don't expect these often but I'm willing to take requests (just assume that I take requests for anything in this post)
Top (Insert number here) lists: I hopefully shouldn't have to explain these.
Tuesday 22 July 2014
First Impressions: Fable Legends
Is it just me, or is the 4v1 style of multiplayer becoming more and more common now?
Fable Legends was one of the few titles shown off at Microsoft's E3 conference this year that I hadn't seen before and caught my interest. Its a 4v1 online multiplayer RPG, by the looks of it, where its four heroes trying to get through a story while a villain tries to stop them. Simple enough. The 4 heroes seem to play out like a usual Western RPG's heroes, build up your skills, unlock new weapons ect. The villain on the other hand has the power to summon creatures and place them around a tower defense like map in order to stop the heroes from collecting the treasure at the end of the map. I haven't played a Fable game before and I only have a bit of experience in Western RPG's in general, but the game itself looks interesting to play and I only wish it was coming out for PC. As f the time of writing, Lionhead Studios haven't stated that this will come out on any other console and judging by what I know of the Fable series, it isn't coming out on any other consoles. Now before you start saying "Why don't you just buy a X-Box One?" the reason is because of the following:
While I didn't like the policies Microsoft was planning on doing with the X-Box One, I would be ok with buying a X-Box One if they had stuck with their policies, as stupid as they were. I praise risk takers when the risk is a concept and only truly judge said risk by the final product. Because Microsoft got rid of all these policies in the form of a Day 1 patch, it tells me that they didn't have a lot of faith in the ideas and makes me wonder why they were going to do it in the first place. On top of that, I haven't seen a lot of first party X-Box One games I'm genuinely interested in. I'm not buying a console for three games, its not worth it. I want to do reviews on a more serious level someday and when I can, I probably will go out and buy more consoles so that I can review more content, I just can't do that at this point in time.
I'll be posting another Top 10 list latter this week along with a post relating to the structure of the content i'll be doing on a regular basis, which means that I probably won't get to the impression of Project Spark this week, expect that one next week.
Fable Legends was one of the few titles shown off at Microsoft's E3 conference this year that I hadn't seen before and caught my interest. Its a 4v1 online multiplayer RPG, by the looks of it, where its four heroes trying to get through a story while a villain tries to stop them. Simple enough. The 4 heroes seem to play out like a usual Western RPG's heroes, build up your skills, unlock new weapons ect. The villain on the other hand has the power to summon creatures and place them around a tower defense like map in order to stop the heroes from collecting the treasure at the end of the map. I haven't played a Fable game before and I only have a bit of experience in Western RPG's in general, but the game itself looks interesting to play and I only wish it was coming out for PC. As f the time of writing, Lionhead Studios haven't stated that this will come out on any other console and judging by what I know of the Fable series, it isn't coming out on any other consoles. Now before you start saying "Why don't you just buy a X-Box One?" the reason is because of the following:
While I didn't like the policies Microsoft was planning on doing with the X-Box One, I would be ok with buying a X-Box One if they had stuck with their policies, as stupid as they were. I praise risk takers when the risk is a concept and only truly judge said risk by the final product. Because Microsoft got rid of all these policies in the form of a Day 1 patch, it tells me that they didn't have a lot of faith in the ideas and makes me wonder why they were going to do it in the first place. On top of that, I haven't seen a lot of first party X-Box One games I'm genuinely interested in. I'm not buying a console for three games, its not worth it. I want to do reviews on a more serious level someday and when I can, I probably will go out and buy more consoles so that I can review more content, I just can't do that at this point in time.
I'll be posting another Top 10 list latter this week along with a post relating to the structure of the content i'll be doing on a regular basis, which means that I probably won't get to the impression of Project Spark this week, expect that one next week.
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