Opening Impressions: Gravity Falls: "Where's my phone? I need to call them"

I swear this wasn't intentional, considering as a 3DS game has been announced for this series recently.

Round 2 of the Adventure Time art style marathon, and today we travel to Disney. With the amount of stuff they've done, I don't think there's a person alive who hasn't seen a Disney show or movie in some form. So let's see what child friendly Disney does in this style, as we travel to Gravity Falls.

First Impressions: Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero: *Insert obvious music refference here

Last post of this marathon. Remind me not to write these one after the other.

This is a series I've only recently herd of, even though it dates back to the Gameboy Colour. With my interest in Metroidvania's growing as I go on (still yet to actually finish a Castlevania, though my Metroid counter is at... one... again, new interest), new games have been appearing more and more in my feeds, one of them being this series, and with a new game being successfully kickstarted, thought I might as well throw this in while we were at it today, so: Shantae Half Genie Hero.

First Impressions: Need for Speed: Welcome back old friend

I know I harp on EA often, and not without good reason mind you. However, there was a time I loved their games... well, two in particular. Burnout 3: Takedown, which I still maintain to be one of the best party games I've ever played (yeah, you herd me Mario Party). And the Need for Speed series, especially Need for Speed Underground 2. One of the best gaming memories I have from when I was a child was when me and my father would boot up Underground 2 on the PS2, spend the afternoon building a car up from scratch and once we were done, sending them to the "City loop" track (I can't remember the name), and racing them to see who was the better driver... let's just say there's a reason why Burnout 3 was a fairer challenge, though I did get better. However, I haven't really followed the Need for Speed series as close as my father has, and even then he doesn't play it that much now. I loved watching him play Most Wanted and Undercover, but that was about it. I was going to do the same with this one... and then I saw E3...

One thing you should know about Need for Speed, no one cares about the plot. The plot's there to give you missions and races. Which is pretty much all you're doing in this game: Going from point A to point B, doing races, outrunning cops, and getting better cars to do the same thing. Its a mix of arcade racing and realistic racing games. Now I don't know how that will hold in this day and age, however it'll still have its audience.

One of the things I enjoyed about Underground 2 was the overworld. I completed races to unlock more areas to drive to more so then anything else, and I'm glad to see that back here. Basically this Need for Speed is a fusion of three others. The car customization from Underground 1 and 2, the pursuit from Most Wanted (and maybe Undercover, I don't know if you can drive Police cars as well) and the overworld of Carbon, one I have no experience playing, but I have seen in action and it looks like it was well designed... at least according to memory. Those alone have sold me on this, if the entire world is unlocked at the start, then I'm sold...

Unless this ends up suffering from some of the problems I have with the industry at the moment, and with it being EA, I wouldn't be surprised if it did. I hope not, but I know there's a chance of it happening. I'll see you all soon for another game: Shantae 1/2 genie hero.

Yes, today is literally an experiment, I hope you like the flood of content, but don't expect this to be often, I'm not that crazy.

First Impressions: Transformers Devastation: I'm getting him ready now

Probably about time I covered the games I said I'd cover in the post E3 vid, isn't it? So yeah we got the announcement of a new Transformers game, and it has nothing to do with Bayformers. In fact, not only is it based on Generation 1 for all you Gen 1ers, but its also a prequel for the current line in the toys and IDW comics (something I really need to start reading soon, I'm actually ashamed that I haven't yet), being the Combiner Wars. And with Platnium games as the main Development team... let's just say I have a few words... so what are my thoughts on Devastation? Well, unlike a lot of other people doing posts like this, I don't have nostalgia goggles for Generation 1, as I said during the Transformers Marathon last year. However, that doesn't mean I'm not excited to play this.

First Impressions: Five Nights at Freddy's 4: "I CALLED IT, I F$(#*@! CALLED IT!!!"

If you don't want a jump scare, don't watch the trailer. 

People who know me personally know that I don't gloat very often, I'm a smart ass, but I'm not a very smug person. Even when I was dealing with the trolls months ago, while my words could be taken many ways, my intention was never to gloat. There will be times where I am, but that's few and far between more often then not. This is one of those times where I am and I'll relish in it. A bit of back story, I have a schedule of what I intend to review and when, updating it throughout the year with any changes due to timing, opportunities or adding in content that isn't a review, like all these impressions. After doing the Red and Blue Rescue Team review, I sent a schedule out to some of my friends, including Marissa, letting them know what I had planned and if they want to join me for anything. One of those is the Five Nights at Freddy's series, as a Halloween review. Now this game was first teased at the time so some of them said "don't do it yet because this game is coming out then". My response at the time was "I'm going to go ahead with it, lumping that in if I think that my views on the series also affect it", even though it would have been released that day. However, and this was reflected on my Twitter in a conversation I had with Marissa, I knew this game wouldn't be an October release. And who was right? Anyway, Five Nights at Freddy's 4.

First Impressions: Suicide Squad: "What joke?"

I can see your attempts at covering this up Wanner Brothers, but did you seriously think you could control this?

"Am I freaking you out yet?"

First Impressions: Batman vs Superman, Dawn of Justice: "So these red capes you talk about..."

As with what I did a few months ago for Age of Ultron, I intend to do a DC marathon to cover, not just the subject of this, but the other "DCCU" film, and what's coming out in a few hours on here, Suicide Squad (First impressions, not review. Do you think that someone who sucks at timely reviews overall, and is a nobody in comparison to others would get something like that this early?). But for now, the start of the flood of content for today, because I'm insane. Part one of six in today's marathon of content, because I'm insane (I'll check myself into Arkham later): Batman vs Superman.

Kirby's Adventure: Please understand: one of the rare time the bad guy isn't the bad guy

While Dawn of Justice is still coming out on Wednesday, I think this takes priority, with what has happened. I'm not going to repeat it here, I'm sure other social network sites will do just as good of a job without me. Instead, I want to do what I did for Robbin Williams last year again, but with something that, while I have a lot of experience with the series, not so much its opening titles, something that is actually quite common for me. One of Iwata's early games (in terms of producing), Kirby's Adventure for the NES.

Now, like a lot of NES games, you're not going to find the plot in the game itself, this was due to size limitations and back then, even still to this day, gameplay takes priority over plot. I'm quoting this from a wiki so this may not be the exact lines from the instruction manual (remember those?). "In the beginning of the game Kirby awakes to find that all of the citizens of Dream Land have lost the ability to dream. Before this event occurred, dreams were composed through the Dream Spring and through the Star Rod. Kirby visited the location and found the antagonistic King Dedede swimming in the spring's waters. Kirby eventually found that the Star Rod had been broken by King Dedede, and that he had handed it over to all of his equally evil friends. So, it was Kirby's obligation to seek the lost pieces of the Star Rod by fighting Dedede's evil friends." Short hand though: Dedede broke this, go and fix it. However you'll later find out that there's a reason why. While I would complain that the plot is badly executed in the game itself... I'm willing to cut it some slack as this is a late NES game. The plot's just there to give you an excuse to "be the hero".

Gameplay wise, its interesting to see how the Kirby series started, however at the same time, this hasn't aged well when you consider the later games... well most of them... You see, while Kirby still has access to his powers, a mechanic introduced in this game, you only have access to one move per power, something which will become a problem when you're use to using side abilities of some powers like I am. There's no charge up for some of the powers, the dash attack for Fire is its own power and many others. While its not a complaint against the game, it makes it feel unnatural if you're used to games where the powers have their own sub moves (like Triple Deluxe, the last Kirby game I reviewed, as an example). I would raise it as a problem for more recent Kirby games, however I can't complain too much as it is the first game to have the Copy Powers.

The aesthetics are great for the NES, not as great as some other games in its library, but still up there as some of the best. I love the music in this game specifically, one of the best soundtracks I've herd on the NES, the sprites though... eh. They're ok for the NES, with praise going to the background and animation, its more the design of them, and the fact that some of them are randomly different colours for, what I can tell, no good reason. That's literally my only problem with the sprites.

My one major problem with Kirby's Adventure is, while it may not be the first game, it still suffers from First Game Syndrome, where the end product is fine, its just that later games do the job so much better. If you want to play this though, asside from it being on the eShop, there's also a Game Boy Advance remake called Nightmare in Dreamland so if you are curious, I'd pick them up, just keep in mind this is still an NES game. The game is still fun to play, something that I think gets ignored more often then not when talking about games, I myself maybe guilty of it as well, I don't recall every review I've written word for word.

The review is over, with Dawn of Justice coming tomorrow, and I'll go back to more images for Gravity Falls and onwards. However there are somethings I want to add. This first part I'm quoting from Marissa, which is something she brought up as I was writing this:

"If I were to say anything about Iwata, I remember playing Animal Crossing (GC) and I picked up one of the NES games you could get in the game. It was the only way I could play NES games at the time. My favorite one that I always go back to was Balloon Fight. Little did I know was that Satoru Iwata heavily influenced both of those games. RIP Satoru Iwata, your influence will never be forgotten."

I don't have that kind of memory, I became a Nintendo fan more recently, I have gone on record (if memory serves me correctly) saying that my early gaming experiences were with the PS1 and PS2 more so then Nintendo. I actually learned of him thanks to a magazine I read, the Official Nintendo Magazine for Australia and New Zealand. And its actually thanks to that magazine, which printed its final issue the month before I started the two sites, its because of that magazine that I am where I am today in terms of content production. However, I can thank him for some of my all time favorite franchises from Nintendo, Kirby, Pokemon and Super Smash Brothers, with many more games under his name. Though one thing I find very honorable, even if it was a persona, which I honestly doubt, is the way he was to the public. All the jokes, the smile always on his face, it was a joy to see. Its also, indirectly thanks to him, that I always look for fun in games, in many ways. To me, fun and joy are this mediums greatest factors, what makes the medium an artistic tool. There are very few people in the world like Satoru Iwata, and to me, the world is poorer every-time men like him die. My sincerest condolences go to his close friends and family.

Before I close, there's two thing I want to quote, which is something that I find rather inspiring, and it fits him so well.  

"On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer."

"Like any other entertainment medium, we must create an emotional response in order to succeed. Laughter, fear, joy, affection, surprise, and - most of all - accomplishment. In the end, triggering these feelings from our players is the true judgment of our work."

Rest in peace Mr Iwata, I hope your legacy continues to bring joy even after your death, and I hope you enjoy peace, maybe even in the Bubbly Clouds. While I don't know if these are his actual words:

Opening Impressions: Log Horizon: "I can show you the world"... well, a digital world... another digital world...

An anime type (does it count as a sub genre yet?) that has appeared recently is, what I'm dubbing, the MMO world. Basically, the main characters get sucked into some sort of MMO and have to survive in that world, using their knowledge of the game. In this, we have the world of Elder Scrolls... I mean Elder Tale and the world of Log Horizon.

Opening Impressions: Steven Universe: "I'll take your word on this..."

So for those who saw the montage, you'll notice that there were a few cartoons and an anime in there. Yeah... this month is going to have a lot of Opening Impressions again, though unlike last time, this time it'll be paced out.

As the medium evolves, new technology and new styles arise, there was 3D animation... which looked awful at the time, Flash animation, which lead to a influx of awful cartoons made as quick and as cheep as possible to make a quick buck (something I wouldn't mind online, but they gained footing on national Television). While those were more of the tech and people behind them, now the trend is style, by way of "Adventure Time style". Smooth 2D imagery embracing the cartoons of old, but not afraid to pull some more mature humor, some more so then others, one of which I'm still contemplating putting in here, which is why it wasn't in the montage. I intend to do Adventure time last, due to its sheer popularity in comparison to the others, but for now, lets start with the one I got asked to do on camera, Steven Universe.