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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2666 KP) rated Love and Death Among the Cheetahs in Books
Aug 7, 2019
Honeymoon Safari with Murder
Lady Georgiana and Darcy have finally wed, and Darcy has a surprise – an extended honeymoon in Kenya. Georgie is excited to get to see local wildlife, but once they arrive, she quickly learns that Darcy is hoping to get some information on a notorious jewel thief that is rumored to be making an appearance in the country soon. The couple are quick to settle into the British colony in the country, but they begin to realize that not everyone is as friendly as they first appear. Then a murder interrupts their trip. Can they figure out what is happening?
Those who are fans of Darcy (like me), will be pleased with his presence in this book. As is befitting a honeymoon, he and Georgie are true partners in figuring out what is happening around them. Not that he steals the show from Georgie, who still figures out just about everything along the way. We do get the usual slow start, which allows us a little time to hear from most of the series regulars before heading down to Kenya. And let me say their trip made me very happy for how travel has advanced since the 1930’s. Even when we arrive in Kenya, it takes a bit of time for the murder to take place, but once it does, the mystery is well worth the wait with some great secrets that Georgie and Darcy must bring to light. I did have a hard time keeping all of the British colonists straight, but that never got in the way of following the mystery. My bigger complaint is an event that takes place in the middle of the book that seems force to have Darcy and Georgie where they are needed for the plot. I appreciated how the book worked in the world politics of the time without feeling out of place in the series. And I also appreciated the ability to be an arm chair traveler since I can’t take a vacation this year, although it really made me want to go on a safari of my own.
Those who are fans of Darcy (like me), will be pleased with his presence in this book. As is befitting a honeymoon, he and Georgie are true partners in figuring out what is happening around them. Not that he steals the show from Georgie, who still figures out just about everything along the way. We do get the usual slow start, which allows us a little time to hear from most of the series regulars before heading down to Kenya. And let me say their trip made me very happy for how travel has advanced since the 1930’s. Even when we arrive in Kenya, it takes a bit of time for the murder to take place, but once it does, the mystery is well worth the wait with some great secrets that Georgie and Darcy must bring to light. I did have a hard time keeping all of the British colonists straight, but that never got in the way of following the mystery. My bigger complaint is an event that takes place in the middle of the book that seems force to have Darcy and Georgie where they are needed for the plot. I appreciated how the book worked in the world politics of the time without feeling out of place in the series. And I also appreciated the ability to be an arm chair traveler since I can’t take a vacation this year, although it really made me want to go on a safari of my own.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated The Grinch (2018) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
After watching The Grinch my heart grew three times.
This is the first time that I've ever encountered The Grinch... yes, ever. Apart from calling people a grinch when they moan about Christmas. Never read the book, never seen previous incarnations. I really don't know how.
I'm really pleased that this film was good. After most of Secret Life Of Pets and all of Sing I was starting to lose faith in Illumination. This is a much better offering and genuinely a nice film. It's funny, it's thoughtful and it's Christmassy all rolled into one.
Despite the film being called The Grinch the stars of the show were Max and Fred. Max shows you just how happy a dog can be all of the time even if they're surrounded by negative feelings, and Fred, well... those puppy dog eyes... good boys! I did also love Cindy-Lou Who. That kids has a fantastic eye for gadgets that must come from repeated viewings of other holiday classics like Home Alone.
There really isn't a lot else to say about this other than it's a great film. Cindy-Lou is a great motivational speaker and the whole film in general fills you with the desire to do good things and take a new perspective on things... well it did for me... this film might have brainwashed me.
As a little extra we also take a step back to the good old days where you got a cartoon before the main screening! Yellow Is The New Black. An amusing diversion. Those poor little minions.
(P.S. The reason this is getting four and a half stars and not five is that the alarm clock. If you've seen the trailer you'll understand my slight disappointment... I suppose what they've done is more in keeping though. *grumpy sigh*)
What you should do
Don't be a Grinch. You should go and see this... kids, no kids, it doesn't really matter. It's brilliant animation with a wonderful story to tell.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I'll take a giant portion of Cindy-Lou's ingenuity please!
This is the first time that I've ever encountered The Grinch... yes, ever. Apart from calling people a grinch when they moan about Christmas. Never read the book, never seen previous incarnations. I really don't know how.
I'm really pleased that this film was good. After most of Secret Life Of Pets and all of Sing I was starting to lose faith in Illumination. This is a much better offering and genuinely a nice film. It's funny, it's thoughtful and it's Christmassy all rolled into one.
Despite the film being called The Grinch the stars of the show were Max and Fred. Max shows you just how happy a dog can be all of the time even if they're surrounded by negative feelings, and Fred, well... those puppy dog eyes... good boys! I did also love Cindy-Lou Who. That kids has a fantastic eye for gadgets that must come from repeated viewings of other holiday classics like Home Alone.
There really isn't a lot else to say about this other than it's a great film. Cindy-Lou is a great motivational speaker and the whole film in general fills you with the desire to do good things and take a new perspective on things... well it did for me... this film might have brainwashed me.
As a little extra we also take a step back to the good old days where you got a cartoon before the main screening! Yellow Is The New Black. An amusing diversion. Those poor little minions.
(P.S. The reason this is getting four and a half stars and not five is that the alarm clock. If you've seen the trailer you'll understand my slight disappointment... I suppose what they've done is more in keeping though. *grumpy sigh*)
What you should do
Don't be a Grinch. You should go and see this... kids, no kids, it doesn't really matter. It's brilliant animation with a wonderful story to tell.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I'll take a giant portion of Cindy-Lou's ingenuity please!
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated The Last Shark (1981) in Movies
Aug 15, 2020
An oldie... but a goodie?
A large great white shark is interested in taking part in a seaside town's regatta but the major would rather it stayed away so that paying visitors can go about safely spending their money.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that The Last Shark was actually Jaws 2, evidently Universal thought that too and sued the life out of them. With such a familiar feeling to the whole affair it felt like it went fairly quickly, at times, too quickly. More than once I noted down that the scenes just left out the "boring bits" of filler and went straight to the nitty-gritty of moving the story along... this is what we always wanted right? In practice, it's not all that great.
When I started my notes with "what is this, windsurfing porn?" (I started writing watersports fun but quickly changed that.) I felt confident of daft enjoyment ahead, and with a great transition from music over the scene to music in the scene... well, it won me over. Then to throw in the classic line "absolutely nothing is going to happen!" Wow!
Being serious about this review feels a little over the top, so let's just say it's exactly what you'd expect from a film ripping off another film when both those films are shark films... there were corners cut obviously and it tries to keep to the action side more than anything else but that works pretty well considering.
My note taking highlight (after windsurfing porn) was the fact that the local butcher must have been doing a roaring trade, forget all those BBQs, he was selling slabs of meat for bait hand over fist. At least someone came out of all of this better off!
You've got teens in peril, people hunting the shark, a local politician with bigger things on his mind, and that's what makes Jaws... sorry... that's what makes Jaws... DAMNIT... The Last Shark! That's what makes The Last Shark an amusing watch.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-last-shark-movie-review.html
A large great white shark is interested in taking part in a seaside town's regatta but the major would rather it stayed away so that paying visitors can go about safely spending their money.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that The Last Shark was actually Jaws 2, evidently Universal thought that too and sued the life out of them. With such a familiar feeling to the whole affair it felt like it went fairly quickly, at times, too quickly. More than once I noted down that the scenes just left out the "boring bits" of filler and went straight to the nitty-gritty of moving the story along... this is what we always wanted right? In practice, it's not all that great.
When I started my notes with "what is this, windsurfing porn?" (I started writing watersports fun but quickly changed that.) I felt confident of daft enjoyment ahead, and with a great transition from music over the scene to music in the scene... well, it won me over. Then to throw in the classic line "absolutely nothing is going to happen!" Wow!
Being serious about this review feels a little over the top, so let's just say it's exactly what you'd expect from a film ripping off another film when both those films are shark films... there were corners cut obviously and it tries to keep to the action side more than anything else but that works pretty well considering.
My note taking highlight (after windsurfing porn) was the fact that the local butcher must have been doing a roaring trade, forget all those BBQs, he was selling slabs of meat for bait hand over fist. At least someone came out of all of this better off!
You've got teens in peril, people hunting the shark, a local politician with bigger things on his mind, and that's what makes Jaws... sorry... that's what makes Jaws... DAMNIT... The Last Shark! That's what makes The Last Shark an amusing watch.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-last-shark-movie-review.html
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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated It (2017) in Movies
Oct 4, 2017
The cast are great (1 more)
Good tonal balance of horror and comedy
Sloppy technical elements (1 more)
Predictable jumpscares
Time To Float!
Contains spoilers, click to show
The 2017 remake of IT has been highly anticipated by Stephen King fans around the world and being a huge fan of King myself and growing up reading his stuff meant I was looking forward to seeing this. I also loved the original 1990 version when I was younger, so I was really hoping that this wouldn’t suck. Spoilers are going to follow for anyone that cares.
Let’s go through what I liked first of all. The movie opens with the tragic and brutal death of Georgie Denborough. Just like the book, he follows his paper sailboat down a storm drain, where he first encounters IT. This first appearance of Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise sets the tone for the rest of the movie, unflinching and horrifying. I felt that this intro was extremely effective in setting up what the audience could expect from this adaption, both tonally and visually.
I thought that the child actors in the movie where phenomenal, much better than I had anticipated. They all do a great job with the material they are given and each manage to bring some range to their roles. I liked the visuals for the most part and appreciated the use of mostly practical effects, my highlights being the headless burning boy in the library and when Pennywise’s entire head opens up to consume Beverly.
I enjoyed the fact that the movie served as both a coming of age story and as a horror movie. Stranger Things was clearly inspired by the original IT and this version is clearly inspired by Stanger Things, which was nice to see as a fan of both series. I liked how the movie was about kids, but dealt with adult themes in a mature manner. I also admire how the movie worked in a fair amount of comedic moments whilst still remaining frightening. Another thing that I appreciated was the few moments of subtle creepyness that the film sprinkled throughout, such as the kids TV show that was heard in the background talking about how ‘you should dance along with the clown,’ and encouraging you to be violent etc, I thought that this was a really nice touch. Also, during the library scene where Ben is flipping through the history book, I think IT took the form of the librarian, as the librarian is really creepily staring at Ben from the background of the scene, which really freaked me out when I noticed it. I also liked how some of the jumpscares worked, but unfortunately not all of them did.
Now onto what I didn’t like; my biggest issue with this movie is how formulaic it ends up feeling by around the halfway mark. With each new member of the losers club we are introduced to, we find out what the kid is scared of, then IT appears to them as the aforementioned fear, then we get a jumpscare and the scene cuts away, the next kid is introduced and the same thing happens again. This occurs repeatedly about eight times and by the fifth or sixth time it isn’t scary any longer. The worst thing that a horror movie can be is to become predictable and I’m sorry to say that this is what happens here. It ends up feeling like a checklist:
1. A child is introduced into the movie. Check
2. Some exposition is given for why they are scared of a certain thing. Check
3. IT takes the form of said fear and scares the kid. Check
4. Jumpscare happens and we abruptly cut to the next scene. Check
5. Rinse and repeat.
Some of the jumpscares do work though. Although the jumpscare during the projector screen was very obviously telegraphed, the fact that Pennywise was so huge in that scene took me by surprise, which was a nice touch. Also the scene I mentioned earlier with the headless boy in the library was well structured in the sense that once the boy was chasing Ben through the library you thought you had seen the scare, but when Pennywise leapt out from nowhere it was a genuine surprise.
The sound design is another element of the movie that I had a love/hate relationship with. For me, good sound design is essential to any worthwhile horror movie. I thought that the score used in the film was fantastic; the varied pieces perfectly complemented the tone of each scene they were used in. I also thought that some of the sound effects were well implemented in places. At other points though, the audio just annoyed me. The most egregious example of this was after Beverly smacked her dad across the head and IT appears behind her and grabs her. The sound that occurs here is ear piercingly loud, to the point that it was uncomfortable. It’s not scary, it’s not enjoyable, it’s just obnoxiously loud. It also comes across as lazy; it’s as if in post production someone decided that that scene wasn’t scary enough, so as a quick fix they just put in a painfully loud noise.
Another technical element that bothered me in places was the lighting. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed how a lot of the scenes took place in broad daylight, meaning we could see IT in all of his terrifying glory and in some scenes the lack of lighting added a sense of dread and helped with the film’s tone, but at times it obscured what was going on and shrouded too much of the environment and characters in darkness, to the point where you were having to squint to see what was going on.
Overall, this is a decent adaption. Bill Skarsgard does a fantastic job as Pennywise, the actors playing the kids are all great and the movie does have some effective scares. I was just taken out of it too many times though, due to the predictable nature of the repeated jumpscare sequences and some really poorly implemented technical elements.
Let’s go through what I liked first of all. The movie opens with the tragic and brutal death of Georgie Denborough. Just like the book, he follows his paper sailboat down a storm drain, where he first encounters IT. This first appearance of Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise sets the tone for the rest of the movie, unflinching and horrifying. I felt that this intro was extremely effective in setting up what the audience could expect from this adaption, both tonally and visually.
I thought that the child actors in the movie where phenomenal, much better than I had anticipated. They all do a great job with the material they are given and each manage to bring some range to their roles. I liked the visuals for the most part and appreciated the use of mostly practical effects, my highlights being the headless burning boy in the library and when Pennywise’s entire head opens up to consume Beverly.
I enjoyed the fact that the movie served as both a coming of age story and as a horror movie. Stranger Things was clearly inspired by the original IT and this version is clearly inspired by Stanger Things, which was nice to see as a fan of both series. I liked how the movie was about kids, but dealt with adult themes in a mature manner. I also admire how the movie worked in a fair amount of comedic moments whilst still remaining frightening. Another thing that I appreciated was the few moments of subtle creepyness that the film sprinkled throughout, such as the kids TV show that was heard in the background talking about how ‘you should dance along with the clown,’ and encouraging you to be violent etc, I thought that this was a really nice touch. Also, during the library scene where Ben is flipping through the history book, I think IT took the form of the librarian, as the librarian is really creepily staring at Ben from the background of the scene, which really freaked me out when I noticed it. I also liked how some of the jumpscares worked, but unfortunately not all of them did.
Now onto what I didn’t like; my biggest issue with this movie is how formulaic it ends up feeling by around the halfway mark. With each new member of the losers club we are introduced to, we find out what the kid is scared of, then IT appears to them as the aforementioned fear, then we get a jumpscare and the scene cuts away, the next kid is introduced and the same thing happens again. This occurs repeatedly about eight times and by the fifth or sixth time it isn’t scary any longer. The worst thing that a horror movie can be is to become predictable and I’m sorry to say that this is what happens here. It ends up feeling like a checklist:
1. A child is introduced into the movie. Check
2. Some exposition is given for why they are scared of a certain thing. Check
3. IT takes the form of said fear and scares the kid. Check
4. Jumpscare happens and we abruptly cut to the next scene. Check
5. Rinse and repeat.
Some of the jumpscares do work though. Although the jumpscare during the projector screen was very obviously telegraphed, the fact that Pennywise was so huge in that scene took me by surprise, which was a nice touch. Also the scene I mentioned earlier with the headless boy in the library was well structured in the sense that once the boy was chasing Ben through the library you thought you had seen the scare, but when Pennywise leapt out from nowhere it was a genuine surprise.
The sound design is another element of the movie that I had a love/hate relationship with. For me, good sound design is essential to any worthwhile horror movie. I thought that the score used in the film was fantastic; the varied pieces perfectly complemented the tone of each scene they were used in. I also thought that some of the sound effects were well implemented in places. At other points though, the audio just annoyed me. The most egregious example of this was after Beverly smacked her dad across the head and IT appears behind her and grabs her. The sound that occurs here is ear piercingly loud, to the point that it was uncomfortable. It’s not scary, it’s not enjoyable, it’s just obnoxiously loud. It also comes across as lazy; it’s as if in post production someone decided that that scene wasn’t scary enough, so as a quick fix they just put in a painfully loud noise.
Another technical element that bothered me in places was the lighting. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed how a lot of the scenes took place in broad daylight, meaning we could see IT in all of his terrifying glory and in some scenes the lack of lighting added a sense of dread and helped with the film’s tone, but at times it obscured what was going on and shrouded too much of the environment and characters in darkness, to the point where you were having to squint to see what was going on.
Overall, this is a decent adaption. Bill Skarsgard does a fantastic job as Pennywise, the actors playing the kids are all great and the movie does have some effective scares. I was just taken out of it too many times though, due to the predictable nature of the repeated jumpscare sequences and some really poorly implemented technical elements.
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Masters of Horror: A Horror Anthology in Books
Jun 26, 2020
112 of 200
Kindle
Masters of Horror: A Horror anthology
Presented by Matt Shaw
Collection of authors
Masters of Horror A selection of some of the finest horror writers of today were invited by Matt Shaw to bring him their twisted tales for this anthology. A book put together with the sole purpose of reminding readers what the horror genre is really about. Each author was told they could write about any subject matter they wanted so long as it was set in a world of horror. The only rule they had: No Paranormal Romance. Vampires do not sparkle, werewolves do not date, Witches do not scour Tinder for Virgins and ghosts do not declare their undying love whilst tidying the apartment... This is horror... Featuring work from: Introduction- Matt Shaw Brian Lumley - The Cyprus Shell Ramsey Campbell- Again Sam West- Survival J R Park - Mary Peter McKeirnon- Doll Face Andrew Freudenberg- A Taste of Mercy Mason Sabre - Chocolate Shaun Hutson- The Contract Anton Palmer- Dead-Eyed Dick Wrath James White- Beast Mode Shane McKenzie- Dewey Davenport Tonia Brown - Zolem Graeme Reynolds- The Pit Adam L.G. Nevill- Hippocampus Gary McMahon- You Can Go Now Ryan Harding - Down There Matt Shaw - Letter From Hell Matt Hickman- Eye For An Eye Daniel Marc Chant - Three Black Dogs Amy Cross- Checkout Kit Power- Loco Parentis Adam Millard - In The Family Guy N. Smith - The Priest Hole Jaime Johnesee- Just Breathe Craig Saunders- Raintown Sam Michael Bray - The End Is Where You’ll Find It Jeff Strand- Don’t Make Fun Of The Haunted House Mark Cassell - Trust Issues Paul Flewitt- The Silent Invader Clare Riley Whitfield- The Clay Man Jim Goforth- Animus Brian Lumley - The Deep-Sea Conch Chris Hall- Afterword
A few comments on the ones I enjoyed the most!
1. The Cyprus shell by Brain Lumley
This is a letter to a friend explaining his recent early departure from a dinner party. He explains his awful experience and aversion to oysters! Got to say I loved it and it captured so much in a short letter!
2. Again by Ramsey Campbell
This is a strange little story about a hiker discovering a strange old woman keeping her almost dead husband tied to a bed. It was a little strange.
4. Mary by J R Park
Ooo this was good religious symbols and lots of murder and blood!!
5 Doll Face by Peter McKeirnon
This was creepy as f**k there are no limits to what a father would do for his little girl!
6. A taste of Mercy by Andrew Freudenburg
Brilliant so sad and yet so gross! You felt every word of the woe the trenches brought these men!
7 chocolate by Mason Sabre
Ok so I will be keeping a close eye on my kids and their imaginary friends needing chocolate haha loved it!
8 The Contract by Shaun Hutson
Well this taught us one thing is certain killing death would be a very silly thing to do!!
9 Dead-eyed Dick by Anton Palmer
This had me in tears laughing and must be every mans worst nightmare! I’m definitely getting my husband to read it! Brilliant!!
11 Hippocampus by Adam L.G. Nevill
Nevill is one of my favourite authors he has a way of taking you every step of the journey with every book he writes. This one did not disappoint I walked the length of that vessel
With him! I know have some pretty gruesome scenes in my head.
12 you can go now. By Gary McMahon
Totally heartbreaking in some way and utterly creepy in others! Also an eye opener to mental illness which I took from it!
13 letter from hell by Matt Shaw
Reading this made me sick to my stomach being a mum I think it’s my worst nightmare! I can just imagine how those mothers felt when their children never came home! Totally gut wrenching!!
14 Eye for an eye by Matt Hickman
Brilliant! Gruesome and totally what you’d expect from the afterlife of a murderer!
16 Loco Parentis by Kit Power
About a man rounding up a pedophile ring and breaking some bones but in a strange twist he turns it on the reader lol very good!!
I absolutely loved most of these stories I think there is something in there for every Horror fan I’ve also found a few more authors!
Kindle
Masters of Horror: A Horror anthology
Presented by Matt Shaw
Collection of authors
Masters of Horror A selection of some of the finest horror writers of today were invited by Matt Shaw to bring him their twisted tales for this anthology. A book put together with the sole purpose of reminding readers what the horror genre is really about. Each author was told they could write about any subject matter they wanted so long as it was set in a world of horror. The only rule they had: No Paranormal Romance. Vampires do not sparkle, werewolves do not date, Witches do not scour Tinder for Virgins and ghosts do not declare their undying love whilst tidying the apartment... This is horror... Featuring work from: Introduction- Matt Shaw Brian Lumley - The Cyprus Shell Ramsey Campbell- Again Sam West- Survival J R Park - Mary Peter McKeirnon- Doll Face Andrew Freudenberg- A Taste of Mercy Mason Sabre - Chocolate Shaun Hutson- The Contract Anton Palmer- Dead-Eyed Dick Wrath James White- Beast Mode Shane McKenzie- Dewey Davenport Tonia Brown - Zolem Graeme Reynolds- The Pit Adam L.G. Nevill- Hippocampus Gary McMahon- You Can Go Now Ryan Harding - Down There Matt Shaw - Letter From Hell Matt Hickman- Eye For An Eye Daniel Marc Chant - Three Black Dogs Amy Cross- Checkout Kit Power- Loco Parentis Adam Millard - In The Family Guy N. Smith - The Priest Hole Jaime Johnesee- Just Breathe Craig Saunders- Raintown Sam Michael Bray - The End Is Where You’ll Find It Jeff Strand- Don’t Make Fun Of The Haunted House Mark Cassell - Trust Issues Paul Flewitt- The Silent Invader Clare Riley Whitfield- The Clay Man Jim Goforth- Animus Brian Lumley - The Deep-Sea Conch Chris Hall- Afterword
A few comments on the ones I enjoyed the most!
1. The Cyprus shell by Brain Lumley
This is a letter to a friend explaining his recent early departure from a dinner party. He explains his awful experience and aversion to oysters! Got to say I loved it and it captured so much in a short letter!
2. Again by Ramsey Campbell
This is a strange little story about a hiker discovering a strange old woman keeping her almost dead husband tied to a bed. It was a little strange.
4. Mary by J R Park
Ooo this was good religious symbols and lots of murder and blood!!
5 Doll Face by Peter McKeirnon
This was creepy as f**k there are no limits to what a father would do for his little girl!
6. A taste of Mercy by Andrew Freudenburg
Brilliant so sad and yet so gross! You felt every word of the woe the trenches brought these men!
7 chocolate by Mason Sabre
Ok so I will be keeping a close eye on my kids and their imaginary friends needing chocolate haha loved it!
8 The Contract by Shaun Hutson
Well this taught us one thing is certain killing death would be a very silly thing to do!!
9 Dead-eyed Dick by Anton Palmer
This had me in tears laughing and must be every mans worst nightmare! I’m definitely getting my husband to read it! Brilliant!!
11 Hippocampus by Adam L.G. Nevill
Nevill is one of my favourite authors he has a way of taking you every step of the journey with every book he writes. This one did not disappoint I walked the length of that vessel
With him! I know have some pretty gruesome scenes in my head.
12 you can go now. By Gary McMahon
Totally heartbreaking in some way and utterly creepy in others! Also an eye opener to mental illness which I took from it!
13 letter from hell by Matt Shaw
Reading this made me sick to my stomach being a mum I think it’s my worst nightmare! I can just imagine how those mothers felt when their children never came home! Totally gut wrenching!!
14 Eye for an eye by Matt Hickman
Brilliant! Gruesome and totally what you’d expect from the afterlife of a murderer!
16 Loco Parentis by Kit Power
About a man rounding up a pedophile ring and breaking some bones but in a strange twist he turns it on the reader lol very good!!
I absolutely loved most of these stories I think there is something in there for every Horror fan I’ve also found a few more authors!
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Calico in Tabletop Games
Oct 3, 2019
Cats. You love them. I tolerate them. I’m a dog person. While cats are the first things I think of when I hear the word Calico, it actually is also referencing a printed pattern. In this case, Calico refers to the printed fabrics to be woven into a quilt as well as the fluffy and mostly-indifferent mammalian species. Let’s take a closer look at Calico.
Calico is a game of tile drafting, tile placement, pattern recognition, with a hint of point salad. Now, not everything you do will score you points, but there are many ways to score. This game plays equally well solo as it does with a group, but how does one play it?
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. As this is a preview copy of the game, I do not know if the final rules or components will be similar or different to what we were provided. -T
To setup, each player chooses a quilt board that has a different colored stitching printed on it. This is the player’s color. Each player will receive their goal tiles of matching color and choose three of these to place on their boards in the starting positions (the rule book also details a recommended first game placement and tile choice). These tiles show the requirements to score them and how many points each scoring tile is worth. Three cat placards are chosen that will be visiting your quilt sections and who score differently from each other. Place the corresponding cat tokens nearby and randomly assign two black-and-white patter tokens to each cat under their placard. Place the cute rainbow tile and matching button tokens nearby. Shuffle the quilt patch tiles and place them in a pile or stack at the middle of the table. From this collection deal two per player, and draw and reveal three more face up to be the offer row. You are now ready to play.
On your turn you will place a tile from your hand, check for scoring, and then draw a new patch tile to your hand. You may place either of your tiles anywhere on your board in any orientation you like. Complete freedom! In order to score points, however, you will want to be strategic in where tiles are placed. You see, the scoring tiles you placed at setup will dictate how they score. Some tiles score when you have two sets of three similar tiles. Tiles are similar either by matching their patterns or their tile colors. Some tiles score when you have placed NO matches at all. Each of these tiles will score points based on whether you satisfied its requirements by color, by shape, or both. Example: a scoring tile says AAA-BBB. This means it wants two sets of three matching patch tiles surrounding it – and ONLY the tiles surrounding it. It also has printed scores of 8 and 13. This means that if you have two sets of tiles that match by color only (but not pattern) you will score 8 points. Should you match three tiles’ colors but also match three tiles’ patterns you will score 13 points.
It is important to note here that the six tiles surrounding the score tile do not have to match exactly. So you do not have to have three yellow tiles with ivy pattern. You need to have three yellow tiles (if you chose yellow for this example) and three tiles that have the ivy pattern. Your other set can be three blue tiles with three stripes patterns. As long as you have these sets from the six surrounding tiles you will score what is on that tile.
The cats come into play when you satisfy their scoring requirement printed on their placard. So Thimble, the actual Calico cat, will visit a portion of your quilt when you have placed three tiles adjacent to each other with their preferred pattern. In the example shown Thimble likes ferns and polka dots. So whenever you have three or more connecting tiles that share one of these patterns you will grab a Thimble token and place it on one of the tiles on your board. Each cat will have different scoring requirements and patterns of which to be aware.
Similarly, but with colors, are the rainbow scoring button tokens. Each patch tile contains a color and a pattern. Cats are attracted to patterns, whereas buttons are sewn onto similar colored tiles. Match up three tiles of the same color and you can sew a button onto your quilt. Buttons are worth 3 points and they just look great on your quilt.
Play continues in this fashion until all quilts are completed. Players then tally up their scores and determine the winner of Calico!
Components. Again, we were provided a prototype of this game, so I will not comment too much on the components as they will probably change from now until production. But, I am able to comment on the art and visual aspects. The art is by Beth Sobel. Do I need to say more at this point? Yes? Ok. So the illustrations of the cats are wonderful. The sleepy little space heaters are depicted so well and they really are cute (I mean, if you’re into cats). The patterns and colors on the quilt tiles and buttons are absolutely fantastic. Just seeing it on the table makes me excited to play it, and for a game about quilts and cats that is REALLY saying something. The art and visual appeal of this game is truly off the charts.
I am not colorblind, but I do appreciate when designers consider options for gamers who are. In Calico, though you are playing for and concentrating on patterns and colors, the tiles are also printed with icons that match the shapes of the buttons to be claimed. As you can see in our photos, yellow tiles have a crescent moon, which match the crescent moon button you claim. The purple tiles have a ghost? Onion? Jawless skull? Blueberry? Whatever it is, it also matched the token you claim for the rainbow bonus points. I like this. I like this a lot.
So do we like playing it? I have played several games of this solo as well as with a group, and it truly is fantastic. It’s one of those games that you can go nutty trying to figure out the optimal play, or you can just play it casually to come up with the prettiest end result. Granted, you probably will not win much, but golly look at your quilt! You can play Calico with ANY gamer type: beginner, casual, hard core, and industry personalities. And I believe that every one who plays this will have a great time and salivate for more plays (cats salivate, right? Or is that a dog-only thing?). I am very excited to see what Flatout Games has in store for this one on Kickstarter, and I would be happy to play with anyone who asks, or as part of anyone’s gaming event.
Calico is a game of tile drafting, tile placement, pattern recognition, with a hint of point salad. Now, not everything you do will score you points, but there are many ways to score. This game plays equally well solo as it does with a group, but how does one play it?
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. As this is a preview copy of the game, I do not know if the final rules or components will be similar or different to what we were provided. -T
To setup, each player chooses a quilt board that has a different colored stitching printed on it. This is the player’s color. Each player will receive their goal tiles of matching color and choose three of these to place on their boards in the starting positions (the rule book also details a recommended first game placement and tile choice). These tiles show the requirements to score them and how many points each scoring tile is worth. Three cat placards are chosen that will be visiting your quilt sections and who score differently from each other. Place the corresponding cat tokens nearby and randomly assign two black-and-white patter tokens to each cat under their placard. Place the cute rainbow tile and matching button tokens nearby. Shuffle the quilt patch tiles and place them in a pile or stack at the middle of the table. From this collection deal two per player, and draw and reveal three more face up to be the offer row. You are now ready to play.
On your turn you will place a tile from your hand, check for scoring, and then draw a new patch tile to your hand. You may place either of your tiles anywhere on your board in any orientation you like. Complete freedom! In order to score points, however, you will want to be strategic in where tiles are placed. You see, the scoring tiles you placed at setup will dictate how they score. Some tiles score when you have two sets of three similar tiles. Tiles are similar either by matching their patterns or their tile colors. Some tiles score when you have placed NO matches at all. Each of these tiles will score points based on whether you satisfied its requirements by color, by shape, or both. Example: a scoring tile says AAA-BBB. This means it wants two sets of three matching patch tiles surrounding it – and ONLY the tiles surrounding it. It also has printed scores of 8 and 13. This means that if you have two sets of tiles that match by color only (but not pattern) you will score 8 points. Should you match three tiles’ colors but also match three tiles’ patterns you will score 13 points.
It is important to note here that the six tiles surrounding the score tile do not have to match exactly. So you do not have to have three yellow tiles with ivy pattern. You need to have three yellow tiles (if you chose yellow for this example) and three tiles that have the ivy pattern. Your other set can be three blue tiles with three stripes patterns. As long as you have these sets from the six surrounding tiles you will score what is on that tile.
The cats come into play when you satisfy their scoring requirement printed on their placard. So Thimble, the actual Calico cat, will visit a portion of your quilt when you have placed three tiles adjacent to each other with their preferred pattern. In the example shown Thimble likes ferns and polka dots. So whenever you have three or more connecting tiles that share one of these patterns you will grab a Thimble token and place it on one of the tiles on your board. Each cat will have different scoring requirements and patterns of which to be aware.
Similarly, but with colors, are the rainbow scoring button tokens. Each patch tile contains a color and a pattern. Cats are attracted to patterns, whereas buttons are sewn onto similar colored tiles. Match up three tiles of the same color and you can sew a button onto your quilt. Buttons are worth 3 points and they just look great on your quilt.
Play continues in this fashion until all quilts are completed. Players then tally up their scores and determine the winner of Calico!
Components. Again, we were provided a prototype of this game, so I will not comment too much on the components as they will probably change from now until production. But, I am able to comment on the art and visual aspects. The art is by Beth Sobel. Do I need to say more at this point? Yes? Ok. So the illustrations of the cats are wonderful. The sleepy little space heaters are depicted so well and they really are cute (I mean, if you’re into cats). The patterns and colors on the quilt tiles and buttons are absolutely fantastic. Just seeing it on the table makes me excited to play it, and for a game about quilts and cats that is REALLY saying something. The art and visual appeal of this game is truly off the charts.
I am not colorblind, but I do appreciate when designers consider options for gamers who are. In Calico, though you are playing for and concentrating on patterns and colors, the tiles are also printed with icons that match the shapes of the buttons to be claimed. As you can see in our photos, yellow tiles have a crescent moon, which match the crescent moon button you claim. The purple tiles have a ghost? Onion? Jawless skull? Blueberry? Whatever it is, it also matched the token you claim for the rainbow bonus points. I like this. I like this a lot.
So do we like playing it? I have played several games of this solo as well as with a group, and it truly is fantastic. It’s one of those games that you can go nutty trying to figure out the optimal play, or you can just play it casually to come up with the prettiest end result. Granted, you probably will not win much, but golly look at your quilt! You can play Calico with ANY gamer type: beginner, casual, hard core, and industry personalities. And I believe that every one who plays this will have a great time and salivate for more plays (cats salivate, right? Or is that a dog-only thing?). I am very excited to see what Flatout Games has in store for this one on Kickstarter, and I would be happy to play with anyone who asks, or as part of anyone’s gaming event.
Connor Sheffield (293 KP) rated Arrow in TV
May 13, 2018
Closer to the comics than people think (5 more)
Great cast
Intriguing characters
Brilliant character development
Great drama
Great references to the comics
Some characters become annoying (1 more)
Not all seasons are consistent with quality
You Have (not) failed this series!
First of all I should tell you that Green Arrow is my all time favourite comic character so this review might have some bias but I'll keep it to a minimum because I am not blinded by this shows faults of which it's had quite a few.
When I first saw the trailer for Arrow I was hooked. Finally, a show about Green Arrow, one of the less popular heroes these days and one of the many heroes that makes the people who only watch comic book films, say "Who the hell is that?".
Series one had me hooked with great drama, and incredible action that made the week long wait for each episode painful. The drama was intense as we watch Oliver Queen trying to juggle his two lives as both Oliver Queen and Arrow (currently called the Vigilante or The Hood during season 1), as he tries to keep his night time activities as a vigilante a secret.
The faults of this series reside in some of the dialogue and characters who I won't name because it's not really down to one particular character as others do the same though some get more blame than others. The point is, some of the drama in the show is unnecessary and sometimes it's all over the place going from "I love you" to "never talk to me again" within seconds for very stupid reasons. If you can get past that though, you'll see a lot more of Green Arrow in the show than you realise.
One of the main things I love about this show is seeing Oliver Queen take on real life issues as well as comic book villains. Issues such as his sister taking drugs which, due to her childhood nickname being 'Speedy', is a reference to Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85 and #86 where Green Arrow finds out that Roy Harper is a drug addict. By making the series version about his sister however, makes the situation more personal which means it messes with Olivers head when he's out hunting the drug suppliers.
The villains have all been great in the series, even though not all have been praised. Malcom Merlyn as the first villain was a good choice because he's one of the few original Green Arrow Villains from comics and John Barrowman was a brilliant choice of casting. Deathstroke then took it up a notch and really made the series great, and his season is possibly still one of the best seasons (season 2). Ras Al Ghul was a very intense series and although everyone moaned that Arrow had become too much like Batman, but Arrow made it their own and made a brilliantly intense series with some great twists that at the time I was like "please don't end it like this...." Or... "Where do they go from here?" And Everytime I thought they might have made a mistake with a certain plot point, they proved me wrong.
Damien Darkh was probably one of the lesser great villains. The casting was perfect, because Damien Darkh was so menacing and so brilliantly evil with a human side to him at certain points, but I don't think personally, they should have brought magic into Arrow, because it added too many scenes where you thought "why would you even try this?" Or "why did he not do this and this moment". But unlike many I actually enjoyed Damien Darkh as a villain because the characters and intense story were brilliantly chosen and executed.
The last two seasons (5 & 6) have been really intense and incredibly action packed as Green Arrow and Team Arrow try to take on what feels like the world.
The downfalls of the series include some of the drama being not entirely necessary. We understand as an audience that tensions build and everyone has a thousand and one problems that they have to deal with, but everyone seems to unleash them all at once. I understand wanting to build the feeling that everything is falling apart, but it happens soooo much, and it's hard to sympathise with certain scenarios because of it.
Another slight issue is the love interests. If you know Green Arrow, then you know he's a bit of a ladies man and that he can often be caught flirting and more with many women, in the show, we see this done well but at the end of the day it aaaallllwaayyyss comes back to Olicity. Oliver and Felicity's love story has had so many ups and downs and they've fallen in and out of love so many times and whilst I love Felicity as a character and a member of the team, the love rollercoaster she is on with Oliver reaaalllyyy annoys me at times, but I try to look past it and everything's seems to be okay.
Overall though this is one of my favourite shows and I prefer it to The Flash though The Flash has had some better seasons than Arrow has. I can't wait to see what else the show brings to the screen as it has already brought many obscure characters such as Cupid, Vigilante, Prometheus, Bronze Tiger and more!
When I first saw the trailer for Arrow I was hooked. Finally, a show about Green Arrow, one of the less popular heroes these days and one of the many heroes that makes the people who only watch comic book films, say "Who the hell is that?".
Series one had me hooked with great drama, and incredible action that made the week long wait for each episode painful. The drama was intense as we watch Oliver Queen trying to juggle his two lives as both Oliver Queen and Arrow (currently called the Vigilante or The Hood during season 1), as he tries to keep his night time activities as a vigilante a secret.
The faults of this series reside in some of the dialogue and characters who I won't name because it's not really down to one particular character as others do the same though some get more blame than others. The point is, some of the drama in the show is unnecessary and sometimes it's all over the place going from "I love you" to "never talk to me again" within seconds for very stupid reasons. If you can get past that though, you'll see a lot more of Green Arrow in the show than you realise.
One of the main things I love about this show is seeing Oliver Queen take on real life issues as well as comic book villains. Issues such as his sister taking drugs which, due to her childhood nickname being 'Speedy', is a reference to Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85 and #86 where Green Arrow finds out that Roy Harper is a drug addict. By making the series version about his sister however, makes the situation more personal which means it messes with Olivers head when he's out hunting the drug suppliers.
The villains have all been great in the series, even though not all have been praised. Malcom Merlyn as the first villain was a good choice because he's one of the few original Green Arrow Villains from comics and John Barrowman was a brilliant choice of casting. Deathstroke then took it up a notch and really made the series great, and his season is possibly still one of the best seasons (season 2). Ras Al Ghul was a very intense series and although everyone moaned that Arrow had become too much like Batman, but Arrow made it their own and made a brilliantly intense series with some great twists that at the time I was like "please don't end it like this...." Or... "Where do they go from here?" And Everytime I thought they might have made a mistake with a certain plot point, they proved me wrong.
Damien Darkh was probably one of the lesser great villains. The casting was perfect, because Damien Darkh was so menacing and so brilliantly evil with a human side to him at certain points, but I don't think personally, they should have brought magic into Arrow, because it added too many scenes where you thought "why would you even try this?" Or "why did he not do this and this moment". But unlike many I actually enjoyed Damien Darkh as a villain because the characters and intense story were brilliantly chosen and executed.
The last two seasons (5 & 6) have been really intense and incredibly action packed as Green Arrow and Team Arrow try to take on what feels like the world.
The downfalls of the series include some of the drama being not entirely necessary. We understand as an audience that tensions build and everyone has a thousand and one problems that they have to deal with, but everyone seems to unleash them all at once. I understand wanting to build the feeling that everything is falling apart, but it happens soooo much, and it's hard to sympathise with certain scenarios because of it.
Another slight issue is the love interests. If you know Green Arrow, then you know he's a bit of a ladies man and that he can often be caught flirting and more with many women, in the show, we see this done well but at the end of the day it aaaallllwaayyyss comes back to Olicity. Oliver and Felicity's love story has had so many ups and downs and they've fallen in and out of love so many times and whilst I love Felicity as a character and a member of the team, the love rollercoaster she is on with Oliver reaaalllyyy annoys me at times, but I try to look past it and everything's seems to be okay.
Overall though this is one of my favourite shows and I prefer it to The Flash though The Flash has had some better seasons than Arrow has. I can't wait to see what else the show brings to the screen as it has already brought many obscure characters such as Cupid, Vigilante, Prometheus, Bronze Tiger and more!
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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in Video Games
Jul 25, 2017
Bonus Points - An Example Of The Favoritism Towards Certain Developers In The Gaming Industry, Even When They Don’t Deliver
Zelda: Breath Of The Wild came out last month and it has taken the gaming world by storm. As a non Zelda fan, I am left wondering why this is the case. Why is this Zelda game so revolutionary? I don’t own the game, but I have played the first few hours of it and I have read a good number of reviews on the game. There are a few critics claiming that this game, ‘writes a new chapter in the videogames industry,’ and that it is an, ‘evolution of everything that has come before.’
While I appreciate that this is a well made game and it is doing new things within the Zelda franchise, these statements stick in my throat a little. This isn’t because I don’t agree that this is an impressive game, because it is. Other than the odd frame rate drop, there aren’t many flaws with this game and I did enjoy the few hours that I spent with it, (I had a lend of a friends Switch for the night so I could try the game for myself.)
My problem comes from the fact that this is a well made game that isn’t doing anything that hasn’t been done before a million times and frankly been done better. Full disclosure, I have never been a Zelda fan, but I wanted this game to convert me and I’m sorry to say that it didn’t. The purpose of this piece isn’t to attack the Zelda franchise, so you fanboys can put your pitchforks down. What I want to discuss is how when Nintendo do anything that is slightly better than a disaster, it is heralded as the brave new step in video games by a large number of the video game press.
I get it, nostalgia is a powerful lens and most writers in their 30’s grew up playing on Nintendo systems and franchises like Mario and Zelda, but as someone who is around ten years younger and grew up with Playstation, I don’t feel that Nintendo has advanced a great deal since the turn of the millennium and frankly, I don’t see Nintendo as having broken any new ground in the last twenty years.
If games like Breath of the Wild came out on another console, they wouldn’t be lauded as the best thing since sliced bread. In fact they have, it’s called Horizon: Zero Dawn! When Horizon came out it received a positive critical reception and high sales, but no one was writing articles claiming it was the next step in the evolution of video games. Splatoon has been put on a pedestal and has been described as ‘fresh,’ and, ‘unique,’ even though it is nothing more than a dumbed down version of Team Fortress 2 for a younger audience. Super Mario Maker was released in 2015 and it was essentially a $60 level editor. Level editors have been included in other games since forever and no fuss has been made, but when Nintendo sell an entire game based on the concept, it’s hailed as another, ‘triumph by Nintendo.’
When you compare Breath of The Wild to other recent open world games like The Witcher or Skyrim, there is nothing that makes it unique from a design and functionality standpoint. If Breath of The Wild came out in 2008, then sure you could get away with labeling it revolutionary, but in this day and age it isn’t any more special than Horizon or Skyrim.
Let’s look at some of the features that have been called unique in the game. The tower climbing to uncover zones of the map mechanic has been done in the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry series’. Using plants for crafting and cooking has been done in Far Cry and Skyrim. Far Cry 2 and Dead Island had degradable weapons. The inventory system is very reminiscent of multiple Ubisoft titles; essentially Breath of The Wild has taken some elements from other games and made something from that within the Zelda universe.
This may sound patronizing, but it honestly isn’t intended that way. I get it, Nintendo fans have had it hard over these last five years, they have had nothing to be proud of since the launch of the Wii and they have had to stand by their console of choice and defend themselves with very little ammo to defend themselves with, but as a result nowadays when anything better than a car crash is released by them it is inflated by a large number of critics in the industry and so Nintendo fans are given a justification for putting their mediocre games on a pedestal. This is why to the rest of the industry it appears that Nintendo fans can’t accept things for the way that they really are and everything is blown so far out of proportion.
Some examples of Nintendo games being blown out of proportion and reviewers being clouded by nostalgia are available to go and check out right now on Metacritic. Zelda: Skyward Sword is currently sitting at a 93, Zelda: Twilight Princess is sitting at a 95 and Metroid: Other M has a 79. All three of these games are recognized as subpar and once the novelty wore off, even the most hardcore of Nintendo fans would agree that these are forgettable, black marks on the respective franchises track records. Not that BOTW isn’t a game for Zelda fans to be proud of, because it is. I can see why this would be people’s game of the year so far and I can see why it could be considered as the best Zelda game, but to someone that isn’t a Zelda fan that praise is meaningless.
In summary, the inflation of mediocrity in the industry has to stop, if we want gaming to improve. If we want to break new ground across the gaming media, these sycophants and apologists living in a false perception of reality have to go. These novelty games that are applauded for simply carrying the title of a beloved franchise, have to stop being praised so highly and given a free pass of any sort of criticism just because of a nostalgic lens.
While I appreciate that this is a well made game and it is doing new things within the Zelda franchise, these statements stick in my throat a little. This isn’t because I don’t agree that this is an impressive game, because it is. Other than the odd frame rate drop, there aren’t many flaws with this game and I did enjoy the few hours that I spent with it, (I had a lend of a friends Switch for the night so I could try the game for myself.)
My problem comes from the fact that this is a well made game that isn’t doing anything that hasn’t been done before a million times and frankly been done better. Full disclosure, I have never been a Zelda fan, but I wanted this game to convert me and I’m sorry to say that it didn’t. The purpose of this piece isn’t to attack the Zelda franchise, so you fanboys can put your pitchforks down. What I want to discuss is how when Nintendo do anything that is slightly better than a disaster, it is heralded as the brave new step in video games by a large number of the video game press.
I get it, nostalgia is a powerful lens and most writers in their 30’s grew up playing on Nintendo systems and franchises like Mario and Zelda, but as someone who is around ten years younger and grew up with Playstation, I don’t feel that Nintendo has advanced a great deal since the turn of the millennium and frankly, I don’t see Nintendo as having broken any new ground in the last twenty years.
If games like Breath of the Wild came out on another console, they wouldn’t be lauded as the best thing since sliced bread. In fact they have, it’s called Horizon: Zero Dawn! When Horizon came out it received a positive critical reception and high sales, but no one was writing articles claiming it was the next step in the evolution of video games. Splatoon has been put on a pedestal and has been described as ‘fresh,’ and, ‘unique,’ even though it is nothing more than a dumbed down version of Team Fortress 2 for a younger audience. Super Mario Maker was released in 2015 and it was essentially a $60 level editor. Level editors have been included in other games since forever and no fuss has been made, but when Nintendo sell an entire game based on the concept, it’s hailed as another, ‘triumph by Nintendo.’
When you compare Breath of The Wild to other recent open world games like The Witcher or Skyrim, there is nothing that makes it unique from a design and functionality standpoint. If Breath of The Wild came out in 2008, then sure you could get away with labeling it revolutionary, but in this day and age it isn’t any more special than Horizon or Skyrim.
Let’s look at some of the features that have been called unique in the game. The tower climbing to uncover zones of the map mechanic has been done in the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry series’. Using plants for crafting and cooking has been done in Far Cry and Skyrim. Far Cry 2 and Dead Island had degradable weapons. The inventory system is very reminiscent of multiple Ubisoft titles; essentially Breath of The Wild has taken some elements from other games and made something from that within the Zelda universe.
This may sound patronizing, but it honestly isn’t intended that way. I get it, Nintendo fans have had it hard over these last five years, they have had nothing to be proud of since the launch of the Wii and they have had to stand by their console of choice and defend themselves with very little ammo to defend themselves with, but as a result nowadays when anything better than a car crash is released by them it is inflated by a large number of critics in the industry and so Nintendo fans are given a justification for putting their mediocre games on a pedestal. This is why to the rest of the industry it appears that Nintendo fans can’t accept things for the way that they really are and everything is blown so far out of proportion.
Some examples of Nintendo games being blown out of proportion and reviewers being clouded by nostalgia are available to go and check out right now on Metacritic. Zelda: Skyward Sword is currently sitting at a 93, Zelda: Twilight Princess is sitting at a 95 and Metroid: Other M has a 79. All three of these games are recognized as subpar and once the novelty wore off, even the most hardcore of Nintendo fans would agree that these are forgettable, black marks on the respective franchises track records. Not that BOTW isn’t a game for Zelda fans to be proud of, because it is. I can see why this would be people’s game of the year so far and I can see why it could be considered as the best Zelda game, but to someone that isn’t a Zelda fan that praise is meaningless.
In summary, the inflation of mediocrity in the industry has to stop, if we want gaming to improve. If we want to break new ground across the gaming media, these sycophants and apologists living in a false perception of reality have to go. These novelty games that are applauded for simply carrying the title of a beloved franchise, have to stop being praised so highly and given a free pass of any sort of criticism just because of a nostalgic lens.