Much like P5R compared to P4G this is a lesser game in most regards except presentation. Flashier and better looking but shallow when it comes to any kind of narrative or characters. Also the music isn't as good here.
I really enjoyed the way that Persona 4 Dancing was able to apply the themes of Persona 4 Golden to a rhythm game in a way that was still meaningful and it was nice to hang out with the investigation team some more. It would be difficult to apply the themes of Persona 5 to a rhythm game so I don't blame them there but man, leading with the fact that none of the cast will remember anything that happens and then setting up a social link system where characters have revelations about themselves in relation to dancing is really weird, why have that if they're not going to remember the growth?
Still a fun rhythm game but it wasn't as enjoyable to play through.
I really enjoyed the way that Persona 4 Dancing was able to apply the themes of Persona 4 Golden to a rhythm game in a way that was still meaningful and it was nice to hang out with the investigation team some more. It would be difficult to apply the themes of Persona 5 to a rhythm game so I don't blame them there but man, leading with the fact that none of the cast will remember anything that happens and then setting up a social link system where characters have revelations about themselves in relation to dancing is really weird, why have that if they're not going to remember the growth?
Still a fun rhythm game but it wasn't as enjoyable to play through.
2023
Reviewing this after finishing World Tour mode and wow, this might be the best fighting game single player content out there in terms of actually preparing you to play against other human beings. I enjoy the NRS Style of giving you chapters as most of the roster making it easy to see what guys you like, ArcSys having visual novel story modes and RPG style endless modes are neat, Soul Calibur has had engaging story modes in the past that have taken leaps I wouldn't expect (the strategy mode in SC3 comes to mind) But none of them have actually made me better at playing the game against other people.
World Tour is a much more enjoyable and engaging route of learning a game than running tutorials and combo trials like I've always been told to do for ArcSys games, or jumping into online and getting my ass beat for 60+ hours like I was told to do with Street Fighter V.
The story is whatever, if you're looking for a strong narrative go play something else. Though I will put here that getting to know the roster as "Masters" does create some fun endearing moments like teaching Ryu how to text message or Cammy pretending to send you on a mission just to send her cat pictures. Underrated aspect of Street Fighter is the characters likes and dislikes.
Every aspect of the World Tour is a teaching tool! The Master Style system gets you easily acquainted with any of the characters as you level it up and know how to insert the skills into the gameplan. Random encounters help you learn to react under pressure, give easy opportunities to practice special move inputs, and provide quick missions to try different tactics and get bonus items. Minigames that teach you certain aspects of the game like Hado Pizza teaching quick inputs. Board Breaking teaching Highs Mids and Lows. Ka-Ra-Te teaching charge inputs. Ball Block Blitz teaching you Drive Parries. Being able to practice and learn these things in a fun setting made picking up this game way more enjoyable and I'm way more confident heading into online that I have been with any other title.
World Tour is a much more enjoyable and engaging route of learning a game than running tutorials and combo trials like I've always been told to do for ArcSys games, or jumping into online and getting my ass beat for 60+ hours like I was told to do with Street Fighter V.
The story is whatever, if you're looking for a strong narrative go play something else. Though I will put here that getting to know the roster as "Masters" does create some fun endearing moments like teaching Ryu how to text message or Cammy pretending to send you on a mission just to send her cat pictures. Underrated aspect of Street Fighter is the characters likes and dislikes.
Every aspect of the World Tour is a teaching tool! The Master Style system gets you easily acquainted with any of the characters as you level it up and know how to insert the skills into the gameplan. Random encounters help you learn to react under pressure, give easy opportunities to practice special move inputs, and provide quick missions to try different tactics and get bonus items. Minigames that teach you certain aspects of the game like Hado Pizza teaching quick inputs. Board Breaking teaching Highs Mids and Lows. Ka-Ra-Te teaching charge inputs. Ball Block Blitz teaching you Drive Parries. Being able to practice and learn these things in a fun setting made picking up this game way more enjoyable and I'm way more confident heading into online that I have been with any other title.
2023
The game is fine, whatever.
The quality of this game is more of a testament to Xbox Game Pass than anything else. I have like 2 years of that service stacked on my account and because of it I can play this ALWAYS ONLINE LIVE SERVICE GAME that my friends will be bored with in a month without having to spend $60 on it and watch it die as we never play it again after Starfield comes out. It's an alright game fun enough to play with friends but you're nuts if you think I'm going to drop $60 on this by itself.
The quality of this game is more of a testament to Xbox Game Pass than anything else. I have like 2 years of that service stacked on my account and because of it I can play this ALWAYS ONLINE LIVE SERVICE GAME that my friends will be bored with in a month without having to spend $60 on it and watch it die as we never play it again after Starfield comes out. It's an alright game fun enough to play with friends but you're nuts if you think I'm going to drop $60 on this by itself.
2022
Didn't know about this "pack in" game until I got my own Steam Deck. A fun little adventure showing off a bunch of functions on the Steam Deck. Really makes you wish for a new full game from Valve, they still know how to write good dialogue
Nate Bargatze is great as Grady, I immediately knew it was him. Cool to see one of my favorite comics in a neat little game.
Nate Bargatze is great as Grady, I immediately knew it was him. Cool to see one of my favorite comics in a neat little game.
2019
This review contains spoilers
I wish I could talk about this game without just constantly comparing it to Persona 4 Golden but no matter what I try to say I just end up doing it. I'll do my best to just keep the comparisons where it's relevant. Also doing my best to keep this coherent I ramble a lot.
It didn't take very long for me to figure out why this game resonates with so many people. A story about teenagers being fed up with the mistreatment happening in the world by corrupt people in power so they're taking matters into their own hands. It's something that honestly has just grown more personal for a lot of people in the last few years because of all the uh, bad stuff that's happened in the world that more and more people are waking up to. It's not subtle either, like no attempt was made to provide metaphors or subtext here.
The game itself is good, every aspect of gameplay is an improvement over P4G, benefitted by being the extended edition of a PS3/PS4 game and not a sort of port of a PS2 to a handheld console. Visuals also improved (it would be fucked if they didn't) and I'm a big fan of how stylistic navigating menus is and how combat is presented instead of stale menus. Music is good too whatever everyone knows this already. The narrative aspects of this game are really what doesn't work for me.
The social links in this game with the Phantom Thieves cast feel incredibly shallow compared to anything with the Investigation Team, and those aren't exactly GREAT but here it feels like nothing is happening. Everyone on your team in P4G is struggling with something related to their identity or something that at least feels heavy to deal with for anyone regardless of age while half of the Phantom Thieves just have some frustrating interpersonal issues that are rough as a teenager yes but don't really feel like a big deal. Ryuji reconciles with the running team, Makoto realizes shes a stick in the mud, I still don't understand what Ann's whole arc is supposed to be besides being sad about her friend, Yusuke's arc of struggling with his art is closer to something worthwhile at least. Futaba, Haru, and Kasumi/Sumire have some more real struggles. I'll give them credit that the social links outside of the group are a huge improvement over P4G, with some of the characters like Hifumi Togo being much more interesting than Ann and honestly would've made a better partner. The other confidants also having much more interesting arcs over their social links.
Dedicating a small section to Akechi because I really don't get the praise for his character, the "heel turn" doesn't have any impact because FROM THE JUMP he's saying passive aggresive weirdo shit to Joker and similar to Adachi it's not really surprising that he's involved in some capacity because there's only so many voiced characters with unique illustrations. Him having a troubled backstory doesn't get sympathy from me for being a total freak even before the Royal exclusive story content and while he's more enjoyable by being an unhinged freak he's also not redeemed by sacrificing himself working to stop Maruki, it doesn't seem noble that he wouldn't want to live in a false reality like that it's just... him. Maruki's motivations make him more interesting because he's gone through so much hardship he thinks he's truly in the right but he's doing about it the wrong way but I can't tell if the game truly wants me to reconsider it. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance does this kind of message better, and Yakuza: Like A Dragon does the final fist fight confrontation in a JRPG much better as well.
The story is servicable, as I put earlier I understand why it resonates with people. I just wish I got to spend more slice of life casual time with the crew. Maybe I'm looking back with rose colored glasses but I felt like I got to goof around with the Investigation Team more than I did with the Phantom Thieves. The game isn't subtle at almost any point but it ramps up when navigating Shido's palace and the dialogue doesn't even try it's just an evil politician saying "yes I asked shido to help me to a fucked up evil thing... and I'm happy about it! >:)" and one of the thieves going "man this is fucked up, we gotta stop them its bad that people could be this evil!". The third semester is talked up similar to Gen 2 pokemon having all of Kanto where, not really as big as they made it out to be even if the driving force behind it is more interesting. That too falls flat though as this is the perfect opportunity for the Phantom Thieves to really look inward and determine if their actions leading up to that point were justified. I don't at any point think that the Phantom Thieves are in the wrong but man, there's plenty of opportunity for them to have extended legitimate doubts leading up to this final confrontation and not once do they think "are we any better than Maruki?"
The peak moment of the story really is the swerve following Sae's palace. I wasn't completely fooled because it felt like it dragged on way too long to be a bad ending, but having played P4G and getting one of the bad endings I appreciated them going through an incredibly long sad sequence before flipping it around to reveal that everything went according to plan. I wish all the heists also felt this intricate.
the early half of the game when they're solving smaller issues is more my speed and is where I realize what doesn't work about this story for me personally. The scale of it is so big that I'm just kind of floating through it as opposed to the Investigation Team solving a series of fucked up murders and kidnappings that have happened in this small countryside town. Taking down the man who's presumably going to become the Prime Minister, Then Fighting God, Then Fighting God Combined With A Guy Who's Reshaped All Of Reality is so much that I feel like my time with the Phantom Thieves is complete having finished the game. All the characters are moving on too and I don't feel like I need to see anymore adventures from them. I feel bad for Futaba (also because she's the one I made my gf) but the rest of the cast is going into adulthood or working towards their own personal independence which is totally fine. I just felt the bond between the Investigation Team was much stronger.
Hey the game is still real good and I think people should play it if they're interested in it. Left me with a lot of thoughts from just how hyped up it is.
It didn't take very long for me to figure out why this game resonates with so many people. A story about teenagers being fed up with the mistreatment happening in the world by corrupt people in power so they're taking matters into their own hands. It's something that honestly has just grown more personal for a lot of people in the last few years because of all the uh, bad stuff that's happened in the world that more and more people are waking up to. It's not subtle either, like no attempt was made to provide metaphors or subtext here.
The game itself is good, every aspect of gameplay is an improvement over P4G, benefitted by being the extended edition of a PS3/PS4 game and not a sort of port of a PS2 to a handheld console. Visuals also improved (it would be fucked if they didn't) and I'm a big fan of how stylistic navigating menus is and how combat is presented instead of stale menus. Music is good too whatever everyone knows this already. The narrative aspects of this game are really what doesn't work for me.
The social links in this game with the Phantom Thieves cast feel incredibly shallow compared to anything with the Investigation Team, and those aren't exactly GREAT but here it feels like nothing is happening. Everyone on your team in P4G is struggling with something related to their identity or something that at least feels heavy to deal with for anyone regardless of age while half of the Phantom Thieves just have some frustrating interpersonal issues that are rough as a teenager yes but don't really feel like a big deal. Ryuji reconciles with the running team, Makoto realizes shes a stick in the mud, I still don't understand what Ann's whole arc is supposed to be besides being sad about her friend, Yusuke's arc of struggling with his art is closer to something worthwhile at least. Futaba, Haru, and Kasumi/Sumire have some more real struggles. I'll give them credit that the social links outside of the group are a huge improvement over P4G, with some of the characters like Hifumi Togo being much more interesting than Ann and honestly would've made a better partner. The other confidants also having much more interesting arcs over their social links.
Dedicating a small section to Akechi because I really don't get the praise for his character, the "heel turn" doesn't have any impact because FROM THE JUMP he's saying passive aggresive weirdo shit to Joker and similar to Adachi it's not really surprising that he's involved in some capacity because there's only so many voiced characters with unique illustrations. Him having a troubled backstory doesn't get sympathy from me for being a total freak even before the Royal exclusive story content and while he's more enjoyable by being an unhinged freak he's also not redeemed by sacrificing himself working to stop Maruki, it doesn't seem noble that he wouldn't want to live in a false reality like that it's just... him. Maruki's motivations make him more interesting because he's gone through so much hardship he thinks he's truly in the right but he's doing about it the wrong way but I can't tell if the game truly wants me to reconsider it. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance does this kind of message better, and Yakuza: Like A Dragon does the final fist fight confrontation in a JRPG much better as well.
The story is servicable, as I put earlier I understand why it resonates with people. I just wish I got to spend more slice of life casual time with the crew. Maybe I'm looking back with rose colored glasses but I felt like I got to goof around with the Investigation Team more than I did with the Phantom Thieves. The game isn't subtle at almost any point but it ramps up when navigating Shido's palace and the dialogue doesn't even try it's just an evil politician saying "yes I asked shido to help me to a fucked up evil thing... and I'm happy about it! >:)" and one of the thieves going "man this is fucked up, we gotta stop them its bad that people could be this evil!". The third semester is talked up similar to Gen 2 pokemon having all of Kanto where, not really as big as they made it out to be even if the driving force behind it is more interesting. That too falls flat though as this is the perfect opportunity for the Phantom Thieves to really look inward and determine if their actions leading up to that point were justified. I don't at any point think that the Phantom Thieves are in the wrong but man, there's plenty of opportunity for them to have extended legitimate doubts leading up to this final confrontation and not once do they think "are we any better than Maruki?"
The peak moment of the story really is the swerve following Sae's palace. I wasn't completely fooled because it felt like it dragged on way too long to be a bad ending, but having played P4G and getting one of the bad endings I appreciated them going through an incredibly long sad sequence before flipping it around to reveal that everything went according to plan. I wish all the heists also felt this intricate.
the early half of the game when they're solving smaller issues is more my speed and is where I realize what doesn't work about this story for me personally. The scale of it is so big that I'm just kind of floating through it as opposed to the Investigation Team solving a series of fucked up murders and kidnappings that have happened in this small countryside town. Taking down the man who's presumably going to become the Prime Minister, Then Fighting God, Then Fighting God Combined With A Guy Who's Reshaped All Of Reality is so much that I feel like my time with the Phantom Thieves is complete having finished the game. All the characters are moving on too and I don't feel like I need to see anymore adventures from them. I feel bad for Futaba (also because she's the one I made my gf) but the rest of the cast is going into adulthood or working towards their own personal independence which is totally fine. I just felt the bond between the Investigation Team was much stronger.
Hey the game is still real good and I think people should play it if they're interested in it. Left me with a lot of thoughts from just how hyped up it is.
2020
cute little game, I love the GBC Zelda games and this hits that really well both in art style and in dungeon design. A bit short but that would be mostly fine except I know for a fact I missed a LOT of the game. It feels really bad considering that there's very little guidance and I was playing the game how I'd normally play these.
I wish there were any sort of rails here. I know I missed plenty of the game because I ended with only 8/40 achievments on Steam and a good portion of the inventory filled with question marks. Looking at the wiki I've now seen that there's quite a few side quests. Why make them side at all? or at least guide me to them better. I talked to NPCs consistently so I could see what was going on and hardly got anything. I'm sure its tied to the in-game time system and I have to go to certain parts at certain times of day but man. I would've loved to get to know some more people. I didn't even get marriage done.
I wish there were any sort of rails here. I know I missed plenty of the game because I ended with only 8/40 achievments on Steam and a good portion of the inventory filled with question marks. Looking at the wiki I've now seen that there's quite a few side quests. Why make them side at all? or at least guide me to them better. I talked to NPCs consistently so I could see what was going on and hardly got anything. I'm sure its tied to the in-game time system and I have to go to certain parts at certain times of day but man. I would've loved to get to know some more people. I didn't even get marriage done.
2023
This review contains spoilers
Finished the story mode! As always a fun time with NRS silly writing with this franchise.
There was story DLC for 11 so I anticipate the same will be happening for this. I hope so at least. It was really fun to see Liu Kang's recreated "perfect" timeline. Changing the background and good guy/bad guy alignment for a lot of the cast was really interesting, I hope to see more good guy Baraka someday. I like the new previously unseen character dynamics with regular human Raiden and Kung Lao, Johnny Cage and Kenshi becoming friends, Shao Kahn being relegated to a General under Sindel, and Mileena and Kitana finally truly being sisters. The characters all feel pretty fresh because of it, except Johnny Cage he's arguably more johnny cage in this timeline than ever before. The story beats weren't very predicatble either! I had foolishly assumed the timeline nonsense would be mostly absent from this one as I figured we'd be all in on this new timeline but man I was not expecting it to go the way it did. The ending being at an Armageddon Pyramid of Argus style setpiece with infinite universe versions of every fighter was nuts. Li-Mei as Quan Chi? Subzero Nitara? Baraka Johnny Cage? Massive brain decisions going on at NRS. In-between there's very sweet fanservice moments like Mileena and Tanya's relationship being made more than a tower ending, Kitana Sindel and Mileena getting to see King Jarrod again, Raiden taking Liu Kangs place as Earthrealms champion, The Deadly Alliance joining sides WITH Liu Kang. They're truly on the highest level of comic book nonsense inspiration. Hope to see more guys being bros with Kenshi, Cage, Raiden and Kung Lao.
The game plays alright I'm getting a vague hang of things but it's so much faster than MK11 or SF6 that it'll take longer.
Megan Fox's acting is really bad though.
There was story DLC for 11 so I anticipate the same will be happening for this. I hope so at least. It was really fun to see Liu Kang's recreated "perfect" timeline. Changing the background and good guy/bad guy alignment for a lot of the cast was really interesting, I hope to see more good guy Baraka someday. I like the new previously unseen character dynamics with regular human Raiden and Kung Lao, Johnny Cage and Kenshi becoming friends, Shao Kahn being relegated to a General under Sindel, and Mileena and Kitana finally truly being sisters. The characters all feel pretty fresh because of it, except Johnny Cage he's arguably more johnny cage in this timeline than ever before. The story beats weren't very predicatble either! I had foolishly assumed the timeline nonsense would be mostly absent from this one as I figured we'd be all in on this new timeline but man I was not expecting it to go the way it did. The ending being at an Armageddon Pyramid of Argus style setpiece with infinite universe versions of every fighter was nuts. Li-Mei as Quan Chi? Subzero Nitara? Baraka Johnny Cage? Massive brain decisions going on at NRS. In-between there's very sweet fanservice moments like Mileena and Tanya's relationship being made more than a tower ending, Kitana Sindel and Mileena getting to see King Jarrod again, Raiden taking Liu Kangs place as Earthrealms champion, The Deadly Alliance joining sides WITH Liu Kang. They're truly on the highest level of comic book nonsense inspiration. Hope to see more guys being bros with Kenshi, Cage, Raiden and Kung Lao.
The game plays alright I'm getting a vague hang of things but it's so much faster than MK11 or SF6 that it'll take longer.
Megan Fox's acting is really bad though.
2024
I played the tutorial run and immediately went "yeah this is going to ruin my life"
2023
Great follow up to Alan Wake 13 years later, almost everything is better and more interesting than in the first game. Almost.
Story is cool and more engaging. Love the connections to Control. Music rules. The case board is satisfying to fill out. The plot threads and light diffusion are cooler than any of the environment changes in Control. Puzzles are all fun. Combat is routinely frustrating, Reloading usually means death, enemies even if there's very few of them sometimes take more than a full clip to kill and that just feels bad, The wolves when you play as Saga are the most annoying enemy ever put in a video game, and routinely switching to a healing item or throwable glitches out and makes me stop -> switch to gun -> switch back to item -> die because of how long it takes.
I'll do The Final Draft when the other DLC comes out.
Story is cool and more engaging. Love the connections to Control. Music rules. The case board is satisfying to fill out. The plot threads and light diffusion are cooler than any of the environment changes in Control. Puzzles are all fun. Combat is routinely frustrating, Reloading usually means death, enemies even if there's very few of them sometimes take more than a full clip to kill and that just feels bad, The wolves when you play as Saga are the most annoying enemy ever put in a video game, and routinely switching to a healing item or throwable glitches out and makes me stop -> switch to gun -> switch back to item -> die because of how long it takes.
I'll do The Final Draft when the other DLC comes out.
a 2D platform fighting game similar to smash bros, but with one piece characters. Really stiff and not great, but it's worth a 10 minute session if you're a fan of the series.
The most interesting thing about the game is that it was brought over to Europe with English text over Japanese dialogue for the ps1 in 2003, 3 years after the release of the PS2 and a year before 4Kids first dubbed the show for western audiences.
oh and you can unlock and play as Pandaman
The most interesting thing about the game is that it was brought over to Europe with English text over Japanese dialogue for the ps1 in 2003, 3 years after the release of the PS2 and a year before 4Kids first dubbed the show for western audiences.
oh and you can unlock and play as Pandaman
2022
this game is like if the werid uncomfortable feeling i got while watching someone play Riven at 6 years old was actualized
give me more levels please
2021
Wonderful game front to back. Touching story, creative environments, puzzles that are simple but don't feel condecending, regularly adds or switches around gameplay elements so nothing gets stale. What other game is a 3rd person shooter but also an ARPG but also a rhythm game? It's fun to take breaks in the game to just explore your surroundings and find all sorts of cute things laying around to just mess around with. Really a must play for everyone.
Hazelight knows how to make a video game damn.
Hazelight knows how to make a video game damn.
1994
incredible beat up that deserves a home port
2018
great game! Fun to revisit after finishing It Takes Two earlier this year. Everything in It Takes Two is a refinement of gameplay concepts presented in A Way Out or streamlining certain things that end up slowing the flow of the game down.
Great story here too! by the end you're fully bought in and the twist is heartbreaking.
Great story here too! by the end you're fully bought in and the twist is heartbreaking.