Welcome back to Thrak Attack and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope this weekend brings you lots of things to be thankful for like family, friends, turkey, beer, Pokemon, and lots of new news! Let's get right into it!
NEWS!
-The Struts, the awesome British rock band, are releasing a new breakfast cereal. It looks sugary and delicious and comes with a 7" vinyl of "21st Century Dandy".
-Trix will also be beefing up it's cereal game with the original fruit shapes coming to shelves once more! 8 year old me is rejoicing!
-Marvel is giving Thor 2 hammers in the comics, I guess 1 hammer just wasn't good enough!
-Devil May Cry is getting it's own Netflix series after the success of Castlevania.
-William Goldman, author of "A Princess Bride", passes away at the age of 83.
-Mortal Kombat is also getting the vinyl treatment. The sound track is being released in various colors representing some iconic characters.
-The Sailor Moon musical is coming to the United States and will be shown in both Washington D.C. and New York City.
REVIEWS!
A Head Full of Dreams
Coldplay has been one of my favorite bands since 2003 and their release of "A Rush of Blood to the Head". Ever since that album I was hooked and eagerly awaited each album. Last weekend they released a documentary of their career that has been filmed over 20 years called "A Head Full of Dreams" which chronicled their entire career.
The documentary was shown in select theaters and was streaming on Amazon Prime. The film did a fantastic job of showing us where the band started and how that relates to them now. They focused on the final concert of the "A Head Full of Dreams" world tour in Sao Paolo, Brazil. This was a great way to showcase where they are at now in their career. They would show footage from each stage of their career and then show a specific song from that time period to feature and show how it looks and sounds now.
Some of the songs featured were "Yellow", "The Scientist", "Fix You", and "Paradise". There were many more showcased but these were the ones that stuck out to me in the film because they showed how the band has changed throughout their career.
It delved into a lot of information I did not know about the band like how they were formed, the talents and interests of the band members, and a little more about their personality. I do have 2 parts of this documentary that stood out to me the most.
The first was during the recording of their second album, Will Champion (the drummer) quit the band. Will is a fantastic musician but does not consider himself a percussionist. Due to the more complex music they were composing, Will felt he couldn't keep up and do the songs justice so he quit. They even went through an audition process for a new drummer but they decided to slow the recording process down and give Will a chance to learn the songs correctly. They said they didn't feel right moving on without him, they started together and they will continue together.
The second part that really hit home for me was talking about their least successful album "Ghost Stories". It was such a different album and didn't feel like a Coldplay album; but it was such an important album for them in their personal lives. Specifically Chris who just had a divorce with Gwyneth Paltrow. They were writing music and coming up with ideas for their next world tour when Chris decided he didn't need that in his life. He wanted to do a more intimate album and a small tour with a few close quarters concerts. It was a bold move for them but I love how the rest of the band went with the idea because it was what Chris needed to do to move on.
This documentary really showcased the band and how each member was so important to the group. Chris is the lyricist and front-man, Will is the wild card, Guy is the behind the scenes mastermind, and Johnny really adds the icing on the cake. This group is amazing and I am excited to see where they go next in their musical adventure. Would I buy this on DVD and put it on my ultimate shelf? No, but I enjoyed it immensely.
Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu
I have been a Pokemon Fan since 1998. I have played every single main series game and have been to every midnight release since 2011's Black and White. I purchased a Nintendo Switch because I knew eventually there would be a Pokemon game on the system. This is not the game I wanted as a Pokemon fan, but it was the game we were given for this year so here we are... Let's Go!
Pokemon has always been on a handheld device, but the Nintendo Switch is a hybrid console and can be played both handheld and on the TV. I was skeptical at first about playing a Pokemon game on a TV screen but it felt like Pokemon Stadium all over again. Once I got into that mindset, I was fine with it!
I purchased Let's Go Pikachu along with the Pokeball Plus controller because I wanted the full experience of the game. The controller came with a Mew inside and can be used with Pokemon Go as an extra buddy. The ball was too small but I loved the speaker and lighting effects on it. It really helped with the experience.
It's pretty basic as a Pokemon game, It's Pokemon Yellow all over again so the story is the same. But there are lots of changes. I'll go over changes I like first and then changes that I don't.
I love being able to pick and choose the encounters and how you gain experience from just catching Pokemon. A lot of people disliked that change but I thought it was a refreshing change of pace and made the game move along quicker. The box can be accessed at any time which is great! HM moves are "Secret techniques" that Pikachu can learn which frees up more real moves. Also the lack of a Safari zone allowed rare Pokemon to be out and about in the world. So running into Chansey, Scyther, and Rhyhorn out in the wild was a nice surprise! Also seeing these creatures inhabit the world gave the world much more life. Because you are catching multiples of the same species of Pokemon, they decided to add the transfer mechanic. Those transfers give you candies that raise your stats. I really like this addition it makes EV training much easier but also changes how you need to EV train.
The main series Pokemon games have been infused with the mechanics of Pokemon Go; which means there are berries in the game. In Pokemon Yellow there are no berries but they added in razz, pinap, and nanab berries from Go. These berries offer you amazing effects while catching Pokemon that really help you through the game. It's a shame that you get a bunch of berries in the beginning when you don't really need them and then barely any the rest of the game. I found myself wanting to use the berries or needing them to catch a rare Pokemon and realizing I don't have any. Every so often I would catch a Pokemon with a berry or two but I never found any laying on the ground or able to buy them at the Pokemart. Why add this new aspect to the game when it's barely going to be in it.
There are a few surprises in the game with characters showing up at different times than before. You meet an Elite Four member earlier on in the game I thought "Oh cool! These characters will help me through the game" but that was the only one that showed up before my battle with them. Again, don't add this element to the story if you're not going to use it.
Multiplayer in this game is a joke. It makes this easy game way easier by essentially adding a 2 on 1 mode. I also wanted to play handheld but instead of just taking out my switch from the dock and playing it handheld, it registered it as handheld mode with the poke ball plus as the 1st player. Since the poke ball plus didn't have a Y button, it was a hassle to actually exit 2 player mode. I actually had to save and exit the game and open it back up. It was ridiculous.
I finally beat the Elite Four, I finally caught Mewtwo. It's time for the Master Trainers. My Pokemon are in the late 60's and I was over leveled for those challenges. I find the Pikachu trainer and it's a cakewalk. I find the Venusaur trainer and BAM! He's level 75 and does double amount of damage my Venusaur was doing. What to do? Battle the Elite Four again who only get up to level 70, battle gym leaders once a day. I beat the Pokemon League 4 times and was only at that level and it was a slow grow from then on. I love the challenge of the master trainers, but give me more to do while I grind up to their level. I don't want to do the master trainers now because I don't want to have to do the same thing over and over again until I'm that level. But I must beat at least 6 to meet a special someone.
So long story short, I like this game. It's a fun Pokemon game that brings in the elements of Pokemon Go. Unfortunately these additions to the game are half-assed and lazy additions. If you're going to add in these new mechanics then add them in the right way. Is this my favorite Pokemon game? No. But will it be on my ultimate video game shelf? Yes, with all of my other Pokemon games.
Before I go, here was the final team...
Pikachu aka Reynald
Kabutops aka Itchy Crotch
Scyther aka Da Greemer
Venusaur aka Naveen
Arcanine aka Summer
Rhydon aka Taserface
I hope you guys enjoyed this long winded blog post. We will be doing a video review of these topics this weekend! First time doing one of these videos so be prepared for it to be crap. So I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and weekend! I'm thankful for you guys for reading!
All the Best, Ross
NEWS!
-The Struts, the awesome British rock band, are releasing a new breakfast cereal. It looks sugary and delicious and comes with a 7" vinyl of "21st Century Dandy".
-Trix will also be beefing up it's cereal game with the original fruit shapes coming to shelves once more! 8 year old me is rejoicing!
-Marvel is giving Thor 2 hammers in the comics, I guess 1 hammer just wasn't good enough!
-Devil May Cry is getting it's own Netflix series after the success of Castlevania.
-William Goldman, author of "A Princess Bride", passes away at the age of 83.
-Mortal Kombat is also getting the vinyl treatment. The sound track is being released in various colors representing some iconic characters.
-The Sailor Moon musical is coming to the United States and will be shown in both Washington D.C. and New York City.
REVIEWS!
A Head Full of Dreams
Coldplay has been one of my favorite bands since 2003 and their release of "A Rush of Blood to the Head". Ever since that album I was hooked and eagerly awaited each album. Last weekend they released a documentary of their career that has been filmed over 20 years called "A Head Full of Dreams" which chronicled their entire career.
The documentary was shown in select theaters and was streaming on Amazon Prime. The film did a fantastic job of showing us where the band started and how that relates to them now. They focused on the final concert of the "A Head Full of Dreams" world tour in Sao Paolo, Brazil. This was a great way to showcase where they are at now in their career. They would show footage from each stage of their career and then show a specific song from that time period to feature and show how it looks and sounds now.
Some of the songs featured were "Yellow", "The Scientist", "Fix You", and "Paradise". There were many more showcased but these were the ones that stuck out to me in the film because they showed how the band has changed throughout their career.
It delved into a lot of information I did not know about the band like how they were formed, the talents and interests of the band members, and a little more about their personality. I do have 2 parts of this documentary that stood out to me the most.
The first was during the recording of their second album, Will Champion (the drummer) quit the band. Will is a fantastic musician but does not consider himself a percussionist. Due to the more complex music they were composing, Will felt he couldn't keep up and do the songs justice so he quit. They even went through an audition process for a new drummer but they decided to slow the recording process down and give Will a chance to learn the songs correctly. They said they didn't feel right moving on without him, they started together and they will continue together.
The second part that really hit home for me was talking about their least successful album "Ghost Stories". It was such a different album and didn't feel like a Coldplay album; but it was such an important album for them in their personal lives. Specifically Chris who just had a divorce with Gwyneth Paltrow. They were writing music and coming up with ideas for their next world tour when Chris decided he didn't need that in his life. He wanted to do a more intimate album and a small tour with a few close quarters concerts. It was a bold move for them but I love how the rest of the band went with the idea because it was what Chris needed to do to move on.
This documentary really showcased the band and how each member was so important to the group. Chris is the lyricist and front-man, Will is the wild card, Guy is the behind the scenes mastermind, and Johnny really adds the icing on the cake. This group is amazing and I am excited to see where they go next in their musical adventure. Would I buy this on DVD and put it on my ultimate shelf? No, but I enjoyed it immensely.
Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu
I have been a Pokemon Fan since 1998. I have played every single main series game and have been to every midnight release since 2011's Black and White. I purchased a Nintendo Switch because I knew eventually there would be a Pokemon game on the system. This is not the game I wanted as a Pokemon fan, but it was the game we were given for this year so here we are... Let's Go!
Pokemon has always been on a handheld device, but the Nintendo Switch is a hybrid console and can be played both handheld and on the TV. I was skeptical at first about playing a Pokemon game on a TV screen but it felt like Pokemon Stadium all over again. Once I got into that mindset, I was fine with it!
I purchased Let's Go Pikachu along with the Pokeball Plus controller because I wanted the full experience of the game. The controller came with a Mew inside and can be used with Pokemon Go as an extra buddy. The ball was too small but I loved the speaker and lighting effects on it. It really helped with the experience.
It's pretty basic as a Pokemon game, It's Pokemon Yellow all over again so the story is the same. But there are lots of changes. I'll go over changes I like first and then changes that I don't.
I love being able to pick and choose the encounters and how you gain experience from just catching Pokemon. A lot of people disliked that change but I thought it was a refreshing change of pace and made the game move along quicker. The box can be accessed at any time which is great! HM moves are "Secret techniques" that Pikachu can learn which frees up more real moves. Also the lack of a Safari zone allowed rare Pokemon to be out and about in the world. So running into Chansey, Scyther, and Rhyhorn out in the wild was a nice surprise! Also seeing these creatures inhabit the world gave the world much more life. Because you are catching multiples of the same species of Pokemon, they decided to add the transfer mechanic. Those transfers give you candies that raise your stats. I really like this addition it makes EV training much easier but also changes how you need to EV train.
The main series Pokemon games have been infused with the mechanics of Pokemon Go; which means there are berries in the game. In Pokemon Yellow there are no berries but they added in razz, pinap, and nanab berries from Go. These berries offer you amazing effects while catching Pokemon that really help you through the game. It's a shame that you get a bunch of berries in the beginning when you don't really need them and then barely any the rest of the game. I found myself wanting to use the berries or needing them to catch a rare Pokemon and realizing I don't have any. Every so often I would catch a Pokemon with a berry or two but I never found any laying on the ground or able to buy them at the Pokemart. Why add this new aspect to the game when it's barely going to be in it.
There are a few surprises in the game with characters showing up at different times than before. You meet an Elite Four member earlier on in the game I thought "Oh cool! These characters will help me through the game" but that was the only one that showed up before my battle with them. Again, don't add this element to the story if you're not going to use it.
Multiplayer in this game is a joke. It makes this easy game way easier by essentially adding a 2 on 1 mode. I also wanted to play handheld but instead of just taking out my switch from the dock and playing it handheld, it registered it as handheld mode with the poke ball plus as the 1st player. Since the poke ball plus didn't have a Y button, it was a hassle to actually exit 2 player mode. I actually had to save and exit the game and open it back up. It was ridiculous.
I finally beat the Elite Four, I finally caught Mewtwo. It's time for the Master Trainers. My Pokemon are in the late 60's and I was over leveled for those challenges. I find the Pikachu trainer and it's a cakewalk. I find the Venusaur trainer and BAM! He's level 75 and does double amount of damage my Venusaur was doing. What to do? Battle the Elite Four again who only get up to level 70, battle gym leaders once a day. I beat the Pokemon League 4 times and was only at that level and it was a slow grow from then on. I love the challenge of the master trainers, but give me more to do while I grind up to their level. I don't want to do the master trainers now because I don't want to have to do the same thing over and over again until I'm that level. But I must beat at least 6 to meet a special someone.
So long story short, I like this game. It's a fun Pokemon game that brings in the elements of Pokemon Go. Unfortunately these additions to the game are half-assed and lazy additions. If you're going to add in these new mechanics then add them in the right way. Is this my favorite Pokemon game? No. But will it be on my ultimate video game shelf? Yes, with all of my other Pokemon games.
Before I go, here was the final team...
Pikachu aka Reynald
Kabutops aka Itchy Crotch
Scyther aka Da Greemer
Venusaur aka Naveen
Arcanine aka Summer
Rhydon aka Taserface
I hope you guys enjoyed this long winded blog post. We will be doing a video review of these topics this weekend! First time doing one of these videos so be prepared for it to be crap. So I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and weekend! I'm thankful for you guys for reading!
All the Best, Ross
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