Category Archives: Games

King of Fighters Maximum Impact Review

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King of Fighters has always lagged way behind Tekken and Street Fighter for me. None of the characters are particularly interesting and it has always felt like a Street Fighter game, but with all of the iconic characters replaced with randoms. I’m sure that later games have helped to give all of them some personality and backstory, but this game definitely doesn’t help their case. I still have a lot of catching up to do with this series though so hopefully the price goes down on some of the originals soon. I went on my big fighting game kick for Christmas, but there will probably be a different theme this year so it could be a while. Well, let’s dive into this title.

First off, one disappointing thing here is the fact that the Arcade Mode is even more bare bones than usual. Characters don’t even get an opening or an ending anymore. That’s essentially the definition of lazy if you ask me. You are only incentivized to play through the game once since every character has the same opening and ending. There is as slight plot at least, but it is still lazy to now give each character something unique. They are all invited to a tournament that is being held by some gangsters. Once you defeat everyone who stands in your way, you defeat the main villain in front of a large crowd and he says that you’ll both meet again…in hell! It’s a pretty hardcore line even if we completely wrecked this guy.

In a way it is good that the characters don’t get a real story though. That’s because your game option settings don’t apply to Arcade Mode so you have to do a best of 3 the entire time. The final level is also very difficult to the point where button mashing simply won’t be effective anymore. You’ll have to end up actually learning the game a bit and even then it should take several tries to finally beat the final boss unless you’re already a pro. I’d rather not imagine myself doing it with every character and I only ended up completing the game with the first two.

The gameplay is your average 2D fighter like with Street Fighter and the other similar games. It does seem like it is very hard to get up in this game though because attacks seem to have very high priority. In the final level of Arcade Mode, forget about even trying to rise. Your opponent will simply slam you back into the turf every single time and his combos can take out half of your life bar or more with a single combo. Something seems off with this and I could see the competitive scene dying instantly for this game. It reminds me of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for Gamecube. Of course, that game was a blast and had excellent graphics and a solid soundtrack to back it up. It clobbers this game, but that’s another story.

This is still a solid fighting game. It’s why fighters are so much fun. Even if the characters are not all that likable and there is no real story mode to speak of, the vs mode is what really counts here. A good multiplayer mode means instant replay value and this is the kind of game that is perfect for playing at any random time. You can just turn on the PS2 and prepare yourself for some fun games. Of course, it has less replay value if you’re on your own of course. Still, I guess you could have fun fighting the computers for a while.

I’ll give the game some more props for the fact that it actually has a big opening. Back in the day a lot of games skipped this step or barely did anything with it so that was pretty neat. It unfortunately could not get past the trap of including a little fanservice though so that was pretty regrettable. The dialogue and writing is still as clunky as ever, but at this point King of Fighters is known for that so maybe it was partially intentional at the time. Beyond that, the graphics are pretty good. I’d say that they’re certainly above average for this time period and actually look better than the Street Fighter Alpha games. Granted, that may not be saying a whole lot since those games were quite a bit older.

The soundtrack is very solid as well. There is a solid opera esque theme for one of the stages and there are quite a few tunes. The game did a good job of adding in a lot of variety and this really puts Capcom Fighting Evolution to shame surprisingly. This is definitely one of the highlights for King of Fighters so hopefully the future installments will follow suit in this regard. Just give me some more hype music and we’re good.

Overall, Maximum Impact is a worthy spinoff to the main series. I still think that the games could do a better job of making the character likable and motivated. There’s no real reason to pick someone over another character aside from the all important tiers because none of them have any real personality yet. They all seem like tough guys and gals. Everyone seems to share that trait, but they don’t really have anything else to show for it. Terry’s my favorite character, but that’s really because of the name so I’m not totally sure if that counts. There’s not a whole lot to do here besides multiplayer mode, but that should be enough to tide you over. After all, if you’re buying the game, I assume that multiplayer is the reason for your purchase. Hopefully the series will have more of a real arcade mode in the main titles.

Overall 7/10

Capcom Fighting Evolution Review

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Capcom Fighting Evolution is definitely an obscure Capcom crossover. I may have seen the cover once or twice back in the day, but only briefly and I instantly forgot about it. Some of the roster decisions for this game were very odd, but I’m still surprised that it is not more popular. It’s a fun enough game although there is nothing really unique about this title. It just fills the bill as a fighting game and doesn’t try to do anything more with itself.

There is no story mode of course although every character does have an ending which is great. That’s something I used to take for granted in a fighting game, but with some titles not bothering with it anymore, it is fun to see. There are no openings for the characters, but I’ll settle for the endings. This game uses a tag team system so the beauty of this is that you unlock both endings for every time you do Arcade Mode. It allows you to see all of the endings a lot quicker than you would have otherwise.

Normally this is the part where I’d say that there is pretty much no replay value, but Arcade Mode is typically the only thing you expect from a fighting game. That’s still not a great excuse, but multiplayer mode is where you’ll find the replay value at. Find someone to play this with and you’ll have a blast picking from the various characters. The series that are represented here are Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter II, Street Fighter III, Red Earth, and Darkstalkers. I have to say that it is a little iffy to have Street Fighter represented three times. Especially when there is one big Capcom franchise left out here. Need I mention which one? The Mega Man franchise!

Capcom has a very bad track record of leaving this franchise out to dry whenever they come out with a big crossover. Mega Man’s absence in Marvel vs Capcom 3 speaks volumes and the fact that Mega Man Volnutt/Trigger made it into Tatsunoko vs Capcom over the other Megamen is also odd. It’s a shame because a Mega Man rep being in the game would have guaranteed 3 more since each franchise got a full block of fighters. Yes, this is definitely a pretty big missed opportunity if you ask me. Another odd character exclusion is Morrigan from Darkstalkers. She’s the face of the franchise and yet she was skipped over. It’s very strange to say the least. I can’t say that I’m a fan of hers at all, but she still beats Felicia, who somehow got to be playable in this one. Also, what about Ken from Street Fighter? Surely he deserved a spot here given his iconic status.

There is also an original character for this game. The mysterious Ingrid, whose abilities are quite lethal. She seems to be a cosmic being who may be above all of these street level fighters, but we’ll need some more appearances to prove that she’s not just all talk. This character does have a lot of potential though and her powers are a lot of fun. We can always use more magical fighters even if they can be a little hard to control at times.

This is a retro fighting game that uses sprites so it is hard to really say how the graphics are. The character models are essentially ripped straight from the respective titles. The models all look pretty good, but they aren’t exactly new either. You won’t really be looking at the sprites much while you’re fighting either since you’ll need your full concentration. Regardless, the graphics definitely aren’t bad. I’d say that they’re totally standard and are up to snuff for this fighting game.

As for the soundtrack, it is good. It’s always fun to hear the Street Fighter themes although the Darktalker/Red Earth ones were very forgettable. In a way, it’s probably good that Street Fighter counted as three different series since it meant that we got more themes from those series although, once again…Mega Man themes would have been beyond hype. Those are the themes that we deserved. Still, the music works for the fighting.

I totally skipped over the actual gameplay angle, but I assume that everyone knows how this plays when I mention the words “Street Fighter” This is a 2D fighting game that is very bread and butter. You can kick, punch, and mix those attacks for various combos and super attacks. Yeah, that’s really all there is too it. This game uses the 2 vs 2 system, which is a blast since I always liked that way to play. My personal favorite is when you don’t die until both of your fighters are gone like Marvel vs Capcom, but any kind of tag team play is still pretty neat. I’m waiting for Super Smash Bros to implement something like that. Now that would be really awesome! Seriously, Super Smash needs to get on that!

Overall, Capcom Fighting Evolution is a fun fighting game. If I was a more dedicated Street Fighter fan then I may be upset at the wasted potential that is here. The character roster is very small and there wasn’t a whole lot of effort put behind the gameplay. The American cover is also pretty sketchy, but that’s more of a nitpick than anything else. It’s really just your standard Street Fighter game with a few broken guest stars. The big dinosaur feels so out of place, but I suppose that’s part of the appeal. It’s like having Sentinel in Marvel vs Capcom 3. It’s hilarious just how big he is. If you like Capcom then I definitely recommend getting it. It may not be fancy, but this is still a crossover. You’re bound to have some fun with it.

Overall 7/10

Young Justice Legacy Review

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It’s time to take a look at the Young Justice game that came out a while back. It was a decently big deal at the time since the show was basically over so this was the last chance for the franchise. It’s cool to see the classic characters once again, but I’m afraid that the game is a little disappointing. Mainly because just about any random superhero game can easily snag a 7, but this one makes it quite the struggle thanks to a large array of glitches that simply aren’t fun. It’s a shame since the game is a 7 no questions asked otherwise.

The plot is a little odd. So, The Light is after some stones or artifacts or some nature. They kidnap a scientist along the way and we free her. The Light is using these artifacts to try and resurrect something so the Young Justice members are called in to halt their ambitions. The Justice League would help, but they’re busy dealing with some other crisis. Ah well, the young heroes can handle this I suppose. Still, the plan just doesn’t seem like something that the Light would be after. The game hints at something grander the entire time, but nothing ever comes of it. Ultimately, you fight and defeat the giant monster and that’s about it. There still is a big moment here though as one of the team members dies towards the end. No worries, I won’t spoil who bites the big one here.

The gameplay is similar to Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance. It takes a overhead view as you attack wave upon wave of enemies. You can just spam the normal attack button and you’ll be able to win. This game is extremely easy in co-op mode and still decently easy with one player. You only die if all of your members die at once so you just have to hope that the A.I. isn’t too bad. Unfortunately, they fall into every trap that is laid out so they aren’t really dependable allies. They nearly cost me a trophy and they did cost me a few levels. That leads to a big complaint coming up. Still, the gameplay isn’t terrible. This overhead style just isn’t all that engaging though and it could have been handled better. Ultimate Alliance had better gameplay than Legacy.

Let’s talk about the glitches since that is what really hurt the game. There are glitches everywhere. Most of the cutscenes have no actual sound effects so they can be oddly quiet. The character models don’t move at times when they are talking and the actual gameplay is glitchy. There will be enemies that suddenly become intangible so you have to exit the level or you may fall through a wall. The amount of glitches that are in this game is crazy and it makes Sonic Boom look like the most well crafted game imaginable. For most games, even if they have a history of being glitchy, you may never notice. That’s not the case with Legacy and I can certainly assure you that having to go back and replay a level is not something that I tend to enjoy. Especially if it’s a long one and some of these levels can be a bit long since you have to defeat the enemies in many situations. I skipped all of the enemies that I could though which helped trim the length of the game quite a bit.

Legacy isn’t all that long, but it’s not extremely short either. That’s due in part to the fact that you’ll want to grind a little in the game so that the boss battles won’t be exceptionally long. I grinded quite a bit to grab some extra boosts to my armor and special attacks along the way. That helps for replay value I suppose and there are a lot of trophies to nab. They seem to be a little difficult and time consuming so I’m not planning on getting them all right now, but dedicated trophy hunters should still find them manageable. There are a lot of collectibles to consider as well so you can be kept busy here for a bit. Not for a long while, but a decent enough time I suppose.

Graphically, the game looks pretty bad as you would expect. I rarely find graphics to be all that bad, but this is definitely not a PS3 game. I wouldn’t be bashing the graphics if this was on the PS2 since it would be roughly par for the course there, but these graphics simply don’t look so good. They are decently blurry and while the character models look accurate, that’s about all that I can say for them. They’re not horrendous or indie level as this game still got a decent budget, but that’s partially why it is bad. For the budget that this game got, this level of graphics is pretty unacceptable.

The soundtrack is pretty bad even without the lack of sound. I appreciate the voice acting, but the soundtrack is really just not there. Good music can always bring a game to the next level so not having it is really not doing the game any favors. The deck was really stacked against Legacy from the get go with the glitches so adding on these other issues is really not helping all that much. Some of the level designs were also not so good either. For example, just about every level where a Justice League member would appear. The game would take advantage of stock footage and you would have to beat the same wave of enemies up to 5 times. Those levels got old fast since you had to wait for the JL member and you would just be beating enemies over and over until the level finally ended.

Overall, Young Justice Legacy is not that good. It is a decent enough way to spend an afternoon I guess, but there are better options. Still, this is one of the only ways for you to expand your knowledge on the Young Justice universe and the game is canon so hardcore fans will enjoy it. It is also one of the few games to have the Justice League in it which is pretty big in its own right. I just wish the gameplay was more fun since that is and always will be the most important factor in a game anyway. It could also be a little more helpful with showing you what you are supposed to do. The final boss took me a very long time to beat because I didn’t know that the only way to beat him was with a team attack. That’s due to the fact that I didn’t know what a team attack was. Apparently you have to activate your rage mode with all members at the same time in order to do it, but I just figured that out through trial and error at the very end. Now the boss is super easy as a result. (Also a glitch kept him pretty much frozen which helped out a lot) You should never need trial and error for a boss fight though. So, Legacy isn’t a bad game and it goes for a fairly low price so you probably won’t regret the buy, but I’d sooner recommend the Superman Returns game. Yes…..that game was actually more fun.

Overall 6/10

Tornado Outbreak Review

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Before Star Fox Zero arrives in the mail later I decided to go through one more game. This one had trophies, was on the backburner for a while, and it was a short title. That made it super qualified for this role. It’s a fun game although they definitely could have done more with the overall concept. The game really is over before you know it. The actual campaign only lasted a few hours and was certainly less than I had heard. Ironically it is about as long as Star Fox Zero. This review was originally going to come out before Zero’s, but when the game arrived, it naturally took top priority. No worries though, this game is short, but it is definitely fun.

The story revolves around a guy named Zephyr. He is a living tornado and he is the prince/leader of the Wind Warriors. His mentor is one of the wisest guys ever and reminds Zephyr that they must defeat all of the fire spirits before the Earth is destroyed. Zephyr is glad to help even if he has no real regard for the safety of Earth’s citizens. Still, he is going to have to move fast since the villains are everywhere and the tornadoes are really starting to weaken the Earth’s defenses. Also, Zephyr isn’t being lied too right? That would be too sinister even for the villains…uh oh!

There are 8 worlds like your average Mario game and each one has 3 zones. The first two revolve around the Tornado gimmick that I actually liked quite a bit. You start out as a really weak wind that can only hurl away small objects. The more objects that you absorb, the stronger you become. Eventually you become a rank 10-11 Tornado that can whip away everything in sight. You can then find the Fire Spirits and return to your portal before the time limit is up. Rinse and repeat for Zone 2. In Zone 3, you have to quickly win a Ring Race and then destroy the evil Totem Poles that have been placed in the center. You have to avoid the spotlights as you do this.

I like the concept of gradually getting stronger in a level until you accomplish everything within that level. The only game that I’ve played with a very similar concept would be De Blob, which I also enjoyed quite a bit. There’s something about this style that is simply a blast to play through. Both titles are fairly short so maybe there is some reason why that is the case. Perhaps it is tough to program a lot of levels for this style of the developers thought it could potentially get repetitive. I suppose that would happen if it was too long.

The plot isn’t all that engaging, but I did like the style of the cinematic. It felt very similar to the Sly games to the point where I would consider this a homage. Even the main character’s voice was like Sly’s. The plot may have even been a bit better than Sly’s since plot was never Sly’s strong suit when compared to his two rivals. (Ratchet and Jak) I think they could have done a lot more with Tornado Outbreak’s story though. It is very short, but aside from that the character cast is very small so there isn’t a whole lot of banter. In fact, you end up feeling a little bad for Zephyr’s men.

Sure, they doubt him a lot, but Sly’s always rather short with them. They constantly try to make one liners only to have Zephyr quickly take them back to the mission or tactfully insult them. The mentor tries to talk tough, but he can be a bit annoying and cryptic as well. The main villain was decently cool although he could barely talk and by the end he became your average giant villain who could no longer fight. The Rock and Water allies were all right. Basically, what I’m getting at is that the gameplay should be the selling point of this game rather than the plot even if the actual premise is fairly good.

One issue that is never really brought up in the game is how the Wind Warriors, the heroes of the story, seem to do just as much harm as good. The villains are rocking the planet to its core and will destroy it if they are not stopped, but the heroes should still be careful of how they save the planet. Zephyr and his men essentially raze the countries to the ground as they destroy whole neighborhoods and landmarks. They also destroy all of the animals and humans on board depending on how you look at it. I guess you could say that they are just flinging them away and that they’re all okay thanks to Toon Force, but is that what really happened here? Zephyr mentions in one cutscene that they should all try to help rebuild at some points, but then he’s distracted by the villains and it is never mentioned again. I dunno, it is hard to see Zephyr as an actual hero here and he is more of a lone vigilante than anything else. If not for how “Toon Force” everything is, the whole animal thing would have decimated the score. For the sake of the game and my experience, I’ll say that the tornado did gently throw them all away. Zephyr claims to be a hero so it is the least that he could do.

There is a decent amount of replay value to be found here. I wouldn’t call it a super large amount, but enough to make this game a decently long experience. Once you beat the game, you can go and replay all of the older levels with your new power ups so you can free the Rock Golems and the Water Spirits. There are currently no real collectible guides out there so you’ll have to use trial and error as you explore the levels for that shiny Platinum trophy. I can’t say that this game is high on my list to Platinum since it seems rather tricky, but I got a decent amount of trophies so I’m pretty satisfied.

I can’t say that I was very impressed with the soundtrack. It was a little lackluster, but not outright bad either. It was just pretty nonexistent the whole time and typically got drowned out by the actual gameplay. It is satisfying to just swallow up everything on the stage though. The graphics look nice. The cutscenes seemed to be hand drawn and the character models in the levels were good. Nothing awe inspiring, but certainly good enough.

Overall, Tornado Outbreak is a solid game. It’s a little shorter than you would expect, but unlike Star Fox Zero, the game is only about 10 dollars or less. It is certainly worth the price and this is a good game to add to your collection. The gameplay is quite unique in a world where many games are very similar at this point. It is hard to come up with new gameplay styles that work, but Outbreak pulls it off. A sequel to this game would be fun, but if not, maybe he’ll be in PS All Stars 2..heh heh.

Overall 7/10

Star Fox Guard Review

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After the interesting Star Fox Zero experience, I walked into this game with slightly leveled expectations. Luckily, Guard accomplishes what it set out to do and plays out like a fun little minigame adventure. It is similar to the Captain Toad game in the way that it doesn’t feel like a full title, but is still fun. It even has a little plot which is always fun to have and there are actually some online features which add to the replay value. Need I also mention that the game’s main story is longer than Zero’s campaign? Zero took 2 hours and 52 minutes while this one took 3 hours and 9 minutes. Close of course, but Guard took the win here.

You play as an original character who has been hired to help defend some mines. Slippy and Grippy offer some “helpful” advice once in a while, but in the end your skills are the only thing keeping the alien robots from conquering your precious metals. Are you up to the task? There are 50 Story Mode missions with there being 10 per world. Each world has a cutscene for the very first level and for the last one, which is typically a big boss fight. There are actually one or two cinematic cutscenes as we see Team Star Fox arrive to lend a hand. It is always pretty hype to see the main characters. “Fox here” never gets old as Fox’s opening line to the other characters. I still don’t understand why he was so quiet in Zero for most of the game though. In most titles you would expect some banter, but Fox likes to just tune out the villains I suppose.

The gameplay is fairly original. You have the Gamepad for the aerial display of your cameras and the TV lets you actually see what is happening. Your 12 cameras all have laser guns inside of them and you have to blast away all of the enemy robots before they can reach your generator. If they hit it even once, then it is all over for you. Each stage is similar to a Pac Man maze and the generator is always in the center. You can choose to start the level with the default camera layout or move them around to your own preferences. Typically I recommend moving them a little since the A.I. intentionally leaves a blind spot or two, but you should be fine either way. The game isn’t all that hard, but does require a good amount of concentration.

As you progress through the game, you’ll get level ups, which unlock new cameras. For example, you’ll have a camera that can stop time and one that can lock onto a few opponents at once. These really come in handy and especially the time slow one. That one is almost overpowered against bosses if you ask me. The time slow lasts for so long and recharges so quickly! Level ups also allow you to access more bonus levels. There are 50 levels total and I made it to 20 by the end of the game. You’ll definitely need to grind a little to make it to 50, but it should be a fairly painless endeavor.

Surprisingly, the Gamepad is actually utilized rather well in this game. The rest of Nintendo’s titles should take some notes here. The Gamepad screen shows you the cameras as mentioned earlier, but you still need the TV screen to accurately shoot at the enemies. It’s not tedious and it doesn’t feel forced. This gimmick is something that the Gamepad can naturally make use of and while you can theoretically complete the levels with only one screen, using both of them helps a great deal.

I like the look of the graphics. They are at the same level as Star Fox Zero so even though Guard is really a minigame, it looks and feels like a big budget title. There aren’t a whole lot of character models and levels so the ones that are there can have quite a lot of detail. It’s all very flashy and the cinematics that show up from time to time look quite good as well. As far as the music goes, it is all decently catchy I guess. None of the themes will be all that memorable, but we have some good heroic themes and some tense ones as well. It helps complete the experience.

As for the villains, I enjoyed the boss designs. The first boss was a King and he fit into the lore pretty well as Mario 64 had quite a few of those as well. There was a giant bird that was intense and the final boss was a blast to fight as well. It is tough to design a boss like this, but there is nothing more thrilling than facing off against a boss and just barely managing to take the win. That’s how the final boss of Guard was as I just barely beat him, only to find that he had another form. I kept on clutching the win through his 4 forms and it always felt satisfying. The bosses weren’t “cheap” or artificially difficult. They were just right.

Guard also has a good amount of replay value at its disposal. Aside from the 50 main levels, there are an additional 50 bonus missions which are harder than the story based ones. They will test your mastery over the game. There is a level system as well with the highest level being 50. It’s always fun to get some level ups and I could see that being a good incentive to replay levels until you max out. There is even some online capabilities which always helps out a little. That’s because there is one aspect of the game that I haven’t even touched on yet.

You can build your own levels sort of like Mario Maker. You don’t touch the actual design or layout as far as I know…although it is certainly possible. I sorta skipped the tutorial for building a level and haven’t gotten around to making one yet. I uploaded a tutorial level which is actually doing well online, but I need to sit down and really try to make something glorious one of these days. You can also go online and play other people’s levels which is always fun and competitive. You even have a global rank sort of like Street Fighter which is awesome. The downside is that when someone defeats your level you end up losing points. I’m not crazy about that and would prefer if each side (Building and Playing) had different ranks. I suppose you could just decide to not make a stage if you’re worried about that, but it’s not really a big deal. Just a slight suggestion for Nintendo.

Overall, Star Fox Guard is a blast. It remembered the most important quality that all games have to possess in order to be successful. Guard has the fun factor. It’s the kind of game that you can easily just boot up and start playing at any time. There is a lot of replay value here so I would actually say that it’s worth more than Star Fox Zero although neither are worth the 60. Even with Zero as a combo pack, I don’t think this is all that worth your money for 60, but 40 would be another story. It is certainly a blast though so you don’t have to worry about completely regretting your purchase. If you get the game look up Terry20 and prepare yourself for a dangerous level!

Overall 7/10

Star Fox Zero Review

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Let’s just say that I’m glad that I basically got this game for free since I used a contest prize to pre order this title. This isn’t the Star Fox game that we deserve. Star Fox Zero was supposed to bring this franchise back to life after its sad demise at the hands of Command. Unfortunately, Nintendo dropped the ball on this game in a big way. It’s not even so much that the game is short because length isn’t all that important compared to other aspects…sometimes…but the controls are some of the worst that I’ve ever played. Aside from Wii shovelware titles, this may have the worst controls for any AAA title. It really drains away any enjoyment that you could have taken from this game.

As far as the story goes, the game is essentially a remake/reboot of Star Fox 64 or the original. I forgot which one had this plot actually. Andross wants to destroy Corneria so a galactic war begins. Both sides suffer heavy losses and Team Star Fox is called in. They get the job done and their small group is more powerful than any army. The leader is Fox McCloud, a man who must avenge his father’s death by saving the universe. No task is too much for this young hero and he eagerly rises to the occasion along with his tough crew. Falco is the resident hot head who talks a good game even though he always tends to lose. Slippy doesn’t talk tough and still manages to lose a lot. Finally we’ve also got Peppy, the tough veteran who always ends up losing. Thing is, Fox is the only one who tends to win since the A.I. isn’t good against a villain attack in the gameplay. It’s a shame for them.

All right, let’s start with the positives because there are quite a few negatives here. I did enjoy the visuals. The space fights looked visually appealing and the game certainly looks pretty polished. The character models are not quite as good though and the game is pretty lazy which may have given them more time for the visuals. For example, the game uses the same recycled footage before each level as a mini conversation is had and there is really nothing to be found beyond the levels. More on that later.

The soundtrack is pretty fun. We have some nice remixes from the older Star Fox games and the themes are all very heroic and inspiring. It’s not quite Mario, but the themes never get dull and you’ll appreciate them. This may be the game’s greatest positive now that I think about it. A more mild one would be the fact that the characters are pretty charismatic. It barely counts since they are relying on character development from older games though. Fox and the others don’t really have much of a personality beyond a one line description that can fit each character. You are really just supposed to know who they all are at this point. Still, Fox has always been a cool character and that doesn’t change here. I don’t like Peppy, but Slippy and Falco are cool.

Unfortunately, we get a new character for this game who adds nothing to the story. There used to be a character named Krystal back in the day, but fans were really divided on her and she was axed from the series in this reboot. Instead, we have a new female fox who is naturally pink. I forgot her name, but her only role is to appear for about 5 minutes and flirt with Fox for the entire duration. That’s it…her role is just to flirt with Fox. Nintendo couldn’t have made a more unlikable, 2 dimensional character if they had tried. You could say the same for Andross although for different reasons. He’s also 2 dimensional and unlikable. Partially because of his design and just the fact that he’s not interesting at all. I think Pigma or Wolf would have made for a better final boss. Wolf’s cool as always, a shame that he gets around 2-3 lines here.

All right, let’s tackle the big issue in the room. The motion controls! Why would Nintendo revert back to this tired gimmick that got old a day after the Wii came out? Motion controls never work and they never will work. Sensors will never be accurate enough and it’s a hassle to keep on spinning in your chair to lock on to enemies and fire. As a result, the levels simply aren’t fun to play whenever you have to fight someone. That’s why I avoided enemies whenever possible and just zoomed through them. It is very difficult to aim and boss fights become artificially difficult. With proper controls, I’d say that you could breeze through these guys. As it stands, you’ll have a tough time of it. You can turn it off to an extent, but a slight one. Instead of always being on when moving, it’ll just keep on affecting your aim…which is just as bad. You still have to move the Gamepad in order to hit anything so that’s not much of a help.

It goes without saying that because of this you have to use the Gamepad. It’s a mandatory part of playing Star Fox Zero which is really a shame. I never liked the Gamepad and things like this remind me why that is the case. The instant I played the first level or two and noticed how restrictive the controls were, I knew that the game was going to have it rough. From fairly early on I had a feeling that a 6 was the highest it could go and the rest of the negatives kept it from reaching that spot.

Let’s talk about the game length. The game was nice enough to keep track of how long it took to complete it and I beat the game in 2 hours and 52 minutes. That’s considering that I was stuck on the boss for almost an hour and the fact that I lost to another boss once and in another level once more. This game is incredibly short for 60 dollars to the point where you could and should call it a ripoff. This is not worth 60 dollars and should have only been 30 upon release. You simply can’t justify the price point.

Replay Value is what could save the game from this short length, but there’s not as much as there should be. For starters, there is no multiplayer mode. Yes, there seriously isn’t a multiplayer mode in this game even though it would make perfect sense. Star Fox Assault had a terrific multiplayer mode. So, the only replay value is going back to get all of the medals and I don’t even know what doing that does. Maybe it unlocks a new level or something. There are 70 medals scattered around the 14 levels so that should buy you some time I guess. I definitely wouldn’t want to go after those. Even beating Arcade Mode sounds like a bit of a drag and especially when the only thing you unlock is Sound Test. I can’t verify that Sound Test is the final mode since I’m not going to try and unlock it, but that’s what I’ve heard around the web.

Yes, this game really won’t last you very long and it is easy to see why a lot of people are upset. They should be upset. This game got a lot of hype from Nintendo and it was even delayed a bit to polish up the graphics since it got bashed so hard at E3. Well, the graphics are better, but the controls are downright terrible. There was no quality control in this title and it feels so empty. I don’t think the developers put a lot of heart into this title. Even little things like the fact that the voices come from the Gamepad is annoying. Why do you have to hear the music from the TV on your right and then the voices from the Gamepad speaker below you? It makes no sense and it is like the game is trying to force you to just play with the TV off. Good luck with that.

After you beat the game there is a quick scene, but you won’t really miss anything if you didn’t stick around. I was hoping for an actual cliffhanger or something instead of what we got. Fox’s Dad seems to possibly be alive since he interfered a whole lot for a ghost so maybe that will be a plot in the sequel if the sequel has anything resembling a plot and if one is actually made. I don’t see this game selling all that well at all.

I almost forgot to mention the various gadgets that you have. The Landmaster, The Gyrowing, and the creature form of the Arwing. They’re all pretty bad I’m afraid. The Gyrowing is very slow and it is just around so you can use a Clank ripoff to hack the villain controls. It buys time for the levels. The Landmaster and the robot just suffer from terrible controls. Turning around is a hassle when it shouldn’t be and everything is made much more difficult than it otherwise would be. I suppose that these things wouldn’t be negatives without the motion controls, but that’s simply how the cookie crumbled this time. The controls are simply terrible.

Overall, Star Fox Zero is pretty disappointing and a final reminder for fans around the globe that we don’t want anything even slightly related to motion controls for the upcoming NX. It should be really hard to mess up with this kind of game, but Nintendo went above and beyond expectations on how to destroy hype. Making the motion controls mandatory was the main mistake here. 60 dollars for under 3 hours of story content is also pretty suspect in and of itself. Zero is a cash grab, nothing more and nothing less. Nintendo is hoping that enough loyal fans will buy the game to make a profit instead of trying to make a good game that everyone can buy. I don’t recommend buying this title and if you want to have a good space epic with Fox and the gang, just buy Assault instead. It’s a much better game than Zero in every single way. As sad as it sounds, I played the game for under 3 hours and I’m not sure if I’ll ever have a need to play it again. There is no real reason to go back to it and I actually think Star Fox Guard has a decent chance of being a better game when all is said and done. That’s quite scary. Nintendo, give us a proper Star Fox game or a new F Zero title for the NX. If not, I fear these two franchises may be gone for good.

Overall 5/10

Rocky Review

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You guys playing Star Fox Zero right now? Well, I’m afraid that you’re missing out on an underrated gem! The Rocky films were all a blast back in the day. They still have the best montage scenes in a live action film and it is not even close. The movies just knew how to get you excited for a fight and the soundtrack was superb. So, when I found out that they made a Rocky game for the Gamecube, I knew that I had to go pick it up. If handled right, this could be a winner. The gameplay is actually a lot of fun and the story mode actually adapts all of the films, which is really impressive. It is not a perfect title by any means, but it is definitely worth the purchase.

If you aren’t familiar with the movies, it is about a guy named Rocky. He goes from being a local underdog to the world champ. He avenges his best friend who was destroyed by a Russian boxer and then he also wins in a street fight. Your job in the game is to crush all challengers. There are 20 levels total so roughly 4 per film. Each film gets one Big fight, which gets its own cutscene and everything. That was always pretty fun and actually in a humorous way at times with the voice acting. Giving a cutscene to some of the other fights would have helped to break the monotony that the rest of the story had. After all, let’s face it, it isn’t all that exciting to fight yet another random challenger after a while.

I will give the game some props for fully embracing the repetition though. Each fight plays out in exactly the same way. First we get to hear each fighter’s theme. Then they are introduced and the fight begins. Afterwards, you get to relisten to the victor’s theme one more time. It is very entertaining. You can also beat most of the levels while only using two attacks, but don’t let your guard down. The difficulty will randomly jump up at some points before heading back down. I ended up losing 2-3 fights, but then I would proceed to teach my opponent a lesson.

The gameplay is what you would expect from a classic boxing game. You have an array of punches and moves that you can use here. High, Low, and Medium blows. You can faint and move around to dodge. I never figured out how to block, but I’m sure that there is a button for it. There must be right? Once you take out the opponent’s health bar, they have 10 seconds to try and get back up. Usually the CPU will get up twice in a set at the most. Maybe a third time if the fighter is tough. If you knock an opponent down three times in a single round, then it is an auto win for you. Getting up on your own is a lot tougher though, so good luck trying to rise 3 times.

As hinted at earlier, you will hear a lot of victory themes and various popular songs throughout the game. It gives the title a certain amount of hype. In the actual matches you are unlikely to notice the music. Thus, I’d say that the soundtrack is good, but not great. Graphically, it is a similar story. This certainly cannot be called great, nor can it be called bad. The game did a fine job of recreating the characters from the films. Each attack was designed well and I didn’t really notice any attack cloning here. Of course, the attacks are all very similar as it is. Character wise there are definitely some clones, but they make sense. Having a version of Rocky for each film was certainly genius and paves the way for crossover fights that we could only dream of back in the day. I think the graphics definitely could have been a little brighter, but I still give them a passing grade.

The campaign is fairly short so you may be wondering what replay value is available. Well, there is essentially nothing extra in the campaign so multiplayer is your only option. If you find someone who enjoys the game as well, then you will have quite a lot of replay value here. On your own you may have fun with it for a few hours, but ultimately it won’t last. I suggest buying this game for a good price. Of course, quality does defy quantity right? Not every title can pull a Super Smash Bros and accomplish both.

Overall, Rocky is a fun game. It is best to think of this one as your average popcorn fun rental. It is the kind of game I could picture someone renting for the weekend to play for a little while. That probably isn’t an option anymore though, so you gotta buy it or forget the title. Faced with those options, I’d recommend grabbing this title. It is a good game even if it won’t last you all that long. It is definitely a special treat for Rocky fans with how accurate the whole thing is. The final boss even feels a little special since it is a real battle as opposed to an official boxing match. Train your skills and then go on to become the world champ in this title. Embrace the experience because we may never get another Rocky game ever again. A truly somber thought.

Overall 7/10

Transformers Dark of The Moon Review

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Transformers definitely has a very solid track record when it comes to video games. Although the same could be said for shows and comics, the video games are really something else as they all typically grab 8/10s. This one is no exception and while Dark of The Moon may not have quite as much depth as War For Cybertron, the gameplay is still great like always. The game doesn’t play like a movie tie in and it’s good to see the developers still give this game their best shot.

So…the plot. Well…you can beat the game while barely recognizing that there is one. Things are happening and the government calls in the Autobots to help out, but what is the grand scheme? Well, it leads to Megatron activating Shockwave at any rate and he makes for a pretty tricky boss. Interestingly enough, Megatron isn’t the final boss and I don’t think you even get to fight him. You do fight Optimus Prime while playing as Megatron though so I suppose that can count to an extent. It was an odd choice, but it was a curve ball so I can appreciate that. There is even a big cliffhanger left in the ending since the Decepticons are now stronger than ever. Who knows, maybe the movie tie ins will diverge even more than we thought or things will tie up nicely. (Shockwave being in Transformers IV suddenly makes sense.

Graphically, you probably could not tell the difference between this one and War For Cybertron. If anything, Cybertron probably looks a little more impressive as all of the levels are futuristic and high tech. At the same time, I do love the city/forest levels in this game so its certainly not a big loss there. The designs are bland if anything and that’s because it is based on the films. I still think the robots could have been a lot more unique and it was a big missed opportunity, but that’s on the films once again. The soundtrack is pretty nonexistent when I try to think about it, but I’m sure that there were some decent tunes while I was playing through. They just escape me at the moment, which is the price of being generic.

Now let’s talk about the gameplay. It is a 3D shooter, which is the norm for Transformers. You can also engage in fisticuffs or turn into a vehicle to throw the opponents off. I don’t recommend close quarters combat..ever, unless you are trying to get a trophy. It simply puts you at a disadvantage as far as I am concerned. Turning into a car is great though and you should do that a lot. I’d say that the game did a terrific job with this mode and the occasional driving level is much appreciated. It brings in a whole new element to the game. (Not the franchise tho) Towards the end of the campaign it will start to be less helpful, but it’s always fun. Normal shooting mode is slightly sketchier than usual as the aim can be a bit off and there is no good lock on as far as I am aware. I think the game mentioned one, but if I did use it, It definitely was not helpful.

The game is reasonably difficult so you can expect a bit of a challenge. There are also a lot of checkpoints which is good since nothing is worse than having to redo a large section from the very beginning. Watch out for large enemy hordes since they can take down your full health bar in seconds. Those guys will give you more of a challenge than the bosses in this game (Which are pretty easy since there are check points at various points so you can enter the fight midway with full health if you lose) and it may take a few shots to beat some of the minion hordes. Strength in numbers and all.

It is worth mentioning that each character has a special ability. I would say that the Machine Gun is the best one, but Invisibility can be quite handy as well. Just use your abilities wisely and you will be okay. They all have their uses and I don’t believe that there were any bad ones, which is good. As far as replay value goes, this game does all right. There are collectibles to grab and a lot of trophies to earn. Considering that the online is basically dead, it will be extremely hard to platinum this title so you’re just earning trophies for the fun of it. If you’re really serious about this, you can probably find some people to help you boost the trophy as well. I collect em, but I’ve never done the whole boosting thing. I’m not quite that into it and I want to earn the online trophies the standard way, with skills and brawn! This will definitely extend your play time in the game, but in the end a multiplayer mode would have been even better.

Overall, Dark of The Moon is pretty fun. It is easy to see why the online died quickly however, since you may as well stick with War For Cybertron. The multiplayer feels more epic and Team Deathmatch is still a blast. While the game may lose out to War For Cybertron, that does not mean you should completely take a pass on the title. The action and enjoyable gameplay still makes this a pretty complete game and you’ll enjoy it a lot even if the plot is very forgettable. We did have some good banter between one of the Autobots and the government in one level though. The Autobot talked tough for a while, but once he started to get pounded by the Decepticons, he knew who to call. I do wish that we could have gotten a game for the 4th film. Ah well, maybe the 5th film will get a title. If not, another stand alone title like Devastation will fit the bill.

Overall 8/10

Men In Black Alien Crisis Review

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Looks like it’s time to take a look at Alien Crisis. This is the first Men In Black game that I’ve played and one of the only ones to have ever come out. It’s a pretty fun game and you could tell that some effort was put into it, but at the same time you can also see how the developers were a little lazy at times. There are parts of the game where there is no real explanation on how to handle a boss and that can make it last a lot longer than it really should. One boss took me nearly an hour until I realized that the game was actually showing me the wrong weak spot. That wasn’t very helpful.

The game revolves around a guy named Peter. He’s a thief who used to be a respected archeologiest until he started having theories about aliens living among us. He was discredited so he decided to get back at society by stealing things. He gets in a little over his head when aliens show up, but he dispatches them with his gun skills. The Men In Black organization is intrigued so they blackmail him into helping them, but as the journey goes on, Peter starts to realize that being a hero may not be such a bad thing. It may be a brief realization though since the Earth may not be around for much longer!

Unfortunately, Peter’s not a good character. He’s modeled after James Bond in a sense so while he makes a lot of good puns and one liners while in imminent danger, he also gets his undesired traits like constantly flirting and most of his lines are about that. It’s too bad that we can’t get a character who’s super confident and everything without being a flirt. Wait a minute The main heroine is the hardened agent who blackmailed Peter into joining. She’s no nonsense and keeps reminding Peter that he’s not ready for this line of work. I could have sworn that she has the same voice actor as Black Widow. She’s a good character and by default, she’s basically the best in the game. As you may expect, she’s naturally possessed at the end so the rookie (Peter) can save the day, but I guess she takes it well. If we ever get a sequel, their dynamic will hopefully be more like the duo from the original Men in Black films since Peter will have some more experience. The dog makes some cameos here and there, but his role is not as big as it could have been. There’s also a professor who tried to outwit Peter and the MIB a lot, but he always fails in the end. One thing you’ll have to think about though is whether you should be rooting for MIB or not. After all, they did destroy a guy who came to Earth for an arranged marriage as part of a truce between races, right before they murdered his partner. Well, you know what they say..Don’t Mess with Earth!

The gameplay is your standard shooter, but it’s not totally first person like you would expect. You can still see your character and to an extent it can almost be called a third person shooter. I wouldn’t really call it that because you can never move forwards or backwards, but sideways is always an option. You can choose to hide behind a wall and strike out at the enemies or you can just stand tall and keep on blasting them. Either way, you should have the edge here as the enemies can’t stop you so easily. One health pack is enough to get you back to around full health although I imagine that this will change on higher difficulty modes.

You have around 6 different guns and they’re all pretty useful. I really like the machine gun, but the others have their uses. The two weakest ones have unlimited ammo so you’ll go to them when you’re desperate or in a tough spot. Those two situations are almost identical though. You also have a few gadgets to help you out like anti gravity grenades that send enemies into the air and a freeze ray that can really come through in the clutch. There’s also a barrier, which I highly recommend using as it can block all enemy fire and will never shatter. If you’re low on health then there’s no reason not to use it and it recharges very quickly as well.

I’m going to give this game some props for the fact that it didn’t stop at just making one gameplay style. There are several levels where you have to play in a different way in order to win. For example, there are 2-3 car chase levels where you’re flying through the city and blasting away at the aliens who are chasing you. You have to be careful not to his civilians or cars as you do and it makes for a fun level. There are also the sneaky levels which are all about strategy and silently taking down your foes. I’m always up for a stealth game even if I admit that they can be a little more irritating at times. Carmen Sandiego did this style best with Shattered Dimensions being a close second. Men In Black pulled it off quite well and would probably make it at number 3 here. The Batman games ironically get wrecked in this department.

The soundtrack is a little limited, but the tune for the main menu is catchy. The other themes are mostly non existent, but it’s your usual action fare. I wouldn’t say that the themes are bad and they’re fun to listen to in the heat of battle. The audio is interesting though as some characters sound robotic at times even if they’re trying to be charismatic. Ah well, I appreciate the effort at the very least. It can be annoying to hear the dialogue sometimes though since it is set to always replay if you lost in a level. I lost to the final boss several times before finally winning and to have to hear the same lines over and over again can get really old really fast. As for the graphics, they’re perfectly acceptable. It has that cash-in vibe, but the blasts are nice and colorful. I also like the designs of the enemies. The game did a good job of adding many different species unlike Battleship and the Iron Man inspired villain was also pretty hype.

I can’t say that there’s a whole lot of replay value to be found here. I read that the average completion time for this game is 2 and a half hours. I guess if you skip cutscenes and take out all of the enemies without a problem this can be true, but personally I’d expect the campaign to take you closer to 4 hours the first time. After that, you should have most of the trophies as well. The only things left to do are get the rest of them and maybe play around with the challenges a little if you really want too. I would say that the game is worth the current price although if you spent 60 on it (Not sure if this ever was 60 though. I personally doubt it) then you probably got ripped off.

The only real negative that I have with the game are the boss fights. As I mentioned earlier, the game really leaves you to your own devices, which means that you need to put on your detective hat and figure out what’s happening. Unfortunately, since the moments where the boss is actually vulnerable are few and far between, it can take a while. I lost to one of the bosses over 10 times before defeating her and I still don’t know what the problem was the first time. I basically just got lucky. As for the final boss, I did figure out that I was shooting the wrong target, but man did it take a while! The bosses were certainly the weakest part of the game, but they could have been worse.

Overall, Men In Black Alien Crisis is a pretty fun shooter. I found the actual gameplay to be better than Battleship, James Bond, and several other shooters. I even preferred it to Metroid Prime although that game naturally did have a better plot and more of an epic vibe. The story mode here did feel like a decent movie though and the snappy dialogue made for a believable main character. If you didn’t know any better, you could have easily thought that the movie probably had the same plot as the game although they are completely different. The writers thought it through and made a full on story mode so props to that. This may be a bit of a cash-in, but there was clearly more effort put in than usual. I’d recommend checking this title out.

Overall 8/10

Gravity Rush Remastered Review

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I remember back in the day when Gravity Rush first came out for the Vita. I knew that I was never going to get the Vita so it was a shame to see a promising title so out of reach. Luckily, this is the decade of the ports. Look at all of the HD collections, remasters, HD remakes, and Hyrule Legends esque ports. It turns out that Gravity Rush got the same treatment and it even brought all of the DLC missions along with it. That’s definitely what I like to see and playing through the game was a blast. It was also fairly unique in the sense that it was the first game (That I can think of) where I preferred the fun platforming to the actual combat.

The plot revolves around a mysterious girl named Kat. People tell her that she is the legendary Gravity Queen, but all she can remember is waking up in a park amidst a dying world. A cat appears and with it (I say it because it may not be alive), she is able to fly and manipulate gravity around her which can essentially let her fly. Kat decides that until she finds out about her past, she’ll be a superhero. The first French (Well, the place isn’t really France, but it’s basically based on the place) superhero that I can think of as well. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t trust her and many of her attempts to do good just make people mad. It’s like being an X-Men, it takes a lot to get people to like you. As the game progresses, you can help people out in main missions as well as side ones to get the inhabitants to like you more. By the end, Kat is more of a Superman/Captain America figure than a Batman/Cyclops so she’s certainly doing well for herself.

As for the actual plot, keep in mind that this game seems to be more of a protologue than anything. You get hints at her past, but nothing has been fully explained yet. Fine by me though since I’m always up for a little mystery and intrigue. She befriends a Police Detective and helps him out in stopping Alias. Alias is a mysterious shape shifter who may not even be human and he helps the Navi destroy parts of the town. Navi are mysterious monsters that appear from the Negative Zone patches and it’s unknown how they got here exactly. It certainly has something to do with Kat’s past and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were her minions.

Either way, the government decides to do something about it. They build a Cyborg of sorts who can help lay waste to them all and they even make a Giant Airship which gives them a lot of power. There is a very long time skip during the game of a little over a year and the government did pretty well in that time. Unfortunately, the power also corrupted and they don’t seem to be quite as nice anymore. The ending seems to have humbled them though so maybe they’ll bounce back now.

Finally, one of the grander plots involves the creator of the universe. He lets Kat know that she can help bring back parts of the planet that were broken and tossed into the Shadow Realm a long time ago by defeating legendary monsters. In the game you get back the rest of the city, but I imagine that there is a lot left to build. A little kid is also the vessal for another super powerful being and there’s even a rival character named Raven who gets in your way from time to time. She hints that the Creator is actually using Kat and that he may not be a good guy at all. It’s hard to tell who’s right, but I’m siding with Raven since she’s the cool rival of the game and thus, she can’t be wrong.

By the end of the game, Raven and Kat get along so they’ll likely do a lot of teaming up in the sequel. The threats may be stopped for the most part, but you can tell that a lot of plots haven’t ended yet or they’ve barely even begun. We’ve seen glimpses of Kat’s past like the fact that she may have sacrificed herself or been betrayed by someone, but it’s told vaguely by a mysterious being. Kat also seems to be repressing her memories for some reason. The Navi infecting the Earth are still mysterioius and Alias may not actually be dead. Furthermore, why does everyone know Kat’s past except her? Even Raven knows so you’d think that it would be easy for Kat to ask them. Why doesn’t she? Maybe this is all some kind of dream or illusion. It’ll be interesting to see what the sequel does with this.

The plot was very interesting and fun, which is partially why it beat the gameplay. I would be pretty eager to just start the next chapter instead of defeating 30+ enemies to get past the section. It was also neat to see a superhero game with a newly created character who’s not from DC or Marvel. We’ve seen that a few times in the movies, but never really in the games. The way that the chapters are presented is also nice as they’re all fairly short, not too short, but easy enough to beat a level and then save if you have to leave for the day. There are roughly 20 levels and it makes for a pretty good lengthed game.

As for the characters, Kat makes for a good heroine. She doesn’t care for listening to orders when they’re clearly not the right one and doesn’t hesitate about it, which is always good. Her crush on a random detective who I was expecting to turn evil doesn’t do wonders for her personality though. At her core, she’s a fighter so she leads the game quite well. The detective is all right, but honestly he never impressed me all that much. He’s comic relief, but also competent at his job, which is an interesting mix. I want him to be more helpful when the going gets tough, but at least he always sticks up for Kat.

Raven’s a good rival and reminded me of Kyoko from Madoka Magica. It’s safe to say that she’s already been surpassed by Kat, but she still has a very important role to play. She knows all of the secrets behind gravity powers, or at least I would assume so. Kat really needs to ask her all of the questions that we’re still wondering about the plot. Apparently she’s going to have a bigger role in the sequel so that’ll definitely be neat. She’s definitely the best character in the game although Kat’s a close second.

There’s not much to say about Alias. He’s a bit of a generic villain who talks a good game, but gets wrecked in the long run. No way he’s actually dead though. Finally, we have the Mega Man homage. I forgot her name, but she works for the government and is easily the best “villain” Antagonist may be a better word. She has a Mega Buster and is the only normal person who can actually fight in close quarters against Kat and the Navi. I definitely want to see her in the sequel and her boss fight was definitely one of the best ones in the game. The concept of a Mega Man or a Mega Lady in this case is always hype.

As I mentioned earlier, the three DLC packs also come with the game. They’re basically filler of course. One of them has a story about Kat becoming a maid, another sees her join the government, and the third has her become the leader of a biker gang. They’re all decently interesting I suppose and the Biker Gang one was easily the best, but I think the DLC missions could have been a little more exciting. Some behind the scenes knowledge to reward players who bought the DLC for the original game would have definitely been neat.

As for the gameplay, the platforming is similar to Mario or Sonic. Naturally, there’s the added gravity aspect, which lets you fly/fall in any direction. You can also levitate humans and objects around you. There’s always the option to attack, even in free roam. Kat has 4 special attacks although I’ll admit that I never used any of them aside from the Claw until after I’d beaten the game. They’re all fairly useful though so I recommend exploring your options. The combat system is a little less enjoyable compared to the average title because it’s very easy to miss an opponent and just go spiraling off into the sunset. You can quickly stop and head back, but after a while it can get a little tedious. Once you get into a rhythm though, it goes by pretty smoothly.

I still had fun playing and replaying the side missions though so the combat isn’t bad by any means. The boss battles are typically pretty interesting since those require more strategy and finesse. There were also one or two gravity races, which were pretty fun. One fight/race against Raven was certainly very tricky and that was definitely a blast to get through. You can also level up all of your abilities from gravity control, to kicking power, to health, which makes all of these things a little easier. To upgrade, you use the gems that you find around town and gathering them up is pretty quick and efficient so you’ll never have a problem leveling up. It’s probably one of the best level up systems that I’ve seen in a non turn based game. You don’t want to have to grind forever to get a level up like some other titles.

The soundtrack is pretty soothing and quiet. Usually that’s not really my thing, but they’re all pretty catchy and memorable. The soundtrack is fairly small so it was definitely important for each tune to be able to stand on its own. The graphics are also solid and the style is interesting because I can’t really place it. The colors are definitely vibrant regardless and everyone’s powered up mode looks a lot like something you would see out of Tron.

As for replay value, there’s a lot of it to be found as mentioned earlier. You’ll want to go after the Platinum since it’s one of the easier ones out there. I haven’t had time to grab it yet, but I picked up most of the trophies. Beating the side missions is slightly difficult, but you should be able to beat most missions within 3 tries. They also get you a lot of gems, which is very helpful. Exploring the town and finding all of the secret areas is fun as well and the loading times are all very quick when there actually are any (Very rarely. Only when you teleport) so that makes the whole experience very smooth.

Overall, Gravity Rush is a great game and I highly recommend it. The platforming is spot on and it’s almost too good as it makes the combat style pale in comparison. The plot was very engaging and minus 2 unnecessary interrupted while getting changed type scenes (Which are pretty minor so they’re not as bad as they could be) it was pretty much perfect. I think games are actually improving with the plots as opposed to other forms of media where I say that the oldies had the best ones. Gravity Rush, Cyber Sleuth, Street Fighter V’s June Story, and more all have that level of excitement and depth that you didn’t used to get in a game. It’s why I’m still sad that Super Smash had nothing like that. A good story can always elevate a game to the next level. I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel and look forward to seeing how they handle the plot. I don’t think we need any more time skips since that would introduce a lot of new plots along with yet another status quo, but the more ambitious the plot, the better right?

Overall 8/10