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High on Life (2022)
Rick and Morty: The Video Game
If you were looking for a funny, action packed shooter with very witty humour, a good story and a creative yet basic combat system that turns very quickly into a repetitive, boring experience - with combat sections repeating themselves, very little variety in enemies, jokes and humour that get very old, very quickly and a story that slowly turns into an inspired Rick and Morty episode, then High on Life will be for you.
High on life puts you in the shoes of a teenager being babysat by his sister while your parents are away on vacation. She's busy planning a wild party while you're quietly playing your favourite video game where your divorce lawyer, who reminds you multiple times throughout the game that he IS YOUR BEST divorce lawyer, guides you through an alien spaceship as you combat your exe's alien boyfriends. Things turn south as, back in the real world, earth is invaded by an alien drug cartel called the G3, who are abducting humans to use as drugs, they end up betraying one of their members and leave the planet whilst their minions start abducting. This is where you are introduced to Kenny, a stammering, humorous pistol voiced by Justin Roiland. Together, along with your sister, you find a former alien bounty hunter, borrow his gear and hunt down each members of the G3 cartel, gaining new weapons along the way.
The story itself starts off well but quickly devolves into the same basic pattern; Select a Bounty, head to the planet, listen to Justin Roiland, another gun or your bounty suit talk for about five minutes about a particular level or person whilst going through the same humorous style you see in Rick and Morty with no real end in sight with stammers included, find an NPC who, again, talks for five minutes about nothing with stammers thrown into the mix, solve a puzzle, find the boss, listen to the boss stammer for another five minutes about why they're badass, kill them, take their gun, listen to Justin Roiland, you guessed it, stammer and talk about how cool you were with random comparisons for another five minutes and repeat. Don't get me wrong, it was funny at first with a few good laughs here and there but it very quickly got old and almost felt like it was massive filler for the game. I understand this is Justin Roilands humour but it almost felt like it was the only joke in the game. To prevent over talking though, the game does have an option to prevent the guns from overtalking in combat but doesn't really do much for the rest of the game.
The gameplay itself though is very smooth with shooting and manoeuvres feeling slick, arenas feeling generous with their enemy numbers and a nice variety of weapons to choose from which helps create a nice balance and also provides some creativity for enemy takedowns. Though it does feel like sometimes the game repeats itself with areas where you're just battling the same enemies over and over again on different planets but does feel minor in comparison to the combat. However, it would feel nice to have a little bit more variety in terms of enemies as it did get to a point where you didn't really have to guess what enemy you were fighting next.
Customisation felt very limited and the character selection at the beginning of the level felt unnecessary as you were then only limited to upgrades and cosmetics for your armour.
The art style is what you would expect a game by Justin Roiland to look like; colourful, cartoonish and fun with some sections of the game being aesthetically pleasing.
Overall, the game is enjoyable for those who are fans of Justin Roiland's work but can admit that it can be very repetitive and tiring to listen to the same style of joke repeated and unfortunately doesn't do the gameplay any justice but it's still worth a try for the combat and the art style.
Azurik: Rise of Perathia (2001)
An Idea Ahead of it's Time
Out of all the games to come out for the original Xbox, Azurik was one of those games that wanted to be different than all the others in the best way possible. But somehow fell short on a few things.
You play as the title character Azurik, a lore guardian and protector of the elemental discs; Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Life and Death. Following a selfish betrayal from your counterpart Balthazar and the death of your master, you are tasked with locating all your elemental powers and disc fragments to combat foes effectively, restore balance to Perathia and defeat Balthazar. You must venture to different realms to locate the disc fragments, solve puzzles to unlock new areas in each realm and defeat it's Guardians. Once you complete the elemental discs and restore your elemental powers, you then venture into the Death Realm and defeat Balthazar who has become the new Guardian of Death. Balance to Perathia is restored and you are the new master. Meanwhile, Balthazar is held captive by the games main enemies and is incapsulated in a suit of armour resembling the Guardian of Death potentially leading to the games sequel. Unfortunately this never happened.
The game is vast in it's landscapes and is visually beautiful for an original Xbox game. Each realm has its own unique set of puzzles and areas to explore. However, they can feel too vast, too empty or too crowded and claustrophobic at times. It is also easy to get lost in the realms and find yourself in a frustrating situation of finding a way out. The puzzles themselves are very interesting and are interconnected with each area of the realms. However, they can sometimes feel very confusing and will leave you stuck for awhile in trying to solve them. Although, these puzzles do require some patience and thoughtful thinking, they can sometimes feel very pretentious and very long winded for a small result. The game also limits itself on save points and doesn't allow for manual saving so when you die and you've made a bunch of progress and haven't saved, you'll be pushed back to your previous save point and will be made to do it again.
The story itself is good but doesn't have much meat to it as you will be introduced to new areas and will just be told what to do and defeat enemies without knowing their origins properly. This is where the game then relies on the manual which gives you more of an insight into the characters, the lore and the enemies. Although this is an excellent way of saving space and allows the developers to focus on building the world more effectively, it doesn't do the story any justice and just feels a bit lazy.
The soundtrack, written and produced by Jeremy Soule who's known for his work on other games such as Skyrim, is one to remember and truly makes you feel that it will be a great adventure. Each area in the game has it's own unique soundtrack which helps develop the atmosphere and aesthetic. The game however doesn't allow for a custom soundtrack.
The enemies you'll face will be dedicated to a realm and can gradually differ for each realm you explore. However you'll be sometimes left with defeating the same enemies in each realm over and over again which leads the combat feeling repetitive. The placement for enemies can sometimes feel off balance and makes the combat feel unfair as you'll sometimes go from having a small group of manageable enemies to a large swarm that will kill you in few dozen hits. Speaking of combat, the combos that you will mainly use with your trusty Axion primarily will be mashing the A button or B button to disperse large groups of enemies. The combination options when you have all your elemental powers is excellent with each power combination allowing you to deal more damage to powerful enemies and protect yourself.
Overall I think the game had great ideas ahead of its time and felt overly ambitious to create something that ultimately feels repetitive and bland in places. But I think you'll agree with me, for those who've played the game, that it's one to remember fondly. For those haven't played the game and are reading the reviews, I'd still recommend you play it for yourself. If this was to get a remaster or remake, I'd definitely play it!
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Stunningly Mediocre and Self Indulging
An action packed return for Tom Cruise which is very beautiful but ultimately falls short with the predictable story line and self indulgent presence from Tom Cruise which doesn't allow time for other characters to be fleshed out nor share screen time.
Visuals are stunning, the direction when the fighter planes are on scene is incredible. The story about Maverick training young fighter pilots is mediocre, predictable in its sequence and ultimately drowned out by Tom's screen time. Character Development is almost nonexistent within the film which ultimately leaves the story feeling, as mentioned, mediocre and predictable.
The Orville (2017)
The Orville is the new Star Trek
What started off as skepticism on how Seth McFarlane's take on the Star Trekian style of Sci-Fi very quickly transformed into loving every minute of the series. Stepping away from other projects like Family Guy and American Dad and focusing on a massive hit series such as The Orville has definitely been the right step for Seth and his team.
Death on the Nile (2022)
A visually stunning film that ultimately falls victim to Kenneth Branagh's self indulgent directing style
Like with the Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile is a visually stunning and aesthetically pleasing film with excellent cinematography and cosy foley effects that come with it.
However, just like with the Murder on the Orient Express, the direction by Kenneth Branagh doesn't do it any justice - the overly dramatic directions and self indulgent tones when Poirot is on scene is very present and ultimately loses its charm after awhile. This doesn't do the film any justice as it comes across as being a typical "'That's amazing, how did you know?' 'I just know!'" kind of performance - this is extremely present in the films opening prologue which isn't in the original story.
The rest of the cast's performance has got to be praised however, even if the direction doesn't help them. Especially with a surprise casting of Russell Brand which I was skeptical about at first but warmed to his performance as the film went on.
Overall it's a visually stunning film that ultimately falls victim to Kenneth Branagh's self indulgent directing style.
Man vs Bee (2022)
A mediocre return for Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Atkinson plays it safe with his return to our screens with his familiar comedy style in this new series Man v Bee in which a house sitter causes absolute chaos, destruction and mayhem as he battles with a pesky little bee. However, what looked to be an interesting idea, ultimately falls flat as the comedy in this series is almost too predictable. But it does manage to provide some good chuckles throughout the series and with the episodes having a run time of 15+ minutes, you don't feel like it's over staying it's welcome and still able to enjoy it in bite sized comedy chunks.
The Northman (2022)
A Brutally Beautiful, Action-Packed Revenge Tale that rehashes an overused premise and occasionally drags on too much
TL;DR The film itself is a visually stunning, gory, action-packed adventure that reuses an already overused story premise from many other revenge films before it.