Star Wars; The Clone Wars: Who needs a cast when you have CGI?

A common complaint people have with the prequels is the amount of CGI in use, barely any of the movie was actually on set. So a few years after the prequels had come out, and news of a new Star Wars movie was on the way excited people... until they herd that it was going to be all CG, and it was a prequel for a show by the same name, and that it was still during the prequels. Yeah, that went over well... Well, speaking from a more outsider perspective, as my knowledge of Star Wars is limited to the films, current shows, and The Force Awakens games, this was the first Star Wars movie I ever saw at the cinema, and at the time, I enjoyed it. Does it hold up? Well one way to find out. The focus of this review is the movie, however a lot of it can be applied to the show, and I will be covering aspects of the show, just not in as much detail.

Star Wars; Episode 2: Attack of the exposition... I mean Clones

Sorry for the major typo . I was tired, I don't know what I was thinking, even I know calling this movie "Star Wars: Revenge of the Clones" was stupid, and yet is probably the funniest thing about this.

Super Mario Maker: "We give up, make your own"

So to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Brothers on the NES, we got what can be described as a dev kit. Actually it was a dev kit until the team decided to merge it with the plans for a sequel to Mario Paint. To be fair, to those who hate it, it could be worse. There could be no mention of an anniversary, let alone a game, and trust me when I say that there are a lot of games that get that treatment. So now that the game has been out for a while, let's see what the community can do.

Worlds Collide: What happens when you mix the Blue Blur with the Blue Bomber?

This is something I get the feeling was being worked on while Archie was getting the rights to do the comics. Think about it, you're going for the rights of two of gaming's most iconic characters (that isn't named Mario), one of whom holds the record for longest running comic series based on a video game. Why wouldn't you bring the two together? Because they did, we get Worlds Collide, so lets see how this goes, shall we?

Animal Crossing; Amiibo Festival: "So I herd you liked Mario Party 10"

"Honestly, we just wanted Animal Crossing Amiibo. We wanted the company to make Animal Crossing Amiibo, so that's why we made a game that works with them." I herd a lot of backlash for this statement, and I mean a lot. I'm not going to summarize it, but my view on it is more pleasant then others. This was said by the development team, and more often then not, the development team doesn't have dollar signs in their eyes, and they've shown that they love all the characters they've made, why wouldn't they, it's Animal Crossing. To say that the characters are cute does them a dis service, adorable doesn't even come close at times. With that push, Nintendo had the ability to print money before they ran out of fighters in Super Smash Brothers, and giving them enough time to build up the RFID chips to back log for the inevitable mass producing of Pokemon amiibo, my wallet is already dreading that day. So with Amiibo Festival and it's sister game, Happy Home Designer, how well does the Animal Crossing Team impliment Amiibo. I will come back to Happy Home Designer, but let's get this done first.

Star Wars; Episode 1: The Phantom Menace: Let's get these two out of the way first, shall we?

One thing I've been saying to people I know is that this month, I'm kinda setting myself up to shoot myself in the foot with this, purely because of what the subject is. Star Wars is one of the most talked about things on the internet, and most of it is aimed at how bad the prequel trilogy is and that the original trilogy is seen as a masterpiece. Do I agree with those statements? Well, you'll see by the end of the month. Now before we go into the reviews themselves, I'm going to say this here and now. I am reviewing the DVD releases that came out in 2004, which means that yes, I'll be reviewing the original trilogy based on the "Special editions". Sadly I have not seen the original edits of Episodes 4, 5 and 6, let alone own a copy of them. All three are versions I want to see someday, and I want the rumors of the movies being re released to be true, but until then, these will have to do. I will say in advance, it is really obvious what's been edited in. But before we get to that, we have these to do, so lets kick off the Star Wars Marathon with what some argue to be the worst of the movies: The Phantom Menace.

The 2015 summary and what's to come in 2016

As I write this on the last Monday of 2015, a nice breeze and a warm sun entering my room, I have to say, there's not a lot to talk about with this in terms of this year, unlike last year, there wasn't a lot that wasn't addressed earlier on. But at the same time, still a lot of exciting things to say. So gather round, as we cast of 2015, and talk about what's in store for 2016.

In terms of content, it was pretty solid. The Digimon Marathon had to be cut short, and the review of Batman Arkham Origins is still far away as I still don't have a copy, but I do believe enough has come out to supliment that, for the time being. We got all the episodes of Digimon up to the start of Digimon Fusion Season 2, a series I've honestly stopped following due to time. The review of almost the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe took up all of May, that was fun to work on until Twitter trolls started to latch their claws into what little free time I had post Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The funny thing is that they're still trying that pathetic "gag", I'm not even angry any more, I find the idea of them still trying is hilarious seven months after. The rest of the year was more smaller things like the week of opening impressions more because of burn out, and preparation for what's coming up. Not only has this site broken 200 posts with the release of the Undertale review, but recently the site has broken 25,000, with the Pokemon Zeta and Onicron (Omnicron is still a cooler name) and Digimon Adventure 02 breaking over 1,000 views on their own. Considering the site isn't even two years old, and yes to many those may not seem great, but to me that's amazing, and it's what keeps driving me to write more content, especially when this time last year we just broke 4,000. So to all who have been following this site in some form, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. That's probably going to become a reoccurring line as more milestones break, but it'll continue to be true.

If there's something specific you want to know about what has come out, ask me in either my Ask.fm, Twitter, Facebook, Retrospring (Which is something I really need to remember to check because I don't get email notifications on it) or any other way to get in contact with me, all the sites linked to this are on the side in the same place. I know this year wasn't very interesting in terms of back story, but there wasn't anything like last year that I didn't address in other posts. Before going into the planned reviews and impressions next year, a few changes are coming to the site itself and how it's managed.

• A name change will be happening shortly after this post goes live, including a change to the web address. With Marissa now writing for the site, I personally don't feel comfortable keeping the name as it feels like I'm writing her content, which some people may think if they don't notice the "keybug55's reviews:" or the fact that she tags her posts with "keybug55" and "marissa", which I'll be going through my posts and adding "blaster" and "liam" to mine when I get some free time, and you'll see why. The new name is Mediaholics.
• More of a focus will be put on my Patreon. I do want to start doing this with more of a focus but that requires the site having a budget. Sadly the world doesn't work for free. Now while I'm not going to be barring core content behind a unbroken paywall. What I will be doing is giving Patreon supporters access to my video content a week early when applicable (this doesn't really work for E3 and similar topics, but will be used for Let's Plays and other videos), will get to decide what gets to be covered every now and then, akin to the strawpolls for the Comic arc reviews, but not as limiting and will get to see my notes and other behind the scenes documentation. I'm also going to be doing other Patreon supporters exclusive content when I have the resources to do it.
• The site is going to become a more general content site, with videos from mine and maybe keybug's channels (depending on how things go), including lets plays along with the reviews site and the projects site to be merged.
• More video content is on the way. For the time being I will be putting Earthbound on more of a hiatus just due to time, but Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky will be returning very soon.
• First Impressions are going to become videos when possible. E3 conference summaries will probably stay as text, but Pre and Post E3 will return as videos, and impressions of trailers will be videos as well.
• No more comic arc polls for a while, as most of them didn't get a lot of votes, which defeats the purpose of a poll. However this does mean that arcs like Civil War and the Phoenix Saga will be covered in 2016.

Wakko's Wish: How much is a half penny worth anyway?

Tis the season to be merry, to sit around the fire and tell christmas stories... Unless you live where I do where fires have a strong chance of becoming bushfires, it is summer after all. But, on this christmas eve, let us return to 1999, travel to ACME Falls, for Wakko's Wish.

Undertale

keybug55's reviews:

Undertale

Take the bullet hell shoot 'em up games, mix them with some charming RPG elements, and make it so every character is lovable in some way or another. You get a game known as Undertale. I'll try my best to explain the game without giving too much spoilers.

The game's background is basically there's two races, humans and monsters. Monsters got sealed away into the underground, and you are a human child that fell down there. You explore the Underground meeting various interesting monsters with their own distinct personalities.

Every action you make can change the ending in one way or another, and I do mean EVERY action. Even if you restart without saving, the game will remember, and it will be sure to let you know it does. There is every possible outcome for almost every possible option. What I mainly love about this game is that everything is very well thought out. There are plenty of secrets and easter eggs to go back to, making this game highly replayable. Some secrets you have to find by closing and reopening the game.

If I had any complaint about this game, I would say that the beginning is a bit slow, but it's enough to get you immersed in the game. The first character you meet is Toreil that gives you the rundown of the game. You can say, she'll give you a...TuTORIEL?! Yeah this whole game is filled with lame puns.

One main thing I also love about this game are the characters. Each character no matter how nice, mean, annoying, or sadistic they are have a lot of charm and heart put into them. Mind you, if you play through genocide you'll have to eventually kill these characters. Especially if you do pacifist first, it might break your heart to see these characters die, but I think that just adds to the experience.

The battle system is pretty creative too. Basically you're a heart that has to dodge the attacks of various monsters, like a bullet hell game.  Sometimes it's simple, most times it's pretty crazy. Although I would say the difficulty overall is pretty fair. There are two options that change the game very drastically. You have a choice of killing an enemy, or sparing it. The more enemies you kill, you gain EXP and gain levels, this path is called Genocide. To reach the True Pacifist ending, you'll have to spare every enemy and boss. Arguably, it's easier to get though the game killing everything, though I would not recommend starting with it. You will have a bad time later on, and it will alter True Pacifist's ending even when you reset.

Overall this game is very well thought out, extremely charming, and a joy to go through even at the tough parts. It's not too long either, for this game only has seven areas. If you're a fan of RPGs like Earthbound, I'd recommend you try this game. Even if you aren't, it's a nice game to start with.

-Marissa (keybug55)

Writers talking about December gaming news

Meet the new writer for the site, who will be uploading their first review very soon.