Bevendre

People, or at least Tumblr, have a tendency to attack Disney on character design more than other companies. Ghibli often reuses character designs among female protagonists, not all the time but often. Disney does the same thing, but they’re the ones who get bashed.

Dreamworks almost never uses non-white characters, while Disney has touched most ethnicities in the last 2 decades, but it was Disney that was slammed when it portrayed northern European settings as being predominately white in population (Frozen vs. HTTYD2).

People getting upset about a character is one thing. People looking at and for flaws is one thing.

Going after a single company for doing something that is fairly commonplace in the industry, while completely ignoring the very same issues from opposing companies. Completely disregarding characters, and the works of designers and animators because of similarities in design, and leaving the judgement solely with the design without regard for the aspects that /should/ be what defines a character above all else. Deigning a property unworthy of attention because of one member of a diverse cast being similar to those of previous works, months before anything else is seen of the property. That is another thing entirely.

As an artist, as a writer, as a critic, and as a person, it is that thing that makes me mad. It’s not the judgements themselves, but their focus and their cause that makes me livid.

Michael Bay is back to destroy a childhood franchise.  Except he’s not.  Kind of.  It depends.  The film definitely bears a strong resemblance to its predecessors, but at the same time feels fairly new due in large part to a changed human cast, a reworked Autobot cast, and a general shift in tone.

Spoilers.

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Big Hero 6 doesn’t come out for months, yet the drama surrounding it is already pissing me off.  We’ve seen ONE PICTURE of a character, one picture in which said character’s head is partially covered and people are in an uproar because the facial model looks similar, or even identical, to that of Rapunzel, Anna and Elsa.  Because of this, there are already shouts that Disney is being lazy and recycling models.

It’s one picture.

We haven’t seen this character in motion.  We haven’t heard how she’s going to sound, or seen how she’s going to act.  All that people are going off of is one picture of one character out of a cast that is arguably the most diverse and dynamic in Disney’s animated history.

I don’t know how long Disney has had Big Hero 6 in the works, but given the past few animated movies and the space between them I really don’t think it should be as big of a deal as it is being made out to be.  This film is coming out within a year of Frozen, which came out within a year of Wreck-it-Ralph.  All of that is from the same studio.  That models are being reused on certain characters within movies that are released within one year of one another should be understandable, especially by artists who work to put out consistent works.

Could Disney have made a new face model for Anna/Elsa, or for this new character? Yes.  Does it make them lazy that they didn’t? No.  Why not? Because the characters SHOULD NOT BE DEFINED BY THE STRUCTURE OF THEIR FACES OR SHAPE OF THEIR BODIES.

If you want to be mad and complain about Big Hero 6, then that’s fine.  Please, save it for after we’ve seen more of these characters, or better yet for after the god damn movie comes out.

I love it when a newspaper’s opinion section contains contradicting articles.

In my local paper today there was an article about how minimum wage should not be raised because the point of a minimum wage job is not to provide for the employee, but give them skills and training for higher end jobs later in life. This article was written by the CEO of a neighboring town’s chamber of commerce.

An article on the other page, written by an actual journalist, looked at the general opinion of CEOs of major companies and economists, and how they generally agree that the minimum wage in America should be raised. This is in response to a dying middle class caused by the growing wage gap between the rich and the poor, and how that is choking the economy and American capitalism as a whole. The article in question referenced quotes by the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Warren Buffet, and several others while calling lobbyists at the US chamber of commerce one of the main causes of the defunct economy.

This amuses me.

We all wear masks, for the social world, for our family, our friends, and for ourselves. As we come to better know ourselves and the world around us we chip away at our masks piece by piece.
The masks we wear protect us from the hurts of the world, from our fears and insecurities, and the deepest parts of ourselves; the parts of us that we most fear to see.

One of the greatest and most terrifying questions that can ever be asked, is what lies behind your innermost ;mask, the one that protects you from your darkest truths and truest self.

Methinks the next Papi update will take a brief departure from Papi to show what Libi’s up to.

As I’ve said before, I’m more than open to reviewing more things in the future if people like the idea.  Or if people don’t like the idea and I feel like it any way.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is the newest Transformers action game, this time for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox 360.  Despite being made by Edge of Reality (Loadout) the game acts as a continuation of High Moon Studios’ Cybertron series and bridges the gap between Fall of Cybertron, and the launching of the Ark.  However, it also acts as a pseudo-tie-in with the newest Bayformer flick, Age of Extinction.

Gameplay

First and foremost, there is good news: The game feels like a good Transformers game.  It plays almost identically to War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron, both of which are fantastic games and must sees for anyone who considers themselves a fan of Transformers (If you disliked the High Moon Cybertron series, feel free to tell me why so we can try and diagnose you.)  The game is primarily a third person shooter that allows for easy transition between the Transformer’s vehicle and robot modes.  This allows for some quick combat and fairly easy mobility which is a must on higher difficulties as there is no cover system.  Instead, you must use your environment to your advantage, as while you can’t duck or hide behind cover, you can freely switch your firing hand to work around what cover you can find.  

The weapons of Fall of Cybertron are back, both standard and heavy, and with them come the upgrade system introduced in the previous game, albeit slightly tweaked.  Whereas in Fall one would upgrade their arsenal through collecting currency and purchasing the upgrades, in RotDS upgrades are acquired through receiving copies of the weapon’s card in a Gear Box, an unlockable achieved through completing events, leveling up, finishing challenges etc.  Every weapon has a unique look and feel, in both the Cybertron, and the Earth sections of the 14 chapter (6-8 hour) campaign, and each one comes with its advantages and drawbacks.  Luckily, as soon as you unlock an item it can be equipped at a weapons cache, which are scattered throughout every map.  

The game does present some deal of challenge, where on the easiest difficulty you die soon after your shields are depleted, and on the hardest you die as soon as an enemy gets an extra shot off.  Unfortunately, challenge is about all that the campaign may offer as its story has a fair few issues.  Because the game is split between the Cybertron set by High Moon, and the Earth set by Michael Bay it can be somewhat odd trying to keep things straight and together, especially as the Earth sections are supposed to take place after Age of Extinction which has not yet come out as of this review.  At times it seems as though there are scenes missing, with the narrative jumping between Autobots and Decepticons on Cybertron with less fluidity than in previous games, and shoehorning in the events of the Bayformer characters on either end of the story.  Also, the events of RotDS are not as grand, memorable, or cinematic (ironically) as were those of its predecessors.

Presentation

The presentation is admirable, but not ideal.  Having played it on PS4, the game looked on par, and at times worse, than its predecessors on the previous generation of consoles.  While I shouldn’t be surprised at this by a movie tie in, it still hurts.  The presentation issues are especially present during the Earth segments, and in the Earth model Transformers.  While the Cybertron models and locals maintain the slick, shiny, and generally awesome feel that was set up in both War for Cybertron, and Fall of Cybertron, the Bayformers segments are relatively stiff and rough.  Locations don’t look horrible, but they are a far cry from their Cybertronian counterparts, and even similar titles on the previous generation.  Likewise, the Bayformer character models, that rely so much upon moving parts and a feeling of mobility and motion in the movies appear solid and stiff in game, though this is not nearly as apparent during gameplay as it is during cutscenes which are thankfully very short and sparse. 

Music was about the same as it was in the predecessors, so good but not particularly memorable.  Luckily, however, the same cannot be said about the voicework.  The favorites of the Transformers’ history are back to voice their characters, especially Peter Cullen again reprising his role as the last Prime of Cybertron.  There is a surprising amount of dialogue in the game, and it is largely presented very well.

Sound design, much like the music, is solid being both fitting and palpable. That there is a gun available that looks, fires, and sounds almost exactly like Optimus Prime’s blaster from the original series helps too.

Replayability

While there are multiple difficulties, and a spattering of collectibles throughout the campaign, there is frankly no need to replay the story.  For completionists, every chapter is replayable and fairly short meaning if you want to collect everything you can do so at your own pace without having to slog through a few hours to get to the point you need.  Like I said, the story isn’t bad by any means, but it isn’t quite worth replaying overall.

The real source of replay in the game is the Escalation game mode, which acts as a Horde mode that is surprisingly addictive.  Unfortunately, the competitive multiplayer that was supported in War of Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron has been removed, but the Escalation mode seems much more refined than previous titles.  Leveling takes place across the campaign and Escalation, and every unlock received in one is available in both.

Verdict

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is not a bad game.  For a game overall it plays very well, and has plenty in it including a story mode that runs about average for its genre, and a Horde mode that is pretty awesome, as well as character models that are awesome (Cybertron), passable (Bayformers) or nostalgic bliss (Optimus Prime Classic can be acquired and played in Escalation) and presentation that, despite some hiccups, is pretty good for what is there.  For a movie tie in, it’s rather impressive.  

Alone it stands up rather well, but in comparison to its predecessors it kind of falters.  While the presentation is good, it doesn’t quite hold up to what its predecessors have done, despite having more time to improve.  While the story is good, it does not hold up to its predecessors, even though it beats the vast majority of Michael Bay fluff.  Most of the major issues in the game come from it being a pseudo-tie-in game and having to fit in the Bayformer bits, despite Bayformers not being technically compatible with the Cybertron series which is more or less a direct tie in to the original series.

Is it worth your time? For the most part.  It’s worth a playthrough, or at least a let’s play viewing.  Escalation is a lot of fun, especially with friends, and alone can be enough to warrant the price tag, but that depends on your preferences in gameplay.  Is it worth your money?  On the PC and previous generation of consoles it is marked down to $49.99, and I’d say that it’s worth that much.  The extra $10 doesn’t seem like a great loss for the PS4 and Xbone, so while I would recommend getting it on an older console I’d also say it is worth looking into if you have one of the newer consoles and want something to play.

There’s a fair bit here.  Not as much as in past games, but a lot more than can generally be expected from tie-in games.  All in all, it is a good game and worth some attention, despite its flaws.

7.8/10

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Come again friends!

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is rather disappointing so far, but I’m not all that surprised.  I may write a full review once I’m done.