Results tagged “reviews”

Toradora! has been pretty widely regarded as excellent, a brilliant concoction of characters, romance, and humor, refreshing yet still full of room for interpretation.  However, upon looking at the premise of this romantic comedy, I had an uneasy feeling the series would be like the next Haruhi Suzumiya to me, a series where I would blanch at the excessive amounts of hype that surround it.  The plot is simple enough:  Takasu Ryuuji and Aisaka Taiga, two students whose personalities grind gears with each other in every single way possible, form an alliance to help each other obtain a significant other, their counterpart's best friend.  Throughout the series, another more unexpected romance starts to blossom.

The worst part of the game by far was Emil's mansion.  That part of the game played like a survival horror.  Thing is, when survival horror got its start on the PS1, the best that anyone could do with the technology that was available at the time was to render stills and switch between them when the character moved through a room.  The problem with that was that your perspective changed, but the character's did not.  Disoriented gamers would move their analog stick and end up veering the character in an entirely different direction than the one the gamer wanted.  It was an awful control scheme and it's a wonder that the survival horror genre managed to live beyond its rocky start.

Well, for better or for worse, Emil's mansion adopts this control scheme, and it's awful.  I especially hated when the game switched to a different still and I adjusted my walking angle out of reflex and ended up going back to the previous still, then adjusted again and went back to the next, and so on for a few seconds.  I'm awfully glad that there weren't any enemies that needed to be killed at the time.  (I had that same problem in Heavy Rain, but neglected to mention it.)  If there had been, I probably would've burned through all of my herbs and other healing items while trying to sort out the horrible controls.


And that's another thing.  Inventory limits are severe in this game, and it makes the early portions of the game especially difficult.  The game actually gets easier, the longer you play,  That in itself is ridiculous.  Once you get past a certain level, your HP will suddenly increase in leaps and bounds, and will render the end game pretty easy.  Generally, this isn't supposed to happen.  Games aren't supposed to get easier as time goes by, they're supposed to get more challenging.  It still sucks, no matter how high a level you are, when you can barely carry more than ten of each healing item with you, and you already have as many as you can carry but keep finding more in the field.  Not only can you not take the extras with you when you need them, but you'll end up running out in areas of the game where they're scarce.  At that point, the only way you'll survive is if you've gained enough levels so that your HP will skyrocket and you won't need to heal for a while.  To add insult to injury, any other item you can acquire in the game, you can carry 99 of them.  So 99 nuggets of Gold Ore, 99 Tree Branches, 99 Dented Metal Bats, 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, 99 Red Balloons* ...and 10 Medicinal Herbs.  What, are you yanking them out of the ground by the roots?  Do you have to carry herb trees around?  Is that why you can only carry 10 with you?  I had no idea a Medicinal Herb was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Bottom line: certain portions of the game handled like drunk monkeys due to a poor decision by the developers.  They also accidentally turned the difficulty curve upside down.  The game promised one setting, then switched me to a generic-type setting for the remainder of the game.  The inventory system was inconsistent.  Oh, and I absolutely loved the game.

What's to love about it?  The battle system is quick and easy, to the point where you could probably just run around killing things for hours and not feel like you wasted an afternoon.  Another point in its favour: you don't have to spend thirty hours learning everything about the battle system (Final Fantasy XIII and Resonance of Fate, I'm looking at you).  The music set the mood well, especially the sleepy town-style music in the village of... Village.  It really is just called The Village.  Anyway, I loved the music in the game, and once the first half of the game ends (rather spectacularly, I might add), the feeling I got from the start of the game came back and stuck with me until the very end.

The story is also well written and rather daring for an RPG.  This is the kind of story I never thought I'd see in a video game.  It's deep, it's just... deep.  I wish I could tell you how it's deep, but I'd be spoiling the game somewhat fierce.  Let's just say that you need to play the game twice, then let out a good "My God, what have I done?"  Then play again, because there'll still be more to see.  I just want to give special mention to the side quests featuring the old lady in the lighthouse.  I think that was the closest I've come to crying over a video game since the "You're Not Alone" scene in Final Fantasy IX.


In the end, I'm going to go as far as saying that NieR deserves to be known as this console generation's Xenogears.  I certainly can't think of any RPG of the current generation that even came close to what NieR has done.  Depending on what's left this year, and depending on how good Dragon Quest IX and Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep are, NieR might end up being my RPG of the year. 



*At least one of these items is a joke, and doesn't actually appear in the game.

A third major faction known as the Innovators is introduced as trying to continue with Aeolia Schoenberg's incomplete plan, while the 3 previous major world powers, now unified under the Earth Sphere Federation, is trying to preserve law and order through the corrupt A-Laws organization.  Due to the corruption within the A-Laws and behind-the-scenes actions of the Innovators, the story builds quickly, and because of the evolved characters' personalities, one gets an excellent combination of morality, motivation, righteousness, and action.  Pair that up with very detailed animation and solid character chemistry not only amongst Celesial Being but amongst minor characters as well, I settled down for what I thought would be another A+ anime like its predecessor.  However, around halfway into the series, cracks started to form in what had started out as the perfect handoff from Code Geass R2, which previously held 00 Season 2's time slot.

The first problem is with the Innovators, where the producers and storywriters made the same mistake that swallowed the Knights of Rounds in Code Geass R2.  The transitions amongst all main factions aren't as awkward as in Code Geass R2, but this doesn't make up much for the fact that the secondary antagonists suffer from a severe case of character underdevelopment.  For the Innovators, each member perhaps get a few lines in the entire series, and dialogue amongst them is rare, so names, appearances, and personalities feel plastered on and eventually fall off.  Each one is portrayed as "Ribbon's subordinate" rather than as their own self.  Also puzzling are their names, most of which are just random words from a dictionary.

The same case of character underdevelopment also holds true for one Meister, Allelujah Haptism, though to a much lesser extent.  In Allelujah's case, his character has been inadvertently pushed into the backseat, grown considerably softer, and whose confidence has waned after his fate at the end of season 1.  While I can understand his reasons for softening up, the fact he gets a much lesser amount of character development and screen time can't be overlooked.  The reintroduction of his alter-ego Hallelujah is welcome but was too sudden and clumsily done.  The underdevelopment of Allelujah is a tradeoff for an extreme overdevelopment of the main protagonist Setsuna F Seiei, who for season 2 plays a much larger "front and center" role as protagonist and ace pilot.  While each Meister receives an improved version of their previous Gundam in season 2, Setsuna's overpowered replacement, 00 Gundam, with all the extra accessories, just exemplifies the overattention paid to him not only as a person, but also as a pilot.  Don't get me wrong, Setsuna's a great character, but having him portrayed as the ace card in every battle is detrimental to the series as a whole.  00 should take a leaf out of Wing's book in this sense.


Despite a presence in season 1 and taking on the role of primary antagonist in season 2, the head of the Innovators, Ribbons Almark, presents an even bigger problem.  As an antagonist, one usually portrays a certain aura and has a certain plan to achieve one's goals.  For Ribbons, bits and pieces of his plan are revealed throughout the series, but that is all the viewer has to work with and one is always hoping for more details or references to what was revealed in season 1.  The foundation of the plan is poorly explained and developed, and when one plot hole gets filled, three more pop up.  Sure, there are plenty of twists and turns, as Ribbons pushes his lackeys out at Celestial Being to keep them off track.  But in doing so, he portrays himself as a puppetmaster and disconnects himself completely from the story, always taking the easy way out by having someone else do his work.  When he receives word of a setback or a failed plan, he annoyingly reacts with complete ambivalence and comes up with new plans so grandiose that one wonders where he receives the money.  It's as if he doesn't care about anything, from his subordinates, his plan, his possession of Mobile Suits, or control of the Veda supercomputer.  His expression in most of the series is of a half-grin, with absolutely no emotional or frustrated outbursts at all, which combined with a monotone voice 80% of the time he speaks leads to a dull, flat personality.


It wasn't until 2/3 of the way into the series when plot problems began to crop up.  Plot buildup until this point was rather good, but at 2/3 of the way into a series, one usually expects key events to begin happening, stunning revelations, or a buildup to the final battle.  Instead of providing more details on Aeolia's original plan and Ribbon's attempt to make it reality or advancing key character relationships, the story repeats itself by having a second version of the Memento Mori, a superweapon which was destroyed several episodes previously.  The plot also finds time to shoehorn in a hastily-developed romance between Mary-Sue Anew Returner and Meister Lockon Stratos, whose previously charming personality now has been diluted with a serious inferiority complex.  The fact his loyalty, ability, and motives are oftentimes called into question doesn't earn him many points either, and leads him to becoming a lightning rod for criticism and hatred.  Whether the producers were distracted or tried cramming too much material into too few episodes is debatable, but what's clear is that the time they had for the last third of the series could have been better utilized.  Nonetheless, by the last episode, while some loose ends are tied up, the series manages to end with more plot holes and unanswered questions than season 1, and it's a miracle the last 3 episodes don't feel too rushed.  It was a huge sigh of relief knowing that a movie, Awakening of the Trailblazer, comes to Japan this September.

Despite several huge flaws, Gundam 00 Season 2 is still a viable watch.  It's not a complete disaster that destroys the good aspects its predecessor had like Gundam Seed Destiny because it does start out well and has a clear sense of direction.  The problem is that partway into the execution, it began to falter and just struggled to redeem itself.  Whether this was because it tried to cram in too much material or the producers got distracted, the second season should be viewed as a stepping stone to the movie, which hopefully cures at least the plot holes and the unbalanced character development, while still keeping the aspects which made the series enjoyable.  How long before it comes to the United States and what sort of release it will get remains to be seen, but it will be something for 00 fans to surely look forward to.  To hold off on the movie release, the first boxset for season 2 was released on April 6 this year, and look for the second boxset on July 6.  Otherwise, these will have to suffice:

The first few levels are just straight-up Breakout-style gameplay.  You have your paddle and your brick-shaped bricks and you use the paddle to keep the ball in play; if the ball passes through the bottom of the screen, you lose a life (here represented by extra balls), and if you lose all remaining lives, the game is over.  Like most Breakout-style games, Ricochet Infinity is forgiving enough to let you continue from the level you lost, although you have to start the level over.  An interesting addition to this game is the five golden rings in each level, which you collect to earn better player ranks.  The higher the rank, the more different ships and ball designs you unlock.  You keep all rings you've collected even if you lose the game.  If you want to replay a level you've already finished, golden rings you already collected in the level become silver rings and still earn you points.

Another feature of the game is the Recall feature, which lets you call the ball back towards your paddle.  In many cases, it can also be used to give the ball an extra nudge towards that last brick or ring that's left on the screen.  I found Recall to be very handy in certain situations, and it's far better than the insulting way that other games in the genre eliminate the last brick for you if you take too long.  It's like they're saying, "It's taken you this long and you still haven't finished the level?  I can't be bothered to wait any longer."  Instead, Ricochet Infinity feels a lot friendlier, giving you the Recall option right from the start and making it a part of the gameplay rather than the last resort to finish a level.

There is also a two-player mode, where two people can get in on the action, playing on the same screen albeit with separate scores for each player.


When all of a sudden I found myself having to break bricks that were not shaped like bricks at all, I realized that I've missed quite a lot of progress in the genre.  Not only that, but the higher levels also feature gimmicks like bricks swimming or crawling past the screen  on one side and returning on the other.  Then there's the levels that include hidden bricks, which you must reveal using various means provided to you by the level.  In extreme cases, the motion of your paddle can reveal hidden bricks!  The way that the game ramps up difficulty is much appreciated.  In other games I played, it seemed like the only difficulty offered by a level was whether or not the bricks were placed closer to your paddle.

There are other features like the traps that change your ball or the barriers that restrict your ball's movements, but I've gotta leave a few surprises.

The music was pleasant to listen to, but the game offers a very welcome option: you can turn off the music and play your own.  I remember getting used to hearing the Afro Celt Sound System whenever I played Zuma, to the point where I thought of them as the unofficial Zuma soundtrack.  With Ricochet Infinity, it just happened that I played a lot of Deep Forest music in the background.  Either of them would do well making soundtracks, in my opinion, because their music goes so well with games.

Not everything in the game is to the player's benefit.  The game just wouldn't be as fun a game unless there were things that wanted to kill you.  In Ricochet Infinity, there are alien ships that occasionally infect bricks.  You eliminate the ships just like you would eliminate bricks.  But beware: if you don't deal with the ships, the bricks they infect stay infected.  An infected brick will speed up the ball temporarily, which may mean bad news for you.  Also, while some bricks can reveal bonuses and augments for your paddle and/or ball, beware the detrimental bonuses.  Just like you can make the ball go slower with one bonus, another will make it go faster.  One bonus will shrink your ship, one will freeze it, but nothing is as evil as the missile.  Once dropped, if it hits your ship, you lose a life.  Sometimes the enemy ships will also drop missiles, which must also be avoided at all costs.

The game also comes with kind of an expansion set called The Delta Quadrant, which simply consists of more levels that weren't put in the original level set.  Once unlocked, those levels shouldn't take too long to finish either.  The two level sets represent the Ricochet in the title.  The Infinity part kicks in once you connect the game to the Internet, where there are literally hundreds of level sets created by users around the world (1939 as of this writing).  The day before I wrote this review, I downloaded and played through an Easter-themed level set that had been uploaded the day before that, and it was pretty well done.  After finishing, you get the option of rating the levels and adding tags to help other people find it.  I think I was the one who added the tags to the set, if I recall correctly.  I played through about three or four user-generated sets and added tags to some of them, one of which had no tags yet, but I can't remember which.  Considering how many level sets there are that are rated A+, A, and A-, there's quite a lot of new and unique gameplay left for those who finish the main game.

Ricochet Infinity is available through their main website and also through Steam.  With the original and Delta Quadrant levels and all the extra levels that can be downloaded (and more being added all the time), this is a game that's well worth your money.  Plus, if you haven't played a Breakout game in years, maybe even decades, this will suck you right back into the genre.

My first introduction to importing Japanese-only BLEACH fighting games came with BLEACH GC: Tasogare ni Mamieru Shinigami on the GameCube in January 2007. It was fun to start but got old quickly, even while playing with friends. Despite importing the game (and the Freeloader disc required to play it) I knew about the BLEACH: Heat the Soul series on the PSP. At the time I didn't know Heat the Soul had been around since 2005 and games in the series were released once or sometimes twice a year. It wouldn't be until December 2007 that I got a PSP to call my own, and a few months later I bought BLEACH: Heat the Soul 4. Thankfully Heat the Soul 4 was much more entertaining than BLEACH GC could ever hope to be. When it came time to buy the fifth installment in the series I actually passed it over in favor of BLEACH: Heat the Soul 6. While the sixth installment was quite different from Heat the Soul 4 I found it to be just as entertaining.

BLEACH: Heat the Soul 6 closely follows Tite Kubo's manga along with some bonus material from the three movies. The story begins with Ichigo Kurosaki's initiation as a Soul Reaper and continues up to the content of the "Turn Back the Pendulum" story arc. Like any fighting game series the plot is revealed through multiple character fights. Story mode is also a clever way of introducing the game's two character tag system (similar to Marvel VS Capcom 2 -- obviously with two characters instead of three) and getting players to learn how special attacks work. Mindless button mashing won't always help you in this game. Sixty one individual fights are split up into ten chapters that cover seven major manga story arcs and the last three chapters cover material from the movies. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how much like you a serious challenge), completing story mode's 61 missions and unlocking all 74 characters isn't always as simple as just beating an opponent.




All matches are ranked on how well you complete each mission's objective within a fight. Matches are ranked from S to D with S being excellent and D being below average. In order to unlock every single mission, and thus getting 100 percent in story mode, you must complete a match with an A or better. Each objective is stated before a match starts and includes objectives such as only finishing off an opponent with a special attack, a tag team special attack, finishing off an enemy within a certain time limit, or just surviving a match until a timer reaches zero. Attempting to get an A (especially in horribly mismatched fights) requires saintly levels of patience at times. Additionally, the lack of an English translation for the said objectives makes the game more difficult than it should be. Thankfully, it is easy enough to guess an objective based on a storyline fight if you follow the anime or manga. For objectives that are a bit more ambiguous, or if you barely follow BLEACH there's always trial and error or a walkthrough.

While story mode is Heat the Soul 6's main attraction there is still plenty to do within the game. Arcade mode, Training, Soul VS (two player versus), Soul Championship and Soul Customization are the game's other major attractions. While every mode can be played without ever touching story mode the other modes aren't much fun before the character roster is filled out. Soul championship is new to the Heat the Soul series. Championship mode is split into four major tiers and you must start at the lowest tier. Each tier has 12 different tournaments and each tournament has its own elimination brackets. Soul customization is also new to Heat the Soul 6. As the name implies it is the ability build a custom technique set for any particular character not normally found in the course of the game. Such techniques include the ability to deal more damage when attacking from behind, inflicting block damage, an auto block, a long range dash, the ability to switch characters in tag mode while blocking, and lots more. This section of the game is so comprehensive that using it without a guide is impossible unless you're up to date on your Japanese.




Graphically, Heat the Soul 6 is nearly identical to previous installments. The cel-shading comes off very crisp and stylish at times, but the game doesn't even come close to pushing the PSP to its limits. Other than a few mild changes to the graphical interface 6 looks pretty much like the original Heat the Soul did in 2005. If you're a stickler for graphics BLEACH may or may not please you. Surprisingly, the Heat the Soul series looks much better than the GameCube and Wii games--neither of which I recommend over the PSP titles. As for voice work it's hard to find any faults with the Heat the Soul series. All of the voice actors from the anime have reprised their roles and the J-pop group Porno Graffiti performs the excellent opening song, "Koyoi, Tsuki ga Miezu Tomo." While on the subject of music, the game's soundtrack gets the job done despite some tracks being completely recycled from prior games. It works for the context of the game but you're not likely to put the music on your favorite playlist.

Beyond the soul championship mode and soul customization Heat the Soul 6 isn't very different from Heat the Soul 5. This latest Heat the Soul game simply refines the tag team feature that was already introduced in 5, making it more of an upgrade. If you've already played Heat the Soul 5 I can't fully recommend importing this $50 dollar PSP title, unless you're hell-bent on having every new BLEACH game. A new sweeping system probably won't be introduced until Heat the Soul 7 is eventually released. Of course, if you haven't played a Heat the Soul game since 4, 6 is going to feel really different with the introduction of the tag team system. And if you've never played a Heat the Soul game 6 is a great place to start, particularly if you've played one or both of the BLEACH DS fighting games. A lack of an English translation, difficult mission objectives, and repetition aside, Heat the Soul 6 is a fun and well-rounded game that any BLEACH fan should at least try. It's just a shame that Sony refuses to publish the series outside of Asia.



Images shamelessly taken from the official Heat the Soul 6 website. Additionally, parts of this review would have been impossible to write without HolyDragonFire's comprehensive walkthrough on GameFAQs.com.

I've found that entertaining movies make me eat popcorn very quickly.  Although 2012 was chock full of problems, I consumed a decent sized bag of popcorn during the first 3/5 of the movie.  I had fun making fun of the movie.  A similar thing happened with The Princess and the Frog, I consumed a lot of popcorn while enjoying a refreshingly new Disney movie.  But it's the truly entertaining movies that make me set the popcorn aside, and by the time I was finished watching Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, including the secret post-credits end scene,* I still had some popcorn left.  The Squeakquel is much shorter than 2012 was, yes, but I also bought a much smaller bag of popcorn, one that I should've been able to burn through rather quickly.  I also barely touched the drink I purchased.  But be warned: although I found it to be entertaining, I can see how this movie can also suck.

This movie is pretty much a high school musical.  Er, a musical set in a high school.  There, that sounds better.  It even has a plot that could've been rewritten slightly to accommodate a completely human cast and retitled High School Musical 4.  A series of events occur which cause a famous boy band to start going to a local school, and then they learn that the school's music department is a victim of budget cuts, and they'll have to enter a battle of the bands competition between various schools where the winning school gets some of their funding back.  Not only that, but there's a competition within the school itself between the boy band and an aspiring all-girl band who both want to compete at the event.  In the end, it's a standard happy ending for all, where all the bad guys of the movie get their just desserts and all the good guys live happily ever after (at least until they announce a third movie).**

By now, it's very clear to me that this and the previous movie represent a complete reboot in the Chipmunks continuity, just like what Star Trek, Casino Royale and Batman Begins did to their respective continuities; not just an updated remake like The Italian Job, Ocean's Eleven and The Thomas Crown Affair.  And yet this movie felt like an extended episode of the 80's series, whereas the 2007 movie felt more like a veiled criticism of the music industry disguised as a Chipmunks movie.

Those who have seen the original series (or maybe just the first movie) know how ridiculous some of the stories could be.  The 80's series had its moments, but the first movie set the precedent: would you really expect a bunch of kids, especially famous ones like the Chipmunks and the Chipettes, to be able to take care of themselves while they're on their way around the world piloting a pair of hot air balloons?  Hot Air Henry had all sorts of problems during his short, accidental flight.  Not to mention that it would be all over the entertainment news if they did.***

Even on their albums, the Chipmunks demonstrated a capability to do ridiculous and amazing things.  They never showed much interest in school, so when the roof was being fixed for some reason that wasn't specified, the boys sang "I Love A Rainy Night" and somehow summoned a thunderstorm that was so severe, it caused probably the worst flooding their hometown had ever seen, all within the span of a couple minutes.  They even swiped a rocket*^ and managed to launch it without anyone able to stop them and sang "Rocket Man" when Dave wanted them to return it.  And while singing "Ho Ho Ho", they seemed to demonstrate a psychic ability to simultaneously come up with the same improvised lyrics (either that, or they secretly rewrote the lyrics while Dave wasn't looking) and sing them perfectly in three part harmony.

For the 2007 movie, a more down to earth story was written, although you still had to stretch logic in order to make it work, and you had to try your best to ignore the way Ian made all music producers look bad.  Whoever wrote the movie must've been fired or something, because like I said before, the writing for the Squeakquel resembles some of the old 80's material while remaining set within the new, updated Chipmunks universe.

Case in point, the Squeakquel opens at a Chipmunks charity concert, where Alvin's over the top antics cause a Bret Michaels moment for poor Dave Seville: a stage prop drops down and whacks him on the head, putting him out of commission for the majority of the movie (I wonder if Jason Lee had a prior engagement, but was still available to film five or six scenes for the movie, three of which included the Dave Seville trademark "Aaaaaaalviiiin!").  Then, right before the boys are to go with their Aunt Jackie (although I would say she's more of a great aunt, if she's Dave's aunt), she takes a tumble, backwards, down a flight of airport stairs in her wheelchair.  By now, with both responsible people in the hospital through no fault of their own, the irresponsible Toby Seville (Dave's cousin)  is all that's left to take care of the Chipmunks, but he can't be bothered because all he'd rather do is sit around all day playing DS, Wii and Xbox 360 games.^  Simon's supposedly in charge, but although he's much more mature now, he's hardly shown being in charge of anything.  There are maybe one or two scenes where he shows that he's trying - including one scene where he makes a disparaging comment about one of Toby's food habits, but given that the Chipmunks did a similar thing with waffles in the 2007 movie, it makes him seem slightly hypocritical - but for the majority of the movie, he just gets into conflicts with Alvin over how he chooses to use his time.

Speaking of video games: just like in the 2007 movie, the Squeakquel contains obvious product placement.  At one point, the camera pans across a room, and in the background are various gaming paraphernalia, including an issue of a magazine that clearly states that there's an article on Fallout 3 inside of it, and the camera waits until the audience has had enough time to notice and read it before changing focus.  Also, Alvin and Toby play Wii Bowling in a scene that closely resembles every Wii gamer's worst nightmare.^*  And everyone seems to have iPhones this time around.

I felt the character of Toby seemed to be just a rehash of Dave from the first movie.  Toby was awkward with love just like Dave, except even more so.  At one point, his clumsiness caused him to break a drum and then flee the room.  Then, at the end, he managed to get the girl anyway.  Also, his sudden appearance during a concert helps to save the day for the Chipmunks (although during very different circumstances, of course; Dave merely had to show up to the concert in the 2007 movie, Toby actually went up on stage from where he was behind it).  Dave shows up suddenly as well during the same scene, which makes it a double Seville whammy.  Toby manages to get through the movie without changing much, though.  I have no doubt that after the events of the Squeakquel, he'll probably fall back to his old gaming ways.

I mentioned that Simon's much more mature now.  In fact, all three Chipmunks act more mature in the Squeakquel.  They've definitely grown up a lot since the 2007 movie, where Simon stated that they're just kids.  Despite how much the boys get on Dave's nerves, he's obviously been a good influence on them.  At least Dave doesn't have to worry about being reminded of the size of Theodore's butt anymore.

He might have to worry about Ian Hawke, though.  In the 2007 movie, Ian seemed modeled after former boy-band manager Lou Pearlman.  Since 2007, Pearlman has been convicted and jailed for various offenses related to one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in American history.  Ian, however, seems to have had better luck, for he's merely homeless.  Apparently, when you get caught lip syncing, public backlash is random.  No one cared that Boney M did it, since the practice was common at the time it was discovered.  When Milli Vanilli did it, it was suddenly an unforgivable crime, even though the same guy was behind both Milli Vanilli and Boney M.  When the Chipmunks let the cat out of the bag at the end of the 2007 movie, it apparently hasn't hurt their music career, but Ian Hawke has ended up practically bankrupt, for he eats out of Dumpsters while living in the basement of Jett Records, and surreptitiously brushes his teeth when he thinks no one is watching.  Somehow, though, he can gain access to video recording equipment and a computer with an Internet connection long enough to upload videos to YouTube.

But this brings up a good point: the universe that the Chipmunks exist in is full of holes if you think about it.  Everyone is willing to accept singing chipmunks, except when it's convenient to the plot that you don't accept singing chipmunks.  Singing chipmunks have freakish upper body strength, even more so than certain mathematics nerds.  There are other intelligent animals other than chipmunks, but they're few and far between.  Music becomes popular very, very quickly, and if you upload something to any kind of public network, you can get everyone's attention with minimal effort (...okay, I'm willing to concede this point in light of evidence supporting the statement).  Fans of the Chipmunks act just like fans of any other group, to the point where some fans obviously have romantic interests towards them.  This may seem taboo in our society, but if they're intelligent creatures, would this still count as bestiality?  It might not even count as pedophilia, since animals tend to mature at a much faster rate than humans.  For all we know, the Chipmunks and the Chipettes are technically of age even though they're still going to high school.

That is not to say that these are critical problems within the old series or the new continuity.  A universe with singing chipmunks must've gone through significant societal changes since the original debut of the band, and what is taboo to us might not be taboo to them.  It's not unusual in a universe like this to go on a race around the world through potentially treacherous conditions (old continuity), or to threaten other sentient creatures with consumption (new continuity; the more I think about that, the more angry and horrible I feel at what the Chipettes were threatened with).  You can get away with almost stepping on your fellow classmates and it's okay because they're short enough that it's a hazard of living.

Keeping pedophilia in mind, it's a good thing they updated the designs of both the Chipmunks and the Chipettes.  Just like when the Chipmunks were introduced in the 2007 movie, the Chipettes are completely naked (with fur, of course) when they're first shown, and later given clothing to wear in order to fit in.  In their original design, the Chipettes looked more like little girls than chipmunks, and naked little girls would've been hard to get past any kind of sensor.  Plus, I prefer how they look now as fully chipmunk girls rather than the weird mostly-human designs from the 80's.  Just like with their 80's designs, they were able to keep each Chipette distinctive.  You can easily tell Brittany from her sisters, Jeanette and Eleanor.  It could've been because I was really young at the time, or it could've been because the Chipettes weren't seen as often as the Chipmunks, but I could never remember the names of the Chipettes until the Squeakquel was announced.  It helped that the individual names of the Chipmunks were mentioned in the theme song to their cartoon, and so every week their names were re-enforced in my mind, but no such luck with the Chipettes.

At least this movie did something that the 2007 movie didn't: instead of handwaving such a detail as unimportant, it explained how three chipmunks could escape from a locked cage.  It also did what the other two movies didn't do, and put the focus on cover versions of popular songs rather than new music.  The Chipmunks may have gotten their start singing original material, but it's become the trademark of both the Chipmunks and the Chipettes to cover other artists, and both the original Adventure and the 2007 movie contained very few cover songs.  I mean, seriously.  Wooly Bully?!  That's the best they could do in 1987?  Even the 2008 album contained a lot of original material, including a new Christmas song that's as good or possibly better than their original Christmas song.  The majority of the music you hear in the Squeakquel are cover songs, but it's as if someone picked up the Billboard top 40 list for a random week during the summer of 2009 and chose a bunch of songs from it, then picked a few of the most overdone songs ever to round out the list (if you're wondering, it's an automatic half a point off for the presence of We Are Family), and wrote a couple original songs so that they could pretend they put a little effort into it (although the plot didn't really call for new music anyway).  Not only that, but the soundtrack contains a bonus track that they obviously couldn't find a way to fit it into a movie already stuffed with music.^**

Despite the problems I can see within the movie and the franchise in general, it was very entertaining and full of laughs.  I think an enjoyable time was had by everyone who saw the movie, despite everyone trying to leave during the credits.  Myself, I'm hoping there's a third movie, but at the same time I hope they only do one if there's a good idea behind it, something much like this movie was, one that acted like it belonged with the old material while remaining firmly within the new canon.  One that was fun and funny to watch, with enjoyable characters (although Toby should probably go) and (mostly) decent music.

So there you go: this is not the kind of movie you go to if you're looking for something intelligent.  It's eye candy, pure and simple.  Entertainment only.  My recommendation is a conditional one: if you don't mind watching a cartoon script filmed in live action, then go ahead and watch the movie.  By all means, if you're babysitting the kids, take them and they'll enjoy it immensely.  If you're a hardcore Chipmunks fan and own all their albums, even the hard to find ones, you might like the Squeakquel if you liked the 2007 movie.  For everyone else... at least there's The Chipmunk Adventure.



*I am probably the only person in Revelstoke, other than the theatre employees, who has seen the final scene to this movie.  Honestly, would it kill everyone to wait until the credits are over to see if there's anything afterward?  Has everyone's houses burst into flame at exactly the same time, somehow timed to the second to start when the end credits roll?  True story: after the rest of my family finally saw Iron Man, on freaking DVD for crying out loud!, I asked them what they thought of Samuel L Jackson in the final scene and they said, "Huh?  What Samuel L Jackson scene?"

**If they do, I wonder if they're going to cast someone as Mrs. Miller, the lady who became the guardian for the Chipettes in the original continuity when it became clear that the Boys of Rock and Roll couldn't stand living with the Girls of Rock and Roll.  It'd probably be hard to replace Dody Goodman's portrayal, though.

***Hey, I think I figured out where Richard Heene and Mayumi Iizuka got their idea from.

*^ To me, it would make more sense if they had stolen one of the four (at the time) space shuttles that NASA was using, although given what happened to Columbia, I would rather they swiped one of the other ones.  However, I do not know enough about rockets to know for sure what I am talking about, and the song speaks of rockets anyway, so maybe it's Elton John and Bernie Taupin who don't know what they're talking about?  If you go further back, the song was inspired by a story by Ray Bradbury, so maybe he didn't know what he was talking about at the time?  Early science fiction certainly had that problem.

^ Possibly PS3, PSP, and PS2 games as well, but I guess Sony didn't pay for any product placement; I could see nothing PlayStation brand in the movie.

^* Considering Emerson's outrage at a scene in Heroes where Claire Bennett ruined her hand in one of their disposal units, I'm surprised Nintendo doesn't sue the movie for showing that their product can break a plasma TV if you don't wear the wrist strap.  Also, being Americans, I'm surprised the Chipmunks didn't sue Nintendo during the movie for not making controllers that are chipmunk-sized.  As The Chipmunk Adventure showed, playing any kind of video games can be a full body sport when you're a chipmunk.

^** The bonus track sucks.  I never thought I'd say this about a Chipmunks song, but there are a lot of songs that have been made in the last few years that wouldn't work as Chipmunks songs.  As an aside, I honestly think that the Chipettes could do better than sing Katy Perry, but they managed to improve Hot N Cold, so I'm happy.  I can even make out some of the lyrics that I can't in the original, oddly enough.

Why is it that the most difficult games in the Final Fantasy series never seemed to make it out of Japan?  Did they think we couldn't handle them?  I mean, III was skipped over entirely because the NES became obsolete, so at least they had a little bit of an excuse.  But IV was toned down in difficulty and V was purposely skipped over in favour of VI.  Honestly, what were they thinking?

Just look at what happened with the Dragon Quest series.  We never got Dragon Quest VI and had to wait until earlier this year to get Dragon Quest V.  And how about the Mother series?  Out of three games, we only got one.  Fire Emblem?  We only started getting them when the seventh game came out.  They're starting to wake up over there and send more games over the Pacific, but for a while there it seemed like getting good, difficult RPGs was like pulling teeth.


The trend in the Final Fantasy series is that if the game features the job system, it's going to be a difficult game.  III was difficult, Tactics (which came out after V) was also pretty difficult and challenging at times (unless you knew what you were doing and could exploit the system).  X-2 is a more recent release and is possibly the only exception to this rule, and yet there is still a degree of difficulty to it.  You'll die a horrible death if you're not careful.

V is no exception.  It's, in my opinion, the most difficult of the Final Fantasies to appear on the SNES.  If you have a lot of difficulty with IV and VI, they can be overcome with lots of leveling, but in those games, characters are rigid in their roles, unchanging.  You can't stop them from being what they are.  In V, characters can be anything, and their stats reflect this.  Whereas in III, you kept all the HP you gained so far when you switched jobs, the developers of V chose to go a different route and make all the different jobs affect even the HP of your character, so you can't even stockpile it to protect you while you're a mage.


This time around, jobs were better defined, so it didn't feel like the only thing each job had going for it was a different set of equipment.  You could level up a job and gain special skills which you could then add to your character whenever they wanted to change a job, but still do what they'd been doing before.  For instance, once they've learned the ability to cast up to level 3 white mage spells, they could equip that in their spare skill slot, change jobs, and become a Dragoon that can cast white magic.  Certain jobs let you learn how to equip certain pieces of equipment no matter which job you are, so that you could equip axes and shields when you're a Black Mage, or you could equip spears as a spoony Bard.

The last time Square used the job system, the party required a wagon full of equipment, which had to be carried around, somehow, in your pockets.  This is once again the case, yet with skills such as the aforementioned Equip Spears, you don't have to carry around a separate set of equipment if you don't want to.  Also, inventory space has been expanded enough that you probably won't run out of space for your stuff.  As such, the chubby chocobo does not make an appearance this time around (and won't until the 7th game, as a random variation on the Chocobo summon).  Having to carry around a large inventory is no longer a problem as long as you have space in your deep pockets (which are obviously bigger on the inside than they appear on the outside).

Just like before, spells are bought in shops, but they won't set you back too much, of course.  However, money seems to be harder to acquire in this game, as are experience points.  I wasn't kidding when I said this was a difficult game.


Some things change, yet some things stay the same.  For instance, the Active Time Battle system is back and doesn't go through any significant changes.  The only real difference is that this time around an ATB meter is present, to show you when your turn has come up.  The enemy's bar is kept hidden, which is probably for the best, since two sets of ATB bars on the screen might be a little confusing for some players.

What struck me in the opening was that it was as close to a movie-style opening as I'd seen in a video game created up to that point.  Granted, pretty much every Final Fantasy to come after it would blow it out of the water (quite literally, with Final Fantasy X), but the combination of music and graphics in the beginning of V was amazing enough for me to consider it one of the best openings out of any game on the SNES.  Not only that, but the graphics in the game would continue to impress me, despite being not too much of an upgrade over IV's graphics.  As for music, I loved some of the songs much better than the songs in IV, and some... not so much.  But the opening song and Dear Friends are some of my favourite Final Fantasy songs of all time.  Still, the music is a mixed bag.


The story itself relies on the old trope of a sealed away evil that must be stopped for good this time, because the seals keeping him at bay are breaking and sealing him away probably won't work again this time.  As such, each of four crystals have begun to shatter.  Given that crystals have been present in the series from the very start, it's like the developers themselves wanted to be free of the crystals, so in this game, they shattered them completely in a kind of symbolic gesture.  Anyway, the game follows sort of a linear story, but there are parts where you have to explore and find the next piece of story, kind of like in II and III.  Myself, I prefer both linear stories and worlds to explore, so it doesn't matter which kind of game it is, but your own mileage may vary.

Unlike in IV, playable characters don't come and go as they please.  In fact, there is only one roster change in the entire game, and it centers around a character sacrifice and death that easily outdoes Aeris's in VII.  There has, in this series, only been one character who has managed to remain in battle after being reduced to 0 HP, and you meet them in this game.

I've probably played this the least out of all the games in the series, and this is a shame, for it is one of the better ones (however, I say that about most of them, save for II).  I think I beat it only twice so far.  But anyway, it was at this point that the developers began to show that they were willing to push the envelope and take their games in directions that had never been seen before.

(Oh, and as a side note: I can't think of a single princess that gets kidnapped in this game.  I wonder if Butz would've been a bad enough dude to rescue her.)


Other releases:
PlayStation - Final Fantasy V, 1998; Final Fantasy Collection (with Final Fantasy IV & Final Fantasy VI), 1999; Final Fantasy Anthology (with Final Fantasy VI), 1999
Game Boy Advance - Final Fantasy V Advance, 2006

To be continued...
Note: screen shots are from a fan translated version of the SNES release