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Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Bongo Fury Novella Collection in Books

Nov 11, 2019

Bongo Fury Novella Collection

Simon Maltman | 2019 | Crime, Humor & Comedy

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Meet Jimmy Black, a man with family connections to both organised crime and, historically, the Troubles in Northern Ireland. But apart from maybe a little light drug dealing the thing Jimmy wants most is to be left alone to run his music shop (the titular Bongo Fury), spend time with his family and maybe do a little private detective work on the side. Unfortunately fate has other plans for Jimmy as helping a friend in need spirals very much out of control.

Although this is three novellas, the first two already published separately plus a third first released in this volume, this really is a book in three parts. Plus there's a soundtrack as well, how many novels can say that? And what a book it is. Despite his slightly shady connections, Jimmy is the perfect narrator. Funny, irreverent, tough, likeable and well versed in popular music he engages right from the start, keeping his sardonic tone throughout. He might run afoul of some very dangerous characters but he is a tough customer himself.

The writing is a joy, easy to read between Jimmy's swear-word laden musings, the laugh out loud humour, the tense encounters when the stakes are raised and the rapid and efficient action scenes. And the story doesn't let up either as Jimmy's life threatens to be turned upside down from asking too many questions, the fall out from which carry the plot through all the three novellas.

Bongo Fury the Collection is one of those books that you shouldn't allow to pass you by.

Kudos

MinEden10 (1 KP) rated Spyro Trilogy Reignited in Video Games

Feb 9, 2020

Spyro Trilogy Reignited

2018 | Action/Adventure

8.5

(49 Ratings)

Video Game Rating

The visuals are beautiful (2 more)

The soundtrack is great

Truly faithful to the originals

GLITCHES (0 more)

Nostalgia at its Finest

I love spyro. I have loved spyro since I was old enough to be able to play the first game. When I heard it was getting a remaster, I probably made actual sounds of joy. And I'm really pleased that the remake does remain faithful to the original in a way that is fun to play and plucks all the good nostalgia heart strings. The short version of the review is to go and get the game, especially if you've played the originals.
However, there's a few niggles I have. Hunter's new voice is irritating and not how i think of the character at all. Sometimes the camera has an absolute mind if it's own and refuses to remain to behave in a way that makes any sense and...
The glitches.
They're especially prevalent in Spyro 3 and within that, the skateboard races. The final race against the yetis took me upwards of an hour to beat simply because of how glitchy and broken so many of the mechanics that it needed to function were incredibly broken. Several of the trophies were also so persistently not triggering that at one point I had to put the controller down and walk away.
And I hate that they've tainted the game enough that i don't want to replay the third one again.

But yes, all in all, I love spyro, I love the games and I enjoyed my time with the remake.