Every generation there is a movie that does something new and innovative that kicks the industry in the backside and tells it to keep moving forward. Before 2009 it was hard for movie makers to take CGI to the next level because of its complexity. James Cameron changed the game with Avatar. Audiences and critics alike were astonished by how lifelike the world and characters of Pandora were and for good reason. There had been nothing quite this bold before. But does it stand the test of time seven years later?

Avatar is a strange movie. Whenever I talk with friends about it we don't discuss the intricacies of the story or the depth of the characters. Rather, they just say how amazing it was to look at seven years ago. The reason is, the plot isn't very deep or new. In fact, its rather predictable. If you've seen any adventure flick with a theme of "save the planet" than you've seen Avatar. It does have good characters but none of them really resonated with me in particular. This is where the Extended Edition comes in handy because the few extra scenes that it has do a lot to enhance some character motivations. Why does Neytiri not trust the 'sky people'? In the original her motivation could just be interpreted to be because of her culture. In the Extended Edition, however, it is explained that her sister was killed by the military which created friction between her and Grace and by extension, the humans. There are many more examples of this throughout the Extended Edition and I would say that it is the best way to view this movie, despite the three hour run-time.

Seven years ago, when Avatar was released into theatres worldwide, I was utterly amazed by how it looked. Back then I was just interested in how lifelike the characters and environments were but now I can appreciate the film and a whole new light. Not just is the directing very well done but Pandora itself is just beautiful. When I was younger I liked the variety of unique animals but now I even love the alive vines and the bio-luminescent flowers. Though some scenes look slightly more animated than I remember them, the design of the world is absolutely alluring.

The soundtrack for Avatar deserves a round of applause. At its core it may seem like basic tribal music but the way the film uses the score in specific scenes is aw inspiring. The flutes and percussion of "The Bio-luminescence Of The Night" and the high jingles of "Pure Spirits Of The Forest" help shape the world of Pandora to be quite a unique one.

Avatar has aged well since 2009. Though the CGI doesn't look quite as good as it did and the story is too easy to guess, the texture and sound of the world is great enough to keep me coming back.

Avatar is predicable wonderment. 
Monday, May 30, 2016
What ever happened to health bars in shooters? This seems like a very trivial question. The easy answer or at least the answer that most would agree on could be that, as games achieved the hardware to be more realistic, the games themselves followed suit with not only better graphics but with user interfaces. UI.



In most contemporary games, the UI shows information about the user as well as the world around them. In a modern shooter, say Halo 5, it can show ammo, a mini-map, items, and the player's shield. In modern games, mostly shooters, getting at

tacked is something that it shown very clearly on-screen with a red partial-circle in the direction of the bullets flying toward you in Halo, a similar red partial-circle with blood on the entire outside of your view in the newer Call of Duty games, and an arrow with blood smatterings in Uncharted 4. What do all of these have in common? They happen, then you forget about them.

It's very strange to me that games that are striving for realism, especially Call of Duty, are still using this particularly unrealistic trait of the human body. Taking five bullets to the chest isn't going to just slow you down and distract you for a few seconds; it is going to kill you. After the player has taken that initial hit, they are just going to forget about it an move on. In my ideal realistic game, that needs to stick with a person. A health bar would be a perfect place to implement that actual feeling of being shot without, obviously, having the actual feeling.

By this I mean that a health bar is there staring back at you as you trek through your space adventure, treasure hunt, or military simulation experience. When you get shot, a health bar reminds you of that and sticks with you. Say a man gets shot in the leg on the battlefield. By the standards of logic, that man probably won't be using that leg and thus has a higher chance of gaining another injury in the future. A developer can see a health bar in the same way. If a shot to the player takes off a certain amount of health, that player is more likely to die earlier because of it. That will stick with a player and can be a constant reminder of the vulnerability of themselves within the game world.


http://goo.gl/1Vtiuv

I first got the inspiration of writing this after seeing footage of Naughty Dog's “Uncharted 4”. I mentioned earlier that this game uses the same hit-then-forget system that so many other games with familiar shooting mechanics follow but this game seems like a special case for me. Though I have yet to play an Uncharted game (hope to get to that series soon), I do know that this franchise is about high-flying adventure and really wants to give the player a

sense of power not by tedious trips of the stuff, but by a having Nathan Drake being at a low-point, like dangling off a cliff side or escaping a sinking shit, and then rising above to conquer. Sure Nathan gets more tattered and torn the more he adventures, but there doesn't seem to be anything specifically gauging that level of stress. I am speaking entirely in hypotheticals of course because of my nonexistent relationship with the franchise but it's still something that I, at least, think about.


http://goo.gl/s618Wt

The standard shooting mechanic that we have now is fine but after seeing the same thing game after game it gets, frankly, boring. Maybe going back to the health bar mechanics of the early 2000's like in Halo: Combat Evolved or even older classics like Wolfenstein might be a fresh breath of air. I think that, recently, we have gone back to these to give our games a little more urgency. The new DOOM came out recently and has done just that. Sure its health bar/health pack system is ripped directly from it's first title, but I think the success of the game might have an effect of this mechanic coming back into the more mainstream titles like COD or Halo.

Am I basically just rambling now about something that isn't too important in the grand scheme of things? Yes, but I think that this particular ramble has some merit in a debate that I see no one having. Probably because it doesn't need to be had. I just find it humorous that gamers that strive for realism will defend the no-health-bar system of COD as being realistic when it is in fact the least realistic thing about the franchise. I'm no game designer, but realism is a component in the progressing gaming culture that will always lust for the next big jump. But I don't think that we should count something as trivial as a health bar out just yet.
Friday, May 27, 2016
Innocence is boring. This 2004 sequel to the 1995 hit Ghost in the Shell is generic, uninteresting, and boring. I dropped it at about 70 minutes in because I was not invested in the story whatsoever. Why is this? The previous movie and all the other anime based on the franchise are mostly critically acclaimed so why does this one fail where the others have excelled at?

I believe that the problems with Innocence start at the beginning. In this film, it has been quite some time since The Major and Batou have parted ways and since then The Major has been declared MIA. Batou is assigned a new partner, Tosuga, and has been assigned with solving the mystery of the sex doll murders. That's right! A number of customers who have bought androids for their private needs are dying from the hands of their toys. Skipping how needlessly stupid this is in order to get across a point, Batou and Tosuga have to find out who is really behind these murders, if anyone at all.

This whole plot dealing with the murderous androids exists to get across the question of "What actually is a human?" Our two detectives have to ponder this question while reciting quotes from long-since-dead people over and over again until my ears bleed. I'm not joking. Batou and most of the other characters constantly quote Caesar and you-name-it in order to sound philosophical when, in reality, they just sound stupid. I don't even think the initial plot is that bad but I don't care about any of the characters involved. For the majority of the film, it seems like the characters themselves don't even care about finding the answer to this rather deep question.

The utter lack of enthusiasm for action or mystery that any of the characters have isn't the only reason that I was never hooked on Innocence. The problem is that there was never hook to begin with. I get the feeling that the writers wanted Batou to somehow connect this theme with his past with The Major but that plotline is dropped so quickly and cleanly that I don't even get the chance to be intrigued as to where it might go. Because of all this, it makes for a story that is very unfocused at best and at worst just hard to continue with.

One aspect of the original Ghost in the Shell film that I praised it for was its animation. Innocence bumps up the quality of the 2D animation significantly and makes each movement of each character seem very natural and unique. The 3D animation is where it really suffers as, though it isn't necessarily bad, it doesn't fit with the style of the 2D segments at all and is way too heavily used. It seems like most of the backgrounds and anything that isn't a main character is CG which, in a way, explains as to why the quality of the 2D animation is so high; because there is very little of it.

Ghost in the Shell's soundtrack wasn't very great but it did fit the mood of the film. I can say the exact same thing about Innocence's soundtrack. This isn't because the quality of each soundtracks are the same but because each of the soundtracks are the same. The same generic tracks are used over and over again and, honestly, got a little grating on the ears.

Overall, Innocence is a huge let down and not at all what I was expecting from a sequel to a fairly great film. However, one thing that I can applaud this film for is that it helped me appreciate the original far more than I did before.

Innocence (Ghost in the Shell) is dull.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Where do I even start? Ridley Scott's Blade Runner is a fantastic piece of 1980s art. From its stellar soundtrack to vast and comprehensive world and relatable characters, Blade Runner impressed to a point that not many other films have. Even after a single viewing of the original 1982 version, this film has to be one of the best I've seen. Ever. 

Blade Runner stars Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, a former Blade Runner who hunts down escaped replicants and "retires" them which is really just killing them. These replicants are manufactured AI that, for years, have been used all over Earth and subsequently on other space colonies. In 2019, replicants have become illegal on Earth and after an incident with a rogue replicant killing a Blade Runner, Deckard is told of four in total that have successfully made it onto Earth and is assigned to retiring all of them. 

One aspect of the film that I absolutely adore is the fact that I don't know who to root for. Sure Deckard is the protagonist but the rogue replicants have reasonable reasons for doing the things that they do. That reason being that they only have a lifespan of four years, despite looking like average adults. The only reason that they are causing trouble is because they want to find a cure for whatever is making them die after four years. This is exemplified when Deckard comes into contact with a women named Rachael who he knows for sure is a replicant. She, however, has memories from her childhood which convinces her otherwise and, as their relationship grows, the audience gets to realize just how human these replicants actually are. It's an AI story that, though done many times, seems to have been shown to its full extent if not started here. 

Blade Runner looks and sounds absolutely beautiful. Though the technology and effects used are noticeably dated, the cityscape is nothing short of stunning. Even on the city streets, everything is perfectly lit and themed in such a way to give me chills in certain scenes. As stated, the technology is dated but meshes so well with the world that I can lift my suspension of disbelief just enough to get absorbed in it. None of this would matter, however, without the music. Words for it: divine, ravishing, alluring, and even dark. The soundtrack is composed by the Greek composer Vangelis who has written for films of all types but surprisingly no mainstream films besides Blade Runner and he has done a fantastic job of capturing the noir feel of this futuristic (at least by 1980s standards) music with mostly jazz and operatic pieces. The visuals and the sound come together in a romantically stunning dance to give us the great atmosphere of Blade Runner.

I have seen so many films and shows that try to replicate the feel that Blade Runner gave us back in the 1980s. Now I know where it all started. From an absolutely brilliant film about a tense subject. Though other films from the era tried their hand at an AI-centric plot, Blade Runner has the bar set and I don't see it going dropping anytime soon.

Blade Runner is brilliant.
Monday, May 23, 2016
One type of show that I don't find myself watching very often is one that deals with psychology. Most television shows about this subject tend to be serious and down-to-earth but many of them don't try their hand at comedy like Wilfred does. My first impressions are only based on the first three episodes of a series, but I can tell that I will grow to love it.

Ryan (Elijah Wood) is depressed. So much so that the entire first episode is about him trying to take his own life by overdose. Wilfred (Jason Gann) is his neighbor's dog... kind of. To Ryan, a psychologically messed up bum, Wilfred is actually a fully-grown adult who just wears a dog costume. Confused yet? So was I for the fifteen minutes of the show. One day Ryan's neighbor asks him to take care of Wilfred while she's off running errands and so the friendship between the human and dog start.

One way I could describe the relationship between Ryan and Wilfred is bitter-sweet. These two are nothing alike but they get along very well. At least until Wilfred does something that Ryan has to fix by the end and learns a lesson from. These lessons are fairly straight forward and even predictable at times, at least so far. The main reason for this being that each episode is titled by the hump that the main character has to trek over. So far these have been 'Happiness', 'Trust', and 'Fear'. Maybe by the end of the show or even the season I can look back and see these as clever but right now it is kind of a spoiler for what's to come. I like to be surprised by a show but if I know exactly what the moral of the episode will be then it feels like I'm almost ahead of the plot at times.

The characters of Wilfred and Ryan are a great comedy duo. They constantly play off of each other in clever and interesting ways and, though I haven't died from laughter quite yet, they have gotten some good laughs from me. The only real problem I have with the two so far is the fact that Wilfred is always the one to incite trouble and Ryan is constantly the one to get them out of it. This, again, plays into the predictability that the show is having so far. There has only been a few stand-out moments of plot that have been instrumental in my motivation to keep watching.

Despite all that, I still want to keep watching. Why is that? The problems I have with the show would make me drop it like a hot rock with most others but why this one? Well, to put it simply, I want to see Ryan grow as a character. I love the fact that the series starts with Ryan at his lowest point. Though I can't necessarily put myself in his shoes I do want to see him get better and learn to be happy through his experiences with Wilfred. The comedy is great, the plot is only good, but what it could become is something that is yet to be seen.

I can't wait to watch more of Wilfred.
Friday, May 20, 2016
AI is a fascinating subject. There are some films that do a great job of presenting the subject in interesting ways like in Ex Machina and then there are films that don't like Chappie. But we don't talk about Chappie. I don't think I've seen any anime tackle this subject until Ghost in the Shell and, though the film doesn't dive as deep as I would like, it does present a very interesting AI-enhanced future with its great animation and directing.

Ghost in the Shell's world is one of the most fascinating animated worlds I've seen. In the near future, a majority of the human race is interconnected over a vast network by the use of cybernetic bodies called 'shells'. These shells are inhabited by the person's soul called 'ghosts'. Motoko Kusanagi, or 'The Major', is... well... a Ghost in a Shell. She works for the Public Security Section 9 where, in this film, she is given the responsibility of tracking down the cyber-terrorist known as The Puppetmaster. Motoko and her whole team are good characters but I wish I knew more about them. All I know about Motoko is that she has some sort of messed-up past but her teammates are really a mystery. The Major is a complete bad-ass. She only has a few short action sequences but they are all awesome to look at and do a great job of showing off her abilities. The villain, The Puppetmaster, is also a very fascinating one but it never shows him being much of a threat. Sure the characters say that he is but there isn't really any proof to get me to believe that he is. The world, characters, and villain are all just good. At the end of the day I just wanted to see more of each of these characters and was left a little disappointed.

The animation of Ghost in the Shell is top-of-the-line. It had a very nice blend of CG and cel animation that was really nice to look at all the way through. There were a few moments of CG where you could really tell that it was made by a computer but that is really just a sign of age and not really the filmmakers fault. The soundtrack is too well done for its own good. I enjoy listening to the OST on my own once and a while but the way the tracks are incorporated into the film feels kind of lazy. I love the overall mood of it and it fits the film but the film doesn't go as far as the OST wants it to (if that makes any sense at all).

Ghost in the Shell is a very good sci-fi anime with a lot going for it but I felt that it never went far enough with its characters, visuals, or themes. I had high hopes going into the film because I had heard a lot of fantastic things but to me it was only good. No more, no less. To my delight, however, there are a lot of other series and movies from the franchise so at least the road doesn't end here.

Ghost in the Shell is unique but seems very restrained.


Wednesday, May 18, 2016
I've never been into films that have a heavy action theme. Sure there are the incredibly memorable ones like Die Hard and the ones that can even define a generation such as The Matrix. Both of those films, however, try to go big or go home. They don't worry themselves about the feeling behind a scene. Rather they just want the scene to look good. Feeling is what drives a film like John Wick. Rather than huge explosions or learning Kung Fu in five seconds, the film's main drive is not how the protagonist gets rid of the bad guys but why he does the things that he does. Long story short; John is angry.

John Wick's anger is what fuels the movie. First, his wife dies. Nobody's fault as the audience assumes it boils down to some kind of disease. After his wife's death, Wick (Keanu Reeves) is sent a Basset Hound pup with a letter from his wife. It says that the dog is meant to help John mourn which, at first, is the case. At a gas station one day he meets a group of mafia men who want his beautiful car and, after he says no sale, they break into his house, kill his dog, and steal the car. So John Wick isn't just angry. He's furious and he wants to kill the men who killed his dog and everyone they work with. At first glance it may seem simple and maybe even cliche but the amount of emotion behind his actions seem justified. I shouldn't be rooting for him because he is killing people in cold blood but I am. Without giving away too much, Wick's obsession of revenge does tie into his past with the Mafia and the way the film introduces the Mafia's straight-up fear of Wick is brilliant. Even when cops show up to his house they leave immediately after finding out who's front door they've just stumbled onto. The characters are where this film suffers. It's obvious that they all have backstories and connect with John Wick but because of the runtime of the movie the writers can't go into too much detail. Even the main character, John Wick, almost has a personality. He doesn't smile once in the whole film and even though I know that that's his character I can't connect with him.

The gripes I have with the characters don't matter at all when you look at the film as a whole. John Wick is an incredibly directed action movie - probably the best action movie I've seen. There wasn't a single point in the entire experience where I couldn't tell what was going on. It used a lot of still shots with a lot happening. It reminded me a lot of how Marvel's Daredevil series is directed but even better. Remember that amazing scene in the first episode where Daredevil fights off ten guys in a hallway? That is this entire movie and it looks astounding. Even if one can't enjoy the story or the characters, the choreography and direction of the action is completely worth the watch. I even found myself thoroughly enjoying the soundtrack of John Wick. A lot of it is orchestral mixed with experimental rock and pop which sounds amazing on and off the screen. This film is one of the best sounding and looking that I've seen in a long while.

John Wick is an astoundingly refreshing action film which improves on every front that its predecessors have been remembered for. Though its characters and story aren't the best, the action sequences more than make up for it .

John Wick is refreshing.
Monday, May 16, 2016
Have you ever seen an anime that is so over-the-top and insane that you just need to turn your brain off to fully enjoy the series? Kill La Kill is that for me. It does have very apparent problems but just the general excitement and joy I feel watching it makes the whole experience seem perfect, even though the show is far from it. The explosive fight scenes and scenarios and dumb fun of the show tend to overpower but the lack-luster story and villain. And I'm okay with that.

The story of Kill La Kill is pretty stupid. If you are going into this anime expecting deep themes with interesting plots than you are in the wrong place. Ryuko has been tracking down her father's killer for an unseen amount of time and she believes that the criminal is Hounouji Academy's class president, Satsuki Kiryuin. Armed with her trust Scissor Blade and a magical talking uniform named Senketsu, Ryuko must fight her way up the ranks of the Academy's school clubs in order to avenge her father and find the other half of her blade. We've seen this plot a million times and it doesn't do anything new in this case but the show isn't about the story. Rather, it's main focus is on the relationship between the characters. As soon as Ryuko arrives at the Academy she befriends a no-star student ("Star" referring to power level) named Mako and during the series we even get to learn a lot about Satsuki's underlings. Every character has their own energy and finesse that I can appreciate, even though some of them can fit into archetypes. I also like how--- ugh, I can't take it anymore. This show has way too much fanservice than it needs to have. I don't mind it as much near the beginning because when Ryuko transforms she becomes embarrassed with her appearance which suppresses her power but once that hurdle is overcome the fanservice seems like it is there just to be fanservice. To the show's granted, however, a third of the way through we are introduced to a group of totally-to-almost nude men that one can argue balance it out but I felt it wasn't needed in the first place and just could've been an over-the-top anime. Maybe the fanservice is part of the show's nature, then? I don't know. Just something to think about.

Speaking of the characters, I absolutely love their designs and color pallets, fanservice aside. Ryuko usually wears black and red but can occasionally sport a "white-knight" type outfit that fits with the metal state of her character at that given time. Even Mako gets a variety of designs to show off her general craziness. I especially love her "fight club" outfit. I feel like the characters' various outfits were designed and then the writers wrote the story because of just how well they mesh with the tone of whatever story they might be on at the moment.

Before I started watching Kill La Kill I assumed a little too much from the animation. Sure it's good but from the screenshots and short clips I had already been privy too, it ended up feeling lack luster. It does have a few border-line Sakuga moments near the
beginning of the series but it seemed to take a dip in quality during the last six or so episodes. This is one of the most hype soundtracks I've heard in an anime recently. I absolutely love the militaristic style of "Blumenkranz" and "Before My Body is Dry" is just amazing all around. The only problem is how the show uses these tracks - that is to say too much. Every time Ryuko does something remotely cool I hear the chorus of "Before My Body is Dry" and Satsuki's theme is good but I can only stand it so many times! The constant abuse of these amazing tracks forced me to turn down my TV volume a number of times when they would play. Such a shame to pound such a great OST to the ground.

 Kill La Kill is one of the weirdest but funnest anime I've seen in a while. It does have a lot of problems which tend to bog down the experience but if you just turn off your brain while watching you won't mind the flaws all that much.

Kill La Kill is explosive.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
The buildup for Captain America: Civil War was one of the most stressful and hype rides I've had with a movie in a long while. Bottom line: Civil War is the best film from the MCU since the previous Captain America film. It seems like almost every other franchise in the MCU has low points but all three Captain America films have ranged from great to fantastic and Civil War can rightfully take its place on the high end of that spectrum. With its fast and fun fight scenes, great character relationships, and the best on-screen Spiderman we've ever gotten there is no of the pure quality of this film.

A lot of has happened since the beginning of MCU Phase 2 and, though I haven't been there for all of it, there has been a growing  rivalry between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark though it might be most apparent in Avengers: Age of Ultron where the two's ideologies clash for the first time. That film set the framework that Civil War would build a tower out of. Though it has a few cracks on the outside and some beams seem misplaced, the film does mostly everything right with its characters. Not only do Cap and Iron Man get to shine, but so does mostly every other Avenger. I especially want to point out Scarlet Witch who acts as a perfect linchpin for the entire fight between the team. Within the first five minutes of the movie, she tries to throw the villain from the previous Captain America film into the sky in order to save citizens on the ground from his inevitable explosion but accidentally causes and entire floor of a building to explode harming even more innocent civilians than she would have otherwise. This, along with the team's actions of the past, causes the United Nations to try to suppress the Avengers so they don't do more harm than good. Captain America thinks that they should be able to control themselves while Iron Man believes they need to be put in check. One aspect about this that I absolutely love is that I couldn't decide which team I was on until the very end. Going into the film I was team Iron Man but while watching I was constantly switching between the two sides because they both brought up great points.

Scarlet Witch steals the show for the film but the two new characters introduced are also very good. These are, of course, Black Panther and Spiderman. Though Black Panther's reason for choosing a side seems like a cliche revenge story at first, by the end of the film I had gotten to really know the character so I felt that he was justified for feeling the way he did. Spiderman, in my opinion, is the best onscreen Spiderman that the film industry has ever gotten. Toby Macguire was too awkward both in the suit and out while Andrew Garfield was too cool all the time. The entire point of Spiderman is that Peter Parker is an awkward nerd outside the suit but becomes a confident new man inside the suit. Tom Holland captures this aspect of the character perfectly and I can't wait until his solo movie, Spiderman: Homecoming. The one character that I really did have a problem with was Hawkeye. I do like the character but the way he was introduced seemed lazy. He didn't give an explanation for why he chose the side he did nor did he feel like he cared or knew what he was fighting for. It seemed, at least to me, that the writers just wanted an equal amount of fighters for both side. The center of the entire struggle, though, is The Winter Soldier. He is what made this a Captain America movie. He had ties to each side and was struggling with himself in much the same ways that Cap and Tony were struggling with each other. It was truly astonishing the way they used him.

Another problem I had with the film is mostly a nitpick. The animation. Though not too important in this case, as the film was very character-driven, the CG was lacking to say the least. It was especially noticeable on all of Spiderman and The Falcon's wings. Spiderman felt way too rubbery similar to how he moved in the original Toby Macguire films, though then it was a limitation of the medium. The Falcon's wings didn't feel mechanical enough - as in the movement didn't match the look. And once again the music is very lackluster. It isn't bad but just lazy. With a super hero flick I want exciting and memorable themes but all we get is generic strings with a few standout tracks. Nothing to write home about.

Go see Captain America: Civil War. It isn't perfect but the good far outweighs the bad. The characters are great and the fights are fantastic.

Captain America: Civil War is astonishing.
Monday, May 09, 2016
Before Shantae and the Pirate's Curse I had never played a Shantae game. I wasn't avoiding them or anything but I had just never gotten around to it. What was wrong with me? I love everything about this game. It has smooth and satisfying gameplay, diverse and colorful levels, and extremely memorable characters. It does have problems, of course, but the good intensely outweighs the bad.



Shantae and the Pirate's Curse takes place shortly after the previous game in the story, Risky's Revenge. Though I've never played that game, Pirate's Curse does a fair job of explaining the previous events. At the end of the previous installment Shantae's rival, Risky, stole her genie magic so she has now become a full human who is just living a regular life. That is until a baddie by the name of Ammo Baron (who I assume was also in the other installments from the way the characters talk about him) comes to town and proceeds to pillage and plunder the place. Shantae rushes to the rescue in a fantastic opening level that hits all the right level design beats. After a short boss fight with the Baron, she discovers that the Ammo Baron isn't raiding the island out of pure malice. Rather, it is because the Mayor sold the town to him for food for himself. Because of her actions, Shantae receives a court summons where they will cut off her hair - the only magical part left of her. Just when she is feeling her lowest, however, she runs into Risky who is in dire need of Shantae's assistance. Risky explains that the evil Pirate Master is returning and they need to work together to stop him. I have to admit that, at the start of the game, the story seems convoluted and random but it does pay off in really well-rounded ways. The set-up isn't fantastic but it does give the player an intrigue that will last throughout the rest of the experience.

Though the story isn't great, the characters definitely make up for it. And there are a lot of them. Each of the characters are so memorable and unique that I could rattle off all the personalities and motivations of each one without breaking a sweat. This is mostly in part because of the very great and clever writing but is also in part by the memorable character designs. Each character's designs coincide perfectly with their personality. Rottytops the zombie is enthusiastic but lazy and even kind of a dunce sometimes which is reflected well by her constant dancing and bright-green skin. Rottytops is also very great with her constant joking around. Have I mentioned Rottytops yet? If I have it's because she is the best character in the entire game. In the latter half of the game she even gets her own arc that gives her a somewhat tragic backstory. All of the other characters are great in their own ways but Rottytops is incredibly memorable. The only problem with any character that I had was with Risky Boots. She wasn't bad but she really wasn't given much of a personality besides cynical and mysterious. Maybe if I had played the previous games I would have understood her better but what I got wasn't very great. Overall, the characters are unforgettable. Also Rottytops.

The gameplay in Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is very clean and very satisfying. The combination of the whipping sound when Shantae sends her hair flying with the animations that happen during and after the hit feel very good. I love every part of how Shantae controls. Her movement speed is a brisk walk and her attacks are instant. Her jumps are high and she can snap instantly while in the air. The only problem I had with this isn't with the controls itself but how some of the levels are designed. From the get-go it seems that Shantae's movement was made for levels with a focus on vertical movement as well as horizontal but in Pirate's Curse most of the levels are simply left to right with not a lot of vertical exploration. This is, however, a minor problem and is quickly remedied as soon as the player gets to a dungeon, which are all fantastic. Though their themes and mechanics aren't exactly new and innovative, their use of the powerups that you obtain in said dungeons can be very clever which makes for some interesting puzzle scenarios. Speaking of the upgrades, I just love all of them. In each dungeon you find more and more of Risky Boots' equipment which ranges from a pirate hat that lets you float in the air to a cannon that gives you three extra jumps while in the air. Though these aren't exactly new concepts the ways the game tends to use them are great. You can also buy upgrades for Shantae's pre-existing abilities as well as her equipment. Though most of these are just simply faster firing of your attacks and more damage output, some of them give you extra abilities like a handy dodge that lets you effectively get out of the way of enemy attacks.

Jake Kauffman is a mad genius. I had already known about him from other games he's worked on (and I also follow him on Twitter) but I find the Shantae soundtrack to be especially great. Jake "Virt" Kauffman does a great job at creating memorable themes in his tunes. And here we come full circle to the best song in the game - Rottytops. It perfectly encapsulates everything about her character and I love it immensely. The only negative I have about the OST is the boss themes. I still can't tell for sure but I'm pretty sure that they are all the same song. Either that or they are just plain unmemorable. Virt can't take all the credit for the atmosphere of the game. The sprite team that worked on the graphics need a huge round of applause. All of the characters just jump right out of the screen with their colors and animations. The backgrounds are also gorgeous.

I feel bad for myself that I hadn't played this game sooner. Take wonderful music and visuals, tight gameplay, and wonderful characters (mostly Rottytops), and you get Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. I can say for sure that I am very excited for the next game in the franchise Half-Genie Hero and I really want to play the previous installments.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is memorable. 
Thursday, May 05, 2016
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