Blade Runner 2049

3D Movie Review Written By Adolph Vega

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3D

The 3D visuals for this movie are subtle and limited in scope. Most of the time I forgot the 3D was present because it’s such a minor aspect of this movie. At times certain parts of the environment will appear farther or closer away to the viewer. The 3D depth is limited to only a few layers. Some scenes with rain or snow look especially nice in 3D as the partial effects give the viewer the illusion of being emerged within the scene. Other times the 3D is used to highlight the actors faces during close-ups. The 3D helps make the actors appear more realistic and give the viewer a better sense of their emotions. Artistically the 3D is nice addition to this movie, but I just don’t care. I really didn’t gain much of anything by watching this movie in 3D. It’s not a terrible 3D presentation but it’s not all that interesting. Overall the 3D is just too subtle and too forgettable to recommend.

Final Verdict: Weak 3D, 2D Recommended

Movie

Blade Runner 2049 is a fascinating movie and a stunning sequel.

Before I discuss this new movie, I need to quickly talk about the original Blade Runner. The original Blade Runner (1982) is a hugely influential science fiction movie . To be honest I am not a big fan of the original Blade Runner. I found the original Blade Runner to be slow and pretentious. I was born after the release (1983) so everything I heard about the original Blade Runner was based on the post release hype. I do enjoy science fiction, and I do enjoy movies that make you think, but I could not enjoy the original Blade Runner movie. The story of Blade Runner is based on a book from Phillip K Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) which I never read. I went into this sequel with an open mind and hoping that I could enjoy 2049 on its own merit. I am happy to report that Blade Runner 2049 is a vastly superior movie compared to its predecessor.

The story of Blade Runner 2049 continues the narrative of the original movie and builds upon it. Sadly Blade Runner 2049 is dependent on its predecessor and barely makes any sense if you have not watched that original movie. The film starts with a few blocks of text on the screen. The text is a little small but it gives the viewer a huge amount of backstory. This backstory fills the gap in between the two Blade Runner movies . The use of several blocks of text to start a movie is far from the best way to introduce this universe. The movie takes place in a bleak futuristic city of Los Angeles. Ryan Gosling is K an android who is the Blade Runner and works for the Los Angeles police department. As a Blade Runner K must discontinue(kill) older model androids (replicants) who refuse to be slaves for humanity. K is a newer type of android who is not supposed to have free will. The movie follows K as he discovers the truth about the replicants and their evolution . This movie discusses many deep philosophical themes such as the concepts of free will, love, humanity, slavery , and more. Is it moral to use robots/androids as slaves when it's obvious that they are intelligent conscious beings? The movie is presented as a dramatic thriller that slowly unravels its mysteries. The movie is heavy with meaning and symbolism yet finds a way to make an interesting compelling narrative. The movie knows how to handle the deeper elements of the story but never feels overly preachy. At times the movie can be slow paced but overall it knows how to keep things flowing. The world of Blade Runner 2049 is bleak and dire, but I was never bored by it.

The characters within this movie do a fantastic job of bringing this story to life. Ryan Gosling as K gives a masterful performance. K might be an android but he has intelligence and commands the attention of the viewer. K doesn't act human but doesn't act overly robotic either. It’s difficult to explain but he walks the line between human and machine and gives one of the best performances of his career. Joi is the holographic girlfriend of K and is an amazing character. The special effects for Joi are simply incredible and are a major aspect of the character and how she is portrayed on screen. I have never seen any work of fiction that has made a holographic character so compelling and interesting. Harrison Ford reprises his role as Rick Deckard and is mesmerizing on screen. Jared Leto is Niander Wallace who is the mastermind behind the newer more advanced androids. His screen time is limited but he oozes charisma every second he is on screen and is an incredibly threating individual. Some of the characters are lacking depth but overall the acting is excellent with many interesting characters. I really enjoyed the entire cast of this movie and found all the performances to be strong and well done.

The movie is gorgeous to look at both because of the special effects and the excellent cinematography. The visuals within this movie are spectacular. The world of Blade Runner looks lived in, realistic and authentic. I never questioned the computer graphics or the special effects within this movie. I loved how technology was showcased within this movie. Technology is ever-present in this world, but it doesn't always work correctly. The movie is well shot and knows how to show off its gorgeous scenery. The action scenes are few and far between but I found them to be gripping and fun to watch and easy to follow. The visual design of this movie is rich and is well constructed.

The movie deserves high praise but I did have some problems with it. One aspect I found strange within this movie was the excessive amount of female nudity. I have nothing against the beauty that is the female form, I have no problem with nudity on scene, but its overdone in this movie . The many nude women are beautiful and the shots are tasteful but it feels unnecessary for this story . Another aspect I found perplexing was a sex scene in the middle of the movie. I found the scene to be incredible to watch because of the special effects and interesting execution, but it was totally random. The scene is very sexy and well shot but is totally out of place and not earned for the characters involved. This scene leaves the viewer with more questions than answers. I also had problems with other scenes near the conclusion of the movie. Many aspects of the final act are lacking context for the viewer and it seems overly bloated. With a movie that is nearly three hours long, it feels like the final act was rushed. The durability of the androids/replicants is also something left ambiguous. I never really know how badly damaged any of the characters really are. The issues I have with this movie are minor and don't dramatically hurt the whole movie. This movie is very close to being perfect so many of my critiques can be considered nitpicking, but they bothered me enough to feel compelled to mention.

In the end, I still loved my time with Blade Runner 2049. The story is amazing and successful resurrects Blade Runner for the modern era. I found the characters to be fascinating and the acting performances to be excellent. I had some problems with the movie but what I enjoyed greatly outweigh any negative aspects. Overall Blade Runner 2049 is one of the best movies of 2017 and it shouldn't be missed.

Final Verdict: 9 / 10, Editors Choice Award

Blade Runner 2049 Official Website

Update:

After further thought I have updated this review to include an Editor's Choice Award for this movie. The more I thought about this movie, the more I like it (not enough to give it a 10) but I felt this movie is truly something special and shouldn't be missed.

Click here to listen to our audio podcast review of Blade Runner 2049

Chicken Wiggle

3DS Video Game Review

Written By Adolph Vega

3D

The stereoscopic visuals are a nice minor addition to the visual presentation of this game. The 3D uses a few layers of 3D depth to present its classic 2D platforming gameplay. The 3D looks sharp and doesn’t detract or impact the smooth fluidity of the game’s overall visuals. One impressive use of the 3D is that of passing clouds. Occasionally transparent clouds will float by the screen that are closer to the player than the main gameplay, and these clouds really showcases the different layers of 3D depth. The more you turn up the 3D slider, the more graphics will recede and give the player more 3D depth. The pixel art graphical style of this game lends itself nicely to multiple layers of 3D depth. Sadly no enemies, characters or objects travel in-between the layers of 3D. The 3D depth is limited to the static backgrounds and has no impact on how the actual game plays. Overall I really enjoyed the 3D element of this game, and I can easily recommend playing this game in 3D .

Final Verdict: Good 3D

Game

Chicken Wiggle is a new 2D side scrolling adventure game from Atooi. Atooi has created several excellent 2D side scrollers in the past, and I’m happy to report that Chick Wiggle is another great title in their repertoire. In Chicken Wiggle you play as a small chicken who is attempting to save his flock who were kidnapped by a witch . A worm joins the chicken's quest, and they work together to save the flock in various levels and worlds within the game . The story of the game is minimal but it works well for this style of game. The game is played in similar fashion to other 2D platform adventure games like Super Mario Bros, where you explore 2D levels to reach an eventual end point. When you free a kidnapped comrade the level is completed . At first glance this game may appear to be aimed for small children, but the fun gameplay and great level design make this game fun for anyone of any age. Chicken Wiggle is a new franchise and it feels like a fresh new gameplay idea that is well executed and a joy to play.

The gameplay of Chicken Wiggle is fairly strait forward and is a joy to play partly because of the excellent precise controls. You have direct control over the chicken as you explore the various levels with either the circle pad or control pad. I prefer to use the control pad, because 2D side scrolling games just feel more natural to play with the control pad. The choice is ultimately up the player, regardless both control inputs work well for this game . You can jump as the chicken with the B button. You can do a peck move with the A button. The peck move can be used to defeat enemies and is a context sensitive action. As the chicken you can use the worm to cling to parts of the environment with the Y button. Clinging to the environments is a core element of the game, and learning how and when to use the worm to hook-shoot around the levels is key to the players advancement and the exploration. The worm can also be used to temporarily stun enemies from a distance. As you play the game you will need to use multiple buttons simultaneously and they all work without issue. The start and/or select buttons can be used to pause the game and take you to the submenu where you can exit the level and go back to the main menu , retry the level or continue the game. The touch screen can be used to navigate the various menus and to assemble user created levels (more on that later). Overall the controls are pixel perfect for the player and feel tight, responsive and precise.

I really enjoyed how well crafted the levels are within this game. The game is broken down to eight worlds with six levels per world. You play the levels in sequential order and within each level you have floating golden diamonds to collect and the letters that spell out the word FUN. Each level has a certain amount of golden floating diamonds to find within the level. The game counts the amount of gold diamonds you have collected and shows the player how many total golden diamonds are present within each level . The letters that spell out FUN are placed strategically in each level too, and they can be fairly tricky to find . Exploring every area of the level and fully understanding the level design will help you find all the letters that spell out FUN and all the golden diamonds. Sadly, nothing outside of personal satisfaction is gained by collecting all the letters of FUN or the golden diamonds for each level. After you finished a level you cannot see if you collected all the FUN letters or all the gold diamonds in that perspective level. The lack of knowing if you fully completed a level is a disappointing omission from the game. Replay value for the story aspect of the game is diminished by not being able to clearly see what levels you have fully completed. In other similar games collecting a percentage of the trinkets can unlock the player a bonus section, additional levels, music selection, art gallery , etc, so it's disappointing that nothing like that is present within this game . Personal satisfaction is simply not enough of a reward for collecting the various trinkets within the game. The actual level design for the story mode is fairly inspired and clever. The levels have various check points to help the player and a difficulty that never feels cheap or annoying. The game does a wonderful job of adding variety by slowly introducing several new gameplay mechanics, power ups, and enemies to the game. Sadly the game only has one boss battle. It’s a shame that more boss battles weren’t present within this game , because I found that boss battle to be a fun and interesting twist on the gameplay . The game overall has a fantastic pick up and play mentality with levels that aren’t overly long and keeps the player interested from start to finish . The game feels good to play on a portable gaming console where you can play and complete a level within a few minutes. The main story mode lasts a few hours and it never out says it’s welcome . The gameplay of Chicken Wiggle is a unique twist to traditional 2D side scroller video games. Overall Chicken Wiggle and is a breezy adventure that is intelligently designed and is very enjoyable to play .

The game has a level editor that allows the player to easily make and share levels. The level editor exclusively uses the touch screen and is well designed with a straightforward drag and drop mechanic for creating levels . The level editor is robust with options and features for the player. This level creator essentially gives the user full access to make levels as they see fit. The game does limit the user with the overall size and number of items/enemies each level can have, but those limitations are understandable and overall these limitations don’t hamper the level creation experience. Unfortunately, the level editor doesn’t have any kind of tutorial, which is a small annoyance. I strongly recommend playing and completing the story element of the game before making your own levels. The aspect of sharing levels is well done and requires the player to first complete the level before uploading it to the server. This aspect should prevent uploaded levels that are impossible to complete. You can save dozens of user created levels onto your game file so you can play them whenever your offline. The level editor also allows the user to make levels that have different criteria for completion. One example is a user created level that reminded me of the original PAC-Man arcade game. This user created level has a maze design , ghost enemies and still uses the gameplay mechanics of Chicken Wiggle. This Pac-Man inspired level requires the player to collect all the golden diamonds within the level to win. The game has a built in level browser that gives the player many options to search for and find user created levels like the PAC-Man level. As the user makes a level they can edit the title and several key searchable words to help make your level more discoverable. If you play a specific level within the built in browser you can like (heart) the level after you complete it . You cannot leave text comments or dislike a level so the interactions the user can have with user created levels is minimal. The game gives you an alpha numeric code for each uploaded level that is fairly easy to remember. The level code for the above mentioned Pac-Man level is 328. I created one custom level for the purposes of this review . The code for my custom designed level is 685. This level is also the final photo on the photo slideshow at the top of the page. Sadly, the game does not offer a way to easily share your levels via popular social networks like Facebook , Twitter, Tumbler and or Instagram. Using the built in 3DS web browser the game could have easily implemented a way to share and find new levels via social media. I would love to see a dedicated Offical Facebook group for sharing Chicken Wiggle levels. Maybe have a official chicken Wiggle hashtag for twitter. Having a official blog post on Tumbler that allows commentary and voting on specific levels would be awesome. These ideas could dramatically increase the thriving community of level editors. Obviously I am judging the game on its own merits and not what I would want or expect from it. The current system of sharing and viewing user created levels within the game is sufficient, but I feel like it's lacking and could have been further developed . Overall the level editor is is a fantastic addition to this game and give the player a huge amount of value .

One aspect of the game that I must discuss is the colorful graphics and delightful music. The graphics for the game (outside of the 3D element) looks like a long lost Super Nintendo game. I say that in the highest regard, because the Super Nintendo has many beautiful games that still look fantastic decades later. The pixelated sprite based art style created for this game is a timeless design. The graphics never have any slowdown or graphical glitches so the engine is incredibly solid . The animations within this game look nice and are very smooth. One minor complaint I have with this game is the fact that the text on screen uses a tiny font size. I don't know why the game developer decided to make the fonts so small for the player to read. I played this game on a NEW Nintendo 3DS XL with near 20/20 vision and I still struggled at times to read the tiny sized text. The tiny font size is annoying, especially since most of the real estate of the screen is still present so it was obviously a design choice. Going back to the graphical design, the various levels do a great job of setting themselves apart. The art work in the different levels cycles from a few different variants. Having several different level art themes keeps the game looking fresh and different and I appreciate the effort. Overall the best word to describe the graphics for this game is adorable. The game looks clean and sharp on the 3DS screens, while it doesn't push any boundaries it does have a distinct style that preforms well without issue. Regarding the musical melodies within this game they are upbeat, peppy, and catchy. The music also varies based on the graphical design of the levels and it complements the gameplay. The game is dripping with cuteness and is incredibly charming both with the audio and visual components.

All things considered Chicken Wiggle is a great 3DS game. I enjoyed the level design and found it to be very fun to play. On a technical level the controls, graphics, and music are all top notch. I also enjoyed the level editor included with this game, but I found it lacking in some key features. Overall Chicken Wiggle is a delightful game that I can easily recommend .

Final Verdict : 8 / 10

This game was provided by Atooi for purposes of review.

Chicken Wiggle Official Website

Blade Runner 2049 3D Movie Review