Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Video Game, 2004)

Introduction:
Growing up, GTA was on the top of the list of games I was not allowed to play. I don't dislike that, as it helped me hone in my gaming skillz (that z was actually an accident, but...) In other genres, such as Strategy and RPG games. But the first thing I did when I got old enough to play whatever I wanted was buy myself a mint, unopened GTA: San Andreas from the local old games store. Damn, what a good game. I played it through for the first time back then, and I go back to it ever since. But, is San Andreas at the top of the gaming world, or are people blinded by nostalgia? Let's find out, shall we?

How it Looks:
GTA: San Andreas is... Well, not pretty. Even for the date it was released in, the graphics of this game are below average, but I can forgive it for that. Back in the PS2 Era, open-world games like this were a rarity, and few had such a complicated story. (More on that later.)

How it Sounds:
The game sounds pretty good, for it's time, with specific sounds for each weapons, a good cast of characters, and good-sounding cars. Even the music that plays from the radio sounds good.

How it Plays:
San Andreas' biggest boon is it's gameplay. The open-world, car-riding, gun-shooting experience this game created left a much-talked about impression on it's players, even to this day. The controls take a bit to get used to when compared to today's more organized controls, but back when they were made, this was the way to play.

How it Stories:
I never thought GTA could have a deep story, but here we are, giving props. I won't go into specifics, but San Andreas has a fantastic story, with quite a few heavy-hitting plot points and twists.

Veredict and Conclusion:
San Andreas is definitely one of the most iconic games for our generation, and rightly so. It earns a good 4 out of 5, and the star it loses is because the game glitches out sometimes, leading to annoying repetitions of certain areas.

Christopher Robin (Movie, 2018)

Introduction:
I never had the blessing of growing with the whole of Winnie the Pooh. At most, I had one of those VHS with a handful of episodes, but that was about it. So when Christopher Robin showed up as a upcoming movie, it did very little to me. Enter today, where my SO decided that we'd watch it. Is it a really good movie, or is it just another cashgrab that ruins our childhood? Let's find out, shall we?

How It Looks:
Christopher Robin looks great, for what it is. The mayority of the movie is fully live-action, bar the actual classic characters, who are digital. This is not to say it takes away from their existence, as Pooh looked impossibly adorable, arguably more adorable than it ever did. The visual effects were few, as the movie kept grounded in reality, but when it went off on it and used those effects, it was really impressive. The movie also does a fantastic job of splitting the reality of showing Christopher's life without the use of narration, creating a heart-breaking montage of how he became an adult. All in all, this movie looks wonderful, and uses it's visuals to their fullest.

How It Sounds:
Just like in visuals, the sound of this movie is on point. The characters sound and feel spot-on, as they would if they truly existed, and if those aren't the original voice actors, they definitely nailed the essense of those voices, whisking me away back to that one VHS that I used to watch over and over. The music is also beautiful, using the old classics to perfectly capture the nostalgia of returning to your childhood, much like the character himself did.

How it Stories:
This movie's most impactful part is the story. Let's get it out of the way: The story is perfect. Sure, it's a bit on the whimsical side, but in it's essence, this is a children's story. And it delivers beautifully. The balancing act between the story directed at children is masterfully balanced with the message that the movie so clearly wanted parents to get, making a movie that all can enjoy.

Veredict and Conclusion:
This movie spoke to me on such a fundamental level that I have little in the way of wit to spout for this conclusion. I spent half the movie crying, not just because there is rarely a cast of more lovable characters, but because I saw myself in Christopher. I realized many things about myself and where I want to be, whuch speaks volumes as to the purpose of this movie. This movie, as is to be expected, gets 5 stars out of 5, for making a grumpy soul like mine realize that I still have time to do 'nothing'.

Fire Emblem Heroes (App, 2017)

Paladins Strike (App, 2018)

Paladins (Video Game, 2018)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Video Game, 2017)

Introduction:
Breath of the Wild is the latest entry in one of Gaming's biggest and most successful franchises, and it's been hailed as the greatest game ever made. Since it's birth, this game has taken the Franchise we love into an all-new location, but is that a good thing? Is this game really revolutionary, or does this transformation take the franchise in a terrible direction? Either way, we're about to find out if The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild can stand on it's own two feet, without relying on the glory of it's mighty (And not so mighty) predecessors. As usual, beware spoilers.

How it Looks:
Breath of the Wild is, by no means, an ugly game. The world is beautiful and diverse, using a mixture or earthly colors and dreary tones to create a beautiful, yet decrepit sight that speaks of it's thousands of years of history. The creatures look vibrant and powerful, specially the Guardians, and Link himself looks very unlike anything we've seen before, but somehow retaining that iconic Link look. Everything in this game looks great, but there's a bit of a problem with that: The game looks great, but it also can get repetitive. It might be a limitation brought about by the size of the map, but there's very few Monster variations. Or, rather, the majority of the Enemies in the game are simply recolors of each other. Beyond that, the game's bosses are almost identical, mostly because they're basically the same thing but altered to fight a different type of fighting style. Although beautiful, the landscapes look bland, with certain landmarks (Shrines and towers) copy-pasted all around, as if more of the exact same building would give it 'life'. Though the specific towns look great by themselves, the landscapes surrounding them don't, as mountains just feel the same, valleys don't feel unique. The map itself feels unnecessarily large based on the amount of content that's actually there, but more on that later.

How it Sounds:
Would you believe me if I told you that I don't recall any of the music from Breath of the Wild? It's true! I am aware that there's something there, but it's so low, or nearly nonexistent, that I can't remember it. No sound effect, bar the lightning, stood out to me as great or perfect, or even stood out to me at all. The sound effects are good, mind you, but nothing too precious, or memorable. It's unfortunate, as a strong soundtrack would've been able to boost this game into legend, if it had tried.

How it Plays:
Unfortunately, Breath of Wild has a lot of ideas, and no way to execute them in unison. Climbing, a new addition to the franchise, doesn't work well, with Climbing being clunky and slow. The Stamina option discourages relying on movement when in combat, as a lot of the things you do (Like running) take away your stamina. The combat feels stiff, not very organized. The runic system that replaces items is good enough to solve the game's slew of unnecessary puzzles, but does little to provide proper help in battle. Taming is incredibly tedious, and after you get your first horse, it's basically unnecessary. Cooking is so insignificant you can pass the game without ever using it. The problem with these things is not that they exist in the game, but that they weren't implemented properly, leading Breath of the Wild to look more like a proof-of-concept rather than a full game. And don't get me started on the whole weapon-breaking system. If you've never played the game, let me set the scene: You slog through the impossibly large terrain, following clues to find Shrines, and eventually, you gather thirteen hearts (I believe it's thirteen). Finally, you go to the Deku Tree (Yes, he's in the game) and there it is: The Master Sword. You pull it out, only to find out that it is one of the most easily destroy-able weapons in the game, and only actually works against very specific enemies. Oh, but that's not all. You know that iconic shield from the series? Yeah, there's only like, three of those, and they break eventually. The fact that after all your trouble you're unable to use the Master Sword all the time feels like a crappy game design choice, as it's supposed to be THE MASTER SWORD! I can forgive the shield being broken eventually, but after having to go through so many hoops to get it, the Master Sword should be immortal. In the end, the game feels incomplete, and unnecessarily large.

How it Stories:
Breath of the Wild suffers from the Star Wars problem: It tells a story that references a story that is millions of times more interesting than what is actually being shown. The game itself relies on a narrative that, in itself, relies on reminding you that 100 years ago, a colorful cast of powerful individuals (As well as Link and Zelda) fought, and lost, against Ganon, the great pig-king. This, however, is shown to us in cut-scenes here and there, not letting us play or even experience that story beyond carefully fabricated movies, basically. The game's story itself, however, is paper-thin: Zelda is fighting Ganon, and you have to go safe her. Before that, go to these four places and defeat Ganon's minions, Mini-Ganons (That's not their name) and 'recruit' a less-interesting version of those heroes that helped fight alongside Link, who will then waste all of their power dealing one blow (And one blow alone) to Ganon in the final battle. That's it. Really, that's all there is to this 'story'. It's unfortunate, but it could've been so much more.

Verdict and Conclusion:
Usually, I just finish up the review here, but I did want to give a few ideas on how the game could've been so much better. Now I know making a game is hard, and there's a lot that goes into that, but bear with me. Imagine, if you will, a Breath of the Wild that has both the classic story-driven narrative and the free, open world aspect that they wanted to go for. Imagine if this Breath of the Wild opened with you playing through the story of 100 years ago, leading up to a mock ending where you lose, only to reopen your save file and start from what the game is now. You'd have the two-world aspect from all of the games (the past, and 100 years later), you'd have an interesting story without sacrificing the open-world aspect (As you'd be playing through the story from 100 years ago, as well as what's already in the game), and we'd feel more in connection to the few characters that exist, as the five that fight with Link and Zelda in the past are criminally underused characters. It would've been so much better! Either way, in the end, I'm going to give Breath of the Wild a solid 3 out of 5, not because of what it could be, mind you.  It gets those because of what it is: A proof-of-concept that could've been so much more.

Fortnite Battle Royale (Video Game, 2017)

Introduction:
Fortnite is a game I've been hearing a lot about in the last year, but I knew very little about it. It showed up on the Nintendo Switch's eShop, so I checked it out, and after some research, found out that what was on the Switch wasn't the actual Fortnite, but Fortnite Battle Royale. Now, this review is about Fortnite Battle Royale as it's own entity. It isn't about the PvE elements of the actual Fortnite, nor is there going to be some comparison with a certain other game I won't mention. I will be judging what exists on Fortnite Battle Royale as of this writing, so here we go.

How it Looks:
Okay, let's get this out of the way: Fortnite's art style is gorgeous. It looks really good, but that's a bit of a downfall. It's a very beautiful game that you see again and again and again and again. At no point does the game shows anything that stands out as unique, as far as I've been aware in the time that I've played it. The characters in the game, or outfits as the game itself calls them, are pretty awesome, with both genders being represented well. However, there's far too many similar characters, to the point that I can't tell some of them apart. Maybe that's just the fact that I'm not used to the characters, but regardless. The game relies on aesthetic items for it's variety, providing a large amount of them, either by achieving Tiers or by buying them from the store. Now, just as you expect from these items, they do absolutely nothing, and are just there to look pretty, or as a sort of trophy: 'Look, I have Omega, which means I'm so cool'. Unfortunately, unlike repetitive games like Minecraft, Fortnite has no aesthetic changes to the environment, which ends up becoming boring really, REALLY fast. Sure, it looks pretty, but who loses their breath when they see the Mona Lisa anymore?

How it Sounds:
Fortnite sounds good. There's really not much else to say about it. The sounds are good. Nothing too fancy or over-the-top or special, just good old multiplayer auditory goodness.

How it Plays:
Fortnite's most important aspect is it's gameplay and it's where it shines and fails, at the same time. First off, there's only one game mode disguised as different ones. There's Solo, where you jump into a cage match against ninety-nine other individuals. There's Duos, where you and a buddy jump into a cage match against forty nine other Duos. And then there's Squads, where you and three other buddies can jump into a cage match against twenty four other Squads. The same thing, different name. Once in the game, the way that the system works is fairly simple: You jump down into the arena (The same one map) and end up shooting it out with others. Or, if you're smart, you wait until the other side of the map and jump into a next-to-empty area full of loot. Like all other MMOs, this one has a system, and once you figure it out, you will get bored very fast. Example: I joined Fortnite a few days after it came out on the Switch. Before my first week was done, I already had several solo wins and every Challenge done. Unfortunately, the map becoming smaller due to the storm doesn't do anything to punish you for sneaking around and letting others kill each other, then swooping in to take the win, a strategy that works far too well. Not only that, the equipment feels scarce and repetitive. You'll come across the same exact weapon almost ten times in a match, if you search around long enough, and most of the time, you won't even care. And then there's the in-game purchases. Now, I must say, I've become a victim of this. I actually bought a few things, the Battle Pass included. But, for a game that has so little actual game, this game has an overabundance of purchasable items. Worse off, none of it actually changes the gameplay, just how it looks. A single snap of the fingers can cost 200 V-Bucks, which is about two bucks. But an Outfit can cost as little as 1,200 V-Bucks, or twelve bucks. Not only that, but the Battle Pass itself costs 950 V-Bucks, which is a grand nine bucks and a half. If you're not careful, your entire wallet will go on what amounts to filters. Don't get me wrong, some of these look great, but considering how little the game actually has, it feels more like a cash-grab than an integral part of the game's system. Since there's no trading of these items, no selling them forward, it makes the game look bad. Worse off, you only have three refunds. Three. If your child or friend bought the wrong thing, or something, and you don't want it, you're only able to refund it three times. It feels kinda shady, specially since these items are purely cosmetic in nature, and don't actually provide any benefits to the player.

How it Stories:
It has no story, as far as everyone knows. I've searched around to see if there's a story I've missed, but all I really got that was in some way resembling a story was a group of loading screen images that have a very little line of dialogue or something next to it. So, no story. No real lore. Just combat.

Verdict and Conclusion:
Unfortunately, although I love playing the game (Mostly because of the people I've met on there), I can't give this game high praise with a straight face. As it is right now, Fortnite is a laughable excuse for a game, with four of it's five menu tabs dedicated to cosmetic things that, unless you shed some real cash, will remain empty for a long time. It is sad, but I give Fortnite a strong 1 out of 5 stars, because of it's many unfortunate downfalls. If this game is incomplete is irrelevant, as it is already released and earning money. Nor does it have anything that informs the player that it is incomplete, therefore, what I've played has earned itself that 1 star.