IriidaV
2004
This is the true start of modern Tekken and it's downright phenomenal. Fighting feels fast and heavy, and the cinematics on display are gorgeous. With a 480p, 60hz picture, this feels like Namco at the top of their game honestly.
NTSC U/C copy played on a PAL modified PlayStation 2 Slim.
I'm constantly surprised when people state Up Your Arsenal is their favorite of the PS2 Ratchet games. Even playing this game as a kid I wasn't really convinced of its quality and coming back to it as an adult after wrapping up Ratchet 1, 2 and Deadlocked this really does feel like the weakest of the bunch.
Mission design feels wonky - often following the standard formula of running and gunning through a well-crafted level to reach an objective with the occasional death match arena and more open arena to spice things up a bit, but it was the repeated "survive enemy waves in a small area" missions that frustrated me, not only forcing you to play through essentially the same content up to 5 times in a row, but doing so with it lasting way too long each time. It felt like padding, and with the previous Ratchet games not really having experienced that before it was a real shame to see it here.
My other issue was with the story. I know non RPG PS2 games were typically light on plot and the Ratchet series never did take itself very seriously but the complete lack of competency from anyone outside of Ratchet and Clank is incredibly frustrating at times. The story feels less like a whacky sci-fi adventure that the previous 2 games set the tone for and more like a parody of itself, with returning characters being boiled down to caricatures of what they once were.
The weapon selection is nice at least, with an evolution on some of the previous entries but with the later levels featuring enemies that just soak up damage like nothing else they all feel kind of pointless in the end. The Spitting Hydra feels completely useless both in it's base and fully upgraded forms with enemies taking as many as 10-15 hits with the thing before dying, and the same critiques can be applied to a handful of the other weapons too. The last few levels and bosses ended up requiring too much ammo from me in the end so I ended up using the rocket boots to skip entire portions of the stages to get to boss encounters fully stocked, with the final fight with Nefarious being especially egregious.
Overall, Ratchet 3 ultimately fine. It would feel like a good game on its own but in comparison to the previous games and the fact development was especially rushed with the multiplayer content taking up a fair bit of the team's time, I just didn't care for this one. The other PS2 Ratchet games I've gone back to multiple times as well as their New Game + modes, but when I finally finished Up Your Arsenal this week I put it down and have no intentions to really go back to it again.
But then maybe I'm just bitter this got higher reviews than Jak 3 at the time od release and I was always a Jak guy first.
I'm constantly surprised when people state Up Your Arsenal is their favorite of the PS2 Ratchet games. Even playing this game as a kid I wasn't really convinced of its quality and coming back to it as an adult after wrapping up Ratchet 1, 2 and Deadlocked this really does feel like the weakest of the bunch.
Mission design feels wonky - often following the standard formula of running and gunning through a well-crafted level to reach an objective with the occasional death match arena and more open arena to spice things up a bit, but it was the repeated "survive enemy waves in a small area" missions that frustrated me, not only forcing you to play through essentially the same content up to 5 times in a row, but doing so with it lasting way too long each time. It felt like padding, and with the previous Ratchet games not really having experienced that before it was a real shame to see it here.
My other issue was with the story. I know non RPG PS2 games were typically light on plot and the Ratchet series never did take itself very seriously but the complete lack of competency from anyone outside of Ratchet and Clank is incredibly frustrating at times. The story feels less like a whacky sci-fi adventure that the previous 2 games set the tone for and more like a parody of itself, with returning characters being boiled down to caricatures of what they once were.
The weapon selection is nice at least, with an evolution on some of the previous entries but with the later levels featuring enemies that just soak up damage like nothing else they all feel kind of pointless in the end. The Spitting Hydra feels completely useless both in it's base and fully upgraded forms with enemies taking as many as 10-15 hits with the thing before dying, and the same critiques can be applied to a handful of the other weapons too. The last few levels and bosses ended up requiring too much ammo from me in the end so I ended up using the rocket boots to skip entire portions of the stages to get to boss encounters fully stocked, with the final fight with Nefarious being especially egregious.
Overall, Ratchet 3 ultimately fine. It would feel like a good game on its own but in comparison to the previous games and the fact development was especially rushed with the multiplayer content taking up a fair bit of the team's time, I just didn't care for this one. The other PS2 Ratchet games I've gone back to multiple times as well as their New Game + modes, but when I finally finished Up Your Arsenal this week I put it down and have no intentions to really go back to it again.
But then maybe I'm just bitter this got higher reviews than Jak 3 at the time od release and I was always a Jak guy first.
UK copy played on a PlayStation Vita OLED model.
I haven't played a point n click puzzle game in a long while and I'll freely admit The Tower of Beatrice was a spur of the moment purchase via the PSN's current Indies sale but I had a fun evening with this game.
The puzzles start you off fairly easy but will require some thinking as you go further, requiring you to pay attention to everything that happens or is being said, and it's all backed up with a lighthearted story with fun characters. Unfortunately I don't think the writer's first language is English due to some minor grammatical errors in the script and some voice acting would have been appreciated to really sell the more funny dialogue but given the scope and budget this game probably had, it probably wouldn't have been possible and the aforementioned grammatical stuff isn't very egregious. The art style is pretty good too with a very warm digital painted art style and the music is well crafted enough to not get annoying when you're still in a room half an hour later.
If these kinds of games are your jam, or even if they aren't I'd recommend giving this a shot - there's no time pressure or risk of game overs so the whole experience is just a nice relaxingtime figuring out kooky puzzles with a fun witch character.
I haven't played a point n click puzzle game in a long while and I'll freely admit The Tower of Beatrice was a spur of the moment purchase via the PSN's current Indies sale but I had a fun evening with this game.
The puzzles start you off fairly easy but will require some thinking as you go further, requiring you to pay attention to everything that happens or is being said, and it's all backed up with a lighthearted story with fun characters. Unfortunately I don't think the writer's first language is English due to some minor grammatical errors in the script and some voice acting would have been appreciated to really sell the more funny dialogue but given the scope and budget this game probably had, it probably wouldn't have been possible and the aforementioned grammatical stuff isn't very egregious. The art style is pretty good too with a very warm digital painted art style and the music is well crafted enough to not get annoying when you're still in a room half an hour later.
If these kinds of games are your jam, or even if they aren't I'd recommend giving this a shot - there's no time pressure or risk of game overs so the whole experience is just a nice relaxingtime figuring out kooky puzzles with a fun witch character.
Possibly one of the most infamous "remasters"/ports out there - broken lighting, misplaced textures, and iffy collision detection are abound in this edition of Sonic's amazing 3D debut, and they only get worse and worse with each new re-release since they're all based on the previous port. Character models get a significant upgrade but it's just not worth everything else going wrong.
If you have to get this version on one platform, make it the Steam release where you can install the Dreamcast Conversion mod which fixes everything.
If you have to get this version on one platform, make it the Steam release where you can install the Dreamcast Conversion mod which fixes everything.
2010
Played via The BIT.TRIP release on a PlayStation Vita OLED model.
This is a review of two halves - one for the game itself which is an addicting reaction-based runner that looks and sounds great but suffers from a little too much reliance on memorisation for bullshit you have no idea is about to happen. With those few exceptions in mind the rest of the game rides the fine line of the player being the fuck up with no fault of the game, which is an impressive feat.
The other half of my review pertains to the version I had the displeasure of playing - the Vita release, as part of The BIT.TRIP package which bundles the first five games of the series together. This version suffers from really bad framerate issues; not entirely noticeable at first, but when there are specific obstacles or background entities on screen such as a long string of the wall worms in the first world or the mining characters in the second, performance just tanks to low 20s at best and it really throws you off both your rhythm and what you can see coming. I managed to push my way through to the third world after 4 hours but all of the issues culminate here where smooth framerates just don't happen any more and I can't keep bashing my head against this brick wall of a shoddy porting job any more.
This is a good game that I might revisit again sometime but for the love of god avoid the Vita version as much as possible.
This is a review of two halves - one for the game itself which is an addicting reaction-based runner that looks and sounds great but suffers from a little too much reliance on memorisation for bullshit you have no idea is about to happen. With those few exceptions in mind the rest of the game rides the fine line of the player being the fuck up with no fault of the game, which is an impressive feat.
The other half of my review pertains to the version I had the displeasure of playing - the Vita release, as part of The BIT.TRIP package which bundles the first five games of the series together. This version suffers from really bad framerate issues; not entirely noticeable at first, but when there are specific obstacles or background entities on screen such as a long string of the wall worms in the first world or the mining characters in the second, performance just tanks to low 20s at best and it really throws you off both your rhythm and what you can see coming. I managed to push my way through to the third world after 4 hours but all of the issues culminate here where smooth framerates just don't happen any more and I can't keep bashing my head against this brick wall of a shoddy porting job any more.
This is a good game that I might revisit again sometime but for the love of god avoid the Vita version as much as possible.
2017
UK copy played on a PlayStation Vita OLED model.
This wasn't bad - for an experience that lasted a half hour, plus another half hour to get all the trophies, this was a unique, if maybe not the most memorable time.
The aesthetics and sound design were charming and gave me the very odd sensation of playing through one of the more obscure and weird Samurai Jack episodes - no spoken dialogue or big bouts of action, but a fairly clear plot with dreamy music and strange alien noises.
The lack of communication for how to interact with the game was frustrating though since the Vita version would accept d-pad inputs as controls but not the face buttons that were literally on screen as options in the first scene. This coupled with character speeds could get a little frustrating at times and the long climb up the tree early in the game gave me the impression I had done something wrong.
All in all not a terrible time - it has some design issues and could have benefited from another round of QA testing just to iron out some of the more vague kinks, but I did ultimately enjoy my time with One Eyed Kutkh and I'd be very curious to check out the dev team's other projects.
This wasn't bad - for an experience that lasted a half hour, plus another half hour to get all the trophies, this was a unique, if maybe not the most memorable time.
The aesthetics and sound design were charming and gave me the very odd sensation of playing through one of the more obscure and weird Samurai Jack episodes - no spoken dialogue or big bouts of action, but a fairly clear plot with dreamy music and strange alien noises.
The lack of communication for how to interact with the game was frustrating though since the Vita version would accept d-pad inputs as controls but not the face buttons that were literally on screen as options in the first scene. This coupled with character speeds could get a little frustrating at times and the long climb up the tree early in the game gave me the impression I had done something wrong.
All in all not a terrible time - it has some design issues and could have benefited from another round of QA testing just to iron out some of the more vague kinks, but I did ultimately enjoy my time with One Eyed Kutkh and I'd be very curious to check out the dev team's other projects.
2002
This was a rough game back in the day, and not just because it's sequel forever set the standard for superhero video-games. In a way, it expands on what the PlayStation 1 titles were doing, but the wild navigation of elevating via web-swinging and the overall blandness of it all just bring it all down. But hey, at least it gave you cheats to play as Mary Jane or Aunt May!
EU copy played on a Nintendo 3DS XL.
Even on the 3DS this is an absolute blast of a kart racer - I got far more enjoyment out of this title with its blazing speeds and interesting track design compared to Mario Kart 7 which seemed pedestrian. It has a fun range of unlockables and bonus features and characters, with a great selection of remixed tracks from Sega history.
Even on the 3DS this is an absolute blast of a kart racer - I got far more enjoyment out of this title with its blazing speeds and interesting track design compared to Mario Kart 7 which seemed pedestrian. It has a fun range of unlockables and bonus features and characters, with a great selection of remixed tracks from Sega history.
2011
EU release played on a Nintendo 3DS XL.
This was a highly enjoyable platformer of the time, really highlighting the processing power of the 3DS in terms of 3D gameplay. It feels a little too easy at times if I'm being honest but it's a fairly comforting level of difficulty and you know what you're getting into with Mario titles from this time.
This was a highly enjoyable platformer of the time, really highlighting the processing power of the 3DS in terms of 3D gameplay. It feels a little too easy at times if I'm being honest but it's a fairly comforting level of difficulty and you know what you're getting into with Mario titles from this time.
2013
EU copy played on a Nintendo 3DS XL.
In my opinion, the best Dimps Sonic title, and probably because it feels so far removed from their previous efforts. Little to no 2D-only gameplay and in-keeping with the core design of the Wii U version, this feels almost like the real thing. It does have a case of rather boring level design and repeated music tracks which made it rather boring to play at times but it was extremely cool to see a handheld Sonic title in 3D that wasn't restricted to two dimensions.
In my opinion, the best Dimps Sonic title, and probably because it feels so far removed from their previous efforts. Little to no 2D-only gameplay and in-keeping with the core design of the Wii U version, this feels almost like the real thing. It does have a case of rather boring level design and repeated music tracks which made it rather boring to play at times but it was extremely cool to see a handheld Sonic title in 3D that wasn't restricted to two dimensions.
2011
EU copy played on a Xbox 360.
After experimenting with the gameplay gimmicks of Unleashed and Colours, Sonic Team decided to (almost) ditch all that in favour of pure focus on tthe boost mechanics. But then they threw Classic Sonic into the mix and Sonic games were never the same.
I like the Classic segments just fine to be honest although it's a weird addition, especially since the Modern stages feature 2D sections too due to the use of Unleashed's Hedgehog Engine. The boost stages' inclusion of these sections always felt like an appeasal for the fans who couldn't stop yammering on about how Sonic never had good 3D games, so to carry on with that design philosophy as well as include the Classic stages was just an inbalance that never felt right to me. This also went on to have ripple effects in the franchise's future with the split between Classic and Modern as "separate timelines" or some other Zelda nonsense, as well as using the Classic Sonic character as a crutch in the future installment of Sonic Forces, largely led to the slump in quality during the 2010s period.
But anyway, this is 2011 - it's Sonic's 20th anniversary and as a celebration of his history it's easily one of the best. Sonic Team got the formula right for both gameplay aspects as well as mixing up the level design and soundtrack to keep old fans pleasantly surprised and exposing new fans to a highlight reel.
The bonuses are nice too but to be perfectly honest I never went for them - it felt like they offered to change up the gameplay more than providing more of a history lesson for the franchise which is what I would have personally preferred.
Overall a really solid Sonic game - uncertain if I'd call it the best title in the franchise's latter half, due to some contextual grievances but it's certainly a strong contender.
After experimenting with the gameplay gimmicks of Unleashed and Colours, Sonic Team decided to (almost) ditch all that in favour of pure focus on tthe boost mechanics. But then they threw Classic Sonic into the mix and Sonic games were never the same.
I like the Classic segments just fine to be honest although it's a weird addition, especially since the Modern stages feature 2D sections too due to the use of Unleashed's Hedgehog Engine. The boost stages' inclusion of these sections always felt like an appeasal for the fans who couldn't stop yammering on about how Sonic never had good 3D games, so to carry on with that design philosophy as well as include the Classic stages was just an inbalance that never felt right to me. This also went on to have ripple effects in the franchise's future with the split between Classic and Modern as "separate timelines" or some other Zelda nonsense, as well as using the Classic Sonic character as a crutch in the future installment of Sonic Forces, largely led to the slump in quality during the 2010s period.
But anyway, this is 2011 - it's Sonic's 20th anniversary and as a celebration of his history it's easily one of the best. Sonic Team got the formula right for both gameplay aspects as well as mixing up the level design and soundtrack to keep old fans pleasantly surprised and exposing new fans to a highlight reel.
The bonuses are nice too but to be perfectly honest I never went for them - it felt like they offered to change up the gameplay more than providing more of a history lesson for the franchise which is what I would have personally preferred.
Overall a really solid Sonic game - uncertain if I'd call it the best title in the franchise's latter half, due to some contextual grievances but it's certainly a strong contender.
2004
I don't think it's possible for me to be impartial with this game - it was my watershed moment for the quality of storytelling in video-games and remains my favourite conclusion to a trilogy of all time, possibly in all media. I was 10 when this came out and I had never been so hyped for a video game release before.
The story manages to balance out the edginess of it's predecessor, making it the integral theme to it's narrative, all the while improving gunplay, having more platforming segments, and creating a whole driving mechanic that still feels satisfying to control today.
The Last of Us? Uncharted? This is Naughty Dog's true opus.
The story manages to balance out the edginess of it's predecessor, making it the integral theme to it's narrative, all the while improving gunplay, having more platforming segments, and creating a whole driving mechanic that still feels satisfying to control today.
The Last of Us? Uncharted? This is Naughty Dog's true opus.
2008
Played via the Phantasy Reverie Series release on an Xbox Series X.
This was fun - I had no real idea what I was in for when starting this game but I had a great time with it. The art direction was stupendously adorable and the music was genuinely great. Sometimes later platforming challenges were mildly infuriating (especially the Extra stage at the end) but this was a solid little game with a very surprising narrative. Whilst the Phantasy Reverie Series release is a remaster of the Wii remake, it does feature the original PS1 audio replacing the Wii's dubs and to be honest I'm glad I experienced it this way since I can only imagine an actual language attached to this game would have ruined at least 50% of my immersion and emotional investment, especially during those last cutscenes.
I've never played a Klonoa game before but from what everyone's saying I made the worst possible choice in the history of mankind by playing this version first. The very simple reason I picked this up was because it was available - unfortunately publishers don't deem older releases viable to keep selling and since there's no way I'm paying $300+ for the original PS1 release this was the next best option. Do I agree with this method? Absolutely not, and it's debateable whether rereleasing older games with an artificial new coat of paint is really the best but I certainly don't regret my time with this release.
This was fun - I had no real idea what I was in for when starting this game but I had a great time with it. The art direction was stupendously adorable and the music was genuinely great. Sometimes later platforming challenges were mildly infuriating (especially the Extra stage at the end) but this was a solid little game with a very surprising narrative. Whilst the Phantasy Reverie Series release is a remaster of the Wii remake, it does feature the original PS1 audio replacing the Wii's dubs and to be honest I'm glad I experienced it this way since I can only imagine an actual language attached to this game would have ruined at least 50% of my immersion and emotional investment, especially during those last cutscenes.
I've never played a Klonoa game before but from what everyone's saying I made the worst possible choice in the history of mankind by playing this version first. The very simple reason I picked this up was because it was available - unfortunately publishers don't deem older releases viable to keep selling and since there's no way I'm paying $300+ for the original PS1 release this was the next best option. Do I agree with this method? Absolutely not, and it's debateable whether rereleasing older games with an artificial new coat of paint is really the best but I certainly don't regret my time with this release.
2013
EU release played via Steam on a Fujitsu Lifebook A532.
After the success of Portal 2's whitty, character driven dialogue and at the height of the "walking sim" craze, it's kind of amazing more games like The Stanley Parable aren't around. The power of the narrator's irony-dripping voice coupled with the Winchester House-style of a maze-like office building was fairly entertaining and managed to keep that level of laughable insanity pretty much for the entirety of its play time. It gets a little tiresome once you're certain you've discovered all the little secrets and endings (an in-game check list might have been appropriate since finding those things was the sole driver of the gameplay) but for a 2-3 hour experience this was addicting.
After the success of Portal 2's whitty, character driven dialogue and at the height of the "walking sim" craze, it's kind of amazing more games like The Stanley Parable aren't around. The power of the narrator's irony-dripping voice coupled with the Winchester House-style of a maze-like office building was fairly entertaining and managed to keep that level of laughable insanity pretty much for the entirety of its play time. It gets a little tiresome once you're certain you've discovered all the little secrets and endings (an in-game check list might have been appropriate since finding those things was the sole driver of the gameplay) but for a 2-3 hour experience this was addicting.
EU release played via Steam on a Fujitsu Lifebook A532.
I only ever did one playthrough of this game - I wasn't quite into the whole text adventure genre at the time so was never certain how much I'd get out of subsequent experiences - but this was a fun little game. Very much reminiscent of the Skullduggery Pleasant series of YA novels due to the player character's situation and world built around it.
I only ever did one playthrough of this game - I wasn't quite into the whole text adventure genre at the time so was never certain how much I'd get out of subsequent experiences - but this was a fun little game. Very much reminiscent of the Skullduggery Pleasant series of YA novels due to the player character's situation and world built around it.