Tag: Wizard Awards

Hey Hey! It’s November!

Somehow… Palpatine returned.

And somehow… it’s November.

In a year that at once seems to simultaneously be zooming by and trudging through its own eternity, we are reaching the endgame of 2020. Here’s hoping 2021 will be merciful.

Thank the maker such a dreadful year is almost over, though I have to admit, not everything in 2020 has been bad. Just mostly bad. Very, very mostly.

Still, let’s try to look at the positives: Jim Carrey’s portrayal of Dr. Robotnik was fun. Onward was another jewel in Pixar’s crown. Crash Bandicoot 4 was a great return to form for its series. The new season of the Mandalorian is off to a good start. And Animal Crossing: New Horizons exists.

See, not all has been bad in 2020.

Anyways, my apologies that October was such a slow month here at the Dojo. In fact, in terms of the number of posts I made, October 2020 had the fewest posts (four) for a single month in this site’s nearly six-year history. Though in all fairness, three of those four were decently lengthy, relatively speaking. Apologies also go to me once again failing to write a proper Halloween post this year (though I did do something for the occasion by finally writing my review of Luigi’s Mansion 3. And it only took a year to the day of its release!). I’ve been meaning to make revised versions of my past Halloween-based top five lists (particularly “Top 5 Video Game Skeletons” because why the hell did I include Scorpion on there when I hate Mortal Kombat?). Hopefully next October I (and everyone else) will be feeling more Halloween-y.

2020 has been hard on everyone, and I’m no exception. October had me feeling pretty low, so I wasn’t feeling particularly creative and needed something of a break. But I’m feeling somewhat better now and I have more than a few things in store in the coming months.

It felt great to finally knock that Luigi’s Mansion 3 review off of my to do list, so I’ll hopefully get around to my other oft-delayed reviews soon, such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Paper Mario: The Origami King *Groan* and Return of the Jedi. Additionally, with the end of the year approaching, I should be doing my “Best of 2020” awards in the not-too-distant future. Talking of which, yes, I actually do plan on writing something of a Favorite Films of 2019 list sometime soon (because what better time to name your favorite things of a certain year than November of the following year?). Because it’s taking me so long to get around to it, and due to my general indecisiveness on the subject, I may just make a shortlist of favorites as opposed to a top 10 countdown or something.

But that’s not all, folks!

Something I’ve wanted to do since the tail-end of 2019 was to make some “Best of the Decade (2010s)” lists. And yeah, I get it, I’ll be at least a year late in writing such things after everyone else. But I guess I’ll just emphasize “Best of the 2010s” in their titles as opposed to “Best of the Decade.”I don’t know how many such lists I’ll make, but I at least want to make one for my favorite films, video games, and video game soundtracks of the 2010s. Maybe more, but it’s already taken this long so we’ll have to wait and see.

I should also be reaching two big milestones with this site soon, as I’m approaching my 400th video game review and, well before that, my 1000th total blog on this site! Well, it will probably be more like my 1,005th or 1,006th, but I removed a small handful of the posts from this site’s early days (they were crap), so they don’t count. You could call it quality control, though I don’t know if anything I write would suggest any semblance of quality. So yeah, my 1,000th blog will be happening in not too long. Who knows, depending on how productive November and December are for this site, I may combine my 1,000th post with this year’s Christmas Special (that’s not a promise though).

Coinciding with said 1,000th blog, I plan to make some changes to the site as well. What those changes entail entirely, I don’t know yet. I don’t think I’ll be revising my rating system again or anything, but I may revise some of my past reviews. Going to try to stop with the flip-flopping, go over everything and make them more definitive. I mean, WordPress itself has recently changed (you can tell I still haven’t gotten the hang of things with the size and placements of pictures and gifs in my recent posts), so why don’t I? Not that WordPress’s changes have influenced this decision, that’s all on the “1,000 blogs seems like a good place for a fresh start” thing.

Anyway, if you, for whatever reason, get some kind of jolly from my writing, I hope you look forward to that stuff. And I promise I didn’t just write this post due to my lack of content in October and as a thinly-veiled means to get closer to the aforementioned 1,000th post with some filler.

Have a good November. Stay safe, and wear a mask!

Advertisement

Movie Awards 2020: The Inaugural “Dora” Award

Now that I’ve (finally) finished my annual video game awards, I figured it’s time to get to celebrating the movies of 2019. Now, I’m not sure if I’ll do a full list of categories like I did for video games this time around, but I definitely will do a top 10 list of my favorite films of 2019. There was, however, at least one other award I wanted to dish out this year (I may still do others, but it’s already April so we’re really grasping here).

This “Dora” award will go to a movie released in a given year that, by all rights, should have sucked, but didn’t. All marketing and expectations point towards a particular movie being, well, terrible. But against all odds, it didn’t.

Given that I’m calling this award “The Dora Award” it should be obvious what the inaugural recipient is…

 

Winner: Dora and the Lost City of Gold

 

Dora and the Lost City of Gold should have sucked. It’s a live-action movie based on an educational cartoon aimed at small children! It’s Dora the Explorer!

But, lo’ and behold, it was a good movie. I mean, it’s not great or anything, but Dora and the Lost City of Gold is better than a live-action Dora the Explorer movie has any right to be.

It’s a fun movie for young audiences, and features just the right amount of self-awareness and smarminess that it should prove to be an entertaining time for some older crowds as well.

Normally, I hate to hear the words “I liked X-thing because it didn’t take itself seriously” (God forbid a movie cares about the story it’s telling). But Dora and the Lost City of Gold is the exception where the very nature of the movie couldn’t be taken seriously. So when the initial trailer showed up and seemed as though this movie wanted to be seen as a legitimate Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider Lite, it didn’t exactly win anyone over to the concept of live-action Dora the Explorer (myself included).

I only ended up seeing the movie because I got to see it for free, but I was pleasantly surprised. Again, it may not be anything special, but Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a good movie. It’s silly, lighthearted fun. And while it acknowledges the innate ridiculousness of itself, Dora and the Lost City of Gold never feels so tongue-in-cheek as though it’s talking down to its source material or its young fanbase.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold – against all expectations and reason – was a fun movie. Who knew?

2020 Video Game Awards

Here you can find all of my 2020 video game awards (celebrating the best of 2019) in one convenient place.

First, the Introduction

And the awards themselves.

Best Sound

Best Music

Best Visuals

Biggest Surprise

Best Remake/Re-release

Best Content

Best Gameplay

Best Indie Game

Best Multiplayer

Best Handheld Game

Best Platform

And of course, Game of the Year.

Top 5 Video Games of 2019 (Game of the Year)

And now, here we are, the big one. Game of the Year!

2019 was a pretty strong year for video games. Not quite as strong as 2018 or 2017, admittedly, but it had its share of highlights.

Let’s skip the fanfare and get right to the meat of things. These are my top 5 video games of 2019!

 

Continue reading “Top 5 Video Games of 2019 (Game of the Year)”

Video Game Awards 2020: Best Platform

Now’s the time when we take a break from awarding the games themselves, and instead award the platforms we play them on. Or at least, award one of them as the most consistent of the year.

Part of me doesn’t want to do this, as I don’t want to feel I’m fanning the flames of any console wars, which are dumb and in actuality non-existent (fanboys just like to pretend it’s a thing). But at the same time, I’d feel bad about not acknowledging the merits of a console in a given year. So here we are.

 

Winner: Nintendo Switch

I admit 2019 wasn’t the Switch’s best overall year, but with the likes of Luigi’s Mansion 3, Yoshi’s Crafted World, and even *begrudging groan* Pokemon Sword and Shield, it was definitely the place to go for exclusives. Couple that with the seemingly endless barrage of indie titles and classics that are always making their way on the platform, and the Switch’s continued strong third-party support, and the Nintendo Switch had another strong year, even if it didn’t have a Mario Odyssey or Smash Ultimate equivalent.

Playstation 4 also had another strong year, but I think, if I had to pick, 2019 leaned a little more in the Switch’s favor.

 

Runner-up: Playstation 4

 

Past Winners

2014: Wii U*

2015: Playstation 4*

2016: Playstation 4

2017: Nintendo Switch

2018: Playstation 4

 

*Retroactively awarded.

Video Game Awards 2020: Best Handheld Game

Handheld gaming has come a long way. Once a simple means to get a quick fix of gaming on the go, that convenience came at the expense of quality. But over the years, as gaming evolved, so to did handheld gaming, with the GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS notably taking it to new heights and success.

Now, handheld games are largely indistinguishable from console and PC titles (aside from graphics). And most notably, the Nintendo Switch has completely bridged the gap between home console and handheld. By merging the two concepts together, Nintendo has created a hybrid console that stands as one of the best of all time.

Because handheld gaming has changed so drastically in recent years, I’d like to once again stress that, as long as traditional handheld platforms are still (somewhat) prominent, I am only including games released on said traditional handhelds and Switch exclusives. If a game is released on Switch, but also available on other, non-handheld hybrid consoles, it seems a bit unfair to refer to them as “handheld games.” So even though the Switch is a home console, its duel status as a handheld makes its exclusive titles eligible for this award. Ya dig?

 

Winner: Luigi’s Mansion 3

Yeah, I know Pokemon Sword and Shield was Nintendo’s big seller and most anticipated Switch title of 2019. But I don’t know, am I the only one who found them to be way too padded out? And to be honest, Pokemon – ironically enough – is the Nintendo series that seems to refuse to evolve.

That wasn’t the case with Luigi’s Mansion 3, however. Taking the atmosphere of the GameCube original and combining it with the more level-based structure of the 3DS sequel, Luigi’s Mansion 3 surpassed both of its predecessors with a game that’s consistently fun and inventive.

The Ghostbusters-inspired action of the series has never been so deep as it is here, and with the game absolutely exploding with personality, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is one of the unsung heroes of the Nintendo Switch.

 

Runner-up: Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr’s Journey

 

Past Winners

2014: Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

2015: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D

2016: Kirby Planet Robobot

2017: Super Mario Odyssey*

2018: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

 

*Retroactively awarded after deciding Switch exclusives should qualify for this award.

Video Game Awards 2020: Best Multiplayer

Multiplayer has never been more important nor prominent in video games than it is today. With the internet connecting players from around the world, more and more developers are putting an emphasis on multiplayer.

Sometimes, we wish to play video games to take us on epic adventures, but other times, we only want to connect with friends (or random strangers) and have some fun.

2019 may not have been the strongest year for multiplayer titles, but it still provided some good ones. Strangely, my favorite of the lot wasn’t originally from 2019 at all…

 

Winner: Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled

Back in its day, Crash Team Racing was – along with Diddy Kong Racing – hailed as one of the only Mario Kart clones to actually be as good as Mario Kart (considering the most recent Mario Kart at the time was Mario Kart 64, there’s an argument to be made that, in that era, CTR was actually the better racer). Though Mario has since unquestionably wrested that crown – due in no small part to the exceptional Mario Kart 8 – the remake of Crash Team Racing still proves to be one of the best mascot racers not called Mario.

Though its single player modes can leave a lot to be desired (there is seriously no reason for the time trials in a game like this to be that precise!),  Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is all too easy to get sucked into when it comes to its multiplayer. With great track designs, a constantly expanding roster of characters, character skins, and karts, and a bevy of different modes of play, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is like a gift that keeps on giving.

Not bad for a remake of a game from the PS1 era.

 

Runner-up: Luigi’s Mansion 3

 

Past Winners

2014: Mario Kart 8 (Online) and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (local)

2015: Splatoon

2016: Overwatch

2017: For Honor* (Online) and ARMS (Local)

2018: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

 

*Retroactively awarded

Video Game Awards 2020: Best Indie Game

Now more than ever, Indie games are as vital to the gaming world as any other release. No longer relegated to being the pretentious, artsy corner of the gaming landscape, Indie titles now showcase all the variety and fun that their bigger budget counterparts do. Gaming is all the better for it.

Admittedly, 2019 wasn’t the best year for Indie games, and notable fell short of the string of strong years that predated it. Still, the little guys still managed to put up a good fight, and provided what I guess can best be described as my most “unique” selection for Best Indie Game of the year so far…

 

Winner: Untitled Goose Game

While Untitled Goose Game may lack the depth of some of my previous winners in this category, it makes up for it with its undeniable charm and sense of humor.

This breezy, wonderfully casual experience sees players take on the role of the Goose, who is out to have a productive day and completing his daily checklist of chores. Because he’s a goose, that means these chores are comprised of different ways to be a jerk to unsuspecting people.

Taking inspiration from Super Mario 64, Untitled Goose Game has the player tackling miniature areas (the game’s levels) and completing that area’s tasks as they see fit. Only instead of collecting stars like good ol’ Mario, the Goose’s only goal is to mess with the humans around them. Whether it’s moving a chair just as an old man is about to sit down, scaring a kid to lock himself in a phone booth, or stealing some dude’s flip-flops, the Goose’s tasks are always fun and funny.

It may not be the next Shovel Knight or Undertale, but not every Indie game has to be a classic like those games to be enjoyed. Sometimes, the good, simple fun of video games is all you need. And if Untitled Goose Game doesn’t put a smile on your face, you must have a heart of stone.

 

Runner-up: Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove

 

Past Winners

2014: Shovel Knight*

2015: Undertale

2016: Stardew Valley

2017: Hollow Knight**

2018: Celeste

 

*This particular award wasn’t given for 2014, but upon  reflection, Shovel Knight was the clear winner that year.

**I originally awarded Cuphead with the honor, but upon further consideration, Hollow Knight is probably the more deserving of the two.

Video Game Awards 2020: Best Gameplay

Gameplay is the lifeblood of video games. I mean, just think about what video games would be like without gameplay. They’d be really awkward movies, I guess.

Even if all else fails in a game, it’s the gameplay that can ultimately save it. Gameplay is the connection between developer and player that separates the medium from all others. It is of the utmost importance to game design.

Winner: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Okay, so Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night isn’t going to get any awards for originality in gameplay, as it is virtually a spiritual recreation of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with a little Aria of Sorrow thrown in for good measure. To Bloodstained’s benefit, however, Symphony of the Night remains one of the best games ever made, and Aria of Sorrow comes a bit closer to SotN’s quality than many admit.

Basically, we have a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Though many other Kickstarter-funded spiritual sequels came and went, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was the one that went all out and recreated the intricate gameplay and sharp level design of the game that inspired it.

Yeah, it might be “more” of the SotN-style Castlevania gameplay, but in a gaming landscape that’s grossly starved of such gaming greatness, Bloodstained is something of a godsend.

 

Runner-up: Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

 

Past Winners

2014: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

2015: Bloodborne*

2016: Dark Souls 3*

2017: Super Mario Odyssey

2018: Marvel’s Spider-Man (PS4)

 

*Retroactively awarded after further consideration.

Video Game Awards 2020: Best Content

It seems like every game today wants to throw everything and the kitchen sink at the player. Games have become so big, that they seem hellbent on adding as much content as possible as if daring themselves to see how big they can get.

This has had a notable negative effect, admittedly, with some games feeling more bloated than they should (do I need to bring up the Guarma section of Red Dead Redemption 2 again? It’s because of that chapter alone I scored the game an 8 instead of a 9). But the quest for content has also done good as well, particularly when it comes to titles with player interaction with one another. Which brings me to this year’s winner…

 

Winner: Super Mario Maker 2

Go ahead and call this cheating, but are you really going to argue with a game that provides infinite Mario levels?

No, not every one is going to make a great Mario level, and there are far too many undesirables out there making flat-out trolling stages. But there’s still so much good to be had, and so many players rethinking how Mario levels are played, that Super Mario Maker 2 truly is an endless toy box of fun. There are already more Mario levels than you could ever play in the game, and the number just keeps going up every day.

Mario gameplay is simply at the peak of gaming, so while other game-creation games may be more fun to build than to play, the fact that Super Mario Maker 2 has the timeless gameplay of classics to fall back on means it’s just as much fun to play stages as it is to build them. And the addition of Super Mario 3D World elements is icing on the cake.

Of course not every player-created level will be a winner, but that’s a small price to pay for infinite Mario levels.

 

Runner-up: Crash Team Racing Nitro-Feuled

 

Past Winners

2014: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

2015: Super Mario Maker

2016: Overwatch

2017: Super Mario Odyssey

2018: Red Dead Redemption 2