Eric Verrone

Quite simply, this is the Mario movie I wish came out 30 years ago. This movie rights that 30 year old wrong. It's simple and safe; don't expect some crazy plot twist or commentary on the human condition. This is just a straight forward layup that faithfully recreates the characters and elements that make its source material charming. It's the first video game movie to embrace the "video gamey-ness" without shunning or showing contempt for its origins. My 5-year-old loved it, I enjoyed it, and I'm happy to report that the bourgie critics are wrong about this movie.

This is a fantastic sci-fi third person shooter that incorporates some light Metroidvania, RPG, and (of all genres) loot shooter elements. The main story is... crazy. I won’t spoil anything, and I’m not sure I could. It takes place at the “Federal Bureau of Control“ (basically the X-Files department of the FBI as a whole separate government entity). Protagonist Jesse Faden enters the Bureau’s headquarters, The Oldest House, looking for her brother. She finds the building in lockdown due to some paranatural invasion. She, somehow, gets appointed the new director of the FBC (in quite... spectacular fashion), inherits the Service Weapon (your main firearm and an arcane “Object of Power” that binds itself to the FBC Director), and sets off to figure out where her brother is, what happen here, what “here” is, and how to get out alive. Gameplay feels tight and powerful. You continue to obtain abilities and “mods” to upgrade your weapons and personal abilities and stats. The abilities allow you more combat and mobility options. You will also use them to access newer areas of the Oldest House, or go back and look for hidden treasures. The mods (and materials to craft them) drop semi randomly off of enemies, with tougher and unique enemies dropping more valuable loot. Character progression is RPG-like... with a twist. Gone is the experience bar; instead as you complete certain missions and challenges you are awarded ability points to improve some of Jesse’s skills and stats. It’s an interesting twist on character progression, but works very well. It keeps you motivated to complete side missions and seek out new areas. My biggest areas of contention are in the general game performance, and the back loaded bosses. It’s fair to say that this game runs terribly on my PS4 vanilla. This is more pronounced when tons of enemies and particles fly about. This actually leads into my boss criticism... The game has some very cool boss fights, even optional high difficulty boss fights. My issues are that most of these happen toward the end of the game, and most incorporate tons of “adds” (smaller normal enemies) to add difficulty rather than interesting boss patterns and mechanics. Some are very simple, but you fight them in confined spaces with tons of enemies giving off the fee of a normal encounter as opposed to an epic battle. This is partially exacerbated by the frame rate dips, and the fact that smaller versions of most bosses reappear as normal enemies after the fights. Those issues aside, the game is a masterpiece. It’s tons of fun exploring the Oldest House, using Jesse’s abilities, reading the dozens and dozens of documents left behind, and experiencing the mind bending tale as it unwinds. Just get it on PC, one of the more powerful consoles, or wait until next gen for performance improvements.