When I try to think of notable examples of games in the space of co-op mission-based PvE, it's kind of crazy how the only big ones that come to mind are Left4Dead, Deep Rock Galactic, and PAYDAY because (for the most part), these are all really successful and fun when they work. Helldivers 2 most certainly joins the company of these aforementioned titles, and one I can see myself coming back to (friends-willing) over and over.

In the galactic effort to spread democracy for Super Earth, as a Helldiver you pick a planet on the galactic map (currently inhabited by either giant bugs or terminator-style robots) and from there, choose an operation. Depending on your difficulty setting, your operations will consist of varying numbers of missions and objective types. Drop in and run around to launch an ICBM, defend an outpost from a swarm, collect planetary samples, and so on. Depending on the mission type (and how thorough you can afford to be), missions usually range from 12-30 minutes and you are rewarded extra for completing an operation, making it very easy to play for long periods of time as it's just that fun.

After you return from a mission, you can use your hard-earned currencies to unlock new strategems (airstrikes or weapon drops called in by performing a DDR string on the D-Pad), as well as progress in the battle passes and modules to upgrade your ship. There's much to choose from and each player gets 4 strategem slots per mission, so there's plenty of room for synergy and customization.

Overall, it's a pretty good combat loop and the movement and shooting feel very reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid V. If I had something negative to say about it, I would say certain currencies being hard locked to higher difficulties is a bit unfortunate because 1) Communication and Cooperation is absolutely mandatory the higher you go (playing with randoms rules this out), and 2) The difficulty level really starts to feel less about spreading Democracy and more about running for your life from every encounter in the name of efficiency. Getting stomped doesn't feel great, getting stomped after 40 minutes of commitment just sends me into Dota 2 PTSD. While I also don't normally factor this sort of thing into my reviews unless it was a real detriment, but there have been a litany of bugs and glitches hampering the experience since launch, and each patched introduced something new and frustrating. I'm sure this sort of thing will work itself out as the devs chip away at it, but for now simply playing with friends has been a hassle.

Still, if you are looking for a really solid shooter to co-op with, this is definitely a great new offering. There's a ton of unlocks to keep the gameplay loop feel engaging, and if they keep their current cadence up I'm sure there will be lots more crazy new things to try out or shoot at within the next year.

Between 3, 4, and 5, Persona 3 was always my least favourite. Tartarus was a tedious slog, you didn't get to delve very far into your relationships with the people you were closest to, there were bizarrely no option to just be friends with any of the love interests meaning you just didn't get to finish Social Links, and above all there was simply no definitive version of the game with FES and Portable both having features the others lacked. But what Persona 3 did always have was a strong story, a well-defined message, a great main party, and of course, a tremendous soundtrack. While Persona 3 Reload disappointingly lacks a FeMC route, I am happy to say that it features everything else I could want from the game and more, and (unless you want to experience the better main character), the easiest version of the game to point to and say yes, you should play Persona 3.

For the most part, visually it is a stunning upgrade. There are new mo-capped(?) 3D cutscenes for certain moments that feel incredible, and in general the game is also a lot more vibrant while still retaining the colour palette of the original game with lots of blues and greys. You can tell they wanted to adapt a sort of similar style to Persona 5 and it works, with the exception of losing some of the personality in the old character portraits for a more "clean" look.

The soundtrack as expected is fantastic. While many of the less prominent songs are retained in their original version, there are a ton of new remixes. Lotus Juice returns on many of the vocal tracks this time with Azumi Takahashi in place of Yumi Kawamura. It's Going Down Now is introduced as the new advantage battle theme in Tartarus, and Colour Your Night is the new night time theme as Moon's Reaching Out to the Stars is shifted to be only in the day. Colour Your Night in particular is one of my new favourite Persona tracks, I ran around outside at night a bit just to hear it more. While long time fans of P3 might find the new remixes a little hard to adjust to, by the end of the game I definitely loved all of them. Takahashi's voice brings a softer vibe in contrast to Kawamura's, but it is in no way a replacement - they both fit just right.

Similarly, perhaps the thing I was most excited to hear going in was the new voice cast. Many of them feel very similar to their old actors and actresses, while others feel entirely new. Junpei and Akihiko in particular really killed it for me, with the former elevating the character far above what they were previously in my mind. All of the other social links are fully voiced now too, with Yuko and Bebe being big standouts.

P3 Reload also introduces a number of new ways to interact with your party members with new Link Episodes where you spend time with and get to know your male party members better. There's also new activities in the dorm at night that not only are fun little events, but also contribute to their capabilities in battle via their Characteristics. As an example, you can cook or watch DVDs with Yukari enough times, and SP costs of her healing spells are halved, then quartered. These events ALSO will increase your social stats or give you an extra useful consumable, so they do not feel like a struggle to fit into a game with an already tight schedule. It really goes a long way to help them feel like a group of friends who live and fight together, which was sorely missing in the original games.

And finally, we come to Tartarus. It's really hard to make a 200+ floor dungeon feel engaging, and admittedly it still felt a bit rough going in the home stretch, but the new improvements made a world of difference. First off is the visual style. Each block feels wildly different with striking aesthetics so it really feels more like 5-6 different dungeons at times instead of one big tower. Party members have a new theurgy meter which functions as a super and you gain meter for doing something particular to that character (Akihiko having buffs on, Mitsuru inflicting debuffs/ailments, etc.). They are absolutely overpowered and can invalidate a lot of fights, but they look flashy and damn cool so all is forgiven (such is the way in Persona). The Monad depths that used to serve as an end game optional dungeon are now sprinked throughout Tartarus via random doors and fixed passages, offering harder boss fights for reliable major tarot cards in shuffle time and greater rewards/chests. The major tarot cards you can now draw offer a lot of one-time or same-night bonuses in Tartarus such as greater fusion bonuses or getting to draw extra in Shuffle Time. They also even added a catch-up mechanic, where once per-excursion (or maybe Tartarus segment?) you have a chance of having a clock show up after opening special chests. When you touch the clock, you pick two party members that will level up to the MC's current level in the next battle. Something like this is SORELY needed in Persona where most of the time party members will just stay on the bench once they are placed there to avoid grinding. By the end of my playthrough, every single party member was in the mid-70s and I could freely select them as I saw fit for each battle. I remember one full moon fight in particular, I screwed up my team composition and died but that was cool, because I had the freedom to pick a different set of characters in the same night without feeling under-leveled. I really hope we continue to get mechanics like this, because for games with such a good cast as these, it's such a shame to not use more than 3 of them in battle.

There's a lot more I didn't talk about in this massive review of Persona 3 Reload, but above all I can now happily say I consider it one of my favourite Persona experiences alongside Golden and Royal. I'm sure it'll still get a re-release down the road as is the way with Atlus, but for now anyone looking to try out Persona 3 - this is the one to go for. You won't be disappointed.

After seeing a fair bit of the promo materials for Infinite Wealth, and especially after playing 'The Man Who Erased His Name', I had a single great fear going into this one. Yakuza: Like a Dragon had claimed the title of my favourite RGG studios game due in no small part to the new protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga. It is no exaggeration for me to say he is my favourite all-time RPG protagonist, and with how things were shaping up my fear was that he would have to relinquish that spotlight back to the long-time series favourite, Kazuma Kiryu. I am more than happy to report that these fears were unfounded and Infinite Wealth simply allows both these protagonists to breathe by simply jamming two massive games together in one.

To elaborate further, the scope of this game is insane. I have that same feeling I did when I first played Yakuza 5. A whole new map to explore in Hawaii on top of Yokohama and Kamurocho, and there are a massive amount of minigames (and even a proper ass game in Dondoko Island) to go with it. Want to play a Pokemon Snap-like where you take pictures of perverts wreaking havock across Hawaii? There's Sicko Snap at three of the bus stops around town. How about a dating app where you build Kasuga's profile and do rhythm game-like inputs to score a funny date? There's Miss Match. How about straight-up Crazy Taxi x Uber Eats where you race around picking up food, doing tricks, and stopping by citizens? There's Crazy Eats. All of these are pretty fun and have a respectable amount of content and incentive to replay them, and there are plenty of other reasons to manually explore around town like Aloha Links, the Photo Rally, and the Sujimon League rather than just fast travelling from destination to destination. Having a dedicated button to wave to the people you meet, a playlist full of collectible SEGA songs, and a segway really make it comfy to explore.

Diving further in, Dondoko Island is the new 'main' minigame in Infinite Wealth as the counterpart to the Company Management in Like a Dragon. Essentially Animal Crossing, you clear out trash on your island to make room for all sorts of buildings and decorations of your own creation as you invite various people to come stay for a few days and enjoy what you've built. Once you have the requisite resources and recipes (which you gain both actively and passively), you can build it right there on the spot and place it and move it around as you see fit. Create your own paths around each area to fit the style you want, and even redecorating isn't much of a hassle. A day on Dondoko Island takes about thirty minutes or so, and each day has daily tasks to help you rake in the Dokobucks which can be used to purchase upgrades, buy special decorations, or even just convert into straight cash. It was very addicting to push my island rank all the way up to 5 stars and I ended up putting the plot on hold for a long time just for how fun it was.

Now back to talking about the real game itself, there are a handful of improvements to the combat system. The big one here is the expanded movement during battle. You have a circle which you can freely move around in, and many of the moves and attacks for each job allow you to knock enemies into each other for extra damage. It becomes a fun little game on each turn of battle how to take best advantage of the positioning of your team. There are also new tag team attacks with each party member as you level up your bonds. There are still follow-up attacks and the ability to tag-out when you have more than 4 party members, as well as new Poundmates to summon in battle. Of course, there are also a whole host of creative new jobs in addition to many of the previous ones, which you can use to customize your playstyle and team composition. It's not a dramatic change over the previous game, but it is just enough to make the combat even more enjoyable. If the level difference is high enough, you can also just start a fight with a beatdown to skip the battle for slightly less exp gains. Doing absolutely everything I could, I felt like I outpaced the plot's enemies around the halfway mark, but managed to be on par for the finale which is the important thing. Unfortunately (and maybe this is my fault for hitting too many bad guys), there weren't really any battles that felt like a stiff challenge. The previous game had (IMO) two notorious fights that hit like a truck and one of which was especially awesome for it - but there has been no such equivalent in this game. Still, the combat and job customization has been fun enough for me to really care too much about that.

As I mentioned, the story is really doing both Ichiban and Kiryu justice. They both have a personal stake in the plot, and my attachment to both characters could not be greater. I won't sugar coat it, there are a LOT of cutscenes. This is not the game for you if you thought MGS4 was excessive, because you will often (especially in the first few chapters) just be sitting your ass down to watch a movie; but god damn if it isn't an engrossing one most of the time. In fact, one other thing I noticed is that the first and last scenes of all substories are also fully voiced. There are also a ton of conversations out while wandering the world that are also fully voiced. In general, there is a lot of audio dialogue in this game! Maybe more than I have ever heard in an RPG before! Unfortunately, the overarching plot and central conflict is also the weakest aspect of the game. It feels a little bit unfocused and even occasionally just sloppy with all the key players and motivations and many feeling under-utilized, and if I were to make a comparison it actually reminds me a lot of FFXIV: Stormblood in this regard. It isn't like it's terrible, there are genuinely wonderful character moments and the themes of reflecting on your past, regrets, atonement, and forgiveness are well established and executed. I also like that they are continuing to blend fantasy elements (such as boss fights) into the """""realism""""" of the RGG series. Just overall I would not rate it amongst the highs of the series like 0 and 7.

Qualms about the central conflict aside, it's a tremendously impactful and relatable journey. Even a certain collectible that unlocks about halfway through the game moved me with each one I picked up. There are certainly a number of over-the-top ridiculous moments in the plot, but such is par for the course with RGG. At its core, you can tell a lot of love and care was put into this game, the quality and amount of content is staggering. Only time will tell if this is the recency bias talking, but I strongly feel this is one of the best turn-based RPGs ever made, and I could not be happier with how they have pulled it off. My completion time was just shy of 100 hours, and I certainly want to go back and polish off the few things I did not get to. As always, RGG fans will not want to miss this entry and it still stands among the best. I really look forward to how they will continue this series (and go back to Waikiki, because it'd be a waste to use that city after only one game!).

To be honest, I always thought this was originally a Dreamcast game but it totally makes sense as an arcade game. Pretty ingenious really, because getting prompted to insert more coins while a fish is on the line would've totally got me. Regardless, it's a solid fishing game with different lures and strategies to catch as much bass as possible and move onto the next stage as fast as you can in the time limit.

Omega Force continues their trend of successfully adapting the musou combat style to the quirks of other franchises, and Samurai Remnant is no exception.

Set in 1600s Edo, Japan, Samurai Remnant follows Miyamoto Iori as he is drawn into the Waxing Moon Ritual, an off-shoot of the series' Holy Grail war. Masters are selected and servants are summoned, and they must fight for the Waxing Moon to grant their wish. For being a musou game, the game actually is fairly text heavy (as is known for the series). Battles are smaller scale than you might expect too (usually no more than 30-40 at a time) as you hack, slash, and use magic as both Iori and a wide range of servants who have their own playable moments.

Overall, as a fan of Omega Force the combat is pretty fun. Iori has numerous different blade styles to choose from for different situations and a huge skill tree to improve them. He can also tag in his servant when the meter is full to temporarily play as them and dish out big damage. To compensate for the smaller enemy counts, some magical enemies have a 'shell gauge' that must be broken which prolongs fights to last more than ten seconds. It works well enough, and reinforces how strong certain foes are.

Instead of traipsing across large battlefields, the game consists of a huge number of districts across Edo. Visit shops/food stalls, complete little trials for the townspeople, and pet animals. Enemy encounters (outside of the plot) are clearly marked on the map, so the player really can go at their own pace and decide how much extra combat they want to engage in. There are also periodic 'Font Battles', which are tactical territory capture battles that take place across the map. Try to capture all the spirit fonts you can while routing enemies and going into mini-encounters. It's fun, if a little bit easy to outsmart the AI.

My main detractors however unfortunately come from the narrative. There are certain aspects I love (Iori's dynamic with his servant is certainly the highlight), but a lot of stuff just feels undercooked. There are a couple choices you can make during the game to change the outcome pretty significantly, but depending on which route you are on, some characters are inexplicably absent. This feels more like an excuse to add more replay value than there should be, but I guess I really just wish the character development (of characters who aren't the main pair) could be on the same level as Stay Night or even Extra.

Still, if you are into the Fate series or even just like musou games, this is a solid entry for both fans and newcomers alike. No prior knowledge of the franchise is needed to jump in, and if you DO like it, I highly recommend checking out the aforementioned Fate games. This is as good a place as any to start.

A beautiful and quaint little fishing adventure where you sail around a group of islands, fish up fish, and get to know a bunch of quirky (and maybe a little stir-crazy) islanders. In theory it should've been a slam dunk for my tastes, but I think I would've jived with it a lot more if it committed harder on the type of game it wanted to be.

Starting out, you have your boat, map, and encyclopedia of fish that you can catch. Characters will give you some light quests and point you in general directions to explore, but really you can go wherever you like. Time moves when you do, and you very quickly will understand the value of better engines and rods as things get dangerous (and a bit spooky) at night.

To catch fish, you play a handful of different mini-games depending on a catch, which then goes into your RE4-like cargo hold to try and fit all the weird and different shaped creatures/objects in. Hitting a rock (or being hit by other things) can take out a square of inventory and cause you to drop your fish, or knock out a critical component. You can repair that square back at the dock, but lose too many at once and... well I'm not really sure, I never got close; it always ended up as more of an annoyance than anything else. As you progress, you can make upgrades to your vessel to have more cargo space, carry bigger engines, etc. as well as research new parts. Pretty much all the research points I found went into rods and engines because those had the most value, but there are also crab pots and nets you can invest in if those are more your speed.

Ultimately, why the game fell so short for me was that I think I would've preferred a lot more if it was played as a straight, casual, roam around and fish and different things come out at day and night. Instead, it forces the player to retreat at night or risk going crazy/being attacked, all in service of a pretty middling over-arching narrative. I appreciate the game for what it is, and I would still recommend it to people looking for this sort of game, I just really wish there was more here to love.

Same great game with some touch ups. Matchmaking/online play on PC is a lot more usable than the GFWL/original Steam multiplayer days, including the ability to use passwords like in the later games. Framerate is also now consistent in all areas (most notably Blighttown). Some other quality of life is also included, like being able to use multiple consumables at once if you have a stack, an extra bonfire at an important location, and covenant management from any bonfire.

All in all, it's pretty much everything you could need from a remaster of this game on modern platforms and a straight improvement over Prepare to Die edition. If you are looking to play DaS1 for the first time, this is the one to get.

Playing through this at the same time as the base game, I really did not anticipate the main story being just as good (if not better in some respects). Phantom Liberty features a spy thriller-esque plot in the world of 2077 and really slams it home.

Taking place (mostly) in a new district of Night City called Dogtown, it is cordoned off from the rest of the city by a private military force. You must enter heavily guarded checkpoints to get in or out, and though small, it feels like a bit of a wasteland. There's a lot of verticality to it thanks to the sand, dirt, and construction which is a nice contrast from the rest of the city - a sort of middleground between it and the badlands.

As mentioned previously, the plot of the DLC is more of a spy-thriller, revolving around Space Force One going down in the volatile district with the president of the NUSA on board. V gets pulled into it with promises of a resolution to his problems, and you go from there. Along the way you'll meet Solomon Reed (Idris Elba) who serves as a fantastic ally through your adventure. In general, the main quests feel a lot longer and more cinematic than the ones in the base game, with more than a couple of them being highlights for me, base-game included.

The expansion also has 10 new gigs too for the district's fixer, and these ones are significantly more involved than the ones in the base game (they're a lot closer to side jobs so I do recommend doing them if you weren't before).

Installing the DLC adds 10 levels to your cap bringing it up to 60, as well as a new "Relic Tree". There are 15 points that can be gathered around Dogtown that you can use to invest in the tree for some unique abilities, although it's a bit awkward. Due to differences in builds, most players are only going to really have a use for 1/3 of the abilities at any given time, and it takes a little bit of the immersion away when this special tree is only tied into this special district. Anyone playing the complete edition would probably know right away what the DLC is because of it. A better integration would've probably been to just roll these new abilities into the existing skill tree, but this is really a minor complaint.

Overall, I can't say enough about how cool this expansion is. It starts and finishes within the scope of 2077's main story, and has some of the best writing and moments in a game that is already full of them. Certainly worth a pickup if the game has grabbed you and reason enough to jump in with the Complete Edition if you're a newcomer to Night City.

Y'know even before I had even considered playing The Witcher 3, I had heard about the plans for Cyberpunk 2077. The few paragraphs of text that were featured in those interviews a decade(?) ago made it seem like the dream RPG. Ultimately I decided to dodge the launch bullet thanks to the lack of actual gameplay footage leading up to release, but I am happy I finally did pick it up in 2023 because (now), it is a hell of an RPG.

As much as I adore the gameplay (I'll get to that in a bit), the thing that truly kept me going all the way through the game is the world-building, writing, and performances. I suppose having seen Edgerunners prior helped to introduce the world, but the way people talk, the slang, the environmental story-telling through broadcasts, logs, etc. all paint a very vivid picture. Night City feels like a real place in the not-to-far-off future where corporate power and influence are stretched to the absolute limit.

It's a bleak world, and as you play as V and carve your way through it, you get to know a lot of interesting characters and play a role in their fate. The main story itself is quite short, and more to serve as a vehicle to introduce the player to different characters/factions, who you can then choose to continue on with in their own side quest arcs. Many of these also lead to romance options and what endings you have available to you once you reach the climax. It all feels very seamless, though I did only commit to one playthrough so I have not fully seen behind the curtain of what matters and what doesn't. Still, I felt pretty convinced that the conclusions I saw was pretty unique to how I went through the game.

I previously mentioned character performances as well, and I really do have to applaud the performances of Gavin Drea (Male V) and Keanue Reeves (Johnny Silverhand). They truly kept me invested in the plot all on their own, and they have a fascinating dynamic. Johnny in particular has a presence in most of the game's plot and even some side quests, and it's really impressive how much he added to the experience.

As for the gameplay, there are two main components that let you build out your character. The first is the skill tree with your 5 main stats (Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence, and Cool). Each stat governs a major playstyle as well as a couple of weapon types. By the end of the (base) game, you'll have enough of a spread to have 3 of these stats maxed. I had the DLC installed and I went for Body/Reflexes/Tech as my main 3 with Cool most of the way. It's a pretty good system, there are a lot of satisfying abilities to choose from in each. Maybe one little gripe I have however is that the game feels borderline unplayable without heavy investment into Reflexes. This tree makes movement more fluid, a dash (and subsequent air-dash), and just makes the game feel like a joy to play on top of the already pretty-good shooting. On one hand, I respect tying something so vital to be an option you have to invest in. On the other, the experience without that investment really isn't much fun.

The other component for character builds is your cyberware tree. Pick your augments a-la Deus Ex. Many of them are more passive (e.g. do more damage vs. robots, better armor) but some of them are key features like double-jump, the ability to use "Smart" weapons effectively that can track and see through walls, what comes out of your arms when it's time to put up your fists, what your eyes can see, and most importantly your OS. Do you want to be able to upload hacks to enemies or cameras? Or do you want a Sandevistan that lets you slow time (this is the correct answer)? They heavily govern your abilities in (and out) of combat, and you will be upgrading them and swapping them out all game as you see fit. It's pretty satisfying and can allow for some wicked set-ups that allow you to never die or be in slow-motion constantly.

I mentioned previously, but the game isn't focused all around the main story. There are some set-piece missions, but a lot of the meat actually comes from the side quests. These can be story arcs for major characters, or some one-offs that can lead to some quirky R*-like encounters with weirdos. These can feature just as many choices, and even have some bearing on the plot. Beyond that, there are also gigs (smaller scale where you will have a quick chat with that area's fixer and clear out a building), and NCPD scanner calls (usually just go kill 5-10 dudes). I ended up doing all of it because I enjoyed the gunplay and driving around that much, so the variety is there for those who crave it.

Speaking also of driving, it feels better than I was expecting (most of the time). It's pretty arcadey, and some cars slide around like pinballs, but some feel really good as contrast. There are a ton you can buy and call to your position aside from being able to pull people out of any car on the street. As you might expect, running over civilians (and sometimes even fender benders!) can lead to wanted ratings just like in GTA, but unfortunately the police AI falls apart the moment you step out of the car and off the main road. They don't/can't seem to be able to follow you very well, so most of the time it winds up as a minor inconvenience. Still, it adds to the immersion I suppose.

I would also take a moment to talk about the soundtrack, besides the radio which has a good mix of electronic, EDM, rock, and jazz stations, the actual original score is outstanding. The battle themes in general really got me fired up for each encounter. One of the ambient tracks while driving around got on my nerves, but the rest of them totally set the tone.

Performance-wise, at least in it's current state on the PS5 it feels pretty good. I think I saw a frame drop one time, and only a handful of technical glitches/bugs (cars spawning in the ground, stuck animations, that sort of thing). They seem to have really cleaned it up in the 3 years since launch.

2077 really has it all. A good sci-fi/cyberpunk setting, some respectable RPG elements, a great story, and fun FPS gameplay, this is absolutely worth a pick-up now (at least on modern systems/PC). I highly recommend, especially the complete edition if you can as Phantom Liberty is also excellent.

Currently in Early Access, Stonks-9800 serves as a fairly realistic 80's-style stock market simulator. Buy and sell stocks as you watch the charts for various made-up companies. Feel the rush of seeing the prices for your invested companies skyrocket, only for you to have a medical emergency and get stuck in the hospital for 1-2 weeks as the prices plummet back to normal levels.

Bitterness aside, there's a fair amount to manage outside of your investment goals. Balance your stress and health using daily spending that you can scale up and down, go out to bars or gamble with new friends. Form strong enough relationships, and they may even let you in on insider trading tips! You can also use your new-found gains to buy cars and better places to live in.

Currently, there is only "Free Mode" and "CEO Mode" to choose from, but a "Story Mode" seems to be in the works based on the menus. I'd like to see some better QoL such as more easily accessible information on each company without going to multiple seperate menus, as well as more companies to invest in at a time (there's only 7 or 8 on the ticker at any given time, but other companies are constantly getting updates and the ones you can actually invest in vary on different save files). It'd be cool to get a bigger list to work with and manage. Still, the game is in a great state so far if this seems like your kind of thing! Satisfying aesthetic and music to match it too.

There are a number of long-running media series out there that inevitably have that entry that sets a new bar. The big blockbuster that is so earth-shattering, you have to wonder how the creators could possibly follow it up. Putting my own feelings of FFVII aside, no one could possibly deny that FFVIII had a herculean task to follow that up. The new shift in focus and mechanics featured in FFVIII would not be for everybody, but boy were they for me.

FF8 focuses on a group of teenage soldiers who are being raised and trained to become "SeeD"s, highly elite soldiers for their respective "Garden"s to go off and fight in whatever contracts their Garden chooses to take. They make use of Guardian Forces (GFs) which serve as their summons, and slowly over time learn more about the world around them. There are a lot of parallels here to another more recent game I care very dearly for, and fans of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 should probably be giving this game a go.

As you may have guessed, FF8 does lay out the anti-war sentiment as many of their games do, but here it serves as more of a backdrop for a much more personal message. More so than (most) other FF games, FF8 is highly centred around its main character. Squall is a distant, awkward kid who ends up having a lot of trust and responsibility thrust upon him. Over the course of the game, he learns more and more about himself and how he handles a lot of difficult situations. It is not an exaggeration for me to say that Squall's whole story arc is a big driving factor behind my 5-star rating here. He is very much a love-him-or-hate-him type of MC, but he REALLY hit that note for me.

As for locations, the game has a ton of really varied and expansive towns and cities to explore. The dungeons are all really unique and varied (you go into a cave like once), and the final dungeon in particular is one of the coolest I have ever played through in an RPG.

Another big divisive part of FF8 and its core identifying feature is the Junctioning system. To equip skills, you "Junction" a GF to that party member, and that allows them to not only choose if they can use items, magic, summon, etc. but also attach magic to their stats to buff them up. There's quite a few little nuances to this that can easily turn someone off if they don't fully understand it, but I thought it was VERY satisfying once it clicks and you're able to do all sorts of broken shit to your liking. Enemy weak to ice? Then junction blizzaga to your elemental attack and go to town. Enemy deals a ton of AOE physical damage? Then junction Blind to your status attack and make it so just hitting them will apply the debuff. There really is a lot you can do with it, and there's no shortage of items and optional content you can go crazy with. In particular, FF8 also introduced my beloved Triple Triad card game which allows you to collect (or lose) cards of all the monsters and bosses in the game. It's pretty addicting, and there are a ton of rule modifiers to mix it up. The cards can even be refined into items, so they are worth collecting from a gameplay standpoint too.

FF8 also just might be the best looking game to come out for the PS1. The gorgeous hand-painted backgrounds (like in FF7) are now populated with realistic-looking character models, and the detail is staggering. There are a number of moments where the game transitions into pre-rendered cutscenes while you are playing some of the more cinematic moments, and it's really really impressive the amount of detail and animation quality they were able to get out of PS1 hardware.

One last thing I would like to mention, in a series of amazing OSTs, FF8 is one of the best. The mix of chill, strange, and hype themes for different locations and moments makes for the perfect atmosphere to drive home the messages of the game. I really can't speak highly enough of Final Fantasy VIII here, and it definitely sits among my favourites.

Pretty much exactly what you expect, they turned Breakout into a Survivor-like/Bullet Heaven/whatever you want to call it.

Rally off increasingly difficult waves as you pick upgrades to your ball, paddle, add extra ball types, health drops between waves, etc. etc. As far as a mindless time killer, this one is pretty good because runs are fairly short and (at least for me) the game is quite challenging. Not only do you have to avoid missing balls and waiting for them to respawn, but you also often have to prioritize which ones you want to rally, if you want to go for the exp drops, and of course which angle you want to hit the balls at.

The game isn't too deep and there aren't a ton of unlockables, but if you like Breakout and you like this genre twist, it's worth picking up at its already fairly low price.

Kiryu's third farewell tour, to be totally honest this had me pretty bummed when it was announced. Sega has an incredible, relatable, and glowing protagonist in Ichiban Kasuga and he (along with his crew) deserve all the spotlight they earned in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Even beyond that, if we were to get a game based on Kiryu's "missing history", The gap between 0 and 1 would have been tremendously more interesting and meaningful than from 6 to partway through 7. Still, here we are.

To keep up with Yagami and handle fights of 20-30 dudes at a time, Kiryu has an array of goofy spy gadgets this time around. A wire watch that can snatch multiple enemies and throw 'em around, a swarm of drones, and a couple of others. You can use these in the agent style, as well as the traditional dragon style he's had in previous games. While not as satisfying as the Judgment games, it still feels pretty good.

Minigame selection is fine too. You have the standard fare gambling games, arcade, golf center, karaoke, as well as a new live action variant of the hostess games and the return of pocket circuit. The plot also heavily revolves around "The Castle", which hosts the usual coliseum but with the ability to do big team battles with recruitable allies. These are pretty fun and the group ones get pretty tricky later on.

As for the plot, there's really not a lot to write home about. It fills in some details about what Kiryu has been up to and what led up to a major event in Yakuza: LAD, as well as what's up with The Castle. There's a handful of new characters, though the only two that really stand out are Akame and Shishido. It's a little clumsy the way it ties itself into the plot of Yakuza: LAD, but it does the job I suppose.

The major exception to all of this is the finale. It's pretty impactful, and while the Yakuza OSTs have always been solid with a few banger tracks, you can really feel how much they've been improving over these past few games (Lost Judgement, Ishin, this). There's one scene in particular that was so strong that it not only kicked up my rating from a 3.5 to a 4 by itself, but it also had me kinda looking forward to Kiryu's involvement in Infinite Wealth.

As I mentioned at the start, I still really don't think this game needed to happen (powerful moments aside). Still, it was brief and a good enough refresher to get ready for Infinite Wealth next year. My clear time was 27 hours, however keep in mind that I went way the fuck overboard on the side stuff. Someone bee-lining it and only doing the required amount could probably finish it in 15 or less(?). I wouldn't call this a 'don't miss', but if you really can't get enough Kiryu, this is the game for you.

Just awful as a side scrolling platformer/shooter. Annoying jumps, tiny hitbox on your own projectiles, and a whole mish mash of bizarre enemy types. Probably more bareable in co-op, but not at all fun in single player.

A space shooter in which you pick a planet and then actually have a behind-the-ship third person view as you fly through asteroid fields and dodge enemy crafts. While I am sure this was ambitious on the hardware, ultimately the animations are so jittery it was impossible for me to look at for even five minutes. Definitely a shame it couldn't have been smoother.