There are many films that have mixed fantasy and adventure cinema over the years, but I am not wrong if I say that ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy by Peter Jackson is the first thing that comes to the mind of many movie lovers when they think about that type of combination. And I won’t be the one to argue the greatness of those three feature films, but now I want to draw your attention to the fact that the best fantasy and adventure film that has been released since then is available to watch completely free on RTVE Play.
The film I am referring to is ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, which is also one of the best animated films of all time. However, animation is not a genre and it would be more convenient to start evaluating the brilliant ___tail that this feature film directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois in 2010.
Sensational
Loosely based on the children’s book by Cressida Cowell, ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ is an indisputable gem that revolves around the unlikely friendship that arises between Hiccup and Toothless. From the initial distrust to ending up living an incredible adventure, everything here is perfectly measured, finding the perfect tone to never lose its status as fun oriented to the whole family, but without that meaning settling for being simply that.
The ending itself makes it clear that this is a special film with a key detail surrounding Hiccup’s inevitable triumph, but first we have an unbeatable show. And it’s true that there is a lot to celebrate – from the designs to the animation finish – but the flight scenes to the rhythm of John Powell’s music are simply anthological.
‘How to Train Your Dragon’ will be available on RTVE Play until this Friday, February 9 and I highly encourage you to give it a chance if you haven’t seen it already. It is true that there is a live-action film in progress about the same story, but I highly doubt that it will reach the genius of this animated film.
We have been able to test the new trilogy, which comes to Xbox for the first time
Phoenix Wright has come a long way and he can’t figure it all out alone. Our first impressions of Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy, which is coming to Xbox in just over a month, are very positive. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (currently available on Xbox Game Pass) brought us the first three games in the saga and Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy does the same with the next three, where Phoenix Wright will have new lawyers at his disposal that will allow you to continue your successful career as a defense attorney.
Capcom still does not bet on Spanish in the remastering of the saga, but this time has added some extras that we couldn’t enjoy in the original games. The visual improvements are there, although they could be more ambitious, especially in the last two games, which made the official leap to 3D graphics when they came out for Nintendo 3DS a few years ago and although the graphic improvement is palpable, it could be something better. Here are our first impressions of Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy.
First impressions of Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy
Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy brings us a total of 16 cases to solve over 3 games. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is the first of the games, consisting of 4 chapters in total, followed by Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies, with another 6 episodes and ending with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice, with 6 episodes as well. . These last two games include the episodes that were sold separately as paid DLC, so with this trilogy we have the most complete version to enjoy the latest Phoenix Wright games to date (if we don’t count the prequels to The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles).
Not only will we have all the games gathered in a single title (which will also be released on Xbox Game Pass), we will also be able to enjoy unlock achievements and all the additions that are in the museum section. We will be able to listen to our favorite songs from the three games, see illustrations made by Capcom artists and even make montages with the characters, their voices and their alternative costumes in the settings that we want.
Furthermore, in comparison to the first trilogy, which the most advanced mechanics such as examining fingerprints or using metal detectors were little exploited, here they are used much more, something that enriches the gameplay, which is already quite simple being a graphic adventure. So far everything is very complete, let’s now review game by game, since we already told you in advance that completing all the cases in this trilogy can take you dozens and dozens of hours.
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
The fourth installment of the franchise is going strong, as Phoenix Wright has retired from the law for a while (for reasons that you will discover in the first case) and is replaced by a first-time defense attorney, named Apollo Justice (yes, a very appropriate surname ). This lawyer has a special ability which in the game will be called “Perceive” with which we can observe small “manias” of witnesses when they are testifying and that will allow us to identify when they are omitting relevant information or directly when they are lying.
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is the latest title in the saga that opted for comic-style graphics. With the current consoles, the finish is so clean, looks just great, is the title that, in our opinion, has the best graphics of the entire game. More 3D models do not necessarily imply a better result, but it is not intended to be unfair, the rest of the titles also look somewhat better than in their original games.
This installment consists of 4 chapters, which have a fairly important weight in the story because they introduce characters who will later be fundamental for the following installments of the trilogy. Apollo Justice will be a fundamental support for Phoenix Wright and will help him with most of the cases that you will see in this trilogy (hence his name). Here he is the undisputed protagonist, although Trucy Wright will help you soona relative of Phoenix, who will serve as Maya’s assistant in the first trilogy.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies
Phoenix Wright returns to the fray in this installment and he will not be alone. Yes, he is accompanied by the undisputed Apollo, who is now a fundamental pillar of the Phoenix agency, but we will have another member who will be fundamental in future installments. We talk to you about Athena Cykesa defense lawyer who is taking her first steps and has a fundamental tool that will help resolve more than one trial: Widget.
Athena is specialized in psychology and is capable of perceiving people’s deepest emotions, which will allow us to find out what type of feelings are aroused in witnesses when they are making a statement. With Widget, we will be able to see the emotions that do not fit with the statements of the witnesses, allowing a deeper investigation into the true intentions of the people who report to justice. Another mechanic that will turn the trials into real, challenging puzzles to solve so that our defendants are declared innocent.
Here we will have 6 cases in total to solve (5 main ones and 1 that was a paid DLC at the time, free in this trilogy). This installment has some of the best script twists in the entire saga and introduces 3D graphics to the franchise for the first time. This is not without controversy, at least in the Phoenix Wright community, because although in Nintendo 3DS it served as an excuse to take advantage of the stereoscopic vision of the console and thus give a sensation of depth, currently It’s not as good as we would like.although we must admit that the character models look cleaner than on their original platform.
In any case, graphically it is better than the original Nintendo 3DS games and it is perfectly respectable that Capcom has decided to maintain the original graphic style of the last two 3D titles. The soundtrack is very well remastered and more than one theme will stick with you for the rest of the day. In general, a very good fifth installment that completes the cast of defense lawyers that we will handle both here and in the next installment.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice
Phoenix, Apollo and Athena return to the fray in the latest canonical installment of the trio having to solve cases in another country called Khura’in, where defense lawyers who are not able to properly defend the accused end up sharing the same fate as their clients. For this reason, the country has practically lost the role of defense lawyer, since no one wants to risk being imprisoned or, worse, executed along with their client.
This game introduces another new mechanic, based on the country’s own religion. Khurainism considers that the souls of deceased people go to the Twilight Realm and can be invoked through a Divine Ritual that allows them to see and know what experiences the deceased had before their final moment. Rayfa, a priestess of the country, will be the one to perform this Divine Ritual that allows us to know what happened to the deceased of our judgments. Of course, the interpretations of what was seen in this ritual will give rise to many contradictions that our lawyers will have to resolve, at least if they want to avoid receiving the same guilty verdict as their clients.
This installment still maintains the original 3D graphics of the Nintendo 3DS, but as happened in Dual Destinies, they look somewhat cleaner although not as attractive as those of Apollo Justice, the fourth installment. Here we will also have the combo of 5 cases plus an extra one that was originally a paid DLC. The story continues some connections that had not been closed in previous installments and will allow us to know the origin of some fundamental characters of the franchise, in addition to which we will once again see old well-known faces very loved by the community.
In summary, our first impressions of Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy are very positive. While some 3D models could have been improved further, the trilogy has been outstandingly remastered. It remains to be seen how some of the cases in these titles have aged in terms of plot (which is subjective to each one, of course), but our first impressions of Apollo Justice Ace Attorney Trilogy are that The result will be very pleasing to fans of the franchise. but also to those who want to get started on addictive and simple graphic adventures, although yes, with a medium level of English if they want to be able to enjoy them to the fullest.
‘Offering to the storm’ is the film that closes the Baztán trilogy, one of the most ambitious productions of recent Spanish cinema based on the novels of Dolores Redondo. After the success of ‘The invisible guardian’ it was announced that the next two would be filmed at the same time. It has been months since we could see ‘Legacy in the bones’ in our closest rooms and that was the plan with ‘Offering to the storm’ until the coronavirus crisis broke out.
Initially its premiere was passed from March 17 to June 12, but the entry into the scene of Netflix caused the film directed by Fernando Gonzalez Molina placeholder image arrive directly to the streaming platform this Friday, July 24. Personally, I did not enjoy the two previous installments too much, although I did think that ‘Legacy in the bones’ seemed something better achieved than ‘The invisible guardian’, and the one that concerns us now does not go beyond being a worthy closing for the Baztán Trilogy.
Closing the circle
The film is being sold as the closure of the mysterious crimes that have plagued the Baztán valley, which began to be investigated by Inspector Amaia Salazar in ‘The invisible guardian’. It was therefore time to bet decisively on one of the components of the story, since the franchise had always flirted with a fantastic element that was what allowed it to be something more than a procedural more or less achieved with a technical finish well above the average in Spanish cinema.
Here that point is reduced to its minimum expression for the benefit of an investigation aimed at finding those responsible behind a wave of crimes that had been treated as individual cases or mere accidents. The fact that the victims are babies is something that always gives added strength, but in the present case it was something that was never fully exploited by having some too mechanical scripts, especially in relation to the dialogues.
In this way, one saw the previous installments always thinking that in no case did they finish taking advantage of a juicy material. In the case of ‘Offering to the storm’, it is not that there is a substantial improvement, but by having a clearer plot line and with an inevitable destiny – you don’t have to be a lynx to smell where the investigation is going to take its protagonist – this rigidity in the dialogues and in the construction of the characters is achieved less annoying.
Lights and shadows of ‘Offering to the storm’
It also helps to be already familiar with the approach with which González Molina approaches the film, that is, with a slightly depressing affected touch that seeks intensity above all else. This also applies to the troubled personal life of the character played by Marta Etura, something that could have led to a disaster on all fronts, but is resolved in an acceptable way. At least they give you the necessary weight so that it doesn’t feel like an unnecessary add-on.
Since ‘The invisible guardian’ the personal ties of the case had been influenced, but then it was mainly due to the conflictive relationship with his mother, while here it is because of the fragile moment that the relationship with the father of his son passes. There is nothing especially stimulating about it, but yes add another layer to the protagonist that allows you to better explain your obsession in the case and how far you are willing to settle everything.
In addition, the fact of having to finally uncover the truth makes everything flow more satisfactorily, even when you get into quicksand where you could have easily sunk. It is true that the rest of the cast, perhaps with the exception of Leonardo SbaragliaThey feel more like pieces in the history of Amaia than as characters with their own entity, but at least they are given a suitable use instead of being there without one knowing very well what they contribute.
Technically, ‘Offering to the Storm’ is at the level of its predecessors. That’s where ‘The Invisible Guardian’ and ‘Legacy in the Bones’ looked best, so it’s not bad news at all. I especially like how a certain aura of loneliness is created around the protagonist at certain moments, which allows Etura to delve into her most dramatic register with success.
In short
‘Offering to the storm’ is no wonder, as neither were its two predecessors, but at least it knows how to close this story by Amaia Salazar in an acceptable way. I doubt that fans of ‘The invisible guardian’ and ‘Legacy in the bones’ will end up disappointed with her, and the rest already know a little what there is, so it would be better if they did not expect a big surprise that improves what has been seen so far.
You can watch ‘Offering to the Storm’ on Netflix starting July 24.
