Sunless Skies (Video Game Review)

After a rather lengthy Early Access period, Sunless Skies has finally reached its release date. Serving as a sequel to both Fallen London and Sunless Sea, the game ditches the familiar near-underworld cavern of the setting in favour of a new frontier: The stars. Unfortunately for the mob of pioneers in their flying trains, this new environment is just as demented, surreal and dangerous as the one they left. Oh, and someone is killing off the godlike entities which govern the universe's laws while you're up there.

The Synopsis

I'm going to skip on this one just for once. Why? Because going into detail about this undermines some of the allure of the game. Much like Sunless Sea, most of what you will end up doing is broken down into mini-missions and is extremely open-ended. While the story does have a start and multiple endings it features rogue-like elements and is so off-hand that the atmosphere, exploration and environment are its major draw. It would be like trying to outline Wing Commander: Privateer; technically you can do it but it doesn't fully convey the nature of the story or its style.

Thanks to Sunless Skies' story structure, in place of the usual image we have a link to the trailer video, which features most of the basic visuals and narrative stylings. If it looks good to you, then you're going to love it.


The Good

The world. All of it, really. It's a simple thing to put down, but Sunless Skies honestly features one of the single most engaging worlds that I have played through in years. Whereas Sunless Sea was Discworld if given to Alan Moore, Sunless Skies is Mortal Engines if given to Neil Gaiman. The very nature of reality about you is constantly in shift, you have entire realms where it is breached and completely warped, or forged from things which seem impossible. The visuals of certain areas create a perpetual sense of unease, and you can travel from a flying ruin of Big Ben to what looks like a crystalline organ of a long-dead monster.

The stopping points throughout Sunless Skies are much more numerous than with its predecessor, but it hasn't come at the cost of their quality. If anything, Failbetter Games in Sunless Sea. For example, an entire quest chain follows trying to fix a circus and its various acts, the complexity and requirements of which forces the player to travel about from one end of the map to the next in order to fulfil it. While in most cases (looking at you, Bethesda) this would be a fetch quest, the style in which this is presented turns it into more of a long-form puzzle. You need to consider how the logic of the very setting applies to the problems, and think back to all you have learned thus far. You might be given the odd location, but the game rarely resorts to a "go here, collect this" mentality with events.

Furthermore, the terror effect is back with a vengeance. While Sunless Sea implied creepy elements and moments of sheer horror, Sunless Skies dips into moments of full-fledged John Carpenter nightmare fuel. The most notorious among these thus far is the Liberation of Night in Eleutheria, where things which simply should not exist crawl about the area once the lights go out. Or, more importantly, anything relating to the Clockwork Sun of Albion and a half-baked attempt to create a British seaside resort among the stars. The latter especially can produce some startling descriptions of things which seem to be built from the ground up to be wrong. However, what is most impressive is how much of this is alien, but layered. You can immediately recognize its horror at a glance, but the more you know of the setting, the more terrifying it often is. This goes for more situations than can be counted, and it reflects on just how well the writing team has gotten to grips with the various minor elements of the overall setting to use each one so effectively.

Speaking of more terror, the mechanics of the previous game are back. As you can raise, level and progress with multiple captains, you can alter their skills as the story goes along. These are often used with various challenges, but terror is the most prominent among these stats to keep an eye on. This reflects on just how unhinged your character is becoming, as the longer you are away from port or in more disturbing areas, the higher it will go. When it reaches the top, very bad things happen. Ones which are usually followed by death. Some quests though? They require you to reach this point.

The actual method of traveling has changed substantially this time, as you are now flying across the heavens rather than in a boat. Rather than a rocket, however, you are instead in an airborne battle train. It makes as much sense in context, and within the overall setting, I assure you. How this changes things relates largely to the use of the ship in combat, as it can perform strafing runs, tight turns and abrupt shifts in battle. This makes fighting far less methodical than before, and focuses more on keeping track of multiple targets while estimating the locations of threats. As you have access to a variety of guns, this means you need to consider timing and range as well, and makes winning battles all the more rewarding.

The other management element which returns is the need to manage and upgrade your ship. Fuel, food and battle damage all need to be dealt with one at a time along with upgrades, and then there's paying for it. Sunless Skies offers no small number of ways to earn a living, with keeping track of economic demands or issuing reports being the big ones. However, it's easier to manage than in its predecessor and lacks the severe learning curve of calculating possible quirks or demands.


The Bad

If there is any one failing to be pinned down, it's the fact that Sunless Skies seemingly requires the player to die multiple times before truly getting to grips with things. Now, this is a rogue-like so it's to be expected, and the game does offer a vast multitude of interesting histories and objectives to work with this. However, the opening few hours are among the most lethargic, and it can seem as if you are putting in a great deal of effort to go nowhere upon first arriving. While your perseverance is rewarded, it nevertheless can seem as if you're banging your head against a brick wall for a while.

Another issue lies in how the game is paced. Most Failbetter Games are built from the ground up as time vampires, and have the content to keep you invested. The problem is that the way more than a few crew quests and major port events are structured means that you can go hours without any direct payoff. There are relatively few substantial missions which have a quick and easy payoff, meaning that, though there is plenty of content to go around, it can seem to take an age to get there at many times.

Really though, that's about it.


The Verdict

The story is most definitely the strong point in this one, but with such an excellently realized world, it would almost always have to be the case. It has stronger combat gameplay, a better travelling pace, and a less sparsely populated world, so there's always something to keep you engaged. It's honestly one of the few releases which I would deem an essential purchase from the indie market of late. If any of this has given you the slightest shred of interest, then I would definitely recommend giving this one a look. 

Honestly, we're barely into the year and already this is a contender for best game.

Verdict: 9 out of 10

Resident Evil 2 (Video Game Review)

Remakes are surprisingly rare when it comes to video games. Really, while you'll often see reduxes, remasters, re-uploads or ports (yes, I ran out of "re" words) a full remake isn't something which comes up all that often. Unlike the film industry, publishers have far more incentive just to clean up the old data a bit and put it online for fans to enjoy in all its glory. Plus, this sidesteps most of the big risks involved in ticking off fans of the original. So, why did they do this with Resident Evil 2? Simply because the first time they did it with the original Resident Evil produced one of the best sellers in the franchise.


The Story

The story follows on from the apparent end of the first Resident Evil, where the outbreak of the T-Virus was not so tightly contained as S.T.A.R.S. hoped. Despite blowing up Spencer Mansion, surviving zombies and other mysterious factors led to a full-scale pandemic throughout Racoon City. This is no longer a case of containing the threat and walking away alive, this is a situation which demands survival first and foremost. A task which is made all the more challenging for Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy when their efforts interfere with the Umbrella Corporation's schemes.


The Good

Trying to do the exact same thing as the first remake would have been a mistake. While the original Resident Evil releases are rightfully known as classics, some things simply have not aged well. The map designs and tank controls in particular are notably offputting now, and even the re-release onto Steam succeeded in spite of these mechanics rather than because of them. As such, the remake of Resident Evil 2 has ditched much of the fixed camera angles in favour of a more typical over-the-shoulder view. While this choice could have easily interfered with the atmosphere essential to the survival experience, the map redesigns and aesthetic choices helps to offset this possible weakness.

One thing you will quickly notice is how often you are blindsided by possible choke points and ambush areas. In a move akin to Dead Space, various doorways, shadows and tight corridors works to prevent you keeping an eye on everything in front of your character. Furthermore, the fact that the field of view can be remarkably constrained creates a notably claustrophobic feel, and creates a sense that you can be blindsided at any moment. This allows it to capture what made the fixed camera angles of the original so effective without limiting the player's freedom to explore; along with also making any level where you are being hunted all the more terrifying. Really, if you thought Mr. X was bad in the original, wait to see how he handles here.

The use of the Resident Evil 7 engine in this came has worked wonders, and Racoon City has never looked better. Every area of it, from the dingy industrial grey environments to the segments which are crumbling, on fire, or filled with the undead are gripping and as bleakly beautiful as any Dark Souls environment. This same quality is present in the enemies, and even the most human among them have borderline uncanny valley elements to their animations. They seem to move in a manner which is simply too stiff or too robotic for a human, or have sudden jerking motions which no living thing should make. There's really not a single enemy present which has not benefitted from this reworking, and any familiarity with the Lickers, Giant Moths or Giant Spiders does nothing to reduce the terror of bumping into them. It's less "Yay, I remember this!" when a certain massive reptile shows up and more "Oh sweet merciful Odin, I remember this!"

The enemy AI is also worth mentioning, especially in regards to Mr. X as it is not nearly so easy to fool this time around. Whereas in previous entries any creatures would make a bee-line toward your location, a few can and will toy with you. It can seem for a moment as if one has passed by your hiding place without noticing you huddling in the corner, only to leap down and block your path in the next heartbeat. It makes backtracking for items or searching for secrets all the riskier, and allows the game to better execute its jump scares. You see, this isn't simply a case of something frightening happening out of nowhere. No, it's a case of the game building up the tension, making everything seem all the more hostile, and then having things go to hell at the worst possible moment.

Speaking of things going to hell, Resident Evil 2 has retained the benefits of splitting its story between two characters. Just as before, you are forced to choose between Leon and Claire very early on, and to see the full story you need to play through both. While certainly not the most detailed or refined narrative, it has nevertheless been better refined in this outing, often either poking fun at past mistakes or having substantial re-writes to certain scenes. There's always a B-movie quality to it, but it's the kind of one where you can forget about how hoaky the execution is thanks to the performances involved and better-developed exchanges.

Finally, there are no cut corners when it comes to the weapons. It feels just as satisfying to take up the shotgun now as it did back in the days of the N64, and while the pistol is weak, it has enough stopping power to prevent situations from becoming unfair. The limited ammo and supply shortages are enough to keep you on edge, but it's never so sparse that you keep thinking "But I might need it later". Even if you do fall into that mentality, desperation or the sheer power of certain enemies will often force you to fall back on more powerful weapons to stay alive. It's a very careful balance to maintain, but it's one of the best examples of pulling this off that I have seen to date.

And yet, Resident Evil 2 does still have a few noted imperfections. Given all that has been discussed so far, you can probably guess what the first of these is going to be.


The Bad

The PC port has issues. While it's far from the lazy efforts or bug-ridden embarrassments which some publishers resort to producing, Resident Evil 2 nevertheless needs a few extra patches. The PC version has the habit of not playing well with certain graphics cards, and you can easily end up facing an unending black screen at the police station or sewers without any prior warning. This is a matter only made worse by the one-two punch of sudden stuttering and FPS drops at the worst possible moments. Like when you are running like hell from a few zombies with only one bullet left, or trying to dodge about a much more powerful opponent.

Another definite failing lies in how you can end up with a corrupted save far more easily than you might expect. The exact cause of this is unknown, but you can be doing fine at one moment, and then come back the next day to find that hours of gameplay have been wasted by your save turning into a mess of broken code and warped information. Again, this is largely exclusive to the PC version, but it's still a noted problem - Not to mention the reason why this review is a couple of days behind schedule.

So, what about Resident Evil 2 in general, rather than just the PC version? Oddly enough, the remake has omitted certain segments and fine details that fans previously enjoyed. Books mentioning events in other games of the series have been curiously removed, and any addition which might tie it into a broader universe has been trimmed away. Given that this is a series undergoing a soft reboot and looking for new fans that might be somewhat understandable. However, after Resident Evil 7 accomplished the same thing with offhand notes to the broader franchise, it seems like an odd choice which weakens the sense of scale behind events.

Another problem lies in how it handles certain enemies, or specifically how it introduces them. Whereas previously Mr. X was a villain who would show up a few times and then emerge for the big showdown, he appears at every other opportunity. What was once a scary and engaging villain suffers from some definite over-exposure which seems to be intended to pad out the experience, and by the final few hours you stop seeing him as a threat so much as an obstacle. This is the same problem which every modern game of this type has suffered from, and the lack of a proper special introduction when he shows up in his final form makes the last engagement seem oddly mundane.

Finally, the crafting system's RNG elements are an unnecessarily problematic addition which no one would have asked for. You can attempt to create any number of combinations of the same item, and end up with wildly different results. When the game already has limited supplies, a random element to make life much more difficult is simply unneeded, even if it simply results in one or two less bullets each time. Greater control or even the capacity to offset negative results of these combinations would have been something, but there's really nothing at all to help in this regard.


The Verdict

Resident Evil 2's flaws lie more in a few unfortunate choices rather than outright failings, and beyond the aforementioned RNG, there's very little to truly complain about here. It's open to new fans and old ones alike, and while some prior knowledge might help, it's far from needed. As such, overall, it scratches that itch which Evil Within failed to satisfy several years ago. Unless you're utterly opposed to gore, horror or rotting, flesh-eating, freaks then this is a must buy for this month. Plus, if you need something more traditionally loyal to the original games, you at least still have the remake of the first game to fall back on.

Verdict: 8.5 out of 10

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 (Warhammer 40,000 Video Game Review)

In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future, there are only flying cathedrals. Battlefleet Gothic has long been the unsung extension to the main setting, veering away from ground-based battles and into the stars. With distinct visuals, extraordinarily gothic designs and representation of every race, it long maintained a small but devoted fandom over the decades while it was ignored. Well, now that wait is over.

Ever since Kevin Rountree has taken over as CEO of Games Workshop, we have seen a dramatic shift in attitude in terms of its attitude toward spin-offs. Rather than closely guarding its IP, we have ended up with a broad range of AAA, B-list and the odd C-list release, all of varying budgets. Some have failed, others don't quite live up to their potential, but the successes stand out over these. Tindalos Interactive's original Battlefleet Gothic: Armada was one of the best among these releases. As reviewed here, it featured a popular mix of controlled RTS and Action RPG elements along with 4X-lite mechanics. Like any sequel this one sought to take the original's strengths and refine them, keeping what worked while enhancing its grand strategy elements.

Does it work? Yes, but it's not without a few problems.


The Synopsis

It is the 42nd Millenium, and the nightmare continues. Chaos burns a path of corruption across the galaxy, destroying all who oppose the will of the Ruinous Powers. With the fall of the Cadian Gate, the Black Crusades have taken on a new form, as the Traitor Legions now attempt to claim territory from the shattered Imperium in the name of their patron deities.

Reeling from the loss of Cadia, and the scar of unreality which stretches across the known galaxy, the forces of the Imperium attempt to stabilise their dominion. Many heroes arise to challenge this new order, with Admiral Spire among them. One of several veterans of the Gothic War, Spire's time displacement thanks to a Warp storm have flung him into this dark future of awakening gods and falling empires. Yet the Imperium and Chaos are not the only powers contesting this galaxy, as the awakening Necron Dynasties and hungering Tyranid Hive Fleets both seek to expand their reach across every world in their path.


The Good

Every good sequel always needs to look into what made the first installment work an then to expand upon it. In the case of Armada 2, the big development here stemmed from its need for more campaigns. In the original, you had a cohesive, detailed and well-told saga with multiple mechanical developments and branching story elements. 
Unfortunately, it largely stuck to established storytelling developments, so instead, it has offered up multiple new campaigns for xenos species. The aforementioned Necrons and Tyranids are the big ones, retaining their own benefits and strengths. No, we're not just talking about different units and an emphasis on certain combat benefits, but entirely new sets of resources and means to claiming worlds. The Imperium is after traditional facilities, shipyards and established planets of importance. They need to take and hold strategic locations. The Necrons don't give a damn about this, as they need to unearth their greatest assets and find dormant facilities to benefit their power. The Tyranids, meanwhile, need to infiltrate planets, overwhelm their defenses, and then consume their biomass to further expand their fleets.

The very fact that each faction not only has entirely different resources they need to focus upon, and means to construct their fleets, gives the game immense replay value. This isn't simply a Terran, Zerg and Protoss dynamic either, as you have to approach each force with a vastly different mentality on a grand scale. This means that, even once the map is familiar to you, there is always a need to never fall back on the same line of thought in overcoming strongholds or devising means to cover your shortcomings.

The actual worlds themselves are a broad mix of named systems from across the lore. Ranging from several First Founding Space Marine chapter homeworlds to prominent battlefields which have emerged over the years, it's a fun bonus to see these cropping up with their unique benefits, especially in the Imperial campaign. This is especially true of those which retain resource that reflect their origins, and it even gives old hands of the franchise an edge in terms of what to predict upon claiming a planet for themselves.

Away from the lore related fanwankery, the maps themselves are extremely well thoughts out with their mix of Warp lanes. While the original only retained minor benefits and a few notable choke-points to hold back the oncoming tide of Chaos forces, this one instead expands upon this to create a complex jump network. It's easy to become blindsided by an advancing fleet, and it encourages the need for a player to double back and cover their tracks rather than just focusing on the frontlines. However, while Total War: Warhammer II made this into a frustrating element given how Chaos doom stacks could pop in out of nowhere, it's instead a case of just thinking ahead.

Speaking of maps, the tactical battle maps will be extremely familiar to anyone who played the original Battlefleet Gothic: Armada. The broad mix of minefields, nebulae and asteroid fields offers multiple sensor blind spots and hazards to navigate about as you engage enemy fleets. Yet what helps to make things far more interesting is how this ties into the new orders and mechanics of your ships. Options like Silent Running and bringing a ship to a full stop can allow a vessel to hide within an asteroid field without being harmed, and the minefields themselves can be more easily detonated with the likes of nova cannons to inflict extra damage on nearby ships. Plus it helps the whole thing look stunningly beautiful, with no end of bright colours and stellar entities to make fights look beautiful even amid the carnage.

The actual battles themselves hinge on the use of relatively small fleets, with a mix of escort and capital ships. While they fit broadly into the RTS genre in these battles, what helps them to have a specific feel stems from the level of detail in each vessel. You have orders as before, allowing you to command exactly how they move, behave and what resources to shut into their engine systems. In addition to this, you have options such as boarding actions which require the ship to be carefully positioned, and torpedo strikes which need to be guided into their targets. This is layered atop of the ships being structured, with subsystems and major defensive networks, along with morale and shield recovery systems. 

Combat requires a substantial degree of micromanagement to keep control over, but the fact it is limited to single units over small mobs helps to offset the learning curve associated with such gameplay. Well, that and the ability to dramatically slow the speed of battle to keep track of things. Yet even if you don't want to specifically bother with that, you can even designate pre-programmed orders into individual ships, such as engagement ranges, firing angles and priority targets, allowing the AI to take over in key moments.

With so much working in the game's favour, you're likely wondering what it screws up. Mostly it's where the Tindalos' ambition worked against it. 


The Bad

One of the major selling points of Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 lay within its sheer variety of vessels. While only the aforementioned factions received a campaign, every race present on the tabletop was given a showing on here. Along with the Craftworld Eldar, Orkz and Space Marines, more obscure factions such as the T'au Empire's first generation ships and Adeptus Mechanicus put in a good showing. On the surface, this seemed excellent but it doesn't take long to pick out a notable failing as a result of this effort to add in everyone.

Because many fleets only saw a limited release on the tabletop, several of them lack the sheer unit variety present in other forces. While the major factions can have up to five or six frigate types to choose from, the smaller releases are typically stuck with a single one, and a very limited range of cruiser choices. This is especially evident during the campaigns themselves, as the Necrons have roughly one-fifth the roster of ships that the Imperium can call upon. As a result of such a limitation, certain fleets can struggle to keep up with the broader tactical options on offer to more notable armadas because of their limited choices.

A further point of contention also lies within how the developer devised control over fleets in the main campaign. As the tutorial (oh, and we will get to that in a minute) focuses squarely upon the tactical end of things, even the assistance offered with walking players through the campaigns can be quite unintuitive. 
You can quickly end up making a major mistake or misreading a major part of its resource mechanics, but not realise it until you're several hours in. This wouldn't be so bad were it not for the fact that the simplest way to correct such a mistake at that point would be to start over entirely. Even then, after you get to grips with this properly, the actual scaling system itself is notably wonky. Fleet value limitations in battles and resource generation from your planets never fully lines up together, and you can be left struggling to keep up with rival fleets because of this aspect mid-campaign. While it's certainly not the worst system ever coded to a game, it makes playing Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II surprisingly arduous without looking up a few pointers on how to play first.

Also, the tutorial was a mistake. Well, sort of a mistake, in that the tutorial itself is well crafted, explains its basic systems in detail and offers a good deal of freedom, but it sets up the rest of the game for failure. How so? Simple: It's Cadia. The single greatest battle of the last two thousand years in the setting is a tutorial system, which downsizes much of the battle itself and never conveys much of its immensity in-game. By the time you do see the battle playing out in full, the entire thing is conveyed almost purely via cutscene. Hell, even the moment of controlling the Phalanx (yes, the PHALANX!!!) is undercut by the game telling the player how to shoot, fire and move. Cadia might have been the starting point to this new age, but it both started with a battle too large for many others to match up to it, and downplayed its key importance. Plus, there's the little detail of it requiring a lot of outside knowledge to understand just what the hell is going on during much of the dialogue there.


The Verdict

There are some big problems to be found in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II, but for all its issues, it's hard to fully hold it against the game. It's a situation of the experience taking two steps forward and then one step back, but it's never hard to tell where and how it can succeed on so many levels. Plus, even when you are forced to restart for the aforementioned issues, the experience is still engaging enough to keep you persevering through it. It's still a genuinely great game at the end of the day, and a must buy for modern Warhammer 40,000 fans.

Verdict: 8.5 out of 10

Dragon Ball Super: Broly (Film Review)

Even six years on, it's almost astounding to see Dragon Ball's resurgence. While it never truly went away, the franchise has seen a new explosion of popularity, and the ongoing story has only fuelled this element. With Super having brought back Future Trunks, Resurrection F focusing on Frieza's return and a reworking of the franchise as a while, many questioned where it would go next. The addition of Broly proved to be one hell of a surprise, to say the least.

Broly - or Anime Hulk as I like to call him - is one of those characters who is understandably popular, but never quite reached his full potential. The idea of a new Super Saiyan was fun at the time, and the original film is flawed but good. However, two dismal sequels and an inability to use Broly as anything more than a juggernaut meant that he lacked some much-needed depth. Well, this latest film not only gave him that but much, much more.


The Synopsis

Divided between various points in Dragon Ball's history, Dragon Ball Super: Broly follows the events of the titular Saiyan's life. With a substantial portion of the film set prior to Planet Vegeta's destruction and exploring the nature of the Saiyan race, Broly himself serves as a ghost of their past. Raised to be a berserker by his father, he is recruited into Frieza's army upon discovery and sent against Goku and Vegeta. However, neither Frieza nor Broly's father Paragus seems to truly realise just what they have set loose on the galaxy, or what might befall the Earth once he engages its defenders in battle.


The Good

The most prominent point of the film is how it serves as a new keystone for the setting as a whole. While the film could have simply focused on Broly's return and use as a living weapon, the push to better explore the universe makes it a cornerstone in the ongoing setting. We see Frieza taking over from his father, the introduction of scouters into his army, Bardock's actions leading up to the destruction of his planet, and the events behind Goku's dispatch to earth. All of that? It's just in the first act, before things really get going.

The whole point of the matter is that it joins up variations of events from Minus, Bardock: Father of Goku and Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan, and forms it into a single narrative. Yet what is best about all of this is that it doesn't simply copy and paste elements. Readers will know my derision of the Star Wars setting under Disney and dislike for its ongoing events, especially with how it uses the Expanded Universe as a crutch. So, what's different between that and this? Simple - It doesn't use those stories wholesale. It uses the same basic elements as a starting point, examines them, and then goes in an entirely different direction. Better yet, it doesn't overwrite them, so you end up with two equally valid but very different versions.

Take Bardock for example - None of the events from his film play out in this one. He lacks psychic visions of the future, wasn't ambushed and almost killed with his team by Frieza's hit squad, or his warnings openly ignored. Instead, we see him mentally piecing together the possibility of Frieza's move, the risks of it, the realization that no one will trust his warning, and his decision to act out in another way - Sending Goku to Earth far ahead of schedule in case of an attack. He still goes down swinging when Frieza attacks, but his story less of an action piece, and depicts him as a consummate professional who still cares for his family. Equally, Gine is given a short but quite meaningful few scenes to display her relationship with Goku, further cementing the benefit of such a change.

The film has to cover a great deal of ground in a short amount of time, but it does so excellently. Rather than being overwhelmed by so many varied elements or coming across like a fanfic (See Star Trek: Generations for when this goes wrong) it's there to provide context to the main plot and add depth to the universe or characters. Just to continue with the above point of Bardock, while it's not stated, its strongly implied that he's coming to terms with the possibility of Frieza annihilating them in a single location, simply because it's similar to what he might do in his place.

Every time the film does add in something new, it always goes off in an entirely new direction from the original, or uses it to explore the events from a new angle. Sure, certain key moments still have to happen, but even the context behind them can dramatically change. This is evident in every part of the film, but it's at its strongest with Broly himself. The original Broly was impressive, exciting and provided one hell of a fun fight scene, but his motivation was questionable, and he devolved into a one-note character. By comparison, the one we have here is very different. He's simple, kind and surprisingly gentle until he needs to use significant force to oppose his enemy. In fact his relationship with his father is very different, as Paragus forces him into being a warrior with threats of violence, and barely keeps him under control. It's framed less in the manner of a chained attack dog than that of an abuse victim.

The character developments which play out in the film hinge both on playing off of events from Super as much as the past. Goku's relationship with Frieza serves as a backdrop to the narrative, and their odd rivalry/enmity which constantly shapes their lives. Broly's very presence in the story, and the overall outcome of events, stems from this. While this sadly leaves Vegeta playing second fiddle again, the fact so much of the film explores his people's history gives him more depth and meaning to his actions. It can show just why he displayed so much pride in his heritage, but also the demons which can come back to haunt him thanks to it. This is only further enhanced by the performances of the cast - all of who are well versed in voicing these icons - but also Chris Sabat's ability as an ADR Director. Short of, perhaps, Andrea Romano there are few people who can so expertly blend the vocal performances of a scene with the visuals on hand.

As for the visuals themselves? That's where this gets a little more complicated. Now, these are beautiful to be sure, with the sort of rapid and fluid moves rarely seen in the franchise. It lacks the FPS issues you might expect, or repetitive frames to capture the high-speed fights, and even pulls out a number of tricks which you would never have expected to see. Perhaps the biggest one among these is a full first-person sequence of one fighter attacking another, and a multitude of segments which push to display just how terrifying a fight between figures capable of nuking planets would truly be. Unfortunately, there's some bad which mixes in with a lot of this good...


The Bad

So, the visuals. This is where the other shoe drops. Once in a while, the animation choices become very, very odd in regards to how events are depicted. This isn't so much skipping details or missing things (in fact the only notable moment in that regard was Goku and Vegeta lacking faces in a long distance shot) but the choices themselves. The moves of Broly, Vegeta, Goku and Frieza are extremely fast and it seems as if director Tatsuya Nagamine wished to fully emphasise that. After a while, however, it starts to become very difficult to keep track of what's going on, and can even become white noise at points. It's something which could work well in moderation, but it lacks the pauses and shots to really help specific moments be distinct. The actual fight takes up just over half the film, but there are only four or five moments in total which I can distinctly remember. The others? It would take repeat viewings to truly tell them apart.

A further issue which arises from the film stems from the soundtrack. Some of it is good, even great, in how it seems to take cues from WWE wrestler intros and hypes up the next stage of the fight. Others? They just seem to fall into the background and merge together. It's akin to how the Marvel Cinematic Universe has many great soundtracks, and a number of excellently executed scores. However, as several of them have the same general notes and theme behind them, they blend in together. So you know it's good, but you just can't recall why or specific bits which spring out above all else. Furthermore, it lacks a distinct stand-out version of the iconic theme to help get you invested in the intro like the previous two films. There is a brief variation of it, but it passes in such a brief time that it is very easy to miss.

A further weakness is the film's use of characters, or rather the lack of them. Broly, Paragus, Frieza, Goku and Vegeta all have a place within the plot. Bulma even has enough decent moments to justify her presence despite taking an eventual background role, and newcomers Cheelai and Lemo both make a good showing. However, a number of others just rapidly show up and are then forgotten. Goten and Trunks both appear for perhaps a minute and are then gone, with Beerus doing much the same. Whis barely makes himself known outside of one admittedly fun moment, and Piccolo appears purely to get one scene across and then is gone again. Each is such a brief moment that it's hard to wonder if their involvement was fully justified, or if the narrative could have been streamlined to focus on its main cast over adding in someone else. And this is coming from someone whose favourite character is Piccolo, and thought Raditz deserved more screen time.

In fact, much of the film is very bloated as a whole. If the section covering the good elements seemed to be all over the place, it's somewhat akin to watching this production. It's trying to cover so much, compress in and rework so much background, that it seriously struggles to fit into any act structure. There's no definite beginning or ending to events, and a lot of strings are left dangling to be followed up on at another time. Rather than an individual story, it instead comes across as if this is a very pragmatic adaptation of a longer piece. There is enough material in this film to cover a major arc in Super, but it's ill-suited to a film as a result. This is, admittedly, likely a result of Akira Toriyama's original script being almost halved in length, but it is still a flaw. In fact, it would likely be one of the best reasons to adapt this into whatever follows on from Super, just to give it more room to breathe around the big fight.

Perhaps the biggest problem of all is something some people might argue against: Anyone who isn't up to date on events is going to be horribly confused. It's definitely made with fans in mind, and I will admit that was the main audience that this was intended to focus on. However, the Saiyan, Frieza Empire and many elements are given little explanation or introduction, while the tournament of power (and the alliance with Frieza) is largely name-dropped without explanation. Combined with hints that this will lead into much bigger battles, it isn't something which can just be viewed on its own and enjoyed.


The Verdict

Overall, this is both the best and worst that a Dragon Ball film can be. It builds upon the universe, reworks previous ideas and genuinely uses them to explore new things. It re-introduces a popular character as less of a generic doomsday device on legs and more of a person, and leaves the audience with a few major hints of things to come. At the same time, if you've not watched most of Super you'll be completely lost, and will likely be left trying to piece together all that played out between Resurrection F and this film.

Because of its undeniable flaws as a film, it's difficult to give this one a higher mark based upon my usual system even with all that it does right. It's definitely worth seeing if you are a fan, but otherwise I would suggest starting much further up the timeline or looking for a vastly better gateway into the setting.

Verdict: 6 out of 10 (or 8.8 out of 10 if you're a Dragon Ball fan)