Category Archives: 8 Star Games

Earthbound Review

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It’s time to review one of the most iconic Nintendo RPGs of all time. Everyone has heard of this title and for good reason. They really pushed the envelope on this game with the amount of crazy visuals and just having a generally weird world around the main characters. Games like Undertale would end up continuing in this same light. Without Earthbound you can argue that many games would not exist. It really has aged quite well.

The story starts with a meteor crashing in Ness’ home town Onett. He goes out to check it along with another boy named Porky. Porky ends up succumbing to the dark side and serving the dark lord Giygas while Ness is tasked with saving the world. He will need several allies including a genius, a martial artist, and a psychic expert. Can these kids really stop the end of the world though? Giygas is a being that exists across dimensions and all of time with seemingly unlimited amounts of power. That’s not an easy opponent to overcome but Ness won’t give up!

This is a game where you really need to cling to everything that you are told because it always ends up being a lot more important than you would have guessed. Sometimes you have to talk to a character multiple times and other times you have to go back to an old town to grab an item you may have missed. The game is quite vast and I’m sure I didn’t talk to a bunch of people/witness bonus content. The dialogue is all a lot of fun here. It has that absurd comedy type angle where crazy things are happening and people don’t have much of a reaction to it which is a type of comedy in itself.

The writing is quite excellent. I like how your father will call in from time to time to check on you and give you some money to get items with. It has a very “Are you winning son?” vibe to it and it’s great to have supportive parents here. Your Mom is always around to give you a fresh pizza and recover your HP as well. Your sister even contributes by giving you items and a place to store extra ones. These are little elements that just help make the world feel a lot more fleshed out.

There’s also a lot of room for fun theories about different characters and what’s going on. You could really make a whole franchise out of this which is why it’s a shame that Nintendo hasn’t kept up with making a bunch of Earthbound games. There is so much potential to them and I’m sure with modern graphics and everything they could really make this massive. This game took me close to 30 hours as it is. In general a nice advantage of RPGs is that the long story really lets you connect to the characters.

One of the playable characters doesn’t show up until you’re over 20 hours in for example which is really impressive. I had actually forgotten about him for a while even though in the intro you get to name all of the characters so in a way you know that they’re coming. It’s just a long wait and you’re busy doing a lot of other things in the meanwhile to really keep track. The final boss is super iconic of course and then you’ve got a lot of other creative enemies and even full concerts in game. Yes this is an ambitious title.

At times it can be easy to get lost or not know what to do next. Fortunately their are hint shacks around. The NPCs aren’t generally very helpful so otherwise you would have been in a pretty tough spot. Also some areas are very well hidden so even when you’re following a path, try to keep note of which path you didn’t check in case you have to use it later on. As you progress through the game you unlock some quality of life features like teleportation which is definitely worth the wait.

If I have any issues here, I would say one gameplay mechanic doesn’t age too well. This one uses the old Final Fantasy 2 type of mechanic where if your character dies they won’t come back to life even at an inn. You have to specifically go to the hospital to revive the character and that’s a lot of work since those are rarer to come up against. Again this is a quality of life feature that comes in later on once your character learns how to revive someone. That’s near the very end of the game though so it takes a while.

Also your storage is very small per character so you will run out a lot. This means you will have to constantly toss items out to make room for new ones or pay the storage fee to put in some extra back at home. I think they could have been more generous on that front. It’s only a mild annoyance to have to go in and toss stuff since you can only do this one at a time but still it’s something where a sequel can improve a bit.

The soundtrack is definitely excellent, there are a lot of really good tunes you will hear as you go through the adventure. The graphics are also really solid for its era. Like I mentioned earlier the game is very creative here both in the enemy designs and the effects. It gets a bit trippy with Giygas and the game is just so far ahead of its time that I’m sure the reactions to that boss must have been crazy.

In terms of replay value, there is a lot in terms of talking to people and such but there isn’t really a post game. Regardless the main campaign is long enough where that isn’t a problem. Additionally the game can be rather difficult at times so you will have to stop and train at different points. Don’t think that you will just be coasting by and the whole thing is a breeze because you will be in for quite the surprise!

Meanwhile the ending of the game is really intense. I don’t know if Mother 3 actually follows up on this or not but it’s really a high note. Yet another reason why Nintendo needs to license that game already. It would be so much fun to play through! The music gets rather tense and for a split second you’re wondering if the game is actually going to just keep on going. To date Nexamon is probably the only game I can think of that keeps on going after the long credits play and is the most realistic fake stop. I’d like to see more games do that and it only works in an RPG type game like this because you can have it trigger after 20-25 hours which would be realistic to end with.

Overall, Earthbound is a great game all the way through. It excels in every area and makes for a really fun experience. The gameplay is really smooth and the world is just so large. It feels like they crammed in a toooooon of content here especially relative to the average SNES game. It’s extremely impressive and the fact that it still holds up to this day is also something to be proud of. I would highly recommend jumping into this game as soon as possible. You will be having a lot of fun all the way through.

Overall 8/10

Super Mario Bros. Wonder Review

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Whenever Nintendo releases a big Mario game you better believe that the whole planet is put on notice. It really feels like ages since the last big Mario game too, particularly the last 2D one. Fortunately Wonder is a great game that adds a lot of new mechanics and really feels like a fresh experience. It takes a few chances and not every gamble pays off but ultimately it’s just great to have more Mario content. I just wish Nintendo wouldn’t put their mascot on break for so many years at a time.

The basic plot here is that Bowser has merged with a giant ship and now he intends to take over the entire planet! Mario must team up with Daisy and co. to stop him. They’re in the Flower Kingdom this time which is a nice way to incorporate new supporting characters and whole new environments. I don’t think these guys will ever be as iconic as the Toads but they’re fun enough. We even have talking plants for full voice acting although I doubt most people will be big fans of them. I kept the voices on for the whole game but I did change the language to Japanese near the end for kicks.

The gameplay has a lot of the classic Mario elements you will recognize like running and jumping to the goal. You have some big power ups like the fire flower which are classic but also new ones like a bubble flower and elephant mode. I can’t say that Elephant mode is my favorite but the bubble form is really helpful. It can one shot almost any enemy and also gives you extra jumps by using the bubbles you shoot out. It is incredibly handy in a pinch! You’ve also got a drill hat to plunge into the ceiling. Most of the time you don’t really need to use the power ups so you can have fun in normal form but it’s nice to experiment a bit.

A new gimmick for this game are the badges which you can equip for all kinds of special abilities like an extra jump, being notified when you’re near a secret, etc. I held onto the glide from the tutorial but mainly stayed away from the badges so they wouldn’t make the game too easy. It’s easy to see how they would make this a bit of a cakewalk in the end. In terms of difficulty I would say this is easier than the last few 2D titles like New Super Mario Bros and Mario World but it has some reasonably tough levels so it’s not going to be on easy mode or anything.

One odd choice is that the worlds don’t get progressively harder the way they normally would. Every world has some easy levels and some hard ones and you get to see the difficulty counter before entering a level. This is because you don’t have to beat every level in order to move on. It’s all about the collectible like stars in this game. So for example you may need to get 15 collectibles in order to move onto the next world out of 25. So then you can skip like 3-4 levels. I actually 100% completed world 1 initially because I figured the stars would carry over but they don’t so just a heads up on that. When you have enough to fight the boss, just go ahead and fight him. There is no real benefit to waiting longer than that.

In addition to the normal levels there are mini ones that are like break levels. You get to master a badge in each level and some will just have a fun theme like trying to solve a puzzle or unravel a song. They are a nice break from the standard levels and are good additions to have here. I’m not always thrilled about the open world nature of the areas as you can sometimes waste some time trying to find the place you want to go but that’s mainly just an issue in the desert world which is the worst one by far. The rest are still pretty clearly labeled the whole time. When you lose a level you are also thrown right back in with incredible speed which is really a good thing.

The graphics are really top tier and this is some of the best visuals we’ve seen for a classic Nintendo type title. The environments are all very colorful and there are a lot of different enemies to take on. Each world feels different as well. The soundtrack is filled with a lot of fun themes and also some nice remixes. My favorite new theme has to be the final boss battle but in general I liked the villain themes here. They weren’t afraid to go all out and even seem a little towards the rock genre.

The actual campaign likely won’t take you too long, maybe around 6 hours or so. That said there is a good amount of replay value if you aim to 100% the game. I don’t actually know what you unlock for doing so yet. Hopefully a bonus ending or something cool like that. I don’t tend to 100% these since there are no trophies involved but if the reward is good enough then I’ll consider it. I also played the whole game as Daisy so it’ll be fun to play around as some of the other characters. I could even have fun using a bunch of badges now that I’ve beaten the game. So I can just relax and hang out while playing the levels.

Bowser not kidnapping Peach for a change is a nice twist but I would still like the series to take the story a bit farther at some point. It’s Mario so I’m not asking for something dark or super serious. Even happy type games can have a good story ongoing and that’s all I want. Give us some fun cutscenes, a cool journey to follow and I’m set. That would be completely ideal and I don’t think it would be all that hard. It’s hard to picture it ever happening but mix in the great gameplay with an awesome story and then we could be looking at one of the all time all stars.

Overall, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is definitely a great game. It is a lot of fun to play through and as you’d expect from Nintendo’s flagship character every detail has been given a lot of polish and attention. The only things keeping it from going a bit higher is the lack of a true story and the game also feeling a little short. In general platformers aren’t very long of course and that makes sense but I do feel you tend to need a certain amount of length in order to be one of those elite 9 star titles. I would definitely recommend picking this game up though. It’s not a title that you want to miss out on!

Overall 8/10

Sword of Elpisia Review

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It’s time for another fantastic RPG and this one gets exciting right out of the gate with the top tier gameplay and soundtrack. There’s a lot to love here and the positives just keep on rolling the whole time. The story is very strong with an emotional message about slowing forming bonds of friendship with others. The game even sidesteps the potential romance angle to actually have a wholesome friendship plot with no strings attached. Definitely great stuff all around.

The plot starts out by introducing us to a magic tool repairer. He’s a very serious kind of guy who is virtually emotionless and has no friends. He just does his duty and keeps it moving. Well, one day a bunch of monsters attack while he is working on repairs and he tries to stop it but nothing works. This ends up resulting in his blowing up a house which at best slows the creature down. What he didn’t realize is this was the home of a little girl who had been living by herself. To make it up to her he agrees to find a new place where she can live an uneventful life. It won’t be easy but now the two of them can be a team. Along the way they get wrapped up in a battle of utterly cosmic proportions with beings that transcend the very world itself. Aliens exist and there are a bunch of kingdoms fighting for global supremacy. All the hero wants to do is find a quiet place for this girl to live but he won’t let any of this stop him from making that a reality!

The gameplay here is your classic turn based adventure but with all of the extra bells and whistles that you always see in a Kemco game. You can speed up gameplay, turn off animation, etc. The new gimmick this time is you can summon little animals to help you out in combat. Personally I never really saw the point since they seemed weaker than the actual characters so I ended up putting them to the side. Still you could send them on missions to get items so that was cool. You don’t get the guaranteed currency for winning 3 battles in a row here the way you could in some older Kemco games but I can also see how that might make things a little too easy so I get why it wouldn’t be here now.

The level cap is very high since I managed to get all the way to level 500. I’m guessing 999 would be the max but it’s not like you really need to worry about that since you can get the Platinum a lot sooner. The trophies are all pretty reasonable and none of them should take you a whole lot of time. They are a great way to add a little replay value to the experience without feeling tedious or like you are wasting your time. So in that sense the game is once again landing a big W here because that’s how trophies should be. They should lengthen and enhance the experience but not make you regret going for 100%.

The story itself was also good with a lot of twists and turns. I already talked about how the game made some good decisions with the dynamics before. The character designs are on point and there are always a lot of moving pieces on the board which I appreciate. There is a good amount of world building here and the game stays epic the whole way through while having some emotional moments in there as well. So it’s super well balanced which again is not particularly surprising.

The soundtrack is pretty excellent. A lot of real fast paced tunes and intense boss fight themes. Unfortunately most of the tracks are not on Youtube yet but at least the main battle theme is which is the important part. I recommend giving it a good listen. The graphics look good with all of the illustrations really being on point. On the technical aspects the game is absolutely excellent and that’s why this is possibly the best company at making turn based RPGs. There really isn’t much more you can ask for. It hits every note on how to make the experience as fun as possible.

Surprisingly there is only one ending this time instead of having a bunch. Maybe they figured the ending was just that good so they didn’t need other versions this time. Who knows maybe it’ll get a sequel some day. Most of these RPGs don’t get sequels but sometimes they end up appearing and it’s hard to predict which title will continue. I’d still love some kind of big crossover game with all of their properties at some point but it would definitely be really ambitious and take a lot of time. Hopefully at some point in the future though!

Overall, This was a great game all around. You have a pretty solid main character cast with a lot of good character dynamics between them. The game is a decent length and it should take you some time to beat the game because of all the level ups you need. I ended up beating the game at around Level 500 which was absolutely overkill but it was also fun to just walk in and stomp the villains. It’s not every day you get to destroy the final boss like that after all. I’d definitely recommend this game if you’re looking for a solid RPG. It really doesn’t get much better than this after all.

Overall 8/10

Ghost Sync Review

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Kemco is back with another great RPG. The company really never lets you down and its impressive just how many titles they have churned out. As always you have a ton of great gameplay mechanics here and they also try a few new techniques as well. In this case I don’t see the new gimmicks catching on but none of them were bad which is the important thing. It’s a bit on the shorter side compared to some of their other RPGs but ultimately it’s a solid experience through and through.

The plot starts with a whole lot of amnesia. The main heroine has lost her memories and then she bumps into a spirit who says he has also lost all of his memories. Ah well, they both like helping people which is the important part and so they travel the world fighting against monsters. This leads them to joining up with the national guild where they meet a travelling priest of sorts who is looking for someone. The three agree to form a team since you need 3 in order to be registered and they will help each other out along the way. Eventually they are joined by a hungry fairy who eats other creatures for power.

There are a ton of mysteries throughout the game as each team member is holding something back. I like just how many are ongoing at once too. There’s even one cutscene where each character has to face off with their dark self and so we see how everyone’s keeping a secret even up until the end of the game. I guess they just really don’t trust each other and of course that is part of the character development. By the end it’s all good and the ending may not be the most satisfying, but that’s one of 3. I’ll work on beating the other two endings shortly and getting the Platinum trophy because we’re already so close to getting that one as it is.

The story is fun here and the characters are all pretty reasonable. At most you can say that sometimes the weakness of a Kemco game is that some characters can be a bit overly weird with a gimmick that gets played out early. Fortunately that’s not the case here. Every character has a clearly defined personality and everything but they are never one note. They all have serious plots going on and we get a good amount of banter out of everyone. It helps make this a more complete experience.

Additionally for the gameplay it’s as streamlined and smooth as ever. You can speed up attack animations when grinding, turn off minion encounters for levels that you’ve already beaten, quick travel, etc. If there’s a nice quality of life feature that you can think of, this game almost certainly has it. That’s something I’ve always loved about these games. It makes it fun to level up and explore without having to be fighting minions every second.

The level cap is really high and I beat the game close to level 300 but getting those level ups is really quick. Just keep on fighting and you will secure the levels before long. For one of the new mechanics in this game you can absorb/take over monsters once they are weakened. It’s interesting but the main problem is that it’s never worth it. You do more damage normally so taking them over is only good for the novelty and since there’s no trophy for that…there’s no real point to doing so.

Then you have the skill leveling which is interesting enough. You can buy a ton of skills using blue points and then level them up with red points. It’s interesting but I’d say the reason it doesn’t work is due to just how many of them there are. Even by the end of the game I probably had at least half of the skills still locked and you don’t really need most of them. So buying them all is just fun for being a completionist but you’ll be okay with beating the game either way. I’s definitely not a make it or break it deal.

So I think you could leave that out of the next one. The equipment was solid though with ranking it up to work for you with better stats. That is pretty streamlined and easy to use which I appreciate. You can alter your team’s tactics, formation, etc. There is really a ton to do and you have complete control which is awesome. You can buy tons of great permanent upgrades from the shop and you can farm the currency through the triple fights in the cave. That is definitely the best part of the grinding because it basically turns itself into an extra boost.

Overall, Ghost Sync is definitely a great game. The gameplay is on point and the story is a lot of fun. The soundtrack is really fast paced and intense like you’d expect from this company. Really this is an RPG developed by a very experienced company and it shows. It shines on basically every level. While the replay value may be lower than some of the other games since you can platinum it fairly quick, you’ve still got a lot of good value for your buck which is what counts. Definitely a game that I will not be forgetting anytime soon.

Overall 8/10

Justice Chronicles Review

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Justice Chronicles is one of those great games that really has everything you could want. A top tier soundtrack, a solid plot, good characters, great gameplay, etc. It’s really the whole package and you love to see it. The game can be difficult and will absolutely require some grinding but that’s how you know that it’s legit. It never feels annoying to grind either because the game is well developed. Yes sir this is the way to go without a doubt.

The plot starts off with the main character being a part of a legendary group of hunters who have to travel to the human world to check on things. There is a war brewing between both sides or at least that’s what the rumors say and so they have to check into this. Ultimately the group gets split up and the hero finds himself stranded in the human world. He ends up saving a girl who nearly died by making a pact with a demon in exchange for his soul. A nearby witch is able to halt the pact for a while but now the hero has to make sure to get back to his people and stop this war or a lot of good people are going to die.

There’s a ton more to this story as this is a proper RPG through and through. You have betrayals and conspiracy going on. There’s a fairly large cast here as well and you have time to get used to all of the characters. The game even has a bit of a double ending going for it so the experience lasts even longer than you would expect. I wouldn’t say the cast is quite ready to take down the Asdivine Hearts folks but it’s a pretty strong cast either way. They’re easy to root for and we get a lot of good banter the whole time.

For the gameplay, you have your classic attacks, special moves, and such. It’s turn based combat so you want to plan your attacks carefully. There are so many different things to level up with limited resources so choose carefully or you’ll end up regretting it later on. Of course at that point you could always do more grinding if necessary. One thing I didn’t focus on until the end was ranking up my weapons because the whole harvesting system looked a bit complicated. It probably is a little more complicated than it needs to be but in the end I wouldn’t say that it’s bad.

Basically you have to complete side quests in order to unlock different materials for purchase at the shop. For that reason I would say not to use any materials until you have unlocked them because you will need those eventually. The money will come naturally the more that you defeat the enemies so you really don’t have to worry about that. It does mean that like Harvestella you will often have to choose between focusing on your level or focusing on getting materials. For the most part I would say focus on levels first until you can easily one shot any minion from a weaker zone and then get the materials. Ranking up your weapon increases your attack power by about as much as 10 normal level ups which is why you want great weapons and armor. That said, you don’t want to forego either one of those for too long or you’ll really be in trouble.

I died several times during the game and had to spend hours grinding. So this isn’t a walk in the park but the grinding is always enjoyable. The EXP you get per battle is fair so you don’t feel like things are going too slowly. Throw in the resource grinding and that keeps you especially busy the whole time. I’d say what helps also keep things from getting stale is the soundtrack’s really good the whole time. Don’t underestimate the power of a great soundtrack to keep anything from being too tedious. The fast paced nature of the themes really work well.

Of course the visuals are also great here and I would expect no less. It’s all very streamlined and full of color. Yes the game succeeds on a technical level very well. Then there is a good amount of replay value here to get the trophies. The platinum will definitely take some time but I also wouldn’t say that it’s super difficult. It’s a pretty fair one where if you put in the effort then you will get it. By the time you beat the game you will be well on your way so I would definitely recommend going for it. I’ll probably work on this soon once I’ve worked on some other titles.

Overall, Justice Chronicles is definitely a great game and one that I highly recommend checking out. The story is really good and as always there are a ton of great quality of life features here. It may be lacking some of the functionality that Asdivine Hearts had and other gimmicks don’t play quite as strongly as the classic games yet I still had a lot of fun here. It’s still heads and shoulders above some of the other RPGs of the past. Additionally I really like how they went the extra mile for the opening cinematic. This is a game that was clearly giving its all right from the start and I can definitely respect that. I highly recommend checking this game out whenever possible.

Overall 8/10

Harvestella Review

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It’s time to look at a farming game and this is the first time that I’ve bought one like this. I was a little hesitant because farming isn’t necessarily my thing but I had heard that this game had a really good story and was still in large part a full RPG with lots of combat. So I decided to take the plunge and it really is a great game. Certainly on the long side as it took me over 50 hours though and nearly ended up catching up to Tears of the Kingdom. The Switch has definitely gotten a whole lot of playtime lately!

The basic plot is that one day you wake up in the middle of nowhere during an event call Quietus. You have complete amnesia but fortunately the local doctor nurses you back to health and even gives you a little farm. You are determined to make this the best farm of all! Eventually an alien ship lands and a girl appears from it. She claims to be from the future and needs a way back to her time. So now you have to help her, tend to your farm, and you also need a way to save the world. See these Quietus events are dangerous since if you stand outside during one you could die and they’re happening very regularly now. Something’s up, but what? As you travel to different towns to buy farming ingredients you meet more people to add to your party and find out more about this time traveler. Ultimately the pieces will fit together but you’ve got time.

There’s a lot to enjoy here but the one thing I will take away from the game is that I would have liked more voice acting. For a modern day Switch title it’s pretty odd to just be reading text the whole time. It’s not like they couldn’t have voice acting either since your fairies call out to you every day when you leave the house and when you return. For two of the final bosses we suddenly get full voice acting as well. So to me it just seems like a budget thing or they were hurrying a lot but it’s unfortunate since voice acting could have helped to elevate this further.

The actual graphics are really good though. I really like the colors and the overall atmosphere of the game. It has a bit of a sci-fi feel to it even when you’re on the farm because of the crystals everywhere. The visuals and the fun soundtrack do a lot to make this game feel grand. It’s an RPG that is taking itself very seriously and I can definitely appreciate that. As a mild negative it would be nice if the fairies didn’t have to greet you home or say goodbye every time. They only have 1-2 sound clips so this gets really old fast. It’s one of those audio things the devs really need to think about since you will be performing those actions well over 100 times.

The RPG combat is really solid, if a bit complicated. Basically you have around 10 different job classes which all change up your attacks and element type. You can use a sword and just slash away at the enemies or you can use futuristic energy blades to fire at opponents from long range. Each job seems to have some advantages to it. I used the Mage class for around 80% of the game and then went to the fighter and holographic classes for the climax. I didn’t experiment too much with the others but they all seemed pretty fun.

There is a stamina system like Breath of the Wild which can get a little annoying. You can’t regenerate it naturally so the only way is to eat some food or go to sleep and start the next day. Not ideal when you’re in the middle of a dungeon though. Additionally you have a hunger meter so after a point you can’t eat anymore. You want to stock up on fruit juices because those you can continue to have even once your character is fully full. This is probably the main point where the game is being just a tad too realistic. I think the game should have dialed that back a bit.

I’m also not typically a fan of the day system and you can bet that this was not an exception. Having to rush home because the day was ending is not really my idea of a good time. I like to just relax and do things as they come so that goes against my gaming style. I’ll make it work of course but yeah these are all mechanics that I could do without. I suppose the most satisfying part of the farming is gathering resources though. It was always nice to finally build something.

By the end of the game I had completed all side quests and managed to build almost all of the items. So I really got a whole lot done and it shows jut how tough the final boss is because I needed all of that in order to win. I would recommend creating a juicer as early as possible because that is really what let me beat the game. I saved up over 40 fruit juices and had to spam almost all of them in order to win.

You could probably do with less of those if you got more level ups I suppose but I capped out in the early 50s so I didn’t have a ton of health. Without all of the health recoveries I would have certainly gone down. You can only get one juice per day too so the earlier you start the better. I ended up beating the game in around 1 year in-game time since I got to experience each of the seasons once so that was pretty cool.

It goes without saying that there is pretty much unlimited replay value here. You can keep on playing for a very long time as you keep upgrading your farm and getting level ups. I imagine it would take an extremely long amount of time for you to 100% this game but at least you do have a final goal of sorts. So the game never feels aimless. I can’t picture myself ever trying for the 100% but at least it is there should you ever be tempted to try and pull that off. Beating the story was satisfying enough for me.

Finally one of the big things about this game is how you can’t do everything you want to do within the day since it goes fast. You always have to decide between resource grinding, progressing the story, doing side quests, or working on equipment. Some of those categories can be broken down even further as well. I would usually focus on resources since there are always enemies to fight along the way but attacking enemies uses stamina which you need to pick up items so it’s still a tough call. Go with your gut on this one and remember there’s no time limit so eventually you will have what you need to get the win.

Overall, Harvestella is a pretty great game. I do think it survives entirely based on the combat gameplay and the great story though. You really get to know all of the characters after being with them for 50 hours so the climax hits really hard. You also had some tough moral decisions to make and ultimately this was just a very complete story. Ultimately this tells me that I still wouldn’t be fully on board with a big farming title. It doesn’t hold the game back enough to hurt it but it would absolutely be really bad news if the whole game had to rely on that. So if you’ve ever been curious about the genre, check this game out. As long as you like RPGs you will still enjoy it and this way you get to have a taste of what the farming is like. It’s really a full win/win for you. There’s also so much depth to the game that it’s hard to mention it all in one shot so trust me you will come across a lot of things that I didn’t even touch on here. The main thing to remember is that this is a game with a serious amount of grinding so pretty much all power ups and equipment really have to be earned. Prepare for a long journey right there!

Overall 8/10

Shadowverse: Champion’s Battle Review

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Shadowverse is one of those games that always looked pretty fun but I can’t say that I knew a whole lot about it. It was a hype game with a fun color scheme but yeah that’s the extent of it. Well after playing through it I can safely say that this is a great game and one that you should definitely check out. There was a whole lot of effort put into this one and you can feel it in all of the small details.

The game follows the adventure of Terry (Or whatever else you name him) as he learns about the game of Shadowverse. It turns out that he is actually quite the prodigy at it and starts winning tournaments quickly. He joins up with a local club at school and that’s good because they desperately need him. If one of their members does not win the national championships then the club will be disbanded. This sounds like a job for Terry and trust me, he’s up for the task!

One aspect that was impressive right out of the gate was the full voice acting. Yes this game has every line read out loud which is great. It really makes this feel like a true AAA game all the way through. It enhances the story since you really feel the stakes this way and the fact that even side quests have voice acting and everything is cool. It works as an extra incentive for you to really play through the adventure. Either way it’s long as the game’s story is well over 40 hours. After that you enter the post game and I haven’t started that one so I can’t say how long it is but I bet it’s another 5+ hours in there.

So you don’t have to worry about replay value. Even outside of all story content there are in-game trophies to obtain and a lot of side quests to complete. You can also work on obtaining all of the cards in the game which is actually more achievable than usual. I came super close to getting them all myself after all. The character cast is likable and the story is strong. It’s not going for an end of the world kind of vibe to be sure but it still brings the tension since your club is at stake.

Now for the gameplay, with so many different card games out there I’m sure the creators had to think carefully to make this one stand out. Well, they definitely succeeded. First off, you can only own 3 of a card so that makes it feel less infinite since after you’ve obtained around 1900 total then that means you’ll have them all. You build your deck with monsters and spell cards so there are two base types. You each start the battle with one energy and it goes up to 10 by the end of the battle. You each have 20 life points and the first one to hit 0 loses.

Beyond that it will take a lot of trial and error but the game really gives you the tutorials in a way that is very easy to understand. The explanations were definitely high quality and you can view them again at any time. There are also over 200 duel puzzles which help you understand more of the specific mechanics built into each clan. Each of the different types of cards have very different strategies and by the end you will want to have more than one deck. For example I had a shadowcraft deck for attack and a havencraft one for defense. What do I mean by that?

Well, when playing a blood deck that is built on damaging the user, I’d go for Shadow which is based around dealing damage to the enemy quickly. It’s a perfect counter so it works well. Then if an opponent is using a slow burn deck like Royal, I would bring in Havencraft. It has a card that basically works like Exodia, if you summon it then you win the duel by default no matter how many life points your opponent has. That part was really cool, I built a deck around that and it helped me win a ton of battles that would have been really tough otherwise.

The game is very friendly when it comes to setting up decks. For example whenever you defeat someone then you get a copy of their deck recipe. You have to get the cards yourself but once you do, then you can set that up as a deck. It revolutionizes deck building which can take hours and hours in a Yugioh game since it’s all manual. This one actually gives you some help which was nice and it’s an incentive to find every duelist and take them down. I ended up only having a little over 30 deck codes out of over 100 so you can tell that I didn’t fight as many as I could have. Once I had my 1-2 punch setup I just figured I didn’t need them.

Meanwhile the graphics here are really solid. The characters are all very colorful and we actually get fully animated cutscenes in addition to the CG ones. That was really cool and also made the game feel more special. Finally there’s the soundtrack which is also really good. There are quite a few really epic tunes in here that get you into the flow of the duel. The game spared no expense.

Overall, Shadowverse is a great game and one that I definitely recommend. It also serves its purpose in getting you more hyped to watch the show since the game was so engaging. I dare say even the Yugioh games can pick up a few things from this one like the deck creation enhancements which do make it a lot more fun. At the end of the day it’s too strong to call this the best card game out there but it did exceed my expectations and I was definitely satisfied by the end.

Overall 8/10

COGEN: Sword of Rewind Review

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It’s time for a platformer with a pretty fun time manipulation gimmick. In a lot of platformers you really focus on running to the goal and dodging attacks but in this one you actually have the ability to rewind as you may have guessed from the title which is really fun. Additionally since the game is built around that premise, it’s actually very well balanced so you aren’t just being extremely overpowered while slicing through the competition. This game has a lot of replay value and it’s actually quite a bit of fun to go back and work on those levels. I ended up getting an S rank on 6 out of the 10 levels which went over better than I had expected.

The story follows a girl named Kohaku who wakes up in a strange world in a cybernetic costume. She doesn’t really know what’s going on but there is a talking sword named EXEBreaker who wants her to break the system. Kohaku is fine with doing this but what is this system and what’s going on? As you go through the game this will all be explained. You even have to go up against your father and Kohaku will have to make some tough choices. It isn’t going to be possible to make everyone happy this time around so she can’t just press on ahead without a plan.

There are 5 main levels and then 5 SP levels so there are 10 levels in the game. Each level is reasonably challenging though which is exactly why you have the rewind feature. As Kohaku you have a single life point so taking any damage automatically means you lose. Fortunately you have 3 seconds of rewind time in the vault and so you can use that to quickly get back in the action. Of course if you die while you have no rewind time left then you go back to the last checkpoint. You passively gain your rewind time back up to 3 seconds once you use it so as long as you don’t die too often then you’re good.

Of course with the way these enemies attack that can be easier said than done. Other times you may find yourself in a death loop accidentally and be doomed. This can happen when you are squished by an object for example. So plan things out well or you will jus get yourself in a jam. On paper I know that sounds easy but that’s why this game stands out. The levels are really well designed to keep you from cheesing it. You do have to actually get a hang for the controls. I would say the gameplay itself reminds me of Mega Man Zero a lot. You can dash, back dash, crouch, use your sword combos and you have a double jump. Basically if there is a movement option then odds are that you have it.

You can cover a lot of ground and so the actual platforming will normally be easy while the real danger is sticking away from the enemy robots. Once you beat the game then you unlock a super mode which makes all of the levels a lot easier. This is perfect for earning S ranks and all of that plus it’s just fun to have a laser cannon instead of only relying on the sword. Just be careful that you don’t get sloppy as it can be very easy to relax your guard when you have a better weapon.

I died numerous times against the final boss for that reason. It’s just hard to go back to the sword when you’re used to the lasers. Also I kept getting trapped by this portal attack the boss uses and it turns out that I wasn’t supposed to go inside it. See, I thought that was just the next phase of the fight and so I always let it suck me in but apparently that’s a trap. It’s actually kind of clever when you think about it. I can tip my hat to the developers on that one.

The base game is reasonably long since those 10 levels are not a walk in the park. Then you have a lot of good replay value with trying to get the Platinum here. It’s definitely a difficult platinum but one that looks achievable. I would say to give it a go and see how you fare. Even without that, the base game was still fun enough where you will have a great time. I really enjoyed the story all the way through. It’s a pretty fun sci-fi premise with a lot of fun twists scattered all throughout the game. The cast is fairly small but memorable and each character brings something to the table.

By splitting the 10 levels into two sets it also helped you get used to two different fighting styles. For example in the second half your rewinding abilities are much more limited so you really have to focus on your pure fundamentals. Just running in won’t be helping you out much at all because you can’t spam rewind the way that you could. Then at the very end of the game you get the third gameplay style which is a lot of fun and I’m glad it was added to free play.

The graphics here are definitely very solid. The art style really gets the sci-fi feel across very well. It has that Mega Man vibe without feeling like a clone and all of the character designs are on point. The soundtrack is also very good with a lot of solid rock type themes. I actually need to look them up later since it would be a lot of fun to listen to those tracks again. On a technical level the game holds nothing back.

Overall, Cogen really delivers on everything I could have wanted here. It’s a fun side scroller with an intense story and a lot of fun gameplay. The rewinding gimmick is one that never feels annoying and in instead it’s really innovative. The game had a very specific goal in mind and executes on all cylinders. I really had no issues with the game at all and highly recommend checking it out. Hopefully at some point we can get a sequel here since there is still a lot of potential all around.

Overall 8/10

Asdivine Menace Review

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Whenever there is an Asdivine game that is a direct sequel it’s really cool to see. It’s not everyday that you get to see what happens after the heroes have saved the day. It has certainly happened like in Golden Sun but I would argue that it is still more on the rare side. Of course the whole Asdivine series is interconnected by the two goddesses from the first game and it’s cool to wonder where everyone is at these days. We do see a cameo of the cat but since Zack and the heroine took over the roles later on maybe this takes place early in the continuity. It could also be a multiverse setting. Either way that’s not important to this game but it’s fun to think about.

The game starts with Izayoi waking up after the 100 years slumber he had to take from the first game. He saved the universe though so things should be good but unfortunately that isn’t the case when he wakes up. His powers still haven’t fully returned for some reason and the Murk (Shadow energy that corrupts all) is still around. Then a goddess from another universe arrives and explains that things are getting worse across all of the dimensions. Izayoi decides to go and tells the other gods to watch over the universe while he’s gone. This writes out the cast from the first game so don’t expect them to do much aside from quick appearances here and there. Instead the main cast is this goddess, a shrine maiden, and a mysterious little girl who accompany Izayoi. He must check in on all 4 of the universes and take down the main villain.

It’s a pretty fun plot because this was also foreshadowed back in the first game. It had that creepy ending with a girl appearing and she’s the main villain here. Her backstory is also kinda tragic so you can see why she got this demented. Of course it’s another cast of “Sad story but you’re still evil bro” moment but I appreciate the game giving her such a tragic backstory where you can really see why she went the way that she did. It would have been tough to have been on her own for so long. The story evolves quite a lot as you play through it and we have a pretty big cast here. Izayoi is as oblivious as ever and one of the characters is also super oblivious in nature which makes for some fun dialogue. On the whole this game does lean more into the shipping than some of the other Asdivine games but the core story will tide you over. It’s a good premise here and the game takes advantage of the fact that you are playing as a super powerful god this time around. You aren’t going to back down when the villains show up and that’s how it should be.

Of course the whole “I’m depowered!” trope is a bit annoying since at full power this would all be trivial but you do understand why they went in this direction since ordinarily Izayoi could just wipe everyone out. My counter would just be to make the enemies all scale up to gods though. It would be interesting to just make this a big fight between gods of all sorts of dimensions. There is still a human villain here as well but he looks really bad the whole time. Yeah he is being suckered for a good portion of the game but he was suckered too easily and it doesn’t take away from what he was doing. The guy doesn’t have a lot of strength of heart and do I don’t cut him any slack here.

The graphics are really good here as expected. I really like the way that the cosmic realm looks and of course it has one of the best tracks in the game as well. You really feel like this is a big battle to end them all. The fights are also really tough and the game notches the difficulty level a few layers higher to really make the whole thing feel authentic. No expense is spared for this game and you appreciate that. All of the tracks are excellent as you would expect too so the game really has no weak points. You definitely feel like going for the true ending as a result. I went for that right away and even with all of my level ups it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. I’ll try getting the rest of the true endings at some point.

The length is fairly standard for an Asdivine game at around 15-20 hours. You shouldn’t have a problem really diving through the game and by the time you get the platinum as well we’re definitely looking at closer to 30 hours. It’s a fun experience all the way through and well worth the price. The gameplay is top tier as always with Asdivine. The game doesn’t have some of the quality of life features that the others have but it’s got the ones that matter like battle effects and reducing enemy encounters in the wild. Then when you want to grind you can increase the encounters.

The only mechanic I never really used was Unison here. You could merge magic attacks so you do them all in one turn but then the other characters did not get a turn so I never felt like it was worth it. To me it just seemed like using your normal attacks but with more steps so why would I really need to do that? I’m sure there is some benefit but I couldn’t really figure out what it is. Just focus on leveling up and buying all of the EXP upgrades. Do that and you should be good and ready to take on any challenger. Some bosses may still take you more than one attempt but that’s normal so fight hard and just keep pressing forward!

Overall, Asdivine Menace does a great job of following up Dios and it’s a blast to see the old cast again. It would have been nice if more of the old characters could have participated as well. Maybe in a third game we would get to see the extended cast of both games team up. That would be a blast and to this day I’m waiting for an Asdivine game where the protagonists of all the games get to team up. Now there would be a game for the ages! Trust me, it would be incredible and probably a 9 star game right out of the gate. The longer we wait on doing this, the more leads there will be to crossover so I suppose that’s a plus. I definitely recommend picking up this RPG.

Overall 8/10

Asdivine Cross Review

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Asdivine continues to churn out hit after hit and this is one of the better ones in a while. I thought the characters had a really good dynamic going for the most part and was one of the stronger dynamics since the original Asdivine Hearts which will still go down as one of the best RPGs of all time. This one isn’t quite ready to challenge the original of course but it’s still a very strong game all around. With classic end of the world stakes going on and all of the usual quality of life updates this is a game you don’t want to miss.

The game revolves around a thief named Harvey who is really good at what he does. So good that the son of the leader of the guild wants him out of the way and is always trying to get him captured. This time he succeeds but Harvey is broken out along with a girl who claims to be the princess of the kingdom. Problem is that a shapesifter/look-alike has taken her place so she is not currently wanted at the castle. Harvey will have to help her out since his thieves brigade’s motto is to always protect a lady at any cost. He’s not thrilled about this assignment but will do his best. Along the way the heroes will meet up with some allies and enemies as they get closer to unraveling a giant conspiracy. It wouldn’t be an Asdivine game without some cosmic threats on the way right?

Right off the bat we do have a lot of the usual quality of life features that make the games so much fun. You can reduce enemy encounters, turn off battle effects, and more to make walking around and the villain encounters more fun. Grinding up to the max level just doesn’t feel like a chore this way since you can keep on getting stronger and stronger. There are also a lot of different abilities from unity attacks to skills, magic, etc. So you can have fun building your character in a whole variety of ways until you find the one that really sticks with you. Then once you are strong enough you really feel like you can do anything. It’s one of those games where you really feel your strength as it increases which is nice.

The Asdivine series also has fun experimenting with a bunch of features to keep their games feeling different. For example one had a tree that you would raise to get stats every 8 hours, others have weapon merging to make them stronger, roulettes, combo attacks, etc. They’re always features that you don’t have to use of course but they make the game more balanced overall and I appreciate them being there. Trust me it’s a great thing to have. You’re only going to get one final smash during a battle so you have to decide if you use an offensive one that deals mega damage or a support type that restores everyone’s health and boosts their stats. Personally I really liked the support one for once because restoring everyone’s health is huge.

Grinding to get the levels also benefits you in slowly earning currency that can be used to buy online items or saved to use as an extra life mid battle. I recommend using it to buy all of the EXP upgrades and then after that it’s really up to you. I’ll typically buy other permanent upgrades but I recommend skipping on money since by the end it is inevitable that you will have more than you know what to do with. Don’t make the mistake of of wasting your coins on that since they are tough to come by. Extra lives are also super handy because even at around level 300 I was getting beat by some of the opponents. These games can really be challenging if you don’t have a plan up your sleeve.

So the story was really good and that’s one of the things I really enjoyed about the game. Sometimes these titles will go a bit too far in trying to make all of the characters very quirky and zany but this one was mainly keeping the characters feeling real. There is one that gets to be a bit too tsundere by the end which could make you shake your head a bit but otherwise the cast all interacted well. I enjoyed seeing the stakes get higher and higher as the game went on. I’m sure you will see some of the twists coming before the title ends but maybe not all of them. Either way it still makes for a fun adventure cover to cover.

The graphics here are also very solid. I always enjoy the illustrations used for each character portrait. It would be nice if the game ever went a bit farther to have some kind of cutscene during the game. That would just go a long way to making the game feel a bit more special. It’s not necessary of course but would be really effective since it hasn’t happened before. One of the highlights of the game is the soundtrack as expected. The Asdivine games always have a tremendous ost with a ton of really fast paced tunes and this one is no exception. The tracks really hit you with a lot of power in an instant and it works perfectly. I highly recommend looking up the tracks on Youtube when you finish the game.

The story is a good length at around 15 hours or so and then there is a good amount of replay value in trying to unlock all the endings. My only slight complaint here is that unlike most of the other games where you just keep reloading and fighting the main boss, for this one you actually have to play the whole game again on new game+ mode. I thought that was a bit odd and feels a little forced since it was never like that before. It’s not a big deal because you don’t have to play the game again but it seems like a way to extend the replay value a bit without needing to.

Overall, Asdivine Cross is definitely a great game. It’s an RPG that is a whole lot of fun to play. The aesthetic, combat, and soundtrack are all top notch. Kemco knows how to really get you invested into a game and they spare no expense on the fundamentals. In some ways the game will feel familiar and that just makes it even better since you know that all of the other games you’ve played in this style have been fantastic. So naturally that would be the case for this one as well. Hopefully it gets a sequel like some of the others have at some point because there is definitely a lot more you can do with this cast.

Overall 8/10