Friday 4 July 2014

Transformers Marathon: My Top 10 Best Transformers Moments

Yes, the second last post for the marathon is a top 10... don't judge me...

The rules for this is simple. All of these are strictly my opinion and all the entries can be found in a series (I will specify which one) and scenes I've found online

10: The death of Optimus Prime (Transformers Armada): Yeah, Optimus dies in Armada, turned into dust because of the combined power of the Star Sabre, Skyboom Shield and Requiem Blaster. This is one of the few times in Armada that you see just how far Optimus is willing to go to protect the humans. So why is it so low? The episode after this event (Episode 40: Remorse) is one of the weakest episodes in the season in my opinion and because it revolves around this event that Optimus's death is so low.

9. The many personalities of Starscream (Transformers Animated): I haven't seen Animated, I've yet to sit through the pilot of it, the reason being is because it looks like its trying as hard as possible to replicate Generation 1 (but I'll leave this point until I do a review and can actually formulate a opinion). So why is there a scene from animated here? Because I genuinely find it hilarious. I don't know the context of it but Starscream has made a number of clones of himself that have a specific point in his personality including his cowardice, his tendency for lying, his ego, the suck up side (as in fuelling others egos)... and his feminine side... For those who don't know, Starscream was originally portrayed as a woman in the French version of Generation 1 and that clone was a homage to it.

8: The battle of Mission City (Transformers 2007): Hate Michael bay all you want, I give credic where credit is due and he does know how to make a good action scene (not including Egypt's filler and Chicargo's boredom) and the Mission city fight from the first Michael bay film is a good example of it. The fight was well paced, the changing of perspectives between Optimus, Sam,  Mikaela, and Lennox works well and the camera work looks great. The fight between the Autobots and Demolisher along with the fight between Optimus and Megatron look great.

7: The Powerlink of Arcee, Chromia and Elita One (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen special features): Ok, this one might be classified as cheating as it was cut from the movie. Its on the DVD special features so to me, it counts. During development, Arcee, Chromia and Elita One were planned to have a Powerlink and use it while "fighting" Sideways. That part of the scene was never finished but what was shown off looks great...

6: The creation of Galvatron, Cyclonus and the Sweeps (Transformers the Movie): Yes, the scene is trippy, yes this can cause seizures, but dam it this is awesome. I can't really explain why its good, its a scene where you have to see it for yourself to know what its like (if you haven't already)

5: The appearances of the Dinobots (Transformers Generation 1): The Transformers, while it had more animation errors then I could keep track of, did have some great scenes and episodes with this one being one of them. S.O.S Dinobot is the reason why so many fans freaked out when Grimlock was in the trailer for Age of Extinction and is a must watch from Generation 1.

4: The races for the Planet Cup (Transformers Cybertron): For all the race fans, Velocitron is the place for you. A planet that is built for racing as it has more race tracks then any country on earth combined and tripled. Now imagine these tracks, take the best ones of them and put them in a planet wide grand prix for the strongest trophy in the universe and you have the Planet cup in a nutshell. While it cut between Earth and Jungle planet a lot during the episodes the planet cup was using, the tracks were great and that final race was amazing. Can someone please make a game where you race in the planet cup and one the tracks of Velocitron?

3: The battle of Autobot City (Transformers the movie): Hands down, one of the best fights in the 80's cartoon era second only to that of the Unicron fight near the end of the movie. Like the Dinobots, I can't describe what its like, just go watch it.

2: The appearances of Unicron and Primus (Transformers the movie and Transformers Armada (Unicron), Transformers Cybertron (Primus)): The gods of Transformers, the two Transformers that turn into PLANETS (Primus transforming into Cybertron), one of them EATS OTHER PLANETS!!! While I would include Transformers Prime for Unicron as I know he appears, I haven't seen all of Prime yet and I haven't seen a appearance of him outside of the movie "Predacons Rising". You really do have to see these two to believe me when I say these two are awesome.

1: Savage Claw mode vs Dark Claw mode (Transformers Cybertron): Optimus's Savage Claw mode in Cybertron is powerful (which is what happens when you give a robot that can transform into a flying Fire truck a beefy arm made of a robot lion and have the claws ready to fight with. So how do you make this better? You clone the lion, give it to Megatron and make the two fight each other using those Powerlinks. It was a moral boost for Leobreaker (the Autobot Lion) and the fight itself was amazing. A multi episode fight and with all the other battles happening at the same time. Go watch Cybertron episodes 33-36 to see not only that fight, but others as well (and that's not even all of that part, the entire arc is great (which to me is episodes 27-40, the prequel to Gigantion)

This might as well have been a gush fest but these are genuinely my favourite moments from what I've seen of the Transformers franchise. Before I close out though, I am going to say that I'll be slowing down the production of reviews now because I will be starting back at University for semester 2 and I won't have as much time as I did in June to pump out reviews and impressions. I will be getting to the Impressions I promised after the next post which will be the conclusion to the Transformers Marathon, how I think it has survived for as long as it has. While the Impressions are being done, I'll try and get 2 a week done but then afterwards I'll be returning to 1 maybe 2 posts a week (something a bit more manageable). I do have some reviews planned including a return to game reviews in the form of Sonic Unleashed for the PS3 and X-Box 360 along with a game I just started so it'll be a while before a review is made, the fan game for the standard computer operating systems (Windows, Mac ect), Pokémon Zeta version and Pokémon Omnicron version. I'm always open to review suggestions so feel free to make a suggestion, it could be anything and will get it done as soon as I can. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day/night, Next week, How did the Transformers survive 40 years?

Friday 27 June 2014

Transformers Marathon: Transformers: Dark of the Moon. And this is why I stopped watching Transformers until recently

There are only a few things in this world I loath, despise, downright hate with a passion, and the movie that is being reviewed today is number 1 on that list. It takes a lot for something to make it onto this list, High School musical for example: thanks to my sister's love for it at one point, I can't stand the films, and they haven't made this list. Toy Time Galaxy's Purple coin challenge in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, they're brutal and I chewed through more lives then I'd like to admit, and its not on the list. Nor is Sonic '06 and Call of Duty, to those who know me personally, that alone should give you a indication of just how much it takes for something to make it onto this list. Not because its a awful movie, not because it has boring action scenes, not because its recycling the same plot from the last two films but because of how much this destroyed peoples views on the franchise. People have gone on record saying that this killed their childhoods if the last one didn't do it first.

Wednesday 25 June 2014

Transformers Marathon: Transformers Revenge of the fallen. First Str wait, didn't we already see this two years ago?


Now we can do Revenge of the Fallen. The first Bay film was a commercial success and the cast (according to the bonus features of the DVD release) was willing to do a second movie. Even though the writer’s strikes, bay was still able to produce this... uh... “gem” of a movie??? Time to review Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen.

Monday 23 June 2014

Transformers Marathon: Transformers (2007).First Contact


And now to the movies most fans would rather forget. The Michael Bay films, the purpose of this marathon. While the Bay films did bring in a new crowd of Transformers fans, they did lose a lot of the older fans who have been following the series since the beginning. As to what I think of them? It depends on the movie in question. Without wasting any more time, let’s start this miniseries of reviews with Transformers (2007).
 

Friday 20 June 2014

Transformers Marathon: Transformers: Cybertron. Why? Because "OUR WORLDS ARE IN DANGER" and we must protect them "Till all are one"


Now to a personal favourite of mine, while Armada might have been my first season of Transformers and this my last because they weren’t shown on Free to air TV here, Transformers Cybertron will always have a place in my heart. But does it still hold up when I look at it as a reviewer? This is my review of Transformers Cybertron. 

Monday 16 June 2014

The Individual impressions that will be coming

So with E3 finished for 2014, I'm going to be covering some of the individual games shown off that I thought looked interesting. I won't be including games that I already done impressions on (Smash 4 and Arkham Knight) and these will be posted after the Transformers Marathon.

The titles include...
Pokémon Omega Ruby/ Alpha Sapphire, Hyrule Warriors, Splatoon, Fable Legends, Project Spark, Sonic Boom, Yoshi's Woolly World, Code Name S.T.E.A.M, Far Cry 4 ( as I don't think the impressions I have don't during the conferences do it justice), Mario Party 10 and Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. I am willing to provide in depth opinions on requests if anyone would like me to but otherwise these will be the games I cover.

Transformers Maraton: Transformers Energon. Let's mine with Transformers


After the Unicron saga of Transformers Armada, the people at Hasbro, combined with the writers of the show believed that there was more that could be done in this continuity. It’s because of this reason, Transformers Energon is this review. Do note that it’s recommended that you see the finale of Transformers: Armada as this review will contain spoilers.

Friday 13 June 2014

E3 2014: Ubisoft... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


Ubisoft

1.       Far Cry 4: I don’t personally care about Far cry. It looks to be the same as prior instalments

2.       Aisha Tyler: It sounds like she has been given more freedom when it comes to hosting the show and while they are funny in comparison to previous years, to me, the jokes aren’t funny, with a few exceptions. The background image on the screen looks like a lazy desktop background.

3.       Just Dance 2015: More Just Dace... next?

4.       Tom Clancy: The Division: See Microsoft press conference

5.       The Crew: Could you tell us more about the game that you haven’t previously announced?

6.       Assassin’s Creed: Unity: See X-Bone’s conference (this is becoming a pattern...)

7.       Shape Up: Its Ubisoft’s attempt at Wii Fit and it does look interesting, will I play it, probably not. But its the best game so far in this conference because I haven’t seen it before

8.       Valiant Hearts: The Great War: the game looks great (using the same engine as Rayman Legends and Child of Light), the trailer was great, but no gameplay...

9.       Tom Clancy: Rainbow Six Siege: I’m not going to make a opinion on a game that’s in alpha where we only saw a multiplayer game

This was boring to be honest. Most of the games shown were already shown off or unveiled and the new games were just bleak. I’m going to be spilling into next week for individual impressions on games and what I can find of the show floor. I will also be continuing the Transformers Marathon with Transformers: Energon so until then...

Thursday 12 June 2014

E3 2014 Impressions: SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS


EA E3 2014 Press conference

For note, I am skipping any information on the EA sports games

1.       Starwars Battlefront: Well... it was a nice snippet of footage from a documentary...

2.       Dragon Age: Inquisition: Ok, you’ve made a pretty world EA... Now what? The gameplay that was shown struck me as Multi person, third person perspective Skyrim. I haven’t played a Dragon Age so I don’t know if it’s normally like that or not. As I said in the Microsoft impression, it looks interesting

3.       The Sims 4: Because I have never played any form of The Sims, most of the improvements that were said meant nothing to me. The Sims AI has improved and you can now play with their emotions, that all that I retained

4.       EA UFC: The only sports game here because it is a new one (to my knowledge). Its UFC the game

5.       New Criterion IP: Its really early in development according to the trailer, but it looks fun and I’ll pick it up when I can as it has a Need for Speed Underground 2/ Burnout 3 feel about it (both of those are great PS2 games, pick them up when you can)

6.       Dawngate: I’m not a MOBA gamer, but if you like MOBA games like Dota 2, you’ll like this... maybe

7.       Mirror’s Edge: See Starwars Battlefront

8.       Battlefield Hardline: I stand by what I said before

This press conference was dull. Battlefield took up so much of the conference and EA Sports took up even more. I never look forward to EA’s conference every year and its reasons like this conference that’s the reason why. There were more games, but they were EA Sports. The finale of the press conferences is Ubisoft and I’m not liking the sound of it...
Also, just hit 400 page views, thankyou all for keeping up with these reviews and impressions.

Wednesday 11 June 2014

The final of the big three:Impressions on the Nintendo Digital Event


 Nintendo Digital Event

1.       Intro Stop motion and filler: the stop motions are comical and shows off the fan opinions of Reggie while also, possibly, highlighting Nintendo’s opinions on franchises the fans want to return

2.       Super Smash bros Mii announcements: It was awsome seeing Iwata fighting Reggie in its intro (the effects were great, purely because they were over the top), then to highlight the Mii use in Smash 4 before Sakurai clarifies. The Mii Fighters themselves look interesting to play as. You can play as a Brawler (fast, but powerful melee combat with little range), a swordfighter (faster, but weaker then the Brawler, but use weapons like swords) and a gunner (great range, sports multiple ranged attacks but they might not have many good melee attacks). (note that this is all speculation). The Mii’s also appear to have customisable special moves, giving players the ability to swap between 36 specials between the three types of fighters. We also have a release day for the 3DS version... October 3rd 2014. I don’t have high hopes for a Christmas with Smash bros WiiU after seeing this one...

3.       Amiibo: Nintendo’s answers to Skylanders and Disney Infinity. During the direct, there wasn’t a lot shown off but they did mention that they would be discussing it more latter on in E3 so expect a post providing more info latter. The Mario figure looks great though. We also know that Smash 4 and Mario Kart 8 will use Amiibo somehow (Captain Falcon in Mario Kart?). Also, I do believe the Mario Kart 8 footage, highlighting Luigi’s death stare was intentional and another great joke in this (unlike the last two, I’ve already watched this once so I can give more info)

4.       Yoshi’s Woolly World: (Try saying that 3x fast). I haven’t played a lot of Yoshi games (I’m yet to finish a single game...) but this new game does interest me. It looks great and like Kirby’s Epic Yarn, the wool motif works well in this and is incorporated well in the puzzles (from what we’ve seen). The plush Yarn Yoshi’s that were shown off look amazing (both in game and the real life ones that were used as a demonstration).

5.       Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker: Are you happy Captain Toad fans. If you’ve played 3D World’s captain toad levels, then you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into with this as that’s all that is in this game. It does look more refined as there are more things to do, but it’s Captain Toad.

6.       Legend of Zelda (WiiU): It looks beautiful, from what we saw, and it sounds like it’s going back to a progression similar to the original Zelda. Apart from that, we still don’t know a lot.

7.       Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: latter...

8.       Bayonetta 2: The gameplay still looks great from when we saw it at E3 last year, the inclusion of the first game was a good idea as there are people (like myself) who will be getting the game but haven’t played the first. There will alos be Nintendo costumes for Bayonetta like Peach, Link and Samus, each with their own added Nintendo touches. Bayonetta also has a October 2014 release so we finally have a release window.

9.       Hyrule Warriors: Zelda and Midna are playable alongside Link and Impa. It looks great (so good its giving me a excuse to play Dynasty warriors). The character designs for Link, Impa and Zelda look great, they are different but you still know who they are if you’re a Zelda fan. All that we have to do is wait until September 26th, which is its current release day.

10.   Kirby and the Rainbow Cruise: If you have played Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Kirby Canvas curse, then you know what your getting yourself into with this WiiU title. It plays similar to Canvas Curse but also shares a trait with Epic Yarn in the form of form changes like Rocket and Tank. I do like the Clay art style with this but I wasn’t a fan of Canvas Curse, I might pick it up when I get a WiiU but there’s a strong chance I wont

11.   Xenoblade Chronicles X: Another game I haven’t had experience with its predecessor before hand, Xenoblade X does look good, but I’m not sure if it’s a CG trailer or if it’s in game footage. Its supposedly going to becoming in 2015 so I could change my mind between now and its launch.

12.   Mario Maker: Ever wanted to make your own 2D Mario levels? Now you can with this...

13.   Splatoon: A NEW IP FROM NINTENDO!!! Also, “Salty’s Splatoon, how tough are you?” Splatoon is a kid friendly version of Third person shooters. You shoot ink, try and cover the most terrain with your ink to win. You can turn into a squid that can travel fast through your own coloured ink. The concept seems wierd, but I’m curious about it.

14.   Palutena’s reveal: I knew this was coming, Palutena was leaked months ago. But it is a great trailer, not one of my favourites in comparison to the other reveals, but still great. She looks like a great fighter and will all the Kid Icarus Uprising banter that was in it. She is yet another character that I’m going to play as when I get the game. The art style for the trailer is the anime style used in the mini Kid Icarus videos on the, now gone, Nintendo Video app on the 3DS. I’m not too sure what to make of Dark pit at the end of the trailer though...

15.   Miyamoto at the end: On the show floor, I have no idea based on the Digital event.

From what I’ve seen so far of E3, this was better than the last two conferences that I’ve covered. There was a lot of time dedicated to games that needed it and the games that just had a trailer, like Bayonetta 2 and Pokémon Omega Ruby/ Alpha Sapphire didn’t need any more information to be shown off then.  The Stop motion animations were genuinely funny and while it wasn’t a conference. It was still great, even I it was only a portion of the news. I’m going to be doing the last two conferences before I try and collect info on the show floor (which might be limited to Nintendo, but I will try and get more info). The next conference: SPORTS SPORTS SPORTS!!!