Now Playing: Metal Gear Rising - Revengeance

 Not completely sold on it yet.

 Did you know? At one point in time, Metal Gear Solid 2 was my favorite game of all time. Having played Metal Gear Solid 1 beforehand, I immediately fell in love with the new protagonist, Raiden. There was a particular part of the game that I adored, the moment you get the sword, I actually got a separate file at the start of that segment so that I could replay the bit with the sword over and over again. For whatever reason, I abandoned the franchise at that point, and would later find out that Raiden was actually disliked in no small part due to the bait and switch. Because games have to be kept from evolving right? Always follow the same formula, because screw surprises and go with what is safe, right? But I digress, which is something I tend to do a lot.

 The game starts with a bunch of cyborgs, cyborgs everywhere and... and this is certainly not the Metal Gear Solid that I used to know. For whatever reason Raiden is wearing yellow butt armor on each butt cheek. And the characters' faces look really weird. And Jack now speaks trying to sound ruff, which threw me off a bit since it felt forced. And there's no sidestepping. And there seems to be no tangible rewards for exploration, besides a few subweapons.

 But then you have the very smooth combat. And my problem with the lack of sidestepping was only at the start, until I remember that I had a parry. As a matter of fact, the first sub-boss, the dogbot, was wrecking me. I was hating the game, I was about to die at times. My mashing was getting me nowhere fast, and I hated the fact that there was no sidestepping, like, seriously, who makes an action hack and slash game without any dodge of any kind? And then it hit me, there was a parry right? And then I started parrying, and the game made sense and it got a helluva lot easier. I went from absolutely hating the game to actually having fun with it, I think the tutorial should've stressed a bit harder just how important parrying is, because the game is built around it. Enemies will telegraph their attacks, and you have to react according to the direction the attack is coming from.

 The soundtrack is absolutely amazing, particularly when the battles get heated and the lyrics begin. The game is also filled with cool and badass moments in equal measure. And y'know what? Cutting stuff is fun, you can cut a ton of different structures, like metal stairs, trees or fences. It's fun.

 Overall, I'm having mixed feelings with the game. The combat is fast and smooth, and while I can get behind the reliance on parrying over dodging, it's still not my cup of tea(which is hilarious considering how much I love parrying in fighting games). Also, the targeting system isn't optimal, I'm having a hard time pulling moves like the Thunder Fist, while I had no trouble performing moves in the different Devil May Cry games.

Review #316: Senran Kagura - Estival VS

 It's actually better this time around.

 So, I'm not the biggest fan of Fanservice, as a matter of fact, I downright despise it, but, y'know, duty calls sometimes. This time it did twice. I played Shinovi Vs last year, and it was alright. But, y'know, it's my sworn duty to see if the sequel is any better. And it kinda is.

 The four groups of girls get transported into a beach of sorts, there's five new girls(Two of them are a bit older though), and they have to fight because of the Bon Dance thing, and the road to Kagura and nobody gives a damn about the plot. To be fair, it's slightly better this time around, I remember skipping the story due to how stupid it was in Shinovi VS, but I actually read it this time around. It was stupid, and while it did earn a few honest laughs, most of the time I was laughing at how dumb it was. In conclusion, it doesn't mean much, but the story is a tiny bit better than the previous time around. It's still just silly excuses to have the girls have each other, but still. The story is told a bit differently this time, instead of each group having their own story, there's a single 59-mission story thread that has you playing as the different girls. And each of the 27 girls get their own 5-missions sub stories, for almost 200 missions in all. You could easily clock over 20 hours on this game.

 The best way to describe the game is as a mini-Dynasty Warriors clone gone full Japan. You've got weak square attacks that can be chained into Triangle attacks, there's also energy-gauge-consuming, wide-area clearing super attacks and a relatively high amount of weak enemy to fodder to plow through. There's a bit more nuance to the game, the girls have three different modes: The one they start with, Yang, which has them remove their clothes for increased attack power and Yin, which has them switching clothes and getting various buffs. Each of the three forms also have their own different attack strings or attacks with different properties, although once you switch forms you can't go back until you play another mission. There's also air-raids, following a pop-up attack with a dash to follow the enemy up into the air. New to this game are allied CPUs, with which you can actually use 'fusion air raids' for added damage. You will also come across bombs, which I felt were a bit unwieldy, and even rideable mechs. And while the combat system is still a bit shallow, everything feels slightly tighter. Specials now come out immediately instead of separate cut-in scenes, which makes combat faster. Attack strings have been changed for almost, if not all, returning characters, some more than others. I remember feeling like Haruka was a chore to play as, but now she has entirely new, better combos, and Homura comboes her attacks much better as well, having a much less erratic slashing area in Yin mode, so while it's not completely different, it definitely feels tighter, more polished all around. That said, the framerate, on the Vita version, is not the smoothest. It's not unplayable by any means, but it can get a bit choppy.

 That said, the game recycles a few stages from the previous game, and while there's quite a few new ones, it's not long before stages start repeating. Sure, enemies might vary, and even the route you have to take, but it's the same 12 or so stages, spread throughout over 150 missions. That said, stages now feature more enemies than the previous game, which is something I liked, specially seeing how the combat feels much better. However, bosses are a chore to fight. Not only do they have super-armor, meaning that staggering them is hard, they can just interrupt your combos with their supers. And sometimes it feels as if they get infinite supers, and they spam them over and over again. It's not even hard to avoid, just boring. Hit, hit, dodge, wait until they execute their super, get in again, hit, hit, dodge, wait, close in again, etc. It can get very, very annoying. Another thing I wasn't particularly fond of is that the individual storylines must be unlocked by destroying the 80 'festive platforms'. They aren't hard to find at all, and the game tells you how many of them are per stage, but they just felt like needless busywork to pad out the game.

 If you like Fanservice, oh boy, you are gonna have a field trip with Estival VS. For starters, the game looks much, much crisper now. Not only that, the common enemies' clothes can be shredded as well, and breaking the bosses' clothes is much easier, and the graphical effect of the torn clothes looks much better as well. Each stage also packs a few 'Creative finishers', defeating an enemy close to certain objects will trigger them, and they are... they are Japan at their purest. For instance, defeating a boss near a volleyball net will send the girl flying, naked, through the net and getting tangled on it. Or defeating a girl near a jar on the beach will make an octopus come out and fondle her. I am not making this up. The customization has been expanded, you can customize a girl look's before and after transformation, down to them having different hairstyles or underwear on each form. There's a ton of new clothes, with 5 color variations each, new lingerie, new hairstyles, new accessories and even more accessory slots. And if you are into that, you can kiss the girls as well. Weirdo.

 Also worth mentioning is the relatively high amount of DLC. There's about 3 DLC characters, even more if you own the Japanese Version(Due to licensing issues they didn't make it westward). I don't particularly care about the DLC characters, but putting them, grayed out, on the character select screen is just tacky. And mind you, I think the 25 characters(27 with the free patch) roster is perfectly fine, with characters having entirely different movesets and what not, but having all the DLC characters on display on the character select screen feels as if they are trying to pry the money out of your wallet, which is something I just can't ignore.

 Senran Kagura Estival Vs has more characters, more stages, more customization, better combat and more content than Shinovi Vs. So much so, that I'd say this game make Shinovi VS obsolete. And y'know what, the focus is clearly on Fanservice, so if you are into that, the game delivers. But even then, the game is relatively decent as a mindless beat'em up.
 6.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Senran Kagura - Estival VS

Here we go again....

 Let it be known that I bought this game purely for research purposes, again. I mean, first time around I bought it because I had to see if they were as bad as I claimed due to my prejudice. Now because I have to see if the sequel improves upon the game. The life of a blogger is a hard one.

 And guess what? This time around I'm not skipping the story!.... yet. I'm gonna give it another chance, if it gets too dumb I will start skipping it again. And so far it's a bit dumb, I found myself laughing because of how dumb it all was, although the game did earn some honest laughs from me.

 Now, gameplay, I just did all five introductory chapters, and it's a bit better and a bit worse. Super attacks now occur in real time as opposed to cut-ins, which keeps the action running and feels much better. Aerial raves seem to be easier to pull off as well. All that said, the game runs a bit poorly on the Vita, I'm pretty sure Shinovi VS had a better framerate. It's not unplayable by any means, but it leaves something to be desired. On the other hand, graphics look slightly more detailed and crisper, and the 'cannon fodder' enemies' clothes break as well. Speaking of torn clothes, the 'torn' effect looks much better now.

 So, Estival VS looks like an average sequel. Some improvements here and there, a few hiccups, etc etc, still, I've barely played 5 stages so far, so maybe there's some mechanics still left to be introduced, and at least one of the new girls is a blast to play. Speaking of the girls, they have unashamedly placed all purchasable DLC characters on the character select screen, which is just tacky.

Month Overview: March 2016

 Tally:
Super Mario Land 2 - 6 Golden Coins(Virtual Console)          6.0
Devil May Cry HD Collection                                                  9.0
Devil May Cry 4                                                                       8.5
DmC - Devil May Cry                                                              8.0
Dishonored - Game of the Year Edition                                   9.0
Bioshock Infinite - The Complete Edition                               8.0
Fist of the North Star - Ken's Rage 2                                        2.5
Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs Force                                  4.5
Under the Skin                                                                          5.5
Ar Tonelico Qoga - Knell of Ar Ciel                                        3.0
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale                                          8.0
Digimon Story - Cyber Sleuth                                                   8.5


 Despite a few blunders and a few disappointments, it was an overall strong month. I finally went over the entire Devil May Cry series, finished my adventures on Bioshock and came upon Digimon Story - Cyber Sleuth, which was a fantastic RPG... when you weren't grinding like a degenerate.


 Game of March:

 Devil May Cry 1 is fairly dated, but it's still rather good. Devil May Cry 2 is not as good as DMC 1, but not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. And then there's Devil May Cry 3 which is one of the best action games I've ever played. Combat is fast and furious, the story... the story is dumb, but cool dumb, so even if what's going on is dumb, it looks cool.

Runner-up:

 I really wasn't expecting to like a Stealth game so much, but lo and behold, Dishonored held me by wrists and never let go. The amount of ways in which you can tackle each mission, and the variety on how you clear them is staggering. Then there's the freedom you get when developing and equpping your skills, making it easy to tailor Corvo to your playstyle.

Review #315: Digimon Story - Cyber Sleuth

 Looks like the finally got a winning formula for Digimon.

 Digimon is a franchise that has had a bit of an identity crisis, not unlike Sonic, reinventing itself with each iteration. Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth is the latest RPG of the franchise, and I think Namco finally got itself a winning formula.

 Cyber Sleuth takes place in Modern Day Japan, with a twist, digital interaction has advanced so much that you can kinda project your consciousness into an avatar. Playing as a somewhat mute hero, that can be a boy or a girl, you meet up with your friends in the digital world, where you get attacked by an Eater. Now your body lays comatose, but your conscience managed to arrive into the real world as data-only. Fixing yourself a temporary body and employed by the detective Kyoko, it's up to the hero to solve the mystery behind the Eaters and the apparition of Digimon. It's a rather fun story, with some very Shin Megami Tensei-ish touches, like a S&M inspired boss, and the story can get rather dark, with suicide and even implied organ trafficking. The supporting cast is pretty engaging as well, albeit rather plain; there's Nokia, the girl that keeps talking about her 'hot bod' but is considered, in-universe, as not all that pretty, and Arata, the loner that actually cares about his friends, and the shy girl with a quirk to her personality. But that's alright, even though the supporting cast is a bit plain, the story is very engaging. That said, the localization leaves a lot to be desired. The most notorious problem is that the heroes sometimes refer to the Eaters as 'Bakemonos', or monsters in English, but the translators thought they meant 'Bakemon' as in the Digimon 'Bakemon', so now they refer to Eaters as 'Bakemons', which is such a dumb, hilarious oversight. There's also a few non-issue issues, where 'multiple dialogue choices' are made up of a single line of text divided onto two or three lines. These mistakes are rather surprising, since the text is very colorful, they clearly had fun writing the text for the game.

 The game is divided into 20 chapters, and on each you have to solve a few cases. While there's about 2-3 mandatory cases per chapter, you are free to tackle side-cases as well, with randomly generated green quests that.... are rather dull and repetitive. Yellow and Blue cases are much more fun and won't advance the story, while red cases are required in order to advance. The hero's unique physiology allows him to 'connect' onto the Digital World, and travel through digital roads, which serves him just right as his quests usually involve Digimon. You've also got access to a few skills, which change depending on your party set-up, that are needed in order to solve puzzles. 'Decipher' allows you to read data that contains clues to the puzzles, 'Copy and Paste' is used to copy colors and paste them on special platforms, 'Wall Break' is used to break walls(D'oh!) and there's a few others like increasing the amount of random encounters or forcing one.

 Not only does it employ random encounters, but fights used the tried and true turn based system. While you active party is comprised of three Digimon, you can carry up to eight reserve Digimon, and you can change any number of them on just one turn. You can also use your turns to use items, attack, defend or use mana-consuming spells. Party composition plays a big part to how battles play out, there's a rock-paper-scissors system around Digimon types(Vaccine, Virus and Data) that halves or doubles damage taken and received, as well as a fourth, neutral type. But there's also a secondary elemental affinity(Like Fire, Water, Light, etc) that could make the difference between dealing/receiving 0.5 or 0.75 times the damage against a Digimon with an advantageous type, or between 2 or 3 times against a weak type. Fighting the same Digimon many times will 'capture' their data, allowing you to 'load' them on the Digi Lab, and add them to your party. Digimon also come in different ranks(Baby, In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, Mega, Armored and Ultra) and each one has a different weight. Weight comes into play due to the memory limit, which means that if your memory limit is 10, you can't bring a Mega(18) Digimon with you. While I understand that it was probably done for balancing issues, so that you don't curb stomp the competition too early, I thought it was a bit limiting. And, luckily, once you get further into the game, memory upgrades are easier to come by.

 But Memory Capacity is alright, ABI is what really takes the cake when it comes to annoyance. ABI is a stat that only increases when digivolving or devolving your 'mons. Why would you want to devolve a Digimon? Besides the required ABI, you can take your Digimon through another evolution line and thus earn more skills! That should've been a rewards in itself, but nope, they had to make it annoying. Y'see, you won't be able to reach most Megas on your first time evolving your 'mon, so you will have to devolve it once or twice. And then get them back to Ultimate, which means relevelling them back to level 30... it's a huge, annoying time sink. ABI is the one thing I truly, decidedly disliked about the game. And to add insult to injury, sometimes your 'mon won't reach the minimum stat requirements for a Mega Evolution, which means sending your 'mon to train on the DigiFarm, which can take from 30 to 60 minutes of real time, and it might need multiple sessions. Does that sound like fun to you? Honestly I can't see what they were thinking when they came up with this whole system. Oh, and lest I forget, the stat upgrades you get through the Digi-farm? They are limited by the amount of ABI your Digimon has, so maybe you'll need to devolve even further in order to then spend time to level it up, and then spend time on the Digifarm. The truth of the matter is: getting your party up to the point where you want them to be can get a while, a long, long while. These were the only moments I didn't like about the game.

 While the game is a bit flawed, this is easily some of the most fun I've had with a VITA game(Although, sadly(?), this is not an exclusive). Heck, this is easily my favorite Digimon game I've played(Which, frankly, is not a lot, but still). For people missing the good old days of Japanese RPGs, like I was a few days ago when enduring Ar Tonelico 3, this is a fantastic oldschool JRPG that gets almost everything right.

 8.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Digimon Story - Cyber Sleuth

 They almost got it right! Almost!

 While Pokemon has kept the same formula since it's creation, Digimon has always struggled for an identity, reinventing itself with each game. Heck, while the Pokemon anime has been kept stagnant since, like, forever, recycling the same formula over and over again, Digimon has had clearly defined seasons, with its own concepts, heroes and stories.

 And now we get to Cyber Sleuth, and I'd say Namco finally got it right. Kinda. Y'see, the battle system is fantastic, it flows fast, but has depth and it's actually fun to play. I also love having my 'mons running behind me, it helps that I've always loved Digimon's designs far more than Pokemon's. The game's story is surprisingly dark, with a few rather mature themes mixed with the more lighthearted otaku-culture centered set-up. The supporting cast is a bit bidimensional, but I can forgive that.

 But where the game falters is with how raising Digimons work. Firstly, the memory capacity is a total downer, since Digimon have different 'sizes' and you can't go over the memory capacity, and each digievolution makes them heavier. It sucks. It's specially annoying when 'Hacker Skills', which are needed to progress through dungeons are tied to how many Digimon and of which type you are carrying. To add insult to injury, there's an 'ABI' stat that rises every time you digivolve or devolve your 'mon. Chances are you won't be able to reach Mega on your first time through, so you'll have to devolve your mons, which translates into a ton of grinding. I just spent about 5 hours grinding, and even after meeting the ABI requirements, some of my stats didn't, which meant I had to train my 'mons on the Digifarm, and training requires at least half an hour of real time. It's really annoying. Specially because De-volving should be a reward in itself, since you can go through alternate evolution paths and get different skills this way. It works really well, but the ABI requirements are just ridiculous. FIVE HOURS GRINDING. FIVE.

 I actually got jealous of an NPC, while I had to devolve my Metalgreymon. TWICE(Which meant getting Greymon to level 30 three times total, which isn't fun) in order to meet the ABI requirement, and NPC gets an Agumon turned into a Wargreymon. For free. FOR FREE. Like, seriously? I've to grind my butt off and she just gets him for free? SERIOUSLY?

 What I liked:
- The story. It's relatively interesting, with surprisingly mature themes thrown into the mix.
- The combat. It's fast and fun.
- The Digimons. They look badass and you can have them running behind you.
- The presentation. The game looks beautiful, both character models and environments.

 What I didn't like:
- The ABI stat. It translates into grinding, and that's its only purpose.
- The translation. They... they goofed a lot. For instance, there's a Digimon called Bakemon, and Bakemono means monster in Japanese. Well, when talking about the Eaters, a special kind of enemy, sometimes characters refer to them as 'Bakemono' or 'Monsters'... the translators didn't get the memo, and call them Bakemon. They.... they really screwed up. I also came around about three different instances of having to pick an option from between two or three... except that it's only ONCE sentence that takes up two to three lines on the text box. Seriously? And it's a bit surprising, since you can tell that they had fun writing the dialogue.
- The DLC. Getting the Asia version means that I couldn't get the BlackAgumon and BlackGabumon DLCs, but even worse, there's paid DLC Digimon. Just imagine if Pokemon started selling their mons? At least they've patched some free Digimons, but still....

 What can I say, after playing the horrible Ar Tonelico 3 I kinda lost all hope on modern JRPGs, but Cyber Sleuth is really good. Like, REALLY good. Sure, some of the character designs are a bit pandering, but they don't go overboard with gratuitous camera angles or anything of the sort.

Review #314: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

 The first worthy rival to Smash?

 When it comes to games trying to be like Super Smash Bros, I feel like none has ever come close. And then came Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. What is PASBR? It's four on four fighting game, with simple controls, stage hazards and items to grab and cause havoc on the arena. Just like Smash, there's no life bars here, but instead of having to throw combatants off the platform, you have to land Special attacks to score points. Something to keep in mind, buying the PS3 version allows you to link the disc to your account, which nets you a free downloadable copy on the PSVita!

 When it comes to modes, the game skimps out a bit when compared to the competition. There's Tournament Mode, which is online only and seems to reset every few weeks or so, Offline and Online VS, which can be played against up to three CPUs as well. As for Single Player, there're Trials, a 'general' set of trials as well as trials specific to each character... although they are more or less the same to be honest. Then there's Practice, Tutorial and Arcade, Arcade having unique, fully voiced, intros and endings for each character, even the four DLC characters. Mind you, their stories are nothing to write home about, but they bothered to do them, which is nice. I didn't play the Arcade Mode on the PS3 as much as I did on the Vita, but on the Vita version, every now and then, the Arcade Mode would glitch and I would get no voice overs during the intros, endings and rival cutscenes, and no music during fights.

 The game offers 20 characters, plus 4 DLC characters. As far as DLC characters is concerned, the first two were free for a limited time, and the latter 2 could be gotten for free by buying one of the God of War games, so it's not too bad. Each character also comes with an unlockable costume, as well as purchasable costumes. Normally, I wouldn't complain about cosmetic DLC, like costumes, but Sony went out of their way to be as much in-your-face as possible with it. Going to a character's profile will have the costume listed, with the unlock condition being 'purchase at the Store'. Selecting a character will allow you to go through a character's DLC costume, alongside a conveniently placed button that takes you to the store. CPUs may wear DLC costumes during battles as well. It's incredibly tacky, and feels like Sony is constantly tugging at your wallet, trying to make you cave in and purchase those costumes, which I find it to be ArkSys-level disgusting. That aside, the character roster leaves a bit to be desired as well. Where's Crash? Spyro? They defined Playstation during its first console. And what is a Big Daddy or Isaac Clark doing here? If you were gonna have third party characters at least add characters like Lara Croft, who was synonymous with Playstation back in the day(Even though her games were on PC as well!), So yeah, the roster could've been better, plus, I feel like none of these characters have as much star power as Nintendo's classics, though maybe that's just the Nintendo fanboy in me talking.

 When it comes to gameplay, you have three attack buttons at your disposal: Triangle, Square and Circle, and holding different directions when pressing the buttons performs different attacks, for a total of 15 different attacks per character, not counting the aerial attacks. Something that I thought was genius, due to how simple yet fun to perform is, was having throws being done by tapping the right analog stick! IT works fantastically and made throws fun to use! L button guards, and tapping a direction in conjunction with it performs a dodge, there's even aerial dodges! Lastly, the R button performs the special attacks. Controls, as a whole, are spot on, and characters have diverse movesets. Plus, the overall 'feel' of the game is very, very tight. No other Smash-like game has gotten the physics so right before, movement is as fast and as loose as a game like this requires, and the physics are floaty enough as to allow for aerial combos, but it doesn't feel awkward. It's hard to explain, but if you play... say, Cartoon Network Punchtime Explosion and then Playstaton ASBR, you'll notice how much better it feels.

 Landing attacks doesn't cause damage, but instead increases your AP meter, which has three levels, each one corresponding to a different Special Attacks. And landing these are the only way to score points. Special Attacks are very different between each other, but as a general rule, Level 1 Specials are hard to land, and easy for enemies to hit you before you land them and thus cancel them, Level 2 Specials are instantaneous and cover a wide area while Level 3 affects every enemy. Honestly, I felt like Specials were a bit uneven, both between character and between the specials themselves on a single character. Take Heihachi's level 3, he instantly kills everyone for a total of 3 points, and that's it. While Isaac's or Sackboy's gives enemies a chance to avoid it, but allows you to score even more points! But let's go back to Heihach, his level 2 has the potential to net you more than three points, since it's active for a while, in which Kuma comes to aid you, and any enemy he attacks, he instantly kills for an extra point. And if you have two levels on the AP gauge, you can't just use a level 1 special twice, you have to use the level 2. Still, it's a bit of a conundrum, I feel. If you make all the Special attacks identical between characters, then you lose individuality, but in this case some Specials are blatantly better than others. And you could argue that Smash Bros Final Smashes have the same issue, which is true, but Final Smashes aren't as integral to scoring points as specials are on this game. But I digress, I think, considering how the game works, they did the best they could.

 And you gotta give them bonus points for the Stages, each stage is a fusion of two franchises. God of War and Patapon, Parappa the Rappa and Metal Gear, Ape Escape and Killzone, etc. And yes, there's a ton of clashing between visual styles, but it's not jarring, it's fun, specially if you know what comes from what franchise! And using a character nets you points, and as you 'level up' your rank, you unlock an extra costume, more taunt, more victory music, more victory poses, etc. It's a lot of extras for each individual character!

 Alright, so the PS3 is the ideal version to play the game, but only because it looks better. And offline multiplayer. And I mean that, the Vita version, while it doesn't look as good, runs very smoothly, and it has everything the PS3 version has, only that the graphics aren't as good. Loading times, on the Vita, can also be a bit long, but it's not too bad.

 I feel like Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale is the first worthy rival to Smash Bros. It feels really good, controls are tight, and a lot of creativity went into the different stages and character movesets. The Character roster could've been a bit better, there're a bit too many guns(Radic, Drake, Dante, Ratchet, Jak, Isaac and Sweet Tooth all have guns as part of their movesets!) and not enough iconic characters(Big Daddy? Isaac? New Dante over Classic Dante?(And I liked new Dante!) Raiden? Gimme Crash, Lara Croft, Solid Snake, how about a Final Fantasy rep?) Still, overall it's a fun Smash-like fighter, with a bit less party, but a bit more 'fighty' feel to it.
 8.0 out of 10