.png.58cfe414f117a5b917dfc7f637393e58.png)
Blogs
Our community blogs
-
Latest Entry
The DuckTales '17 Season Three We Should Have Gotten
This article contains MASSIVE spoilers for the DuckTales reboot, including ending spoilers.
SpoilerWhile not my favorite season of the series (that honor goes to season one because Lena), the DuckTales reboot's season two was and is my golden standard for peak consecutive storytelling in children's media. Every episode of that season either progressed one of several(!) continuing story arcs, furthered at least one character's arc, and/or introduced a new character. If I were to choose a single episode to replace in season two, it would be Treasure of the Found Lamp, since the character introduced in that episode didn't really have any further impact on the series aside from a brief cameo in the season finale -- and I would have replaced it with The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck, a season three episode that by all rights ought to have occurred before the season two finale because it just makes more sense for Glomgold's character arc in season two and also provides the possibility of resolving the dangling plot hook of Poe de Spell's transformation into a non-anthro raven and subsequent disappearance sometime in season three. Other than that, there were no true 'filler' episodes in DuckTales season two. Everything tied into the larger narrative in some way or another, and the season was that much richer for it. (Also season two had A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill, an episode that has special meaning to me and my own psychological issues, but that's another story.)
The pinnacle of season two, however, was its last five episodes. Starting with what seemed like a standard 'filler' story of Louie accidentally causing a temporal storm by using a time machine to steal lost treasures before they were lost, the episode wraps up with a scene you rarely see in children's media: the protagonist gets grounded. Yes, Della puts her metal foot down and lets Louie know that she can't just ignore him breaking the fabric of reality, an action that leads directly into GlomTales by putting Louie in prime position to con his way into Glomgold's plan to destroy his family, manipulate half the villains in Duckburg into pooling their fortunes with Glomgold, then make off with all their combined wealth through a technicality and, thanks to an ill-advised bet between Scrooge and Glomgold with their companies on the line, become CEO of both McDuck Enterprises and Glomgold Industries. Oh, and of course he saves his family in the process, so it's not entirely for personal gain, but the boy has tasted wealth and he's not going to give that up easily.
And that's when the zombie shows up.
The Louie arc essentially ends in the third-to-last episode, where Louie (and Scrooge to some extent) learns humility and makes peace with the zombie's curse (it makes sense in context, at least so much as a kid's cartoon about duck people can ever make sense). But the season doesn't stop there, as Della's 'friends' from the Moon, led by the treacherous General Lunaris, invade the Earth in the two-part season finale, which neatly ties up Della's arc, Donald's arc, Glomgold's arc, and pretty much anything in Season Two that hadn't already been resolved. (Except of course for Negaduck's appearance at the end of The Duck Knight Returns, which never got any resolution because we never actually got the Darkwing Duck spin-off that everyone wanted.)
So when the final moments of season two played out and FOWL was revealed as the new antagonists of season three, I was like, "Cool!" but also like, "How can the writers possibly top season two in terms of storyline?"
Short answer: they didn't. Not even close.
I'm not going to go too hard on the writers for this one, given that no one could have possibly predicted the global pandemic or its impact on media without the aid of divine revelation. But in many ways, DuckTales season three was easily the weakest season of the series. While its highs were among the show's best, with Let's Get Dangerous being my favorite DuckTales episode ever made (I could probably write an entire article just about that one) and the series finale being exactly what the show deserved, season three still suffered from a barrage of mixed-quality filler episodes, a lack of proper character development or even screen time for half the show's cast, and the severe mishandling of FOWL itself. When I first saw those final few moments of season two, I was so excited about being introduced to a new cast of colorful villain characters for the heroes to match wits with, but the only two FOWL members to really get the development they deserved were Bradford Buzzard and Black Heron, with the rest essentially relegated to occasional appearances. And we never did get any payoff to Magica de Spell and the Phantom Blot being work partners without Magica realizing that Funzo of all people was out to kill her. That would've been spectacular.
Worst of all, though, is that for much of the season, there was no real arc to season three. Sure, there was hunting down the 'Missing Mysteries' of Carmelita Finch, and eventually the reveal of FOWL to the main cast and a few breadcrumbs towards the Papyrus of Binding that would be important in the series finale, but there was little sense of actual progression for most of the season, and few if any of the big plot twists in the series finale really felt earned or properly led up to.
Even Huey, the central character of the season, never actually got a character arc like Dewey in season one or Louie in season two. While Huey featured in a lot of episodes, they were simply that. Episodes. There was no sense of an overarching goal with Huey's character development in the same way Dewey was trying to find his mom and Louie was trying to get rich. And while that doesn't mean there wasn't any goal at all, as stopping FOWL was definitely intended to be that very goal, it wasn't any more Huey's goal than it was the rest of the family's, so there was no sense of that goal driving Huey. Even the big reveal of Bradford Buzzard having been the first Junior Woodchuck didn't have nearly as much of an impact on me as it was clearly intended to because aside from the first episode of season three, Huey even being a Junior Woodchuck didn't feel nearly relevant enough to matter to his character arc, and he didn't even have a character arc. Just a collection of episodes.
I can't help but wonder at the end of it all: what was the point of having Huey be the central character of this season instead of Webby? Yes, I know that Huey is the third triplet and he deserved his due before the show ended, but let's be frank. Huey wasn't the central character of the series finale, Webby was. And while it's very much probable that a season four centered around Webby was originally planned before the show ended, and that the writers had been planning her plot twist from the very beginning and wanted to make it official before the series' end, it did feel like Huey got the short end of the stick when it comes to seasonal character arcs or lack thereof.
The intended theme of DuckTales season three was 'Legacy.' This was touched on in the beginning of the first season three episode, and the writers tried to make it come full circle in the reveal of Bradford's backstory in the series finale, but aside from a number of mostly forced cameos from other Disney properties set in Donald Duck's universe (I want to know who wrote those ridiculously bad jokes for the Quack Pack episode and if they cringed as much as I did at them), the season itself didn't do nearly as much with that theme as they could have. So how about we fix that by giving season three an actual arc or three?
---
A big part of what made DuckTales season two a triumph in sequential storytelling is that its main arc built off of what came before it, namely the revelation of Della Duck's disappearance in space a decade before the show began. This affected both Louie's arc and Della's arc, and even Glomgold's arc had ties to the season one finale in that we got to see what happened to him in the aftermath of the Shadow War. But while Season Two left several dangling plot hooks such as Glomgold becoming the Hero of Earth while having also pissed off half the villains in Duckburg (the other half being FOWL), not much came of the first point aside from a single episode where Glomgold tries to leverage his fame as an excuse to strike back against Scrooge McDuck (of course), and nothing ever came of the second point.
So why don't we change that?
The Set-Up
It's the aftermath of the Moonvasion, and Flintheart Glomgold is reveling in his new status as the Hero of Earth. Now that everyone loves him, he's going to naturally use that to further his two main goals in life: become the richest duck in the world, and destroy Scrooge completely. And what better way to accomplish goal #1 than by accomplishing goal #2?
Naturally, Glomgold's original plans to accomplish this are all needlessly complicated schemes that are doomed to humiliating failure. But then he gets a call from a certain shadowy figure that reveals that he shares the same goal of destroying Scrooge in every way possible, and can help Glomgold get what he wants. While Glomgold doesn't know it, this figure is none other than Bradford Buzzard, who sees Glomgold as an useful idiot and distraction from FOWL's full plans.
With Bradford's help, Glomgold begins a media smear campaign to point out all the damage the McDuck family has done over the years in their adventures. Given what we've already seen in Jaw$, especially with reporter Roxanne Featherly being a metaphorical two-faced snake (which may or may not be a thinly veiled social commentary on the erosion of media trust, but I won't assume anything here), this shouldn't be too difficult. Bradford of course has access to all of Scrooge's old records, given his position as Scrooge's most trusted business partner, but when Clan McDuck turns on the TV and sees an 'expose' of every adventure they've ever had, Huey becomes determined to crack the case of who's the traitor at McDuck Enterprises.
Meanwhile, the villains that Glomgold pissed off in GlomTales are planning to get their own back on the man for stealing their fortunes. Magica de Spell and Ma Beagle are of course having a literal bitch fight over which of them gets to be the boss, with Ma Beagle calling Magica a has-been that has to resort to parlor tricks because she's lost her amulet to her own familiar (Lena) and clearly can't control her own kid. Magica nearly comes to blows over this when Don Karnage points out that infighting isn't going to solve anything and they need to work together if they want to succeed in their revenge. On that note, Karnage manages to catch Mark Beaks trying to sneak out of the meeting because the parrot can clearly see that he's in over his head and should quit while he still has one. (Some of the villains question why they're even keeping him around, given how completely useless he was in GlomTales.) What the villains need is a plan of action. Glomgold is loved by pretty much everyone on Earth that isn't them, so it's going to take some thinking just to get to him.
And then they also get an anonymous call from Bradford Buzzard, who has every intention of manipulating them into his schemes as well. Playing both sides against the middle, and that middle is Scrooge. But none of them know that.
Bradford's scheming takes a new turn when (in a plot twist that my bestie Redwings1340 came up with when I shared my initial ideas with him) Bradford actually pretends to aid Huey in helping to find the mole in McDuck Enterprises, revealing a part of his backstory from the actual series finale. Huey is awestruck to meet the grandson of Carmelita Finch, and the first Junior Woodchuck to boot -- but neither he nor the audience knows the full truth of Bradford's childhood past. (The season would put more emphasis on Huey being a Junior Woodchuck, with him seeking to prove himself as worthy of becoming a Senior Senior Woodchuck despite having lost to Violet in the first episode of the season.) Bradford becomes something of a mentor to Huey, even a father figure, but slyly starts to plant doubt in Huey's mind as to whether the McDucks' pursuit of adventure is really the right path. By the midpoint of the series, Huey has to ask himself: is his family legacy tarnished by greed and wanderlust?
Of course the original plot thread of Carmelita Finch's 'Missing Mysteries' and the Papyrus of Binding is still in the plot; the first two seasons of DuckTales proved that the writers are capable of balancing multiple plots within a 25-episode series. The standard FOWL members still appear, but preferably they'd be given more screen time and development, especially with some of them aiding the other group of villains in their attempts to get back at Scrooge and Glomgold both. Naturally they wouldn't always play nice with each other, especially Magica and the Phantom Blot, who still fully intend to kill each other.
Character Arcs
I'd more or less keep the basic plots of a few of the major and less major episodes from the original season three, including Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks, Astro B.O.Y.D., They Put a Moonlander on the Earth, Let's Get Dangerous (of course), The First Adventure, Beaks in the Shell, and perhaps surprisingly, Louie's Eleven (which I hold to be the best 'true filler' episode in season three because it gave so much of the cast the attention they deserved). However, I'd replace most of the 'filler' episodes that focused on the main cast with episodes that included main cast members but also gave the supporting cast more time to shine. Boyd only got one episode to his name in season three, and characters like Lena, Violet, Penumbra, Gandra Dee, and even freaking Daisy Duck of all people were similarly shafted, even though there was plenty of room in the season to give them a bit more. Heck, I wanted to like the reboot's version of Gandra Dee, but we barely get to see any of her apart from two episodes, and both of them are overshadowed by Mark Beaks being Mark Beaks. I'm not against female characters being love interests, but if you want to get me attached to a character, show me enough of them to form an attachment to.
(Gosalyn is not on my list of characters that got cheated out of screen time because despite her only appearing in Let's Get Dangerous and the series finale, her character arc in Let's Get Dangerous was probably the best succinct character arc the series has ever produced, so I don't consider her to be shafted the same way the other characters I've listed were. Don't get me wrong, I'd still want to give her at least a little more screen time, but I think the writers did her justice with what they gave her. And on the subject of Darkwing Duck characters with little to no screen time in the series, I'm not sure if I'd even put Negaduck in season three because we have enough characters to juggle already and in all honesty he kind of deserves better than just an episode or two, which is all he could reasonably be allotted given how many other characters there are to balance.)
I don't have time to detail an arc for every one of these shafted characters, but since Lena and Poe are the ones I have the most ideas on and their arcs tie into the larger narrative, I'll focus on them as an example of what I'm going for. I would absolutely have an episode where Lena discovers Magica working at Funzo's, gets royally pissed that her abuser is allowed to work with small children, and goes to the manager to complain, only for Funzo to take off his mascot head, reveal himself as the Phantom Blot, and attempt to murder her for being a de Spell. (Magica, upon learning that she's been working with the man who's sworn to kill her and destroy her entire bloodline, promptly has an episode. I can't say I blame her.) This leads to a massive fight sequence at Funzo's, which everyone present mistakes for a floor show, until the actual manager comes out and throws Lena and Magica out of the restaurant, telling Magica she's fired. There would also be a B-plot to this episode but I'm not sure what that would be. Maybe this arc would run concurrent to the A-plot of the Double-O-Duck episode, since that was also set at Funzo's Fun Zone and involved (different) members of FOWL.
Lena's arc would also involve Poe de Spell's fate, perhaps revealing that the Phantom Blot has already hunted down and 'eliminated' Poe in his raven form, leading Magica to snap. Or perhaps Poe does appear in raven form, and Lena's out-of-control magic restores his mind but not his body or memory, leading to conflict when Magica learns that Lena has her brother but Lena has no way of knowing that this talking raven is her uncle. There's several ways this might go, but a certain plot point later on hinges on Poe being present in raven form and, while still not the most moral individual and Lena knows it (and is not shy on saying so), he's considerably more sympathetic to his shadow niece than Magica ever was. It'd be an interesting dynamic between the three de Spells if Poe was close to both Magica and Lena, but Lena and Magica still hate the heck out of each other and despite his best efforts to reunite the family, Poe slowly realizes that's never going to change.
There's also no small amount of conflict between the Sabrewing family that's adopted Lena as their own and the less than savory wizard that's her biological uncle, which is to be expected. At first, the Sabrewings' suspicions seem justified when Poe convinces Lena to take off and hide her amulet so as not to keep causing so many magical accidents, then makes off with the amulet himself and gives it to Magica (in his defense, it belonged to Magica to begin with). But when Magica tries to use her regained powers to destroy Lena, Poe dive-bombs Magica to defend his niece, having developed a familial bond with her not dissimilar to his bond with Magica. Of course Magica is enraged at her brother's 'defection,' but she can't bring herself to hurt him after having lost him for so long, so she and Lena call an uneasy and resentful truce; meanwhile, the Sabrewing family is still somewhat mistrustful of Poe, but acknowledges him as a legitimate part of Lena's family. This episode would be titled "Nevermore!"
While Lena retains a level of resentment towards her uncle for restoring Magica's power, Poe recognizes that his niece needs to learn how to defend herself and soon becomes the source of Lena's magic training. Said training by all rights should never have been constrained to a single episode; Lena going from a magical disaster to holding her own against the Phantom Blot and Magica herself over the course of a single montage sequence (okay, technically three montage sequences, but all in the same episode) was the very definition of rushed pacing. Also, I kind of feel better about Poe teaching Lena magic than Magica, given the hell that woman put my girl through in the first two seasons. She really shouldn't be around children at all. Or anyone, really.
The Climax
Later in the season, the 'evidence' that Huey and Bradford have 'gathered' points squarely to Gyro as the traitor within McDuck Enterprises (another idea from Redwings). Everyone knows Gyro's a terrible boss and not a pleasant person to be around; he's the perfect fall guy. Huey, meanwhile, has grown more and more conflicted as Bradford's gaslighting has led him to doubt whether the pursuit of adventure for its own sake is really a good idea, especially considering that it left him without his mother for the first ten years of his life. This leads to conflict with the family, especially Scrooge, as Huey actively protests against Clan McDuck's way of life so vehemently that it unintentionally leads Scrooge, and the others, to suspect that Huey is the mole at McDuck Enterprises.
Which is exactly what Bradford wanted.
Huey now realizes that he's been framed, and he has to clear his name. Louie, on the other hand, is the first to sniff out that Bradford's clearly set Huey up for the fall, and Dewey of course believes them both because they're brothers and nothing will ever get in the way of that. But Webby isn't quite so easy to convince, and she could easily take all three of them unprepared, so trying to get past her will be easier said than done. It's ultimately Lena who manages to convince Webby to trust the triplets again, pointing out that she's known her share of terrible people, and Huey clearly isn't one of them.
Webby, Lena, and Violet, with Poe's help (and possibly Gosalyn's and Boyd's as well), agree to help the triplets vindicate Huey, but this is where May and June (the Webby clones) come in, claiming to have 'escaped' from FOWL as their experiments. They know where FOWL is keeping the lie-detecting Lost Harp of Mervana, and they can lead the kids to it. Lena smells a rat here, Huey has been burned before, and Louie expresses doubt at the group's competence in taking on two Webby clones if they should turn violent, but given that the grown-ups don't exactly trust them at the moment, they don't have much in the way of options.
This of course leads to all the kids being led into a FOWL trap, with Bradford revealing himself as the Big Bad and even boasting about having created Webby as 'April' in order to procure the Papyrus of Binding, which manifests anything written on it into reality (a plot point from the original season three, where Scrooge wrote on the Papyrus that it would disappear until his 'true heir' appeared to claim it; again, it makes sense in the show's context). The truth of Bradford's backstory would also be revealed, as his childhood trauma from being dragged along on his grandmother's 'adventures' shaped the man he would become and reinforced his ruthless perspective on eliminating all elements of 'chaos' from the world.
The kids try to protect Webby, but are overwhelmed by FOWL's agents, with Lena almost killed by the Phantom Blot's magic-draining gauntlet before Poe flies in its path and, with Magica's spell on him reversed by the gauntlet's power, unexpectedly regains his 'human' form. Lena, realizing that someone has to make it back to McDuck Manor to warn the adults of what's happened, and not having enough magic left to save everyone, reluctantly has to abandon her friends by using the last of her power to escape. (This is painful for her because if you know anything about Lena, she never abandons a friend in need, especially Webby.) The others are quickly captured, with the Blot particularly pleased to have his arch nemesis's brother in his possession as leverage in his revenge plot.
This is where Bradford's alliance with Glomgold's enemies falls apart completely. Magica is violently enraged at the Blot threatening her long-lost brother, so much so that she betrays Bradford's own treachery to Glomgold, telling him that he's a fool for trusting the buzzard to begin with. Thanks to Beaks' extensive collection of selfies taken with the FOWL members (let's face it, he totally would), there's plenty of evidence to indicate that Scrooge's 'most trusted business partner' is the head of FOWL. Glomgold is equal parts furious at being played and giddy at the evidence he now has to completely ruin McDuck Enterprises, so of course the revelation goes viral and Bradford's cover is blown straight to Hell. It doesn't help that Scrooge has rallied all of the other major characters to raid Bradford's base and rescue the kidnapped children, including Lena getting a final round against the Blot and finally attaining her full-powered sorceress form to save Poe. (We'd also totally still get a sequence with Manny the Headless Man-Horse transforming into a gargoyle. It came entirely out of left field and I love it.)
Except that it's too late. Bradford has the Papyrus of Binding, and he has Scrooge's family as hostages. He's got the dimensional void machine he had in the original finale that erases things from existence, and he's not above chucking a few kids in there. The only way for Scrooge to save them is to sign a contract forbidding him from adventuring ever again if he wants to remain with his family, with the Papyrus of Binding as its final, irrevocable page.
We all know how this goes. Scrooge signs the contract.
Huey, however, knows how to break the contract. The contract requires Bradford to return Scrooge's family safely in order to be binding; therefore, as soon as he's freed, Huey attacks Bradford straight-out, forcing the buzzard to defend himself, with Dewey, Louie, and Webby joining in. Bradford, as you'll remember in the canon finale, has the Split Sword of Swanstantine on him, but he knows -- knows! -- that doing any physical harm to Scrooge's family will break the contract. Backed into a corner against the gaping maw of the dimensional void machine, he tries desperately to convince the children that he's not the villain... but Huey's not falling for Bradford's deceit this time. Bradford, however, has other ways to harm the children besides injuring them, revealing that he's the one who told Della about the Spear of Selene, the spaceship she stole the day that she got lost in space.
This is the tipping point. Huey, channeling The Duke of Making a Mess (his more aggressive alter ego as seen in The Split Sword of Swanstantine), leaps at Bradford, pushing them both into the void machine of certain death.
Which has already been deactivated...
By Flintheart Glomgold.
Scrooge, of course, is absolutely surprised at this, but Glomgold and his former villain army have called a truce long enough to gang up on Bradford. Glomgold's heard enough to know that Huey's attempted sacrifice would break the curse of the Papyrus of Binding, and considers this a win against Scrooge as well as Bradford until he realizes that Scrooge cares more about Huey's safety than his own adventures. "After all," Scrooge says, "family is the greatest adventure of all."
As in the canon finale, this admission is enough to break the contract of the Papyrus of Binding.
Bradford's fate remains the same as the canon finale -- Magica, now with her powers restored, turns the buzzard into an actual animal buzzard and leaves with him as her new familiar, warning Scrooge that while she's letting him go for now, she will return. She's also reunited with Poe in 'human' form again, an emotional moment to be sure, but when Poe tells her that Lena rescued him, she first refuses to believe it and then halfheartedly remarks that Lena is 'not entirely useless after all,' making Lena angry, so nothing much changes in the Magica/Lena dynamic aside from Lena now having the power to stand her ground against Magica. Some people just won't mend their ways.
Glomgold, of course, is infuriated that his attempts to 'ruin' Scrooge McDuck have all failed, to which Mark Beaks reveals that he's managed to hack FOWL's records and leak everything to social media, including all the details of Glomgold's smear campaign and his working with the head of FOWL. The villains Glomgold's ticked off have finally had their revenge on him, and from the most pathetic of the group to boot. And there's nothing Glomgold can do about it, because they outnumber him. Magica wants to just outright kill Glomgold, but Poe convinces her that it's far more satisfying to let him remain miserable for the rest of his life.
Scrooge and Huey reconcile, with Huey admitting that he'd misjudged his family. Donald expresses concern as to how these recent revelations from Glomgold and Beaks will affect McDuck Enterprises' bottom line, questioning if Scrooge will still remain the richest duck in the world. Scrooge answers that as long as he has his family, he will always be the richest duck in the world.
There's also a scene with Webby and Mrs. Beakley addressing the whole 'stolen from FOWL' thing Webby had going on, with Webby thanking her adoptive grandmother for rescuing her and taking her in, stating that she's still the 'world's best grandma.' I felt like the scene where Webby and Beakley reconcile was missing something because Webby should have addressed Beakley as still being her family, because one criticism some fans had with the finale was that Webby being Scrooge's genetic daughter kind of undercut her 'found family' status within the McDuck clan. Also I have an adoptive sister so I have strong feelings on the subject.
In the end, we see a montage sequence of life going on after the whole FOWL scare, narrated by a voiceover from Huey. Gizmoduck, Darkwing Duck, and the police are working to capture any FOWL members that escaped the incident, Glomgold's stocks are tanking as his popularity takes a nosedive from the bad press, Scrooge is working to rebuild trust in McDuck Enterprises, and Huey himself receives a special Junior Woodchuck badge for his heroism, finally rising to Senior Senior Woodchuck. The episode -- and the series -- ends with Gyro Gearloose (who's regained his job and reputation after being framed) revealing a new and improved Reality Altering Mechanism (aka 'RAMrod,' as seen in Let's Get Dangerous) to open portals to other dimensions in what he insists is an entirely safe and stable manner. There's an entire multiverse of adventures left to have, and in this cosmos, family truly is the greatest adventure of all.
And if the end credits sequence could show the ducks interacting with various other Disney Channel cartoon universes, I'd consider that a win.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
-
Latest Entry
Game 39 of 40: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - 30/04/24
Next up on the Sonic marathon is one of the most beloved fan-favourite games not only of this entire series, but also possibly retro games, period. Am I there with them? Do I hail Sonic 2 as the ultimate game of the series?
...
I mean, don't get me wrong. I can't act like Sonic 2 doesn't hold some kind of special place in my heart, much like most anyone else who grew up with the franchise. I played it a lot with Mega Collection Plus, I too loved the speed of Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant Zone as a kid. But as time went on, I personally just never really clicked with it as much as I wanted to. I always found Sonic 2 as a good game that's a step in the right direction, but still somewhat counter to the promise of speed-based gameplay.
So I was curious to see how my feelings on it would change, especially since for the purposes of this challenge, I would not be playing the much more superior Taxman version that's on mobile, and in Origins. I wasn't going to play the Sonic 2 Absolute that's been on my backlog for ages. I wasn't even playing the original game. I was playing the Vintage Collection port that is frankly not particularly well-received on PS3. Let's just stop with all the blather and jump right in, shall we?
As you would expect from a Classic era Sonic game, the story is extremely simplistic. Frankly - nearly the same as the first. Following his defeat in the first game, Eggman has moved to a new island and has gotten up to his old tricks, wishing to use the Chaos Emeralds to fuel a space station as a weapon. Go and stop him with your new sidekick in tow.
This is where I feel the cut content of the game is more interesting than what we got. The original story actually involved time travel, with locales getting corrupted and altered due to Eggman interfering with time, Sonic and Tails racing through zones from the first game as they're altered by Eggman as a result. Still relatively simple, but a cool concept to revisit the first game like that.
Either way, the story doesn't really matter - the best way to describe Sonic 2, as most tend to do - is that it's every problem with the first game more or less fixed. Gone is the mostly tedious platforming segments that constantly slowed down the main selling point of the series, with Sonic 2 having a renewed focus on the high-speed gameplay that the series promised, along with more unique and memorable level locales. So many of the typical Sonic tropes we have become so well-known to have all started here. From the GHZ-type level, to the casino level, to the big metropolis city level and more.
I know it's a rather boring way to ultimately discuss a game, and Sonic 2 is ultimately one of those games I find hard to discuss because so many people have gone so in-depth with it before, but it really is just Sonic 1 but ten times better. The level design absolutely trumps it in every way. Tails is a fantastic addition to the game, even if he's mostly there just to follow Sonic and grab some occasional extra rings. Super Sonic is a insanely great reward for getting all of the Chaos Emeralds, the sprite work this go around is immaculate, the level tropes are so much more memorable, and the bosses are much more varied and interesting.
Even as someone who does love Mania and S3&K, much more than Sonic 2, if I was still to try and sit someone down to sell them on Classic Sonic, I can think of little other levels to showcase the high speed fun than Chemical Plant Act 1 with it's massive swooping jumps and long speeding pathways. As much as I complaint, I can't not acknowledge just how insanely this game truly does capture the speed of Sonic at times. Not to mention the music, which I think is miles ahead of the first game. This is one of the most beloved soundtracks of the series and for great reason.
I would say all things considered, my biggest takeaway from the three consecutive runs of the game I had to do to 100% it is that I came away actually appreciating and enjoying the core game more. There was once upon a time I hated Sonic 2 outside of the Taxman port, and I thought that so much of the game's problems were boiled down to the level design wanting to encourage speed, but the game's enemy placement always being there to punish you for trying to go fast. It's not to say that isn't not a problem, I do argue it's still a problem, but I found myself really enjoying zones I never usually enjoyed as much before. Mystic Cave, Hill Top, and Casino Night in particular all really clicked this go around.
That said...I do think the game unfortunately outstays it's welcome towards the end of the game. Oil Ocean represents exactly what I disliked about a lot of the levels in Sonic 1, and every time I get to it, it's constantly a massive pace breaker. It's not only a massive halt on speeding through levels, but it's also the main difficulty spike of the entire game. It'd be one thing if I said it was a bad zone, but I do honestly feel that the game unfortunately becomes a slog from here. Metropolis is a cool idea, but it's filled with a ton of irritating badniks, hazards, and a bit of a labyrinth like design, Sky Chase is too slow for it's own good, Wing Fortress feels extremely cheap with the one shot kills, and that's not to mention the surprise assault of taking on Silver Sonic and Death Egg Robot back to back with no rings.
What can I say about this fight that most haven't already? It's cool as a setpiece, sure. Silver Sonic is a neat idea that stands out from Metal Sonic. The entire idea of the fight taking place in space with a massive mech is such a huge step up in ambition compared to Sonic 1's pipe fight, but still, it's just really hard for me to excuse how terrible it feels to get cheap shotted because you mistimed a jump or didn't realise that the spiked arm wasn't fully in the vulnerable position. It feels like a means to chew through lives so you game over and have to do the whole game again.
Then there's the special stages. The goddamn special stages. The infamous, awful, halfpipe special stages. I don't like them much in the Taxman version where it's at least in full 3D. But here, in the original form, with the pseudo 3D, where you can softlock yourself out of the emerald if you didn't get enough rings on certain sections, and the unbelievably strict requirements, as well as the sheer infuriating trial and error nature of the special stages, and not to mention the fact that Tails will screw you over big time here. It's miserable. Utterly miserable.
I hate them. I really hate them. I hate, hate, hate, hate them.
It's at least nice they changed the requirements. I like that you can just get them now by getting to a checkpoint, and it gives multiple chances per zone, but these special stages are horrendous. The fact they became the most iconic stages to the point so many games replicate them is really not good.
I suppose the final thing to mention is also the fact that I was playing a really shit port of the game. Not only is it's functions extremely basic, with just a very simple save state system, but the Vintage Collection version of the game also randomly hitches and freezes up for a second at random points - in a 16-bit era game, where speed, and reaction time are highly critical. This goes without saying that it led to some failed attempts at emeralds or deaths. The trophies at least weren't too bad, but it was pretty annoying having to do multiple runs to accommodate a speedrun trophy for beating the game within a hour.
But still, when all is said and done, I can't deny that I came out of this whole run with a new appreciation for Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Do I still think it's the best of the series? The peak of the series? No. I still definitely love S3&K, Mania, Generations and Adventure more. Do I think it's not got major problems? No, I still think it has a lot of cheap bullshit, and towards the end, it turns into a bit of a slog.
But something clicked here. I had a load of fun playing with the game. I found a lot of new appreciation for zones that I didn't previously enjoy much at all. I gained new appreciation for everything that Sonic 2 changed up and improved from the first game, and how much it introduced to the series, even if modern games have started to really make these tropes annoying to deal with.
Sonic 2 isn't jumping up to my favourite Sonic game list anytime soon, but I came out of this whole experience - botched port or not - with a much more positive outlook on the game, and I'm happy for that. I'm happy that I can enjoy most of the game now, compared to before. Why it was this particular run that made things click, I don't know, but I'm happy it did.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
-
- 7
entries - 4
comments - 38248
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Episode 6: Shadow the Hedgehog Reloaded
GAME 62: SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG RELOADED (GAMECUBE): 100% COMPLETE
Note, this writeup covers the mod Shadow the Hedgehog: Reloaded and these thoughts will not be indicative of your experience playing the game unmodified.
Shadow the Hedgehog, my what a game you are. The controversial spinoff meant to take the Sonic universe in a darker, edgier direction ended ironically enough leaving a black spot on the legacy of Sonic, but of Shadow as a character in general. But that was 2005, and since then... things are a bit different.
We are looking forward to the furtherance of this game's lore, or a return to the more ambiguously righteous depiction of Shadow with the impending Sonic x Shadow Generations. But that's all in hindsight, all in the wake of the Sonic games that came as an after effect of this game's reception.
So to hell with merely "looking back" on the game, let's really delve into it and PLAY the game and see if it actually holds up as well as our insistence to see more of it fleshed out in other stories.
...By playing a mod that sets out to make the game better. So yeah, that's a bit counterproductive, but to hell if I'm playing this game in its base state.
So let this be a rundown of the changes you can expect when playing Shadow Reloaded, than a review of the game itself. Cause the changes here can fundamentally change your enjoyment of the game.
Cause yes, as you all would know, beating this game in its normal state requires you to get all 10 endings. What you'd probably do is beat a route on the pathway, play the same route twice, all to do the other ending option. That's tedious as hell. Luckily, Shadow Reloaded does away with this but instead only requires doing 5 endings of your choice. This makes the game SO much more manageable and mitigates a lot of the tedium.
That isn't to say there isn't incentive to do all 10 endings. Each ending either gets you a special weapon you can find in Shadow crates throughout levels, or upgrades them with more damage, ammo, effectiveness, etc. And there are some pretty great guns all around.
In fact that best thing about Shadow the Hedgehog is the gunplay. Like it or not, Homing Attacking and taking down Badniks is sure to slow you down when speedrunning through levels. Easily mowing down bad guys without a care in the world with an assault rifle with really active auto lockon helps maintain the pace of the level. Tether this with what I swear is refined physics to feel less slippery, and this game doesn't control as badly as I remember it. But I can't recall if this is a Reloaded upgrade, or found in the base game. Still make note of it though.
Another big change to Shadow Reloaded is the tweaked objectives. No longer will you be micromanaging levels looking for every single target to reach the end of a level, cause the requirements are shortened substantially. This makes even the most tedious levels a lot more of a casual stroll, as you'll probably reach your objective as long as you push forward and shoot what comes in your way.
Of course, not every tweak will save a level. The ARK stages and Central City are still a nightmare, but many other stages greatly benefit and speed up the gameplay from feeling TOO monotonous.
Plus, with the benefit of the mod being widescreen, you have more of your surroundings in your field of view, allowing for better awareness of potential targets to complete an objective.
These major adjustments make Shadow the Hedgehog... kind of a fun time, not gonna lie. I still wouldn't exactly call the game great, and I hesitate to even say inherently GOOD, there are just too many design, aesthetic and story decisions that hold the game back still. But I can safely say Reloaded made the game FUN.
I will say this though as when I went back to other levels out of sheer curiousity... you'll probably play this on an emulator so I want you to enable one cheat at all times: Infinite Ammo.
Playing the game without having to worry about losing ammo makes the game even more fun as it hones in on the mayhem and destruction that being the Ultimate Lifeform comes with. So keep that in mind.
But otherwise, yeah. This wasn't half bad. If you need a refresher before going into this year's new Sonic entry, this mod is the superior way to experience Shadow's first solo outing.
GAMES FINISHED: 62
GAMES COMPLETED: 57
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 7
-
Through lands end past Monsto Town and straight to Barrel Volcano we've made some headway since last I
wrote.Game still continues to be easy. I had hoped the Axem Blade could liven things up and it looked like it
might but then it went down before it could recharge for a second volly. At least Culex continued to be final
boss material. Proving to be too much for my friend with AOE's flying everywhere and turning Peach and Mario
into a mushrooms proving to be the nail in the coffin. Maybe if she'd used the Lazy Shell armor it would of
changed things but nope, work pants attack boost just too tempting.
I love the number of secrets in this game. My friend completed the Yoshi Race in one try while there to get
the flag for the musty fears, I don't think I've ever gotten the rhythm down. I mentioned Grate Guy's casino but
12 rounds with Knife Guy she wasn't having it. Casino's aren't her thing anyway. But now I hope she likes
minigames because Bowser's Keep is right around the corner.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
-
No, I'm not hitting you with a Sonic RPG. Yet.
Today, I am posting once again, this time, being one of my most recent (This is idea 44, 45 is my Sonic fangame that Surely you guys know about already.) Ideas, and we are focusing on one of my Favorite Series: Kirby. Ahh, how much I adore this pinkball. Going on countless journeys, all happy and colorful, and Cheery to boot! there are many things Kirby has done in his lifetime. Anime, Platformers, Puzzle games, Battle Royale games, but one, one he hasn't even done; an RPG. Tonight, I want to showcase, one of the most fleshed-out Titles, I've ever conjured up.
Here is the Story:
SpoilerAfter the events of Milky Way Wishes, Kirby, Popstar’s strongest warrior, has lost to Marx. He now helplessly floats in space, unconscious. He has given up. But along with that is floating in space, is his cellphone. We cut to a yellow Kirby, falling from above. You can see flashes of images of Kirby’s defeat. Once they crash down to Popstar, he wakes to see a Waddle Dee in a sailor hat.
“Hi there! You awake buddy?”
You sit up fast and look around in haste, looking for Kirby.
“Woah there, friend,” she says, “You’re on the Halbert, don’t worry. We are on your side!” she exclaims. “Sir Meta Knight recognized you, falling from a mirror from the sky. We found you at the peak of Cloudy Park. Do you feel alright?”
Meta Knight walks in, with a menacing presence.
“Sailor Dee?”
“Y-yes sir?”
“Is Keeby OK? That was a massive fall…”
“They just woke up, sir!” “Good…” he says.” "are you in fighting shape?"
“Keea!” The determined Keeby exclaimed.
“Good. Follow me.” As they walk down the Halbert, you can see Waddle Dees and other knights hard at work. As well as Incased artifacts, Cargo, and Orange Ocean just outside the window. At last, you reach the training room.
“We need your help. You were called by Kirby himself, yet the last time he was sighted, he left to stop Marx from taking over Popstar. As you can see, he has failed. Chaos has been happening for the past 2 days. Seasons have been changing on a whim, and knowing the power Marx has now, I could only imagine that he has taken over other planets as well. We need your help, Keeby, to undo this mess. We have been working tirelessly to keep peace in the world below. Will you help us?”
Feeling the weight of the situation, he nods in agreement.
“Good. Let's see what you know so far.”
The tutorial against Meta Knight starts. You learn how to Time attacks to hit harder, Use items, Inhale enemies, and Guard and counter-attack.
“Hmh. You’re ready.”He says calmly.
The battle ends, and you earn XP. “I’ll be in the cockpit. Come to me when you are prepared".
You can now move freely around the Halbert. You can talk to the Knights, look through the cargo bay for treasure, and look at artifacts the knights caught. You finally find the lone swordsman.
“We will drop you at Cookie Country, a short walk to Waddle Doo Village. If you take a path through Green Forest, you will reach Waddle Dee Town, just outside the King’s Castle, be careful. Bandana Dee can assist you from there. Good luck, Soldier.”He says Calmly.
You finally arrive at your destination, but it's Winter? In the middle of spring, no less. You battle icey foes and find secret puzzles on your trek to the village. As soon as you finally reach the village, a blade knight and a Sir Kibble outside the entrance. Waddle Doo Village has been adapting to the freezing temperatures, making it the coziest, warmest vibe. There is a shop here that teaches you about charms, and leveling up. The NPCs in the area are very welcoming, lending their wisdom of tips on things you can do in the game. You can rest, buy food to eat for later, and even get some free copy abilities. After leaving, you find an inactive Warpstar. Upon Interacting with it, something in the forest calls out.
“If you wish to move on to the next planet, you must defeat the king that wields a mallet.”
There's a save point. As you leave the room, there's a huge field, the air feels like spring, and there are huge flowers and medium-sized flowers with springs. You can jump on them to reach the clouds and find even more items.
(That's right, Sailor Dee is a girl, like the fan comics I read. and no one can stop me-)
So, as you can see, this game isn't Focused on Kirby at all. we finally see his Mirror Ally, Keeby. better known as P2 in most games, Keeby is allegedly, Kirby's older design, then reproduced as a P2 in Kirby's Dream Course. he then appears most notably in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror as one of 4 Kirby companions. This game is right after Milky Way Wishes, a bad ending of sorts. You play as Keeby, in a quest to set things right. in-game worlds, I love it when you play as a different character, every aspect of the world Changes; no longer is Dreamland a running, platforming world. now, you have a quest in it.
This idea is derived from SwankyBox's Video on his Kirby RPG, which sadly never saw the light of day. It's also derived from the AWESOME Huttaburgur on X (Twitter)! There are 8 chapters, each having a mini-boss and a boss that neatly Wraps it up, similar to The older Paper Mario Titles. Speaking of Paper Mario, the gameplay will be similar to that as well, as well as M&L. Let's Get into it.
First Off, let's talk about the Battle System. Your Generic Item, Solo, and Run Tactics are here, Like M&L. The Gimmik here is Inhaling. When you Inhale, you start spamming a given button, and you get a Copy Ability! there are WAY too many Copy abilities in this series, so I picked out 22 from a wide variety of games; From old and new. I have picked Cutter, Bomb, Fighter, Hammer, Ice, Stone, Beam, Spark, Parasol, Yo-Yo, Sword, Leaf, Jet, Water, Wheel, Tornato, Wing, Drill, Fire, Ranger, Suplex and Whip. When you Inhale an Enemy without a Copy Ability, then, Of Course, they only get hurt. When you inhale an Enemy with a Copy Ability, You get the Ability, but the enemy still lives. So, You have obtained your ability, nice! But, how do you use it? Well, as I said before, you have 4 Actions: Solo, Run, Item, and Inhale. If you use Inhale again after Obtaining A Ability, you will either use it on an enemy for Battle Gimmik purposes, OR you will lose your current Ability for the next one. Once you get your ability, a new Action appears; "Ability". this allows you to use More moves, and your usual normal attacks as well. this is all explained in the tutorial against Meta Knight. I mean, I love the idea of a Warrior teaching a young one all they know.
Now, I had the idea of having Partners Similar To Paper Mario. These will be Your Everyday Enemies, but peaceful, and want to help on your journey. In battle, Two will be out at a time, Akin to Deltarune, and they have their attacks. They will have 1 of 2 Classes: Attack and Support. Attackers Help with dishing out damage, giving you another outlet for Damage to Bosses. Supporters Do what they do best: Support. They can heal, Pacify Enemies for escape, and even attack, but not as strong as the attackers. Not like you can already do this yourself, but they help out. I am Debating between them being as important as the partners in older Paper Mario Titles, or having them for a short time, and then losing them after like Their newest entry "Paper Mario: The Origami King".
Similar to Paper Mario, some Badges do certain things, or as they are called in this game, Charms. Charms were introduced in Kirby Fighters 2, in its single-player campaign: "The Destined Rivals". In that game, you went Floor-To-Floor, battling pairs of other Kirby's, with different Copy abilities. They served as Upgrades and Power-Ups, allowing you to have great offense or defense. here, they will do the same. Some of them allow you to do Straight up new moves, like Auto-Guarding, Auto-Heal, and even get a cracker?? After battles, you earn XP Stars, and Gain strength through your travels!
I think I should Glaze over the Bosses and mini-bosses as well as The Chapters, So We will discuss it here! You Start in the Season-Crazed Planet Popstar! Switching seasons left and right, this planet has been thrown off due to Marx's Actions, so now you have to fix everything, but the royal Pengiun Himself is here to halt your progress, as well as Flowery Woods from My First Kirby Game; Triple Deluxe! I thought it was appropriate because he would show how crazy the Seasons Change and the area you fight him in is spring, so he would have flowers! I'm not sure how it would all play out, especially the rest of the game, but if you want to pitch something, go bananas! anyway, the next planet you go to Via Warp Star is Aqualiss, the water Planet. Mostly Islands and the deep blue sea, this would have Dry Land, Underwater Cavens, and Underwater Temples. The Mini Boss here is Fatty Whale, and The Ending Boss would be Fatty Puffer. he is the thing they worship here in auqaliss, and you came and ruined it unintentionally. Next Up is Skyhigh, The Planet high in the clouds. A squad of Poppy Bros. tries to stop you countless times here but fails In hilarious ways. Kracko Rules the Skies of Skyhigh, so you go against Him. After That, the next stop is hotbeat, the Molten Planet. Chameleo Arm is here as a Bounty Hunter who heard of you back in Auqaliss, and they want you. You then get into an altercation with Mr. Dooter, causing a fight. Next up is Cavius, Where Bonkers lives. you are, apparently trespassing, and you have to sneak around to not get caught, but eventually, you do, and you fight him. The Ending boss would be Wham Bam Rock, maybe in some distress that Cavius is going to Crumble because of Marx, but I have no idea. Makkai, the factory Planet makes robots and things, but a virus has everything going Haywire. Metal Mam is here as a Hologram and is a protector of Metal General, the Boss. he is tattered, being usually a nice guy. You come in contact with the Meta Knights in Halfmoon, as you journey across Glatic Plains, and eventually cross paths with Wiz, a trickster that is trying to get you killed, and with your Crew, the Meta Knights, They find another Vistior from the mirror Dimension: Dark Meta Knight. he's a tough boss, but after you go to the Castle of the Evil Marx. He has Kirby under his Cosmic Control, Being as equally as strong as yourself. Finally, you reach the Mad Jester Himself: Marx.
So, after the Tough Battle, You can do Thrilling Side-Quest, Arenas, and much more! what do you guys think? All like it? Let Me Know!
-
Latest Entry
Virtue's Last Reward: A Review
Since I recently completed this game for the 52 Game Challenge and spent 50 hours total on it, I figured I'd take the time to write out all of my thoughts and feelings on this game. Because hoooo boy... there's a lot to discuss.
For context: Virtue's Last Reward is the second game of the Zero Escape trilogy. I completed the first game, 999 (Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors), back in 2022 after getting both the first and second game on sale. The main aspect of the games is puzzle solving, and I'm a sucker for puzzle games (especially the classic JRPG maker games like Ib, Misao, Mad Father, etc.). Along with the puzzles, there's a mystery that unfolds in the style of a visual novel. So lots of text, lots of reading, moving sprites... you get the idea.
I will say that overall I enjoyed 999, but the ending started to lose me. Certain things about the story just kept getting more complicated and needlessly dragged on. The conclusion also felt a bit lackluster given how open-ended it was, but I figured that since there was a second game, a lot of that stuff would get answered. Overall, the puzzles were fun, the characters were a bit annoying at times, but not insufferable, and it was fairly simple to 100% the game.
...And then we get to Virtue's Last Reward. Still focused on puzzles, still primarily plays like a visual novel, and still stuffed with tons of philosophical concepts.
At the start, I was vibing with the game. I was enjoying the puzzles, getting into the mystery, and enjoying some of the interactions between characters. But as the game went on, its problems started to become more and more apparent. Everything that I didn't like about 999 became amplified in this game. Having to play as a 20-something year old man who makes uncomfortable comments about women and practically begs for them to do certain things gets really old, really fast. Spoilers about one of the twists:
Spoiler(Speaking of getting old, the fact that one of the twists in the game is that the protagonist, Sigma, was actually an old man who just had the consciousness of his 22-year old self is... something. We don't have time to unpack all that.)
The awkward comments at women weren't the only obnoxious interactions though. The game's dialogue starts to get really repetitive, especially if you're trying to 100% it. You wanna hear Phi tell Sigma that he doesn't need to ask her before doing everything? Good, because you're gonna hear it over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over... And that's not even with the repeated cutscenes you have to watch to get through every route. I can live with having to watch some cutscenes, because inevitably in a game with branching routes, some of them are going to have overlap. And that's fine. But when you're repeating dialogue that isn't part of those cutscenes and doing it time and time again, it becomes grating.
Along with the repeated dialogue, you also get long-winded, sometimes unnecessary explanations. But for every half hour long explanation about things you already know, you get a thirty second explanation about things that make no sense and are never mentioned again. Those philosophical concepts I was talking about? You'll feel like you're taking a 101 course on it. All the time traveling and transferal of consciousness across time and space which is integral to the plot? Good luck understanding all of that, especially after having to listen to a character monologue for an hour straight. (At one point, I did just start crocheting during these parts).
I think my biggest letdown with this game is how bogged down it gets with trying to be clever. Once you hit a certain point, the game just keeps throwing in twist after twist in an effort to say "Ha! Gotcha! Didn't see that one coming, did ya?" But when you're hit with so many attempts to subvert expectations, it just becomes an incomprehensible mess. The rules of the universe they've established start to blur, the characters they pulled in from the first game don't even feel like they have much of a purpose for being there other than fan bait, and it's impossible to keep all the details straight. The game itself even fully admits in some of the "Secrets" that not everything is explained. Which would be fine if, again, you didn't explain what Schrödinger's Cat was 50 times while barely mentioning anything about the core mysteries of the game. I'm sure there's some answer to this like "well, if you pay attention to those concepts, you could solve the mystery", but that feels like a pretentious way of doing it. By the way, I have yet to see anyone online have a good answer for what actually happened in this game.
And with all this explaining going on, the main draw of this game for me, which were the puzzles, really start to take a back seat. The game seems to almost treat the escape rooms like a nuisance getting in the way of the plot (which I guess makes sense with the narrative, but it's still disappointing to me).
The ending, even more so than the first game, felt disappointing and confusing. By the time I got the "Alternative"/Final ending, my brain had just completely melted. I had no idea what anyone was talking about, and the final cliffhanger just felt like another attempt at putting in a twist with no logical way of finding the answer to it.
I could probably keep going, but I'll stop there. All in all, I would say if you're interested in this series, play the first game and stop. From my experience with this game and from what I've heard about the third game, the first game is the best of what the series has to offer. So if you're just looking for a game where you can solve puzzles with an escape room type of vibe, play 999. Then look for other games. Please. Don't repeat my mistakes.
Sincerely,
A Puzzle Game Enthusiast
-
- 11
entries - 14
comments - 16430
views
Recent Entries
- 11
-
Latest Entry
[COMIC ISSUE REVIEW] Sonic the Hedgehog IDW: Issue 4
Title: Sonic the Hedgehog
Issue: #4
Writer: Ian Flynn
Artist: Evan Stanley
Series: IDW
Previously Reviewed: Issue 1 | Issue 2 | Issue 3
So, after reading the first three issues and getting introduced to Sonic's core friends (Tails, Amy and Knuckles), I was curious about what other characters we will be introduced to in this series next. Lo and behold, I didn't expect to be introduced to a new character and an old character in the same issue! But before we go into my thoughts on this issue, here's a brief summary of this issue.
The issue begins like the previous three issues where Sonic heads to another village and discovers some badniks invading the town. Once Sonic arrives at the town, he meets up with an energetic lemur named Tangle, who is busy taking down the badniks herself. Sonic and Tangle immediately become friends and they continue fighting off the badniks, until a mysterious character drops in and it's none other than Blaze the Cat herself! So, Sonic, Tangle and Blaze continue to fight against the badniks overtaking the city.
Now, I'm going to be honest here: I don't know much about Blaze the Cat as a character since I never played the "Sonic Rush" games where she was introduced and it's been a while since I last played "Sonic 06," where she did show up. But, I loved the fact that this issue did reintroduce Blaze the Cat into the Sonic canon since she hadn't been used that much in the games as of late (which is a shame) and it was great seeing her fight alongside Sonic and Tangle. I also liked the fact that Sonic is so familiar with Blaze as I loved the scene where he's like "Oh yeah! HEY BLAZE!" even though Blaze is a princess of her dimension and yet, she's so close to Sonic at this point. I especially loved Tangle's reaction to Blaze showing up as she's shown as being that new girl who's seeing two people who are well acquainted with each other interacting with each other and she's like, "Ummm...where do I fit in all this?" But then, she becomes fast friends with Blaze like she becomes fast friends with Sonic.
Now, let's talk about the new character in this issue, Tangle herself. OH MY GOODNESS! I never thought that I would love a new character that was made exclusive for the comic books! Ian Flynn did such a fantastic job at portraying Tangle's character as Tangle is shown as being highly energetic and friendly towards everyone she meets, and I love that aspect of her character. Even though the other characters like Tails, Cream and Sonic himself are very friendly characters themselves, it's nice seeing another nice character join the cast. And of course, I just love Tangle's overall design as she wears a cool looking sports outfit, and she has a unique ability where she uses her tail as a weapon. Also, I just loved Evan Stanley's artwork for this issue! I think Evan Stanley and Adam Bryce Thomas are my two most favorite artists for this series so far! Evan Stanley does such a fantastic job at giving these characters such humorous yet energetic facial expressions and it's always such a treat looking at these hilarious facial expressions from these characters!
The only problem that I have with this issue is that I wished that they developed Blaze's character a bit more. We don't know exactly where Blaze was during "Sonic Forces" and I would like to know where she was the whole time. Also, as someone who is not that familiar with Blaze's character, I would have liked to learn more about Blaze's home world and how she met Sonic in the first place. Again, I never played the "Sonic Rush" games, so I'm a bit new to Blaze as a character.
Even though I would have liked to learn more about Blaze's character, I had a lot of fun with this issue! Tangle was such an awesome new addition to the cast and I can't wait to see more of her in future issues! Looking forward to checking out the next issue soon!
Taken from my blog: Rabbit Ears Book Blog
-
Hello there. I'd like to discuss something that's been brewing in my mind for the past week and it's about Rails. Oh rails, an alternative to the usual past pace acting with the rather slow and bare bones automation. But rails never used to be this way. Take a seat friends, as we discuss The History of Rails in Sonic the Hedgehog.
It all began June 2001, when Sonic Adventure 2 was released, the first game that featured Grind Rails. these type of rails functioned similarly to how they are today, except you can accelerate down the rail even faster, creating momentum allowing you to fly off the rails if you wish. Rails also had the caveat of the having any sort of "pull" for the player to gravitate towards it, meaning the player has to be very precise in order to proceed. This becomes heavily used within Final Chase, the second-to final act of the game. Rails are absolutely everywhere here, and utilizing them to reach far off distances, alternate paths, and crazy maneuvers throughout.
Rails appear once again within Sonic Heroes, functioning very similarly. The differences really come in the level design, specifically from the two levels that feature rails heavily: Rail Canyon, and Bullet Station. The level design here places greater emphasis on switching between rails to gain rings, powerups, and defeat enemies. Personally, I believe this to be the best incarnation of rails, relying more on the level design to keep them interesting, having more of a puzzle, or tactile flow to them.
After that, I believe that Sonic Colors is the first domino in Rail Decline, featuring rails as more of an automation section of each act rather then a more puzzle and tactile way of getting from start to finish. To be fair, Colors does feature some sections with you having to hop between 3 different rails to gain Red Coin and such, but those are very few and far between, being about less then a dozen of them throughout your experience.
Rails are a bit tricky in Lost World, since the majority of rails within this game are incredibly bare bones due to the level design doing nothing with them. However, Tropical Coast Zone 3, and Lava Mountain Zone 2. In those acts, Rails make up the entire act, featuring rails that slow down, or speed you up depending on which one your on.
Sonic Forces, some love it, some hate it, others think it's mediocre. Similar to last time, used purely for automation, nothing interesting going on, so there is nothing interesting to talk about.
Lastly, were at what I think is the most interesting era for Rails: Sonic Frontiers. Frontiers features more of the automation of Rails have been rocking for about a decade now...partially. See, it's this strange split down the middle where, half of this game features automation, while the other half is something different. Rails that are short and require jumping fast, rails where you hop between then similar to Colors, circle shaped Rails where you have to aim Sonic at the right angle to proceed, large circle shaped rails where you have to make a full circle 3 times to defeat a boss, all of these mechanics are making Rails, in my opinion, actually interesting again, with not just letting automation be Rails' secondary name!
To summarize: Rails used to be another form of transport featuring more of a tactile or in the case of Heroes, more puzzle-esque design philosophy, but afterwards, Rails got reduced to nothing more then wasteful automation, but hope seems to be on the horizon for our grindy friend, and Frontiers has been playing around with the potential of Rails, and perhaps we'll see more innovation with Rails in the rumored Frontiers 2 being in development.
So, that was Sonic the Hedgehog and the Decline (and revival?) of Rails in 3D. Feedback would be appreciated as I'm gonna try to make this a weekly thing.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
-
- 3
entries - 1
comment - 6750
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Trapt Review (PS2) [Feb 2006]
What would you do if you were stuck in a mansion, trying to survive execution for a crime you didn't commit? According to Tecmo, get possessed by a demon and rip the crap out of the guys after you, naturally. That’ll show them. Continuing the development studio’s love for the dark, moody and gothic, Trapt is a rather interesting action game that involves a unique puzzle twist.
Set in a suitably gothic medieval world, you play the role of framed Princess Allura, who is evading capture (and thusly, death) after the murder of her father – a killing that her 'German S&M' inspired stepmother blames her for. Fleeing with her maid Rachel, Allura discovers an abandoned mansion that she can hide in. Upon entering however she becomes cursed with a demon known only as the fiend, who turns her into a sorceress of traps. Using these traps, you can defeat the armies of soldiers who are hunting you down, and then sacrifice them to the fiend, making it stronger.
So she’s a trapper keeper then? Hyuck hyuck.
Oh, that joke wasn’t funny when we said it the first time, and it’s not even funny in text.
A shame, we were going to base the whole review on that.Mind you, what isn’t funny is the power of the traps themselves that you get to control. The game is broken down into missions – that are in turn broken down into little mini battles where you face various pursuers, from soldiers to magicians to even tramps. News of your possession must have gotten round, because it appears everyone wants a piece of Allura, be it for a reward for her capture or plainly to stop the fiend from sacrificing any more victims.
These battles take place in a room in the mansion, and you can do nothing but run away, avoid the enemy’s attack or place traps down. The traps are effectively your attack and defence, since you can’t do anything else. Hitting Circle will show an overhead view of the room you are in, with a grid covering it. You can then assign different traps to different face buttons. Triangle is used for executing traps from the ceiling, Square activates traps set in the walls and X is for floor traps. You get a choice of three of each type of trap, but you can only put down one ceiling, one wall and one floor trap at a time.
Once you’ve set them, markers will appear on the spots you placed each trap, but you’ll need to wait until they’re charged up before you can use them. Then it’s simply a case of luring your victims to the right spot and letting loose by pressing the button that corresponds to the trap. You can even do combos, where using one trap may lead to them being hit by another, and so on. It’s fun to experiment with the different traps till you get to make an unbeatable combination. We found that catching foes in a bear trap, impaling them on a wall of spikes and then having them smacked in the face by a rolling boulder can work wonders for your combo count – but not for your victim’s head, obviously.
The graphics are pretty good, with character models in the cut scenes being quite… voluptuous. Yes, let’s put it like that. The atmosphere and foreboding of the game is created effectively with moody browns and greys inside the mansion, and Allura almost an entire figure of white in contrast. An angel amidst all of the chaos surrounding her, if you want to get metaphorical.
Despite the fact she is possessed, she is still pretty much in control of herself but, understandably, doesn’t really want to be beheaded by her rather horrible stepmother Queen. A good natured girl, driven to murder simply to survive, yet at the same time feeding the very demon that is to bring destruction to the world. Not the best of situations to be in really, is it?
The music is all very gothic as well and there’s a great selection of tunes that will keep you on your toes, while the Japanese dialogue during the cut scenes and in-game is quite emotional. Shame about those sub-titles mind. You can’t get more emotional for a bloke than your nads being shaved off by a zooming buzzsaw, and hearing your enemies groan in pain is almost illegally satisfying.
Naturally, since this is pretty much the whole of the game, the extent of the traps and how you can use them is quite vast. By killing your enemies you earn money, which can be used to purchase more traps. Before each level begins you are greeted with an ‘Intermission’ screen, where you can buy more traps, equip some attacks to your inventory so you can use them in battle, and read up on just who you will be fighting. And depending on who’s after your blood this time, certain traps will not work on them effectively.
For instance, a chunky samurai warlord with heaps of armour isn’t going to be affected by a well-shot arrow. So crack a meteor into his skull and you soon remove that problem. People you kill are quite ceremoniously added to a museum of deceased victims, with specifics on how they died. You can also buy keys, which will open up new rooms in the mansion – at first you are limited to the one room to battle in, but soon you can run from one area to another if you fancy taking the fight elsewhere.
When you start a battle, you’re given a rolling introduction to your enemies. It’s polite to get to know them before you start garrotting them, you see. Even though you may fight as many as five people in any one round, you will only ever see two foes at a time. Likely due to how much the PS2 can handle, but as you get to the later stages it all starts to feel a bit artificial. Well... obviously it is, because it’s a video game, but perhaps more than two people to battle at once would have added a bit of adrenaline to later levels.
And speaking of which, although the gameplay is original for the type of game it is, you might end up feeling bored with it after a while – the trap-placing and the running around does get a little repetitive, and you will likely stick to a select few traps that you know will work best instead of experimenting after a short time. It appears that once you get to the stage of taking on five enemies, almost on a one-after-the-other basis, you’ve hit the top of the learning curve.
The AI of the enemies are quite good, as we found ourselves rather frustrated when we set off traps too early, and the enemies simply stepped around our bodged attempt at beheading them. They do tend to be a little bit cheap though, particularly the magicians that will gang up on you with spells even when you’re on the floor and have yet to recover. You may also have problems adjusting to how slow the game is in action – the framerate is quite low and as a result everyone runs around almost as if they’re in slow motion, particularly the enemies. Not very exciting to have to wait for ages for a slow-witted opponent to be lured into a bomb trap.
Longevity is a bit of an issue as well, although the game does try its best on this one. During the story mode there is a ‘Side Story’ that consists of one extra battle, which adds an alternative side to the main game. You also have a Survival mode, but considering the issues with repetitive play, it’s unlikely you will head here too often. It's the bizarre story that keeps you playing, with multiple twists and possibilities being uncovered in almost every scene, but once you’ve seen it all you will probably come back to it every now and then to indulge in the interesting gameplay and to mutilate people in various fun and nasty ways. For as long as it does last though, there is a lot to appreciate from gamers who are looking for something new.
Score: C+
It has its shortcomings, but this is interesting enough to hold your attention until you complete it. No doubt we’ll get the Daily Mail and the other media telling us that Trapt will encourage youths to get possessed and use magic traps to kill their mates or something – Trapt is a unique and gloriously gruesome puzzle-fest. One to rent.
-
This review was originally published on SPOnG.com on 24 Feb 2006, at:
https://spong.com/feature/10109341/Review-Trapt-PS2
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 3
-
Sonic The Hedgehog has a lot of games. And in these games, are boss battles. Boss battles are designed to be a test for the players skills with the game's mechanics, and controls. Games series' like Mega Man and Donkey Kong I believe have perfected this design philosophy. Such as Captain K. Rool, and Shade Man to name a couple examples.
However, with Sonic The Hedgehog, it's always been two sides of a single coin: It's either Case 1: The Boss is too easy and goes out too fast due to Sonic's sheer speed. Or Case 2: This boss is incredibly frustrating I can't even attack half the time due to the boss moving elsewhere.
With that, I've noticed with Sonic Team's bosses implemented within all of Sonic's classic entries, they seem to lean towards Case 1 for the majority of it's bosses. Other developers like Arzest and the team behind Sonic Mania lean a lot more into Case 2 with their entries. From my perspective, it's this swaying pendulum between the two different philosophies that seem to have the need to sacrifice one for the other.
What's the solution? Well, I believe that solution is found within a little game called Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Mushroom Hill Zone Act 2:
This particular boss boils down to this: Spin Dash into the Egg Scrambler whilst dodging the logs coming in at a decent speed. There isn't anything halting what Sonic has been doing this entire game. Running. Running and jumping. This boss takes these two common actions taken by the player and makes them the focal point of this boss. Sonic is running at top speed and is not likely to slow down at any point during the fight. There's enough time to react to the spike balls due to the spike ball appearing moments after the intro has ended. And lastly, Sonic looses momentum when striking the boss, leaving a high chance for a sizable amount of time to happen between the strikes.
The only problem to this boss is it's rather short HP bar during the fight. A simple tweak with the amount of HP and you have yourself the perfect boss for Classic Sonic gameplay. It asks of the player to take it's lessons learned throughout and puts them to the test. Without too much spamming of the A button, and doesn't rely on invincibility frames to make sure the fight doesn't end in two seconds.
This has been my Classic Sonic The Hedgehog and Boss Design discussion. This all just my opinion and am by no mean a Classic Sonic Design Master.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
-
- 7
entries - 2
comments - 2946
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
2/25/24 - Side Order review (Spoilers)
Welcome back! It's been a while, hasn't it? Oh, I have so many games to review now, so you'll hear from me again soon. Today's topic: Splatoon 3's Side Order. I'll get this out of the way first: There will be spoilers here. Also, fair warning: I suggest not playing this DLC if you are relatively new to Splatoon. Click to unhide spoiler to see review:
SpoilerThe story is kinda underwhelming, but it's not the biggest deal. I haven't unlocked all of Marina's dev diary, so, there are little tidbits I'm missing. The story is fairly simple, but there are cute little dialogue sequences between floors that reveal some more of the story and are entertaining.
My big issue is the gameplay. Sure, the whole "run" thing is neat but it can cause issues. One, in order to complete it, you have to beat the entire spire (30 levels) WITH A DIFFERENT WEAPON each time. This can become highly time-consuming. You also can't choose a specific level, you just have to pray you got the one you want when selecting the next floor, which hurts replayability (in my eyes, at least).
The level design is also plain. there's not much variation, and the levels are basically just arenas with a few differences. The game doesn't have many objectives to offer, so the gameplay just consists of playing similar levels and the same missions for 30 floors. Oh, by the way, if you die once (excluding Marina's hacks) you have to start all over again. From floor 1. Thankfully, I beat order on my 3rd run, but I don't want to imagine being a new player and trying out side order.
There aren't many bosses (about 3-4, I think), and their encounters are random (1 per each 10th floor, but the boss itself is randomized). So, you have to fight each boss lots of times, which gets tedious and sucks the joy out of them. By the way, do you remember that you can't manually choose a specific level/boss? Only the major story ones (2, to be exact) can be manually chosen... after you beat the game. Speaking of which, let's move on to the endgame.
The final boss resembles the first boss (Marina Agitando), where you have to destroy some portals to break the barrier so you can ink the boss itself. After you beat it, a cutscene plays and you have to spam ZR for a little. Then the fight repeats, but you have to destroy portals that hold color chips since yours were stolen. Once you break the barrier, you just have to attack Order. it took me at least 5 minutes because OH MY GOD HE HAS SO MUCH HP. I was using the roller and just circling him and spamming ZR. I kid you not when I tell you that I started drifting off. The song in the background started getting annoying because it's not very interesting musically. Oh, Pearl booyahs again but it lost the awe because it's not a killer wail and that idea was already used back in Octo Expansion.
The color chips are a neat system, though. They were probably one of the few reasons I tried to keep playing. It is fun trying to choose which upgrade you would like/need the most. The bonus and danger levels add a bit of spice, but they are far too in between. They made the game feel less bland and repetitive....But oh my god I hate the progression of side order. The gameplay gets boring after a long time due to little variation.
That's not to say there ISN'T any difficulty. The farther you progress, the tougher the Jelletons become. (Or, really, they just spawn in higher numbers, have more HP [I think] and spawn stronger ones.) The missions also require more to be done, going from just needing two portals destroyed to four. However, with the tension that comes from increased Jelleton spawn rates, the missions are still very similar and don't offer much in terms of variation.
So, if you are a new player, WAIT until you play this or you will suffer, because it is difficult.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 7
-
Latest Entry
Test Blog
So, I guess this is a new feature that was added.
I'm not really sure if I'm gonna use it much but hey, it's nice to have, I suppose. I never really ran a blog before so this is gonna be interesting.
If I keep using it, I'll probably just post whatever is on my mind, be it opinion pieces on stuff or general random thoughts that I feel like are blog worthy.
So yeah....uh.....bye for now I guess
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
-
- 0
entries - 0
comments - 1203
views
No blog entries yet
- 0
-
- 0
entries - 0
comments - 82
views
No blog entries yet
- 0
-
- 0
entries - 0
comments - 1606
views
No blog entries yet
- 0
-
- 0
entries - 0
comments - 17
views
No blog entries yet
- 0
.jpeg.22c5f46719f8a97b9d93217d9875c0a6.jpeg)
-
Latest Sonic News
-
Blogs
-
Fan Reviews
- 9
entries - 11
comments - 3448
views
- 9
-
Stadium Staff Blog
- 5
entries - 15
comments - 2928
views
- 5
-
Sonic Soapbox
- 16
entries - 11
comments - 6061
views
- 16
-
Jake's Blog O' Thoughts
- 1
entry - 0
comments - 1291
views
- 1
-
Sonic's Beginning
- 0
entries - 0
comments - 1203
views
- 0
-
-
Blog Entries
-
-
By Lorekitten in Don't Get Me Started: A Pokemon/Fandom Blog0 comments
-
By Ryannumber1gamer in Ryan's 52 Game Challenge - Expanded Thoughts on Everything I Play!0 comments
-
By Ryannumber1gamer in Ryan's 52 Game Challenge - Expanded Thoughts on Everything I Play!0 comments
-
By Ryannumber1gamer in Ryan's 52 Game Challenge - Expanded Thoughts on Everything I Play!0 comments
-
-
Blog Comments
-
By Cyb3rkn1ght · Posted
i mean, they keep trying, starting in Gen 2, with friendship, but then tried new stuff with Brushing, caring and cleaning them for friendship, as well as Feeding them (Most notably gen 9, but also gen 7). although these are good ways for relaxed gameplay, it feels more of a grind giving that people mostly do it for battling and collecting, which, quite frankly, is the game's whole point; "Catch 'Em all", and Battle it out, but that isn't Cozy. Not for me, anyway. -
By Lorekitten · Posted
Fans have wanted a game that merges aspects of Pokemon and Animal Crossing for a while now, myself included. While we've got a couple of lesser-known games out there that merge monster taming and cozy game elements (Ooblets and Moonstone Island come to mind), there hasn't really been a 'big' monster taming cozy game the same way Palworld was a big monster taming survival game, and that's honestly a shame. -
By Cyb3rkn1ght · Posted
I LOVE THIS IDEA!! It sounds alot like Poke'mon Rumble with Animal Crossing, and I LOVE IT! -
By Cyb3rkn1ght · Posted
Oh yeah! And, might I add; @Ikoand @SpeedyChilidogsknows PLENTY about the series, you could ask them! (Or me, I’m crazy about it) -
By Cyb3rkn1ght · Posted
ahhh, like your stories! that's way easier! (I just realized I didn't talk about food items, but I'm pretty sure people know)
-
-
Blog Statistics
-
Total Blogs25
-
Total Entries146
-
.png.f768e442ba16f527fb60317d6b1d496d.png)
