Super Meat Boy (Dengakuslash)

Super Meat Boy is an independently developed fast paced single-player platformer from hell on Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, and soon to be on PC developed by Team Meat. You control a little block of meat named Meat Boy (As the title suggests) who goes on a long quest to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from the evil Dr. Fetus. The game is adapted from a flash game that started on Newgrounds (Meat Boy) and due to it's popularity, Team Meat was able to publish this platforming gem onto consoles.

This game is pure platforming at it's finest. The entire game consists of just reaching "Point A" to "Point B" by jumping, running, and wall jumping. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. This is one of the hardest games I have played in my entire life. Team Meat really went out of their way to make this so difficult. This game is so difficult, I bit my controller in rage after dying 200+ times on ONE LEVEL. Every trap and platform you have to  run, jump, and wall-jump to is positioned so precisely that one mistake will send you to a death. Although, even though this game is very hard, it never feels cheap, like a lot of hard games do. All the deaths can be blamed on mistakes you make. Also, it is nice that when you die there are instant respawns so there is no waiting between all of the many deaths that you will bring upon yourself. With the insane difficulty, each level feels very rewarding to complete. One thing I like is when you complete a level, The game plays all of the replays of the deaths that occurred on that level simultaneously, along with a replay of you completing the level mixed in with it. It's kind of a comic relief, seeing a sea of Meat Boys dying after each level.

Even though the game is single player, I had a blast playing this game with a friend and switching off every few levels. Having a friend to share the games with muffles the rage the builds up when you just can't beat a level.

At the end of each world, there is a boss fight. The bosses in Super Meat Boy are insanely difficult. One thing I don't like about the bosses, though, is that most of them are just an obstacle course. Although it's fast-paced and intense, it would have been cool for Team Meat to find a way for you to actually fight all of the bosses.

There is a neat item-collecting aspect to the game, where you collect Bandages scattered across all of the levels. Collecting these bandages grants you unlockables such as new levels and new characters. There are 12 unlockable characters, each with their own special ability. What I like about these characters is that most of them are from different independently developed, and they all have an ability native to their purpose in their own game. Such as Tim from "Braid", who can rewind time for a few seconds.

Being from Newgrounds, this game has a very cartoon like feel and is very humorous. The game FEELS like a classic NES/SNES era game, but with the visuals and aspect ratio of modern games. Although it's not really laugh-out-loud funny, the game's jokes in the short cutscenes made me chuckle. On the menus of this game, it sticks with a newgrounds-esque cartoon-like art style. In-game, though, it switches to a mix of the cartoon-like style and pixel art. Surprisingly, this mix of styles is very appealing to the eye and fun to look at.

My favorite part of this game are the "Warp Zones" scattered throughout the levels. When you Access the Warp Zones, Beautifully crafted Pixel Art "Title Screens" show up, prompting you to press start. When you press start, a chiptune rendition of the game's theme song plays with a set of 3 16-bit or 8-bit levels awaiting you. The moment I saw this, it was like a nostalgic Shin-Shoryuken right to my face.

At the date I bought this game, (10/22), the game was priced at 800 MS points, (That's $10, if you didn't know.), but the game is being raised to 1200 MS Points ($15) in November. It took me around 5-6 hours to complete the game's 6 main worlds. There is lots of re-playability to this game. If you complete a level in a certain amount of time, you unlock the "Dark World" version of the level. This is basically a harder version of the level. And since most of the levels are hard already, the Dark World versions are insanely difficult. Once you collect enough bandages you unlock a world called "Teh Internets", which is Free downloadable content. Free expanding to an already huge game.

Pros:

• Tight, responsive controls
• A good challenge among the modern sea of cakewalk-like easy games
• Great soundtrack
• Appealing visuals and great pixel art
• Massive re-playability
• Free downloadable content
• Even with the difficulty, the deaths do not feel cheap
• Fun to play as a pass-and-play multiplayer game

Cons:

• Sometimes, the difficulty can be rage-inducing
• Some of the bosses don't really feel like bosses

Final Verdict:
This game hates me. This game hates you. This game hates everyone. But that shouldn't stop you from playing this gem of a game. Super Meat Boy is a nostalgic, fun, challenging title that definitely should not be missed! With the great mix of fun, pure platforming, and a great art style, I couldn't recommend this game any more!
Final Score: 93/100 Points

Red (by Brogan)

Yet another in our 2010 string of team-up action movies, Red bursts out with a coming-out-of-retirement style story. Following movies such as The Losers, The A-Team, and The Expendables (none of which I have seen, mind you) this film takes a very similar structure and tone (but that “the” at the beginning of the title). Red has a well-known cast including Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, and of course, the always great Mister John Malkovich, and is directed by Robert Schwetke.

         

Bruce Willis plays retired CIA Black-Ops agent Frank Moses, who is ordered killed but unsure by whom or why that is done so. Moses then has to take his (obvious) love interest of the film (played by Mary-Louise Parker) cross-country to his former partners (Freeman, Malkovich, and Mirren) in order to acquire help solving the mystery of who wants them all dead.  This is happening along with the CIA and their wet-works agent (Karl Urban) tailing them and never passing up an opportunity for some action.

         

The action in Red is satisfying. There is not a whole lot of “shaky-cam” or many rapid cuts in here to diminish your enjoyment of the film. Special effects in this movie are never heavily relied upon; they don’t look all that bad either. The dialogue is quite clever and humorous, but the plot is really predictable. Although, I felt that didn’t really matter at all since I found the characters so likeable that I just wanted to know what was going to happen to each of them.

Now, I’m not exactly how Red stacks up to the similarly styled films. Like I said before, I never saw any of the other action films that had a team of several guys going to take out the bad guys. So as far as I know, this is the best one yet. I’m going to hold out on considering that statement the truth of my opinion until actually see those other films. All I can tell you though, is that Red is a blast. If you really want to see an action movie with great characters and well-done action, it’s as simple as this: see Red.

If you’re looking for an amazingly deep and well-written fiction, Red isn’t your picture. But if you enjoy fun, comical, and action thrill-ride – and haven’t had your fill yet this year – I recommend this one. I give it 85/100 points.

Fullmetal Alchemist (by Brogan)

FINAL: 

I love Japanese pop culture. I don’t watch Anime. Well I’m not entirely Anime-celibate. I love Dragon Ball Z and the original Dragon Ball, but until now that as far as it goes. Anime, and all other TV shows, must have something really cool, interesting, and original going for them for me to care in the slightest. Fullmetal Alchemist is one such series.

Fullmetal Alchemist is based off the Manga of the same name (鋼の錬金術師, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, in case you wanted the Japanese name.), but the story of the Anime series is completely changes for the majority of it. The original writer, Hiromu Arakawa, gave the Anime team to do with as they pleased with the story of the show. This means I won’t take continuity with the books into consideration, especially since I haven’t read them yet. Now considering I can’t review each individual episode, I will give a brief overview of the entire series, tell you what I thought, and then give a recommendation based on that.

The story is the adventure of two alchemist brothers, Edward and Alfonse Elric, and their perilous journey to find the Philosopher’s Stone (an item that can amplify the users alchemical powers to the point at which the “equivalent exchange” principle is ignored entirely). After trying to transmute their mother back to life through alchemy, Ed loses his left leg and Al loses his entire body. Shortly after, Ed gives his arm by binding Al’s soul to a suit of armor.  Ed vows to become a great alchemist so he may correct the mistake he made by attempting human alchemy.

Fullmetal Alchemist (or FMA as we like to call it) has a lot to say about things like religion, science, military, and the value of human life. It rarely has a pointless moment to it, never any real filler episodes. I was kept personally both very intrigued and excited almost the entire time. It will offer your awesome action, satisfying drama, and some light-hearted humor. Overall, very good series with one major stand-out…

…The ending. I won’t spoil it for you.  After I watched it, though, I felt really odd and somewhat confused. Maybe the word I want is dissatisfied. Well, what I really want is more.  I want all the huge loose ends tied up.

But wait! Don’t be put-off by that. From what I hear, Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa wraps everything up. So guess what? My next review will be that movie. For now, I’ll give Fullmetal Alchemist 96/100 points. All 51 episodes are available for Netflix instant streaming right now, watch it!

Easy A (by Brogan)

4/5: So here's one I had to sleep on, Easy A, a teenage comedy starring the lovely Emma Stone. I saw this opening night, making this my most timely and relevant review yet (can I get a round of applause?). But to be totally honest I don't think I've quite got this one all figured out just yet, so I'll just try my best. Maybe I should start off by telling you the simple thing, this is an excellent film.

This movie starts with our highly intelligent main character Olive Penderghast (played by Emma Stone) web logging the about the events of the film. The story Olive tells starts out with her talking about a date she has with a nonexistent boy who her goes to college with her brother to her best friend (played by former Disney star Alyson Michalka). After the weekend, Olive (not wanting to admit "George" wasn't real) ends up saying that she had lost her virginity over the weekend. The school "Jesus freak" named Marianne (played by Amanda "Oh-my-god-she's-still-around-and-is-funny" Bynes) overhears this "religious transgression" and spreads the news around. Soon her gay friend Brandon (played by Dan Byrd) asks her to help him pretend he's straight so he can stop having such a hard time socially. After getting both threatening and lustful looks from other students, she becomes a sort of "school slut", donning a red "A" on all her clothes - a la Scarlett Letter (the original, not the one with Demi Moore) - and giving fake sexual experiences to other loser or outcast students in exchange for gift cards and the like. Eventually she wants her good reputation back, and in short, hilarity ensues.

The writing and dialogue between characters is wonderful. Most of the theater, including myself, was roaring with laughter through a good majority of the film (and by the way, never once does this movie go for an unnecessary sexual joke), and even the scenes that are meant to show more emotion never get too heavy-handed without picking themselves right back up. The cast of characters is amazingly strong, especially people like Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as Olive's parents (my pick for funniest characters in this movie), Thomas Haden Church as Olive's favorite teacher, and even brief couple of scenes with Malcolm McDowell as the school principal. They made Emma Stone look average and ugly while at the same time very sexy. Even all the other 20-year-old actors and actresses who play high-school students actually make me believe they're teens through the magic acting.  Later on in the film, it openly admits to wanting be a 1980s John Hughes movie, and while I haven't seen very many 1980s John Hughes films (I will fix that, I promise), I believe Easy A really succeeds at doing just that.

Now to be honest, I think I'd really need a second viewing of this movie to really decipher what this it is trying to say about things like promiscuity in teenagers, sexuality in  society as a whole, other things like Christian extremism in public high school or if it's trying to say anything at all. All I really know is that this is by far one of the funniest and most well-written films I have seen in recent memory. Even as a teenager currently in high school, I laugh at this as a parody and possible commentary on my society. There's more than a few situations and characters I can really connect to here whether it be directly or indirectly, and I think that is why this one really hits home with me.

Even at the full ticket price, Easy A was worth every cent. There weren't any special visual things that made it stand out, but with a crowd and with some buddies I really feel I got the most out of this film. I highly recommend you see this picture, and see it soon with friends. It's just an all-around well done movie. I shall give the film Easy A 94/100 points. Man, I really need to get some bad stuff to review. Anyone want to go see Devil?

Metroid: Other M (by Brogan)

3/5: 

Metroid: Other M. Oh boy, where do I begin? How about, I apologize for being so late to the game with this review. And, with this being my first video game review and all, I should admit a few things. First off, I was extremely pumped for this games release. See, I'm a long-time Metroid fan (I'll even credit the series for forming one my strongest early friendships) and someone you could call a "Nintendo fan-boy". Secondly, I have heard couple of other critics' reviews before playing this game, but I've kept a clear head so far. So before I diminish my credibility any farther, let's begin. This could be a long one folks, so strap-in and here we go: Metroid: Other M on the Nintendo Wii.

Where to start on this one? Well let's answer the basic question very simply: yes, it is fun. But there's no way I could ever let one of Nintendo's long-running and innovative franchises off with a short sentence like that. Metroid: Other M is the eleventh game released and takes place after Super Metroid in the series' cannon (I'll post a picture of the time-line for those who are curious as to what it looks like). It's is a 3rd Person Action-Adventure game about the continuing adventure of intergalactic bounty hunter/occasional savior Samus Aran. This time around we learn more about her past and what type of person she is, and to do that, Team "we've-never-really-made-a-bad-game" Ninja has given Samus a vital new feature: a voice.

Let's start off on a positive note. The graphics here - especially for a Wii title - are absolutely gorgeous. Environments are well detailed; the classic enemies look awesome in full 3D; the gameplay, the in-game cutscenes, and the beautiful pre-rendered FMVs all blend seamlessly with one another. Seriously, if you can find a better looking current Wii title (without Zelda guilt-tripping me) you deserve a freaking medal.

Now let's get into shakier territory: The controls. Ah yes, the controls. This is the part many who haven't played the game yet will wag their collective fingers at. Normally you will hold the Wii remote on its side in a "classic NES" style, but when it comes to precise aiming, using missiles, scanning (which is technically gone, but here it highlights important things and is rather well implemented I might add), and using the Grapple Beam. The Wii D-pad can have issues with the comfort of your finger and judging depth in-game, but otherwise works great, and initially the view-swapping can be alienating due to the fact you cannot move in 1st person. But after awhile, mode swapping can become natural, and in fact, if you can get all of Samus's moves and powers working in tandem during combat, the gameplay with engulf you almost rhythmically and that is when playing the game is just fantastic and super fun.

Let's talk about some better stuff before the bad. One of my favorite critics, Noah Antwiler a.k.a The Spoony One, called the characterization of Samus Aran in Other M, "...possibly the worst mishandling of any character in gaming history." or something to that effect, but he meant that, even when admitting he is not the biggest Metroid fan. He believed that Samus was more of a strong-silent type, whereas in this game she monologues almost the entire game and has some light conversations with other characters. I will have to wholeheartedly disagree. I believe the characterization of Ms. Aran is nearly perfect. She has monologues in prior titles about her thoughts on the situation (to a limited extent), and all the supporting character she speaks with are either figures from her past or people she needs to communicate with in order to extract information or progress the story. I always felt Samus would act the way she does in this game and it's wonderful to finally see her they way I want.

Sorry I never got to this sooner. The story of Other M goes, when investigating a distress call from a Galactic Federation science station, a.k.a. the BOTTLE SHIP, Samus happens to meet up with her old partners from the Galactic Federation Army, including her ex-CO/father-figure Adam Malkovich (big-time Metroid fans will easily recognize this name). The usual feelings of isolation and possibly fear in normal Metroid games is traded-in for feelings of suspicion and mystery when the scientists are found brutally killed and someone on the team is suspected of killing their squad-mates and attempts to off you. We get some very interesting insight into Samus Aran's past here and I really got connected to what was going on in the story. My only problem here is that the voice acting ranges from pretty good to "What? Really? This is the best you could do?", and Samus's voice actress bugs me a little. Whoever she is, she does a great job, but I feel she's too soft-spoken for the part, I imagined Samus's voice something a little more like Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in terms of tone and toughness. Next time guys, Jennifer Hale (my favorite voice actress of all time) is you're girl; she does wonderful tough female voices, just listen to her as the female Commander Shepard from Mass Effect.

Now finally the bad. As a Metroid fan, I don't feel betrayed by Samus's treatment as Spoony said I should. No, no, no, but I do feel betrayed. I feel betrayed by the game's design. Don't get me wrong, Other M is not poorly designed; it's just not designed like a Metroid game. You gain abilities by getting authorization from Adam, which makes a lot of sense and I enjoy this "ability-reset" very much, but it doesn't the the classic "get-item" theme is gone and instead they've decided to play some "bleepy" noise and some stock "boop" noise when gaining a missile or energy expansion, and  I have to ask, "why?".  Speaking of missile and energy tanks, the missile tank only increases your stock by one missile, and then they pull a Legend of Zelda on you by giving you "energy parts" which you have to collect 4 of to gain more life, "why? just, why?". Everything feels very linear and there is no real noticeable exploration until after the end of the game, "Why!?". The classic Gravity Suit does what it's supposed to, but doesn't color your armor purple like normal and instead it glows purple when it's in use, "WHY?". The "Concentration" feature allows you to replenish your often finite missiles and health (when it's at critical levels), this feature adds intensity to the many boss fights, but this also means there are no recovery items and it's all done at save-points and through Concentration, "WHY!?". And then there's the music. The music is intense and eerie, but doesn't have the Metroid feel to it unless it's a (very well done) remix of prior tracks, "Please Nintendo, tell me, WHYYYY!!!!!!?????!?!?!"

Two quick things and then we're done. This game tries real hard at first to be Metroid Fusion, using it's obvious connections with Adam Malkovich and the use of Sectors with different simulated environments. It' misses one very vital thing on that point, Metroid Fusion is one of the scariest and most haunting games I've ever played (and it's on Game Boy Advanced!) which is created by a sense of loneliness and pursuit by the "SA-X", which Other M has none of. Eventually, toward the end of the game, it flipped its "Super Metroid-switch", which I have no real gripes with. The other thing is the length and difficulty. The game clocks in at about 10-15 hours, which for me is disappointing considering I'm almost 20 or 30 hours into Metroid titles such as Prime, Fusion and Super Metroid and still have yet to beat. But this game is quite challenging, and the only time truly difficult was during a later boss fight and either of the two first-person only action sequences all of which frustrated me like no tomorrow.

The conclusion of the game wrapped-up nicely, but left me a little unsatisfied when it came to action. Replay value is pretty low, but once you have complete the game, you unlock a "Theater Mode" which strings together the cut scenes with one made for gameplay segments to create sort of a movie out itself and it allows you to explore parts of the BOTTLE SHIP you may have missed. This game is surprisingly short, but if you're in need a great action fix, this is a perfect rental, and if you're a Metroid fan, I highly recommend you buy this at discount. I'll give Metroid: Other M 75/100 points.

Justice League: The New Frontier (by Brogan)

2/5: Justice League: The New Frontier is an original 2008 straight-to-DVD animated film, and the most recent movie I've literally just watched.  The movie is set in -- and pays great tribute to -- the silver age of  DC comics going as far to include artwork and designs from the era.  The film features a well-known voice cast including Neil Patrick Harris as the Flash, David Boreanaz as Hal Jordan, Lucy Lawless (Xena) as Wonder Woman, and Jeremy Sisto as Batman. The animation looks like the campy stories of the silver age, but is definitely not afraid of being for a more mature crowd.

The film takes place a few years after the Korean war presumably in the late 1950s possibly early 60s, and it's the story of the Justice League's formation and an origin story for Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern.  The main story starts off with young air force pilot Hal Jordan and his partner flying while hearing a radio call about the cease-fire of the Korean war when they are suddenly attacked by a couple of Korean fighter pilots. Having to eject, Hal finds himself in a trench struggling with an enemy soldier while attempting to warn him about the cease-fire, but Hal eventually ends having to shoot and kill the soldier somewhat traumatizing him. The story the starts to follow other heroes of the Justice League; the Martian Manhunter attempting to blend-in and fit in; Wonder Woman being dethroned and eventually nearly killed by her own people; Batman investigating some cult and it's relation to this movie's villain; and Superman being, well, Superman. An evil martian entity, known as "The Center", is trying to destroy earth, but the Center is a very unexplored villain who's main purpose seems to be to draw the League together and make a final action sequence.

While the characters maintain an old-school design, their intended and more modern personalities remain largely intact. This is a very good thing, especially for Batman and Robin.  The artwork here, I feel, is nothing special. Don't get me wrong, it's quite good and everything looks the way it should, but nothing truly stands out.  Story has it's dumber moments and small plot-holes here and there, but for what this movie tries to do, it's all forgivable because it succeeds in telling what it wants to and offers some satisfying action. Oh by the way, I won't give away what "The Center" uses as foot soldiers, because I think it might blow your mind just a little.

Justice League: The New Frontier is not a bad animated superhero film. It's fun, interesting, and a cool homage/origin story. I found this on my Netflix instant queue, so it isn't hard to find. If have the opportunity to see it, don't be hesitant. I give Justice League: The New Frontier 79/100 Points

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (by Brogan)

 NOTE: I'm just moving all my old reviews from the Critical Practitioner blog

1/5: Director Edgar Wright currently has a track record of films that has so far been fairly exceptional.  Shaun of The Dead, in my mind is a modern classic, and Hot Fuzz, is a perfect buddy-cop movie whether it tries to be or not.  With Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, his record remains completely untarnished.  Based off a series of graphic novel by Bryan Lee O'Malley - which are superior in my humble opinion - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is able to rocket itself to be one of my most favorite films (so far, that is).

Scott is a Toronto-native hipster in his early 20s with no real direction in life. We learn that he's a bassist for his band, "Sex Bob-Omb" (bob-omb, as in Mario bob-omb), and is dating a 17-year-old, Chinese high school student, named Knives Chau, because "it's just simple". After seeing a girl literally in his dreams and then discovering she's real, he meets her at party, learning her name is Ramona Flowers.  Eventually he scores a date with her, and it quickly blossoms into a relationship. While at a performance, Scott is attacked be Matthew Patel, one of Ramona's "evil exes". After defeating Patel, Scott finds out he has to defeat six more "evil exes" in order to continue dating Ramona. To put it shortly, awesomeness ensues.

The pacing is brisk and there's a whole lot of visual flare.  In fact, gamers, such as myself, will get a huge treat due to the fact that this movie relies heavily on video game reference and even sound effects (I'll be the first to admit that the early use of sound effects from The Legend of Zelda games are most likely a large contributing factor to why I enjoyed this movie so much).  The action is filmed and choreographed so much better than possibly 70-percent of movies these days and keeps the movie exciting to watch.  But a large part of your enjoyment this movie comes in whether or not you can understand the characters.  Scott comes off as a careless guy who cheats on his girlfriend, while Ramona is very uninteresting and can be somewhat deceitful. During the course of this story the learn to become better people, and you really have to look past their problems in order to see this.

The casting of this movie is none too short of perfect. Every actor plays the part so well, they may have been born that way. Even Micheal Cera as Scott Pilgrim, finds the perfect place for his trademark boring average guy.  One role that sticks out in my mind is Kieran Culkin as Scott's "Awesome gay roommate", Wallace Wells. I feel he embodies my personal favorite character from the graphic novels exquisitely.

In short, see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World twice. It could be a turning point in the pop culture of this generation. Unfortunately, it's currently failing at the box office, which often causes a movie of this sort to be labeled as having "cult status", and do you really want this movie grouped with Troll 2? Neither do I. I will give Scott Pilgrim vs. The World 98/100 points