Impressions - April 2024
Impressions of the Month
April wasn’t as busy or productive as I wanted for 1UP Vault. I had a lot of home projects I got busy with, and at one point, I was getting very little sleep and dealing with an annoying cold. But I think things will be picking up, and I have some ideas to expand the social media presence and use of 1UP Vault. I want to get a profile picture that combines the logo and my face, as I want to show the logo for 1UP Vault as much as possible. I’m also going to be posting more photos regarding the video game industry, and I might transform my barely used BlueSky account into a 1UP Vault account. I am excited about some of the stuff on the way for May, such as a good chunk of Strachey’s List articles, because I finally got a format I’m happy with. So, with that update, let’s look at how the month went for me.
Godzilla X Kong
The biggest event since my last Impressions article was Godzilla X Kong. As I’ve been vocal about, I am a big-time Godzilla fan, and anytime a new movie releases, it’s a big deal. I loved Godzilla: Minus One, but as someone who grew up with the Showa era and Godzilla as practically a full-blown superhero, I’ve always liked Godzilla more as a hero than a villain. The American Monsterverse films creating a universe around Godzilla, Kong, and other classic monsters have been a dream come true for me, and every single entry has been a banger.
I was really happy with how the movie came out and even more happy the movie was a box-office success. After the box office disappointment of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, my favorite of the series, and the critics putting out a hit, I was worried this would be the end for the Monsterverse, but it’s only expanding now. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is now getting a second season, and spinoffs are being worked on. When you grow up with a niche series and get people who make jokes when you bring it up, it’s wild that the fandom has grown, and now Godzilla is part of a massive cinematic and now expanding to the TV universe. It is a dream come true.
As for the movie, it does have its flaws, without a doubt. I think the pacing, specifically with the human storyline, is way too fast, while Kong’s subplot moves too slowly. Godzilla appears much less than I expected, even if his presence is still well done. I also feel the movie’s battles were so fast at times that it’s a blink-or-you-’ll-miss-it situation. But, overall, I liked the rest of it. I was a fan of what they did with the character of Jia, Kong had an entire storyline where you could see and feel his emotions as a character, Godzilla basically was going on a Doom Eternal story, and the villain Skar King proved to be a solid new nemesis for the pair. I also thought that, once again, humans are not as bad as people claimed, and I really liked Dan Stevens’ Trapper character. Oh yeah, spoiler, but this is the first-ever movie where Godzilla, Kong, and Mothra appear in the same film, making this more of a Kaiju Avengers film.
What I’ve Been Playing
So, since I’ve been busy with home projects, I didn’t get to game that much. I had a solid weekend with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, where I progressed a good amount. I hope to finish it in May and get my review in the next Impressions article. I have my plan on what I’m playing next lined up already. After I finish Rebirth, I’ll finish Super Mario RPG Remake, and then I want to do a quick non-RPG game. I’m not sure what that game will be, but I want a break from an RPG and want something quick and fun. After that, I’ll be diving back into Starfield. I feel bad that I didn’t get to finish it, and I was just getting started on getting into a flow before a bunch of new games started to take my time. So, hopefully, things will be farther along a month from now.
I know this is a short one, but the point of these end of the month Impressions articles is just for me to lay out any updates in the newsletter and quickly talk about what I’ve been doing and analyzing gaming news. But, in gaming news, things were slow outside of some rumors here or there. Hopefully, the May Impressions article has a lot more to talk about.