Best of Solitaire (3DS) Game Review

January 08, 2015 by adolph vega

Best of Solitaire (3DS E-shop Game Review)

Review Written By: Adolph Vega

3D

The 3D element within this game is fairly insignificant and forgettable. When playing a game of solitaire the 3D top screen essentially mirrors the action on the bottom touch screen. The game has 3 layers of 3D and the one closest to the player is a black border with some general information. The second layer of 3D is in the mid-ground and displays a table that the cards are being placed on and mirrors your actions on the touch screen. The third layer of 3D is the floor texture that the table is resting upon and is in the far background. The 3D is also present in the menus before you enter a specific game of solitaire. The names of the different versions of solitaire are presented in squares that flow from the background to the foreground as you scroll through them; this effect is nice but again is totally forgettable and does not enhance the gameplay in any way. In fairness to the developer the stereoscopic 3D doesn’t hurt your eyes or badly presented its just not interesting. The vast majority of the time you play this game you will probably ignore the top screen all together since it’s not necessary to view during gameplay.

Final Verdict: Terrible 3D

Game:

Solitaire has been a card game that’s been around for centuries and the video game version has been around for decades. I remember the first time I played the game wasn’t with physical cards but on my cousins Windows 95 PC. Solitaire video games are easily accessible and found on every platform, and many versions are free, therefore making a new version stand out can be very difficult task to accomplish. I feel Best of Solitaire successfully stands out from the crowd of other solitaire games and is a very well made game with a nice graphical user interface and amazing amount of content. Just in case you have never played a game of solitaire it's a single player card game with a deck of cards. Solitaire uses the standard 52-card deck and the goal is to organize/build up the cards with certain suits in specific stacks until you finish the set. This game has several different ways to play Solitaire and they include the following:

1. Aces Square

2. Aces Up

3. Acme

4. Ali Baba

5. American Toad

6. Aunt Mary

7. Baker's Dozen

8. Baker's Game

9. Baroness

10. Bastion

11. Beetle

12. Beleaguered Castle

13. Betsy Ross

14. Big Forty

15. Blind Alleys

16. Blockade

17. Bristol

18. Busy Aces

19. Calculation

20. Canfield

21. Canister

22. Carlton

23. Castles in Spain

24. Congress

25. Corners

26. Corona

27. Deuces

28. Dieppe

29. Diplomat

30. Double Baker

31. Double Canfield

32. Double East haven

33. Double Free cell

34. Double Klondike

35. Double Rail

36. Double Scorpion

37. Double Yukon

38. Eagle Wing

39. East haven

40. Eight Off

41. Famous Fifty

42. Fan

43. Florentine Patience

44. Flower Garden

45. Fortunes Favour

46. Forty Thieves

47. Four Colours

48. Four Seasons

49. Free cell

50. Gargantua

51. Giant

52. Golf

53. Good Measure

54. Indian

55. Josephine

56. King Albert

57. Klondike

58. La Belle Luccie

59. Lady Palk

60. Limited

61. Little Forty

62. Little Napoleon

63. Little Windmill

64. Lucas

65. Maria

66. Milligan Cell

67. Number Ten

68. Parliament

69. Penguin

70. Pyramid

71. Quadrangle

72. Raglan

73. Rainbow

74. Rank and File

75. Red and Black

76. Royal Parade

77. Russian Solitaire

78. Scorpion

79. Scotch Patience

80. Sea Towers

81. Shamrocks

82. Simple Simon

83. Somerset

84. Spanish Patience

85. Spider

86. Spider One suit

87. Spider Two Suit

88. Spider cells

89. Spiderette

90. Stalactites

91. Steps

92. Steve

93. Storehouse

94. Superior Canfield

95. Trefoil

96. Tuxedo

97. Twin Queens

98. Waning oon

99. West Cliff

100. Whitehead

101. Yukon

To be honest I had no clue that so many variations of solitaire existed before playing this game. All the different game modes play the same with dragging the cards on the touch screen to move them. Moving the cards with the touch screens feels precise, smooth and as responsive as you would expect and want in this sort of game. You can also use the circle pad or directional control pad to select and move cards, but I found those controls inferior to using the touch screen. The graphical user interface / operating system for this game I found to be very well done, and the player has many options easily and quickly accessible. The menus pop up and easily change the play fields background, music, and card face style. The music within the game has lounge music / elevator music sense. The music has a relaxed jazz style that fits the game well. I didn’t find any of the specific tracks memorable or amazing quality, but they all made sense for this type of game. Going back to the graphical user interface / operating system the touch screen also has the option to go back and forward in your moves, and a hint icon that gives you clues to what can be done next. The touch screen also has a button to press that gives you information on each version of solitaire. Sometimes the info button doesn’t respond to touch screen taps right away or needs to be clicked several times or pressed hard to function correctly. Another minor issue I had with the game is the top screen sometimes cuts off the image and doesn’t seem to fit the contents it’s displaying. Both these issues are really small glitches and don’t hamper the gameplay. Unfortunately the game does not have a full tutorial or demo, it’s only a block of text you can scroll and read for yourself. With so many variations of solitaire within this package only having a text block to read instructional material is a major oversight. The main gameplay of solitaire has lasted the test of time and is fun and simple game to play, and with some patience you will learn the other modes without much issue. The large variety of modes within the game will keep me coming back and the great operating system/ graphical user interface is what makes this game stand out from the rest. Overall I did have fun playing the different versions of solitaire within the game and I can highly recommend Best of Solitaire.

Final score: 7/10

Official Website for the game

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Exodus Gods and Kings Review

December 22, 2014 by adolph vega

Exodus Gods and Kings

Review Written By: Adolph Vega

3D

This use of 3d is very inconsistent and for the vast majority of the movie it's not impressive or interesting to watch in 3d. The movie starts strong with good use of 3d prospective with 3d building pillars, and overall good use of 3D within the scenery. Some early action scenes look nice in 3D with projectiles and characters moving within the different planes of 3d. Sadly the 3D effect does not last, and after the initial 30-45 minutes the movie seems to totally forget about the 3d aspect. After some good early uses the 3d rarely becomes used and is limited to scenes with special effects. The 3d is sharp and bright when it's presented; sadly 70% of the movie’s 3d is absent or not noticeable. Overall I did like the 3d aspect when they used it, but it's presented in so few scenes I cannot recommend watching it in 3d at all.

Final Verdict: Terrible 3D

Movie

Before I start this review I must comment regarding a few very important issues regarding this film. First and foremost I have to comment that any criticism of this movie is not a criticism of the faith of Judaism. I have full respect and admiration for the Jewish people and their culture and beliefs and this critique of this movie is not a critique of the Holy Bible, Torah, or Old Testament in any way. Second of all I must comment that when books are converted to films several aspects are changed and altered, and that is a natural part of the movie making process. Third of all I must comment that I would not directly talk about how the scenes and events in this movie are connected to the Bible events regarding the accuracy and or inaccurate nature of the film compared to the religious texts. Fourth and finally I must mention that this movie review would not directly mention the 1956 film "The 10 Commandments" and I will not compare or contrast this movie to that movie. That being said the1956 classic is vastly superior to this movie in almost every way.

All that being said, it’s time to review this specific film. Exodus Gods and Kings begins with little pretext and throws you into the story. This story revolves around brotherly drama between Moses and Ramses, which dates back thousands of years ago. A series of events leads Moses being expelled from the city and starting a family. Moses than has a religious experience that drives him to help the Hebrews in Egypt. This movie takes many aspects from the religious texts but changes things slightly to fit their distinct narrative. I never want to spoil the story, but this story from the Bible is incredibly well known, so I’ll cover some key aspects but not the details within this movie. First I want to compliment the movie for being entertaining and successfully bringing this ancient time to life on screen. I must applaud the technical aspects of the movie, as the computer graphics are convincing and well implemented.I also must give the film credit for having great sets, costumes, and make-up that look authentic and fit the period and region. Sadly those technical aspects are the only positive aspects to this film. This movie fails in almost every other regard including characters, story telling and the pacing is all over the place. The old saying it's not what you say but it's how you say it best describes this film, because the fundamentals of the story are well done but overall nature of this film is poorly executed with many repugnant decisions made within this film. The first repugnant decision the filmmakers made is the pacing is the inconsistent; some pointless scenes seem to drag on while other important scenes are rushed. For example the first scene where Moses meets God seems very quick, but the scene with Moses during his honeymoon night is way too long and serves no purpose. Speaking of Moses’s marriage the wife character serves no purpose within this movie. Her screen time is less than 10% of the film, and her role easily should have been cut from the final film. Her later absence makes no logical sense in the storyline, and its odd to see her be introduced, get married to Moses and than quickly dismissed within the span of 10 minutes. Sadly her character is given zero time to be developed and she doesn’t even get the dignity of a simple montage of her apparent 10 year marriage. This is only the first of many storyline decisions that are not executed well. The film makes several decisions that I disagree with and the most repugnant decision is how they decided to visualize God on screen. This aspect might be considered a minor spoiler but I think this decision is so egregious that I must discuss it. The movie portrays God as a 9-year-old bratty little bald boy. I can sympathize with this decision, as they probably wanted the character of God within this movie to be something the audience can relate to, but they totally fail to make God a likeable character. It’s very strange that the movie has the gale to question the legitimacy of this God character existence. Several times the movie questions if this God character is more than just a delusion of Moses. What makes this aspect so distasteful is that so many events happening within this movie is beyond the grasp of humans, therefore having the movie constantly question if God exists or is a figment of Moses imagination is mind boggling in its idiocy because obviously the story could not advance if this was only a delusion, so why bother wasting screen time with this element. Many times this child God seems to have an attitude, or total contempt for Moses and have mini tantrums. The relationship between God and Moses within this movie is off-putting and they have no chemistry and is tedious at times to watch. Simply put the God representation within this movie is badly handled and annoying. Speaking of annoying characters I found the main character Moses played by Christian Bale to be completely annoying in a pathetic fashion. This character of Moses starts the film without faith and seems out of place within the family. This character aspect for Moses is fine for the beginning of the film, but he does not grow as a character even after his interactions with God. I was vastly disappointed that the character is not transformed in personality after interacting with God and is the same pathetic human being before and after. I found the character of Moses to be lacking of confidence, without any leadership skills or vision, and not likeable or inspirational. This character completely lacks the charisma and gravitas to be the protagonist of this movie, and I refuse to believe that anybody would follow this pathetic characters lead. The movie has another terrible main character with Moses’s brother Ramses. Many times the movie would mention how evil Ramses is/was, but the few times they attempt to show you how evil he is/was they are laughable. The movie shouldn’t tell you how a character is, they should show you with scenes and dialog and this film fails to develop Ramses as the antagonist. The movie totally glances over how horrible he was to the Hebrews and his kingdom as a whole. When Moses is upset to how the kingdom is governed by Ramses its fails to resonate because his brutality is only mentioned in passing and never clearly demonstrated. The few instances of public execution to showcase his evil nature, I found funny and not threating in any way. A few times within this movie I was lost because they failed to clearly dictate what was happening or why. The climax of the movie is the scene with the Hebrews and the Dead Sea. This scene is anticlimactic and lacks the cinematic impact it should have. One line that Moses says about the future of Hebrews is borderline offensive, not because its contents but the poor execution of the lines from the actor. The movie ends with scenes that are rushed, and the movie ends without any sense of conclusion but a cheap nod to the other stories of Moses within the Bible, that have no relation to the previous scenes and lack context in this movie. I wanted to enjoy this movie but as it progressed the movie kept making repugnant decisions with the storyline, characters and events that I could not forgive. Please avoid this movie at all costs, because this abomination on film is not worthy of your time.

Final Score: 2 / 10

Exodus Official Website

Listen the Podcast Review here

UPDATED 1/4/2015

My good friend Christin Richard joins me to Revisit my review of Exodus Gods and Kings. This review is filled with spoilers and we talk about this movie again and she gives more insight and her different opinion of the movie. Click the button below to hear it.

Listen to Revisited Podcast Review Here

The Penguins of Madagascar Review

December 07, 2014 by adolph vega

The Penguins of Madagascar Review

Review Written By: Adolph Vega

3D:

The stereoscopic 3D within this movie hits the middle ground with some interesting perspective shifts and the occasional particle effect catching the eye. Clearly the 3D aspect was not the main focus when making this movie, but it does not disrupt the movie or directly enhance it in any way. A few key scenes within the movie use the 3D more vividly than other scenes and some of the characters look nice and rounded in 3D with certain body parts popping out, but it’s far from being impressive. A good chuck of the movie the 3D is not accounted for or captivating. Overall this movie has mixed 3D element with several select scenes using it well and other scenes not using the 3D at all.

Final Verdict: Good 3D

Movie:

The Madagascar animated movies have been huge box office hits, and the penguin characters within those movies are easily the breakout stars of those films. The penguins even had a TV show showcasing their adventures, so making a full-length motion picture is the logical next step for the characters. That being said the movie does not justify its big screen existence and should have been released directly to DVD instead.This movie revolves around the four penguins from the Madagascar movies “ Skipper, Rico, Kowalski, and Private” and they must save the world from an evil Octopus that seeks revenge. The penguins are joined on screen with the elite task force called the North Wind. The North Wind is a group of animals that travel around the globe and help other animals in need. The movie has frantic pacing that never gives the viewer much time to breath between the various action scenes. This element is the biggest flaw within the movie, its entertaining and fun but has no substance. One of the penguins is giving some character development, and the main villain is well developed too but the vast majority of the characters is totally underdeveloped and is one-dimensional in scope. The North Wind characters seem to take over the movie and I never found any of them interesting or compelling. The movie does have an enjoyable sense of humor but many of the jokes are aimed at younger audiences and are mostly simplistic sight gags or slapstick. The movie has an ongoing joke with name-dropping celebrity names into the dialog, this aspect is funny at first but the puns become annoying as they repeat it too many times. I did enjoy the villain within the movie, even if his revenge plot was overly silly. The movie feels very rushed and many of the best moments were spoiled within the trailers. Even if the characters are undeveloped they are enjoyable and entertaining to watch on screen. The movie is cinematic candy that is entertaining and enjoyable but lacks character development and ultimately is a forgettable film.

Final Verdict: 6 / 10

Official Website

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