So What’s Happening With Me & This Blog?

Howdy ladies and gents, how are you keeping? If you follow this blog then you may have noticed over the last few months this blog hasn’t been nearly as active with content as it has been especially when compared to last year. So today I just wanted to address what’s going on and what the potential future of this blog will be.

Rise of the Podcast

One of the main factors that have changed the way I operate on this blog is due to my podcast; Film Focus. Before 2016, I had wanted to get back into doing audio-based reviews of films like I did on YouTube before I fell off in 2014. The only problem was I didn’t know how to get back into the groove. After a while of debating and listening to John Campea on YouTube I bite the bullet and set a podcast on Soundcloud, and slowly over the last two years I’ve found my groove doing what I love; which is talking about films in a loose, fun and unfiltered manner (well for the most part). And while I have had scheduling issues here and there, I do feel like it is my true passion project and it has certainly taken priority over the blog on multiple occasions.

Lack of Passion

Now I started this blog almost seven years ago, and while they may not be a long time to some, it feels like a heck of a lot for someone in the blogging space. I had a lot more free time when I started because I was a uni student with so much free time, these days I have a job with hours that don’t afford me the kind of freedom I’d like. On top of that, I have watched a lot of change in the world of blogging in terms of the way in which things are done, a lot of people come in and out of blogging, and just seeing how much quicker you have to move in order to stay relevant and that kind of stuff. And in addition to that you need to have the passion to talk about what you’re interested in, otherwise, you might as well not bother as your work won’t be of the best quality. And that’s part of my current predicament. I still love, TV, video games and so on and I love to talk about that stuff. But most times when go to I sit in front of my laptop to write, I just don’t feel the need to write like I used to. And that’s why I do the podcast just so I can still get my thoughts out there into the world so those who are still interested in my opinion can hear me.

Lethargy

Lethargic. That’s the word I would use to describe myself these days. Since last summer when I came back from Canada, I honestly haven’t felt the same on a physical and mental level. I have occasionally felt tired, but what I feel these days is like advanced tiredness. I used to a night owl working best between 11pm to 4am. But now I can barely stay awake after 6pm and crash out on multiple occasions. I can just about watch a film or a bit of TV, but these days I have shifted to doing things in the morning and afternoon because I can’t draw, edit or play games at night because I am just too tired. The lack of energy has also contributed a lot to the lack of content on this blog which is why you haven’t seen as much from me as I would have liked.

Possibly Packing It In

Before some of you fear that this is the last post you’ll see from me on this blog, don’t worry. I’m not shutting this down just yet. However, in the last year, I have given it some thought. I’m not nearly as swift as I used to be with the latest film reviews and I don’t review TV shows because I have fallen behind and have too many to catch up on, and those two things made up the majority of the content on here. I’m only on here these days to promote the podcast and to talk about the occasional trailer. I could almost shut this place down and start over with another website dedicated to Film Focus specifically… That being said, I couldn’t dash this place that easily. Blogging on WordPress intrinsically part of my life and I love to do it, and to walk away from over six years of work especially considering how many drafts that need to be completed would probably bother me for ages.

Conclusion

In the end, I’m not sure what’s gonna happen, I know that this blog won’t disappear any time soon, but for anyone still following this blog I would say just please be patient and know I haven’t given up on this project just yet. Okay so if you’re still here after all of my rambling, thanks. I appreciate it. Laters. 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Assassin’s Creed (It Sucks!)

Howdy ladies and gents, time for a film review, the first of 2017 and how does one kick off the new year of film watching in the cinema? By watching a terrible film like Assassin’s Creed that’s how! Now I knew the film would be bad, I heard the reviews coming out of the US, but I didn’t think it’d be THAT bad, but good gravy what I endured yesterday was on another level of bad. I feel like I need to rant about this film a bit so sit back and check out my small assessment of this film.

The plot for the film can be described as the following:

“When Callum Lynch explores the memories of his ancestor Aguilar and gains the skills of a Master Assassin, he discovers he is a descendant of the secret Assassins society.”

So Assassin’s Creed, where do I begin? The film is tedious, long, nonsensical and boring. And let me reiterate, BORING! The worst offence a film can commit is to be boring and good god man this film put me to sleep. The film has come minor interesting elements when focused in the past during the Spanish Inquisition, but we only spend a limited amount of time there and most of the film takes lace in the present and all of that material is dull and tiring. Half of the time I had no idea what was going on and when I was following the plot I was questioning the logic and decisions of all of the characters. The plot’s already pretty ridiculous with some of the history and mythology, and the people behind this film did a poor job of engaging you in the world but also buying into the concept of what was happening. After a while I just stopped caring, and I thought the film would end at least 3 times before it finally stopped and if the film didn’t feel long before you definitely felt it in the last quarter of the film where the film felt like it was dragging its feet. It was insufferable.

The cast try their best with the material but even they can’t look good in this film because unless you are Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard or Jeremy Irons, you were irrelevant or used to further the plot. Most of the secondary characters have no depth or development which makes you wonder why they were in the film in the first place. Fassbender probably was the best as Callum Lynch and Aguilar de Nerha, but that’s probably because he has the most screen time, this might be the worst I’ve seen from him but this was probably more so the script than his acting.

Oh and the presentation, so lacking. Visually this film had some decent action scenes, but they should have been better, they lacked creativity, style and the sound effects for the punching, slicing/cutting of weapons and explodes felt lacking. The use of CGI was bad, far too many characters or locations were done using special effects and while some of it was unavoidable, at the same time it felt overused and since it wasn’t very polished, when it was bad it was really noticeable. Also whoever edited this film needs to be sorted out, not only was there too much editing within the fight scenes, but sometimes the quick edits during conversations or certain scenes was off-putting. The film score from Jed Kurzel was just bad, and had no impact, besides one track that I could remember towards the end, everything else was bad.

In conclusion Assassin’s Creed was just bad, not the worst film I’ve seen, but just incredibly underwhelming and unremarkable. The film had glimmers of goodness and utilized the game’s basic elements, but at the same time it failed to bring the best aspects to forefront while creating all new issues for the film adaptation. Don’t waste your time with this film even if you’re curious, it’s a waste of time.

 

TV Shows That Makes You Wanna Shout!

Howdy ladies and gents, time for a quick and random blog post. Today I was watching the latest episode of Grimm (which was pretty good by the way) and it got me thinking about TV shows and how one reacts to them. Everyone has their own ways of reacting to the stuff that they see on TV, and much like when you’re in the cinema there are things that make you wanna laugh, gasp, cry or shout, and today I want to talk about some of the shows in opinion that make you want to shout.

For me I enjoying watching TV with other people but at the same time I love to watch it alone because I’m fully engaged and have the ability to shout out my thoughts at the TV/computer screen as I do like to react to shows by shouting. Whether it telling a character that they’re an idiot or giving a victory cry when someone saves the day, I love to make noise when I’m watching certain shows haha. So here’s some of the shows I’ve reacted to loudly:

Grimm

Like I previously mentioned, I was watching Grimm today and that inspired this blog post. More than a lot of other shows, I normally am commenting on a good few things that I see as they happen. So when some unexpected human looks like they’ll be killed by a monster I’ll be there like “Don’t do it, don’t go in there.” And when said person gets attacked I’ll say “Ah shit man, that person got fucked up yo!” Or it could be like a massive revelation related to a character or storyline and I’ll be like “Damn! This show is getting good now!” Grimm just gets me so excited and giddy that I just have to make my feelings known by shouting them out when I’m watching the episodes.

The Flash

As I’ve mentioned in my early thoughts on The Flash episode, this show reminds me a lot of Spider-Man in terms of the tone, sense of fun and types of superhero and personal drama that he faces in the ongoing storylines. And on several occasions the show has made me react loudly whether it was the whole Barry and his relationship issues or Harrison Wells in season 1, time travel, Zoom in season 2 or anything cool thing that Cisco does, this show makes me very happy. 🙂

Fringe

Fringe is one of those shows that has gotten so much emotion out of me that’s its ridiculous. Never have I been more invested emotionally in a show then I was with this one and most times it was in relation to either the dramatic character moments between the main characters like Oliver, Peter and Walter or when some of the crazy science fiction elements of the world kicked in or if I was able to spot an Observer without an online guide, you’d normally see/hear from me. 😛

Parks and Recreation

This show is very special to me in the sense that it’s the first show since Fringe that got me get so emotionally invested, but more in a positive way than a next a negative way. The people of Pawnee are some of the most fun, interesting and down-to-earth people, but they’re also beyond completely weird and foolish as well, and just seeing these characters interact and unction in their daily lives can lead to a lot of “What the hell?” Or more likely just a lot of laughing because the show is hella funny and any time Lesley, Ron, Tom and of course Andy are on-screen, they’re normally doing something that makes laugh a lot.

Game of Thrones

But the show that’s gotten the most vocal reactions from me is GoT and if you’ve seen the show then you obviously know why.  Whether it be violent, sexual or something else entirely, nothing is quite as unique and shout-worthy as this show. When I saw the Red Wedding, like damn, I could make any noise because it was like 2 or 3am in the morning, but there was a lot of internal gasping and feeling of shock at what I saw. But GoT not content with just shocking me a few times through season 1-3 continued in the following two seasons with notable character deaths, fight sequences, dragons, and unfortunately rape as well. My hate for Joffrey Lannister and Ramsay Bolton has caused me to shout at my laptop on multiple occasions and when I’ve lost one of my favourite characters something along the lines of this occurs, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Come on man! WHY!?!”

And that’s in for now, I mean I could have written about Breaking Bad, Agent Carter, Boardwalk Empire and a good few others, however then we’d be here for ages so I thought I’d keep it short. 😛 So ladies and gents, is there any TV that makes you wanna shout? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next post, laters! 😀

 

What I’m Currently Watching #9 – Regular Show Season 7 So Far

Howdy ladies and gents, and welcome to post #9 on What I’m Currently Watching where I give you a tiny update on what TV-based stuff I’m watching and give mini reviews/impressions on them. Earlier on today I was having a mini binge session of Regular Show since I hadn’t really watched much of season 7, so with that in mind. With that out of the way let’s crack on, oh and careful for minor spoilers as we continue…

Regular Show has survived into its 7th season and that was no fluke, thanks to great humour, madness, and stories with characters that have relatable issues and great pop culture references it has continued into 2015. Like many other TV shows that have lasted beyond 4 or 5 seasons, RS has been quite reflective with its episode content when it comes to its stories and established characters, and while there are new scenarios presented, it retains the same quality and consistency that you’ve come to love (similar to what I experienced with Parks and Recreation and Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s final seasons). At this point all of these characters really are family and have been through a lot together, so when they’re bonding, having a good time or going through a struggle it is quite effective. But beyond the character development, the show still retains a lot of its random nature that made the show so much fun to watch and while not all of the episodes are laugh-out-loud material, it definitely has its moments of hilarity in specific episodes that’s so stupid, ridiculous and amazing because of the creativity and humour. This cartoon has been going on for a while and yet it continues to transform and be relevant with its continuity, character development and references to modern culture were good as always.

My favourite episodes so far would be “Dumptown USA“, “The Parkie Awards“, “The Lunch Club“, “Local News Legends” and “The Dome Experiment“. These episodes have been great because of the humour, chaos and touching moments between the characters. Having the focus not so much Mordecai and Rigby and giving screen time to Margret, Mr. Maellard, Muscle Man and High Five Ghost or pairing Benson with Rigby was interesting as it created different dynamics and cool new situations in certain episodes. Oh and while I didn’t like “Cat Videos” as much as the other episodes, the concept was fun and seeing Benson, Mordecai and Rigby as cats was worth the watch, it was so bizarre and delightful. In additional to that I adored the references to The Breakfast Club, Terminator 2 and Rambo, they were handled pretty well and used effectively.

In conclusion if you couldn’t tell already I’m really into season 7 of Regular Show, its good stuff and if you’re a long-term fan I would definitely recommend it. So have you seen Regular Show yet and if so what do you think? Also if you haven’t gotten on this hype train yet then why not? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to comment below and I’ll se ya on the next TV review, laters! 😀

 

Random Blog 10: Red Pandas… So friggin awesome!

Howdy ladies and gents and welcome to another edition of the Random Blog series, but before we get into the subject of today I want to have a look back on this series of blog posts.

The RB series started as just some series of blogs with no structure or specific reason for existing and the first post was practically invisible. But once I made the post about cats the series blew up! Then there was the hair post that was pretty popular too. And recently there’s been a lot of love for the Regular Show post and Batman: TAS post too. I’m loving this increase in popularity for this series, so for those of you out there that have checked out and supported the RB series, thanks a lot yo.

Anyways moving on, today we’re gonna look at one of my favourite animals in the history of existence; the red panda.

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! I LOVE THIS ANIMAL!

For the longest time I have been a fan of many types of including lions, tigers, eagles, koalas, etc. But around 5 or 6 years ago I was scanning through the web and I think I found a picture of a red panda on Wikipedia and I fell in love instantly. I don’t usually freak out about many animals, but this is the one time when you’ll see me as happy as a little school girl, no joke. 😛

To me, red pandas are just the cutest thing ever and look SO different when you compare them to your regular panda which is a lot bigger and traditionally black and white, whereas these guys look like some sort of raccoon/cat hybrid than any kind of bear.

The difference is staggering and while I do have a lot of love for panda bears, red pandas are WAY cuter!

I think I love red pandas a lot is due to all the pictures of them looking all cute and tired. Their whole appearance is wonderful, the colour scheme of orange, black and white is fascinating to me and all of their different actions whether they’re eating, sleeping, yawning or standing just makes me a bit giddy. They’re one of the few animals that have so much of my love and support. They seem like they’d make great companion animals. Some people like having either cats or dogs as a pet, me I’d want a red panda. They’re so unconventional and interesting to look at. I’ve always wanted to see or meet a red panda, if that happened I would be SO HAPPY.

Look at this face, how can you not smile or not think it is the cutest thing ever? XD

At some point last year I’m sure I got into a conversation with some uni mates about cute animals and I think we were going on about which ones we would like to own too. For me there are only three animals I would like to carry around with me everywhere and they would be either a red panda, koala or a sloth. They are the best and cutest animals that I like enough to take care of.

In conclusion red pandas are awesome, they are gorgeous and cute creatures that I doubt many people know about. So I’m just going about, spreading the word about those awesome animals because I love them and hope to have one of for myself one day or at least get a red panda featured in a film or TV show at some point in the future.

Thanks for reading and for those of you who follow this blog I hope I didn’t scare you away with my obsession of this animal haha. 😀

 

Some Art I Drew From The Summer

Hi ladies and gents, today I thought I’d do another blog post related to my artwork. Strangely enough I have to remind myself and the world that I DO still draw and plan to become an animator and cartoonist in the future. So I decided to show off some of the stuff I did over the summer.

Now this picture is technically a cheat because I drew it back in March, but I like it so I’m gonna show it off. These were some alien hand designs I done for an integrated project in university, it was for a 3D animated horror film trailer and I was involved in the earlier stages of production. Annoyingly none of my work was never used but I still liked the stuff I did for it.

This is drawing of Spider-Man that I did for my mate’s 23rd birthday back in June this year. It was technically a copy of a picture someone had drawn on deviantart, but it’d been a picture I’d really wanted to do myself for a while and I think it turned out okay considering the fact that there’s no colour.

This is a sketch of Sonic that I did while I was in London with one my mates I think. July seems like such a long time ago. I like the way this turned out though I think it could have turned out better in terms of the perspective, but it’s not bad considering that its freehand. I think I can draw Sonic from memory with no problem these days.

And with this last picture, this is page full of all my original creations, stuff I’ve been drawing since I was like 10 or 11 up until now. I’m surprised I have so many unique characters considering the amount of stupid doodles that I’ve done. But these are the one’s I’m attached to, everyone from Square Cat to Fire Bear to Apple Man and my Minime character, I love them and will probably take them onto further in future projects.

Well that’s it, hopefully you’ve enjoyed this insight in my world of sketching yo, feel free to comment or critique or whatever. Laters!

 

Month of Nostalgic Video Game Reviews 2 – Sonic R

Howdy peeps and welcome to Day #30 of Month of Nostalgic Video Game Reviews 2! This is a blog series where I review video games from my childhood. And so it looks like we’ve come to the end of our series of nostalgic game reviews, but before we call it quits I have one more game to review and today’s game is a special one. Since we started this blog series on a Sonic game I thought we should end on one so today I’ll be discussing Sonic R for the Sega Saturn!

Sonic R was a racing game released for the Sega Saturn in 1997 and it was later ported the PC a year later.

This is a very different kind of Sonic game and while it’s not the first one to attempt the racing style of gameplay, this is the first game that allowed Sonic characters to race on-foot and use their abilities to get through the levels in 3D levels.

There are a total of ten characters to play as, only four are available at first where as the other six have to be unlocked. Each of the characters have different attributes such as speed, flight, weapons, etc. In terms of track you have the choice of five race tracks and you basically compete for the fastest time ahead of the other racers. Sonic R places an emphasis on jumping and exploration as each race track has multiple paths and hidden areas. The race tracks, while original in design definitely have similarities in art design and environments of classic Sonic games such as Sonic 1’s “Green Hill Zone” and Sonic 2’s “Chemical Plant Zone.”

During each race you’re able to collect items scattered in various areas on the tracks that bestow advantages. Rings are all over the place on tracks and a certain number of collected rings can give you a temporary boost of speed or open doors leading to shortcuts or special items. “Item Panels” bestow a random advantage such as speed increase or shields that grant abilities such as being able to run across water or attract nearby rings. Collection of other special items, such as “Sonic Tokens” and the Chaos Emeralds, may lead to the unlocking of secret characters.

Aside from the main game, there is also a “Time Attack” mode, where you can race solo to get the fastest time or tamper with the two player multi-player mode.

Sonic R for the Sega Saturn is a game I, honestly have a bit of soft spot for. Along with Sonic Jam this is the first Sega Saturn game I played at the age of 12. Sonic R was one of the games I really wanted to play for years but I couldn’t because I still had my Mega Drive and parents wouldn’t buy me a new console. Needless to say when I finally played this game I was I was surprised by how questionable the controls were, how short the game was too and I was pissed because I could never save my game because the console always reset my progress every time I turned the console off. Bullshit. But besides that stupid stuff I liked playing this game, I normally picked Tails because his acceleration was the best and had decent control, I mean Knuckles was the most well-rounded character but he was a lot slower. I really wanted to play as Sonic but he was too damn fast and uncontrollable. I mainly played this game once over in the main cup mode going for first place and avoided emerald hunting. I also played this a fair amount with my sister too in two-player mode.

What I really liked about the game was its sense of freedom, exploration and the fact that you got to race against other sonic characters on-foot. Once you got used to the controls and knew how to navigate the levels to find the shortest path was great. Also the presentation for the game was pretty good too, graphically for its time it was good, everything was colourful, sharp and a decent representation of Sonic-based stuff in 3D. And the soundtrack, the soundtrack for this game is generally something that most fans hate with a passion, however there are some that actually like it, like myself! I really like it. The soundtrack was composed by Richard Jacques along with singer TJ Davis and what they came up with was a very happy-go-lucky/cheesy collection of songs which partially relate to the levels themselves. Most people hated the music just because it felt like it didn’t have anything to do with Sonic games or because of the singer or because it didn’t feel like it belonged in a Sonic game. However for me I love some of these songs like Diamond in the Sky, Living in the City, Back in Time and Can You Feel the Sunshine are awesome, beautiful, heartfelt and nostalgic yo.

In conclusion Sonic R for the Sega Saturn is one of those games that’s either liked or loathed by members of the Sonic community. For me this game is a fun little distraction from time to time, sure its controls are questionable, the challenge is kind of hard and the game is seriously on the short side. But for all its faults there is still fun to be had and its a nice piece of nostalgia to partake in. I’d say try it out if you’re looking for a hidden and interesting Sonic game.

Well that is another game review done, THE LAST ONE! And so there we go, after 30 days all the video game reviews are over. Thank you coming on this nostalgia trip with me, it’s been a long month but thankfully you reader stuck around to check out my stuff and I thank you for it. As I’ve said before if you’ve had experiences any of the games I’ve reviewed do be sure to comment below! I guess I’ll see ya around yo! 😀

 

Month of Nostalgic Video Game Reviews 2 – Perfect Dark

Howdy peeps and welcome to Day #28 of Month of Nostalgic Video Game Reviews 2! This is a blog series where I review video games from my childhood. Today’s game is one that provided me with many occasions of fun and arguments with my friends, I am of course talking about Perfect Dark!

Perfect Dark was a first-person shooter game developed by Rare for the N64 and released in 2000. This game is owned considered to be the spiritual sequel to GoldenEye 007 due to it also being developed by Rare and using a modified version of the game engine that powered GoldenEye.

Perfect Dark featured a single-player mode consisting of seventeen missions in which the player assumes the role of special agent Joanna Dark, an operative for the fictional Carrington Institute, as she attempts to stop a conspiracy by rival corporation dataDyne.

The game was a first-person shooter game and like many games of the genre it included a range of weapons to collect, enemies to defeat and varied environments to explore^. This game shared many similarities to GoldenEye 007 in the sense that the gameplay was very similar in terms of the ability to use stealth and tackle objectives that vary with the difficulty setting (in this case there were four). You have the choice to try out  a number of tutorials and training activities by exploring the Carrington Institute, which acts as the game’s central hub. The most substantial of these activities is the firing range, in which you’re proficiency with each of the game’s weapons is tested against specific targets.

The game boasted a great deal of weapons to choose from, 30 to be exact and all of them featured various individual features that were balanced but not overpowered and the weapons ranged from modern stuff to more futuristic ones.

The game’s multiplayer mode was Combat Simulator. Game’s could be played with up to four human players and eight computer-controlled players and if more than one human was playing then the in split-screen. is used if more than one human is playing. If three or four humans play, the screen is divided into quarters, with one quarter left blank if necessary. Players enter the game unarmed and with a certain amount of health. Weapons and ammunition are scattered around the level in preset positions. Once a player is killed, they are regenerated elsewhere in the level, once again unarmed. The overall objective of the game is determined by the scenario being played.

Ah Perfect Dark, if it wasn’t GoldenEye 007 that everyone was going on about when it comes to FPS games then it was this game instead. Perfect Dark is one of the finest FPS games of its time, everyone goes on about GoldenEye 007 like it was the only FPS on the N64, sure it changed the way we looked at FPS game and set the foundation for all games that followed it. But Perfect Dark took was good about GoldenEye and upgraded it by ten times, this was a much tighter and more layered experience. If you had a N64 it was mandatory for you to own this game and while I never owned the game myself I went over to my school mate’s house and played it all the damn time. As with most FPS games I mainly played them for the multiplayer and that’s exactly what I did with this game. OH MY GOD! Perfect Dark had one of the greatest multiplayer modes of any game I’d ever played, it was deep, customizable and fun as hell. James Bond session were good, but this was on another level! The games I had with my mates were incredible, we’d always customize things beforehand which kept matches interesting. We either played individually or in teams and if we were in teams me and my mate would always be aliens and it was just kick ass.

These aliens were the best!

So in conclusion Perfect Dark had a great gameplay along with a fine single-player mode, an epic multiplayer and wonderful presentation. If you missed this game back in the day try and get a hold of it and play it, either on the original N64 or on Xbox Live Arcade fi you’re an Xbox 360 owner. Honestly this is a great game and you’d be foolish to miss out on this killer FPS game and this is coming from a person who really doesn’t like the genre that much.

Well there’s another game review done only 2 more to go! If you have experiences with this game or any of the following ones do comment below! I’ll see ya tomorrow with another nostalgic video game review yo! 😀

 

Month of Nostalgic Video Game Reviews 2 – Pilotwings 64

Howdy peeps and welcome to Day #26 of Month of Nostalgic Video Game Reviews 2! This is a blog series where I review video games from my childhood. Today’s game is one that provided me with so many moments of cool and calm moments while gaming, today I’ll be discussing Pilotwings 64!

Pilotwings 64 was a flight simulation game released in 1996 (1997 for us in Europe) for the N64 and is a follow-up to Pilotwings which came out in 1991 for the SNES.

When it comes to gameplay you must complete a variety of missions involving different airborne vehicles and air sports. Before each mission, have the choice of choosing one of six character pilots, each with their own advantages and disadvantages based on factors such as weight. The tests presented to you require him or her to complete an objective in order to earn a license for the given event. Depending on the mission, points are awarded or deducted based on time, damage, fuel usage, accuracy, softness of landing, etc. You are is awarded either a bronze, silver, or gold license based on the number of points attained and more difficult tests become available as you progresses.

There are three main events in Pilotwings 64 required to complete the game, each of which has its own objectives and unique flight controls centered around the Nintendo 64 controller’s single analog stick. The first, hang gliding, usually requires you to fly through a series of floating marker rings or snap a photograph of a particular piece of scenery before landing in a target area. Your movement is affected by wind currents and altitude can be gained by flying through thermal columns. The second event is the “Rocket Belt”, a jet pack that allows you to move and gain height as well as hover, tilt, and rotate in the air using the belt’s equipped thrusters. Goals entail flying through rings or popping large balloons before landing. The third event, the gyrocopter, challenges you to take off and land on a runway after completing objectives like navigating a path of rings or destroying targets with missiles.

Pilotwings 64 also features several bonus events that are unlocked if the player performs well in the main missions. Here you can also earn medals on many of these events. They include skydiving, a human cannonball event, and the “Jumble Hopper”, which grants you special spring-loaded boots to be used in bouncing across the landscape to an end space. Lastly the game features a “Birdman” mode that puts the character in a bird suit and allows you to freely explore the game’s environments set among its four distinct islands. One of the islands is based on the United States, and has geographical replications of famous landmarks including the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore and major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. Representations of Nintendo characters and many other interesting quirks can be found in the landscapes of the game.

Ah Pilotwings 64, this was one of the games that made me fall in love with not only the N64 for but games to do with flying in general. Now I’ve never really been one for flight simulation games but this game was a rare and interesting find that I came across via my school friends during the late 90s into early 2000s and even though I never knew properly how to play the game, I loved going on free flight mode and just explore and travel through the environments in the sky. Pilotwings 64 was one of the most calm and relaxing gaming experiences I’ve ever had, the feeling of travelling through the air by hang glider or plane or jetpack it was just a wonderful experience and with the soothing soundtrack playing in the background it felt heavenly. I could spend my time in free flight mode forever and that’s what I did for the majority of the time because it was THAT fun. Graphically speaking the game looked amazing for its time, it had such a massive scope and because you could change the time of day and weather settings it would come out with some beautiful visual results. As for the soundtrack it was funky and relaxing and I still remember some of the tracks used in missions, the sound effects were great too and what I mean by that is the funny screams characters would make when they crashed into the ground haha. That stuff was hilarious and I used to crash on purposed just to hear those funny screams. I know I’m terrible haha. XD

So in conclusion Pilotwings 64 was a unique a flight simulation game that was filled to the brim with fun, good gameplay and nice presentation. It is a game that requires patience and skill to get into, but if allow yourself to immerse yourself in the game and master all of the challenges involved it can be a deep and rewarding experience. I really wish I could get the game again if only just to mess around in the free flight mode again haha. I’d say give this game a try if you’re looking for a slightly older but more interesting flight simulation game yo. 🙂

Well there’s another game review done only 4 more to go! If you have experiences with this game or any of the following ones do comment below! I’ll see ya tomorrow with another nostalgic video game review yo! 😀

 

Dark Skies Review

It’s funny, I actually had no intention of watching this film. I actively try to avoid horror films in the cinema just because I don’t believe in going to cinema to be scared out of my pants. Add to that the trailer for this film didn’t look all that fancy or scary either, I mean what I got from the trailer was “Oh so is this some sort of Paranormal Activity or Sinister spin-off or something? No thanks.” So yeah Dark Skies wasn’t on the cards, but then my best friend asked me to watch it along with his girlfriend last weekend, and since I can never say no to that guy I tagged along. So is Dark Skies good? Well read on to find out.

The story of the film involves the Barret family, a normal family who’s peaceful suburban life is shaken by a series of disturbing events and eventually they come to learn that a terrifying and deadly force is after them.

Now I’m just going to say this right now, this film reminds me so much of Signs. I’ll try not to say much more than that for people interested in finding out what the deal is with this film, but in short this film had so many similarities that it was had to ignore them. Dark Skies is basically a more horror-based version of Signs but just not as intelligent. The story is alright for the most part, it starts out interesting enough but it moves along very slowly and once the force reveals itself I just felt seriously disappointed as it felt like a generic cop-out and I called it from around an hour before it came around. There also a lot of times when film entered very silly and cheesy territories, some of the stuff that the people do is hilarious and I know some of it was meant to be serious, but when you see someone pulling a strange face or banging their head continuously on a glass door you try to sit there and not laugh.

When it comes to characters there wasn’t anything special about any of them, the cast were fine but I didn’t find myself overly invested in the any of them. Keri Russell as Lacy Barrett was probably the most relatable and logical out of the family. Russell was fine and well considering the material she was given. As for Josh Hamilton as Daniel Barrett he was the husband and father who wasn’t all that likeable, he just didn’t come to term with the events taking place around him and his attitude towards things in general was annoying. Dakota Goyo as Jesse Barrett was fine, his character was one of those young teenagers that went off and done his own thing. His character was also a bit annoying like the dad but since he had some unintentionally funny scenes I’ll give him a little more credit haha. As for Kadan Rockett as Sam Barrett he was good, Rockett played the role well and he was believed for the most part. And lastly as for J. K. Simmons as Edwin Pollard, he was decent as this specialist who helps the family out with their strange situation by supplying them with knowledge about previous situations similar to their own. This was probably the strangest and most subtle role I’ve ever seen Simmons in so far.

As for the presentation it was alright, the film was shot decently though at night there was a lot of blue to be found on-screen, while not overly distracting it was very noticeable. Also the use of CGI while not in the film that much when it did show up it was a bit hit and miss. Also the soundtrack while it did sound a bit creepy at times didn’t quite elevate the scary factor like it should have.

In conclusion Dark Skies was a film I enjoyed for the most part, it’s not amazing but it’s not totally pants either. I think I liked it because of all the stupid and cheesy scenes and references to other films too, but I do believe the film is fairly generic and is not as scary as it should have been.

Rating: 6.5/10 (Worth a watch but not as scary as it could be)