Choo-Choo Charles

2022 - 12 - 9

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Image courtesy of "IGN"

Choo-Choo Charles Review - IGN (IGN)

Your adventure begins with a bang when you board a train with a gun mounted on it and are immediately attacked by an evil railcar with spider legs, but since ...

John Wick: Chapter 4 will be available in theaters and IMAX on March 24, 2023 (or March 23rd in Australia/NZ).](/videos/john-wick-chapter-4-official-final-trailer) [The Little Mermaid - Official Trailer“The Little Mermaid” is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. The film stars singer and actress Halle Bailey (“grown-ish”) as Ariel; Jonah Hauer-King (“A Dog’s Way Home”) as Prince Eric; Tony Award® winner Daveed Diggs (“Hamilton”) as the voice of Sebastian; Awkwafina (“Raya and the Last Dragon”) as the voice of Scuttle; Jacob Tremblay (“Luca”) as the voice of Flounder; Noma Dumezweni (“Mary Poppins Returns”) as Queen Selina; Art Malik (“Homeland”) as Sir Grimsby; with Oscar® winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men”) as King Triton; and two-time Academy Award® nominee Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” “Bridesmaids”) as Ursula. “The Little Mermaid” is directed by Oscar® nominee Rob Marshall (“Chicago,” “Mary Poppins Returns”)with a screenplay by two-time Oscar nominee David Magee (“Life of Pi,” “Finding Neverland”). All of the potential fear factor is sucked out of the experience and replaced with monotony. In the earliest part of the adventure you’ll be far too weak to face the wicked locomotive and will almost certainly get murdered, for which there are practically no consequences. The uneventful main quest has you hunting down three eggs, which are apparently children of Choo-Choo Charles waiting to hatch into additional railcar abominations, and can be used to lure him into a final deathmatch. The demon train doesn’t use any new attacks or surprise you in any way, meaning every time you face him after the first time is just a predictable humdrum as you coast along the railway. Most of the time you’ll be riding your train through barren and empty environments, stopping to collect scrap metal or complete a dull quest along the way that might have you fetch some item for someone or lockpick a nearby chest in a terribly boring lockpicking minigame. In order to kill Charles, you’ll have to travel around an island completing quests for NPCs to upgrade your weapons and improve your train’s stats, until you face ol’ Choo-Choo himself in a final showdown. Sneaking is aggressively not fun, since the only tool you’re given to aid you is the ability to lean left or right to peer around corners from cover. The voice acting is appropriately silly and clearly doesn’t take itself seriously, which is great, but the dialogue being read plays things far straighter, and I couldn’t help but repeatedly shake my head at all the missed opportunities for hijinks. But while Choo-Choo Charles’ premise brings me no end of joy, the janky and barebones adventure itself is way more dull than I thought possible.

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Image courtesy of "Rock Paper Shotgun"

Choo-Choo Charles review: off the rails survival horror (Rock Paper Shotgun)

A weird meme turned survival horror game with a compelling elevator pitch, Choo-Choo Charles sees you stalked by a half-spider, half-train monster.

The voice acting and crude animation is adorably goofy, and the environments you’re tootling around in lack much detail or personality — the island is a kind of homogenous, sparse, muddy forest with very few points of interest to differentiate one part of the map from another. You’re unarmed when outside of your train, and while the game suggests that it’s somehow possible to stealth past these human guards by leaning around corners and timing your approach, in practice these eagle-eyed enemies spot you way too easily. Pity Charles, the spider train cursed with just enough artificial intelligence to want to murder you, but not enough to be able to walk up a step. In very short order you learn that this accursed island is home to Charles, a maniacal arachnid train who appears every five to ten minutes to get you. Imagine not only conceiving of a world in which a nightmarish Thomas the Tank Engine repeatedly emerges from the woods to murder you — an accomplishment in itself — but sitting down and actually making the thing and selling it to people for real money. This is your base of operations as you travel between a handful of optional NPCs and four main-quest NPCs.

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Image courtesy of "The Nerd Stash"

All Train Weapons in Choo-Choo Charles (The Nerd Stash)

Choo-Choo Charles is the game in which you spend your time trying to take down a giant man-eating spider train with different weapons.

- Damage – 3 This weapon is given to your late husband by an NPC that the weapon was named after. [missile launcher](https://thenerdstash.com/fortnite-where-to-find-the-ripsaw-launcher/)that can be found in the portion of the map that is highlighted below. [flamethrower](https://thenerdstash.com/where-to-find-the-flamethrower-tm-in-pokemon-scarlet-and-violet/)that can be found in the portion of the [map](https://www.ign.com/wikis/choo-choo-charles/Walkthrough)that is highlighted below. - Slowing – 3 - Damage – 2

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Image courtesy of "Destructoid"

Review: Choo-Choo Charles (Destructoid)

Sure, it looked like a lot of fun, but how do you build an entire game around fighting an evil train? I was then reminded that I thought the same thing about ...

Combat outside of the train, or simply more moments where Charles could harrow you when you’re at your most vulnerable would have been appreciated. Simply working seems to be the aim of Choo-Choo Charles. Characters don’t move their mouths when they talk, the music is just kind of there, and the narrative doesn’t really do anything terribly cool. It rewards you well for engaging with the content, so there’s very little threat of disappointment. Provided you’re in the safety of the iron womb of your train, you can fend him off. Largely, encounters with him are kept to a minimum, which is a great way to add to his mystery. That’s the whole of it, but it’s not going to be easy, because Charles isn’t the only monster on the island, and a whole load of cultists would rather you didn’t stop him. He roams the island too, and as you travel, you may hear his distant whistle as he bears down on your location. They’ll give you the keys to where Charles’ eggs are being held, supply you with scrap metal to upgrade your train, and load you up with weapons to help keep the monster at bay. The miners of the island have already done the legwork on planning Charles’ demise, they just need someone crazy enough to pull it off. I was then reminded that I thought the same thing about When Choo-Choo Charles was first revealed to the world, I got that too-good-to-be-true feeling.

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Image courtesy of "Kotaku"

That Viral Killer Train Game Is An Admirable, Original Mess (Kotaku)

Last year, the new horror game Choo-Choo Charles went viral online thanks to a very good trailer that teased a cat-and-mouse game with an evil train with ...

The real shame is that the best part of this game—riding a train and escaping from Charles—is only a small part of what you do. The way the island looks and sounds is spooky and perfect. By the time I got to the second egg, which is hidden in a large underground mine, I just started running around and grabbing whatever I needed to grab. It lends it an odd atmosphere that is enhanced all the more by the creepy, desolate island and the odd people you meet on it. This is a captivating setup and it looked pretty slick, so it’s not surprising the trailer spread like wildfire during the spooky month of October. I like the mix of low-res elements with more modern-looking grass, textures, and lighting.

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