Phil Villarreal's Blog, page 61

"MLB The Show 20" Review

Of all the traditions that launch a new baseball season, booting up the new "MLB The Show" game is maybe the one that induces the most chills. It's a way to peak through the blinders of Spring Training into the season, with freshly stacked rosters beckoning hope to even the lowliest of teams.

If "MLB The Show 20" were an MLB team, it would be the Dodgers -- stacked with a ludicrous amount of talent and ability, albeit with a few questions of whether it will all pull together as a cohesive whole.

Like all annual sports releases, the wear and tear of the long season will be the true test of the title's mettle -- with on-the-fly updates and server integrity needed to prove its worth as an evolving service. It's hard to ask for a more promising leadoff showing, though.

The 15th edition of the game, and final PlayStation exclusive edition before it goes multiplatform next year, continues the franchise's confident dominance on the basepath.

Crisp visuals combine with surprisingly incisive and occasionally cruel commentary to make up a well-rounded presentation that matches the feel you get on broadcast and streaming. Animations are meticulous and convincing, but don't take away from the speed and urgency of the gameplay, which flows at a hectic, no-nonsense speed to which the real-life game can only aspire.

Nearly every legacy mode got a significant upgrade. Road to the Show, in which you play as a Minor Leaguer working your way up through the farm system, has more of an RPG feel.
Diamond Dynasty -- the game's answer to EA's fantasy, card-based team-building "Ultimate Team" obsession -- gets a more exhaustive range of players and a plethora of ways to tweak and upgrade your squad.

The most intriguing addition is March to October, in which you watch your team's progress from afar, stepping in at decisive moments to alter your team's fate.

Whether "MLB The Show 20" goes down as one of the greats or makes a promising start only to fade like so many Arizona Diamondbacks remains to be seen, but hope and excitement loom as large for the new game as it does for the season itself.

Publisher provided review code.

"Nioh 2" Review

Beating the likes of "Dark Souls" at its own game is no easy feat, but the "Nioh" games are more than up to the task. The PS4 exclusives deliver an ethereal though grounded style all their own, finding clever ways to spark excitement, satisfaction and even joy amid the hellish challenge.

"Nioh 2," the follow-up to the revered 2017 Souls-like adventure, gathers much of what the original such a standout, while branching out in refreshing and often daring ways.

The dev squad at Team Ninja delves into the 1555 Sengoku period of Japan, crafting a supernatural-tinged journey into the metaphysical.

As a half-human, half supernatural Yokai warrior, the burden falls on you to combat sinister forces by drawing on an otherworldly summon. By alternating between corporeal and beast form, you adapt to the offensive and defensive needs of the task at hand.

Opportunities to upgrade are numerous, but to thrive you need to take a calculated approach to strive toward the build you desire, adapting your skills and upgrades to a cohesive vision.

Haunting visuals couple with a subtly unnerving soundtrack to pitch a sense of dread over the proceedings. Veterans of Souls-style games, including "Bloodborne," will understand the basics, but will find plenty of surprises and wrinkles that make "Nioh 2" more of a trailblazer in the subgenre than a follower.

Raising its fist to the skies in defiance, "Nioh 2" is a brash and combustive. The game makes you work for every inch of progress, thrilling you all the while. Those who were obsessed with the first "Nioh" have hardly seen anything yet.

Publisher provided review code.

"Bloodroots" Review

Proudly wearing a Haggar the Horrible-like animation style on its ragged sleeves, "Bloodroots" is a wallop-packing action romp that thrives on an "Itchy & Scratchy"-style of exaggerated hyperviolence.

"Bloodroots" takes the Jackie Chan approached to combat. Scrounging for environmental items you can weaponize in combo-loaded melees, you ramble across the map in pursuit of creative implements.

Anything from vegetation to household goods can be picked up and wielded at surrounding opponents.

Playing as the vengeful  Mr. Wolf, you make your way through the Weird West, a dilapidated yet bubbly lawless outpost that serves as a stomping ground for your melees.

Developer Paper Cult infuses attitude and amplitude in its storytelling, crafting a riotous, anything-goes wonderland of fisticuffs.

Peppy writing and the entrancing visuals combine to conjure a captivating feel. Oozing with personality and outrageous humor, "Bloodroots" is an eclectic and energetic romp that never wears out its welcome. It's combustive and creative down to its very roots.

Publisher provided review code.

PHIL ON FILM: "Onward"

For my full review, click here.

Book Report: The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World

The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World by A.J. Baime
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The tale of the rise of Harry Truman is a uniquely American fable, and wouldn't be believable had it been written as fiction and not come to pass.

Truman's ascent from mediocrity to the role of the most powerful man in the free world is Arthurian in its serendipitous momentum. He was a middle-aged, broke businessman thrust into a lowly county office as a political pawn of a corrupt businessman.

That led to his being hand-picked as a patsy placeholder to run for Senate, where he caught the eye of party power players who maneuvered him into position as an afterthought vice president to FDR. After his sudden passing, Truman found himself in the driver's seat of America's World War II apparatus, which eventually tasked him with the impossible A-bomb decision that would forever define his legacy and set the course for the free world.

A.J. Baime tells Truman's story with a Dickensian spirit, making the reader feel as though they're breathlessly tagging along on an impossibly lucky journey through history.

Along the way, Truman shines as a saintly figure who maintains his relatability through self-deprecation. His calm confidence owes to his moral fortitude rather than any airs of greatness.

Tony Messano's narration in the Audible version strikes the appropriate tone, delivering a relentlessly upbeat and energetic take on the prose.

The book is a shining lesson of the pitfalls of elitism, and the trouble with underestimating someone perceived as common and unexceptional. What a world we live in, that a man like Harry Truman could start from the bottom and ascend to the most dizzying heights. And what a blessing for the Western world it was that he managed to handle the heady burdens which such collected wisdom and grace.

Publisher provided review copy.

View all my reviews

"MathLand" Review

"MathLand" is so earnest and straightforward that you can't help but look at it sideways. Is there something ironic going on here? Where is the twist?

You can stop squinting and searching. There is nothing more to "MathLand" than math itself. A purely educational experience, the game is a sneaky way to get kids -- as well as rusty adults, for that matter -- to drill and kill arithmetic until it becomes second nature.

The $6 download is a throwback to such elementary school computer lab classics as "Math Blaster." Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are all there to help you hone your skills as you make your way through isometric levels.

The slate of minigames tasks you to select correct answers, rewarding you for your speed and accuracy. Developer Artax Games could have gotten cute by instituting touch-screen number drawing in the vein of "Brain Age" or "Professor Layton," but the multiple-choice approach is the most clean and effective.

While lazy players can guess their way to success, the only sure path to victory is to memorize and apply number skills. That's life in "MathLand," as straightforward and methodical as can be.

Publisher provided review code.

"Yakuza Remastered Collection" Review

The release of "Yakuza Remastered Collection" is an excuse to dive into the core games of the sprawling Japanese gangland opus.

The anthology contains three previously released games, with a minor visual update and a few quality-of-life upgrades thrown in to freshen things up.

The third, fourth and fifth numbered entries of the franchise -- previously available only on the PS3 -- are included, each spinning a lengthy and sidequest-packed journey into the depths of the underworld. Beneath the hardboiled surface of each game bubbles a decidedly goofy and whimsical interior.

Minigames include rhythm-based button-tapping karaoke, exercise, dance and arcade pastimes. Those flourishes are more than just ways in which to blow off steam. They insinuate you into the characterization and culture of the society, immersing you into the sights and sounds of big city excess.

All the games run in 1080p and 60fps. Even more appealingly, they reduce some of the painful loading times and chugging prevalent in previous-gen games. A touched-up translation and addition of missing story moments from past games also makes the collection the most polished versions of the games to date.

You're best off taking on the games in order, due to the evolution in gameplay and storytelling that continued into the landmark 2016 release of "Yakuza 6."

Now the entire "Yakuza" storyline can be fully consumed on the PS4, completionists can finally put their PS3s to rest. This is the way the "Yakuza" games were meant to be appreciated.



Publisher provided review code.

PHIL ON FILM: 5 Shows to Binge in March 2020

For my full story, click here.

"Dreams" Review

The game-making genre has always aspired to the vision that anyone on their couch could bring their idea to life and use it to reach the masses. Drawbacks in technology, interface and scale have always stopped entries short of that ideal.

But now comes the staggeringly innovative "Dreams," a boundary-shattering delight that lives up to its name by venturing closer than anything that's come before to the long-sought ideal.

Developer Media Molecule expands on the Play/Create/Share philosophy it has built over the last 12 years in the "LittleBigPlanet" series, launching its ambition to stratospheric proportions. Using a tutorial thinly disguised as a campaign to roll out its myriad toolsets, the title makes you feel comfortable with manipulating the code it takes to construct just about any category you can envision.

It also takes a crucial step beyond that landmark by managing to make game creation appealing to those who may otherwise be disinterested. Theoretically, the release of "Dreams" could mark as a turning point for game development, demolishing class and social structures that have restrained the field's diversity and opening up the art form to the visions of the masses.

While only time will tell if "Dreams" ascends to such heights, it's already apparent that it's allowed current players to crank out a staggering amount of eye-poppingly brilliant creations. While later "LittleBigPlanet" games did allow the cleverest players to branch out into other fields, the series was always pretty much a platformer builder, with little more reach than "Mario Maker" games.

"Dreams," though, frees players from such shackles, granting and encouraging freedom of creative vision without any apparent impediments. Through ease of use and expertise in design, it achieves the paradigm sought for by the likes of "Project Spark."

When I started the game with my children, I marveled at the way my 13-year-old and 7-year-old jerked the controller out of my hands to indulge the ideas that were bursting out of their minds. There are few games that are capable of engaging all three of us at our varied levels of experiences, and fewer still that can make us feel equally empowered. The fact that "Dreams" accomplished the goal with ease is hardly short of miraculous.

When you play "Dreams," you get more than what you put into it. The power it grants you is intoxicating, and also just a gleeful. It makes children feel as capable of adults, and adults feel as unencumbered as children. To take the controller is to live the dream.

 Publisher provided review code.

PHIL ON FILM: "The Invisible Man"

For my full review, click here.