Category Archives: 8 Star Games

Granblue Fantasy Versus Review

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It’s time for a great fighting game that knows how to combine solid gameplay with a good story. This game is really the whole package and that’s why it is so much fun. It’s always cool to see the Granblue cast returning once again. Throw in an excellent soundtrack and this is a game that you won’t be forgetting any time soon. So strap in everyone because you’re going to be in for a high quality time.

The story starts with most of Gran’s friends forgetting about him and Lyria. They’re going to have to beat the memories back into everyone but this will not be an easy task. For starters, all of their friends are quite powerful. Additionally, there is a mastermind behind all of this and if he isn’t stopped soon, all of reality will be destroyed. This may be their toughest task yet but Gran and Lyria know that they are up to it. Nothing can destroy the bonds that they have forged!

There are 40 levels in the game and they tend to be fairly short but there are a lot of cutscenes in the game which help it to end up feeling longer. We’re talking full voice acting here and also some complete cinematics. So you know that you are in good hands as soon as the story starts. There is also a lot of replay value to be found around every corner. There’s hard mode, tons of extra missions, and also some kind of tower mode. Naturally you also have the vs mode which would be the main mode for replay value. You could fight against other players for everyone as you test out each character and learn how to use their combos.

The gameplay is that of a 2D fighter so you should be fairly familiar with the different standard and special moves in the game. You have super attacks, and can use your special moves with standard ones for fusion type attacks. They work like Ex moves in Street Fighter. The movement combinations can take a little getting used to though. It took me until the end of the game to be able to reliably use my final smashes since you had quite a few buttons that you needed to click at the same time. It’s not something that you could just blink and ace in an instant.

The story isn’t very difficult, you should be able to blast through it. Just remember that you can level up your gear and abilities. I only did that twice during the story when things were starting to get close and each time I would really leapfrog past a tons of levels. So if the bosses get close, just do this and you’ll be good. In general all you need to do in order to win is button mash a lot. Gran has a really good 3 hit combo that leads into any special attack so keep repeating that as often as you can.

As long as you block the occasional counter attack then you’re fine. Especially since you can carry two support abilities with you. I recommend one for healing and one for increasing your attack. Switch them from little to medium as you progress through the game and they make a huge difference. It can just be hard to remember to use them but once you make a habit out of it, you will really be all set.

In terms of graphics, there’s not much more to be said here. The game looks fantastic at all times. They really went all out on the budge here and the cinematics are also really impressive. Trust me it even looks like a CG tv show. Then for the soundtrack, it blew me away with some of the themes towards the end of the game. You had really intense anime opening type music going on and it really makes the difference in having you get invested into the climax.

If you’re a Granblue fan then you will get an extra big kick out of the game but even if you don’t know the series, you’ll have a lot of fun playing through this game. It can be easy to take a great story for granted but many story games can only dream of having a cinematic adventure like this. It just doesn’t happen very often at all and I can absolutely confirm that it elevates the game to the next level. Yes, I would have still enjoyed the game without the story since the gameplay is very solid, but the story is one of the big reasons why I won’t forget the game.

In the story you play as Gran the whole time although I think I may have been able to switch later on. I just never tried so I haven’t actually gotten to try out the other characters yet. I’ll definitely need to do that at some point. Since every character has a final smash with a whole animation, it will be fun to see what the other characters look like. I’ll definitely be returning to the game to try and get some more trophies so that’ll probably be my chance to try the other characters since often times there is a trophy for playing as everyone.

Overall, Granblue Fantasy Versus is definitely a great game. I really enjoyed it and every aspect of the title felt like it had a good amount of polish. The main menus are good, the colors are striking, and it just feels really modern. At no point will you feel like you got the short end of the stick here. There’s just too much to have fun with. I know there’s an expanded pack/sequel of sorts in Rising so that might cause some to jump ship but otherwise this is definitely a game that you should be able to hang onto and enjoy for a long while. It stands out well among its competitors. As a last gameplay tip, just remember that you need to duck to guard low attacks as the final boss will try some cheesy attacks with that. He’s the one part of the game that actually is really challenging but odds are that if you’ve made it that far already you’ll be fine. Just attack him patiently and block as needed.

Overall 8/10

Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles Review

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It’s time to look at a game that was great through and through. It goes into way more detail than I would have expected from any adaption. It’s seriously impressive and the combat in the gameplay is good. I won’t say it’s quite on Naruto Ninja Storm’s level or anything like that but I was really satisfied by the end. It’s cool to be reliving all of the big event from the show and they even got the movie in here.

The story revolves around a kid named Tanjiro who needs to destroy the demon mastermind in order to turn his sister back into a human. Along the way he meets up with a bunch of quirky characters who have their own reasons for murdering the demons. Will the humans be able to triumph here or are they going to be quickly destroyed by the overwhelming number of the villains? The demons have regeneration and numbers on their side after all. Destroying humanity isn’t just a pipe dream for them but possibly an inevitability.

So the story is definitely a lot of fun and it has complete voice acting all the way through. In a lot of ways it’s like watching the anime all over again and they actually reanimated all of the scenes with the in game engine. There are 8 chapters in the game and most of them are fairly long except for 1-2 of them. All in all the game should take you around 8 hours give or take which is a solid amount for a fighting game. Then after that you have the vs mode which has endless amounts of replay value in its own right. That is the main focus of the game after all.

This is a 3D fighter so you can use your normal attacks, special moves, and of course your final smash. I often found that the best thing to do was launch the enemy into the air at the end of your combo which allows you to start a second combo. Rather brilliant wouldn’t you agree? The computer has a really hard time breaking out of that one at least. The game can get a little hard near the end, particularly the final level which is a whole league above the rest. Your opponent has constant super armor so you have to time your attacks perfectly. Actually that reminds me of the final level in Tekken 7 a whole lot. Still you will be able to knock it out in the end. You can also go the cheesy route and just auto recover your health. The catch is that you forfeit your right to an S rank if you do that.

The graphics here are very high tier as you would expect. The character models are all on point and you can tell that a whole lot of effort went into this title. The soundtrack is also really good with a lot of tunes grabbed straight out of the anime. It’s all the little things that really help to remind you that this game was a big deal. It wasn’t just thrown together in a few minutes or anything like that. I’d definitely like to see a sequel to this title at some point.

There’s also replay value in the story itself as you can talk to people and complete side missions. You’ll need to do that if you eventually want to obtain the Platinum trophy and I can safely tell you that this is in my bucket list of things to do. Could be a while of course but it’ll always be around. You also have a solid training mode to get used to the controls and other bonuses on the main menu.

After playing as a few of the characters in the story, I can safely say that Rengoku is my favorite character to play as. His fire abilities are really intense and I feel like he has more power behind his strikes than the other characters. I suppose that makes sense though as he is a Hashira and should feel way stronger than the average Demon Slayer. It’s still a shame he couldn’t get more fights in the series but we felt his strength either way.

Overall, Demon Slayer is a great fighting game. It has solid gameplay throughout but it also spent the time to actually come up with a grand story as well and I thought that was fantastic. It went the extra mile to really pack the game full of content and I’d say it worked out. This does stand out among the many anime fighters. At this point the only thing it’s lacking is a larger character roster and I’m confident that the sequel will build that up quite a bit.

Overall 8/10

Soul Calibur VI Review

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It’s time to look at the latest installment in the Soul Calibur series. It’s definitely been a long while since I played the last one. The good news is that the actual gameplay is as great as ever. I definitely enjoyed it a great deal and so that alone already makes this a great game. On the more underwhelming side, I have to admit that the story is a real step down even though it tried to do some rather ambitious things.

The game has a main story and then a bunch of individual stories for each character. There is also an alternate story type mode where you can make an original character and run through a bunch of levels. First, the impressive part about this is how many story options you have. There is a big map that shows you where across time each character story takes place so in theory you can keep switching in between characters if you want. I didn’t do any of those yet but it’s nice that everyone gets one.

Here’s the problem though, the story is rather low effort. I played through the main story mode which is 20 chapters long and good portions of the story are told through a single illustration. Yes there is voice acting but no animation. Out of those 20 chapters, at least 5-7 didn’t even have any fights so you would just watch a long text cutscene. In a PS4 game and especially for a huge franchise like this, there should be constant cutscenes. At no point should you just be reading through the game like this.

It can be done I suppose if the illustrations are really excellent and constantly changing or if the soundtrack is just that dynamite but for the most part it’s a non starter. We only get 2-3 actual cutscenes here and they actually look good so you wonder why they didn’t do that for the whole game. I have to assume that it’s a budget thing but that’s a bad look for a huge title like Soul Calibur. So I was definitely not a fan of that, I expected much better here. The story itself also wasn’t the most interesting. The goal of finding the Soul Edge is always a classic but there’s just not much chance for things to happen before the game ends.

This is mitigated a bit by the fact that there are tons of individual stories to play through but more effort should have gone into the main story considering that it’s their main item you know? Ah well, maybe I should be happy that there is a story mode since not all fighting games have that. I’ve heard disturbing rumors that Street Fighter VI doesn’t even have one but I hope that’s not the case.

Of course there are tons of other modes to play through as well and you have the classic vs mode. You can fight offline or online and there are plenty of characters to choose from. There are also a lot of trophies to try and unlock, those are sure to take you a long while. So there’s no shortage of content to find here and the game is relatively cheap so you don’t have to break the bank trying to get it. I’d definitely say to purchase it.

While Story Mode wasn’t the ideal, the gameplay is fantastic and like I said earlier, that’s important. I like the long reach of the weapons which helps make it feel different from other fighting games. You don’t have to get as up close and personal as in other titles. Each character has many different moves to play around with and I like the attack sound effects. It still can’t beat Tekken in that arena but this may be in second place for that. The soundtrack as a whole is okay but nothing too special. The graphics are really solid though, the art style works well and this definitely looks and feels like a PS4 game which is important.

Going back to the gameplay, I like how simple the final smashes are to use. The game isn’t going out of its way to make it really convoluted or anything like that. It’s just a quick button press like the old days and then you’re off to the races. To compensate for this, the attacks don’t deal a ton of damage but they are still really handy to have. I did have to get used to pressing a button to block though as I’m really used to just holding back on the control stick. I’ll likely eat a lot of attacks while I get used to that, but eventually I’ll get the hang of it.

Overall, Soul Calibur VI is definitely a great game. I wish they would have tried a little harder on the story but if the reason is that they really had to prioritize the gameplay then I technically can’t really fault them for that. If the vs mode had ended up being no good then that would have been a massive problem right out of the gate. Feels like it’s been a minute since this one came out so they should start looking into making a seventh Soul Calibur. Hopefully they can grab more guest star characters around and try to make it the ultimate title in the series or something like that. I think that would be pretty cool.

Overall 8/10

Injustice 2 Review

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As with My Hero, I had to buy the sequel to this one right away after completing the first. Injustice was a great title with a really interesting plot and the same is true of the sequel here. It really picks up right where the first one left off but with extra content and a really big character roster. I definitely blasted through this one because you will not want to put the game down.

It starts off after the first game with Superman behind bars and most of his allies running off to bide their time. Batman has the tough mission of protecting the planet while also preventing Superman from being broken out. Meanwhile Wonder Woman and Black Adam are raising Supergirl so that she can help them rescue Superman and bring the world to its knees. A third party is around though in the form of Brainiac. He doesn’t care about the sides that the heroes have split into, he just wants to destroy the world. Will the superheroes be able to stop him or is it all over?

Yeah there’s a lot going on here the whole time and I like the fact that Brainiac was thrown in because it does make sense that villains aren’t going to wait until this civil war is over. They’re just going to jump in and take names. If anything it’s the perfect time to be a villain with how divided the heroes are. It means that there is less opposition to stop them…much less!

It’s fun to be jumping between the two teams in the chapters. Batman’s team is still the heroic one of course but at least most of the folks on Superman’s team have started to be less crazy. The big exceptions to this are Black Adam and Wonder Woman. Adam’s usually evil anyway so that fits but yeah Wonder Woman really went off the deep end in this universe. She is really a far cry from her usual self. Superman is also permanently traumatized at this point. Even when he is playing ball for a little while, he feels a lot edgier than he usually is. Definitely not someone I’d want to trust.

The gameplay is top notch. The 2D movement is very quick so something is constantly happening. At times it feels like watching a fight scene in a movie with how many attacks are being thrown out. It helps that I don’t block much and the same goes for the computer so we’re really trading blows. For the most part the game’s not too hard but I would lose a life on occasion. Sometimes they would just have me beat with the attacks. It happens from time to time. Just keep calm and you’ll take them out. They usually can’t block the final smash so keep that in the back pocket. Also if you absolutely have to, just block a bit. It really throws them off and then you can counter.

I found the easiest thing to do is hit them with a jumping attack and then a 3 hit combo. Almost every character has the ability to do this so just learn what the easy link combos are and get to work. Once you learn those it makes the whole game a lot easier. The story mode’s length is reasonable with around 13-14 chapters and each one has around 3 fights. There are a ton of cutscenes also so it’s not like you’re just fighting and then leaving the game. It goes without saying that there is really unlimited replay value here with the trophies that you can obtain as well as the high quality multiplayer mode that you can play.

This is a fighting game that really plays to its strengths. A ton of time was clearly put into the combat itself and it paid off. This is definitely one of the stronger fighting games that I’ve played in terms of gameplay. In a way it reminds me a lot of Tekken in that it has great gameplay while also keeping up a very compelling story. Definitely impressive all the way around.

The graphics are really solid here of course. As with the last game, I will say that the art style does make all of the characters look a bit on the ugly side. Like they’re all brutes and I suppose that’s just unavoidable with this look. The game could easily look way better with a more vibrant approach but it definitely would clash with the tone of the game a bit. The soundtrack is solid enough although I can’t really think of any stand out tunes here. It was all a bit more on the forgettable side.

I got the Legendary edition so a bunch of bonus characters are playable here. It’s cool to have Hellboy and one of the Ninja Turtles at the ready. Definitely pretty cool I have to say. My mains will tend to be the DC characters but I do like experimenting. In terms of pure gameplay I found Batman and Harley Quinn to be two of the best characters. Their combos are very fast which makes it easy to land a ton of hits. I tend to prefer characters like that than the slow ones. Sure the damage is intense but it can be hard to land hits.

Overall, Injustice 2 is definitely a great game. The gameplay is top notch as always and of course they did not hold anything back on the story either. The whole game is very smooth to play with all of the menus being straight forward and there are no long loading times. I’d definitely be hyped to see them make an Injustice 3 at some point. There’s definitely a whole lot more you can really do with this verse before calling it a day.

Overall 8/10

Injustice: Gods Among Us Review

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This game was definitely a pretty big deal when it came out. Part of that was due to the great story in there and then you also had the people who were thrilled to finally have a big DC fighting game. Marvel has always had the Vs Capcom series but DC didn’t really have anything on that level. This was finally a game that could hold its own and the competitive scene for it was really solid. I can definitely say that it holds up really well after finally getting to check it out.

The story starts with Superman murdering Joker after the villain destroyed Metropolis and caused the death of Lois and her baby. Superman finally decided that this was the tipping point and rules over planet Earth. All who opposed him have been destroyed so the remaining heroes serve him out of fear or misguided loyalty. This is revealed to be a parallel Earth and then members of the main Justice League are pulled into a portal to enter this world. Can they convince the corrupt Superman to change his ways or will they quickly be defeated?

An evil Superman is always a very scary prospect. Nowadays we’ve had a ton of different evil Superman versions so the concept isn’t quite as novel but it wasn’t nearly as oversaturated when this game came out. It’s still considered one of the better stories with this premise. I would say the Justice Lords is still the best story to show an evil Superman as it made the most sense as to how he would realistically become a villain. Still, this one at least has more nuance than some other versions…although I say that lightly. He’s so far gone here that it can be hard to actually think of him as Superman at all. Certain other characters like Wonder Woman and Cyborg are also incredibly brainwashed at this point.

You have to just accept that these are alternate universe characters though so even if it all seems out of character for them…well they really are different characters all the way through. It definitely feels great once we finally get to see the main Superman step into the picture. He’s just as heroic as always and his power means that he is a one man army. He can change the entire tide of the war with his presence alone. There are no other characters who can say that. None at all.

The gameplay is your classic 2D fighter. One of the trickier things about it though is that the game goes old school. There are no “Auto combos” like in most modern fighters. (Marvel vs Capcom, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Naruto Ninja Storm, etc.) You can’t just click on the square button and unleash a devastating combo. You have to figure out which attacks link into other ones the old fashioned way and it is different for each character. The story has you cycle through a bunch of them so you really get to experiment with the different fighting styles. For the characters where I couldn’t really discover any combos, it made winning a lot more difficult.

It’s a good incentive to actually learn the game. I can definitely see how this game would have a pretty steep learning curve. I also liked that they brought back the interactive maps which you don’t see as much nowadays. You can punch someone through a wall and end up in a completely different stage. That’s definitely really cool. You can also throw a lot of objects in the background, leap off of others to reset your position, etc. Of course you have your final smash attack for each character and a lot of the animations there are pretty fun. Superman’s and Flash’s in particular stand out. There are a few like Green Arrow that are a bit underwhelming but I guess it was probably hard to think of something real flashy for him.

The graphics are really solid here. I’m not super crazy about the artstyle though, which can make the game look a bit older than it is. It seems to be a similar engine to the Mortal Kombat titles so everyone looks rather gruff. It helps to achieve that somber tone for the game but at the same time, everyone just looks sort of ugly. It reflects the jaded world but give me an artstyle more like Marvel vs Capcom 2 any time. The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side though. It certainly doesn’t have any rocking tunes like Tekken in it.

So this game is really standing on the excellent gameplay and great story. Fortunately for it, at the end of the day those are the two most important elements anyway. The story isn’t too long, you should have it beat in a few hours but of course there are missions, tutorials, and a ton of trophies to try and unlock. Additionally this is a fighting game so there is endless replay value in just battling other fighters and having a good time. The only thing holding this one back is that there is a sequel so most likely you will want to be playing that one more. So after the story you would probably upgrade which makes sense. Still a lot of content to enjoy here though.

Overall, Injustice: Gods Among Us is a great game. It’s really a lot of fun to play as all of the DC characters and they really went to a lot of good effort on the story mode. I love how cinematic it is with the constant cutscenes and the story is well crafted. It feels like you are playing an interactive movie to an extent. The sequel will have to try hard to keep up with the pace here but I’m definitely eager to see how that plays out. There are certainly many different directions you can take the story in.

Overall 8/10

Tekken 7 Review

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All right, it’s time to dive into one of the biggest fighting game series around. It’s been so many years since I played Tekken 6 and 7 definitely throws you right back into the mix. I really like how strong the continuity is in this series. The events from Tekken 6 play a massive part in this one and it’s why Jin is basically out of commission the whole time. This is definitely a great game that you will absolutely want to have some fun with.

The story mainly focuses on Heihachi as the main character this time around. He has returned to lead the Mishima Zaibatsu once again. With Jin temporarily incapacitated, it is his chance to finally take down Kazuya/G Corporation and rule the world. The game even teases a tournament briefly but that is more of a fun little moment for fans. This deep into the story I feel like it’s unlikely that we will ever get such a big tournament again. There are ways you could definitely write that in but I don’t love its odds. Meanwhile you have the main character of 6 (Lars) getting some screentime as well.

It’s pretty fun to still be getting more information on what happened with Heihachi and Kazuya even this deep into the series. I can definitely say that Kazumi is a very interesting character now to be sure. Her arc definitely went into a bit of a different direction than I was expecting but it does make a whole lot of sense based on what we know about Kazuya. The bloodline had to turn at some point after all. It also does make Heihachi a much more tragic figure than he used to be.

This game might be a bit heavy handed in trying to make you feel bad for him though. Like I’m not completely convinced since in the older games he was so antagonistic. Sure it all could be a front but I just have the feeling that this origin wasn’t fully in mind back in the day. Maybe it was since certain story elements do go back that far but I’m 50/50 on it. Either way Heihachi is still a villain either way, sympathetic motives or not. It was fun to have a game from his POV though.

The only part of the story that I think should have been cut out was the reporter. Each chapter starts with this guy monologuing about stuff but he does it in the most bored voice possible. Even when he says stuff like “I was shocked!” he says it in a super deadpan way. I don’t feel like these moments added to the story at all and the whole time I’m just getting ready to go back to the good parts. It doesn’t help that these moments tend to just be illustrations with no actual animation.

The gameplay is a lot of fun as always. To date no series has made the attack sound effects quite as brutal and intense as Tekken. In this game you really feel every punch and kick. I love the electric type effects that accompany every blow as well. It really helps take things to the next level and the movement is very crisp. When you execute on a good combo you really feel good. You can also see how the skill ceiling for this game would be absolutely immense.

For the most part the story mode isn’t super tough but the final boss really goes crazy. You have to beat someone 3 times and on that last attempt he has complete super armor the whole time. It’s super hard to play around that because he can and will counter everything that you do. It took me a lot of tries but hey I eventually pulled through! So you just gotta keep it up and eventually you will make it through. I recommend just doing a lot of blocking which is something I wasn’t doing for most of the game. At least for phase 2 you absolutely need to do it because he loses his super armor after launching the final smash attack.

Meanwhile the graphics are definitely top tier here. This is a very high end PS4 title that looks like a PS5 game. A lot of effort clearly went into both the big CG cutscenes as well as the gameplay. The title was confident enough to even have cutscenes that lead straight into the gameplay. Of course there is a difference but it’s not super massive and still looks really good on both ends. Then you have the soundtrack which is definitely great. In particular the final boss theme is incredible. It’s super memorable and is a song that I’ll definitely be adding to my playlist. It really works well as the end to an era. (Although of course 8 will possibly be the true ending)

I also have to give the game a shoutout for actually making a crossover character really relevant. The fact that Akuma actually does stuff here as opposed to just being in vs mode is incredibly impressive. That means no matter what, he will always be a part of the mythos. He also gets a good amount of respect. Yeah he’s not good at finishing the job to be honest but in a fight we see that he is the strongest. Nobody’s touching that guy which makes sense. He’s always virtually unbeatable in the Street Fighter series and I’d expect the same to be true here as well. Just look at Asura’s Wrath for evidence on just how busted this guy is.

In terms of length, the main campaign is fairly short. I’d say probably about 3 hours or so, a bit less if you don’t die as many times as I did near the end. However there is a ton of replay value here like with the Arcade mode, character stories, and trying to get the Platinum trophy. Additionally this is a fighting game which means that it already has unlimited replay value in the vs mode. That’s always going to be a massive perk of any fighting game title. It’s really hard to beat that and when the gameplay is top tier like this, even more so.

Overall, Tekken 7 is a must buy not only for Tekken fans but for any fighting game enthusiast. It’s incredibly well polished with a whole lot of content to have fun with. There are so many possible combos and different attacks to play around with. I never really got the hang of using the final smashes because the button combinations are rather difficult but that just shows that you really need to stick with this one for a while.

Overall 8/10

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Review

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After all these years I have now gone ahead and bought the latest Marvel vs Capcom title. I feel like it never quite had the lasting power of MVC2 or 3 but it’s still a great fighting game with a bunch of characters. I also do appreciate that it has a full legitimate story beyond just intros and endings in arcade mode. So that gives it some points and at the end of the day it’s the kind of game that you can play with friends for hours.

The story starts off midway through. Marvel and Capcom’s universes have merged and it’s been 3 months since then. The heroes are trying to fight off Ultra Sigma from taking over all of the worlds and they are down to their last lines of defense. In order to win they are going to need all of the Infinity Stones. Obtaining them will not be easy though and they might even have to turn to a dangerous villain for aid.

It’s a fairly basic story but it gets the job done. My only real problem with it is that it starts 3 months later so everyone’s already friends so we missed all of the meetups. I feel like that takes a lot of the punch out of a crossover like this. It’s an okay story but I feel like just about anyone could easily write a more interesting one. It just plays things too safe and there is also no power level consistency here. You will see Chris Redfield overpowering Ultron droids and throwing them around yet I’m supposed to believe that Mega Man X and Hulk were losing ground against these guys? Nahhhhhhhhhhhh, but if you ignore all of the power levels and such at least you get to see your favorite characters winning and everything.

The gameplay is a classic 2 on 2 style. Gone are the days of 3 vs 3 but the gameplay is fairly polished. You also have the Infinity Stones in play which give extra powers and abilities. For the most part I’d say they’re kinda pointless but I guess they wanted to tie them in somehow. You have your auto combos in the game as well as a lot of more advanced ones that you would have to do by hand. Those would definitely be more effective but they take longer to master so that’s a very fair ratio.

While the artstyle isn’t the best, the graphics are still really solid. It’s great seeing the updated character models for everyone and the backgrounds as good. I also liked one cutscene in particular where we actually saw all of the characters fighting it out with Ultron. I think they spent most of the budget on that one but it was definitely cool. The soundtrack is a little more on the generic side. I didn’t notice any tunes that really caught my eye but I suppose that I definitely didn’t get to play on every stage.

In terms of replay value there is naturally a ton here. Aside from completing the story you can do arcade mode, play endless vs battles and of course aim for the Platinum. The trophies look like they would be rather difficult to obtain so that would last you a long while. Also in general it just goes without saying that fighting games are endless for replay value so long as the gameplay itself is good. Fortunately that very much is the case so there are really no issues there.

The story mode itself is shockingly easy for just about the whole game until the final boss. Suddenly the difficulty cranks up to 11. It’s a bit jarring at first because you get used to playing in a very sloppy fashion. Endless auto combos and everything but then suddenly you have to actually fight for real. It makes things interesting though so I appreciate that. It actually took me like 4-5 tries to take the guy down because he kept knocking me out before I could get the health all the way down. Even my very last attempt came down to the wire. So definitely don’t underestimate that boss.

In general it shows how rusty I am with this gameplay style though. There was once a time where I would have effortlessly solo’d the boss and now look at me? Barely scraping by when it counts. That was definitely an eye opener and ironically I do better against actual players since they won’t block my random supers the way that an A.I. does. I think they should code in the ability for a computer to fall for a random strategy every once in a while don’t you think?

There’s not a whole lot more to say about this one since it is fairly basic. I guess as a mild negative in a sense, I just think they could have done a bit more for this one. It almost feels in some ways like a smaller budget MVC title than you would expect from something on a PS4 console. Whether it’s making a longer story mode or inflating the character count a bit, you can tell that it doesn’t have quite the same level of effort as something like Super Smash Bros. Few things do of course but I felt like this game in particular really stood out. Like it could have been amazing if it tried just a little harder instead of being great.

Overall, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite is a great game. At the end of the day it’s a nice, fast paced 2D fighter with a good character roster. It’s not as ambitious as it could have been and might end up falling short compared to some of its competition in the modern fighting game arena but you’re bound to have a lot of fun here. Having a full story mode should be the norm nowadays so I hope they keep that up. If you have time for a good fighting game to dive into, then I definitely recommend jumping into this one.

Overall 8/10

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap Review

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It’s time to play a Legend of Zelda game that has been on my wishlist for a super long time. I’ve wanted this game for years and so when they finally added it to the Nintendo Switch Online, I was pumped! Long had I waited for this one and I can tell you now that it absolutely lived up to the hype. It’s easily one of the best Legend of Zelda games that I have played. There are no annoying puzzles here and you really feel stronger as you get more items and power ups which is the way that it should go.

The story starts off with a mysterious sorcerer showing up and turning Princes Zelda and her subjects into stone. Only Link is able to escape but to defeat this new villain he will have to awaken the Master Sword! That won’t be easy but he is joined by a magician who has been trapped inside the form of a hat. Well, not the most impressive debut but he promises to be helpful and at least Link will not be alone now. Do the two of them have what it takes to claim victory here?

I do miss Ganondorf as that guy still has a lot more aura than the new villain here but Vaati is not bad. He has a cool design and can fight, I just didn’t find him nearly as impressive as good ole Ganon. Now there was a threat! Vaati could maybe get up there if he could just get a few more games I suppose. Zelda looks good here though. While she was taken by surprise and overwhelmed, she seemed like a capable leader and one of the Zelda versions that had a lot of personality.

So lets dive into the gameplay here. It’s an overhead platformer where you go through a lot of dungeons and lands in order to find the Master Sword elements and then save the world. There’s a lot of exploration going on here and while the main events tend to be linear, you have a lot of freedom in what you do on the way there. There are little pieces of rock that are scattered everywhere. Under bushes, dropped from enemies, etc. When you get those you can then try to find the civilian who has the matching piece. Almost every civilian has a rock but there are so many shapes that it can take a while to find the one that the villager has. Every time you make a match it unlocks either a new dungeon or a cool minion encounter that gets you a ton of rupees. A lot of the dungeons lead to useful items like extra heart pieces so I recommend doing as much matching as possible.

It’s a gameplay thing that I didn’t even realize was there until the very end of the game so the benefit at least was that I had a ton of pieces. I was handing them out for around an hour at least and it was cool to see the world opening up so much. In a lot of ways that is why this game succeeds, the world has such a high amount of replay value around every corner. You’re really incentivized to go out there and explore especially as you unlock more abilities. It feels a bit like Shantae where you have a noticeable power boost by the end. That series still does it best but Minish Cap is the best example that I have seen from the Legend of Zelda.

It also helps that the map is really good so you won’t get lost and of course there are a lot of quick travel points. So you don’t have to go everywhere by foot or anything like that. The benefits just keep on coming right? The hub world is really pleasant and the map is just small enough where the parts that you do have to walk through never feel intimidating. It’s really well crafted on every level. Then you have the actual dungeons where the puzzles are handled really well here. There’s nothing abstract like staring at a painting and trying to figure things out or anything like that. Yeah the puzzles can still be rather difficult but it’s in a very fair way. It all feels very legitimate which I appreciate.

The boss battles are also nice and creative here. Definitely no recycled bosses or anything like that. The dungeons are all unique and every weapon tends to be fairly useful. The only exception is probably the boomerang. I was pretty excited to find that one but in the end I never had any reason to use it. The arrows were simply better and the ammo for those was super jealous so I never ran out anyway. In general the game was very generous around the board. I would max out on the gems real quick for example and the same would go for all of the weapons.

I guess what I’m saying is that this game had a ton of great quality of life features. It was always a lot of fun every step of the way and I definitely appreciated that. After all you want to be having a lot of fun at all times and that’s what happens here. It sets a really high bar for the other Legend of Zelda games like Spirit Tracks to try and follow so we’ll see if they have what it takes there. Lets just say that I have some really big doubts there. Minish Cap is one of those titles that is just a bit too ahead of its time.

The graphics were definitely really good here. The character designs were on point and the backgrounds were nice and bright. Meanwhile the soundtrack was on point as well. The tunes were all fairly iconic and it’s another example of how this game got the big budget. They definitely spared no expense on this one and even the gimmick of turning small for some of the puzzles was fun instead of being annoying. That takes effort!

Overall, The Minish Cap is a great game. I really felt like the developers gave it everything that they had here and held nothing back. There are so many unlockables that I didn’t even get to explore a lot of them because the game ended. 100% completing the game would probably be a real trial with how many extra caves there are and such but it’s very satisfying to see the new areas. The gameplay is smooth and the graphics are solid. What more could you ask for right? You absolutely need to check this one out as soon as possible!

Overall 8/10

Dark Cloud 2 Review

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It’s definitely been quite a while since I got to play the original Dark Cloud. It was a pretty fun game but one that had some mechanics I wasn’t crazy about like the breakable weapons and building. I always enjoyed being in the endless dungeons but the parts outside of that were a bit weaker. Well, Dark Cloud 2 definitely improves on the first one. I will say that building still isn’t my favorite part to say the least but weapons are no longer broken in the same way. They can run out of energy so you have to give them a potion but you never lose a weapon and I can tell you that this is an absolutely huge deal! A serious game changer all the way through.

The game’s story is also rather ambitious. You start out with the main character Max trying to get into the circus when a really odd evil clown shows up asking for the necklace that he got from his mother. Max barely escapes into the sewers and then manages to leave the town. The rest of the world is…empty. It turns out that his town is the last one in existence and the only reason it wasn’t destroyed with the rest of the world is because the villains need his necklace. So if he turns it over…then its going to be the end of everyone he knows. Fortunately he runs into a time traveler named Monica who is here to save the world from its imminent fate. It’s not just the world that is in danger but all of history as the villain can time travel as well. Can they possibly stop him?

So this is a full RPG story all the way through with a lot of twists and turns around every corner. The game handles everything very nonchalantly though which can always be pretty fun. Max just takes it all in stride and never reacts as hard as you would expect. The heroes are going out there and fighting off god level threats and he’s still got his wrench and determination. It’s one of those games where it would be fun to see this as an anime because in theory these are just average joes fighting crazy high level opponents.

The game really has two main gameplay styles. First is the combat in the dungeons and then you have the overall building aspect. I’ll go into the building first since that one to me is definitely trickier and will take a lot of time. So basically one of the elements of the plot is that the villain is destroying the “origin point” of various landmarks that are critical to the heroes. So you have to rebuild them with parts that you obtain from every level in the game. Building involves buying the required materials and then putting them all over the map. Here’s where most of the grind comes from because you need money for the materials and you get a lot of money by selling materials but then you’re missing the materials for the next item. Rinse and repeat over and over. It’s a rather tricky cycle and I sold important stuff a few times by mistake before I realized what was up.

If you put something in the wrong spot, it takes a few steps to remove it and replace. Would have been good if you could have just picked something up and moved it. Part of me suspects that there has to be a way and I was just doing it wrong. You’re given hints as to where each item should go but there’s going to be a ton of trial and error to get it just right. Also you won’t see all of the hints initially so you have to keep playing levels to get there. Occasionally a level will have two exits so you need to hit both of them.

As for the combat, that is still the meat and potatoes of the game and it’s the really fun part. It’s sort of like .Hack where you will enter a dungeon with many different floors and have to clear them all. You do get to save between every floor which is incredibly useful. I would have really been in a jam without that because I did die a fair number of times. It can be difficult to gauge the enemy range and then you die from a powerful hit. I do want to say though that the gameplay is rather exciting because of that. You’re certainly never bored because the game isn’t too easy but it’s also never unfair. When you die you know that it really was your fault because you got greedy and over extended.

The level up system is one of the toughest parts of the game. Unlike a traditional RPG where you level up with XP, you instead get weapon XP when you beat an enemy> This levels up your weapon which allows you to give it orbs to absorb to increase its stats further. This is another manual process that takes a while but get the stats high enough and then you can upgrade the weapon. Rinse and repeat as much as needed. So I took it at face value and kept on doing that, but it’s actually better to level a weapon up to level 5, then sacrifice it to your main weapon to get much bigger stat boosts. I didn’t find that out until the final boss….so it took me a little longer than it should have but in my defense I don’t know how you would guess that from the start.

As a result there are tons of different methods towards building yourself up with the best armaments by the end of the game. Go with whatever seems like the best bet and then you’re all set. Some routes will take more effort than others but you’ll still be able to make it. The final boss is incredibly difficult because you have to fight close to 11 bosses back to back. Make sure you bring a ton of health items and boost your attack power as high as possible. I had to go back and get just about every health power up possible with my attack upgrades and it was still close.

This game is listed as being 50+ hours for the story and I can see why. I beat it sooner than that but there is a ton of content here. There are also side missions and a post game so there is a ton of bang for your buck. That’s a good thing since the game tends to be on the expensive side. There are a ton of different mechanics into the game that I barely even touched on like golf, fishing, etc. so the developers really went out of their way to make sure there was a lot to do here. Even the gameplay is rather deep but I will leave you to experience that all for yourself. Mainly the thing to focus on here is that the game is just great and excels across the board. Hopefully we get more games in this series at some point. I don’t mind if they drop the building aspect and focus purely on the dungeon gameplay though heh heh.

Overall, Dark Cloud 2 is an improvement over the first and a really solid game. I feel like many people have not gotten to play this one since it always felt a bit on the obscure side but if you can find it in stores then I definitely recommend checking it out. It’s really a good bit of fun all the way through and is a lot more expansive and all encompassing than you might think. The building mechanics can be a bit of a challenge but once you get the hang of it then you’ll be fine. It just takes a lot of time unless there are some controls I ended up missing on.

Overall 8/10

Rayman Legends Review

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Rayman is one of those titles where I’ve played quite a few of the games but I haven’t found it to be as memorable as most of the other big titles. Well, it’s fair to say that Legends is definitely a game changer for the series and it is by far the best installment. It handles the collectathon aspect of the title very well and makes more use of the platforming genre than almost any other title I’ve seen. Ultimately the gameplay is so strong that it does help to make up for the lack of a story here.

The game starts off with some evil magicians deciding to make a mess of things. They’re kidnapping people and so Rayman will have to free everyone and save the world. All in a days work for someone like this though. Rayman has dealt with his share of threats over the years after all. Unfortunately that’s pretty much it for the story. There’s not much of an ending and each world just has the same recycled cutscenes over and over. You don’t expect a whole lot more from a platformer and yet I do think they really could have done a better job here. At least give me new cutscenes for each world. The story is absolutely the weakest part of the game by far.

Fortunately we are here for the gameplay at the end of the day. The lack of a story would hurt its chances of my getting the game on opening day compared to other franchises but at least once I do get around to it, I’m always happy to see solid gameplay. At its core the gameplay is fairly simple, you run and jump your way past obstacles as you try to get to the goal. Occasionally there will be a boss battle for you to go up against.

Where the game shines is in taking this simple gameplay and making a lot of intricate levels out of it. In a way it reminds me of Mario Maker a bit. For example after every boss battle, each world ends with a music themed level where you have to run quickly and hit enemies at the right time to follow the beat. This is used in a subtle way to let you know when to make a move as well as making the level fun to listen to. Likewise in the normal levels there are always a lot of visual and audio cues to let you know when to make a move.

The game allows you to jump between worlds at will so because of that every level even has tutorials at the ready through on screen prompts which are nice. They aren’t intrusive but are a great idea particularly if you’re going back to play the game after putting it down for a long while. You won’t really need it while playing through the game but I can absolutely see it coming in handy a year from now.

The game has a ton of replay value through unlockable characters (Basically costumes though tbh since they play the same) and extra levels that you unlock by getting more of the blue orbs. The best part though is that you can still beat the game without getting them all. There are 700 in the game and you need around 300 to complete the story. That’s a good ratio if you ask me because you can have a good time enjoying the levels without being stressed about the missing collectibles. The level designs are really good so you will find a lot of them naturally but if you want all of them you will have to work for it.

A solid quality of life feature here is that you have unlimited lives and the checkpoints are very consistent. So even when you lose you don’t end up getting sent too far back. That’s perfect and I can’t stress enough just how important that is. These levels could very easily turn from awesome to annoying if you had to start from scratch every time. This way you can appreciate the difficulty and creativity without any annoyance setting in.

Make no mistake, the game can be rather difficult at times. I died quite a number of times but I was always ready to revive just as quickly. I ended up blasting through the game rather quickly as a result. It’s a bit on the short side to be honest but I can’t even remotely consider that as a negative because of how the game handles it. There are tons of levels but the game just doesn’t force you to play them all and I can respect that. Each level is also so unique and filled with fun features that I’ll take this over a ton of standard levels.

The game even has a gimmick with a little frog moving things around that somehow doesn’t get annoying. I was prepared for this to be super annoying but it’s actually a really fun mechanic. In terms of pure platforming I dare say the game even has more life than some Mario titles and that’s saying something. If we’re only looking at gameplay this is one of the best games to ever do it.

Meanwhile the graphics and soundtrack are definitely impressive. The soundtrack in particular is awesome with a ton of different songs everywhere and remixes of popular ones. Then the graphics have aged really well with a colorful style all the way through. The character designs are on point and the levels all stand out.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at just how good the game was. Of course I was expecting it to be pretty good but to be great on this level? That was a surprise. The story holds it back a little bit considering this game has some of the best platforming I’ve ever seen. Imagine pairing this with a big budget story? It could have really made history and so I do eagerly await seeing what the Rayman franchise does next. This will be a tough title to top but of course there’s always a chance. If you haven’t played this game yet then you should definitely fix that!

Overall 8/10