Review #272: One Piece - Unlimited World Red

 Unlimited grinding that is...

 Y'know, I liked Unlimited Adventure on the Wii, I liked it a lot. Sure, it was a bit of a grindfest and had framerate issues up the wazoo, but it was fun. Did you know? It actually had a two-part sequel in Unlimited Cruise 1 and, but they never made it outside Japan and Europe. And here we've got Unlimited World Red, the latest installment in the series and... I think I'll stick with the one on the Wii.

 The game starts with the Mugiwaras bringing a raccoon, Pato, back to his home Island, the intro is filled with what looks to be 'running gags', so much so that I suspected the story picked up from where Unlimited Cruise left off, but I was wrong. That was the first red flag that the story wasn't gonna be very good. As for the rest of the story, it's just excuses to have the Mugiwaras tread old ground from the series, y'know, Skypeia, Arabasta, Ennies Lobby, etc and fight the 'copies' of the enemies, Lucci, Eneru, etc. They even spout some of the same lines they did, even though these copies know that they are copies. It's very lazy, and kinda dumb considering Unlimited Adventure pulled off a very similar gimmick. I would've preferred an entirely new story or a retelling of the series, not this half-backed mishmash of events from the anime and a new storyline. It's a very lazy form of fanservice.

 This is a third-person action-adventure game. You bring up to three different characters, the CPU taking over the other two although you can switch at will, and you go through rather open, but linear, areas, breaking stuff for materials or bashing enemies for experience points. Ah, materials, just as with Unlimited Adventure, this game is a grindfest, albeit an optional one. Materials are used to enhance words, equippables on which I will expand later, rebuild the town(To open up shops or galleries) or enhance your tools. It's a massive grind, but luckily, it's a 100% optional... but if you are somewhat of a completionist, like me, it's gonna affect the way you play. You will have to repeat the same annoying button-pressing minigames any time you want to fish or catch bugs, which you will need to in order to get certain upgrades, and have to destroy every single breakable you catch a glimpse of.

 The game offers a ton of optional sidequests, which will reward you with materials, experience and 'Words'. The sidequests are a bit of a chore really, you have to go through the same 7-8 areas, usually looking for a boss to kill. They get old pretty fast, and hard too. But not hard because they require skill, but hard because enemies will start doing too much damage and you too little. Nothing that grinding for experience can't solve. To tilt things in your favor, as you play you'll get the aforementioned 'Words', which are basically equipment. Words are unique to each character and they raise(And sometimes lower) certain parameters, like attack damage. Then there's item words that function as skills and are used in battle for momentary boosts, or even healing. It's a decent idea, but the rate of acquisition is a bit low, I kept up to date with quests and didn't really have enough words to toy around until near the end of the game.

 Repetition is one thing, but it is coupled with how shallow the game is. Combat is relegated to three main buttons Y is a weak attack, X is a strong attack and A is a context sensitive 'I win button', basically, press it when the game tells you to and you'll avoid any kind of damage coming your way. Still, the game's engine doesn't lend itself to creativity or combo-making. You just press the buttons, the enemy falls, you wait for it to get up and use another two or three button string. Rinse and repeat. If you are not gonna have any depth, at least have style, but the game has neither. For whatever reason, the game feels as if it's running in slow motion the entire time. It's not that the framerate is terrible, au contraire, there are no framerate issues at all, the animations themselves are very slow, it's hard to explain, but if you look at it you'll notice that something is off. Mind you, the game looks beautiful(Well, the character models anyways), but the animations cycle veeeeeeeeeeeeery slowly. Even worse, the feedback to your attacks doesn't feel very good, sometimes it feels as if you aren't hitting the enemies at all. Oh, and then there's the boss characters that can be used in the Coliseum mode... well, just as with Unlimited Adventure, not all characters are made the same, and most these feel very limited. Instead of remaking them from the ground up, they have the same boss-moveset they have as, well, boss enemies. Which means few moves, and very slow. Take Buggy, or Shanks, they are not very fun to use at all. Not to say that they aren't effective or strong, just that many of them aren't fun to play as.

 The 3DS version has a few problems as well. For starters, the camera is too close to the characters back, so at times it can be hard to look at what's ahead, although the camera mercifully zooms back the moment you engage in a fight. Moving the camera around without a circle pad pro is impossible, so you will have to learn to use the L button to set the camera behind your character's back. Switching characters is done by pressing their tiny buttons on the touchpad, which can be annoying in the heat of battle. You have to look below and tap their small icon. Then there are the 'Item Words', sure you can use the Directional Pad to scroll through your items on the bottom screen... but you are gonna have to look below to see just what you are equipping, which once again, can be a chore during a battle. Then there's the costumes. Remember how Unlimited Adventure had three costume per character? In this game, if you want characters, you are gonna have to pay up. The game doesn't even have original redesigns, like both Unlimited Adventure and Unlimited Cruise did.

 I don't know if I got my message across, but I didn't really have much fun with the game. It's alright, at times, when it doesn't feel soulless. Combat is dull and shallow, the tacked-on minigames for when fishing or capturing insects are annoying, the story is lazy at best... And yet, nothing is fundamentally broken. It's painfully average, but that's all it's gonna get from me.
 5.5 out of 10

Now Playing: One Piece - Unlimited World Red

 I dunno about this one...

 So I was a big fan of Unlimited Adventure on the Wii, it was a fun Metroidvania-like One Piece game, sure, it had it's flaws, like huge slowdown and limited movesets for characters outside the Mugiwaras, but it was fun for what it was. It later got a two-part sequel, Unlimited Cruise Part I and II, but Namco never saw it fit to bring it to USA, and since the Wii is region locked... yeah, not a good time.

 And now we have the third(Fourth?) iteration of the franchise and... I'm not completely sold. Mind you, all my views are based off Coliseum Mode, the only one I've tried, and beaten, yet, and I've already got a ton of issues with it. Remember how in Unlimited Adventure secondary characters would get very limited movesets? Yeah, it's the same deal here. Luffy's got a ton of moves, Zoro as well, but then there's Buggy and Shanks with their paltry 2-3 moves on land. It's very disappointing, and this game has even less characters than Unlimited Adventure, so there's no excuse. And remember how Unlimited Adventure and Unlimited Cruise both redesigned all the Mugiwaras with new costumes? Yeah, you only get their basic post-timeskip costumes this time around. Oh, but there're alternate costumes, just as with the previous games... except that they are DLC only. I was lucky enough to get the day 1 edition, which grants me the 15th anniversary DLC costumes, which are really nice, but still.

 And then there's the fact that the game runs as if it was underwater all the time. It's hard to explain, but if you see it in motion, even on videos, you'll see that the game looks very slow. Maybe it runs on 20 FPS? I dunno. To be fair, at least the frame rate is consistent, which is more than I can say about Unlimited Adventure. And since we are talking graphics, they look kinda blurry on the top-screen. And I think the hit boxes are kinda iffy. Switching and using Words(Buffs) is also kinda cumbersome, since you need to know what they do before hand, and good luck using them in the heat of battle, since you need to look at the bottom screen.

 If you couldn't tell, I'm not very impressed with the game. It's not terrible, but it's not noteworthy either. Just a middle of the road game. But hey, maybe the main mode can save the game!

Review #271: Puzzle Quest - Challenge of the Warlords

 You cheating sunuvagun!

 Ah, I still remember playing Puzzle Quest back in the day, the game was the bees knees! I'd play it every morning before going to highschool. Back then, the game kind of became a big deal, enough to warrant a direct sequel and a galactic spin-off. But I have changed, my tastes have changed, and the console as well, since I actually played the PC version back in the day.

 The game is an atypical 'match-three-to-score' puzzle game, atypical since it actually marries the tried and true formula with... RPG elements. And it works. You've got experience points, spells, mounts, quests, towns, a storyline... the game's got it all! So how does it work? Well, there's four types of items on the board: Purple asterisks, that grant bonus experience points, colored orbs, that translate into different mana pools, skulls, that deal damage and gold that grants bonus gold. You and your opponent take turns trying to deplete the other's HP, either by matching skulls or gathering mana in order to unleash one of many different spells. Matching more than 3 items will grant you bonus turns.

 In order to play, first you have to create a character out of four different classes, which differ on which spells you'll earn as you level up. Stat growth is done manually by the player, so your class won't affect that. Afterwards, you can take your character against other players or battle the CPU(Either a random opponent or pick him yourself) or... challenge Quest Mode. Quest Mode has you traversing over an overworld, doing sidequests, earning sidekicks, capturing monsters(Which can then be used to research skills from them), singeing towns and finally defeating Baal. It's rather lengthy, I clocked over 18 hours on this mode alone. Needless to say, there's quite a lot to do.

 One thing to keep in mind, that annoyed me to no end, is that the CPU cheats. The developers denied these claims, but anyone who has played this game can tell you otherwise. It's like they know what's coming above, and many a times, after you make your move, stuff will just fall into place for them to pull epic combos. It's frustrating and annoying, luckily you can turn down the difficulty at any time, and I suggest you do, unless you want to be subjected to the game's cheating shenanigans. Also, the game can get a bit boring near the end game, when enemies start having over two hundred hp points, and battles turn eternal, not to mention the 'random encounters' that pop up around the map and that you need to deal with in order to go to other towns. It can be a bit of a bore. And don't be surprised if you come around a few graphical glitches, but be glad that they are mostly harmless, the PSP version is downright broken. The PC version is probably the way to go, it also received a few patches, like adding cooldowns to all the spells, but the DS version is just fine.

 Puzzle Quest is a fun, addictive game if a bit frustrating at times. And hey, at the end of the day, it's a much better alternative than 'modern' puzzle games like Candy Crush and it's ilk, this game has no microtransactions, for one, and as annoying as the AI can get, it's not like it's trying to make you part with your money!
 7.0 out of 10

Review #270: Binary Domain

 Holler if you are dead!

 I'm gonna cut straight to the chase, Binary Domain is amazing. This is a third-person shooter done by a Japanese Company, the 'Yakuza team' particularly, and it's amazing. You wouldn't expect a TPS from a Japanese dev to be THIS good, but it is, while maintaining a particularly strong Japanese flavor.

 The game pits you as Dan and his 'Rust Team' crew, a team comprised of members from England, America, France and China that band together to stop the Japanese Amada Corporation, a tech-corp that broke the third Geneva convention that prevented companies from researching into human-like robots. But obviously, Yoji Amada broke it, planting 'Hollow Children', robots disguised as men that don't even know that they are robots themselves, as sleeper agents. The story is very generic 'Action Movie' fare, with cheesy lines and cheesier deliveries, but it works for what it wants to do. Your team members are a lovable bunch, Charlie the deadpan snarker bookworm, Rachel, the explosives expert that came from the slums, Faye, the silent type, Cain, the most badass robot out there, and then there's Dan and Bo, those two guys! As previously mentioned, the game was designed by the Yakuza Team, and it shows. There's a ton of cutscenes, much more than your average Third Person Shooter, and a ton of drama, and I wouldn't have it any other way, the cutscenes are great anyways.

 This is a modern third person shooter, so y'know the drill: Regenerating health, large focus on cover-based shoot-outs, carry a limited amount of weapons(two main weapons, a gun with infinite ammo and explosives), over-the-shoulder aiming, etc. As far as the shooting goes, it doesn't reinvent the wheel, not does it do anything particularly original, but it works and it works well. There were a few quirks though, like getting into covers sometimes is a bit iffy, if you press X while dashing, even if in front of cover, most of the time you will roll, instead, you have to let go of the analog stick and then press X. Also, sometimes, while popping out of cover, Dan will aim towards a wall, these cases are easily fixed by holding the left analog stick in the direction you want to pop-out of... but this shouldn't have been an issue in the first place.

 The game employs a 'relationship gauge' for each team member. Performing well in battle, as well as giving the right answers when your allies engage you in conversation will the increase, or decrease, their individual gauges. This affects two things: A) How well they'll respond to your orders and B) The ending. I didn't particularly care for the relationship system, but if one thing annoyed me, your allies will occasionally run in front of your line of fire, and if they get hit, their relationship gauge decreases.

 Your enemies are all manner of robots, and there's all kinds of ways you can dismantle them. Aim for their heads and they'll go blind, engaging in friendly fire. Or break their legs in order to handicap their movement. Or you know, destroy their arms in order to... dis-arm them, literally. The more damage you cause to an enemy, the more points you'll earn, which can then be exchanged for upgrades to your main weapon as well as your allies, or buy Nanomachines which can be equipped on any team member for passive buffs.

 I loved Binary Domain. The story is great in what it wants to be, what it presents tribute to, rather than what it is at face value. The gameplay is tight, even if it suffers from a couple of quirks. It all comes together into this fantastic tribute to action and sci-fi movies that's a blast to play.
 9.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Binary Domain

 Amazing.

 Now why isn't this game more popular? IS it because of the terrible box art? Because Sega didn't promote it right? It's baffling, because the game is great.

 This is like one of those action movies that take themselves too seriously, except that it's in game form. The shooting is tight, the characters are engrossing, while the concept behind the 'Evil Robots' and the Team of Special Ops with clashing personalities isn't particularly original, they've did it so well it feels like a tribute more than a rip off.

 What I liked:
- The shooting, it's tight, it's fast.
- Upgrades, both characters and/or weapons.
- The main characters. Dan and Bo are hilariously stupid, which makes them loveable.

 What I didn't like:
- NOTHING. Maybe, if I had to scratch the bottom of the barrel, I'd say that melee attacks aren't what I look for in a melee attack. But that's just nitpicking out of my personal preference!

Review #269: Bioshock 2

 Once you see Bomberman on the cover, you can't unsee him.

 Even though I hadn't played Bioshock at the time of its heyday, I had heard and read about it, and when news came about a sequel in which you would play as a Big Daddy I felt a bit dumbstruck. Play as a big daddy, really? Regardless of my prejudice, Bioshock 2 was fairly divisive, some considered a way superior sequel, and others a terrible follow-up. Not me.

 The game has you playing as a prototype Big Daddy, subject Delta, awakened after being left for dead 10 years ago, which places this game 8 years after the original Bioshock. Not that it really matters. There's a few audio logs that might give some spoilers away, a single returning character(Who quickly goes away) and the fact that the world of Rapture is under a new rule, but otherwise, you don't really need to play the first one to understand this one. The new cast of characters is alright, and there's a few really great, poignant moments, but that's all they amount to: moments. Y'see, the story, as a whole, is rather weak and uninteresting, with the occasional great moment that piques your interest and keeps you going.

 The game plays almost exactly the same as the previous game, you go from place to place, scavenging for ammo and money, while battling dozens upon dozens of baddies. There's no real penalties to dying this time around either, but the game does feel a teeny tiny bit more challenging. You'll fight the same enemies from the previous game, with the addition of the Big Sisters, Strong Splicers  and the Rosie-type Big Daddy got replaced with a new Big Daddy that drops turrets. Most, but not all, Plasmids from the previous game return, with the addition of a couple new ones, like 'Scout', which I didn't care for at all. Delta's basic weaponry is analogous to Jack's, but they differ in the alternate ammo, suffice to say that Delta has much more options under his belt.

 As you can probably tell by now, the game recycles and reuses a ton of stuff from the previous game, but it does offer some changes. For instance, Bioshock 1 had certain few horror elements, but Bioshock 2 has none, it's an action-adventure game all the way through. Areas are bigger, larger and more colorful, which lend themselves to bigger shoot-outs with none of the build-up Bioshock 1 had. I remember that Take 2 made a big deal out of the new underwater sections... they are nothing but a gimmick, every now and then you'll have to venture outside Rapture, but these sections are very linear and short, nothing but gimmicks. The way Little Sisters works has also change a bit, you can still harvest them, but either before choosing to save or harvest them, you can take them to certain particular dead bodies and protect them while they gather extra Adam, you can do this up to two times with each Little Sister. Initially, it was fun, but it became tedious after a while. Sure, you don't have to do it, you can simply take them to a vent in order to save them, but why wouldn't you? Extra Adam means extra upgrades!

 Being a Big Daddy has its perks, namely dual wielding a Plasmid on the left hand and a weapon on the right hand, not having to switch between armaments makes for a much smoother and fun experience while fighting. For as lame as the story is, compared to the previous game's, the combat is so much better this time around. It's true that most of the Plasmids are from the first game, but while upgrading them only upped their damage, in Bioshock 1, this time around they get extra perks, like harming multiple enemies at once or bestowing stronger attacks by charging them. And as previously mentioned, while the basic weaponry basically emulates Jack's, the alternate ammunition gives you many more choices. You can place landmine-like bombs with the basic gun or deploy mini-sentries with the hacking tool, for instance, and this kind of trap-weaponry works well for setting a perimeter, something that you'll do more often in this game's shoot-outs, or while defending a little sister.

 And seeing how I got Ultimate Rapture Edition means I get access to the DLC, and let me tell ya, 'Minerva's Den' is Borderlands-Quality DLC(Which means, REALLY Good). It has a completely new story that runs parallel to the main game, playing as another Big Daddy, Sigma, you get a few new enemies(A new Big Daddy and a Big Splicer variation), new weapons and a new Plasmid. It's mad up of two large different sections. It's really good, offering a better, and self contained, story than the main game, and lasts about 4 hours(Though I've heard of people spending more time on it than that!). Then there's the Protector Trial DLC, basically, survival mode. It's a drag, at least after finishing the entire game and having had to protect little sisters dozens of times, I just didn't find them any fun. There's also a Multiplayer Mode, for whatever reason, but I couldn't find any players to try it out with. Suffice to say, the game stands just fine on its own.

 Bioshock 2, as a game, is great, but as a sequel, it's a bit disappointing. It plays it safe, doing a little tweaking here and there, for an overall more polished game, at least as far as gameplay is concerned, It's also hard not to feel deja vu, seeing just how many assets are recycled from the last game. At the end of the day, I still feel that Bioshock 2 needn't exist, but I'm not gonna complain about it.
 8.0 out of 10

Review #268: Bioshock

 Would you kindly take a trip to Rapture?

 Bioshock is one of last gen's darlings, while hardly revolutionary, this first person shooter is a beloved piece of gaming history.

 You play as Jack, just Jack, after surviving a plane crash, destiny takes him down to Rapture, an underwater city envisioned by Andrew Ryan, a visionary of sorts that wanted to give free reign to artists. But things turned sour real fast, these people weren't held back by laws, so boundaries became non-existent and they let loose to their inner demons. Plus, the addition of internal strife and the discovery of a substance named Adam, which took humanity to the next level quickly turned this utopia into a dystopia. Yes, there's quite a bit of story, most of it told through audio logs found throughout Rapture, or via text logs. And while it's impossible to have avoided spoilers by now, the story is still pretty darn entertaining! And while secondary characters get a rather limited screen time each, most of them are very memorable.

 In order to survive, Jack is armed with a few fire arms as well as a metal wrench, but he can also make use of 'Plasmids', that run on Eve, which grant him a ton of abilities, like fire blasts, electric jolts or even turn enemies against each other, then there are equippable Tonics that grant a plethora of passive skills. While ammo can be pretty scarce, and money is hard to come by at the start of the game, the game is overall pretty easy, and you've infinite continues that respawn you close to where you died, and enemies don't even get their health back! Personally, I found that equipping Tonics that enhanced your melee damage and restoring health on-hit was the most effective way to get through the game.

 Bizarrely, there's a sort of 'photographing' 'mini-game'. Early in the game you get a camera, and by taking pictures of the various enemies you'll get passive bonuses to your damage output, or even some Tonicss. This felt like a chore, as most of the time I found myself defaulting to the camera, and taking as much pictures of each enemy I came across as I could before they would stop giving any points. It's not mandatory by any means, but the upgrades are worth it. It simply felt weird, it takes a ton of pictures to unlock every reward.

 Currency comes in two forms: Money and Adam. Money can be found from fallen enemies or throughout various containers, and it's spent on automated shops for ammo or health packs. Adam is harvested from Little Sisters, which are always accompanied by Big daddies, bosses in mook clothing. Don't be surprised to spend a whole lot of medikits and ammo on these bastards, but the Adam is worth it, as you can spend it on new plasmids or health and Eve upgrades.

 Bioshock is a game that hasn't lost is lost, even as hard as the Internet has tried to give all its surprises away. The only part of the game that feels dated, if any, is the visual presentation, but hey, it's not like you can play graphics!
 8.0 out of 10

Review #267: Soul Sacrifice

 It's good for the soul.

 I'm gonna call a spade a spade and tell it like it is, this is a Monster Hunter clone. There's a very vocal minority that gets angry at the term, mostly Vita users, and likely because they can't stand the Monster Hunter franchise not gracing the system. Mind you, 'Monster Hunter clone' is not a derogatory term in any way, but I digress. Soul Sacrifice puts a very original spin on the formula, that might not appeal to everyone, but you can't blame it for trying.

 Here's the gist of it, the world has been destroyed by a tyrant named Magusar, and you are next on his sacrifice list. As you lay inside your cage, a talking book presents itself to you, offering to share the story written on its pages about someone that used to know Magusar. But relieving these stories, or rather memories, you will become stronger in the real world, until you feel confident enough to challenge Magusar and earn your freedom, and maybe, just maybe save the world. For a game of this genre, there's a lot of very intricate, deep lore, if you are into it, and the story offers quite a few surprises. That said, all three endings are kind of a downer, which kinda fits the game's theme. Or you could get the updated rerelease, Soul Sacrifice Delta, which adds a few happy endings.

 The game functions a bit differently than most Monster Hunter clones, for instance, instead of using weapons, you use spells, but you don't earn them by slaying monsters, technically. Y'see, spells are tied to the quests and not the monster, so if you want a particular spell, you have to fulfill a particular mission, and sometimes earn a particular rank on said quest. You don't harvest enemy parts, instead, in order to upgrade your spells you need to fuse multiple copies of the same spell. Sadly, I found out that this makes the game a bit more grindy than its peers. Sure, sometimes waiting for that particular rare drop to materialize is a pain in the butt, but here you'll need a ton of copies of the same spell if you want to upgrade the damage output.

 You also have to be careful in how you use your spells, as they have limited uses per fight. You can, however, restore a few uses by using certain elements in the environment or by sacrificing monsters, boss fights usually have a surplus of smaller baddies so that you can restore your spells. If you use up a spell, it will 'break', requiring 'lacrima', which is earned after completing quests, to restore. A plus to the spell system is that you can bring up to six spells with you, so you can be pretty flexible on how you go about fights. For as many spells as the game offers, most of them are different element clones of others, so there's not quite as many as they seem to be. Then there are the 'rites', which are extremely powerful spells that can only be used in dire straits, in which you must pay some kind of prince(Hence the game's title), maybe you sight, which prevents you from seeing which spells you have assigned to each slot, or your skin, which halves your defense. There's only a few of these, about eight, and their side effects can only be 'cured' by using Lacrima.

 The game's title also alludes to sacrificing your enemies. After you defeat an enemy, you can either Save them, and restore a little health, or sacrifice them and restore your spells. There's also two different gauges, a blue one that fills while saving enemies and a red one that fills while sacrificing enemies, these gauges are your 'experience points', raising your Sacrifice levels make you stronger, while raising your Save levels enhance your defense. There's a combined maximum level of 100, so you can customize your character in a way. Want a glass cannon? Go 1/99, but maybe you want some defense as well, so 25/75 might be the way to go.

 Missions are divided in two: Story Missions and Side Missions. Story Missions can only be played in Single player, and you are usually aided by a CPU ally. Side Missions can be played online with other players, or you can take up to two CPU allies. They are pretty dumb, but they can divert the enemy's attention, so it ain't all that bad, plus, they can revive you if you fall in battle. All in all, there's a ton of missions, and they can get pretty hard later down the road. There's also a bunch of free downloadable content, which I'd praise, except for the fact that it weights 100 kbs or so. Why have cart-locked content is beyond me.

 I found Soul Sacrifice to be a great alternative to Monster Hunter, even if I, personally, would rather play a more traditional hunting game, like MH itself or God Eater. While I'm sure some people will love it, I just didn't care for the spell system, and as many different spells there are, there weren't quite as many that fit my playstyle. And I appreciated the work that went into the story, while the story itself isn't particularly mind blowing, quite a bit of care went into crafting the lore behind it creature, and I can respect that. That said, you are probably better of getting the updated rerelease, Soul Sacrifice Delta.
 7.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Bioshock

 Would you kindly?

 Better late than never, right? Right?... Maybe I should be studying for today's exam. I mean, I could, but then again, I'm as ready as I'll ever get, so...

 Bioshock, it's good. It is, it's the right amount of arcadey, with the shoot outs and movement feeling very loosey goosey, which I really like, and very easy to get into and do stuff. But then there's the whole narrative that drives the game forward, very un-arcadelike, which I don't really mind.

 What I liked:
 The overall feel of the game, it's the kind of physics/controls I enjoy the most
 The setting is kinda cool. I might, or might not, have jumped a few times I got sucker punched by the enemies.

 What I didn't like:
Wallet limit. Seriously, there's a limit to how much money I can carry? Like, SERIOUSLY??
Big Daddies. It's impossible not to have heard about the game by now, and the 'deadly' Big Daddies. You get to experience their strength secondhand, yet you are expected to defeat one the very first time you come directly across one. I was expecting something... tougher. And then I exited and re-entered the area, which made the Big Daddy respawn... and I killed him again. I was expecting something tougher!

Review #266: LocoRoco 2

 It's SOOOO cute!

 Did you like LocoRoco? Well, you are in luck, as LocoRoco 2 is pretty much LocoRoco 1.

 Everything I said about LocoRoco 1 still holds water as far as the sequel is concerned, but for a refresher course: A LocoRoco is a singing colorful blob that you must guide throughout a level. But you don't play as the LocoRoco, not directly anyways, Instead you tilt the world by holding the L or R button, or make your blob jump by holding both triggers together and letting go. You can also collect orange fruit in order to grow bigger, and if you press the circle button you'll divide into little LocoRocos, or hold circle to fuse them back into a single entity. In the previous game, sometimes you'd come across certain barriers that required a certain amount of LocoRocos to open, and if you met the required amount, the LocoRocos would sing... this time around, the song has been turned into a simple rhythm mini-game that has you tapping circle over certain notes. Speaking of songs, the soundtrack is nothing short of stellar.

 As you go through the game you'll earn new abilities, like sinking underwater, holding onto branches, pulling creatures from the ceiling or the very cumbersome Super Jump. I'm gonna be honest, none of these 'abilities' are game changers or add any more depth to the game. They feel like window-dressing, 'hey, look! Now you can do this and this!', but when it comes down to it, none of them feel like they have any huge impact on the overall game.

Other new features are a new purple LocoRoco and the addition of multiple mini-games. They aren't half bad, even if they are little more than a diversion, and they add incentive to collecting the pink collectibles, as they are turned into currency in order to play these mini-games. The Mui-Mui house has been altered, so that now you have to collect materials in order to build furniture and new rooms, then there's the 'Stamps', which you can collect and then have to fill stamp pages with the appropriate stamps.

 Surprisingly, when it comes down to it, the game is actually shorter than the first game! They made up for that by forcing you to replay stages. For instance, there are secret levels that can only be unlocked by completing the Mui-Mui house, which translates into redoing stages for materials. Then there are a few levels that are unlocked by clearing the Moja smog from each level, and since some areas on some stages are inaccessible until you earn a new ability at a later stage.... well, you'll find yourself replaying most of the 10-minute long stages in order to unlock everything.

While it is technically a better game than the first one. There's more variety in the levels, there's more abilities, and one more LocoRoco, I just can't condone forcing the player to replay old levels. Mind you, it probably has to do with the fact that LocoRoco just isn't my kind of game, so while the idea of having to replay levels doesn't appeal to me, maybe it won't bother others.
 7.0 out of 10

Review #265: Senran Kagura - Shinovi Versus

 Well, it ain't trash.

 As someone who dislikes fanservice, I've been pretty vocal on my distaste for the Senran Kagura games and their ilk. But baseless judgment is, well, baseless, so I decided to give it a try.

 The story.... I'm gonna be completely honest, I didn't care about it. I gave it a chance, I gave it several chances, especially after reading about how it was 'surprisingly dark' and characters held 'hidden depth' and.... Nope, sorry. There's this blonde gal who is always trying to grope the other gals, and you want me to take it seriously? Then there's this gun-tooting lass that, for some reason, has a breast cup increase when she transforms, and her whole story mode is filled with breast puns... Yeah, sorry, I just couldn't take it seriously enough for me to care. For what it's worth, people say that the story is surprisingly deep... but you gotta get through the silly first, and I just couldn't.

 As far as gameplay goes, levels either have you fighting a boss, clearing an area full of enemies so that the boss appears and you fight her or fighting enemies, move forward through the stage a bit, fight more enemies, advance a bit further, beat the enemies and beat the boss. It's like a small-scale Dynasty Warriors game, although stages last anywhere between 1 minute to 6, tops. The fighting is similar to Dynasty Warriors as well, you have your basic Weak attack string and a Strong attack that can be used to end your combos... kinda, while DW gives you a different 'finisher' depending on when you press the strong attack, you only have about three different finishers here. Girls also have two super attacks and an extra desperation attack that can only be used when running low on health. Lastly, there's two modes: Yang, which changes your attack strings and gives you small damage boosts, which you engage by pressing L once you fill your energy gauge, and Yin/Frantic, which can be used at any time, and gives you a huge attack boost... and a huge defense drop, plus, your girl is stripped down to her underwear.

 There's a lot to do, each individual girl has 5 exclusive missions to her name, plus, a 25 mission-story for each of the four 'schools', each school having 5 characters, for a total of 100(And a bonus epilogue fight) story missions and 100 'individual' missions. The individual missions can only be played by the respective character, but once you clear a Story Mission, you can then replay them with any of the other 5 girls from the school. I would've liked some kind of 'Free Mode' to replay any stage with any character, instead of having Story Missions locked to each school. Regardless, at the end of the day, it feels like a poor man's Dynasty Warriors game. Is it fan? Yes, at times, but it's very, very repetitive, and grows old faster than any 'Warriors' game.

 If you like fanservice, this is your game. Breasts bounce all over the place, all the time, using special attacks on bosses shreds their clothes, while being on the receiving end of one will damage yours. There's also a decent variety of fetish costumes, like Cheerleader, Chinese Dress, Kinder Gardener, etc. and you can accessorize each girl with pacifiers, animal ears or tails, etc. And over 100 types of underwear. OVER. A. HUNDRED. TYPES. OF. UNDERWEAR. Although many of them are recolors. Oh, and while on the 'Dressing Room' you can tap a girls breasts to fondle them, or tap their privates for flustered reactions.

 And that's that. The game is not absolute trash, but the gameplay lacks soul. Maybe they thought the huge amount of fanservice made up for it, maybe it does, if you are into it, but as far as I'm concerned, this is just an average game. Functional? Yes. Fun? At times. Ridiculous? Completely.
 5.0 out of 10

Month Overview: November 2015

 Games finished in November 2015:

Saint Seiya - Soldiers' Soul                                6.0
Dynasty Warriors 8                                            9.0
Guilty Gear Xrd Sign                                         7.5

Ride to Hell: Retribution                                    2.5

Inuyasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale                          4.5

Threads of Fate                                                   6.0

Game of November: Dynasty Warriors 8

 The best Dynasty Warriors yet, the most characters, the most movesets, the best redesigns, some of the best stages yet. The movesets are very flashy, particularly the new ones, and the new mechanics makes it so easy and satisfying to score kills! It's also got a ton of stuff to do, and the cutscenes are amazing.

Runner-up: Guilty Gear Xrd Sign

 I wish I had had more fun with this one, as I was incredibly hyped. I think I might have gotten burned out from all the different, yet similar, ArkSys fighters. And the way they handle DLC is downright disgusting.

Now Playing: Senran Kagura - Shinovi Versus

 Keep your friends close, your enemies closer.

 It's no secret that I'm not particularly fond of fanservice, as a matter of fact, I downright hate it. Senran Kagura was one of those franchises that usually took the brunt of my mockery and disdain, but.... It's a bit silly to judge something just by its cover, right? So I decided if I am gonna criticize it so, might as well get some hands on experience with it, right?

 Well, it's actually a fairly competent game. I hesitate to call it a Dynasty Warriors clone, since it seems to be a bit more focused in baddy-clearing arenas rather than large battlefields. Still, the combat gets old rather fast, and the special attacks having unskippable cutscenes doesn't help. Also, there's a ton of fanservice, you can shred the enemies' clothes, or have yours torn as well, there's a ton of 'sexy lingerie' to buy and have your characters wear, as well as fetish costumes.

 When it comes down to it, it's a fairly average game, not terrible by any means, but it's not a particularly great game either,

Review #264: Threads of Fate

 Squaresoft has always been one for presumptuous titles!

 Threads of Fate is one of Squaresoft's lesser known titles. It's not an obscure game by any means, just one that most people tend to forget about. An action rpg in the same vein of Square's own Brave Fencer Musashi, Threads of Fate was a little game that came and went without people noticing.

 You can play as either Rue, a mysterious white haired boy that can transform into monsters and is seeking a Relic to revive his friend, or Mint, an spoiled princess versed in magic that seeks the Relic for world domination. Both scenarios slightly contradict each other, but you need to play both if you want to see the true ending. That said, if you only plan on playing one, Rue is the way to go, as he has the meatier, more serious story, while Mint is mostly comic relief. Each character also gets an exclusive dungeon and a couple of unique boss fights, but nothing major.

 This is a 3D action game with a few RPG elements. There's no levels perse, but you can raise your hitpoints by being hit, magicpoints by using magic, and your defense and strength by buying equipment or potions. Rue and Mint also play differently, Rue has basic weak attacks and a strong attack, but he can also turn into any of the last four different monster types that he defeated, which is often times used to solve puzzles, as Rue himself is the way to go when it comes to fighting most of the time. Mint only has weak attacks, but she can use magic. There's about 6 different 'Magic types', that can be used with different spells, which translates into a LOT of spells. In practice, Rue's game starts off way easier, but his shortcomings catch up to him by the end of the game, while Mint will have a tough time at the start of the game, but end up as a powerhouse by the end.

 The worst part about the game is, easily, level design. Stages are uninspired and boring, the 'Underground Ruins' being the worst of the bunch, being made up of copy pasted rooms over and over again. An NPC will comment on it 'This maze is so confusing' or something like that, as if making a joke about it somehow makes it OK! Also, keep in mind that inside dungeons you can't turn the camera around, so sometimes stuff will hit you from outside your range of vision, heck, it's easy for bosses to get outside the range of your view, so battles now turn into a matter of keeping the boss inside your range of vision AND dodging their attacks, Some enemies also respawn infinitely, which will probably get on the nerves of some. And raising your stats is a pain in the butt, either waste time getting hit, or grind money and buy the stat ups, either way, a time sink. Not that the game is hard enough to justify it anyways!

 Threads of Fate is a decent, but flawed, game. The idea behind the two characters is respectable, and they managed to make both characters feel different enough, although there's not enough exclusive content  to justify a second playthrough, unless your really, really want to see the bonus ending.
6.0 out of 10

Review #263: Inuyasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale

 Yet another licensed animuuu game.

 I had rather fond memories of this game, for whatever reason, as I never ever watched a single episode of the anime series(although I did read one volume of the manga), so I just knew that I had to take this game for a spin, and.... I think I rather I didn't.

 Featuring 12 characters from the show, a Feudal Fairy Tale is a by the numbers licensed fighting game. There's an Story mode of sorts, for each character, VS and a few minigames in case you wanted to waste some time. For what it's worth, each character gets their own opening text, and they interact with characters from the show on their story mode. There really isn't a whole lot more to say about it!

 Gameplay is very by the numbers, there's a Weak and a Strong attack that can be chained together in very simple combos, while the circle button, in conjunction with the directional pad, is used for about three different special attacks per character, there's also a super move, linked to an energy gauge, for each. And that's about it, there's hidden depth to the game, and while there are no 'clones' to speak of(Even though Inuyasha gets to forms!), the gameplay is so shallow that characters don't feel very different from one another.

 For what it's worth, the in-game sprites look really good, characters are rather simple, although I feel that the source material's fault, but animations are fairly expressive and smooth. The screenshots don't do the game much justice, it has to be seen in motion! That said, the rest of the presentation is rather mediocre, music is forgettable, and there's nothing special about the anime stills used to tell the story.

 Inuyasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale isn't a bad game by any means, it simply is incredibly unremarkable, forgettable even. Even fans of the show would be far pressed to be convinced into giving this one a try.
4.5 out of 10

Review #262: Ride to Hell: Retribution

 This game is a joke.

 Full disclosure: I knew exactly what I was getting into when I bought this game, but hey, five bucks. FIVE BUCKS! In case you have been living under a rock, Ride to Hell is an infamously terrible game, featuring bugs galore and awkward fully-clothed sex scenes.

 The story has you playing as this guy named Jake, who is back from the military, and soon his brother is killed and he is left for dead, but somehow, he survives and now he is out for revenge. This is the thing, I can see what they were going for, a gritty motorbike soap opera, probably inspired by Sons of Anarchy. I can see it, their heart was in the right place... kindaish, but the execution is laughable. Voice acting is terrible, cutscenes lack music and sometimes even sound effects. The story moves at a very haphazard way, sometimes the way one scene moves into the next just makes no sense, women drop their panties(figuratively, since, y'know, fully clothed sex scenes) after you beat up their assailants and just have sex with Jake on the very same room the baddies are laying over their own blood. It's a mediocre story, with terrible characters and poor logic behind their actions.

 There's two different gameplay types: Third person action and motorbike scenes, but they have one thing in common: absolutely wonky hitboxes. Combat allows for hand-to-hand affairs, which end up in tedium, or you can just use guns. While enemies are bullet sponges, if you master the art of the headshot, you can just cruise through the game, and this is my advised method for getting through the game: Headshot them bastards! Whether you choose to go the slow and repetitive way and fight your way through the game, or choose the fast, but equally repetitive and dull, headshot tactic, it doesn't matter, because the game feels dull and lifeless. It simply isn't any fun. Then there's the motorbike segments, on-wheels combat consists on mashing whatever button the game tells you to mash when you are approached by enemies, and pressing triangle at the right times to go below certain obstacles, but you'd better press it early, or else the game will assume you hit the object, even if it didn't even touch your head.

 That's not to say that the game lacks any positives... for instance, the bike customization is rather in-depth, even if the customization only affects the look of your bike. And hey, the first few times, landing headshots feels rather satisfying, as the game slows down while a crunchy 'splash' sounds and  fountain of blood comes out of their faces.... at least the first ten times. There's also the soundtrack, which kinda decent... at times.

 Buggy, unfinished, ugly, stupid... all of them are valid when it comes to describing this game, but the game is almost at the 'so bad it's good' range, for less than five bucks, I dare say that it's worth it just to see how bad it is. Because, as bad as the game is, it's playable, it's functional... it just isn't any good.
2.5 out of 10

Review #261: Guilty Gear Xrd Sign

 Guilty Gear is back!

 Guilty Gear is back, but it's not exactly the same game that you might remember, whether that's good or bad depends on who you ask, but judging from the game's audience, I think it's a good thing... for them.

 As per usual with Fighting Games, modes come first: Story Mode, Arcade Mode ,VS(Online and Offline) and M. O. M. mode. Arcade and VS are self explanatory, while M. O. M. is a returning mode from previous games, a survival of sorts. What's interesting is the new Story Mode, it's about 200 minutes long and doesn't feature any fights at all, it's just... cutscenes. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, just look at Blazblue's story.... Anyways, the story is very... anime to say the least, so your mileage may vary on that, at least it's not as disgustingly cliched as Blazblue's. Speaking of Blazblue... the new characters are all sorts of terrible. Let's go one by one:
Ramlethal: A fanservice character that looks as if she came straight out of Blazblue.
Bedman: He looks dumb, but in-game he is rather fun to look at, that said, his personality is terrible because he share is with...
Elpelth: Fist of all, she is on-disc DLC while being on the game's cover, which already makes her annoying. She exists only because of her ample buxom and wide cleavage. And she is a waifu, not only due to her personality, but because she is looking for a husband. But worst of all? She shares her character trait with Bedman: She just won't shut up. And she looks as if she came straight out of Blazblue.
Leo: Another on-disc character that appears on the cover, which makes me hate him already.... but, he does fit the Guilty Gear world pretty well... which is probably why he is DLC.
Yeah, you could say that I didn't like the new characters. But hey, I liked most of the returning characters redesigns. Ky Kiske, my main, I disliked a lot, disappointingly, and I just can't take Axl seriously with those shorts(Funnily enough, they look better than they did in Guilty Gear 1!).

 But that's all superficial what really matters is gameplay, and Guilty Gear Xrd delivers in a big way. If you've ever played Guilty Gear, you'll be right at home here, as it plays just like the other games. Roman Cancels have been simplified, not longer requiring ungodly timing and reflexes. I doubt a single soul will feel the game is any more 'casual' because of this, as Guilty Gear was notorious for its complexity. And hey, even if you don't intend to play the game competitively, the game is fast and loose, so that even if you mash buttons you can easily link up normals into specials or supers.

 I normally don't really care about graphics, but this game's deserve a special mention: Guilty Gear Xrd looks amazing. At times it feels as if it was 2-D, but it's actually 3-D. And I say this as an extremely good thing, what Arksys has managed with this game is nothing short of awesome. If you play on the PS3, you might have to turn down the background animations on the Options menu in order to keep a steady 60 FPS, but it doesn't take away from the amazing character models and animation. Some might be a bit disappointed by the small roster(16 characters), but seeing how it's a completely new engine, and how great each character looks, it's very understandable. Plus, you know ArkSys, by the third-fourth iteration of the game, I bet most of the old cast will be back.

 As great as I found the game to be, I just didn't have as much fun with it as I thought I would. Maybe I'm just burned out from ArkSys fighters, since they are all more or less the same. That said, don't let me deter you from getting GGXrd, I'd hesitate to call it the best game in the franchise, but it's a great foundation for future iterations.
 7.5 out of 10

Review #260: Dynasty Warriors 8

 Do not pursue Lu Bu!

 Dynasty Warriors is back and it's better than ever! By now, everyone should be familiar with the 'Warriors' franchise by now, they are what I like to consider the evolution of the 'Beat'em up' genre. Some love it, some hate it, but in the end it doesn't matter, as the games won't stop coming any time soon!

 Y'know, I could basically copy paste my description from DW 7 or 6's story and it would still hold water, since each game in the franchise is basically a retelling of the same story(Or stories if you wanna be technical about it). DW8 follows the steps of 7, being a somewhat faithful adaptation of the novel, while taking some elements from real history, which inspired said novel. Basically, the four kingdom, Shu, Wei, Wu and Jin get their own story modes, but this time around, there's optional objectives to complete, which will allow you to take an alternate route near the end and get a 'happy' ending. What's more, this time around you get to pick from about 3 generals before each chapter, so you are no longer confined to playing as a designated character on each chapter. As for the execution of the story, in some ways it's better than DW 7, but falls short in others. The game has almost 80 characters now, which means that not every character gets the same time in the limelight. Take Zhang Liao for example, his portrayal in DW 7 was excellent, but in DW8 he doesn't get many scenes. Basically, your mileage may vary depending on which characters you like. Once you are done with the rather lengthy Story Mode, there's Free Mode, in which you can take any general to any battle from the Story Mode, and Ambition Mode, in which you go through different skirmishes to gain fame, gain allies and build a giant Pagoda.

 The game plays like any other entry in the franchise, but it has a few added features and gimmicks. Now, each weapon has a different affinity(Earth, Heaven, People), which works in a rock-paper-scissors way, fight a general using a weapon weak to theirs and you won't be able to stagger them with your attacks, use a weapon strong to theirs and you'll deal extra damage, as well as gaining access to a flurry of slashes that cover a wide area if you pummel them for a while. There's a new Rage Gauge, that once filled can be used to execute a Rage Musou, it combines the devastating crowd-clearing properties of a musou attack, while keeping you on the move. It's amazing. Now there's a different weapon for each general, for a total of over 70 different movesets, and each general has a EX weapon with which he can use a unique attack exclusive to him. Oh, and holding the button that calls your mount now makes it so that your character automatically gets on it when it gets close to you.

 It's hard for me to put my finger on it, but while I found Dynasty Warriors 7 rather lacking, I found this game to be amazing. If you liked Dynasty Warriors, you just can't skip 8, if you want to get into the series, this is the game to get. It will fail to turn nay-sayers, but this is the finest Dynasty Warriors yet.
9.0 out of 10

Review #259: Saint Seiya - Soldiers' Soul

 Burn, my Cosmo!

 It's no secret that I'm not fond of Saint Seiya. The story is dumb and, most of the time, makes no sense. But I can respect the concept behind it, teenagers fighting in colorful and shiny armors, with unique signature attacks and all that jazz. So that's the beauty behind the videogame: You get the concept, without the story.

 Soldiers' Souls is, basically, what Brave Soldiers should have been. Gameplay has been polished, and it's much tighter this time around, more characters and in-game unlockables and more modes. Let's start with the characters; the previous game's roster was made up of mostly clones... that hasn't changed. The new characters are Asgard's God Warriors and Hilda, for a total of 8 new characters... mostly, Bud and Syd play almost exactly the same, they are even more cloney than Saga and Kannon. Then there's the new 12 Gold Saints wearing the God Cloths.... which play exactly like their normal counterparts, except that they are 'broken.' These 12 characters build up their cosmo gauge extremely fast, and their 'Big Bang Attacks'(Ultras) have no startup whatsoever, basically, if you are not playing as any of these 12 characters, you are handicapping yourself. Ikki, Shun, Hyoga and Shiryu get their God Cloths as well, but not the enhanced cosmo gain. As a matter of fact, you can now change which Big Bang attack you want to use at the character select screen, but the Big Bang Attacks haven't been touched up at all, so they still get almost uncomboable start up times.

 All the modes and VS variations from the previous game return, alongside a new 'Battle of Gold' mode and a revised Story Mode. The new Story Mode is much more detailed, and while the cutscenes reek of a short budget, they are serviceable. That said, the mode itself is a drag, each 'chapter' is made up of two fights against the SAME enemy, and there's so much exposition with little more than flapping mouths. What's worse is that this is the only way to unlock characters, and you only start with 5 Saints at the start of the game. If you played the previous game, you are mostly unlocking what you already unlocked the last time around! As for Battle of Gold, the what if scenarios are moderately amusing, but for whatever reason they decided that you needed to buy 'torches' in order to proceed. Not only is it annoying, since costumes are expensive, but if you run out of torches you just can't buy them at the chapter select, oh no, you have to go all the way back to the main menu, then collection, then the store. On the other hand, all the DLC costumes from the previous game can be bought for in-game currency, and the game has no DLC, major props for that!

 But what really matters, Gameplay, has seen major improvements. Firstly, cosmo is much harder to gain, so combos are no longer worthless! Controls have been reworked, so no awkward fingers gymnastics to pull off the different special moves, just hold R2 and then Square, Triangle or Circle. All characters now have access to a new move, 'Photon', which is basically a weak projectile, although there's about 4 or 5 different types of Photons shared among the cast. Lastly, and this pertains the PS3 port only, the game has a few framerate issues during Big Bang Attack cutscenes and when Hypnos or Thanatos use their normal moves, but they are tolerable.

 Saint Seiya Soldiers' Souls is a decent time waster for the uninterested in the franchise, and a more than decent game for fans. I dare say that the game has more depth than your average licensed fighter, but don't expect to see it played competitively any time soon.
 6.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Dynasty Warriors 8

 Mayhaps the best 'Warriors' game yet?

 It's no secret that I've a bit of a soft spot of the 'Warriors' franchise, something about bashing thousands of soldiers' heads in just sounds so appealing in my book! As someone who has somewhat followed the franchise since Dynasty Warriors 2, I'm quite tempted to say that this is the best 'Warriors' game yet.

 So, I've cleared Wei's story(Both routes) and find myself midway through Shu's campaign, and I think I'm in love. For starters, the game has, what I feel are, the best character designs yet. As for how the story is told, it follows DW 7's brilliant blueprint.
 On the surface, the combat is exactly like it was in DW 7, but there's a ton of new weapons, there's a unique weapon for each of the 80+ characters in the roster as a matter of fact, and every moveset I've tried so far(And I've tried a lot!) feels so flashy and rewarding. And the new 'Rage' mechanic? It sounded and looked gimmicky, but lemme tell ya, it feels SO. DARN. GOOD to execute.

 Surprisingly, I always felt that Dynasty Warriors 7 was lacking 'something', and I can't quite put my finger on what, but this game's got it. I'd go as far as to say that this game is as good, if not better than Warriors Orochi 3, a game that celebrated everything 'Warriors', that's how much I'm digging this game.