I have this propensity to never play games a second time, even the ones I love. It serves me well more often than not, because I greatly value backlog exploration and sheer variety over mechanical or scholarly mastery of any specific title. Where it bites me in the wahooey, however, is in largely skill-oriented titles like character action games, ones that demand keen attentiveness and willingness to retain and juggle knowledge of systems macro and micro. For as much as I love these games for their absolutely unbridled pomp and the hot-blooded verve that courses thru em - I know I’m not going to get the most out of them, I just don’t have that kind of attention. Bayonetta 1 is astoundingly good, but it’s a game I essentially Bronze Trophied my way through, and only watched .webms of people going sicko online for. I only knew what dodge offset WAS when I hit the last level, when it was too late for me 😔.
Bayorigins: Wily Beast and Weakest Creature is just a nice little scrimblo that forces a more steady pace with its longer runtime and focus on action adventure & metroidvania-lite elements. There is a more sensical focus on the storytelling here than in the mainline entries, exemplified through its presentation style of a children’s picturebook narrated by a granny. It’s all just nice, the visual direction is utterly astounding, and is the most blown away I’ve been by sheer artistry in a videogame in a very long time, the shader programmers were spinning in their chairs like the tasmanian devil on this one. With the combat being a touch more of a tertiary focus on the title than the rest, it allows itself time to slowly blossom through the course of the runtime with a steadily increasing amount of abilities, roadblocks and enemy gimmicks - and while there are no post-battle ranking screens to have Stone trophies nip at my heels, it felt immensely satisfying to sense myself mastering it under a more forgiving piecemeal delivery. It’s actually a little impressive how intuitive this control scheme becomes after an awkward starting period; forcing the player to control two separate characters by splitting the controller inputs down the middle. With its smart application within certain story beats, I became more than sold on the way this plays, kinda love it. For all these reasons, it's my favourite Bayonetta game. This is the warmest I’ve felt for a Platinum title since Wonderful 101, and while it doesn’t reach the same heights, it’s a miraculously good little spinoff to patch over my confidence in the studio that Bayo3 had dented.

Recently, I had a thought that is purely speculative. It feels to me that anyone who will tell you they love a specific SNES game will also follow that up with "And it STILL HOLDS UP!" Like, think about it, if anyone you know talks about Mario World, they'll likely add "And I 100%'d it during lockdown and you know what? Still holds up!"

Anyway, I don't feel like I've ever heard anyone say that about Donkey Kong Country! I've never played DKC, so I thought I'd play it to see if, well, it holds up.

It does not.

I played through this on my Miyoo Mini, which obviously allows for save states. I'm not one of these cunts that says "Ah, but if you used savestates/rewinds you didn't really beat the game" because I've known satisfaction in my life from things that aren't video games. However, because I was specifically trying to see if it felt fun to play in 2023, I tried to play it "legit". No save states or rewinds. Fuck me what a slog. Just a horrid experience.

𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚊𝚗 𝚎-𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎!

...

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝟹 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚂
𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙴𝙽, 𝚁𝙴𝙳, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙱𝙻𝚄𝙴.

𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍
𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝟹𝟶 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚘.

𝚆𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖
𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏
𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝚅𝙸𝙾𝙻𝙴𝚃 𝚊𝚗𝚍
𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝚂𝙲𝙰𝚁𝙻𝙴𝚃.

𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖:
𝙳𝙾𝙾𝙼 𝙳𝙰𝙳𝙳𝚈 𝙳𝙸𝙶𝙸𝚃𝙰𝙻
𝚁𝙴𝚂𝙴𝙰𝚁𝙲𝙷 𝚃𝙴𝙰𝙼

----------------

𝙵𝙴𝙱. 𝟸
𝙶𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚐𝚘𝚠, 𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚝𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍

𝙰 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜
𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚒𝚗
𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍.

----------------

𝙵𝙴𝙱. 𝟾

𝚆𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚠𝚕𝚢
𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎,
𝙰𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴.

----------------

𝙵𝙴𝙱. 𝟷𝟸

𝙰𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴 𝚐𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑.
𝚆𝚎 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎
𝙰𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴 𝚝𝚘𝚘.

----------------

𝙵𝙴𝙱. 𝟷𝟻

𝙰𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴 𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚛
𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚞𝚕. 𝚆𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚍
𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚋 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚟𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚋𝚞𝚐𝚜
𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚛𝚜.

----------------

#𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟿 𝙰𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴
𝙼𝙴𝙼𝙴𝚃𝙸𝙲
𝙷𝚃 𝟿𝟷𝟸𝚙𝚡
𝚆𝚃 𝟸𝟺𝙼𝙱

𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚊 𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚝
𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚌𝚘𝚍𝚎
𝚜𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚏𝚝𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎
𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜.

𝙸𝚝𝚜 𝙳𝙽𝙰 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎
𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝚁𝙴𝙳'𝚜.
𝙷𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍
𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚛𝚎
𝚟𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝.

There were some things in my video game canon that felt absolute. That were either set in stone by the truth of their existence, or by my stubbornness to consider an alternative.

"Final Fantasy IX is my favourite JRPG" was one of those absolute truths. I've played loads of JRPGS since I first played FFIX as a 10 year old. I've always compared them against the measuring stick of Terra and Gaia. But now? Now I have played Persona 5, and nothing will be the same for me again.

I think this is a near perfect video game. Just throwing that out there now. I think it's an all timer. It's my favourite JRPG, that's for sure. Is it my favourite game of all time? It is far too soon after finishing it to say, but it's certainly up there.

I could go into how compelling the world, characters, story, music, and systems are. But honestly, all I can say is that this game took over my mind in a way games rarely do these days. It filled the spaces of all my idle thoughts, it pressed on me and pressed on me until it left it's imprint, firm and forever. It took my heart, fully.

Hahahahaha

I played this back at release as a massive fan of the series, and clearly just wiped 99% of it from my mind at the time. This streamed replay was such a miserable experience.

The pivot to full action shooter was a wild decision. There is no horror to be found here. I think I put my head in my hands when 7 chapters deep they introduce a dodge roll. Isaac Clarke was never supposed to dodge roll, what the fuck were you thinking? And co-op? Deary me.

Carver is yer player 2 who's technically with you throughout almost all of the game, but playing on single player means you enter some cutscenes and he just steps out from behind you like creepy Watson. Even him being an AI partner when playing solo would have worked, but as such, it feels like the guy only exists sometimes. This gets even more jarring when you're seeing cutscenes like these two dudes have come to depend on each other, and built up a rapport, despite having maybe spent eight minutes actual game time together. Resulting in it all seeming so forced.

Another way the co-op aspect harms single player is that I'm convinced they didn't turn down the amount of enemies or item pickups. I was never not holding 19 medkits. My inventory was filled with two people's worth of stuff. Which helps when almost every encounter is you getting stuck in a corner by what feels like just too many enemies. Good thing they gave you plenty of ammo, right?

Wrong. Universal ammo was a crap decision. It exists only to facilitate the FUCKING CRAFTING mechanics, but we'll get to those later. You have a gun that fires single rounds. Sweet. You are being told on the HUD that you have 300 ammo. Hella nice... You do not have 300 shots for that gun. 300 is how many rounds of universal ammo you have, but that single shot gun you're weilding might use "5 ammo" per shot. You know, because that makes sense. The numbers might as well not exist.

We're not going to get to the crafting because I can't be bothered moaning about the game anymore. I'm glad it killed Dead Space. The scariest part of all this was going on the Wiki and reading that the director had plans for fourth and fifth entries.

Another first review on the site for old Guy? And another Gungrave game no less!

This sounds silly, but this wee 40 minute DLC for Gungrave VR actually improves on what they were trying with the main game. You get to move through levels this time like old Gungrave, whereas before you were almost always in a kinda wee arena that you maybe looked around but didn't progress through.

They've added some side scrolling bits this time around that work pretty good considering how jarring and off it feels at first. Plus, there are two (count 'em) TWO anime cutscenes, and one features a glimpse of Bunji! Bunji, from the old games! Yes, because like I said in the previous review, this is a sequel to the originals, and a prologue to G.O.R.E. I don't care how Bunji's back again. He's great.

I mentioned previously that it felt like Iggymob know what they're doing, or what they want to despite the quality of pretty much everything going on here, but all the G.O.R.E. trailers have me really hopeful that they're gonnae do a good job with a traditional Gungrave entry. It certainly looks the part from what's been shown. Don't fuck this up, lads.

Please.

What an honour it is being the first person on here to review Gungrave VR. From what I know about the general feel around the game, I might even be the first to finish it.

Now brace yourselves, dear readers, because I cannae believe how much I didn't hate this. Went in fully ready to feel pure contempt. Had a review of simply "Beyond a Joke" queued up before I had booted the game.

Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean this is some sleeper hit, or worth your time. I don't even think I could recommend it to fans of Gungrave. But there's a small charm to how kinda jank and shallow this is. It feels like they had a budget to make a crackin' Grave model, and just bought everything else from an asset store.

Controls are a bit awkward, you aim with your head, so no move controllers, which seems like a wasted opportunity given Brandon's dual-wielding nature. However, you get used to it pretty quickly, and it works surprisingly well.

It's weird because it does almost nothing with VR. There are some bits where it's first-person, but apart from those it might as well be a normal Gungrave entry. Even weirder is realising this is a sequel to Overdose. I'd assumed this was a wee fun side thing, but it's treated as a prologue to the upcoming Gungrave G.O.R.E.

Fuck knows what's happeng with the series, but Iggymob does seem to kinda understand the appeal, even if the execution doesn't quite get there.