VIDEO GAME: Blaster Master Zero (2017)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Blaster Master Zero Year: 2017 Rating: E Time Played: 6 hours While I grew up with retro video games, one game that escaped my notice at the time was Blaster Master. I first encountered this game when it kept popping up in the Nintendo eShop on my Switch. Even though there weren't many games I had for that system at the time, I played the demo and it took me several years to decide it was worth my money. I'm glad I gave it a chance, because the rest of the game was quite fun. Since I never played the original game, I don't know what improvements this remake gave to make the quality of life better for this version. It did have a lot of standard action platformer button allocations that helped me cycle through different abilities without having to go into the pause menu every few seconds. The wide-screen format also made the levels feel large and easy to navigate. The graphics retained...
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BOOK: Ready Player Two (2020)

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Ready Player Two Year: 2020 Author: Ernest Cline Length: 370 pages I understand that most sequels that weren't already planned as part of a larger series (or even a duology) are often just a cash grab for fans of the original work. Usually, I can forgive this if it allows me to spend more time in the world the author created in the first book. In the case of Ready Player Two, I think it goes so far into being a cash grab that it actually harms how I feel about the original Ready Player One. While the internet and online culture has changed significantly in the nine years since the first book came out, there were only a few retroactive changes to the Oasis that recognized these shifts in modern technology. And while the main idea of the plot does take a natural next step from virtual reality to capturing a lived reality in digital space, none of the excitement of the original egg...
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MOVIE: Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Wreck-It RalphYear: 2012Rating: PGLength: 101 minutes / 1.68 hours One year after the release of the book Ready Player One, Disney also jumped onto the video game setting with Wreck-It Ralph (2012). Both have an astonishing number of licensed characters, even if they're relegated to cameo status most of the time. The larger difference between the two is that Wreck-It Ralph examines the virtual world from the villain's perspective. Redeemable villains have been all the rage for some time, so providing video games as a space to contextualize the concepts of destiny and cultural expectations was a perfect fit. Plot-wise, I enjoyed the video game universe Wreck-It Ralph created—even if there are undoubtedly some plot holes if you take it too seriously. I felt the Sugar Rush section of the film was a little long, but only because it had to deal with an entire other subplot with Vanellope (Sarah Silverman). Sure, feeling like you don't belong because you're a glitch parallels...
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VIDEO GAME: Micro Mages (2019)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Micro Mages Year: 2019 Rating: E10+ Time Played: ~1 hour Six years ago, I watched an enthralling YouTube video from Morphcat Games that described their process of creating a brand new video game that could still fit on the hardware for the original Nintendo cartridge. Of course, this was in itself an advertisement for their game, Micro Mages. Since I still owned the hardware to run an original Nintendo game, I backed their Kickstarter and eventually received my game. Now I show this game off to my friends at regular intervals and let them in on the secret: it came out in 2019. The game itself is fairly simple, but with just enough difficulty to require a few play-throughs to get a hang of it and beat the last boss. Its vertical platformer layout is unique for its genre, but it's even more unique in its ability to support four players simultaneously (assuming you have the adapters for the Nintendo to expand the controller spots...
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VIDEO GAME: LOVE (2019)

by benmweilertNo Comments
LOVEYear: 2019Rating: ETime Played: ~1 hour When it comes to retro-inspired video games, most seem to pull their influences from the 8-bit or 16-bit systems like the Nintendo Entertainment System or Sega Genesis. Rarely have I seen something that seems to take their cues from further back in the video game pantheon. For all their limitations, Atari or Commodore 64 games still had a distinctive style that made them stand out prior to the boon in the home gaming space dominated by Nintendo and Sega. LOVE feels like an extremely polished Atari game—which is both a good and bad thing. Platformers have always been a simple game to make on limited hardware. All you need is a few pixels that the player can move around on the screen and a variety of platforms to jump onto. LOVE takes this common idea and puts it into a mostly monochromatic, heavily pixelated space that could have been pulled straight from the home video game...
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VIDEO GAME: Axiom Verge (2015)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Axiom Verge Year: 2015 Rating: E10+ Time Played: 843 minutes / 14.05 hours As I play more and more video games, I'm finding that I enjoy Metroidvanias. Something about exploring and upgrading a character to unlock more parts of a map (for more exploration) feels satisfying to me. Axiom Verge adheres to many of the tropes that make a Metroidvania great, including mimicking the pixelated 16-bit style of one of the genre's founders, Super Metroid. The fact that a single person created the entirety of this game is astounding, even if its edges show in a few spots. Even though I enjoy playing through a Metroidvania like Axiom Verge, I also found myself struggling to beat the final boss of the game. Much like how I had to take a break before finishing off Hollow Knight, I found myself just barely able to keep up with Axiom Verge's final boss. It turns out I had missed picking up one of the game's best weapons because...
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VIDEO GAME: Hyper Light Drifter (2016)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Hyper Light Drifter Year: 2016 Rating: T Time Played: 524 minutes / 8.73 hours As a gamer who grew up on the pixel art graphics of the 8- and 16- bit eras, I can appreciate when a game comes along to try and replicate that aesthetic. Granted, it can be challenging to pull off correctly while also adapting modern gameplay elements. However, there are definitely games that have successfully created an homage to these earlier times (like Shovel Knight). Then there are games that expand upon their predecessors to create something that the original gaming systems couldn't possibly handle. Hyper Light Drifter is beautiful in its aesthetic while never sacrificing its vision or its challenge. Early video games had the flaw of being difficult for the sake of drawing out how long you played them. As a result, some were unfairly hard—to the point where I never wanted to get good enough to beat them. Hyper Light Drifter certainly had a bit of a learning...
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VIDEO GAME: Shovel Knight (2014)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Shovel Knight Year: 2014 Rating: E Time Played: 27.33 hours I grew up in the era of retro video games. My favorite was the Mega Man series, but I appreciated what games like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link were trying to accomplish. While Shovel Knight isn’t a spiritual successor to any one game, it lovingly paints the pixelated beauty of classic video games in vibrant homage. I played through this game and all three of its free DLC add-ons on the 3DS, and I found the stereoscopic effect to be just as mesmerizing as the stunning visuals it used to create the effect. Shovel Knight managed to create a world filled with lore and unique characters that far surpasses anything programmed on the NES. Granted, there was a bit of a cheat in not being wholly constrained to NES graphics or audio, but I’d rather have a great game that fudges some nostalgia than one that suffers because of...
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