Ayen's Reviews (Video Games & Movies)

The other thread is over three months old, so I decided to just make a new one. This has everything I ever made from September to April before my hiatus due to health reasons. I'm currently working on my comeback video as we speak. Not currently taking requests for video games at the moment since I have a lot I want to tackle, but I'm open to movie requests since I only have four new Movie Mondays planned at the moment.

Enjoy.

Ayen's Video Game Reviews

EP 1: Sword of Sodan
This is the first video I did once I started to adapt my reviews for YouTube. I was inspired by something James Rofle (Angry Video Game Nerd) said about not allowing your resources to limit your creativity and use what you have, so I decided to just take advantage of my mic and editing software and go from there.

EP 2: Shadow of the Beast II
First video I started doing some editing and having more screenshots make up the video to lose that podcast feel in the last episode. To my surprise this was one of my first vids to break the 3 likes average a lot of my stuff started getting later.

EP 3: Dark Castle
This is the first episode to have actual video footage of me and the game I'm playing. I realized my 3DS had a camera and I could just use that. It's a bit cut up during my parts because I only had 30 seconds of record time and didn't realize until later if I deleted all the videos the system came with I could have up to ten minutes. Apologies for the audio, the mic on the 3DS is horrible. I was also processing things to 4:6 without realizing it so there's going to be more annoying black bars.

EP 4: Street Fighter The Movie Game
Title says it all. Here is when I started to dub over my lines to make the audio match the voice over segments. Only for my mic to break halfway through production leading to a different sound quality anyway. I have a new appreciation for dubbing after this. Given my lack of experience and handicaps, I thought I did a decent enough job matching the lip sync. Technical difficulties aside, I think this is one of my more funnier videos. I'm not very good at fighting games and I decided to embrace that fact for comedy rather than edit around it.

EP 5: Superman 64
First game review back after the upgrade to 1080p HD. Also when the 4:6 problem was pointed out to me so it was finally formatted to 16:9. I've been told my throwing up gag looks very realistic. Best part about this video for me is when I accidentally found out you could play the game without the rings. Someone tell the Nerd. I can imagine he'd be so pissed.

EP 6: Castlevania 64
My Halloween episode. This is a personal favorite of mine not because of any of the jokes, but because I thought I did a pretty good job critiquing the game. I grew up with the game as a child and before I even put it into the console I already had a good grasp of what I wanted to say and I think it really shows. There is a part where I suddenly start talking REALLY slow out of nowhere, I can't remember what happened. I think I got self-conscious about my pronunciation skills at one point. I didn't master formatting for game footage just yet so the screen is a bit out of whack.

EP 7: Compare & Contrast: Super Mario Bros/Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Compare and Contrast is an idea I came up with back in 2013 after coming back into reviews full time. I thought it would be fun to take two games from the same genre and rate them to see which one came out on top. This was the first video adaption of that concept. It's kind of like NC's Old versus New videos. So, every Thanksgiving I pit Mario and Sonic against each other in a war that will never end.

EP 8: Super Metroid
First time playing Super Metroid. How can that be? I love Metroid! Anyway, this was long overdue. I had a lot of fun playing and working on the video for this one. It was very relaxing to edit. Definitely a game I'd play again.

EP 9: Chrono Trigger
Another game that was long overdue for me to play. First video review I promoted here. I think this is probably when my reviews got more noticed around here. Another game I had a lot of fun playing in November and I'm gutted I lost my save file after all that work. AHHHHHHH!

EP 10: Portal
I don't think I say anything that hasn't already been said, but I still enjoyed doing the video since the game was so over the top and fun. I was also experimenting with a beep button to see how I felt about it. I think swearing is kind of funnier with a beep to interrupt it. Got the most use out of it during the GLaDOS boss battle. I'm still waiting for my cake.

EP 11: RPG Maker 3
The episode that introduces a new intro with stock music. This video was a surprise hit and is my most watched video to date. I think I know why. I shared it on a site dedicated to a series in the RPG genre. I...I'm not sure why I ever wondered how that caught on. God, I'm turning into Square Penis.

EP 12: Eye Toy Play
The last games episode to cap off the year, and I couldn't have asked for a better send off. IMO I finally topped the Street Fighter review in terms of comedy. Due to the nature of the game I was able to do a lot more physical comedy and it even got me laughing. It'll probably be a while before I top this video.

EP 13: Rise of the Tomb Raider
The first video of the new year. Took the time to provide some background on the franchise, something I want to do a little bit more of before getting into the meat of the review. This was very fun to edit, not so fun to play.

EP 14: Road Rash 3D
Another week, another deadline to meet. And I never skip a beat, when I have a deadline to meet.
This was another game from my childhood, and one of the games I got this past Christmas. A lot of the jokes mainly came from the game itself, which is always good. I like that I got to add video footage of the first three games when going into the series' backstory a bit. That's slowly becoming my favorite part of these.

EP 15: Auto Destruct
Another Christmas present, and game from my youth. Don't know how many people here even heard of it, but no worries, that's why I'm here. To give you more information about games you'll never play anyway! There's also the added bonus of no one else (at least to my knowledge 'cause I searched) doing a review of this style for this game, so I stand out all the more. Enjoy.

EP 16: Broken Helix
There might be an open vacancy in my old Top 20 Games list, because this game is nowhere near as amazing as I remember it being as a kid. The year? 1997, or 98 depending on your country of origin. The place? Area 51. The lead?

Bruce Campbell.

EP 17: Pokemon Yellow
We all live in a Pokemon world! In honor of the 20th Anniversary of Pokemon I take a look at one of the classic gems from Generation 1! I hope you've been saving up because a Pokemon journey is VERY expensive! Luckily, the Pokemon Center is free!

EP 18: Alien Isolation
I dedicated March to an all video game line up, and I kicked things off with Alien Isolation for Women's History Month. The game that a lot of Alien fans have been waiting for is finally here! Let's take a look.

EP 19: Parasite Eve
Week two of Women's History Month sees the review of a game that mixes RPG with Survival Horror. Something I personally wouldn't have thought possible until somebody told me about this game's existence. Funny story, I actually bought both this game and the second on PSN by accident. I was debating whether or not to buy them, and then push the X button without meaning to going through with the purchase. Was it a mistake? Click and find out!

EP 20: Mirror's Edge
I had a lot of joke material when this episode started, but it dies down a little towards the second half. Don't know if that's a good thing or not, obviously I don't want to force too many jokes in a single video.

EP 21: Portal 2
The conclusion of Women's Month 2016. This is the first sequel review I did at least with a game series where I reviewed its predecessor beforehand, and not just jumped to the sequel out of nowhere. The little sketch at the beginning was a lot fun to do, and surprisingly enough, the easiest part to edit.

EP 22: WWF No Mercy
What happens when a nerd in camo and a stuffed polar bear becomes the announce team for Monday Night RAW as if we're still in the early 2000s during the height of the Attitude Era? Bad things, my friend. Bad things.

EP 23: Game of Thrones
Telltale's Game of Thrones. I was super excited for this being a big GoT fan and a Telltale's fan after The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. Is it as good as those? Only one way to find out!

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Movie Monday

EP 1: The NeverEnding Story II
For those who don't know I started branching off to movies in the Summer of 2015, though I experimented with it a little before that with movie adaptions of video games. But The NeverEnding Story was my first legitimate review where I tested my new format of going over each character, special effects, and then final thoughts. So, I only thought it was right to make the second movie my first video for MM.

EP 2: Vampire Academy
I got curious to see what this movie was like so decided to do a review of it. I get... kind of pervy with this one. You've been warned.

EP 3: The Maze Runner
First Movie Monday to have video footage. Also the first one to introduce my camo attire. Again, apologies for the audio issues and the 4:3 formatting.

EP 4: Soul Surfer
The end of an unofficial month dedicated to movies based off books. Remember when I said my mic in the Street Fighter review died halfway through? The mic I used to replace that one died during this video, and that's why the audio is crap at certain parts. This was the last video I did before having to go on hiatus and wait for better equipment to come. Thank God the built-in mic for the webcam proved sufficient because the mic we bought turned out to be crap.

EP 5: Sailor Moon R The Movie
My first, and most likely last anime review. Why? Because this was the first video after being on YouTube for six years that got taken down for 'copyright infringement'. Manually detected by Toei, even. As such the following link takes you to Dailymotion instead of YouTube. SUCK IT, TOEI! I ain't even mad. Every critic online have been hit with bongus copyright issues and I felt legitimatized when it happened to me.

This was when I learned how to properly format clips (though I converted the film itself to widescreen when it was meant to be fullscreen) and everything was more crisp with the new camera. Started doing a 40 seconds long intro for some reason. That was stupid.

EP 6: Supergirl
I reviewed this in honor of the new Supergirl TV show and due to the timing it became one of my most watched videos. I made a mistake and claimed they don't explain why Supergirl doesn't look for Superman, when they did with a radio scene. But my mind heard the words 'diplomatic mission' thought they meant the plot of Superman IV and my mind filtered out the rest. Oops. I wonder if Doug has The Top ## Screw Ups list trademarked?

EP 7: The Hunger Games
The beginning of a marathon counting down to the premiere of Mockingjay Part-2. I was curious to see what these movies were like so decided to give them a go. This is my least favorite, and was also the hardest to edit due to how it was filmed. Smurfing shaky cam and closeups.

EP 8: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Admittedly, this was a rushed project because the two videos a week formula was starting to catch up with me, but I've been told the audio was great. Not sure why or how. I don't remember doing anything differently. This is my favorite of the movies. Very rarely do I see a sequel iron out the problems in the last film so effectively.

EP 9: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part-1 YouTube Link
Dailymotion Link
This video got blocked in some countries on YouTube, so if you live in Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Poland, and Slovakia click the Dailymotion link. Anywhere else you can go to YouTube as normal.

EP 10: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part-2
No intro. No script. Just me in front of a camera talking. I did this to lessen my workload until I reached December where I'd switch to a one video per week format. There are some little edits to iron out all the awkward silences where I lost my train of thought. Apologies for the background noise. Usually I have a means to drown it out or I could do retakes, but that wasn't possible with this video.

EP 11: Heathers
First Movie Monday to introduce the new intro with stock music. I was experimenting with this one, hence the whole 'writing in a diary' setup I had going on.

EP 12: The NeverEnding Story III
The last of the trilogy and the end of my suffering. Not sure the jokes really landed this time around, and I had trouble with the lighting that I didn't notice until it was too late. Bit of a bigger project than what I'm used to as I needed two days to finish recording when I can usually do it all in one.

EP 13: Juno
The last MM for the year 2015. Movie Monday now has enough episodes to be a Netflix original series! Be sure to stick around until the very end because there's a surprise.

EP 14: Star Wars The Force Awakens
My first attempt at sketch comedy. Not something I plan to make a habit of, just wanted to do something big in honor of Star Wars. If you haven't seen the movie yet you'll want to avoid this video as with all my vids, there are spoilers. I know that seems strange if you mainly use them to decide whether or not to see a film, but I also know people who only watch reviews of movies they've seen, so there's that, too.

EP 15: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
My final review for the month of January. Man, this month really came and went. This also marks my first Marvel Superhero movie after only having touched on the DC side of things before. Balance has been restored! Enjoy. I managed to get a little more comedy out of the source material this time around.

EP 16: Resident Evil
Many of you who know me best, know I like Resident Evil. So it was only a matter of time before I found my way to the Resident Evil Movie Franchise. Let's get this bad boy started.

It occurs to me that I forgot to mention the Cerberus. I liked them. The makeup was well done, and they really do feel like the creatures from the game came to life. They were one of the few things done right, and I feel bad for forgetting them. I am scum!

EP 17: Silent Hill
It has been a long running tradition of mine since doing written reviews to look at a Silent Hill property after Resident Evil, and that's a tradition I plan to keep into video format with the first Silent Hill movie. Also the first time looking at anything SH related since switching to YouTube, so it was nice giving it the Resident Evil treatment.

EP 18: Street Fighter The Legend of Chun-Li
Movie Monday returns after a month long hiatus what better way to celebrate than with a crappy movie adaptation of a good video game franchise? It seems like Street Fighter can't catch a break in Hollywood. Well, if you're gonna suck, suck big I say! Let's have a look!