“Our boyfriends have been kidnapped!”

River City Girls is one of the first ever beat-‘em-up games I’ve ever played. I dabbled in the original River City game, but never really enjoyed it. However, after seeing that WayForward, the company that created River City Girls, was making a second game, I was interested. Some of my friends had told me how good the game was, but I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it. Well, I was wrong.

You can play as Misako or Kyoko, two girls who are on the hunt for their boyfriends after Kyoko is sent a picture of them presumably being kidnapped. The story is very simple in theory, but offers fun twists and funny dialogue. At the time of me writing this, I haven’t done a second playthrough, so the story could be different. For my first playthrough however, I personally played as Kyoko, simply because I preferred her design. But about halfway through, I found out the two girls have pretty different movesets from each other, with Kyoko’s attacks being faster while Misako’s are slower. I prefer the speediness of attacks, so I’m glad I picked Kyoko.

Now, of course, the gameplay is the most important. The game isn’t carried by its story, so the gameplay needs to be fun; and yes indeed it was. Pummeling the various amounts of enemies was enjoyable and trying new combos was even more fun. The shop system where you can buy items to replenish stamina, add extra damage or buying a new attack entirely was something I felt unique to the game. It gave me incentive to go out and get more money by beating up the enemies in the area so I could go buy a new way to attack and add it to a combo. It was a clever system that I hope is in the second game.

The characters were very well written and hearing some of my favorite voice actors was such a nice treat. Sure the game had a kind of lackluster story, but the characters make up for it big time. I found myself laughing at quite a few scenes. The art direction too was great and I loved seeing a sort of comic book feel in the game.

Overall, I give the game a solid four out of five stars. The only things weighing this game down are the lackluster story and how short the game is. However, River City Girls was certainly such a fun and witty experience that I hope to replay some time in the future.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a great example of, not only an open world game, but also how a game developer can take a well known world and expand it. Middle-Earth is arguably one of the most well known fantasy world in any entertainment medium, so choosing to set the game in a part of Middle-Earth that is not fully explored, Mordor, was a great idea. Initially, I was worried that Mordor would be a bland environment for an open world game but I was happy to be proven wrong. Not only does it prove to be a menacing an treacherous place, but it also provides a great area for players to experiment with their wraith and ranger abilities.

Like with Mad Max, Shadow of Mordor, proves to be an excellent open world game. It has enough side activities and collectibles to keep the player occupied and to prevent Mordor from feeling empty; but not too many to flood the map. I also liked the variety of side missions that encouraged you to use all your weapons and skills to complete, rather than keep using the same playstyle. Speaking of the skills, these were quite varied but I did find that in the second half of the game I was only really using a handful of them and ignoring some like the poison ability, unless a quest needed me to use it. Overall, there is enough variety in the skills to suit most playstyles.

Unfortunately, not everything is a positive. I found both the stealth and freerunning gameplay to be quite limited. Both remined me of early Assassin's Creed games, as the gameplay felt clunky and basic. For eample, stealth is basically avoid the eyesight of your enemy. You can simply crouch behind an enemy and the won't sense you. Additionally, if you are spotted you can hide behind a wall and after a few seconds, the enemies forget you were there... despite killing their comrades. The other gameplay mechanic that isn't too fleshed out is the Nemesis system. This system is unique to Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and it is supposed to create orcs that act as your rivals in the game. I'll be honest, most orcs are pretty much the same, to the point where some have very similar names, and I kept forgetting which ones I had encountered before. Although these gameplay mechanics aren't as polished as in some games, they don't take too much from the overall experience.

Overall, I would recommend Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor to anyone who is looking for a fantasy open world adventure game or someone who is look for a great Lord of the Rings themed game. I definitely enjoyed my time with the game I will be playing its sequel at some point.

My biggest regret playing Bastion was the fact that I did not play it sooner. Bastion is an action RPG with a bit of a Wild West vibe, as its story is told as you play via a grizzled narrator. You play as 'The Kid' a survivor of the apocalyptic-like event called the Calamity. You must traverse the floating remains of the world, trying to find anyone who has survived, whilst fending off various enemies. I enjoyed the varied environments that you trabel through, as well as the way that the story is told to you.

Aside from the story and world, I also enjoyed the variety of weapons and skills that you earn across the game. There is a lot of choice from which ranged and melee weapon you wish to use to which upgrades you want to use to enhance your weapons. However, I did find that I would always use the same two weapons. However there is definitely plenty of options that would support many different playstyles.

Overall, I would recommend Bastion to anyone who wants to play a short action RPG.

Child of Light is a fantastic RPG that feels like you're playing through a fairytale. You join Aurora, a young princess who must save the land of Lemuria from the Queen of Night, all the while trying to return home. Along the way, you will meet extraordinary characters, from a golem trying to find the missing piece of himeslef to a gnome like creature trying to learn to be brave. These characters can, if offered the right opportunity, join Aurora on her quest, each of which playing an important role in the party.

Combat is your standard turn based combat. A character's speed will determine how fast they can take their turn. However where Child of Light differs from other turn based RPGs, is that even if a character is performing an attack or a spell, there is a chance an opponent can interrupt them, causing them to be pushed back in the queue. This adds a level of strategy to the game, as you must keep an eye on what your enemy is doing, as well as working out whether you can gamble and pull off a strong but slow attack or a weaker but quicker move.

Overall, Child of Light is an amazing game. It does not outstay its welcome, giving you a story that lasts about twelve hours, with a handful of side quests and collectibles to also complete. This is arguably one of Ubisoft's most beautiful, heartfelt games that I recommend all RPG fans try.

The Wolf Among Us is arguably the best Telltale game that has been released. The detective noir story that centered on a group of fairy tale characters had plenty of plot twists, enough to keep me playing. Each episode was perfectly paced and had a good balance of dialogue and action sections.

Telltale's signature art style fits perfectly with the gritty world of The Wolf Among Us. My only gripe would be that I noticed a couple of performance dips in some animation heavy scenes. This wasn't enough to spoil my experience but it was enough to be noticeable.

If you have yet to play The Wolf Among Us, I highly recommend you do so.

It is honestly one of those games you have to experience for yourself. I will warn you that this game explores mental illness and death but it does it in a thoughtful and considered way. You can tell that the developers spent a great deal of time researching these topics, treating the subject matter with the respect it deserves.

I personally enjoyed my time with Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice but I understand why for some this game is not for them. Not only does focus on serious subject matter but the gameplay is rather limited. There is a small amount of puzzle solving and combat but for the most part, you are just joining Senua on her through the underowrld. However at the end of the day, it is the story that Hellblade wants to tell that is the focus of the game.

Overall, I think that Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice acheieves what it sets out to do- tell the story of a celtic warrior who struggles to come to terms with her psychosis. If you are looking for a unique gaming experience that explores a subject rarely looked at within entertainment media, then I highly recommend you play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

Totally serviceable follow-up to the originals. About half of this game is a loving send up to the series and the games that came before it, and the other half is "haha dark souls of platformers" that relies on exploiting the quirks of the sometimes janky physics while navigating imprecise or often unclear hitboxes. So, it's fun, except when it's not. Plus, there are so many collectibles that are just busywork-tier mobile game nonsense that I have less than zero desire to revisit this for any sort of completion goals. I even stopped attempting to get all of the boxes in each level by the last world.

Unrelated: I want to know what maniac on the dev team thought 450 boxes in a single level was a good idea. I just wanna talk, bro, just a quick little chat... Just got a couple questions, like where the two I missed were hidden.......

This game has everything I want in a JRPG: a large magical world to explore, larger than life characters to journey with and an interesting story to discover.In Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, you follow Oliver, a young boy, who embarks on a journey to save his mother and a magical world. I'll be honest, the beginning of the game gives Disney a run for its money for an emotional beginning. Over the course of the game, you will watch Oliver as he grows into the role of the hero that the worlds need him to be.

But Oliver won't be saving the worlds alone. He is joined by Esther, a young girl who is also the daughter of a powerful Sage and Swaine, a rogue who has a heart underneath his rough exterior. And I can't forget my favourite character, Mr. Drippy, who acts as Oliver's mentor, guide and sidekick! The one thing I like about the characters is that none of them get on my nerves. Each character has their moment to shine but don't take away imprtant moments from other characters.

Its not just Ni No Kuni's characters that are colourful, but also the world as well. In fact, the game's visual style is bright and colourful, which helps to give the game a storybook feel.

Finally, the gameplay, whilst doesn't revolutionise the genre, it does the job perfectly. The battle system is very easy to learn but allows players to be more tactical, should they wish to.

Overall, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is one of the best JRPGs I've played and I can see why many people consider it a classic. If you are a fan of the JRPG genre, I stronbly suggest you give Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch a go.