Overlord

Robert Murphy


Going back to the first time that I had watched Sword Art Online I found that an anime about being trapped in a game was quite an interesting one since I have always been an avid game lover and the concept of virtual reality becoming actually reality quite excites me. Other shows have popped up and followed the same kind of logic and so one would think that the idea would become stagnant but Overlord takes a new approach to the story. 

Momonga was a member of an extremely prestigious guild from the MMORPG Yggdrasil and even though he was simply in charge of the guilds finances he was still a max level spell caster. Now the game is unfortunately going to see it's final day as the servers are being shut down and Momonga logs in for the final moments of the game but his fellow guild members have long since abandoned the game and all that they have earned after countless hours of playing. Something unprecedented happens once the clock strikes midnight and the game was suppose to shut down though, Yggdrasil was still online or at least in some fashion it was. All of the player made servants in the guild hall have been made real and Momonga has been transferred to entirely new world with new people and places but it is still a world where he retains all of his magical skills and power which makes him practically a God among it's inhabitants. 

Momonga or Ainz Ooal Gown is a character who takes over powered status and does it the right way. Normally you wouldn't like a character who can do anything and has no chink in his armor, it's boring, but in this case there are two reasons why it works. On the surface Ainz appears to be this menacing skeleton creature (Undead character class) who knows high level magic and has knowledge beyond that of anyone else in the world. Underneath the surface though there is a stressed out human character that freaks out when his second in command Albedo does things like confess her undying love for him. There are moments of inner monologue for his character throughout the story and while he remains calm and calculating in most of the crucial situations but he has quite a few moments of pure embarrassment with his female subordinates and remnants left from the days when the world was just a game.

His intelligence and raw power is the other key component to his appeal. Since the moment Momonga found himself trapped in this strange new world he calculated every move he made, testing what abilities he can still perform and setting out to explore the world in the hopes of concurring it for himself. Yes, Ainz is a bad guy and I often forgot this fact since he refrains from doing too many things that would be considered "evil" but everything he does is ultimately for his own gain. Anyone who is foolish enough to attack him learns quickly about his strength as casting 8th tier magic is nothing to him where the humans of this world cannot go past the 3rd tier. This leads to him outclassing just about everyone you see Ainz come across and while this world normally be dull the show shows off his power in a variety of different ways to make stellar action scenes and explore Yggdrasil's game mechanics.

The fights are often short but they are nonetheless a treat to behold while you're watching Overlord. Yggdrasil was a game unlike any other MMORPG that is out on the market today or at least to my knowledge it is, the players can create their own weapons using items, create their own home bases (Nazarick is the main base for the show and Ainz) and even create their own servants and most of these player created NPC's are our main cast members along with Ainz. This should give you some idea as to the magnitude of the fights that take place across the show, Ainz has God level magic at his disposal as well as former in-game items, weapons and all the power of Nazarick/his former companions, he isn't afraid to use it either. His subordinates are just as powerful too which made the final fight between Ainz and a turned Nazarick member, Shalltear, quite an interesting one to watch.

Outside of Ainz and the members of Nazarick though there is some work to be done. Overlord clearly has a rich world to be explored and near the end of the series the story began to unravel quite a bit of information about the people who live here. Ainz does his best to learn all he can but there are moments where we were strung along for very little reward such as Ainz's first quest to a nearby city where he joins an adventure guild. The characters he meets were interesting at first but are all thrown away later on and this happens more than once, you are introduced to a new character who seems important but is dropped before you get to know them. Later seasons may prove to pull the overall story together more coherently but for the time being it is a show all about the glorious Ainz Ooal Gown.

Overlord proves that you can still do something new with the trapped in a game style anime with what is presented here. With a more coherent overall story then things would have gone exceptionally well as I watched the series but it was still wonderful meeting Ainz and seeing the power he commands. His subordinates at Nazarick are just as exceptional to watch and it is hard to believe that these characters were technically all designed by video game players, now brought to life. 

Good:

- Ainz Ooal Gown is a fantastically overpowered monster

- Other Nazarick members like Albedo are great

- Yggdrasil is a world that would be spectacular to be trapped

Bad:

- Characters outside Ainz and Nazarick are interesting but get no screen time

- Story has potential but needs time to bring it together better

Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution

By: Robert Murphy 

It would appear that the world of Naruto is finally about to come to a close after countless chapters and episodes and even the last Ninja Storm game brought the 4th Great Shinobi War to our gaming systems. It's sad to see one of my long time favorite animes about to come to a close but I will still have these games to relive all the action in the palm of my hands and that's exactly what I intend to do with the release of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution. Wow, these titles are definitely not getting any shorter. 

Revolution takes a bit of a step back from where we left off with the last game by bringing some of the unsung stories of Naruto to our attentions. Ninja Escapades takes on the role of telling the games only real main story element but sadly it only offers three story arcs to choose from, one of which is just a watchable cut scene. The two playable stories tells the story about the formation of the Akatsuki and the other is the tale of Shisui Uchiha, both of which are intriguing storylines but are represented here in an incredibly dull fashion. The story writing and cut scenes are extraordinarily dull and were honestly the most mind numbing experience I've had before, sure cutscenes have always been a tad dull but this one takes the cake. The fights themselves are uneventful as well and will take you about five minutes to complete so it makes the whole mode just feel like a waste of time. 

Next we are introduced to a new mode to try and spice up the 1v1 style fighting we are accustomed to from the Naruto games and introduces us to the Ninja World Tournament. The mode is marketed to try and allow players to try and determine who the strongest ninja to ever live is and allows you to choose from the games massive character list and fight other ninjas in a 4v4 battle mode. The winner in this mode is determined by earning points balls that drop from your NPC opponents after you land blow after blow against them in combat. While on the hole this seems like an interesting idea, it quickly sours as your enemies are incredibly easy to beat even as you get to the harder modes latter on. This mode also suffers from annoying side missions where in between each fight you can return to a free walking area and find ninja to help you fight in the tournament which at one point involved me answering Naruto trivia, yes that really happens. It is an overall waste of time and energy on your part to even play. 

After you defeat the first wave in the Ninja World Tournament, you unlock the next tier but also a new mode which tells the story of a new character, Mecha Naruto. This is a mode that involves free roaming and a small semblance of a story to tell players about a new world with this robotic look alike of our favorite ninja hero. This mode though also suffers from the lack of good storytelling and writing that Ninja Escapades suffers from and it also will make you walk and maneuver through tedious cut scenes and conversations with familiar Naruto faces. 

In the end, not much changes in Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolutions in terms of the way you play through the games fights and battles. It is nice to see the updated list to the character roster but really there is no area in the game where it is fun to use them. The game is bogged down with the bad game elements that developers came up with in previous games and adds a whole bunch of new ones without adding anything appealing to it. I really don't know what happened here with this game and hopefully the next one will not suffer the way this one did. 

Good:

- The game sees an updated roster that takes you right up to the manga releases

- Features the same solid fighting mechanics it has in previous games

Bad:

- The new story modes of Ninja Escapades are short and unappealing

- Poor writing and mind numbingly dull cut scenes make any story unbearable

- Ninja World Tournament tries to add 4v4 fighting fun but the whole experience is a flop

Scully Rating: 4.0 out of 10