Category Archives: 7 Star Games

Hollow Knight Review

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Hollow Knight is one of those games that I have been waiting to play for quite a long while now. It has been waiting and waiting for its chance to shine and that time is finally now. The gameplay and style are both well known for being distinctive and I’d agree with that. It’s a lot of fun to play through the game and there is plenty to explore. I have no real complaints on the gameplay front with the only weak aspect being the lack of a real thorough story. There is enough lore for you to build something out of it though.

The game follows the little Hollow Knight as he seeks to destroy all the monsters in his way. He must wake up the souls of three sleeping guardians from around the world and then face his final trial. Along the way he meets Hornet, the heroine from the legendary game known as Silksong. She tests his might on several occasions before letting him go on to the next challenge. Hollow Knight will have to gain more and more strength if he wants to end this quest in victory.

You start out with your basic jumping ability and a short sword. As is the case with most Metroidvanias you will gain more abilities as you play through the game. For example you will get energy blasts, double jumps, wall jumps, etc. You will feel quite powerful by the end of it all and that sense of power progression is absolutely important in a game like this. That’s because you will be doing a lot of backtracking and going across the same areas 50 times. So by getting stronger, you can go through the rooms a lot quicker than you could before. You will also gradually create shortcuts.

The game is very well done on the quality of life front. Whether it be checkpoints or maps, you will consistently be able to make things easier on yourself. There is also a very in depth customization system which lets you choose what you want to power up. Sometimes you may want to amp up strength while other times you want to amp up your speed instead. You have to choose carefully because you don’t have many slots. You can buy more slots as you go through the game but will always have to settle for just a few badges.

My lineup was to use the shield, expanded map, and orb gatherer. I found those to be the most helpful and for the very end of the game I got to use my longer sword. The game will be difficult regardless, in many ways you could even say that’s the whole point of the game. It’s not meant to be the kind of title that you breeze through. I certainly lost to some bosses over and over again.

I’d say the best thing to do is take it slow and learn the attack patterns. Eventually you will be able to dodge pretty well. You could even go for parrying but I found the timing to be tight, even for me. So personally I would say to not bother with that unless you are feeling incredibly confident. Jumping and dodging is the best way to go. You can also heal health by staying in one place but the bosses are all programmed to attack even more intensely when you stop moving so you want to be careful about that.

The minions can also be tough at times due to the sheer numbers. Make sure you don’t let them surround you and skipping a minion is a bad idea if you aren’t by an exit because it will eventually catch up to you. Dispatch the enemies as soon as possible when going forward and only skip the ones that you are sure you can outrun. As long as you keep on doing that then you should be good. This also may be obvious but I highly recommend prioritizing buying the maps as soon as possible every time they appear. This will save you an incredible amount of time.

Like I mentioned the only weak point here is the story. It’s really complete lore with very few cutscenes. The dialogue we get from characters like Hornet is pretty good but these scenes are rare. It is possible to just have a game be so atmospheric that it works without a story but I dare say that it is nearly an impossible task. The atmosphere here was good for example and I liked the surroundings but I still missed my in depth plot. Ultimately I just really wanted to see that. The sound effects for the various characters you walk past could be a little extra loud too.

The soundtrack is good though. Several good boss themes in there and the music always helps to enhance the scene. The graphics are also really good. Everything is polished and so the game feels modern all the way through. There is also a ton of content crammed within the game. I was able to clear it after about 15 hours but my completion% was only in the 70s. There is plenty more content to be played through beyond that including a ton of boss fights and extra rooms. One day it would definitely be worth going through more of the game to get some trophies. The price point for Hollow Knight is incredibly considering how much content you get.

Overall, Hollow Knight is a game that I would definitely recommend. The content and replay value really speaks for itself. The gameplay style is also a lot of fun as it tests your abilities greatly. There is no RNG here at all. Whether you win or lose is completely based on your own merits. There are plenty of checkpoints everywhere so you don’t feel bad when you lose. It doesn’t take long to return to where you fell in battle. I personally would enjoy an instant rematch button but I understand how that might make things a bit too easy. The exploring is part of the fun after all and if you’re seriously stuck then you can always double back and try another route. I definitely look forward to trying out Silksong at some point and seeing how it stacks up to Hollow Knight. By playing the first game so late I got to avoid a whole lot of the wait that fans had to put up with.

Overall 7/10

Mirror’s Edge Review

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I remember playing the reboot for this game a long time ago and it was pretty good. Generally people seemed to prefer the original though so I was interested in seeing just how it would stack up. Ultimately they play in pretty similar ways but this one is definitely going for a more stylistic approach. In a way it ends up feeling nostalgic as a result though and I definitely had a good time here. The game breezes by pretty quickly but you will have been having fun throughout.

The game starts with Faith’s sister being framed for a murder. Unfortunately, the circumstantial evidence looks bad so a guilty death verdict is imminent. Faith will have to find a way to figure out who the real crook is but it won’t be easy in a world where basically everyone is super corrupt. She also doesn’t have a lot of time here and will have to move quickly.

This game is all about parkour and so you’ll be jumping from building to building as you try to keep your speed up. You gotta be real quick with your reaction times as well. At times you will be able to grab a gun from one of your opponents and put that to use but it is never required. The game even rewards you with an extra silver trophy if you can go the whole game without shooting anybody. Without a doubt the game is easier if you do decide to just start shooting but that’s why it is satisfying not to do that.

Pay a lot of attention to the various movement options in the first level because you have to use them all by the time you complete the game. The gameplay mechanics themselves can be rather intricate so this isn’t your average title. It can be really rough to mess up a jump and have to reload to the last save point. It’s also not always obvious where you need to go. As you play through the game you will be better at recognizing your surroundings and moving to where you need to go.

The best technique you can probably learn for yourself is how to disarm your opponent. The exact timing will differ depending on the type of enemy you encounter so you should really keep that in mind. One wrong miss and you’ll probably be shot to death. You can also go at them with hand to hand combat. It takes around 5 hits to defeat an enemy so you want to hit them with 3 blows, then wait to avoid the instant counter and land another 2. In some ways it is a lot easier than the disarm but takes longer so it’s risky if you are up against a lot of enemies.

There are also shielded enemies that take many hits to defeat. You will want to be extremely careful about taking any of those guys on. I had to beat one in the parking lot level and it felt like at least 20 hits to beat him. Meanwhile if you slip or miss a dodge then you will be going down in a second. Very different levels of defense for Faith compared to these guys.

Outside of the main campaign you have the speed run versions of every level where you have to beat them without dying. There are also time trial missions where you play a portion of each level and have to try and clear it. This isn’t easy so be warned. It does add a ton of replay value though and you can get a good amount of trophies out of it. The Platinum looks particularly hard so I can’t say that I’m aiming for it but that would be a pretty good feather in your cap.

The graphics are definitively pretty good. I love how bright the game looks, particularly for the outdoor levels. Everything is incredibly shiny, it almost makes the game feel a lot newer than it actually is. The cutscenes between levels also have a very stylized look to them that works well. The soundtrack even has a lot of action/rock to it so on a technical level the game absolutely holds up. The whole atmosphere around the game is something that I enjoy.

Meanwhile I enjoyed the story as well with its full voice acting. The cast is small but they all get something to do here. The body count is rather impressive by the end of the game and there are a decent amount of twists and turns. I’m surprised they never did much more with Mirror’s Edge because this absolutely had all the tracings of being the next big thing. There’s just so much you can do with this franchise. At the very least I’d like more Parkour type games where you are on the run at all times.

Reminds me a bit of a Sonic game in that sense just with less action. I wouldn’t complain if there was a Sonic game that was all about the pursuit itself. That would be pretty interesting. There are a good amount of checkpoints here so you don’t have to replay large sections too often. Occasionally the checkpoint feels a bit far away but that’s not going to be your normal experience at least. Now that would have made things feel a bit rough. In general you don’t have to worry about any qualify of life issues like that though. The levels are well designed and often times there is more than one way to clear an obstacle. Particularly in the combat levels where you can totally choose how you want to complete them.

Overall, Mirror’s Edge is a pretty good game. I enjoyed the story and the gameplay is definitely very smooth. All of the level designs are on point and so while you will breeze through the game, it always feels like a full adventure. The game also has its difficulty so this is no walk in the park. If you’re looking for a retro game experience with a whole lot of running, then you should definitely be checking this one out.

Overall 7/10

Spider-Man 3 (Playstation 3) Review

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It’s finally time to play Spider-Man 3 on the big console. A long time ago I played it on the game boy advance and naturally that’s a very different kind of experience. Still a lot of fun of course but I need my 3D environment to be swinging around in. The game surprisingly changes the gameplay quite a bit from the first two games. Or at least from the first since I have a vivid recollection of that one even if the second game is a bit more murky for me.

The game follows an extremely loose version of the movie’s plot as it adds on a ton of new villains and different scenarios to play with. I actually thought that was pretty cool because it keeps the experience fresh. Spider-Man will have to take down powerful threats like Venom and Sandman while also fending off the Lizard, Rhino, Kingpin, and more. Fortunately he has his trusty spider sense so it shouldn’t be hard to stay alive. Coming up with a way to counter these guys will prove to be the far bigger challenge.

The biggest challenge will be to the player though as this game is significantly more difficult than the first two games. It is seriously not even close. First off you have the fact that some of these enemies have state of the art a.i. with how they dodge and block your attacks. It often feels like you are fighting a total wall. One random henchmen blocked over 20 of my blows before I finally landed a hit in. Then the bosses can tank over 100 blows in order to defeat them. The toughest was either Kingpin or the Rhino, both of them will definitely have you fighting over and over again in order to conquer them.

Part of what makes the combat difficult is that you learn a new move after every level. There re 42 levels in the game and you need to complete at least 40 of them in order to beat the game. Why not just make it mandatory to beat all 42 at that point? I dunno. When you learn a move, it flashes on the screen briefly but otherwise you have to go into the pause menu and look at your upgrades to find it again. It’s really difficult to memorize all of your moves and most of them use extremely similar button combinations. As a result this became the first Spider-Man game where I was just button mashing for most of it. You just need to keep on throwing hits until they land.

Your spider sense is a meter that you can turn on to automatically dodge all attacks except for a rare few unblockable ones. Pretty handy right? Well, the catch is that the meter gets drained at different speeds depending on the attack used. So you might think you have enough meter to dodge one more attack when suddenly you don’t and take maximum damage. Most of the levels have no real way to restore health so if you lose some, it’s going to cost you. There are a good amount of checkpoints so you won’t lose too much progress but a lot of the cutscenes are unskippable so they do tend to add up a little bit.

You have some super attacks but the only one that seemed to be worth anything was the ground slam with R1+Triangle. It can one shot most minions and does serious damage to bosses. I recommend leading with that. You can meter by attacking and countering your opponents. Finally you also have a lot of quick time events and these are incredibly difficult. The buttons stay the same so you can eventually just memorize the combinations but it will be through a lot of trial and error. My own reaction times were just not enough to be able to keep up with this and so I would die to every boss at least once.

Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say that I died at least once in just about every level. This was essentially my Elden Ring moment. There are no difficulty settings within the game so what you see is what you get. I can definitely respect that and it makes the game a little longer than it would be otherwise. I see online that some people beat it in around 5 hours while it took the full 7 for me. Even the web swinging is harder than in other games as you really have to watch your momentum. You’re using 3 different buttons while most of the other games just use one.

I prefer the first Spider-Man’s gameplay but it’s hard to say how much of that is nostalgia. Either way this one works pretty well and is definitely a smooth experience. It may be hard but the checkpoints helps to take the sting out of it. The game crashed during one boss fight which wasn’t the game’s fault but it was rough as I had just beaten him. I guess the Kingpin managed to get the last laugh there.

The graphics are pretty good. I really like how expressive everyone is. The game is really a product of its time in that way as you won’t usually see this level of movement among the NPCs otherwise. They just feel so animated and always keep you in the thick of things. The voice acting is also a lot of fun and of course the soundtrack is on point. It’s actually quite a bit better than I would have guessed. The hub world music is very ominous like a Batman Beyond track and there are a good amount of action tunes. They certainly put more budget into this than you would have normally expected.

I also think the UI is very user friendly. I like how you can pause the game and immediately see everything from your play time to your completion% and how many missions are left. It’s just all very direct and clear which is something a lot of other games can learn a lesson from. While the game is fairly short, there are a decent amount of crimes to stop before you reach 100%. So that adds a bit of replay value even if admittedly there isn’t a ton of it. I imagine this may buy you like an hour or two and then you have the various trainings/activities which might buy you another 2. There are no PS3 trophies for this game but all of that combined is still pretty decent.

Overall, This is definitely a game I’d recommend trying out. The game is well rounded with a solid story and a really big hub world. It’s also fun to see just how difficult games could be back then. The default difficulty level is rarely this challenging on a modern game after all. I have heard that Web of Shadows could also be difficult on the PS3 so I look forward to seeing how that plays out some day. In the meantime I am one step closer to owning all of the Spider-Man games. That will definitely be a real milestone I’d say.

Overall 7/10

Soul Calibur IV Review

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It’s been a while since I played a Soul Calibur game and it was time to take this one out from the backlog. It’s always interesting to play an older fighting game after playing the sequels. Maybe even more so in a fighting game compared to other genres, you can see what mechanics stuck around and which ones were removed. In this case the gameplay feels so similar that I wouldn’t say it was that different. The main change is how the story mode plays out compared to other titles. In the newer installments, the games had a focused story mode while this one is more of the classic arcade mode. Interestingly there is an arcade mode which seems almost identical to the story mode which feels a bit redundant.

So I went through the story mode with a bunch of characters until I unlocked all of the characters and stages that could be unlocked through this mode. There is an extra character and stage through arcade mode but I didn’t go to that level of detail. So I had fun playing as guys like Darth Vader, Nightmare, Siegfried, Astaroth, and more. They each have their own signature control schemes, and the game does a good job of making everyone feel unique.

Story mode has 5 levels within it, typically 2 of those will have you defeat 4 enemies and then the other 3 levels are your classic 1 vs 1 fights. Each character has a unique encounter in the 3rd and 5th rounds with a few exceptions where you just get the generic dialogue. The character roster is actually rather impressive with around 30 characters in there, but I do feel like it shouldn’t have been impossible to have unique dialogue for all of them. It’s the small things like that which can really make a difference.

Still, you’re here for the gameplay and it’s really excellent. For a lot of titles, I may be skeptical of a ring out mechanic but in this one it just works really well. It feels satisfying to throw someone off the ring and make an ultra comeback that way. Each character also has a whole lot of different attack moves to the point where it’s actually a bit hard to keep track of them all. Half the time I would use a move and then be unable to use it again. It seems to be based not just on direction but also on momentum which would take some getting used to for me.

Blocking is a button rather than holding back so you want to be real careful about that as well. The levels where you fight 4 opponents back to back can actually be tough as well since they all have a full health bar. Make sure you don’t take them too lightly or you’re really going to be in trouble. Ultimately there is near limitless replay value here because of the vs mode. I also like how the unlockables are rapidly unlocked just by playing through all of the story modes. I’ve always found that is the best way to have the unlockables set up. There are no PS3 trophies for this game which is unfortunate, but you can still have fun on a local level.

The graphics are definitely really good. The art style has aged well and the characters look sharp. The colors are striking and I really don’t have any issues here. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also good. There are quite a lot of different stage tunes here and of course Darth Vader brings in his own remix from Star Wars.

Outside of the story and arcade modes, you also have a tower climbing mode. I did not try this mode out as of yet but it seems to be a fairly long one. You have to continue defeating opponents as you ascend the tower. This will get tougher and tougher as you go through and of course some unlockables are tied to this mode as well. I appreciate that the game has a lot of full fledged single player options since you don’t always see that nowadays. Sure, fighting games are going to spend the majority of effort on multiplayer but no reason why you can’t put a little budget into single player.

Technically speaking the existence of the sequels means there is less reason to buy this one specifically but it’s worth entering the time bubble here. It’s cool to just see the series evolve and this one still stands out on its own. My nostalgia goggles are strong for Soul Calibur II and V so they won’t be surpassed but this is a very good game and I wouldn’t hesitate to play it at any time. I also appreciate that this game still has the announcer who sets up the confrontation before every fight. He really does a good job of making each fight feel really thematic and epic.

Overall, I would definitely recommend picking this game up. It’s one of those fighting games that is easy to pick up and play while being hard to master. You will want to really hit the lab here in order to be one of the best. If you do put in that time, then I don’t think you will be losing many fights because it is hard to overcome that skill gap. I hope we get a new Soul Calibur game soon, it feels like the series has not been expanding as quickly as it should be. If you don’t have the game yet, then you can get it for a great price right now.

Overall 7/10

.Hack//Quarantine Part 4 Review

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After 8 years since part 3, it was time to dive into the final part. This one is incredibly difficult to get a hold of because it is completely out of print. Usually it goes for hundreds and hundreds of dollars so you’re really expecting a grand climax here. It was definitely fun to see the ending and everything about the game was nostalgic. That said, it is fairly short next to the other games and you’ll breeze through it. The longest part here was definitely just grinding normal enemies for the virus cores.

The story begins with the heroes preparing for their final battle. The Wave is approaching and intends to end everyone once and for all. The World is in danger and if this attempt to stop the Wave fail, then it will be too late to save anyone who is already in a coma. To prepare for this, the heroes have to defeat phases 7 and 8 of the virus. Get ready for some long dungeons.

So the game makes up for a lack of new dungeons by having absolutely massive ones in the area that remain. One of them is close to 20 floors and that dungeon took me around 2 hours to complete. Imagine losing at the end of that right? The boss had 6 phases and he wasn’t even the final boss. Granted, the final boss technically had less phases with 5 but was still really difficult to defeat. These are styled as raid bosses so they are meant to take a long while. Of course that means it would be rough to die when you’re deep into a boss. Fortunately I never lost in a phase after the first one. The first phase of one boss did manage to take me for a spin several times but then I got used to him.

I recommend having 100 revives, restoratives, and potions with you at all time. A single boss can have you using close to 80% of that. Also make sure to stock your allies with these as well for when the boss hits you with an unblockable/undodgeable one hit KO move. That may sound cheesy but every boss in the final game has this ability. It’s probably one of the only games I can think of where you can be taken down in one hit at level 99. That is super crazy but does reinforce how big teamwork is here.

You will need to set up your teammates with their orders and then dynamically continue to issue new ones the whole time. You really have to stay sharp because if you stop for even an instant then you might lose. Make sure you keep several different equipment’s ready for every part so that you can shift elements as needed. The bosses are constantly switching after all and so you have to do that as well. You can only hold around 30 types of items at a time though so you will always be running on full.

Another thing to keep in mind here is that the final dungeon has a ton of data enemies. These cannot be defeated until you have hit them with Data Drain. The problem? That increases your corruption levels. The more you do it, the more “glitches” affect your character. The effects are drastic like casting negative spells on your teammates or even losing entire level ups. I lost 2-3 levels during the final dungeon. There is even a chance that you can jump right into a game over screen. Fortunately that didn’t happen to me but I can tell you that I was definitely feeling the pressure here. My corruption level was deep in the red at the time so I knew that I was right on the border here. One wrong hit and that would be it.

The most annoying part of the game is definitely about obtaining virus cores though. Basically you have to hit enemies with your data drain ability and sometimes they will drop a core or an item. You then have to run back to an older world and best enemies to lower your corruption level and then try again. There is a lot of repetition here. Also you won’t get more than 1 EXP per enemy when you data drain them so this slows down your progress. You need a ton of cores for the final dungeons. I spent over half of my time in this game getting cores. There may be a faster way to do it but this was the best way that I knew.

I will say that the game does have a lot of replay value in terms of other dungeons. There are almost an unlimited amount of dungeons you could play through for fun. Additionally there are a lot of side quest dungeons to play through and even little games like tag against a demon. Those all help to add up to the play through if you want to have fun there. The game even has a post game with some more crazy dungeons. Getting trough that will definitely not be easy.

The graphics have aged pretty well. It definitely feels a whole lot like you are inside of an MMORPG. You get full on cutscenes and of course the text ones. The full voice acting also feels ahead of its time here. Finally the soundtrack is also pretty good. A lot of great tunes all the way around and at this point they feel pretty iconic. The 4 .Hack games really lasted a long while and it feels great to have made it to the end.

Overall, This was a fun way to end the saga. It was fun to be able to keep my levels from the first 3 games. Starting this one around the 70s after all was pretty impressive. I also like the way the level up system has a consistent 1000XP for each level and how much you get is just based on your level. I could do without the virus core mechanics though. It really feels like that doesn’t add a whole lot to anything. It’s more of a needless grind than anything. I suppose a lot of games ill have something like this to extend the play time but I’d prefer to have more main dungeons or something instead. Now I can finally go ahead and play the .Hack GU games and I can safely say that I have really high hopes for those. They always looked like a ton of fun. This next installment of 4 games shouldn’t take me as long as the first 4.

Overall 7/10

Hellboy: Web of Wyrd Review

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This is one of those games that may have been on my radar earlier if I had already been on my rogue marathon. Well, better late than never as they say. It’s pretty interesting to play a Hades styled game that’s in 3D. You can feel a lot of similar elements here from the soundtrack to the level designs and gameplay setup. It definitely feels much lower budget though with certain parts of the game really needing quality of life improvements. All that said, the game was really fun to play through.

The game starts off with Hellboy and the BPRD heading to a castle because some weird things have been happening there. One of their guys named Lucky is nearly trapped in a parallel dimension known as “The Wyrd”. He warns Hellboy that weird things are going on in there but Hellboy has to risk it. Somehow the Nazi’s have invaded the realm as well and may use that to stage an attack against the real world. If they aren’t stopped quickly, then it will all be over.

The Wyrd is the game’s way of explaining the death mechanic. Right before fully dying in the Wyrd, Hellboy’s teammates pull him out of the dimension using the tether. That way he can keep trying until he wins. As in any rogue type game, you are expected to die over and over and over again until you get strong enough to complete the game. When you die you keep your orbs which is the currency you use to upgrade your weapons or physical stats.

Right away that is one difference here since usually you would have more than one currency which would match with how many things there are to power up. This game doesn’t actually have a ton of content for that and as a result you can get nearly every trophy easily. The only tough one is getting all of the lore and that’s mainly because there is a ton of RNG at play here. Additionally the game plays the same message no matter how many times you pick up the same piece of lore so you will really have to remember which ones you got.

The platinum seems easy enough but a little too time consuming to go after it seriously. Keep in mind that every run will take you around 2 hours because of how many rooms you have to clear. You also aren’t going to be clearing it all that much faster as you power up since the differences are slight. It’s a bit excessive as titles like Hades can cram a ton into 30 minute run. That’s a lot more doable than something that’s around 2 hours.

This game is fully in 3D like I mentioned so you are mainly alternating between your punches and gun shots. For the guns the best one is easily the grenade launcher which makes sense as it’s the final one that you unlock. It can deal devastating damage so you should try to max that out as soon as possible. Then you have your punches which are strong enough. You mainly want to focus on learning when the best time to dodge or parry is. This will help you immensely as you make your way through to the game.

Every attack can be dodged and so if you play your cards right then you shouldn’t lose much. I died maybe twice so it can still happen if you don’t let your guard down. Now, while I had a good time with it, the lack of attacks does mean that you may find this repetitive if you don’t really enjoy the combat. So it will all come down to that in the end. Particularly since there aren’t any other real modes to this. You will keep bashing away at the same enemies until they have all gone down for the count.

The graphics are really good though. The atmosphere works really well for a horror type game. Everything is very eerie and suspenseful. The colors are all really strong as well with how bright the red is and how sharp the colors are in general. It’s a game that really stands out. The soundtrack is also pretty good since it is really trying to capture the rock feeling from the Hades titles. So the technical aspects don’t disappoint in these two areas.

Ultimately for the game to turn the corner and get to an 8 I would have just needed a little more content. Maybe a wider range of enemies to go up against or some more levels. Instead of making the runs so long I would have more runs that are shorter in length. I guess it would mean less opportunities for power ups and such but it just seems to fit the genre a bit better this way. You could also make the levels more linear instead of having doors that basically take you in a loop. With no map, it could be easy to waste a little time. Especially when you are also checking the ground for items and gold since they really don’t stick out.

Let me just focus more on the action and then we’re good. Without the grenade launcher, the game would definitely have jumped quite a bit in difficulty. I was effectively able to cheese it to an extent since the explosions are so powerful. Without the launcher, I’d have to go in swinging the whole time and naturally that comes with a whole lot of risks as well. If you miss a parry, you eat an absolute ton of damage.

Overall, This is a pretty good game. I do think it should have had more content or at least been able to tell you when you’ve found a new collectible. It’s the little things like that which makes a difference or the game not having a map. This feels like it just didn’t have a big production team. Still, the combat is fun which is easily the most important part. I’d definitely recommend playing through this one. It will give you a good amount of fun for as long as it lasts.

Overall 7/10

Beyond Oasis Review

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This is one of those old Genesis games that really pushed the console to its limit. It showed what was possible with these platformers and I can say that it has aged well. Now, I do think there are a certain amount of mechanics and areas that would have been really annoying if I played it without the rewind feature, but as it stands it was a fun game with these quality of life updates.

The game begins with the kingdom being attacked and the princess is captured. Her brother the crown prince has to save her as well as the world and he is armed with a powerful arm weapon. It can be used to harness the powers of the 4 legendary elemental spirits. This will give him a fighting chance at the very least. He will need to defeat the mysterious villains and reclaim the other arm weapon, but it appears to have grown sentient and evil. This will not be easy.

As far as the gameplay goes, it’s an overhead Legend of Zelda type game. No worries though, you can jump and use an assortment of magic. The various spirits you summon can heal you or aid you in battle by attacking foes. They all have their own special abilities as well like being able to go underground or make you become intangible. This will also tie into the puzzles which can really get difficult by the end. Don’t think that you can just walk in and ace any of the puzzles with your eyes closed because it’s not happening.

I breezed through the first half of the game but then the second part really slowed me down. One reason for this is the puzzles but another is how difficult the enemies could be. If you drop a combo mid way then you are going to be eating an absolutely devastating counter that drains a lot of your health away. Additionally the weapons you have all run on a use system kind of like Breath of the Wild. So once you’ve used your sword enough then it will break. You only have one dagger that never breaks and it’s the weakest one.

Personally I would save the big swords for the boss fights but it does mean that the minions become extra dangerous. I never like it when weapons break so that is one area where I would say they should have ditched this mechanic. It is not one that has ever aged particularly well. The game does have a really good map though so that’s another example of something that the game did right. Many games completely mess up on that when it should be a fairly straight forward addition.

You do have a very small inventory of how many weapons and items you can hold onto which also makes you feel really worried about what to keep. I definitely recommend keeping some spirit summons on hand because sometimes it can be hard to find the exact element that you need. You summon spirits by blasting something made out of it. So you blast a river to summon the water spirit for example. One shortcut around this is to have an item on hand that summons the associated spirit but they are very rare. The game will make sure you get 1 per spirit so you should save that for as long as you can. The fire spirit in particular is extremely handy for boss battles because of how much damage he deals. The water spirit is also handy for her infinite health regeneration for as long as she’s active.

Technically the shadow and grass spirits are only really good for puzzles. I think the shadow one absorbs some hits for you but it seems inconsistent and the grass one attacks too slowly to be of any real help. There’s no reason to have them along for the boss fight but I suppose it’s not like they are making things worse. You can also de summon a spirit to save on magic meter as needed. It will regenerate quickly when you are outside of a dungeon or if you use an item to stock up again.

I also thought the combat got an extra boost from how you can actually land combos. That’s not something you would see so often from an older game. Usually it’s a basic slash or two, not throwing every move that you have against the opponents. You can still miss at times but it plays like those old 2D beat em ups. I appreciated the attention to detail here.

The graphics have held up extremely well. The illustrations look really good but even beyond that you have great sprites and character models. The action is always clear and then you also have a really good soundtrack to back it up. When you mix all that together, there’s just not much to worry about here. The technical areas are really good. The game is a little on the short side with around 5 hours of content but since you may get lost that helps add to the time. You also really need to factor in the sheer difficulty here too.

Overall, Beyond Oasis is a pretty good game. I had fun with it and it just has solid fundamentals around the board. It’s the kind of game that you can’t help but enjoy. I would definitely look forward to a modern remake of it someday. If you like retro games then this is definitely a great one t check out because it is considerably more polished than most other games from this era. It feels satisfying to blast through the enemies and get to the end.

Overall 7/10

Tonic Trouble Review

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This is a game that I was not particularly familiar with and that’s surprising because it seems to be a fairly big game that was well thought out. It’s a 3D platformer that can hold its own with all the big guns. I had a lot of fun here and while the game is a little on the short side, I thought it worked well. It made sure that the collectathon parts never got to be too overbearing or anything like that. Fun was the priority here and I appreciate that. You do need to have a lot of orbs to access the final boss but none were hidden away too crazily like they were trying to stump you.

The story starts with the main character making an oopsie and a chemically powered drink lands on a nearby planet and infects everything. He needs to go and clean things up but unfortunately a local viking lord took the serum and has now become extra huge and powerful. Defeating him will not be easy so our lead is going to have to lock in! Fortunately there is a genius inventor who can help you. He will need a lot of orbs and relics in order to create a final instrument of destruction though.

So that’s the format for what you will be doing. Each world has a number of collectibles to be obtained and a bunch of enemies trying to stop you. The game is light on actual bosses though so a lot of the platforming is really about solving puzzles and using a whole lot of athletics. Nothing that you haven’t contended with before though. What I like about this game right off the bat is how fun the hub world is. It’s colorful and big without being a chore to get through. It’s fairly quick to run from world to world as well.

At times it may take you a little while to get it all memorized though. The main menu is also a great way of keeping track of how many collectibles you are missing. The quality of life features are really on point here. The developers did everything they could in order to make this a fun experience. There are still a few puzzles that will give you some trouble and one that I never figured out but you don’t need literally all of the collectibles in order to beat the game. So just get enough of them and you will be all set.

The graphics have aged really well. Like I mentioned, the artstyle is really colorful which fits the game really well. Then we have the soundtrack which is good. There aren’t any tunes in particular that really stood out for me but they all did their part in enhancing the overall experience. This was very well balanced on all sides. While there isn’t really a post game, you can grab all of the collectibles. Maybe that would at least get you a bonus scene at least.

So there is a decent amount of replay value here. Also for platformers you are generally playing them to just have a good time so this definitely works in that respect. I’m surprised they didn’t make a bunch of Tonic games, I guess in general people were less impressed with it than I was. It had good gameplay and a solid amount of cutscenes so you know that would in me over right away.

Aside from smacking your opponents, you also have a little gun at the ready. It’s really useful and for that reason it has limited ammo until the final world begins. You can hit enemies from really long distances and of course it also works on various traps that are out of range. I recommend using this as often as possible. Then you eventually learn how to glide which is super useful. You will quickly wonder how you ever played without it.

It’s another basic, but important fundamental of the game. After each world you will learn a new skill which allows you to reach more locations. The game doesn’t force you to backtrack as often as other titles though. Generally you can reach around 80-90% of the collectibles on your first visit to a location. Then you would go back to grab the very last ones. This is exactly how this kind of game should play out. It’s how you make collectathons fun.

Then in one of the last levels you get a marathon of classic puzzles. For example arranging blocks into a specific image is one of them. Another is connecting lights together where each switch activates all adjacent spots. I always like these brain teasers so those are fun puzzles to go with. They are puzzles that always feel fair as it’s just up to you to logically make your moves. There is also a reset option for all of these if you want a fresh slate.

I’m not saying the game is a walk in the park either. It’s not the most difficult platformer I’ve played but I did die a number of times. I also did use the rewind a bit when falling to save time. So you can’t exactly close your eyes and play this one. Still, I thought that the difficulty was fair the whole time. When you die, it’s generally because of something you did. Only exception is an occasional camera angle that’s kinda wonky.

Overall, Tonic Trouble is a fun game to play through. It’s a very old school platformer and yet it’s one that has more quality of life features than some modern games. It really felt like the devs were thinking of the player the whole time and I appreciate that. If you have the Nintendo Switch Online then you should play this game asap. It’s not one that you will want to keep on the backburner for long.

Overall 7/10

Batman Arkham Origins: Blackgate Review

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It’s time for an Arkham game that quite a lot of people never really got to experience. I can say after playing through it that it is a worthy addition to the franchise. The ending does start to drag on a little bit though which is what just barely keeps it from getting an 8. It could have used some quality of life updates to the travel but otherwise does a good job of feeling like a miny version of the main Arkham games.

The game starts off with Batman chasing Catwoman but ends up getting some unexpected help from a private military force. They lock Catwoman up in Blackgate but then a big riot happens and all of the prisoners escape. The place is ruled by three factions led by the Penguin, Joker, and Black Mask. Catwoman agrees to help Batman gather intel as long as he can break her out and have her transferred to a safer jail afterwards. He agrees and now begins his tough mission of taking down all of the villains.

I enjoyed getting to see some different opponents here. This game has boss fights with Catwoman and the Bronze Tiger for example. Bronze Tiger is probably my favorite boss fight in the game because it is straight up hand to hand combat the whole time. It’s really smooth and makes good use of the quick time events. That was a lot of fun and really tests your timing. The Catwoman boss fight continues this but the timing is even tighter so that ended up being an incredibly difficult boss fight. She actually defeated me multiple times before I was able to win.

The gameplay is similar to the main Arkham games, just in more of a 2D setting. You have your combos and the parry option for all of the serious attacks. Then as you play through the game you get various gadgets that help you get through the different areas. The main difference compared to the main games is that this one’s actually a Metroidvania. Trust me I was surprised about that as well. You will be going back and forth among the different areas and that is where the game can be a bit weaker.

My main problem there is that it isn’t always easy to get from world to world and the map layouts can be a little confusing. The use layers instead of stretching the map out so you will have multiple doors on the map and it’s hard to tell which one goes where. I ended up going to the wrong place several times as a result. In the climax you have to go back to every world again which got old pretty fast. So I could have done without a lot of the backtracking there.

The game isn’t too long but just long enough where the travelling adds up. Should take you around 5-6 hours to complete the game. There is a decent amount of replay value with all of the collectibles and multiple endings though. You have to beat the game at minimum 3 times in order to get all of the endings and the Platinum. I like the fact that each path gives you new cutscenes which adds some incentive to playing the game over again. Perhaps someday I’ll go after the other routes. It’s not super high on my list but I ended up with a D for the trophy list so I would like to get that up to a C average at least.

The graphics are pretty solid. I really liked the artstyle for the cutscenes. It was very artistic and stood out as a result. Batman always looked really intimidating the way they set him up as well. The levels look solid and everything is easy to keep track of. There isn’t much of a soundtrack but the voice acting is very good. So all in all there is really a lot to enjoy here. Mix in the great gameplay and you’ve got a solid title.

It would be nice if you could have unlocked more costumes and such to wear during the game. The way they are spread out, you won’t be unlocking any until the very end though. The way you play the game will vary a lot from player to player since it’s very non-linear though so maybe some ill pull that off. Since you often need power ups to enter new areas, I’m thinking that will definitely be limited though.

If you do really enjoy Metroidvania titles then that will probably bump the game up for you though. It’s not a genre that I can see returning to Batman anytime soon after all so you will want to enjoy it now. The combat itself is extremely easy outside of boss fights though. This is a game where you can generally ignore stealth and just run into the enemies every time. Everyone goes down in a few hits and that’s why the bosses will take you by surprise since they are really difficult. I want to say that nearly every boss beat me at least once. Not exactly a flex, but it shows how tough the game could be.

Overall, I would recommend checking this game out. If you want to play it on the PS3, keep in mind that their shop is still open but you have to have a pre filled card or PS credit first since you can’t reload on the older console. It was cool to find this out since I thought the shop was completely shut down. So that’s a little tip if there are any other PS3 games you want to play. I’m not sure when I’ll be playing another PS3 game in the future so for now this was a fun nostalgia visit. I’m basically caught up with Batman games now as well so hopefully we get a new one soon.

Overall 7/10

Stolen Review

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It’s time to dive into a stealth game that I didn’t even know existed. Stealth can be hit or miss for me, it all depends on the execution. I suppose you could say that is true of anything but stealth is a particularly volatile area. I am glad to say that this one ended up being pretty good. The beginning of the game gave me a lot of issues but once I mastered the mechanics, then I was really ready for action. The game is over very quickly but you will have had a good time.

The game follows a spy/secret operative named Anya and unfortunately she is blackmailed by another evil spy. She must now help a corrupt politician in his pursuit for power, but only until she can manage to get the upper hand. This guy must not be allowed to rise to power, even if it means bringing back the old mayor who was not particularly good either. Sometimes the status quo is better than the change but will she really be able to pull this off? It’ll be her toughest mission yet.

For most of the game, the objective is to find different data items and avoid detection. If you are detected, you need to find a place to hide or quickly down the attackers. Of course if you do knock someone out, they will sound the alarm as soon as they wake up. You have a number of gadgets that can help like stun guns and such but usually hand to hand is your best bet. There is also a heavy emphasis on platforming here so you should be prepared to be jumping across areas and running quickly.

There’s a rooftop chase that is rather tricky because one wrong move will take you down. Fortunately the game has a good amount of checkpoints which is absolutely crucial for a stealth title like this. Whenever you die, you don’t feel too bad as a result. I certainly died in this one quite a lot but I would always be more prepared for the next run. The gameplay can be a little clunky at times so you do have to be ready for a few deaths that shouldn’t have happened. Trust me, it’s annoying but that’s just how it goes sometimes.

My biggest advice here is to always choke the enemies out. If you knock them out then they wake up in around 30 seconds but choking them out will down them for around 3 minutes. That is an absolutely massive difference when you’re running around. You can choke someone out by sneaking up from behind or from throwing 3 punches which stuns the opponent. The game becomes much easier once you start doing this.

You will still run into issues as their attacks deal a ton of damage. Also be sure not to use your health packs unless you really need them. Sometimes it is better to just die and respawn with your health packs than to clear the level while using them. You don’t automatically get new ones later on after all and you may wish that you had them for the final boss. The final boss is a pretty fun one though as it actually uses the stealth mechanics right up to the end. Now there is a game that never lost sight of its objective.

The graphics are pretty good here. It has that retro PS2 style that has just aged extremely well. The soundtrack was also rather good although it took me a while to even realize that the lyric was saying “stolen” the whole time so it may not be the clearest lyrics that I’ve heard in a while. The technicals were on point the whole time. I do think Anya could have been a cooler main character though. She’s meant to be a fairly tough fighter who has a lot of confidence like Lara Croft would, but Anya falters too much and also ends up letting her partner get away with too many subtle cracks at her. A better main character would really have been able to bounce back with the banter the whole time and that would have been a more fun dynamic.

I also think that if they leaned more into being an action game it would be a good idea because I was looking forward to fighting with the rival but that never really gets to happen. Not directly at least and so the climax feels a little underwhelming compared to what it could have been like. The game saw its vision through to the end so I can’t say that was a mistake but I would have liked a big boss battle. I give the game credit for letting you fight back when you are spotted in the stealth levels though instead of just automatically losing. Now that would have been annoying.

The game is fairly short and there’s no real replay value so that is one thing to keep in mind when it comes to the value. You will probably complete this game in around 5-6 hours I would guess. It will really wrap up before you even know it. The game only has 4 levels after all, but granted they are fairly long. The difficulty is also what makes the game longer than it would have been otherwise.

Overall, This was a pretty good game. I had fun with it and while it won’t go down as a great title, it satisfies the requirement of being entertaining. The story was good and the level designs were fun. The game could be rather dark at times but that’s really because of my TV and not totally the game’s fault. The soundtrack is solid and the writing is good. If you can find this game, I would recommend checking it out as you can really get it for cheap. Maybe one day they will do a remake.

Overall 7/10