An underrated classic! Rango Review!

Let me tell you all a story. A long time ago, longer now than it seems, there was a place you've perhaps seen in your dreams. An array of legends were foretold, about a Nickelodeon animated film of old. And a grocery-shopping nerd took a glance, and found, amongst a bin of bad movies, a Western flick of years long past. So he dropped five dollars, on a movie most forgot. And now he writes a retrospective review, so the film can be saved from it's rot.

Yes, I'm reviewing Rango, an animated Western-comedy published by, of all companies, Nickelodeon, and directed by Gore Verbinski, who is most well-known for directing the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films. This film was a crucial part of my childhood, as 11-year-old Spencer absolutely loved cowboys and creepy character designs, so this film was a match made in heaven for me. After doing a bit of research, it turned out that this film got review-bombed hard when it released. Not because it was a bad film, in fact the people who actually gave it a chance agreed it was fantastic, but because of angry parents who were turned off by how not-family friendly this film is. Seriously, between the profanity, alcohol, smoking, surprisingly realistic guns, and overall weirdness, it's a miracle this film got a PG rating. But then again, anyone with ten brain cells knows that the MPAA are incompetent and their ratings are rarely accurate. Given our society's track record, it's safe to say that the MPAA just assumed this was a kids' film because it was animated and gave it a PG rating without doing any research on it. Because even to this day, we have plenty of idiots who think that animated films are always "for kiddies". Which leads to disappointment-induced anger as Mommy and Daddy have to turn the movie off because the main hero said a bad word and their kid is too young to understand what swears are. In a way, it's in the same boat as 9, another film mistaken for "a kiddie film" when it was intended for older audiences. Only Rango has it worse because at least 9 has a PG-13 rating (one of the few times where the MPAA did their job correctly), so the parents who ACTUALLY PAID ATTENTION TO THE RATING would know not to bring their toddlers. But seriously, for older readers, go watch 9. It's a creepy, depressing film about the hubris of humanity and how our choices will affect the world for generations to come, and I love it. 

Anyway, what is Rango actually about? It's about a nameless pet chameleon (voiced by none other than Johnny Depp himself) who considers himself a great actor, but deep down is not only terribly lonely, but has a severe identity crisis. One day, the terrarium he was living in gets knocked out of a car, stranding him in the middle of the desert. Then, an elderly armadillo with a Spanish accent gives Rango directions to a Wild West-style town called Dirt. Not wanting to die in the middle of no-man's land, the chameleon makes haste to arrive at the closest thing the animals of this universe have to civilization.

"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!!!"

There, he adopts the name "Rango"  (getting the idea for the name from a bottle of whiskey) and uses his acting skills to pass himself off as a charismatic bad boy gunslinger. Unfortunately, Rango's boasting about his impossible aim and impeccably good luck attracts the attention of a gang of outlaws, who challenge Rango to a high-noon showdown, which spirals out of control when Rango is attacked by a giant (to him, anyway) hawk. Rango manages to kill the hawk accidently, which makes the townsfolk believe his facade even more. Soon he is appointed Sheriff of Dirt, and gets up to classic Western shenanigans, such as chasing down bank robbers or matching wits with a corrupt mayor.

The story isn't too amazing. Anyone who has watched a Western film will see all of the major plot points coming a mile away. Though given that the whole film is a walking homage to the genre, so much that they manage to include a reference to every single Clint Eastwood film ever made (including a cameo from Clint Eastwood himself!), that is to be expected. So don't go in expecting a Shakespearean epoch. That said, there's a certain charm to not just this film, but Westerns in general that I find appealing. Could it be that as an American I'm biased towards films depicting a stylized version of real-life 1800's North America? Possibly.

The film mostly focuses on Rango himself, as well as his love interest, Beans. And I like these two characters a lot. Their designs are distinct and memorable, and Rango's larger-than-life boasts and theatrical mannerisms and Beans' temper and spunkiness play off each other really well. Rango's character development is also enjoyable, since he goes from a clumsy coward with good acting skills to a genuinely cool legendary gunslinger almost on par with The Man with no Name. It's really neat seeing how Rango gradually becomes the very hero he pretends to be.

The film also has a surprisingly large supporting cast, and though most of them are there for comic-relief, I LOVE the character designs. You got a snarky aye-aye kid (pictured above), a bearded dragon whose eyes are perpetually bloodshot (as well as missing a few teeth), a Native American crow, some kind of mouse whose beard is so long it drags along the ground, a French fox lady, a wheel-chair-bound tortoise whose shell is built INTO the wheelchair, a bird with an arrow stuck in his eye, and more. Unlike a lot of animated films, which are bright and colorful, Rango is bleak and more subdued in it's choice of color. And the characters are just as gritty as the world around them, and I can respect that.

The film's comedy aspects are just as unorthodox as it's character designs. Most of the humor is dark in nature, with the film being narrated by mariachi burrowing owls who keep insisting that Rango WILL die by the end of the adventure (spoiler alert, he doesn't), to the citizens of Dirt making increasingly over-the-top death threats to one another (I fondly remember the line "Don't show yer face 'round here ever again, or I'll chop it off an' use it to wipe my unmentionables!"). Also, there's some blink-and-you'll-miss-it gags on the tombstones, like "Sheriff Amos. Thursday-Saturday" and "Oops." There's some more light hearted jokes as well, such as Rango and his posse pretending to be travelling thespians performing a play so they can confuse the aforementioned bank robbers. It even has Rango putting on a dress and pretending to be a woman. It gets funnier when you realize that unlike a lot of animated films, where the voice actors just say their lines in a recording booth, the voice actors for Rango actually acted out all their scenes in live action (this was done so that the character's mannerisms and voices sounded more genuine) which means at one point Johnny Depp was prancing around, pretending to be a chameleon wearing a dress, and that by itself is a hilarious mental image. I don't know why but the play scene is one of my favorite moments from the entire film.

The Native American crow, whose name is apparently Wounded Bird,
is my favorite supporting character.

The pacing of the film can be a little slow, since the plot doesn't really pick up until after Rango adopts the "legendary gunslinger" persona, and much of the film is just seeing how Rango interacts with other denizens of Dirt, but once the Bank gets robbed, it picks up faster. Not too fast, mind you, because this film is kind of a slow burn. It's by no means boring (at least to me) because one of the main selling points of the film is seeing how Rango adapts to his new lifestyle. Oh, and side note, you know how it's a major plot point that the Bank gets robbed? In this universe the animals use water as a currency. In real life, water is the single most valuable resource, and desert-dwelling creatures are more likely to die of thirst than anything else, and I think that the animals using water as a currency was a clever way to reflect this while still keeping them anthropomorphic. 

But now let's talk about one of my favorite things about this film, it's main antagonist. Rattlesnake Jake. He's a rattlesnake voiced by Bill Nighy. His rattle got replaced with a gatling gun. And he's become feared throughout the West as some kind of cowboy Grim Reaper. Unlike Rango's empty boasts, Rattlesnake Jake is the real deal, and is everything Rango ever dreamed of being (famous, respected, legendary, and popular), but twisted into an evil reflection. And yet, despite his wickedness, Rattlesnake Jake does have some moral standards, verbally tearing Rango apart when it's inevitably revealed he was lying about his "heroic" deeds the whole time, and the way he does so seems to imply he has no patience for those who lie and manipulate others for self-benefit. And later, when Jake sees that Rango did indeed manage to defeat not just him, but the corrupt mayor's entire gang using exactly one bullet, his initial reaction is not one of anger or confusion, but respect, and he personally kills the mayor because even Jake was disgusted by the mayor's actions, all while delivering the single greatest ironic echo in cinema history ("What was it you said? No one will believe you even existed...?"). Also, the coloring of his eyes (red sclera, yellow irises, black pupils) looks eerily similar to the Eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings. I don't know if the reference was intentional or a stylistic choice to make him more intimidating, but either way, I thought that was neat. Oh, and Rattlesnake Jake is one of most well-animated snakes I've ever seen in cinematography. From his surprisingly realistic zigzag slithering, to the overlapping scales, to how his fangs fold back and lay parallel to the roof of his mouth while he talks and then extend out fully when he hisses (because it is way too common to see venomous snakes in animation have their fangs fully extended at all times, making them look more like saber-toothed cats rather than snakes), simply watching Rattlesnake jake is a treat for animation nerds like myself. 

As for presentation, Rango is significantly grittier than other animated films. But Rango is a film that strikes a good balance between realism and surrealism, going from relatively down-to-Earth one moment and then switching to a full blown fever dream the next. The surreal aspects don't show up that often in the film itself, but they are a terrifically trippy treat nonetheless. As previously stated, the character designs are top-notch, striking a good balance between being grotesque and cute. Unlike a lot of animated films, which wind up dipping into the dreaded Uncanny Valley for trying to make the characters too realistic, Rango seemingly embraces it with open arms. The set pieces are also pretty good, though there is not much variety. But then again, seeing as how the film takes place in a desert, the lack of variety in it's environments is mostly understandable. Of course, it's possible to have lots of variety with your setpieces and still take place in the desert. It's just harder, because deserts as a whole are usually pretty barren and don't have much to see.

Anyway, this film's soundtrack is AMAZING. It's music is (not unlike West of Loathing) full of everything you need for a good Western score, such as banjos, electric guitars, and a sort of whimsical charm that contrasts nicely with photo realistic artstyle. But the best thing about the soundtrack? We get a banjo-centric remix/cover... Of Ride of the Valkyries. It's just as absurd as it sounds, and I love it (it helps that it plays when Rango and his friends are confronting the bank robbers, which is my favorite scene from the whole film). The voice acting is also solid. Johnny Depp does a good job as Rango himself, and for all the people who complain that every time Johnny Depp does acting his character is shameless rip-off of Jack Sparrow, Rango is nothing like Jack Sparrow. The only thing the two have in common is that the animation team openly admitted to basing Rango's run cycle off of Jack's run cycle. But Bill Nighy steals the show as Rattlesnake Jake, who manages to make Jake sound like he's oozing with a burning fury with almost every line. Anyway, the other voice actors are alright. Just about every denizen of Dirt has a very strong Western accent (except for, oddly enough, the mayor), so for people unaccustomed to that style of speech I could see it would be hard to understand what the characters are saying. But aside from that, I enjoyed the voice acting.

Overall, Rango was a film that deserved better. It's a well-crafted love letter to the Western Genre, that was doomed to fail because of conservative parents flooding the Internet with 1 Star (or 1/10, depending on the website) reviews, which wouldn't have happened (or, at the very least, would've reduced the review-bombing) had the MPAA done their job correctly. But is this film worth seeing? Yes. Just make sure if you plan to watch it for family movie night your kids are 13 years or older (or, at the very least, understands the concept of swearing). That being said, I give Rango 9 impossibly lucky reptiles out of 10. 

Cowboy Stick-men!? West of Loathing Review!

What!? Spencer is reviewing ANOTHER indie game!? It's not my fault that most of the games I play are indie games. It's the mainstream game companies' fault for not making better games. Seriously, the only Triple-A companies that can still consistently make good games are Nintendo, Square Enix, and Sony. Everybody else is either trying way too hard to rip off Destiny or they're bogging down their products with unnecessary microtransactions. But indie games don't really have that problem. Sure, they have smaller budgets to work with, but the fact they are smaller projects means that indie games need to not only be innovative, but of exceptional quality to stand out. And nothing stands out like West of Loathing

 

But what is West of Loathing? It's an indie RPG that can best be described as a comedy-focused version of classic pen-and-paper RPGs such as Dungeons & Dragons or BattleTech, developed and published by a small(ish) company known simply as Asymmetric. But if you want to get into the nitty-gritty details, West of Loathing is actually a semi-sequel to the browser game, Kingdom of Loathing. having the same art style (anything and everything being drawn in deliberately dopey sketch-book doodle form) and the same style of writing (50% of it being utter nonsense and the other 50% being cheeky pop culture references).

 

I'll be honest here, the entire reason I got this game was because of the sheer audacity it had for basing the entire concept around sketchbook doodles and combining that with a Western setting. And despite the fact that this game exists solely to poke fun at Western Film cliches, it is unironically the best Western-themed video game out there, to my knowledge. But the thing is, parodying the Western genre is clever since, to quote a certain Ninja Turtle, "Westerns are DEAD!!!". (and no, I am not sorry for bringing in a quote from the oft-forgotten TMNT 3 movie) And to an extent that's true. Can anyone remember the last time anybody put out a high-quality Western film in the last decade? No? Exactly!

When the trailer itself pokes fun at accolades, you know you're
in for a wild ride.

STORY!!!

So what's the story of West of Loathing? Basically, imagine every Western film of yesteryear, melt them together into a fine stew, and then mix that stew with doodles, and what you're left with is a slapstick, pun-tastic comedy adventure about getting your adorably derpy stick-cowboy (or cowgirl if your character is female) as far West as you can. And running into increasingly bizarre situations. From reading a book that teaches you how to walk stupidly (yes, this is an in-game ability), to finding a pair of drunken brawlers who are still beating each other up while asleep, to tricking a demonic cow into giving you a permanent stat boost, to getting a literal silver tongue, this game if filled with absurdities, and you would be a fool to take the wacky world of West of Loathing seriously.

 

Ironically, I played the first 3-hours of the roughly 20-hour campaign with my good friend Vincent... Who, being well, Vincent, actually took the game seriously. I'm not knocking anything against Vince, he's my best friend after all, but this game's sense of humor, which is very absurdist in nature, is completely lost on him. Which meant I had to spend a good chunk of those 3 hours explaining the jokes to him. Which ruins the jokes, by the way. But on my second playthrough by myself, it was much funnier then since I didn't have to stop to explain why a sign reading "DANGER: KITCHEN" was making me laugh like a hyena on a sugar rush. Heck, most of my playthrough was spent with me either grinning ear-to-ear of literally choking on my own laughter.

GAMEPLAY!!!

 

West of Loathing's gameplay is broken up into two parts. The one we'll talk about first is the combat, and I'm getting this out of the way right now. The combat is by far the weakest part of the game. It's not bad, it works as intended, and it is enjoyable, but outside of the silly animations and ludicrous items and abilities, it's a fairly average, turn-based combat system. But to give you an idea how well-crafted the rest of the game is, the weakest part of it can only be described as average. Not really "bad". Anyway, the combat is both turn-based and grid based, with you (and your companion) on the left grid and enemies on the right. You have access to a melee attack, a ranged attack, and a wide assortment of abilities that require AP to cast. These abilities can range from a simple stat buff, to extra powerful attacks, to creating barriers to block incoming attacks. You can also use consumable items, and one criticism I have of the combat is the fact that using items doesn't end your turn, unlike almost every other RPG ever. Now, this does two things. First, it makes items actually useful, since in most RPG's the items are not worth spending a turn using (unless it's a healing item). But at the same time it lets you trivialize certain encounters, by using Dynamite (a consumable item that does a fixed amount of damage to enemies) over and over, it means you can melt straight through a boss's health gauge without once giving the boss a turn to attack. So I feel like West of Loathing went too far in the opposite extreme. Instead of items being too impractical to use, like in most RPGs, in this game they are too powerful to not use.

There are three classes your character can play as, one specializing in melee attacks and defense (known as the Cow Puncher), one focusing on magic and support (the hilariously named Bean-Slinger), and usual RPG tradition dictates that the third class must be an agility-based thief class, right? WRONG! The third class, known as the Snake Oiler is more akin to an alchemist class, and for the folks who have no idea what I'm talking about, the "alchemist" is a very rarely used class archetype with the concept of the class revolving around crafting consumable items and using those items ad infinitum to buff up and/or heal, damage enemies, or both. There are also spellbooks (called Nex-Mex) you can collect that not only contribute to a rather extensive side-quest, but also teach your stick-person dark magic, and the dark mage abilities are so radically different from the three "official" classes that you can think of the Nex-Mex as a kind of secret fourth class.

The bread and butter of this game, however, are it's various scenarios and encounters. When an event occurs, the narrator describes the situation at hand, and you must make a choice based on the situation. The ramifications for these choices tend to vary. For example, early on you can choose one of four potential party members to take with you on your adventure in the starting town, your choices being an alcoholic combat medic, a vengeful cow rancher, a googly-eyed miner, or a literal goblin. You're only allowed to choose one, and your companion of choice opens up a whole slew of side-activities throughout the game. Other choices, like choosing to tie up a bandit and turn in to the authorities instead of killing him outright, don't unlock additional content for you to do, but they do give you a perk that changes flavor text appropriately and sometimes grants new dialogue choices. This system here is why West of Loathing is a fantastic RPG, in my opinion. Not only do the choices add a ton of replay value, but the narration and prose fits the Western theme perfectly, in addition to being hilarious to read. 

Additionally, West of Loathing has a simplified version of the Checks and Saving Throws from Dungeons & Dragons itself. The game's Perks work similarly to Profincies, being passive abilities that give you more interactivity options outside of combat. Unlike Dungeons & Dragons, there is no random dice-rolling that dictates whether your Perks succeed or fail in the situation at hand. If you have the right Perk or a specific stat has reached a certain threshold, it will always succeed. And I like that a lot, because one thing I despise in game design is random chance potentially ruining what would be otherwise a perfectly smooth adventure. Of course I don't mind things like critical hits or abilities having a set chance to inflict a status ailment (the only real instances of randomness in the game, besides the Poker minigame). But instead of the Perks being "balanced" by randomness, they are balanced by the fact that each Perk can be leveled up, and some instances will require your Perk to be at a certain level in order for you to even use the Perk in that specific situation. While West of Loathing is by no means a grindy game (you could in theory beat the entire game without leveling up at all), some of the Perk-exclusive options do require a fair amount of grinding put into them in order to use them. For example, during the finale (I won't spoil it here), there's no less than three options that require you not only have the right Perk, but you also have 50 in a specific stat (50 being the highest a stat can be naturally, though equipment and buffs can raise it even higher). Speaking of stats, I love how instead of the stats having traditional names like Strength, Magic, or Dexterity, the stats are given more amusing names like Muscle, Mysticism and Moxie.

PRESENTATION!!!

This game's artstyle is the thing most people notice about this game. Everything in West of Loathing is designed to look like a sketchbook doodle. All the humanoids are stick people, there's little wavy imperfections in the outlines of the more "detailed" objects (anyone who has tried drawing by hand knows what I'm talking about), the only colors used in the color pallette are black-and-white (unless Nostalgia Mode is enabled, in which case everything gets a reddish-brown tint to it) and it all somehow works. The animations in this game are charming and endearing to me, for some reason. I don't know, but seeing a pair of drunken brawlers fight each other for so long they both fall asleep and are STILL fighting each other despite being unconscious puts a smile on my face. The attack animations are just as hilarious, such as throwing a medkit in the air and letting it smack your character in the head somehow healing them or the increasingly bizarre walk cycles that the Stupid Walking perk grants you.

But you wanna know the best thing about West of Loathing? The sound design. The sound design. THE SOUND DESIGN. This game's soundtrack is amazing, featuring playful banjo tunes, awe-inspiring electric guitar solos, upbeat piano jingles, and everything you could possibly need to make a great Western soundtrack. It's not just the music that's so great, though. The sound effects are also on point, from the creaking of floorboards as you walk over them, to the "PWONG!" sound effect every time someone shoots a gun. There is only one other video game that, in my honest opinion, has such a great music and sound design, and that's Hollow Knight. 

CONCLUSION!!!

West of Loathing is an absurd, silly, and outrageous romp through a sketchbook doodle reinterpretation of the Wild West. Combining a distinct yet goofy artstyle with genuinely hilarious  writing and a stellar soundtrack, this game is also a surprisingly good video game adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons. Like if Dungeons & Dragons had a Western theme as opposed to a classic High-Fantasy setting, it would look something like West of Loathing. That being said, I give West of Loathing 10 sky-reachin' varmits out of 10.

Oh, and before I forget, there's also a DLC pack called West of Loathing: Reckonin' at Gun Manor. It's already available on Steam (along with the game itself). However, I played the Nintendo Switch port (partly because I wanted more stuff to fill out my Switch's library). I do not know if the DLC pack was ever released on Switch, and doing research via Google wields no noteworthy results, with the most recent info dating back to April. Apparently there ARE plans to bring it over, as Asymmetric openly expressed interest in bringing the DLC over to the Switch, even sending a beta version for Nintendo to play-test. But as far as I am aware the DLC is currently unavailable on Switch. If it is, feel free to correct me.