Sunday, November 30, 2025

2025 Things: November





11.1: Watched 3 episodes of Big Brother Canada (12.27, 12.28, 12.29). Watched 1 episode of Star Trek: Discovery (5.08). Watched 1 episode of Monster: The Ed Gein Story (1.01). Watched 1 episode of SEC Football: Any Given Saturday (1.04). 

11.2: Listened to 1 episode of The Cartridge Club (ep145). Listened to 1 episode of Collateral Cinema (ep 58 pt 2). Listened to 1 episode of Retronauts (Micro 60). Listened to 1 episode of Collateral Gaming (Resident Evil: Code Veronica). Listened to 1 episode of Fantasy Football Happy Hour (10.31.25 ep). 

11.3: Watched 1 episode of Fargo (2.04). Listened to 1 episode of Retrovaniacs (ep 52). Finished video game: Hook (SNES). Watched 1 episode of Andor (2.05). Watched 1 episode of Monster: The Ed Gein Story (1.02). Listened to 1 episode of Staff Picks (Private Parts).

11.4: Finished video game: Hook (Sega CD). Watched 1 episode of Star Trek: Discovery (5.09). Listened to 1 episode of The 7th Rule (ep 300). Watched 1 episode of The Amazing Race (38.05). Watched 1 episode of The Traitors (1.01).

11.5: Listened to 1 episode of The Retrograde (Guitar Hero as a First Person Shooter?). Finished video game: Doom 3: BFG Edition. Watched 1 episode of Fargo (2.05). Watched 1 episode of The Amazing Race (38.06). Watched 1 episode of The Traitors (1.02). Watched 1 episode of Star Trek: Discovery (5.10). Finished video game: Hook (Genesis). Listened to 1 episode of The FF Dynasty (9.101). 

11.6: Watched 1 episode of Fargo (2.06). Listened to 1 episode of Unsolved Mysteries (Death of a DJ). Watched 1 episode of Survivor (49.07). Watched movie: Child's Play.

11.7: Watched 1 episode of Andor (2.06). Watched movie: ET: The Extra-Terrestrial. Watched 1 episode of The Amazing Race (38.07). Listened to 1 episode of Post Show Recaps: The White Lotus (1.05 recap). Listened to 1 episode of DrunkFriend (ep 40).

11.8: Watched 1 episode of Andor (2.07). Watched 2 episodes of Monster: The Ed Gein Story (1.03, 1.04). Watched 3 episodes of The Traitors (1.03, 1.04, 1.05). Finished video game: Untitled Goose Game. Listened to 1 episode of The Cartridge Club (ep 75). 

11.9: Watched 1 episode of Squid Game: The Challenge (2.01). Listened to 1 episode of Retrovaniacs (ep 53). Listened to 1 episode of Retronauts (ep 99). Listened to 1 episode of The Stephen Kingcast (ep 107). Listened to 1 episode of Ear Biscuits (ep 64).

11.10: Watched movie: Hook. Watched movie: His House. Watched 2 episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge (2.02, 2.03). Listened to 1 episode of Retrovaniacs (ep 54). Listened to 1 episode of Collateral Gaming (Resident Evil 2002 Game Review). Listened to 1 episode of Fantasy Football Happy Hour (11.7.25 ep). 

11.11: Watched 1 episode of Fargo (2.07). Listened to 1 episode of The Losers Club (The Kingies: Best of 90's King). Watched 2 episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge (2.04, 2.05). Watched 2 episodes of The Traitors (1.06, 1.07). Watched 1 episode of Andor (2.08).

11.12: Watched 1 episode of Squid Game: The Challenge (2.06). Watched 3 episodes of The Traitors (1.08, 1.09, 1.10). Listened to 1 episode of The FF Dynasty (9.106). Watched 1 episode of Fargo (2.08).  

11.13: Watched 1 episode of Andor (2.09). Watched 1 episode of Monster: The Ed Gein Story (1.05). Watched 1 episode of The Amazing Race (38.08). Listened to 1 episode of Arcade Attack (ep 242). Watched 2 episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge (2.07, 2.08). Finished video game: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

11.14: Watched movie: Child's Play 2. Watched 2 episodes of Fargo (2.09, 2.10). Watched 1 episode of Survivor (49.08). Watched 1 episode of The Challenge (41.00). 

11.15: Listened to 1 episode of Post Show Recaps: The White Lotus (1.06 recap). Watched 2 episodes of The Challenge (41.01, 41.02). Watched 1 episode of Andor (2.10). Watched 1 episode of Monster: The Ed Gein Story (1.06). Listened to 1 episode of Unsolved Mysteries (Body in the Brandywine). Listened to 1 episode of Arcade Attack (ep 243). Watched 1 episode of Attack on Titan (3.01).

11.16: Watched 2 episodes of Andor (2.11, 2.12). Listened to 1 episode of The Cartridge Club (CC Portable #30). Listened to 1 episode of Retrovaniacs (ep 55). Listened to 1 episode of Retronauts (ep 97). Listened to 1 episode of Fantasy Football Happy Hour (11.14.25 ep). Listened to 1 episode of Arcade Attack (ep 244).

11.17: Watched 1 episode of Monster: The Ed Gein Story (1.07). Watched 1 episode of Attack on Titan (3.02). Watched movie: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  Listened to 1 episode of The Losers Club (Y2King: The Plant and Riding the Bullet). Listened to 1 episode of Collateral Cinema (ep 59). Listened to 1 episode of The Cartridge Club (CC Portable #31). Listened to 1 episode of Retrovaniacs (ep 56).

11.18: Watched 1 episode of Pluribus (1.01). Listened to 1 episode of The Retrograde (Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator Review). Watched 1 episode of The Challenge (41.03). Watched 1 episode of Squid Game: The Challenge (2.09). Finished video game: Super Mario Bros 3.

11.19: Watched 1 episode of Monster: The Ed Gein Story (1.08). Listened to 1 episode of The FF Dynasty (9.107). Watched movie: The Long Walk. Watched 1 episode of The Challenge (41.04). Listened to 1 episode of Collateral Cinema (At the Movies Edition: Spider-Man: No Way Home). Watched 1 episode of Pluribus (1.02).

11.20: Watched 1 episode of The Wonder Years (2.05). Watched 1 episode of Survivor (49.09). Watched 1 episode of SEC Football: Any Given Saturday (1.05). Watched 1 episode of Pluribus (1.03). Watched movie: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. 

11.21: Watched 1 episode of Attack on Titan (3.03). Watched 1 episode of The Challenge (41.05). Listened to 1 episode of The Cartridge Club (ep 76). Watched movie: The Mummy (1999). 

11.22: Watched 1 episode of The Amazing Race (38.09). Watched 1 episode of Pluribus (1.04). Listened to 1 episode of Retrovaniacs (ep 57). Listened to 1 episode of Retronauts (Micro 61). 

11.23: Watched 1 episode of The Wonder Years (2.06). Watched 1 episode of 50 Seconds: The Fernando Báez Sosa Case (1.01). Listened to 1 episode of The FF Dynasty (9.109). Listened to 1 episode of The Cartridge Club (ep 146). Listened to 1 episode of Post Show Recaps: The White Lotus (Season 2 Preview). Listened to 1 episode of Arcade Attack (ep 245). Watched movie: Coherence.

11.24: Listened to 1 episode of The Losers Club (Mick Garris' Riding the Bullet). Watched 1 episode of The Outsider (1.01). Watched 1 episode of Attack on Titan (3.04). Finished Book: X-Wing: Solo Command. Listened to 1 episode of Staff Picks (Cellular). Listened to 1 episode of Unsolved Mysteries (Missing for Christmas). Listened to 1 episode of The Retrograde (Top 5 Video Game Crushes). Listened to 1 episode of The 7th Rule (ep 301). 

11.25: Watched 1 episode of The Challenge (41.06). Watched 1 episode of The Outsider (1.02). Finished video game: Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure. Listened to 1 episode of Post Show Recaps: White Lotus (2.1 recap). 

11.26: Watched 1 episode of The Challenge (41.07). Listened to 1 episode of Ear Biscuits (ep 65). Listened to 1 episode of Retrovaniacs (ep 58). Watched 1 episode of Pluribus (1.05).

11.27: Listened to 1 episode of Retronauts (ep 100). Listened to 1 episode of The FF Dynasty (9.111). Watched 1 episode of The Challenge (41.08).

11.28: Watched 1 episode of The Outsider (1.03). Listened to 1 episode of Sega Saturn Shiro (Live Show: Apr 9 2021). Listened to 1 episode of The Cartridge Club (ep 77). Watched movie: Solo: A Star Wars Story.

11.29: Watched 1 episode of The Challenge (41.09). Watched 1 episode of Survivor (49.10). Listened to 1 episode of Retrovaniacs (ep 59). Finished video game: Centipede. Finished video game: Sonic the Hedgehog.

11.30: Watched 1 episode of The Wonder Years (2.07). Listened to 2 episodes of Fantasy Football Happy Hour ( 11/25 and 11/26/25 eps). Listened to 1 episode of Collateral Gaming (ep 58). Listened to 1 episode of The Cartridge Club (CC Portable #32). Listened to 1 episode of The Losers Club (Hollywood King: Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, Shyamalan). 



11 movies watched
10 episodes of The Traitors watched
10 episodes of The Challenge Watched
9 episodes of Squid Game: The Challenge watched
8 episodes of Cartridge Club played
8 episodes of Retrovaniacs played
8 episodes of Andor watched
8 episodes of Monster: The Ed Gein Story watched
8 video games completed (10 if you count the Hooks on the different consoles as different games)
7 episodes of Fargo watched



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600 game reviews! A look back at one of the greatest modern accomplishments of mankind.



Hi. I just posted my 600th game review. I normally try to make every 100th review a game that I consider special, but it never quite seems to work out that way.

100th review: Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Genesis)
200th review: Kingdom Hearts III (PS4)
300th review: The Simpsons (arcade)
400th review: Star Wars: Rebel Assault (Sega CD)
500th review: Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES)
600th review: Centipede (arcade)

Punch-Out!! and Mean Bean Machine are the two best games on the list. Sure, some of the other games on there are okay. But special to me? Not quite. 

Here are some stats.

I reached 500 reviews back on March 8th, 2024. I reached 600 reviews on November 30th, 2025. About 20 months passed, nearly 2 years between milestones.

My 5 most reviewed consoles:
PS4: 100
PS3: 63
Arcade: 58
Genesis: 58
NES: 45
PS1: 42

I had 86 PS4 reviews when I hit 500 reviews. I now have 100, which means I've reviewed 14 PS4 games in the interim. In that same time frame I have played 11 PS3 games, 10 arcade games, 8 Genesis games, and 8 PS1 games. I've only reviewed 4 NES games in the last 100 reviews, and that surprises me. I would have thought for sure I had played more.


Here are my most reviewed game series:
Resident Evil: 17
Mario: 17
Batman: 17
Sonic: 15 (counted Knuckles Chaotix and Mean Bean Machine as Sonic games)
Star Wars: 14
Castlevania: 10
Final Fantasy: 9
Jurassic Park: 8

It's funny how there are three franchises tied for first. I normally try to space out the games I play when it pertains to certain series. Like, if I play a Resident Evil game, I will wait at least several months before playing another one. But I totally didn't plan for them all to be even. 

Some series I haven't reviewed a single entry in yet:
Assassin's Creed
Call of Duty
Medal of Honor
Hitman
Lunar
Tenchu
Monkey Island
Borderlands
Minecraft
Wild Arms
Dragon Warrior
Persona
Yakuza
Soul Calibur
Bloodrayne
Earthbound
Anything past Street Fighter 1 (I know that is cheating)


Back when I did my Happy 500 Game Reviews post two years ago, I had written that I wanted to review the following games. I checked off the ones I actually reviewed:
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Mass Effect
Final Fantasy Tactics
Panzer Dragoon Saga 
Super Mario RPG 
Sonic CD
the original Legend of Zelda
Link's Awakening
Doom
Warhawk
Bully
Okami
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
God of War Ragnarok
Beyond Oasis
Shadowrun
Shining Force 2
Earthbound
Suikoden
Bloodborne
Perfect Dark Zero
Comix Zone
Golden Sun
the Rogue Squadron series
Banjo-Tooie
Jersey Devil
Croc
Diddy Kong Racing
the Xenosaga games

I only played 6 games that I had been wanting to play. 

I wonder how I'll do on my new list of games I want to play before I reach 700 reviews:
Eternal Champions
Shadowman
Shovel Knight
Red Zone
Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero
Bloodborne
Sonic Spinball
ET for the Atari 2600
Bully
Mark of Kri
Far Cry 5
Ecco: Defender of the Future
Policenauts
Lego Indiana Jones II
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Mission: Impossible
Odin Sphere
Psychonauts 2
Legend of Zelda for NES
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Skies of Arcadia
Sonic CD
Final Fantasy Tactics
Forsaken 64
Legend of Dragoon
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3
Madden 64
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Xenosaga
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Castlevania: Dracula X
Metro 2033
Perfect Dark Zero
Mega Man Legends
Beyond Oasis
Street Fighter II
Warhawk
Willow for NES
Rygar for NES


I'm also nearing 1000 overall games played in my life. I plan to do something special for that as well. I've been considering dipping my feet into doing a podcast. But nobody reads these reviews. Why would anyone listen to me talk? Hmm. But it is something to ponder.

What else can I talk about?

Nothing I can think of. I guess I'm going to end this now before it gets awkward. If you are someone who reads and follows this blog, I appreciate you. Mainly I do this for me, but if someone stumbles upon this and falls down the rabbit hole of reading through my game reviews, I'd love to see it. If my efforts have positively impacted one person, that makes it all worth it.


If you want to see a list of all my game reviews arranged by scores, click this

For a general listing of every post I've ever made, including things that aren't game reviews, click this

I never get any feedback, so if you want to ever send me what you think of my blog, even if you disagree with my opinions on things, you can reach me at dangeeksout@gmail.com

Bye.

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Saturday, November 29, 2025

Video Game Review #600: Centipede

Centipede
Arcade


Nostalgia Factor:

Woo hoo, 600 game reviews. What a truly productive life I live.

Centipede is a game I was very familiar with as a kid. The game came out in 1980, and I was born in 1982. Growing up, I would encounter this game at almost every bowling alley/restaurant/movie theater I went to. It wasn't my favorite game, but I'd pop in a quarter from time to time and give it a go. My overall memories of the game are fairly positive.

I haven't played Centipede in a good 30 years. Maybe even more. What prompted me to come back and play it again? I don't know. My eventual plan is to review every single game I've ever played, so I would have had to come back to it at some point. Why not now?




Story:

If this game has a story, I have no idea what it is. There are no cutscenes. There is no ending. You fly around in a little spaceship and you shoot centipedes and the occasional spider. What else do you need to know?




Gameplay:

I was impressed by how quickly the game hooked me. This might be a controversial opinion for someone my age, but this era of gaming is one of my least favorites. I like games you can beat. I like making progress and advancing the story. I've never been a big fan of games that simply go on forever; where you are playing for a high score rather than a chance to beat the game. There have been a few exceptions over the course of this blog: Tetris, Frogger, Tron, Journey, Burger Time, and a few others. But for the most part, I sort of frown upon these types of games. Centipede is another one of my exceptions.

The game is just flat out fun to play. It's easy to pick up and play, but hard to master. Right off the bat, you see what you have to do. You fly around on the bottom of the screen, and you shoot the centipedes that are descending down through the mushrooms towards you. You move around and you hit the shoot button. Easy, right?

Wrong. While the concept might seem simple, there is so much more at play here. First, there is the distance. The centipede comes down from the top of the screen. There's a long way from the bottom of the screen to the top. Your laser weapon shoots at a certain slow speed. You're going to have to get the timing right if you want any chance at hitting that centipede.

Then, there's the spiders. These spiders come at you from the side of the screen. They are a bitch to avoid. They move up and down, and over to the side - seemingly at random. It's so hard to predict what they are going to do. I think those spiders have probably killed more gamers than the centipedes ever have. It often seems like they come in right at you. If you linger too close to the edge of the screen, they can pop out and kill you without giving you a chance to react. I hate them. But it is very satisfying when you get to shoot one. It's like yeah take that you sonofabitch.

Next, there are the mushrooms. They block your laser weapon. Enough hits will wipe out a mushroom, allowing you to shoot past it now. When a centipede runs into a mushroom, it bounces back the other direction and moves one spot lower on the screen. It's often very satisfying when there is a tunnel of mushrooms and the centipede comes straight down. You can just camp out below it and fire away. The downside is that after killing a piece of a centipede, it turns into a mushroom. So as fast as you can wipe these darn mushrooms out, they can return equally as fast.

Then there is the centipede itself. When you shoot it, it breaks into multiple pieces that scatter in opposite directions. The smaller the piece is, the faster it moves. Those little tiny pieces can be super hard to hit. Having good timing is a must if you want to succeed in lining up your shots. Once you've defeated all the pieces of a centipede, the colors of the level change and you move onto the next level. The difficulty ramps up ever so slightly with each passing level as well. Pretty soon, the enemies will be zipping across the screen super fast. The spiders will get even more erratic. The centipede pieces even harder to hit. This is usually where I conk out and run out of lives.

I considered using save states to rack up an abnormally high score, but I decided against it. Why not test myself and see how good I can do normally? I've been saving my high scores to the game so my son can see them and try to break them when he is older.

The game is extremely addicting. While it is very simple in nature, I almost never get tired of playing it. I can play round after round after round and before I know it, several hours have passed. That's the mark of a truly great game, in my opinion.




Graphics:

Obviously, the game has a very minimalist look going for it. Plain black background, very simple looking characters. But it works. The game has a very distinct feel to it. I think all the colors and the unique design of the mushrooms and the spiders really makes it stand out. You see this game and you immediately know it is Centipede. 

No, it is not going to win any beauty awards. But it doesn't need to. Whether it looks like this or it looks like the most amazing game you've ever seen, what matters to me is the gameplay. Do the graphics hinder the gameplay at all? Nope. Not even a little.




Sound:

This game's not going to win any music or sound awards either. There is no music. The game is completely silent sans the sound effects. The sound effects themselves are fine. All you really hear is the sound of your weapon firing, and the sound of the wiggly spider as he makes his way across the screen. I'll say what I did about the graphics: it doesn't hinder the gameplay at all. But are the sound effects particularly memorable? Eh. I can't say with a straight face that people will recognize this game by sound in the same way they would a game like Pac-Man or Donkey Kong.




Overall:

As much as I've always liked Centipede, I feel I've underestimated it. I don't even know how long it's been since I last played Centipede before I fired it up for this review. 25 years? 30? I'll never let that long pass again. I can easily see Centipede becoming a game that I will go to whenever I turn on my RetroPie. Play it for a few rounds. Save any high scores. Move onto something else. It's the perfect game to jump in and play a few rounds and then pop out.

I can't really say anything bad about the game. For its time (1980) and for how groundbreaking of a title it was, it is impressive to see how well it has held up. Not a perfect game, and not a particularly deep one either, but it is still a game that is quite addicting and a lot of fun to play.


THE GRADE:
B+


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Friday, November 28, 2025

Video Game Review #599: Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure

Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure
PlayStation 4


Before Playing:

This game, I tell you. I downloaded it on a whim a few weeks ago. My kid was really into Untitled Goose Game at the time. I wanted to see if he'd be interested in any other games once the fascination with that one wore off. I downloaded this game, along with Katamari and Bee Simulator. I didn't really give this game much thought. Of the three, I thought it would be the one he would be interested in the least. He doesn't really care much about Ice Age. Plus, I was worried it was going to be little more than a generic movie tie-in cash grab. These games are almost never good. Little did I know that this game would become such a big deal in my household.

My kid fell in love with this game immediately. The others, Katamari and Bee Simulator? He didn't care about them one bit. It was this game that he latched on to. In fact, to this day he still continues to play through this game, even though he's beaten all of the levels about five or six times now. He keeps cycling through it over and over again. He just loves it.

Because he loves it, I am also forced to love it. There are many parts of the game where he has handed me the controller because it is too hard for him. At first, I wasn't even going to review this game because it is more his game than mine. But then I ended up playing through the whole thing myself in order to get the platinum trophy.

Let's move onto the review. My five year old might like this game, but how do I feel about it? Let's find out!




Story:

I have to admit, I've never seen a single Ice Age movie. My kid has seen it before with his mom, but I've never seen it. I have no idea who Scrat or any of these other characters are. But good news is that I don't really need to know anything about Ice Age to enjoy this game.

Playing as the titular Scrat, you must travel to the four regions of the continent to reach these magical acorn thingies. Once you've collected them all, you return to the main hub and unlock the game's ending. All the acorns together summon a space ship, where Scrat is beamed aboard. He comes face to face with a thicc alien squirrel dominatrix. The game ends. The credits roll. I am moved to tears.




Gameplay:

I've read some reviews of this game online. I think most of them have missed the mark. "This game's too easy! It holds your hand too much. Too many checkpoints. Where's the challenge? It's too simplistic!" All of these criticisms make sense if you are an adult gamer coming into this game looking to be entertained. But this isn't Banjo-Kazooie. It's not Ratchet and Clank. This game isn't for "big people." It's for kids. It's supposed to be simple and easy. As me and my son were playing, I often referred to it in my mind as "Baby's First 3D Platformer," and that's exactly what this is!

You only have a couple moves you can pull off. You control your character with the left analog stick. The right stick controls the camera. X is for jumping and square is for attacking. You can hold L2 to aim a nut - which is your projectile weapon. Hitting R2 while aiming throws the nut. L1 makes you crawl. R1 is a roll maneuver. Play this game for five minutes and you'll get the hang of it very quickly. 

As you progress through the levels, you'll notice that you pass checkpoints that save the game after every 30 seconds or so of progress you make. You have unlimited lives. Every time you die, you come back to the checkpoint with full health. This makes the game very easy and accessible for small children. Just imagine if there were lives and continues. Or if you had to start the level over each time you die. My kid would have stopped playing on day one. So it's a good thing that this game is as easy and user friendly as it is. Whoever made this game definitely had small kids in mind when they made this. Like I said before, if you are an adult looking for something like Banjo-Kazooie or Mario 64, this game is not for you. 

Each of the game's four environments each have four stages within them. They are all very straightforward 3D platforming stages. You fight enemies, you collect gems and hidden secrets. You jump from ledge to ledge or platform to platform. You occasionally fight a boss character.

There also some light puzzles you'll encounter as you play. For example, you occasionally encounter locked doors that can only be opened by picking up "battery" acorns and putting them into charging sockets outside of the doors. There are also doors that can be unlocked by throwing acorns at various hidden symbols in the level. 

After you complete one of the game's areas, you unlock a special power. There are 3 in total. First is a double jump, followed by an ability to launch yourself through rings in the sky, followed by a telekinesis move that allows you to drag blocks around to make platforms you can jump on. You can use these moves to advance to new stages. You can also use them to revisit old stages and get items you missed. So there is a light "Metroidvania" twist to the gameplay.

If you are an experienced gamer, you can beat the game in one sitting. If you're a five-year-old, it may take you a week or so. Like I said, it's not a challenging game. But that's not really the point. "Baby's First 3D Platformer" is the point, remember?

The game's most glaring flaw is a wonky camera system. It was the hardest thing for my kid to get a handle on. The game is also glitchy AF. I lost count of the times I would randomly fall through the floor or a wall to my death. One time the character started walking on the ceiling and would fall painfully to the ground, only to be pulled back up the ceiling again. It was like he was being yo-yo'd up and down over and over again. We had to restart the game to fix this.

Aside from that, this is a perfectly playable game.




Graphics:

The game looks fairly decent. It can be a little bland and repetitive looking from time to time, but overall I think it looks good. The latter part of the game with the volcano and the dinosaurs is the most visually appealing part of the game. The earlier levels are the ones that look a little samey. There's a generic river area. A lot of ice caves and the snowy mountains that all blend together. Where the game stands out is in all the little details in the background. Sometimes you can see the bosses you are going to fight walking by on a ledge nearby. Other characters like bald eagles and big wooly mammoths will perch on the ledges and watch you as well. I assume they have some type of significance to the films, but like I said: I haven't seen 'em.

The cutscenes in the game are funny and very cinematic. My kiddo loves watching Scrat fall of cliffs and get into all kinds of precarious situations. I suppose I should also mention how the special stages (where you learn new abilities) look eerily similar to the stages in Immortals Fenyx Rising where you learn special abilities. This can't be a coincidence, can it?

Don't expect to see a wide variety of enemies as you play. You fight the same generic looking bugs and crabs the entire game. You should also be prepared to run into a ton of visual glitches along the way. Like walls disappearing, your character walking through a pile of rocks and falling to his death. That kind of thing. Overall, the game looks decent. I won't say it is the most beautiful game ever, or anything like that. It plays it safe most of the time. But it does what it sets out to do.




Sound:

I can't really say anything too bad about the game's sound. Scrat is the star of the show, with all the little noises and sounds he makes. The cutscenes always sound professionally done. The music in them (I assume) matches what you hear in the movies.

The stage music itself can be a little generic and underwhelming. It's very low key and it fades into the background fairly well. And I swear they use the same music for multiple stages. Nothing about it really stands out. It seems like they played it fairly safe here.




Overall:

I truly did not expect to enjoy this game as much as I did. I don't even know if it is because the game is even any good, or if it's because it brings me joy to watch my son get such a kick out of this. He really, really loves this game, and I feel his enthusiasm for it has rubbed off on me.

I just think you have to adjust your expectations coming into this. If you are more of a serious gamer, you're going to think this game is a piece of cake. But hey, at least it is an easy platinum trophy. So there's still incentive to keep playing. But you aren't going to get much out of this.

But playing it with a kid who is truly invested in it, and loves the crap out of this game changes my perspective on it immediately. This game wasn't really made for me. It was made for him. And it has been the perfect fit. And I love that. The game itself? Yeah, it's okay. I've probably gotten more out of this game than most adults out there have. I'm truly glad I got the chance to play this game, because I never would have otherwise. Out of other kid oriented titles like Bluey, Peppa Pig, or Geronimo Stilton, this is easily the best.

If you're a parent and you want to get your kid into gaming, I highly advise having them give this game a try. It won't only be fun for them, it will be fun for you, too. Baby's First 3D Platformer. Just remember that.


THE GRADE:
B+


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Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Video Game Review #598: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
PlayStation 3


Nostalgia Factor:

This is a game that has flown severely under the radar over the years. Most people reading this review have probably never heard of the game. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of my least read reviews ever, because so many people will skip over it because they don't know what Enslaved is. I myself had never heard of the game back when I first played it. There was no hype. Nothing about it online or in the gaming magazines. I only played it because a friend kept recommending it to me, saying how excellent it was. I was like "ok, I will give it a try." This was back in 2010. 15 years ago.

I remember very little about my time with the game. I remember liking it. And that's about it. According to my trophy information on the PlayStation Network, I beat the game in three days. I guess you can't blame me for not being able to remember much about a game I played for three days over fifteen years ago.

So here I am, back to play Enslaved one more time. Would I still find the game to be enjoyable, or would I find that it is rightfully forgotten? Let's jump in.




Story:

I didn't expect such an involved story when I came into this. It is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the machines have taken over. The vibe is very similar to Horizon Zero Dawn. Lots of buildings overrun by vegetation. Animal-like robots stalking around. 

Things start aboard a slave ship, The main character, Monkey, is freed from his restraints when a mysterious red haired woman starts running around the ship and sabotaging things. The ship crashes, while Monkey and Trip escape together. Monkey is knocked unconscious during the attempt. When he wakes up, he finds that Trip has put a slave collar around his neck. He has to do what she says and make sure she stays alive, or the collar will detonate. She is demanding that he protect her and take her back to her family's settlement.

Although the tethered nature of the characters is the main gimmick of the game, and an important factor when it comes to the gameplay, it never really sat well with me. I understand she's got to do what she's got to do in order to survive, but enslaving someone with a death collar and forcing them to do your bidding is something that I never really agreed with. And as a result, I was never as fully invested in the story or seeing Trip succeed as I should have been. She was always kind of a villain in my eyes.

Anyway, Monkey escorts her back home, where she finds that her settlement has been wiped out by the machines. Since the machines like to take slaves, Trip and Monkey team up with a local soldier named Pigsy to take them down. Pigsy adds some Beyond Good and Evil vibes to the game to pair with those Horizon Zero Dawn vibes. The gameplay itself borrows from a few other gaming franchises as well, but we'll get to that in the next segment.




Gameplay:

This is a linear action/adventure game. It takes place from a behind-the-back perspective. You take control of Monkey, a very acrobatic man (to say the least). He can leap from ledge to ledge or hang from poles with ease. I don't think I've encountered someone who can climb and leap so effortlessly in a video game before.

You use a staff during combat. As you make your way through the game, Monkey can be leveled up. He can learn new attacks and new abilities. Learning how to shoot projectiles is important because these become a big part of combat as the game progresses. An important thing to remember is that you are tethered to Trip with your slave helmet thingy. She can scan ahead and show you what is to come in the level. Speaking of similarities to other series, Trip reminded me a bit of Aloy with her Focus. 

The story is split up into 14 chapters. Each chapter takes an hour or two to complete. Some even less than that. Just as the game's story and its setting takes inspiration from other well known franchises, its gameplay does as well. The fighting is similar to the PS2 God of War games. You have a heavy and a weak melee attack. Square, square, triangle is always the way to go. Don't be like me and forget that holding square initiates a charge attack that breaks enemy shields. I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing against shielded enemies. I mainly saved my electric ranged weapon for them. But when I was out of that item, I was out of luck. I had to just keep attacking the shield while moving and hope I'd get lucky and hit the enemy from behind. I made the game unnecessarily harder for myself. Use the charge attack. Don't be like me.

The climbing and the parkour remind me of games such as Prince of Persia, Uncharted, or Assassin's Creed. But Monkey puts these other characters to shame. Nate Drake is a normal guy. Monkey is true to his namesake and he can flip and swing and climb with the greatest of ease. In fact, you don't really ever have to worry about falling or making a mistake. When climbing, I often just found myself pressing the direction I wanted to go, and then hitting x repeatedly. No precision is required. The game does it for you.

I guess that is one of my main criticisms of the game: no precision. It seems like this game cuts a lot of corners. The platforming and the climbing is so ridiculously forgiving. I would line up a terrible jump that I would miss in 9 out of 10 other games, but in this game I would land it. It's like the game is saying: "eh, close enough." Same with the combat and the hit detection. Just swing your staff in the area of the enemy. You'll probably hit something. Close enough! The frame rate can be choppy, but it never truly distracts from the experience of the game. Close enough! I really feel like the game developers got away with some of the most obvious half-assing I've ever seen in a good video game. I don't mean that as an insult or a bad thing, either. They wanted to give the player a fun, swift moving experience full of thrills and battles. If you want difficulty or precision controls, you've come to the wrong place. This game is all about delivering a fun experience. And I believe it succeeds in that regard.

Before we move, on, I want to point out that there are parts of the game that remind me of  classic 3D platformers. I swear one stage takes inspiration from Super Mario Sunshine. And there are others, like Jak and Daxter. Let's say you enter a big, open area full of glowing orbs. You can jump up on ledges or cliffs to collect them all. Walk off the beaten path and explore a bit. You can hop on a hoverboard and skim along open water, going up ramps and collecting items and making big jumps. These parts of the game reminded me sooo much of Jak and Daxter. I'd be shocked if that game wasn't a big influence on the people who made this game.

But really, this game borrows heavily from so many different things. Let's count:

God of War
Jak and Daxter
Horizon Zero Dawn
Prince of Persia
Uncharted
Assassin's Creed
Heavenly Sword
Beyond Good and Evil
Super Mario Sunshine
 
It sounds like a weird combination, but it works. It doesn't really do anything better than any of those games, but it is never not fun any step of the way.




Graphics/Sound:

The game looks and sounds "good enough." Notice a recurring theme here?

The frame rate can slow down. The game can get really shaky sometimes. Enslaved has perhaps more in common with a game from the PS1 or PS2 era than anything to come later. Things can look a little messy sometimes. But you know what? It still manages to look good at the same time. The characters look great. The environments are lush and visually appealing; reminiscent a bit of The Last of Us (oh crap, add another one to the list). I also think the big action sequences with all the robots and explosions and ships crashing and all that shit is very well done. 

It took me a while to recognize the actor who plays Monkey. I was looking at him closely and thinking to myself "who is that guy? I know him from somewhere." He yells a lot in this game, too. I knew the voice as well. I eventually looked on the internet and saw that it is Andy Serkis. I should have known. It looks like him. It sounds like him. I should have recognized that Caesar screaming voice immediately.

The sound effects and music fit the aesthetic of the game perfectly. I can't say anything really stood out as far as the music, though. It's just kind of generic adventure music. If you played some music and blindfolded me, I wouldn't be able to pick this game's music out of a lineup. But I don't really care. It was good enough.




Overall:

This is a quirky but entertaining little game. It's not long. You can beat it in twelve hours or so. But I think it is well worth the experience. It's fun. It's cinematic. It's got a lot of exciting action. A bright and vibrant setting. An interesting story. Good combat. Things to collect. Just an extremely varied gameplay experience. That being said, there is something about this game that doesn't seem to really stick with me. 

I had fun with this game when I first played it 15 years ago. But I walked away from it remembering nothing at all. It was like sitting through a solid, entertaining, but ultimately brainless blockbuster action movie. You enjoy it but don't really take anything away from it. I feel like the same thing is going to happen this time, too. Ask me about Enslaved in 15 years and I'm going to be like "uhh, that game was fun. I think." The character building between Monkey and Trip is fine, but it is no Joel and Ellie relationship. I think I was supposed to care and have an emotional response when Trip finally returns home, but finds it has been attacked. But I didn't. I liked watching the story, but I was not emotionally invested at all. And don't get me started on Pigsy. I hated this character. He is the worst thing about the game. I could have done without him.

All that being said, I would absolutely recommend this game to anyone who has not played it. I really enjoyed it. It's fast paced, it moves back and forth between action and exploration sequences smoothly, and it is addicting to play. I enjoyed the combat, and I did not want to put the controller down until I had cleared each area. I think the story could have done slightly better for me, but I won't hold that against it too much. I enjoyed the gameplay and I found it fun to play, and that's all that really matters for me.



THE GRADE:
B
(a little better than just "good enough" to me)


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Wednesday, November 19, 2025

VHS Tape #25: Bye Bye Brandon Calhoon and Kaysar



All right, here we go. The contents of yet another old VHS tape I recorded off TV. It's from August of 2005. This tape contains the evictions of both Kaysar from Big Brother, and Brandon Calhoon from Rockstar INXS - two contestants I really liked at the time. There are other assorted random things on here, like Celebrity Fit Club with Gary Busey. And the episode of Big Brother where Janelle says "bye bye bitches." There are other random reality related things on here, like Battle of the Network Reality Stars and Kill Reality. I really liked reality TV back then. Enjoy! 


(00:00:00)

Kill Reality
 - Johnny tells people he slept with Tonya
 - Reichen talks about being gay
 - More Fairplay and Tonya drama
 - Jenna Lewis nude scene filmed
 - Johnny Fairplay's love scene
 - Johhny Fairplay's death scene. His stunt double is a woman.
 - Next week previewed. Ethan Zohn arrives to film his part.

(35:32)

Big Brother 6
 - Kaysar pleads with Maggie for safety
 - Sarah uses Veto on James
 - Janelle is put on the block next to Kaysar

Rockstar INXS. This is the first episode I have recorded since the first week. I think 4 or 5 people have been booted from the show. It's okay, none of them were good anyway.
 - Rehearsals and song selection episode are recapped
 - Mig: We Will Rock You
 - Deanna: I'm The Only One
 
*Cheap Seats in commercials. It's a spelling bee and they make fun of a fat kid and call him a young Hannibal Lector. He tries to spell turbinado*

Rockstar INXS (cont)
 - Marty: Arms Wide Open
 - Ty: Everlong. I can't believe he's never heard of this song before. I am also going to add that the band is particularly amazing in this song. The singing is just all right.
 - Jessica: Blister in the Sun
 - Brandon: If You Could Only See
 - Jordis: The Man Who Sold the World. This is one of my favorite performances in any singing reality show ever.
 - JD: The Letter. I love this performance too
 
Rockstar INXS. Apparently I don't have the elimination episode for the previous week. Tara goes home, which is okay since I didn't record her previous performance
 - Susie: Losing My Religion
 - Mig: All Right Now
 - JD: Crazy
 - Jessica: Come As You Are. This is terrible
 - Jordis: Layla. Watch carefully. She almost drops the mic during this performance
 - Brandon: It's All Over Now. I thought he did great. But this ends up being his swan song.
 - Marty: Mr Brightside. Yay!
 - Deanna: Long Train Running
 - Ty: No Woman, No Cry. This is good.
 
Rockstar INXS elimination show
 - Jessica sings Disappear
 - Brandon sings Don't Lose Your Head and forgets the lyrics
 - Susie sings Bitter Tears
 - Brandon cut
 
(1:57:37)

Celebrity Fit Club
 - Last episode recapped where Jani was AWOL. His drinking was out of control. Which is sad because he died of alcohol poisoning a few years after this show.
 - Jani comes back and weighs in
 - The show sends a personal trainer to Willie's house to take him in for training. He gets mad and cusses the guy out and sprays him with a hose. The guy is persistent and eventually gets him to come along. Willie argues with the trainer guy at the weigh in and storms out. Gary Busey talks some sense into him and he comes back.
 - Contestants do a "Zorb" race. It's like a giant hamster ball that they have to run inside. Gary doesn't race. Sadness :(
 - Other contestants weigh in, including Gary
 - Toccara works out on a stripper pole
 - The rest of the contestants weigh in
 
Little People, Big World clip. A trip to the grocery store for the mom. The kid gets picked on at a party

Celebrity Fit Club
 - Contestants go through boot camp and must participate in an obstacle course
 - Gary and Toccara voted over to other team
 - Everyone else weighs in
 - Gary's new team wins the overall weigh in
 
(3:19:05)

Big Brother 6
 - The Sovereign alliance upset afer Jennifer breaks her word and nominates Rachel and Janelle
 - Howie wears a Speedo
 - Kaysar and Maggie celebrate their birthdays
 - Rachel wins Veto and saves herself
 - Kaysar put on block instead of James. OMG this made me so angry when I first saw this.
 
Rockstar INXS. The band picks songs for the contestants.
 - A recap of the songwriting challenge where JD breaks off from the group and creates Pretty Vegas
 - Jordis: Knocking on Heavens Door
 - Jessica: Torn
 - Ty: Maggie May
 - Susie: Bring It On Home To Me
 - Marty: Baby One More Time
 - Deanna: I Can't Make You Love Me
 - JD: As Tears Go Bye
 - Mig: Baby I Love Your Ways
 
Rockstar INXS results show
 - Mig's encore of Baby I Love Your Ways. He invites Marty and Jordis up to sing with him.
 - Susie is in bottom 3 and sings By My Side
 - Jessica: Mystify
 - Deanna: Never Tear Us Apart
 - Jessica goes home. Go figure this is the first week I actually liked both of her performances.

(4:48:14) 

Battle of the Network Reality Stars. This show is about a bunch of reality stars competing in silly physical events like obstacle courses and that kind of thing. Omarosa is one of the cohosts. Contestants include: Will Kirby, Burton Roberts, Charla & Mirna, Jonathan & Victoria, Richard Hatch, Sue Hawk, Nikki McKibbin, Will Wikle, Gervase Peterson, Wendy Pepper, and Mike Boogie
 - Teams meet each other for the first time and pick captains
 - I realize that this is the show where FTO found his Coral big boob avatar
 - Teams compete on the obstacle course and Team Coral wins
 - Dunk tank competition. This gets cut off in the middle though, because Big Brother came on

Big Brother 6.
 - Backlash against Kaysar's betrayal
 - Howie blows up against April and people fight, but we don't see hardly any because it keeps getting interrupted by stupid weather updates. I was so pissed when this happened.
 - J-Blow is interviewed in the HoH room
 - Kaysar is voted out again. So Sad :(
 - Weather updates keep cutting in. They end just in time to see Janelle win HoH.
 - Janelle nominates Maggie and Jennifer. This is where she says bye bye bitches.

(5:46:14) 

Kill Reality
 - Trishelle and Tonya hate each other, but they both like Johnny
 - The house stays up and parties but Tonya goes to bed because she needs the rest
 - Reichen films his straight love scene (which is also a death scene, haha)
 - Tonya breaks out in a poison oak rash or something
 - More Tonya/Johnny drama. Ugh, why is this episode all about her?
 - Preview of next week's episode

Random commercials
 
The Early Show story about plastic surgery for pets
 


END OF TAPE



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Video Game Review #597: Untitled Goose Game

Untitled Goose Game
PlayStation 4


Before Playing:

I've been aware of this game for several years now. I always thought it looked interesting, but at the same time, I heard that it was really short. Like: you can beat it in one sitting short. Still, I was intrigued by the game and made a point to play it someday if I ever had the opportunity.

Well, that day finally came. I was browsing through a list of child friendly games to play on PlayStation Plus, when I came across this title. I've been trying to get my 5 year old son into gaming for a long time now, and he's rejected nearly everything I've put in front of him. I figured I'd give this game a try. It looked relatively simple and stress free. Plus, I thought the idea of a "naughty goose" would appeal to him.

So I downloaded it, fired it up, and showed it to him. Immediately, he was intrigued and extremely "into" watching me play the game. It wasn't long before I handed him the controller and told him to have at it. 

And it was a success. He LOVED this game. I finally found a video game he was interested in. According to my trophy information, I started playing this game approximately ten days ago. He's played the game virtually every day since I downloaded the game. Sometimes, he spends hours at a time playing it. While it may not be a good idea to let your kid play games all day, I could see that it gave him something unique and special to focus on. I've never seen him this deeply invested in something. Plus, his behavior both at home and at school has improved since playing this game. I've noticed his hand eye coordination improving, too. It takes a lot of skill to use the controller to manipulate the goose and drag stuff around the world of the game. See, video games aren't all bad, despite what my parents seemed to believe when I was a kid.

It's been his big introduction to video games, and it has finally gotten him interested in playing them. Since starting this game, he's also sunk some time into the Bluey game (which I tried to show him a few months ago and he didn't care about it). He's beaten that game twice now. He also been spending a lot of time with the Ice Age game for PS4, which he has also beaten.

But enough of this. Let's talk about the game.




Story:

This game doesn't have much of a story. You play as a goose, who wakes up in the bushes after taking a snooze. You walk into a nearby area where there is a man tending his garden. A checklist appears of things that you must do before you can open up the next area. The checklist includes things like "steal the gardener's keys" or "throw the rake in the water." Once you complete all the tasks, you move onto the next area, with its own unique check list. There is no explanation of why you need to do these things, or who is assigning you these lists. You're just doing them because you're a goose that likes to cause trouble.

So yeah. The game does not have much of a story at all. It's just moving from area to area and completing these tasks. There are no cutscenes. No story sequences. Nada. I supposed you can make up names and back stories for the characters in the game. The characters and their personalities are a massive part of the game. The farmer, the nerdy kid, the shop keeper, the bickering neighbors, the doorman at the restaurant, etc. Even though the game has no plot or story sequences, you can't say it doesn't tell a story by painting a small portrait of this little village and its citizens, and the goose that is tormenting them.




Gameplay:

This game is very easy to pick up and play. If my five year old can do it, anyone can. The game takes place from an isometric view. It is a full 3D environment. You use the left stick to move your goose. There's a run button. A button to quack. A button to flap your wings. A button to duck your head to the ground. Standard goose things. You can grab things with your beak with the circle button. You know an item can be grabbed if some squiggly white lines appear above it when you are nearby. This is mainly what you are going to be doing in this game: grabbing things.

Right off the bat, you are going to notice the check list of things to do. One of the things is "get the farmer wet." You have many ways of doing this. One of these ways is by grabbing and twisting the sprinkler nozzle when he's nearby. This gets him drenched, and sends him running towards the sprinkler nozzle to shut it off. This is probably how most people get access to his garden. He flings the gate open to run out, and then he never closes it again. So now you can walk in. Another way to get him wet is to take something from his garden and drag it into the water. He'll chase after you to get it back. This gets him wet, and will check the item off your list if you didn't already get him wet with the sprinkler.

This game is all about having fun and causing trouble. You have two ways of doing things: working on the check list or just messing around and seeing how the various characters react to your antics. Let's say you want to work on the check list. In the first area, you can start grabbing various items on a list and dragging them back to a picnic area to complete a task off your check list. Drag the rake back to the river and drop it in so you can cross another item off your check list. You can sneak up to the farmer when he is bent over tending the garden, and you can take his keys. Another item off the list.

If you aren't interested in completing the list, just cause chaos and see what happens. Cause some havoc in the garden, ripping up carrots and pumpkins and flowers. You can pull his gardening equipment all over the place and make him pick it up. You can turn on his sprinkler. You can lock him out of the garden. You can make him fall down and snatch the hat right off his head. There is so much opportunity for chaos. And it is like that in all the areas of the game. And the good thing about the game is that you can't "lose" or "die." The worst the NPCs will do is chase you off for a few seconds. Then they go back to business as usual. 

I had a really fun time playing through this game. I did not expect to like it as much as I did. My kid really liked it too. He would laugh hysterically and bounce up and down watching me play. And it wasn't long before he picked up the controller and dipped his toes into the waters of video gaming himself. Very quickly, he understood the game mechanics and the controls. Like I said, if he can pick this game up and play it, anyone can.

If I had to make any kind of criticism, it would be that the game is short. It took us a few days to beat it, but that was because we were taking our time and not playing super seriously. If I had sat down and dedicated myself to beating it, I could have done it in one or two sittings. My other criticism is that some of the tasks are really obscure to figure out. There were a few I had to look up online, like how to get on TV, or how to put on the red bowtie. I mean, the answers seem easy in retrospect, but I remember looking around for a super long time and not being able to figure them out. 

The main thing I'd like to praise about the game: the physics. This may sound silly, but they really nailed the physics of this game world. When you drag heavy objects, it feels real. When you drop things and they fall to the ground, it feels real. When you walk across uneven surfaces, it feels real. It's just so fun to pick things up and walk around and play with them. You can just ignore the check lists and normal game progression and spend hours dicking around. That's a giant part of what made this such a great introduction to video games for my five year old.

Last but not least, I'd like to praise the multiplayer option. You can have two players playing simultaneously, each one as a different goose. It's still the exact same game, but now you have two geese on the screen instead of one. The two player mode really put the game over the top for me. Watching each other play is fun, but my son and I being able to play with each other at the exact same time was amazing. We spent so many hours playing this multiplayer version. Walking around, quacking at people, causing chaos in general. My kid's favorite mischievous activity is using the loud bell to scare the man reading the newspaper. He thinks it is so hilarious. He also likes to mess with the lady in the restaurant. Stealing items, hiding under the tables, breaking glasses, turning on the water faucet, uncorking the barrel, making her chase him all over the place.

After completing the game, my son's main goal shifted to dragging every item in the game and putting it under the bridge leading to the mini village. Why? Because he liked all the question marks. 

And that's one of the many reasons this game is so good. You don't have to be an expert gamer. You don't have to focus on beating the game. You can focus on anything you want. Causing chaos, rearranging all the items, messing with the NPCs, anything. There are so many different ways to have fun in this game, and none of them are wrong.




Graphics:

This game has a very simplistic look to it. And that's a good thing. I have a feeling this game is going to age very well. It has that timeless look and feel to it. It is very minimalist. Not much "fine detail" put into things. The characters have no outstanding facial features, for example. It feels almost cell-shaded like The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (but not quite as good looking). The animation is smooth and natural. Small things like walking through the tall grass or cruising along the top of the water really makes you feel like a part of the game's world. The village itself has a very quaint and welcoming feel to it.

You don't really play a game like this to be blown away by its graphics, but I have to say that the minimalist look and feel of the game really suits it well. Can you imagine if they tried to make this game realistic and you were controlling a CGI goose the whole time? And the villagers looked like Shenmue characters? It would probably look terrifying. This type of graphical style will hold charm forever.




Sound:

The game's sound design is minimalist as well. And it is perfect. Most of the time you play through the game in silence. Occasionally you will hear some light and whimsical music playing as you get up to no good. The characters don't talk. All their actions are either pantomimed or portrayed through speech bubbles above their head that contain only images and not words.

The sound effects are good, too. Gotta love the quacking, particularly when you are playing with two players. The second goose has a quack that sounds like he's saying "beck!" and my kid and I like to imitate the noise when we are playing. Beck, beck, beck! There's not really much else to say here, so we'll move on.




Overall:

What a pleasant surprise this was. I had a really great time with this game. And it wasn't just because it was a blast watching my son finally become invested in a game after years of trying. I think I would have liked this even if he didn't. But of course, him liking it so much and wanting to play it with me all the time just puts the icing on the cake.

If the game even sounds remotely interesting to you, you should check it out. Particularly if you have a young child. It was my son's perfect introduction to gaming, in addition to being a damn fine game on top of that. 


THE GRADE:
A


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Saturday, November 8, 2025

Video Game Review #596: Hook

Hook
Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis,
Sega CD


Before playing:

Dangeeksout history is being made here: I played through three different versions of the same game and I'm now rolling them together into one big review. Unprecedented times we live in! All jokes aside, I didn't think it made sense to review these games individually when they are all essentially the same thing. Sure, they have some cosmetic differences, which we'll get to in this review, but at its core, all three versions of the game still have the same exact gameplay and the same exact level design.

Before we get too far into the review, I'll give you a little backstory on my history with the game. I knew this game existed when I was a kid, but for some reason my local video stores didn't have it in stock, so I never ended up renting it. If I had heard from friends at school that the game was awesome, I probably would have found a way to get my hands on it. But I heard literally nothing about the game. Complete crickets. No one ever talked about or mentioned the video game version of Hook. I don't even remember reading about it in the video game magazines I was always so glued to back then. As a result, my assumption was that the game wasn't very good. I moved on with my life, never bothering to seek out the game.

Hook came out for home consoles in 1992 on the SNES and 1993 on the Genesis and Sega CD. I would have been about 11 years old at the time. I am just now playing it in 2025 at the age of 43. If you aren't good at math, that's a 32ish year gap between the game coming out and me playing it for the first time. Why now? I have been hearing a lot of things online lately about how this is an underrated gem, so I decided to take the plunge and check it out. I like the Hook movie. I like 2D platformers. I like retro gaming. Why not give it a shot?

So here we are. Let's dive in.




Story:

This game follows the same loose plot as the movie. Peter Pan is called back to Neverland to fight Captain Hook, when his children are taken by the evil pirate. The first level of the game, Peter trains with the Lost Boys as he learns how to fight and to fly. The rest of the game has you making your way towards the bay where Captain Hook's ship is docked. 

Your progress is shown on an overhead map that is displayed in between stages. Each stage you pass, you move one space forward on the map. Although there is a map, there is no backtracking; you move through the stages in a linear progression. There are 11 in total. When you make it to the end of the game, you fight Hook (twice) and rescue your children. There's a quick cutscene and the game ends.

The game's story sequences are a bit slow. The intro of the game drags on forever. I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could just play the darn game already. I do enjoy the faithfulness of the game to the movie, and how the game recreates the world and the magical feel of Hook pretty well. There is a part at the end of the game where the fat kid (Thud) rolls into a ball and knocks down all the enemies right before the final boss. This allows you to pick up all the power ups they left behind so you can come into the battle with Hook at full strength. I thought that was pretty cool.

What are the differences between the versions as far as story goes? Not much. The Sega CD has voice acting during the introduction. There are also some REALLY grainy cutscenes interspersed randomly throughout the game that only last for about 5 seconds. You can barely even tell what is happening in most of these scenes. But aside from these differences, the story is pretty much exactly the same across all three versions of the game.




Gameplay:

This is a fairly standard 2D platformer. I've reviewed the game Skyblazer before, and prior to playing this game, I had heard comparisons made between the two titles. Indeed, I found there to be a lot of similarities. I mean, both games were made by the same team, so this makes sense.

Generally, you start on the left side of the stage and you have to make your way forward to the right. You slash enemies with your sword, you jump, you pick up fairy powder which allows you to fly for a short period of time. Eventually you get to the end of the stage, where you will often (but not always) fight a boss character. 

The first stage, the training stage, you battle Rufio as the boss character. Other bosses you encounter are random Captain Hook cronies, including a skeleton guy who takes off his own head and throws it at you. There's another guy driving a big Robotnik-like flying machine. I don't remember any of them from the movie, but okay. The final battle of the game involves not one, but two boss fights against Captain Hook. For the most part, I enjoyed these boss fights. They all have a simple mechanic or exploit that you must recognize before you can beat them. Once you figure this exploit out, the boss becomes super easy.

The game itself is challenging, but not too overly hard. Every time you make it to a new "screen", you restart there if you die. So you don't have to do the whole level over again. You do have to begin at the start of a level if you run out of lives and have to continue. But that's okay. The stages aren't too terribly long. And the game has unlimited continues, so you can just trial and error your way through everything fairly easily.

There is a bit of a difficulty spike towards the end of the game. There are enemies that fire at you with guns, and their accuracy is startling. Most of the time they are up on ledges or areas that you have to fly to. Your character is very slow in this game, so enemies can often get off multiple shots at you as you make your way towards them. It's almost a miracle if you don't take damage during some of these segments. They are so freaking difficult, especially with their accuracy and their rate of fire. There is knockback/recovery time in this game, so you can't just charge at them, take one hit of damage, and then just kill them easily. You'll often take multiple hits from the same character.

To make things worse, the game often tosses multiple gun shooting characters on the screen at the same time. There is one part where you have to fight about five of them while flying upwards through a narrow chamber. I unashamedly used save states to get my way through this area. There's another area shortly after that has several gun shooting characters AND a boomerang-knife throwing character all bunched up together. It's insanity. Even with save states, I struggled.

And then there is another area where you have to fly through a tight corridor lined with spikes. But your flying power doesn't last long enough to get you through here, so it is inevitable that you are going to take some damage. You essentially have to come into this area with full health, and then make your way through it pixel-perfect to even have a chance at getting through. It sucks.

Aside from this nightmarish fifteen minutes or so of gameplay, the rest of the game is a blast to play. I try to not let this affect my overall thoughts on the game. All in all, I think this was a lot of fun, across all three versions of the game. I'm not going to talk about the differences in gameplay across these three consoles, because I don't think there really is any? It was identical from my experience. There may be some minute differences, but I sure didn't notice them.


SNES:

Genesis:


Graphics:

The graphical quality between the games is the first obvious, glaring difference between the titles. I played the SNES version first. This is easily the best looking version of the game. It's got bright colors, vibrant backgrounds, some very nice sprite work. It is like a cartoon version of the movie. It's great.

I played the Sega CD version next. Immediately, you notice the downgrade. Peter himself looks more muted and yellow than green and vibrant. The levels are more dreary. Everything feels less cartoony and alive than the SNES game. It doesn't necessarily look bad, especially if you have never played the SNES version and have no basis for comparison. But it is clearly inferior.

I played the Genesis version last. Woof, this one was the worst looking. Admittedly, I didn't take notes, so I can't really break down exactly how this is different from the Sega CD version. It just feels flatter. It's not as well animated. The colors are flat out bad in certain spots. I remember thinking "this looks like an NES game" on multiple occasions. Again, the game doesn't look necessarily bad, especially if this is the only version of it you've played. But there is a LOT of room for improvement here.




Sound:

The sound is the second most glaring difference between the versions of games. The Sega CD version clearly sounds the best. The music is pulled right from the movie. The sweeping orchestral music really gets you pumped up and in the mood to play the game. Normally, I don't care much about music in games. But here? It makes so much difference. The SNES and Genesis games have cheesy, generic music that only somewhat resembles the music from the film. But the Sega CD version's soundtrack is a work of art.

For this reason alone, if I ever come back and play this game again, it is going to be the Sega CD version. Normally, I'd take the prettier graphics over the better music, but it can't be understated how much of a difference the music makes here. Oh, this version has voice acting, too! 




Overall:

I enjoyed this game in all of its iterations. The gameplay is the same across all three games. The only difference is in the presentation of the games.

The SNES version has the best graphics. The Sega CD version has the best music. The Genesis version is kind of the worst of both worlds. So if there is a hierarchy here, the Genesis version is clearly at the bottom. That said, the gameplay for all these games is identical, so I am giving all of them the same review score. That's what we're here for, right? The gameplay. I always harp in my reviews how graphics and music don't matter. It's whether the game is fun to play or not.

Hook puts this theory to the absolute test. I am soooo tempted to give the Genesis game a lower review score. But I am going to stand my ground and stick to my opinion. Gameplay is king. As far as gameplay goes, these games are all the same. They are equally fun to play, so they deserve the same grade. That doesn't mean I wouldn't pick one version of this game over the others (because like I said, if I were to play through these games again, I'd pick the Sega CD version). But that's more of a personal preference.

If you were alive during the 90s and missed out on Hook like I did, you should probably go out and play this game. It is pretty good. If you are younger and are interested in fun, classic platformers to play, you should check this out. If you're a Hook fan in general (I think it's a very underrated movie), you should check this out.

I feel like I've been glazing this game all review long, so I am a little surprised to find myself giving it only a B and not a B+ or a score in the A range. Why did I grade it so "low?" I just think there are better games out there. That's all there really is to it. Nothing against Hook, because I do like this game. But comparatively speaking, a B sounds about right. I'm not super gung ho about the game. I'm not all like "play this now!! It's fantastic!!" I'm more like: "you should check this out. It's pretty good." That tiny little bit of enthusiasm keeps it from being a truly upper tier game in my opinion.



THE GRADE:
B


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