Now Playing: inFamous - Second Son & Ape Escape 2

 Second son, third game.

 So... I just meant to install this game, but turns out there was no install so I kinda started playing it...
 My very first impression was... not good. I got control of Delsin and quickly found out that Water kills you instantly, which I thought was lame. Then I discovered that Delsin couldn't climb quite as efficiently as Cole, which was also disappointing.

 But I kept on playing, I'm up to the part in which you rescue the bus full of people and I'm enjoying the game a lot. It's very smooth, and I just hope that traversing the environment is as fun as it was on the previous games.

 I'm rather fond of Delsin too, I heard he was an unlikable protagonist... but nothing he's don was particularly douchebaggy, instead he's acting as I'd expect a trouble-child would after obtaining powers. I'm loving his banter with his brother!

The game is great, but the cover isn't very descriptive...

 Well, since the Uruguayan customs suck and every time a package gets retained it means they will handle it like garbage... I'm rushing Ape Escape 2 since I want to make sure the disc is OK, considering the box got crushed and the splinters scratched the disc.

 I'm somewhere near the end of the game, I kinda binged through the game, and I'm adoring it. I remember liking this game a lot back when I was younger, but right now I'm loving every second. As a matter of fact I'm catching every single monkey. I love this game.

Review #540: Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 - Road to Boruto

 Naruto's most disappointing Storm yet.

Hideous cover. Should've kept the old one.

 CyberConnect 2 is a company that usually gets a lot of flak for being lazy and... this game isn't helping their case. A disappointing game bundled with its disappointing DLC, Ultimate Ninja Storm is anything but a fitting end to the series that promised so much.

 Well, Story mode has changed a bit, now being split in an episode-based Story Mode and an Adventure Mode that takes place after the story. The Story mode follows the final parts of Naruto's story, which sees Naruto fighting deities and finally reuniting with Sasuke. Story mode had usually been a highlight in the franchise but they managed to ruin it. About 3/4ths of the story is told through ugly anime stills, usually featuring off-model characters, instead of the beautiful 3-D cutscenes CC2 was known for. It's incredibly offputting and cheap, and they only stopped using them because the anime hadn't gone that far into the manga. Losing the ability to freely roam around is also missed, this episode structure feels very disjointed. As for the adventure mode, there're three chapters, one for Naruto, one for Shikamaru and a final one for Gaara, they are silly scenarios that will barely hold your interest, but they have various sidequests and things to do, so there's no shortage of content here... it's a shame most of it is rather dull and repetitive, 'Go find X thing for me', 'Pick up Y things' or win simple fights. Boruto gets his own Story Mode which is a return to form for the series, featuring Adventure Mode's free roam as well as the gorgeous cutscenes from story mode, it's a shame Boruto's movie, the story it covers, isn't very interesting. Rounding up the package are the usual VS and online VS modes you've come to expect.

The particle effects are much nicer, but it doesn't look all that much better than it used to.

 If story mode wasn't disappointing enough, the character roster sure is. There're only 13 new characters, mostly made up of new forms of Naruto, Sasuke, Obito and Madara. They have different animations and models, true, but being just new forms makes them rather dull. What's most disappointing is how many characters we're missing, like the mist swordsmen or a few reanimated enemies, many which already had character models and animations from Ultimate Storm 3. Road to Boruto is even MORE disappointing, there're many enemies with animations and movesets that are simply unplayable, instead we get a total of THREE Borutos(Which share a lot of moves), TWO Saradas(Which share a ton of moves) and new versions of adult Naruto and Sasuke... which are reused character models that share some animations with their previous versions. All of that and not a single playable Boruto villain. To call the character roster underwhelming is an understatement. At least the game includes the Sound Ninja DLC, which should've been part of the roster since the first game. To add insult to injury, 90% of the DLC costumes, thankfully also included, return from Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 and quite a few costumes remain Story mode exclusive. Cyber Connect 2? More like Cutting Corners 2 much.

 Gameplay is basically the same as usual, but with a few novelties. The system from Revolution is gone, thankfully, so now you can Awaken or use Ultimate Justsu at will. A good new addition is that you can customize which Jutsu and Ultimate Jutsu to use with a few characters, which should've been a great idea but is very limiting, for instance, Minato can't use Reanimated Minato's awakening or ultimate jutsu, which sucks since reanimated characters are ugly, but Reanimated Minato can use any of Minato's skills(Sans awakening). That's a great idea executed halfway decently. A good addition is tagging, by using the right analog stick you can switch between any of up to three characters, all of them sharing a single life bar. Lastly, there's chakra counter, by shortening, for a short while, your maximum chakra you can repel any attack directed your way, if you time it right. There're some framerate issues here and there, but it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. Still, this game looks almost exactly as it looked on the PS3, the particles are better, and still only runs at a barely stable 30 fps. What the hell? Take away tagging and this game could've perfectly run on a PS3. So the money didn't go into making new characters, didn't go into a decent story mode and didn't go into enhancing production values, so where was it spent? Only CyberConnect 2 knows.

Road to Boruto's DLC is one of the most lackluster DLCs I've ever seen.

 If you've been playing the series sporadically, skipping a game here and there, or if this is your first Ultimate Ninja Storm game, you might think it's a very good game. But us who have been here since the start(Or Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 in my case) know just how badly CyberConnect2 cut corners with this one. This game was gonna bring closure to the franchise, this was supposed to be the best Naruto game, the ULTIMATE Ultimate Ninja Storm. But CyberConnect 2 managed to disappoint and tried to demonstrate why so many people call them lazy.
 6.0 out of 10

Review #539: Samurai Shodown Anthology

 A history lesson of 2-D Samurai.

The art is absolutely badass.

 Samurai Shodown's one of the most famous and unknown fighting games around. It's unknown because not many people know about it, surprisingly, and the fact that the latter titles in the series were bland dug its grave even deeper, but it's also famous because those of us that love fighting games recognize it as the first 2-D fighting game in which characters almost exclusively employ weapons.

 Anthology is quite the package, featuring almost the entirety of the series' 2-D run with Samurai Shodown I, II, III, IV, V and VI. Not only are you getting fantastic arcade perfect renditions of all six games, you also get a few bells and whistles like art galleries and the amazing color-edit mode, with which you can edit a character's color palette! The cherry on top is getting to see how the series evolved, changed and, eventually, started to decline. 

It's amazing how great the series looks by the sixth installment.

 Samurai Shodown 1 is very dated by today's standards, featuring stiff movement and somewhat ugly sprites. There's two slash buttons and two kick buttons, and pressing both buttons of either type produces a strong version, for a total of 6 different basic moves. There're also special moves that you can perform by inputting different directions on the directional pad. Samurai Shodwown is, unlike other fighters, centered around landing hits and looking for openings as opposed to trying to link together long combos. As it stands, the game isn't particularly bad, but every other game leaves it in the dust.

 Samurai Shodown 2 is a huge improvement, sprites are pretty and the game feels much more smooth. It also introduces super moves that you can perform when you are in Rage Mode. It's aged much better than the previous game and remains quite playable to this day.

The sixth game has a handful of new characters... and they are quite good designs.

 The game looked better before, but as of Samurai Shodown III it's gorgeous. Every sprite has been beautifully redrawn, and this is the style that subsequent games will follow. III introduces SLASH and BUST versions of every character, basically, each character gets two different movesets, some characters being more pronounced than others. Controls have been changed, now there're three different types of slashes(Weak, Medium and Strong) as well as a single kick button. Samurai Shodown III feels great t play, and in my opinion, is one of the better games in this anthology.

 Samurai Shodown IV is more of the same, but III was so good that this is a good thing. The character roster has seen some changes, quite a few characters are gone... but a handful of new ones are introduces, including Kazuki Kazama, my favorite character in the franchise. These last two games would be the peak of the franchise, because...

Over 40 playable characters, trust me, there's fun to be had even if you prefer the older games.

 Samurai Shodown V comes next, and... it's not pretty. Well, it looks pretty, but the end result isn't. Firstly, this is the original release of V, which is lacking blood effects and fatalities, something that would be addressed in V Special, which sadly is missing from this anthology. Controls have changed again, we've lost the dedicated Strong slash button, which sucks since now you have to resort to using both slash buttons again, and instead got a 'special' button that works as a jumping dodge. What a lame addition. Slash/Bust versions of each characters are gone. On the plus side, I enjoyed the new characters like Enja and Suija, as well as Nobuhiro Watsuki's original designs. V is not a bad game, but it's not a step in the right direction.

 Finally there's Samurai Shodown VI and your mileage may vary on this one. This is a dream game that pits all characters in a festival, so no blood effects or fatalities. Every single character that was ever playable in the series returns, and if he hasn't been seen since the second game he also gets a brand new sprite. All returning sprites have been brightened up a bit, making for a far more cheerful game. Controls are back to the III-IV, which is a huge plus. Sadly, the game feels a tad slow, and while I love having all these many characters I can't shake off the feeling of wanting to be playing III or IV instead. VI was a good game to end the series on, but not the best it's been.

CPU-Enja is quite the bastard, he can shave off a half of your health bar in a single combo.

 If you've ever enjoyed a Samurai Shodown game, or if you've a passing interest in the series, this disc comes highly recommended. You get the entire(mostly) history of the numbered series in one tight, neat package. That said, be warned that the first four games are VERY difficult, even on the easiest difficulty setting. These ports are arcade-perfect, so they mimic that quarter-muncher, unfair difficulty. Still, every game has a dedicated practice mode and a Versus 2P mode, so you can get your kicks there.

 8.0 out of 10

Review #538: Uncharted 4 - A Thief's End

 Drake returns... both of them.

Don't cry because it's over, be happy that it didn't end like Dexter.

 Of course Sony wasn't going to just let Uncharted run its course on the PS3, so they brought their moneymaker onto the PS4... and it's glorious. Naughty Dog once again brought their A game in order to prove that if someone can make the most out of Sony's hardware it's them.

 Picking off a few years after Uncharted 3, Nathan and ELena have been married for a while now, leading a normal, mundane life. That is until Naughty Dog decides to alter Uncharted's canon once again, turns out that Nathan had a long-lost brother that he thought was dead, who also taught him how to use the Rope tool, a tool which he gets just use in this game and this game only. But that's OK, we should be used to Uncharted's flimsy plot-devices since the writing is as sharp as ever. The story is very interesting all the way throughout, and the franchise's staple conversations are kept in and are as good as ever. That said, you shouldn't come into Uncharted 4 expecting an fresh, original story because that's never been Uncharted's style, this is an action movie-style plot through and through, with most plot twists being unsurprising or predictable... but at least they are well written, so it's fun seeing everything unravel.

A lot of familiar faces return to send off Uncharted as we knew it.

 Not much has changed, for good or bad. Nathan and his AI-controlled buddies are as nimble and athletic as ever, being able to climb, cling onto or vault on various surfaces and objects. There'll be a lot of climbing and parkouring around, as per usual, and this game introduces a rope into your move repertoire. L1 can be used to throw your rope towards designated poles or objects in order to swing around... or climb up or down the rope. Heck, sometimes you'll have to tie objects with your rope and then pull them towards you. The rope is more than just a gimmick and made for some fun new platforming sections.

 Another change is the addition of bigger areas, which, as a consequence, also meant the addition of vehicles. There're a few instances in the game in which you'll have to traverse long distances by car or boat. These control well, and I admit that there were some very entertaining puzzles involving the car's winch, but I don't think I'm a fan of these open areas. The game works better when it's a linear adventure, these vehicle sections felt like they made the narrative fall into a lull. Sure, you can explore and find secret collectibles, but... why bother? Rewards aren't tangible, hell, the reward in Uncharted is to follow the story, not to go out of your way for little trinkets. Still, I appreciate the idea of bigger areas, I just think they don't fit the game very well.

It's not even funny how great the game looks.

 Combat has changed even less, in close quarters Nate can punch, dodge or mash triangle when he falls victim to a grab. Gunplay is pretty much exactly the same as before, so there's nothing to add on that front. If anything, I felt shootouts were much fairer than in previous games, presumably because normal enemies aren't as much of damage sponges as they used to be. Plus, stealth works better here than in any other Uncharted game, with the addition of tall grass in order to hide... or hide bodies with stealth kills.

 As a whole, the game manages to capture most of the action and excitement that made the series so special but... the bar has simply been raised TOO high by previous games. Shootouts, chases, escaping falling buildings are all very exciting, and the phenomenal graphics makes everything look amazing but it's missing such unique, epic set-pieces as the train battle from Uncharted 2 or the sinking ship from Uncharted 3. I didn't feel as if I was doing anything that I hadn't done in a previous Uncharted game, even if it looked better than ever before.

Everything is better with aerial punches.

 Uncharted 4 is everything it needed to be and everything it should've been for Uncharted's first foray into the PS4. It's also a fitting end to the franchise that basically defined the PS3. I think we should all take a moment to appreciate just how much the franchise has evolved from that crappy little PS3 game that had imprecise controls, unfair combat and stupid QTEs to the brilliant bar-setter it became.

 9.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Tomb Raider & Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 - Road to Boruto

 A beauty and a beast.

She's got a big pair of guns.

 I'm loving what little I've played so far, and this can't be nostalgia speaking since I never played much of this one! I first started with Tomb Raider 2 and got all the way up to the Last Revelation before I finally came across TR 1... and it was a DOS game that was having trouble running on my then-modern PC. And when I finally got it running it looked like garbage, so it never manage to arrest my attention.
 But I got to the third level already and I'm enjoying it quite a bit, despite its clunky controls. It's fun, environments are interesting and the game manages to rope you into the adventure quite strongly

Ugh, what an ugly cover.

 What a disappointment. I'm about 25% through the Story Mode and... I can't help but feel like this is the laziest game CC2 has ever made. The story is, at least so far, told through horrible anime stills, a lot that feature characters looking off-model. As for new characters, there's mostly new forms of Naruto, Sasuke, Obito and Madara, while we are still missing a bunch of characters like the mist swordsmen. As a matter of fact, just like Ultimate ninja Storm 3, this game has a ton of unplayable NPCs that should've been playable. The Road to Boruto additions are even worse, who needed 2 Saradas and three Borutos? Give me the villains, please.
 This is a horrible way to end the series.

Now Playing: Uncharted 4 - A Thief's End

 At least Elena and Nate didn't break up again.

Don't look sad, you can join Crash and Jak on the 'Characters Naughty Dog forgot about' club.

 Well... Uncharted has seen worse retcons. Remember how careless Sully was in Uncharted 1 yet became Nate's father figure in 3? Well, now we've got to believe that Nate had this long thought dead brother that he loved oh so much, yet never, EVER mentioned in previous games. Also, he was a pro at using the rope yet never used it before this game. Whatever, we've seen worse in the franchise.

 What can I say? It's the same Uncharted as always. I'm liking the framerate, which is very smooth and while I'm sure it's above 30 fps... something tells me it doesn't reach 60. Still, some scenes, under certain lightning, felt quite photorealistic, so kudos on that. Melee combat has been redesigned AGAIN and it's quite decent, probably the best one since 2.

 All in all, the game's very promising.

Review #537: Nightmare Creatures II

 A nightmarish sequel nobody wanted.

Wallace is one ugly freak. I love it.

 Nightmare Creatures was a mediocre game that I think nobody wanted a sequel to. Heck, even when I was younger and enjoyed it quite a deal more I didn't even wish for a sequel. But it didn't matter, Nightmare Creatures II was made, and for every step forward it takes a stumble backwards.

 You're Wallace, a disfigured, bandaged freak that was abducted while young by Adam Crowley, who for one reason or another revived, and experimented upon. And sometime before getting abducted it seems he was also part of 'The Circle', whatever that was. What little story there is doesn't make much sense, but credit where credit is due: Character design is fantastic, Wallace stands out among other protagonists because of how ugly he is, while the rest of the monsters are no slouches either, looking very creepy and nasty.

Remember these guys? Of course they had to return!

 The game is made up of two different components: Combat and exploration, which will inevitably remind people of Spawn the Eternal, which is not good. Exploration can be reduced to running around dull-looking levels, searching for key items(Dynamite, Keys, Pliers) and then the barrier on which to use them. There're a few scary platforming sections too, scary because it feels as if you can't trust Wallace jump arc, but I never died to a bottomless pit. There're a few sparse Save Points peppered throughout every stage to make your life easier, although a few more of these would've been welcome. Thankfully, the dumb 'adrenaline' mechanic is gone in this game.

 Eventually you'll run into monsters and Wallace will enter combat mode. Square is a horizontal slash and X is a vertical slash. Remember how many combos Nadia and Ignatius had in the first game? Wallace has... less than either of them. XX ,Square Square, X Square Square and Square X X are the only combos in the game. Weapon upgrades are gone too, but you can find items to help Wallace in combat, like a fiery axe or explore gun ammo. There're new fatalities to kill enemies faster, but... they are cute at first, but overstay their welcome pretty fast. There's a single fatality type for each enemy time, so they grow repetitive, and they are so slow that you'll just want to move on. Plus, the game repositions Wallace and the enemy when you execute this... which can potentially ruin your game. On stage 2 a fatality got me through an invisible wall, which got me stuck and forced me to reset the game.

Bosses are strangely static in this game.

 Despite how boring and clunky everything in the game is, its biggest setback is its unfair difficulty level, even on the lowest difficulty setting. You start out with 5 continues and no way to get more. You'll lose most of them figuring out that you have to wait until the big yellow monster growls before you can hurt him or to wait for the knife-beast to lick his knife else he will break your combo, and then you'll lose the rest of your continues trying to dodge attacks in cramped environments with crappy camera angles you can't rotate. Combos feel somewhat unresponsive, sometimes Wallace takes too long to enter combat mode and monsters are boring to engage.... it's not a fun game.

 It's also buggy, the item wheel got stuck twice on my playthrough, forcing me to restart the game. Then there was also that time I got through an invisible barrier... Don't even let me get started on how finicky the game is to decide when Wallace will climb a wall, turns out sometimes you simply must jump, or press Square, on juuuust the right angle.

Dismembering foes doesn't feel half as great as it did in the previous game.

 Sloppy, buggy, boring... the game has a fantastic art-direction, and looks great... but falls apart on anything that matters. If you liked Nightmare Creatures you might want to give this one a look since you're already used to mediocrity, everyone else just avoid it.
 3.0 out of 10

Archile's Grab-bag> Final Package o' 2018 Edition

 Another box meant another opening.

  Maybe one of them wasn't a box.

 Gotta grab ye trusty ole knife...

 Rime: Um... I don't know much about it, and I was kinda convinced into purchasing it, so... yeah...

 Mortal Kombat XL: Of course I had to try Mortal Kombat XL at some point, since I've followed the series ever since I can remember.

 Gundam Versus: It's not Maxi Boost, it's got even less mobile suits than Maxi Boost... but it'll have to do for the time being.

 Infamous Second Son: While I wasn't the biggest fan of Infamous 1, Infamous 2 quickly became one of my favorite games on the PS3. Hopefully Second Son is just as good.

 Samurai Shodown Anthology: I do own this game on the Wii, but fighting games are a better fit on the PS2. For whatever reason the game has jumped in price, but Amazon's got it on the cheap.

 Battle Chasers Nightwar: Joe Madureira is one of my favorite artists out there, and hopefully this game does justice to his art.

 King of Fighters XIV: I love King of Fighters, and this one has been on my radar for a long, looooooong while. It's a bit sad that they did away with their phenomenal 2-D sprites, but it's understandable, since this way they can churn out even more characters.

 Doom: Classic FPS are dope, and Doom should be no exception. What I know of Doom is that it's one of those games that refuse to sport a subtitle and thus became one of those annoying games that are named exactly the same as another game of the same franchise and the fact that melee-kills look repetitive. Not a good first impression.

 Rise of the Tomb Raider: I adored the PS3 reboot and was bummed out that the sequel, while having being released on the X360, wouldn't make it to the PS3. But it matters no longer!

 The Evil Within 2: The Evil Within is one of my favorite videogames ever, and might just be my favorite survival horror game ever. I know little to nothing about the sequel, so this October I might be in for a treat.

 Life is Strange: Few games are as overhyped as this one, so naturally I fell victim to the hype and here I am.

 The Order 1886: I've loved this game ever since it was revealed to the public and was utterly disappointed when reviews came out. I will give it a chance, though, since I want to believe that I can enjoy this game. And if its length is its major weak point... that might not be too bad.

 Tekken 7: While Lucky Chloe is the worst thing to happen to this series, after Tekken Revolution and their new focus on fanservice which extends to the horrible designs of characters like Josie Rizal, I'm a huge Tekken nut and couldn't miss out on the latest installment. Tekken 7 seems like a major shift, which left the fanbase a bit divided... So I'm a bit hopeful about it, considering I enjoyed Tekken 4 so much because of how much it changed.

 Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto: I wasn't missing out on the final Ninja Storm game, oh no. I'm a bit disappointed that the series ended here, we were still missing a handful of characters, like some of the Mist Swordsmen or characters from the movies, but oh well!

 The King of Fighters Collection - The Orochi Saga: As much as I like King of Fighters... I wasn't much of a fan of anything pre-99, and thus, pre K'. In my opinion these first few games just can't hold a candle to what comes after it.

 Resident Evil VII Biohazard Gold Edition: No, this is not a return to their roots because Resident Evil was always an action game first and a horror game second. That said, I've grown more accepting of the first person view and am ready to give it a chance.

Review #536: Prince of Persia(2008)

 This is no prince.

This guy is not a Prince. This is the Rogue of Persia.

 Welcome to 2008's reboot of Prince of Persia, featuring a nameless character that is most definitely not a prince! Yes, Sands of Time had concluded, Prince of Persia - Assassins was rebranded and thus Ubisoft decided to reboot the franchise. The end result is... attractive, but a bit flawed.

 Our hero, whom I'll call 'the Prince', gets lost as he tries to find his donkey, Farah, but comes across Elika, a mysterious waif who's been chased by armed men. After helping her fend off the assailants they find themselves in the rotten city of Ahura, but it turns out it was not always so, as a god, Ahriman, is the cause of the pollution. Together, the Prince and Elika, they must restore life to the city, by using Elika's mystical powers and the Prince's acrobatics, in order to seal off Ahriman. The story is nothing you haven't seen before, but I will admit that I liked the Prince and Elika. It's a shame most of their interactions are buried beneath conversations, L2 button, that bring the game to a halt. But the presentation deserves special praise, since boy, oh, boy, the game is gorgeous. It looks like a moving painting that manages to capture the mystical and alluring feeling of the 'Arabian Nights'. It's a beautiful game to behold.

The game is drop-dead gorgeous.

 Much has changed since the Sands of Time trilogy, and now the game can be divided in two huge components: Exploration and Dueling. Explorations is pretty similar to how it used to be, albeit with simplified controls. X is used to jump and the Prince will automatically run against a wall when he collides with it mid-air. He can also climb ledges and ivy, as well as propel himself from rings by tapping O as he grabs it. Elika can aid the Prince here, by tapping triangle she will give you an extra boost while on the air. Lastly, there are glorified Plates of different colors that are called 'powers' but, surprisingly, are rather dull transportation methods. Red and Blue plates simply transport your from place to place, while Yellow plates initiate a dull flying minigame and Green played initiate a minigame in which you run over a wall. It's slightly more fun than the flying, but only a little. As a whole, while still fun, it fails to feel as exciting and dynamic as platforming was in the Sands of Time, albeit it makes up for that by offering beautiful landscapes to explore.

 Speaking of exploration, the game is a bit of a drag in that regard. Peppered through the open-ended world of Prince of Persia are 1001 Seeds of Light and you must collect at least 540 in order to complete the game. Problem? It's a complete waste of time. Here's the deal, the game is made up of 16 different areas, plus 4 boss rooms,  and each area has about 45 seeds in all. But in order to collect the seeds you must restore the area to life. This means exploring said area, solving puzzles, defeating the boss and then, and only then, collect the Seeds of Light. This means that you'll explore the area at least twice. At least. After you collect 80 seeds you'll be able to unlock the first plate power, you're free to choose which, which will open up four new areas for you to explore, and then you'll have to collect three different key amounts of Seeds of Light, culminating in 540. It's a total drag, while I appreciate the open-endedness, and the freedom to choose in which order you'll open-up the game, you shoul've been able to collect Seeds on your first go through an area. Worst of all, the game fails to make collecting this seeds rewarding, there are no upgrades to get, costumes to unlock(Unlesss you install a patch which nets you a pair of costumes if you gather every Seed), nothing but bragging rights and the right to continue the game. Lame.

The only combat in the game are various 2 on 1 fights.

 You might have guessed already that Elika is constantly by your side in this game, as a matter of fact, the game is infamous because you 'can't die'. Which is completely stupid since Elika might rescue you whenever, but you'll be sent back to a checkpoint, and some checkpoints can be rather far away from where you last failed. Regardless, they tried to make you like Elika, by giving a lot of endearing, optional animations. Stand below her when she drops down and the Prince will catch her, switch sides with her while holding on to a beam or ledge and there's a cute little animation... but it starts adding up to a lot of down time in which you have to wait until the animation finished before you can continue. It's very easy to get thrown-off your groove because Elika decided to jump right to where you where standing, forcing the Prince to move away. It's particularly egregious with the vines, since you must wait until Elika comes along and grabs onto the Prince's neck, rooting you to the spot until she does so. And crank levers? You can't operate them without her. In Puzzles that requires a lot of levers it quickly turns annoying when you have to wait for her to realize that you're friggin' waiting for her on the next lever. I won't blame you if you hate Elika by the end of the game.

 Then we've got dueling. Fighting has been reduced to multiple two-on-one fights, in which you, as the Prince and Elika, battle a single foe. Square slashes, Triangle makes Elika attack, O is a grab attack and X is used to jump around. You can mix these actions to create devastating combos. R2 is used for blocking or, by timing it right, parrying. The combat is great in small doses, which is good since it already comes in those.... although every single boss must be fought six times. SIX TIMES. I mean, boss fights and normal enemies are pretty much the same battles but with different animations for the enemies, but having to fight the same boss six times? SIX TIMES?? C'mon, Ubisoft, this isn't Megaman or Devil May Cry...

You'll be wallrunning a lot.

 Then there's the ending... not only does the game end in a cliffhanger, the true ending of the game is locked behind DLC. And if you're a schmuck and buy the DLC, you'll be happy to find out that it too ends on a cliffhanger. GREAT GOING, UBISOFT. Oh, and if you play The Fallen King, the DS sequel, you'll be happy to know that it too ends on a cliffhanger.

 There're a lot of great things to be found in Prince of Persia: Beautiful graphics, fantastic locales, same great platforming as always and a fun, even if only when used sparingly, combat system. But there're also a few small bad things, like how the game wastes your time with silly unskippable animations, disappointing obstacles and 'powers', and having to fight the same bosses numerous times. Thankfully, the good outweighs the bad by a large margin. This is the first Prince of Persia game that manages to capture the spark that Sands of Time had, feeling like a magical adventure in a surreal world... it's a shame the rest of the game falls short of what it could have been.
 8.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Nightmare Creatures II

 Ugly, sloppy... and surprisingly fun.

That's one ugly mother...

 Nightmare Creatures II doesn't have the adrenaline meter, so it's already an improvement. It also looks fantastic, it's probably one of the best looking games on the Ps1, with fantastic 3-D environment and sharp 3-D models... even if the animation isn't quite up to par.

 I've finished the first level, and the game is fun in mysterious ways. Firstly, the difficulty is unfairly hard, with enemies being able to simply go through your attacks and land their own powerful grabs. It's also weird how Wallace, our hero, has a combat mode and an exploration mode, kinda like Spawn... and we all know how 'good' that game was.

 Combat is so janky, and the severing of limbs isn't as satisfying as the first game's, but there's a weird appeal to this game that makes me want to play it even more. It probably has to do with how well they crafted the atmosphere and monster design. Wallace design is no slouch either, he is an ugly mess... which makes it one of the most original playable characters out there!

Now Playing: Prince of Persia - The Fallen King

 The fallen dimension.

No. Just... no. The DS wasn't just made for kids, yo!

 Forgotten Sands on the DS was a pleasant surprise, The Fallen King is... well, it's pretty much as bland as I expected. Think Forgotten Sands but even more imprecise, with an even less appealing art style and you get The Fallen King.

 I've not much else to say really.

Review #535: Grandia Xtreme

 Finally done with this sucker.

Never trust a game with 'Xtreme', or variations thereof, in its title.

 Alright, so you're Working Arts and Grandia II was well received... on the Dreamcast, since the PS2 port was horrible. You also notice that people praised the combat mode. Thus, they had a brilliant idea: To redeem the Grandia franchise on the PS2 by making an entire game built around the combat system. It was a bad idea, but at least the framerate issues that plagued Grandia II are gone.

 In this JRPG you play as Evan, this guy that has the ability to open up portals, who gets roped into helping the army into stopping the Elemental Disturbance. He is placed as the leader of a unit featuring men and elves, albeit named with in-game terminology since 'human' and 'elf' is too mundane, and gets bossed around into collecting all four elemental slabs and stopping the disturbance. The story is generic, filled to the brim with anime-cliches and bland characters... well, what little story there is. To add insult to injury, cutscenes are very slow-paced, so they turn from uninteresting to downright boring. All party members feature diverse, colorful designs but... their personality is as flat as a wall and ZERO character development, you barely get a feel of their personalities since they get so little time to showcase it. In short: It's bad.

 The combat system is the game's highlight, but it's not perfect.

 Whatever, the story was bound to suck and the developers didn't mind it since what they promised was a game based on the combat system that made the series so famous. And it's true, the combat is great, sans a few issues. It plays just like Grandia 2, in case you forgot, there's a round gauge at the bottom-right of the screen, about 3/4ths are blue and the remaining 1/4th is red. Icons for enemies and your own characters move through this gauge, and once they get to the red area you get your turn and can issue commands. Things like 'Attack' or 'Defend' take effect almost immediately, but spells and special moves have a bit of delay, which means that the character moves through the red part of the gauge at a reduced speed until it hits the blue part of the gauge again and finally executes the special command. The beauty of the game lies on the fact that you can cancel enemies' actions if you hit them with 'Critical attacks'(They are another type of attack you can choose, don't worry) or a few special moves that have the property of 'Cancel', however, only if you hit them while they are on the red part of the gauge..... and enemies can do the same thing to you.

 Characters are constantly on the move, since battles take place on large areas, which is something to be mindful of. Actually, they stay still while their icon is on the blue part of the gauge, but when executing an attack, and shortly thereafter, they will move around, which is something to keep in mind when using area-of-effect spells or super moves. Spells depend on which 'Mana Egg' you equip on your party members, each member has a different amount of Mana Egg slots and you can only equip this at the hub-town. You'll also need to fuse different eggs in order to create newer, more powerful mana eggs. Each mana egg has its own MP, so you can use equip both offensive and healing eggs and not worry about running out of healing magic by using offensive spells. Super Moves run on a SP gauge, which is earned by getting hit or hitting enemies, and you learn new ones by leveling up your older ones. Each character has about 7 unique super moves, and they're a great way to mow-down enemies and bosses, so don't stock on that SP. Lastly, also at town, each character can equip various passive skills found on dungeons. These can be anything from restoring some HP when blocking to dealing more damage to specific types of enemies

Bosses can take quite a while to defeat.

 The combat sounds great, and it kinda is, when it isn't being a total prick. Y'see, characters get tired if they run too far when chasing a target, and if it happens... they lost a turn. This rarely happens, unless you choose to attack a fast, mobile enemy, that during its turn manages to avoid you. Enemies can get tired of chasing you too. Regardless, normally, your character won't get tired. Unless... your character gets stuck running against another running character. This is not an uncommon occurrence, for whatever reason, your party members love getting stuck against each other and thus wasting each others' turn. It can also happen after one of your character finishes their attack, and runs to reposition himself, but proceed to act as a wall for another party member that meant to attack someone. Maybe you were trying to cancel an enemy's powerful spell, but now you'll waste a turn and get wrecked with magic. Fun. This is so common it ain't even funny. Another big issue is that you can't rotate the camera during combat, which can be annoying when trying to set-up area-of-effect attacks. The game highlights which enemies will get hit on the circular gauge, but that's not good enough at times.

 Well, enough of the combat, how is the game itself? A drag. There're two different towns in the game, one which is used to progress the story a couple of times and another one that acts as a hub: The only place where you can save your game, buy equipment, fuse egg, equip skills and proceed to a dungeon. The game flows as follows: 'Evann, get the earth slab' and then you go to the Earth dungeon and defeat the boss. 'Evann, get the fire slab', 'Evann, get the water slab', etc. After you get all four slabs you'd think that you're done... but you're not, a new, randomly generated 30-floor dungeon opens up, which houses 3 dungeons on floor 10, 20 and 30 respectively. If you go right away... you might notice that enemies have powered up a lot. That's because you should go back and replay all four dungeons, which has you solving the same dang puzzles you already did, but fighting souped up versions of enemies and the same bosses. But whatever, you finish these 7 dungeons and a new one pops up. And you might notice that enemies are stronger.... BECAUSE ALL SEVEN PREVIOUS DUNGEONS HAVE POWERED UP. AGAIN. And finishing the game unlocks a new 100-floor, randomly generated dungeon... and power-ups the previous dungeons. Again. Now, you don't 'need' to redo previous dungeons... but you're encouraged to, since even if you decide that you don't need the experience points, you will need the mana-eggs unless you want your magic to get outdated. It's a horrible, grindy game design that's anything but fun.

Try to bring Titto along every time, the Steal ability is too good.

 Dungeon design is uninspired, puzzles are easy to the point of being laughable. Although it's kinda annoying that you have to redo them when you replay the powered-up versions of the dungeons. While inside these dungeons you can find a few gateways that take you back to the Hub town, you can't save while inside a dungeon and inventory space is limited, so you might want to take a trip back in order to assess the new skills you found and maybe heal-up. I never died while playing the game, but it must blow to lose all your progress, so you might want to take the trip back to town.

 Grandia Xtreme is not a good game. It's the opposite of one. They overestimated how good their combat system was, so they thought it wouldn't hurt to coerce players into replaying the same dungeons a few times. It did. They also thought that they could do away with a plot, just contrast how atypical Ryudo was to how generic-walking-anime Evann is, if the entire game focused on fighting. They couldn't. As it stands, even while Grandia II is such a bad port... it's much easier to recommend over this misguided game.
 4.0 out of 10

Archile's Grab-bag: Marching March Edition

 More packages got bundled together, which means... ANOTHER ENTRY IN THE GRAB BAG SERIES! These are always fun since I get to talk about games before even trying them out!

 Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel: I played this game a little bit when I was younger, and I think I liked it. I think. The game got the reputation of being a bit of a grind, so I'm a bit wary about it.

 Kya - Dark Lineage: I knew very little about the game, but something about it just appealed to me. It seems like an interesting and overlooked game/

 Nightmare Creatures II: I was gonna wait until Halloween, but I said screw it and just popped it into my PS2. The graphics are amazing, it doesn't look like a Ps1 game. It also seems jankier than its predecessor, but I remain carefully optimistic, the first Nightmare Creatures had promise, so maybe...

 Prince of Persia - The Fallen King: Geeze, the predecessor to the passable Forgotten Sands on the DS? And it looks even more childish. Can't say I'm looking forwards to this one.

 Art of Fighting Anthology: I wasn't planning on getting this game since they are easily emulated and I've never been the biggest fan of Art of Fighting, but the completionist bug in me bit me and... here we are.

 Tenchu - Stealth Assassins: The only Tenchu game I've ever played was Tenchu III, which was pretty good, and also Shinobido 2, featured on this blog, which I liked a lot. I've been meaning to give the entire series a whirl, starting with numero 1.

 Fatal Fury Battle Archive Volume 1: Same deal as with the Art of Fighting Anthology.

 Fatal Fury Battle Archive Volume 2: This one hurts me. While I'm not too big on Fatal Fury, I've a soft spot for Real Bout 2 Fatal Fury, featured on this disc, and I've always love the one-game wonder Rick Strout, introduced in said game. That said, the only reason I never bothered with this disc was the fact that Garou - Mark of the Wolves, one of my favorite fighting games ever, was missing. Seems I'll be having to import that one if I want to own a copy.