Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin I: Blue-eyed Casval (OVA: 2015)

This week I move back to the Gundam series with part one of a new OVA series Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin. This OVA is interesting as it is essentially based on a Manga adaptation of the original 1979 television series which was not produced by series creator Yoshiyuki Tomino but Character designer for the original series Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. The reason for this adaptation was to look at the One Year War in a lot more depth by focusing on the reasons the war started, the politics and also the characters themselves. Due to this there are a number of changes to the story in order for it not to be a complete retread such as Mobile Suit designs, characters and plot points.

The Manga also has entire volumes dedicated to certain characters and their perspective, in one case being series antagonist Char Aznable, how he came to be involved with the conflict and his subsequent awakening as a Newtype. This OVA rather than beginning where the Manga does actually decided to use this volume as its basis and tell the story of Char who at the time was known as Casval. Perhaps this decision was made as not to reanimate familiar scenes and focus on what had never been animated before or perhaps it was due to the popularity of the Char character who has been involved heavily in the majority of the Universal Century time line.

Originally this OVA was announced as a four part series with room for more episodes in March of 2014 as part of the Mobile Suit Gundam 35th Anniversary ~ RISE! project along with the final episode of Gundam Unicorn and its release and the announcement of a new television series set after the Universal Century time line by original creator Tomino titled G no Reconguista which aired its final episode a few months ago. Clearly this event was jam packed with great content for fans and while the latter animations were received quite well how does this OVA fair?

The first episode was released in February of 2015 and sits at just over an hour long as opposed to the 45 minute time frame usually seen within the series OVA's and begins with the story of Casvel and his Sister Artesia as they must survive after their father Zeon Deikun's death during a speech for independence from Earth which would soon be known as the precursor to the Principality of Zeon. We soon find out the cause of Deikuns death was actually due to an assassination via poisoning by the Zabi family who would go on to control Zeon during the One Year War.

We soon see the Deikun family ripped apart as they are moved around for their own protection thanks to the loyal Ral family. But as time progresses and the situation worsens the children are taken away from their mother and smuggled back to Earth.

While the focus is very much on the past of these characters there is a brief action sequence set during the One Year War at the beginning of the animation which I believe was done purely to sell more Gunpla model kits as there is only one mobile suit featured during the main focus of the story, although I'm not complaining as the sequence was quite well done and gives a viewer not familiar with the franchise a quick look at why Char is regarded as the Red Comet of Zeon and an Ace pilot.

What I particularly enjoyed about The Origin was that is likes to focus not only on what happened before the conflict but also the roots of a lot of characters and factions motives which are just sort of there in the original series. For example we get to see the roots of the rebellion from the Earth Sphere via the protests riddled throughout the colonies as well as the low morale of those who would join the side of Zeon. We see that they are not just some evil soldiers like they are presented to be in the original series but a group of people who truly believe that they need their independence and not be governed by Earth.

It also makes use of showing the squabbling and betrayals ridden throughout the Zabi family siblings with numerous siblings plotting the others deaths in a bid to gain complete control of Zeon.We even see one of the siblings die early on from a bomb assassination implied to be by his sister, however it is blamed on the Federation and only fuels the growing hatred between the two parties.

While it does paint Zeon supporters a lot more positively it also shows the Federation in a more negative light, especially during the protests by having the use of tanks and other means as scare tactics to quell the problem. This differs from the way they are portrayed in the original series as the saviours and just side of the conflict. This portrayal actually works really well with the way the federation is portrayed in later series such as Zeta Gundam and Unicorn in that there is no 'good' side during a conflict and each has their questionable methods, this is a portrayal of each side I greatly appreciate as it adds some depth to both sides rather than a simple good v evil storyline.

The Animation quality is quite good all round especially in terms of character designs, however unfortunately it is not as spectacular as the previous OVA series Unicorn which is a shame as that only increased the overall quality of the animation in that case, but perhaps there was less budget to work with this time around and we must remember that there are not as many action sequences with robots pulling off crazy moves like in Unicorn.

Thankfully a few of characters voice actors from the original series make a return such as Shūichi Ikeda who reprises the role of Char in the opening sequence. Interestingly before release there were rumours circulating that the majority of voice actors were to be replaced as they were getting on in years and many important characters Seiyuus had unfortunately passed away in recent years, however much like with the latest Dragonball films using as many if the original voice cast as they can this OVA tried to do the same.

In this first episode there was not a huge reason to do this however as Casval and Artesia were still children and therefore used different Seiyuu, but perhaps as the episodes go on and the need to expand into a complete retelling of the series like the Manga goes on to do then there will be more reason to have a returning cast even if it is only the likes of original series protagonist Amuro Ray. With a number of returning characters in the mix generally it was great to see them again and see how they began their paths to wherever they may end up during or after the war but there was one character who pretty much stole the show for me and that was a younger Ramba Ral.

I really enjoyed the portrayal of Ramba Ral, a character who was more or less the first Ace pilot faced by the protagonists in the original series and a loyalist to Char and the Deikuns, Ral was always shown in the original series as an honourable man who enjoyed a battle and not necessarily one who agreed with the majority of Zeons motives. While he died quite early in to the series he was always a fan favourite character so it is great to see him as a more important entity in this OVA as well as a caring and charismatic ally to the Deikuns with one scene involving him going out of his way to retrieve Artesias cat.

While he is a lot more goofy and perhaps even innocent than he is in the series I think that works well, by having him help in the seclusion of the children he quickly becomes a much more serious man and the episode even takes a quick turn into a sort of noir spy thriller with him by having him go undercover in a bar in order to find his soon to be lover Hamon and get her help in smuggling the children to Earth. I sincerely hope we get to see Ral more as the OVA progresses as a reanimated segment of his battle with Amuro would be absolutely fantastic.

Of course the main focus is on the two children and I found Casval to be quite an interesting character with  the way he becomes almost like an adult  as the innocence of childhood is quickly taken away from him, especially when he meets with the Zabi family to show he is not and will never be afraid of the people who killed his father. Already we can see this will be the man to adopt the name Char and work his way up the Zabi ranks to destroy them internally during the end of the One Year War.

But while his innocence is quickly taken away from him his younger sister remains the same, even though I have seen her as an adult and seen her become a more capable character entirely I believe by having her remain innocent at this age it keeps Casval in check and stops him becoming too reckless as we see when he takes control of a mobile suit for the first time and begins picking off the enemy. If it were not for his sister he surely would have continued killing or got everyone else on board killed.
Perhaps this is why he becomes the man known as Char later on and why his  sister becomes Sayla and joins the protagonists in the original series, because without her he loses his way and becomes a character driven purely by revenge only.


Towards the end of the episode there are some very sad scenes which involve the children leaving their mother forever, which Casval understands but Artesia believes will just mean they will see their mother not long after they arrive on Earth, while some may not find this that upsetting I always find I can't deal with any emotional scenes involving young children or animals for whatever reason and this scene got to me a little!

While the episode begins to change Casval the ending is great because it ends on the child like wonder of discovering new things and looking on at something amazing as the children travel to and see Earth for the first time, which I feel works quite well in that it reminds you they are just kids caught up in this whole thing that they never asked for, but to have Casval explain to his sister the reason they left Earth was because it was beautiful until the humans polluted it really does remind you this is the child who will one day take this to an extreme and try to make the earth uninhabitable for humans to they move on to space and evolve as a species.

While I greatly enjoyed this episode there are a few issues that i've seen mentioned online. For example a number of people seem to complain about the popularity of using CGI in action based sequences as it sort of cheapens the look of the animation and is very noticeable. Personally I have never minded it too much but I have not seen many shows or movies that have actually used it, but more recently when I watched the first of the new Berserk movies I found it to be really bad and not suited to the beautiful art style that was in the majority of the film. While in that case it allegedly gets better in the latter films released in the case of this OVA I actually did not mind it's use at all.

I feel that style actually suits the action sequences because it fits with something mechanical and makes them stand out as more than just animated in the same way as humans therefore if it doesn't look as organic in its movements it actually benefits the whole use of something mechanical.

Another issue I've seen pop up is that there really is not enough action in this episode, which I again don't find as an issue but perhaps that's because I know the battles that will come. I understand that the average viewer of a Mecha Anime are expecting over the top battles but I feel like this series was produced more for the long time fan who want to get a deeper understanding of the events and characters of the One Year War. That is why the focus is on these back stories and more of a political drama at times, I honestly think this is fine but we must remember it is only the first episode and with the second approaching soon there may be more action as we progress.

Overall this OVA acts as a nice little start point for the Origin storyline and gives a wealth to expand upon in the next few releases. While it is light on the mecha action it more than makes up for it in terms of character development so I believe it is well worth the watch for any Gundam fan interested in the Universal Century.

But is this OVA a good starting point for someone new to the series? Yes and no, yes in the sense that it is set before anything during UC and does a decent enough job of explaining what is going on but no in the sense that you don't really know where any of this is going if you don't have prior knowledge to the original series. In my opinion I would recommend viewing the 3 compilation films of the original series which cut out a lot of filler and has superior animation quality and then view this OVA.

Daredevil (Netflix 2015)

This week I'm reviewing a new 'Netflix Original' series that you've probably seen mentioned across the internet recently, Daredevil. This series revolves around the Marvel character and protector of Hells kitchen in New York as he begins his crime fighting career and becomes a well known vigilante in the area. We see him progress as he defeats petty criminals to Mafia, Yakuza and Drug lords all revolving around antagonist Wilson Fisk.

Daredevil is the first of four miniseries planned in conjunction by both Netflix and Marvel which is set to include other heroes such as Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, the plan being to have all of these characters meet up to form an Avengers style team up series, The Defenders. I think this was a wise move by both Marvel and Netflix as perhaps these characters would not have been popular enough alone to make their way to the big screen, it really does make you appreciate these perhaps lesser known heroes.

In a way it kind of reminds me of the 90's Marvel cartoons that all kind ofcrossed over from time to time, in fact most people who watched those as kids will probably be watching Daredevil, it's almost as if Marvel is growing up with the more mature format of shows like this but unfortunately it doesn't seem as though the movie side of things will become more mature any time soon, but then this series probably wouldn't stand out as much if the films delved into the subjects we're familiar with in this show.

I'm quite pleased that Netflix has delved into producing some Superhero based content, and with DC releasing multiple series such as Arrow, Gotham and The Flash there was no doubt that Marvel would be soon behind them especially as the world of movies is becoming dominated by yearly Superhero based releases. I feel as though this partnership between Netflix and Marvel is fantastic as Netflix Originals are becoming increasingly popular with titles such as Orange is the new black and House of Cards being in their third seasons.

But with Netflix originals the entire series is usually released on the same day, which some find to be great and some find to be a problem. I personally find it to be great because I don't have to wait weekly to continue a show I'm hooked on and if I don't watch to 'binge' on the entire show I can just watch maybe 2 or 3 episodes every other night or so, it's completely up to the viewer. Some however would like this weekly gap between episodes because they feel it ruins the discussion on the show in that the first week or so everyone will be talking about it but shortly after discussion may be non existent.

A point that I really enjoyed about this show was that it doesn't focus much on the origin story of the characters in the first episode. It's more interspersed throughout the show, it is only during episode 7 that we see how Matt began to hone his skills and use his heightened abilities to his advantage due to his training from Stick and right after that with episode 8 we take a look in to Fisk's past and a glimpse into how he became the man he is today. I believe having the show give little parts of a characters past every few episodes is great, especially in a time where Superhero movies are taking over and some are even being rebooted multiple times at this point.

A lot of people already know most Heroes origins and don't need them to be the focus of the film or show at this point, having them be interspersed really works well as it gives a chance for the first episode to be more action packed and grab the viewer rather than having to adhere to the same old story and boring audiences, in terms of movies this works well because it doesn't have to eat up too much time and allows the film to stand on it's own more as a new story featuring that hero. Of course with the likes of Luke Cage and Iron fist their series may focus more on their origins as they did not have a movie featuring them like Daredevil did.

This also leads into the pacing of the show which worked rather well, of course with movies we have around and hour and a half or two hours to get the entire plot set up and resolved while sometimes leaving some room for a sequel to be set up. With television we can take our time and while Daredevil is a shorter 13 episode show it really does seem to make use of its time having the story slowly unfold and showing the progression of the character as he builds himself as well as friendships around him that benefit his vigilante career. On the opposite side we see this almost untouchable Fisk at the height of his career slowly start to lose his grip as enemies conspire against him and our protagonists close in on him.

In terms of the casting and characters I generally can't complain I find Charlie Cox to be a great Matt Murdock and while portraying a man who seems to be disabled he really does bounce off the other cast members with witty comments and comedic timing, In the Daredevil roll I feel he also works well as he can portray this angry character who will do whatever he can to help his city without going to Christian Bale levels of trying to be this intimidating character. I feel like Cox relies on his mostly calm portrayal to put the fear into his enemies until he really has to turn up the heat. The fact that he can put this across while only having half of his face visible half the time is fantastic, although I don't feel it works as well when he gets his proper costume later on.

I also really enjoyed Elden Henson as Foggy, I believe he works so well as a comedic relief and as a close friend to Murdock, the way they bounce off one anther is great and the emotion between the two during episode 10 where Foggy finds out Daredevils identity really shows how close they really are. We see a friend worried about his 'blind' business partner and best friend along with the state he has found him in after an intense battle with Nobu. I felt the flashbacks to when the characters first met in this episode were hilarious at times and a nice change of pace to the violence and more action orientated scenes of the series.

Now Vincent D'Onofrio as Fisk is an overall amazing presence in the show and quite possibly one of the best representations of a Marvel villain we've had on our screen in some time. Fisk is presented quite well at first as this charismatic guy who loves art and even the odd flirt with the right woman, but we soon see a much more darker side to him when he begins to cave in the head of a man who 'embarrassed' him while he is on a date. We slowly see why this man is so revered and respected in the criminal underworld as well as seeing how manipulative he can be when he begins to play other gangs off against Daredevil by making them believe he was the one to kill certain members.

D'Onofrio plays both the respectable and the villainous sides of Fisk so incredibly well and while his attempts at romance can be a little cringe worthy at times overall we see a complex man with a motive not dissimilar to Daredevils, the cleaning up of the city, it's just the way in which the characters attempt to do it that differs.

Moving back to the brief flashback aspect of the show I feel like a lot of flashbacks in some series feel forced and are just used to eat up time but in this series they really matter to the overall development of the characters, such as Matts training, his time with his father and his opening up to Foggy. I feel that because these are split in to different episodes it honestly makes me care more about the character, I would hate to have all this spill into one origin episode.

This show in many ways does feel like Marvels take on Batman in that it focus' on a man with pretty basic 'powers' who wants to turn his city into a positive place free from the crime that has become rampant over time, both will do whatever it takes to combat these crimes but also stick to a strict code that they will not kill a criminal, which in Matt's case is more due to him being a man of the law. Both seem to go by the 'this is my city' mentality in that they are a lone protector, which is strange in Daredevils case seeing as he shares the city with not only some of the Avengers but soon the likes of the Defenders.

The more I think about it this series is almost like Batman Year One, in which we see the beginnings of Batman but more so his training and first few attempts at becoming a vigilante, in this comic there are no real villains other than common criminals and a few key characters surrounding the situation This series is the same, it's the beginnings of Daredevils career and doesn't delve to deep in to his rogues gallery, choosing to focus more on common criminals and a few gangs. Now while I have never read a Daredevil comic in my life I do read a lot of Batman and I'm aware that Frank Miller, who did some of the best Batman stories including Year One but before this he worked on Daredevil so perhaps this is why there are a lot of similarities between to two over the years.

What I really enjoy about the Daredevil character is that he is a lot more grounded, he doesn't have a power on the level of the likes of the Hulk or Thor and he doesn't deal with the threats they do and I feel this makes him a lot more human, even more so than the likes of Tony Stark. He can't easily take out a bunch of enemies, he even has a lot of trouble against some of them and when he gets hurt, he really gets hurt which we can see an example of during episode two when he fights against a large number of enemies whilst being highly fatigued.

We see this character progress both mentally and physically throughout the show but what I really enjoyed was how he progresses visually. In a world where people are already aware of these flashy superheroes and their eye-catching outfits it was quite funny to see people comment Daredevils first costume saying it sucks or even leaves him open for certain attacks. Towards the climax of the show we see him take on this advice and don a costume a lot more similar to what we'd expect although it is a little more practical with some armour plating here and there.

During the beginning of his career we see Daredevil become quite sadistic in the way he deals with criminals, he really doesn't seem to give a shit what happens to them as long as they live, it's almost as if he enjoys the pain he gives to criminals, which he shows by throwing people off of buildings or even impaling them. This is one of the aspects of the show that makes it stand out more compared to the rest of the universe it's set in. The show really does not shy away from brutal beatings and some gore, especially when Fisk is involved.

Honestly there was not too much I did not enjoy about this series, but this is not to say it is perfect. I did find some issue with the character of Karen Page, I thought she was alright in the first few episodes but slowly found her annoying over time, I felt like she could be removed altogether and have Foggy fill her role somewhat and it wouldn't take anything away from the series, she just felt like our bridge into the Ben Urich Character.

As much as I enjoyed Vincent D'Onofrio in his portrayal of Fisk I did find the focus on him and Vanessa a bit much, I understand it's to show everyone has a weak point and that he could be this nice guy on the outside but remain the same man he has always been on the inside but I just found the scenes with them both in to be almost like a goofy nerd who has never spoken to a woman in his life just falling over himself, desperately trying to impress. I found myself laughing at him in these scenes more than anything, but again I don't know much about the character outside of the old Spiderman cartoon so perhaps I'm just not informed enough about how he usually acts around Vanessa in the comics.

In all, Daredevil is a fantastic series that delves into the darker tones of the Marvel universe and is not something you'd really expect given the track record of the other Marvel TV series Agents of Shield. While this does rely on the cinematic universe for its setting it quickly becomes its own thing which doesn't need to rely on goofy references every few minutes like Gotham. In fact id argue this could be a great starting point to that universe as you really do not need to know anything before going in to it, perhaps this would be perfect for those who dislike the movies but still like the characters.

Having the show avalible on Netflix you could easily watch the entire series at any point you wish and with a second series announced already for 2016 it's clear these new batch of shows being produced are on the right tracks and may even begin to rival the cinematic universe itself in terms of popularity, I really cannot wait to see where they go next with Jessica Jones which I believe is being filmed at the moment, it's clear the bar has now been set high.

How Videogames can benefit Anime

So I was looking at my game collection the other day and realised I own quite a lot of Anime related video games especially for series I've always been a fan of like Dragonball, but there are a lot of titles I picked up on a whim or had originally played at a friends house that in turn got me super interested in a certain series like Naruto for example. The more I thought about it the more it occurred to me that it's down to video games that I am a huge fan of certain Anime and without me playing these games I may not have even given many series a chance.

With the Naruto example this was back in around 2006, I had always heard of the series being really popular before it was brought over to the West, with many saying it was 'the next DBZ' but Id never thought to actually sit down and watch an episode. However in high school a few of my friends had modified PS2's with a bunch of Japanese titles on them, this was the first time Id really thought that there were more modern (at the time) games that were not released worldwide and really opened my eyes to a lot of titles.

One of the games we would always play was what I believe became the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series in the West, which only had a basic amount of characters and only really went up to the first few arcs of the Anime. I remember thinking the attacks were pretty cool and the characters interesting enough, but I think what really sold it to me was seeing that Naruto had something similar to Dragonball with the nine tailed transformation. It was soon after discovering this that I began to look online and start watching the series.

I have a really big memory of being really sick that Summer holiday and just sitting in my room watching the series from start to finish but skipping out that god awful filler that would lead into Shippuden. This was around the time the Shippuden Anime had just began airing in Japan and quickly I decided to begin reading the Manga as I could not deal with the amount of filler being thrown out. I think over time a lot of people slowly got to the point where they were sick of the series to a degree but were so invested in it that they felt they had to see how it ended, I know I was. Overall it was an enjoyable Manga Series and while I probably would have go into it eventually, It was because of that PS2 game that I took the plunge.

I think video games have hugely benefited a lot of series, especially in the West where a lot of series would otherwise not be considered for dubbing even Manga releases, it's thanks to the release of certain titles that these series can gain a whole new group of fans and get an idea of how successful the series could potentially be in the West.

The biggest example of this for myself is the Dynasty Warriors Gundam series of games which is now on its fourth title. Before I played this game I had only watched Gundam Wing on UK TV and played one game on the PS2 set during the original series, which at the time I assumed was some kind of Wing side story. So for Christmas in around 2007 I asked for a Xbox 360 and the first game I got was DW Gundam as I had been hearing about it online and how it featured a large number of series.

Now in this game it pretty much mashed together all different series and timelines into one big what if story with some proper Anime related story modes along the way, I believe this was really beneficial as it introduced me to so many new characters and Mobile suits as well as a useful section of the game which informed you about everything to do with them albeit briefly. Seeing all these characters interacting and noticing some knew each other previously due to being set in the same universe gave me a huge incentive to research the franchise itself and find where I could watch some of these shows and when they were produced.

Unfortunately in the UK at the time there was no real way to obtain any of the other series legally so I had to resort to downloading them, I don't believe Sunrise have too much of a problem with this as the primary aim of the show was to sell Gunpla models and merchandise, in a sort of glorified toy commercial style and if we're only shown one series we may not even know these models existed. This has changed slightly now with more releases showing up in the UK but also on Gundams official Youtube page in which they will upload entire old series for a set time and also broadcast new episodes of shows weekly just after their airing much like Crunchyroll.

I think the first series I started with was G Gundam, a sort of mix between Dragonball and Gundam and the first alternate universe show in the franchise, which understandably was right up my street. Shortly after I watched Seed which was another alternate universe series but used a lot of plot elements and features from the original series almost as if being a modern adaptation (in 2002). I think it also helped that a series was just airing at the time titled Gundam 00 which I got in the habit of watching weekly, this really made me feel like a part of the fan base because I could discuss it each week with friends and online much like when I used to watch a show on Toonami.

It's fair to say this franchise is one of my all time favourites and if my Gunpla collection is anything to go by it will remain that way for some time, at the moment I've watched pretty much every single thing that's been released, even some terrible Canadian live-action movie, it's almost as if releasing the game in the UK was some kind of master plan from Bandai and Sunrise and in my case it really worked out.

There are of course a few more examples such as the Ghost in the Shell game on Playstation 1 which I played on a demo disc in the late 90s, In all honestly this game was not one I can remember a lot of other than the red mech you pilot during the demo and it is perhaps not the best representation of the Anime overall but I remember the huge amount of demo discs I would have as a kid from magazines and all these now hazy memories of obscure titles id endlessly play. While the Ghost in the Shell game was one of these, I remember playing this game a hell of a lot compared to the other titles on the disc and it was not until the around 2008 that a magazine company in the UK started to release certain Anime titles every few weeks on DVD with a new issue of their magazine.

The first of these was Ghost In the Shell and as soon as I saw this I instantly remembered the name from that demo disc I had enjoyed countless times, I didn't even realise the game was based on this Anime when I first played it but I quickly picked it up and watched it as soon as I got home. As much as I enjoyed the movie I've still yet to watch the sequel or series produced more recently, regardless it was due to a dumb demo disc that I even picked up this DVD in the first place, but I guess that's what the studio was hoping for with the creation of this game.

 

The most recent example of a video game enticing me to view a series is with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle on Playstation 3 which was a title I originally saw being discussed on forums every so often, but what really caught my eye with this title was it's amazing looking visuals which looked as though they were taken straight out of the Manga pages themselves. This game was developed by CyberConnect2 who are known for their amazing look Naruto titles and the Anime inspired Asura's Wrath, both of which I had previously played and was impressed with visually, so I knew this title would be worth a look.

However I did not want to import the title just because I thought it looked nice, so I looked online and researched the series as best I could and luckily saw the A new animated adaptation of the Manga was in the process of airing in Japan. I began watching the series right away and while I found the first half of the first arc to be slow I found the ending and the entirety of the second arc to be amazing, I've even begun to read the Manga way past this point and thoroughly enjoy it.

What is most interesting about this game is that a huge number of fans began importing it purely because they had enjoyed watching the Anime online, due to this the developers used this new found Western popularity to finally announce a physical Western release in certain stores and because of the nature of the game going all the way up to the 8th arc of the Manga it has opened up the entire series to a new audience which has allowed Viz Media to license a USA release.

After I played this title myself when it was released in the UK I was honestly blown away, not because it was a super amazing game but because of the quality and care taken by the developers to produce something that actually looked like it came right off the page, I think the developers really know how to handle Anime related titles and have proven this time and again, especially with the amount of fan service they add to these titles in the form of subtle references, the attention to detail and the use of perfectly choreography, even really little things like having a certain super move breaking another players super depending on who the character is that you're against (think Saibamen Vs Yamcha in a DBZ game), truly this is a great title to own if you're a fan of the series.

There are many other examples of games that have got me into certain Anime such as Koeis Fist of the North Star games, the Sengoku Basara series and even some Bleach games and I'm glad I played each one of them, because each title I've mentioned opened up an enjoyable series to me, while some my have lost steam along the way or may not have been as enjoyable as their video game counterparts they were all still worth the watch.

While video games can be great for getting someone in to a series they can also be used to breathe new life into a series that may have already ended. The biggest example of this can be the Dragonball series of video games before and after the release of the new movie. Now Dragonball is a good case because it's a series that is so immensely popular across the world and has had a huge amount of games produced but there are only so many times you can play through Raditz to Kid Buu without getting tired.

While this is counteracted by perhaps making the gameplay change depending on the series such as Budokai to Tenkaichi, generally the inclusion of what if scenarios was introduced. Now this was probably the best thing to happen to a lot of games as the series is such a wealth of possibilities both character wise and story wise. For example Budokai had the infamous Cell absorbing Krillin stage as well as the what if fusion prominent in the second game, whereas Tenkaichi focused more on the what if story aspects such as having Raditz join up with Goku and Piccolo or Zarbon plotting against Frieza.

To an extent this kept things fresh and was welcomed by many who were getting tired of playing over the same story over and over again, I think over the years developers of these titles have got the message and tried to incorporate as much new content like this as possible, while that is a lot easier now with new movies being produced the recent Xenoverse title has adapted this in full force by having the entire game revolve around the idea of the story we're all familiar with being changed to a certain degree.

While a lot of this was inherited from Dragonball Online the way that the developers expanded upon it and added a number of new scenarios as well as the ability to create your own character have only proved that this fresh air breathed into the series is welcome, especially if the numbers in which the game has been selling are anything to go by. It's pretty clear that if used well what if ideas can certainly keep the popularity of some series afloat long after they have aired and also continue to bring new fans along the way.

I always found it quite strange that these titles are generally well received as opposed to most movie licensed games, but perhaps the concepts within these shows are a lot easier to work with or perhaps it's because in a lot of cases it's fans of the series who are working on the games and actually put a lot of time and effort in to them rather than working towards a release window of a certain movie. Regardless it's clear to see that Anime and Videogames go hand in hand and can greatly benefit each other if used correctly.

But I'm curious are there any titles that got you into a certain Anime, let me know via Twitter or something!, thanks for checking this out as always.

Dragonball GT: A Hero's Legacy (TV Special : 1997) + The Positives Of Dragonball GT

This week I take a look at the original chronological end point to the entire animated Dragonball universe with the GT TV special A Hero's legacy, which originally aired in March 1997 in Japan. Interestingly this is the only special, OVA or movie to come out of the GT era and featured a more or less entirely new cast of characters. This was created as a way to show how the world after the original Z fighters has turned out and if there were still heroes around who could potentially take up their mantle if need be.

While it does not really divulge in to that area as much as the epilogue of the series did with the battle between both Goku Jr and Vegeta Jr it does show us the origins of a potential successor to Goku's legacy as the English title suggests. But how does this TV Special hold up today, and while it is not as good as the Z specials featuring Bardock and Trunks is it worth a watch after all this time?

The basic plot of the special is something a lot simpler and light hearted than what you may be used to as it follows Goku Jr, a descendant of Goku 100 years after the defeat of Baby. We see now that Pan is an aged woman and the only Z fighter left, along with her Grandson Jr who is more of a crybaby like Gohan used to be and afraid of fighting. As we progress we see that Jr is bullied at school and refuses to stand up for himself, which Pan disagrees with.

But as she reminds him to stand up for himself she suddenly falls ill and it taken to hospital, it's actually pretty touching as Jr doesn't have anyone else and promises he'll do better to become strong, but Pan realises she's been too hard on him and even references her Fathers training with Piccolo. As Jr returns home he remembers Pan telling him about the dragonballs and believes if he finds the 4 star ball he can wish for her health to recover.

Of course he fails to listen to his Grandmother and believes he only needs one ball rather than all seven. Jr makes his way to Mt Paozu where Goku grew up in search for the ball and along the way meets a number of people, some who steal from him and some unlikely allies like his former bully Puck. As they reach Paozu they are tricked by a number of enemies similar to those Goku and Bulma first encountered on their journey.

After being tricked in to entering a creepy looking house both Jr and Puck are almost turned into dinner for the demons that reside there, however Jr escapes by using some of his Saiyan strength, alluding to his ability to turn Super Saiyan and shortly after Puck falls from a ravine after a bridge breaks making Jr feel extremely guilty and believing his friends death was his own fault, however he uses this loss to push himself as a person and conquer his cowardice.

We see examples of this throughout with his battle against Shusha and his protection of defenceless creatures like the Bear he encounters. After reaching Goku's old house we again encounter the demons who are now joined by their leader Lord Yao. After Yao begins to harm the Bears Jr encountered earlier we see Jr tap in to the Saiyan potential he always had and obtain the power of a Super Saiyan, with Yao defeated Jr finally finds the four star ball and attempts to make a wish to save both Pan and Puck.

But of course nothing happens, which leads Jr to become frustrated and the be visited by a familiar face, Goku. Goku explains that all seven are needed and that Jr has become braver than he thinks, shortly after a helicopter flies overhead with both Pan and Puck inside, showing that the balls weren't needed at all, and with that Goku disappears. This suggests that Goku really did become one with the balls during the end of GT and that he will always be with Jr as long as he holds on to it.

Now while this was a pretty short 40 minute or so special there was not a lot of room to work with, which seems to be an issue with a lot of the features surrounding the franchise but I quite enjoyed what the studio did with their time and thought they used it as well as they could as it was more of a prologue to the end of the franchise.

Interestingly I always believed this special was created after the end of GT in Japan and therefore at the time acted as the end all for the entire animated side of the franchise, but what this really is is actually more of a prelude to the last episode of GT. I say this because this actually aired in Japan between episodes 41 and 42 which were the first and second episodes of the Super 17 Saga, so there were still a number of episodes to go until we reached the epilogue of the series which featured Goku Jr again.

Now this special never aired in the UK so I personally did not have a chance to see it until a while after the series was over on UK television and because of that I thought it fit better as something that aired after the series did, so I'm curious as to how the Japanese reacted to this showing up before the last Saga of GT and if in retrospect they feel it spoiled what happened to Goku at the end of the series.

I quite enjoyed this special for what it was and felt as though its biggest strength was that it was pretty much an early episode of the original series with the focus on an adventure between a small group of characters in environments we're familiar with and plot points that feel as though they could be right out of the original series, particularly the first few episodes with Lord Yao pretty much being the Bear thief who tried to stop Goku and Bulma all those years ago, and the three demons acting kind of like a more serious Pilaf and co, minus their need for the dragonballs.

A dynamic I quite enjoyed with this is that Jr doesn't seem to have parents around much like Goku and is raised by a Grandparent much like Grandpa Gohan raised Goku. The first scene we see Pan and Jr in shows that Pan has taken her role as a Grandparent to similar levels as  Grandpa Gohan as she teachers Jr manners and also trains him in ways much akin to that of Roshi. She also still idolises her Grandfather and constantly reminds Jr that he is much like him and that he should aspire to become as great as he was.

I think the character of Jr is refreshing in the sense that he is the protagonist now and was raised to be a fighter to a certain degree, much like his predecessor. I like that he seems to be this amalgamation of Goku as a child, Kid Gohan with his power and original fear and also Goten with his excitable nature. It seems as though he has inherited traits from the majority of his family and made them mix enough to be an entirely new character.

It's a shame we won't really get an expansion on his character as he has never really appeared in any media outside of this special and the final TV episode, perhaps one day we'll get his inclusion in a game and a few what-if stories from that. It's also a shame we never got a brief run down of how the rest of the Z fighters lives turned out after Omega Shenron was defeated but to be honest this special is pretty self contained and I believe it could be viewed with no prior knowledge to the series and still enjoyed.

I honestly felt like the use of Super Saiyan in this special was unnecessary, it kind of took it away from that original Dragonball feel that it was going for and threw you back in to that idea of 'oh yeah we're in a world where we can just be super strong and throw ki all day'. However while it was not something they focused on a whole lot in the special it does connect to the idea that Jr may be the next saviour of Earth someday along with Vegeta Jr who can also go SSJ and they may one day have to face an uber strong enemy just like their predecessors.

I think the general hate I've seen online for this special stems from GT itself, after Z finished in the West at least many may have assumed this new series would be more of the same, with huge epic battles and the like, but when we saw these more 'goofy' aspects like Goku becoming a child again or these until then unheard of Black star balls which spell the end for Earth. I know for me that's how I originally felt about the series when it first aired in the UK.

In the UK the broadcast order we had was Z, GT and the back to the original series, because of this I was sort of in the dark about the past of Goku and co, so I never experienced this great adventure for the dragonballs and the tournaments before I saw GT. But now that I have seen the entire series multiple times I appreciate its beginnings a lot more and because of that I can see a lot more of the positive in the GT side of things.

Don't get me wrong GT has its problems and I won't deny that there are aspects that I really do not enjoy but I can see a lot more positives now and I've spoken to others who agree with me and even made me see some positives where I had not before. For example the biggest positive for me was actually the start of the show, it was not about power levels it was about a small bunch of people going back to searching for the dragonballs but this time on a much larger scale.

This introduced to us new environments, new races and new albeit smaller threats with aspects of Z thrown in slightly such as Goku going Super Saiyan against Ledgic and having a short but sweet battle. I really enjoyed that, but soon after the series reverted to a new powerful enemy showing up and constant battles happening. This is not to say I did not like the Baby saga, I actually enjoyed the focus on the Tuffle race and a little look at the history of planet Vegeta which was only briefly touched upon in Z and again in Plan to eradicate the Super Saiyans. I did find the use of Vegeta being possessed again to be a bit tiresome and Baby to be slightly annoying as a villain but overall the story and motive of the character was interesting to me.

With this saga also came the Super Saiyan 4 form, which people seem to have mixed feelings about, personally I prefer it to the God form because if its use of mixing the style of a Super Saiyan and the ascetics of the original Great Ape form it felt like the legend of the Super Saiyan had come full-circle. I do think it looked best on Goku rather than Vegeta or Gogeta however, even if the idea that his power was so great that it made him jump back in to an adult form and then back again was a little dumb to me.

I quite enjoyed the remainder of the show with the Super 17 Saga being a nice short break between the two bigger Sagas and the Shadow Dragons being the end all of Villains. Originally I thought the Dragons themselves were an underwhelming enemy but always thought their origins as a creation of all the over use of the balls to be an interesting idea, as well as their relation to certain wishes. After discussing them with a friend Id been convinced that actually these enemies were a great way to end the series with the main plot device of the series overall now being turned on it's head and giving the heroes the biggest threat they've ever faced.

Overall I think GT is not as bad as a lot of people seem to think, I think a lot of people were like myself and were so connected to Z and not DB that we thought this 'new' direction was just an oddity, maybe a lot of people decided it was the start of the beating of a dead horse or maybe they just did not like that it was ultimately not the story Toriyama had intended. Regardless it's always going to be a part of the franchise and whether you see that as a stain or just a bit of glass that's not as polished as the ones next to it is up to you, but I think this special took a lot of the great aspects of GT and used them as a great way to chronologically end a popular series as best they could.

I really like how in this Special even in English Goku Jr is voiced by Stephanie Nadolny who voiced Kid Goku in the original series, along with Kid Gohan and Goku as a child in GT, this really does keep with the Japanese tradition of having Masako Nozawa voice the characters and his descendants and while the English dubs strayed away from this for the most part this use of having Nadolny back for Jr really seemed to fit with the nostalgic feeling the special was going for with it playing out much like an original Dragonball episode, I thought it was such a nice touch of the English team to do this and really served as a good note to end on until new features would be made over a decade later.

There are a few more interesting notes on the voice acting in both the English and Japanese versions, one of the more interesting is that the character of Susha the frog like enemy who attacks Jr is voiced by Peter Mayhew who played Chewbacca in the original Starwars movies. Now I can't seem to find any reason as to why this is, as he does not really have any other voice acting roles that I know of but nonetheless it is pretty cool. I honestly wanted to ask him if he remembered doing the voice work when I saw him at London Comic Con one year but never did, maybe next time.

Now on the Japanese side we have Jr's companion Puck who sticks with him throughout the early part of his adventure for the dragonball. Puck is actually voiced by Toru Furuya who voiced Yamcha throughout the entire series, now this again just brings us back to that feeling of the original series where it's just a bunch of friends having a wacky adventure while the search for some Magic balls. While you could say it would have been better to have a female protagonist join in and be voiced by Bulma I think ultimately this was decided against as Pan filled in that female role to a degree.

I think the choices on both sides really work and benefit the special, it seems as though the staff really wanted this to be a nice little book end to the franchise and make you feel nostalgia but at the same time content with the way things have turned out for this world, sure you could argue it leaves a lot to be answered but I think that's best, you're never going to have everything answered but you do have the opportunity to decide some things for yourself or keep a discussion going with other fans about what you think could have happened to certain characters before these events.

While you could say with the new movies GT is essentially retconned, I personally like to think it takes places in a separate continuity because to me that doesn't just erase all the neat things that came out of that series. I mean who knows the movies could soon connect everything back together in some way even if it does mean tweaking certain aspects and facts but until that happens I am perfectly alright with the separate universe idea and love that it is slightly touched upon in some games such as Xenoverse with Beerus and co wondering when Goku turned into a child again and asking how he obtained this unheard of Super Saiyan 4 form.

I think a lot of the fan base do whine too much about the 'canon' of the franchise and like I have said before to me these little things don't really matter to me, like the little changes Toriyama made in Dragonball Minus to Bardock and stuff, why does that effect your enjoyment of the franchise so much? If it helps just think of it as another universe. Or why not just take aspects of it all and make your own conclusion to what happened? You can argue the franchise is being milked to a degree but then hasn't it always?

Look at the amount of games and re-releases of the show on home media etc, it's not going to go away any time soon and if you're familiar with the Dragonball Heroes game in Japan you'll know there are what-if scenarios and characters all over the place, but the 12 year old in me loves seeing even GT Trunks going SSJ3 but that doesn't mean im mad because he didn't do it in the show, I just enjoy the ride and the breathe of fresh air these ideas bring to the series as a whole.

I think this special overall is worth a watch if you're going through GT again but personally id wait until the last few episodes to watch it, I think GT has gotten this negative stigma attached to it but I can see why but honestly as a bookend to a viewing of the series this special still does it's job really well by giving you a glimpse at the future of the world we've seen for so many years while making you feel a huge sense of nostalgia for the original series.

But I'm really curious to what you guys think about GT and if you think you would ever give it a rewatch, let me know on Twitter @Scatmanbegins or on facebook if you've got me on there, as always thanks for taking the time to read this.

Counterspy ( Playstation 3/4/Vita & IOS: 2014 )

As of late Playstation plus has given me no end of pretty decent titles to play on both the consoles and the Vita and this month has been no exception with titles like Valiant Hearts, OlliOlli 2 and a particularly interesting title called Counterspy. Counterspy is a stealth orientated 2.5D Sidescrolling game not dissimilar too much to the original Metal Gear titles in that you have to go through a number of levels while trying to remain undetected while aiming for the highest score.

Counterspy was developed by Dynamighty, a San Franciso based company founded in 2011 and comprised of a few ex-Lucasarts and even Pixar employees. Now while these developers consider themselves 'indie' they did receive some help from SCE Foster City Studios who had worked on more well known titles such as Uncharted and Infamous. Dynamighty state they focus primarily on action based games for both the console and mobile platform with Counterspy being their first title released. Counterspy was released in August 2014 on both the Playstaion 3, 4 and Vita with cross buy/play functionality and met with generally neutral reviews.

There was a later IOS version released a month later which I have not personally played, but from what I have seen it does seem to be pretty much the same core gameplay as its Playstation counter part. Now I generally enjoyed this game for what it was, but it was not an amazing title that I would go out of my way to recommend to just anybody. There are however aspects of the game I really enjoyed, so let me try and explain why I stuck with this game until the end.

In terms of the story of the game it is nothing amazing and honestly I feel like it could have been ignored entirely. You play as an agent working for C.O.U.N.T.E.R, a group who want to prevent the two unnamed superpowers who both seem to be modelled after Russia from launching nukes on the Moon and causing it to crash into the Earth. It's up to you to infiltrate either of the superpowers bases and retrieve information on when and where the nukes will be launched while keeping the defcon level of each country as low as possible.

The only story interaction you get in the game is before and after every level in which you have a briefing with C.O.U.N.T.E.R in a fashion similar to the codec conversations found in Metal Gear. While these are used primarily to explain each step of the process in stopping the superpowers they do attempt to throw in a lot of humour which did make me laugh a number of times but also fell flat at others, however I think the use of humour benefited an otherwise pretty generic storyline and enhanced it sightly.

Now the gameplay itself is what I believe is one of the games biggest strengths because it takes the pretty simple concept of a sidescroller but adds some neat stealth aspects to it. Your objective is to find the hidden blueprints within each level, however some levels may have less blueprints but more upgrades for yourself and vice versa, what is also interesting is every time you back out and retry a level its layout will be slightly different.

You need to have 5 parts of the currently assigned blueprints in order to progress, once you obtain these you must then do it 5 more times obtaining 5 blueprints in total, this leads you to the final level, naturally the difficulty does ramp up each time however I personally did not feel a difficulty change until the last few levels of the game. To progress through levels you typically make use of a sneaking function by lightly tapping the directional buttons so not to make a sound and avoid the enemies. While progressing you will be looking out for upgrades, health, ammo and blue prints, most of which can be found in lockers or computers.
 
The use of these upgrades is quite useful as it's not really health based but weapon and gameplay based, for example it allows you to unlock a tranquillizer or a shotgun, which is useful as you have four slots for weapons, or you could unlock an ability which gives you one less defcon level at the start of the stage or even the ability to run and not have your footsteps heard. These abilities however only have a one time use per payment, but you can use up to three a stage which really helps during the final level.

Now you have a few ways in which you can tackle a level, you can either try your best to not be seen and stealth the entire thing by hiding and using a silenced weapon and takedowns, or you can just take out an enemy as you see fit without dying. Regardless of how you play if you do manage to get seen an enemy may begin to call in that you have infiltrated the vicinity, the longer they call the higher the defcon level will be. This means if you go past defcon 1 then you have 50 seconds to reach the end of the stage.

The interesting thing about the defcon counter is that it carries over each level of that respective superpower, so you could be at defcon 1 (the highest) with one side but defcon 5 (the lowest) with another. If you do want to lower a defcon level however you must be in a room with an officer (who wears white) and kill every enemy but them making them surrender, this will bring you defcon level down by 1 each time so is it paramount that you do NOT kill an officer if you want to do well.

The best way to actually fight back with the enemy is to hide behind pillars and ramps which allow you to be in cover and aim you weapon for safety, as you can die relatively quickly in this game you'll be using this tactic the most, especially when faced with rocket wielding enemies whose rockets you can shoot as they move slow enough to give you time to think.

While the game is a single player experience only it does make use of leaderboards in which you can check your overall score with your friends and the world, what I thought made this games use of leaderboards interesting however was that if you beat the score of the person directly above you on the board then their 'agent' would be dead somewhere within the next level for you to find. While they were sometimes easier to find than others if you did locate them you would gain a small bonus for that level.

While this did add some replayabilty to the game for those who want to go back and beat a friends score it does not help the overall issue for some which is the general length of the game. Being that this is an 'indie' title I personally did not expect it to be a long experience, which was good because I beat this game in two sittings coming up to about 2 and a half hours. This was with me having difficulty on the last level because I was pretty terrible at it and with me searching pretty much every nook and cranny of a level for upgrades.

Now do I think this is a problem for the game itself? No because this game focuses on a repetitive nature which kind of puts you off playing for a long stretch of time, it also is avalible on the Vita which means if you're the type to play this on a commute or something you don't really want a game with long levels and hours of gameplay. I actually find the length of the game fine in that respect, yes it could have been a little longer but depending on who you are and what you're playing it on it may actually benefit you, especially if like me you got this for "free" on Playstation plus.

Another plus for me would be both the art style and music used in the game, now with ex-Pixar staff working with the team you can see why the art is just so great to look at, it really conveys this dark and sombre tone to the industrialised look of a secret base like you'd see in an old spy movie. The only real bright colours you actually do see are on the screens or propaganda posters seen throughout the levels, which I feel works really well as it juxtaposes the dull colours surrounding it and quickly draws your attention.

The music, while not overpowering is pretty good as it again feels like it belongs in an old spy movie, it generally feels like it belongs in a James Bond theme with its use of the Bass and Trumpets in the background as you sneak.

While the AI in this game is pretty simplistic in that they follow a general walking pattern across the level and just duck and shoot at you there are some frustrating moments when they decide to hide in a corner of the level you just cannot reach as there is no pillar to crouch behind that allows you to face them, which would be fine as you could just lure them out. However the a problem arises when they begin the call in that they have seen an enemy, and with no way to stop them you'll pretty quickly get your defcon level raised substantially.

While this only happened a few times to my I have seen quite a few complaints about it online so it does not seem like something they decided to patch out or perhaps are even aware of, other than this small problem and the general basic AI there are no real problems with the game glitch wise which is a plus.

Overall I feel like this game was great in the sense it was a short enjoyable ride, however I think if it were any longer I would quickly become bored, I feel if there were to be a sequel to this title the developers would have to add enough new or expanded upon content to keep it fresh. The core gameplay is great and the use of leaderboards is a step in the right direction without the game having an unnecessary multiplayer mode.

I personally played this on the Playstation 4 but I feel as though it would have been better suited to my Vita because of its length. I think if you're looking for something new and short to play on a commute to work or on a plane ride this game would be perfect, you'll probably complete it during the trip or at least on your return but honestly I think those kind of games work really well on the Vita, because y'know it's a portable console.

I would highly recommend picking this up on PS+ while you can or if you see it for a cheap price sometime but I would not say it is a essential title for a Sony console in any way, but it is a nice short and refreshing take on the stealth genre and makes for a nice time sink in between other titles.

As always thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed it.

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker ( Wii U: 2014)

This week I took a look at a relatively new Wii U title, Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, a puzzle spin off of the Super Mario 3D World series which featured Captain Toad levels as a mini game segment.
This title was announced at E3 2014 and later released toward the end of that same year, developed by Nintendo EAD Software Development Group 2, it was clear this title would purely be an expansion on the mini game we were familiar with in 3D World.

Although these segments in 3D World were not popular with everyone I felt they broke up the game slightly with more or less optional levels which made use of the game pads control scheme, such as the ability to change your perspective via turning the pad left to right. I found them to be quite enjoyable and when I heard they would be making an expanded title for a cheaper price I knew I would pick it up eventually.

Perhaps this was due to my affinity for theWorld series, as I was never really in to Mario at all before I got a 3DS and played 3D Land. Before that I had only played the original Land on my Gameboy Pocket as a child and the odd kart game with friends. Playing the 3DS title really opened my eyes to how fun Mario games could be, so I began to go back and play the NES and SNES titles on the virtual console.

It's fair to say I still have a lot to catch up on but with the release of World on Wii U I had found one of my games of the year for that year. Perhaps the reason I purchased Captain Toad was to hope to continue that same enjoyment all over again. But how does this title hold up to the likes of its predecessors?

In terms of story like much of the Mario franchise it is nothing to write home about, we follow treasure hunter Captain Toad and Toadette as they search for gold stars across the world only to eventually have Toadette captured by an enemy who also covets the stars. What is funny however is that the only reason Toadette was captured was because she wouldn't let go of the damn star... So it's then up to you to rescue her and collect as much treasure as you can along the way, simple stuff!

In terms of gameplay what we have is an expansion upon what we have seen within the Toad mini game segments of World in that you control Toad in a very small stage as you make your way to the golden star. In order to reach the star you must traverse through multiple puzzles that usually incorporate the features of the game pad in some form. For example you may not be able to see much of the stage without first turning the game pad left or right (or using the right stick), you may also come across certain blocks you must control via the use of touch features or even platforms that can only be moved by blowing on the mic.

There are a number of enemies who can appear within stages, primarily Shyguys who you can either sneak past, attempt to fall on them from a great height as Toad cannot jump or grab a turnip from a root sticking out of the ground and use it as a weapon. These turnips can also prove quite useful in obtaining items you otherwise would not be able to reach such as collectables as whatever the turnip touches like coins, you will then obtain it.

A difference added to this title is the inclusion of the three diamonds hidden within every level. These items become necessary as they accumulate in order to unlock further levels within the game, however if you were to collect all of them you would not gain any kind of completion bonus. While these stages are small they can become rather challenging if you are attempting to collect every item within them as the game goes on. The game like most Mario titles does start off rather easy and some may argue it stays that way but personally I have found myself scratching my head at some stages as I tried to figure out how I would obtain each diamond.

While the majority of the gameplay is the same as its mini game predecessor there are stages in which we do see a change, such as the mine-cart centric levels which turn the game in to an on rails shooter where you shoot turnips via the game pad camera at enemies, coins and diamonds. While these levels are few and far between they are quite fun and I would like to see more in a future title, hopefully they would also improve the length of these levels too as they did tend to end rather quickly.

There are also "boss" levels to an extent where you will have a large enemy on screen at all times who follows a specific pattern that will hinder your ability to progress through the level, other than that they remain the same as the standard levels with the same goals and collectables. While these were quite fun they did tend to reuse the same enemy a few times, however the battle against the "antagonist" of the game was quite cool to me as she would constantly blow wind from different directions which would move platforms as well as yourself which added a new challenge to getting all the diamonds.

The game breaks itself in to three books or episodes each containing around 20 or more levels, which initially confused me as I came to the end of book one and thought  had finished the entire game as the credits began to role. Episode two has you play as Toadette, which does not add anything gameplay wise but is a nice change, although literally the same events have happened where the Bird has come yet again to take your star and this time Toad is the one who refused to let go....

The game is honestly a very simplistic one, but this is not to say it is a bad game in anyway, it is accessible for all ages as you would expect from a first party Nintendo title, it is also a great game for those who just want to do maybe 3 or 4 levels and then move on to something else as you will be done in no time at all. While overall the game is short in that respect and does not have much replayablity I think Nintendo made up for this by giving it a cheaper retail price, although my local 'GAME' store in the UK thought £40, which is the price of a full release game was perfectly fine.

The visuals in the game are beautiful just like World, with the bright colours and interesting level layouts which follow that of World with its move from grasslands to desserts and water based levels.
The designs of these levels are really where the game shines visually as they start of simple and then become more complex. Each level seems to use some assets from World yet uses them in a unique puzzle based way rather than a platformer to keep them fresh.

A particular favourite level of mine is the snow train level pictured above in which the entire level places you on a moving train as you proceed through each cart and back again with a comfortable backing track. While this level is incredibly easy and does not really feature much in the way of puzzles I can only describe it as comfy level because it's just relaxing to look at and be in. I could say that for a lot of the levels in this game and the same can be said for World, it's just pretty to look at and makes you yearn for a Wii U Mario title akin to 64 or Galaxy with visuals like this.

What I found to be a neat little bonus was the addition of a few 3D World levels if the game detected a save from that title on your console. These stages are available to you right from the get go and are pretty much just the exact same World levels with the omission of the collection of three diamonds and the only goal being to move through the level as Toad and get the green star.

There was a side objective to the levels in which you would need to locate a golden mushroom on each stage but there was no real need to do this unless you are a completionist as it does not add anything to the game itself. Although I personally enjoyed this little bonus it may not be for everyone, many dislike the fact that it is literally just a handful of World levels with no real differences, but for something added to the game for free I could not really complain.

It is a shame there is no multiplayer aspect to this game as I feel it would not hurt to have some co op based puzzles although that may be something they were saving for a future title, or perhaps they wanted to stick to the single player experience as the game is only short. Regardless I feel they could make some interesting levels out of a multiplayer format even if you could argue the use of the cherry item creating clones of yourself is pretty much a two person puzzle experience and more challenging than a multiplayer one.

Interestingly Nintendo have stated they would like to do more first party titles like this where they are shorter and simpler games and if this title is anything to go by then hopefully they can pull through and create some really interesting games at a cheaper price. Perhaps this would be the gateway to incorporate older franchises into the mainstream once again such as Mach Rider, whatever they do I am interested to see it.

Overall this game is fantastic and there is not much I can really complain about other than the length and difficulty of the game, but I feel that is to be expected with a cheaper spin off title like this, especially since it was based off a mini game from another title. I really would recommend picking this up if you did enjoy those segments from 3D World, even if you're not sure on paying so much for a shorter title such as this I think if you ever see it on sale it will be more than worth it for sure.

It really is the perfect game to play just to break up the longer titles you may be playing or even if you've just got a half hour to spare. I do feel as though Nintendo could have added some DLC levels for some form of replayabilty but they still have time to do this, or perhaps they are saving them for a sequel. Perhaps a 3DS title would work better for those who just want a shorter game to play on their commute to work, regardless I would love to see this series expanded upon and do not regret purchasing this game at all, you really should check it out.

Transistor (Playstation 4: 2014)

This week for a change of pace I take a look at a game I recently got from Playstation Plus, Transistor. Transistor is Sci-Fi based Action RPG from Supergiant Games, a studio created in 2009 who are well known for their work on the similar game, Bastion. Transistor was released in May of 2014 for both Playstation 4 and the PC, it met with pretty favourable reviews online and was even nominated in a few categories at the Game Awards and IGN's best of 2014 awards. At the time of writing this I have just completed the game myself. I truly enjoyed myself with this title and I can see why it was nominated for a number of awards. So let's try and explain exactly what it is I enjoy about this game and why.

It would be best to start with the plot, now I don't really want to spoil the plot for this game but the general outline of it is that you wake up as a woman who goes by the name of Red in a city called Cloudbank, Red was a famous singer within the city who had been a victim of the 'process', a machine like enemy controlled by a group named the Camerata. Red wakes up within the city unable to speak and soon comes into the possession of a giant sword like weapon called a transistor.

The transistor is embedded into the corpse of an unknown man who seems to have been close to Red, as Red begins to use the sword she comes to realise the soul of this man is now a part of the weapon and does the talking for her while the Camerata begin to hunt them down for an unknown purpose. I really enjoyed the setting for this game as it kept with the post 'end of the world' type scenario we've seen in Bastion but updated it to a industrial almost cyberpunk style future, full of sky scrapers and more.

The setting almost feels like a more cyberpunk styled Coruscant from Starwars, but it does not always stick to this theme, there are certain areas within the game that are almost like a mini hub world for the player where you can practice your skills and take part in challenges, this Hub takes the form of a small personal island complete with hammock and beach ball. I think this works really well as it really does juxtapose the tall buildings to a more relaxing area that makes you as the player feel like you can just chill out for a few moments before heading back to the action.

There are only about four or so characters in this game with two of them being the main focus, those are the protagonists Red, who as you may of guessed is the red headed women we play as and her sword the transistor, although we never hear Red speak until the end of the game her characterisation works really well, what I particularly enjoyed was the only way we can actually see what she is thinking is when she comes across a terminal and uses the response feature to type out what she would like to say to the transistor.

The transistor itself is what really steals the show however, just by having an inanimate object be your main point of contact for the entire game worked really well for me as you slowly begin to piece together who he may be in relation to Red and how and why he became stuck within the transistor itself. I feel as though this game used these characters well in the short space of time in which it takes to finish the game.

In terms of gameplay the game actually starts out quite simply and slowly becomes more complex as you begins to unlock new abilities. The main focus of the game is to battle small waves of enemies as you progress. To do this you primarily use your transistor, however the battle system allows for you not only to slow down time which depletes with the more moves you use but also to customise your move set as you begin to level up.

This is done by using functions which come every time you level up, a function can be an ability that will harm the enemy or in rare cases be one that helps the player for example one function allows the player to use a short dash in order to escape combat. The complexity comes when you add a function as an enhancer to another, with one example being the Spark function which is a wide area attack on its own, but if you were to add that to another function it would enhance that functions area of attack without changing how that attack works.

For those who like an added challenge there are also functions known as limiters which unlock in the same way but are optional. These work as a limit on you as the player in a multitude of ways such as your ability to recover you action bar after depleting it, but while doing this is multiplies your experience thus allowing you to level up quicker. What I like about these is they are not necessary if you just want to breeze through the game. I believe this system puts a nice complex spin on the system we're perhaps used to in games like Bastion and really defines the genre.

A quite neat feature I enjoyed on the Playstation 4 version of the game was the use of the controllers light source on the back flashing in unison with the transistor when it spoke to you, although it was not really a necessary edition to the game overall it was quite interesting for me as a player as it was almost like 'yeah the transistor is my tool as is the controller, so they are one in the same'. It may have been more interesting to those viewing the player however as my mum, who hasn't played a video game since Columns on the Sega Megadrive (Genesis) kept commenting on it say how cool it looked to her.

The art style of this game is truly amazing, if you're familiar with Bastion you'll know the style in the Supergiant Games tends to follow a colourful almost painting like ascetic where both the player and the scenery look at though they belong together at all time's much like that of a painting. Transistor continues this aesthetic but rather than the vibrant colours of greens and reds, this game focus' more on lighting with darker shades of yellows, golds and browns to show the lower areas of the city, such as alley ways etc.

The game also makes use of harsh whites and blues in order to present the more open areas that have not had their light sources engulfed by the huge buildings of the city, this is what I mean by the cyberpunk style, in that although it doesn't really focus on too much neon like purples or greens it uses the blue to almost make it seem like a natural light source on things like windows and signs. Whatever it is I think it works really well and kind of gives off this cyberpunk vibe while at the same time by using golds and browns on the lower sections it makes it seem as though the city is a miss mash of a lot of different elements, making it have a quite original feel to it.

The interesting thing about Supergiant Games is that they have a huge focus on voice acting yet at the same time there is only a minuscule amount of characters or entities that do actually talk. In Bastion it was the Narrator who would pretty much describe what the player was doing as they did it as well as give us the plot of the game. In Transistor it works very much in the same way, as Red has lost her voice it is down to the Transistor itself to talk for her.

This works not by describing what she is doing or thinking but just by commenting on the world around you and what the transistor personally thinks, for example if you were to constantly use the same attack to beat an enemy the transistor would comment something akin to 'well... that works'. I feel like this worked really well as it didn't need to give us the story it kind of left us in the dark a little just like how the characters would feel at the time.

The voice actor for the Transistor, Logan Cunningham is fantastic, he has worked with Supergiant Games previously as he actually voiced the narrator of Bastion, yet he brings something new to the table with his often franc and sarcastic character, rather than give an old town prospector sort of vibe that we're used to in Bastion. I believe he was chosen again in this game as his voice talents practically lead the "cast" of Bastion. Again his role in this title is very similar to the former but his ability to lead the game in a different tone is note worthy.

Music is also a huge factor in their games and this title is no different, Darren Korb returns to compose the soundtrack as well as vocalist Ashley Lynn Barrett for a number of songs. Korb described the genre as "Old-world Electronic Post-rock", which really seems to fit the style and setting of the game, I'm not a musician myself but the use of the pianos and electric guitars really seemed to work both when inside and outside of combat. The entire soundtrack was uploaded to Youtube by the developers so if you're interested I would really suggest giving some tracks a listen.

In terms of length this game is not particularly long, it should not take you any longer than around 3 to 4 hours depending on if you're the type to do the challenge missions or not. In that respect it makes for a great game to get in to as you wait for bigger longer titles to come out, it also works out great for someone like me who does not really have the time to sit down and be super invested in a game anymore.

It does have a replayability aspect however in that the original ending is sort of left open and the games trophies entice you to replay with a gold trophy for doing so, I don't believe this adds anything to the game story wise, but it will definitely be something I get around to eventually, if only just to try out a few more of the huge variety of weapon combinations and perhaps eventually platinum the game.

Throughout this review I've mentioned Bastion and the similarities it shares with this game, I really enjoyed both titles and look forward to what Supergiant Games comes up with next, but the question remains which titles do I prefer? This is a pretty tough question as each title has aspects I enjoy more than the other and vice versa. Overall I think I enjoyed Bastion more, because if was the first title I played and had a more interesting story than Transistor did, I felt the use of the narrator telling this story to the player also worked much better than in this title.

However I think in terms of gameplay, replayability and score, this title works much better. The ability to customise your moveset to such a degree keeps what could be classed as repetitive gameplay fresher, it also entices the player to come back for a second playthrough by unlocking new abilities and therefore new customisations. I feel like the music made this title perfectly mixed the feelings of loneliness in a post catastrophe hit world with the sort of cyberpunk theme and felt sombre at times while quickly picking up the pace to make the player ready for a battle.

This is not to say that Bastion should be skipped out by any means, in fact I would suggest playing that title first before moving on to this one as you can really see where gameplay wise they improved a great system.

Overall Transistor is a fantastic short game that really is worth your time, if you have Playstation plus I would seriously suggest downloading this as soon as possible. Even if you're not the type who enjoys replaying titles or even challenges I do not think you will be disappointed with this game, it would be the perfect title to play if even for an hour every other day just while you're between games.

As always thanks for reading this review, let me know what you thought on Twitter @ScatmanBegins