Sayonara Wild Hearts Review – All That Glitters
Playing Sayonara Wild Hearts' best levels is an intangible, hard-to-describe feeling. When the art, the movement, and the music all come together in a track, it's absolutely captivating. But it's also fleeting, and I spent the majority of my time playing Sayonara Wild Hearts chasing that feeling. It came through in a few standout levels, but for most of the game, I found myself on the verge of falling in love with songs only to fall short of that high.
It's an interesting kind of music game. The main goal is to simply flow with the music, rather than hit a series of precise rhythm-based inputs or dance along to beats. Crystalline hearts line the paths you ride (or fly) through, and often, following the hearts is the best way to get through a level safely without scrambling to avoid oncoming obstacles. Timed inputs are reserved for flashier moves--big jumps, deft dodges, graceful attacks--and these sequences are all scripted, so all you have to do is hit the button somewhat on time and then watch as the moves play out to the music. The camera and forward movement, including your speed, are automatic, too, leaving you to move only from side to side with rare exception. This all lends Sayonara Wild Hearts a dreamlike feel; you are both participant and observer, somewhat in control but mostly just along for the ride.
Initially, the dreaminess of Sayonara Wild Hearts is enchanting. The scripted moves, which often come during fight sequences against brightly colored antagonists, have a distinct magical-girl flair. Dodging an attack becomes a balletic leap, a flurry of punches culminates in an explosion of color, and even punch-induced vomit (in one level) is so colorful and abstract that it flows seamlessly with the overall aesthetic. Some levels are bathed in electric neons, while others are more pensive, dark blue interdimensional affairs. And yet all of them, even at their most bright and exciting, are tinged with melancholy, largely due to the heartbreak-infused pop soundtrack--it's the kind of music that, if it were to come on in a bar, would make you feel incredibly lonely but also kind of like dancing.
When this all works together, it really works. My favorite level, Dead of Night, closely matches the music with the action and, as a result, the song has impact. During the buildup, you ride your motorcycle through the forest, weaving between trees and picking up hearts while all is calm. Ahead of you are four masked enemies; they strike a group pose, and then, right as the drop hits, their three-headed wolf tank appears and the mini-boss-like sequence begins. You slide side to side to dodge attacks, then hit X with the prompt to leap over the tank as the music swells. It's timed beautifully, and you feel a sort of abstract sadness as the singer belts, "I'm the only one alive in the dead of night," and the tank slides, defeated, on the forest floor. You've "won," but it's bittersweet.
Most of the levels, however, aren't as finely tuned. A lot of times, the timing-based moves feel offbeat, like you should hit them a moment or two early or late to really be in-time with the music--or like they aren't really set to the tempo at all. It makes it hard to get into a lot of the songs, even though the soundtrack as a whole is excellent, and distracts from the overall spectacle of a level--you have to watch the prompts' visual cues rather than listen for the right timing most of the time.
Movement, too, can disrupt the flow of things. It can be hard to line yourself up properly for hearts, turns, and jumps; you might find yourself a little bit to the right or left of where you thought you'd be. This is largely caused by the independent camera, which sometimes leaves you blind going into turns or unsure of how obstacles and collectibles will line up. The highly stylized, dreamy feel of each level also leaves some ambiguity as to the placement of things. I found myself wishing there were either fewer obstacles or tighter controls; while the flowy feel of moving side to side fits the aesthetic perfectly, it's hard to stay in the zone when you're constantly tipping the analog sticks slightly to better line yourself up.
Each level continues into the next not like tracks on an album would, but with short breaks in between. On top of that, the main story mode kicks you to the menu after each level to see your score and select the next song. There is a seamless mode of these same levels in the extras section, and the broken-up structure lends itself well to mobile or handheld play--but the story is the first mode you're introduced to, and it's only about the length of a long album. Where you might listen to an album all the way through at least once before jumping around and picking songs, you do the opposite in Sayonara Wild Hearts, and that saps it of its momentum.
On repeat playthroughs, I found myself getting more and more used to Sayonara Wild Hearts' quirks and better appreciating each level as I gained the muscle memory for them. Only a few hit me like Dead of Night did, and those levels are stellar. But the rest are either forgettable or somehow discordant, whether because of movement issues or strange timing. I wanted to get lost in the daydream it presented, but I kept getting ripped back to reality, just a bit more melancholic than when I started.
D&D’s Celebrity Players Explain Its Recent Surge in Popularity
Dungeons & Dragons has been around since 1974, when Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson published the first rule set - one that sparked the dawn of almost all other tabletop role-playing games - from a basement in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. By the end of the 1980s, tens of millions of players worldwide were plundering dungeons and slaying dragons, and despite social stigma (and a pretty intense political movement) during the 70s and 80s, D&D remained one of the most popular games in all of geekdom.
Now, more than 45 years after the birth of the game, D&D has more players than ever. But why has this traditionally stigmatized game become so incredibly successful? We asked some of the biggest names in the world of Dungeons & Dragons what they think makes D&D a critical hit.
How Tom Holland Helped Save the Spider-Man MCU Deal
If you, like countless others, are breathing a huge sigh of relief that Sony and Marvel have decided to make nice and partner on a third Spider-Man MCU film, you’ve got Tom Holland to thank. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor played an instrumental role in convincing the powers that be at Sony and Disney to patch things up.
36 New The Last of Us Part 2 Story, Character, Release Details
After months and months of quiet, The Last of Us Part 2 jumped back into the spotlight in September with a brand new story trailer, release date, and a hands-on opportunity that allowed us to play two hours of the Naughty Dog sequel. From our preview time with The Last of Us Part 2, we learned a lot of details, large and small, about how the sequel evolves the original game.
With that in mind, I've broken down those details, ranging from gameplay, setting, characters, and release plans for The Last of Us Part 2, below. (If any of this feels familiar, I covered much of it in my preview, but be sure to read on for even more!)
Eddie Murphy to Make Beverly Hills Cop 4 After Coming to America 2
Eddie Murphy is reportedly planning on making Beverly Hills Cop 4 after finishing production on Coming to America 2.
In an interview with Collider, Murphy, who is returning to host Saturday Night Live for the first time since 1984, elaborated on his intentions for a new movie.
“Yeah that’s what we’re doing after Coming to America 2,” Murphy said. “We’re doing Beverly Hills Cop and then the plan is to get back on stage and do standup. That’s what I’ll be doing mostly is standup. These movies and Saturday Night Live it’s kind of like…I’m looking at it as a bookend. If I decided I wanted to stay on the couch forever, I ended it on a funny note.”
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker Will Reveal How Strong The Force Is
Star Wars: The Last Jedi left us with plenty of questions, like “are Rey’s parents really nameless drifters?” Or “who is that dang broom kid?” Perhaps most importantly, we were left with a lot of questions about the true strength of the Force, and what that strength looks like in an era where the Jedi lineage is hanging on by a mere thread. Wonder no more, at least not until December. The Rise of Skywalker co-writer Chris Terrio says we’ll learn once and for all just how strong the Force really is in the final film.
In an interview with Empire, Terrio addressed what he believed to be the two biggest questions that will drive the plot of The Rise of Skywalker. First, there’s the matter of “who is Rey?” and her murky heritage.
Everything Announced at Microsoft’s 2019 Surface Event
Microsoft held its 2019 Surface event and revealed a ton of new products, including the foldable Microsoft Surface Neo tablet and Microsoft Surface Duo phone, a premium high-end version of the Microsoft Surface Pro, and much more.
We've gathered everything announced today at Microsoft's big event below. Enjoy!
Microsoft Surface Neo
Microsoft announced the Microsoft Surface Neo, a dual-screen foldable tablet that features two 9-inch screens connected by a 360-degree hinge. These are unlike devices such as the Samsung's Galaxy Fold which have foldable screens, but are instead two screens working in tandem together.
Zombieland 2 Director on the Challenge of Topping the Original
Some SPOILERS follow for Zombieland: Double Tap.
For director Ruben Fleischer and his fellow creatives, the most nerve-wracking thing about wrangling the Zombieland gang back together for the upcoming Zombieland: Double Tap was whether or not they could match let alone top the 2009 original. Fleischer has found solace in the reactions to the film coming out of early test screenings.
“The responses were fantastic,” Fleischer told the press during a recent edit bay visit on the Sony Pictures lot. “The thing that's most gratifying to me is one of the questions we asked people was how this compares to the original. I don't want to blow too much smoke up my own ass but overwhelmingly, like 90 percent of people said it was as good if not better than the original.”
Death on the Nile Cast Adds Wonder Woman and Shuri Actresses
Kenneth Branagh is returning to direct and star as renowned detective Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile, the sequel to 2017's Murder on the Orient Express, alongside a whole new cast of suspects.
Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman herself, was attached to the project last year, however, 20th Century Fox has now unmasked the remainder of the star-studded line-up, which includes famous faces from Black Panther and Game of Thrones.
Microsoft Dual-Screen Surface Neo Is Coming Next Holiday
Microsoft has been long rumored to introduce a dual-screen device and now we finally know its the Surface Neo. The Redmond-based company introduced the dual-screen tablet well ahead of its 2020 holiday release date at its press conference in New York City.
The headlining feature of the Surface Neo is of course is it's two 5.6mm thin screens. However unlike true foldables like the Samsung Galaxy Fold or Huawei Mate X, the Neo doesn't feature a contiguous display that spans across both sides of the device. Rather the device has two separate screens separated by a hinge.
That's a little less impressive than I was hoping for but this makes the device a bit more flexible as the hinge can rotate around a full 360-degrees. Without the foldable screen it also folds into one compact booklet that only weighs 655 grams.