Metal Gear (MSX / NES) Review

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After skipping forward (or backwards game-continuity-wise!) to MGS3 due to the remake being on the horizon it’s time to get this on-and-off look at the Metal Gear franchise off proper by looking at the very first game in the series. I actually own and played the NES version back in the day so unlike a lot of people who started with MGS on the PS1 this game does hold a lot of nostalgia for me. Okay, I was really bad at the game at the time and the NES version is much worse than the MSX original as it turns out, but regardless it’s always fun to head back here, and thanks to the “Master Collection” it was even easier to play the original AND the NES version on my regular TV this time round. So let’s take a look at the game that started it all.

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X-Men – Origin (X-Men Issues 1-10) Review

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Our next foray into Marvel comic origin issues is the X-Men, appearing here in their first ten issues. It’s funny given how big they became but the X-Men weren’t actually super popular in these early issues, it wasn’t really until the reboot in the mid-70s that it started picking up steam (stay tuned for that one later!) and then skyrocketed in the 80s. So is there any point to revisiting the less popular years? Let’s find out!

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Doctor Who: Goth Opera Review

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It’s time for a one-off return to the Novel Adaptations range as for some reason the Paul Cornell “Missing Adventures” book Goth Opera has been turned into an audio drama, but not the Fourth Doctor novel that leads into it, so it’s all a bit odd. Still, I’m not going to turn down a three-hour Fifth Doctor story with a larger cast one way or another, so let’s take a look!

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Neon Genesis Evangelion (Episodes 1 – 13) Review

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As promised (a while ago now, stupid busy summer!) it’s time to finally tackle this behemoth. “Neon Genesis Evangelion” is not only massively influential but it also has thousands of pages, podcasts and videos analysing every frame, slight story nuance and every potential reference, meaning I didn’t know whether to really bother reviewing the series in my more casual format, but you know what? It would be weirder if this site never had Evangelion on it at all, so now I’ve watched the official blu-rays its now or inevitably later, so may as well be now! The first half of the series is undeniably great, which won’t take any of you by surprise, so let’s take a look!

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Doctor Who: Conspiracy of Raven Review

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We’re back to the Big Finish-exclusive “post War Games” era of the Second Doctor with “Conspiracy of Raven”, featuring three strongly-linked stories moving the plot forward. I stress moving forward rather than “bringing to an end” as it is just the next chapter is this storyline rather than anything else, and as a chapter it’s not really that interesting. Still, the performances are great, so that elevates the material a bit! Let’s take a look.

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Doctor Who: The Last Day – Part Two Review

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At the end of my review for Part One I said “I guess and we’ll see if any of this actually pays off in a meaningful way or not…” and now I’ve listened to Part Two, guess what? Not! Yes, somehow Part Two is just as much of a muddled mess as the first half despite what I thought would be getting the Doctor-lite set up episodes out the way leading to a bigger role for the man whose last adventure it actually was turned out to not be the case, instead we just got another six episodes of loads of companions and old foes, a lot which nobody remembers all, running around with little direction until a final episode that tries to tie it all together but fails, instead giving us a pretty nasty and crappy way to send off the Seventh Doctor, possibly even worse that his undignified end from the TV movie… Yikes. Let’s take a look, shall we?

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Persona 3: Reload (PS5) Review

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Persona 3: Reload came out around the same time as Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth back in February and I knew I’d only have the time for one so I chose the latter, but come mid-June I knew I had a good stretch of time with no new major releases I was interested in and so finally got round to purchasing it, and you know what? It’s actually quite hard which of the two RPG remakes I liked more. P3 has always appealed to me but I never actually played it, I saw a friend play through about a third of it and watched (and reviewed!) the four movie adaptations, plus played the Persona 4: Arena games that featured the P3 cast, so I was very familiar with it and really enjoyed the characters and setting but this was actually my first time playing the whole story myself. So let’s take a look!

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Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker Review

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Well, how to I start this review off? The Celestial Toymaker was one of my least favourite Who stories period, one I was dreading on day reviewing and having to sit through three episodes of painfully boring slideshows and a bit of a naff final episode. Then along came the news it was being animated! Great, that at least takes care of the photo slideshow not doing the glacial pace any favours, but then the animation turns out to be in a 3D CG style that looked pretty terrible in the trailer and in watching it is only a bit better than I feared. Did it make it easier to watch? Yeah, but it’s sort of like replacing something I hated with something I really don’t like, so… it’s not a major win… Well, with all that rambling over with, let’s actually take a look, shall we?

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Star Wars: The High Republic – Temptation of the Force Review

David HoganLeave a comment

Phase III of the High Republic continues, at last. “Temptation of the Force” was a good read and leaves things in an interesting place heading into the era’s grand finale, shame that the next and final book isn’t out until spring next year! Arrgh! Oh well, this book sets some things up nicely and moves Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann forward in a really interesting way, so let’s take a look!

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