Game Review: Watch Dogs

Thought I'd do some more game reviews and I also thought for a practice I'll do the first game I got for the PS4;Watchdogs. I have recently been playing it again so I thought why not review it, also like with some of my reviews I'm not going in depth I' m just going to go over the good points and bad points to save time and then give my final thoughts on it.


Good

Open world/side missions: Glad that it decided the take the free roam route like GTA and The Witcher for example because there was plenty of place to explore and plenty of side missions that the first time I played it, it took me a while to finish everything.

Hacking: They really glamourize hacking in this that it makes me wish I knew how to do it IRL lol. As for gameplay it is great that you can hacking a lot of electronics to turn combat to your advantage.

Gun fights/variety of weapons: I did find the gun fights to be really enjoyable and intense, it is cool when you have one in the street and everything explodes around you. Then of course there are plenty of weapons for you to chose from.

Story: I have finished the game four times now can that is because I just really like the whole story and the characters you interact with.

Car chases: These can be really fun especially when you are running away from the police ad how much damage you can cause to other cars and yourself.

The racing multiplayer: I am not really a fan of the other multiplayer modes but the races I enjoyed because they have a mix of cars and bikes and you can hack everything around you to win.


Bad

Should have had more hacking: I know this is the first game (hopefully there will be a sequel) and I know I said I enjoyed it but still there should have been way, way more stuff to do with it. For example the mission where you have to get into DEFAULT's club and you can distract the guard; it should have been more like Hitman where there are several more ways you can get in. I just feel that hacking doesn't play an important role as it should have in missions where most of the time you can just use your gun.

Enemy A.I/Not too difficult: I have finished the game four times now (like I said above I really like the story) but the last three times I have set it on it's highest difficultly with no auto aim assist. It's not like it's very easy but it really isn't much of a challenge for me now.

No shooting out of car window: This one is so annoying because I just hated only bashing cars to stop them, I know you can hack obstacles but  the A.I can shoot out of windows so why not us?

Not much to do when you finish: After the story and side missions there really isn't any permanent things to do besides poker and repeating side missions. Sure there is a lot of side missions but they it is just a repeat of the same type of missions over and over again.

Notoriety meter didn't have much of an impact: On two of my play throughs I decided to get my meter red but I swear I barely noticed any difference. I think only a few civilians noticed me and called the police but that was the only thing that changed, even when the meter is blue they don't really do anything else. For example when you do keep doing good things maybe the civilians will protest against the police or cheer you on and maybe if you do bad things the civilians will attack you or A.I. bounty hunters will keep coming after you. 

The multiplayer should have been more expansive: Besides the racing I really didn't enjoy much of the other game modes. They should have picked classics like TDM or CTF but instead they tired these unique hacking ones that I wasn't a fan of, plus the teams could have been way bigger.

Overall Watchdogs has come really great moments and had some great potential in some of it's areas but because that potential isn't fully realized I feel this game was just a test for it's hacking style gameplay. That if this test proved popular they would (hopefully) improve the hacking and some of it's gameplay in a sequel. I would recommend this game if you are a fan of ones similar to this like GTA however only for the story mode since their is a lack of content in comparison to other open world games, for example the multiplayer in this does not even compare to GTA's.

Film Review: Godzilla 2014

There will be some SPOILERS but not much because this is just a quick review and not too in depth. You might be wondering why I have chosen Godzilla and that is because I have randomly chosen one of the DVDs I got for Christmas to review and I just really wanted to get back to reviewing something that isn't Arrow, so why not start with this.

This film stars Bryan Cranston as Joe Brody as a former engineer who is obsessed with uncovering the mystery to the destruction of the nuclear plant he was working at that claimed his wife's life, he is also reluctantly joined by his son Ford (Aaron Taylor - Johnson). However what they uncover is something the government has been keeping a secret for many years; two monsters that can lay waste to the entire human race and one more that is a force of nature on to itself.

Well this film certainly had a lot of surprises and twists that I wasn't expecting when I first watched it and that is most of the time a good thing and Godzilla 2014 did it right for the most part. Firstly I guess I should touch first on the topic that split audiences down the middle on this film; the actual lack of Godzilla in a film called Godzilla. This was a really gutsy move because I know a lot of people saw this film and expected to see some kind of epic monster rumble that would last throughout most of the film. I have also seen the original Japanese Godzilla film and I know that Godzilla doesn't appear in that much either; it is all about the people dealing with Godzilla and I guess that is what they are trying to recreate here. For the most part they succeeded because I was never bored with the human elements in this film because I found their storylines interesting enough and engaging which could also be because of the great cast.

A great and compelling story is one of the most important elements in a creative work and action isn't important to make a great film; for example two of my favourite films are Wuthering Heights (1939) and Rebecca (1940) both staring Laurence Oliver who was one of the greatest actors in the world. Despite that I do feel cheated that there isn't a lot more of Godzilla and monster rumbles and that is because of two reasons. Firstly since this is the 2000s and not 1954 you expect that they should have put a lot more fighting in this because they can, take Pacific Rim for example which had a great story (almost manga like in my opinion) and they still gave us some awesome mech vs. monster battles. The second reason is because they kept teasing us with showdowns between Godzilla and the MUTOs too much; like when Godzilla and the male MUTO met at the airport and we didn't see it. However the final fight does make up for a lot of it because it was just that damn epic.

They do give you some backstory on Godzilla, that there was a race of giant creatures that once feasted on the planet's radiation, but I think they wanted to create an air of mystery around this colossal force of nature so instead they focused on the two MUTOs. I do like the story they gave with the MUTOs that they feed off radiation to reproduce and that the male was reasonable for all the death at the beginning at that Japanese power plant, effectively making it the bad guy right off the bat lol. As for the MUTOs design it is really creative because unlike most of the monsters from the old Godzilla films (Motha or Rodan) they look really alien. Sure you can compare them to insects more than anything else but I will say again they are really unique in their looks and colouring etc. It was interesting how they gave us a male and female and that the male is smaller but has the ability to fly while the female is a lot more bigger.

However whether or not you are a fan of how they treated Godzilla in this or the MUTO creatures you can't deny that they visual effects for them where just epic. Godzilla truly looked like a force of nature more than ever before, I mean the sheer size of him when he appeared really makes you think he earned the "God" in Godzilla. Not to mentioned the CGI looked absolutely perfect because that is definitely how I expected Godzilla to look and him and the two MUTOs looked so realistic; honestly I can really picture this stuff happening in real life. Godzilla definitely looks more like it's Japanese counterpart along with the awesome roar that they gave him which sounds close to the original too. Then we have all of the destruction caused by Godzilla and the MUTOs and none of it looked fake at all which is again a nod to the great CGI and I am someone who prefers practical effects.

Lastly we have the human cast which most of the film revolves around and I could have been really annoyed it did, like with the Transformers films. However unlike Transformers the humans in this film don't fill the screen time with a lot of meaningless dry humour and irrelevant subplots that no one even cares about. Take Byran Cranston for example who was just such a terrific actor in this especially at the beginning when he lost his wife and his obsession with finding out the truth. I really wished he was the main character throughout the whole film instead of the first quarter; I think they where giving us a twist we didn't expect but they built up his character so much with excellent scenes and dialogue that it might have been a bad move. Then there is Aaron Taylor - Johnson and I have been a fan of his since Kickass so I liked seeing him in this despite being overshadowed slightly by Cranston. I do enjoy his story of trying to get home to his family because through his perspective we got to see the destruction of major cities and several missions with the military.

Overall do I wish that Godzilla and the two MUTOs could have fought each other more; yes. However I just enjoyed the special effects and the human element so much, everything from Byran Cranston trying to learn the truth, Aaron Taylor - Johnson trying to get home and Ken Watanabe with the military. As I mentioned above I was not bored watching any of it and since I have got the film on DVD I would gladly watch it over and over again.

As I said at the beginning this was just a mostly spoiler free review because I just wanted to get back into reviewing films. Besides I might just make all my future film reviews spoiler free because they are longer to talk about than TV series.

SCORE: 8/10

Highlights: Godzilla and MUTO
                   Truly epic special effects
                   Great human story and perfect casting

Let - Downs: They gave us a lot of expectation and teases of some epic clash of monsters but only the ending of the film delivered on that
                      Should have had a lot more Byran Cranston

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/        

Upcoming Reviews

Thought I'd give a run down of some reviews that I really want to get round to writing. Bear in mind that this list may change because I might not be able to do them all or I might decided not to review them.

TV Shows

Finish Revolution: You all know that I am reviewing all episodes of season one of Revolution because it is one of my fav shows however I probably won't do season two straight afterwards. The reason for this is because since there is no season three (and the likely hood of it drops every day) there is no real rush to do it.

Arrow: Like Revolution, Arrow is a show that aired before I started this blog so I couldn't review it straight away. However I thought why not review it now but also review all episodes like I do with Revolution because the amazing site, screencapped has all seasons. Since I want to start on Arrow soon I might hurry up in my review for Revolution episodes, maybe upload two a week, and finish it before the end of the year.

Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Falling Skies, Gotham: Maybe do individual reviews for these episodes as well but Arrow comes first so I don't know when I will get round to these. Also screencapped hasn't got screencaps for three of them and when I review individual episodes I would really like to use screenshots in them.

Films

Rest of Resident Evil
Battle Royale
Hammer Horror films (really like them)
Marvel films

Games

Rest of the Final Fantasy XIII series
Rest of the Silent Hill series

Anime

Code Geass
Death Note
Redo Sword Art Online and Btooom!


There you have it a list of some of the things I would like to review next and I really hope that I get round to doing them all.

Manga Review: Gantz



Back again with another review, been awhile but I have been really busy. This time however I have decided to review and entire manga series, so unlike my Bleach fight reviews I will be talking about the whole story. Also thought I'd say that I won't be reviewing the Gantz anime because even though I do like it and got it on DVD it does not even compare to the manga because of its low animation quality and just terrible original arc they added in the end. I will try and keep this spoiler free for you because going in to too much depth would just take forever to cover.

The story of Gantz follows the main protagonist Kei Kurono who, while waiting for the train, runs in to his old childhood friend Masaru Kato. However while trying to save a homeless person who fell in to the train tracks they are both run over and seemingly killed but they suddenly awaken in a small apartment overlooking Tokyo Tower. There are several other individuals in this apartment who also claim to have died or been killed but the most strange things that are going on is that they cannot leave the apartment and there is a mysterious black ball in the centre of the room called Gantz. After some time this ball plays old exercise music and shows them an imagine of an alien they have to defeat, it then opens up to reveal futuristic weapons and combat suits and sends them on their mission to various places in Japan. We now follow Kei as he battles numerous aliens and deals with the dangers during these missions and its strict rules and still trying to live a life as a high school student.

What really drew me in to this series is its really violent and serious tones compared to other manga. You see I am a massive Horror/Sci - Fi fan (Alien, Predator, Event Horizon; to name a few) and I am also a big anime/manga fan so I really wanted to find a series that is like the films I watched. That is when I found Gantz, it is exactly what I was looking for and it has not disappointed me at all.

Now I have to say that this series is not for everyone because it is really not for the faint of heart, when I said it was violent I mean it is VIOLENT. The aliens that the characters face are serious monsters who kill them in some pretty gruesome ways and vise versa because they are also being hunted by the characters, from humans and aliens alike you will see guts flying, severed limbs and even some rapes. But it is not just the violence there is also a high level of sex and nudity throughout it (95% of it from the female characters) not just some simple fan service you get in other manga. However do not take this as me trying to put you off the series because like I mentioned earlier this is something I had been trying to find.

I love the story structure in this manga because the story arcs is basically the missions the characters get from Gantz and they can be either short or very long depending on how many aliens they face and their difficulty. It is always interesting to see what design Hiroya Oku (the writer and artist of Gantz) can come up with next, so you look forward to every mission. But the down time between the missions are just as good as we see the characters try and cope with their normal lives. Thought I'd mention that my favourite story arcs in this the Osaka arc and the final Katastrophe arc.

This manga also deals a lot with the theme of death because this like Game of Thrones anyone, even the main characters, can die. Death will claim characters you were even not expecting so there is always the impending threat that your favourite character could be next on the chopping block. I find this really refreshing in a manga series because even though I am a huge fan of the Bleach and Naruto manga you don't feel any threat to the main characters at all because it seems their creators don't want to part with them and sometimes come up with ridiculous ways to keep them from dying.

As for the characters there is a wide array of them each with their own personalities and stories that can appeal to everyone. Take Kei for example he is not like other main protagonists from manga; he is a self - centred, uncaring, sex obsessed high school student which doesn't seem typical for main character traits in my experience. However as the series goes own we see his personality mature and he does find it in him to care about other (though he still is obsessed with sex and girls). There are many more to choose from such as Kato the natural leader, Izumi the sword wielding murderer, Nishi the loner who cares only for himself and many others. Now I have read some criticism before that the majority of the female characters in Gantz are only there to have sex, be naked and fall in love with male ones too easily and while this is a fair view I don't 100% agree with it. Take the two main females Kishimoto and Reika, yes they do have a lot of fan service scenes (Kishimoto for example arrives in chapter three completely nude and that is not the only time as the series progresses) however they are still their own characters with interesting story arcs and they are still badass when it comes to the fighting.

The art in this is also something that really makes it stand out from other manga because it is done using 3D imagining, especially for the backgrounds. It also has a really realistic art style for the character and alien designs which really helps with the horror and goriness of it.

This serious has thirty seven volumes so it is not too short and not too long and it is well worth you reading everyone of them. Overall I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes science fiction, horror and thriller and doesn't mind high levels of gore and sex. While this is a series that may not be for everyone it is definitely one of my favourites and is so unique that I am giving it a perfect score.

SCORE: 10/10

On another note I really hope this series is made in to a live action series for film, I know it has two Japanese live action films but I am talking about American films. Now before you argue against it I already know that America has so far mostly been bloody terrible at adapting manga (Dragon Ball and Last Airbender) however I truly feel like Gantz is something that could work if done right and I am not saying this lightly.

TV Series Review: Game of Thrones Season Four (SPOILERS!!)

With season four now over it is now time to review it and then it will be almost a whole year before I can review Game of Thrones again. Been busy lately so it has taken me longer to write this up than I thought but I hope you enjoy.

The War of the Five Kings is all but over; the North is now under the control of Rose Bolton and his bastard son Ramsey now that the Stark House is destroyed and the Lannisters are now more powerful than ever with the wedding with the Tyrells is drawing closer and an alliance with the Martells of Dorne. Meanwhile the men of the Nights Watch must face the threat of a large Wilding army intent of heading south through the Wall while beyond it Bran Stark is still searching for the mysterious three eyes Raven. Across the Narrow Sea Daenerys Targaryen is sacking slaves cites and now has her sites on the largest one; Meereen.

Like the previous season it is based on the events in a Storm of Swords however it focuses on the events of the later half of the book. Also as I have mentioned before Storm of Sword is one of my favourite entries to the Song of Ice and Fire saga so I was really looking forward to watching the conclusion of it in the TV series and I was not disappointed. Some of the most famous scenes from book the book has been adapted well here like the Purple Wedding, The Mountain vs The Viper and the Battle for the Wall.

Before I go into these events and others I just want to say that we have some great casting this season with the stand out being Pedro Pascal as Oberyn Martell; the second prince of Dorne and one of the most famous fighters in the world. He did a really great job as being one of the most rash and impulsive characters in the book who was always a fan favourite. Two I would like to mention are Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis and Dean - Charles Chapman as Tommen Baratheon mostly because they are recasts. Even though recasts usually bug me in films and TV series I really did not mind now because again we just got some major acting talent in this show and these two don't disappoint, especially the recast of Tommen because I did not like him in the book because he is just a whiny kid but I am glad they made him a bit older now.

Now one of the most major events of this season was the Purple Wedding in episode two which ended with the death of Joffrey Baratheon. I bet fans of the show and book were delighted world wide now that the most sadist character ever created has finally got his and I agree that there is no character who deserves to die more. But I think we should give a round of applause to Jack Gleeson who did a perfect job of bringing one of the most evil fictional characters to life so well to screen. The tone and scenes was really done well (such as Joffrey being an ass to his uncle as always) and the poisoning looked so brutal that the Purple Wedding will be as iconic as the Red Wedding.

Next is The Mountain vs The Viper and what I think what makes this really stand out is how imposing The Mountain (Hafpor Julius Bjornsson) really is, I mean have you seen the SIZE of the guy! He was like the Terminator, the guy just did not stop and he just can't die, which sadly Oberyn learned the hard way. The entire fight was done so well like Oberyn with his more graceful spear control or The Mountain with his more brutal sword play. Also I was not expecting the death of Oberyn to be so graphic in the series like it was in the book; his head literally exploded and we got to see it up close. So props to these two they have given us the best one on one fight of the whole series,

Lastly is the Battle of the Wall which was in episode nine like mostly all major events in the series, the entire episode was given over to it and for such a big battle they could do no less. I am glad they introduced the cannibal Thenns this season because they played a major role in the battle and I thought they would have been introduced last season. The whole battle was just epic, it was a pincer attack on the Nights Watch one both sides of the wall and it really looked like the Wildings could have won. We got plenty of fighting and giant action and I was surprised with how well and how much scenes with the giants we had. This was just has good as the Battle of the Blackwater in season two and I like how we have two battles going on at the same time. In the book the attack on Castle Black by the Thenns and other Wildings happened a few days before the Wilding army came from the North but I like this pincer attack better. Also I also liked the original subplot of the Nights Watch mutinies in Craster's Keep, I liked it because it made a lot of sense that Jon and the Nights Watch had to deal with them because they don't in the books and just assume they get killed by the Wrights. They do but was a bit of a gamble just to assume they were going to die and not get capture by Mance.

Besides from those major events we got more like Theon's which is once again expanded here in the series, he is now Reek and even though he is not has mutilated as he is in the book I do still feel really sorry for the guy. Also they included some events from the Dance of Dragons books and we get a lot more interaction between Roose and Ramsey.

Another story that I think was really good was Sansa's story in the Eyrie; I know there are a lot of people who dislike the character of Sansa but I think her character has really improved because of the influence of Littlefinger. For example when she lied to the nobles of the Eyrie regarding her aunts death, you got to admit she had them all in the palm of her hand. Also the death of Lysa Arryn was done just like in the book and like Joffery I am not sorry about her death because she was one crazy b***h.

Two other story lines that are still really good from last season is Daenerys and Arya and the Hound, they are still a continuation from season three and they were both still strong. However when Arya left the Hound and the final scene of the season was her leaving on a boat for the East, that was so epic. The music and the whole feel of the scene was just really well done, I am really good that the final scene was about her and Daenerys was not just shoved in there.

Another story line that was expanded was on two of my favourite characters; Stannis and Davos. In this season we see them travel to Braavos to convince the Iron Bank to fund Stannis's army, this was not in the book, in the book they just sort of go straight away to the Wall so I really liked this. Davos really does have a silver tongue when it comes to winning people over like those bankers and the statue of the Titan of Braavos was badass.

Two story lines that did not garb my attention as much as the others was Bran's journey in the North and Brienne and Pod's travels through the Riverlands. Don't get me wrong I did really like them but I just preferred the others and maybe that is because they did not spend as much time on them as the other, especially Bran's. However I did really like what happened to them in the final episode; Brienne vs the Hound was a great fight that was almost as good The Mountain vs The Viper and Bran's group encountering the dead was awesome, really sad about Jojen's death however.

Finally the story in King Landing was as great as ever we get see the trial of Tyrion for the murder of Joffery, we see Jamie trying to change himself (and not just trying to fight left handed) and we see the epicness that is Tywin Lannister who is the most powerful man in the Seven Kingdoms. His death was again a perfect adaption from the book and it is a shame Charles Dance is not going to be in the show now because he owned the role of Tywin. Glad that Tyrion killed Shae because if I am honest she just annoyed me in the end and it was a touching moment between the Lannister brothers when Jamie freed Tyrion.

Overall this season had a great balance of everything from action to great dialogue, actually I think there was more action in this than any other season especially in the tenth episode which is usually a cool down from episode nine. This season did a great job of adapting some great iconic moments from the books and I loved all the original stuff as well. I think I am going to give this a perfect score because I think this is probably the best season of Game of Thrones so far.

SCORE : 10/10

Now that this season is finished I guess there won't be another review for almost a year so if I do anything else for Game of Thrones it will be prediction's for the next season. I have read all the books but maybe I can give my opinion on what the events should be included in it.

Resident Evil Rant Part Two: Rebooting the Series

This is long overdo but the reason for that is because I have been very busy lately and I have only now just found the time to get round to writing part two. Those who have read my previous Resident Evil Rant may already now that I am dissatisfied with the direction the games have taken and I feel that it is in everyone's best interest if the series is rebooted. I will now make a list of what I think Capcom can do to make a good reboot and what mistakes it needs to avoid making again.

1. Never get rid of the zombies!
Had to get this one out of the way first because it is the most obvious one and the fall of the Resident Evil games started when they replaced zombies with intelligent parasites. When your enemies in survival horror games can jump around and use machine guns and bazookas then it turns in to an action game and that is something no true Resident Evil fan wanted. Leon's story in 6 did a good job of trying to bring zombies back and found a good way of letting them use weapons (they would drunkenly use clubs and guns like a proper zombie would) but Chris and Jack ruined that good work.

2. Don't overload it with too many B.O.Ws
In the old games they had great ones like Hunters, Lickers and Bandersnatch but in 6 they have the enemies mutant in to these stupid looking ones and in 4 and 5 I hated that they all looked like insects and parasites. Also in the old ones they always saved the stronger enemies for the right moments like the boiler room in the Resident Evil 1 mansion lab or the hospital in Resident Evil 3.

3. Don't load us down with too much ammunition and weapons
These shops and ammo drops in 4 and 5 really put me off the entire experience, probably more than anything else in the games. They may have got rid of the shops in 6 and went back to finding weapons in the field but the enemies still dropped too much ammo. Whenever I fought a boss in the new games I was not worried about losing to them at all. One of the most scary things about bosses in the old games was wondering if I might have been too trigger happy on the zombies and saved nothing! lack of resources and feeling like you can be killed at anytime is what makes a survival horror game a great survival horror game.

4. No QTE
Does this really need an explanation?

5. No multiplayer
I did sometimes enjoy this but I think it would be best if they got rid of so they can focus more on a single player experience because again that is what made the old games great. However if they want to have multiplayer than keep it for mercenaries because I still really enjoy that mode and maybe they could make more mini games if they want.

6. Don't abandon good characters
I don't know about anyone else but I just got sick of seeing Leon and Chris in every new Resident Evil game and why the hell don't we know what happened to great characters like Rebecca, Billy or Carlos?? Unless the character has died then keep them active in the overall story.

7. Don't get rid of the Umbrella Corporation
If they do reboot the series and use the Umbrella corporation again then for God's sake don't get rid of such a cool and powerful enemy in a prologue in 4! Umbrella was a really great and menacing company that doesn't care about human life at all and we did not even get to see their downfall properly. And as for Spencer the shadowy head of Umbrella who we never see and only heard off in the past - don't kill him off in such a lacklustre way after so much build up.

8. Don't go running around the entire world
There has not be single location in the new games as good as the old ones because they keep moving the settings around too much. They need to confine it in a single location so they can put more of an effect in to it, like the mansion and Raccoon City. Only Code Veronica X has done it right so far.

9. Bring back backtracking
As I mentioned in Part One I really like the backtracking in the old games; going back to old locations with a new key and running in to more enemies. The new games felt like we were just walking forward a liner corridor no matter how much they made us fell the levels were big.

10. Bring back typewriters and ink ribbons
Hate auto save because like with more ammo and weapons they take away the whole danger of the games. Because they limited the saves to ink ribbons you had to make sure you don't waste them for near the end of the game.

There you go ten good rules for Capcom to stick to if they decided to reboot the Resident Evil games. If you can think of anymore please let me know!

Bleach Review: Kenpachi Zaraki vs. Gremmy Thoumeaux

Back again with a review of the most recent fight in Bleach; Kenpachi Zaraki vs. Gremmy Thoumeaux. While I have reviewed almost every recent Bleach fight for the Quincy invasion I decided to skip Yachiru Kusajishi vs. Guenael Lee because that was not even a proper fight and Guenael was not even a real person. So lets proceed.

This fight begins with Gremmy erasing Guenael from existence and saying that he was nothing more than a creation he imagined, a fake Sternritter V. Gremmy is the real V, for the The Visionary and says whatever he imagines becomes reality for example he imagines that Yachiru's bones are made up of cookies and so it happens, he also proclaims to have already killed Rose and Kensei while everyone was distracted by Guenael. However before anything else can happen something even I did not expect happened; the arrival of Kenpachi!
Gremmy proclaims to be the strongest Sternritter and challenges Kenpachi by created a raised arena for them to fight on and the real fight begins. They exchange some blows and even though Gremmy blocks Kenpachi's blade by imagining his skin his stronger than steel however typical Kenpachi simply says there is nothing he can't cut and wounds him however Gremmy just imagines his injuries are already healed. The fight continues with Gremmy summoning multiply objects to fight with such as stone hands, a body of water and even a barrage of machine guns but Kenpachi slashes them all away and even discovers Gremmy's weakness; if his attention is shifted what he imagines disappears, for example Yachiru's bones are back to normal because he was too focused on Kenpachi.
When Kenpachi gains the upper hand Gremmy begins to slow down and almost imagined himself losing but he manages to stop himself. From being so calm to beging with Gremmy soon starts to become more mad and then clones himself and states his imagination has now doubled and summons a meteorite to destroy everything and everyone, much to the shock of some of his fellow Sternritter looking on (I will talk about some cameos of Sternritter later).
However the moment we have all been waiting for arrives and Kenpachi finally releases his Zanpakutō, Nozarashi, which looks almost like the first form of Ichigo's Zanpakutō expect it is a lot bigger, shaped more like an halberd and has a red tussle at the tip of it. Of course Nozarashi's power allows Kenpachi to cut through anything such as the meteorite, much to Gremmy's surprise. The battle continues with Gremmy trapping Kenpachi in a void of space and even though suffers serious damage he manages to escape and even survives being blasted by numerous Gremmy clones. The battle ends with Gremmy tiring to imagine himself more powerful than Kenpachi but it seems his body cannot handle that much power and breaks itself apart.

Now that I have finished going over the fight I guess the most important thing to say is whether or not I like it and the answer is.....yes I did really enjoy this fight. There are several reasons why I like it but I guess the main reason for this is because unlike previous Kenpachi fights his opponent here isn't just a straight up melee fighter. Take Nnoitra for example, a really powerful Espada but aside from his release granting six blades he had no other special abilities. This fight however has something completely different because Kenpachi faces off against someone with a wide range of special abilities.
Secondly to me it did not feel has if this fight was completely one sided like it was when Renji fought Mask or when Rukia fought As Nodt. Throughout this entire fight I thought that both Kenpachi and Gremmy had an equal chance of winning with neither being too over powered except at the end.
And thirdly the art in this chapter was some of the best I have seen in a fight; from Gremmy releasing his barrage of guns to Kenpachi destroying the meteorite it was just all so epic and really added to how great this fight was.

I was really glad when the real Sternritter V turned out to be Gremmy because Guenael was just too weird looking and just looked like a throw away opponent in either case. Gremmy on the other hand had a lot cooler ability and was a lot better designed than Guenael. He looks cool in his hooded Sternritter coat and I think the facial expressions that Kubo gave him were really well done. At the start of the fight he looked calm and laid back but as Kenpachi kept pushing him and pushing him we get more manic expressions and he looked absolutely insane! This once again also praising the get art that was in this chapter.

Also Kenpachi's Nozarashi turned out to be a really suitable Zanpakutō for him; it was simple yet effective and Kenpachi even before liked to boost how he could cut through anything so I guess this new power really justifies this fact.

Finally we get some great cameos from the other Sternritter in this fight as well, most notably we see Askin Nakk le Vaar talking with the recently named Sternritter Pepe. For those who don't know Pepe is the Sternritter with the power to control others like he did during the first invasion so it is finally good to see him and I am interested to see him in a fight. His design is great too, he looks like a monk which is kind of supported by the fact that he is sitting on a floating disk. What these two were doing was discussing how dangerous Gremmy is and how he has gone mad during his fight. They also witness the summoning of the meteorite along with a shocked Bazz - B.

We also get two important moments at the end of this chapter as well, first being that Gremmy's body was also the product of his imagination and that his true form is just a brain within a container. While this was a bit weird it has also made me hopeful that Gremmy will return in future battles because Kenpachi did not do anything to the brain case, plus I also think he is a great Sternritter.

Also it seems that Yachiru has gone missing at the end of the fight but before anything can be done about it we get the arrival of the four female Sternritter; Candice Catnipp, Meninas McAllon, Giselle Gewelle and Litotto Lamperd. Now I don't know if these four are really going to fight Kenpachi or if they are just there to retrieve Gremmy or if they were the ones who took Yachiru, I guess we are just going to have to wait till next chapter. I am interested however in what they do since it has been a while since saw these four.

Overall this is probably one of my favourite fights of this arc so far; Gremmy was one of the most interesting Sternritter so far with great abilities, it was a different sort of Kenpachi fight and the art through out it was great. I think the only let down was that the ending was a bit anti - climatic with Gremmy's body just breaking apart but like I said I am hopeful we will see him again. Also I really hope that Rose and Kensei are not dead because that would be a waste of their characters but Kubo has yet to say if they are really dead or if it was just Gremmy's imagination.

SCORE: 8/10

Bleach Review: 566 - 570, Rukia Kuchiki vs. As Nodt

This was probably is uploaded later than I thought it would but here is my review of the recent fight between Rukia and As Nodt. It starts off with Rukia going around the Seireitei (or the Vandenriech now that it is taken over) and stopping when she feels something touch her arm and then turns around to see As Nodt floating towards her. We get some cool, creepy expressions of As Nodt as asks where his captured Senbonzakura and her brother has gone to and I found that kind of funny. It is not long before the actions begins and As Nodt fires his Reshi thorns at Rukia, he also takes off his cape and we see his outfit is still the same as last time but with the added addition of fingerless gloves. However even though As Nodt says his fear ability cannot be stopped with ice Rukia remains ineffective by saying that her body is below freezing so she is currently ‘dead’ and fear cannot affect her (it is also the true power of her Sode No Shirayuki), she then proceeds to completely freeze As Nodt in midair. As Nodt survives this however and breaks out while removing his mouth mask to reveal a decaying mouth and then afterwards enters in his Vollstandig by activating the Vandenreich symbol on the back of his eye. His Vollstandig is called Tatarforas and while in it he gains thorn like looking wings and a halo; his suit also peels away to show a decaying looking chest where is ribcage is. This form heightens his strength and speed but also grants him the ability to paralyse his target with fear simply by looking at his victim. He then creates an entire dome of eyes which traps and seems to have the upper hand before Byakuya Kuchiki. Surprisingly Byakuya does not participate in the fight except to free Rukia from As Nodt dome of eyes and to show off Senbonzakura again. As Nodt then proceed to transform in to a massively grotesque looking form but before he can do anything Rukia actives her Bankai; Hakka no Togame. This creates a massive blast of ice which once again freezes As Nodt but this time he crumbles away, thus ending the fight. I liked this fight a lot more than Renji vs. Mask De Masculine and the main reason for that is that this fight did not seem as one sided as that one was. I was completely annoyed with how over powered Renji was but with Rukia vs. As Nodt I thought the fight could have went either way right up until Rukia activated her bankai. Also I really liked that it was Rukia to kill As Nodt and not Byakuya and that is because I don’t think Rukia has had a decent fight since Aaroniero Arrurueire, plus I think a lot of people where expecting it to be Byakuya to finish off As Nodt. Speaking about As Nodt I think it was great to see another Sternritter have a little back story, the only others who have were the Lloyd brothers. It seems that As Nodt was a very religious person on the brink of death while in a hospital and feared going to hell more than anything. However Yhwach suddenly appears before him and asks if he would like power and be saved, which it is a safe assumption that he accepted. Since this hospital looked very modern I am guessing that As Nodt is a survivor of the Auswahlen that Yhwach used to revive himself. However this is only a guess at this point. Another thing that stood out a lot was the amazing art work that went in to this fight; As Nodt of course looks completely menacing as always, whether this is the shape of his eyes at the beginning or his numerous transformations. I particularly like the part when Rukia froze him in midair and they are flying past one another, it was just really cool. Also I would like to point out that I think Rukia’s bankai looked awesome, her dress looked very regal and detailed. I have heard a lot of people saying that if Rukia had a bankai it would have been a scythe but this was a pleasant surprise in my opinion. If there is anything I did not like about this fight was that I don’t think it was as long as it could have been. I always thought Kubo put a lot of effect in to creating As Nodt and I thought he would have been one of the last Sternritter to be defeated. I am not saying that this was a disappointing fight, it is one of the best of the arc in my opinion, and I just think a few more chapters could have been dedicated to it. Overall this was one great fight were we got to see Rukia with some new powers and Byakuya is ready to fight now. As Nodt may have been one of my favourite Sternritters however at least now some of the focus can shift to those Sternritter we have not seen yet. SCORE: 9/10 Predictions At the end of this fight we get to see Isane and Yachiru stalked by Sternritter V – Vanishing Point, Guenael, and I am really interested in seeing how this goes. These are two characters that we have not seen fight yet and this may be a good opportunity for them to show off. However, whether or not it is in this fight or another, I do hope that the Soul Society takes on more casualties soon. The Sternritter are really pushing them but I really think they need to suffer some more losses to make this invasion and last arc more brutal.

Revolution Season Two Episodes 1 – 9, Thoughts So Far and why I like it this series so much

I am now back with some more reviews but I have decided to do something a bit different today and do an overview Revolution Season Two episodes 1 – 9 as a whole and how much I have liked it so far. I have decided to do this for two reasons; Revolution is one of my favourite TV series currently airing right now I can not get enough of it and secondly it is because here in the UK I think the series is back on Saturday and I wanted to do this quick review before then.

Also because I will be discussing the characters and events in season two so far there will be MAJOR SPOILERS, I will be going really in depth in them.

So as always I will start off with a quick summary of the story; it has been six months after the events of season one finale and Randall had successfully launched nuclear missiles at the Monroe Republic and The Georgia Federation, destroying their capital cities and removing the two new superpowers. Miles, Rachael and Aaron have taken shelter in the small town of Willoughby, Texas with Rachael’s father Gene Porter (Stephen Collins), the town doctor. Charlie meanwhile has decided to leave the group and wander the Plains Nations while Neville and his son Jason are trying to find any news of his wife in numerous refugee camps. While everyone copes with the consequences of the events six months ago a large group calling themselves The Patriots have arrived in several places across America and claim to be remnants of the United States government that have come to restore order and take back the country.

One of the reasons why I like this new plot so much is because it borrows from a famous conspiracy theory that a secret organization will one day destroy the world and then rebuild it the way they want and that is exactly who The Patriots are. Randall admitted working for them before killing himself so we know they dropped the bombs whether or not they knew what the nanites would do and intentionally shut off the power is something that is yet to be revealed. Even though however I really miss the Monroe Republic these Patriots are shady enough that I want to know more about them. Speaking of the nanites we delve deeper in to their working then in the previous season because now they seem to have developed think beyond their programming. As a child representation says to Aaron in the ninth episode ‘He woke them up’ I for one am very interested to see what this new A.I. can do and what it is fully capable of.

Now on to the characters and I will start off with the recurring ones starting off with Miles and Monroe. Like in the first season I have no complaints about Miles he is a badass character and a great leader for the series and I hope he will continue to be so. As for Monroe, though he was a great antagonist in the first season, this season he sides with the good guys and tries to redeem himself to them. I really like this with Monroe because he is now a guy who has completely lost everything now and has become a sympathetic character and it is great to see him and Miles working together now instead of trying to kill each other.

As for Rachael in my last review you will recall that I did not like her that much and that is still the case here. Her back story and her involvement with the Blackout could make great character I admit that, I just really wished they get rid of the smug look she always wears, her always right attitude and her detached personality. For example she finds out her father is cooperating with the Patriots and she acts like it that is even more wrong then him killing or raping someone and she then goes to kill him with a mixer of poison chemicals (Miles stopped her though). I mean for Gods sake Rachael you did not even ask him why he is working for then or how much he is loyal to them. Gene even asks her ‘Haven’t you ever done something bad for the right reasons’ and that is a good point. Rachel worked on the nanites which, when released, kind of caused the deaths of millions then she turned the power back on for Randall to fire the missiles, indirectly causing the deaths of thousands and it was all because she thought she was doing the right thing and did not care what anyone else thought. Sorry for ranting on so much about her but unlike Andrea on the Walking Dead she had the potential to be a good character if they just dialled her down a bit.

Now for my favourite character which is Aaron, some have disliked his character arc in this season because he seems to have control of the nanites and can make them heal wounds and burn people alive, I for one like this development. I want to know more about the nanites and what they can do and I like that they have given the power to Aaron because his character struggles with his usefulness in this new world while this new power might mean that he has more worth than he realises. However those who dislike this arc might rejoice now because the powers seem to leave him in episode nine either forever or temporary. I want it to be only temporary because as I just said I am very like and am very interested in this development of Aaron and the nanites.

Next I want to go in to three characters who I feel have not had much development in this season as they should have had; Charlie, Neville and Jason. Charlie’s character in the first season was great because he had to rescue her brother and then avenge him and we get to see her develop from a sheltered girl of her tiny village to a rebel fighter. In this season however she does not contribute much to the story at all and feels out of place with the fight against the Patriots, the only notable thing she has done so far is bring Monroe to Miles that is it. It is shame and I hope that this changes when the series returns. As for Neville and Jason I think their role in infiltrating the Patriots is great because we get to see more Patriot activity outside of Texas and Neville is one hell of a good manipulator. However I don’t think this part of the season has been given much screen time or progress; a lot of things have happened in Texas, lots of events and happenings but I don’t feel that much has happened when the episode changes to Neville and Jason.

Now I want to discuss two new characters that have been great additions to the series; Gene Porter and Dr. Calvin Horn (Zeljiko Ivanek). Gene is a great character and it is interesting to see him struggling with is involvement with the Patriots and helping out his family. He dislikes what the Patriots are doing but he owes them a lot, as I mentioned above he has seen and done terrible things for them but it has all been for good reasons. I want to know whose side he will decide to take in the end.

Next is a Patriot doctor and advisor Calvin Horn who has come to Texas to investigate the strange behaviour in the nanites recently and is quick to notice that Aaron is the cause. I like it when he showed up because it proves that the Patriots are more aware of the nanites and what they have been doing than we might have thought and that they obviously want to control them. Why and how is still unknown but it is possible that, like the Monroe Republic before them, they want to be the ones who control all the power.

Back to Horn though the thing I really like about him is that he is not just some Patriot lackey who is just following orders, the reason he wants Aaron and his powers so bad is because he has a tumour in his brain. In the end he did not care much for Patriots plans and only wanted the nanites healing powers to live. He had a great back story and his acting is so well done that it is a shame that he is only in it for a couple of episodes (four I think), but he goes down hard by first causing the death of Aaron’s new girlfriend and indirectly causing Aaron to lose his powers.

Overall episodes one to nine of this season have been great so far, introducing interesting new characters and a great new replacement group for the Monroe Republic. I am not going to give these episodes a score out of ten; I will wait until I see the rest of the season.

Now I would just like to address the rather disturbing news that I have heard in these past few months that Revolution has had a break and that is that NBC is unsure about renewing it for a third season. That would be the most stupid decision that could possibly make and I will give you the reasons why;

It has a strong fan base: I am following Revolution on Twitter and on Facebook and I am confident in saying that this show has a MASSIVE fan base (including myself). I read the comments people put up on those social sites and it seems to me that they will have a thing or two to say if it is cancelled after season 2.

It is something really different: Besides being a great sci fi and adventure/action series it is really something unique. I mean if they get rid of this what are they going to replace it with; a family or friends comedy set in a big American city? There are only about a hundred of those airing already!!

There is still room for more: Luckily Revolution get over twice as much episodes in one season then most shows have; it has over twenty while most have between ten and twelve (Game of Thrones and Falling Skies for example). However I am unsure if they can resolve everything with just this season, I really think they need at least two more seasons that would be perfect. Even if they only have just a third season and it is really good than I think I can be happy with that (it will end with over sixty episodes).

Thos are just are few arguments about why it should have a third season even though I am sure there are lots more. Now I just want to say why I like this show so much and why it is one of my favourites.

One of the first things I liked about it while I was watching season one was that despite it being a post apocalyptic show, humanity has not been completely screwed. Let’s take the Walking Dead for example; great show and comic book however it annoys me sometimes with how easily man has fallen to the apocalypse. Sure they fight zombies in that so it is not a very fair comparison but at least in Revolution we get to see a world were people has managed to rebuild.

Second is a continuation of the first and that is how interesting this new world is and what a great job they did at bringing it to life. It is fifteen years after the Blackout and there are numerous republics to replace the old America; Monroe, Georgia and the Plains Nation for example. So during season one when they were travelling all across the country to get Danny back and restore the power I just loved seeing how the world has changed and it was one of the biggest highlights of the series. Also of course we now have the awakened nanites so it is going to be interesting to see what more they can do.

Another is the awesome fight scenes that they have had in both seasons. It is always a mix of sword fighting and shootouts and both have always been on the edge of your seat brutal.

Lastly are the characters they have created for the season and I think they have done a good job of making every one of them unique. Take Miles for example; the leader type who is one of the good guys but has probably killed more people than any bomb! But despite that you can always say he just tries to do the right thing in his own violent way and that he is a character with a lot of inner conflicts. Then there are the rest of the superb cast like Charlie, Aaron and Neville to name but a few.

However it is not even the main characters but even the minor characters that have influenced this show a lot. Maggie in season one for example had a really sad death scene which started to cause a change in Charlie that I think as shaped her in to the person she is in season two. Then there is Charlie’s dad Ben who dies in the first episode of season one but who is still so important to the story that he appears in a lot of major flashbacks later. Even I will say that Ben Matheson is one of my favourite characters and I wished Rachael was killed off in stead of him and that is mostly because Rachael only cares about herself, cheated on him numerous times and is the most unlike able character in the show. However since I can not change what they have done I hope something comes up in season two that involves work he had done and we see him in more flashbacks.

There you have it, my review for season two so far, why it should continue and why I like it so much. I may have ranted on for ages but this is one of my favourite shows and I just like it so much. I can not wait for it to continue here in the UK, I have no idea what happens after episode nine of season two even though it is past that in the US (I have not even read about it).

My new profile picture that I will change soon (also more reviews soon)

Resident Evil 6 Monster Fanart

Top 5 Slasher Villains

My second top list and I have decided to do it on my top five slasher villains! I am a massive fan of slasher films, I remember times where I have stayed up throughout the night watching them so in the future I will review those films. The reason it is five is because I cannot think of ten.

5. GHOSTFACE

 

Love the whole Scream franchise and Ghostface was a formidable slasher for the protagonists; he has a great mask and costume and the guy can take some punishment. Not to mention he has a love for horror films and likes to reference them. However the reason that Ghostface is fifth is because the identity of Ghostface constantly keeps changing and that is something I do not like. Not only that but his incarnations in Scream 2 – 4 have never been as great as the one in the original Scream.

4. FREDDY KRUEGER

 

The Nightmare on Elm Street film; a series that was so creative yet declined with every new film they released, the only ones I liked where 1 (of course this one!), 3, 4 and Freddy vs. Jason (If that counts). However something they did get right creating such an iconic character like Freddy; the burnt, knife fingered dream invader. This guy can really dread going to sleep however as the series declined so did he and they just made his murderers silly instead of creative since he could do anything in a dream. But I do not blame Robert Englund for this because he is one hell of a slasher actor!

3. NORMAN BATES

 

One of the first ever slashers to grace the screen and I am talking about the Norman Bates from Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece not the remake. This guy is creepy as hell and I am not talking about when he dresses like a woman and kills women in the showers, even when he is not in his mother disguise there is just something unnerving about him. I am sure anyone who has watched the film remembers the scene where he is talking about taxidermy.

2. JIGSAW

A quite unique villain for the fact that he does not just straight up kill his victims with a knife; instead he creates many elaborate traps and make his victims kill themselves. Another reason is that he is not doing this out of pleasure or revenge (like some of his apprentices do), he has suffered in the past and his suffering with cancer so he knows how precious life really wants his victims to know that as well.

1.      JASON VOORHEES

 Now my favourite is the deformed serial killer from the Friday the 13^th series. Sure he has a bit of a mother obsession and he was not even the killer in the first film but he has become an imposing, un – killable behemoth. His signature machete and hockey mask have become so iconic and out of all of the killers on this list I really don’t want to be chased by him. I also really like all of his films and all of his portrayals; I even really like Jason X and the Friday the 13^th remake even though I know they were not well received.

 

References:

http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131103072806/h__/halloween/images/6/60/Ghost-face-accessory-mask-large.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/Freddy_Krueger.JPG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Norman-bates.png
http://crimson.fit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Jigsaw-puppet.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/Jasonf.jpg

Drawing Fanart Again!

As you can see by these uploads I am drawing again, I will upload them here not along with my reviews.

Anime Review: Sword Art Online

Back now with another anime review and this one is about an anime I have recently watched and one that I know is really popular; Sword Art Online. Now I know you are probably tired of reading this next part again but I have to say it; there will be SPOILERS, especially near the end as Iwant to go on a rant about a certain part of the anime.

The anime is about a young teenager named Kazuto Kirigaya (Bryce Papenbrook), also know as Kirito, an avid gamer of MMO games and has recently purchased the most recent and most popular game on the market; Sword Art Online. Unlike typical MMO games this put you right in the virtual world by providing the gamer with a special helmet which allows him to control his avatar in the fantasy world. Shortly after entering the game however Kirito and the thousands of other players are transported to the beginning area where the creator of the game Akihiko Kayaba (Marc Diraison) appears as a massive hooded figure. He tells them that all of the players have had their log out option removed and that they are trapped forever within this virtual world and that if you die he your real body dies. However there is a way to escape and that is by clearly the games one hundred floors each one becoming more and more difficult and having its own boss at the end. Even though Kirito is trapped in this world like thousands of others he has an advantage that only a few have; he is a Beta Tester (Beater), someone who has played the demo version of this game before its release meaning he has advanced knowledge of this world. Kirito puts this to good use and we follow his adventure of trying to reach to the hundredth floor.

Now I really like this story because like the anime Btooom! this is based on video games but unlike Btooom! the action and feel of this is more fantasy than realistic. This is shown with its typical MMO elements like monsters, guilds, item drops etc. Overall this kind of reminds me of my favourite RPG series Final Fantasy in some ways and that is a really good thing in my book. However one thing that did bug me in this however was the pacing of this anime because in between the episodes there are massive time skips, the players have even spent two years in the game before we reach episode ten out of this twenty five series and they also skip a lot of floors and boss battles as well. I know they could not show every floor and every boss but it is really off putting, a more detailed reason for this I will explain further down. Another thing I liked about it is how it tackles the theme of death so many times because unlike normal video games you cannot use another life, in this if a person dies they die for real.

As for the characters most are really great; the main character Kirito may be a bit of a loner because he does not join guilds but he opens up a lot as the series progresses and he is such a badass because of how good he is at this game. The main female lead, Asuna Yuuki (Cherami Leigh), is great as well because like Kirito she is one of the best players in Sword Art Online, even becoming second in command of the Knights of the Blood Oath, the most powerful guild there is. She is also Kirito main love interest eventually becoming his girlfriend and even his wife in the game. There are also plenty of others characters these two come across throughout the series, each with their own stories and skills and most I have found to be very likeable.

The animation is excellent throughout the series, I do not think there is a single time that I did not like it, and the battles are so well done; the movement is really fluid and fast paced. However as for the music there is really none that I found that stood out much. Not that I am saying that soundtrack is bad because it is really good and suits the settings and mood well.

IN DEPTH SPOILERS NOW

Now if I was to end this review here I would say something like ‘This is one of the most epic and unique ones I have seen and has instantly became one of my favourites’ unfortunately I won’t be saying that because after episode fourteen in this anime it take a massive turn for the worst. Episodes fourteen onwards introduces another antagonist, Nobuyuki Sugou (Todd Haberkorn), who is one of the worst anime characters there is. I find a good villain is someone who the audience can like as well but there is nothing like able about him at all, he just irritated me with his story, attitude and plan to marry Asuna. A very disappointing villain for the second half of the series which is a shame because he is voiced by one of my most favourite English voice actors. Another pain is Kirito’s cousin, Suguha Kirigaya, who is in love with him and is just really annoying about it; I just could not stand her at all.

Another thing that bugged me about the second half is that it is set in another MMO which has fairies, it looks like an interesting world but far just not as good as the Sword Art Online world. The reason they move to this world is that Kirito finds a way to beat the game in episode fourteen on floor eighty five and they have just beaten a floor boss that almost killed all of them. I was really excited to see what the other floors where like, their bosses and the ruby palace that was on the hundredth floor but NO they skip all of that so they can go somewhere else for the second half.

That is what I was going on about with the pacing of this anime; if it where up to me the two years they spent in Sword Art Online would take all of the twenty five episodes and the second half would not exist at all.

Another reason I did not like it was how serious the second half was compared to the first; there may have been the threat of death if they died but it was really fun to watch. Examples of this was when Kirito meets Silica (Christine Marie Cabanos) a beast tamer and they try to find a way to resurrect her defeated pet dragon or when Kirito and Asuna go on their honeymoon and they help that guy fish a monster or when they have an adopted daughter. Sure it is not like I want the anime to be all warm and fuzzy but it had a light hearted tine the second half lack, I mean the last fight has Nobuyuki Sugou trying to kill Kirito with a knife in the real world, not exactly an epic last fight for something that is supposed to be a fantasy game anime.

In the end I was massively disappointed with how this anime ended, if it was just episodes one to fourteen I would have been happy but no it had to be longer and because it has those more episodes I can not even watch the first half anymore without being reminded of the second half. This is a real let down for me because the first half was SO GOOD and would have been really high on my list of favourite anime when I get round to making one. Overall all I can really only give this anime just over half in the score because I only like just over half of the story.

SCORE: 6/10 

Game Review: Final Fantasy XIII

Back to do another game review and I have decided to chose one that has caused a lot of controversies since its release; Final Fantasy XIII. The Final Fantasy series is my favourite series of game ever however I will try not to be bias with XIII.

Final Fantasy XIII is set in a fictional world called Gran Pulse however floating above Gran Pulse is an artificial floating world called Cocoon, which is based on a Dyson Sphere. People live on both worlds and for centuries they have hated and warred with each other, helped by godlike beings called the Fal’Cie. These beings have immense power and play a specific in the running of the world they belong too, for example there is a Fal’Cie on Cocoon that acts as its sun. They can also turn humans in to beings called I’Cie; they have powerful magic abilities granted to them but they are also given a Focus, a vague mission that they must complete. If they do not complete it they will turn in to monster but if they do complete it they turn in to crystal, so it is a no win situation. The game’s protagonist Lightning, a member of Cocoon’s Guardian Corps, along with several others are dragged in to this long lasting war between Cocoon and the world below and eventually discover a plot that can destroy both worlds.

Now I shall first start off by saying that this game is very, very story focused, I think they spent longer on it than any other part of the game. While this can be seen as a good thing some have said that it has sacrificed the game play element of it and I will come to that in a bit. I for one love this story; it is one of my favourites in the Final Fantasy series, it is just so thought out and rich in history and detail. The worlds, the war, Fal’Cie, l’Cie – I like all of it.

As for the game play, though it works overall for this game, there are several issues I have to address. Firstly there is almost no backtracking in this game at all which is a downer, beautifully thought out areas such as the Vile Peaks and Sunleth Waterscape can never be revisited again unless you start a new game. This was frustrating to me; the game is just like walking in one big straight line however I loved the story and experience of it so much that to me it is one damn good straight line!

When it comes to battle however XIII is again one of my favourites for it. I really liked the Paradigm Shift to change job class because it adds a lot of variety to the fight and each character has their own strengths and weaknesses with them. Apart from that the rest battling should feel really familiar; wait for bar to fill up and select what move you want to perform.

When it comes to levelling up they use Crystarium System, were you collect CP points off monsters and power up your character, it is kind of like the Sphere Grid in X but this is a lot more straight forward and you can not stray from your path and you have to wait for the System to level up at certain points to advance further. This might seem annoying but I liked it because it made sure I did not over power my characters, I am not usually one to grind in Final Fantasy but sometimes I accidentally do and the boss and enemies are then easy, at least when they stop you in this you and the boss seem to have an equal chance (of course since I have finished the game multiple times now I know all of the strategies so that doesn’t matter)

One other thing that did annoy me however was the lack of side quests and the after game missions. There are a lot of monster hunting mission, and I mean A LOT of them, and I enjoyed them all but that was all there was.

For the cast of characters in this game I really like most of them and they all fit well in to the story. Lightning is has a no nonsense, serious personality but but is not heartless and helps those who need it. She is a great protagonist, the first lead since VI and is one of my favourite female Final Fantasy characters. Then there is Snow who is the complete opposite of Lightning in terms of personality and the self proclaimed ‘Hero’ of the game. Snow is my favourite character in XIII, I just like his attitude and the way he never gives up. As for the rest we have Sazh, someone who comes off as the comic relief but has a lot more depth to him than that, then there is Hope a young boy trying to find his inner strength and wants to be stronger and Vanille, a spirited girl who never seems to get sad at all. Now there is another character and that is Fang and I have to say that I hated her completely (even though I know she has a strong fan base). The reason for this is because I just can not stand her personality and attitude to the other characters and the world. I don’t how many time she mentioned that Vanille is more important to her than anything and what she would not do for her and I really wanted to tell her to shut up. Also she is not in the game for a while, which is great, but when she does she some how has to make everything to do with; she is a bloody scene stealer in my opinion.

The graphics in this game is really something to look at; there is so much detail in everything they created from the character designs to the backgrounds. As I said before however there is no backtracking so for most areas you can only appreciate it once until you start new game again. And since there is no revisiting the same can be said for the music; the background music for areas are perfectly done but you can not go back to hearing it again. As voice acting it is my favourite out of any Final Fantasy game so far (even though they have only been doing it since X) but then again anything that has the voice talents of Troy Baker (Snow) will always be great.

Overall this is a Final Fantasy game that is not for everyone, those who like the previous games for its massive amount of game play content will be disappointed here but that is not to say I won’t recommend it. Sure I, like most, am frustrated by the lack the backtracking and things to do but to play a game with a story with so much depth with characters that are so amazing is an experience I have not regretted. I myself still have my copy of XIII and I still start new game on it, I think since I got it near the end of 2010 I start and finish it at least twice a year (I might have even fit in a third playthrough but I do have other games to play). Why you might ask? Because it is one damn good straight line from start to finish.

SCORE: 7/10