Steven Universe Season Three
Studio: Cartoon Network Studios
Publisher: Madman Entertainment
Platforms: DVD (reviewed) / Blu-ray
Release Date: September 6, 2017
Price: DVD $34.95 – Available Here / Blu-ray $39.95 – Available Here
Overview
During a bizarre dream, Steven discovers Malachite on a remote island and informs the other Crystal Gems. Together, they are able to split Malachite apart. Steven takes Lapis Lazuli to the barn so she can live a new, free life with Peridot. A ship full of Rubies arrive at the barn, leading Peridot to believe that Yellow Diamond wants to capture her for her blatant insubordination, but they are only after Jasper. Jasper has her own plans, and Amethyst wants to defeat her. Meanwhile, Connie goes on her first mission with Steven and Pearl.
Story
Steven Universe is one of the most intelligent and thoughtful shows out there, and a large part of its continual success is the development of its main and supporting characters. Lapis Lazuli has been trapped and tormented for months on end, but she is able to open up to Steven and begin to understand the natural beauty of Earth instead of remaining angry. She is conflicted both about what she wants to do and about her feelings regarding Jasper, although she understands that their forced relationship as Malachite must never be restored. It takes her a while to accept Peridot when Steven tries to convince Lapis Lazuli to live with her in the barn, but she comes to understand that the people around her genuinely care about her. Peridot had already become a great addition to the series in season two, and seeing how strongly she cares about Steven and his planet and how hard she tries to help Lapis Lazuli feel welcome makes her inclusion even better. Back in Beach City, we learn more about Greg and his relationship with Rose Quartz, and Sadie and Lars’ relationship becomes the focus of an episode in which Steven attempts to make everyone think that Lars is a nice person. All of these characters demonstrate how people interact when they respect and care about each other, all while making powerful and often subtle statements about important issues. They all act in believable ways that make them relatable, and seeing relatively ‘normal’ events in Beach City between the more plot-heavy episodes rounds this series out in the best way.
It was inevitable that Peridot’s act of insubordination towards Yellow Diamond was not going to be the end of the Crystal Gems’ issues with the homeworld, but for the most part, Jasper is the biggest cause of trouble for everyone. The ship full of Rubies looking for Jasper is a problem, although they are relatively harmless and surprisingly manipulatable. Unfortunately for everyone, Jasper is extraordinarily strong, and when Steven and Connie end up face-to-face with her on the duo’s first mission together, they are unable to defeat her. It is not until they fuse into Stevonnie after Amethyst suffers a humiliating defeat at the hands of Jasper that they can properly defend against her and send her away. Amethyst is devastated at how useless she ended up being, bringing up her problematic feelings of self-loathing, but she realises that she does not have to compare herself to Jasper. The serious events still present an opportunity for the characters to learn and grow, although Steven learns some unfortunate facts about the Gem War in the final parts of the season. Things may end up getting a whole lot worse for him and the Crystal Gems, but with Peridot and Lapis Lazuli on their side and Connie demonstrating her knowledge of sword-fighting techniques thanks to Pearl and how to survive in nature thanks to an informative book, Earth stands a very good chance against Yellow Diamond.
Visuals
The animation is a fluid as ever. “Mr. Greg” features a fantastic dance sequence with Steven, Greg and Pearl, “Hit the Diamond” features a fun baseball match involving five Rubies and “Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service” features crazy nightmares about pepperoni pizzas, particularly the cheese topping, but this series is always engaging even in its weirdest moments. Watching everything that happens never ceases to be fun, and there are so many things in this season that will almost definitely put a smile on one’s face. This is entertainment in its best and most meaningful form.
Audio
The music continues to enhance the series with its combination of beats and ethereal sounds. The voice acting and singing is once again outstanding; Pearl inadvertently reveals her feelings about Rose Quartz to the Universes in a deeply personal song, and both Steven and Greg have many great songs throughout the season. Jennifer Paz is excellent at portraying Lapis Lazuli’s changing personality and makes her lazier moments at the barn hilarious; humour and emotions are conveyed perfectly by all of the voice actors. It remains impossible to find any element of the audio that does not work.
Extras
Several animated shorts are included on the second disc. These feature lessons from the Crystal Gems about certain topics, Steven unboxing a wacky bag for the internet and more. Despite being short, they are entertaining and worth watching after finishing the final episode of this season.
It may be worth noting for some that although the back cover states that there are 25 episodes, there are technically 24 episodes in season three; “Bismuth” is twice as long as normal episodes and is counted as two episodes. The inside of the cover lists 25 episode titles, but this is due to the final episode of season two being listed for an unknown reason. Fortunately, only the packaging contains errors; there are no issues with the discs themselves.
Overall
Steven Universe‘s ability to balance plot-driven drama with sweet character-driven episodes is fundamental to its success, and that balance is maintained despite the threats of Jasper and the Gem homeworld lurking in the shadows. Steven still has time to help out the citizens of Beach City, and Greg Universe is incredibly supportive of Steven and all of his friends. There are some powerful moments with Pearl and Lapis Lazuli, and Peridot is positively outstanding in her devotion to her new friends. Life is starting to become serious for the Crystal Gems, but none of the characters ever lose their moral compass, and they face each new challenge head-on. What happens next is anyone’s guess, but the wait for season four will undoubtedly be worth it.
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Gameplay
Visuals
Audio
Overall
This wide array of customization allows for numerous elements of the game to be tweak to fit your skill level, though you will likely want to increase the steering sensitivity right off the bat as it is kept at an incredibly low level, making cars feel unresponsive on a standard controller and even after spending numerous races tweaking these settings it rarely feels like you have the best control available. For those who are playing with a racing wheel, there are a number of options specifically set aside for that control method as well.
Most of the time you spend racing in Project CARS 2 will be during the extensive career mode that is available to players with almost every tier available right off the start. If you feel like starting at the bottom racing karts around a track or feel like jumping into third tier vehicles right away then you have that option since only the two highest tiers of racing are locked until you prove your mettle as a driver in the other tiers. Other than these tiers it is worth noting that special Manufacturer based events are also locked behind relationship levels that require the player to use certain brands of vehicles in their races enough time to unlock. This gives racers a little something extra to work towards as these are the only real unlockables in the game since everything else is available right off the bat.
Outside of the aforementioned career mode, players also have the option of taking their skills online to try their best against other racers through competitive play. It is interesting to note that the developers have included a feature called “reputation” that will keep players who drive dirty from playing with those who want to play as clean as possible. Unfortunately this can be a bit of a negative as unintentional crashes can hurt the player’s reputation though this filter is optional so even those who may spend some of their time ending up in a corner after causing a pile-up can still find matches.
That being said, these weather changes also can bring forth some of the biggest issues with the game and that is the AI of other drivers. Players can adjust their speed and aggression as they wish but even when kept at the same setting they will often behave rather erratically. I’ve seen times where nearly the entire field would struggle to make one of the first turns on a track to cars randomly losing control during the best conditions possible only for them to easily manage a rain-slick road. This also plays a factor when it comes to qualifying for races in career mode. More often than not players will find that their fellow racers are capable of pulling off incredible times if you happen to skip the qualifying laps after setting a satisfying time for yourself, putting what seemed like a pole position into a middle of the pack starting point. Combine that with the fact that the penalty system, which can be turned off as well for single player but is terribly annoying online, is incredibly eager to force players to fall back to previous positions when in navigating through a cluster of cars.
That being said, there are some times that the game will suffer from a bit of slowdown when navigating through a large pack of vehicles during some of these conditions. These slowdowns tend to be fairly uncommon but appear often enough to be worth mentioning. As far as the sound effects for Project CARS 2 goes, players will be delighted that the developers have made sure to replicate the various sounds that one would expect when driving a real race car. Players also will be treated to a soothing instructional voice when navigating through menus and even the spotter, who can be turned on for every race if you so wish, is voiced in simple but fitting fashion.