Ghost's Arcade: Lego Harry Potter

MMph Huh? EEEYOO eh AAAAHH!!

(I would explain why I've put this as the quote but that will ruin the surprise)

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This is your standard spoiler warning.  If you don't want Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 or Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 spoiled then you might want to disparate to somewhere else.

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!

This is Ghost, thanks for joining.

The older I get the more cynical and picky I get.  I'm not sure if that's just a byproduct of getting older that everyone eventually comes to terms with or if that's just me being hateful.  I had seen the mighty plethora of Lego based video games on store shelves for quite awhile but completely ignored them.  This was partially due to the fact that since 2011, Lego has been pumping out multiple video games a year on multiple consoles.  If the gaming industry has taught me anything it's that behavior of that sort generally means there is a lack of quality somewhere so I just didn't care. Then...this happened.

Doctor Who was coming to Lego Dimensions.  Now I had taken notice of Lego Dimensions because of the crossover among multiple franchises that I actually gave a rip about (Wizard of Oz, Scooby Doo, Lord of the Rings, etc.) but once they announced Doctor Who was coming to the game and Peter Capaldi, the current Doctor was doing the voice acting I had to know more, especially with most Doctor Who video games being European releases only.  However the starter kit for the game was $99!!  That's quite a steep price even if it comes with a Lego portal you create yourself. Still being the cynic I decided that I would buy an older Lego Game that I could find used for less than $20 to see if I liked the gameplay and quality of their work before dumping that amount of money into something uncertain.

So, I picked up both Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 and Years 5-7 because... well if you're going to do Harry Potter you might as well do all of them right?  Actually that's a slight bit of a lie.  I picked up Lego Marvel Superheroes for the WiiU first but since I've found reviewing the Mother series in the wrong order has been somewhat problematic (especially for Earthbound Beginnings which I plan to cover next year) I decided to go in a more chronological order and review Harry Potter now just skipping Marvel Superheroes all together to hop straight into Lego Dimensions.  So, I popped in Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 and what I found was fairly surprising.

Story

Since this is Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 and Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7, the story is... exactly what you would expect it to be.  It's a re-telling of the entire Harry Potter series from start to finish.  If you don't know the story of Harry Potter then... I seriously question why you're bothering to read this.  I would give a very brief description of what it's about but this franchise is too good to skim over.  Go watch the movies (or read the books) if you don't know the story.  You won't regret it.

That's... honestly it.  Obviously the game takes liberties where it needs to in order to give the game a decent length, more playable sections, or a boss battle here and there.  For example in Sorcerer's Stone the scene in the Forbidden Forrest shows what is happening to Harry when he meets Voldemort.  The game, however shows Harry seeing Voldemort then focuses on Hagrid, Hermione, and Ron getting through the forest to where Harry is.  Another such example is the fact that Aragog is a boss battle in the Chamber of Secrets portion of the game; this makes you have to actually fight him instead of running away like in the movie.  These types of deviations need to happen because this is a game after all.  Occasionally the games will make a scene a little more humorous or take a different turn to fit with the Lego styled world that these games take place in but overall they were a very fun short re-telling of all eight movies.  I was certainly pleased with what the game had for a story.  However it's not 100% perfect.

There is one slight negative thing I can say about the story and I'm not entirely sure how fair it is either.  Some cutscenes go by incredibly quickly.  This coupled with what I will speak about in the next section could easily leave some people confused as to what's actually happening in the story, especially if it's being played by people who haven't watched the films.  That being said I'm not entirely certain who would actually choose to play these games if they weren't fans of the Harry Potter series and would have therefore either read the books or watched the movies. I would have liked for something a little different to have aided people if this was their first Harry Potter experience but what we had was still adequate enough if you paid close attention.

Chatterboxes of Woe

As soon as you begin playing these games, one thing becomes instantly and abundantly clear.  This is no voice acting in these games.  Well, to be more precise there is no dialog in these games whatsoever.  Yes everyone has a voice which can grunt, moan, yawn, and scream to get their point across but there are no spoken words in these games.  At first I thought this was a splendid idea as it allowed for the producers to focus on content more than voices and also it wouldn't make avid fans angry over their favorite character not being voiced correctly.  I was looking forward to this change of atmosphere... thirty minutes of caveman grunting later I was longing for some dialog!

Actually truth be told I was longing for everyone to shut the heck up!  This is specifically true of Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4.  When most game developers want to make the world feel organic and real they include the reactions of the non-playable characters.  Games like Grand Theft Auto spring to mind in which NPCs comment on your actions, insult you, or run away screaming for their lives.  They attempted that sort of organic flow with Years 1-4 but when you have no dialog your options are limited.  What we ended up with was every single NPC, with the exception of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, doing this sort of wave and greeting acknowledgement sound when you are within thirty feet of them.  They don't just do it once either.  If you stay within their circle of acknowledgement for longer than ten seconds they do it again and again.  This can be particularly maddening when a room is full of people that you have to pass by multiple times to figure out the puzzle resulting in a jubilee of high pitched hellos driving you to the edge of your sanity.  It's as if you were handcuffed to a Teletubby attempting to greet each and every person at the Million Man March.

Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 attempted to correct this problem.  They made the NPCs acknowledge you far less and the few that do only repeat their greeting every thirty seconds or longer.  There is quite a bit more silence running around that game. However, Years 5-7 created something much worse... Fred and George.  Any time Fred and George are together in a room they show off and laugh at each other nonstop.  You don't even have to be near them for them to continue laughing.  Imagine being stuck in a single room for fifteen minutes or so trying to work out a puzzle with THIS constantly ringing in your ear. (excuse the poor quality...and my cat meowing in the background)

I've never wanted to shoot my television screen more in my life than being stuck in the Three Broomsticks with the Hyena Brothers.  I was there for even longer because I couldn't concentrate on the puzzle at hand due to their annoyance!  I never thought I could hate Fred and George Weasley but this certainly made it happen!

I alluded to this earlier but for those people who haven't seen the movies, the lack of actual dialog could cause some confusion with the story.  If you aren't watching the screen carefully at all times you could easily miss something fairly important story-wise because everything is visual and not audible.  Yes, I still realize that the majority of consumers for this game will be Harry Potter fans and therefore this is no issue whatsoever but I just can't let this go without mentioning it.

As a side note - later games in the series does have actual dialog.  Lego Marvel Superheroes was fully voice acted and from the trailers I've seen, Lego Dimensions will be as well! 

Variety of Characters

If there is one thing you can say about a Lego Game, it's that you are never in need of characters.  Lego Harry Potter is no different.  Obviously you have the main three, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but throughout the game you can unlock close to one hundred other characters.  Some of these characters are given to you at certain points in the game, but for the most part characters have to be unlocked by completing certain tasks or solving certain puzzles during your playthrough.

There is a two-fold reason for having so many characters.  First of all many characters have special abilities that others do not have so that when you replay a level you can bring those special characters with you to complete puzzles you couldn't complete the first time of going through the story.  I'll talk more about that in the Gameplay section.  The second reason is simply due to the fact that people will have favorite characters, especially in a series as beloved as Harry Potter.  This allows practically everyone to play as their favorite character.  

However I do think these games went just a wee bit overboard on the available characters.  Many characters have multiple costume changes that you can select from, but rather than allow you to just select what outfit for what character, each outfit is considered a separate character and therefore has to be unlocked separately.  Not only that but some character choices are just bizarre.  While having characters like Voldemort, Hagrid, and Arthur Weasley make perfect sense because they are awesome characters who should be playable... others are not quite the same caliber.  I'm sure everyone will be rushing to play this game as a Milkman, Oliver Wood, Marcus Flint, a random Witch in grey clothing, Doris Crockford, a Dudley's Gang Member, and of course Mr. and Mrs. Mason (the muggles who got a pudding to the head in Chamber of Secrets.)  It's neat that they included practically everyone but I think they were wasting their time with a few.

One other mildly confusing thing they do with the characters is the simple fact that all additional "non-essential" characters not only have to be unlocked but they have to be bought using the in-game currency of studs while you are in Diagon Alley.  I would understand that better if they just handed you the character tokens left and right completely in the open but many of these are hidden behind puzzles or need special characters to unlock in the first place.  If they are a challenge to unlock why do we need to spend money to use that which we unlocked?  It's like going through the trouble of winning a video game tournament and the prize is the ability to purchase another video game for retail price.  How would you like it if you were playing Smash Bros or Mortal Kombat and your favorite character was finally unlocked but now you had to play the game more to spend the money to actually use them.  It's...really weird.  Not to mention some of the characters are ungodly expensive.  I played all of Years 5-7 and ended up with 3 Million studs.  I had unlocked Bellatrix Lestrange and wished to use her to complete some of the puzzles you need a dark witch of wizard for...and she was 3 million studs to use!! WHAT?!  I guess they needed to provide a reason to re-play levels so that you could grind money.

Gameplay

Good gameplay can cover a multitude of other sins.  If you are able to have fun and truly enjoy your experience then generally you can forgive some annoyances here and there.  Somehow Lego has been able to capture the pure essence of video game joy and has injected it into most (if not all) of their games, Harry Potters included.  Gameplay is where these two titles truly shine!

Like most of the Lego video games, the gameplay is more centered around puzzle solving than actual combat.  Sure there is some combat here and there but it takes a back seat to exploration and figuring out how to progress through a situation or room by means of what is in the room with you at the time.  In the case of both Lego Harry Potter games, you are given a selection of magic spells to use.  Each spell has a different effect and use within the world.  For example, wingardium leviosa is used to lift items into the air but also to assemble Lego pieces together into new creations.  Likewise you have a sun spell for dealing with plants, a stunning spell for enemies, a water spell for fire and other puzzles, and a spell that can carve shapes into red Lego bricks.

In addition to the spells that most people end up getting, you also have temporary items, potions, and individual abilities.  In some rooms you can put on a pair of Luna Lovegood's Spectrespecs to see invisible Lego bricks to use, or if you are one of the Weasleys you can open a Weasley box to fire off rockets or use suction cup shoes to climb walls.  In other cases you need a potion to transform into someone else, or gain immense strength to move items.  The individual abilities are a really interesting inclusion as well.  Harry has his invisibility cloak, Ron has both pigwideon the owl and Dumbledore's deluminator (in the last year only), and Hermione has Crookshanks she can call to squeeze into tiny places.  Other characters also have special abilities like Griphook the Goblin can open locked doors with his key, and Bellatrix Lestrange has the Dark Mark and Dark Magic to get past other obstacles.

These individual abilities are key because each level is littered with optional puzzles and items that you can only complete once you've finished the level and came back to play in free play mode bringing any character you want.  In face, the game actively encourages that you re-play levels by making certain characters or items be completely unobtainable when you first play it.  For example one of the first levels of Year One has a lock on a cabinet which can be blown off with magic but you don't learn that spell till Year Four.  Years 5-7 also have obstacles littered everywhere that require dark magic to pass but you don't even unlock someone with dark magic until the very end of the game.  It's a neat idea for completionists and for those just curious because you remember there are things you can't do but want to see what happens if you have the ability to do them.

As stated earlier there is combat occasionally but for the most part it has taken a massive backseat to the puzzle solving and random platforming.  Combat overall just consists of holding down the magic button till you've targeted the enemy or enemies on screen then releasing for a barrage of hexes that clear the room.  Bosses can offer a bit more of a challenge because you have to actually do different things like stop items from hitting you and send them flying back at the boss.  It's battle in its most simplistic form.  However there is one change to that.  In Chamber of Secrets we learn how to duel against Malfoy.  It was pretty terrible and mostly existed as a mid-boss battle where you just dodge the hex and send one back at Malfoy.  If that was the only kind of duel I was going to be disappointed.  Thankfully that was not the case in Years 5-7.  Years 5-7 brought back the idea of duels which placed you in a circular area against the opponent. You must match the spell they are going to cast and cast them at the same time.  During a quick time event of mashing a button over and over you eventually overpower your opponent and take away one of their 4 health hearts.  It's quite fun!

One final thing to mention about the gameplay is how they deal with health and being defeated.  You are given four hearts at the start of the level.  If you are hit by an enemy you lose one heart.  Obviously defeating enemies or destroying things on the map can often times give you hearts to refill your meter.  However, if you're running into a bit of trouble with a section and you lose all of your hearts, your character falls to pieces.  The first time this happened to me, I assumed there was a lives system in place or that you lost that character for the remainder of the level.  NOPE!  Within seconds the character is back on their feet and ready for battle with a full 4 hearts worth of health.  The only thing you have lost is 1,000 studs out of your total for the level.  If you have no money or less than 1,000 studs it just takes you down to zero and you keep playing.  There are no "failure" or "game over" screens.  If you're having trouble you just keep on trying till you beat it.  For someone who isn't that great at video games to begin with.. I really loved this feature of these games.

Confundus!

As one can expect with a game primarily focused on puzzle solving, there will be a few puzzles here and there which shall be a little more challenging than others.  Normally games would increase the challenge level of the puzzles as you progress through the game.  Indeed, I thought the puzzles would be harder in Year Four, and Year Seven Part Two respectively.  However I was dead wrong.  These games have random challenge spikes for one particular part of a puzzle with no rhyme or reason whatsoever in their execution.  Even in Year One I was having to look at a guide once or twice to progress through the room because something the game thought was going to be simple and obvious clearly was not.

My favorite moment of absolute irritation was when playing through the Three Brothers story.  In one section you had to don the invisibility cloak and send three pumpkins hurdling toward Death so that he can leave allowing the other two brothers to pass.  I lost every bit of my studs for the level at this part because while I was using the correct spell to lift the pumpkins, I had always been tasked with pushing the directional lever forwards to send items at an opponent even if they were off to the left or right.  Death was to the left but pushing the stick forward as I had done through all six previous years just sent it smacking into the windmill out of my reach.  Instead I was supposed to push the directional button to the left to allow it to smack Death in the head.  First and only time that was necessary and I received no word or guidance.  There are several other moments where something that should have been obvious was not but that one was the most irritating.

One other thing that confused and shocked me was the extreme difficulty of the final level in Year Seven Part Two.  While I fully expect the final level to be the most difficult of any game, I certainly wasn't expecting this.  During the section where you control Molly Weasley and Kingsly Shacklebolt through Hogwarts' attic area, you are bombarded by Death Eaters shooting hexes at you.  Normally this wouldn't be a problem because you could just shoot an enemy and they would disappear.  Death Eaters however take a few hits then disappear only to reappear in another location on the screen.  Death Eaters cannot be defeat at all only slightly delayed.  When you have five or more of them on your case at all time it's difficult to get anything done especially when the partner AI in this game just sort of stands around and does no fighting on their own (a feature they changed for Marvel Superheroes)  Quickly I lost all of my studs and still couldn't simply get from one side of the room to the other because I just kept dying over and over and over.  Eventually I had to put on the Invincibility Cheat Code in the game just so I could get to the other side of the room.  The final battle was just as bad.  While fighting Voldemort was an easy quick-time event, this was interrupted by Ron, Hermione, and Neville fighting giant spiders, Death Eaters that wont die, Death Eaters that appear off screen behind you that you can't even shoot to get away, dementors slowing you down and Nagini spitting venom and biting.  It's a mad house of difficulty and I'm not entirely sure how people could beat it without the provided Invincibility cheat!

Conclusion

I honestly could have talked in more detail about several other items such as the in-game cheat codes, the partner AI that does nothing, or the interesting types of levels such as being underwater in the Lake.  There are many things in these games to experience and enjoy for yourself, and I do mean enjoy.  I may have mentioned several negatives during the course of this review but none of them change the fact that I truly enjoyed these games in their entirety even when I was getting irritated.

The fact that I was able to walk through a re-creation of Hogwarts, the Burrow, Hogsmeade, King's Cross Station, The Forbidden Forrest, etc. made my inner Potter fan squeal with joy.  In a time where many games are going for gritty realism and multiplayer matches it's a solid breath of fresh air to see something honoring the source material but not afraid to have a few laughs along the way.  It's great to see something that allows a multiplayer experience but doesn't detract away from the single player either.  While Lego Harry Potter was rough around the edges it was clear that these people are refining their craft.  They are actively taking good ideas and making them better.  They are taking things that don't work and either removing them or making them work.  Lego Marvel Superheroes is a testament to that as practically every problem I have with the Harry Potter games has been eliminated for the Marvel Superheroes one.

Lego has done something for me that I didn't realize I needed.  They made me remember once again why I love video games.  They place fun and enjoyment at the forefront and have captivated me by their greatness.  If you enjoy puzzles, fun games, or any of the numerous franchises they have created games out of then I highly suggest that you pick up one of their games at your next convenience.  You won't regret it.

This is Ghost, Fading into the darkness.

Mischief Managed!

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Ghost's Arcade: A Lego Dimensions Buyer's Guide

Two blog posts in one week?  I need a pay raise!

This is Ghost, thanks for joining me on a special edition of Ghost's Arcade.

Well, it finally landed in North America. Lego Dimensions!  In this game you try to save all the different dimensions from the evil Lord Vortek.  I got my hands on the WiiU version of the game along with all three launch Level Packs.  Expect the formal review to come out sometime in November to give me time to dissect any bit of useful information out of it... and be able to play the additional Doctor Who levels.  However there is one thing that I would like to address now and will most likely bring up during the review as well.  The severe lack of information that we are getting about the game packs and how to purchase smartly/what is actually needed to unlock and solve every puzzle in the game..

When I say severe lack of information, I'm not kidding.  We knew that there was a portal and that the characters we purchase will appear in the game.  That much was fairly obvious.  We thought that we understood what the level packs were: they were additional dimensions that we wouldn't see during the normal gameplay.  However when Level 2 happened during the course of the game and I saw the Simpsons Logo that turned out not to be true.  It ended up being that level packs were MORE levels based on that world.  OK Cool so that meant that all of the team and fun packs would have a level in the game of their own as well right?  Well not exactly... Jurassic World has a team pack but there is no Jurassic World level in the main game.  They also neglected to mention that each dimension had an open world that you could explore outside of the main storyline but you needed a character from that dimension in order to access that open world..

Obviously, the producers of the game want you to purchase every single one of their figurine packs but honestly if you were to do that, by the time all of the currently planned packs come out (all the way till May of 2016) you'd be dropping somewhere around $785 bucks!  

That's utterly ridiculous.... I could purchase two entire gaming systems for that price.  I guarantee there are people out there who will drop that kind of cash to have every single figurine for the game but let's be real here... most people don't have that kind of cash just sitting around.  If you want to experience this very interesting game but want to spend as little as possible, or just enough to be able to do everything I'm here to help you.  I realize that a couple well known websites have already tried their hand at explaining the most cost efficient way of doing these but they have only focused on unlocking content and NOT solving puzzles.  I intend to aim for both.  I'll break these up into three different categories.

Bare Bones Content

This is for the player who just wants to experience the game's story and doesn't really care about figuring out all of the puzzles or unlocking all of the worlds.

Well there's not a whole heck of a lot to talk about here.  Just buy the starter pack that's required to even play the game.  It comes with the game for the system of your choice (WiiU, PS3, PS4, X-box 360, or X-Box One), Wyldstyle, Batman, Gandalf, and the Batmobile.  This would allow you to play the game's main storyline through completion.  It would also grant you access to the DC, Lego Movie, and Lord of the Rings open worlds.  There's plenty of fun and content here to keep you entertained.  There's still replay value to the levels you just won't be able to do many things that this game can offer. The starter pack runs for $100 and is the cheapest way to experience this game.

Unlocking All Worlds and Levels

This grouping is for a player who wishes to have every Open World realm available to them as well as every playable level.  They may or may not be able to 100% complete all of the puzzles but they will have the ability to see everything.

Here's everything you'll need for the goal of unlocking all the worlds and levels.

 You will need your Starter Kit for $100.

You will need to get all six of the level packs for $30 a piece.  This includes the Back to the Future, Portal 2, Simpsons, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, and Midway Arcade.  Back to the Future, Portal 2, and Simpsons were available at launch.  Doctor Who will be available in November 2015.  Ghostbusters will be available in January of 2016, and Midway Arcade will be available in March of 2016.  This will (eventually) total to $180.

 You will need both the Scooby Doo and Jurassic World Team Sets for $25 a piece.  Both available day of launch. This will total $50.

Lastly you will need the Wicked Witch Fun Pack, At least one of the six Ninjago series Fun Packs, and at least one of the three Chima series fun packs at $15 per set.  This would total $45.



 
Buying these will give you access to every single Open World and level that the game has.  Yes you'll be waiting awhile for some of them such as Peter Venkman and the Midway Arcade Gamer, but this will ensure that every world can be accessed.  It will cost you around $375 total.  That's fairly pricy but it's also money spread out over several months.  Not all of the Ninjago series are available right now so if you spread his purchase out with others coming later you're giving yourself time to save up for more.  Now there will still be a couple of puzzles that you won't be able to complete with this set but this will allow you to do most of what this game offers.  

Unlocking Worlds and Solving Puzzles Without Buying All

This grouping is for the player who wishes to spend their money fairly wisely but also wants to be able to complete everything the game can offer.  This would mean that all of the worlds and levels would be yours to play but also you could complete any of the puzzles provided in the game.    This will start off very similar to the previous category but it's the fun packs which differ.  You can choose your own but this is probably what I'll end up getting for myself










 You will need your Starter Kit for $100.

You will need to get all six of the level packs for $30 a piece.  This includes the Back to the Future, Portal 2, Simpsons, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, and Midway Arcade.  Back to the Future, Portal 2, and Simpsons were available at launch.  Doctor Who will be available in November 2015.  Ghostbusters will be available in January of 2016, and Midway Arcade will be available in March of 2016.  This will (eventually) total to $180.





 You will need both the Scooby Doo and Jurassic World Team Sets for $25 a piece.  Both available day of launch. This will total $50.

 




You will need the following 7 fun packs at $15 a piece.  I will explain why I have chosen these exact ones in one of the paragraphs below.  You will need the Wicked Witch, Nya, Eris, Emmet, Gollum, Unikitty, and Cyberman.  This will total to (an eventual) $105








UPDATE - Upon exploring some of the worlds more it seems as though you will also be needing Aquaman as he is the only one who can solve certain puzzles.

While this grouping will set you back around $450 total thus far (which is a flipping lot of money) but again parts of this are spread from now till March 2016.  This will allow you to access and complete any puzzle that the game will give you.  You should be able to 100% complete the game with only these characters.  Now obviously you'll need the Starter Kit to play the game, The level packs for the levels and worlds they unlock, the Scooby and Jurassic World team packs for their open world.  Then that leaves us with the fun packs and why I have chosen those particular ones.
 
Wicked Witch is the only Wizard of Oz set so you need her to get into the Open Oz World.  I chose Nya for the Ninjago set because she was obtainable at launch, will get you access to the Ninjago World as well as any puzzle needing Spinjitzu.  While the other two launch Ninjago have those as well, the Zane Fun Pack does not have the ability of Deflection, and the Jay Fun Pack is a Toys R Us exclusive.  Though all three Chima characters give you the Chi ability and the access to Chima world, I chose Eris because she looks the most awesome!  If you prefer Cragger the Crocodile or Laval the Lion feel free to get them.  Emmett was chosen for his Drilling ability, an ability only few know.  Since he was available at launch I picked him instead of someone like Bane.  Gollum was chosen because of his Mini Access ability and his availability at launch (you could also go with Gimli if you prefer him for Mini Access). Unikitty is the only character that can solve the rainbow puzzles so she's a must.  The Cyberman will give you drones and is the only character with X-Ray vision.  Aquaman will give you the ability to solve certain water pool puzzles.

As a side note, Superman is the only one with Freeze Breath while Wonder Woman is the only one with Invincibility.  I'm not sure how much of that is going to be needed so I didn't include them but it's worth noting.

 Conclusion

While I should probably wait to say this in my full review coming November, I have to say that this game IS worth the price to purchase it, just not worth the price to purchase every single pack they have out there.  Nobody should spend 700 bucks on a single game no matter how great it is!  If you're on the fence about this one, just try the base set for $100.  It'll show you what all the game has to offer and you can decide at that point how much more you are willing to spend on the game.  It's neat because if you are a collector of Lego, each character and vehicle can come off of their stands and be used with your Lego collection as fully functional and playable Lego toys (unlike amiibo.) 

If you were confused about the content provided and didn't want to spent more than you had to for what you wanted to do I hope this helped you out. Happy building/playing and remember... Everything is awesome!!!

This is Ghost, fading into the darkness

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Ghost's Kitchen: Monkey Bread

What's Cooking Today?

Monkey Bread

Hello everyone and welcome to another segment of...

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Don't get me wrong I LOVE me some breakfast food but I rarely eat it. I have this weird thing where if I eat first thing in the morning I stay hungry all day but if I wait around until I get hungry it'll be close to 1 or 2 PM before I eat and I only eat my meals.  Probably not healthy for me but oh well... speaking of not healthy for you...

Not long ago my wife got a recipe from her sister-in-law Rachel Webb (which she had gotten from someone else) for Monkey Bread.  You know that lovely cinnamon-sugar gooey bread that's all kinds of wonderful?  If breakfast were more like this I'd eat it every day!  Today I'm going to share with you all how to make it for yourselves.

Gather Your Ingredients and Tools

• Bundt Pan (If you don't have one you can purchase one for cheap)
• Cooking/Baking Spray
• Measuring Cup
• Tablespoon
• Bowl
• 18 Frozen Yeast Dinner Roll Dough Balls
• 1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar
• 1 Package of COOK AND SERVE Butterscotch Pudding mix
• 1 Stick of Butter
• 1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon
• Spoon
• Clean Dish Towel you don't care to get dirty
• Oven Mitt
• Butter Knife
• Plate

Starting Tip: You will want to start this at least 7 hours before you plan on eating it to let the dough thaw and rise.  Most often this is a breakfast meal so I would prepare this at say... 10 or 11 PM for breakfast the next morning.

1. Grease the Bundt Pan
Simply set your bundt pan to the side and spray the inside with you cooking/baking spray.

2. Place Dough Balls in Bundt Pan
The dough balls generally come in a package of 36 so one bag will make two loaves.  Take out 18 of your dinner roll dough balls and place them into the bundt pan.  You can try to keep all 18 along the bottom of the pan if possible or you can do 9 on the bottom and 9 on a second layer though doing that is probably what caused ours to look weird... more on that later.

3. Mix Dry Ingredients Mix the 1/c cup of brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon, and package of Cook and Serve Butterscotch Pudding mixture together in a bowl.  Make sure it's Cook and Serve and NOT Instant or it will mess up big time!

4. Pour Dry Mixture Over the Dough Balls

Simply pour the dry mixture into the bundt pan covering all of the dough balls.  Feel free to use a spoon and slowly spread the dry mixture around to cover as much as possible.

5. Melt Butter and Pour Over into Pan

Melt the butter in the microwave for a few seconds until it's completely melted.  Then simply pour the butter over the dough balls and dry mixture.  You can also use a spoon here to ensure you have an even amount of butter through most of the mixture.

6. Move Oven Rack and Let the Ingredients Sit Overnight/Over Several Hours.
As stated before it's best to let the dough thaw and rise for several hours.  Since this is generally a food one eats for breakfast it's easiest to prepare this at night and let it sit overnight for early morning baking.  First thing you need to do is move your oven rack.  Most things are done on the middle rack of the oven but this will rise too high and become burned on the top before the portion inside the bundt pan is finished.  What you need to do is bring the oven rack down one spot so that it's on the fourth from the top section.  Simply place your bundt pan on the oven rack and let it sit overnight/for several hours.

Here's a good spot to take a breather because you're going to be spending several hours waiting for the next step to be available.  People say that working in the kitchen is both art and science.  I tend to think of cooking as more art because it's a little more forgiving than baking.  Baking is more like science and can screw up at the slightest whim with little to no reason why.   The pictures you are about to see of the monkey bread didn't turn out quite the way we had anticipated or seen from other people.  After showing other more experienced bakers they had NO idea why ours turned out the way it does.  So if yours looks prettier than the pictures below then awesome!  Fortune smiled upon you.  If it looks like ours or worse then don't worry!  The look may not be pretty but the taste is still wonderful!  Because the pictures below are not at all what we anticipated and may not represent what your product will look like!

7. Remove Bundt Pan and Preheat Oven
In the morning, remove the bundt pan from the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.

8. Bake for 20 Minutes
Once the oven is preheated, place the bunt pan into the oven for 20 minutes.

 

9. Run Knife Between Pan and Bread and Flip Over Onto Plate
While still hot, quickly run a butter knife around the edge of the bundt pan to make sure none of the bread has stuck to the sides.  It shouldn't but this is just to make sure you don't end up with a mess on your hands.  Place a plate on top of the bread and flip the whole thing over.  Lift the bundt pan and set it aside.

10. Spread the Topping If Necessary
Depending on your luck, the gooey topping may run down the sides of the monkey bread or it may just sit there and do nothing.  If it just sits there then use your butter knife and spread the goodness over the whole thing!

11. Cut a section and enjoy!

As a side note you WILL want some milk or something to drink with this bad boy! Hopefully this is something you will enjoy making and eating as much as my family! 

This is Ghost fading into the darkness.

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UPDATE

So we tried this again in an attempt to not get the bulbous monstrosity that we had to begin with and it worked.   It seems as though the kind of frozen dough balls you get and your placement of them make a difference.   We had previously used a bag from Kroger which were fairly large and it made us have to make 2 layers of 9 rolls each.   This time we got a bag from Walmart which were much smaller and allowed us to place all 18 in the bottom of the bundt pan.

As you can see below this worked to our favor as the monkey bread came out as it should.

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If you want to see my other food topics and recipes then simply click here!

Ghost in the Case: Erik the Viking

"I could do with a holiday, I can tell you.  All this financial work, you know.  The stress really gets to you... ummm... flay him alive, garrote him and then behead him."

Ghost here, thanks for joining me today.  I welcome you to another

The type of childhood you have (the things you were taught, the home situation, and the things your parents liked) all have a fairly profound influence on how you life the rest of your life and what you seem to be interested in.  Growing up, my parents and I bred Norwegian Elkhounds and performed in dog shows with them.  As they were our breed of choice we became interested in their background which lead us to the vikings and Norse Mythology.  There is a reason that Thor is my father's favorite Marvel character.  Also at a very young age I used to sit in the living room with my parents and watch British Television that would come on PBS Saturday Nights and on BBC America.  I found myself loving shows such as Keeping Up Appearances, Faulty Towers, Absolutely Fabulous, Are You Being Served, Poirot, and Monty Python's Flying Circus.

I say that because when I saw that there was a movie about a Viking going to awaken the Norse gods which was written and directed by Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) and also stars Jones and John Cleese (also of Monty Python fame) I was guaranteed to enjoy it in some part.  But the question is... will anyone else enjoy it?  This is one where critics and movie-goers are split straight down the middle.  It's a 50/50 approval rating.   Why is that?  Well let's take a look at this film and see if it seems like something that might interest you.

The Story

Erik is a viking who is out on another expedition to rape pillage and plunder across the region.  However, he's not so keen on the whole raping thing as we find out when he barges into a woman's home then proceeds to talk to her about how he would rather the action be mutual between two people.  The woman, Helga, talks to him about how the killing and pillaging is just as bad and in their brief conversation Erik starts to really like the woman.  Unfortunately as two more vikings come in and attempt to assault her, Erik slays them and accidentally stabs Helga in the stomach and she passes away.

Erik runs to the mountains to visit an old Seer woman living in a cave by the name of Freya.  Freya explains that they are in the Age of Ragnarok, an age where men fight and die by the axe and sword; an age where the sun would not shine until the gods were awakening in Asgard to end this horrible fighting age.  The only way to awaken the gods is to find the Horn Resounding which is located on the mythical island of Hy-Brasil and blow it three times.  Erik decides to go on the quest to awaken the gods and perhaps find Helga their among the slain in Valhalla and bring her back to the land of the living.  Assembling the best warriors of his village, and the local missionary, Erik and the crew begin building a ship for their journey.

While the ship is being built, the local blacksmith, Keitel, and his wormy assistant, Loki begin discussing how the Age of Ragnarok is good for their business and don't want it to necessarily end.  Loki makes a delivery of swords to the local warlord, Halfdan the Black (played by John Cleese), and discusses Erik's voyage.  Since Halfdan the Black is also profiting from this age he agrees to help Loki stop Erik and possibly kill Keitel in the process so that Loki could become the main blacksmith and all the money that comes with the position.

Erik and the crew then leave the shores of Norway but run into Halfdan the Black's ship.  Fleeing into the mist, Erik passes through the Gates of the World and comes face to face with the great Dragon of the North.  Coincidentally the missionary cannot see the dragon as he doesn't believe it exists.  After fighting off the Dragon who sneezes them into the horizon, they find themselves on the Island of Hy-Brasil.  Here they meet Princess Aud who pleads with them to put down their swords.  Her father, King Arnulf explains that the island has a blessing upon it but if any sword were to shed blood upon the land, the whole island would sink below the depths.

After some quite horrifying musical number and a bit of humor involving King Arnulf being fooled by an invisibility cloak that only works against the king, Erik finds that Halfdan the Black is approaching Hy-Brasil.  Rowing out to meet him, Erik and his men defeat Halfdan's minions and Halfdan escapes on a small boat.  Several of Erik's men perish in the battle.  A celebration is held in the viking's honor for keeping Hy-Brasil safe and Erik is presented with the Horn Resounding.  Loki takes the mouthpiece and sends Keitel to throw it into the ocean.  Another Viking, Snori, follows Keitel and stops him from throwing the mouthpiece, causing it to drop to the rocks below for Princess Aud to pick up.  Loki kills Snori and the island begins to sink from the second the blood touches land.  Princess Aud gets on board Erik's ship and rescues the vikings pleading with her father to hop on board.  Her father and the rest of the Hy-Brasilians are too stupid to believe their island is sinking and drown.

On the water, Princess Aud blows the first note on Horn Resounding and the ship is flung to the edge of the world.  Fearing for his life, Loki turns to Erik with a knife but Keitel tosses Loki overboard to his death. The ship is then flung off the edge of the world and lands in Asgard, land of the gods.  Erik blows the second note and Valhalla's lights begin to come on.  The vikings walk to the doors of Valhalla, but the missionary just passes through the stone walls because, again, he does not believe the Norse mythology.  Erik and the gang enter Valhalla and find not only Helga but all their slain crew-mates.  Erik begins asking Odin to end the Age of Ragnarok as Princess Aud sends the missionary back to the ship.  Odin agrees to end Ragnarok but sends Erik and his crew to the pit of hell for stepping foot where only those slain in battle can stand.  Those fallen friends of Erik try to help him but get sucked into the pit as well.

The missionary blows the third note and he, the ship, and everyone falling into hell are rescued and sent back to their home village.  Everyone begins to celebrate but is cut short when they find Halfdan the Black has tied up their families and intends to kill everyone starting with the children.  They move in to do so but the ship containing the horn and the missionary land on top of Halfdan and his men crushing them to death.  Everyone celebrates as the sun finally rises for the first time in a century.

Interesting Facts

As with the last Python Alumnus movie I covered, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (written and directed by Terry Gilliam), there is quite an interesting backstory to this film, though this one is a happy story instead of the "cursed film" aspect of the other.  For writer/director Terry Jones, Erik the Viking is a deeply personal film.  When Terry Jones' daughter was born he began writing short stories for her to tell her at bedtime.  Later, when his son Bill was born he decided to do the exact same thing.  Jones had recently gone to the London Museum which had an exhibit on vikings and he decided that the stories for his son would be about a group of vikings.  He created, and eventually published around twenty four short children's stories about Erik the Viking.

Eventually Jones was given the opportunity to make his short stories into a single film and in 1989 was able to release Erik the Viking to the public.  However, he decided to keep his hands out of the editing for it and due to some short deadlines the film that was released he was not entirely happy with and would have cut close to thirty minutes of film out out of it to help the pacing not be so slow.  Eventually in 2007 when this was to be released on DVD, Jones with the help of his son Bill was able to re-edit the film.  They moved a few scenes around to better explain things before they happen as well as make the timing on jokes better and remove what they felt was pointless filler.  More likely than not, if you see this film now you will be seeing what they have dubbed the "Director's Son's Cut."  My parents have the VHS of the original cut of the film and I do have to say that it is an improvement.

One other notable thing is that people received this film very poorly at the time of its release.  Critics and movie-goers alike seemed to not be very thrilled with it in general.  Jones has a theory on that and I fully agree with him.  Since we have Terry Jones writing and directing the film, and we also have both Terry Jones and John Cleese acting in the movie as well, people were expecting a Python film.  I'm sure I would have expected the same thing given what information I knew.  However this is definitely NOT a Python film.  Erik the Viking is a fantasy action adventure film which is supposed to be taken more seriously than the non-stop run of gags that Monty Python usually provides.  Yes when Erik the Viking does go into comedy it hits the mark but it's main point is not the comedy; it's main point is telling the story of these Vikings trying to end an age of war.  If you go into this film realizing that it's NOT a Monty Python movie  you'll probably end up liking it a bit more.

A Few Highlights

Rather than go into detail about everything that was good and bad with the film, I thought I'd just talk about three points which really stood out to me.

The first is John Cleese as Halfdan the Black.  John does a wonderfully comedic performance as the main villain in the film, especially when we first meet him.  Halfdan is a sort of business man whose business is torture and unspeakable things.  He doesn't start off as your standard crazy madman though he does eventually sink to that low at the end of the film.  His business-like nonchalant mannerisms never cease to crack me up.  For example when we first see him on screen he is explaining that he simply can't give this man a third chance to bring him the money that he and other people need so he orders the man's beheading.  As the man pleads for his life he shouts that Halfdan should take his sheep.  Halfdan's response is  "OH there's a good idea, take his sheep too!  I really wish people would think ahead on these things.. *sigh*  Next."

The second thing that stood out to me was the depiction of the Norse gods.  Rather than have them being these larger than life powerful beings, they are depicted as children.  This fits fairly well with the ideology that the Norse gods were able to help and do things for mortals but held no sense of responsibility towards them.  They didn't have to do jack diddly if they didn't want to.  Having children play the gods was honestly pure genius.  It didn't do much for the story overall but it was just a neat interpretation.

Lastly, Harold the Missionary was an excellent inclusion.  He spends the whole movie trying to get people to convert to Christianity with little luck other than the occasional "shut up."  I thought he was just going to be a joke character but he becomes very interesting when they leave Norway.  Anything that he does not believe in as he is a Christian he simply cannot see and is not affected by.  The Dragon of the North holds no danger for him though the others are panicking.  Asgard holds no power of him as he does not believe it exists either so he can pass through the walls and escape from the Norse gods.  Having his belief be the thing that lets them escape death was a wonderful way to end the film.

Conclusion

I probably said it best in the interesting facts section.  If you go into this movie expecting it to be a Monty Python movie you're going to have a bad time.  The comedy moments are spread sometimes a fair distance apart.  That's not to say the comedy is poor.  The times that they are actively seeking to make a joke generally hit the mark and are on-par with Python weirdness.  Only the singing joke seems to miss the beat a little bit.   If you like Norse Mythology, vikings, or a good fantasy story you may enjoy this.  I certainly do!  Find it for yourself and see what lies within!

Erik the Viking is rated PG-13 and is available on DVD from 20th Century Fox.

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If you want to see my other Movie and Television reviews/recommendations then simply click here!