Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic: An anthropomorphic blue hedgehog with superhuman speed who is on the run from Robotnik and the United States government. Schwartz also provided the facial motion capture for Sonic.
Benjamin L. Valic as young Sonic Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik: A mad scientist and inventor who is after Sonic's super-speed powers for world conquest. James Marsden as Thomas Michael "Tom" Wachowski: The sheriff of Green Hills who wishes to join the SFPD. He befriends Sonic and aids him in his quest to stop Robotnik. Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski: A veterinarian and Tom's wife who later helps him and Sonic evade Robotnik.
Lee Majdoub as Stone: A government agent who works for Robotnik. Natasha Rothwell as Rachel: Maddie's sister who dislikes Tom and frequently encourages Maddie to leave him. Adam Pally as Wade Whipple: A police officer in Green Hills and Tom's friend. Neal McDonough as Major Bennington: A soldier who holds a dislike to Robotnik. Tom Butler as Commander Walters: The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who orders Robotnik to investigate the disturbances caused by Sonic. Frank C. Turner as Crazy Carl: A conspiracy theorist who seeks to prove Sonic's existence and refers to him as "The Blue Devil".
Additionally, Colleen Villard, the voice of Tails in the video game series since 2014, reprises her role for the mid-credits scene, though is uncredited. Garry Chalk, who previously voiced Grounder and Robotnik in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground respectively, appears as the US Navy Chief of Staff. Donna Jay Fulks voices Longclaw, an anthropomorphic owl and Sonic's caretaker.
Plot:
(** SPOILERS **)
Sonic, an extraterrestrial blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds, finds himself sought after by a tribe of echidnas for his power. His guardian, Longclaw the Owl, gives him a bag of rings that can create portals to other planets, using one to send him to Earth while she protects him from the echidnas. Ten years later, Sonic enjoys a secret life near the town of Green Hills, Montana, but longs to make friends. He idolizes the local sheriff, Tom Wachowski, and his veterinarian wife, Maddie, unaware the pair are planning to relocate to San Francisco soon, as Tom has been hired by the San Francisco Police Department.
One night, Sonic becomes upset over his loneliness when playing baseball by himself, and runs at supersonic speed as a result, inadvertantly triggering an electromagnetic pulse that knocks out power across the Pacific Northwest. Roboticist and scientific genius Doctor Robotnik is enlisted by the United States Department of Defense to uncover the source of the outage. Robotnik discovers and tracks Sonic, who hides in the Wachowskis' shed. Tom discovers Sonic and accidentally shoots him with a tranquilizer, causing him to send his bag of rings through a portal to San Francisco. Tom reluctantly agrees to help Sonic before Robotnik arrives at the Wachowskis' house and the two flee. As the pair evade Robotnik, who labels Tom a domestic terrorist, they slowly bond, with Tom learning about Sonic's desire for a real friend.
Robotnik comes across one of Sonic's quills, discovering the power in it has the potential to fuel his robots, and becomes obsessed with capturing Sonic. As he tracks them down, Tom discusses his plans to leave Green Hills, which Sonic disapproves of. Shortly after defeating a robot sent by Robotnik, an explosion injures Sonic. Arriving at San Francisco, Tom brings him to Maddie, who revives him. While Tom explains about their situation to Maddie, Sonic receives a new pair of sneakers from Maddie's niece. The group soon head to the roof of the Transamerica Pyramid, where Sonic's bag of rings landed, and recover them. Robotnik arrives in a hovercraft and attacks them, forcing Sonic to use a ring to send Tom and Maddie back to Green Hills.
Sonic flees from Robotnik, who uses the power of Sonic's quill to match his speed. The two engage in a chase across the world, ultimately returning to Green Hills. Robotnik incapacitates Sonic, but Tom intervenes, allowing Sonic to regain his strength and reclaim his lost energy. Overcoming Robotnik, Sonic defeats him by sending him to another planet. Following the incident, Tom and Maddie decide to stay in Green Hills and let Sonic live with them. The US government erases all evidence of the events, including records of Robotnik's existence. Meanwhile, Robotnik, still in possession of Sonic's quill and having lost his sanity, begins plotting his revenge. On Earth, Tails, a twin-tailed fox from Sonic's world, emerges from a ring portal in search of Sonic.
The Verdict:
I went to check this out Friday (Feb. 28, 2020) evening since I had some built-up Fandango movie credit to use that was going to expire on the 28th, so it was either this or sit through Birds of Prey again. This proved to be the lesser of the two evils and I have to admit that I was thoroughly entertained by this for the most part.
Much better. It's like before and after eating a Snickers.
Everyone knows how much backlash Paramount received for Sonic's initial appearance from the first round of trailers for this film and I'm pleased to say that I was satisfied with how Sonic looked in the final product. He didn't come off looking like a walking, talking turd like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the Michael Bay-made live-action film for Nickelodeon a few years ago. Sonic garnered a lot of genuine laughs from me watching this, especially when the film kicked into a few Quicksilver-esque slow-motion sequences that they should be thanking Fox's departed X-Men franchise for making a thing a few years ago. Those jokes work as that trick is still fresh in a lot of people's minds and the film doesn't shy away from the comparisons to that character, along with DC Comics' Flash. Hell, Sonic is shown reading and owning a tons of The Flash's comics in his hideout. Wouldn't that make for one hell of a crossover film down the road if both parties wanted to play nice and indulge in some healthy fan-service.
As for the human characters, I wasn't "offended" nor annoyed by them as I thought I would be going in. James Marsden's Tom Wachowski made me keep thinking of a mash-up between Transfomers' Sam Witwicky and Cade Jaeger at first glance, but he won me over by the time the credits rolled. Same goes for his wife (played by Tika Sumpter). Jim Carrey's Dr. Robotnik definitely stole the show with his cheesiness and over the top behavior for the titular villain. I think he was inspired by the character's portrayal back in the various Sonic cartoons in the '90s and it really shows. I thought it was clever to have Sonic consistently hammer the "Eggman" moniker throughout the film too. That way they don't have to battle with that confusion like how gamers dealt with over the years on whether or not to call him Dr. Robotnik (US name for him) or Eggman (Japanese name that was later adopted in the Sonic series). I think everyone has just settled onto calling him Eggman now after the Sonic X anime and popular IDW Publishing comics, even though I don't mind either name.
If I had any issue with this film's plot, it's that where in the blue hell did they cook up Longclaw from as Sonic's "caretaker" when he was a kid. Why couldn't they just use his Uncle Chuck from the old continuity stuff? I have to wonder what are they going to do to trump Sonic's "powered up" transformation at the end of this film during it's climax. That was leaning very close to literally being Super Sonic without the Chaos Emeralds for my taste. They shouldn't have gone that far with it if they are going to introduce more Sonic characters down the road, notably Knuckles (as it was obviously his echidna race who attacked him as a child and Longclaw), who will make obtaining the Chaos Emeralds a primary concern going forward in later films. It kinda takes the air out of the room in terms of excitement for what's to come next. I can't say that I'm too thrilled about Tails being teased for the possible sequel in the mid-credits teaser either, especially when it seems that Sonic is content being the super-powered Ted for the Wachowski family.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
I wasn't offended by this nor did I think it was a horrible film. It's just something in the same vein as the live-action Transformers films where you can genuinely enjoy if you sit back and enjoy the nostalgia and don't try to dig too deep into the logic behind all of this. In that regard, I can safely say that go ahead and give this a shot. It might not be for everyone, especially given the human element shoehorned in much like Michael Bay's Transformers film franchise, but I didn't think the human interactions took away from the entertainment of it all.
Batman: The Adventures Continue Arrives from Paul Dini, Alan Burnett and Ty Templeton!
New Comic Books, Set in the World of Batman: The Animated Series, Coming this May
From the visionary team behind Batman: The Animated Series come all-new stories set in this seminal animated world! Batman: The Adventures Continue, DC’s new, digital-first six-issue mini-series, launching in print on May 6, 2020, is co-written by Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, both producers of the original animated series, and illustrated by Ty Templeton, who has brought the world of B:TAS to comic books since 1992’s Batman Adventures #1.
(Batman: The Adventures Continue #1 artwork by Ty Templeton)
Inspired by the beloved and Emmy Award-winning Batman: The Animated Series, these new comics reflect a new era of the long-running DC Collectibles action figure line by featuring newly designed characters never before seen in the beloved animated shows! DC’s Batman: The Adventures Continue characters are all based on art by Ty Templeton in the iconic Bruce Timm animated style. New figures from DC Collectibles launch this spring, and now, together with these new comics, the legendary Batman: The Animated Series continues to reach new audiences!
“Fans familiar with the Batman of The New Batman/Superman Adventures will be right up to speed,” says Paul Dini. “Alan and I approached the writing with the idea that we were doing the season you might have seen if we had not put the series aside to do Batman Beyond.”
“Tim Drake is still a very young Robin,” added Ty Templeton of the timing of the series. “Batman isn’t middle-aged or anything, and we’re not even close to the events of Batman Beyond.”
“What is different, however, is that we’re going back to cover certain gaps in the original series, events that didn’t have a bearing on the series at the time, but now do,” continued Alan Burnett. “In other words, there will be secret histories that will turn Batman’s world upside down. Things that no one knew were out there, until now.”
“Perhaps the most intriguing character in the run will be young man whose story threads through most of the issues,” teased Burnett. “He’s a smart, super-elusive loner who knows way too much about the Dark Knight. How this mystery man fits into the world of Batman Adventures and what he means to accomplish should, I hope, be a real jolt for old fans.”
In the first issue of Batman: The Adventures Continue, collecting two digital-first chapters, Wayne Enterprises in Gotham City is attacked by a giant robot that steals an entire room from the laboratory. Who’s controlling the robot? How will Batman stop the mechanized menace? And what does it all have to do with Lex Luthor’s sudden appearance in Gotham?
Batman: The Adventures Continue #1, written by Paul Dini and Alan Burnett with art by Ty Templeton and color by Monica Kubina, featuring a cover by Dave Johnson and a variant cover by Dan Mora, hits shelves on May 6, 2020. Digital-First chapters will be released beginning in April 2020.
(Batman: The Adventures Continue #1 cover by Dave Johnson)
(Batman: The Adventures Continue #1 variant cover by Dan Mora)
(Batman: The Adventures Continue #1 artwork by Ty Templeton and Monica Kubina)
BATMAN: THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE: DEATHSTROKE, ROBIN, SUPER ARMOR BATMAN, AND THE JOKER ACTION FIGURES
Inspired by the beloved and Emmy Award-winning Batman: The Animated Series, this new era of the line features characters never before seen in the series with designs by Ty Templeton in the iconic animated art style. These 1:12 scale action figures include a number of accessories.
Allocations may occur
Final products may differ from images shown
DEATHSTROKE
6.24″ tall
$35.00 US
ROBIN
5.3″ tall
$30.00 US
SUPER ARMOR BATMAN
6.96″ tall
$40.00 US
THE JOKER
6.2″ tall
$30.00 US
ON SALE JULY 2020
Each figure sold separately
Other figures shown at New York Toy Fair 2020 below:
Batman (Azrael)
Red Hood (Jason Todd)
The Batman Who Laughs
Catwoman (Selina Kyle)
Yes, you read that right. There's going to be a CONTINUATION of Batman: The Animated Series coming sooner than you think. The announcement was first made back in mid-February and I'm honestly surprised that it's not making as much traction as it should, even if it means that we're not getting a new cartoon out of this. I'm sure given enough support it would convince DC Comics and Warner Bros. to consider that possibility, especially with the popularity of that series as the definitive Batman animated series.
The accompanying toyline looks even better than the figures based on The New Batman Adventures from a few years ago with the same level of detail. At the same time though, $35 for a single figure seems pretty steep though, no matter how much you may love these characters. It's already a stretch to pay $10-$25 for wrestling-based and Marvel Legends figures. Then again, retailers have been making bank off toy collectors for years and even more so on the second hand market, so I'm sure these are going to sell just fine.
In terms of the characters shown in the toyline, I'm anxious to see how they are going to adapt characters such as The Batman Who Laughs (who is a recent new entity that came out of that DC Metal event last year), Deathstroke, Azrael, and even Jason Todd/Red Hood of all people existing in the DC Animated Universe. I thought it was established that Tim Drake was pretty much Bruce's only Robin in his origin story and even borrowed some elements from Todd in that aspect too to avoid the controversy with that character at the time. That's going to be interesting to see how they shoehorn Red Hood into the Batman TAS continuity. I have faith in this team as DC Comics did some interesting stuff with the Batman Beyond 2.0 and Justice League Beyond books that stayed true to the DC Animated Universe's continuity while expanding upon it. Besides, this team still has the ability to tell great stories. Say what you will about Justice League: Gods and Monsters and Batman & Harley Quinn, but they were both great additions to DC Comics' reputation of great animated series. The only sore spot was their adaptation of Batman: The Killing Joke, but that's a story that I felt that didn't need an animated adaptation in the first place. The only thing that adaptation did was remind people of the lowest point in Barbara Gordon/Batgirl/Oracle's character history, which was amplified by the original prelude that was slapped on the first half of the story.
I hope this mini-series gets enough attention that justifies an adaptation or a possible continuation of the original Batman: The Animated Series. If the original cast are still willing and able, get the old gang back together for some new adventures or even a few direct-to-video movies. I know I would be game to investing in seeing those for DC Universe or via DVD/Blu-Ray.
The demo for the highly anticipated Final Fantasy VII Remake video game released Monday, March 2, 2020 exclusively on PlayStation 4. It offered players to experience the opening of the game where Cloud and Barrett assault the first Mako reactor with the original members of Avalanche.
This news went out early Monday morning that the demo would be made available for download for all PlayStation Network users on PlayStation 4 to try out the game prior to the upcoming release in April 2020.
The demo isn't very long. It's roughly a hour of gameplay with some story elements shared throughout to give players a sense of how different this remake will be from the original game.
(Sighs) Don't worry this write-up isn't going to be long... Well, at least I hope not (laughs).
VISUALS
If it's one thing Square Enix knows how to do over most other companies in the gaming industry, it's how to make some beautiful character models and cutscenes. Everything about this reimagining of Midgar is absolutely gorgeous, even though I'm not impressed in the fact that a lot of the backgrounds/environments are interactive in the least. I tried making a few sword slashes at the walls and such, only to minimal if any effects at all. That's one thing that they recycled from the original game that the environments were all vast and beautiful to look at but lacked any sort of interactive qualities to them. That was fine back in 1997 where this game was mostly hi-res images for the surface maps of the environments while 3D character models were layered on top of those for limited exploration. If Square Enix was going to go this far into "expanding" Midgar to justify this remake then I thought some finer attention to detail would have been put into making the environments destructible in a sense. Not so destructible that players would be making their own shortcuts or breaking sequences, but enough that after a few minutes of play that I wasn't left with the impression that all of these rooms, why pretty to look at, were essentially lifeless and devoid of anything other than moving from point A to point B. I can't fault this game for that as a LOT of open world games have this problem and not just this remake. On top of that, this is a demo so I doubt many resources will be spent to make everything as interactive as it would be with the full release product.
I don't know what it is about a lot of the character models but it seemed like all of them had a washed out coloring effect or the sharpness was turned up really high in terms of resolution. I was not playing on a PS4 Pro, but just a standard PS4 Slim that ran the game fine without any load times by the way. I should explain what I mean on the character models with a few comparisons.
Cloud's model is the top culprit that I have to point to over all else as it got to the point where it was distracting during the demo
The evolution of Cloud's character model from the original game's designs and artwork to the current remake. Even with his appearances in Advent Children and the Kingdom Hearts series, I didn't see him like those designs. This is more akin to how I envisioned Cloud to look in modern technology.
Ever since the concept art was floating around for the redesigns for this remake and the initial trailers/teasers, I have been a fan of these modern looks for these iconic characters. The only problem I have is that the demo seems to have some sort of odd discoloration.
Look at Cloud's shoulder. Why does his shoulder armor piece have that odd discoloration to it? It's really glaring, especially when you look at that screenshot alongside some of the other images for the remake so far. Barrett's model looks fine for the most part though. He looks more battle-hardened than he did in the original game.
AUDIO
The background music in this demo from the iconic opening score to the music within the Mako reactor was excellent and brilliantly well done. My only complaint is that they have butchered the boss theme.
Let's compare the two shall we?
Here's the original track, "Still More Fighting":
Now listen to the remix for this remake, "Those Who Fight Further":
Both tracks are good, but I can't say that I'm a fan of the new version. It sounds like they were trying to mash it up with the event battle theme from Final Fantasy XII to mixed results. As much as I liked Final Fantasy XII, it's music wasn't a strong point if I'm perfectly honest, even though I only like a handful of tracks for that game, despite I have the entire soundtrack on my Google Play account.
I'm going to mention the voice acting so far on this remake briefly. I'm fine with the voices so far, even though I'm not a fan of Biggs' voice. That stuck out like a sore thumb during his brief lines during the demo. I was like holy shit that doesn't sound good. Barrett's voice comes across a bit too much like his voice actor is trying to do a Mr. T impersonation, in which I thought we were leaving that negative connotation for the character back in 1997. It wasn't good back then and it definitely won't fly now. I suppose it could be a lot worse, such as that one English dub of Dragon Ball Z with that Killa character during the Martial Arts Tournament in the Majin Buu Saga, who spoke incoherent broken English.
I wasn't going to speak too much about the game's story that was shown here in the demo, but one thing irked the hell out of me by the end of the demo. Barrett goes from being leery of Cloud the entire mission, then completely chummy with him by the time they are done fighting the Guard Scorpion. Did I miss something? I liked how Cloud came off as a complete snarky wise ass to everyone in Avalanche though. His voice actor did a great job conveying that he's merely there to get paid and nothing else.
GAMEPLAY
Alright, let's go ahead and talk about the biggest elephant in the room. I don't know why this hasn't been addressed nor mentioned when YouTubers and press who were lucky enough to try the game out at E3 last year got to play this very same demo, but there's a massive issue with the targeting icon and camera that follows your target. I found myself fighting against the camera more than the enemies that were presented in front of me. That problem was amplified when dealing with the Guard Scorpion (Scorpion Sentinel I've seen it called too) boss at the end of the demo where you have to target his specific weak points to deal considerable damage to that foe. That alone convinced me NOT to pre-order this. That's a problem back from PSX and PS2 era gaming. No way in hell should something in 2020 have camera and targeting issues in this day and time, especially from how long this game has been in development. I hate to see what other bugs are going on underneath the hood of this game when the full game releases in retail next month. It should be noted that other gaming sites are reporting the camera and targeting issues even in their press release demos too with sections further in the game's story, so that really makes me leery about the full game in less than a month away.
I have to mention something that I'm going to refer to Cloud's animation "cooldown". When you're free roaming throughout the Mako Reactor, you're encouraged to destroy destructible boxes in the environment for items, such as potions or recoverable mana points from Shinra Corp boxes, with the use of Cloud's Buster Sword. Here's the thing that irks me about this. The game wants you to run around trying to slash through objects to destroy them, but you can only do ONE slash until Cloud's animation for this cools down, meaning that you can't do this attack again (at least in non-combat) until Cloud completely swings his sword and sheaths it back onto his back. That attention of detail was cool the first 2-3 attempts until it got downright annoying that you're locked out of doing this simple action until Cloud completely performs that sheathing animation. That's up there with Final Fantasy XV overlapping the interact and jump buttons on the same button in terms of the lack of developer oversight in terms of gameplay.
As for the gameplay control changes from the original, I'm honestly split about it. On one hand, I love the Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy XV approach to the combat in terms of making it more real-time action based, but at the same time, I was going through the menus and using the shortcut inputs faster than actually doing the manual attack combos for them in "real time". I think I would enjoy this better in the retail release with the classic gameplay option with the traditional menus and ATB bar. Either way, you're still dependent on the ATB bar to fill up to do specific actions, so I don't see why this massive change to the original gameplay was needed. My only guess is that since the same team that worked on Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III were on board for making this title a reality and they wanted to reuse coding that they already had established instead of reinventing the wheel with something entirely new or going back to retool the classic turn-based battle system that Square Enix has mostly abandoned for most of their recent RPGs.
WTF is this shit?
I honestly laughed at the dodging of lasers like this was a traditional action game. I wonder what other hoops that the remake has in store of us down the road just to garner more game time just to justify that this title is not only being remade, but going to re-release in multiple separate entries down the road. That's like going back to 1997 and telling me that I have to pay $49.99 for each disk of the original Final Fantasy VII separately. Fuck that noise.
I do want to applaud the new feature to swap characters on the fly since each character has a specific strength that players would want to take advantage of in combat versus the different enemy types. I won't lie. I got through the Scorpion boss by the skin of my teeth and it was the same monster dealing with some of the enemies that the demo threw in your direction during the escape sequence out of the reactor. It makes me wonder how the different Materia that you got in the original game, such as Long Range and Slash-All, helped your more close-range oriented party members deal with flying or long range threats instead of having to rely on party members with firearms to deal with those enemies. If you think about it, without those types of Materia or abilities to level the playing field, weaker party members like Aeris are going to be flat out useless in this remake outside of spellcasting or healing. In that regard, we won't know what we're dealing with on that front until the retail release drops next month. For right now, this seems perfectly fine as it forces players to think more strategically when it comes to how to use their party members in combat.
Barrett bringing the heat.
You get to perform Limit Breaks in the demo like in the original game, but I was a tad underwhelmed that they weren't as "theatrical" as the original game. You get a brief shot of your character doing their signature attacks, but they aren't much more distinctive than your normal Abilities, some of which that Cloud and Barrett have that were their actual Limit Breaks in the original game. For example, one of Cloud's abilities is Braver, which was one of his two Level One Limit Breaks in the original game. Cloud has a distinct new style in this remake too. He can switch from Punisher and Operator Modes. While moving throughout the game normally, Cloud performs under Operator Mode. Once he switches to Punisher Mode, this makes Cloud's movement much more slower, but more methodical as he can automatically counterattack after successful blocks from enemy strikes - something that makes dealing with those pesky enemies during the bombing escape sequence much easier. He also has the means to hit harder with stronger normal attacks as well. In contrast, Barrett has the means to fire powerful ranged attacks with his Overcharge ability. Barrett can recharge this skill quicker by holding down the Triangle button to make Barrett "reload" his arm cannon to hasten the recovery gauge to this skill.
After talking with a few friends about this, I think I should mention your party members' AI behavior. This is going to come to a surprise to many but your party members don't do anything aside their primary attacks when left to their own devices outside of your control. I would like to assume that these actions can be customized in the full version of the game, but here your party members won't even heal themselves, despite the fact that Barrett is equipped with Cure Materia for the demo. I would like to see your party members function like your allies in Final Fantasy XV or the original .hack// series where you don't have to "babysit" them if they do their own thing but at the same time, they are still being productive in combat. We don't have to get as in-depth as the Gambit system that I absolutely LOVED in Final Fantasy XII (I'm definitely revisiting Zodiac Age eventually after I sunk about 200 hours in the original on PlayStation 2) in terms of customizing your party members' battle AI, but I would like to think that I can switch characters and not have the creeping thought of "Oh god, he's going to do something stupid..." like this is Cosmo in The Fairy Oddparents. The only thing your party members are really good at in terms of combat behavior is their witty banter that suggests the best plan of action. They will tell you to watch your health or try something else more akin to what you're doing that's clearly not working. So I'll give the game kudos in that regard.
The Scorpion Sentinel serves as the "boss" of this demo. Many players should remember this enemy as the Guard Scorpion at the end of the Mako Reactor in the original FF7.
I did like how they turned the simple Guard Scorpion/Scorpion Sentinel boss into a multi-layered boss fight in the remake. This adds a tad more depth to a boss that was easily forgettable in the opening moments of the game while simultaneously adding more shock and awe in anticipation of what more "big" changes like this will we see in the full release, especially with the title's more iconic bosses and moments.
The Scorpion Sentinel can "capture" one of your allies, forcing you to have to switch to another party member to rescue them.
If there's anything that I'm really looking forward to seeing over anything else in this remake, it's to see how they have changed up all of the bosses for the better in this manner.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Look, I know a lot of people are going to read this and dismiss my opinion altogether (much like a lot of things in general...) because I have said it time and time again that I don't think of Final Fantasy VII as one of my all-time favorite titles in the series. Sure, I share some of that nostalgia for it as it was my first exposure to the JRPG genre like it was for a lot of people over the last few decades, but I wasn't crying with joy and foaming at the mouth when this remake was announced after years and years of Square Enix pulling our legs about it with teases. People are going to play this demo and run out and put down even more money (if they haven't done so already) for pre-ordering this game, especially if this is your first exposure to anything related to Final Fantasy VII. As someone who has played the original and looking forward to seeing how this actually plays after hearing SOOO much praise about it, I have to say that for me I thought playing this turned out to be a massive letdown - at least in terms of how much people have over-hyped this game into the heavens. Take Maximillian (popular YouTube/Twitch content creator for the FGC) for example. He was invited by developers specifically to try out the game at E3 last year and comment on it. Y'know what, I'm going to link that ENTIRE testimonial he did on that below for you can see how much he carried on like this game was going to be the second coming of Jesus Christ or something.
I'm sorry to say that this demo wasn't as phenomenal as Max made this out to be.
This was good (by Square Enix standards anyway...) but nothing really mind-blowing. Capcom got into players good graces with a remake of the beloved Resident Evil 2 from same console era as Final Fantasy VII last year and they are set to release the remake of Resident Evil 3 next month to compete with this game. Out of the two nostalgia acts coming to modern consoles next month, I'm more inclined to put down money for RE3 rather than FF7R just from what I played here. In all honesty, I'm not too thrilled about the media as a whole and not just gaming industry taking advantage of and seeking to profit off my childhood nostalgia when they can't cook up with anything new and original to bring in the bucks. Gaming has this problem right now without any signs of it ending as long as people are willing to run out and rebuy games that they have owned in years past on the current consoles/platforms. It's bad enough when games of the last console generation are being "remade" and sold again on the current market. WWE definitely has a problem with nostalgia that seems to be detrimental to the future of their brand as a whole. Hollywood has this problem with TV shows and films that seems to increase as time goes on, especially when it comes to most properties associated with nerd culture or beloved franchises from decades long gone.
I said this back on Facebook and Twitter a few months ago, but I'll say it again in relation to FF7. Final Fantasy VII never went anywhere. It had a full length sequel in the form of a movie, Advent Children. It had an OVA spin-off anime. Whether you loved or hated them, the game had that Compilation of FF7 series of sequels and spin-offs that included the previously mentioned Advent Children. The characters guest-starred in roughly every Kingdom Hearts title to date, the Dissidia series, even other various Square Enix titles (such as Cloud guest-starring in Final Fantasy Tactics or Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Sephiroth, Red XIII, Vincent, and even Zack were all guest fighters in Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring) and even currently Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. fighting game series. Hell, FF7's characters are set to appear in another Square Enix title leading up to the release of the remake for yet another cash grab.
I give Maximillian a lot of shit for how much he gushes all over FF7 and especially over this upcoming remake, but he's right about one thing here.
Final Fantasy VII is important to a lot of people in the same way that Dragon Ball Z or Cowboy Bebop was for fans getting introduced to anime in the means that it was the first video game that many people were exposed to that was more than just being a series of objectives. It opened the doors that games can be more than just a redundant task. It could be "experienced", much like films and television shows with a full length, immersive narrative. I have played a lot of JRPGs following FF7 but nothing can't changed that it was of one of the first "gateways" to more games not only in this genre, or rather opening my eyes that games can be looked at as an art medium as well.
At the end of the day, I doubt I'm going to purchase Final Fantasy 7 Remake upon release like a lot of people highly anticipating this title. I (still) haven't played Kingdom Hearts III and that had just as much, if not more hype behind that final chapter in the trilogy. It's not going to be the end of the world if I don't experience this (again) with everyone else simultaneously next month, much like my best friend wants me to do like we did back in middle school for the original release when I got my original PlayStation. If this is your cup of tea to sink your hard earned dough into, then go for it. Don't let me dissuade you. I just have a few concerns in terms of red flags that I want to see that are addressed before I purchase the full release.
Revolution was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It took place on February 29, 2020 at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
(Dark Match) Tag team match
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. and Penelope Ford (with Kip Sabian) def. Riho and Yuka Sakazaki
I'm guessing that this match will air on AEW Dark this week.
(Preshow Match) Tag team match
The Dark Order (Evil Uno and Stu Grayson) (with Alex Reynolds and John Silver) def. SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky)
I only caught the tail end of this where hometown hero Colt Cabana ran in for the save, only to get beat down by the Dark Order until the major tease with the Exalted One, only to be swerved with Christopher Daniels pulling off the disguise to run down and chase off the Dark Order. I swear if they are doing all of this run around only for it to be Daniels like it was Bully Ray running Aces & Eights all of this time then these guys need to be slapped. It better not be Raven either or I'm flipping a table. Either go with Matt Hardy or get the fuck out of here.
Singles Match
Jake Hager def. Dustin Rhodes by submission
Nothing really surprising here. Just went on a little too long for my taste. The right man won.
Singles Match
Darby Allin def. Sammy Guevara
What can I say here other than this was your typical Darby Allin match. He does a lot of stupid, high-risk stuff, but ultimately, it came together nicely despite a few hiccups here and there in terms of the dives out of the ring.
Tag Team Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship
Kenny Omega and Adam Page (c) def. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson)
This was easily the match of the night, but holy fuck they went a tad overboard with the near-falls towards the end. As great as this match was, the thing that kept me invested throughout the entire thing was the anticipation on whether or not AEW was going to pull the trigger on Hangman turning on the rest of the Elite. There were a TON of teases here and I honestly wouldn't blame him, especially for the fact that the Bucks were CLEARLY the heels in this match from bell to bell. Hangman even thought about hitting the Buckshot on Kenny Omega in the post-match, but ultimately decided against it. Like I said during my predictions post, they don't have to turn Hangman since he's insanely over right now. I much rather see Kenny Omega and the Bucks turn against Hangman instead. Think about it. The turn would be justified for the Bucks as they have already went as far as trying to end Hangman's career with the Indytaker on the entrance ramp. I kept watching Omega at ringside too as it seemed like he was waiting for the right spot to run in and pull the trigger on the double cross. I think AEW is going to make the right call with this by the time it's all said and done, but they made the right decision here as they could drag this out for a few more weeks.
Singles Match for the AEW Women's World Championship
Nyla Rose (c) defeated Kris Statlander
This went for twelve minutes and I felt that was ten minutes too long. This wasn't very good match at all, despite the fact that they were trying to get the crowd into it, but after that excellent tag team match, you can't help that most of the crowd probably went to the concession stands or went outside for a cigarette.
Singles Match
MJF (with Wardlow) def. Cody (with Arn Anderson and Brandi Rhodes)
Aside from the fact that the live performance of Cody's theme was fucking awful and he is rocking that rather questionable neck tattoo/body paint (I hope that shit isn't permanent...), this was as good as I was expecting it to be from bell to bell. Much like every Cody match to date, this match was highlighted by the narrative going into it and throughout this match. Cody finally got his chance to get his hands on MJF after everything he's had to do to get to this point. Clearer heads would have beaten him promptly and ended it right then and there at the first opportunity, but Cody's emotions got the better of him. That ended up costing him the match when he opted to prolong MJF's punishment, only to have that window of opportunity to backfire on him in the end.
"How come Arn don't want me, man?"
— IllegalForeignObject (@IFOWrestling) March 1, 2020
I was fine with the decision to have MJF go over as AEW can easily stretch this program out for a few more weeks. They just don't have to run it into the ground. I'm sure they could blow this feud off on Dynamite in a few more weeks.
Singles Match
Pac def. Orange Cassidy (with Chuck Taylor and Trent) by submission
My only problem with this match was that it was so far up into the card that I honestly forgot that it was on card for the evening by this point into the show.
I joked during the show that going into this show that I was picturing Cassidy "trying" being the wrestling equivalent of Naruto's Rock Lee taking off his training weights for the first time during the chunin exams after being regulated as being a token goof on this roster for so long.
Unlike most people, I have seen clips of what Cassidy is capable of before he signed to the company, so I knew what we were in store for here. Cassidy put on a solid performance, but I'm glad that they didn't make PAC put him over. At the same time, I thought it would have made more sense to have PAC beat him clean instead of the distraction finish from that random as all hell interference from the Lucha Bros, who I thought were still feuding with SCU a while ago.
Singles match for the AEW World Championship
Jon Moxley def. Chris Jericho (c) (with Santana and Ortiz)
This match was good, but I can't say that I'm a big fan of Chris Jericho's performances in AEW as of late. As an on-screen personality, Tony Khan definitely got his money's worth with Jericho, but I can't say the same about him physically as an in-ring talent. He's still capable of great matches, but at the same time, the "dad bod" ain't doing him any favors when you can clearly see that Jericho's getting gassed just as fast (if not faster) as Brock Lesnar in these title matches.
Can't say that I was blown away by Moxley's "reveal" towards the end of the match when he never had the eye patch secured properly to begin with. He always had it hanging haphazardly over his face where you could see he had a side window to see out of for matches. He does get kudos from me for playing up the gimmick for this long though. Keep kayfabe alive and see what happens, folks? Excellent storytelling FTW.
I have to admit this was the result that I'm genuinely surprised that they went with. I could have easily seen AEW keep the title on Jericho for another few months until All Out to bring his first title reign full circle, but it's a little more shocking to see them put the title on another ex-WWE guy. I'm not saying that Moxley doesn't deserve it. He's definitely over like rover with their core fan base, but he doesn't necessarily need the title to be a top draw for the promotion. If I were to speculate here, I would predict that they are going have this reign lead to Moxley vs. Omega III in AEW with the rubber match clearly on the horizon, given the fact that their previous match was a fan-favorite for 2019 even though I wasn't too crazy about it. I wonder how Chris Jericho and the Inner Circle are going to bounce back from this loss, especially when Jericho has been arguably one of (if not the best in most cases) best acts in the company from week to week. I suppose that they could have Moxley drop the title back to Jericho on an episode of Dynamite down the road and do some screw job finish with the Inner Circle getting involved, but that could do more harm than good in the long haul. I'll tell you one thing though... It's definitely got me anxious to see where they go from here with all of this.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, I thought Revolution served as an excellent palette cleanser for what was Super Showdown two days prior for wrestling fans as a whole. This was a great card from top to bottom, with very few missteps. Everyone should be able to find something to enjoy on this card, whether you're a AEW die-hard or a casual fan. I'm still not a fan of the $50 price tag for PPVs though, especially after coming from paying $9.99 for the WWE Network. In that regard, I think All Elite Wrestling definitely gave their fans their money's worth and sent them home happy by the time this was all said and done. You know a show did a good job when you're anxious to see what's next. Wednesday Night Dynamite can't get here sooner enough.
Get ready for the most brutal brawls of your hunting careers... Raging Brachydios and Furious Rajang will blast and punch their ways into #Iceborne this March for PS4 and Xbox One, and April for PC.
Two new subspecies? Meh at this point was my initial reaction, but I'm not going to complain too much about new free content. I seriously doubt that these two new beasts will bring anything new to the table that will unseat the Safi'jiiva weapons and other stuff from the current meta, but it will be interesting to see how the fights will play out.
For me personally, I'm sitting this update out for once on consoles and will just wait until April when PC and Console updates sync up. I doubt I'm going to be missing much in that regard.
If you have about two hours to kill, the USA Championships are linked below with some gameplay footage of the hunt towards the end of the livestream that Capcom hosted over the weekend. I'm not trying to look at any gameplay until April since I want to be genuinely surprised when I do these hunts for myself, but if you're curious, feel free to check out the footage below.
Both monsters are set to arrive on consoles for the March 23 update later this month while PC players will have to wait until the April update.
Tune in to find out who are the fastest Hunters in the US with the Monster Hunter World: Iceborne USA Championship! https://www.monsterhunterfesta.com/to...
Live on February 29th, 2020 at 5:30pm PST / 8:30pm EST
