I probably won't get to finish this anytime soon since my EA Play 10 hour trial is going to run out and I bought more than enough games right now, but let me just say this: This is easily the best NFS game since 2012's Most Wanted (which is funny since Criterion made that one too), which is a game I immensely loved.

The progression system in this game is quite smart. It adds stakes by having a time limit of preparing your cars so they can be optimal in the main tournament, but it also lets you tackle this preparation stage to your liking. You can take risks by doing a lot of races in quick successions and attracting pigs to your tail, and the game does a good job of incentivizing it. Not to mention the game limiting the number of restarts you can do, and adding the ability to do side bets with other racers, making the core gameplay loop more dynamic and active.

Another well thought out aspect of the game is the boost mechanic. You'll get a normal nitrous thing that works like in pretty much almost every other arcade racing game, but there's another boost thingy that only adds up when you do certain actions like drafting, jumping off a ramp or doing near misses, and this bar will drop quickly if you don't keep doing those actions, so it rewards both smart and flashy plays, and at the same time adds a more aggressive touch to the overall gameplay.

Lastly, the style of the game is quite sublime. The graphics almost looks photorealistic at times, and yet there's the eyecatching cell shaded character models and cartoony visual effects that contrasts each other in a exciting way. I also like the soundtrack quite a bit, it certainly strengthens the vibes that the game is going for.

Unless the game takes a massive nose dive later on, I can't see this going lower than a 4 stars so that's what I'll give it for now.

A very niche free to play melee combat battle royale game, doomed to be never in the public spotlight for anything other than how niche it is.

The combat can be intense at its best, as you master one of several available weapon types, carefully traverse the level, look for lapses in your opponents' play and try to capitalize on it, but it has this clunky feel that will probably push away a lot of people before they get familiar enough with the game. it will not be fun to be crushed by other people here, as death usually comes swiftly and unceremoniously.

The style of the game, the character designs and such are also another weird point of the game, where it has this steampunk-ish theme with a cool totalitarian society lore behind it, and it's quite unique, but again not many people will probably like it. The game's driven by a pretty by-the-numbers battle pass system, and let's just say that the most notable rewards (skins) on offer are of a very particular taste.

Overall, you have to try this game to know if its for you or not. If its not, then hey, there's some really good music here, you'll probably get a kick out of that.

A very competent tactical shooter that offers a more streamlined experience compared to its peers. The gunplay feels decent enough, and the squad based mechanics works well enough most of the time. On the harder difficulties you'll definitely appreciate your squadmates more, but be sure not to put too much trust on them, they're far from perfect. The AI pathing can be a bit iffy, and it can get too chaotic for them to properly help you. Other than the combat, there's a gritty and grounded story to look forward to, which adds a lot to the serious tactical feel of the game. I can't say the music or the levels themselves are too memorable. If you like slower paced shooters then this should be a good time.

This starts off quite promising, with the game introducing not only gunplay but also light stealth, crafting and puzzles. Unfortunately most of it is quickly thrown away, as the game leans too heavily on its satisfying-but ultimately-nothing-special FPS combat. It's too easy on Normal, there's practically no enemy variety, and the level design is so-so. The story is not worth paying attention to. If you're really itching for a slower paced shooter, I recommend you get this for real cheap and play it for a bit, just to go guns blazing. There's some solid gore and dismemberment effects here which adds a lot to the impact of the guns. Unfortunately the shotguns feel like shit. The automatic weapons or the sniper rifle are the way to go here.

This is probably the most stylistically pleasing racing game I've ever played. From the start of the intro video, browsing the menus, to actually racing in game, it's audiovisual perfection. The late 90s graphic designs, trademark PS1 style 3D graphics, and of course, the outstandingly catchy techno-jazz soundtrack, it all supports and completes each other. Oh, and did I mention that the game has great sound design? The way they implement the stereo effects is really good, especially considering it's a PS1 game.

As the race starts, you'll be treated by mostly great and varied track designs and arcade-leaning controls that holds up quite well. Whether you're eating through those corners by drifting, or just cleanly doing your job with a tight grip machine, it's all good fun. Maybe if you're like me and are used to modern, less arcade-y racing games, you'll need some time to get used to the controls, but that's just a matter of time.

In terms of game modes and features, it's a solid but relatively light package. The main attraction, the Grand Prix, is a series of races you can finish within an hour or two, featuring light stories that is actually more impactful than I would have expected. You can tackle it with one of four different "teams", which will decide the difficulty of the GP (and also decides which story/characters you get to see), and one of the four "sponsors", which decides what kind of cars you'll be driving. The GP mode is essentially a relatively quick tour of the game's best features. You'll be put into high stakes races and short story monologues that makes you care even more about the races, while the game's impeccable presentation supports it all. Want more racing? There's other modes like time attack and VS mode that'll keep you in check once you're done with the GPs, which you could finish in one sitting (by which I mean finishing all the four team's story). It might be a bit too short for some but I think it's great that it never gets close to overstaying its welcome.

R4 is a must play, not just for racing fans, but for everyone in general. No matter what, there's something here that will amaze you, whether it's the gameplay, aesthetics or soundtrack.

I like this game a lot, and I have a lot of respect with how well they're continuously updating the game, especially with how most live service games tend to suck because they can lose touch with their audience. It's a shame that I cannot rate this game higher than a 3.5/5 stars because of Paimon. That little flying thing ruins many story moments by simply being so bluntly annoying. She is basically like a nutshell of the worst part of the game's writing, and it will always be the game's sore spot for me. Anyways, the game looks and runs great on PS5, the open world design is decent enough, combat is solid fun, and most of the music are really beautiful. Also, anime girls are cool. I feel that the devs keep improving their character design chops as time goes, the characters introduced in the Sumeru update are all very cool.

This remake basically lets you pretend that Naughty Dog released Part I and Part II at the same time, as the remake elevates the original game to being much closer to Part II's bar-raising level of technical prowess. If you never played TLOU before this is the perfect way to jump in, and is worth the extra price tag compared to TLOU Remastered. If you have played TLOU before then things get a bit complicated, it's up to you to find out whether it's worth full price or not, but know that if you do decide to play this at some point, you'll be treated with a very well made upgrade.

As somebody that used to be a big fan of the Shin-chan anime/manga as a kid, this is pretty much a dream come true kind of game. Not only we get a wonderfully faithful usage of the license material in video game form, we're also getting another game in the style of Boku no Natsuyasumi localized in English, and boy both of these things mix so well.

The game is mostly about exploring the little town of Asso, as Shin-chan and his family stays over at a friend's house because Shin-chan's dad has work-related duties in a nearby town, making it a one week summer vacation for you and the rest of the family. You'll get to know the locals, fish in the rivers and ponds, run errands to buy food so you have enough stamina in the day, and so on. Oh, and you're also dealing with a mad genius who's bringing dinosaurs from the past to the present.

Right from the start, this game is an immensely pleasing sight for sore eyes. The pre-rendered backgrounds here are the textbook definition of romantic, as every side of the little town you're in is shown in lovely detail and vibrant colors. Not to mention the great 3D character models that nails the style of the anime.

Another thing they nailed is the writing. Again, the spirit of the license material is masterfully materialized here, filling the story with the kind of shenanigans Shin-chan fans are very familiar with. One of my favorite examples is Shin-chan can't access one of the later areas in the game too early because there's a billboard advertising a local dentist, and he's too scared of dentists to even walk in front of that billboard. The main story in general is also filled with silly dialogues in the tone of the aforementioned example.

While there is quite a lot of crazy things happening in the story, Shin-chan's main goal is to get a "date" with Yoshiko, an university student working a part time job at a local newspaper. To do this, you will need to be the newspaper's one and only preschool reporter to help the newspaper prosper. Every thing that you'll do in the game, from encountering story set pieces, fishing, running errands, playing the dinosaur battle mini game, to simply exploring and talking to people, can get you "stories" which you can publish in the newspaper everyday, which will get them new subscribers. An example of this would be publishing a story about a rare fish that you caught, or a story about a gossip you heard from one of the characters. This is perhaps the main "carrot on a stick" element of the game, as the glue that sticks a lot of the bizzare story events together, making it feel much more cohesive.

My complaints of this game are mostly nitpicks. Some of the areas are hard to explore because they have really weird fixed camera angles. The dinosaur mini game is fun but I wished it didn't depend so much on RNG, in and out of the mini game. There's not much of a good reason to do a lot of errands since you don't need a lot of food to keep your stamina in check each day.

In short, it's a good time to be alive as a Shin-chan fan and as somebody interested in niche Japanese games like this. I hope you'll buy this game if you're interested, we need more games like this!

First of all, thanks to Translated Games for making the English translation. Absolute legends making dreams come true for a lot of people, I'm sure. Also thanks to Tim Rogers for introducing me to this game, unfortunately I have not learned enough Japanese in my 23 years of living on this reality, so I can't and don't deserve to play the better version of this.

Simply put, this game is a goddamn menace! Imagine minding your own business, just trying to be best version of yourself so you get noticed by a cute girl you're interested in... and then a bunch of other girls decide that they want a piece of the action too. The "bomb" mechanic is a wild feature that adds so much drama to your romance story, and in the mid-to-late game there's no avoiding it. It's a very endearing game-ification of the rumor mill, as girls that you know can spread bad rumors about you if you ignore them for too long, potentially putting your relationship with other girls on shaky ground. There can be a lot of salt going around at the same time, and thus multiple girls can be in "bomb" mode at once, setting in motion a mad "defusal" rush, with the cost of your limited free time. Not only it adds a lot of tension to a seemingly innocent game, but also makes you appreciate the time you spend with your waifu-of-interest even more. It's a wonderfully engaging romance simulation that doesn't take itself too seriously, and has a lot of fun tricks up its sleeve, but it also has the restraint to hide them in settings that would maximize the surprise, even though many people would miss it as a result.

My only complaints are mostly quality of life elements, like the text scroll being too slow for me even on the fastest setting. I would also prefer if they toned down the "bomb" mechanic a little, as even though the added tension is very appreciated, it can feel annoying when multiple girls decide to bomb you out of nowhere. Instead, it could be better to add new mechanics that is hinting the player on a upcoming "bomb", allowing them to prevent it. Maybe they already did that in the newer games, I dunno, I'm just judging this game specifically. Also there's no VO in this version which obviously takes out a decent amount of wind off its sail.

Anyway, I would let a couple of the girls in this game kill me, so I think they did a great job with the characters. That's all you need in a game like this, really.

Played this on PS5 (PS4 version) and it was fun for an hour or two. It's mostly about navigating menus in order to keep your crew in check, activating specific crews' abilities and complete objectives like dropping bombs on a target and taking recon photos yourselves. While not on a mission you can use credits that you earn from mission to upgrade your crew's gear and plane. Navigating the menus can be a bit clunky but you'll get used to it pretty quickly. Since most of the game is doing bombing runs the missions can get pretty one-note, and every time the game does a different kind of objective (like escorting a naval battleship), it somehow ends up being not as fun as the usual objectives. There's also issues such as the gunner crew AI aiming the opposite way of the enemies at times, which can be frustrating to watch since it gives enemy planes time to get in range to shoot. It's a shame, this game could be so much more.

As many other Sci-Fi stories tend to do, Deliver Us The Moon starts with telling you that Earth is on the brink of total destruction, as a result of humanity's mistakes. They set up an energy source on the moon to buy them more time, but when the alleged Blackout happened, that energy source got cut off. Years later, a group of dedicated people managed to send someone up there to find out what's wrong and fix it. That's where you come in. In this story driven game you'll be pushing buttons, forcibly opening metal lids, carrying objects, and doing all sorts of small-scale exploration as you navigate your way through the Moon bases and find out what truly happened there.

The gameplay is mostly puzzle solving, and while none of it are particularly challenging, they're just engaging enough to keep the game going. Most of the puzzles are based on figuring out how to unlock the way to the next area, like finding a keycode for a door, dragging a ladder around in order to reach a higher platform, or looking for power sources to power a door. There's no combat to speak of, although you can technically die in some sections. There's decent variety in the kind of things that you need to do, and there's also vehicle riding and time limit based objectives that adds to the variety. The progression of the puzzles' difficulty is barely noticeable. Still, they serve their purpose well enough.

The main driving force of the game is the story, and it's a pretty good one. Most of it is told through audiologs or holograms depicting certain past events, with decent writing and voice acting performance to back it up. It never got to a point where the game is flooding your senses with texts or dialogue, and every time you get something new, it does feel exciting because there's not too much of them to find in the game. It's a restrained yet effective effort that I appreciate, and the story is well told as a result. At its length (about 8 hours) it neither drags out or suddenly stops.

The game does have some rough edges. The movement can feel a bit too slippery at times, and certain sections later on can feel annoying because of it. I have also encountered 2 bugs that required restarting the game in order to get through.

There is a story worth experiencing here, and thankfully the game does a good enough job of setting it up for success. Consider the Moon delivered.