Spider-Man Review


After all these years I have finally played the big Spider-Man game that came out many years ago. This one really made a whole lot of waves and it’s easy to see why. They clearly put a lot of budget into it and the world is very expansive. There are so many different collectibles and side missions to go through. I guarantee you will be playing this game for a very long time, you can trust me on that.

The game starts off with introducing us to a very experienced Spider-Man. He’s been at the game for a very long time and has saved the world more times than we can count. Well, he’s going to be up at bat once more because the Demons have shown up to take control of the city now that the Kingpin is behind bars. This new gang is absolutely ruthless and they have dangerous plans for the city. They have a beef with Norman Osborne and its one that threatens to destroy even the innocent civilians who have nothing to do with this. Can Spider-Man save everyone this time?

It’s really nice to see an older Peter Parker who already has a handle on things. The game puts a lot of emphasis on his scientific knowledge as well so you can definitely expect to see him inventing a lot of things and generally being a handy guy. The game works these in as minigames which are fun enough. Admittedly I was always ready to just go out there and enjoy the combat some more but the minigames are fairly short so it’s not a big deal. The story itself is definitely excellent and you are going to have a good time here. It’s a fairly sizable campaign too so you won’t be completing it too quickly.

Then you have the primary gameplay which is definitely really solid. The game makes incredible use of the spider sense as you weave in and out of attacks. It’s all very fast paced and you can approach the game in many different ways. The combat just gives you a lot of freedom and of course you can imagine that I tend to go for a more hyper aggressive style. I just want to take down every enemy in my way and that’s sometimes going to be more of a challenge. The game does want you to opt for stealth sometimes and I try but I usually get spotted anyway. Most of the levels are about being Spider-Man and generally dominating but you do have the occasional level as Mary Jane or Miles which are complete stealth missions.

I didn’t mind them but I’m sure I would have gotten more tired of them if these levels popped up too often. As it is, they were a solid change of pace. Each level can be beaten quickly if you want to get to the end or you can explore a bit and pick up a lot of easter eggs/foreshadowing for the future. I’m impressed at how interactive every part of the game is. This is exactly the kind of title you think about when you hear the words “AAA game”. It’s a term that has gotten a bit watered down over the years but this is a great example of a title that had a lot of effort and care put into it.

It goes without saying that the graphics are excellent here. It is going for a more movie/cinematic type of artstyle so it may not quite look as sharp as the more colorful titles but it still works really well. It’s always fun to see New York City in a big game like this as well. They got in so many different landmarks and it’s really impressive. The soundtrack is a bit less noticeable. It’s good and all but not great so I wouldn’t expect it to be knocking you out of the park or anything. It performs its job well and that’s what counts though.

In terms of replay value, well where should I even start? There are tons of suits and powers to unlock. You can upgrade your tech, and of course gather all of the trophies associated with the game. It’ll take a while to really do all of that even if the trophies themselves aren’t super difficult. I imagine you’ll be playing for 30 hours minimum so you’re getting a whole lot of bang for your buck. The game has aged really well so it’s still not too late if you want to purchase it now.

Probably the area I’d give the most credit to within the game is how seamless the whole hub world is. You can be on your way to fight the next story mission when a crime breaks out a few blocks away. You can choose to ignore it or go over there and fight. I decided not to ignore crimes early on since they would help for trophies down the road and it’s just really smooth. After I stop the criminals I go to where I was supposed to go. On the way to objectives I would stop by to pick up backpacks and other collectibles as well. No loading times or anything like that to break up the flow. You also get faster as you level up which makes going through the city a breeze. So I rarely ever used the quick travel except for the trophy associated with it although I am glad that it is an option. It is easily one of the best hub worlds I’ve ever seen.

Overall, Spider-Man is an elite game. It’s definitely the kind of title that you think about when you are expecting a top tier comic book game. Fans of the character should be very pleased and I will be back in the world of spiders very quickly since I got the Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2 games in the same batch. So 3 big titles all in a row. We’ll see how they stack up to the original here. It’s definitely a tall act to follow after all.

Overall 9/10

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4: Road to Boruto Review


The Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series has always been one of the top tier, elite video games of our generation. The amount of playable characters and attention to detail is absolutely uncanny! I don’t think we’ll ever see another Naruto game that can quite compete on this one’s level. It’s really the full package and a perfect end to the Ultimate Ninja Storm series. Way I see it, all other games are spinoffs until they announce a Ninja Storm 5. If you’ve been playing the series already then you know what to expect but if not, lets just say that it’s about to blow your mind!

The game picks up with the war and takes you through the rest of the series up through the first sequel movie. So it covers quite a lot of content. For the first time the series does take a few shortcuts with more anime type clips rather than doing all of the cell shaded cinematics. As you get deeper into the game it goes back to normal though. They’re both good of course but seeing the whole thing in the game’s animation style does get you a little more invested so I loved seeing that style. The story is a bit shorter than the last title but when you through in the Boruto part I would say it’s about the same length. I liked the way the story also diverges with both the Naruto and Sasuke paths. I had fun alternating to try and keep it all as chronological as possible.

The gameplay is that of a 3D fighter. You pick 3 fighters and then try to dominate your opponent in close quarters combat. You can switch fighters at will or use them as assists. The characters all have great combos and the final smashes are as cinematic as ever. Each fight is very fast paced and fluid. It’s some of the cleanest 3D fighting you will ever see. We also have the quick time events for the story mode battles and even a few alternate gameplay type moments like the Kaiju type fights. Those are always fun as well although I’m not nearly as good at those. Getting S ranks there feels like an extremely difficult task if you ask me.

So you can expect to spend at least 10-15 hours on the story. After that there is also an Adventure mode with tons of content and also good ole survival mode. Don’t expect this to be easy either. The survival mode actually gives you a good run for your money and the intimidating thing is how long it can be. For example one trophy is to defeat 30 opponents in a row so if you get sloppy or make a mistake 25 opponents deep, get ready to start from scratch. The trophies here definitely look very difficult. Certainly achievable as long as you train your skills though but I imagine you will be here for a very long time before you are able to knock it out.

It almost goes without saying but the graphics here are absolutely top notch. It’s great to see Naruto and the gang on the PS4. It’s really night and day compared to other games where Naruto has appeared in like Jump Force. The colors here are so vibrant and there are a ton of cool animations that aren’t just recycled among characters. The soundtrack is also pretty good. I tend to like all of the themes even if there isn’t any singular track that really stood out for me.

In terms of character balance the game seems to do a pretty good job. Some characters just seem to have final smash animations that are too long. Like you should be able to dodge or block their final smashes every single time. Rock Lee and Might Guy are two examples of this. Meanwhile some characters like Sasuke in his End of Series version are extremely useful and will hit the opponent almost every time. It’s pretty much a cheatcode in survival mode and I highly recommend using him. You can just keep on using the final smash over and over again for quick victories. Of course that does mean watching the cinematic over and over again so I hope you really enjoy it.

I’d also like to note that the fact that there are so many unique dialogue quotes for the final smash depending on your opponent is really cool. Again, it’s all the little things that help to really make this game stand out. If they could squeeze in an easter egg then that’s exactly what they do. I’m sure there are a bunch of little things that I haven’t even noticed yet. In fact, that’s a guarantee since there are a bunch of bonus missions and side quests that I haven’t even stepped into yet. So yeah this is the game that just keeps on delivering.

Overall, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is definitely an elite game. One that should not be underestimated at any cost. I highly recommend picking this game up immediately if you don’t already have it. It’s really the gold standard of what an anime fighting game should be like. Any series would certainly be super proud to have a title with this amount of professional development behind it. The content justifies the price many times over as well. Naruto will always be remembered as one of the most iconic and influential series of all time and titles like this do the legacy justice.

Overall 9/10

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Review


It’s time for the next big Naruto adventure! I do have to add one quick disclaimer here though which is that I wasn’t able to finish the final chapter. Due to an error with the disc, the final chapter just cut out midway which was unfortunate. I tried a bunch of restoration methods but no dice but this review still covers over 90% of the game which is close enough. As always the Ninja Storm games go in hard with an absolutely elite title.

This game covers the events after the Pain arc into fairly deep into the war. It’s definitely cool to be seeing all of this classic Naruto content once again. It really picks up right where the last game left off in terms of having a ton of content and lots of things to do around every corner. The story mode itself is fairly long at over 10 hours in length. The first chapter may have you scared for a moment with how long it is but the rest of the chapters are shorter to compensate.

Of course outside of the story mode there are a lot of other content options to go through as well. You have missions side content, unlockables, trophies to obtain, etc. You should be kept pretty busy here and while the Platinum is one of those that feels very achievable, it will still take a long while to actually finish. The game goes for a fairly low price right now though so you’ve really got a bargain here in terms of replay value. The biggest mode for replay value of course is vs mode though.

There are so many characters to play as here and they all feel fairly unique. The game did a really good job of not just copy and pasting the techniques. The final smashes for each character are rock solid and feel very grand in scope. There were no corners cut in this title and the gameplay itself is very deep with the attacks, ninjutsu, quick dodges, etc. There is a ton of strategy here and you can even add another dynamic to think about if you equip items.

I could go on and on just about the gameplay. Then in story mode you also have a lot of quick time events. Noticeably there are less than in the second game so I was a little surprised about that but I know that not everyone loves that kind of sequence. So at least I still had enough to have fun with so I was satisfied here. Then you also have the aerial boss battles which are fun. They play out like Kaiju type battles where you have to time your attacks well since neither opponent will be going too fast. Take the strategic high ground and you should be good. You also have some Dynasty Warrior type setups when you have to fight multiple opponents at once. That was really cool.

It shows how much range these developers have since they were able to have successful gameplay for so many styles. Each part felt very high budget and they could have made even more levels with them. Mix that in with how detailed the story mode is and they definitely went above and beyond the call of duty. I would argue that the bar is set up so high that any non Storm game is unlikely to come close to these. Of course I have one more mainline game coming up so I’m eager to see how that goes.

The soundtrack doesn’t seem to have introduced too many new themes this time but there are still a lot of fun ones here. I’d say the Storm series tends to be very good in a subtle way. It’s not necessarily blowing your mind with a ton of rock themes but it ends up fitting the scenes very well. Ultimately that’s what this game does really well, it’s loads of fun at all times. The production values are incredible and this feels like a PS4 game. The sheer amount of cinematics would be hard for any other PS3 games to match. Then throw in the secret conditions, bonus cinematics, etc. It feels like the kind of game where you could keep on finding new secrets and bonuses the more you play through it.

Pure gameplay-wise I would say my favorite character is definitely Nine Tails-Cloaked Naruto. They use a different sound effect for each blow when you’re playing in that mode and it shows just how strong he is. You’re moving at incredible speeds the whole time and the only catch is that he doesn’t have a final smash. Seems like a fair trade-off to me. I’m not sure if you’re able to select him as his own character in vs mode or if he’s treated purely as an awakening there, but if you can choose him then that’s the guy to play as. It can be easy to dodge a lot of final smashes after all so you don’t really want to rely on those. Even in story mode it can be hard to land the final smash sometimes because of how much wind-up there is.

This is especially true for characters like Tsunade and Kakashi who have to rely on you staying still. If you move just about at all then you’re basically out of luck. At least some final smashes like Naruto’s have you running after the opponent. I should probably look up some high level tournament play to see how it goes there. I’m betting they don’t spam final smashes all that much.

Overall, Ninja Storm 3 continues the series on an extremely high level. It’s got tons of great action scenes and story content whether you are a big Naruto fan or not. It’s the kind of story you can just jump into without any regrets. There are a ton of characters to choose from so you should not have a problem finding someone to main and the stage variety is solid as well. So I definitely recommend buying the game as soon as possible and just hope your copy lets you play through the final chapter. What are the odds of that though right? That glitch feels like it has to be a million to 1 or something.

Overall 9/10

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 Review


The Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm games are some of the greatest titles of all time. The amount of dedication and work that went into these is absolutely crazy. The developers clearly had a lot of passion for the series and it shows in the attention to detail here. You’ve got extra gameplay styles that appear briefly to switch things up even if just for one level and then you’ve got a ton of cinematics and quick time events. It’s been great reliving the Naruto adventures and it also serves as a reminder for why Naruto will always be one of the Big 3.

This game covers the start of Shippuden all the way through the Pain arc which is a pretty impressive amount of content to go through. Each chapter has a big boss battle at the end with full quick time events and everything. You really see Naruto get stronger and improve his craft with every boss battle. While they can’t quite cover everything, a ton of events are covered to the point where you could really play through the game as a newcomer and get what’s going on. I haven’t seen a story this detailed since DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3 which is still in the hall of fame for story adaptions like this.

I really enjoy the quick time events because you don’t see those quite as often in games anymore. They help add that cinematic feel to the game and also put your skills to the absolute test. You have to be able to hold your own here or it’s all over. You also get a bonus for doing really well at the quick time events. If you get the maximum star rating then you unlock a little secret cutscene. It’s only a few seconds long but it feels good to get this. It’s like a feather in your cap for really focusing up and doing what had to be done. I felt really good about it at least.

The actual game is fairly long so you should be satisfied with the content. It’s at least 10 hours to complete the story and there is a post game/many side missions to complete as well. Throw in the trophy hunting and you will be busy here for a very long time. There’s a good amount of replay value and the Platinum is very achieveable so it gives you something to really work for. Then of course there is the fact that this is a fighting game so you can have fun playing against other opponents for hours and hours as long as you want. There is no real reason to stop after all. Each battle is unique and the gameplay system is a lot of fun.

I didn’t talk much about that but this is your classic 3D combat style. It goes into more detail than other fighting games though. Each character has up to 4 different normal combo based on which way you hold the control stick. Then you have all of their Ninjutsu, some can use aerial ninjutsu and of course you have the final smashes as well. They’re all very cinematic while not taking too much time away from the gameplay. You also have your awakening mode and of course a lot of ways to use shuriken and other projectiles to your advantage.

Yeah the gameplay holds up exceptionally well here. I also can’t forget to talk about the graphics which are excellent. The fact that it looks better than a PS5 game like Jujutsu Kaisen says a lot. The character models are on point and so this helps to enhance the fights that you are seeing in the cutscenes. A lot of the time it’s like you are watching a movie here. Then you also have the futile battles like Jiraiya fighting against all of the Pains and the gameplay intentionally makes you helpless there. I thought that was a really good way to handle that.

So if you’re a long time Naruto fan then you will get an extra kick out of the game but any non fan can see the dedication as well. The soundtrack is also really good and there is a lot of variety here from the various level themes, stage themes, etc. Every aspect of the game is absolutely exceptional. With the game being this good you may expect this to be a super long review but in a way that’s why it’s short. I feel like it’s easier to go on and on when a game is bad but when it’s excellent there are only so many ways to say that it’s amazing you know?

Like after a while it would almost be like I’m talking in circles. The character cast is super large, there are a ton of stages, a ton of content, etc. The quality of life features are great, the only thing it is missing is quick travel and that’s a super minor thing in the grand scheme of things. I really can’t come up with any negatives here because the game is so much fun. There’s no way to do it justice without just going in and playing it. You will quickly see how much heart it has. It’s like the anime version of Super Smash Bros with how much is fit into this game. It really is one of the gold standards for video games in general and I can see why the series is so well respected.

Overall, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is an absolutely incredible game. It goes the extra mile in every way possible and will be known as one of the definitive Naruto experiences. Of course it has sequels which will likely keep up that same level of quality so I look forward to playing those soon. I’ve even started one of them already so you can tell that the hype got to me. I had to be ready for that marathon! If you don’t own this game yet then you should absolutely change that as soon as possible!

Overall 9/10

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Review


It’s time to look at Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, one of the greatest games of all time. This title is absolutely amazing and definitely a real special experience. I liked the first Remake game quite a lot and this one even exceeded it. You feel the grandness of the story all the way through while also allowing for a lot of fun interactions between the cast. There will be less time for that in the third game so this one really made the most of it. It’s due to this game that I finally own a PS5 and I’m sure it’s the same thing for a lot of people so Sony fans should definitely be grateful to this title.

The game picks up where the first one left off, with the gang fighting off Sephiroth. He’s still around though and now that the rest of the team has seen him, they don’t have to doubt Cloud anymore. Unfortunately finding Sephiroth will be difficult as he’s constantly running around with the speed of lightning while the heroes have to take cars and planes to catch him. The deeper their journey takes them into the world, the more they have to confront their doubts and dark pasts. Will the team be able to hold it together?

First off, this game is a fairly long RPG. We’re talking a full 40 hour experience right here. It’s pretty impressive and that’s considering that I didn’t do much in the way of bonus content. I awakened any towers in my way and explored a few ponds for items but for the most part I was plunging ahead to get to the core of the mystery. With the plot being this exciting, it’s just hard to want to do anything else. You just want to dive in and have a blast. Based on the amount of side content I saw here, I’d be willing to bet you could almost double the playtime.

There’s a whole mode for Queen’s Blood, a Yu-Gi-Oh type card game that has its own story. All of the opponents apparently have their own cutscenes, personalities, and it’s really very expansive. The gameplay reminds me of a board game I played not too long ago, Castle Keep or something like that. You want to have the most points in a line and you move based on the numbers on your card. It’s fairly easy to start but difficult to master because there’s a ton of strategy in it. There are tons of other minigames scattered between each world as well ranging from ocean based to space based.

Of course you also have the combat room to unlock new summons, tons of side quests, explorations, mini bosses, etc. They basically grabbed the whole hub world from Tears of the Kingdom and that’s just the side content. So yeah that’s super impressive. Then like I mentioned, the actual story is incredibly impressive. It’s just really emotional and intense the whole time. It adds a ton of extra context to the characters. Cloud’s role in particular is one that I mainly knew the extra details from data books and fan videos but now we actually get to see more of what he went through here. Unfortunately it does mean that he looks pretty bad in times. I would argue he looks significantly worse than in the original game because of that. Technically a lot of the actions are the same but this one has a lot of extra build up to set these moments up and it does feel like he has low will power as a result.

This wouldn’t be a modern Square Enix game without a ton of convoluted plot twists and story developments though so you can bet that it has changed a lot from the original. I’ll offer my ideas on what these twists mean in the spoiler section at the end but the less you know about the story the better. It really helps you to be able to just get out there and enjoy it. Zack’s role here is good but I’m still not sure it’s big enough to justify putting him on the cover. I’d have switched him with Aerith to be honest at least narratively. I’ll agree that having Zack there does look cooler since you have the 3 SOLDIERS at the front.

It also goes without saying that the graphics here are absolutely top tier. It’s one of the best looking games that I have ever played. Of course it’s my first PS5 title but I’d be willing to bet that it would look super sharp on the PS4 as well. Final Fantasy VII just doesn’t hold back. The soundtrack is also really good, I’ll be listening to some of those tunes quite a bit coming up. You’ve got fresh themes as well as a ton of remixes.

The gameplay is a 3D active turn based system. So you can move around and you can use normal attacks at will but to use any items or specials you have to build up enough energy to use them. It’s a pretty unique system since most titles will at least let you use items freely. So that means that you have to really bring your A game at all times because if you’re caught without meter for too long then you might die before you can use a revive or a potion. Not a particularly fun way to go out I have to say.

It’s a difficult style that does take some getting used to. Particularly if you don’t use the combat simulator to learn the basics. I’d say the most important thing is to just fight a lot and you’ll get all of the little intricacies down to an art. You really want to unlock as many synergies as possible as quickly as possible because those will help out a great deal during combat. A lot of them give you super armor and they also raise an enemy’s stagger meter quite a lot. Most bosses will be nearly impossible to defeat without them. You also have your limit breaks and materia of course. The materia you equip will allow you to use different spells so I recommend putting in as many as possible.

One thing to note is that all of your party members get EXP even if they aren’t present in the battle. The same is true for their equipped materia so make sure that you have everyone fully loaded at all times. It will save you a ton of headaches later on. Each one levels up very slowly after all. As for the characters, they level up rather quickly. To compensate for that, there aren’t a ton of minions in the various areas so beating them as you go will have you at the natural level but if you want to be overleveled then you should try to do side quests and extra bosses.

One trick to getting XP is to find a large enemy group that is easy to beat. Defeat all of them except for one and then hit retry battle. You keep the XP this way and can keep on fighting the same mob over and over again. This helps you get around their 15-20 minute cool down before showing up a second time. This is one game where I didn’t skip just about any enemy and for most of the game that worked out fine. I only ended up grinding once before the final boss for an extra few levels and then when I lost at the final boss, I had to grind for a few more hours.

I beat the game at level 50 but I would recommend trying to get to 55 or so in order to give you some more breathing room. One thing I have to warn you about is that you can get yourself trapped. Once you are over the halfway point for chapter 13, there is no way back. You have to complete that chapter and the next one without being able to leave for better weapons or summons. Unfortunately this means it is also very difficult to train since the only minions in the dungeon have a ton of durability or don’t give much EXP. It was one of the scarier moments for me since I was really at about the end of how far the training could take me. Fortunately I just barely managed to beat the boss. I nearly had to resort to lowering the difficulty level.

This final saga is tough for a few reasons but the main one is the time it takes to get there. If you lose and have to go back to change your equipment, then you have to redo 11 boss fights and a ton of unskippable cutscenes. To get back to where I was up to, it took me well over an hour. So that’s why I say better safe than sorry here, make sure you are at a really high level and have good gear before entering the dungeons. Otherwise you will definitely be in some trouble.

It’s kind of fitting in a way that I lost to the first boss in the game as I was still learning the controls and then I lost dozens of times to the final boss. It’s truly an end to end experience here. In terms of quality control I think that’s the one area the game slips in because there shouldn’t be a full lock out like that. If I was just a few levels lower than I could have been permanently stuck unless I entered easy mode.

I already talked about the replay value so have no fear, there is a lot to keep you busy. The Platinum for this game also looks really difficult. Beating the whole game on hard mode won’t be easy and then there’s one that looks like a lot of grinding where you have to get all of the items in the game. From the online stats, more people have beaten the game on hard than have done that, which is quite telling.

As for the story direction, without spoilers I can confirm that I like where it is going. It is pretty controversial that it has changed things from the first title but most of that should have died out with the first game since that’s where the divergence started. It’s not surprising that this one continued with that and even more so I would say. It’s considerably different but this lets us get a new story so I’m all for it. I’ll always be in favor of changing things up instead of just doing the same story for a second time. All right now the rest of the review’s going to involve spoilers so you can skip to the final paragraph for the wrap up or exit here until you have completed the game. Just have to wait 4 years to see how it all goes down.

Spoilers time All right so with all of the universe hopping and that ending there’s a lot to discuss. So first up, I would say that this is flat out a different Earth than the one of the original Final Fantasy VII. It seems like Sephiroth became aware of the multiverse at some point after his origin story which is basically the same as in the original/adapted in Last Order. In Last Order when he stabbed Tifa, it was obviously not a killing blow while in this game it seemed like it might have been from Cloud’s POV which is why he was suspicious. In this case I think Cloud just wasn’t thinking clearly and didn’t notice that she was alive.

Since Sephiroth is aware of the other timelines and universes, it’s why he is able to manipulate the fates. We see at multiple points in the game that he can take control of the body of any cloaked figure. At first this appears to just be Cloud hallucinating but I would say it is literally Sephiroth doing this. Similar to Slade in the Teen Titans episode where he was beating up on Robin, Sephiroth is trying to make Cloud look crazy and also to doubt his own senses which starts working.

We got some foreshadowing of this in Advent Children, where in that movie Kadaj is able to become Sephiroth temporarily by drinking the Sephiroth gene. Cloud ultimately defeats him there and in the film they’re referred to as remnants. Of course that takes place after the game but it’s the same concept. Additionally it implies that eventually he will be able to control Cloud once the degradation is complete which is why he is already able to influence Cloud. I don’t like how he is already able to completely control Cloud though to the point where he nearly murders both Tifa and Aerith in the story.

It’s great that Tifa is so patient with him the whole time but after a point he is basically becoming a villain here so she should probably keep her distance quite a bit. I don’t see how any of the characters can sleep soundly at night with how crazy Cloud gets in this one. The game goes all the way with showing how insane he is throughout. In fact in the ending I’m pretty sure he still is crazy and Aerith isn’t actually there. It would be really cool if she was and I’m sure a force ghost of her will appear at some point but right now I think that he’s just delusional.

We see Aerith get murdered by Sephiroth like in the original game. Cloud was too slow to save her and her hair gets cut off. When she shows up in the big final boss with Sephiroth, her hair is back to being long and the same is true for all of the cutscenes in the ending. Everyone ignores her except for Cloud so we can tell that they can’t see her at all. You could say that Cloud is able to see her ghost because he’s so close to the mako at this point but I don’t think that is the case. Additionally when he tells everyone to look up at the sky, they don’t see the rip in space. So yeah he’s completely seeing things differently from the cast which is scary but also exciting. You just know that’s going to escalate.

Also, the game adapts the final boss from the original FFVII. We flat out finished the game, albeit with some events skipped. So game 3 can really go in a ton of different directions. I think at this point I’d like to see them really double down on the multiverse. Bring in the original timeline Cloud, maybe even the Cloud from Kingdom Hearts. There is so much potential here and it’s all a real blast. That’s about it for now but I’ll be having a lot of fun watching all the different theory videos on this. One thing’s for sure, in this timeline the planet appears to be losing to Sephiroth so the heroes need to think of something and fast. With how he can keep body swapping and how his power level is so much higher than all of the other characters’ in the game they will really need a miracle to stop him. End Spoilers

Overall, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a top tier title in every way. No exaggeration to say it’s one of the best of all time. It’s right up there with Adventure 2 Battle, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Kingdom Hearts II as one of the all time unforgettable titles. Super Smash Bros is still the greatest game of all time so I won’t use it in the same sentence for the comparison just yet. The amount of polish and detail that went into the game is incredible. As always RPG type games tend to be the best bang for your buck because of how long they last. A good fighting game can do the same thing of course as long as you have online access and a friend to fight with but with an RPG all you need is a controller and some time on your hands. I suspect the next game won’t be around for another 4 years at least but at least that gives us plenty of time to watch tons of videos with different theories about what will be coming up. That sure sounds exciting to me I gotta say and of course now the pressure on the 3rd game is going to be absolutely insane.

Overall 9/10

Granblue Fantasy: Relink Review


It’s time for a pretty top tier RPG that came out a little while ago. It’s a pretty long game so there is plenty of time to squeeze in a bunch of storylines, hype characters, and lots of action. The levels also get rather difficult so you definitely have to make sure you level up and beat a bunch of enemies or it’ll catch up to you at the worst possible time. You can’t let that happen or it’s all over. This game definitely surpassed my expectations and really ended up being a standout hit.

The general plot has the main character sailing the skies with his friend Lyria and the rest of the crew. They are still trying to get to the final island at the edge of the skies similar to what Luffy is doing on the waters but along the way they always end up helping people in different villages. Lyria is linked to the lead with their souls so if one dies then the other will too. So they both have to do their best to stay strong and throughout their adventures they have learned how to tame giant monsters and really fight as a team. Well their biggest threat is here now as a mysterious group wants to kidnap Lyria for nefarious purposes. This group is incredibly powerful…can they be stopped?

The game sort of starts you off right in the middle of the journey but even if you haven’t played the other games or watched the anime I would argue that it’s fairly new player friendly. You quickly get an understanding of the team dynamics and personalities and their goal is simple enough. Meanwhile you have the villains jumping in and getting in everyone’s way which makes enough sense. The game is stand alone enough for this to all be easy while still connecting to the overall plot by the end. So yeah there’s really a good story here all the way and Gran really has to work on getting stronger if he wants to keep on protecting Lyria.

You have a good amount of twists, betrayals, and hype moments scattered throughout the game. Another reason why I really enjoy RPGs is because in general they are long enough to get all of that content in. If a game is short then there’s only so much that you can do with the story after all. The character designs are on point and things even get rather high tier by the end. These characters are definitely not messing around.

The gameplay is a 3D action title where you go in and smash away at your enemies. You have 4 different special moves per character and you choose which ones you want to use from the menu. You learn so many different ones that it can be hard to decide on just 4. Additionally as you level up you can keep on adding to your character tree. There’s no way to power everything up and all of the characters share points so you can choose to put everything into one character and make him a beast in combat or you can keep it fairly equal and distribute the whole time. It’s really up to you. I went ahead and gave it all to Gran since I played as him the whole time. I figured I should give myself the best possible chance to win and I’d rather trust myself than the A.I.

I suppose you could make that same case in favor of powering up your partners since they’ll need the stats more than I might but in general I like being strong enough to take on the boss as needed. The gameplay mechanics aren’t all explained very well so there’s some stuff I learned rather late in the game. One is that you die for good when your team’s danger meter goes all the way up. I thought I just had to revive people before the meter went out but every death adds onto the total which is why sometimes it would seem like my team died for no reason. Also you can speed up your revival by smashing the control stick in each direction. So I highly recommend doing that because every minute seriously counts.

For what to power up on the tree, I just did that randomly. It’s probably better to have a plan but you get so many power ups that it just felt more efficient to be throwing them all around. I’d be pretty strong either way. There’s even more to the gameplay after all of this but have fun exploring it as you play. There’s so many different ways to tackle a level and you can keep on switching characters in your party which is cool. The game has some very occasional platforming which feels a bit out of place but it’s pleasant enough. Just know that you will be mainly focusing on the battles either way.

The sheer amount of content in the game is super impressive though. Aside from the story which is already really long, you have a ton of side quests, missions, post game content, character stories for every character, etc. Getting the platinum trophy for this game and clearing everything probably will take you at least 60 hours if not longer. They really went all out on this game and I appreciate it. No corners were cut and it’s clear that the developers put a lot of care into this one. The boss battles are spectacular and the whole thing is really a lot of fun.

The graphics are super good as you would expect. There are even a few battles mid cutscene which are always a lot of fun. Then you have the soundtrack which is pretty good as well. On the technical side the game definitely does not disappoint. When you are solid all across the board like that then there is really nothing that can stop you. This is a game that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon and definitely deserves a lot of praise. I’m really going to have to keep my eye out for more Granblue games when they come out now.

Overall, Granblue Fantasy: Relink is definitely an excellent game. It’s really got everything you could want here from great gameplay to a compelling story. It’s no small potatoes either how there is so much voice acting in the game. It always helps to make a game feel newer and this one feels like it’s got a bit of everything. Even 20 years from now, this game will still look and feel really good which is why it excels. The quality of life features are all intact and there are no real pain points here.

Overall 9/10

Madden 24 Review


Madden is one of those series that is always a blast to play. It definitely has not changed much over the years but the core gameplay is so good that you can just jump in and have a blast anyway. To date it’s still one of my favorite video game series for pure enjoyment and this one is no different. If it were to ever come out for the Switch where I could make use of the online features all the time….watch out!

There’s a free demo going around for this weekend so I took the chance to download the full game and give it a spin. Right off the bat you can see how crispy the graphics are. Everything looks fully modern and with a whole lot of time and energy put into it. Considering how massive the download was, that makes sense. A whole lot of time is put into the technicals of the game like the graphics and sound even if fans would probably prefer they put some of that time into new modes and improvements. I don’t blame them and imagine this becomes more and more evident as you get into the competitive scene but as a casual player I’m having a great deal of fun either way.

I went right into the online head to head mode first since this bypasses the need for PSN during the demo. It was a great way to start because I smoked my first opponent 31-1 (I ended up trying to get too fancy during a two point conversion attempt and got wrecked so he got a point there) and the guy quickly disconnected. It wouldn’t always play out like that though as I lost in my next match by a lot. I won the third though so at least I had a winning record.

Part of the fun in online is fighting such a wide variety of opponents. It also does underscore some flaws of the Madden system. The main element that the series still hasn’t figured out is the passing game. It was great up through Madden 13 but after that it really went down the tubes. The reason being that defensive players are a little too powerful right now. They jump out of nowhere swiping balls left and right. If you throw the ball in the air the cornerback will always be the one to make the grab which really doesn’t make sense. You’d at least expect the receiver to give you 50/50 odds so you are incentivized to run the ball instead.

Even the strongest of opponents will have a hard time stopping you from running because of how strong your O-line is. At least while playing as the Cowboys that was the cast. I was pretty much guaranteed to get 3-4 yards per play and sometimes I would break out into a large run. So that works if you’re willing to play the hard ground game but I just prefer throwing the ball so it’s always tempting to start slinging it even if that gets me into trouble. If I’m in a bit of a trolling mood then I’ll slowly run the ball and burn as much time off the clock as possible. It can be a bit obnoxious to the opponent though so you shouldn’t do this too often.

There are a lot of different modes as expected here. You can play in practice mode, live games, franchise, online, offline, drills, etc. There is no shortage of modes so you will definitely find something to have fun with. After all at its core this is all about Football so as long as you like playing the sport then you should be good. There are also a lot of customizations you can do to make the game even more fun. For example, I much prefer playing offense to defense. So online of course you have to play the full game but when playing vs the computers I select offense only. It makes the games quicker but also skips the plays that I don’t have as much fun with. I do wish there was a way to keep in the kick returns though because I really do enjoy those but I suppose you can’t have it all.

There is also so much depth to the game that I do think it would be hard to pick up if I hadn’t been playing the Madden games for so long. I’m used to it so I probably take for granted just how many different controls there are. You could spend hours and hours going over all of the plays and different variations. So my advice would just be to focus on the basics. You’ll get to all of the advanced stuff in time but as long as your fundamentals are good then you should be in business. Just avoid getting hit too hard so sometimes I’d advise just diving to the ground before the opponent hits you. You may lose a yard or two but it’s better than a fumble right? There is a button to secure the ball but I couldn’t figure out what it is in this version. If you do that then the diving won’t be necessary.

Unfortunately getting the trophies in this game can be really difficult so don’t expect the Platinum to be a walk in the park. Some of the trophies aren’t even so hard as they are time consuming like the career ones. To get even close to those you will need to play multiple seasons and let me tell you that can really take a whole lot of time. I’m working on a trophy in one of the older Madden games and I’ve already had to play through two seasons worth and have more work to do. Don’t get this one for the trophies, you should only buy it if you really enjoy the game.

Overall, Madden 24 is definitely an elite game. This is one I would give a 9 star ranking too with ease because it just does so many things right. I do acknowledge that the game has basically stagnated at this point with nothing new going on but when your game is already this good it’s not like you need to change. They can keep the game the same forever with new numbering and I admit that I’ll still be there buying it every time. They’ve got me as a lifelong customer at this point and I’m always ready to mix it up with different opponents online. Football is just too good to stop.

Overall 9/10

Fire Emblem Engage Review


Fire Emblem is one of Nintendo’s greatest franchises of all time and I’ve been meaning to play one of the main games for ages. Now at last I’ve made it. There may be some debate as to this being a spinoff or a main title but I absolutely give it the nod to hanging out with the other originals. It just works really well there with the classic gameplay. Nintendo has likely got the game of the year here with Engage since it’s hard to see this one being defeated. The story is phenomenal and every single aspect of the game is super polished from the dynamite soundtrack to the top tier graphics. Whether you like the tactics style or not you should check this one out.

The game starts off with Alear and the 12 Fire Emblem fighters of legend teaming up to deal some absolutely devastating damage to the villains. They even manage to destroy the villain and bring the world to peace. 1000 years pass and Alear wakes up in the present to find out that he is worshipped as a divine dragon. Unfortunately his waking was not coincidental as he is quickly attacked by the corrupted. They are a race of powerful villains, albeit fairly mindless ones who are aiming to really cause a lot of trouble. They are working for a group of villains who are trying to take over all of the kingdoms and steal the 12 Emblem Rings. Alear and friends will have to try and get them first but this adventure will go through a whole lot of twists and turns first.

The game took me over 24 hours to complete according to the playtime but if you count retries and such I’m confident it was a lot longer. Fortunately I had a lot of time to play this game, you make time for the top tier titles after all and I can’t think of the last time I marathoned a game so hard. It’s just because this is the kind of game you can’t put down. It’s just way too exhilarating and exciting. The rush you get while playing the story here is not something that just any game can get. You can imagine how much story content there is in such a long game and no expense was spared on the cutscenes.

For example a lot of games will have some cutscenes sporadically but this one has such long cutscenes that the switch would constantly dim from power saver mode and you’d have to make the screen go bright again. Additionally there is full voice acting in just about every step of the game which is incredibly impressive. You hear all the voices in the main story missions, the side quests, etc. It’s a lot of extra detail here and it’s the little things like that which make the game feel extra special. As I mentioned there are a lot of great tunes throughout the game as well and it starts with a very solid intro theme. The music can get quite emotional and then switch to action paced on a dime.

In terms of replay value it goes without saying that there is a lot to do here. After beating the game you can play through the tower of trials and a lot of other modes. There are extra paralogue chapters where you can meet characters and you can also increase all of your bonds with the characters to unlock bonus cutscenes. A nice bonus of watching these cutscenes is that they increase the bond level of your fighters further which increases the stats. There are even minigames like doing pushups to make your characters stronger. I didn’t touch too many of the bonus modes but there is just an incredible amount of content here.

Now if I have my first minor issue it’s that it can be difficult to see which weapon is more powerful to buy at the shop. In most games it’s quite easy to pick out the one you want since you compare it to the weapon you are holding but there is no easy menu to do that. Additionally every weapon has close to 11 stats and the one with the higher attack isn’t always stronger thanks to speed and type advantages. As a result that muddies the water even more and you almost don’t want to destroy any items. On the other hand it’s hard to earn money here so you really need to do that if you want more funds.

It’s a tough pickle for sure but this is a strategy game so that may be intentional. You can also adopt animals in this game which was cool. I made sure to rescue every animal I came across in the level hub worlds because as a hero I could do no less! You can pet them and feed them once you’re back at base which is fun. This is really a complete game. There’s nothing that feels like it was held back for DLC although we are getting several waves of that already. This is a game that was complete out of the box and I can always appreciate that.

Wow I still haven’t talked much about the gameplay right? Well, it’s your classic strategy turn based style so you move your fighters from area to area as you try to take out the enemy commander. Occasionally the objective will be something different but this is generally how it plays out. As the game starts you will control a few players but by the end you will control as many as 14 while the opponent has 30+. So it’s all about choosing when to start battles and when to avoid them. Like in Chess each character has a different amount of spaces they can move and their abilities are all different so you have to take that into account.

As you bond with your emblem you can learn new skills to stack on top of the old one as well. The gameplay is very thorough so pay attention to all of the tutorials. In terms of strategies my main tip is to always use Segall and Byleth as separate characters so don’t pair them together. The reason is that Segall can allow a player to get a second turn while Byleth can restore 4 turns. So if you use this as a combo right you can get 5 extra turns in the blink of an eye which is super handy. I used this combo a lot near the end of the game. There are plenty of other cool abilities as well so at the end of the day the main thing to remember here is to try and use each ability to the best you can. If you do that then you’ll be just fine.

If you die, no worries. You have a time crystal so you can respawn on any previous turn and rethink your strategy. Keep grinding out different formations until you have secured victory! The fight animations here are also really cool with complete choreography for each move. Admittedly I started skipping them after a while just for time’s sake as watching every attack would probably double or triple my overall play time. I do like that they put a whole lot of effort into this.

Overall, Fire Emblem Engage is an elite title and you will definitely enjoy your playthrough of it. I always enjoy tactics gameplay but that alone wouldn’t make this an elite game. No, what pushes this one over the top is how fantastic the story is. It’s one of the more emotional titles you’ll play in a while and it just has a super satisfying ending which seals the deal. I don’t go into much details here because it’s the kind of story where you want to go in fresh but there are just so many dynamite characters all around. Whether you’ve played Fire Emblem or not, you can absolutely jump into this one. It’s very new player friendly and you will have no regrets when going through the adventure.

Overall 9/10

Madden 23 Review


Madden is back!! Yesssss. Now I’m caught up and of course this has always been a thrilling series from cover to cover. In many ways it is completely unchanged from Madden 22 so you can really just jump right back into the mix without learning any new combos or things like that. As always to test the game out I played a full season. Only difference from usual is that I decided to play the season as a custom made QB in face of the franchise instead of doing a normal season. I have some issues with the mode but at the end of the day it is an elite game as you would expect.

First off the graphics are top tier as you’d expect. A whole lot of work goes into the visuals and it was certainly worth it. Everything just looks very modern and the presentation is really nice while playing. You get highlights, stats, and announcers talking the whole time. It feels like a very genuine Football product. Then the soundtrack may never be my favorite for the menus but the sound effects while in the game are on point. Those are the ones that you want to watch out for after all to make sure it feels real and it does.

There are a ton of modes to play here. If you have PS+ then you can jump online for some games which is absolutely what I would do if I had it but otherwise playing offline will still get you unlimited enjoyment. The fun never has to stop while you’re here and you can quote me on that. Switch things up by changing your position or playing a different mode. You can even mess with the camera angles now to change things up.

The gameplay is fantastic as always and the games go fast so lets talk about the small things that I didn’t like. One is what I’d consider to be a major oversight. In the face of the franchise mode there is no way to see the league standings. You can look at each individual schedule one by one and calculate this or pick apart the records but the fact that there is no league standings to view is really crazy. It’s the kind of oversight you just can’t believe you’re seeing because it feels so obvious. I cycled through the menus so many times before finally googling it and saw people came up with the same issue all over the place. That’s just crazy, I’m still pretty shocked about it.

Then the other one is that the camera tends to break down randomly during the franchise mode. I’ve noticed this usually happens on the first play of your possession if the glitch triggers. Basically the camera goes in front of you so you can see your backfield but nothing in front. This makes passing the ball impossible because you literally cannot see where you’re throwing. I would always audible to a run and calling a time-out works but it’s a very odd glitch. I didn’t really know what to make of it.

The Madden series definitely still has a bunch of kinks to fix. It seems like most glitches just stick around year to year because they don’t want to fix the source code. It’s something fans have complained about for a long time now and you absolutely get it. That said, fortunately these bugs are not ones that you are likely to run into on your daily adventures. While playing through the game I didn’t encounter anything crazy outside of the camera after all.

In terms of gameplay the only thing I would like to see if the receivers get more aggressive. It’s very impractical to throw any deep ball unless your receiver is massively wide open because otherwise the cornerback starts sprinting and just jumps for the ball while the receiver waits for it the whole time. It’s not a great look for the offense and it means you will usually be throwing small slants and screens. It works but it doesn’t feel like the most realistic way to play the game. You don’t want to be gunning it every down but it’s something that really separates the older Maddens from the newer ones. It’s why I loved Madden 2004 so much and still consider it to be the best.

As always scrambling is a blast though. I absolutely recommend playing a team with a fast QB because nothing beats just getting out there and running a lot. It’s why with my self made QB I prioritized speed over power and accuracy. I wanted to be able to get a 1st down with my legs when I had to. Unfortunately I didn’t make the playoffs as I finished my year 9-8 and lost out due to a tiebreaker but I got it close. There was just one losing streak early on that hurt me a lot as I was getting used to the 3D camera. Once I went back to the standard view then I started getting the good wins again. All Pro is a very fair difficulty to use where you have a challenge but it’s not too crazy.

Overall, There’s not a ton more to say beyond that as this is still the Madden that you know and love. It hasn’t changed much but that’s part of what keeps the appeal going for so long. I do hope they sit down one day and really try to optimize this as the best game it can be but in the meantime I’ll still be around and ready to buy the game whenever the new title comes out. There is no better game to simulate the Football experience after all. It may have some issues but it’s still supremely entertaining to watch and I do feel like there is a good budget here for the technical elements. I’d highly recommend checking it out.

Overall 9/10

Sonic Frontiers Review


It’s been a long while since I went on an all day gaming binge but it was time to do so for Sonic Frontiers and ended up beating over half the game in one shot. It lives up to the hype of being one of the longer games as it took a little under 17 hours to clear. The hierarchy of the Sonic games have changed as this one actually surpasses the world renown Sonic Forces and takes its spot as the 4th best Sonic game of all time. Only Adventure 2, 06, and Shadow the Hedgehog are ahead of Frontiers. This game is really quite excellent and Sega did good in taking their time with this one to make sure that it would be perfect.

The game starts with Sonic’s plane crashing and when he comes to, Tails and Amy are both gone. Sonic is alone on a mysterious island except for a mysterious little girl named Sage. Sonic hears a voice cryptically tell him that to save his friends he will have to destroy a bunch of giant titans and tear down some towers to remove the dimensions between worlds. Only once that has been done will they be okay. Sonic’s a bit skeptical but there aren’t any other leads so he gets to work on this. The game’s main formula here is you will obtain enough keys and memory pieces to talk to your friend for the world and then obtain all 7 Chaos Emeralds. After doing this you move on to another world. There are 5 worlds in the game but one of them is fairly empty so think of it like 4 main worlds.

At about 17 hours you can say each world is roughly 4 hours long and the mini world is 1. It’s a really good balance and right off the bat I can say that the game has a whole lot of replay value you can have fun with. There are a lot of bonus conversations you can have with each of your friends after getting the right amount of hearts needed to complete the world. Additionally there are a lot of the cyberspace levels that you won’t even have played by the time the game is over. So you will be here for a good amount of time and getting the Platinum may even take you around 25-30 hours. I’m definitely aiming for that next now that I have this game completed and look forward to going after it. Maybe if I’m lucky they’ll do some really good DLC for this game with more story events or something.

For the gameplay it’s a bit of a departure from the usual Sonic experience as it’s an open world title where you run around and do a lot of platforming beyond the usual stages. The actual stages are only a very small part of the game after all so you won’t be there a whole lot. If you’re a fan of the usual Sonic structure then I can see you missing it a bit but the open world concept was done very well. You really feel Sonic’s speed as you run around and I just found that to be really ideal. As you level up the speed you feel better and better. My speed was only around level 20 when I beat the game so I’m curious what level 99 speed would look like. That has to feel incredible!

So for my money, Sonic Forces/Adventure 2 Battle probably had the gameplay layout the best in that you just pick a stage and get right in there. Adventure 2’s stages covered a lot of different terrain and could be long as well. You don’t really need the open world and just jumping in is a blast. Still if open world is the future then I’m still all in with it. I do like open worlds quite a bit and with fast travel activated it’s even better. World 3 is the only one that can be a bit annoying with the layout though. There’s a robot that lets you fly but it’s so short that it’s basically pointless and you immediately start sinking when you use it. I question the point of it being in there.

While the gameplay may take a little getting used to as I wouldn’t say it’s quite as sharp as some of the others, put in a few hours and you’ll be maneuvering Sonic like a pro. The best addition to the series is allowing Sonic to leave a light trail before him as if this was Tron. You can move in a circle to hit enemies or activate artifacts. In general Sonic’s attacks were all really great here and you got to use his speed in creative ways. You can also upgrade all of your stats by talking to elders and rescuing little creatures. The sound effects for the creatures may be ripped straight from Legend of Zelda but I like to think of it as a homage to Breath of Wild doing the open world first while Sonic did it best. One advantage Sonic Frontiers has over other open world games is how fast Sonic moves. Most other characters can’t quite move like this.

If I have a nitpick about the game, it’s that every cutscene opens in a smaller screen because they keep a border around it to show you the option to skip the cutscene. I feel like they could have it appear for an instant and then hide or only appear when you try to press X. Why have it always appear? It’s not like I want to skip the cutscenes most times. On the 1st run I’m not skipping any so I thought that was a bit odd. Can’t say I remember any other game doing that.

Part of why this game got a lot of hype was because it was finally going to be another plot driven game. Aside from Sonic Forces we haven’t had one like that in an extremely long time. If this is the return to the Adventure days then that would be great. There are a ton of great references to the past adventures as well including Infinite. It really helps make the continuity feel strong and it also underscores this as the final Sonic game. The characters are all really mature here and each character has their own character arc. Amy, Knuckles, and Tails all make big decisions here that should have big repercussions for the future games.

The soundtrack is also incredible. There are so many great vocal themes here. Each boss has their own unique song which is rare as most games will keep to the same boss theme. They all sound incredible and it also makes this game really feel like the most ambitious Sonic game out there. This is truly end of the world type stuff and these bosses are some of the biggest that Sonic has dealt with. The graphics are top tier as well so you’re really looking at a lot of great work put into this game.

It would have been great to have seen more characters thrown into the mix and parts of the plot can be a bit vague at times, particularly Sage’s origin and more about the digital world but it does add to the mystery and intrigue of the story. Sonic also stands out in particular with how great he looks here. He endures a whole lot of pain to help his friends and is always carrying himself in a very mature way. While I may miss the voice direction he had in previous games, I do understand the logic of making him a lot more serious for this one. He feels older like the rest of the characters which works really well.

Overall, I could go on but this is one game you really need to experience. It’s top tier in all aspects and is almost certainly game of the year. It’s unlikely that any other game will even come remotely close to topping it because this is what we’ve been waiting for. The greatest video game series of all time has returned with an all star adventure. If Sega keeps this up then Sonic is about to quickly become even more of a household name like back in the days and there will be no looking back. I’m definitely eager to follow along on this adventure but hopefully the next game doesn’t take so many years to come out this time.

Overall 9/10