PO’ED: Definitive Edition PS4 [REVIEW] | Mein Soufflè!

I have played a few FPS in my days, not too many, but sure as hell i never played PO’ED, never even heard of the frigging thing until the AVGN episode about the 3DO, to be honest, as i never knew anyone growing up that had that thing (which i assume is the case for almost everyone else), and i never even stumbled upon the PS1 port.

So i was curious, realized that Nightdive did actually do a remaster in their KEX engine for this oscure mid 90s FPS, and i got during a PSN sale.

It just called to me, as the forgotten weird ass FPS where you play as a chef and use frying pan to kill alien ass monsters, i knew i had to play it.

The story is all explained in a letter text dump where the protagonist, a chef named Ox, writes to his mum how that sweet paying gig on a spaceship …didn’t go as planned, as aliens infiltrated the ship, killed all the mercs, so he’ll have to take on some fresh meat.

And he’s indeed – title drop – Pissed Off, as he writes in the few text scrolls/letters.

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[EXPRESSO] Forgotten Island (2026) | Filipino Anime Girl Rock

Since this came out first, the question arising is if this or Disney’s Hexen will be better…. though frankly even from the trailers these two movies don’t seem to share anything besides having young teen female protagonists (and in turn being aimed at a similar demographic).

Set in the Philippines, it follows two girls, Jo and Raissa, whom have been BBF since forever, but find their friendship cracking under pressure as Raissa is gonna go to college abroad, while Jo would like for her to remain, but the night before the flight, they find a strange seashell medallion washed ashore, and the end up whisked away on the island of Nakali, where all the mythological creatures they were told about in stories by Jo’s grandma, actually do exist.

And then they have to piece back what they did last night, since don’t remember anything, in a “The Hangover if it was PG” kinda way… but this movie is actually pretty good, with likeable character, it even manages to have a symphatetic villain without completely undermining its menace, and being rooted in Filipino folklore gives it own distinct personality.

It it looked a bit familiar, it’s because its handled by the same director and team of Puss In Boots 2, and you can tell as they cranked up the anime inspired stylization even higher, on top of still feeling the heavy influence of Sony’s Across The Spiderverse (and K-Pop Demon Hunters to an extent), and it makes for a very visually striking and beautifully animated film that still feels like a Dreamworks production.

Though i feel they could have “toned down the anime” a notch, and the narration would have benefitted from actually slowing down, instead of catering to the perception of younger (or adult) audiences being “brainrotted”.

Still pretty good.

Platformation Time Again update plans

I have more updates about the blog to share in the future, but let’s start with something i can confirm right now.

Platformation Time Again not only will keep going as usual (if I could i would make it even more recurring of a rubric), but alongside the EXTEND addendums, a will be dedicating a sub-rubric to collections, compilations, and so on, especially due these are becoming more and more widespread as the industry is really scraping about everything in their back catalogue, and platformers (alongside beat em ups) are a big part of this surge of “new money for old rope”.

Specific rules are being written as of now, but it’s 100 % a thing that will happen regardless.

A couple new EXPRESSO reviews will arrive very soon, in the meantime, and you can read my review of the recently released Heart Of The Beast of you so desire.

See ya.

Platformation Time Again #10: Donkey Kong 64 N64 | NSWITCH/NSWITCH2

HISTORY

I don’t think i need to explain who Donkey Kong is, heck, you wouldn’t need to do so even back in 1999, as the reboot of the series by british developer Rareware proved to be incredibly successful, reinvigorating DK for a new generation by updating it, and other phrases i’m probably gonna repeat when i eventually tackle the Country games, so i’m just stopping myself here.

Plus its not like DK became this niche Nintendo franchise fans spend years begging for a sequel that they most likely ain’t gonna get.

But for today, let’s pretend we don’t know what Bananza is, or even what Conker’s N64 game would turn out to be, for that matter.

After wrapping up the SNES trilogy of DK games with Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie’s Double Trouble in late 1996, a team of Rare employees were put to work on a Donkey Kong game for the N64….allegedly it was intended to launch for the then new N64DD add-on but most likely it was an idea by producers that quickly died when the add-on sales were shown to be exactly as low as they were expecting, after years of delays to debut into a market where the Compact Disc was indeed becoming the new norm and making cartridges obsolete.

Curiously it wasn’t even intended as a full 3D platformer, but instead as 2.5D platformer more in line with the Country series , though this version spend 18 months in developments, was ultimately scrapped (if anything of that version survives to this day, it’s being held secret by either old Rare and-or Nintendo staff, there’s no images of it circulating at the time of posting,), a lot of people that worked on Banjo Kazooie were brought in, and the game was reworked into being a typical 3D collectathon platformer in the vein of BK and it’s sequel, Banjo Tooie.

There’s a bit more to the production history of Donkey Kong 64, but it was mostly Rare doing their thing as usual by then, there’s no major scandal, but i would be a fool not talk about about how Nintendo staff checked-in to see the game early on, leading to a terrified Shigeru Miyamoto seeing DK given a realistic double barreled shotgun (producing realistic gun sounds) as a weapon to shoot cartoon beavers with, only for him to quickly sketch up a less alarming, more child friendly and less problematic weaponry, adding leaf branches, a more wooden design, the now iconic “coconut gun”, which was immediatly implemented in the game.

All of this just because the realistic gun was a placeholder Rare absent mindedly left in.

For reference, this review is based on both my old playthrough of DK 64 on original N64 hardware and a fresh run of the version released via the N64 Classics app/service on Switch 2 (as all N64 games, it can run on the old Switch 1 consoles as well).

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[EXPRESSO] The Dog Stars (2026) | The Post-Apoca-Bore

Ridley Scott is not thinking about retirement anytime soon, which is commendable, in a way, but between Spielberg arguablu shitting his Jesus aliens pijamas in public and a film like The Dog Stars, i do wonder if might be for the better to simply call it quits.

Mind you, this is a better film than Disclosure Day, you can quote me on that, it is.

And it’s not even “bad” per sé, there is nothing particularly wrong with anything in The Dog Stars, there’s just not much of anything new, original, unique or otherwise that hadn’t already been done to death with the post-apocalypse survival drama.

In 2035 America, a flu pandemic led to civilization collapse, forcing the few survivors to scavenge for food, items, humanity reverting back to being more tribalistic, feral and murderous.

Hig has “dead wife” syndrome and yet tries to help out the few peaceful pockets of humanity he knows, while fending off intruders on the lot he shares with his old friend-survival partner Bangley, and hoping to find a better place somewhere out there…

Again, nothing wrong, but also nothing that engaging either, and i’m not talking about the action and how is all located in the second half of the film, as it doesn’t change the fact it’s all very uninspired and frankly kinda dull, as the plot offers no surprises or compelling narrative, and is as stock and basic as the characters.

All amounting to 2 hours-ish of mediocre, sleepily paced, derivative film that doesn’t hurt to watch or becomes outright boring, but it’s just middling, constantly reeking of “been there, done that”, the good cast (and the very good photography) can only do so much, and regardless, it just feel fueled by the obligation of doing something more than an actual vision.

[EXPRESSO] The End Of Oak Street (2026) | Amblin’s Dynostopia

When i first saw in theathers the trailer for The End Of Oak Street showcasing dinosaurs i was sold, even more as it is from director-screenwriter-producer David Robert Mitchell (It Follows, Under The Silver Lake).

So someone knew how to market the film, clearly not who decided, a week before release, to release a promo on social media with talking dogs (not even dinosaurs) doing a podcast, made with generative IA to promote the film… to whom i don’t know, because even the less online, average person will see that and just go see something else.

Congrats to somehow managing being clowned on by the marketing team for fuckin Paw Patrol The Dino Movie, when you have to sell people on a 80s themed scifi mystery where Anne Hathaway knives dinosaurs to defend her family.

The End Of Oak Street is indeed about this family living in a 80s suburban community, which one day wakes up to see their entire block now surrounded by prehistoric vegetation and overrun by dinosaurs, as if displaced by some cosmic anomaly, with them now trying to bend together and survive in this new reality….

On one hand, it’s another movie taking place in the 80s, and unsubtly grabbing unto an Amblin-style nostalgia for the era, and you might feel disappointed if you expected it to hold some crazy twist that turned this into more bonkers territory (or a different ending).

On the other hand, it is a FAR better dinosaur movie than all the Jurassic World films combined, there’s a lot of prehistoric creatures being represented, the family drama is actually as solid as the survival itself, you do care about these characters, and it exactly as long as it needs, not bothering to give overly long explanations that will never satisfy anyone anyway.

[EXPRESSO] The Death of Robin Hood (2026) | Anti-Hood

Let’s make it clear, that yes, the timing on this one is horrendous, sure, let’s make a new Robin Hood movie in today climate….. about how Robin Hood was actually a fraud, as in, he was actually a vicious criminal that murdered and stole without caring to “give it back to the poor”, but instead just took for himself. Lest the tribilionaries be offended.

Yes, this revisionist take stems from a 16-17^th centhury ballad, A Gest Of Robyn Hode, and actually isn’t a “eat the poor” advocating version, but damn the timing.

This is actually an interesting choice (and arguably more apt than it seems exactly because of it releasing now) that deliberately deromanticizes the myth and reimagines Robin Hood (Hugh Jackman in Logan-mode) as old, aged outlaw moving in the Irish hills and mountains, haunted by his past killing and actions as an exiled criminal, taking refuge in a priory when he gets wounded badly, and there befriending the prioress and other residents of the priory, as he find himself forced to finally come to terms with his actions..

It’s pretty grounded, realistic, gloomy, brutal, and honestly i’d say it’s surprisingly good…. well not that surprising, since its from Michael Sarnoski, director of Pig and A Quiet Place: Day One, but undeniably the narrative moves at its own relatively slow pace and after the first very action heavy part, it becomes mostly a “chamber drama”, and in that regard some characterizations could have used some more screen time.

it’s not for everyone or great, but it’s a fuckton more interesting and worth your time than the last time we got a modern Robin Hood movie, i remember seeing that awful 2018 film simply called Robin Hood that somehow made the Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur look better in comparison.

Netflix’s One Piece (Season 2) Into The Grand Line (2026) [REVIEW] | Baroque Works Begins

As promised, here is my review for the second season of Netflix’s One Piece live action series, which i now fully realize isn’t gonna be a few season thing, as in, it became clear it wasn’t after the first was a success, and the second too, but i guess it took time for me to properly sink in we’re gonna have One Piece live action material… and that i was actually looking forward to it.

If you told me this even just 10 years ago, i would have spat or laughed in your face, but what can i say, the future can be a foreign country as the past, in its own way.

Season One of “Netflix Piece” was indeed the freak surprise of that year for me, i’ve talked about that enough in the old review, so time to move on!

This second season (after a handy recap of Season 1) basically covers the Alabasta/Arabasta arc from the beginning in Rogue Town, and then up to Drum Kingdom…but as with the first season, this live action adaptation does make a notable amount of changes and additions.

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One Piece Day (?) Throwaway Musings

Yes, apparently One Piece Day just happened to be scheduled on August 10th last year, officially this year gonna be on the 22-23 Of August, and so it might seem pretty early to discuss things that in 2 weeks might not even matter or instead be addressed, but since on the 16th the blog goes on hiatus as usual, and i usually reserve/consider August as One Piece Month, i will be rambling a bit anyway.

about One Piece in general. what else?

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[EXPRESSO] Spider Man: Brand New Day (2026) | Un(Thethered)

I remember quite liking No Way Home, for better or worse, but it has been a while, and it’s not like it matters, i was gonna see this away, i did want to see it.

In a way i feel bad because i think this one is actually trying to be less shackled by the MCU stuff, and it stings because it almost succeeds, as in, it manages to do some good emotional stuff with the character of Peter Parker, as he struggles to reconcile with the fact he still feels fragile and alone, despite being able to become NYC resident hero once again… we’ll because he can do so as everyone forgot about him at the end of No Way Home.

While some ideas like having The Punisher as an ally-ish character to Spidey is nice, and there are some fun action scenes, there’s no denying of the second half being overly long and overburdened by the ties to the “MCU obligations” of having to seed stuff for future films, which also entails the admittely better than usual villain (which i’m not gonna spoil), an entity that goes around possessing people’s minds/body hopping and using them to search for something kept hidden by a governative company specialized in repairing propery damage caused by heroes and villains activities, while Spider Man has to deal with his body undergoing unexpected mutations…

Even putting aside the villain’s plan actually makes no sense if you think about it (and that Spider Man has basically Big Brothered the entirety of NYC), then there’s how the climax is resolved identically as in Thunderbolts, are we at the point of recycling climaxes almost verbatim?

This in contrast with the cast actually giving some of the better performances in these films, so, overall, i’d say it’s decent.