Review: The Wizard

Directed By: Ted Howard

Distributed by: Universal Studios

Movie Rating: Unknown

Ah, the 80’s…The glory days of some of the great 8-bit consoles that resurrected gaming from it’s near death experience with Atari.With great games like Super Mario Bros. and Mega Man, there are also cash-ins. Among these quick-buck plans stands the movie known only as The Wizard (or Joy Stick Heroes if your in Germany or some other country I can’t think of right now), but unlike many cash-ins failures that came before it, The Wizard has so much campiness and cheese for Nintendo fans, from yesteryear to today, to poke fun at, which makes it the cult film it is today.

(“I love the Power Glove…it’s so bad…”)

The film tells the tale of Jimmy, a young boy who is suffering from the mental disorder inflicted on him by his twin’s sister’s death, which has separated his family ever since. One day, his half-brother Corey breaks him out of the institution that was holding him, as they run away with their sights set on California, along the way meeting a girl named Hayley, and discovering that Jimmy is uber-er, I mean…very skillful at video games. the three later decide to enter him at the Nintendo World Video Games Championships being held at Universal Studios Theme Park (commercalization at it’s best). Together, they head for Cali, while they get chased down by a sleazy private investigator hired by Jimmy’s mother and stepfather, and also by Corey’s father and older brother.

Nintendo advertised the living sh*t of the movie, by adding big-name actors like Fred Savage and Christian Slater, having a bunch of NES games featured, from Ninja Gaiden to Mega Man 2, and even giving kids a sneak peek into Super Mario Bros. 3, which was unreleased in America at the time, in the form of the tournament’s final game. This movie was BIG for Nintendo gamers in the 80’s, it was THE MOVIE. Everyone wanted to see it, so they could talk about it for months on end. Unfortunately, due to the campy style of the film and the not-so-great acting, most kids were disappointed, while parents were bored to tears.

The movie as a whole is your basic fun 80’s kid adventure movie. The plot is easily predictable but fun nonetheless, the acting, as stated before, isn’t oscar-worthy, but since it was basically made for kids it was cool, and the comedy is decent and easy to swallow. All that aside, the movie was really about the games. All of the games were showcased in a accurate way, but know that The Wizard is notorious for its many video game related errors. For example, when Jimmy was playing Ninja Gaiden and Double Dragon, critics and fans alike (myself included) noticed how he never took any damage, as well as how the high score (50,00 on DD for example) never matched what was on the screen. Another example is that the background music never matched what was going on the screen as well, because they were pre-recording of other people playing.

Overall, The Wizard is a cult classic film among many Nintendo fans like myself. The film was a decent and cool film that mostly anyone can enjoy once they get through the campiness within itself, and see the awesome feature-length comercial for what it is…a decent and cool film.

Overall: 7.5/10

- OtakuMan-Z

Review: Starcraft/Starcraft: Brood War

System: PC,Mac

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment

In Blizzard’s history, there’s always been two periods: before WoW, and after WoW. Before WoW, Blizzard Entertainment has been one of the flagship developers behind some some of the best RTS and RPG games, which bring us to Starcraft,and it’s expansion pack, Brood War. The games takes place in the distant future, in which the Terran (Or “humans” as we are mostly known as), the Zerg (A violent hive-mind race of aliens hell-bent on destruction), and the Protoss (The most intellegent and technologically advanced of the three races) fight an intergalactic war for survival.

Starcraft works like any other RTS, you gather materials, order in troops, mechanics and the like, create building to provide upgrades and improvements to your base, and when the time has come, move in and take on the enemy forces that stand in your way. Using the materials and planing out your moves takes skill and patience, as any little mistake can result in utter disaster, which will end in the destruction of your base. With that said, you have to always be ready for anything, as the enemies you encounter in the game can prove to be unpredictable.

The game features three single-player campaigns, each one focusing on a separate race, with missions that get more and more difficult and fun as you go though the campaigns one by one in order, And it goes along great with the story, which will always keep you guessing until the very end.The game also features robust online multiplayer modes that supports up to 4+ players via Battle.net, which is a service that is known to keep people playing to this day. The controls are easy to use for a RTS game, and everything runs smoothly, so long as you know what your doing. The graphics are way beyond dated in this day and age, but it was amazing back when the original game launched in March of 1998, with cutscenes and voice acting that were mind-blowing for it’s time. The only real downside is that some of the missions can prove to be too difficult, which can cause major fustration. Another problem is that some of the online modes could be very confusing at first, leaving you to wonder what you have to do.

All and all, Starcraft is an absolutely amazing RTS game that holds up the test of time, and is a must-buy for any gamer looking for the best of the best in PC gaming. Be careful though, the game’s difficulty are most suited to the serious hard players, and not for the easy faint-of-hearts.

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

- OtakuMan-Z

Review: Guitar Hero Aerosmith

System: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii

Developer:Neversoft, Red Octane

Publisher: Activision

Guitar Hero Aerosmith the the latest (cash-in) game in the popular music game series, this time featuring the famous band themselves, along with a slew of their greatest hits. It also has a number of song by bands inspired by Aerosmith, including Lenny Kravitz, The Clash, the Cult, and even Run-D.M.C.

The game features 40+ songs that mostly has (of course) hit songs from Aerosmith’s backlog. They are all fun to play and enjoyable, as most songs are in the Guitar Hero series (except TTFAF…damn that song…). The game’s Career Mode follows the band’s journey to stardom, from their first performance at Nipmuc High School, all the way to their joining in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All the Main Characters form GH to Legends of Rock are playable in Aerosmith throughout the playable modes along with secret characters including…yes…Joe Perry (ZOMG!!!).

The Problem with GH Areosmith is that it offers nothing new to the table, leaving us with a rehash of Legends of Rock with a Aerosmith flavor. Most of the menus, loading screens and even the graphics look extremely identical to Guitar Hero 3’s, only disguised in a Aerosmith theme so most wouldn’t even notice the obvious similarities. Also, the songs in the game are so easy, that even the hardcore GH players will think twice before buying. And Furthermore, the song list is pretty short for a Guitar Hero game, making the Career Mode and the full gameplay short, and at times less fufilling than previous titles in the series.

In the End, Guitar Hero Aerosmith is still an fun and enjoyable game for everyone, just don’t expect a whole new experience, as the game offers nothing new for the series, but nonetheless, it’s still fun enough to keep for at least a while

Rating: 8/10

- OtakuMan-X

Hello world!

Hey there everyone! This is OtakuMan-Z, and I bid you welcome to my blog!

In this blog, I will provide movie and video game reviews for all to enjoy, as well as my own personal thoughts about stuff. I hope you will all enjoy my blog and keep going on it for my reviews, my rants, my thoughts, and…well…other stuff!

- OtakuMan-Z