Game Review: Broforce

                            The image above belongs to its respective owner, not me

Hello Enthusiasts,

Today I am reviewing one of the most American games I have ever played. Today, I will be reviewing 8-bit side-scrolling shooter Broforce. If you don't want to hit any Spoilers regarding the themes and enemies through the game, I would just skip to the last paragraph.

This game stars many of your favorite action heroes from the 80's and 90's, all of whom are given a "bro" name ( Robocop is Brobocop, Ellen Ripley is Brolen Ripley, etc). Each Bro has unique attacks and abilities as well, so learning who does what is essential. You play as these various Bros to take care of various threats, which include terrorists, Aliens for the Alien franchise, and creatures from hell. This all leads up to a showdown with Satan himself.

There are a lot of positives to this game. It gets difficult as you go through, the mayhem is perfect for this type of game, and there are enough changes as you go through to keep it from ever getting boring. I love so many of the small details that are included in this game too. If you're playing multiplayer you can high five the other bro to slow down time, if you melee kill an enemy with Predator he'll skin them and tie them to the roof (if there is one), and your bros can dig through the ground or walls to change your approach to a situation. The game includes an ironman mode as well, where you have all of the bros, but each bro only has one life, and you have to get through the whole game on that. I haven't tried that mode yet, and I don't know if I'll ever be up to that challenge. The game is a wonderful satire of action movies and it's obvious that the creators knew their material, as well as their audience.

The downsides come in here when it comes to performance, though not as a blanket statement. Most of the time you won't have any issues, but the game is gonna slow down a lot if you're playing online or have more than two players at once. You will also be plagued with some longer loading times as you go through the campaign, even if you're playing alone. Your gameplay won't be slowed down, but it'll take you some time to get the level started.

Overall, Broforce is a lot of fun in a pretty cheap package. It may not look like much from a trailer or a still image, but it is better than you'll expect. If there's one game that truly pays respects to an entire genre of over-the-top action movies, it's this one. It's obvious that the creators of this game know and love the films that this game is based off of, and I really hope we get a sequel or expansion. If you own a PS4 or a PC and haven't tried this game, you're missing out.

I give Broforce a 9 out of 10.

Sincerely,

The Bored Enthusiast 

TV Review: Castlevania

                             The image above belongs to its respective owner, not me

Hello Enthusiasts,

Today I am going to be reviewing the new Netflix animated series, Castlevania. As always, there will be Spoilers Below. 

This show follows Trevor Belmont, the last member of the Belmont family. The Belmonts, by this point, had been excommunicated from the church and are generally disliked across the land due to their dealings with the supernatural. And when Dracula unleashes an army of demons on the country for revenge on the people who burned his wife at the stake, many blame those who are not in good favor with the church (the irony being that the church burned his wife for "witchcraft"). Now, Trevor Belmont will need to work to destroy Dracula and stop the terror being unleashed on the people.

So the show has several things going for it. I really liked the animation, it was fast and set a perfect atmosphere for this type of show. The use of shadows is flawless and it does not shy away from gore at all. The designs of the demons are simple, but they are done well. A lot of the designs and concepts are taken directly from the NES game of the same name, including Dracula's castle. Basically, this show knocks it out of the park when it comes to the animation, themes, and designs. The dialogue can be a little repetitive as a lot of people say the same things to Trevor and he usually has the same responses, but never feels forced.

Where the show ends up lacking is its pacing and length. We don't really meet Trevor until the second episode, we are fully introduced to both of his companions in the fight against Dracula in the forth episode, and season one is only four episoded long. It literally ends with Trevor's second companion (not giving that away here) agreeing to join him in his fight. And it's not like each episode is long like a season of Sherlock or something, this is a four episode season where each episode is 30 minutes in length. I wasn't genuinely interested until episode three, so I essentially got two episodes of a good show here. Having the first two episodes be a slow build up is fine if there are fifteen or twenty episodes, but not when you're starting out with just four.

Overall, I would say this show is worth your time to watch, especially consodering that you'll only need to invest two hours to finish the season. Luckily this show has been given the greenlight for a scond season, because I like where it was going. If you haven't seen it when the new season is close to release, maybe wait until that's out to binge the whole thing, but I am glad I saw what little there is now.

I give Netflix's Castlevania a 7.5 out of 10.

Sincerely,

The Bored Enthusiast