Review #837: Loaded

 Lock and load, baby.

 While this was the first time I've ever played Loaded, I was actually quite familiar with the game's sequel, Re-Loaded, because when I was a kid, whenever we went to this particular store I'd always spend time looking at PC games, so I'd always come across the PC version of Re-Loaded, and, of course, the comic-book like art always piqued my interest. But I digress, this is about the first game in the duology, so onward and forward.

 Loaded is a top-down twin-stick shooter that released before the PlayStation go its analog sticks, so... yeah, I'll delve a tiny bit deeper into the controls later, for now what you need to know is what the game is. You get to pick between 6 different freaks(More like 5 freaks and 1 'hot' babe, it was the 90's, whatcha gonna do?) and I've got to say, I love the game's art. I love the official art, which looks straight out of a magazine such as 2000 AD, and I love how the game itself looks, having simple 2-D sprites over simple, crude 3-D environments. Each character has a different basic gun, a different bomb as well as different durability and speed levels, so they do feel somewhat different. The game is 15 levels long and it can be played with another player, which is pretty neat. Oh, and the sountrack is phenomenal, heavy rock all the way through, and it fits SO well.

 So how does a twin-stick shooter play without analog sticks? Well... it tries. X shoots wherever you are looking at, and you can hold L1(Or any button, since controls are 100% customizable) to strafe. My hands got cramps after a while when playing this game, something no other game managed to pull in recent memory. Enemies are vicious and love to swarm you while rotation around you, but most of the time, running while strafing and shooting backwards worked really well. When the game is at its best, it is AMAZING. Rock music blaring around you, exploding enemies into chunky showers of blood while the framerate struggles to keep up the pace.... it feels SO good. Yes, the framerate tends to tank a lot in this game, but in a game this hectic it kinda works in its favor. Again, when you are clearing entire rooms of enemies that are shooting at you at the same time... it looks glorious, and the slowdown makes it feel more epic.

 Sadly, the game isn't at its best most of the time. Levels are very... 90's PC game, very Doom. It's a labyrinthine set of corridors and rooms that require you to find the right key to progress. There's a map in the game, but it's useless because it's actually a mini-map, so you'd better remember where you found the blue keycard door. Oh, and you have to choose between the minimap or your ammo/life gauges, toggling between them by pressing circle. While the game is so unbelievably fun when you are blasting enemies, it turns into a boring lull when you are running through empty corridors looking for the door you missed or the door you can now open. A few levels actually have infinite enemies, which also get a bit annoying, particularly because you can actually run out of ammo, turning your gun into a weak pea shooter. And yeah, the game is on the tough side, even the easiest difficulty setting, 'Gamers are Fairies'(It was the 90's...) can get quite tough.

 Loaded is alright. I think it's worth a look for those that are curious, but it's easy to see why it never became a household name. And, in the game's defense, it can be a whole lot of fun, like grin-inducing fun, it's a shame that it has so many moments of aimless searching for doors that totally kill the pace and momentum the game game's best moments attained.
 6.5 out of 10

Review #836: Killzone Shadow Fall

 So, basically, it's like space nazis, right?

 Well, Mercenary was the gateway drug into this series, so I said... why not just jump straight to the end with Killzone: Shadow Fall? This game was a launch game for the PS4, I mean, first-person shooters where in vogue during the PS3/X360 generation, might as well start off this generation with another one, right?

 The game picks up after Killzone 3, but you play as an entirely new character, Lucas Keller. Fact is, if you try to dive into the series with this entry... it won't be easy following the lore and the setting, so I actually had to google a few details. Like what were the Helghast and if they were human or not and why they hated the humans, or Vektans since Vekta seems to be the series' choice planet. So... yeah, if you want to understand what you are playing, some extra curricular reading might be necessary. As for the story in this game... it has a few interesting twists, but overall? Forgettable. You play as a Shadow Marshall operative and one things leads into the other and next thing you know both the Vektans and the new Helghast, now forced to share Vekta with Vektans, end up fighting over a new deadly weapon that could wipe out the other race entirely.  In the game's defense, it makes up for the story with some beautiful environments, like, seriously, they are not as detailed as the ones in Ghost of Tsushima(Comparing a launch game with what could be the PS4's final exclusive, nice!) but they are well made and quite appealing. And y'might as well enjoy the scenery, because it seems like the game even forgets about a few characters and what not.

 Gameplay is what you'd expect, it's a modern first person shooter with regenerating health, although it does add a few wrinkles to the formula all of its own. For instance, while you are limited to carrying only two weapons, as per usual, you can't drop your main assault rifle, which can turn into a sniper energy gun by pressing down on the d-pad. It's an interesting decision, to say the least, only being able to swap your secondary weapon. You also get a Drone called OWL, which you can use to hack enemy alarms or a few plot-related computers, as well as to aid you in battle. Swiping on the joystick's touchpad lets you pick between Attack, Stun, Shield and Zipline, and then you execute the action by pressing L1. Yes, it takes a bit of getting used to. Attack has the OWL attack whomever you target, and then it'll just stay in battle alongside you, Stun can, well, stun enemies but it's also one of the few ways you can destroy enemy shields, Zipline lets you Zipline below you, which has few combat related appliances and it's mostly done to progress through levels and Shield which creates a shield in front you, useful when there is no cover close by. I'm not gonna lie, managing the drone with the touchpad, while keeping track of enemies during a fight is a lot to get your mind around, particularly on the early levels, but by the second or third level it should feel a bit more natural.

 In this game, the directional pad is used for secondary, but important, functions. Right is used to activate a Radar, the longer you hold down the button, the larger the area it will cover, but if you hold on for too long it will overheat and alert every enemy. After you use the radar, enemies will remain highlighted through walls for a short while. The Radar is a very useful tool, so you'll get a lot of use out of that one. Down is used to swap between modes with guns that allow it. Up is used to highlight where you should go next. Left is used to heal. You can carry up to two Adrenaline packs, and they are quite useful. If you use one while you are hurt you can skip the wait for your health to regenerate, if you use it while healthy, you'll slow down time when you aim for a bit, or, you could use them as extra lives. The OWL can take damage, and after it takes enough damage it'll go offline for a few moments. If your OWL happens to be online when you die, and provided you have an Adrenaline pack on you, it can revive you on the spot, which never ceases to be useful. There's a very weird caveat with these functions, you can't use them while moving. There's a bit of an exploit, if you start using the radar and THEN move, you can, but you can't trigger these things once you are moving, which is pretty lame. Another little issue, but it's probably my fault, I kept wasting Adrenaline Packs since sometimes I'd mix up the radar and Adrenaline pack buttons(Left and Right).

 Here's the skinny, throughout the first few levels I kinda didn't like the game. It was easy to get murdered, and the drone seemed like a hassle, plus, movement was kinda weird, Lucas wouldn't climb a ledge if I jumped at it, oh no, I had to be at a certain distance, not next to the ledge, and press X when the prompt appeared on screen. Levels were also too large and a bit confusing, and the very first chapter made a poor impression when I died 3 times because I did exactly what the game told me to do("Crouch and come here", and I'd do that but a drone would kill me, Child Lucas, even though I followed instructions to a tee). But slowly I finally understood how to play the game, and wouldn't you know it, I started to have a lot of fun with it. Firefights were intense, but a fun intense, I died quite a few times throughout my time with the game, but it was always fun....

 Almost always fun. The last few levels kinda took a slump downward. Chapter 8 features a horrible 'free fall' section. It looks amazing, because all sort of ruined buildings and debris are falling around you, and it looks amazing, but it's such an annoying section to play because it's so hard to avoid everything. I almost gave up on the game right there and then. Then, in chapter 9, there's this part in which you go into space through a weird blue-energy draft thing, and I got to the top, and the entire environment was completely glitched out. I restarted the checkpoint and... everything around me was glitched. It made no sense, I had no way of going where I needed to be, and the entire environment was glitching out of existence. I restarted the section, instead of the checkpoint, and for whatever reason, while the game has you on a set course INSIDE this object... you are supposed to climb it from the outside. But it's so easy to get inside, I don't get it. Near the end of this chapter comes a brutal shootout that, for the first and only time in the game, actually was the wrong kind of intense. I managed to beat this section by finding a cranny I could hide in to restore my health, while my OWL attracted enemy fire and I popped my head out to deal damage every now and then. And then comes the final, tenth chapter.... and you are given an entirely new set of tools, while removing adrenaline packs and your OWL. And it's a stealth section. It made no sense to shake things up SO much for the final chapter in the game, and it as needlessly hard. Honestly, it made a otherwise decent game finish with a whimper.

 Killzone Shadow Fall is pretty good, but it's also a bit weird. But I can commend it for doing their own thing. For instance, a normal radar would've been much more convenient, but. y'know, they wanted this weird overheating radar because why not? And I like that, they didn't really care about what was convenient, or how the game could easily overwhelm you at first. Now, I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the series can offer.
 7.5 out of 10

Review #835: Ghost of Tsushima

 Assassin's Creed Ninja

 It's been a while since Sucker Punch released anything, hasn't it? But they mark their return with Ghost of Tsushima, an open world action-stealth game that is pretty much Assassin's Creed but with Samurai, or rather, ninja. Yeah, that's right, I said it, this is not a Samurai game, but a Ninja game

 The game is set in a 13th century Japan, during which Japanese forces thwarted an invasion by the Mongul empire. You play as Jin, the last surviving big-name Samurai after a Mongul attack, and he, as the lone survivor, must now rescue his captured Uncle and free Tsushima from the Mongul. But a honor-bound Samurai can't hope to match the Mongul forces who knows no such limit, so he'll have to learn to fight without honor. Kill the enemies while hiding under the shadows, poison them as if he were another bandit and exploit every advantage in his favor. The internal struggle within Jin between everything he considered sacred against his very survival is a very interesting story. That said, the story is incredibly predictable, I figured out that I would have to fight a certain someone, as well as a certain character dying as soon as I met them. It does have its moments though, and Jin's trusty allies are very compelling characters themselves, thanks in no small part due to the fact that they even get their own sets of missions that develops them. All in all, it's a mostly solid plot, with a few low points here and there, but a few high points that make up for them.

 The game plays pretty much exactly like Assassin's Creed. You get a huge open-world to explore, and each act opens up a new section of Tsushima to explore. Besides your main missions, the game is filled with side activities to find and items to collect. There are 18 hot springs that extend your life bar, 18 Bamboo button-pressing tests to upgrade your resolve, about 49 fox shrines to find that'll give you more charm slots as well as the best charm in the game, 15 Shrines to platform your way to the top for great charms, 19 Haiku to compose for headbands(This are silly, as you must pick three verses between three options and no way of knowing what comes next, so they can end up being quite nonsensical), 23 Pillars of Honor to get new sheathes for your Katana and Tanto, a ton of encampments and villages you must free from Mongols as well as side missions from NPCs. And those are the ones that matter, there are also Mongol artifacts to find, caged crickets, Mongol records and banners that you can collect if you just can't avoid that dopamine rush you get every time you get a collectible. Oh, and let's not forget, this is an open world game, so of course there are all sorts of materials, like wood, bamboo, flowers, iron and gold that you can collect from the environment in order to upgrade your equipment or get dyes for your armors. Open-world tropes, this game's got you covered. While Jin isn't as nimble as an Assassin or an Infamous hero, there are multiple ledges spread throughout most mountains so that you can climb then one way or another, as well as a trusty horse that'll find you every time you whistle. Lastly, the more you open up the map, the more places you'll be able to fast travel to you'll get.

 Combat starts off interesting but ends up formulaic. You get two attacks: Fast and Strong, and you can also dodge, block and parry. Block and Parry have their own skill trees, so you can eventually unlock perfect versions of those, relying on timing, that will make them even better. The only reason you aren't block or parrying all the time is that attacks with a red glint on them are unblockable and must be dodged. You can also help yourself in combat with quick weapons, such as Kunai, Sticky bombs or even a stone to put fire on your blade. You also have Resolve, which fills as you parry attacks and kill enemies. At first, resolve can only be used to heal yourself, but if you're an explorer you'll find quests that will grant you new uses for your resolve, mostly in the form of powerful new attacks. Now, here's where it gets formulaic: You'll eventually unlock four 'stances' and each stance is strong against a specific type of enemy: Shields, Lances, Swords and Brutes. Not facing enemies in the correct stance will have fighting an uphill battle, which means that battles just turn into selecting the right stance and then mashing triangle until you break the enemy's defense and then mashing square, while being mindful of incoming attacks. You could also take a more defensive approach and wait for them to attack and parry into an opening, the time window is pretty generous anyways. Either way, the combat is decent, and it looks and feels intense, but it's nothing special. As for the challenge, if you screw up you can get yourself killed quite easily, but it's not a hard game at all and death is quite forgiving. One thing is true, however, it doesn't matter how brainless the combat gets, it remains entertaining from beginning to end. The animations are stylish and swift, and everything feels intense and violent, making combat not get as boring as it should.

 Other forms of combat come in the form of Stand Offs and Duels. A stand off can be pulled off when first approaching a group of enemies, which will initiate a minigame in which you must let go off the triangle button as soon as an enemy attacks, which will instantly kill an enemy and refill a ton of your resolve. They will try feints to make you mess up, and if you do, you'll be left with a sliver of health to try defend yourself. Duels on the other hand, are special and more dramatic one-on-one fights against bosses. These are cool, at first, but every single duel enemy fights exactly the same, from the very first duel in the game to the final one. Well, I lie, the big bad of the story actually has his own style, mostly because he fights with a halberd instead of a Katana. To get an edge in battle you can equip charms on your sword, for all sorts of benefits, such as getting a bit of health back every time you kill an enemy(This charm NEVER left my sword), as well as find and equip various armors with special properties to give you an advantage on different fronts.

 And you'll want some advantages, because besides how samey it can get, combat has a few issues. For instance, there's no lock-on or targeting system, so it's up to you and the right analog stick to try to keep up with every incoming attack. Remember how I mentioned how, while the game is overall pretty easy, one mistake could get you killed quite quickly? Well, when fighting groups of enemies they love to swarm you and attack you while you are attacking one of their buddies, and it's impossible to keep track of everyone. Switching stances mid-combat(R2+Any face button) can sometimes be spotty, because sometimes, quite uncommon to be honest, R2 won't bring up the stance select menu so you won't get the stance that you need. Oh, and the Stand Offs? This is an open world game, so you may come across a group of enemies at any time. Stand offs are one of the very few places in which you can't turn the camera, and the game is so rich in foliage and the such... that it's quite easy for shrubs, sticks and grass to actually cover your enemy, giving you no way of seeing if they are feinting or attacking!

 While the game chides you at first for using underhanded methods to win, such as showing you flashbacks between Jin and his Uncle when you first backstab someone and when you first use a poison dart against an enemy, stealth is a key element of the game. Jin can blend in tall grass, use a Asassin's Creed-like eagle eye to spot enemies around him, as well as all sorts of tools to help him, such as a wind chime to attract enemy attention. Jin also gets two types of bows to deal with enemies from afar, and a blowgun to use poison or berserk status-inducing darts. Did I mention this game borrows a lot from Assassin's Creed? Very late in the game, at the end of the second act, you'll unlock Ghost Stance. By killing 7 enemies without getting hit you'll be able to press L3+R3 to enter a super state in which you can kill three enemies for free, with high chances of terrifying enemies around you afterwards.

 As for the missions themselves, they are pretty much what you'd expect. Sometime you'll have to murder someone, sometimes you'll have to defeat some enemies, sometimes you'll have to track enemies... it pretty much feels like missions you'd get in Assassin's Creed, even the boring 'trail enemy from behind' objectives! On the other hand, this is easily Sucker Punch's most cinematic game, whenever a story scene plays out it's a pure treat. The camera angles, the voice acting, the music, everything is on point. The game is filled with beautiful scenery to marvel at too, this is easily one of the games I've taken the most screenshots of.

 The developers were so inspired by the Assassin's Creed template that they also kept bugs and glitches in the game. Nothing too game breaking, but for instance, every now and then your ammo will disappear. It seems that some sidequests forget about your enhanced capacity upgrades, so it'll bring down all your ammo counts to the default capacity. Another issue is that sometimes the game won't realize that you are actually not in combat, and thus it won't let you fast travel. But by far the biggest bug happened during one of Norio's sidequests, the final one. Every time I followed him, the game would teleport me to an enemy catapult a bit far away, which would make me lose the mission with no way to get back to Norio. I feared for my savefile, because I even reset the game, but I realized I could abandon the mission. So I went to the catapult on horse and as I neared it... the game, once again, teleported me right next to it, but since I wasn't on a quest, I was able to destroy the catapult. When I tried the quest again I was able to finish it just fine.

 Ghost of Tsushima is a very solid open world action-stealth game, but it's nothing you haven't seen before. It ticks every single box and follows every single trope these games contain, but, in the game's defense, everything it does it does really well, without really excelling anywhere. But what it lacks in depth it makes up in style, what it lacks in originality it makes up in quality. Now, then, I'm ready to return to the world of Infamous.
8.0 out of 10

Review #834: All Kamen Rider - Rider Generation 2(DS)

 Nope, not gonna reuse the Henshin tag line.

 A few years ago, when I first got the PSP, I played All Kamen Rider: Rider Generations 2 and it was swell. Well, here I am, playing the same game but on the DS, so I'll make it short and sweet.

 This game is a very simple, but very fun beat'em up game. You move from left-to-right laying waste to every enemy that comes in your path. You've got weak combo strings, strong attacks, special moves, super moves and Rider moves, although, to be fair, most characters are pretty samey. Regardless, it's a fun time. Everything I said about the PSP version still holds water for this one

 Differences between versions: For starters, the HUD is different., since the PSP had a wider, bigger screen, you get a less cluttered screen, and the graphics in this one are a bit choppy, the sprites get very pixelated, and there's a lot of slowdown. It doesn't get in the way of game, but most of the time you'll feel like you are playing under water. Healing items are now used via the touchscreen. But it does have one upside, however, it has virtually no loading times. Neither version of the game is better, but for my money... I think I'd stick with the PSP version, I can handle loading times, and once you look at the crispest version of the game there's no going back. That said, the DS version isn't a poor alternative, it still plays great, but it doesn't play or look as smoothly as the other version.

 What can I say, I had fun coming back to this game. It's still a very charming and entertaining Kamen Rider game, and the huge 57 character roster is a big, big selling point. Although I won't lie, I stuck to my boy Kiva for most of the game again. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!
 7.5 out of 10

Review #833: Naruto Shippuden - Ninja Destiny 2

 You name it and Dream Factory will get a random dungeon generator in it.

 For the longest time I thought that Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 was nothing more than a stripped down port of Clash of Ninja, I even looked at videos and it looked really similar. But I was wrong, a Sober Dwarf video taught me that the Ninja Destiny sub-series of games were developed by DreamFactory, the guys that made Tobal and Ergheiz! And while this is a one-on-one 3-D fighting game that looks a lot like Clash of Ninja, it's a very different game!

 The game has a small but acceptable number of modes: Story Mode, Single Player(VS CPU, Survival, Quest Mode) and Wireless VS. The story mode goes from the Rescue Gaara arc up to the first time Naruto and Sasuke meet. It's very abridged and very boring. It has a very small top-down Konoha town you can run through in a few chapters of the Story, completely unnecessary but totally amusing, as well as a few segments that, while still played on a top-down view, are made up of randomly generated areas, with random encounters that trigger one-on-one fights against generic ninja. Survival and VS CPU are pretty much self explanatory, but then we've got Quest Mode which is a mode made up of 30 randomly generated floors, in which you can level up your character and collect helpful items you can use mid-fight. It's also very, very boring.

 The basic roster is made up 22 characters, which as you can easily figure out, are not enough to cover the basics. Oh, and three of those are Naruto and his Kyuubi forms. We're missing characters such as Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Ino and Choji, although in the game's defense, they hadn't had any fights during this time in the manga, so they would've had to make up techniques for their now grown-up selves. If you are good enough, or learn how to exploit the CPU, you can unlock the 12 original, pre-timeskip characters from the original game. Oh, yeah, unlocking characters can be a bit of a pain. One-tailed Naruto needs you to beat the story in the 'Difficult' setting, which is incredibly unfair since some fights in that mode have you dealing scratch damage to the bosses. Unlocking the pre-timeskip characters requires beating 15 enemies in said difficulty setting on the Survival mode. Honestly, I just mashed Y with basic Naruto and pressed L when necessary, and, somehow, I unlocked everyone. Well, mostly, y'see, Four-tailed Naruto requires beating the 30-floor dungeon with all 10 available charaters. I finished it with Sasuke and it was SO DAMN BORING that I don't even care about four tailed Naruto anymore.

 Thankfully, in the fighting the game really shines. You have a weak and a strong attack that can be comboed together, each character has different combo strings, and you also have different attacks depending on which direction you press alongside either button. Y is used to jump, because up and down on the d-pad are side-steps, and A can be used to pull off your super move when your chakra gauge is full... or you can use 50% of your chakra to teleport behind an enemy, it can be used defensively, to avoid damage or to avoid a combo, or offensively, to extend some combos or just to exploit an opening, which adds a lot of freedom into how you tackle a fight. The lower screen can be touched to use support items, each character gets six different items before a battle.

 While Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 has mediocre content, the actual fighting is actually pretty good. The L-teleport mechanic lends itself to some very fun and exciting fights, and the game looks quite good considering it's a 3-D DS game, with fine animations to boot. It's not the most competitive of anime fighters, even a cursory glance reveals that some characters(Sasuke... just like in Clash of the Ninja Revolution for Wii!) are undeniably better than others, with better combo potential and tools, but for a handheld game it's tolerable. Still, while I'm willing to be forgiving on fighting games that have great gameplay but poor single player modes, that just won't fly with a handheld game, which lives and dies on said content,
6.5 out of 10

Review #832: Sonic - Lost World(3DS)

 The Wii throwback nobody asked for!

 I hate to admit it, but I hate Sonic. I hate having to do that because it might make it seem like I am biased, since I grew up with Mario, but believe me, I've always wanted to like Sonic. I've always wanted to play the Adventure series, even though Adventure 1 on PC wasn't very fun. I was so hyped for Sonic heroes when I was younger. And I haven't been excited about a Sonic game since... until Sonic: Lost World was announced, and it looked like THE Sonic game. I tried out the demo for the 3DS version, and I loved it, so I was chomping at the bit until I could get my hands on the full game and now I regret it.

 Sonic Lost World is 3-D Sonic meets Mario Galaxy, kinda. A few levels play a bit with gravity and what have you, but for the most part, it's just another Sonic game in which you gotta go fast. Kinda. The game is divided into 7 worlds, with 3 Acts and a boss each. Sonic has a lot of abilities, too many in my opinion. There's the jump and the homing attack, by pressing jump again close to an enemy, a reticule will appear over them signifying the homing attack will land, as well as a 'Somersault Kick', which is a projectile, by pressing the Spin Dash button while on air. This is an unnecessary complexity, because some enemies can only be safely dispatched by hitting them with the somersault kick and then the jumping attack. To be honest, some enemies don't show clear signs that suggest a straight homing attack wouldn't work, which made it extra annoying. You can also perform a 'super' Homing attack by targeting an enemy for a short while, which is the only way to defeat a few enemies. It's also super boring in a game about speed having to wait for the lock-on to charge up to level 3. On the ground, The X and Y button perform the Spin Dash, Sonic's land attack

 But we ain't done yet. The only way for Sonic to reach max speed is by holding down R, which I think was a good idea, since you may not always want Sonic to be at his full, slippery speed. Plus, if you approach a wall at high speed, Sonic will run on it. If you approach walls that are in front of the camera, Sonic will run upwards, if you approach walls that aren't facing the camera, Sonic will run alongside them. It's incredibly confusing at first, so you'll try to scale walls on their sides or try to wall run on others because this restriction makes no sense. But we aren't done yet. Press X or Y during a wall run/climb to get a boost of speed, or press A/B to jump to the opposite side. I think in another game these mechanics could've worked, but Sonic is too slippery and too sticky. It's easy to accidentally run on walls you didn't mean to and accidentally kill yourself. He is so slippery that it's also easy to fall off platforms while you try to reposition yourself. Plus, it's easy to also hurt yourself by trying to perform a homing attack on the wrong enemy, which is easy to do if you're trying to go fast. But trying to go fast will also get Sonic to run on things you didn't mean to or fall to his death because he is just that slippery. In other words, I hated the controls in the game, and they made the game incredibly frustrating. It's not just that, the homing attack can kill you too. Y'see, Sonic can target up to three enemies and/or objects. Sometimes the game might have you cross a jump by doing homing attacks on flying enemies.... but Sonic might decide to home into an enemy or object behind you, that you didn't know was targeted, and plummet him to his death.

 The game has challenging levels, for all the wrong reasons, and easy bosses. And here's the thing, if you die a lot the game will drop help capsules to help you, such as a flying machine or a friendly UFO that shoots at enemies. If you tried to avoid them, considering them cheating, like I did, it's possible that one of those homing attacks will home in on the flying enemy.... AND THEN HOME YOU BACK INTO THE CAPSULE YOU TRIED TO AVOID, often times killing you. It's so poorly designed, and the appearance help capsules should have been optional. Luckily, it seems like the developers knew that you'd unfairly lose a ton of lives, so it's very easy to amass a surplus of lives. While I died a lot, I finished the game with 60 lives to spare. As for easy bosses, let's just say that Act 6's boss can be beaten with one attack. ONE ATTACK.

 Finally, rounding up Sonic's arsenal are the Color wisps from Sonic Colors. Indigo turns you into a slippery asteroid that turns enemies and objects into debris rings around it, Yellow turns Sonic into an unwieldy drill that works better in water, Ivory turns Sonic into a slippery electric bolt that can zap into electric cables or swing from... floating batteries, Grey is the worst because it turns you into a hard-to-control iron ball which can only be move with... gyroscopic controls and, lastly, the Red turns Sonic into a ball of fire, and this final one is unlocked in one of the final levels. You can store these Wisps when you find them, but most of the time you are supposed to use them right where you found them.

 As for the levels themselves, they come in three varieties: 2-D Sidescrolling stages, open 3-D stages and... 3-D stages in which you are supposed to be moving forward. The difference between the last two is that in the first type you can reposition the camera behind Sonic by pressing L. Why they didn't stick to just one type of 3-D stage is beyond me. I've heard that many people complained about the stages being too long or gimmicky, but they didn't feel that long, and I was so busy getting frustrated with the controls that I didn't really cared about the gimmicks. What's more, I think these light puzzle-like gimmicks, such as find the right teleporter, were a decent breather from having to deal with platforming while struggling to control Sonic. That said, there was this one annoying level near the end that had you riding rockets... using gyroscopic controls. There's also a boss that requires gyroscopic controls, which once again, is very dumb for a HANDHELD game, am I supposed to stand up and turn in circles while riding a bus? Nah, just close the 3DS and cut your gaming session short, there's nothing you can do since you can't turn them off. Bonus stages, in which you collect the Chaos Gems, also require gyroscopic controls, but these were actually quite fun.

 I wanted to like Sonic: Lost World, I did, but controlling Sonic is a mess due to how slippery he is. There are so many poor design choices, like the homing attack being able to home in on things behind you or how the wall running/climbing works. The worst part about this whole ordeal... is that I'd still be willing to give the home console version og Lost World a chance if it ever gets ported to Switch... or if I ever get a Wii-U.
 3.0 out of 10

Review #831: The Legend of Spyro - Dawn of the Dragon

 The Legend of Spyro: The Two Towers.

 I never did finish this one, huh? I started The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon as soon as I finished the previous one, but for one reason or another I never got out of the first stage. Well... it's another beat'em up with unsatisfying combat, but, hey, at least it's better than the second entry!

 The game picks up 3 years after Spyro and Cinder got trapped in the crystals, and the game begins with both heroes getting freed from their cages. Malefor, the big bad that first forced Cinder to do his bidding is wrecking havoc, so Spyro, Cinder and Sparx set out to gather old allies and new friends to fight Malefor's impending threat. The series has been unjustly compared to The Lord of the Rings, but boy, this has a section in which you must defend a citadel wall from enemies and their siege towers, not unlike the Two Towers, it even gets a 'Gondor Calls for Aid' moment. The story overall is alright, and we get a conclusion to the story, which is neat. I really liked Cinder before, and her promotion to playable was a welcome addition, what's more, you can play the entire game in two players, thanks to it's drop in-drop out co-op mode. If you are playing by yourself, you can swap dragons with L2, and the AI will play as the other character, they are pretty much useless but they won't take any damage.

 Alright, so here's the thing... since the first game the developers, although this one was developed by a different team, have made it clear that these games are beat'em ups and combat IS the focus. However, also since the very first game, the series has struggled with how repetitive combat is. That hasn't changed. Square are your weak attacks, triangle are strong attacks, circle is a grab. You can produce different combos, even aerial combos, with square and triangle. Each dragon has access to four elemental breaths(Fire, Earth, Ice and Thunder for Spyro, Venom, Shadow, Cyclone and... um, 'Siren's scream' for Cinder) that can be leveled up with blue gems dropped from enemies, each breath has two attacks, one with R1 and one with R2, however, using your breath consumes energy so you can't use it willy nily. Lastly, there's a new Fury gauge, once full you press weak and strong attack to turn super powerful for a few seconds. The problem is still the fact that you don't get many different moves, and the ones that you do get are just as weak, for you see, enemies can soak up tonnes of damage, even fully powered up breaths will struggle to defeat the tougher enemies. So not only is the combat repetitive, it also takes a long while to finish off enemies. Pro-tip, Cinder's Shadow element R2 attack is unblockable and deals ungodly amounts of damage, level up that one and stick with it.

 This game introduces equipment into the mix, and whatever you equip is reflected on the character models, which is pretty cool to be honest. Each character has 9 pieces of equipment to find: Helmet, Body armor and bracelets, each one having a different attribute or buff. Enhancing your Health and Breath energy pools is done by finding big Red and Green gems. It felt like this game added more puzzle elements into the mix, which aren't hard to figure out but are somewhat welcome. The game is still quite linear, but there are larger areas to explore, which is also why flying is a thing now. I never quite understood how it works, sometimes you dragons will fly upwards because I don't know, and other times they wouldn't. I didn't get how it works, so it was kinda iffy, but for what it's worth, you'll be able to get where you want to get by flying, it's like the know when to fly up. On the other hand, there are a few new climbing techniques, such as wall running that aren't well explained. I struggled a lot at first until I understood how the game wanted me to interact with vines and walls, turns out you don't press circle to wall run, but rather, first you must jump against the wall and then press circle.

 The camera is horrible. How much you can turn it depends on where you are, because sometimes the game decides that you should stick with a somewhat fixed angle. And there's no targeting system, because that would make too much sense in a beat'em up that wishes it was Devil May Cry. Oh, and bosses can only be defeated with QTEs, because those are ALWAYS so much fun. The final nail in the game's coffin is its poor framerate, flying around could've been so much fun if only it didn't start stuttering like crazy.

 Here's the thing about Dawn of the Dragon, for as many flaws as it has... After the somewhat boring Two Towers rip-off scene I finally got used to the game and its shortcomings, so I started having a bit more fun with it. For as annoying as the framerate can get, the second level, which is set on an open field in which you must solve various puzzles was rather interesting, and the level set in the underground ruins, in which you must solve even more puzzles to collect four red rods in order to proceed was also rather fun. But here's the thing, the combat in the game falls short in every way possible, but when spaced out between moments in which you have to figure out what to do, a few times even needing to use your elemental breaths to proceed... it kinda works. And it has ambition, I'll give it that. There's this level in which you fly around a giant Titan, and you must go around its body blasting 12 Dark Crystals in order to beat it. You can't fly around it, no, only where the game decided not to place hidden walls. In some places you can fly lower than in other because reasons, and at times it can get quite frustrating because you've no idea where you should go or fly next. But as poorly executed as it was.... it's still a stage in which you fly around a giant monster in order to defeat it. For as cumbersome and dull as the wall siege scene is... it's still a freaking siege scene, y'know? The game had decent, interesting ideas, but it fell short in most regards.

 The Legend of Spyro trilogy was disappointing. I know gamers hate change, but I'm usually willing to come into reboots and remakes with an open mind, and I did when it came to this one. I don't hate these games, I really don't, but the first game failed to impress even though I was left optimistic. But the next couple of games refused to address issues that plagued its basic gameplay, making small tweaks and changes that didn't amount to anything. And this is it. It's over, and it ends with a whimper, but at least it was better than the second game.
 5.5 out of 10

Review #830: Avatar the Last Airbender - The Burning Earth

 I never get tired of this game's cover.

 The DS version of Avatar the Last Airbender was quite a surprise, it was a RPG, complete with levels and sidequests. It had its fair share of flaws, but it was good. For the next installment, Avatar The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth, they pretty much followed the previous game's formula, making some tweaks here and there.

 This time around, The Burning Earth follows the plot from the series' second season. No, I have not seen Avatar yet, but I've seen clips and I could recognize some scenes from the show recreated in here. This plot follows Aang's search for a master to teach him how to Earth Bend, which inevitably means he and his pals, Sokka and Katara, meet with Toph, a blind girl that packs one mean rock throw Of course, things ain't that simple, so you know that you'll have to do battle with the Fire Nation again. I don't know how much attention Zuko and his uncle got during this season, but they barely get any scenes in this game. While the previous game took about 11-12 hours to complete, this one took me about 5, and I took my time with it.

 Just like before, when you aren't walking around towns and talking with NPCs you'll be fighting, and battles take place in real time. While you had a full four-man party in the previous game, this time around the game decides your 2-man cell for you. And once again, Sokka and Katara are boring to play as, Sokka has the highest attack power, but his normal attack is a boring club bash, while Katara gets a horrid water-whip thing that overexposes her, to the point that I got so bored when the game forced me on a Katara-only segment. Aang got his 3-hit combo reduced to 2 hits, and Toph also gets a two hit combo, making them the more interesting characters to play as. The 'magic'/bending system has been tweaked, now every character gets a four tier gauge that fills over time, as well as four special attacks they can use. These felt rather weak, and a few felt too situational, but they grant you a few invincibility frames so, sometimes, they were a bit useful. While you have less companions to fight with, they seem to be smarter, not once did my allies die during my playthrough... although they still refuse to use their special moves!

 The game has been made easier, which is a good thing. Finally we get inns where you can rest and heal your HP. Nearly every enemy, except for bugs, you defeat will drop money or a healing items, so you'll be overflowing with those by the end of the game. The herb system is gone, which is a blessing since that was one of the causes for healing item starvation. That said, during the boss fight against Toph.... she managed to land a special move on me, and she kept repeating it over and over again, giving me no chance to get on my feet and recover.

 While the game doesn't tell you, once you reach the 7th and final chapter, you are free to return to any previous stage, as well as go to any inn and choose who will join Aang. While the game is light on side content, the very first map has a rock that only Toph can break, a character that joins on the fourth chapter, and hidden behind it is... a cabbage. I haven't watched the series, so I don't know if there's a special meaning behind it, but getting every character's fourth and final move requires finding all 20 hidden cabbages. Yeah, I've got nothing. Cabbages.

 The game is alright. I think I liked the previous game a bit more because it was a pleasant surprise, but while I think this game did many valuable improvements I just didn't like it as much. Maybe I was a bit overly enthusiastic about the first game. Maybe, as I said before, the surprise of getting a decent RPG out of the franchise colored my outlook a bit more positive. Maybe the previous game had some je ne se quois that this game lacked. Whichever the case, I found this game a bit on the dull side. It's not bad, but it's just very uneventful.
 5.5 out of 10

Review #829: R - Racing Evolution

 Oh, it's the weird one...

 R: Racing Evolution was... definitely not what I was expecting. After a successful string of very Arcadey racers Namco decided to do something completely different and churn out a racing sim out of the Ridge Racer series. The sexy female mascot and the brilliant techno music are here, but gone is its trademark drifting style, in we have a lot of stats, like suspension and shock resistance, as well  as more mundane racing mechanics and even a few rally tracks.

 If there's something you won't be left wanting for here is content. Let's start with modes: Racing Life, a 14-chapter story mode in which you follow Rena's career, from driving a hospital van to professional racer. It has voiced cutscenes, which is incredible. You can also play Event Challenges, in which you can use your amassed RPs to purchase cars, upgrade cars and/or purchase multiple race events to partake in. And there are a TON of events. There's also Arcade(Think of it as VS CPU), VS Player and Time attack. To top that off, we get 11 tracks plus reverse versions of a few of those, and do keep in mind that not all tracks are for racing, some are for rally driving. I find it so hilarious that the first time we get a more than decent amount of content... is for the game that plays like Ridge Racer the least! I mean, the story mode is very cheesy, it even has a behind-the-scenes evil racing group conspiracy, but it's still a welcome addition, and there are so many events you can participate that it's not even funny.

 Namco knew that such a stark genre shift could throw fans a curve, so the game adds an optional Break Assist feature to help you with your curves, which now must be taken at slower speeds rather than using the series trademark drifting mechanics. The game also has three difficulty setting, and as the world's worst racing game player I had no trouble beating the story mode on the easiest setting. That said, while I had a brief stint with Gran Turismo 2 when I was younger, simulators were never my thing and the game failed to interest me as much as the previous Ridge Racers. The story mode has an interesting idea with the pressure mechanic, basically, drive near an opponent, swerving left to right, to fill their pressure gauge, once full they'll 'break' and drive off-road on the next curve, allowing you to easily pass them by. It's an interesting idea, but not enough to entrance me as much as getting the drifting right in previous games.

 I'm glad that this game exists. I love the fact that Namco tried something different with their formula, but... I'm sure I'm not the only Ridge Racer fan that it failed to convert. I had more fun with Le Mann's 24 hours way back when than with this one. Still, it IS a quality game, and I'm sure that people that enjoy Ridge Racer and racing simulators might get a kick out of it, but as far as I'm concerned... I'd rather get back into the real Ridge Racer.
 6.0 out of 10

Review #828: Garfield - Lasagna World Tour

 Eat. Sleep. Eat some more and then sleep some more. My kinda hero.

 I used to love Garfield as a child, so of course, I had to get some kind of game based off the feline prick, enter Garfield: Lasagna World Tour. This is an adventure-puzzle game in which you play as the orange cat alongside this frienemy, and bestest boy, Odie.

 Surprisingly, the game has two modes: A single player adventure mode, that takes Garfield through a brief expedition through Egypt, Italy and Mexico as well as a multiplayer mini-game mode. The story has Garfield trekking around the world in search of clues from a TV show that promised a prize in Lasagna. But it won't be so easy, because an evil, one-eyed grey Garfield alongside his own twisted version of Odie also want the lasagna. It has to be said, the character models get an A+, Garfield looks beautiful, and so do the rest of the characters. The environments are a bit duller, however, and the framerate is a bit spotty, but at least Garfield himself looks phenomenal. The voice acting, on the other hand, is absolutely atrocious.

 Garfield can jump, and he can attack either by kicking, if you stand still, or by spinning if you are moving. You can also call Odie with the circle button and he'll dash through anything standing in front of him to get to you. You slap Odie around, because it's fun, or you can jump on top of him and ride him for extra speed. Odie can also be called upon to dig on the ground, sometimes necessary to find keys, or, if you find a special blue bone power up, throw a bone to have Odie chase it, which is useful when there's water, deadly to poor ol' Garfield, so that you can jump on top of him as he swims towards the bone. The game has a bit of a twist, Garfield can find and wear costumes to gain new abilities. The Fakir costume lets him glide, the Chef costume grants him a fiery breath(That deals NO damage to enemies), the Soccer Player costume let's him kick Odie with precision and the Cowboy suit lets you aim in first person in order to shoot at non-deadly stuff.

 As you can probably tell, the costumes are fairly... lame, they give Garfield a single new ability and that's that. The puzzles in the game are incredibly simple, you'll barely have to think about them. Long gaps? Find the Fakir hat. Pressure platforms far away? Get the soccer costume and kick Odie. Balloons holding up objects? Shoot them with the cowboy costume. Explosives? Time for the Chef's chilli fire breath. Honestly, it's all very simple and basic stuff... which kinda sucks, because, while the game as a whole is quite short, levels feel like they go on forever and you can't save until you finish a level. Sometimes they'll spice things up with a chase sequence in which you run towards the screen, but meh.

 The game is incredibly easy, as you'll get showered with extra lives all the time. And while it isn't hard, it has a few annoyances. For instance, enemy dogs can't be killed, only stunned, which can be bothersome when you are trying, for example, to line up your Odie kicks. The instances in which you have to jump onto a moving,swimming Odie are also bad, because if you miss you lose a life. On the other hand, getting hit by an enemy removes your equipped costume, which isn't too bad since they respawn back where you found them, but they can cost you a few seconds when you go back to replace your lost outfit. Did I say that you can't kill dogs? I lied, sometimes, for whatever reason, instead of slapping them you'll trigger a best-out-of-five QTE battle, which are veeeeeeeeery slow and boring. There's a boss in the first level that also uses this mechanic. Lastly, while Garfield should be able to cling to the edge of a platform and pull himself up, a few rare times Garfield refused to grab the edge of the platform and fell to his death.

 Garfield: Lasagna World Tour isn't bad per se, it's functional and it's not as janky as other licensed game sometimes turn out. But it's boring and completely lifeless, which is shocking considering how well they managed to capture Garfield's likeness. That said, I think that fans of the license might get a kick out of seeing such a good 3-D rendition of the cat and his canine friend interacting in a playable form, but everyone else are better off abstaining from this game.
 4.5 out of 10

Review #827: Ridge Racer V

 More polygons, more tracks and even more ridges!

 And so, with the newest Playstation system at the time cam a new entry in the series, Ridge Racer V. It's pretty good, not much has changed since the past game, and thankfully, we keep analog support and split-screen multiplayer, which shouldn't need mentioning, but since Unbounded removed offline multiplayer....

 So, modes, the usual: Grand Prix, which is a collection of various sets of races, Time Trial, VS Player and Free Run to run by your lonesome, trying out cars and tracks. The game has 7 tracks that can be played in reverse, but... they are pretty lazy, man. Every track, sand the 7th one, is based on the original track of the original game, and they share parts between each other, so how each track looks kinda blends together. The seventh track is a giant oval. By now I should know not to expect much variety, but considering how good RR 7 had it... On the other hand, Grand Prix is pretty interesting. On the first GP you can play at the start you get to choose a car, and depending on the car you picked is which cars you'll unlock. So if you want to unlock more cars you have to play the first GP with another car, and then play the other GPs with the new car you unlock and so on. You can also unlock Duels against other, special cars, and once beaten you unlock them. Oh! And by playing a lot(accumulating 1500 miles) you can unlock Pacman and his ghostly enemies! Playing the game you can also unlock different color patterns to customize your cars with, which is a simple but welcome addition. Lastly, this game's soundtrack wasn't as good as the ones from the other RR games. It's still really good, but not AS good.

 At first I hated this game. I played the first Grand Prix and it was SO slow. And then I unlocked the advanced Grand Prixes as well as a faster engine for the car and... the drifting was SO bad, it felt very stiff and sluggish. And yet... I managed to get the new timing right and I learned to like it.... and then I discovered that my car was of the GRIP type. Turns out that the car I chose for my first GP, which was a DRIFT type, unlocks a GRIP advanced vehicle. As soon as I finished the game, I went back to the first GP and picked a new car and, after finishing this slow first GO, unlocked a advanced DRIFT type car, and boy oh boy, it was buttery smooth. I went from HATING this game to LOVING it so hard.

 And it's true, the driving is still based around drifting, and somehow it feels better, tighter and more responsive than in R4. GRIP type cars were never my thing, but once again, after I learned how to take curves with that car I started to like the game, but, DRIFT cars is how you should play the game, they feel so fast and drifting through corners is so much fun.

 I think that Ridge Racer 4 was a better product, it had more variety with its tracks and the soundtrack was a bit better, but as far as gameplay goes, I think Ridge Racer V is a competent upgrade on that front. It's not a huge evolution of the formula, but it feels tighter and more responsive, while the new graphics, as jagged as they are, convey a better sense of speed. All in all, a decent follow up and another excellent entry in the series.
8.0 out of 10

Review #826: Rune Viking Warlord

 Featuring Odin's floating head!

 I love early PC-to-PS2 ports, such as Rune: Viking Warlord over here. The slippery movement, the poor performance and the somewhat muddy textures that didn't make the jump to PS2 intact. It may sound like a diss, but it's anything but, I find it super charming. Rune was an action/adventure game on the PC that was well received enough to get a port to PS2, and it's more than just a port, we get new levels as well as the multiplayer mode that would be part of the PC game's expansion.

 In the game you play as Ragnar, the last surviving Viking of his tribe, who is rescued by Odin... kinda, kinda because while Odin protected you, now you must get out of Hel yourself. What follows is a story of revenge, you as Odin's Champion vs Loki and his own champion. The story is simple and unintrusive, there are very few cinematics in the game, and it's mostly just Odin's floating head checking up on you. The game has about 8 different sets of levels, it starts off in Hel and then you'll go through goblin caves, snowy mountains, viking castles and even dwarven enclaves.  All in all, it can probably be beaten in about 8 hours. I played the game on medium and it was relatively easy most of the time, a few awkward jumps over botomless pits here and there, but it doesn't get hard until the very end, which is ironic considering you get a massive power up.... but you'll need it, since you'll be fighting the hardest enemies in the games in large numbers.

 Combat is quite clearly the focus of the game, and it plays like a PC game, while combat takes place in close distances, strafing around the enemy and mashing the R1 button is the name of the game, like any PC game of its era. It's not elegant, it's not deep, but it's fun. Ragnar can carry Maces, Axes and Swords, a shield as well provided you aren't using a heavy weapon. And even between these types of weapons you can carry many of each, so in actuality Ragnar carries about 15 weapons: 5 swords, 5 axes and 5 maces. While weapons get progressively stronger, there's a point to carrying the old weapons: Each one has a unique Rune power, which consumers energy from your rune gauge. Ragnar can throw his equipped weapon by pressing triangle, which is necessary a very few times to solve some puzzles, but by the end of the game I threw away my weaker weapons since cycling with the L1 button was a bit boring, however, since powers are unique... I was compelled to keep the fourth sword, since its vampiric rune power proved invaluable a couple of times.

 Rune energy is extremely valuable, for you can only recharge it by finding yellow runes hidden throughout the level, which also means that you can't use your runic powers wily nily. Hidden through the game you may also find the elusive blue runes which permanently increase your health bar, or the more common red run that activates your berserk mode on the spot. Berserk status can be reached in two ways: By finding the aforementioned rune or by landing hits on enemies, once the red bar fills to the top you enter Berserk status. Berserk lasts for a few seconds, and you are invulnerable throughout its duration.

 Level design is what you'd expect of a PC game of its era, a tiny bit mazelike with a ton of levers to find in order to open up doors or extend bridges. Think something like classic Doom but without the keycards. There are a few puzzles here and there, but they were pretty easy to figure out. That said, the Snowy Mountains felt a bit poorly made. You have to realize that the blowing wind will carry you through gaps, and you also have to figure out that you must jump into the crevice for the wind to carry you. Then there's another segment in which the icy road cracks below you as you run, and if you fail to react and get to safety... you'll fall into currents that'll push you back to the start of the section, which quickly got boring. Platforming is as lackluster as you'd expect, which is why fact that there are so many bottomless pits or murderous lava is so surprising. But the worst part about it... the game has obscenely long loading times, and if you die, for example due to a spotty jump, you'll have to sit through another loading screen. No bueno!

 I had fun with Rune, but I'll admit that the frequency and length of the loading screens do put a damper on the experience, but luckily, that's the game's biggest problem. The combat itself is fairly shallow but also very charming, I enjoyed this throwback to an older era of PC games, I find these kinds of ports very appealing, and as janky as the game is by today's standards.... I still think there's something a bit timeless about strafing around skeletons while madly slashing around.
 7.5 out of 10

Review #825: Ys - Memories of Celceta

 This is.... what? Ys IV's third version?

 I really haven't played as much Ys as I would've liked. I loved Oath in Felghana on PC, which was my first Ys game, and I enjoyed Ys I & II on the DS, but as far as Ys goes that's all I have played... so far. Ys: Memories of Celceta is another once-exclusive of the Vita that is a sort of-pseudo remake of Ys IV. Look, Ys' timeline is weird and a lot of games got remade, some more than once, and it really doesn't matter since Ys is, according to the lore, a collection of stories about Adol, so, in a way, all versions of the same game can coexist as different versions of the same tale. I'm telling you, this is one of the weirdest JRPG timelines to keep track of.

 In a weird twist, Ys - Memories of Celceta could very well work as a your entry point in the series. Not only does it start off with an amnesiac Adol, but throughout the game as you pick up your memories you'll get a look at Adol's childhood and why he decided to became an adventurer. But getting this mute hero's memory back is but one story thread, the bigger story thread concerns Adol and a man that claims to know Adol, Duren, who undertake the town's mayor request of exploring the nearby forest and charting a full map. As you go through the city you'll discover towns, some which Adol visited, some he hadn't, as well as meet new friends and foes. To be honest, characters are pretty one-note and the plot isn't very interesting, but it's serviceable. What really drove me when playing this game was me wanting to explore the forest, not caring about how the story developed because it was so dull.

 The game's world is large enough, and while it seems like the forest is open for you to explore in any way that you want... it actually isn't. There are plenty of barriers that require a character ability or an artifact ability to proceed, so while you can take your time to explore, and you should since you get money and item rewards for charting the map, most of the time there's only one road that'll take you where you need to be and others that you'll eventually get to go through. I liked it, charting the map was fun... although the map percentage is busted, if by the end of the game you haven't got the full 100%... well, have fun revisiting every area hugging every wall, because the black fog also counts towards the map's percentage. Ridiculous.

 There's plenty of sidequests to partake in, so it pays to revisit every town after you triggered a new story event. Although it's better if you wait until you get the Golden Wing, an item that lets you teleport to ANY stone tablet you've found. At first you can only travel between tablets of the same color, which makes backtracking a bit of an annoyance, but once you get the golden wing, you can, at pretty much any time, open the map, press R and just pick where you wanna warp. As for side quests, they come in various flavors: Slay a monster, gather a material or a set of materials, help a vendor tend to his store... there's quite a bit of variety. As you go through the game, you'll come across minerals, plants as well as beast parts from fallen enemies, these can be used to refine or strengthen your weapons or use them to trade for money, which is surprisingly hard to come by. By the end of the game you'll have a six man team and it'll be very tough to maintain your healing supplies, since no character can heal, as well as everyone's equipment up to date.

 Combat is fairly fun in this game, it takes place in real time. While you have six party members, your party can only be made up of three, although you can pause at any time and swap party members. You take control of one character while the AI takes control of the other two, and you can press circle to swap between active party members. AI allies deal less damage, but also take less damage and can't die, since their health bar never goes below 1 HP, so you don't really need to babysit them. What takes the most getting used to is how loose the combat is, even your basic square attacks will propel your characters forward. And it's weird at first, but eventually you'll get used to moving all over the place as you fight. Every character has a different weapon type: Slash, Blunt and Pierce, and some enemies are weak or strong against a certain type. I didn't care about this system, and bosses don't have any weakness or resistance, so I just played with the party I wanted to play with.

 But that's only half the fun. You also get a dodge and a block button, and if you time them right you'll get a Flash Dodge or a Flash Block, which will slow down your enemy for a few seconds, allowing you to retaliate with free hits. And if that wasn't enough, every character has access to a ton of special moves, although you can only equip four at a time, used by holding R and pressing the face button they are assigned to. Special moves can level up as you use them, and they run on a 100 energy gauge, skills costing 40 energy at most. You can recover this energy by landing hits and defeating enemies. So, basic hits charge your energy for your special moves, and special moves, in turn, fill another, yellow gauge, once full you can press the L button to unleash a powerful super move. It's a good system, and it's very dynamic too, since you recharge your energy by landing hits you are encouraged not to store your energy for 'tougher enemies'. And tougher enemies there are! Besides bosses, you may come across particularly tough monsters, which you can try to avoid or try to defeat for a higher amount experience points than regular enemies.

 One of the game's biggest problems is how annoying it can get to proceed through the environment. First, the 'puzzles' which aren't actually puzzles, y'see, each character has a different ability: Ozma can strike walls, Karna can shoot daggers, Duren can pick locks. The 'puzzles' are as simple as selecting the appropriate character, pressing triangle and watch what happens. You don't have to think too hard, although, to be fair, the final dungeon does have a few brain teasers. Regardless, this means that if a character isn't in your party... you have to pause the game, enter the party menu and swap them in to do their trick, then go into the menu, go into the party section and swap them out again. This is a regular occurrence with artifacts, you'll come across a steep wall that you must run through, or rocks you must break, or need to get smaller to go through a cranny... Once again, you have to enter a menu and equip the appropriate artifact. At least artifacts get a shortcut, you can press the tiny red button on the HUD with your finger to open up the item menu, from which you can use healing items or swap your equipped artifact.

 I liked Ys: Memories of Celceta, and... it kinda rekindled my interest to invest in the rest of the series, like, I really want to get a physical copy of Oath in Felghana for PSP. But I digress, Memories of Celceta is a fine RPG that fails to stand out, but succeeds in being really fun.
 7.5 out of 10