Released: 20 July 2018 Director: Antoine Fuqua Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing Budget: $62 to 79 million Stars: Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Melissa Leo, Jonathan Scarfe, and Bill Pullman
The Plot: Robert McCall (Washington) has been operating as “The Equalizer” for some time, righting wrongs and offering his unique services to those in need while still living a relatively quiet, unassuming life. However, when his friend and former colleague is killed, McCall soon finds himself putting his methodical abilities to use against former teammates of his turned rogue mercenaries.
The Background: Having begun life as a late-eighties American crime drama starring starred British actor Edward Woodward, the idea for a live-action reinterpretation of The Equalizer was first kicked around in 2010 but didn’t really come to fruition until star Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua came onboard in 2011. Though not quite as intense or exciting as films of a similar nature, like Taken(Morel, 2008) and John Wick (Stahelski, 2014), The Equalizer was a decent enough box office success, making over $190 million worldwide against its $73 million budget, and production of a sequel began some seven months after the first film’s release. Notably, The Equalizer 2 was the first time Washington had ever starred in a sequel to one of his movies, however the film earned around about the same as its predecessor at the box office and received somewhat mixedreviews for essentially only offering more of the same content as the first film rather than anything new or substantial.
The Review: While the original TV show was a bit before my time, I actually quite enjoyed the first Equalizer movie; it wasn’t quite as intense or engaging as Taken or John Wick but it was a pretty decent, more cerebral and methodical tale of an aged, former government operative reluctantly putting his long-retired skills to good use and taken on a bunch of Russian mobsters. However, while that film ended with McCall advertising his services as “The Equalizer”, the second film takes a bit of a left turn in that, rather than following McCall as he rights wrongs and fights injustice for those who contact him, we’re back to a slower, systematic film that is more a character study than anything else.
McCall is just as methodical and practical as ever.
As before, the star of the show is, obviously Denzel Washington; though Denzel now has hair for 95% of the film (which actually makes him look younger and less distinct as McCall), he still retains that same quiet, sombre, haunting feeling about him while exuding a general good-naturedness to all around him. Now supplementing his income as a Lyft driver, which allows him to meet and learn about a wide variety of people, McCall is just as disciplined as before and all of his little quirks and OCD-like routines return (he still carries his own tea bag, utensils, and tackles both cleaning apples and repainting a wall of graffiti with the same meticulous focus).
McCall’s combat skills are virtually unmatched throughout the film.
Denzel has a natural, likeable charisma about him; he doesn’t just resort to violence for the sake of it and always offers his target the chance to walk away and/or do the right thing. However, his uncanny ability to “read” people, to notice things others wouldn’t, and to absorb information about those around him and his environment allows him to not only take out rooms full of armed men in seconds with quick, precise strikes, but also to know what people are thinking/feeling or have gone through with a minimum of input and to predict how each situation will go, allowing him to still be a nearly robotic, efficient combatant that can easily overwhelm gis opponents, breaking arms and dislocating limbs without breaking a sweat and not even being short of breath afterwards.
McCall goes to extreme lengths to dissuade Miles from the wrong path.
Given that McCall is in a new location with a new life, we have to not only become reacquainted with him but are also introduced to a handful of new characters; chief amongst them is Miles Whittaker (Sanders), an aspiring artist who is tempted into a life of easy money, crime, and violence. McCall acts as a positive influence on Miles, encouraging him to stick with his studies and follow his passion for art but is eventually forced to violently confront a bunch of gangsters on their home turf to convince Miles not to get caught up in that life. McCall strikes with a precise fury, busting in on the gang with two guns, and goes to extreme lengths (forcing a gun into Miles’s hand and daring him to shoot him and then holding him at gunpoint and getting uncharacteristically emotional about the gang life, guns, and violence that Miles seems to find so attractive) to deter Miles from that life.
Susan and Brian are two of the last links to McCall’s mysterious former life.
However, there are some returning characters to the film, namely McCall’s former colleagues Susan (Leo) and Brian Plummer (Pullman); these two, particularly Susan, are the only ones that are aware of his double life and with whom he can open up to about his dead wife and former life. His interactions with both allows us to see, more explicitly, McCall’s more human and vulnerable side and learn a little bit more about who he used to be. Susan regularly feeds him information and resources to help keep him busy but encourages him to return home, the suggestion being that he is hiding from confronting his loss in this new city and new vigilante-style life, and her sudden and violent death clearly affects McCall’s characteristically stoic and disciplined demeanour.
McCall’s former partner, Dave, turns out to be the film’s underwhelming antagonist.
Putting his unique set of skills to use to quickly identify the two responsible for Susan’s murder, McCall reaches out to another of his former colleagues, Dave York (Pascal). York initially appears to be a close friend and former partner of McCall’s but it doesn’t take long for McCall to piece together that York has betrayed everything he stood for and, alongside their entire former team, has become little more than a mercenary. This sets York up as the film’s primary antagonist quite late into the film as, before this revelation, it appears as though Resnik (Scarfe) is to be the main antagonist. While you might think that York would be a formidable opponent for McCall, given that they (and their team) are cut from the same cloth, he fails to properly match up to enforcer Teddy Rensen (Marton Csokas) from the last film, being less of a physical or formidable threat despite escalating the personal nature of the film’s final act.
The Nitty-Gritty: Rather than go for a “bigger, better” approach for the sequel, The Equalizer 2 is more of the same meticulously paced, cerebral character study as the first film rather than being a much more action-packed and fast-paced affair. Indeed, I expected to see McCall taking on various cases, especially in the film’s early going, but his alias of “The Equalizer” is never used or referred to, even in passing, and, instead, McCall simply acts when he observes injustice in the lives of those around him; he wrecks a bunch of wealthy shit-heads for abusing a young intern out of the kindness of his heart and for her sake rather than any kind of payment or recognition and rescues the young daughter of his preferred bookstore owner’s just because he can and it is the right thing to do.
McCall’s interactions with those around himreveal more about his motivations.
Of course, more time spent with McCall means we learn a little bit more about who he is and why he does what he does. Once again, this is delivered in snippets, hinting at his former life and what motivates him to help others: whilst cleaning up the gang graffiti on his building, McCall intimates that it is because no one else will and plenty of people are happy to complain or let someone else take care of problems but no one ever does, so he does it. Similarly, as if the personal stakes McCall has in this film aren’t enough, during his tense confrontation with York, McCall admits that he deserves to die “many times over” for the sins he has committed in the past, showing that he is equally motivated by atonement as much as anything else.
McCall’s so good he can win fights whilst driving at high speeds!
We also get to see a bit more of McCall’s wide array of skills; his unique observational abilities and insight also allow him to correctly recreate the murders Resnik perpetrated to get a sense of how he thinks and operates, all of which not only help McCall piece together more details on the murders. Additionally, his combat proficiency is at such a level that he’s even able to emerge the victor (relatively unscathed) in a fight with an armed man while he (McCall) is driving a car!
Despite having the upper hand on numerous occassions, York is constantly outwitted by McCall.
As an antagonist, York (sadly always referred to as “Dave” throughout the film, which isn’t that intimidating of a name for your main bad guy) falls a little short; his motivations are essentially the same as Alec Trevelyan’s (Sean Bean) in that he killed for his country and blindly followed orders only to be screwed over by the system and his superiors and cast aside, and that the entirety of their unit has gone rogue in the same way as a result. McCall, however, is less than impressed or intimidated and simply vows to kill each of them to avenge Susan and for betraying her/him/everything they once stood for and is easily able to get Brian to safety, guide Miles to a hidden panic room in his (McCall’s) apartment, and to evade York’s attempts to take him out.
Superior numbers and armed opponents are of little consequence to McCall.
Even when York takes Miles as a hostage and baits him into a final confrontation at his seaside hometown (which Susan eludes McCall has been actively avoiding returning to due to the lingering history he has there and which is also under siege from a hurricane, with the tumultuous storm both representing the animal within McCall and contrasting with his stoic implacability), McCall uses his superior knowledge of the town and stealth tactics to pick them off one by one through a series of deadly traps and efficiently brutal kills, similar to how he picked off Rensen’s men at the conclusion of the first film but on a decidedly larger, more dramatically elaborate scale thanks to the raging storm that covers the town.
Even with every advantage, and putting up a good fight, York is no match for McCall.
Despite York’s superior numbers and weaponry (McCall heads to the town unarmed and only utilises the weapons he acquires or liberates from his surroundings/targets), and him and his goons taking up defensive positions and assuming a tactical advantage through their numbers and placement (with York himself taking the high ground and a sniper position to cover the entire downtown area), McCall easily picks them all off with methodical precision. Accordingly, the film culminates in a showdown between McCall and York; York has Miles bound and gagged in the boot of his car and threatens him to draw McCall out of hiding. McCall, however, is too smart for that and, despite York having the high ground, engages him in a fist fight. Thanks to a lucky cut from a knife, and being the main antagonist, York puts up the only fight McCall has to deal with throughout the film, landing a few hits on McCall, but it’s over almost as soon as it starts and ends with McCall the victor thanks to his brutal efficiency, McCall again assuming that stoic blank slate of cold, unemotional precision
The Summary: Rather than going in all guns blazing, bigger and better than before, or even following McCall as he solves various problems for a number of different people and gets tangled up in a bigger issue as a result, the film emulates the pace of the original as we follow McCall’s generally quiet life and the people he interacts with, absorbing ourselves in his world, and the action comes in short, sharp waves, escalating over time to the finale similar to the first film. Since McCall is in a whole new place with a new life, we need to become reacquainted with him rather than just picking up where we left off. However, the action/pacing doesn’t exactly kick up a notch after Susan’s death, like you might expect; instead, a methodical pace is retained and things gestate and build, which is great for becoming absorbed in McCall’s world/mindset and does keep the film from just becoming another big, loud action movie, but it is a tad surprising as you would expect things to speed up a bit once McCall is directly affected. Things do, however, pick up a bit once McCall makes things equally personal and targets his former team mates; we’ve seen what he’ll do for complete strangers so this gives us a chance to see just how far he will go, how focused he can be, when someone close to him is caught in the crossfire. The result is the same dogged determination and meticulous approach but with a tinge more aggression, a shade more brutality, and a touch of the raw, animalistic emotion that clearly boils beneath McCall’s surface and that he channels to be such an efficient operative. It can’t be denied, though, that it’s largely more of the same as we saw in the first film, if not somewhat more subdued, making it no better or worse than the original but just as appealing in its execution thanks to Washington’s stoic performance and the fast, brutal, calculated fight scenes.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
What did you think of The Equalizer2? How do you feel it compares to the first film and the original television series? Would you like to see more films in the series? How do you feel this film holds up to others of its kind? Which film did the “retired hitman called into action” concept better? No matter what you think about The Equalizer 2, and similar films in this sub-genre, go ahead and leave a comment below.
Released: 2010 Developer: Treyarch Also Available For: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 3
The Background: It’s the final week of “CoD Month” here on my site. So far, I’ve played all three titles in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Trilogy (Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games, 2016), Call of Duty 3(Treyarch, 2006), and Call of Duty: World at War(ibid, 2008) and I’ve been less than impressed with what I’ve seen so far. For the longest time, I’ve never been much of a fan of the Call of Duty titles (Various, 2003 to present), mainly because I don’t really get on with first-person shooters (FPS) at the best of times. The perspective can be difficult to judge, enemies shoot at you from nowhere, and I just find them (especially military shooters) quite generic and uniform and, so far, the Call of Duty games I’ve played haven’t done much to change my views. World at War was probably the one I enjoyed the most and, it turned out, spawned a spin-off series for the Call of Duty franchise that continued with this title. Black Ops was another title that happened to come with the Xbox 360 I bought a while back and I’ve heard a lot of positive things about this title, especially, among all the Call of Duty games. So, one last time, I sat down to plough through one more Call of Duty game simply for the Achievements and to see if my personal bias could be swayed.
The Plot: Sixteen years after the events of World at War, the United States and the Soviet Union are locked in a “Cold War” that moved warfare away from the trenches and towards more clandestine operations. Black Ops revolves around the discovery of “Nova-6”, a deadly chemical weapon that is in the hands of several Russian sleeper agents placed across the globe, and the race against time to locate, isolate, and destroy it before it can kill millions.
Gameplay: Call of Duty: Black Ops is a first-person shooter that sees you in the role of SAD/SOG operative Captain Alex Mason; unlike the other Call of Duty games I’ve played so far, you primarily control Mason throughout the game’s campaign but, at various times, you’ll also play as CIA paramilitary operations officer Jason Hudson. Also in a change from the previous Call of Duty titles I’ve played, Black Ops’ protagonists are actually vocal, talking during gameplay and in cutscenes, which is a nice change of pace.
Call of Duty‘s control scheme was pretty standard by this point.
When it comes to the controls, you know the story by this point and nothing is really different here: you reload with X, jump with A (still as useless as ever unless you’re vaulting over walls), switch weapons with Y, and sprint for a bit by holding in the left analogue stick. Grenades and other explosives are tossed with the Left and Right Buttons, you aim and shoot with the Left and Right Triggers, respectively, and can shoot wildly from the hop or try to be a bit more accurate but pulling on the Left Trigger to aim down your sights. Pressing B allows you to assume one of three stances: standing, crouching, or prone, each of which alters your aim and ability to be stealthy or open to enemy fire.
There’s no regenerating your haz-mat suit so stay out of gunfire!
Health still automatically replenishes when you avoid enemy fire, and you still get a generous amount of checkpoints to help you reload when you’re inevitably blown up by a random grenade but Black Ops mixes things up a bit by having a few missions where your health “bar” doesn’t really mean shit: the first is when you pilot vehicles (such as the Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter and an attack boat) and the vehicle’s damage doesn’t auto-repair and the second is when you (as Hudson) must walk through a cloud of Nova-6 in a haz-mat suit. As you take damage, the suit cracks and doesn’t auto-heal so you’re at risk of being exposed to the deadly nerve agent if you linger too long or rely on the traditional auto-heal mechanics, which is actually a nice touch and harkens back to FPS games of old where auto-healing wasn’t a thing.
Mason’s plight is a central part of the game’s narrative.
A helpful mini map is located at the top left of your heads-up display (HUD); this shows your location, the location of your allies, enemies, and the direction of your objective. Maybe I’m just used to them by this point but I actually found this mini map quite useful as it actually gives you a far better idea of the layout of your current area and where you need to go. As always, the game isn’t all just mindless shooting; in fact, story plays a major role in Black Ops. Having a vocal protagonist really helps with this and Mason is right in the middle of the Russian’s plot to gas their Capitalist enemies as he was captured and brainwashed by the Soviets; the narrative is framed by several cutscenes wherein Mason is interrogated by US personnel regarding his actions and the action frequently cuts away to more of these scenes. Sadly, these cutscenes can’t always be skipped; sometimes, you’re able to skip them by holding the A button but you’ll have to sit through a fair few which is annoying on repeated playthroughs.
Black Ops also sees you piloting helicopters and driving attack boats.
Also breaking up the action are a variety of other gameplay sections; there’s the vehicle-based ones I mentioned above which are basically similar to the tank- and helicopter-based missions of previous games but actually much more enjoyable. When controlling the Hind, you both pilot the craft and shoot with a machine gun and missiles; while it’s quite difficult to manoeuvre and get a good bead on targets (especially other helicopters), it’s still quite fun to be up in the air and have a greater field of view. The boat mission is pretty much exactly the same as a tank-based mission from World at War except you’re on a boat, in the water, and it’s night-time in the jungle; the boat is still a bit slippery and awkward to control but it’s fun just wrecking shit up with its armaments.
Guide your ground team from the air and then infiltrate with stealth.
One mission also sees you inside of an SR-71A aircraft; from here, you’ll use a thermal radar to direct your ground forces and then switch down to them to clear out the opposition. Once the mission switches to the ground proper, you’ll have to rappel down to a facility and utilise the same stealth tactics seen in the previous games to progress further. Stealth also plays a big part in another mission where you must first avoid an overhead helicopter, silently dispatch of two guards, and then infiltrate a Soviet missile based while wearing their uniforms. As dark and grave as World at War was, Black Ops is even more so. The game opens with Mason escaping from a desolate Soviet prison where he reconnects with Viktor Reznov from the previous game; Reznov’s edict is literally burned into Mason’s mind as he finds himself compelled to assassinate a number of Axis scientists throughout the game’s narrative. Oh, and did I mention that you end up going to Vietnam? Well…you do. Similar to how the Japanese elements made the last game more brutal and affecting, seeing the Viet-Cong charge blindly into gunfire and try to slice your throat out is legitimately jarring, almost as much as them capturing Mason and his comrades and forcing them to play Russian Roulette!
Graphics and Sound: Building upon the level of detail seen in World at War, Black Ops is probably the darkest, grittiest, and most detailed of the series thus far (at least, of the ones that I’ve played). Character models continue to be the weakest aspect but it’s easily forgiven when you realise how detailed and elaborate many of the game’s locations are: the Vorkuta Gulag isn’t just a desolate, rust-filled prison; it’s a desolate, rust-filled prison in the middle of a snow-swept landscape that is perfect for a high-speed motorcycle escape to a train. Khe Sanh, and Vietnam in general, is rendered with a horrifically affecting realism that really captures the humid and horrific conditions of that particular conflict and stands in start contrast to the dark urban landscapes you run through in Kowloon City.
The game’s attention to detail and voice cast is just as good as ever.
Voice work is even more important than ever to Black Ops because it actually features a speaking protagonist; Sam Worthington (remember when he was a thing?) takes centre stage as the tortured and haunted Mason, Gary Oldman returns as the revolutionary Reznov, and even Ed fuckin’ Harris shows up to voice Hudson. I also took much greater note of the music in this Call of Duty title; there’s a foreboding, heavy feel to the tunes of this game alongside the traditional stirring military melodies and, in true Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979) fashion, the troops stationed in Vietnam like to blast the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” at full volume in their base camp and when blowing enemy encampments to smithereens.
Enemies and Bosses: Like World at War, Call of Duty: Black Ops has far more enemy variety than in the previous titles. Rather than simply gunning down Nazis, you’ll mostly be clashing with Soviets, Vietnamese, and even British Commandos. As always, these enemies are formidable thanks to their flagrant use of cover, melee, and explosives to whittle your health to nothing in no time at all.
Storm the Rusalka to end the threat of Nova-6.
While bosses aren’t really a thing in Black Ops, when flying the Hind, you’ll come up against a couple of enemy attack choppers that must be destroyed before you can progress and, when in your attack boat, you’ll specifically have to trade shots with another boat to complete the mission. When joining the assault on the Rusalka, you’ll have to provide cover fire from your attack chopper and also bring down another enemy Hind, before eventually confronting and killing Nikita Dragovich, one of the key minds behind Nova-6, in a quick-time event.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: As with other games in the series, Black Ops is going for realism over the more flamboyant aspects of other FPS titles so the closest thing you’ll get to upgrades is when you are able to call in air strikes, take control of armoured vehicles, or happen across an armoury.
Blow enemies into flaming chunks or cut them down with duel pistols.
Despite this, and the setting of the game, Black Ops has some pretty nifty weapons on hand for you to use; though you’re still limited to only having two at a time, some of the stand-outs for me were the Franchi SPAS-12, a pump-action shotgun that can also fire incendiary rounds, the Python (a high impact .357 Magnum), and the Beretta Model 682, all of which are great for close-quarters dismemberment. You can also grab a crossbow (that can also fire explosive arrows) and a couple of nifty grenade and rocket launchers, like the “China Lake” and the M72 LAW, and even duel-wield pistols and smaller submachine guns at various points.
Additional Features: As with the other Call of Duty titles, you can choose to play on a number of different difficulty settings and earn a fair amount of Achievements. These are generally earned after clearing missions in the main solo campaign but also pop with when find all of the Intel hidden throughout the game, complete certain missions with certain weapons, kill a certain amount of enemies in certain ways, or slaughter some poor, innocent test monkeys as quickly as possible. Multiplayer returns in Black Ops but, this time, you’re able to set-up a multiplayer match against computer-controlled opponents, meaning I was actually able to experience a Call of Duty free-for-all deathmatch for the first time. When in this mode, you can select or create a class where you customise your weapon loadouts, perks, and other aesthetics, which is a nice touch, and you can tweak the level of difficulty of your computer-controlled foes but I was absolutely owned by the computer even on the easiest setting and found it was little more than a standard deathmatch.
The “Zombies” modes continue to be a lot of fun.
Returning from World at War is the “Zombies” sub-game wherein you must try to survive for as long as possible against endless waves of zombies in a variety of maps; one of these has you playing as John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara, and Fidel Castro in a fantastic piece of ridiculousness that is massively at odds with Call of Duty’s more serious tone…and I love it! The more zombies you kill, the more points you earn to spend on fortifying your defences, unlocking new areas, or accessing better weapons but the best part about the “Zombies” mode in this game is the inclusion of Dead Ops Arcade, a top-down arcade title that plays very similar to Smash TV (Williams, 1990) and Dead Nation (Housemarque/Climax Studios, 2010) and was honestly the most fun I’ve had playing a Call of Duty title.
The Summary: Call of Duty: Black Ops was far more enjoyable for me than any of the Modern Warfare titles and a fine follow-up to World at War but I still find myself largely unimpressed. If anything, it’s annoying that it took this long for the series to feature a speaking protagonist right from the get-go but, while the game is better for it, I didn’t find Mason particularly compelling; you can see the big twist in his narrative coming a mile away (thanks in no small part to the constant cutscenes that jerk you abruptly from the gameplay to slap you in the face with the twist before it’s revealed), it’s outrageous to me that he was allowed back into active service after the big reveal, and the idea of chemical attacks or sleeper agents isn’t exactly new by any stretch of the imagination. Still, by taking everything that worked in the Modern Warfare games and in World at War and applying them in a more intimate story with greater stakes, Black Ops actually worked for me on a level the other Call of Duty titles didn’t. It helped a lot that areas were far more recognisable, varied, and interesting, that the locations were unique and engaging, and that the developers included Dead Ops Arcade and so many recognisable political figures happily blowing holes in zombies.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
What did you think of Call of Duty: World at War? Where does it rank for you compared to the other Call of Duty titles? Do you think I have committed the ultimate sacrilege by besmirching the good name of the Call of Duty franchise or do you agree that the series is somewhat over-rated and stagnated? Whatever you think, please do leave a comment below and come back for more content and reviews in the near future.
Released: 20 August 2020 Developers: Dlala Studios and Rare Also Available For: PC and Xbox One X
The Background: Make no mistake about it, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) were hot shit back in the day; though the TMNT first began life as a ridiculous, dark, and gritty comic book, they shot to fame and into the cultural consciousness with the 1987 cartoon series and a line of action figures and the franchise was the hottest kids commodity at that time. That success also, inevitably, brought a slew of knock-offs and imitators, many of which, like the Battletoads, were reasonably popular in their own right. Conceived of as a direct response to the TMNT, the Battletoads (Rash, Zitz, and Pimple) were space-faring adventurers who made their debut in the appropriately-titled Battletoads (Rare, 1991), a sidescrolling beat-‘em-up that is notorious for being one of the hardest titles in the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) library. Battletoads was fairly well received and a number of follow-ups were produced, including a pretty kick-ass arcade title in 1994, but the franchise quietly died off and remained dormant until Microsoft surprised everyone at the 2018 E3 with the announcement of an all-new entry in the beloved series. Perhaps bolstered by thereception of Rare Replay (ibid, 2015), Rare chose to revive their franchise as an Xbox One and PC exclusive, one not hampered by hardware restrictions, and effectively reintroduced the Battletoads to a whole new generation of gamers.
The Plot: After being awoken from a fantasy simulation after twenty-six years, the Battletoads are dismayed to find that they are no longer intergalactic heroes. Seeking to reclaim their former glory, they set out to defeat their long-time nemesis, the Dark Queen, but end up joining forces with her to confront a greater threat, the evil alien race known as “Topians”.
Gameplay: Like its predecessors, Battletoads is a 2D, sidescrolling beat-‘em-up in which up to three players can battle across numerous stages spread between four chapters (referred to as “Acts”). When you begin a new game, you can select from three different difficulty levels (“Tadpole” being the “Easy” mode, “Toad” normal, and “Battletoad” being the hardest). Once you’ve selected a difficulty, you’re locked in to it and will need to create a new, separate save file to play on one of the other modes but you can switch between these save files easily enough by pressing X on the main menu.
Each of the Battletoads handles a little differently, with different strengths and weaknesses.
There are three characters to pick from (Zitz, Rash, and Pimple) and, while each of the titular Battletoads controls the same, you’ll find that each one has their own strengths and weaknesses: Rash is the all-rounder, with decent speed and attack power; Zitz is the weakest but also the fastest, able to string combos together much quicker; and Pimple is the slowest but also the most powerful of the three. Unlike in the previous games, you can freely switch between any of the Battletoads on the fly by pressing left, up, or right on the directional-pad (D-pad) to “tag in”, allowing you to mix and match your attack strategies on the fly. While there is no life system, this effectively gives you (in single player mode, at least) three lives since, if a Battletoad is defeated, you automatically switch to one of the other two and, after a short time, any toad that has been knocked out will regenerate a portion of their health and allow you to tag them back in. This adds another level of strategy to the game as you might want to favour Zitz for the majority of a stage and save Pimple for the boss battles but it’s important to not hog all the health-restoring flies for any one Battletoad as it could leave you at a disadvantage later down the line. Fortunately, the game is extremely generous with checkpoints, which refill and resurrect your team to full health, meaning you can easily jump right back into the action and you are even given the option of skipping ahead if you continuously die.
The Battletoads assume a variety of wild animations and forms when performing their attacks.
Being a sidescrolling beat-‘em-up, combat is obviously at the forefront of Battletoads’ gameplay; each character can unleash a quick combination of strikes with repeated presses of the X button, launch enemies into the air with Y, and charge up a powerful “Morph Attack” (which sees them transform into a variety of outlandish and amusing forms) by holding down the B button. You can also jump with A (revolutionary, I know), hold or press RT to run or evade, respectively, and hold down LT in conjunction with other button presses for different effects (press A and you’ll spit gum to render enemies immobile for a few seconds and press Y to pull enemies, flies, and collectables closer with your tongue). You can also wriggle the right analogue stick to perform a taunt, though I never discovered the point of this move beyond grandstanding.
Gameplay isn’t all punching as you’ll have to do some tricky platforming and puzzle solving, too.
While the majority of the game involves simple, arcade-style fighting, the monotony is broken up in a variety of ways; you can use LT and B to latch on to special hooks and battle in the background and foreground, for instance, and you’ll be required to press switches to open doors or raise and lower lifts at various points. You’ll also have to drag crates around to reach higher levels and use these techniques in lieu of your fighting abilities to solve various puzzles. In the game’s third Act, the Battletoads split up and Pimple is left to perform some rudimentary platforming, dodging spikes and other hazards, and climbing a mountain by pressing switches in the right order to clear a path. Similarly, when controlling the Dark Queen, you’re asked to run as quickly as possible through an all-too-familiar maze-like stage using her dash and unique ability to float to get past the many spiked hazards in your way rather than fighting.
This was easily the hardest and most frustrating part of the game for me.
You’ll also have to complete a couple of different mini games to open up electronic doors either by completing an electronic circuit or hacking your way. The first is relatively simple, involving the rotation of wires to allow a current to travel from one point to another but it gets a little trickier as you progress by introducing dead ends and different directions. The second is quite a unique little mini game that sees you moving an 8-bit Battletoads icon across a horizontal grid while avoiding moving red hazards; this can be tricky when playing with others as one touch of these hazards will reset the grid for all players but, if you struggle and fail enough times, the game gives you the option to automatically hack the door. Other times, you’ll have to complete a number of quirky quick-time events (QTEs), the most prominent of which is an eccentric version of rock/paper/scissors, but you’ll also be completing menial tasks such as massages, sending e-mails, and signing autographs with rotations of the analogue sticks and repeated button presses. Later, you’ll need to use these skills as Pimple to fight off besmirched cult members and be sure to keep your wits about you after defeating the game’s final boss as you’ll need to perform a few QTEs before the battle is officially over. Some of the mini games, however, aren’t as much fun or easy to understand; at one point you have to complete three in a row with hardly any time to register what you actually have to do but by far the worst and most frustrating part of the game was when you have to reboot the systems of your space ship. The mini game displays a number of symbols, each one relating to a different mini game, and you have a very short space of time to find the game you need and complete it, all with the most vague of onscreen prompts to direct you. The worst part is that this section just keeps going and going, is very unforgiving, and it can be really difficult to see where you’re supposed to be looking as the mini games are all quite small by the end.
Gameplay has a surprising amount of variety and just the right amount of challenge.
Finally, gameplay is mixed up further by the return of the Turbo Tunnel, panic-inducing chase sequences, and some overhead shooting stages. Thankfully, the Turbo Tunnel is nowhere near as harrowing as in the NES game; for one thing, your view is from behind, which makes it much easier to see oncoming hazards. Each hit or mistake costs you a Battletoad but checkpoints are generous and, while it goes on for some time, it’s actually more exhilarating than frustrating. The Turbo Tunnel returns at the end of the game but, while it is harder, it’s a much shorter section; the spirit of the old tunnel is evoked in the sledging sequence, though, which has you holding X, Y, or B to grind along different platforms and that can be very difficult when you’re also required to jump with A. One of the most harrowing sequences from the NES game, the rat race, is recreated when you, as the Dark Queen, have to outrun falling stomach acid but, thanks to her dash and barge attacks and, again, many generous checkpoints, it’s nowhere near as impossible or demanding as the original game. Finally, the space shooting sections, while also a lot of fun, see the screen literally fill with enemy ships and projectiles to become one of the most elaborate “bullet hell” shooters I’ve ever played and these stages do tend to drag on a bit and are probably the most “unfair” of the game’s stages at times.
Graphics and Sound: Battletoads is a fantastic throwback to a simpler time in gaming; like Streets of Rage 4(Dotemu/Lizardcube/Guard Crush Games, 2020), the game favours brought, vibrant graphics and backgrounds and a rockin’ soundtrack that includes remixes of classic Battletoads tracks. Unlike that game, however, Battletoads is far more over the top and cartoony; the toads themselves are full of life and wacky antics and these is best seen through their zany attacks that see them growing comically enlarged feet, fists, or transforming into sharks, bulls, jackhammers, and even whipping out a Battletoads (Rare, 1994) arcade cabinet to damage enemies.
Stages and graphics are colourful, wacky, and wonderfully enlivened by a cartoony aesthetic.
Stages are varied and have a lot of depth, with some fun things to see in the background; you’ll travel through futuristic neon streets, a disused carnival, and wacky alien landscapes. Sadly, though, there is no “moving elevator” stage and there aren’t many chances to interact with your environment; there are no barrels to smash, no weapons to acquire, and your interactions are generally limited to activating switches or spitting bubblegum at various targets. Still, the simplicity of the interactivity in no way renders the environments lifeless or boring as they’re packed full of little details and things to see and distract you.
It’s a good job the story is so full of mapcap fun as it’s a surprisingly big part of the game.
Battletoads is very big on story and features a number of cutscenes and lots of voice acting; the titular heroes are pretty funny, being out of touch superheroes obsessed with becoming relevant in a world that has passed them by, and everyone has distinct and amusing personalities, from the exasperated Dark Queen to the flamboyant Tobians, Uto and Pia. While I enjoyed these cutscenes, which reminded me a lot of Rick and Morty (2013 to present) and were full of Rare’s signature, quirkysenseofhumour, it was a bit annoying that you aren’t always given the option of skipping them on subsequent playthroughs.
Enemies and Bosses: As you make your way through the game’s stages, you’ll come up against a host of weird enemies; many of them, like the different coloured anthropomorphic rats, Topian cops, and disgruntled lumberjacks, are mostly disposable cannon fodder for you to go to town on. Some of their variants, though, will block your attacks with a guard or shield that can only be broken with your charged Morph attack, and will also toss projectiles your way. When in the space shooting sections, you’ll come up against a number of different ships, some which fill the screen with projectiles of all kinds that will truly test your reaction skills and patience. Other enemies can be a bit more troublesome: Kernel will charge up an electrical attack that electrifies nearby water and can cause massive damage; Fewcharge will unleash a laser beam that covers a large portion of the screen; and be sure to dash out of the way of Brucey when its about to charge at you. As you progress, you end up having to face multiple variations of these enemies at once, which can be very difficult and requires a lot of strategy and awareness on your part as your health will be drained quite quickly if you’re not careful.
Porkshank is a big, tough first boss but easily defeated once you master his simple attack patterns.
It’s a good job Battletoads has so much enemy variant and challenge involved in its combat since it’s surprisingly light on boss battles. The first boss you face, Porkshank, is a gigantic pig whom you fight three times in the first stage. The first encounter requires you to evade his combo of attacks, the second sees him try to charge at you head-first, and the third sees him split into two and do both attacks at the same time. While he can absorb a great deal of damage, as long as you dodge out of the way and charge up a Morph attack or quickly switch to Pimple, it’s pretty simple to get past him without any real trouble. The enormous Guardian boss requires a little more strategy on your past; the entire arena continuously fills with Blinkeys, pink eyes (hah!) that try to distract you from dragging the Summoner Eye out of its protective field. Each time you damage the Summoner Eye, the Guardian tries to crush you with its massive fists and then you have to smack a piece of debris into the gargantuan creature; the cycle then repeats twice more but with more Summoner Eyes to attack and more fists to damage.
Axeley is definitely one of the game’s more frustrating and troublesome bosses.
One of the game’s most difficult and frustrating bosses is Axeley, a crazed lumberjack who fills the arena with bombs that are very difficult to avoid before leaping into the arena and causing shockwaves with each impact. When his giant axe gets stuck, you can attack with extreme prejudice but, for his next two phases, he starts rolling logs at you that are extremely hard to jump over, tossing in more bombs, and performing far more jumping attacks to keep you constantly on guard while you wait for your brief window to attack. I would recommend using Zitz for the most part and keeping track of Axeley’s movements so you can switch to Pimple and get the most out of that brief window of opportunity.
Once you get past Dirtbag’s slew of projectiles, you’ll have to avoid the Dark Queen’s “helpful” tornados.
Dirtbag can also be quite the tricky encounter; like with Porkshanks, you’ll encounter him in a couple of different confrontations in the space shooting sections but the difference is that Dirtbag likes to attack with a variety of projectiles that you have to squeeze between and relentlessly fire at his ship while using your shield and evade to escape from harm. What makes this difficult is that you’ll most likely get to this boss with very little health left because of the gauntlet of enemies you have to blast through first and it seems like only parts of Dirtbag’s ship are vulnerable. Although you don’t actually fight against the Dark Queen this time around, she does actually help you in a penultimate battle before the final boss; her version of help, however, involves conjuring tornados that are just as likely to hurt or kill you as they are to toss enemies from the stage so be sure to stay away from them wherever possible.
Uto and Pia might be flamboyant but they’re no joke when you finally have to battle them!
The game’s final bosses are the Topians, Uto and Pia, essentially two intergalactic beings who stole the Dark Queen’s power and are practically Gods. When you fight them, they will take it in turns to launch attacks such as spherical projectiles that bounce across the arena and protect them and a giant laser beam that’s particularly difficult to avoid, turn invisible and intangible, and come crashing down onto the stage, all of which cause massive damage. Once they’re injured enough, they’ll team up for real for their final phase but, luckily, only one of their health bars needs to be whittled down. Still, I recommend taking advantage of the invincibility option that becomes available after a few deaths or when you’re close to failure.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: I mentioned this earlier but, strangely, there are no power-ups or weapons to pick up in Battletoads; while you can’t grab barrels (…or enemies) to throw around and there’s no score-increasing items, you do accrue a high score as you progress. Each fight that isn’t a boss battle receives a grade; the better your combo and the less hits you take, the higher your score becomes and, at the end of every stage, you receive a grade based on your performance and will earn an extra collectable if you manage to get at least an A ranking for every fight in each stage. When in the shooting stages, the scoring system continues but you can actually pick up power-ups that improve your ships weaponry for a limited time, turning it into a spread shot, a high-powered laser, or bolts of magenta energy to cause massive damage against your relentless enemies.
Additional Features: Battletoads has sixty-one Achievements for you to earn; many of these are tied to the game’s story and can’t be missed but you’ll also get ones for defeating a number of enemies, breaking through their block attacks, finding collectables, or using your various toad abilities. Others are a little more obscure or challenging, like entering a button code in the credits, finding every collectable, or finishing the game on the highest difficulty. Of course, you can also play Battletoads with up to two friends; in co-op mode, you can revive your team mates when they’re defeated and you can go head-to-head to get the highest score but there’s not really anything on offer once you finish the game. You can play as a couple of different characters in the game’s story but they aren’t added to the roster for replays, there’s no one-on-one fighting mode, and no boss rush or skins to unlock, which is a shame since it would have been a good way to put the points you earn to good use to unlock classic 8- and 16-bit skins. You can, however, unlock a special Battletoads themed ship for Sea of Thieves (ibid, 2018) once you complete all of Act 1…so there’s that, I guess.
The Summary: I was somewhat apprehensive going into Battletoads; I’ve played the original NES game on Rare Replay and couldn’t get past the Goddamn Clinger-Winger stage but I did have a lot of fun with the arcade version of the game. Thankfully, this version of Battletoads is much, much easier than its NES counterpart; I was worried Rare were going to pull a troll move on us and make a ridiculous frustrating throwback to that era of nigh-impossible videogames but, instead, they delivered an extremely enjoyable beat-‘em-up with just the right level of challenge and variety to keep things interesting. I was genuinely surprised at how much Battletoads had to offer; calling it a simple beat-‘em-up is probably doing the game a disservice and this may go a long way to explaining why many of the clichés and traditions of beat-‘em-ups are missing. It’s more like a combat-heavy action/platformer and it never lets any one mechanic last long enough to become monotonous or repetitive. While a lot of these gameplay mechanics might have been annoying and frustrating at times (that damn system reboot sequence, for example), once you’ve gotten past them you can focus on a different section that more than makes up for those challenging moments. Perhaps best of all, it makes the Turbo Tunnel actually doable and I never ran into a truly game-breaking roadblock; it’s a shame that there’s not more to it in terms on unlockables and stuff but I can forgive that for the more enjoyable aspects of the game.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
How did you find Battletoads? Which of the three Battletoads was your preferred character? What did you think to the game’s mechanics and presentation and how did you find it as a revival of the franchise? Are you a fan of the franchise and, if so, which game is your favourite? Did you find the original game as difficult as its reputation or were you able to clear it without any real difficulty? Which of the TMNT knock-offs was your favourite and would like to see more revivals of old franchises? Whatever your thoughts on Battletoads, or memories of the franchise, feel free to leave them in the comments below.
That’s the question that has gripped the townsfolk of Westbridge, a perilous borough in the Midlands beset by knife crime, drugs, and violence.
Who is Nightshade?
That’s the question that has dogged Blake Harte, a sadistic thug and co-founder of the Cougars, the most violent and dangerous gang in Westbridge’s history.
Who is Nightshade?
That’s the question that has tormented Chris Hauser, a troubled teenager pushed to the edge and lashing out with uncharacteristic aggression.
Released: 26 September 2014 Director: Antoine Fuqua Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing Budget: $73 million Stars: Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, David Harbour, Johnny Skourtis, and Chloë Grace Moretz
The Plot: Robert McCall (Washington) is a simple man of routine, an unassuming widower living a quiet life in Boston, who is unwittingly drawn back into his mysterious and violent past when Alina (Moretz), a teenage prostitute he has befriended, is attacked. Before long, McCall’s peaceful life is turned upside down when Alina’s handlers, bankrolled by the Russian mafia, send sadistic enforcer Teddy Rensen (Csokas) to find who is responsible for the gang-land style murders McCall has orchestrated.
The Background: The Equalizer began life as an American crime drama that aired between 1985 and 1989; the series starred British actor Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a former covert operations officer who offered his unique services as a troubleshooter, protector, or an investigator. The series ran for eighty-eight episodes back in the eighties but development of a cinematic retelling didn’t come about until 2010, when Russell Crowe was originally attached to star in the title role. By the end of 2011, however, Denzel Washington had replaced Crowe and director Antoine Fuqua came onboard for this dramatic reimagining of the former spy turned problem solver. Though somewhat sub-par compared to films of a similar nature, such as Taken(Morel, 2008) and John Wick (Stahelski, 2014), both of which portrayed retired, aging specialists brought back into action, The Equalizer was a pretty decent box office success, making over $190 million worldwide against its $73 million budget and Washington played against type by starring in a sequel in 2018.
The Review: I should stress going into this review that I never watched the original Equalizer television series; I was just a baby when it first aired and I don’t recall it ever being on TV when I was growing up so my first exposure to the concept was with this big screen reimagining. However, I have long been a fan of action movies and have a particular fondness for the sub-genre films like Taken have inspired that sees older actors taking on roles of retired hitmen or government operatives brought back into action. It’s a bit of a hit and miss sub-genre, to be honest, but mostly these sort of films land pretty well with me and, while not quite as good as some of its counterparts, The Equalizer does more than enough to impress in this regard.
McCall befriends Alina, a young prostitute who is violently abused by her handlers.
As The Equalizer is the story or Robert McCall, the film revolves around (and is largely carried by) a haunting, subdued performance by Denzel Washington; a man of strict habit and routine, McCall is a friendly, hardworking widower who works in a garden centre. Though his past is a mystery to his co-workers (and, largely, to us, the audience), it has little bearing on his demeanour; he’s always willing to help others (he’s actively spotting and offering advice to his friend and co-worker, Ralph (Skourtis) to help him lose weight for a security guard job) and is a wise, sympathetic listener. However, McCall is clearly haunted by his past, in particular the loss of his wife; unable to sleep, he often sits and reads quietly in a 24/7 diner, meticulously bringing his own tea bag and utensils as he makes his way through book after book. It’s there that he meets Alina, who works under the name Teri, whom he encourages to eat healthier and to pursue her dreams of being a singer. After Alina is roughed up by her handlers, though, McCall attempts to buy her freedom and, despite his better judgement and the promise he made to his wife, is sucked back into his old violent ways.
McCall becomes a cold, calculating, methodical killer when in the zone.
When he makes the decision to dish out vigilante justice, McCall transforms into a cold, calculatingly efficient combatant; his heartbeat slows and he seems to absorb everything about his surroundings and targets, visualising exactly how he will dispatch them and estimating the time it will take him to do so. While age has clearly made him slower at this, he’s still formidable and skilled enough to overwhelm entire rooms full of younger, armed individuals without breaking a sweat or even breathing heavily. The way Washington transforms his demeanour into an unblinking, unflinching, cold-hearted machine is mesmerising; he almost becomes robotic in his movements, with a nearly precognitive awareness of his surroundings thanks to his ability to “read” a room and the intentions of others.
McCall is always one step ahead of his opponents.
Of course, he’s not just about physical punishment; thanks to his scrupulous attention to detail, foresight, and over-preparedness (and his clear signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder), McCall is able to plan accordingly to stay one step ahead of his foes (renting a back-up apartment, for example, using his mysterious resources to get information and laying traps in the film’s finale). An intelligent, shrewd individual, he exudes a quiet self-confidence that never borders on arrogance and always offers his enemies the option to walk away before letting himself loose.
Rensen gives McCall a run for his money but is ultimately ruled by his emotions.
Opposing McCall is a Russian enforcer who has the potential to be every bit his intellectual and physical equal but finds himself outmatched every turn by the aged operative; adorned in intimidating tattoos and driven by an intense sadistic streak, Rensen is an equally cold, self-confident individual with a vindictive mean streak. Despite his assertions to the contrary, however, he is ruled by his emotions and ego far more than McCall, which lead to him losing his cool and growing increasingly frustrated at the inability of himself and his underlings to track down and end McCall.
The Nitty-Gritty: Much of The Equalizer’s pace and early going is, smartly, devoted to setting up McCall’s rather normal, perhaps even mundane lifestyle; we walk through his daily routine, see the many little habits he performs on an almost ritualistic basis, and are introduced to him as a kind-hearted, easy-going individual. Obviously, there is more to him though; Washington’s eyes and demeanour tell more of a story about his mysterious, violent, and painful past than words ever could, meaning that much of The Equalizer is an exercise in subtlety and establishing a mood rather than non-stop action.
Despite his age, McCall easily overwhelms even armed opponents.
When McCall does take action, though, the complexion of the movie shifts dramatically; suddenly, McCall transforms before our eyes into this merciless, unstoppable killer who dispatches even armed foes with ease and grace. It isn’t until quite late into the film that McCall comes up against an opponent who offers him a physical challenge but, even when shot or stabbed or injured, McCall is smart and savvy enough of a veteran to know how to patch himself up and he never once loses his cool.
When in the zone, McCall is an unflinching, almost robotic, nigh-unstoppable killer.
In fact, the opposite is overwhelmingly true; when his eyes widen and his heartbeat slows, McCall becomes this blank slate of efficiency, never blinking or flinching or, seemingly, breathing as he effortlessly takes command of every situation even when he is injured since he has scrupulously taken into account every possible outcome for each scenario. In the finale, he puts his knowledge of the layout of his workplace to good use to set up some gruesome traps and thin out Rensen’s numbers before finally confronting the Russian hitman with nothing more than a nail gun.
The action escalates over time as McCall indluges his violent ways more and more.
The action of the film this escalates over time, getting bigger and more brazen the more McCall indulges in his long-retired skill set; when he takes out Alina’s handlers, he unwittingly throws a wrench into the Russian mafia’s Boston operation. Before long, he’s confronting corrupt cops in the mafia’s pocket, disrupting their entire money-laundering operation, blowing up much of their merchandise, and eventually travelling to Moscow to take out their big cheese, Vladimir Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich). It’s not exactly a non-stop thrill ride but it is an extremely intense experience; fight scenes are gritty, visceral, and methodical and, while McCall is largely unmatched, he’s still vulnerable enough to be hurt at times and clearly conflicted by his actions.
The Summary: The Equalizer is as intense and methodical as its titular character; largely a character-driven piece that leaves us with more questions than answers regarding McCall’s mysterious past, it’s an engaging piece of vigilante cinema whose action escalates the more McCall rediscovers his penchant for violence. It’s not quite on the level of Taken or John Wick, to be fair and, from what I can gather, is quite a departure from the original television series but there’s plenty here to keep you engaged and invested and seeing Washington literally transform into this efficient, precise killer is always a blast.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
What did you think of The Equalizer? Did you watch the television series back and the day and, if so, how do you feel the film holds up compared to it? What did you think to Denzel Washington’s performance? How do you feel this film holds up to others of its kind? Which film did the “retired hitman called into action” concept better? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below.
Released: 2008 Developer: Treyarch Also Available For: Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 3
The Background: At this point, I have played four Call of Duty (Various, 2003 to present) titles and I have to say that, so far, I am less than impressed with any of them, and the series in general. Before I played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Trilogy (Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games, 2016), I had little to no interest in Activision’s long-running franchise (that kicked off its first spin-off with this title) primarily because I don’t really like military-style shooters and my love for first-person games died out shortly after Perfect Dark (Rare, 2000). Admittedly, a lot of this is due to my personal bias against being shot in the back or by enemies I can’t see, struggling with the perspective and the controls, and generally just finding first-person shooters (FPS) difficult to navigate at the best of times. However, when I bought my Xbox 360, it came with a couple of Call of Duty titles, one of which was this one and, since I’m doing “CoD Month” on my blog for January and I would hate to waste the G associated with the game, I sat down and rushed through it mainly to see if my bias against the series was justified and to obtain a few extra Achievements.
The Plot: Despite Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Treyarch, 2007) bringing the series into the then-modern day, World at War returns the plot to World War Two, specifically focusing on the Pacific and Eastern Front skirmishes between the Allied Forces of the United States and Europe against the Axis Powers of Japan, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany.
Gameplay: Call of Duty: World at War is a first-person shooter that casts you in the role of Private/ Private First Class C. Miller of the United States Marine Corps’ 1st Marine Division, Private Dimitri Petrenko, and Petty Officer Locke. While each character’s narrative sees them fulfilling different objectives in different parts of the world (or at different parts of the same location), each controls exactly the same and just like the characters in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The A button lets you jump and vault over walls, Y switches weapons, X reloads, and pressing in on the left analogue stick sees you break out into a finite sprint.
The controls are exactly as established in the Modern Warfare trilogy.
Pressing the B button allows you to either crouch, go prone, or stand to avoid or engage with enemy gunfire while pressing in the right analogue stick allows you to melee kill enemy soldiers. You can toss a variety of grenades and other explosives with the Left and Right Buttons and aim and shoot with the Left and Right Triggers, respectively. Again, you can either shoot somewhat wildly from the hip or snap to the nearest target and aim down the sights of your gun by pulling on the Left Trigger and, similar to Call of Duty 3(Treyarch, 2006) this can be problematic as you’re aiming without the assistance of modern technology such as laser sighting. As is largely the standard for FPS titles, your health will automatically recover once you avoid damage for a few seconds; the more damage you incur, the longer it will take to replenish. There are a number of checkpoints in the game for when you do inevitably die, though, and there’s plenty of cover for you to duck behind but you have to keep your wits about you as your enemies won’t hesitate to throw a grenade at you or come charging at you head-first with their bayonet drawn.
The action is broken up by some intense missions involving assassination and dog-fighting.
A helpful radar/mini map combination sits in the bottom left of your heads-up display (HUD); this shows you the location of your allies, enemies, and a star marking your objective. Should you forget your objectives, you can bring them up at any time by pausing the game, which you may have to do from time to time as the game can be both painfully linear and frustratingly unclear at times; if you miss a vague order from one of your team mates, you may find yourself shredded to pieces or blow up before you even know what it is you’re supposed to be doing or where you’re meant to be aiming or directing your air strike. Gameplay is broken up a bit through the use of vehicle sections: as Miller, you’ll call in air strikes and jump on a small tank-like vehicle and use remote-controlled rocket strikes to destroy enemy tanks; Petrenko meets up with Sergeant Viktor Reznov in Stalingrad (who promptly wastes a lot of your time lecturing you about the finer arts of sniping and the evils of General Heinrich Amsel) and is tasked with performing a tricky assassination; and Locke later pilots a PBY Catalina flying boat to shoot down Japanese planes and ships.
World at War is probably the darkest of the Call of Duty‘s I’ve played.
Overall, the game is far more intense and gritty than the other titles I’ve played; for one thing, the Japanese troops you encounter are far more sadistic and aggressive than those of previous titles, leaping up from hidden bunkers, charging at you head-first, and even detonating themselves and your own dead comrades. Similar to the controversial airport mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (ibid, 2009), you’ll also accompany Reznov to Berlin and murder a whole bunch of injured and surrendering German soldiers, which is a bit disturbing. A similar event occurs at Shuri Castle, where Japanese troops appear to surrender and instead assassinate one of your team mates with grenades!
Graphics and Sound: Call of Duty: World at War is the best of both worlds in this regards as it takes the classic World War Two setting of the original games and applies the modern coat of paint the series had received in Call of Duty 4; this means, again, that locations are recreated with a fantastic level of detail and, thanks to the fact that we travel to more exotic locations (Makin Island, Peleliu, Okinawa, and the Reichstag among others), actually make this game far more visually interesting than its predecessors.
Gore is plentiful in World at War.
While character models are still the weakest part of the game, they’re largely garbed in elaborate camouflage outfits or rugged guerrilla outfits that, again, help them to stand out compared to their more uniformed Nazi counterparts but also against their environments. Also, unlike previous games in the series thus far, enemies can be dismembered by your shots; arms and legs will blow off, chests will be blown apart, and large pools of blood accompany the many dead bodies you’ll leave in your wake. Again, though, locations, weapons, and vehicles still have the same high level of attention to detail I’ve come to associate with these games that really emphasises how desolate and horrific the Second World War was.
Gary Oldman reassumes his famous Russian accent to bring Reznov to life.
Call of Duty: World at World really brings the big guns to its vocal performances thanks to the inclusion of Gary Oldman as Reznov and Kiefer Sutherland as Corporal Roebuck. Of all the Call of Duty titles I’ve played so far, I had the least amount of issues with World at War’s dialogue; it wasn’t fully of overly macho “Hoo-rah!” or military slang like the Modern Warfare games but also wasn’t repetitive and annoying like in Call of Duty 3, though it still sticks to the stirring military tunes that pepper these games.
Enemies and Bosses: Call of Duty: World at War has far more variety in the types of enemies you’ll encounter than the other Call of Duty games I’ve played in that you’ll battle both Japanese troops and Nazis this time around. Generally, the enemies you come up against are just as wily as ever; hiding behind cover, tossing grenades at you, and bashing you with their weapons whenever you get close but the Japanese troops are on another level entirely. The Japanese are aggressive, suicidal maniacs who burst out from hidden bunkers in the fields, clamber up and snipe at you from trees, charge at you head-first screaming “Banzai!” and trying to skewer you, or simply blow themselves up to kill you and your comrades. They also don’t hesitate to rush at you in waves upon waves, clambering over their fallen brethren to get to you, and force you into a quick-time event whenever they try and grapple with you.
The game’s final mission sees you storming the Reichstag.
As always, you won’t really come up against boss battles in the traditional sense. You’ll need to make use of air strikes and heavier weaponry to take out tanks and enemy placements and protect some naval ships from kamikaze pilots, which is about as deep as that gets, and the game’s final mission sees you (as Petrenko) storming the Reichstag in a bid to liberate it from Nazi control. This was easily one of the most frustrating and tiresome missions in the game as you have to disable some anti-tank guns, wipe out the ground forces who pop up out of nowhere, have the high ground, and throw grenades at you, and then try to not get crushed by a falling column or roasted alive by a flamethrower-wielding Nazi.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: Call of Duty has always placed a greater emphasis on realism compared to other FPS games and, as a result, your power-ups are largely limited to the lovingly-recreated weaponry and vehicles made available to you. As always, you’re limited to holding only two weapons at a time, some more suitable than others. Given the setting of the game, you’ll often find yourself running through and clearing out trenches, so you might need to Trench Gun or the shotgun to make bloody corpses of your opposition. The Panzerschreck is perfect for taking out tanks and enemy aircraft and you can make use of Molotov Cocktails and flamethrowers to roast your enemies alive if you’re feeling particularly sadistic.
Jump in the tank and wreck some Nazi shit!
You also get to jump into a flame tank and use its cannon to blast Nazi bunkers, tanks, and towers while roasting soldiers with its flamethrower and pilot a PBY-5A Catalina aircraft to shoot down Japanese fighters. One thing I did like about this mission was that you had to constantly switch from the front, back, and side turrets as the mission progressed and you really got a sense of the claustrophobic space in this small aircraft but actually shooting at and hitting your targets (especially the planes) as a tall order thanks to the game’s less-than-helpful aiming reticule.
Additional Features: Call of Duty: World at War features a number of different difficulty settings for you to play on, each one affecting the challenge in different ways, in addition to a number of Achievements. The majority of these can’t be missed as they’re tied to story progression but others will have you performing more specific tasks, like air bombing a certain number of enemies, burning soldiers out of trees, or completing a sniper assassination with a handgun. If you explore your environment well enough, you’ll also find Death Cards attached to makeshift graves; find all of these and you’ll get another Achievement and special gameplay options for the game’s co-operative mode. As with its predecessors, World at War features a multiplayer component that I wasn’t able to fully explore since I don’t have Xbox Gold. It also features a co-operative mode, however, that allows two players to player through the main campaign at the same time, which is a nice touch and I wonder why this wasn’t incorporated until the fifth game in the series. Brand new to the series, though, is the game’s “Nazi Zombies” mode in which up to four players are forced to survive against endless waves of Nazi zombies in a variety of maps. The more zombies you kill, the more points you earn to spend on fortifying your defences, unlocking new areas, or accessing better weapons. While an interesting mode to include, I can’t say that it hooked me too much as you have to play and grind quite a bit to get the most out of it but it’s a nice breath of fresh air after the game’s more sombre main campaign and I wonder how I would feel about an entire Call of Duty game in this vein.
The Summary: Of all the Call of Duty games I’ve played so far, World at War is probably the best but that’s still not really saying much. The game makes use of all the improvements brought to the series in Call of Duty 4 and applies them to a truly horrific time in the Second World War, offering a greater visual variety to the locations and enemies you’ll encounter. The inclusion of a couch co-op mode and the zombie survival game is a nice touch and I felt this did a much better job at presenting an appealing, intuitive, and coherent military shooter than Call of Duty 3 but, at the same time, it’s still not very innovative. There’s an “x factor” that is just missing for me, mainly because of how bland even this game’s more exotic locations appear. The zombie mode had more promise as it was skewing towards the ridiculous; I get that Call of Duty is a far more serious FPS title, though, but, for me, it’s just not as much fun as other FPS games.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
What did you think of Call of Duty: World at War? Where does it rank for you compared to the other Call of Duty titles? Do you think I have committed the ultimate sacrilege by besmirching the good name of the Call of Duty franchise or do you agree that the series is somewhat over-rated and stagnated? Whatever you think, please do leave a comment below and come back next Wednesday for the last Call of Duty review of “CoD Month”.
Released: 4 March 2016 Director: Babak Najafi Distributor: Focus Features Budget: $60 million Stars: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Alon Moni Aboutboul, Waleed Zuaiter, Angela Bassett, and Morgan Freeman
The Plot: When the world’s leaders arrive in London for the funeral of the British Prime Minister, a group of mercenaries led by Kamran Barkawi (Waleed Zuaiter) launch a co-ordinated attack on the city. Amidst the death and destruction, Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Butler) is forced to traverse the war-torn streets of London in a desperate bid to keep United States President Benjamin Asher (Eckhart) safe and end the terrorist threat.
The Background: Though Olympus Has Fallen(Fuqua, 2013) received largely mixed reviews, the film was a box office success, making over $170 million against a $70 million budget (which was about $50 million more than a similar, far more expensive film released at the same time). A sequel was put into production a few years later, though director Antoine Fuqua was unable to return and the film’s release was pushed back after the original date coincided with the tenth anniversary of the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Though London Has Fallen received far more mixed to negative reviews than its predecessor, it was also much more successful at the box office, making over $205 million and ensuring the production of a third entry in the franchise.
The Review: While Olympus Has Fallen had many similarities to Die Hard (McTiernan, 1988), London Has Fallen actually has more in common with Die Hard with a Vengeance (ibid, 1995) in that it takes the bombastic, explosive action of the first film and expands it out into a desperate fight for survival across an entire city. Just as the last film’s unique selling point was the absolute decimation and hostile takeover of the White House, London Has Fallen makes the bold decision to place Mike, Asher, and all the returning characters in a completely different country, thus eliminating the home turf advantage Mike had in the first film.
With fatherhood looming, Mike begins to consider retiring from active duty.
After the events of the last film, Mike is back to his old self; his relationship with President Asher is as strong and amicable as ever, his wife Leah (Radha Mitchell) is pregnant, and he’s contemplating resigning his commission in order to be closer to home and provide for his growing family. There’s a definite sense of growth for the character, who is no longer burdened by guilt or grief and is, instead, struggling with giving up his beloved position in the Secret Service in order to be a more attentive husband and father. Once again, there isn’t really anything for Leah to do except be Mike’s moral compass and supportive rock; because she’s pregnant, she can’t accompany him to London and is left to watch in horror when the city is aggressively attacked. Her primary reason for being in the film is to lend Mike some additional humanity and motivation, and this is doubled this time around since Mike is naturally apprehensive (and a little overly protective) about the prospect of being a father.
London falls victim to a devastating, co-ordinated terrorist attack.
This time around, our antagonists are Pakistani arms traffickers and terrorists led by Aamir Barkawi (Aboutboul); when the British military initiate a pre-emptive missile strike to take them out, Barkawi’s son, Kamran, leads a counterattack that sees London bombarded with a full-scale terrorist assault during the British Prime Minister’s funeral. Forty of the world’s governmental powers are in attendance for the funeral, the abruptness of which naturally puts Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs (Bassett) on edge despite the reputation the British government has for security and routine. Mike is just as efficient and prepared as ever; the trip to London equally perturbs him because of how little time he has to prepare for it and a host of unknown factors but even he could never have prepared for the violence that suddenly erupts in the streets of London. Kamran arranges for car bombs and suicide bombers, has his men pose as emergency services and members of the Queen’s Guard to rain gunfire and grenades into the visiting delegates and crowd, and destroys a variety of iconic British landmarks.
Mike is forced to adapt on the fly and go on the defensive to keep Asher safe.
The initial attack results in Jacobs’ sudden and violent death and forces Mike to flee into the London Underground with Asher; with the two compromised and under the constant threat of attack, the film becomes more of a protracted escort mission for Mike, who must constantly think on his feet to find ways of keeping Asher safe. This means that there’s a lot more for Eckhart to do this time around; he’s no mere helpless politician and, though the attack and violence of not just the terrorists but also Mike shakes him, he still retains that same defiant attitude and moxie as before and even orders Mike to kill him rather than let him be captured and publicly executed. Many of the characters from the previous film return, including now Vice President Allan Trumbull (Freeman), Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo), and General Edward Clegg (Robert Forster). These are joined by White House Deputy Chief of Staff DC Mason (Jackie Earle Haley) and a host of new characters from the British government, including Commissioner Sir Kevin Hazard (Colin Salmon), MI6 agent Jacquelin “Jax” Marshall (Charlotte Riley), and SAS Captain Will Davies (Bryan Larkin).
The odds are stacked even heavier against Mike this time around.
As in the previous film, everyone gets a little onscreen blurb so you know who they are and what their position and title is but it’s these latter two who get the most influential screen time as, while the governmental figures debate with Barkawi and co-ordinate with Mike, Jax is instrumental in tracking down their mole and Davies and the SAS team provide him with actual, practical support in his effort to reach the captured President. Compared to the terrorist forces of the previous film, Kamran and his cohorts aren’t quite as blunt and vicious but are no less premeditated in their approach. Through subterfuge and technological innovation as much as brute force, Kamran is not only able to bring London to its knees and position his mercenaries across the city in an effort to track down Asher to have him executed but also able to effectively neuter any possible large scale counterattack since his men are posing as emergency services. Like before, though, a traitor to the ideals of freedom and justice allows Kamran the foothold he needs to launch this devastating attack as it turns out that MI5 Counter-Intelligence Chief John Lancaster (Patrick Kennedy) has betrayed his country.
The Nitty-Gritty: Given that its setting has moved from the confined hallways and rooms of the White House to one of the biggest and most confusing cities in the world, London Has Fallen has a much wider variety of action scenes than its predecessor. Accordingly, we get an exhilarating car chase through the busy streets (that sees Mike driving in reverse at high speed at one point), widescale destruction of iconic landmarks, a massive helicopter crash that kills Jacobs, and a full-scale firefight in the narrow streets of London between Banning and his SAS support team and Kamran’s forces. Once Mike is left in charge of Asher’s safety, we once again get to see how meticulous, strategic, and adaptable he can be as he brutally murders one of Kamran’s men (who is posing as a police officer) and relieves him of his weaponry to clear out the London Underground station he initially flees to. In the process, he viciously beats and tortures one of Kamran’s men, slowly killing him and forcing Kamran to listen.
Asher helps humanise Mike and gets much more to do this time around.
Mike’s brutality shakes Asher and Mike has to work to keep him focused and calm but remains a relentless, uncompromising machine when the shit hits the fan who never misses a trick (he has a knack for sensing when things are too quiet prior to an action sequence and even spots Kamran’s men by noticing that they’re not sweating). Having Asher with him allows Mike the chance to have someone physically there to talk to, which helps remind us of how flawed and relatable he is; he might be a cold, vicious killer who is able to meticulously beat, stab, and gun his enemies to death but he’s also very much an “Everyman” character, one who has concerns about fatherhood. Having Asher there gives Mike someone to build a rapport with in the heat of a pitched battle; he and Asher’s relationship if one of trust and respect and they share a brotherly bond, of sorts, that sees them trading quips and digs at each other to help relieve the stress of the situation. Asher is even able to pull his weight by shooting one of Kamran’s men to save Mike’s life rather than being a mere hostage this time around.
Mike’s indomitable will and unshakable patriotism once again wins the day.
Of course, he does eventually become a hostage and Mike is once again forced to rely on guerrilla tactics to keep himself and Asher safe. This culminates in a tense sequence shot in near pitch darkness where Mike picks off Kamran’s men one by one to get to the President; it’s much more of a gruelling gauntlet than the last film and requires a different level of adaptability on Mike’s part. He’s far better equipped this time around, though, thanks to Davies, which means that he’s far more likely to rely on firearms or knives than straight-up hand-to-hand combat. Though he does end up in a brawl with Kamran at the end of the film, it’s not much of a challenge for him even after he is stabbed up a bit since Mike’s iron will and patriotism make him an indomitable force to be reckoned with.
The Summary: London Has Fallen is a much bigger, far grander story than its predecessor; by opening the film up and expanding its scope, it gives us the opportunity to see how well Mike adapts to different scenarios and showcases a slightly different side to his personality and nature. Although no longer hampered by grief, he’s nonetheless seriously considering retirement in the face of his impending fatherhood, but the entire experience galvanises his resolve to continue his commission and, even in the face of overwhelming odds, he remains steadfast and resolute. Again, the overall themes of patriotism are kind of lost on me but the film has slightly more appeal since it’s set in my home country and there’s plenty for action movie junkies to enjoy here, from Mike’s occasional dry sense of humour, to all-out firefights and explosive action, to some brutal melee combat. I’m not really sure why the film didn’t resonate with critics as well as the first one as it’s a decent escalation of the previous movie; maybe it’s the fact that it moves away from one man’s desperate, lone attempt at fending off terrorists to a much wider, urban environment or the far less compelling villain but I thought it was decent enough and may, actually, prefer it to the first film in some areas (specifically the most important parts: the action and the characterisations, especially of Mike and Asher).
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
What are your thoughts on London Has Fallen? Did you prefer it to the first film or did it not resonate with you in quite the same way? What did you think to Mike this time around and the way he was presented compared to the first film? Were you happy to see President Asher have a more proactive role or would you have preferred to see Jax or Davies get more screen time? What did you think to the terrorist threat and the depiction of widespread destruction in London, as opposed to America, and which of the Fallen trilogy is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts on London has Fallen go ahead and exercise your constitutional right to leave a comment down below.
Released: 12 December 2017 Originally Released: 20 April 2006 Developer: Capcom/HexaDrive Original Developer: Clover Studio Also Available For: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 (HD) and Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2 (Original)
The Background: Originally released for the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2 back in 2006, Ōkami was the result of many combined ideas from the staff at Clover Studio. However, it was Hideki Kamiya, best know for developing Resident Evil(Capcom, 1996), who pushed for the game to focus on nature before the gameplay was eventually refined and the game’s unique visual presentation settled upon. Though sales were considered to be somewhat poor and resulted in the closure of Clover Studios, Ōkami won (and was nominated for) several awards and enjoyed widespreadcriticalacclaim, with critics praising the game’s length, use of the Wii’s motion controls, and attention to detail. However, many of these same reviews also pointed out some flaws in the game’s lengthy dialogue scenes and getting the game to register control inputs. Regardless, a HD remaster was later released, which received equally high praise and is generally considered to be the definitive version of the title.
The Plot: One hundred years ago, in the land of Nippon, the feared white wolf Shiranui and renowned swordsman Nagi fought and sealed the eight-headed demon Orochi, giving their lives in the process. When Orochi returns, the sun goddess Amaterasu takes Shiranui’s form and, alongside a lewd, fairy-like artist named Issun, travels far and wide to rid the land of Orochi’s curse and the darkness that threatens to devour Nippon and all its inhabitants.
Gameplay: Ōkami is a narrative-heavy, semi-open-world action/adventure game; while it does have some elements of role-playing games (RPGs), the action and gameplay mechanics are very much like the Legend of Zelda series (Various, 1986 to present), with much of the game’s central concept being very similar to the wolf-based gameplay seen in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo EAD, 2006). I’m obviously not the first to make that comparison but it still rings true, though the difference here is that you play as a wolf from start to finish whereas Link would transform to and from a wolf throughout Twilight Princess, which remained primarily a classic 3D Zelda title that focused on swordplay and other mechanics rather than solely on the wolf.
Amaterasu acts very much like a wolf, often for comedic effect.
In Ōkami, you are (eventually…) put in control of the white wolf Amaterasu who, for all her intelligence and sentience, looks, acts, animates, and controls very close to how a wolf or dog would, generally for comedic effect. This means that she can not only run along on all four paws, leaving a trail of blossoming flowers in her wake as her speed increases, but will also whimper, howl, and curl up into a ball when left idle. Amaterasu’s main form of attack is to tackle enemies head on with a press of the X button (which also functions as a ground and mid-air dash), bark with the B button (which doesn’t really seem to do anything but spook non-playable characters (NPCs)), jump (and wall jump) with A (and automatically jump over small objects as she runs at them, like Link in his 3D adventures, though Amaterasu doesn’t have to worry about taking fall damage), and dig up treasures and other objects with the Y button.
Amaterasu has a bit of trouble swimming but is perfectly happy to bite NPCs…
Amaterasu can also perform a doggy paddle when in water but will, eventually, run out of stamina and be dropped back on the last piece of dry land she stood on, though you can eventually earn techniques and abilities to make traversing water far easier. You can also bite with the Y button, which allows you to pick up objects (such as keys or other key items) to unlock doors or complete side quests; you can also bite NPCs or other animals for a laugh, if you like.
Issun acts as your guide and seeks to learn the thirteen brush techniques alongside you.
Amaterasu is not alone in her quest; she’s joined by the lewd travelling artist and swordsman Issun. Issun functions a lot like Navi from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time(ibid, 1998) in that he will constantly interrupt your progress and gameplay to spout dialogue and exposition and occasionally point you in the right direction or towards objects of interest but differs not only through his womanising ways and blunt sense of humour but also by actually aiding you in combat somewhat. Amaterasu is in possession of the “Celestial Brush”, an enchanted paint brush that allows players to solve puzzles, gain new combat techniques, and attack enemies by holding down the RB button and drawing with X.
Battles take place within a magically-enclosed arena and mostly boil down to button mashing.
As you explore the various different overworlds of Nippon, you’ll encounter floating, ominous Demon Scrolls; though these can, largely, be easily avoided, they will chase after you if you get to close and, upon touching you, lock you into a magically-enclosed arena to battle a number of enemies. When fighting in these arenas, your controls change slightly; now, you can attack with one of two different equippable weapons (or “Divine Instruments) which allow you to strike, defend, or unleash a ranged or combination attack with a variety of Reflectors, Rosaries, and Glaives and deal either massive damage or a finishing blow with the Celestial Brush (easier said than done thanks to the game’s odd idea of perspective). If you don’t feel like battling, you can attack the mystical barrier to open a hole to allow you to escape, avoid the Demon Scrolls, or slash at them with you Celestial Brush to make it easier to get around them. However, I’d advise battling every enemy at every opportunity as it’s a great way to earn rewards since you’re evaluated after each battle and earn additional Yen for finishing fights quickly and without taking damage.
Stay out of Cursed Zones and dispel them by destroying Devil Gates.
There’s no escaping from boss battles or Devil Gates, though, and, when you enter new areas, you’ll find they’ve been cursed with a life-sapping black fog that can only be cleared by destroying a number of Devil Gates dotted around the area. Passing into one of these Devil Gates forces you to battle a number of enemies that are, generally, a little tougher than the average minions but defeating them is still pretty easy thanks to the breadth of the game’s simple, but effective, combat and victory will restore the land to its natural beauty and allow you to hunt for goodies.
Earn Praise to increase Amaterasu’s health, ink pots, Astral Pouch, and purse.
As a God, Amaterasu can earn Praise by performing a number of tasks and side quests; these range from using the Celestial Brush to blossom and bloom withered trees, freeing areas from the cursed fog, feeding the myriad of wild animals you’ll encounter, helping out NPCs, and defeating bosses. Praise can then be used to upgrade Amaterasu’s maximum health, ink pots (using the Celestial Brush consumes ink, which automatically regenerates over time), Astral Pouch (when filled with the various food you can find throughout Nippon, this allows Amaterasu to resurrect from death if defeated), and her purse. As you upgrade each, the amount of Praise needed to upgrade further will increase so it’s recommended that you do anything and everything you can to gain even a small amount of praise. Honestly, though, the game isn’t really that difficult so you might not need all of these upgrades to succeed; I never died once in my playthrough and never seemed to be in danger of reaching the limit of my purse so I’m not entirely sure why you need to increase its capacity.
Purchase items, weapons, and equip Holy Artefacts to gain additional abilities and power-ups.
Like many RPGs and adventure games, Ōkami, sadly, doesn’t feature an autosave feature; instead, you must manually save at various Origin Mirrors (which also fully restore your health and ink) scattered across Nippon or after clearing the game’s dungeon (be sure to make at least one extra save file in case you get stuck or blunder into the game’s final dungeon with unfinished business still to do as you won’t be able to get back to the overworld otherwise). As you defeat enemies, break pots, dig up treasure chests, and generally play the game, you can collect various items to help you in your quest; ink pots will refill your ink, Solar Energy refills a portion of your health, food fills up your Astral Pouch, various treasures can be sold, items aid you in battle (different sizes of bones for health, Inkfinity tags to grant temporary infinite ink, buffs for your attack and defence and so forth), and Yen to purchase new weapons, items, and to pay to learn new techniques from the Onigiri-Sensei. You can also find Demon Fangs, which can be traded for Holy Artefacts; you can equip up to three of these to walk on water, safely cross lava, keep Demon Scrolls away, or attract collectables, among other things. Stray Beads can also be collected to earn both an Achievement and an extremely powerful Holy Artefact that basically makes you unstoppable. It’s one of those games where there’s a lot to see, do, and collect and many different ways to upgrade your abilities without the traditional use of experience points as you can also find and purchase Gold Dust to strengthen your Divine Instruments.
I struggled a bit with the camera, which made drawing vines far more difficult than necessary.
While you are given full 360-degree camera control, you may find that the camera is still less than helpful at some points as it can stutter, get stuck behind objects, and automatically snaps back to its default position every time you leave or enter an area or finish a cutscene, which is annoying as I much prefer the more zoomed out perspective. You can also hold LB to enter a first-person perspective to get a better view of your surroundings and both Amaterasu and the environment will turn transparent to help you spot platforms, areas, or Konohana Blossoms but, often, I found it awkward to actually direct Amaterasu and her brush, especially in certain boss battles and situations.
The brush techniques are simple to do but the game often struggles to register the correct input.
This is because it’s never entirely clear where your drawing will appear on the screen: sometimes, you’ll draw a straight line to slash open a rock and just bloom some flowers on the ground; other times, you’ll try to bloom a tree only to cause the sun to rise or a wind to pick up. This is because the thirteen different Celestial Brush techniques you acquire are all extremely simple in execution (generally one or more lines or a swirl of ink) but the game sometimes seems to get confused about wheat you’re doing, meaning you can waste ink performing the game’s more costly techniques or be needlessly frustrated by something as simple as drawing a line from point A to point B thanks to the dodgy camera and perspective.
I noticed a bit of pop-up and slowdown at times.
Perhaps as a hold over from its time as a Wii and PlayStation 2 game, Ōkami features a fair amount of pop-up; Demon Scrolls, pots, boulders, and certain other landmarks will fade in and out of existence as you explore and I, personally, encountered a lot of annoying slowdown upon loading up my save file or when battling large groups of enemies. There are some benefits to this, though; Demon Scrolls don’t respawn until you leave the area you are in, for one thing, but pots do so it’s pretty easy to stock up on health, ink, and Yen as long as you can be bothered to keep breaking these items open.
There’s a lot to see and do in Ōkami so you’ll always be kept busy, at least.
Ōkami is a pretty exhausting experience, to be honest; I was expecting maybe a ten to twelve hour game but my final playthrough clocked in at more like fifty hours. There is a lot to see and do and a fair amount of backtracking required once you learn new techniques, as well as many side quests and distractions to keep you busy. The game features numerous towns spread across a wide, open field, with new areas (such as a swamp, bustling city, beach front, and frozen region) being equally large and full of things to do, as well as ten dungeons that vary in length and difficulty. Many of these dungeons revolve around a specific gimmick (the vine or wind technique, for example) and might be as simple as collecting a key from one area to unlock a door, learning a new technique, and then battling a boss to manipulating the game’s day/night cycle to raise or lower water levels.
Objectives and puzzles are generally simple but can be a bit vague at times.
Thankfully, the game has an extensive menu on offer that allows you to view, use, and equip items, review your objectives, read up on enemies and bosses you’ve faced, and keep track of any pending quests. The downside, however, is that many of these objectives and side quests, like the game’s puzzles, can be annoyingly vague at times; the map, while helpful, doesn’t display the names of everywhere you’ve visited (this only happens when you’re fast travelling, which is annoying) and Issun is more likely to berate you for taking too long to figure stuff out than help you actually solve puzzles, which range from pushing spheres either down a simple, narrow corridor or through a treacherous bit of quicksand and onto weighted switches (which can be tricky as Amaterasu doesn’t have opposable thumbs!), desperately trying to attach vines to a log (against a time limit) as it speeds through a raging stream, gathering ingredients or acquiring a mask to sneak past enemies, draining water, activating lifts, blasting open walls with cannons to reach new areas, or using your various brush techniques to cross chasms or navigate the dungeon.
Graphics and Sound: Similar to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (ibid, 2002), Ōkami is presented in a gorgeous cel-shaded style that causes everything, from NPCs to environmental objects to Amaterasu, to pop out at you. Unlike that game, though, where everything kind of blended together to resemble a cartoon, Ōkamidraws its inspiration more from the Ukiyo-e style of Japanese watercolour and wood carving art. Indeed, the game is heavily (and unapologetically) steeped in both Japanese cultural, mythology, and folklore; the result is a game with a distinct visual, artistic, and narrative identity and, while the Zelda comparisons are many, I found myself more reminded of Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka, 1997), a similarly bonkers action/adventure title full of weirdly hilarious and crude humour, eccentricities, and heavily influenced Japanese cultural and folklore.
Ōkami has many beautiful locations, each distinct from each other.
Functionally, there’s not much here you haven’t seen before, particularly if you’ve played any of the 3D Zelda titles; Amaterasu travels to little towns and across wide, open plains, visiting dank dungeons, sunken ships, bustling cities, frozen wastelands, and even shrinking down to meet the pixie-like Poncles. Thanks to the game’s unique visual presentation, though, every area feels like a fresh and distinct take on clichés such as the water- or wind-based temples. The miniature village of Ponc’tan stood out for me quite a bit as it was a surreal, magical little mushroom kingdom that was a far cry from the ostentatious reality of Sei’an City or the quiet simplicity of Sasa Sanctuary.
The cel-shaded graphics really add to the game’s character and help it stand out.
Each place you visit has something new to see and a distinct flavour to it; the aforementioned Sasa Sanctuary is populated exclusively by the Sparrow Clan, for example, while frozen village of Wep’keer is home to the shape-shifting Oina tribe. Even the lands that surround these areas are teeming with life and NPCs, from merchants and blacksmiths to deities and talking dogs, moles who want to play hide and seek, the lethargic Susano, a bear who is particularly fond of balancing on spheres, the unfriendly and demonic Mr and Mrs Cutter, and Yoichi, who professes to Nippon’s greatest archer. Each of these NPCs, and others, needs Amaterasu’s help in some way and is given a little introduction so you know who they are and brought to life through the game’s unique visual style and a number of quirky characteristics.
Cutscenes are a mixture of in-game graphics and motion comic cinematics.
Being an action/adventure game in the spiritual style of a 3D Zelda title, Ōkami features an abundance of cutscenes and dialogue; thankfully, you can skip these, though you’ll miss out on a lot of the game’s lore and information vital to your progression if you do. These cutscenes are rendered using both the in-game graphics and, at times, a kind of motion comic presentation where the narrator explains what’s going on as images are drawn onto a scroll. When characters do speak in the game, it’s largely through a combination of text boxes, pantomime, and a Banjo-Kazooie-like (Rare, 1998) gibberish, which I find endlessly charming, though it can be laborious having to constantly press A to advance the text. Worst of all is that, all-too-often, NPCs will waffle on and then finish talking, only for the game to indicate (though the presence of a green triangle over the NPC’s head) that the NPC has more to say; because of this, I’d advise pressing B rather than A so you don’t have to worry about accidentally jumping rather than continuing the conversation.
The game mixes charming gibberish with a suitably Japanese soundtrack and aesthetic.
In keeping with its heavily Japanese presentation, Ōkami also features a soundtrack that is distinctly Japanese; inspired by classical Japanese works, the game features a blending of traditional and modern Japanese musical sensibilities to create a suitably whimsical and magical sense of awe and scope to the game’s proceedings. However, while it’s functional enough and serves to bring life to the various areas and situations you find yourself in, I can’t say that it was particularly catchy or memorable.
Enemies and Bosses: In keeping with the game’s off the wall visual style and influence from Japanese folklore and mythology, Ōkami is populated by a wide variety of demonic creatures and weird and wacky monsters for you to fight. While their appearances may change as you progress, and their attacks and ability to absorb damage may become more aggressive and formidable, respectively, you are pretty much taught the fundamentals of how to handle the majority of the game’s enemies in the first few hours of gameplay.
Battling the different Imps will teach you the basics of tackling the majority of Ōkami’s enemies.
The first types of enemies you’ll encounter are the Imps, which can either be Green, Red, Blue, Yellow, or Black; each one is slightly different, with the Blue Imps gliding in the air and needing to be slashed down, the Yellow Imps burrowing underground, and the Black Imps attack using the skulls of their victims. When you later encounter the Guardians, Namahage and Clay Army, you’ll find that these enemies are, essentially, stronger variants of the Imps and the same tactics can be used to defeat them regardless of how much tougher these later enemies are.
The game’s tougher enemies will require a more strategic approach on your part.
That’s not to say that the game doesn’t feature some pretty tough enemies; flying enemies like the Crow Tengu and Dead Fish can be troublesome since they like to block your attacks, the Wheel enemies require you to use your elemental brush techniques to make them vulnerable to attack (which can be difficult if you’re low on ink), and many of the larger enemies, such as the Ogres, are completely resistant to your attacks until you knock off their giant stone masks. Similarly, the Bud Ogre and Igloo Turtle will require your elemental brush techniques to get through their defences and, often (especially later in the game), you’ll be tasked with fighting a number of different types of enemies all at once, which requires a surprising amount of strategy at times.
Get used to battling these bastard giant spiders!
As you enter new areas and explore Nippon and the game’s dungeons, you’ll encounter new enemies and many of the bigger/tougher ones could be classed as sub-bosses. Each of Ōkami’s dungeons is, of course, capped off by a boss battle, each of which is unique in its execution. The first boss of the game, the Spider Queen, is actually one of the most annoying and frustrating bosses you’ll encounter as the only way to damage her is to use the vine technique to attach three vines from nearby Konohana Blossoms to the hooks on her butt. This will fell her and cause her abdomen to open up like a flower, allowing you a short window of time to attack the eye-like globs that act as her sole weak point. You better get used to this piece of shit battle, though, since you’ll fight three Bandit Spiders in the game’s hidden Devil Gate Trials and the Spider Queen as part of the Ark of Yamato’s boss rush.
You’ll need to snuff out the Crimson Helm’s flames to deal actual damage.
In comparison, the Crimson Helm is a veritable walk in the park, especially later when you have even more elemental powers at your disposal. This minotaur-like oaf charges at you wielding giant swords and covered in armour but you can lure him into crashing into pillars and attack him to break his armour off, and then use the wind technique to put out his flames and deal actual damage. Since you don’t need to worry about fighting the damn camera to expose the Crimson Helm’s weak point, this boss battle is actually enjoyable.
Stun Orochi with Sake to destroy its bell and leave its heads vulnerable.
After reaching the Moon Cave, you’ll battle the resurrected Orochi, the eight-headed dragon that has cursed the land and is the subject of such terror and legend. Though large and imposing, Orochi is pretty simple to put down as long as you’re patient and clever about it; to start with, Orochi is invulnerable thanks to his golden armour so you have to use Amaterasu’s water-bending technique to direct some Sake-infused water into three of Orochi’s heads until it collapses, which allows you to attack a bell on its back. Once you whittle the bell’s health down, Orochi will be vulnerable and you must contend with the different elemental and physical attacks of each head, stunning them with the same Sake-tainted water and destroying each in turn. Though tedious, it’s stupidly easy to avoid Orochi’s attacks, so the battle’s difficulty comes from having the patience to destroy Orochi’s heads and the skill and timing to complete an annoying quick-time event (QTE) that follows the main fight, which sees Susano deliver the final blow to Orochi.
True Orochi is supposed to be Orochi’s peak form but it’s defeated just as easily as before.
This isn’t, however, where the game ends; nor is it the last time you fight Orochi. When you briefly take a trip to a hundred years in the past, you’ll battle “True” Orochi, which is supposed to be Orochi at the peak of his powers…but it’s exactly the same as the previous battle, with the same level of difficulty and the same tactics, with the only difference being that the legendary warrior Nagi delivers the killing blow. You’ll also have to defeat Orochi one last time in the Ark of Yamato’s boss rush but you don’t have to complete the QTE that time, which is great since the game has a bit of trouble recognising that you’ve cut Orochi’s heads during these sequences.
Blight’s speed is easily neutralisedto leave it vulnerable to your charged attacks.
After besting Orochi, the game’s bigger, far more expansive second half begins. The first boss of this next stage of the game is Blight, a possessed sword and suit of armour that is quite possibly the easiest boss in the game. Thanks to Amaterasu’s time-slowing “Veil of Mist” technique, you can slow Blight to a crawl for a few seconds, allowing you to dodge its attacks and attack it until its weak point, the possessed blade Goldnail, which can be easily dispatched using charged Glaive attacks.
Some bosses can drain your ink or both block and counter your attacks.
When you explore the sunken ship and the waters around Ryoshima Coast, you’ll encounter the gigantic Water Dragon, which cannot be defeated and must be fled from and then entered to retrieve a key item. While inside of the Water Dragon, you’ll battle the Tube Foxes and an evil form of one of your allies, Rao; the Tube Foxes exhibit a decent amount of agility and can drain your ink, which can be bothersome, while you’ll need to reflect Evil Rao’s daggers back at her and attack when she’s vulnerable on the ground. Neither are particularly difficult though Evil Rao reappears in one of the game’s more frustrating Devil Gate Trials where you have to not only fight multiple versions of Evil Rao but also the similarly-sword-wielding Wakka.
You’ll need to direct lightning to Ninetails’ sword and destroy its spirits to deefat it.
The final boss of the game’s second portion is Ninetails, a large, nine-tailed kitsune who can only be harmed by directing lightning to its sword; this splits Ninetails into nine ghostly humanoids who attack Amaterasu incessantly. As you weather their attacks and destroy them, you’ll reduce Ninetails’ tails; do this enough times and Ninetails will be reduced to a normal, one-tailed fox and be vulnerable to your attacks but it’s still best to deliver massive damage with Amaterasu’s Thunderstrike technique. Though big and able to copy many of Amaterasu’s, and even cancel out any brush techniques you use, the hardest thing about this boss is dealing with all of the spirits that Ninetails splits into since they don’t flinch after being attacked.
Amaterasu battles Nechku and Lechku alongside other wolf allies.
When you reach the conclusion of the Waku Shrine, the game’s final (and biggest) dungeon, you’ll battle the giant mechanical owl Nechku; this fight is relatively simple since Shiranui, Amaterasu’s past self who is significantly more powerful, does the majority of the leg work for you. After defeating Nechku, you travel deeper into the dungeon and battle it again, this time as Amaterasu and alongside another of her friendly rivals, the shape-changing Oki, and Nechku is joined by its twin, Lechku. In this case, you need to use your Celestial Brush to interact with one of the many different items the two whip out in order to stun them and then grab Oki and fire him like an arrow to deal greater damage. Having two bosses to contend with makes this one of the more challenging boss battles but it’s still far from difficult, especially since you can slow things down with the Veil of Mists, and neither Nechku or Lechku appear in the Ark of Yamato’s boss rush.
Yami’s design is a bit underwhelming after all the mental shit we’ve seen up to this point…
Speaking of which, be sure to save before you board the Ark of Yamato as you won’t be able to return once you enter. Inside, you’ll have to battle the Spider Queen, the Crimson Helm, Blight, Ninetails, and Orochi again one after the other (though you can rest up and save between each battle) in order to confront the game’s true final boss, Yami. Yami (which is just a giant, glowing sphere, which is a bit underwhelming after everything you’ve seen and fought up to that point) strips you of all of your abilities and you must attack it, dealing with its five different forms to regain your abilities. In its first form, it tries to smash you with either a hammer of its spherical body, causing holes to form in the floor of the arena (if you fall down them, you respawn in the arena but take damage) and attacking it restores your Rejuvenation, Power Slash, and Greensporout techniques, which allow you to crack open the sphere at deal actual damage to Yami’s core.
Yami has multiple forms and attacks, each of which require your restored brush techniques.
Yami’s second form sees it engulf itself in fire and split into platforms, launching flaming parts of itself at you and forcing you to do some tricky platforming or jumping to damage the core and restore your Cherry Bomb, Waterspout, and Crescent techniques. Its third form sees it launch fireballs and freezing ice blocks at you and forces you to attack a slot machine to conjure these attacks, missiles, and even health and ink pots. Its fourth form sees Yami sprout legs and tentacles, which whip at you and form into swords for you to use Thunderstrike on, and is the toughest of Yami’s base forms since it takes a little more to expose the core, which can absorb quite a lot of damage.
Yami’s final form doesn’t hold back but it’s still not much of a challenge for your many abilities.
For its final form, Yami sprouts a claw hand to protect its core, which constantly shields itself from your brush techniques. The only way to damage this final form is to use Sunrise to dispel the darkness in the arena, reflect missiles back at it, and attack the core when it busts out its massive laser. You can also deal damage by attacking Yami’s hand, which is easy enough to dodge, and its spherical shell to, eventually, stun it and expose the core to your more powerful attacks. This was the first time in the entire game I actually bothered to use items to increase my attack power as Yami can take quite a beating but, otherwise, this boss is tedious and long-winded but far from difficult.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: Amaterasu has many options available to her to power-up her attacks and abilities; as mentioned, Gold Dust can increase the power of each of the Divine Instruments, which you can acquire after beating bosses, from weapons shops, or in treasure chests hidden throughout Nippon. You can also find and buy various Steel Fist Sake or Steel Soul Sake to increase your attack and defence, respectively.
The Onigiri-Sensei will teach you all kinds of new attacks, like shitting to annoy your enemies…
As you explore, you’ll be able to pay an extortionate amount of money to the Onigiri-Sensei to upgrade and learn new attacks and techniques. This allows you to add additional attacks and build greater combos, dodge (and counter attack after a dodge), double jump, increase your attack power by equipping two of the same type of Divine Instrument and, of course, piss or shit in the middle of battle to insult enemies and force them to drop Demon Fangs!
Use your elemental brush techniques to solve puzzles and damage enemies.
One of the main objectives Amaterasu has, beyond restoring peace to Nippon, is the awakening of the thirteen Celestrial Brush Gods and re-learning their brush techniques. Most of these are elemental based, allowing you to conjure and manipulate fire, water, and wind, while others are tied to nature, allowing you to blossom withered trees. You can use the different brush techniques to open doors, repair broken bridges, cause platforms and paths to appear, and to attack enemies, with certain enemies being vulnerable to certain elements.
Slow down time, conjure bombs, and then spend a whole bunch of Yen upgrading your techniques.
You can also use these techniques to slow down time, blow open cracked walls and floors with bombs, scale walls using cat statues, and freeze objects. You can perform multiple brush attacks at once but not in the same moment; so, if you want to do a Power Slash, draw a Cherry Bomb, and direct lightning to an enemy, you need to press and hold RB and draw with X in three separate instances rather than in one. By tossing an exorbitant amount of Yen into three Divine Springs, you can upgrade some of these abilities to make them stronger or allow you to draw more objects on screen at once.
Additional Features: Ōkami has fifty-one Achievements for you to earn, the majority of which are worth a mere 10G each, even some of the more time-consuming and long-winded ones, and are directly tied to story-based events so they can’t be missed. Technically, the only ones you can potentially miss are the “No Furball on the Menu” Achievement (which requires you to quickly draw yourself a lily pad and then use an Inkfinity Stone to relentlessly conjure wind to quickly carry you safely to shore before the Water Dragon can eat you) and the “From Imps to Demons” Achievement since the Fire Doom Mirror can only be fought during one mission in the game. The others can be achieved with enough patience by earning loads of Praise and Yen to max out all of your abilities and attacks and making sure that you defeat every enemy you see and don’t die (which is pretty easy to do).
Hunt down monsters and compete in races to earn Praise and Achievements.
As you might imagine, there are a whole host of side quests to keep you busy as you play, with many of them resulting in you earning Praise, Yen, and an Achievement. One has four NPCs ask you to hunt down and destroy certain monsters, which is easy enough to do (simply interact with every Demon Scroll in the surrounding area and they’ll eventually crop up), while another has you winning races against three different opponents (well, I see “win” but you only really need to win one of these races; the others just require you to catch up to your opponent and tackle them in three separate, increasingly-difficult challenges).
I can’t say that I was a fan of either of these mini games…
There are also a few mini games to eat up your play time; one has you tackling moles for rewards and is optional but the other two, the digging and fishing mini games, are required to complete to progress the story and to earn all of the game’s Achievements. I struggled a bit with the fishing mini games at first since the game didn’t seem to want to register my brush strokes but then I must have either gotten better or the game decided to play along and let me draw the line and slash the fish without much issue. The digging mini games are a lot of trial and error that have you digging, bashing, slashing, and exploding rocks against a time limit while an NPC follows along, walking into spikes and needing to be guided to a specific point to unearth a treasure.
The Kusa 5 are, apparently, even tougher than Orochi and must be fought in waves.
There are also a couple of optional boss battles, of sorts; as part of the story, you have to find and recruit the five Canine Warriors and, after finishing Oni Island, you can return to the Gale Shrine to battle these five dogs once more. Known as the Kusa 5, you must fight them in both groups and waves. As in the initial battles against the dogs, they like to dash, jump, and tackle you, dig holes to bury you and hurt you with the dirt, and leave explosive turds to damage you. In this battle, they are said to be more powerful than Orochi and, while that’s certainly true, they’re actually slightly less bothersome to fight since they can be damaged without jumping through a bunch of hoops and you can always use the Veil of Mist technique for an advantage.
You won’t last long in the Devil Gate Trials if you come unprepared.
You can also learn a more powerful dig move to unearth three secret Devil Gate Trials; at first, these chasms are guarded by three Bandit Spiders but, when you return, you’ll have to pass through ten Devil Gates in succession, defeating wave upon wave of the game’s toughest and most annoying enemies. If you leave the area at any point, you’ll have to start all over again, so it’s best to stock up on items and equip the Wood Mat (which restores your health, at the cost of some Yen, when you leave Amaterasu idle) to heal up between gates. This, and the Kusa 5, are easily the most challenging parts of the game but challenging in a way that is tedious and annoying rather than necessarily difficult as, as long as you spam the Veil of Mist and equip the right Divine Instruments, you should be able to best each trial with the skills you’ve mastered.
Upon completion, you’ll unlock a gallery and some skins to use in New Game+.
After you defeat Yami and complete the game, you receive both a final evaluation and a number of awards, unlocking a gallery and such from the main menu and some skins to utilise in the game’s “New Game+” mode. When you play New Game+, you retain all of the progress you made in your first playthrough except for the brush techniques, some weapons, and a few Holy Artefacts and other items. This means that it’s pretty easy to finish upgrading any of Amaterasu’s abilities you missed the first time around and to make short work of the game’s earlier enemies but I’d recommend creating a save point before you enter the Ark of Yamato so you don’t have to play through the entirety of the game from the start to finish your Bestiary or treasure tome.
The Summary: Ōkami is certainly a beautiful game to look at and play through and I can see why many praise its visual presentation and narrative; it’s a long, sprawling adventure that sees you exploring a unique and quirky fictional land, meeting and battling all kinds of characters and monsters, and certainly stands out against other games of its type. However, as lovely as it is to look at and as fun as it can be to play, I was often frustrated by a lot of little annoyances; the day/night cycle, for one thing, the camera’s jerkiness and clumsiness (especially in boss battles), for another, and the game’s unreliable nature when it comes to registering brush strokes. The platforming and jumping aspects can also be needlessly annoying and, at times, the hints and directions you get are far too vague. While this opens the game up to exploration and experimentation, it can be annoying to be stuck in a room or area with no idea of how to proceed and the map is less than helpful in this regard. Still, overall, it’s a solid title with some intense and engaging boss battles, a rich and intriguing lore, and plenty of side quests and distractions to constantly keep you busy.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Have you ever played Ōkami? If so, did you play the original version or, like me, have you only experienced the HD version of the game? If you’ve played both, how do you find the HD version holds up compared to the original? What did you think to Ōkami’s unique world, characters, and lore? Did you find the game to be a bit too long and convoluted and the brush and camera to be less than reliable or were you engrossed in the game’s complex story and pleased with the game’s controls and mechanics? Which of the game’s areas, dungeons, bosses, and/or characters was your favourite and why? Would you like to see more from Ōkami or do you feel its best that it was one and done and how would you compare the game to others in its genre, like the Zelda series? Whatever your thoughts on Ōkami, feel free to leave a comment below.
Released: 2006 Developer: Treyarch Also Available For: Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox
The Background: I know what you’re thinking: Why am I playing Call of Duty 3 when I haven’t played the first two? Well, it’s firstly because, to my great shame, I have to admit that I am not really a fan of the Call of Duty franchise (Various, 2003 to present), which has endured through multiple releases, spin-offs, and other related media over the years and collectively sold over 250 million copies. This is mainly due to two things: I’m not much for military-style shooters and my love for first-person games died out shortly after the release of Perfect Dark (Rare, 2000). A lot of this is due to my personal distaste for being shot in the back or by enemies I can’t see, struggling with the perspective and the controls, and generally just finding first-person shooters (FPS) difficult to navigate at the best of times. Also, a while ago I was gifted a copy of Call of Duty 3: Gold Edition for Xbox 360 and, having recently burned through the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Trilogy (Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games, 2016) set that came with my console (and since it is “CoD Month” here on my site), I figured I’d pop the disc in and give it a go if only to see if my bias against the series was justified and to obtain a bunch of Achievements.
The Plot: Like the first two Call of Duty titles, Call of Duty 3 takes place during World War Two, specifically in 1944 and featuring missions relating to the Battle of Normandy that have you taking control of various silent protagonists that make up the Allied Forces of the United States, Britain, Canada, and Poland.
Gameplay: Call of Duty 3 is a first-person shooter whose narrative is split between four different silent protagonists: Private Nichols of the American 29th Infantry Division, Sergeant James Doyle of the British Special Air Service (S.A.S.), Private Cole of the 4th Canadian (Armored) Division, and Corporal “Bohater” Wojciech of the Polish 1st Armored Division. While their mission objectives, weaponry, and resources differ, each character basically controls in the same way: you jump with the A button (an action that is largely useless), view distant targets through your binoculars by holding in the left analogue stick, switch weapons with Y, and reload with X.
The lack of a run option really hurts the pacing of the game.
By pressing B, players can either crouch, go prone, or stand upright and each of these stances will affect your speed, aim, and level of stealth. When standing upright, for example, you’re more likely to be hit by incoming gunfire so it’s best to crouch behind cover or go prone to be largely undetectable to the Nazis. Unlike in subsequent Call of Duty titles, there’s no option to dash here, which is a major drawback when trying to navigate through heavy gunfire or keep up with your squad, so I’m glad that the developers fixed this in the game’s sequel. Pressing in the right analogue stick allows you to melee enemies and you can toss grenades or smoke bombs with either the Left and Right Buttons, respectively. Aiming and shooting is performed the Left and Right Triggers and you can choose to either shoot from the hip or aim down the sights of your gun with the Left Trigger. Given that the game’s setting and weapons are far more antiquated than those in later Call of Duty titles, this can be problematic as you don’t have the aid of a laser sight and the in-game reticule is largely useless, meaning that it can be difficult to get a good shot at your target, especially when they’re effectively camouflaged by the drab environments.
Be sure to find some cover to avoid Nazi gunfire.
As is largely the genre standard these days, you can recover your health by ducking behind cover and avoiding damage for a few seconds; you have to be mindful of your surroundings, though, as enemies are known to lob grenades at you and pop up out of nowhere to riddle you with bullets. The game also has an annoying tendency to endlessly spawn enemies into its environments until you reach specific points or objectives, so my usual tactic of clearing an area from a safe distance was largely ineffectual in this particular game. To help you head in the right direction, a compass sits in the bottom left of your heads-up display (HUD); this displays your allies, any enemies in the area, and a star marking your objective. Sadly, though, there’s no mini map and the compass doesn’t really take into account floors or layers, meaning it’s easy to get a bit lost and confused about how to progress (here’s a hint: try using your melee attack to break wood panels). Also, your objectives are only really accessible by pressing Select and they can often be a little too vague at times.
The tank missions are quite fun…the jeep missions are not.
Gameplay is broken up a bit through the use of driving and tank sections; as Doyle, you’ll have to drive your team mates around in a jeep, avoiding Nazi soldiers, barricades, and tanks as you smash through gates and across fields and, as Bohater, you’ll get to control a tank, blasting at other tanks and soldiers. While the tank sections are fun, the jeep driving sections are not; the game defaults to a first-person view (which you can thankfully change by pressing in the right analogue stuck), the controls are both loose and slippery and clunky and stiff at the same time, and the compass is more of a hindrance than a help, especially in the mission where you drive around rescuing Maquis fighters. While stealth is an option in the game, it’s nowhere near as prominent as it would become in later Call of Duty titles. At the same time, the game features more quick-time events (QTEs) as Nazis will sometimes leap out at you and you’ll be forced to mash the shoulder buttons and then press a button to fend them off. The game is also a lot tougher than its successors, featuring far fewer checkpoints and much more durable enemies; these Nazis take a lot of bullets to put down, even on the game’s easier settings, making tasks such as holding out against their vast and infinitely-spawning forces a tall order in later sections of the game.
Graphics and Sound: Despite rendering many of its locations with an impressive level of detail, Call of Duty 3 definitely shows its age even compared to its immediate follow-up. Character models are off, resembling action figures more than human beings, and the overall presentation of the game’s menus and various screens is bland and leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of this is exacerbated though the game’s use of in-game cutscenes, all of which are completely unskippable, which, while good for character and plot development, really don’t do the in-game graphics any favours. I found a couple of amusing glitches at times, too, that betray the age of the game, such as Nazis running through mid-air, spazzing out half-in-and-out of walls, and blinking in and out of existence. Luckily, though, when playing the game proper, locations, weapons, and vehicles all still look pretty impressive. There’s a definite attention to detail in all of the environments and the way the weapons look and feel to really recreate the feeling of war-torn Europe during the height of the Nazi regime.
Unskippable cutscenes are the order to the day here.
I’m even far more understanding of the long reload times for certain weapons as it adds to the aesthetic of the period the game is recreating, though it’s still way too easy to get turned around or lost and overwhelmed by the ceaseless German troops that swarm every area. Call of Duty 3 mostly makes use of period-fitting music and rousing military tunes to really set the tone for the game’s setting. Much of this is rendered mute during gameplay, however, when all you will hear is gunfire, explosions, and the inane dialogue of your team mates. There’s not a lot of variety here, sadly, as you’ll hear the same shouts of “Move, move, move!” and “Germans in the open!” and “Outta here!” over and over again, to say nothing of the constant repeated yells from your Nazi foes. During cutscenes, it doesn’t get much better, with the Nazis constantly being referred to as “Jerry” (I get this was a popular slang term for them but having every single character refer to them in this way every single time got old really fast) and a great deal of xenophobia and paranoia on display from your team mates. While this is, again, probably very true to the way things were during World War Two, and it does serve as a character arc for one of your team mates, it’s more annoying than anything and I would have loved to have to option to skip these cutscenes.
Enemies and Bosses: When you play Call of Duty 3, you’re playing to cut down Nazi scum left, right, and center with no remorse or hesitation. There are literally no other enemies to encounter here, no other members of the Axis Powers to go up against; it’s just hate-filled Nazis from start to finish. Most of these are little more than cannon fodder to your superior weaponry and skills but their sheer numbers and nigh-unstoppable movement can still cut you to ribbons in seconds. This is aided by their ability to hide behind cover, jump out at you without warning, toss a Stielhandgranate at you, or bash at you with the butt of their rifles.
Nazis just keep coming in nigh-unstoppable waves until you hit certain points.
Ordinarily, I like to clear areas of all enemies to make for easier progression but Call of Duty 3 doesn’t always let you do that as Nazis continually spawn in until you reach certain parts of the map; at the same time, though, if you spot a Nazi sniper or manning a machine gun, it’s best to take those guys out quickly or you won’t last long. Call of Duty 3 doesn’t feature bosses in the traditional sense; perhaps the closest thing the game has to an actual boss is when you (as Bohater) have to awkwardly navigate your tank through a small village while exchanging shells with Richter, a Nazi tank ace known as the “Black Baron”. The rest of the time, you’ll be holding out against superior numbers, desperately trying to survive, plant explosives, or call in an air strike to fend off the Nazi invasion.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: Due to Call of Duty placing a greater emphasis on realism compared to other FPS titles, there aren’t really any power-ups or bonuses to be found in Call of Duty 3 beyond the large array of weaponry made available to you. You’ll be wielding all kinds of World War Two-style guns and rifles, many of which I found burn through their ammo quite quickly and have small capacities, meaning you’ll be liberating fallen Nazis of their hardware as-and-when required. You can only hold two weapons at a time, though, and it seems a lot of the opposition’s munitions are inferior to yours, so it becomes a question of strategy: do you grab a German rifle and risk being caught in a long reload cycle or do you stick with your American-made hardware and hope you have enough ammo? While there are vehicles to make use of, you’re relegated purely to driving duties when inside the jeep, which is a real shame as I much prefer shooting than driving. Luckily, Bohater and his tank are on hand to make up for that but, unfortunately, the game’s controls and environments are largely too clunky and awkward to really enjoy either experience.
Additional Features: Call of Duty 3 features a number of different difficulty levels that increase, or decrease, the game’s challenge and, of course, a bunch of Achievements. You’ll get a fair few of these simply by playing through the game’s main single-player campaign but others require you to fulfil certain tasks, such as throwing five grenades back at your enemies, driving off a ramp while in your jeep, avoiding damage, or using only German weapons. Given that is an FPS title, Call of Duty 3 also includes a multiplayer component but, unfortunately, it’s only available to those with Xbox Gold so I wasn’t able to see if it’s still active. From what I can gather, though, it sounds like the standard player vs. player death match you can find in any other FPS title, though it seems like an odd decision to not include a split-screen multiplayer mode that you can play offline as well. If you have the Gold Edition of the game, it also comes with five free extra maps for this mode and a bonus DVD with making of features and interviews, if you like that sort of thing.
The Summary: I’ll admit, it’s hard for me to get excited or interested in a Call of Duty title; they’re just not that interesting to me and all I wanted to do was burn through and grab the Achievements and call it a day but…man, Call of Duty 3 is not very good at all. It’s so weird how the very next game in the series is leaps and bounds above this one in terms of presentation, options, and accessibility. Obviously, you have to cut it some slack as it’s quite an old game now but, still…I found nothing in Call of Duty 3 that improved my view on the franchise and was more frustrated than anything thanks to the unskippable cutscenes, dodgy vehicle controls, near-useless compass/map system, constantly respawning enemies and graphical glitches, and the sheer mind-numbing repetitiveness of the game’s dialogue and gameplay and I can’t say I’m interested in seeing what the previous two titles were like after slogging through this mess.
My Rating:
⭐
Rating: 1 out of 5.
Terrible
What did you think of Call of Duty 3? Where does it stand in your ranking of the Call of Duty titles? Do you think I have committed the ultimate sacrilege by besmirching the good name of the Call of Duty franchise or do you agree that the series is somewhat over-rated and stagnated? Whatever you think, drop a comment below and be sure to check back next week for another Call of Duty review.
Released: 17 August 1973 Director: Michael Crichton Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Budget: $1.2 million Stars: Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, Yul Brynner, and Alan Oppenheimer
The Plot: Following a messy divorce, Peter Martin (Benjamin) is treated to a much-needed vacation by his friend, John Blane (Brolin). The two journey to Westworld, a Wild West-themed amusement park populated by sophisticated androids, and indulge in a number of fantasies. However, when the machines begin to not just break down but go on a murderous rampage, the two find themselves fighting for their lives against the machines, in particular the aggressive Gunslinger (Brynner).
The Background: Many years before he came a household name thanks to Jurassic Park(Crichton, 1990), Michael Crichton had already achieved significant success as a writer and had even directed a television film. Wanting to break into the Hollywood mainstream, Critchton produced an original screenplay for his feature-film directorial debut. The result was Westworld, a film that was ahead of its time in many ways, being one of the first examples of a computer virus driving robots or machines into a murderous frenzy, and pioneered several unique filmmaking techniques despite the tight budget, rushed production schedule, and interference from the film studio. Still, Westworld went on to become Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s biggest box office success of that year; it also received highpraise at the time, particularly for its effects and Brynner’s chillingly menacing performance. A favourite of mine since childhood, and a clear precursor to science-fiction greats like The Terminator (Cameron, 1984), Westworld inspired both a critically-panned sequel in 1976, an obscure television series that ran for five episodes in 1980, and, after years of speculation regarding a modern-day reboot, an extremely well-received and award winning HBO series that is part-reboot, part-sequel. Considering today is the day that HAL 9000 first came into being in Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal work 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), this seems like a great opportunity to talk about other instances of A.I. and machinery gaining sentiency and running amok against their human masters.
The Review: Personally, I’ve never been a fan of Westerns; I often find them to be slow and dull and boring to look at as there’s a lot of arid locations and I’ve just never really connected with them. Westworld, though, cuts through that bias thanks in large part to its infusion of science-fiction elements. The film spends quite a bit of time selling us on its premise, which was obviously very new and unique at the time, literally opening with quite a long-winded, if amusing, sequence wherein spokesman Ed Wren (Robert Hogan) introduces the concept of Delos and their android-populated theme parks. He interviews a few random visitors to sell the unique concept of highly sophisticated and realistic robots offering a fully immersive experience and the confidence Delos has in the excitement, safety, customer satisfaction, and appeal of their theme parks
Pete and John make for charismatic and likeable protagonists.
If you’ve seen any sci-fi film before, much of this will be easily absorbed but, while this opening scene may drag a little bit, it’s pretty effective at establishing that Delos is fully confident in their facilities and we’re soon introduced to our extremely likeable protagonists, Pete and John. Benjamin and Brolin are two immediately amiable guys who have good chemistry and believable banter together; John is the expert as he’s paid a thousand dollars a day to visit Westworld before but, as it’s his first time, Pete’s conveniently full of questions and scepticism. Clearly the more highly strung of the two, it takes Pete a little while to acclimatise himself to the whole experience, which annoys and frustrates John who just wants him to relax and have a good time, but it’s a great way to sell Pete as an audience surrogate since it’s our first time, too, and he quickly becomes immersed in the unique experience Westworld has to offer. While listening to Delos’ introductory video package, we are sold the idea that Delos’ attractions offer a completely immersive, but completely safe, experience; they’ve “spared no expense” to recreate each World and ensure the visitors that “There are no rules” and that “Nothing can go wrong” on a continuous loop which…well, if that’s not a pretty glaring red flag then I don’t know what is!
Westworld‘s machines are so realistic that it’s almost impossible to tell them apart from humans.
Delos has gone to immense lengths to recreate the details of each World down to the smallest detail, offering visitors period-specific costumes, weapons, and accessories. Their machines are so lifelike that it is pretty much impossible to tell them apart from humans or other lifeforms except for their hands, which “haven’t been perfected [yet]”. Accordingly, they talk, act, and even bleed like a human, making the experience all the more realistic.
Delos’ technicians control every aspect of the resort from their sophisticated bunker.
To mix things up a bit, the film continuously cuts away to the engineers and puppet masters behind each World, who toil in a hot, highly sophisticated bunker of sorts. Using massively complicated computers, they control and dictate the routines and activities in each World, including the machines. They clean up the dead bodies once night has fallen (conveniently there’s apparently not much of an external nightlife in Delos’ resorts), program infidelity into the Queen (Victoria Shaw), cause bar fights to happen, and pretty much have their fingers in every aspect of the resort from their elaborate control room. Delos have, however been smart enough to program a safety feature into the revolvers of Westworld; they will only fire if the target has a low body temperature, ensuring guests don’t accidentally kill each other. How this works in the sword-based Medievalworld is not explained, however, and the virus that ends up spreading from machine to machine also ends up overriding this safety feature.
The bar fight scene is a particular highlight of the film’s humour.
If there’s one negative to Westworld, however, it’s the pacing; being a product of the seventies, the film isn’t exactly action-packed from the get-go and it likes to take its time explaining or establishing its concept and its world and acclimatising the audience to the fiction it is presenting. This isn’t really a bad thing; it’s much faster than 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968) or Alien (Scott, 1979), for example, and it leads to some fun scenes like Pete’s liaison with a robot prostitute, a few looks at how Delos run their operation behind the scenes, and an extremely amusing and exciting bar fight where Pete and John lackadaisically sit and play cards until their game is ruined. Plus, once the robots start running amok and the film’s climactic chase kicks in, Westworld really steps up and becomes this incredibly tense and engaging quasi-horror film.
The Nitty-Gritty: Delos’ Chief Supervisor (Oppenheimer) explains that their machines are so sophisticated that even the technicians don’t fully understand them; many of them are built by other machines and are so advanced that their internal mechanisms are something of a mystery. He is horrified when a robotic snake manages to injure John despite it (and, presumably, all the machines) being programmed not to cause physical harm to the guests. He suggests, to chagrin of his peers, that the machines could not only have a degree of autonomy outside of their control but also that a virus is spreading throughout the resort, affecting each machine in turn. These days, that’s a well-accepted concept but, here, it is met with ridicule and scorn and seen as a mysterious, unknown enemy threatening the safety and security of their facilities. Quite how it comes about isn’t explained and is somewhat irrelevant once the machines go crazy and start killing mercilessly until they eventual break/shut down.
No matter how many times he’s put down, the Gunslinger keeps coming back for more.
Pete first runs afoul of the Gunslinger while choking down a whiskey at the local bar; dressed exactly like Chris Adams, his famous character from The Magnificent Seven (Sturges, 1960), Brynner delivers a cold, inhuman performance and speaks in blunt, antagonistic tones. Pete easily bests him in their first encounter, only for the machine to be fixed up and return to accost John later in the film. Again, Pete is able to put him down and the Delos scientists equip him with a few experimental upgrades to improve his performance. It surely breaks the immersion, somewhat, to have the same machines return to the resort after being “killed” and it’s left somewhat ambiguous whether the Gunslinger has been programmed to seek revenge or whether he is doing so of his own free will since, of all the machines, save the Black Knight (Michael Mikler), the Gunslinger is the only one to hold a grudge and specifically target a particular guest. As a result, when the Gunslinger shows up after the machines have started running amok, he immediately confronts Pete and John once more rather than joining his fellow machines in their rampage. He guns down John in cold blood and a lengthy, intense chase scene takes up the majority of the film’s final act as the Gunslinger toys with Pete, chasing him across the resort and dragging out his kill while Pete stumbles across the dead bodies of other guests and the inert forms of the machines.
The Terminator clearly owes a debt to the Gunslinger’s relentless persistence.
This is where Brynner’s performance really shines; he exudes a stoic, fittingly-machine-like demeanour that clearly set the standard for performances in the Terminator movies (Various, 1984 to 2019). Relentless and persistent, the Gunslinger pursues Pete on horseback or at a measured, leisurely pace; terrified out of his mind, Pete is unable to compose himself enough to get a clean shot at the Gunslinger and is forced to turn to more practical means, such as tossing caustic acid in his face and finally setting him on fire. Seeing Brynner’s features melt and his human façade break away to reveal his gruesome metallic insides is a truly chilling moment and when the Gunslinger finally collapses in a smouldering heap of sparks and fire, it’s easy to feel the same sense of grief, relief, and shock that Benjamin’s expression and body language display. As mentioned, the Gunslinger isn’t the only mechanical menace in this film; one of the other guests (Norman Bartold) sets himself up as a Lord of the castle in Medievalworld and, as a result, is forced into a duel with the Black Knight. From what we see of the Delos technicians, this is a pretty standard storyline for Medievalworld as they program the fight to always go in favour of the guest and look forward to watching it go down. This time, however, the Black Knight lands a killing blow and the Chief Supervisor immediately orders all the machines to be shut down. By this point, however, it’s too late; the virus has progressed so far that not only are the machines beyond the control of the technicians but they are locked in their bunker as all the doors as magnetically sealed. As a result, for their hubris they are left to slowly suffocate and die, powerless to save themselves or the guests from the robot rampage occurring across the resort.
The Summary: The idea of a themed resort where guests can indulge their every whim and which is populated by advanced robots is extremely unique and interesting and Westworld does just enough with the concept to sell you on the potential and scope of this world appearing, at first, to be little more than sci-fi buddy comedy/action film of sorts and then descending into a horrifying tale of man versus machine for its incredibly tense finale. Many of Westworld’s concepts have since been perfected elsewhere or improved upon by numerous other films, videogames, books, comic books, and television shows but none of that dilutes the impact that Westworld still makes thanks to the unique way it presents these elements. The idea of a computer virus making machines go nuts might have been new and somewhat awkward to convey at the time but the film does a masterful job of showcasing it without really having to delve into the exact specifics of how and why it occurs; it’s a mystery, one that quickly escalates to become so dangerous and deadly that the only thing that matters is surviving rather than trying to figure out the how and the why of it all. Even better is the fact that the film’s effects are obviously all achieved through practical methods; while they would obviously be perfected over the years, it’s still admirable to see the lengths Crichton went to render the machines’ thermal vision through early digital effects and the horrifying, skull-like, almost alien inner workings of the machines once the Gunslinger’s face is dislodged. Punctuating the film’s simple but effective cinematography and presentation is a pretty engaging soundtrack; from a suitably Western theme to a highly effective, pseudo-synthetic score that really sells the tension and desperation of the film’s big chase scene, Fred Karlin’s fantastic score is always used to great effect to sell whatever’s happening onscreen and, for me, really helps to keep Westworld as appealing today as it was when I first saw it all those years ago as a kid.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Fantastic
Have you ever seen Westworld? What did you think of it and how do you feel it holds up today? Perhaps you’re more a fan of the recent television show; if so, what are some of your favourite moments? How are you celebrating the birth of HAL 9000 today? Whatever you think about Westworld, or if you have other examples of A.I. going rogue, feel free to drop a comment below.
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