Game Review: 'Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection'

 

The act of pressing pause on Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection isn't simply stopping a game; it’s stopping a cultural phenomenon—a brutal, pixelated inflection point in the history of interactive media. Digital Eclipse’s meticulous collection of the foundational MK titles, spanning the original arcade cabinets, bizarre handheld oddities, and the infamous spin-offs like Mythologies: Sub-Zero, is not just a package of retro fighting games. It’s an unflinching sociological archive that forces us to reckon with the competitive, often emotionally simplistic, pathology of early 90s digital masculinity.

In a culture increasingly seeking more resilient, authentic, and collaborative identities, Mortal Kombat remains the ultimate performance of traditional, aggressive male posturing. The Fatality, after all, is not just a move; it's a dramatic, zero-sum declaration that your opponent’s entire existence has been invalidated. This collection preserves that feeling with arcade-perfect precision, thanks to the addition of rollback netcode, which ensures that modern online duels are as sharp and unforgiving as they were next to a sticky cabinet twenty-five years ago. The technical fidelity here is exemplary, but the feeling it evokes—that high-stakes, chest-beating adrenaline—is what truly defines the experience.

What makes this release genuinely compelling, however, is not the flawless emulation of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, but the meta-narrative provided by the interactive documentary features. Digital Eclipse, in its role as curator and chronicler, doesn't just present the finished product; it pulls back the curtain on the developers themselves. We are given access to the vulnerability and humanity of creators like Ed Boon and John Tobias as they discuss the sheer, accidental magnitude of what they birthed. This access offers a profound contrast: the creators engaging in dialogue and reflection, while their creation is solely concerned with terminal, unsparing confrontation.

The inclusion of the genuinely broken oddities, particularly the platforming failure Mythologies: Sub-Zero and the awkward Special Forces, serves a critical purpose. These games, clunky and frustrating as they are, represent the inevitable difficulty in translating the raw spectacle of violence into something with genuine narrative or emotional complexity. They reveal the messy, often embarrassing, attempts to make sense of the carnage outside the confines of the tournament square.

Ultimately, the Legacy Kollection stands as a vital cultural artifact. It provides the definitive way to play the games that shaped an entire generation’s perception of competitive play. More than that, it forces us to look at the genesis of digitized violence—a space where we, as players, could safely practice a hyper-masculine ideal of dominance, evasion, and absolute finality. It begs the question: how much of that primitive performance is still embedded in our current emotional code? It's a must-own for historians, critics, and anyone still searching for the roots of their own competitive drive.

Publisher provided review code.

Game Review: 'Call of Duty Black Ops 7'

 You know, the interesting thing about the Call of Duty: Black Ops series is that it always promises high-octane spectacle, but what it delivers—or at least, what its best iterations deliver—is a kind of grim, cold exhaustion. The moral ambiguity isn’t just window dressing for the set pieces; it’s the actual theme. Black Ops 7 is the first game in the sub-franchise to truly ditch the historical Cold War for a full-on near-future Cyber Cold War, and the result is less a thrilling spy caper and more a meditation on digital alienation.

Look, this isn't the simple, gritty realism of the classic titles. Set in 2042, the conflict is fought not over borders, but over control of global data streams. You play Agent Kilo, an operative for a shadowy international security collective known as 'Aegis'. The campaign drags you through beautifully rendered, neon-soaked ruins of neo-Tokyo and the desolate, sand-choked server farms of the Central Asian steppes. What’s fascinating here is the sheer ugliness of the future, despite the polish. The tech—the neural hacks, the optical cloaking—feels intrusive, not empowering. The game doesn't let you forget that you're just a highly specialized piece of meat running code. The story, which revolves around recovering a terrifyingly effective algorithmic weapon called 'Scythe,' is genuinely engaging, if a little overwrought with conspiracy tropes. The moments of quiet betrayal, where you question your handler's motives, are where the writing truly shines.

Mechanically, the gunplay is predictably tight. The developers have nailed the feeling of the next-generation kinetic weapons. Every trigger pull feels precise and weighty. However, the introduction of the 'Chrono-Shift' mechanic—a short-range teleport tied to a cooldown—is the element that makes multiplayer fundamentally different. It forces a faster, more vertical game, but I found it often disrupted the careful, tactical rhythm that makes Black Ops campaigns so effective.

Aesthetically, the game is a masterclass in mood. The sound design alone deserves praise; the subtle, glitching synth score during stealth segments and the sudden, deafening chaos of an inevitable firefight perfectly capture the anxiety of surveillance. Yet, while the aesthetic is strong, I wish the level design had been less linear. A true espionage thriller, even a futuristic one, benefits from player agency, from giving the player space to breathe and choose their approach. Too often, Blac Ops 7 feels like a tightly choreographed stage show, which is a shame given the compelling narrative premise.

Ultimately, Black Ops 7 is a solid, well-made entry. The campaign, while short, is a gripping cyberpunk tale, offering more food for thought than your typical annual military shooter. The multiplayer will, of course, dominate the zeitgeist for the next year, but the real takeaway here is the atmosphere of surveillance and paranoia. It's a game that asks, "What if the Cold War never ended, it just went internal?" For fans looking for a compelling story wrapped in a glossy, high-budget package, this is easily recommendable. Just be prepared for the moral fog that comes with the territory.

Publisher provided review code.

Hot on Home Video: 'Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas 25th Anniversary Edition,' 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'

 

DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS 25TH ANNIVERSARY DEDITION

The 25th Anniversary Edition of Ron Howard’s live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas on 4K Ultra HD is the best-looking and sounding way to experience Whoville. The true star of this release is the upgraded video presentation, now featuring Dolby Vision and HDR10. This High Dynamic Range (HDR) pass corrects the sometimes dull, hazy appearance of previous releases, instead delivering richer, deeper colors that make the famously elaborate Whoville sets truly pop. The reds of the festive decorations and the sickly emerald green of Jim Carrey’s Grinch suit display a noticeable depth and vibrancy.

While the film remains a 2K Digital Intermediate upscaled to 4K, the clarity benefits significantly, revealing impressive texture in the meticulous makeup work and costuming. The upgrade to Dolby Atmos audio also provides a massive benefit, enveloping the viewer with precise object placement for the snow, wind, and the chaotic sounds of the Grinch’s inventions.

For collectors, this edition is a generous package. It includes all legacy bonus features (like the director commentary and "Who School" featurettes) and adds a brand-new retrospective, "25 Years Later: The Gift of The Grinch." This new featurette, which includes interviews with Ron Howard and star Taylor Momsen, is a welcome addition that makes this disc a worthwhile upgrade for fans.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

The 4K Ultra HD debut of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a monumental success, delivering a restoration that respects the film’s original 1970s cinematography while breathing new life into the asylum's oppressive atmosphere. Sourced from the original 35mm camera negative, the native 4K transfer presents a beautifully organic, film-like image.

Grain is dense but perfectly resolved, maintaining that authentic 70s texture without appearing noisy. The subtle HDR application is masterful, preserving the muted, clinical color palette of the institution while allowing key moments—like the vibrant colors during the fishing trip—to genuinely pop. Detail levels, especially in facial close-ups and the textures of the ward, are a massive upgrade over previous Blu-ray editions, which suffered from digital tinkering.

The audio features a solid 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio remix, which enhances Jack Nitzsche's score, along with the original 2.0 theatrical mono track for purists. The set also includes new retrospective featurettes with Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, and Brad Dourif, alongside the excellent legacy documentary, Completely Cuckoo.

Despite omitting the classic commentary track, this 4K package is a highly recommended, definitive presentation of Miloš Forman’s masterpiece.

Studio provided screenerS for review.

Broadway in Tucson Review: 'Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical'

 

Bursting with costumes and stagecraft that grant a third dimension to the children's author's iconic illustrations, "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical" thrives on various meta-levels at the same time. It's an adaptation of a 1966 short animated film, which was adapted from the Dr. Seuss' book, which in turn gave way to live-action and animated feature-length films.

Each has a slightly different take on the source material and the backstory voids they've left, and the stage musical fills most of them in with wild aplomb. 

The energetic core, of course, is Josh Woodie in the title role. With a hammy roast beast of a performance that might make Jim Carrey blush, Woodie shatters the fourth wall in witty, Deadpool-style heckles, careens up the side of the stage on an elevator and struts and gestures with haughty indifference as the Whos around him sing about his devious exploits. It's Woodie's party, and we are the guests who are just lucky to be there.

Serial scene stealer Emma Rose Marinoff, as Cindy Lou Who, in the wholesome, sweet yin to the Grinch's wretched yang. And in a reverent touch, Old Max W. Scott Stewart), looking back at his days as the Grinch's unwitting canine sidekick, serves as a barely reliable narrator and the baritone stand-in who cover Thurl Ravenscroft's incomparable 1966 theme song.

While the ensemble is saddled with a thankless job of serving as the backdrop to the Grinch's scenery-chewing, their meek choreography, performed in cumbersome cartoon costumes, is just what's needed to set the madcap, nostalgia-oozing tone. The lighting and background filters provide the illusion of cell-shaded scenery that recall nights of fevered Christmas anticipation, glued to the CRT set to watch the TV special with the fam.

While the throughline of togetherness snuffing out holiday commercialism settles for the backseat in the F1 race with the Grinch at the wheel, there's a spirited, community theater-style sense of jubilee to the proceedings. In the final act, when Old Max strikes up an audience sing-along to the title song, it's impossible not to grin and not notice everyone around you is doing the same. 

Amid the merriment that is nothing short of magic, the Grinch isn't the only one whose heart grows two sizes.

"Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical" plays through Nov. 16 at Centennial Hall. Buy tickets here.

Hot on Home Video: 'Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale'

DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE

The Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, due out Nov. 11, is a solid way to say goodbye to the Crawley family and their devoted staff. This presentation is nothing short of breathtaking, elevating Julian Fellowes' heartfelt conclusion into a truly cinematic experience.

The 4K transfer, enhanced with HDR, is the standout feature. The intricate embroidery of Lady Mary’s evening wear, the rich wood grain of the Great Hall, and the sweeping green landscapes of the Yorkshire exterior are rendered with such fine detail and precision that they practically leap off the screen. Candlelit dinners and shadowy downstairs scenes maintain perfect contrast, showcasing deep, stable black levels without crushing detail.

Beyond the impeccable visual fidelity, the Dolby Atmos audio mix envelops the viewer in the world of Downton. John Lunn’s magnificent score swells with newfound depth, while the ambient sounds of clinking silverware and the bustling servants’ quarters feel wonderfully textured and alive. The film itself offers a gentle, satisfying conclusion, tying up beloved storylines and delivering a final, emotional montage that truly pays tribute to the 15-year journey. For long-time fans, this release—packed with over an hour of bonus content—is an absolute must-have collector's item and a graceful final bow.

Game Reviewer: 'Double Dragon Revive'

 

Double Dragon Revive marks the franchise's bold leap into a fully 3D environment while attempting to retain the classic, side-scrolling beat 'em up formula that made the Lee brothers legends. The result is an experience that is deeply respectful of its lineage and often thrilling in its combat design, though held back by a few fundamental missteps that prevent it from achieving true greatness.

Visually, Revive is a treat for long-time fans. The game leans into a slightly grittier, post-apocalyptic aesthetic, telling a new story set 15 years after a nuclear war. The character models for Billy, Jimmy, and Marian are stylishly updated, blending modern flair with their iconic silhouettes. More importantly, the action design, supervised by Arc System Works staff, is excellent. This isn't just a mindless button-mashing brawler; it’s a strategic fighter. The introduction of the Dragon Orb Gauge, combined with environmental takedowns and weapon use, encourages players to string together creative combos. Breaking enemy armor at the right moment is deeply satisfying, turning routine encounters into rewarding displays of martial arts mastery. When the combat clicks, especially in local co-op, Double Dragon Revive delivers that perfect arcade rush of clearing out a screen of thugs with synchronized strikes.

The game also deserves credit for its structure. Beyond the main story, the Extra Mode is packed with challenges and character-specific missions, providing significant replay value for those who want to master the deeper mechanics. This gives the game more longevity than many other titles in the genre. The soundtrack, which features a solid mix of riffy original tracks and modernized remixes of classic themes, does a great job of keeping the energy high during the long street fights.

However, the major drawback—and the reason the review remains mixed—lies squarely in the movement. While the developers aimed for refined controls, the transition to eight-directional 3D movement in a belt-scrolling context often feels disappointingly floaty. Characters lack the immediate, grounded responsiveness necessary for precision brawling. Punches and kicks can feel slightly delayed or imprecise, leading to frustrating moments where attacks seemingly "miss" due to an enemy shifting slightly on the plane. Furthermore, the platforming sections, which are thankfully rare, are clunky and painful because of this lack of satisfying weight and precision. This floatiness creates a constant tension between the game's excellent strategic combat design and its slightly clumsy execution.

Ultimately, Double Dragon Revive is a solid, enjoyable beat 'em up that offers a compelling story and genuinely deep combat options. While its floaty movement and occasional lack of polish mean it doesn't quite live up to the standard set by recent genre titans, the heart, challenge, and co-op thrills of the Dragon brothers’ return are certainly enough to make it worth a punch or two.

Publisher provided review code.

Game Review: 'Painkiller'

 Painkiller: Requiem isn’t here to tell you a grand, emotional tale or revolutionize the FPS genre. It’s here to remind you, loudly and aggressively, what it feels like to obliterate the forces of Hell with a six-barrel chain gun and a rocket-launcher/grenade combo. This 2025 successor, built on the blinding fidelity of Unreal Engine 5, delivers on the franchise’s core promise: unadulterated, old-school arena shooting, but often struggles to justify its return in a crowded modern market. It’s a flawless homage that is simultaneously its own greatest weakness.

The combat experience is, without question, peak adrenaline. Developer Black Gate Studio has perfectly recreated the visceral dance of survival that made the original 2004 game a cult hit. The movement speed is frantic, the weapon feedback is meaty, and the monsters—a grotesque and wonderfully varied roster of demons and undead—dissolve into satisfying showers of pixelated gore. Every arena feels like a survival puzzle where the clock is measured by the rapidly depleting demon population. The iconic arsenal, particularly the Stakes Gun, remains brutally satisfying, turning enemies into wall ornaments with a terrifying thunk. Paired with a relentlessly pounding heavy metal score, Requiem achieves a transcendental state of chaotic perfection. If you judge a shooter purely on its ability to deliver pure, kinetic fun, this game is a ten out of ten.

However, the perfection of the action is often betrayed by the simplicity of the design. The game's campaign is linear to a fault, following a strict formula: long, aesthetically moody corridor leads to a large, often breathtaking arena; lock the doors, kill everything, repeat. This lack of structural innovation feels jarring in 2025. While the environments are visually stunning—from gothic cathedrals bathed in neon light to snowy, abandoned psychiatric wards—they rarely offer the lateral complexity or secret-filled paths expected of a modern Metroidvania-adjacent shooter.

Furthermore, the narrative is utterly forgettable. Daniel Garner’s continuing purgatorial quest is merely an excuse to string together monster closets, offering little emotional anchor for new players. The game also shipped with several technical flaws; many users reported inconsistent frame pacing, particularly in the later, dense arenas, and a smattering of collision-detection bugs that occasionally broke the rhythm of the otherwise fluid combat.

In conclusion, Painkiller: Requiem is a polarizing effort. For long-time fans craving the exact same glorious, twitch-based brutality of the early 2000s, this is a beautiful and necessary upgrade. For newcomers, it’s a brilliant but fundamentally repetitive shooter weighed down by an anemic story and launch-day technical woes. It’s the perfect demon-slaying arcade machine, but sometimes you wish it had a little more story to tell between the boss fights.

Publisher provided review code.

Broadway in Tucson Review: '& Juliet'

 

"& Juliet" imagines a brainstorming session between William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway, in which Juliet manages to stave off her suicidal urge and begin life anew after the death of her beloved beau. What happens next, naturally, is a cavalcade of N Sync, Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, Bon Jovi and Kelly Clarkson song-and-dance numbers.

At its worst, the show is a train wreck of mixed metaphors and nonsensical non sequiturs. And that is also the show at its best. Penned with Masters-degree level knowledge of the Bard's breadth of work and personal demons, as well as PhD-level literary analysis of boy band lyrics, the result is a fantastic fever dream that combines two pieces of subject matter that belong together precisely because they don't.

The rollicking musical, which originated on the West End in 2019 and migrated to Broadway in 2022, plays like a "Now That's What I Call Music" of pop empowerment anthems of the early aughts. Numbers pop off the stage like concert show stoppers, with explosions of lasers, oversized set pieces, booming projections and a coup de grace confetti drop. Rarely does a musical so effortlessly get the audience bopping out of their seats, waving their hands and screaming in glee.

The writing leans heavily into Shakespeare's far-ahead-of-his-time gender-bending proclivities, while also exposing his chauvinistic tendencies. Sassy CJ Eldred owns the stage as Shakespeare, bickering and collaborating with his beloved, distant better half, Anne (Crystal Kellogg). The actors harmonize as a Greek chorus for the antics of the heroine, Juliette (silk-voiced Fabiola Caraballo Quijada), who sheds her lovelorn archetype in search of empowerment that aces the Bechdel test.

Bustling with an energetic and versatile ensemble, the cast soars to life, singing and dancing to songs that they probably grew up jamming out to on their hand-me-down iPods. The musical rights must have been a nightmare to collect, but the producers did such a thoroughly excellent job that its omissions stand out all the more. It's a shame, for instance, that Taylor Swift's "Love Story" wasn't somehow wedged into the tapestry.

I adored every moment of "& Juliet" as it shook up the entirety of Centennial Hall. I heard, and took part in, screams of delight that rivaled what the original artists might have been able to muster had they been on stage instead. A delightful indulgence for Shakespeare devotees and shameless afficionados of overplayed guilty pleasure hits from a couple decades ago, "& Juliet" is the musical you didn't know you needed until you had it.

"& Juliet" plays through Nov. 2 at Centennial Hall. Buy tickets here.

Game Review: 'The Good Old Days'

The Good Old Days is far more than just a nostalgic pixel romp; it's a heartfelt, expertly crafted Metroidvania that successfully bottles the lightning of a classic 1980s adventure. Taking on the role of young Sean in the fictional, vaguely 19XX-era town of Arostia, players are tasked with an impossible mission: pay off his missing father’s debt to a loan shark by the end of the day. To do this, Sean must venture into the vast underground, rescue his three captured friends, and find money through exploration, minigames, and courage.

The game shines brightest in its storytelling and character work. It immediately evokes the spirit of The Goonies, trading the search for One-Eyed Willy’s treasure for a desperate, time-sensitive quest for cash. Like Mikey and his crew, Sean and his friends—Foodie, Bruce, and Doc (collectively known as "The Noogies")—are resourceful underdogs fighting an insurmountable adult problem. As you rescue them, they become playable, each possessing a unique ability essential for navigating Arostia's labyrinthine sewers and hidden zones. This mandatory character-swapping mechanic perfectly captures the "we’re all in this together" teamwork that defined the 80s young-adult adventure genre.

Where the game truly surpasses simple imitation is in its unexpected structural influence from the classic JRPG EarthBound. While it retains a Metroidvania platforming core, the overall atmosphere is pure Mother series eccentricity. The vibrant, expressive 16-bit pixel art, the small-town setting facing hidden dangers, and the refusal to lean on traditional fantasy tropes all feel like a direct homage to Ness and his friends. Like EarthBound, the threats here are often bizarre and grounded in a subversion of Americana, making the adventure feel intensely personal and quirky. The bosses aren't dragons or wizards, but strange, memorable figures or mechanical oddities, tying back to the game’s core theme: the biggest adventures happen right in your own backyard.

The gameplay, which encourages exploration and gives the player the freedom to choose whether to engage in combat, pay debts through simple quests, or try their luck at a lottery, is genius. The multiple ending system, which evolves with each subsequent playthrough, transforms the game from a one-shot experience into a cyclical narrative of growing up.

Ultimately, The Good Old Days is a monumental success. It expertly marries the high-stakes, group-focused exploration of The Goonies with the warm, bizarrely humorous small-town setting and emotional resonance of EarthBound. It’s a rewarding, beautiful game that doesn't just celebrate nostalgia, but uses it as a foundation for something new and brilliant.

Publisher provided review code.