bruno_saurus
BACKER
2024
Lil' Guardsman is a fun puzzle/adventure game that has wonderful and whimsical artwork which does a grand job at hiding the game's serious nature that it has sometimes!
Your guard shifts let you interact with a variety of characters who present different challenges with the tools given to you as a Guardsman. You can give them truth spray to get informed of their true intentions, a x-ray machine or metal detector to see if they have anything suspicious on them, or you can also use a whip if you'd like! Because why not! These all present different options of ways to achieve a 3 or 4-star rating for that specific guest, which is fun. Sometimes, the way you achieve those 3 or 4 stars is a bit confusing though.
Your character, Lil, is a 12-year old who does have some tough things going on, and some of that stuff gets discovered more as you go through the game which I am glad we got that type of character development as the game progressed.
Overall, Lil Guardsman is a jolly time and not too long! Not perfect in some ways, but still a fun time!
Your guard shifts let you interact with a variety of characters who present different challenges with the tools given to you as a Guardsman. You can give them truth spray to get informed of their true intentions, a x-ray machine or metal detector to see if they have anything suspicious on them, or you can also use a whip if you'd like! Because why not! These all present different options of ways to achieve a 3 or 4-star rating for that specific guest, which is fun. Sometimes, the way you achieve those 3 or 4 stars is a bit confusing though.
Your character, Lil, is a 12-year old who does have some tough things going on, and some of that stuff gets discovered more as you go through the game which I am glad we got that type of character development as the game progressed.
Overall, Lil Guardsman is a jolly time and not too long! Not perfect in some ways, but still a fun time!
I got progressively worse at the game's mechanics, but I love the art style and the game itself. I just suck
2020
Played on Playstation 5
Final Save Time: 61 hours (did do a journal while playing so that didn't help my save time)
First and foremost, this is an 8.5.
With out of the way, Persona 5 Strikers is a great Musou game that blends its IP very well into the style of fighting found in these games. You use Personas to attack various Shadows around the areas you traverse through targeting them with their elemental weaknesses. So you do need to plan out your strategy of attack in that way. You can brute force your way to defeating these enemies, but you would be much better off with getting their health down by each of the weaknesses that they have.
Your Phantom Thief party helps facilitate this as well with each specializing in a specific element to attack. Even the new characters have specialties to help out as well in various situations to fill in the gaps that were left from the base Persona 5 game. Overall, the combat is interesting and blends into the Persona 5 inspirations well! Just nothing too crazy amazing. Usual musou style gameplay with added Persona flair.
The story is a grand time with the gang traveling around Japan. You get to learn about the areas you travel to, while trying to figure out the mystery of where a party member comes from, what does Artificial Intelligence have in play, and the enemies you meet and how they fit into things. It has some emotional rollercoaster moments, while still going through some of the same beats as Persona 5 did towards the end. Being back with the Phantom Thieves though overall is fantastic.
The new characters are grand and I love each of them very much. They go through some interesting personal questions to fight through within themselves in searches of who they are and what they do in the faces of varying difficulties.
The new dungeons, Jails, are some fun times and have great themed variety in scenery through the Monarch's vision of what a Jail would be for them! Now, Monarchs are just the game's version of what a Palace Ruler is from last game! The story beats do a good job to be emotional invested into the Monarchs in ways too, or the opposite as well even.
If you haven't played Persona 5 before this, you can enjoy the game, but you can feel lost in some conversations; missing some of that extra context that helps make some of these moments so impactful, or just so jolly even.
Overall, Persona 5 Strikers was a grand time and incorporates its battle system quite well into the Persona fighting system. The characters are a grand time of course, even the new characters too! THE MUSIC IS A TEN. Forgot to mention that! Just the main qualm can be the story and the combat not being too my thing besides the Persona intricancies.
Final Save Time: 61 hours (did do a journal while playing so that didn't help my save time)
First and foremost, this is an 8.5.
With out of the way, Persona 5 Strikers is a great Musou game that blends its IP very well into the style of fighting found in these games. You use Personas to attack various Shadows around the areas you traverse through targeting them with their elemental weaknesses. So you do need to plan out your strategy of attack in that way. You can brute force your way to defeating these enemies, but you would be much better off with getting their health down by each of the weaknesses that they have.
Your Phantom Thief party helps facilitate this as well with each specializing in a specific element to attack. Even the new characters have specialties to help out as well in various situations to fill in the gaps that were left from the base Persona 5 game. Overall, the combat is interesting and blends into the Persona 5 inspirations well! Just nothing too crazy amazing. Usual musou style gameplay with added Persona flair.
The story is a grand time with the gang traveling around Japan. You get to learn about the areas you travel to, while trying to figure out the mystery of where a party member comes from, what does Artificial Intelligence have in play, and the enemies you meet and how they fit into things. It has some emotional rollercoaster moments, while still going through some of the same beats as Persona 5 did towards the end. Being back with the Phantom Thieves though overall is fantastic.
The new characters are grand and I love each of them very much. They go through some interesting personal questions to fight through within themselves in searches of who they are and what they do in the faces of varying difficulties.
The new dungeons, Jails, are some fun times and have great themed variety in scenery through the Monarch's vision of what a Jail would be for them! Now, Monarchs are just the game's version of what a Palace Ruler is from last game! The story beats do a good job to be emotional invested into the Monarchs in ways too, or the opposite as well even.
If you haven't played Persona 5 before this, you can enjoy the game, but you can feel lost in some conversations; missing some of that extra context that helps make some of these moments so impactful, or just so jolly even.
Overall, Persona 5 Strikers was a grand time and incorporates its battle system quite well into the Persona fighting system. The characters are a grand time of course, even the new characters too! THE MUSIC IS A TEN. Forgot to mention that! Just the main qualm can be the story and the combat not being too my thing besides the Persona intricancies.
When Kingdom Hearts Re:coded came out, I was in the latter peak in my Kingdom Hearts high school fandom. It was a bit waning, but I still wanted to play each entry. I remember playing Re:coded in a newly moved into house with fond memories still today. This series has meant a lot to me as I age throughout years, no matter how many spurts of a break I have had.
First off, the story does make sense in the grand scheme of things if you try to understand it in a simpler way. A book is corrupted leaving mysterious messages and Sora needs to go fix it. Through that lens, the game's story mixed in with a loose retelling of Kingdom Hearts 1, is mostly a breeze of sorts.
BUT! When you get to Castle Oblivion, the story culminates in some good thematic questions posed to this digital version of Sora. Even if he is just a digital incarnation of Sora. Would Sora be willing to carry a substantial amount of a hurt in his heart? Which, connects well to the original corrupted message. "Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it." Sets up some grand moments in the future of the series.
The story can be confusing at some points, but it is a decent story to setup the series moving forward. Now, that could also be a negative. This spin-off is just a story that can be glossed over since some could assume that Sora would be willing to do anything for people he's connected with, but this added context for Mickey and Sora is really grand!
Unlike 358/2 Days, the gameplay is good too! Though to get this out of the way, performance does get framey when there are lots of enemies in one area at once. The Stat Matrix is a grand mix of strategy since you can adjust what difficulty you play on in a breeze, you can adjust enemy item drop rates but at the cost of Sora's health, and a few others in here, while still leveling up and getting stronger. This entire circuit board motif makes you choose where you put certain chips you obtain, so that if they are connected by two Main CPU-like things, that certain chip's effect will double! It's a great type of puzzle-reward building!
Another gameplay element is the Command Matrix which is spun-off from Birth by Sleep. I do really love this style of commands compared to 358/2 Days direction. You get more experimentation with varying abilities making you try out different things you normally wouldn't try.
Overall gameplay does have some of the same feelings of 358/2 Days: hit, dodge, block, and fight some more. But at least in Re:coded, the developers did experiment with different genres in the game like 2D platforming, turn-based RPG, and some stealth inspired portions as well. So that is definitely a welcome addition! But really, who doesn't love hitting things with a Keyblade?!
The worlds are essentially all taken from Kingdom Hearts 1, minus Castle Oblivion. Which in this case, would be the fourth time playing some of these exact areas. So that isn't great at all. Some of them do offer different things compared to previous games, but it still is roughly the same area that you explored. In 358/2 Days, Neverland's trip is based off the surrounding Isles and not just Captain Hook's ship. However, in Re:coded there isn't much like that this time around. So that is a knock against that area of the game.
As a whole, Re:coded is a good time. The story isn't as substantial as 358/2 Days, or Chain of Memories, but it still offers some nice context. The gameplay is quite good, especially for a DS game! I do wish the worlds were more diverse from the series' history, but it does make sense in regards to being in Jiminy's Journal from the first game. If you are a new Kingdom Hearts fan, I'm not sure if this would be for you at first, but I do recommend it!
First off, the story does make sense in the grand scheme of things if you try to understand it in a simpler way. A book is corrupted leaving mysterious messages and Sora needs to go fix it. Through that lens, the game's story mixed in with a loose retelling of Kingdom Hearts 1, is mostly a breeze of sorts.
BUT! When you get to Castle Oblivion, the story culminates in some good thematic questions posed to this digital version of Sora. Even if he is just a digital incarnation of Sora. Would Sora be willing to carry a substantial amount of a hurt in his heart? Which, connects well to the original corrupted message. "Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it." Sets up some grand moments in the future of the series.
The story can be confusing at some points, but it is a decent story to setup the series moving forward. Now, that could also be a negative. This spin-off is just a story that can be glossed over since some could assume that Sora would be willing to do anything for people he's connected with, but this added context for Mickey and Sora is really grand!
Unlike 358/2 Days, the gameplay is good too! Though to get this out of the way, performance does get framey when there are lots of enemies in one area at once. The Stat Matrix is a grand mix of strategy since you can adjust what difficulty you play on in a breeze, you can adjust enemy item drop rates but at the cost of Sora's health, and a few others in here, while still leveling up and getting stronger. This entire circuit board motif makes you choose where you put certain chips you obtain, so that if they are connected by two Main CPU-like things, that certain chip's effect will double! It's a great type of puzzle-reward building!
Another gameplay element is the Command Matrix which is spun-off from Birth by Sleep. I do really love this style of commands compared to 358/2 Days direction. You get more experimentation with varying abilities making you try out different things you normally wouldn't try.
Overall gameplay does have some of the same feelings of 358/2 Days: hit, dodge, block, and fight some more. But at least in Re:coded, the developers did experiment with different genres in the game like 2D platforming, turn-based RPG, and some stealth inspired portions as well. So that is definitely a welcome addition! But really, who doesn't love hitting things with a Keyblade?!
The worlds are essentially all taken from Kingdom Hearts 1, minus Castle Oblivion. Which in this case, would be the fourth time playing some of these exact areas. So that isn't great at all. Some of them do offer different things compared to previous games, but it still is roughly the same area that you explored. In 358/2 Days, Neverland's trip is based off the surrounding Isles and not just Captain Hook's ship. However, in Re:coded there isn't much like that this time around. So that is a knock against that area of the game.
As a whole, Re:coded is a good time. The story isn't as substantial as 358/2 Days, or Chain of Memories, but it still offers some nice context. The gameplay is quite good, especially for a DS game! I do wish the worlds were more diverse from the series' history, but it does make sense in regards to being in Jiminy's Journal from the first game. If you are a new Kingdom Hearts fan, I'm not sure if this would be for you at first, but I do recommend it!
This review will mainly focus on the new additions that were brought to Final Mix.
But first, a quick feeling about my overall thoughts on the base game. It's grand.
Okay, with II Final Mix, like in Kingdom Hearts 1 Final Mix, the enemies have gotten their color palettes changed, but you do get used to it after a few playthroughs, so it isn't a huge deal.
Some minor additions first up are additional cutscenes, you get to fight Roxas in The World That Never Was, some unnoticeable things behind the hood, like Drive Form gauge regeneration speed, some time limit changes, etc.
One of the major additions for Final Mix is a new group of Heartless called the Mushroom XIII, which are the mushroom enemies within the first game. These enemies give you certain criteria to beat them. If you get below that threshold, you do have a chance to get helpful items from them, but still its not the thing that would get them to be finished. These offer nice strategy mixups for each one, and you do get good rewards as well from them, and after doing them all.
Another major addition for Final Mix was a new area in Radiant Garden added called the Cavern of Remembrance. This adds a great deal of challenge to the game with new stronger versions of enemies you've faced before and new traversal challenges, which do require you to essentially, have all of your Drive Forms maxed out to unlock all of those abilities to get further into the Cavern. At the end of this area, you unlock rematches with each Organization XIII member. They are now stronger, add additional attacks to their arsenal, and new strategies as well. These are great because of the added challenge, but you can also do them in any order, which helps you out if you're having trouble with one of the bosses you can just go to another boss.
But, they aren't all unlocked if you haven't done a handful of fights before, called the Absent Silhouette battles, another addition for Final Mix. These fights are the Organization members who perished in Chain of Memories and are a good ease to the rematches as they are challenging, but not too bad if you're at a good level.
One of the last major additions is one boss called the Lingering Will. This boss fight is popularly one of the toughest boss fights in the entire series, but it also ties so freaking well to the overall story coming up in the series.
Gameplay additions include a new Drive Form and a new difficulty mode.
You do get a new Drive Form as well which ties into the first game, the Limit Form. This form allows you to use various attack abilities from the first game like Ars Arcanum, Strike Raid, Sonic Blade, etc. Sora's clothes also change to reference the first game too which is a nice hint. This is a great addition since it gives you some more Drive Form variety, and this one does not use any Party Members. Helpful!
The difficulty mode is the infamous Critical Mode. Lots of pain and struggle if you want that extra challenge. A nice little addition to the game if you so desire!
So, overall Final Mix adds some great new challenges to the base game, great new boss battles, but also some great additional context around certain characters too. This is the definitive version of Kingdom Hearts II.
But first, a quick feeling about my overall thoughts on the base game. It's grand.
Okay, with II Final Mix, like in Kingdom Hearts 1 Final Mix, the enemies have gotten their color palettes changed, but you do get used to it after a few playthroughs, so it isn't a huge deal.
Some minor additions first up are additional cutscenes, you get to fight Roxas in The World That Never Was, some unnoticeable things behind the hood, like Drive Form gauge regeneration speed, some time limit changes, etc.
One of the major additions for Final Mix is a new group of Heartless called the Mushroom XIII, which are the mushroom enemies within the first game. These enemies give you certain criteria to beat them. If you get below that threshold, you do have a chance to get helpful items from them, but still its not the thing that would get them to be finished. These offer nice strategy mixups for each one, and you do get good rewards as well from them, and after doing them all.
Another major addition for Final Mix was a new area in Radiant Garden added called the Cavern of Remembrance. This adds a great deal of challenge to the game with new stronger versions of enemies you've faced before and new traversal challenges, which do require you to essentially, have all of your Drive Forms maxed out to unlock all of those abilities to get further into the Cavern. At the end of this area, you unlock rematches with each Organization XIII member. They are now stronger, add additional attacks to their arsenal, and new strategies as well. These are great because of the added challenge, but you can also do them in any order, which helps you out if you're having trouble with one of the bosses you can just go to another boss.
But, they aren't all unlocked if you haven't done a handful of fights before, called the Absent Silhouette battles, another addition for Final Mix. These fights are the Organization members who perished in Chain of Memories and are a good ease to the rematches as they are challenging, but not too bad if you're at a good level.
One of the last major additions is one boss called the Lingering Will. This boss fight is popularly one of the toughest boss fights in the entire series, but it also ties so freaking well to the overall story coming up in the series.
Gameplay additions include a new Drive Form and a new difficulty mode.
You do get a new Drive Form as well which ties into the first game, the Limit Form. This form allows you to use various attack abilities from the first game like Ars Arcanum, Strike Raid, Sonic Blade, etc. Sora's clothes also change to reference the first game too which is a nice hint. This is a great addition since it gives you some more Drive Form variety, and this one does not use any Party Members. Helpful!
The difficulty mode is the infamous Critical Mode. Lots of pain and struggle if you want that extra challenge. A nice little addition to the game if you so desire!
So, overall Final Mix adds some great new challenges to the base game, great new boss battles, but also some great additional context around certain characters too. This is the definitive version of Kingdom Hearts II.
Played on a 3DS
Difficulty: Proud Mode
Replay, but I haven't played it since it came out
358/2 Days has a great story of friendship with the three main characters: Roxas, Axel, and Xion. The interactions of the three with the organization members are interesting and tense. Some members gel well in the beginning, but eventually start to cross each other with varying hopes and goals. The added context of have played Kingdom Hearts 3 makes some of these moments even that more heart-wrenching and emotional, in good and sad ways.
The game does a great job at setting stuff up for Kingdom Hearts 2, but also gives some great context for Chain of Memories and the relationship that Xigbar and Ven have in Birth by Sleep.
The only issue is with gameplay being okay. You slash with your keyblade and the bosses are a cool spectacle, but some of them can just be beaten with the strategy of hit, dodge or block, and hit some more. This gets better during the ending stretch of the game, but at that point you're almost done with the game that you wish they had some better bosses sprinkled in.
The enemies in general are nice color palette swaps of enemies, but are pretty lackluster in general. Nothing too special about them. You have some that shoot at you to transport you to their spot, or if you hit them in a certain spot, they disappear and spawn a short distance away. But nothing too crazy overall.
The Panel system of the game is an interesting concept to figure out what to focus on in your playstyle. It makes you choose specific things and eventually introduces skills that take up multiple panels to make them stronger, or you can just keep the one panel for that skill. A nice balance I would say in that regard.
Proud Mode feels like a good balance of difficulty for the game. A nice balance of challenging at the spots that are supposed to be, but good enough to survive the other parts.
Overall, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, is a solid entry in the series! It makes you really, really care about the trio of this game. Definitely could be better in gameplay, but the bosses were fun to gaze upon.
Difficulty: Proud Mode
Replay, but I haven't played it since it came out
358/2 Days has a great story of friendship with the three main characters: Roxas, Axel, and Xion. The interactions of the three with the organization members are interesting and tense. Some members gel well in the beginning, but eventually start to cross each other with varying hopes and goals. The added context of have played Kingdom Hearts 3 makes some of these moments even that more heart-wrenching and emotional, in good and sad ways.
The game does a great job at setting stuff up for Kingdom Hearts 2, but also gives some great context for Chain of Memories and the relationship that Xigbar and Ven have in Birth by Sleep.
The only issue is with gameplay being okay. You slash with your keyblade and the bosses are a cool spectacle, but some of them can just be beaten with the strategy of hit, dodge or block, and hit some more. This gets better during the ending stretch of the game, but at that point you're almost done with the game that you wish they had some better bosses sprinkled in.
The enemies in general are nice color palette swaps of enemies, but are pretty lackluster in general. Nothing too special about them. You have some that shoot at you to transport you to their spot, or if you hit them in a certain spot, they disappear and spawn a short distance away. But nothing too crazy overall.
The Panel system of the game is an interesting concept to figure out what to focus on in your playstyle. It makes you choose specific things and eventually introduces skills that take up multiple panels to make them stronger, or you can just keep the one panel for that skill. A nice balance I would say in that regard.
Proud Mode feels like a good balance of difficulty for the game. A nice balance of challenging at the spots that are supposed to be, but good enough to survive the other parts.
Overall, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, is a solid entry in the series! It makes you really, really care about the trio of this game. Definitely could be better in gameplay, but the bosses were fun to gaze upon.
Raji’s setting and atmosphere is its high point. The combat is okay, but lags at some points. Overall though the lore was enough to keep me going to the end!
(Review from 2021)
(Review from 2021)
2021
Maquette was a very interesting puzzle game that incorporates perspective very well. You solve the puzzles through a recursive view, meaning you see the world you are in, just a smaller replica of the area you're at. Each puzzle illustrates the game's love story well through various difficulties. Some of the later puzzles got me a bit mentally frustrated, but what kept me pushing through was the engrossing story of the two characters, Kenzie and Michael. Both played by real-life married couple Bryce Dallas Howard and Seth Gable.
Overall, the game is interesting and enjoyable, but the puzzles can definitely be tough to mentally process a few times!
(Review from 2021)
Overall, the game is interesting and enjoyable, but the puzzles can definitely be tough to mentally process a few times!
(Review from 2021)
How is the DLC so perfect?
('Review' from 2021)
('Review' from 2021)
It's a very jolly Mario package. The ideas of Bowser's Fury can lead the Mario series in an interesting future! 3D World was really grand! Enjoyed my time with both games! Recommend!
(Review From 2021)
(Review From 2021)
2020
I really enjoyed my time with Tell Me Why. Alyson and Tyler Ronan were grand characters and Dontknod really expanded them throughout the episodes and their bond felt meaningful.
Their journey unpacking their mother's house in Alaska is unraveling as they go through and relive their childhood memories. Which invested me in their story and the mystery of their mother.
Gameplay wise is quite simple as usual for a Dontknod game. Talking with various side characters, making tough choices, and having collectibles to get. The movement could be a bit weird at times, but nothing too crazy.
Really enjoyed the collectibles in this game! Probably more than anything in Life is Strange. They each represented a story from Alyson's and Tyler's childhood. So they felt connected to the story in that way. As you hear them through various fairy-tale type of stories.
The choices are my only gripe I think. There were meaningful ones, but I didn't really feel meaning in others. Or I forgot what I did really at times, until the game told me in the choices recap.
Really enjoyed my time with Tell Me Why and really loved the characters of Tyler and Alyson Ronan!
(Review from 2021)
Their journey unpacking their mother's house in Alaska is unraveling as they go through and relive their childhood memories. Which invested me in their story and the mystery of their mother.
Gameplay wise is quite simple as usual for a Dontknod game. Talking with various side characters, making tough choices, and having collectibles to get. The movement could be a bit weird at times, but nothing too crazy.
Really enjoyed the collectibles in this game! Probably more than anything in Life is Strange. They each represented a story from Alyson's and Tyler's childhood. So they felt connected to the story in that way. As you hear them through various fairy-tale type of stories.
The choices are my only gripe I think. There were meaningful ones, but I didn't really feel meaning in others. Or I forgot what I did really at times, until the game told me in the choices recap.
Really enjoyed my time with Tell Me Why and really loved the characters of Tyler and Alyson Ronan!
(Review from 2021)
2020
Röki is an adventure game, that is similar to point and click games. You gather items and solve puzzles. But, the game's strength is the story. You play as Tove who is looking for her brother Lars within a forest with four guardian deities at the helm of it.
The puzzles aren't all that intense at most points. They were enjoyable, some head scratchers, but they were not all that awful when they were. You gather items, some might need to be combined with another item you have to progress in the forest, which does feel like you are getting closer and closer to your goal.
Röki has some control issues and direction leading, but the game is a grand adventure game despite those issues because of the story.
(Review from 2021)
The puzzles aren't all that intense at most points. They were enjoyable, some head scratchers, but they were not all that awful when they were. You gather items, some might need to be combined with another item you have to progress in the forest, which does feel like you are getting closer and closer to your goal.
Röki has some control issues and direction leading, but the game is a grand adventure game despite those issues because of the story.
(Review from 2021)
2013
Definitely one of the Vita's standout titles. The story was interestingly intriguing for a side-story about mercenaries! Shooting was smooth and reactive with good feedback. The visuals were excellent and varied in design and color. Overall, I enjoyed my time with Killzone: Mercenary!
(Review from 2021)
(Review from 2021)
2010
Mario Galaxy was a 10, so Galaxy 2 is an 11. Platforming galore. My only qualm, that is mostly my fault: I suck at the gliding levels.
2021
New Pokemon Snap was a very good photography game. It was engaging in the interactions you have with the Pokemon you're photographing using different things to make them look more photogenic like apples, objects that make the Pokemon have an aura around the, and music. This is a great sequel to the original Pokemon Snap! There has been quite a lot of great quality of life improvements from it like editing your photos post the Professor grade, including a storage system for your photos, and interactions between other players online is a great addition.
The game though could get a few more quality of life improvements like being able to select more than one photo to be graded. When you get two photos you love of one Pokemon, you cannot select both of them. Even if you love those photos, if you're missing a star rating of one, you will most likely want to choose that one instead of a photo you enjoy.
So I enjoy New Pokemon Snap. It's not amazing, but its pretty darn good! Definitely well worth my time.
(Review from 2021)
The game though could get a few more quality of life improvements like being able to select more than one photo to be graded. When you get two photos you love of one Pokemon, you cannot select both of them. Even if you love those photos, if you're missing a star rating of one, you will most likely want to choose that one instead of a photo you enjoy.
So I enjoy New Pokemon Snap. It's not amazing, but its pretty darn good! Definitely well worth my time.
(Review from 2021)