Goodbye old friend

Last week the whole family said goodbye to our beloved 2008 Honda Accord. That car has run 338000 kilometres (205000 miles) and we had countless memories in it. The kids are going to miss it the most. While we said goodbye to that car we got a new car as well. An SUV. Maybe I’ll write about it after a month 

Air

The story on how the greatest shoe got made

What is it about?
The story on how Nike got Michael Jordan

The Good 
A story about Michael but without him around
The main key players shows how stressful is it to land a shoe deal 

The Bad
They didn't show the shoe that much. 

The Ugly
Nothing much

After Credits: No 

Verdict: One of the good biopics I've watch. Recommended 

American Born Chinese

Man this show is unexpected 

Based on a comic: With the same name. Based on the story of journey to the west 

Action: Lots of it 

Being an immigrant: Being an immigrant in foreign land is challenging and I can see a lot of this type of stereotypes. Which sucks 

Cameos: A lot of famous Asian actors   

The Pope Exorcist

Is this the start of a new franchise?

What is it about?
In the 1980s there is a lot of demons possessing bodies so the Vatican send their most experience exorcist

The Good
The story is simple enough
Just the right amount of scary 

The Bad
I got the version without subtitles which sucks 
The ending is abrupt 

The Ugly
Really the ending is just a title card

After Credit: No 

Verdict: It is okay.   

The Terminal List

What do you do when they took everything from you 

The story: It' simple enough but I see it like a game where each episode is the main character trying to get someone off his list

Action:  A lot of Call of duty style action which I don't mind.

Ending: Leave it up to your interpretation

Verdict: Not the best but gets the job done  

A day out with my best friend

My friend from Korea came down to visit his family and I make sure that I can spend a day with him just to catch up. I woke up at 5:30am to get ready and leave for his hotel. He treated me to a buffet breakfast which I ate a lot and had a tummy ache after that. But after that we went to his storage center to clean out his Lego collection and make the story a bit more neater. He gave H2 a couple of used Lego to play around. After that we headed to the laundry so that he could do some. That took around 50 minutes. We later went to the mall to look for a money changer which we couldn't find but we had a break ad Mcdonalds. I went for my Friday prayers and after that we went back to the hotel to pick up his wife and baby. Head to another mall where he got some money changed. Had lunch, dessert and then I send him home. At the mall I could hold the baby (she was crying the first time I met her) and she peed on me. Well it didn't leak. The best part about this is we actually got to talk about meaningful stuff. Stuff that I really don't have anyone to talk to. They are leaving next week and I am going to miss them. But today is one of the memorable moments for this year and deserve to be recorded. 

Trek to Yomi

Reminds me of an old classic 

Game no: 509
Genre: Action 
Platform: PS5 
Release Date: 2022

Trek to Yomi is about a tale of loss, love, revenge, duty and honor. It is basically a whole package. You play as Hiroki a samurai warrior in task of protecting the village. What it doesn't say that the events leading up to your village demise will lead you to a path of discovery of your true self. This game is presented like an old Japanese samurai movie. It all black and white just with different hues. It even comes with a old film grain filter so that you can make it feel like your in an actual movie. It is however a 2.5D game where you only can move in either left or right with the occasional free roam. The camera is already at a fixed point and it doesn't get annoying since the path is just straightforward.

Combat in this game is amazing. It reminds me of the old PS1 game Bushido blade. Where you only have 1 to 3 swipes to kill your opponent. You have only 3 buttons, light, heavy attack and block. The challenge comes in your stamina meter so that you can't just spam the button over and over again to kill the enemy (I did that and I find that you die faster by doing that). So in this game you need to observe what you enemy is doing and attack when there is an opening. It gives this game a layer of strategy and honestly it is quite fun when you get to execute 5 bad guys around you with just prefect timing. You also have the aid of projectile weapons when you need a breather and there is more enemies on screen. 

The game is not that long and you can play it at small chunks at a time and still have a great time. The story for me is a mixed bag. You will either like it or you don't. There are multiple story branches to choose from and that will make the outcome different. I choose the really bad ending but it okay. After the end I was satisfied at what the game want to give me. A great action game. In the end Trek to Yomi is not for everyone. The game rewards you for patience and I did enjoy my time with it. S Rank for me. 

Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One

Another blockbuster by Tom Cruise

What is it about?
Another threat threatens the world and it is up to the IMF team to stop it 

The Good
The action and the stunts. Every stunts is at least 20 minutes long 
The story is okay is not that great by we are there for the action mostly 
Most of the familiar characters are back 

The Bad 
They [Spoiler] one of the [Spoiler]
Ending scene seems a bit too long 
It doesn't end in a cliffhanger but it doesn't end 

The Ugly
Waiting another year

After Credits: No 

Verdict: A must watch. MI never disappoints 

Scream VI

The franchise is back 

What is it about?
The people who survive the last movie are doing it again but this time in New York 

The Good
The movie is good. It will keep you guessing

Lots of gore but nothing too gory

One Legacy character

The Bad
Really there are no cops in this movie. Or they always come late 

The movie really goes meta in the first 20 minutes

The Ugly
How can you survive with multiple stab wounds?

After Credit: Yes

Verdict: If you like the series, it is a good watch 

The Sandman

Based on a comic 

What is it about: The Sandman control the dream world . It all went to hell once he got imprison for 100 years

Start slow: Start off very slow but after episode 4 it ramps up

More like a game: This show is like a game where you have quests to do and each episode he needs to complete a quest 

Cliffhanger: Yes and no. There is a new bad guy but if they don't show it, it will be okay  

Renfield

The main point of this story is don't be bullied

What is it about?

Renfield lives to serve Dracula until one day he doesn't want to do it anymore

The Good
The writing is funny. There are some scene that you will laugh
The movie is gory but they made it into a comedy that you will laugh at the gory-ness

Nic Cage for as little time as he has. Shine as Dracula 

Cool Action scenes

The Bad

Nothing much. I find the movie very enjoyable 

The Ugly

How bad can the whole city be if there is only one good cop?

After Credits: No 

Verdict: A good watch but not so if you don't like blood. There is just too many of it 

The Mighty Ducks Game Changers

The first one is better

Same ducks, new setting: Now they are on summer break so they are going to ice hockey camp

Gone: Their old coach is no longer there.

Cameos: Only the 1st episode but this season there are no cameos from old Ducks 

Season 3: Nope. Cancelled 

9-1-1 Lone Star

The feel good show every time 

No idea: Really I have no idea what to write about. I just love this show. I can watch this and just relax

Cases: Some of the cases are just weird and funny 

Does it end: Yeap. No cliffhanger which is good 

Actors strike: Right now the writers and actors are striking. Which is bad for new content but it is good if I need to finish all the old content. Hopefully they will get everything they want. 

Sega Saturn

History 
I've never owned a Saturn before. But after playing the games, I'm glad I don't own one. I heard this is one of the more expensive consoles to collect. 

The Games
The games are mostly arcade ports with some original titles. It has everything but mostly emphasis on quick timed experiences. 

The Good 
Some of the games are fun to play but mostly on the racing and puzzle side. There are a lot of fighting games but they all control the same. Most of of them are actual CG cutscenes

The Bad
Controls are mostly unresponsive and the games are not that fun. 

The Ugly
Everything. This was release at the same time as the ps1 and yet most of the games didn't hit the mark. There are no stand out titles that you wish you own this console

Conclusion
The Sega Saturn is weird piece of console history. Glad I get to experience it but I am also glad that is over. 

Sega CD  (171 games)
Sega 32X (33 games) 
Sega Saturn  (7/97 games) 0.07% replayability 
Sony PlayStation (453 games) 
Neo Geo Pocket / Color  (10/40 games) 25% replayability 
Nintendo 64  (317 games)  
Nintendo Game Boy Color  (8/530 games) 0.01% replayability 

Virtual Fighter 2

Last game on the Saturn 

Genre: Fighting
Platform: Sega Saturn
Release Date: 1995

This was the premier fighting game on the Saturn. Too bad the game is not that great. This game is more cat and mouse since whoever get the first combo in will practically win the game. Well most fighting games are like that but over the years they have gotten better by adding counters and such. This game does that but to execute the moves prove to be difficult. In the end you'll just end up spamming the buttons until you ring out the opponent off stage. D-Rank for me. And with that I am done with Saturn games.  

Sonic R

Rose tinted glasses I assume 

Game no: 508
Genre: Racing 
Platform: Sega Saturn 
Release Date: 1997

I remember playing this game on my pc like crazy. I manage to get all characters, got all the shortcuts and the chaos emeralds. I think I played this game for months and enjoyed every moment of it. So what happened? Well when I got this game I was 13 and 20 plus years later this game really doesn't hold up. The controllers is so loose that controlling the character is like running on a banana peel. Each character has their own unique abilities which is nice. But other than that this game doesn't have any redeeming features. B-Rank for me.

Shinobi Legions

Not a bad game 

Genre: Action
Platform: Sega Saturn
Release Date: 1995

A side scrolling action game where the use actual FMV characters as sprites. Think Mortal Kombat. As a result the animation is fluid but the controls are clunky. Shinobi only can shoot the shuriken in one direction and you can't attack enemies from above. Jumping is clunky and the gameplay  motion is not that smooth. As a result this game after a while you are going to get frustrated with the controls. I do like the cutscenes between games. It's like watching a mini movie. I give this game a C-Rank. 

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

This game is amazing 

Game no: 507
Genre: Adventure 
Platform: Nintendo Switch 
Release Date: 2023 

Ok my last game played was around 50 days ago so my review is going to be a bit rusty. But during that time I played only one game everyday for a couple of hours without fail. That game is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (ToTK). 6 years ago when Nintendo release Breath of the Wild it was one of the best games I've played that year. Granted it did made the top 10 (Number 5) but it wasn't the best game of the year. I still enjoyed it immensely. Now with the sequel, I thought there is no way I could enjoy this game more. Man, I love to be proven wrong 

This game is a continuation of the first game where you Link and Zelda explore the caverns underneath Hyrule castle and awaken a new evil and with that you are trust into the adventure of your lifetime. Typical Zelda fashion you have no weapons, all your heart containers are gone and basically they strip you out and it is up to you to go explore. The starting stage which is the sky island provide a good tutorial for you to discover you new abilities to start you adventure. Gone are the old abilities of bombs and platforms and now we have 4 new abilities which is recall where you rewind some item for 30 seconds. Ascend where you go up if there is a surface to go up to (Good for exploring caves). Fuse, where you take an item and combine it with you weapon and shield which give s you
higher stats and finally the main ability which you will use 70% of the game and practically can brake the game if you know how is Ultrahand. What makes this game different is the Ultrahand ability where you can combine items to make a device or structure such as a boat, or a bridge to name a few. Complimenting the Ultrahand is items called Zonai devices. These devices which are dispense in capsule form will help you design items such as cars, planes, boats and weapons. Basically the possibilities are just limited from you imagination. If you can think it, you probably can design it. There is a lot of YouTube clips showing players design crazy contraptions such as drones, tanks and robots.

Once you leave the sky island and fall down from the sky to the ground. You are free to do whatever you want. There are main objectives in the game but the game won't rush you to complete them. It is up to you to do it in your own pace. For me every open world game I have a way of playing it. First, find all the map towers to unlock the map. Once you know where everything is you can start your journey. The thing with the game that it rewards you for just going one direction. Let say you want to explore something and then suddenly you see a shrine in the horizon so you will stop what you'll doing and head there but along the way you see a cave that you want to explore. So you'll put a pin in the shrine and go to the cave. The choices of what to do is just endless and it is not bound
on a straight a clear path. So after I unlock the map, I will spend my time just wondering around finding shrines. Shrines are use to upgrade your hearts or stamina. In this game you are going to need stamina because there are a lot of things that is going to need climbing, swimming or gliding and most of the time you end up dying because the lack there of stamina. Hearts in this game is an after thought since even though there are 40 hearts in the game. If you don't have at least 20 you are better of running to safe distance or using your Zonai devices to kill them since this game is punshing. One hit and usually it will be game over 

So returning besides the Shrines are they weapons degradation. Everything breaks after time(even the Master Sword but that is more of a cooldown). Cooking which this time gives you bonus stats if you cook them correctly. Gear that will help against the elements and lot of lots of things to collect. What is different this time is the amount of things you can explore. Besides the sky island which you need make a flying device and have enough battery to fly up there (which you get by mining) and the ground the explore. There is also a new area call the depths. These are holes scattered through out Hyrule and when you fall down it will be a pitch black worth of nothing. Literally you can't see anything until you light it up with a bulb plant of find one of hundreds of lightroots. These lightroots will illuminate the area which will make exploring easy 

So lets get to my review why I say this is the best game I've played this year. The main reason is because of the hacks I guess. The version that I am playing of the game has the ability to multiply items
by just doing a couple of steps. I don't say this game is not enjoyable without hacks but once you unlocked unlimited inventory in the game. This game just opens up. You can spawn multiple resources to get your battery charge up. Truffles to get full health with extra hearts when cooked 5 at a time. Unlimited amount of money from selling cooked meat or anything else you find. Basically this game skips the mundane stuff of having to mine or gather resource. I've got enough resource to just auto build a sky bike and just roam around the depths for days opening all light roots. I cooked a lot of truffles to help me beat Ganon at the end since it gives me extra hearts. Basically if they gave the players unlimited resources you can practically enjoy the game. Not to say the game is broken with these hacks since you have to still play the game properly to unlock the full story. But it so fun having not to worry about it. The only thing that I can't multiply is bombs and arrows. Those I need to find or buy them in the wild.

In the end I spend more than 230 hours in this game. I did all I need to do. Did all the main quests and completed 80% of the side quest. I manage to finish 134 out of the 152 shrines and after getting the end credits I am content. I played one of the best games ever made and I don't think that Nintendo can make something special like this again. This game deserve the S Rank and also a top 3 spot in my game of the year. Will it be number 1, wait and see.

Guy Ritchie's The Covenant

Based on a true events 

What is it about?
During the war in Afghanistan. Us troops are assigned with interpreters. This is a story of one of them

The Good 
Even though the movie is quite long. The pacing is easy to follow
Lots of action and heart racing moments 

The Bad
The action suddenly stop and then its quiet for around 30 minutes. 
The slow motion. I think if without slow motion this movie would be 15 minutes shorter 

The Ugly
Nothing much

After Credits: No

Verdict: Enjoyable. But not for everyone 

The Rookie Feds

It doesn't have the same magic

Is it the Rookie?: Well sort of, but since it's the FBI it's totally not the same since there are no screw ups or unexpected cases

Characters: Everyone has a lot of baggage in them. So this show is not as fun as the Rookie 

Should you watch it: Sure. There are a lot of crossovers. I think characters from the Rookie will bleed out in this show at least for 5 to 6 episodes

Season 2?: No idea, so far it hasn't been picked up yet. 

Evil Dead Rise

This movie is very gory 

What is it about?
In a worn down apartment. A family discovered the book of the dead. 

The Good
Effects are pretty wild

Lots of blood

The Bad

This movie is not scary. It more gory than scary. Put a lot of blood and after a while you just get a gory mess. I like my movies to scare you emotionally. Whatever this is, its not working
I miss the old Evil dead 

The Ugly

I really wonder what is the spirits endgame 

After Credits: No 

Verdict: Don't bother to watch.  

The Rookie Season 5

One of my best shows 

Why is this show awesome: Even though being a cop is scary and dangerous, there are some episodes where its lighthearted and funny. So it balance it out. Plus anything with Nathan Fillion is always awesome 

Episode: 22. Very rare nowadays in a TV show 

Ending: Cliffhanger but not sure what is next in store 

Stuck in my head: Cop Cutie