Method To Madness

ROH All-Star Extravaganza VI - Results & Afterthoughts

That's right, wrestling fans. You are NOT mistaken. This is FULL iPPV coverage on a Ring of Honor event. I didn't get to see the event over the weekend live, so I spent the last evening watching the replay online. I REALLY hate how next to NO ONE has photos of this event online. C'mon Sinclair Broadcasting, you guys need to be selling your product to people better than this! These guys deserve SOOO much better for the piss poor production work you guys give them, geez.

Note: I don't know if fans ran into this issue during the live stream, but the audio was off sync (ahead about 10-20 seconds fast) for most of the event for me.

Truth Martini announces that ACH isn't in Toronto (apparently due to legit travel issues); Cedric Alexander comes out to ask for a TV title shot. Jay Lethal said he doesn't deserve one; they brawl.

The whole point of this opening segment was to rearrange the card since both ACH and Silas Young are either no-shows or injured. Plus Seleziya Sparx gets super kicked by Jay Lethal on accident after Cedric Alexander moved out of the way at the last second.

Mark Briscoe def. Hanson via pinfall following a Froggy Bow

If you saw the War Machine vs. The Briscoes match from the 8/30/14 TV tapings, then you already saw most of the drama leading into this match. Sadly, the match itself leaves a lot to be desired but it's a far cry from a bad match. I personally would have opened with the Four Corners Tag Team Match instead of this.

I was more glad to see Hanson get a chance to shine here as he really stood out to me as part of the Young Prospect Tournament earlier this year.

Tommaso Chiampa comes out to apologize for attacking Bobby Cruse, but ends up with his mic cut when Nigel McGuinness asks him to leave

Okay... That was awkward.

Moving on...

Four Corners Tag Team Match - Moose & R.D. Evans (w/ Veda Scott & Ramon) def. Ethan Gabriel Owens & Josh Alexander and Adam Page & BJ Whitmer and Caprice Coleman & Watanabe via pinfall when Evans rolled up Owens #NewStreak

I was hoping that Veda Scott would cut a promo to hype up her two clients going into this match, but I was already pumped from Moose's awesome entrance theme. I marked a bit more later that evening when Moose favorited and retweeted me.

I'm marking out a bit TOO much during Moose's entrance with Veda Scott & RD Evans right now... #ROH #ASE6
— Let's Talk Wrestling (@LetsTalkWrestle) September 9, 2014

Even though I'm not familiar with roughly everyone in this match in terms of acting like a tag team, except for Caprice Coleman and Watanabe who had a tag match against The Decade on the 9/6/14 TV taping, it was pleasure to see all of these guys in competition.

WWE, take notes. THIS is how you build up your tag team division - with not one, not two, but THREE great tag team bouts on this card.

The finish here was just freakin' INSANE. I know Owens was pissed when Evans stole the win from him to continue the #NewStreak. (Laughs) I know Veda Scott has to be lying or over-exaggerating Evans' streak, because there's no way in hell I believe that fool has 150 wins.

The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) def. The Decade's Roderick Strong & Jimmy Jacobs via pinfall (Daniels on Strong)

You shouldn't expect anything less from these guys, but they put on a wrestling clinic. I'll be honest and say that Jimmy Jacobs isn't one of my favorite guys (especially in his post-SCUM and Age of the Fall career...) but he pulled his weight in this match. Daniels and Kaz walked away from this match looking like a million bucks while The Decade continues to fail to pick up any momentum. I don't see how ANYONE is still taking that stable seriously. Outside of BJ Whitmer and Roderick Strong, the rest of the group is struggling to either stay relevant or stay glued together.

Ironic that The Decade's mission is to eliminate former talent who return to ROH after venturing out to "greener pastures" (i.e. WWE, NXT, TNA, etc.) that they got royally spanked by Kaz and Daniels tonight while Strong got beat pretty bad by AJ Styles a few months ago.

AJ Styles def. Adam Cole via pinfall with a top rope Bloody Sunday

Great match from start to finish, but if I were nit-picky about this match, it's not as good as Styles' bouts against Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal, Cedric Alexander, and Roderick Strong. This loss puts Adam Cole into a deeper hole he has to dig himself out of after losing the ROH World Championship, but at least he's maintaining that massive amount of heat he had as champion. Spitting in AJ Styles' hand after disrespecting the Code of Honor help escalate that further.

I have to wonder if ROH is still going to consider giving AJ Styles a future World Championship title shot? A New Japan vs. ROH World Champion match would be pure money... just sayin'.

Maria Kanellis says that Matt Hardy is returning to ROH, and has rechristened the ICON title the "title of love". She and Michael Bennett are going to consumate the title in the ring, but Mark Briscoe chases them off.

A nice throwback to the Attitude Era in terms of "racy" or "suggestive" segments. I'm sure Edge and Lita would be proud. Steve Corino channels his inner Jerry "The King" Lawler as he tries to take pictures with his cell phone.

I'm surprised to hear that Matt Hardy is returning to ROH, especially given his real life beef with the Young Bucks and ROH in general as of late. I guess he's bailing after TNA wraps up the NYC tapings. Oh well, the Hardy reunion was fun while it lasted.

Jay Lethal def. ACH Cedric Alexander via pinfall following a Lethal Injection (and Matt Taven's finisher) to retain his ROH World TV Title

Much like Lethal's bout against ACH on ROH's TV tapings earlier this month (notably the 8/30/14 TV taping), this match is all about putting over the new rising stars of ROH. Unfortunately, the House of Truth's bag of tricks are endless as Seleziya came back to aid Lethal to get a cheap win.

I'm pretty sure if anyone is going to dethrone Lethal it's going to be due to some interference from Matt Taven - IF he ever decides to come back to ROH. Alternatively, I wouldn't be mad that ACH won it next, especially after him and Lethal's epic draw that resulted on the 8/30/14 taping.

Jay Briscoe def. Michael Elgin via pinfall following a Jay Driller to become the NEW ROH World Champion

First things first, the match itself was great. I don't have a problem with it. It just thought it was strange to take the strap off Elgin this early after ROH invested so much time in building him up to this level.

As for the finish here, Elgin looked shocked as everyone else in attendance. What I'm trying to understand is how did Jay Briscoe get a title match when Adam Cole didn't even get a "proper" rematch in an one-on-one contest. From the way they were acting on the ROH TV tapings, Elgin was willing to give Cedric Alexander another shot at the title, despite his "heel-like" methods to retain it.

There's a lot of theories going around on why ROH took the strap off Elgin, including Elgin's open statement about wanting to try his hand at Major League Baseball next year in a recent interview, but the truth of the matter is that Elgin was having issues getting his work visa renewed and ROH couldn't have their World Champion not on their programming for a span of roughly 90 days. Final Battle (AKA ROH's version of WrestleMania) is around the corner, so ROH couldn't deal with vacating their title for the third year in a row before their biggest event of the year.

I'm not mad that Jay Briscoe is the second two-time ROH World Champion in history. I'm just disappointed that ROH did this as a knee-jerk reaction to fill the void at the last second. If ROH built this up with a solid program beforehand it would have added more drama to this match that was obviously missing here. I don't know about anyone else, but it just seemed like another "throwaway" title match.

If there's one thing I can't stand about ROH's storytelling, it's how they start one angle on their weekly TV tapings or on iPPVs but don't continue it for weeks or sometimes months in advance. I have been watching ROH's programming regularly again since the end of 2013 and the way they do this with their feuds/storylines makes me want to choke them at times. If their superb match quality didn't overshadow that, I wouldn't be faithfully watching their product. If ROH wants to be taken seriously by the mainstream wrestling community they are going to have to at least give some shred of what's going to keep people interested. Otherwise, whatever fans ROH draws away from WWE and TNA are going to right back to Vince and Dixie for their fill of wrestling.

Following this match, a video package is shown to advertise the return of Matt Sydal (WWE's Evan Bourne) to Ring of Honor on Saturday, September 27 in Wheeling, WV.

reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) def. The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) 2 falls to 1 to retain their ROH World Tag Team Championship

TONS of Super Kicks in this match. (Laughs) You're going to be sick of hearing commentary screaming about it by the end of this. TONS of insane spots in this match too. Love or hate them, but good Lord, the Young Bucks are the next generation Hardy Boyz. You can call them spot monkeys if you want, but this was the perfect match to end tonight's broadcast with. I was surprised to see reDRagon retain here as they continue to impress me as the reigning ROH tag team champions, despite their close calls here against the Bucks and back in June against The Addiction. I would love to see reDRagon defend the titles against the Young Bucks and The Addition in a triple threat match.

Ciampa returns and destroys the Bucks as they were celebrating with the crowd, and the ring, to the end the show

Watch for how Ciampa loses one of his flip-flops before he beats the shit out of the Bucks, ending the show with an inverted Tower of London to the Bucks on the exposed canvas. That was obviously a message to Nigel McGuinness. I wonder what the fallout is going to be after this event? Lots of strange and unexpected occurrences.

REVIEW -- Heavenly Sword (PlayStation 3)

Heavenly Sword is a video game developed by Ninja Theory exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The game was released on September 12, 2007 in North America and Japan.

Those of you who know me personally on Facebook probably saw my remark about people who whine and complain about me always playing games on my Xbox 360.

Post by Method To Madness.

Truth be told, I was house-sitting last weekend and I had access to a PlayStation 3 for the entire weekend. Normally, I would make a topic on Facebook and ask if anyone wanted to play some fighting games or do some co-op in something, but I said "Fuck that..." as I didn't want didn't want to hear the typical console bickering or debate for once. I'm playing what I want to play so I went out and bought a copy of a game I wanted to take the time and complete on my own free time since the PlayStation 3's launch - Heavenly Sword. I played the demo back before it's launch and this is one game I NEVER hear PlayStation 3 owners talk about.

Ninja Theory's work has intrigued me since Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (one of the best last-generation games that most people haven't played nor heard of), so I want to see what this previous work had to offer since it was one of the reasons Capcom trusted this studio to reboot the beloved Devil May Cry franchise as DmC back in 2013.

The Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

Setting

The game's story and mythos revolves around the titular Heavenly Sword, a blade said to have been wielded by an unnamed Heavenly deity against a demonic warlord called the Raven Lord. After the battle was won and the Raven Lord defeated, the sword was left in the mortal world, becoming the center of wars over its power. The fighting made the sword lust after the life of its users, eventually killing them after a short time. A warrior tribe finally took charge of the sword, ending the wars and pledging to keep it safe and unused for the world's own good. Among the tribe, a legend said that the sword's original wielder would be reborn in the year of the "fire-horse", and that this figure would unite the world's scattered tribes and lead the world to peace.

Characters

The game's narrator and primary protagonist is Nariko (Anna Torv), a red-headed woman who was born in the year of the prophesied divine warrior: because she was a woman, her clan saw her as a mockery of the prophesy and a portent of doom. The game's main antagonist is King Bohan (Andy Serkis), a tyrannical ruler who is determined to bring the world's tribes to heel and pave the way for a new golden age. Nariko is trained as a warrior by her father, Master Shen (Ewan Stewart), who both cares for her as a child and has difficulty coping with her role in the clan's seeming undoing and the death of his wife. Nariko's only friend is Kai (Lydia Baksh), a wild and erratic girl who is the last member of a clan destroyed by the armies of Bohan. Among Bohan's servants are his general, Flying Fox (Steven Berkoff): his serpentine mistress Whiptail (Race Davies): and Roach (Richard Ridings), Bohan's son, of whom the king is so ashamed because of Roach's obese appearance that he will not even acknowledge Roach as his own.

Story

The game begins in medias res, with Nariko fighting the forces of Bohan. As she is fighting and slaying, the sword finishes draining her life and she seemingly dies, waking in a field and speaking to the power within the sword about what has transpired previously. Five days before, Nariko's clan is assaulted by the first strike of King Bohan's forces. Before she joins the fight, Shen thrusts the sword into the ground next to her demanding that she take care of it. Nariko fights alongside her father and her clansmen as their defenses are weakened and stretched by scores of Bohan's warriors scaling the city walls accompanied by catapults. As the warriors and Shen escape from Bohan's Army, Nariko protects them until spotting a catapult moving toward the fort. As Shen had earlier instructed her, she flees, as the fortress is apparently destroyed behind her. While fleeing, she passes a large black bird with a golden head, the animal form of the Raven Lord. When Bohan's army captures her father and corners her in a retreat from the clan's city, Nariko has no choice but to wield the sword to defend herself in order to escape. She takes a flying leap off a cliff edge as Bohan's archers begin firing at her. Kai finds Nariko after disobeying Shen's orders to hide and informs her of the temple where her father and clansmen are being held captive. Nariko infiltrates the temple and is ambushed by Flying Fox. She defeats the general for the time being and continues on to rescue her father. Meanwhile, King Bohan plots to set up a trap for Nariko with Whiptail. Nariko falls into the trap, and Whiptail, after watching most of her personal guards defeated, tells Nariko the truth behind her father's original feelings about her birth - Shen wanted to kill Nariko shortly after her birth, but was unable to bring himself to do so. Nariko tells her father to leave her and fights with Whiptail. After Nariko impales Whiptail with the sword, King Bohan turns up and snaps Whiptail's neck in her dying moments, then captures the sword and an incapacitated Nariko.

As Shen escapes, Kai makes her way to Nariko's holding cell. Kai is able to find where Nariko is imprisoned and begs that she comes home with her. Nariko explains to Kai that she needs to reacquire the Heavenly Sword to kill King Bohan. She asks Kai to retrieve the sword and Kai accepts the task. Kai eventually succeeds in finding the Heavenly Sword, only to also discover her mother's skeleton. In a flashback, it is revealed that, some years ago, Kai's mother was murdered in front of her eyes by Flying Fox. Returning to the present, Kai is confronted by Flying Fox and barely manages to escape from him with the sword. Meanwhile, Nariko is forced by Bohan to fight before his army against Orangumen, pets of Roach's. During the battle, Kai arrives and throws Nariko the sword. When Nariko defeats all the Orangumen, Bohan orders Roach to murder Nariko. After defeating Roach, both Nariko and Kai flee from the pit. Bohan then commands Flying Fox to kill Kai while his soldiers take on Nariko. As the two try to escape the temple, Flying Fox cuts Kai off from Nariko and they are separated. Nariko desperately tails Flying Fox, but when she finally catches up, he seemingly hangs Kai in front of her. Believing Kai to be dead, Nariko flies into a rage and battles with Flying Fox. As Nariko and Flying Fox duel, Kai, who survived the drop, uses her crossbow to shoot an arrow into Flying Fox's head, killing him. Nariko releases the injured Kai from the noose and returns her to the care of the clan.

King Bohan rallies his men to launch a final attack to regain the Heavenly Sword. Nariko fights alongside her father and clansmen once more despite being outnumbered. Nariko kills countless numbers of Bohan's troops with ease and destroys his catapults. Despite her efforts, the sword kills her, bringing the events of the game full circle. But this time, Nariko reverses her death by making a pact with the sword to protect it from becoming a useless and dusty relic, since it needs her more than her clan needs it. Nariko returns as a goddess-like figure, and proceeds to slaughter Bohan's troops. Desperate, Bohan begs the Raven Lord (who has been seen repeatedly throughout the game watching Nariko or being with Bohen) to give him the power to destroy Nariko. Bohan gets his wish and the Raven Lord merges with him. An epic battle ensues similar to the one foretold in the prophecy. After Nariko manages to defeat Bohan, the raven leaves his body, and, despite Bohan begging for mercy, pecks his eyes out and flies away.

As Nariko raises the sword to strike the final blow, Roach comes to his father's side and begs Nariko to let him take Bohan. Nariko relents, then Roach and Bohan leave, with Bohan calling Roach his son for the first time. Though successful in protecting the sword from coming into the hands of Bohan, Nariko still must give her life for wielding it, for that is the price for using the almighty sword, and the story comes to its end. Nariko reflects that she believes they have fought in vain for the prophecy, that the sword was not from Heaven, but feels gratified that she chose to be the one who was going to save her people from evil: she took the sword, paid the price and ultimately defeated Bohan's army, but nevertheless she was still a normal woman. Nariko heals Kai, and gives her the sword for safekeeping, before passing away. At the funeral, Nariko's body is placed into a boat filled with blossoms, and Kai and Shen cast her out to sea.

The Verdict:

Visuals & Sound:

To say that this game was a launch title for the PlayStation 3 back in 2007, I have to admit that this game STILL looks amazing to this day. Ninja Theory definitely has some best motion capture and detailed character models in the gaming industry today. Everything from the environments, the character models, and even facial expressions are simply jaw-dropping to believe that this game was created back in 2007, yet still looks THIS good 7 years later.

As for the music in this game, good grief... The audio is just as beautiful to the ears as the visuals are stunning to the eyes.

Gameplay:

Controls:

BASIC CONTROLS
L1 Button (Hold) aim
L1 Button (Hold) heavenly range stance (when in possession of the heavenly sword)
R1 Button (Hold) fire (when aiming)
R1 Button (Hold) heavenly power stance (when in possession of the heavenly sword)
D-Pad or Left Analog Stick move
D-Pad or Left Analog Stick target (when aiming)
Right Analog Stick evade
Right Analog Stick zoom (when aiming)
Triangle or Square Button attack
Triangle or Square Button fire (when aiming)
Circle Button drop object
Circle Button Superstyle attack (when in possession of the heavenly sword)
X Button pick up, use, fire, throw
Square Button stun enemy (when beside enemy while playing as Kai)
Square or Triangle Button Heavenly speed stance (when in possession of Heavenly Sword)
L1 Button (Hold) + Square or Triangle Button Heavenly ranged stance
R1 Button (Hold) + Square or Triangle Button Heavenly power stance
L1 Button + Triangle Button + Move Controller Up + Triangle or Square Button aerial combo
Triangle Button counter attack
X Button + Roll Controller throw object
Square Button (Hold) + Roll and Pitch Controller fire projectile
Triangle Button debris sweep (while in heavenly range stance)
Right Analog Stick evasive roll
Right Analog Stick + Square or Triangle Button attack (during a roll)
X Button smash pot for health (when near heavenly pot)
L1 Button (Hold + Square Button fire from cover (when playing as Kai)
L1 Button (Release) Hide behind cover (when playing as Kai)
Square Button Evade enemy attack (when playing as Kai)

MOTION SENSITIVE CONTROLS
Roll Controller Adjust/Move Camera
X Button (Hold) + Roll Controller Aftertouch (for thrown objects)
Square Button (Hold) + Roll or Pitch Controller Aftertouch (for projectile weapons)
Move Controller Side To Side recover (when knocked out)

General Gameplay:

I'm going to get this part of my review out of the way as I want to focus on the positives of this game rather the negative, so I'm going to start off what I absolutely hated about this game - the Aftertouch motion controls. Keep in mind that this game was a launch title for the PlayStation 3 back in 2007, a time BEFORE Nintendo revolutionized the motion control market with the Wii that caused both Sony and Microsoft to bandwagon off this concept. I'm not even going to sugarcoat it, the motion controls SUCK.

Granted, it's a cool and innovative idea, but it's more of a distraction than an asset. As Nariko, I found it to be pretty cool to use it as cue to help her recover from knockdowns easier or to assist in aerial combos, but for the first (and occasional third) person shooter sections as Kai (or Nariko's sections behind a cannon or armed with a rocket launcher), it's easier to simply turn this feature off in the Options menu. I gave the feature a far chance until about halfway into the game, where you are given control of Kai for the duration of the entire level and I found it was making me get killed more than helping me. When I turned off the motion controls and guided my arrows/shots with the analog sticks manually, it was MUCH less of a hassle to control. This just falls into the category of "great idea, bad execution" - something that I could relate back to the review I wrote on Remember Me last week.

Don't get me wrong, but I'm sure most casual players will agree with me and find those "shooter" sections more enjoyable if they just turn the motion controls off. Also, why the FUCK are those sequences timed? This game already is short enough, clocking in at roughly seven hours of gameplay that I finished in one sitting.

Hell Mode unlocks after you complete the game once, offering a harder difficulty setting for gamers looking for a challenge.

Combat:

Nariko controls as well as expected, but the game does a bad job of registering guard breaks at times. I would break a soldier's defense, only for him to reel back and hit me like the blow did nothing. Plus, no matter how many ways you slice it, crowd control is a pain in the ass in this game. The ranged stance is worthless against shielded opponents in terms of crowd control while the power stance is often too slow to break the defenses of multiple foes at once. You are better off pulling off precise counters and unleashing level 3 Superstyles on stronger opponents because fighting them one-on-one is tedious and time-consuming. I found myself spamming the hell out of the Triangle, Triangle, Square, Triangle (or alternatively end with Square for foes who love to evade) sequence in the power stance since it was so effective on bosses and stronger foes.

Don't get me wrong. That doesn't mean that the combat here is brain-dead easy and lacks any depth. It's actually the opposite. There's aerial combos and juggles, but I thought it was strange that I completed the ENTIRE game after only using this technique roughly once. Most players will not realize that the speed stance can only block and counter attacks with a blue aura around them while the power stance can only block and counter attacks with an orange aura surrounding them. Once you realize this, countering in general becomes so much easier and makes combat a LOT easier once you master this concept. The same can be said about the ability to negate certain projectiles with the ranged stance. I loved how Ninja Theory gave you the basic idea to a lot of Nariko's abilities on the tutorial stage but left the door open for the players themselves on how far to take it in combat.

Keep in mind that if you turn off that Aftertouch motion controls in the Options menu, you have NO access to Nariko's aerial combos. I thought that was pretty stupid that there wasn't a manual command for that instead of shaking the Sixais controller. This is yet another action-game that thinks it was a wise in terms of game design to NOT have a lock-on/targeting button. There's a few occasional instances where Nariko doesn't face the appropriate opponent properly, causing your attacks to whiff completely. Unlike Remember Me, I can forgive this somewhat since this was a launch title for PlayStation 3.

The Superstyle guage and the counter system were two things I wish Ninja Theory brought to the table in the Devil May Cry (DmC) reboot. While the counter system wasn't exactly perfect, but it showed promise that it could have been even better in the Devil May Cry engine if it was implemented in a fashion of a reversal/counter system found in the current Ninja Gaiden series. While I didn't have a problem with the challenge, I thought it was rather cruel of Ninja Theory to expect players to master the counter system by the end of the game as it was a necessary tactic to defeat the final boss. To be fair, you got "practice" of familiarizing yourself with this tactic fighting Flying Fox, but it was like a complete wake-up call when you face the final boss.

Narrative:

I went into this thinking it was going to be one of those cliched hero sacrifices himself (or rather herself in this case) to save everyone, but I didn't expect her to actually be able to wield the sword's power properly. I thought whatever deity they were saving it for was going to possess her and save her clan by the end of the game from the Raven Lord. I was thinking this game would go the route of Sega's PlayStation 2 run with the Shinobi/Nightshade series and set the stage for a noble sacrifice since everyone's conception of the sword was false.

I loved how they turned the tables around and had Nariko point out that the sword has no power at all since it needed to be held by someone - currently her. She bent the sword to her will and made her own legacy instead of waiting on a foolish prophecy instead of the cliched nature in these types of stories where the protagonist allow themselves to be controlled by these inanimate objects of power. If that doesn't qualify Nariko as a bad-ass then I don't know what does.

In terms of acting, Andy Serkis stands above the rest in his portrayal of King Bohan. Just everything about him screamed great villain in this game - from his delivery of his devilish lines to his mannerisms captured for this game. Runner-up goes to both Lydia Baksh as Kai and Anna Torv as Nariko. Don't get me wrong, but everyone involved here puts on a great performance in this game, but those three individuals stand above the rest. (Laughs) If you don't fall in love with Kai's character then I have absolutely no respect for you. By the way, where are people getting the "lesbian romance" between Nariko and Kai? I saw their relationship as surrogate mother-daughter relationship from their bond.

Seriously though, it doesn't hurt to have more strong female protagonists like Nariko in gaming narratives. I think The Last of Us' Elle and The Walking Dead's Clementine proved that over the last two years, right?

By the way, did anyone catch the God of War reference in Bohan's armory? Kratos' Ares armor is hanging up in the background when Flying Fox confronts Kai when she finds the Heavenly Sword. Speaking of Kratos, Nariko and Kratos should totally team-up or hook up or something. That pairing would be amazing. Just imagine their kids!

Closing Words:

If you own a PlayStation 3, then you should either have this game in your library or at least had the pleasure of playing this game from start to finish at least once. Take my word for it, it's definitely one of the underrated gems of the last-generation of gaming.

The only major shortcomings with this game are the Sixasis motion controls and it's over a bit TOO soon, capping the adventure at only 7 hours of gameplay. The stunning visuals, engaging narrative drama, and gameplay easily make up for that.

I'm giving Heavenly Sword a 8.5 out of 10.

With the PlayStation 4 out now around the world, I'm crossing my fingers that Ninja Theory will consider revisiting this world and give Heavenly Sword the sequel that it deserves. Who knows, maybe that upcoming Hellblade game that they just announced could be a Heavenly Sword sequel in disguise? We can only hope. You can't deny that the character here looks a LOT like Kai.

Last but not least, if you're one of those retards who whines and complains about me NEVER reviewing PlayStation games, you can shut up now.

Space Dandy: Episode 23 -- If Dandy Doesn't Love Scarlet, Well I Know I Sure Do

Here you go, guys and gals. A Space Dandy-related article to serve as a break of sorts from the numerous reviews I have in the pipeline.

While I'm still in this weird middle ground of whether or not I love or hate Space Dandy, I know one thing is certain - Scarlet (voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard) is my favorite character, without a shadow of a doubt. That was heightened by this past Saturday's episode that aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami anime block, which featured Scarlet as the focus for the entire episode.

I loved Scarlet since her bad-ass debut in Episode 2.

But exactly who is Scarlet? According to the Space Dandy wikia, "Scarlet is a beautiful inspector at the Registration Center who oversees Dandy's work. Scarlet tries to be calm and professional, but circumstances (and Dandy) force her into this role more often than not. She is quite skilled in hand-to-hand combat, specifically jeet kune do (the martial art popularized and created by the late Bruce Lee himself) style."

In this universe of littered with the crazy antics of Dandy (voiced by Ian Sinclair) and his crew, it's Scarlet's job to clearly and precisely bluntly point out how stupid they are in this series. I loved this week's episode since we were given another insight into her character.

In Episode 19, "Gallant Space Gentleman, Baby", we get to see a different side of Scarlet as she enchanted by a Cloudian (think a ladies man/gentleman) named Gentle. By the end of the episode, Scarlet is shown as a drunken mess with Meow as Dandy and Gentle are more distracted with "rescuing" Honey than paying her any attention. This episode showed a more vulnerable Scarlet as she let her defenses down in the hopes of companionship.

In Episode 23, "Lovers Are Trendy, Baby", we see a complete 180 from Scarlet's no-nonsense, tough girl demeanor as she "hires" Dandy to play the part of her fictitious boyfriend in a ploy to fool her delusional ex-boyfriend (who was easily inspired by a pilot in the Mobile Suit Gundam universe...) that she has moved on. Along the way, Scarlet and Dandy actually end up falling for each other, despite how unlikely and how incompatible they have been labeled as such up to this point. Of course, Dandy does something stupid (as usual) to cause her to doubt her feelings, but this gives Scarlet's crazy ex-boyfriend the opening he needs to intervene. That's when Dandy actually has a genius move to end all of this and breeches his "contract" with Scarlet by kissing her right in front of her ex-boyfriend. This causes him to have an emotional breakdown long enough to allow the cops to arrest him for the damages he caused along the chase.

To say these two don't actually "like" each other, Scarlet and Dandy's kiss lasted much longer than one would expect - thus, hinting at there may be something more to this just being business.

Immediately, I thought of this scene from Cowboy Bebop as it teased a relationship that never blossomed, much to the dismay of fans of this spectacular anime as well.

Ironic that the same creators of Cowboy Bebop are working on Space Dandy, so I doubt this was a coincidence. Much like Faye Valentine and Spike Speigel, Dandy and Scarlet are portrayed as incompatible but with a working business relationship. The sad part of the matter is that the relationship could have flurished if Dandy was only a few seconds earlier or if Scarlet saw him before the bus passed by. It just makes me anxious to see where their relationship would have gone from there if they had a "happy" ending. Sadly, that's what life is about - chances that come once and we may or may not get another chance to experience that "happy" ending, if at all.

The point is driven home harder with both of their reactions to seeing each other at the Registration Center. Scarlet is pretty nervous and awkward seeing him again and Dandy has subdued his emotions, but respects her feelings (something Scarlet's crazy ex-boyfriend wouldn't have done). I have to wonder where Scarlet and Dandy's relationship will go from here.

One of the funniest moments on this episode...

For that, I tip my hat to Space Dandy's episode from this past weekend and I'm crossing my fingers that Bones doesn't leave this up in the air like Faye and Spike's relationship and fans are left to speculate what happened for years to come.

REVIEW -- Remember Me

If you asked me what two games I was anticipating at the start of 2013, it would have been Platinum Games' Anarchy Reigns and Capcom's Remember Me. I ended up picking up the game early in 2014 after neglecting to pick it up in 2013 after hearing not many favorable reviews to take the time to work on other games plaguing my gaming backlog, but over the last weekend I finally had a chance to knock this sucker off my gaming backlog.

Remember Me is an action-adventure video game developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Capcom. It was released in June 2013 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game's plot focuses on Nilin, a memory hunter working for an underground resistance called the Errorists. When the game starts, she has been stripped of nearly all her memories by mega-corporation Memorize. With the help of a mysterious man named Edge, she goes on a quest to bring down Memorize and recover her lost memories.

Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

Setting:

The game is set in the year 2084, in a futuristic version of Paris called Neo-Paris. The Memorize corporation has invented a new brain implant called the Sensation Engine (Sensen), which enables roughly 99% of the population to upload and share their memories on the net, as well as remove unhappy or unpleasant memories. This gives Memorize an immense degree of control over the population and enables them to establish a surveillance state. This, in turn, leads to a small group of rebels forming under the name "Errorists": their mission is to bring down Memorize. The invention of the Sensen has also resulted in the creation of Leapers; memory-addicted humans who have absorbed so many memories that their Sensen has degraded and they have mutated into a subhuman form, now living in the sewers of Neo-Paris.

Story:

The game begins as Nilin (Kezia Burrows), an Errorist imprisoned in the Bastille Fortress, is having almost all her memory wiped by Memorize. As she is taken to have the last of her memories wiped, a mysterious man called Edge, leader of the Errorists and a man she only hears over her comm device, helps her escape. Edge tells her that she is an Errorist with the gift of both stealing and remixing memories. After escaping into the slums of Neo-Paris, Nilin encounters Tommy, a fellow Errorist. Suddenly, Nilin and Tommy are attacked by Olga Sedova, a bounty hunter chasing Nilin. Nilin dives into Olga's mind and remixes her memory to make Olga become an Errorist ally and she transports Nilin to her first destination.

Arriving in the Saint-Michel district, Nilin, who is aided by another Errorist codenamed Bad Request, is told by Edge to steal secret codes from Kaori Sheridan, Neo-Paris' top architect. After retrieving and uploading the codes to Edge, he uses the codes to open the Saint-Michel dam, flooding the district. Due to the flood draining out the slums, Nilin is able to infiltrate the Bastille and heads to the memory servers to free the stored memories of herself and the inmates while taking down Madame, the sadistic manager of the Bastille. After defeating Madame, Nilin releases the memories of the inmates and partially regains some of her own. She remembers the crime that landed her in the Bastille; on a mission, Nilin remixed the mind of a Memorize commander and made him believe he had killed his girlfriend. The altered memory pushed him to commit suicide.

Nilin reluctantly goes along with Edge's next plan: to remix the CEO of Memorize, Scylla Cartier-Wells, to make her see the harm her company's technology is causing. Nilin makes her way into Scylla's office and enters her mind, remixing the memory of a car crash which left her with a bitter taste against the world. As she changes the memory to make Scylla a more compassionate person, Nilin discovers that she is Scylla's daughter. Nilin is then told by Edge to head for the Bastille basements to save Bad Request, who has been taken captive. She finds Bad Request, but discovers that his memory has been fully wiped. Nilin then discovers that Memorize scientist Doctor Quaid is trying to find a way to control the Leapers through their Sensens to create a private army for Memorize. However, Johnny Greenteeth, a former co-worker of Quaid's who was experimented on and turned into a Leaper, kills Quaid and prepares to self-destruct the Bastille. Bad Request helps Nilin take down Johnny at the cost of his life and Nilin escapes the destroyed facility.

With all of Memorize's secret operations taken down, Edge presses Nilin to find the Conception Cube, Memorize's central base, and destroy H3O, the Memorize Central Server. Once there, she encounters her father, Charles Cartier-Wells, the creator of the Sensens. Upon finding him, she sees that, fueled by the car accident that injured his wife, he has become lost in a dream of an ideal world free from painful memories, all inspired by the desire to help Nilin forget about the accident. Nilin makes him see the harm his technology causes, and Scylla arrives to convince Charles to help Nilin enter the Central Server. Once in the presence of the Central Server, it is revealed to Nilin that Edge is a self-aware entity created by the amalgamation of unwanted memories within H3O. Nilin, who unwittingly started Edge with the memories of her unhappy childhood, enters the Server and, at H3O/Edge's will, she destroys him and releases the memories back into the general population.

As the memories are released, Nilin remembers Edge's words about the mind being a fortress, and says that Edge died to remind people that memories should not become open to all, and that painful memories should be lived with rather than forcibly removed. She finishes that outside her now-restored mind she has a family again and a damaged world to heal.