Good Game Featuring the Game Grumps: First Impressions

When Game Grumps announced they were doing a live action show produced by Dan Harmon I was skeptical. But the trailer looked good so I’ve been looking forward to it. With the first episode publicly available I took a look.

Good Game starts off simple enough: Ryland is a slacker who plays video games all day. His friend Alex ropes him into starting an e-sports team for a chance of winning a million dollars. Together they assemble a ragtag team and enter a local tournament to get noticed.

“Rushed” is the word that comes to my head. It is funny, more than that it’s both a celebration and indictment of video gaming culture, where talent and artistic merit are so easily mixed with the craze and lazy. The problem is that they rush to put everyone in place. It would take too long to have an episode dedicated to recruiting each character. However it is almost has bad to cram them all into a fifteen minute segment. Character development takes time, and for whatever reason they decided to compact it into the smallest time frame possible. This makes it hard to connect with the characters and leaves me overall dissatisfied.

If the first half of the episode is rushed than the second half feels about right. There is a reveal, and the team comes together to challenge the big team in town.  The episode ends on a positive note which leaves me wanting more.

I am not going to say this episode was well written. It’s full of pacing issues and a degree of randomness. All this speaks to a lack of focus and maybe a rush to put something out. But it was funny. Danny Avidan’s deliveries in particular are masterful. Some of the gags are really good. A lot of the video game jokes ring true; not necessarily in a mean or critical way but just poking fun at something we all love.

I fear Good Game will go into unnecessary drama between the characters. It could also go too far into critique without staying funny. It needs to slow down and address one issue at a time. Compressing important events never works out well. If it can avoid the pit falls however this show could easily be a 7 or an 8 in terms of quality. In my mind it’s a show worth keeping an eye on.

-Gedaemon

Star Fox 64: Furries In Space!!

Back in the 90’s Star fox and Star Fox 64 were incredibly innovative. They featured advanced graphics, branching story lines, and the type of pure fun that few besides Shigeru Miyamoto can pull off. Future entries in the series have poisoned it as a franchise but Star fox and Star Fox 64 were history makers.

Star Fox 64 is a reimagining of the original Star Fox for the Super Nes. Star Fox was a groundbreaking game. It featured cutting edge graphics and amazing game play. Despite that it still only had a bare bones story, flat characters and somewhat stylized art. Star Fox 64 featured much improved graphics, 3-D environments and much improved story elements. It also included an amazing multiplayer mode. In the minds of most it surpassed the original.

The plot is simple and serves as an excellent framing device. Years ago the mad scientist Andross was exiled to the planet Venom at the edge of the Lylat system. When strange activity is noticed there the mercenary team Star Fox was sent to investigate. This was a trap. The team was betrayed and the leader James Mccloud lost his life. Years later Andross as begun his invasion of the Lylat system and a new star fox team under James son Fox Mccloud has been hired to help stop them. The story of Star Fox 64 is nothing amazing but it has its moments. The characters are somewhat interesting and the game constantly hints at backstory. This makes the story feel bigger than it actually is. That would be terrible for a book but it’s great for a video game. The short cut scenes before and after each level help to tie everything together

The best thing about Star Fox 64 is its replay value. The stages branch from each other.  This gives the player several different routes to the final boss. The last level has two different versions depending on what route you take. There are several different ways to complete the game. Each level also has a metal you can get for destroying a certain number of enemies. Once you do this you can unlock expert mode, a harder version of the game. More importantly, the game is fun. The enemies come in all sorts of varieties and colors, making it a joy to rack up your point count. It’s one of the few games I’ve ever played just to beat my own high score.

When it was released Star Fox 64 had amazing graphics. It doesn’t look bad now, but it does not look right on a modern TV screen. The character designs are memorable but it’s the enemy and ship designs which stand out. They are weird, brightly colored and fit the stages they appear in. The boss designs are clever, but obvious glowing targets can feel lame and take away from difficulty and replay. Don’t remember where to shoot? Don’t worry! Just shoot the glowing thing! It might be a game for children, but even children can enjoy being challenged.

Star Fox 64 has sharp controls, even on the somewhat dated Nintendo 64 controller. The game also used an accessory called a “rumble pack” which made the controller vibrate. Star Fox 64’s vibration feature is among the best I have seen. Many games throw vibration in without a good reason. Star Fox 64 is the first game that used it and got it right. The game is pretty forgiving of mistakes in normal mode. In expert mode simple mistakes can cause damage to your ship. This gives more experienced players a challenge. However to an experienced player even expert mode is relatively easy

Despite its strengths, Star Fox 64 is not perfect. Its AI was bad back in the 90’s. Today it is hilariously bad. With the exception of the star wolf team there are few enemies that pose a real challenge. Your teammates are incapable of taking care of themselves. They will constantly need saving. In normal gameplay these are preset events, but in all range mode the flaws of the AI become obvious.  Compared the original game challenges and difficulty are often substituted with a screen full of easy to kill enemies, which with few exceptions only creates the illusion of difficulty.

The four person multiplayer was a big selling point in its time.  It is fun, though the limited maneuvering options can make things dull. Me and my friends used to just summersault and U-turn around each other. This could get pretty deep: we competed with timing, trickery and a degree of luck but it was pretty boring visually, the inclusion of the tank and the hidden bazooka fighter provided much needed variety, even if they lost to the arwing more often than not.

Star Fox 64 is not perfect but it is amazing. Many N64 titles were super impressive in their day but seem amateurish compared to modern games. Back then they were still figuring 3D out, and even though games were 3D memory was rather limited. Yet Star Fox 64 remains one of the best games I have ever played twenty years on.

Maybe someday Nintendo will make a fitting successor.

9.5 Out of 10

-Gedaemon

Dragon Ball Super Ep. 105: Old Man Rhapsody

 Nostalgia fans rejoice!

This episode focuses on Roshi. Now for those who grew up with Dragon Ball Z Roshi wasn’t that relevant. He was comic relief and occasional exposition device. But to those who grew up with Dragon Ball he was all that and a bad ass. Despite that he was surpassed by Goku and Tenshinhan by the 22^nd Tenkaichi Budokai and has not been relevant as a fighter since his sacrifice against Piccolo Daimao. Yet now we are told he has been training and is not back up to a level where he can hold his own in a best in creation tournament. This was a bold if somewhat nonsensical choice, and this episode will determine if it pays off

As Zen oh tries and fails to count how many warriors remain Roshi stalks the broken arena. He’s talking to himself about pulling his weight when a beautiful woman—Caway from universe four-- attacks him from behind. She uses weapons made out of her energy to attack, but after dodging them Roshi determines she isn’t strong enough to beat him. Be then she reveals her other strategy: seduction.

Kuririn proclaims the seduction strategy useless from the stands. Roshi has mastered his lechery through training. Kuririn is of course wrong and Roshi barely avoids being impaled. Despite this he holds his own and easily blocks the attack at the last moment. He then does his muscle growth thing while the girl cowers and cries. Scared off by the lecherous subtext of his words Caway runs to the edges of the arena and jumps off to avoid Roshi.  

Beerus expresses his approval in the stands as Roshi faces his next opponent—Dercori, also from universe four. She is also a woman but seems far more serious than Caway. She uses talisman to attack with illusions. Using her talisman she surrounds Roshi leaving him unable to detect where he or she are. After a confusing sequence she uses a talisman on his shadow; binding him in place.

Admitting he is at his limit in a tournament above his ability he pulls out a small jar and attacks the talisman user with the mafuba. Sealing her in the jar and tossing it out of the arena. Watching these events Beerus and Quitela both accuses each other’s team of cheating for using items, but they are interrupted by Zen oh who says he will allow it because it was cool.

Kuririn is worried that the mafuba has taken its toll on Roshi, but he seems fine. Immediately after demonstrating his enthusiasm Caway and Dercori’s team mate Ganos shows up. He is enraged at Roshi and transforms into a huge duck billed monster. This doesn’t seem very effective however as Roshi reads his moves and counters. Ganos is seemingly beaten but suddenly powers up and manages to land several hits on Roshi. Its revealed Ganos has an ability that lets him continuously get stronger. 

After Ganos’s attack Roshi is out of steam, but he realizes that with Ganos’s ability he could become a threat to the rest of his team and so he pulls out another trump card; the hypnosis technique last seen in the 22nd world martial arts tournament. This nearly gets Ganos but he ki blasts himself to break the spell and counter attacks.

Roshi seems beat, but he is determined to surpass his limits in the mold of Goku and Kuririn. He releases his strongest Kamehameha which blasts Ganos out of the arena. The attack takes everything Roshi has and he falls, seemingly dead. Goku immediately goes to his side and tries to revive him with his ki.  After a suspenseful scene Roshi wakes up. Together they walk off to find shelter.

I was expecting a disappointment this week but boy was I wrong. Roshi delivered some brevity and nostalgia, not to mention some moving scenes. Is use of experience and advanced techniques to beat physically more powerful fighters is really fun to watch. His scene declaring Kuririn and Goku have taught him about breaking his own limits was also great.

If there is a real problem with this episode it’s that they didn’t kill him off. Death has no permanent meaning in Dragon Ball, but it can be used to reinforce the seriousness of a situation.  Letting Roshi die would show that even with all Goku as achieved he still cannot prevent the deaths of those he cares about. Instead we are treated with a touching but anti-climactic scene of the two walking off as Goku lends Roshi his shoulder. It’s not a bad scene but its bad overall writing choice.

Next episode it looks like all of team five will be facing a hidden sniper. This looks like it could be interesting. A nontraditional battle could be a nice break from all of the one and one and two on two we've been seeing.

-Gedaemon

Dragon Ball Super Ep. 104: Hit Gets Hit and Hits Back

Can Hit Beat the Pride Troopers with Goku’s help? OK, I think we all know the answer to that.

Hit faces off with Dyspo of the pride troopers while Caulifla and Kale recover behind some rocks nearby. The standoff continues--with minimal animation-- until Dyspo charges hand lands a hit (Hit got hit!)For some reason Hit’s time manipulation does not seem to effect Dyspo. In fact it’s claimed Dyspo can go faster than light. He lands his blow before Hit can uses his powers. Furthermore Dyspo can predict Hits’s actions by listening to Hit’s body with his large ears. Hit continues to fight but appears to be taking the worst of it, but the Pride troopers notice he his slowly adapting to Dyspo’s style and decide to intervene. Right before Dyspo goes out of bounds he is pulled back in by pride trooper Kunshi who uses a spider like web of ki. The two join forces and Hit struggles against them. Caulifla thinks about stepping in but Goku appears just in the nick of time.

Goku is using Super Saiyan God, since it uses less energy than SSB. While Hit resents his help they end up teaming up. Dyspo takes on Goku while Kunshit tries and fails to trap Hit in an explosive web. However Hit wants to take Dyspo himself and trades enemies. Goku simply charges through the explosive web and takes down Kunshi while Hit uses his dimensional abilities to confuse and attack Dyspo. Hit picks him up and tries to throw him out of the ring but Kunshi recovers in time to catch him. HIt is on their tale however. He takes out Kunshi while Dyspo limps back to Toppo.

I didn’t have high hopes for this episode. But the fights with Hit were pretty interesting. The combination of abilities and counters rather than raw power made things interesting. This is in contrast to Goku’s fight were he just plows through ki blasts to beat up Kunshi. If you’re looking for flaws, Goku’s parts are it.

Overall I enjoyed most of this episode. There were some budget saving animation pauses, and the cut always were not great, but it still kept me entertained. The biggest weakness is I knew both Goku and Hit would win. The only drama was how many people they would take out and how. That has been the major problem, we know Goku will probably last at least till the end of the tournament, so fights featuring him have little tension. We could guess something similar for Hit; he is too powerful and popular to be taken out by anyone but a top tier enemy.

The fight with Roshi next week could be both funny and suspenseful. With a character like Roshi we have no clue whether he will win or lose, besides, its Roshi! Everyone loves Roshi!  

-Gedaemon

Dragon Ball Super Ep. 103: The Episode Gohan fanboys Waited For

Come on Gohan, don’t job this time...

Ribrianne is pissed off. After Seventeen took out her teammate in the last episode she is determined to take revenge.  Surprisingly this actually fires Seventeen up. Meanwhile Rozie’s technique is keeping Goku at bay, as for once spamming ki balls seems to work. She even rips off the hell zone grenade, forcing Seventeen to step in and use his shield to protect Goku.  Now with some understanding of her fighting style he goes on the offensive. He compliments her interesting fighting syle but easily beats her back. While both maidens appear cornered, the Yardrat warrior Jimeze from Universe 2 appears to teleport them away.

Meanwhile Botamo is taking  on Gohan. Like Vegeta, his strikes can’t hurt the yellow bear, but he just keeps striking. Botamo is amused by this. until he realizes he can’t strike back. Gohan has taken his balance. His strikes push Botamo to the edge of the ring where Gohan knocks him off.

The warriors Obuni and Rubalt of universe 10 were watching the fight with Botamo. Impressed by Gohan, they request to fight with Gohan and Piccolo. They are the only warriors left to universe 10 and we might guess the strongest. Obuni is thrilled with Gohan as he has been looking for a worthy challenge. he then uses a strange technique to mess with Gohan’s energy sense. Likewise Piccolo seems to struggle with Rubalt, until... hell zone grenade.... (Really guys? right after you rip it off you pull out the real one?  Are you taunting us?)  Rubalt is easily knocked out and thrown out of the ring.

Gohan is still struggling with Obuni who seems to only be toying with him. Going to his ultimate form he lets Obuni hit him square on and counter attacks. This works but Gohan feels every hit. Obuni is still not finished. Determined to protect universe 10 he continues, but his reserves do not seem to match Gohan’s and a kamehameha finishes him off.

With the last warrior of universe 10 gone, the grand priest declares the universe will be destroyed. As Gohan looks at a dropped picture of Obuni’s family his universe and even the picture are erased.

I am very glad to see Gohan winning again, the way he beat Botamo was great.  I found the fight with Obuni somewhat generic, even if I really like Obuni. The whole thing where they show his family before he is deleted is just tragic, and the way Gohan clenches his fist when he sees this is right on point. Obuni was fighting for his family, just like Gohan. Yet when the dust settles Gohan walks away with Piccolo to find their next battle.

Also worth noting is Gohan isn’t taken by surprise when Botamo attacks from behind while falling. Piccolo has drilled that weakness out of him. The whole episode showed some great character growth by Gohan.

I also like how they began the episode right where the last one left off. It gave it a sense of continuality, which is important because so many of the fights are starting to blur together as this arc continues.

The next episode features Goku and Hit teaming up. This could be hit or miss...

-Gedaemon