Phil Villarreal's Blog, page 88

PHIL ON FILM: "Miss Bala"

For my written review, click here.

Five shows to binge in February

For the full list, click here.

"Swords & Soldiers" Switch Review

Ten years after the indie sensation "Swords & Soldiers" debuted on the Wii, the game has blossomed into a franchise and now come full circle by reappearing on Nintendo's latest console.

The action side-scroller from Two Tribes Games tasks you to orchestrate the powers of four factions as they use their distinct skills and weapon sets to battle against the dark forces that stand in their way. Whether you're using ninjas, berzekers, ninja monkeys or giant boulders, you'll need your wits and reflexes to survive.

A buoyant sense of humor and freewheeling sense of pacing keeps the game flowing. Whether you're playing on TV or portable mode, "Swords & Soldiers" is tough to put down.

Unlike the original 2009 release, this version of the game is the feature-complete ,definitive edition. In addition to the base campaign and multiplayer, you also get the "Super Saucy Sausage Fest" DLC.

With "Swords & Soldiers 2" set to debut on the Switch March 1, now is an excellent time to check out the original, which has since become a bona fide classic.
Publisher provided review code.

Book Report: "Slaughterhouse-Five"

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A rueful meditation on the trials and trauma of war, as well as an inventive rumination on the prospect of time travel, the difficulties of mental illness and the exploitation of the poor, "Slaughterhouse-Five" is a difficult but often rewarding read.

His descriptions of haunting memories, nagging lamentations and biting anhedonia that come along with age are devastating and sweetly amusing.

Kurt Vonnegut alternates between beautiful, elegant meditations and hackneyed crutches and cliches, some of his own creation. The most obnoxious of these, by far, is his tendency to end a sad statement with "so it goes." It got to the point where I winced each time Vonnegut trotted out another "so it goes," and even when he avoided the phrase, I would cringe in anticipation of him using it again. That's abusive writing, and is not OK.

His penchant for lending wacky names to characters is overly cute in the way Quentin Tarantino Diablo Cody would one day emulate. The twee effect is nowhere near as acutely annoying as "so it goes" because Vonnegut mercifully refrains from overusing them.

In the Audible edition, James Franco adds wistful, laconic depth to Vonnegut's prose. Taking on the tone of an exhausted, story-spinning drifter over drinks at a dive bar, Franco's adoration and understanding of the material shines through.

A worthy but problematic read, Vonnegut's work manages to overcome its problematic points to thrive, living in your subconscious in between reading sessions, as well as after you finish it. So it goes.

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PHIL ON FILM: "Glass"

For my written review, click here.

Book Report: "Rasputin: The Untold Story"

Rasputin: The Untold Story by Joseph T. Fuhrmann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Few historical figures are as polarizing and mythologized as Rasputin, so it was a formidable task for Joseph T. Fuhrmann to sort through the misinformation and patch together a definitive narrative about the mysterious figure.

Movies portray Rasputin as a dark wizard who cast spells and hypnotized witless power brokers into carrying out his bidding. Naysayers dismiss him as a charlatan who was more of a mentalist, exploiting vulnerabilities of those he encountered to make himself seem powerful in ways he was not.

Could it be that the truth was somewhere in the middle?

What emerges is a portrait of a megalomaniacal mystic who was the chief culprit at spreading false narratives about his powers and influence. There's little doubt that he was prone to exaggeration, if not outright lies, to shamelessly manipulate the likes of Czar Nicholas and his wife, Alexandra.

Still, there may have been something otherworldly and metaphysical about him. He seemed to have an uncanny ability to diagnose ailments and fathom "cures" that managed to deliver people a measure of health or peace. Eyewitness accounts drove home the common impression that Rasputin had a Kaa the Snake-like ability to seduce and hypotize people with his gaze.

Fuhrmann sometimes gets hung up on the dryer, less fascinating aspects of Rasputin's life, but spends an equal amount of time sorting out the more sultry aspects of his existence, as well as how his sexual exploits resonated in his reputation both at court and in his own home.

Curtis Sisco's narration of the Audible version is workmanlike, if unspectacular. Robotic narration inflects an entrancing rhythm to the proceedings. Some awkward pronunciations of dates aside, the performance lends gravitas to the scholarly yet relatable work.

While far from the final word on the confounding historical figure, Fuhrmann's book goes a long way toward separating the noise from the fact to craft a believable portrait of the man, rather than just the myth and legend.

Publisher provided review code.

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"Office Quest" Review

An imaginative monochromatic point-and-click adventure game, "Office Quest" pokes fun at cubicle drone culture while interspersing absurd and fantastical elements.

Developer 11Sheep retooled the game for a Switch release several months after debuting it on PC and mobile platforms. It's a superb fit for the system. The side-scrolling, screen-tapping exploits make for an excellent use of the system in portable mode.

The gameplay may be a bit incongruous on TV, because it was designed with the intimacy of a portable screen in mind, but works surprisingly well, thanks much to the finely-tuned controls.

As a corporate slave used to the same routine, your world is thrown into a tizzy once you encounter bizarre magic that transforms your everyday surroundings into monster-like threats. You'r enot much for combat, so you have to think your way out of harried situations, calling upon the right items and proper times.

Whenever you run into a road block, the game doesn't leave you hanging or force you to trudge off in shame in search of a walkthrough. Subtle, helpful hints help you advance.

The fact that the dev team keeps the flow moving is key, because "Office Quest" thrives on its fluid momentum. Bubbling with wit and ingenuity, "Office Quest" is an ideal way to kill off your lunchbreak or commute in your own office drone existence.

Publisher provided review code.

"Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes" Review

Back in the heyday of the Wii, developers bubbled with wild ideas in an effort to steal the console's massive, largely casual audience toward more eclectic fare. Visionary developer Suda51 and his Grasshopper Manufacture led the charge with the subversive action extravaganza "No More Heroes" (2007) and its follow-up, subtitled "Desperate Struggle," released three years later.

And for the next decade, crickets.

It took similar innovation and hot sales numbers to revive Suda51's bizarro dream for a Nintendo console. Here comes the third game in the series, "Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes," seemingly out of nowhere, with the devastating force of a hurricane and every bit as much vigor. Somehow, the nine years that have passed between the last game and the new one seem like nothing at all.

The "No More Heroes" games tie together the oddly parallel phenomena of the Wii and Switch. Like the previous games, and nearly all of Grasshopper Manufacture's oeuvre, a wicked sense of humor permeates every pixel. Self-aware, sardonic and sassy, the narrative abounds with pop culture, film, music and gaming references, never missing an opportunity to wink and nod, down to the title font that echoes "Stranger Things."

There are countless strange, stranger and strangest things to encounter in Travis Touchdown's latest adventure. Unspooling via a retro-tinged, top-down view rather than the slick yet somewhat forced and disorienting over-the-shoulder view of the original games, "Travis Strikes Again" steps back and lets its light saber-fueled combat speak for itself.

Zipping along with a sense of forward momentum that the previous games tended to lose in awkward bottlenecks, "Travis Strikes Again" hardly pauses for breath, ever surging ahead with an invigorating sense of wacky, iconoclastic glee.

With the villainous Badman out to get revenge on Travis for the murder of his psychotic daughter, he's sucked into a 1990s-style video game realm. Long since having gone into a depressive, gaming-fueled hermetic exile, Travis's obsession pays off well. As he romps through the gaming world -- which stands as a funhouse mirror reflection of the highs and lows of gaming culture over the past two decades -- his skills pay off well.

Beloved aspects from the previous games come back into play. The pump-action act of maintaining the charge on your weapon has a nagging yet distinguishing feel, helping you stay on edge for battle. Enemies barrage you with the relentless swarm of a bullet hell space dock, and it's on you to orchestrate your offensive and defensive skills to slash them into bits and unlock the next checkpoint.

More linear in nature than previous "No More Heroes" games, Suda51's latest maintains the series' rich history while also writing its new chapters in irreverent freehand. You never quite know where the story's twists will take you next, and the unpredictability makes for a fascinating, endlessly engaging ride.

Travis Touchdown re-emerges as the quintessential -- if not essential -- antihero Switch players deserve, even if they may not quite need him.
Publisher provided review code.

Book Report: "Frankenstein"

I wonder if any other literary classic has been as thoroughly bastardized, maimed and arbitrarily altered as “Frankenstein.” 
The lumbering, monosyllabic, parched-together zombie that movies and TV have pushed out into society have nothing in common with the monster in the book, an eloquent, monologue-reciting student of Milton and Plato who moves with the stealth of a ninja, makes his kills with swift, purposeful precision and badly needed a therapist or some Prozac.
The ultimate bitter teenager, the monster is a fascinating villain because of his hatred of existence itself and resentment of his creator. His obsession with bending Frankenstein (a neurotic, ever-lamenting ness rather than a wacky mad scientist) to his will, tormenting him in increasingly sadistic ways, makes for the crux of the cat-and-mouse game at the center of the plot.
Dan Stevens’ narration of the Audible edition was crucial to my appreciation of the book. Not only does he capture the frenzied paranoia of Frankenstein, but the obliviously evil whininess of the monster. His is now the voice I associate with the creature, rather than Boris Karloff’s grunts.
The book is a deep, philosophical dive into scientific ethics, the plight of creation and godship, as well has humanity’s innate tendency to shun the unfamiliar and unsightly. 
After a rough, slow-paced opening segment, Shelley hits her stride and tears at her themes and story with overwhelming passion. This is a work or near genius, and I was often floored at its majesty. Her work, ahead of its time and now out of control and debased, is much the same as the monster she writes about.

Publisher provided review copy.

PHIL ON FILM: "The Upside"

For my written review, click here.