__Hi.🙂 I hope 2024 is treating you well so far.
__I normally publish these compilations of fifty-word reviews on the first Saturday of every month, but this is my first one this year because I could count the reviews I’d written by the first Saturday in February on one hand, so I saw no point in compiling them on my blog at that point because it would have been a very short entry indeed. So this one will cover two months’ worth of comments on movies and video games I’m seeing or playing for the first time.
__And, speaking of the first time, I’m also publishing a video version concurrently, in case you’d prefer that to reading. Here it is…
__It’s mostly video games I’ll be talking about this time, but first we’ll go over four movies I saw at the cinema in February.
Argylle (2024)
Matthew Vaughn brings us another tongue-in-cheek spy caper that, while still fun, is nowhere near as good as Kingsman, mainly because the action and satire are turned down to a low simmer. I won’t spoil how the story develops, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some call it extremely predictable.
My rating: 70%.
Bob Marley: One Love (2024)
Bob Marley’s rise to fame is all but ignored; it focuses on the Smile Jamaica Concert and the recording of the Exodus album. It conveys the tense hostility surrounding the former, but feels strangely passionless and matter-of-fact overall. It’s not bad, but even I know such an icon deserves better.
My rating: 55%.
The Iron Claw (2023)
It didn’t make me cry, but it theoretically could have. As tragedy after tragedy strikes the family, you just want life to cut Kevin a break. I also grew to truly hate the father, who apparently sees his sons as nothing but deputies, not worthy of love but only approval.
My rating: 75%.
Poor Things (2023)
It’s kind of a retelling of Frankenstein that follows the creation on an odyssey through maturing and gaining experience. It’s rather messed up at times, but the ingenuity never falters. The cinematography and sets enhance its fantastical nature, although the seemingly random wide-angle shots are more distracting than thematically productive.
My rating: 80%.
__There’s so much more about Poor Things that I could comment on, like the intriguing use of colour, the nuances in Emma Stone’s performance, or the running theme that she’s always a prisoner in some way… I could honestly do a full review of this movie, if I wanted to.
__And now let’s start on the video games I’ve first experienced so far this year.
__As well as finishing the Final Fantasy series, I started going through a new list of games that I’d decided to preview to see if I’d like to own them. The Final Fantasy series was at the end of the original list, but in the time since I started going through that series, I’ve added a ton more games to the queue.
__I’ll be dividing that preview list into two sections here. This first, much longer one will cover the games that I did decide were worth owning.
__And this time, I was actually playing the games instead of just watching longplays like I used to. Well, the ones after Final Fantasy, anyway: I was watching the latter in the form of “game movies” on YouTube. (After all, in their case, the story is what I was most interested in.) The first few games on my new list were older ones available on emulators, so I was able to play them pretty handily. Some of them convinced me to keep them, some didn’t. For now, we’re interested in the ones that did. (To quote Joshscorcher’s Top 10 Nintendo Fails video, “This is why you rented before you bought in the 90s, kids.”)
__We’ll get to Final Fantasy XV and XVI later. They don’t qualify for this section because, based on their positive reception, I’d already bought them without the need of a preview.
__I’ve already reviewed the Final Fantasy games before XII, both on this blog and my other one.
__Also, I’m skipping XI and XIV for one simple reason: they’re MMOs. And personally, I avoid multiplayer-only games like the plague. I have heard that XIV is great – I know the story of how A Realm Reborn happened – but it’s not the type of game I’m interested in. If you love it, you can keep it.
__With all that said, here are my comments…
Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
Set in a small nation caught in between two warring empires, it overhauls the series in several ways, including a more realistically presented world and a combat system with one active player-directed character and AI-controlled companions. While I couldn’t always follow the dialogue and political scheming, it’s still enjoyable overall.
My rating: 60%.
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
It’s certainly not without its flaws – including the incomprehensible opening, the aggressively linear level design and the inexplicable ambiguity of a l’Cie’s Focus – but it looks amazing, and the story, while messy, is fairly engaging once you can make sense of it, questioning whether we can truly escape our destiny.
My rating: 65%.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3)
It addresses some of its predecessor’s issues, particularly much less linearity, but once again, the opening scene provides no setup and leaves you horribly confused. What follows is an ultimately unnecessary continuation that introduces several key elements straight out of nowhere, most prominently time travel, whose rules make no sense.
My rating: 55%.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)
Like XIII-2, it’s a decent game, but a drastic departure from where FF13 started out. The impending apocalypse and daily time limit are highly reminiscent of Majora’s Mask. With cons like much of the dialogue stating the obvious but pros like an ultimately inspiring message, overall it’s a mixed bag.
My rating: 55%.
Final Fight (SNES)
Not much to say. It’s a beat-’em-up. It’s enjoyable enough as long as you don’t let yourself get hit, because it stuns you and the enemies will not let up. Of the two playable characters, Haggar is more fun because his Backdrop Suplex can potentially hit enemies on either side.
My rating: 65%.
Final Fight 2 (SNES)
I think this sequel is far superior to the first game. Not only are the graphics better and the animations less stiff (which I suppose is to be expected for a game designed for the SNES rather than ported to it), but the punishment for getting hit is less severe.
My rating: 80%.
Final Fight 3 (SNES)
Despite shaking up the trilogy with branching paths that affect the ending, it’s not as interesting as Final Fight 2, mainly from a narrative standpoint. Dean is the only character with any personal stakes in stopping the Skull Cross gang; for the others – and, by extension, us – it’s just business.
My rating: 70%.
Gunstar Heroes (Sega MD)
If you like Contra, you’ll probably like this.🙂 There are two playable characters; one can shoot in any direction, the other can fire while running. But the latter can overcome that limitation with the homing Chaser weapon – and, in my case, amplifying it by combining it with the rapid-fire Force.
My rating: 85%.
__Going back to Final Fantasy XIII-2, by far my favourite scene is one particular memory that I won’t spoil. The music and general ambience create a superb mood.
__Now for the other games on my preview list, the ones that didn’t convince me to keep them.
Pilotwings (SNES)
It’s basically a flight school training programme: a series of exercises, followed by a mission in a helicopter. I appreciate how impressive the graphics were at the time, but all I felt while playing it was frustration at the precision required for the controls. Not bad, but not for me.
My rating: 60%.
Pilotwings 64 (N64)
It exchanges the original academy setting for a series of picturesque islands. There’s a nice variety of tasks, and the music is great, especially in the hang-glider sections. But again, I found it more fun to watch than to actually play; I couldn’t get past the first Rocket Belt exercise.
My rating: 60%.
Gunstar Super Heroes [AKA Gunstar Future Heroes] (GBA)
It’s nowhere near as fun as the first game, partly because it relies a bit too heavily on repeating it, blatantly recycling several bosses and even level concepts, but also because so many hazards seemed unfairly unavoidable that I found it increasingly hard to care how to approach them properly.
My rating: 55%.
__Not to mention, the cutscenes in Gunstar Super Heroes vary based on difficulty level, so you don’t get the proper story unless you play on hard mode. That is bullshit!
__And finally, a few games I’d already bought without the need of a preview – including, as I mentioned earlier, the last two Final Fantasy games.
Final Fantasy XV (PS4)
An open-world Final Fantasy game whose story, while not as profound as some earlier entries, is interesting for combining a modern environment with ancient gods and mysticism, and does take a couple of turns that leave a powerful impact. The only thing hindering my enjoyment was my own crappy playstyle.
My rating: 70%.
Final Fantasy XVI (PS5)
With its Middle Ages aesthetic and frequent f-bombs, this is a Final Fantasy in the vein of Game of Thrones.🙂 Thanks to its incredibly intuitive and fun combat and a solid plot about fighting for freedom (from oppressive governments and even gods), it’s my favourite Final Fantasy game, hands down.
My rating: 80%.
Mario Kart DS (well, DS)
The gameplay is as fun as ever. As well as new favourite tracks like Delfino Square and Waluigi Pinball, it features some inspired by Super Mario levels, like Tick-Tock Clock. Pressing Y changes the view on the lower screen: either the whole track or a close-up of your immediate vicinity.
My rating: 75%.
__I’d just bought Mario Kart DS recently, and was playing it just for the sake of filling in the blank rating on the list I keep of all the games I own.
ÂÂ__Also, I have an interesting story from pretty early on in my Final Fantasy XVI playthrough. Sometimes, if a door takes effort to open, you have to hold R2 after the initial interaction. At one point when you and Cid work together to lift an especially heavy portcullis, at first I thought my R2 button was stuck or wearing out already… until I realised it’s just a feature of the PS5’s fabled adaptive triggers. The more effort your character exerts, the harder it is for you to press that button. That is fucking ingenious!😀
__That’s it for now. I intend to keep making video versions of my review compilations going forward, which might slow down my work a bit because it takes a lot more time and effort to make a video than to simply write a short review. In any case, I’ll be back with some more next month.
__See you then. Take care.
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