Review #317: Metal Gear Rising - Revengeance

 More like, rethink your title so that it's a real word. Am I right or am I right?

 Metal Gear Rising is a hack-and-slash action game spun off from the Metal Gear Solid franchise, starring our favorite Cyborg Ninja: Raiden. It's a wildly different take on the franchise, that offers a lot interesting ideas to the genre, even if it doesn't break any new ground.

 The story takes place after Metal Gear Solid 4, Raiden now sporting a more human-like cyborg body fails to protect his client, and is left eyeles and armless by Jetstream Sam, a member from group of terrorists, Desperado. Armed with a new cybernetic body and a need of vengeance, Raiden goes off to stop Desperado. The story is... a bit of a mixed bag. The story itself is alright, but sometimes it feels as if it was written by a group of people, or the writer hadn't a clear idea of what he wanted. You'll go from learning about kids being stripped of their bodies and organs, turned into cybernetic brains and eyes, forced to endure combat VR training, to... to getting punted like a ball by a boss and having an invisible audience cheer him. As a matter of fact, the final boss sometimes feels like a caricature, which is funny, because at times it felt like this pseudo american parody was getting somewhere... only to turn into something out of a caricature, that likes to use Sumo moves. Yeah. It also goes full anime at times, with a pre-teen girl building a rocket ship, or juvenile humor like 'Taking a Doomp'... yeah, it's hard to pinpoint what the tone they wanted for the game was. Also, they decided to bring back Raiden's nickname, 'Jack the Ripper', y'know, that thing that is mentioned during Metal Gear Solid 2? Now it's somewhat of a split personality.... I don't even.... For what its worth, the cutscenes are at their best when stuff happens, because there's some seriously cool scenes to be seen. Just try to turn your brain off when the characters start talking. The audiovisual presentation is a bit lacking as well, characters' faces are off somehow, and Raiden's voice actor sometimes tries to sound ruff, but it comes off as forced.

 But gameplay is where it's at with this game, and it delivers. Your main offensive tool is your sword, which is can be used with weak and strong attacks. Later in the game you'll earn new weapons that can be equipped as your strong attacks. It may throw you off at first, but there's no sidestepping in the game, so you'll have to rely on parrying, which is done by pressing weak attack and the direction the attack is coming from. Parrying is very important and a necessity, the game will quickly pound you into the ground until you learn how to parry incoming attacks. The game's main mechanics is Blade Mode, holding L1 enter you into 'Blade Mode', in which you can cut in almost in direction by combining both analog sticks... or you can just mash square and triangle. A lot of stuff on the environments can be cut down, but enemies need to be worn down before you can freely cut them apart, which you can tell since their weakened body parts will blue. As a matter of fact, once their torso turns blue, you can cut them apart to reveal cells that can be used to refill your entire health bar and the gauge that allows Blade Mode.

 Combat works almost perfectly. I felt like the targeting system was a bit weak, as pulling off certain moves was a bit hard, and even while targeting an enemy, if you accidentally push towards another and attack, you will attack this other enemy instead. I also disliked the relatively high amount of QTEs the game is filled with, just give me cutscenes, they look cool and I don't need to bother pressing buttons in order to make me feel like I'm doing something when I'm not. I mean, some of the QTE segments are impossibly cool, like running over missiles, but if you are gonna use QTEs I 'd rather get a cutscene. There's also a few optional stealth sections. They feel very out of place in an action game, but the icing on the cake comes from the fact that characters will chastise you for not approach the enemies stealthily. Guys, this is NOT Metal Gear Solid, this is an Action game. I want to fight stuff, not silently kill it from behind. And I need to mention just how good the soundtrack is, and it's timed so that the music gets really cool during the coolest moments.

 And now comes the bad news.... the entire game is 4 hours long, less if you skip cutscenes. On its defense, there's about 20 VR Missions to find, and then complete, there's also unlockable weapons and costumes by finding hidden Data storages and cutting 30 arms of certain enemies, so there's certainly a fair amount of replay value. Early in the game's life, Konami released two Campaign DLC packs, one letting you play as Jetstream Sam, and the other as Bladewolf. Each costed $10, but Konami eventually made them free. And it's easy to see why, both are about an hour long, have no new environments, enemies or bosses, although they have a few new cutscenes. Since these include so little new stuff, they might as well just made both characters playable in the main Story, since they offer entirely different movesets from Raiden, and it would've been nice to have more game to try them on in.

 Metal Gear Rising - Revengeance was a valiant effort from Platinum games. While it took me a while to learn just how important Parrying was, I eventually ended up loving the combat system. Cutting stuff is so much fun! But there's so little game to try all these fun mechanics in, and the story was so... baffling, I didn't know what it was going for. And it's true, MGS has always had humor in its story, but this one had some very off-putting moments. Not that it really matters, since the gameplay is what matters, and gameplay they got right.
 8.0 out of 10

My favorite PSP and Vita Games

 Here's the gist of it, in this world there's only one constant I'm entirely subjected to: Change. I am a person, and right now I'm not the same man that I was when I first began writing, heck, that guy wasn't even the same guy that wanted to write this in the first place! What I want to get to, once I stop digressing, is that this list is how I feel right now, at this very moment, so when and if I feel like making this list again, and knowing myself I probably will, it might change.

 So, what is that list? These are the games I liked the most on each particular system, this time around the Gameboy Advance. These are not necessarily the games I consider best, but the ones I liked the most and the ones I have the fondest memories of. For these lists I tried to stay away from multiplatform games, or from ports. I tried to, but in a few cases it was impossible to.



10) All Kamen Rider - Rider Generation 2

 It might not be the best beat'em up ever, or the most complex, but it's one I adore. As a fan of Kamen Rider, and heroes that can transform in general, I love the huge cast of characters, even if they all play basically the same.

9) Me & My Katamari

 In some ways, this is one of the best Katamari games I've played. I love having the formula distilled to its most brainless, yet most entrancing form.

8) Gods Eater Burst

 I might not agree with some of its artistic design choices, but goddamn, this I like GEB. One of the PSP games I've spent the most time with, and I don't regret any of it, I really like this take on the Monster Hunter formula. As a matter of fact, in some ways, I actually prefer this game over Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.

7) Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy

 Sometimes I really don't know what the &*#$%! goes through Square's bigwigs' heads when they come up with these presumptuous titles. Dissidia Duodecim? Seriously? Nova Crystalis? Birth by sleep? Square, how about going back to making good games instead of weird titles? But I digress. Dissidia Duodecim is a very original Fighting game with hours upon hours worth of content to keep anyone busy. And it's not just fluff, there's a ton of unlockables to earn as well. The one thing I'd hold against it, believe it or not, are the customizable movesets. When it comes to fighting games, I'd much rather have set movesets across the board. But that's just me.

6) Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max

 I love Street Fighter Alpha 3, it was one of the reasons that veered me towards jumping ship to the PS2 and abandon Nintendo after the N64. Alpha 3 on the PSP has all the modes from previous iterations on the PS1 and GBA, it has Arcade-perfect gameplay and sprites(Something the PS1 couldn't handle), and it has all the extra characters the GBA had plus a newcomer. If it only wasn't for the fact that this game is only available on a handheld console, this would be the definitive version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 bar none. Regardless, seeing how most of my friends dislike fighting games, I'm quite used to fighting against CPUs, and I love this game even though I don't have human competition.

5) Half-minute Hero

 This game is more than just a novelty, they managed to cram a full-fledged JRPG experience into 30 seconds. Kinda. The game is a blast, forcing you to be constantly on the move, exploring, going to towns, dungeons and grinding for money and experience, under a 30 second limit. Kinda. And that's just the main mode, there's three alternate modes that, while not as fun as the main mode, are nice little time wasters. Every now and then I'll pop this one in to replay the challenge modes, Hero 300, Hero 30 and Hero 3. I love this game.

4) Mega Man Maverick Hunter X/ Mega Man Double pack

 Maverick Hunter X is one of the best remakes I've ever played, displaying high production values in its fantastic presentation. And it's not just skin deep, the game looks and sounds beautiful, but it keeps the same polished, tight gameplay from the original Mega Man X. And to sweeten the deal, it comes with Vile as an unlockable character, that turns the game on its head featuring an entirely different play-style. It's amazing.
 The only thing better than Maverick Hunter X is getting the 'dual pack' which includes Mega Man Powered Up, another excellent remake of another Mega Man game.

3) Mobile Suit Gundam VS Gundam Next Plus

 Arcade on-the go 2 on 2 action on the go, what more could you ask for? It has a large character roster, made up of entirely different units, as well as a variety of different modes to test them in, assuming you somehow get tired of free battling. The only bad thing I can say about this game is that it's been overshadowed by Gundam Extreme VS and Full Boost, but hey, even then, this is still a more complete game than Extreme Vs Force on the Vita... At least for the time being.

2) Pursuit Force/ Pursuit Force - Extreme Justice

 The short-lived Pursuit Force franchise is one of my favorites, condensing into two little UMDs almost everything I look for in a videogame. These are high octane action games, that sees the player chasing criminals on foot, on wheels and on water. The missions put you instantly in the midst of the action, and it never stops.
 I just couldn't pick between both games, the second one had some slight tweaks and improvements that I really liked... but also a few things that I thought the previous game did a little bit better. As it stands, I think both of them are just as good.

1) Castlevania - The Dracula X Chronicles

 Castlevania fans come in two groups, those that like the linear 2-D action-platform games, which I like to call Classicvanias, and those that like the more exploration-based games, Metroidvanias/Castleroids. Me? I like both styles just as much. Castlevania - The Dracula X Chronicles contains a remake of one of, arguably, one of the best Classicvania games as well as a port of, arguably, one of the bestr Metroidvanias. And, if, for whatever reason, you dislike the remake, the game also includes the original version of Rondo of Blood. Three fantastic games on one tiny UMD, there's absolutely no going wrong with this one.



 And, just as with the 3DS, I really don't think the Vita has a strong game library, not even as strong as the 3DS', so I decided to fuse that one with this one.


4) Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs Force

 Alright, so I'm cheating a bit because the game just got really good today, but I can already tell that I'm gonna spend a ton of time with this game. Hopefully subsequent patches make it even better. Hopefully.

3) Uncharted - Golden Abyss

 This game was a promise. A promise of things to come, as it showcases just what can be done with the system under people who actually care. Not only is it a great game, surpassing the original Uncharted(Not that that is saying much), but it's a bit of a wonder, as it captures the feeling of Uncharted perfectly, despite it being developed by a different developer. This is the golden standard all Vita games should aim to match... except that it seems nobody really cares.

2) Digimon Story - Cyber Sleuth

 I'm still amazed at how good this game turned out. It features a mature storyline with hints of Shin Megami Tensei, particularly Nocturne, and tried and true turn based combat. This game can be so much fun when you aren't grinding like a degenerate, but once you finally get that team you've been yearning for since the start of the game... Oh man, oh man!

1) Persona 4 The Golden

 Alright, alright, so I said no ports unless I'm talking about the original release, but... but... Come one, it's the Vita, it barely has great games, just let me have this one. Just this one. I'm gonna be honest here, I thought most of the new additions were just... additional fat. Some people argue about how it adds more depth into the story, but the thing is... the story was perfectly fine and complete beforehand, it needed no extra characters or explanations, because everything was perfectly self-contained. And the new plot-related character is just a somewhat unfitting waifu sterteotype caricature, and the new social links... they further dilute the personality of a certain character that's been badly handled on subsequent games, like Arena. You can't make the villain sympathetic, stop trying, you are just ruining other characters. Still, now you can fuse Magatsu Izanagi as a Persona, which is quite badass.
 But here's the thing, even though I dislikes most of the extra content... you can perfectly ignore it and just play this game like it used to be. Want more content? You got it. Dislike it? Just ignore it. Win-win.

Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs - Force Update 1.03

 Now this is more like it!

 The Asia release of Extreme VS Force finally got updated. And unlike the Borderlands Patch, this one actually matters and makes the game a whole lot better.

 It has two major additions: Six new units and two new modes. The units are: Master Gundam, 00 Gundam, Strike Freedom, Turn X, GP02A and, for the first time on console ports of Extreme Vs, the Mack Knife. It's a nice selection of units, with different playstyles, which is more than welcome, and bumps up the character roster to 46. It's a far cry from Full Boost's 96+ roster, but it's something. 

 The other new addition is 'Vs Extend Mode', which is made up of Free Battle and Course Battle. Free Battle lets you play against CPUs, finally, and offers all the options available on a console release, you can tamper with the AI difficulty, the boost gauge, the battle gauge, and even the timer to make it infinite if you so want to. This is the reason we play these games, and something that should've been here from the start.... but it's finally here, and it's gonna extend the game's life by a lot. As for Course Battle, it's basically an Arcade mode, featuring 8 courses of varying lengths. It's alright.

 The only thing I will complain about is how Vs Extend works, after you select Free Battle or Course Battle, the X button('cancel') takes you back to the main menu and not the Extend menu. It's a tiny nitpick, but still.

 Overall, while the character roster is still a bit lacking, this is at least acceptable by the series' standards, and bumps up my score to:

8.0 out of 10.

My Favorite Nintendo DS and 3DS Games

 Here's the gist of it, in this world there's only one constant I'm entirely subjected to: Change. I am a person, and right now I'm not the same man that I was when I first began writing, heck, that guy wasn't even the same guy that wanted to write this in the first place! What I want to get to, once I stop digressing, is that this list is how I feel right now, at this very moment, so when and if I feel like making this list again, and knowing myself I probably will, it might change.

 So, what is that list? These are the games I liked the most on each particular system, this time around the DS. These are not necessarily the games I consider best, but the ones I liked the most and the ones I have the fondest memories of. For these lists I tried to stay away from multiplataform games, or from ports. I tried to, but in a few cases it was impossible to.


10) Dungeon Explorer - Warriors of Ancient Arts

 This game was my favorite Nintendo DS game for a while actually, but I don't think it has aged quite so well. As a matter of fact, I'd argue it was pretty dated for its time as well. But, for quite a while, I played the hell out of this cart, decking out multiple characters and making different builds and loving every second of it. It was the closest thing you could get to Diablo at the time on the DS.

9) Golden Sun - Dark Dawn

 It's funny, because I remember arguing over how overrated the original Golden Sun games were with the fanbase, and once this game came out, they despised it... and I defended it. Because this game was everything I expected out of a new Golden Sun game. Heck, characters were more expressive and a teeny bit more depth than the previous cast... well, most of them anyways, there were two or three main characters that were, basically, cardboard boxes, with no depth whatsoever. The game's biggest problem though, is that it ends on a cliffhanger, one that's probably not going to be resolved anytime soon.

8) Final Fantasy IV

 Final Fantasy IV is the Final Fantasy game that's gotten the most ports and remakes in the entire franchise. But the DS version is a very unique beast, until it was eventually ported to iOS devices. The game was entirely remade in 3D, and it looks beautiful, and it also retains the original Japanese difficulty setting, restored skillset(Basically, 'Dark' was quite watered down compared to what it was in the Japanese version) and a new translation. It also features new mechanics with the Augment system, allowing you to get your characters to carry over skills from the few allies that leave the party. If you ask me, this is the best version of Final Fantasy IV out there.

7) Mario Kart DS

 One of the two Mario Kart games I've spent the most time with(Foreshadowing), and it's still a mainstay among the games I regularly take on long trips with me. This Mario Kart has an excellent character and vehicle roster, coupled with 16 courses, most which are total hits. But it's best feature is the Random Offline Vs. As someone who likes variety, playing courses in random order never grows old. Never. Which is something that makes this version widely superior, in my eyes, to some of its future installments(More foreshadowing).

6) Bleach - The Blade of Fate/ Bleach - Dark Souls

 The Blade of Fate is among my favorite 2D fighter ever made, and it's a handheld fighting game, where has the world gone to? The combat is fast and intuitive, which makes it a blast to play even at a casual level. And I even took the fight online and could pull off some nasty Soi Fon combos. The reason both the first and second installments made it here is that I consider the first game a superior competitive fighter, due to the balancing and mechanics... But even though the second game is rather unbalanced(Ishida and Inoue are borderline useless now), even though I don't agree with some of the changes to the mechanics and even though it has a fair amount of bugs... it has more characters, which at a casual level, is what matters the most.

5) The Phoenix Wright series

 While, technically, ports of GBA games, those were never released outside Japan, which means that this is the official console of choice outside Japan.. although they were later rereleased on the Wii, and I believe iOS as well, but I'll pretend those don't exist. The entire Ace Attorney franchise is fantastic, even Apollo Justice has its things. But if I had to pick just one, just one that showcased the creative writing, the original characters and the engrossing storyline, it'd be the third one, Trials and Tribulations. This is franchise I wouldn't mind Capcom milking more.

4) Castlevania - Portrait of Ruin/ Castlevania - Order of Ecclesia

 All three Castlevania games on the DS are fantastic examples of the genre, and outstanding games on their own right. But while it's easy for me to cross Dawn of Sorrow off the list due to it's needless touch mechanics, both Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia have things that make them stand out from each other.
 Portrait of Ruin has a varied slew of weapons and abilities, and a ton of extra characters that make each romp through the game feel different. There's also a ton of variety on the castle and the portraits, it probably has the most varied locales in a Metroidvania ever. But Order of Ecclesia has more interesting characters, both in design and personality, a beautiful art direction and a more consistent overall environment and a very high difficulty level. Both of them are fantastic for different reasons, Potrait of Ruin is the purer Metroivania experience, while Order of Ecclesia is the more challenging one.

3) The World Ends with You.

 The World Ends with You is one of the most original JRPGs you can find on the system. It has a very original story, although it reminded me a bit of the 'Shibuya 15' JDrama, with realistic character development and interesting characters. It also has a very original combat system, it might feel a bit unnatural at first, but after a while you can get the hang of it. And if it still proves too tough, you could always lower the difficulty.

2) Pokemon HeartGold

 Arguably the best Pokemon game ever released. Not only does it feature the storyline from Pokemon Gold, featuring both Kanto and Johto, but it also brings all the innovations two generations forward made to the franchise, as well as Pokemon from subsequent regions as well. There's so much to this game it's not even funny. Pokemon Gold has a lot to do, and I do mean a lot, but this game adds even more to it, and there's a few interesting new mechanics, like more involved contest and a key item that 'unremixes' the new music to make them sound exactly like they did on the Gameboy Color. Funnily enough, most Pokemon games are considered to be very easy, and they are, but Pokemon HeartGold is the other way around. The main story is as easy as it's always been, but if you don't stick to a single team, expect to have a hard time with the Elite 4 rematches!

1) Orcs & Elves

 Will this game ever grow old in my eyes? Every time I play it, I fall in love with it again. This is the perfect on-the-go game, thanks to it's slow pace. And even though it has a slow pace, it feels fast. It's funny, ever since I came across the series on the cellphone with 'Doom RPG' I got addicted to them. Doom RPG, Orcs & Elves, Orcs & Elves 2, Doom RPG 2, all games that I've played thousand upon thousand of times. And Orcs & Elves on the DS is probably the best among them, featuring the best graphics, the best controls, the best interface, and even more sections than the Mobile original. Sadly, the sequel never received a DS port, they could've done wonders with it....



 I find that the 3DS has a rather... lacking videogame library when compared to the DS, so I couldn't for the life of me pick 10 games that I thought were my 'favorite', so I fused that list with this onem and here it is:

5) Mario Kart 7....?

 I guess I can see why someone would consider this game better than the DS one... but if you ask me, the lack of VS CPU on random courses cuts the game longevity's in half. I get bored of playing cups with preset ordered courses, sorry. And the game lacks Wario, my favorite Nintendo character. And I felt like the gliding and underwater driving were gimmicks. And I think it's pretty clear by now that this game is filler so that the list doesn't feel short!

4) Pokemon Y

 I was probably a bit too harsh with it on my review here. Pokemon Omega Ruby only helped make this one look even better after all! Look, even a bad Pokemon game is a good game, at the end of the day, and Pokemon Y is anything but bad. It featured customization, for the first time ever, and it's a blast! The new engine makes everything look beautiful, even if a few animations are a bit lazy. On hindsight, the rollerskates were a great, cute, new addition that made moving around fun, often opting for them instead of the bike!

3) Shinobi

 Shinobi on the 3DS is not a game for everyone. But it's a game for me, being some of the most fun I've had on the system yet. The trial and error gameplay might frustrate some, which is totally understandable, but it encouraged me to keep going and learning enemy layouts and patterns to better dispatch them in order to conserve health and do better for the bosses. I dunno, I just loved this little game.

2) The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time 3D

 While I consider it the most overrated game of all time, there's no denying that it's actually a really good game. And while I don't consider the original dated by any means, Ocarina of Time 3D updated the graphics to today standards, and it looks beautiful, while polishing the item interface to make it more comfortable to go spelunking.

1) Super Smash Bros. 3DS

 Easily the game I like the most on the 3DS, and the one I take away with me the most. While it fell a teeny tiny bit short of my expectations, it still delivered on what matters: Smash on the go. Featuring the most characters the franchise has ever had, and the same tight gameplay, without the annoying tripping, Smash on the 3DS is the only game I'd consider a must-have on the system.

My favorite GameBoy Advance games

 Here's the gist of it, in this world there's only one constant I'm entirely subjected to: Change. I am a person, and right now I'm not the same man that I was when I first began writing, heck, that guy wasn't even the same guy that wanted to write this in the first place! What I want to get to, once I stop digressing, is that this list is how I feel right now, at this very moment, so when and if I feel like making this list again, and knowing myself I probably will, it might change.

 So, what is that list? These are the games I liked the most on each particular system, this time around the Gameboy Advance. These are not necessarily the games I consider best, but the ones I liked the most and the ones I have the fondest memories of. For these lists I tried to stay away from multiplataform games, or from ports. I tried to, but in a few cases it was impossible to.


10) Guilty Gear X Advance

 Ever since I got this game a couple of Christmases(It actually is a word!) ago, I played this game over and over again. When the GBA was my platform of choice for getaways, this is the game I took. And y'know what, it looks pretty bad for a GBA game, it even sounds like a Gameboy color game, and even then, even then, I had a blast with this game. I could play on of my then-favorite fighting games on the go. It even had a phenomenal color-edit mode, a mode in which I spent more than I would like to admit.

9) Double Dragon Advance

 This is a game that became a bit of an acquired taste for me. I thought it was alright when I first played it, but nothing special. Fast forward a few months, maybe even years later, during highschool, I tended to get a very upset stomach, my alimentary habits probably weren't the best. Regardless, I spent quite a few days at home, while suffering from an upset stomach and nausea and... playing Double Dragon Advance. While at the outset it feels clunky, slow and maybe even limited, you'll soon discover that the moveset is deceptively large, and there's a ton of ways to dispatch enemies. Also, major bonus points for the art direction, emulating Hokuto no Ken very well. It might not be the best beat'em on the system, but hey, I learned to love it.

8) Dragonball Z Supersonic Warriors

 People usually hark on and on about how sequels are usually worse than the first installments, but my experience has told me otherwise, at least as far as gaming goes. Videogame Sequels are usually better than their first parts. Usually, Supersonic Warriors 1 is way better than its sequel, featuring faster combat and a combo system that actually works. This is another game I spent a lot of time playing while in highschool, except that I played it after coming home, next to the window and trying to get the most out of the setting sun's last rays of light. Hey, when you had a vanilla GBA you had to learn how to make the most out of different light sources!

7) Golden Sun/Golden Sun - The Lost Age

 This franchise I actually discovered through Emulation. I tried out the first game, loved it, but never finished it, since I wanted to buy it, except that I never came around it. Years later I bought The Lost Age and loved it, and a few years later I got my hands on the first entry! While the fanbase overrates these game a whole lot, an opinion backed by how much hate the sequel got due to, basically, complaining about things that these games never got right, and yet downright ignoring them when it came to these two), I still find them to be very entertaining. They are very original JRPGs, with the equippable Djinni serving as power ups, skills and providing class changes according to your setup. Not that it really matters when you can just wreck anything and everything that comes your way with the very impressive summoning spells.

6) The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King

 Who thought that making a Diablo-like dungeon crawling RPG based on LOTR was a good idea? No, seriously. Probably the same guy that thought about doing the same thing with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Well, that guy deserves a medal. It's no even funny how many hours I spent building my characters, redoing the bonus dungeons over and over again in order to get better and better equipment. And I created a ton of different characters, it's a shame that there's not enough slots to have one of each!

5) Pokemon Ruby

 While this is far from my favorite Pokemon game, as a matter of fact it's my least, this is the one I played the most. First I played it on an emulator. Then I played it on the GBA. Then I sent all my monsters to Pokemon Platinum. And then I played it again to send them to Heart Gold. And then I played it again because I couldn't leave my boxes without Pokemon. And while it is the Pokemon game I like the least at this time, at the time I considered it the best Pokemon game ever. It looked better than anything that had come before it, it had new mechanics, like the hideout which I adored, and while even at the time I could see how terrible some of the new Pokemon were, it had Blaziken, which is one of the best Pokemon ever made, both due to its type and looks!

4) WarioWare Inc. Mega Microgame$

 While I love this game, I hate what it did to Wario's character, making things like farting part of his persona. But even then, just as Guilty Gear X and Lord of the Rings Return of the King, this was one of my mainstay games when going away from home on holidays or long trips. One thing I like are arcadey games, score based, easy to pick and play, and this delivers. And I also like randomness, which is why my music playlists are always on Shuffle, and this game offers random microsized games and a breakneck speed. I love it.

3) Tales of Phantasia

 Ever since my younger self came upon the fantranslated SNES rom of Tales of Phantasia, I became enamored with the franchise. Yes, the official translation is a bit of a trainwreck(KANGAROO!) but the fantranslation wasn't all that accurate either, people just remember it fondly due to how... 'edgy' it was. The fact is, I clocked over 60 hours on this little beast, and even long after finishing the game, I returned to it to do some random battles while playing as other characters, like newcomer Suzu. I loved the amount of detail and optional scenes you could trigger in this game, little things like seeing Chester training at night to catch up to his friends. This might not be the optimal way to experience the game, but until Namco decides to translate the PS1 remake, or remake it on newer platforms, this'll have to do.

2) Super Mario Advance 3 - Yoshi's Island

 Alright, so I said that I'd try not to include ports, and I tried, I really did, but there's two reasons this game made it in: firstly, I never had an SNES, so the first time I played this game was right here, with this port. And secondly, it's an amazing game. A game I fondly remember playing early in the morning before going to highschool, while waiting for the rest of my family to get ready to go. It's a game that could get hard as nails as you got into the secret, bonus levels, but felt oh so rewarding when you finally cleared them. I usually hate having to replay levels, but amassing high scores became rewarding when I could unlock punishing secret levels. And then clearing those was a whole 'nother story...

1) Castlevania - Double Pack

 What's better than one Castleroid/Metroidvania game? Two of them, for the price of one. I think it's no secret that I absolutely love the genre, and you get two of them, TWO, on a single cart. Harmony of Dissonance is pretty alright, heck, if you play it first you might actually think that it's really good, specially considering that it's on a handheld console! And then you play Aria of Sorrow and HOLY SMOKES, THIS IS SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT LEVEL OF GREATNESS. Sure, the graphics are not as good, some would argue that even HoD has better graphics, and maybe the castle is smaller.... and while on the outset there's less weapons, there's actually more unique weapons, which is complemented with the fantastic Soul System, which has enemies dropping souls that you can equip. And you can have different soul set ups. There's so much customization and different ways to deal with enemies! Aria of Sorrow is so good I actually 100%ed it multiple times, down to the enemy drops. Something which I also did on Harmony of Dissonance, what can I say, I love the genre, and Aria of Sorrow is a particularly outstanding example of a Metroidvania.

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