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.
What is there to say about Team Fortress 2 that hasn’t been
said? If you play First person shooters or have Steam, then you know of this
game. It’s one of the few FPS games that doesn’t try to take itself seriously
and never has. The trailers, the taunts in game, the weapons, the characters,
everything about this game is designed to be comical.
I was going to save this for when I actually reviewed the games but by that point, this ship would have sailed and sunk.
While I will say that I'm proud to be a Sonic fan, I've had my share of entertainment from the series, one of my biggest problems I have with the series is the fans and how they react to new games. When a new game comes out for the series, you either hear praise for it from the fans, or you get everyone saying "this is the end of Sonic games, the franchise is dead" and so on. That second one is the reaction to the two Sonic Boom games, and while I haven't played the games yet, from what I've seen of the games, the "critique" from the fandom is off by a mile.
When I created Blaster's Reviews, I intended for this to be a long term project that would develop and grow over time. However, for some of its aspects to grow, I do need to earn some money. I've always intended to create video reviews in the future and chose not to do it straight away due to lack of personal equipment (I can rent the equipment, but at the time, I didn't know if this would be successful, I still don't, so I chose not to do it).
I am enabling a feature called "AdSence", a feature that enables advertisements to be displayed on this site once the application is approved. This hopefully won't be permanent, should the application be accepted, but for the time being, its a necessary evil, I know its annoying. Once a reliable option becomes useable, I'll disable the ads, you have my word on that. But until then...
One note on Patreon, considering the main topic, my patreon account still exists and you can find it in the "About me" section to the right. If you do enjoy my content or want to see a specific form of content (it can be anything), Patreon donators will get the priority (though I do read all requests). If you enjoy the content but hate ads, please become a Patreon supporter for the two sites.
Finally, due to the way Adsence is set up, there will not be ads on Blaster's Projects, that remains untouched by this.
Next week is still the Team Fortress 2 review so stay tuned for that
On this day in 1995, I was born. On this same day in 2005, I received what would be the first of many games in this series: Pokemon Emerald version. And it is for that reason why I held this review back an extra day, to coincide with the 9th anniversary of me picking my first starter Pokemon.
Pokemon Generation III was a weird time for Pokemon. A large chunk of its fan base left the series as they thought they were to mature for it or they were "Pokemon'd out" due to the last two generations, while at the same time, a brand new wave of fans started to play the series. If you ask any older Pokemon fan, they'll tell you they either came in during the hype of Pokemon Generation I, or during Generation III more often then not. There were people who hated Generation III during its prime, but what about 9-11 years later? As with all my reviews, no nostalgia goggles here, time to pick apart Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire and in particular, Pokemon Emerald version.
As with Generation I and II, the formula for completion is still pretty much the same: Get starter Pokemon, defeat 8 Gym leaders, stop people who are trying to do evil things, defeat the champion and congratulations, you're done. However there are a few new things to this (for their time) along with gameplay that newcomers would find archaic. This is the list of new features from Bulbapedia:
To make up for not having a post on Wednesday (to be explained later, trust me there's a reason). I figured there should be something to make up for it, so here are my Top 10 Pokemon songs from just the games, but remixes from the anime are allowed. Yes there are a lot of Battle themes here as I prefer those over the other tracks, not that they are bad. Do note that these songs loop so you don't have to see the full video (assuming you actually play these videos...).
10. Battle Gym Leader (Kalos) from Pokemon X and Y
WARNING: This post has been known to cause connection issues due the the large size and large number of images.
Back in June, I did the Transformers Marathon to coincide with the release of Transformers 4: Age of Extinction (Revenge of the Fallen actually coming out the day it was released here). Do I regret the marathon itself? No as it was a learning experience, what I regret is saying that it ties in with Bayformers 4. But I am a man of my word, and I did say that I'd review Age of Extinction. In-case you couldn't tell from the title... let's just say I hoped you like Zeta and Omnicron's review.
Do I even need to explain the plot, as with the other films, while there are slight differences (more here then in prior), they are still the same film. Something happens to the Autobots, Decepticons come back, listen to whiny human character, cut to final battle. But if you want details...
That is correct, you get two opinion pieces today.
While I do investigate all different kinds of the mediums I review, all different genres, play styles ect, horror isn't one I investigate often. While I have my own personal fears and there are scenes in films that creep me out because they rely on those fears, when a movie, show or game is meant to be scary, I find that I'm even less scared by it. With all the talk about Five nights at Freddy's happening at the moment (maybe a review next year, I'm rarely topical, you should all know that by now), it has given me a chance to ponder the concept of True fear and why I'm not as easily scared by horror.
So what is the difference between horror and "true fear"? For me, its the human factor. The human imagination is powerful and it can scare you more then any movie of show could. What's scarier, a lifeless corpse in a dark hallway, or seeing someone shoot that person while they are alive? When you see a dead body, with blood around him, your mind instantly starts thinking "who did this? How did this person died? What did the killer look like?", it leaves more room for the imagination to take effect, and as such this person without a face seems more terrifying, the illusion itself is scarier then then this person is, and when done well, it can be truly terrifying. That's why I think books do this kind of horror the best because while it can describe the face, the imagination can still alter it, so in reality they still don't have a face, but instead thousands of slightly different faces. Fear of the unknown is a fear shared between most people on this planet, hence why people fear death, hell and the devil, and at a root, the imagination can be a cause.
This concept also lends itself to the concept of the Uncanny Valley, when something looks so realistic that it stops being realistic. As human beings, we're used to seeing common sites in society, we know what a human face looks like as a example. But when robots start being made with human esque aspects to them, human eyes, moving mouths ect. In trying to replicate realism, it actually stops looking realistic. In horror, the concept can be used to scare you. Look at Five nights at Freddy's and Slenderman as examples. If you look at the designs for the anamatronics in the game, they all have that Uncanny Valley aspect to them.
The same can also be said for Slenderman (before taking into account his other... features...). It's no accident that there's no face on him.
There is another aspect that these two concepts share for their games in particular, the shock value. You don't know when and where these characters will show up, and combined with the the atmosphere that the games have, it will get those jump scares out of you. I haven't seen enough of the gameplay of either of them to accommodate for the music (should it exist) but the dark colours, the lack of any other presence, and the lore the games have
A common problem though for shock scares is the lack of subtlety. a patch of blood every hour and a chilling theme is scarier then blood pools every 5 minutes... that I'd hope would be common sense.
Finally, a final excellent tool in horror is the lack of control, the lack of power. An army of zombies isn't threatening when you're a walking tank, that defeats the purpose of horror. The greatest horror monsters have all shared traits with the humanity of the time with their greatest strengths being the lack of strength you have to challenge them, but letting the viewer walk away wondering, questioning "am I really like that?" Even modern characters like the Nolanverse version of the Joker has that aspect to it. If you can master those tools, then you can create something truly terrifying. Until next week for Transformers 4.
I believe I speak for a large majority of the world who also don't have a clue as to why this question needs to be asked. There are people who make money off of Youtube trying to answer this question and personally, while I see their opinions as valid takes on the question, I don't think it's the whole answer. Seeing as I've just finished my review of this generation of the series's first film, I might as well throw my opinion into the mix as well. Is this opinion the final answer to the question? Probably not, though I do believe its a step in the right direction. This is a wall of text FYI.
As a forward for those who aren't aware of the term: a "Brony" is a male fan of the My Little Pony franchise in some way. It is a self endowed term that the community gave to itself. Due to a large, and loud, portion of the community being male, the fan base refers to itself as "Bronies". However there is a female equivalent (which I found during the research for this topic, I generally don't like to look to deeply into fandoms due to... distasteful products fan communities have produced) called "Pegasisters" (I swear to Arceus I'm not making this up).
One of the closest takes on the question is this (as a short hand version): the current MLP generation is written as a sitcom and men tend to prefer sitcoms and comedy in general over other genres. There are, however some flaws with that view. Generally speaking, a sitcom generally follows every member of its main group (take for example, The Big Bang Theory, every episode gives each member of its main group a decent amount of air time). One of the biggest hurdles to overcome when putting MLP in with these types of shows is that, while you may see the main cast in each episode, any given episode tends to revolve around a select few of them and the others would only appear if they needed to be. So while it might be a comedy, it isn't a sitcom. The other issue with this view is that it negates the other portion of the fanbase, the intended market.
So why do I think its fanbase is the way it is, a part of it will be explained if you read these:
"Animation
is different from other parts. Its language is the language of
caricature. Our most difficult job was to develop the cartoon's
unnatural but seemingly natural anatomy for humans and animals."
"Animation
offers a medium of story telling and visual entertainment which can
bring pleasure and information to people of all ages everywhere in the
world."
"You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway."
Who was the person who originally spoke these words? Walt Disney. The man spoken of as one of the geniuses of animation, the man behind the most well known animated character in history. This style of thinking is still used in the Disney animation studios (at least, to my knowledge... theory) to this day. There's a reason why people still watch Disney films, regardless of their age: because their films are targeted towards everyone and I believe the same can be said for MLP. When I finally caved into my curiosity, I said to myself "if its anything like what my sister watches, then I'll look into the first 5 episodes at the most (to give the series a fair chance), and move on if it doesn't pursued me to keep looking into it". At the end of the first two episodes I was asking myself "Did they seriously just do that in a show for that audience?". Normally a pilot episode/ episodes are used to shown as concepts as to what the rest of the show is going to be like and while the pilot for MLP is misleading to a degree, it did accomplish its goal of deviating itself from the other children's TV shows (both for boys and girls). As I looked into it more for this review, I started seeing several resemblances to animated Disney films. Before I go into this point, I want to talk a little bit about Marketing (yes I know its boring, I had to learn it in High School). When your marketing a product for kids, your not only targeting kids, your also targeting their parents. The reason for this is that, more often then not, the parents are going to be the ones to fuel their children's love for the series. For example, I didn't get into Transformers from watching the show, what first got me into is is a birthday present from my parents, which was Transformers Armada Jetfire. From there I discovered the show and the rest is history. The other aspect to targeting parents is this: If a child is watching the show, then the parents will either ignore the show (loosing a possible viewer), the child will either want the parents to watch the show with them (which may make them phase out, loosing quality time with the child) or watch the show with them because they have nothing better to do with their time. If the parent likes the show, then the parent will most likely be inclined to buy the toys based on that show for their child, earning more money for the company. It was probably this trail of thought (in some form) that convinced Hasbro to green light the changes. This doesn't describe why the team behind the show would decide to make these changes in the first place. And for that, I want to divert your attention to these: 1. "cartoons for girls don't have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy-wootsy, goody-two-shoeness" Lauren Faust
2.
3.
(Yes, I know the videos mostly relates to games, but the concepts still apply for TV shows and film)
So what do these have to do with anything? The first video talks about designing for children and the later points are what I want to bring attention to. "Kids are adults with a lot less experience", contrary to popular belief, children can handle complicated ideas if it is being presented in a way that makes sense for them. I mentioned in my last opinion piece, on how the Transformers have survived for so long, that the stories that have succeed, that will survive the test of time explore complicated ideas while keeping that simplistic theme, one of the reasons for that is because of how younger generations can interpret these concepts. Children can understand more then most would like to admit, the only issue is that they need to be taught these concepts in different ways to others. I want to divert your attention to Avatar: The Last Airbender (and maybe Korra, I haven't watched enough episodes to base the following on Korra though), the series is mature and well constructed, yet all ages can understand its messages because it is written in a way that teaches all ages. I intend to review Avatar later so I'm not going to go into much more detail, stay tuned.
As for the second video and the quote, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that more and more stories are getting darker re-imaginings and, contrary to popular belief, MLP:FiM is a darker re-imagining when compared to its predecessors (from what I've herd). The quote is by Lauren Faust, the concept designer for this current generation, spoke that as a inspiration behind the changes.
"My Little Pony was one of her favorite childhood toys,
but she was disappointed that her imagination at the time was nothing
like the animated shows, in which the characters, according to Faust,
"just had endless tea parties, giggled over nothing and defeated
villains by either sharing with them or crying". With the chance to work
on My Little Pony, she hoped to prove that "cartoons for girls don't have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy-wootsy, goody-two-shoeness"." Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Little_Pony:_Friendship_Is_Magic
Darker doesn't have to mean "grey", for darker can come in all forms, in this case, darker themes. The world that has been crafted for FiM appears to be like nothing seen in the series before (I can't say for certain I haven't seen previous generations and I don't know anyone who has). I mentioned before that marketing likely played a key part in Hasbro greenlighting project, but there is another reason, and ironically it's Michael Bay. With the financial success (sadly I can't argue with that) of the Transformers movies at the time (so the First film, and Revenge of the Fallen) Hasbro was looking to redesign and re-imagine their other brands. Lisa Licht suggested to Lauren Faust that her animation style fitted the MLP series and from there, the rest is history.
Finally, during my investigations in the series, I found a common insult being thrown around, saying that all bronies (in particular) are autistic in some form. As a man who is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome myself, I find this offensive... but possibly with a shred of truth to it. Now before I have insults and attacks thrown at me, let me explain. A common connection between people who have Asperger Syndrome and Autism is the kinds of shows, film, visual stimulus in a nutshell. People with Aspergers and Autism tend to enjoy "simplistic" shows, simplistic as in facial and tone. A common issue Aspie's and Autistic people have are issues with facial expressions, body language and tones, its why a common issue is sarcasm. While I was analyzing the show and Equestria Girls, I noticed the way the characters behave is simplistic when compared to people of the real world. You know what the characters are feeling as they have simplistic facial expressions and tone. You know when someone's annoyed, scared, happy, bored ect because the simplistic actions, however not so simplistic that its insulting. Again, the way the show is written means that it teaches without forcing the lesson, something that is very hard to do. I released a questionnaire a while ago, but I didn't get enough replies to conclusively prove this theory. Thank you to those who did participate though. I should stress, this does not mean that I think all bronies are Aspie's/ Autistic, this is just to shed some light as to why Aspies and Autistic people might like the show.
So at the end of the day, why do Bronies and Pegasisters exist? There are many reasons, several I haven't addressed in this. However I don't believe it was a accident, I think it was going to happen, but that should say how well its been written. Next Wednesday: Transformers Age of Extinction... but I have something else for today, come back later for a festive post.
Direct to DVD films are to movies what Shovelware and, specifically, movie tie in are to video games, nothing but a quick cash grab even if the final product is awful. The budget is kept as low as physically possible to make the most profit from fools who were stupid enough to buy it for either themselves or for their families... With the success of the first three seasons along with the
success of the other products made based off the show, it makes sense that a
movie for My Little Pony would be made. The film itself, titled My Little Pony:
Equestria Girls has received mixed reactions amongst the community, there are
people who will defend it and others who would destroy it. But how does it fair from someone who looks at it as a movie? Time to review My Little Pony: Equestria Girls.
With the release of the review of Sonic Unleashed, I thought it would be fitting to look at the best zones (in my opinion) from the Sonic series. The rules are simple for this.
1. Sonic Generations levels cannot be included unless it's alongside the original level
2. No game can occupy two spots on the main list (honorable mentions not included)
One final thing before the list is started, no, Green Hill zone or its clones is not on the list. While I enjoy the zone, its overused.
10. Tropical Jungle, Sonic's story (Sonic 06):
I will always take better execution over ideas. The popular level from Sonic 06 is Crisis City... and the original level was awful due to its poor execution. Bug after bug for the snow board, questionable collision detection (worse in Flame Core) and a Mach Speed Section that almost made me take a sledge hammer to the game. Tropical Jungle may be a worse level in terms of ideas, but it's better execution makes this one of my favorite levels from the game (its not saying much, trust me). Elise as a gameplay mechanic works more often then not and the level design is fun to play. This is the only level in the game that I rarely lost a life in and when I did, it was because of my error and not bugs. I will say though that the level for Rouge and Silver are AWFUL. "When people are getting lost in a Sonic game, there's a problem, A BIG PROBLEM"
9. White Park Zone Act 2 (Sonic 4, Episode II):
Just Act 2. While White Park Act 1 is also a great level, I'm not a fan of Act 3 (its a water level, if you've played a platformer, then you'll know why). Yes White Park act 2 is mostly automated, but Sonic has always had a degree of spectacle to his level design and White Park is proof of it. The zone as a whole is gorgeous and Act 2 is the pinnacle of it in my opinion. The carnival theme of the level and the use of the carnival lights is just beautiful. Act 2's music track is also my favorite track in the Sonic 4 series... its catchy...
8. Night Carnival (Sonic Rush):
I swear this looked good back in 2005... Sonic Rush was a early DS title (same year as the system's launch here) and for the time, it was good. Night Carnival has some of the best, fair level design of the game (I'll go into detail another time but lets just say Dimps's level design is well known in the Sonic community for all the wrong reasons) and its a joy to play through. If I'm going back to Rush, its to either play this or Huge Crisis (that one purely because of Jeh Jeh Rocket... yes that is the name of the track). I love the idea of the light acting as platforms, it could have been executed better, but it still holds its own.
7. Sky Babylon (Sonic Rush Adventure):
This was the best video I could find, skip to 7:34 for the level
Notice how all the levels made by Dimps are grouped together... Both Sonic Rush and its sequel Sonic Rush Adventure have the gimmick of letting players either play as Sonic or Blaze the Cat, each one behaving similar, but with enough differences to make them both enjoyable. If you're going to play Sky Babylon though, do yourself a favor, play as Blaze, this video should prove to you why. Sky Babylon itself is hard, but I still think its fair as its the second last level in the game, I expect it to be hard. The level itself looks beautiful and its theme is beautiful. Boss is a royal pain though and is without a doubt, the worst part of the level.
6. Rail Canyon and Bullet Station (Sonic Heroes):
Rail Canyon:
Bullet Station:
Remember when I said I'll take execution over ideas any day, well to those who say I'm a hypocrite because of these two levels, I say "I didn't have a problem with them". I actually like the concept of Rail grinding in Sonic games, yes it automated, but dam does it look cool. These were the levels I really wanted to see in Sonic Generations as it would have been a nice change of pace when compared to what we did get in the end (seriously, enough with the green hill and city tropes). I'm willing to bet there are some people that are asking "Why do you not find this broken?" and to that, "it's because I didn't know there was a better way to switch rails then jumping with the flight character".
5. Stardust Speedway (Sonic CD):
Yes, the metal Sonic fight is a big reason why this is here, but I also like the level design of Stardust Speedway, its thrilling, the soundtrack for the Japanese version (aside from Sonic Boom, I'm not a fan of the US soundtrack) is a joy to listen to and the level design as a whole, while yes it can be confusing, the golden rule still applies "GO RIGHT". Again though, the Metal Sonic fight helped bump this up as its a fun boss battle.
4. Chemical Plant Zone (Sonic 2 + Sonic Generations):
Sonic 2:
Sonic Generations:
What can I say about Chemical Plant that hasn't already been said? Its Chemical Plant Zone, nothing I say would be anything different from the 22 years of praise it has gotten. The reason why its not in the top three isn't because its bad, but because I like the top three just a bit more. I will say though that Act 2 in Generations is one of my favorite acts to replay.
3. Skyscraper Scamper Day (Sonic Unleashed):
WHY WASN'T THIS LEVEL PICKED? I DON'T CARE HOW GOOD ROOFTOP RUN'S THEME IS, THIS IS THE SUPERIOR LEVEL!!! Sorry... In case you couldn't tell from the review of Unleashed, I love Skyscraper Scamper Act 1, more so then Rooftop Run. While I loved the clock tower in Rooftop Run, running up Skyscrapers, to me, is more awesome. If the two levels would get combined then it would be perfect.
2. Starlight Carnival and Asteroid Coaster (Sonic Colours):
Starlight Carnival:
Asteroid Coaster:
I'm grouping these two together as they share similar ideas. The thing about Sonic Colours is that there are really only three zones. Tropical Resort (which is very similar to Planet Wisp), Sweet Mountain (and Aquarium Park) and the worst offender of it being Starlight Carnival and Asteroid Coaster... But thankfully, they are still so fun. The main reason for this is Starlight Carnival more so then Asteroid Coaster because Starlight Carnival looks beautiful. The music is beautiful with Asteroid Coaster's being my second favorite set of themes in the game and both zones are fun to play. Sonic Colours was on the Wii, and if this isn't proof that games can still look good aesthetically wise on the Wii, then only one other game has a chance.
And the honorable mentions (in no order)
1. Palmtree Panic (Sonic CD):
2. Death Egg Zone (Sonic 3 & Knuckles):
3. Casino Park/ Bingo Highway (Sonic Heroes):
4. Spring Yard Zone (Sonic the Hedgehog):
5. Rooftop Run (Sonic Unleashed):
1. Speed Highway (Sonic Adventure and Sonic Generations):
Sonic Adventure:
Sonic Generations:
I don't care what you people think, Speed Highway is awesome. I love the three tracks that play in the original level and what they did to the level in Generations is amazing. If you ask anyone I know, they'll tell you I was hyped the moment Speed Highway was confirmed for Generations, and it didn't disappoint. I think Speed Highway is the best Sonic zone I've played because of how much of a thrill it is to play. the platforming still has that sense of speed to it and the thrill moments in the level are real thrills.
Before I get any hate as to why nothing from Sonic Adventure 2... I haven't played that one yet... Feel free to post your thoughts on this, what do you agree with, what makes you hate my guts ect. Next week, not only will the "marathon" continue with My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, but a new opinion piece. As for the topic, well that would be giving something away wouldn't it?
