Search found 235 matches for review

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Wild XenoArms!

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Developed by Hit Point Co. Ltd. and published by KEMCO, Armed Emeth is a wild west themed steampunk JRPG that takes cues from popular series such as Xenogears and Wild Arms and is quite good in its own right. Continue reading our article to learn more:



The story in Armed Emeth is great as expected from a KEMCO game, but what's not always a given is the gameplay which is so different from other KEMCO games or JRGP's in general I feel the need to give it extra points just for its fresh take on the genre. The game itself is quite short at less than 20 hours from start to finish and can be a bit easy at times, but I enjoyed every minute of my playthrough.

The controls are serviceable and would be rather concerned if they weren't since we're talking about a turn based JRPG.



The graphics in the game while not technically impressive are good enough to earn a passing grade with a good art direction. The soundtrack and retro sfx on the other hand are sublime and worthy of high praise! We can't stress how nostalgic the audio presentation is!



Bottom-Line: With a great story, fresh and enjoyable gameplay, decent graphics, and sublime soundtrack, Armed Emeth for the Switch is a highly enjoyable JRPG that we can't recommend enough to fans of the genre! We give the game an excellent level of recommendation!

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Score: 9.5/10

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#Review #KEMCO #HitPoint #Switch #eShop #JRPG

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Find The Blade Within Yourself!

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Developed by Ametist, published by Ametist and Ratalaika Games, and public relations by PR Hound, Within The Blade is a 2-D action-platformer that is heavily inspired by games such as Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, and other ninja platformers from the 80's and 90's. But does Within The Blade live up to the standards set by those aforementioned titles? We think so and here's why:



The gameplay is quite challenging and plays a lot like Ninja Gaiden for the NES or Shinobi for the SEGA Genesis, with a heavy emphasis on action with challenging platforming thrown in for good measure. The game is relatively short, clocking in at around an hour or two in length, but you'll thoroughly enjoy every minute of it if you're a fan of the action-platformer genre! Also the controls are tight and very responsive as expected from an action oriented game.



As for the audiovisual presentation, Within The Blade does a good job emulating the visual style of retro games, though if you're a western gamer, you'll notice much more blood than you saw in any NES or SNES game. This might break the retro immersion for some, but still looks great. The soundtrack sounds great as well with retro vibes that fit the game like a well-worn glove!



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay, excellent controls, and a enjoyably retro audiovisual presentation, Within The Blade is a great platformer that we highly recommend adding to your PS4 or Switch's library of games and there's really nothing negative to report as such, we give the game a good to great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★¾☆ 8.75/10

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#Review #Ametist #RatalaikaGames #PRHound #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop #Action #Platformer #Retro #Ninja

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Seasonal Fun!

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Developed by Exe-Create and published by KEMCO, Chroma Quaternion is another colorful and cheery JRPG from the prolific developer, and it is a REALLY good one this time! Continue reading our review to find out just how much we recommend this amazing JRPG!



The story in Chroma Quaternion is one of the best that KEMCO and Exe-Create has ever created from the selection of games that they have developed and published on dedicated gaming devices, the characters are extremely likeable, there are hilarious jokes abounding within the more serious overarching story, and possibly our favorite aspect are the guest characters Elimi and Extermi, who happen to be loveable idols in the game. The story is at least 25 hours in length, but to complete it will take most players 40+ hours.

The gameplay in Chroma Quaternion is quite refined with elements from many previous KEMCO titles including a job class system, 3x3 grid battle system, and plenty other mechanics that all blend together harmoniously. The difficulty is relatively easy, though a few difficulty spikes might require short level grinding, but nothing that detracts from the enjoyment factor of the game. As for the controls there's nothing negative to report as expected from a turn-based JRPG.



The audiovisual presentation in Chroma Quaternion is a real treat with colorful visuals, vibrant and detailed characters, and varied environments and the 2-D anime style story scenes are more vibrant than in other KEMCO titles which gives the game even more character. The soundtrack is extremely good and sets the tone for the entire game while the music tracks are varied and catchy and will leave players humming the tunes long after they have finished the game!



Bottom-Line: With a great story, excellent gameplay, and a nearly perfect audiovisual presentation, Chroma Quaternion is one JRPG we cannot recommend enough! We give the game an great level of recommendation to all fans of RPG's!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #KEMCO #ExeCreate #JRPG #ChromaQuaternion #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop

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It's A Small Kingdom After All.

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Developed by Ratalaika Games and Spoonbox Studio, and published by EastAsiaSoft, Kingdom of Arcadia is a bite-sized Metroidvania that has a cool premise, but is there more to this title than just that? Continue reading our review to find out!



Kingdom of Arcadia's gameplay is simple and straightforward for better or worse and ends up coming across a bit more of a standard platformer with a few Metroidvania mechanics at times. There are very few upgrades other that stat boosts for your equipment which makes the game start feeling repetitive rather quickly. The game is also super short with five worlds separated into small little sections. The game can easily be beaten in an hour or two and while challenging at times doesn't make up for its relative lack of content. The controls while easy to learn feel a bit off at times though we're pretty sure it has more to do with the game's physics rather than its actual controller responsiveness.

The audiovisual presentation is super simple with unimpressive level backgrounds and a sheer lack of music, with maybe two or three tracks in the entire game which only makes the repetitiveness of the game even more noticeable.



Bottom-Line: With solid gameplay that is a bit basic and repetitive at times, short playtime, and a lackluster audiovisual presentation, Kingdom of Arcadia is a solid game that is missing the polish and content it needs to live up to its potential, however at $5.99 the game is good for what you pay for and is better than most games at its price point and as such we give the game a decent level of recommendation.

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Score: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ 6/10

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#Review #RatalaikaGames #SpoonboxStudio #EastAsiaSoft #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop #Metroidvania

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Cottonly Smooth Shmup Experience!

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Developed by Success, published by ININ Games, and public relations by PR Hound, Cotton Reboot is an absolutely adorable shoot 'em up game from a series previously not available in the Western Hemisphere, but is this game worth checking out? We think so and here's why:

Cotton Reboot is as its name suggests a reboot of the popular Japanese "Witch 'Em Up" series Cotton, which is a bullet hell shooter series known for its cute graphics and challenging gameplay and this reboot delivers both in spades with silky smoth gameplay regardless of how much chaos is on-screen at any given time, a wide array of power ups and challenging enemies and bosses with sophisticated bullet patterns.



Cotton Reboot is quite challenging and will really test your skills, however the intuitive controls will make it possible even for novice bullet hell fans to eventually beat the game. The audiovisual presentation is breathtaking with gorgeous level backgrounds, detailed characters and enemies, and great anime cutscenes between the levels! The soundtrack is also catchy and fits the game's setting perfectly!



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay, challenging yet fair difficulty, intuitive controls, and an amazing audiovisual presentation, Cotton Reboot is one retro-style shoot 'em up series that can stand up to modern games in genre in-terms of features, while staying faithful to the charm and tried and true design of the golden age era games of the genre. It isn't the best shoot 'em up out there, but its charm and utter lack of any flaws whatsoever make it a great game to add to your PS4 library of games!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★½☆ 8.5/10

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#Review #Success #ININGames #PRHound #PS4 #Retail #PSN #Switch #eShop #Shmup #Reboot #Cotton

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The Origin of A Saga!

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Developed by Retro Revolution and 7 Raven Studios and published by EastAsiaSoft, Metaloid Origin is the prequel to the fantastic Mega Man clone, Metagal which was previously released on the Switch and PS4. That game was like a lost gem on the SNES, but how does Metaloid Origin compare? To be quite honest, it's every bit as good as Metagal, if not better and here's why:



The gameplay feels straight out of Mega Man X, and that's not a bad thing as you can play as one of three characters with different move sets across six biomes as well as the final stretch series of courses at the end of the game as you'd expect. But the gameplay is flawless, with cleverly designed levels and ingenious boss designs that have very complex attack patterns and weaknesses.

The courses not only have typical hazards, but also unique gimmicks such as moving walls that you can grip on, and much more which adds variety to the various levels in the game. The difficulty is slightly lower than the series this game pays homage to, but will still provide a stiff challenge for first-time players! The controls are also well thought out and easy to learn which is always a plus!



Metaloid Origin's audiovisual presentation is superb with amazing character design and superb level backgrounds, overall the game does a good job recreating authentic 16-bit graphics. The chiptunes in the game are also top-notch and fit the atmosphere of the game to a tee while the sound effects make you feel like you've fired up your SNES for some retro game-time!



Bottom-Line: With superb gameplay, excellent controls, and challenging yet fair difficulty, Metaloid Origins is a great game that will have you hooked from the start while the amazing audiovisual presentation will keep you coming back for more! As such this game earns itself a nearly perfect level of recommendation.

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★½ 9.5/10

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#Review #RetroRevolution #7RavenStudios #EastAsiaSoft #MetaGalSequel #MetaloidOrigin #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop #RunNGun #MegaManInspired

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Shakin' That Treasure Booty!

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Developed by STUDIOARTDINK and the digital version published by STUDIOARTDINK with the physical version published by ININ Games and public relations by PR Hound, Wonderboy: Asha In Monster World is a platforming RPG and a remake of the fourth game in the long-running Wonderboy series and "Boy" is it an amazing game! Continue reading our review to learn just how amazing we feel this remake is, along with our recommendation score!



The classic sidescrolling gameplay with smooth combat, puzzle solving, and zelda-esque progression is mostly intact in this remake of the legendary fourth installment of the Wonderboy series, however several new sections have been added to the game as have completely reworked 3-D sections that add a whole new dimension of gameplay to the already enjoyable Platforming-RPG.

The game is much easier than the original version that was initially localized in the west on the Wii and PS3, but still provides a challenge that will test many gamer's skills. The controls are intuitive and easy to learn which is always a good thing in our opinions! In-terms of length, Wonderboy: Asha in Monster World will take most first-timers around 15-20 hours to beat, though to complete 100% expect to spend an additional 10 hours of time sinking into the game!



The audiovisual presentation in the game is absolutely amazing with cute chibi 3-D characters, detailed towns and areas, and special effects that really pop. As for the soundtrack, it's quite charming and oh so catchy and will draw players into the game's whimsical world.



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay, intuitive controls, and a top-notch audiovisual presentation, Wonderboy: Asha in Monster World is a fantastic game worthy of being in any gamer's video games collection, and the additions in this remake make this an absolute must-have for any fan of the genre and as such we give this game a nearly perfect level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★½ 9.5/10

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#Review #WonderboyIV #Remake #ININGames #StudioArtDink #PRHound #Retail #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop #Platformer #RPG #Action

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The King of Swing?

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Developed and published by Drowning Monkey Games, and public relations by PR Hound, Castle Kong is a homage to classic arcade games of the 80's and Donkey Kong Arcade in particular, but does it live up to the giant Kong of legend? Not quite, but it is still a worthwhile title to pick up and here's why:



The gameplay is quite simple, but somewhat entertaining and plays quite similarly to the old-school classic arcade game Donkey Kong. There are some tweaks and changes to the formula that make the game feel at least somewhat unique, but overall it's a pretty similar title. The controls are good and easy to learn and the game's difficulty is also well-balanced which is always a good thing.

The visual presentation in Castle Kong is pretty good looking and the soundtrack fits the game to a tee. The sound effects are also varied and work well with the soundtrack. Overall the audiovisual presentation is slightly above par.



Bottom-Line: With decent gameplay, great controls, and an above average audiovisual presentation, Castle Kong is a relatively enjoyable Donkey Kong arcade clone that feels right at home on the Switch and as such we give the game a decent level of recommendation.

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★★★★★★¾☆☆☆ 6.75/10

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#Review #CastleKong #DrowningMonkeyGames #PRHound #Arcade #Action #Platformer #Switch #eShop

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Monstrous Fun!

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Developed by Nihon Falcom Games and published by NIS America, YS IX: Monstrum Nox is the ninth main installment in the long-running YS series, ten if you count Ys Origins, but is this darker brother of the series worth a purchase? We think so and here's why:



The game has all the typical action-rpg goodness you've come to expect from the series with fast-paced battles, interesting and unique bosses, and a diverse cast of likeable characters. The formula is mostly intact including the raid battles from Ys VIII, but the puzzle-solving has been watered down quite a bit which isn't a good thing, but doesn't hurt the game that much either, much to our surprise. The story is incredibly dark this time around so expect some really sad moments during the game's 8 lengthy chapters!

The game is also a fair bit shorter than its predecessor clocking in at around 30 hours in length if you know what you're doing. The controls are quite responsive and easy to learn which is always a good thing, and the difficulty is fairly challenging even on the normal setting.



The audiovisual-presentation in YS IX is quite good with lush open-world regions, and fantastic special effects and character designs. The only downside visually is that the game doesn't quite look as impressive as its predecessor, YS VIII, but overall it's a really nice looking game. On the audio side of things, the voice acting is superb and the soundtrack is as good as you'd expect from a Nihon Falcom game, which is nothing short of perfection!



Bottom-Line: With a dark and amazing story, excellent gameplay, solid controls and a top-notch audiovisual-presentation, YS IX: Monstrum Nox is a nearly flawless action-rpg that is an absolute blast to play and as such we give the game a perfect level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★★ 10/10

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#Review #YS #NihonFalcom #NISAmerica #PS4 #Retail #PSN #Switch #eShop #ActionRPG #JRPG

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A Turret Full O' Fun!

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Developed by Factor 5 and Ratalaika Games, published by ININ Games, and public relations by PR Hound, Turrican Flashback Collection is a great compilation of four highly enjoyable games in the Turrican franchise with loads of visual options and other bonuses that truly make this a worthwhile collection, but how good is it overall? Continue reading to find out!



Turrican Flashback Collection includes Turrican, Turrican 2: The Final Fight, Super Turrican, if and Mega Turrican and each game has some pretty amazing visual options, including several scanlines filters and color filters which is absolute eye-candy, but aside from that the package lacks any real bonus features, but is an overall pretty nice compilation. The gameplay feels something like a cross between Megaman and Contra, but leans more heavily towards being like Contra, the key difference being that this series is quite a bit easier in-terms of difficulty. The power-up system is quite robust, the platforming is challenging, and the bosses require careful strategy to defeat!

The controls are also quite intuitive and easy to learn while the navigation menu in this collection is streamlined and a cinch to navigate. The audiovisual presentation is superb and faithly recreates the retro feel of these games! The visuals are spot-on with little in the way of undesired visual flaws, and the audio sounds just as it did in the original releases of the games in this compilation!



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay that's as enjoyable as it is challenging, excellent controls, and a superb audiovisual presentation that is sure to please, we thoroughly enjoyed every minute that we played of this fantastic compilation and as such we give Turrican Flashback Collection for the PS4 a great level of recommendation to all fans of the action-platformer genre of games!

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★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #Turrican #ININGames #Factor5 #RatalaikaGames #PRHound #PS4 #Retail #PSN #Switch #eShop #Action #Platformer

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Invading Our Hearts Forever!

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Developed by TAITO Games, published by ININ Games, and public relations by PR Hound, Space Invaders: Forever is a handpicked collection of three superb games in the long-running TAITO shmup series, Space Invaders, but is it worth picking up in 2021? We think so and here's why:



The three games in the collection are quite varied and enjoyable with a multiplayer take on the original formula in Space Invaders Gigamax 4 SE. It doesn't do a lot to reinvent the original Space Invader's gameplay outside of 4 player co-op and while a nice novelty it does grow tired fairly fast. Thankfully it is the weakest title in the collection, but it's still not bad for what it is and there is fun in short bursts, so it's still well worth booting up from the title select screen every now and then.

Arkanoid Vs. Space Invaders is a fantastic breakout and shoot 'em up hybrid of the two titular series and is a blast to play. This breakout clone has you reflect the invaders shots back to destroy them and each stage has a specific number of invaders to destroy to beat the level. Seems easy, right? Not quite as not only is there a time limit for each stage, but bricks and other obstacles will interfere with your ability to destroy the pesky invaders. A boss also appears every 15 stages and takes loads of hits to destroy and can often prove to be quite a challenge. Luckily the game is somewhat merciful as it offers power-up's, special attacks, and more that will be quite helpful in beating the game's more difficult stages. This game is definitely one you'll want to play most of the times you boot-up Space Invaders Forever as it is a fantastic and enjoyable title!

Space Invaders Extreme is a modern take on the original Space Invaders formula complete with power-up's, bonus stages, much more complex enemy waves and patterns, and a flashy new coat of paint which is absolute eye candy! The game is as addictive as it is fun and is easily the most enjoyable game in the collection and is well worth the price of the entire package even by itself!



The controls in the collection are silky smoth and quite intuitive and the menus are easy to navigate which is always a good thing. The lack of any sort of bonus content seen in previous ININ arcade collections is a bit of a letdown, but not a deal-breaker. As for the audiovisual presentation, the games are true to the originals, with zero emulation issues, the soundtracks are great, the visuals pop, especially in Arkanoid Vs and Extreme. The navigation menus are also glossy and are pleasant to the eyes!



Bottom-Line: With a great trio of excellent games filled with plenty of amazing gameplay, great controls, and a superb audiovisual presentation, Space Invaders Forever is a great game compilation that is sure to please the fans and as such we give the game a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #TAITO #ININGames #PRHound #Arcade #PS4 #Retail #PSN #Switch #eShop

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Crystal Amazing!

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Developed by Hit-Point and published by KEMCO Crystal Ortha is a love-letter to retro RPG's of the 90's and does a great job emulating the games that it's inspired by, but does it live up to those legendary titles? Not quite, but it is still an amazing game in its own right, and here's why:



The story in Crystal Ortha is quite enjoyable with several twists and turns that you won't be expecting and the pacing of the story is perfect. The characters are likable and grow as the story progresses and the setting of the world is rather interesting! The gameplay is like a blend of Final Fantasy IV, Secret of Mana, Romancing Saga, and Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, with a whole bevy of interesting features and gameplay elements that will draw players into the game's enjoyable world.

The game is also exceptionally challenging as there are no healing items to restore your characters which forces you to carefully plan your next move as skills and inns are the only ways to heal. As for the controls, they are intuitive and easy to master, which is always a good thing.



The audiovisual presentation is decidedly old-school and we enjoyed every bit of it between the gorgeous pixel-art and absolutely amazing soundtrack. Overall the game has this old-school feel and sound, but with a superb modern touch which makes it look and sound amazing!



Bottom-Line: With amazing retro-style gameplay, a superb story, and excellent audio-visual presentation, Crystal Ortha for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch is a highly enjoyable experience that any and all fans of the genre should purchase and as such we give the game a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #KEMCO #HitPoint #JRPG #Retro #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop

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Double Splasher!

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Published by Sekai Games, developed by Regista Games and Yeti Games, and public relations by PR Hound, Double Root is a sci-fi visual novel with all the strengths and pitfalls of the genre, however it shines brilliantly in its unique storytelling! Is this enough to award it with an amazing level of recommendation? We think so and here's why:



The story in one possible route of the game is set in a severely damaged nuclear power facility that you must try to escape at all costs, however many suspicious characters and mysteries will stand in your way of the goal. Some of these characters will naturally help, but others have less than helpful ambitions that could spell trouble for your protagonist and allies. The game has a unique system of travel and certain unique features that really flesh-out this rather enjoyable visual novel.

The other route is a slice of life story that shows the daily lives of the protagonist and his friends and is quite lighthearted and bubbly compared to the other story route.

The length of the game of course depends greatly on the player, but a single playthrough should take less than 20 hours for most players. The controls are oddly a bit cumbersome at first, but it's pretty easy to adjust to rather quickly.



The audiovisual presentation of Root Double is absolutely gorgeous with gorgeous character designs, stylish UI, and great special effects you'd be hard-pressed to find anything unenjoyable about the graphics, and the soundtrack is just as amazing and fits the game like a glove!



Bottom-Line:With amazing storytelling, great characters with plenty of growth over the course of the story, and an incredible audiovisual presentation, Root Double is a top-notch sci-fi visual novel that is well worth purchasing if you enjoy the genre and as such, we give the game a nearly perfect level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★¾ 9.75/10

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#Review #PRHound #SekaiGames #YetiGames #RegistaGames #Switch #eShop #Retail #VisualNovel

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An Absolute Blast!

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Developed by Studio Saizensen, published by ININ Games, and Public Relations by PR Hound, Umihara Kawase BaZooKa is an action-arcade game like no other! Is this a good thing, however? We think so, but you'll need to read the rest of our review to find out why!



The gameplay in Umihara Kawase BaZooKa is quite enjoyable with small platforming stages with unique enemies to annihilate. To win each stage, players must defeat wave after wave of enemies. Some enemies are simple and straightforward to defeat, while others can only be defeated through very specific methods which adds a layer of strategy to the otherwise simplistic arcade-platforming formula. Multiplayer plays a huge role in this title, with online leaderboards, multiplayer co-op, and even competitive battle modes, the game is truly a blast for upto four players!



The final level of each world has a boss to vanquish which is a cut-above the canon fodder that you face in the other stages and can prove quite challenging to beat. As for the game's length, it can be beaten in a single day, but the multiplayer adds countless hours of potential enjoyment to the game. The controls are a bit cumbersome at times, but after a while you start getting used to them, however this is definitely the low-point of the game though it's not something that should sway your decision to purchase the game unless you are really, debating whether or not to get the game and are leaning much more towards not getting the game.



The visuals in Umihara Kawase BaZooKa are quite vibrant and detailed and standout as being super cutesy, but in a way that still has that cool factor that older kids and adults can enjoy, much like the beloved Kirby series. The stages are detailed, the characters are cute and full of life, and even the enemies have a certain charm to them. The audio is great as well with all the sound effects you'd expect from an arcade game and an absolutely charming soundtrack that fits the mood of the game to a tee.



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay, an excellent audiovisual presentation, and superb multiplayer gameplay Umihara Kawase BaZooKa is a great game that has a lot of positive aspects that most fans of the genre will truly enjoy, however awkward controls do make the game take a hit in our overall score of the game, but despite this we still give the game a solid to good level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★¾☆☆ 7.75/10

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#Review #StudioSaizensen #ININGames #PRHound #PS4 #Retail #PSN #Switch #eShop #Arcade #Platformer

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The End of A Saga!

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Developed by Nihon Falcom Games and published by NIS America, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is the final game in the Erabonian storyline in the long-running series and has been highly anticipated by fans, but does the game deliver the quality that fans have come to expect? We think so and here's why:



In-terms of story and gameplay, Trails of Cold Steel IV picks up where the third game left off, and while it doesn't immediately get you into the meat of the gameplay, it does quickly recap what happened at the end of ToCS III, just in more detail. Once you do gain control you'll quickly notice that the battles are a good deal more challenging this time around with orders taking a massive drop in efficacy, but aside from that most of the changes in gameplay are pretty minimal outside of the new minigames and few new features that were added in this game.



The game is quite the beast in-terms of length as well, clocking in at between 100 and 150 hours to beat even on the easiest difficulty. The game has a host of missables as usual which can make earning the platinum trophy quite difficult to obtain without some sort of assistance, such as a guide or walkthrough. The controls in the game are intuitive and easy to learn if you're a newcomer, though we highly recommend playing the games in order to avoid spoilers.



The audiovisual presentation is absolutely breathtaking as the visuals have seen a increase in detail and the cutscenes in particular look amazing with higher quality special effects than the previous game possessed. The new locations are quite enjoyable and look a good deal better than the returning locations, which still look great and the characters new looks are quite fantastic!



The soundtrack also is one of the best in video game history in our honest opinions, it easily has the best soundtrack we've heard since ToCS II and possibly even eclipses the soundtrack of the original Xenoblade Chronicles!

Bottom-Line: With challenging yet amazing gameplay with a ton of content, excellent story, and a top-notch audiovisual presentation, JRPG fans and fans of RPG's in-general will certainly fall in love with this charming and epic role-playing game, and we'd even argue it's the best game in the past 4 or 5 years at the very least. As such, we give The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV for the PS4 a perfect level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★★ 10/10

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#Review #NihonFalcomGames #NISAmerica #TheLegendOfHeroes #Kiseki #PS4 #Retail #PSN #JRPG #RPG #SRPG

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Bubble Busting Fun Featuring Baron Von Blubba!

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Developed by Taito and ININ Games and published by PR Hound, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron Is Back is an expansion to the previously released, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends that adds a new mode with 50 additional stages to the base-game. What do we think about the new content? Continue reading our review to find out the answer to that question!



Bubble Bobble 4 Friends has frantic and highly enjoyable gameplay for 1 to 4 players where you must encase enemies in bubbles and then pop them to defeat said enemies much like in the arcade game back during the 80's. Bonus rounds are back and just as fun as ever, and there are tons of new power-ups to help you defeat your enemies. All in all, the game is a blast that faithfully recreates the nostalgic feel of the original Bubble Bobble. That said as good as the game is, the game is SUPER short and clocks in at less than half the length of the original "game-time not the number of stages" which is the main reason why this game isn't receiving a perfect score.

The entire Bubble Bobble classic arcade game is included in this title which we highly recommend playing! The difficulty is pretty easy and the controls are intuitive and easy to learn which is always a good thing in our opinions. As for the audio-visual presentation, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends has colorful and detailed retro themed graphics that feel like a perfect blend between retro charm and modern flare and it really stands out. And the soundtrack is bubbly and cheerful which fits the game perfectly!

The new tower arcade game featuring Baron Von Blubba, the indestructible bone whale is a nice addition that adds a great deal of extra content to the game. It's basically a challenge mode and is far more difficult than the standard levels in the game. This new mode can be accessed from the arcade machine in the world hub, but only in hard mode. This new mode is also free for those of you who previously purchased BB4F on Nintendo Switch!



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay, flawless controls, and an excellent audio-visual presentation, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends will have you hooked from the get-go, while the inclusion of the original 80's arcade game will keep you coming back for more! The only negative aspect of this game is that the new content is pretty short due to quicker movement and other adjustments and can be finished in a half an hour which does hurt the overall score of the game, however the additional content corrects most of the problems we had with the base-game so we give the game a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #Taito #PRHound #BubbleBobble #Arcade #Platformer #Action #Switch #Retail #eShop #PS4 #PSN

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CLEArly Terrifying Fun!

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Developed by InvertMouse, published by Sekai Games, and public relations by PR Hound, Clea for the Nintendo Switch, is a spooky adventure title, with heavy puzzle and stealth elements and loads of twists and turns, but will it bring players a sense of enjoyment or a sense of terror that they wasted their money? We think it's the former as we thoroughly enjoyed our time with the game! Continue reading our review to find out why we enjoyed Clea!



The story in CLEA is simple, as a young girl, you must guide your brother to safety in a literal house of horrors chock full of frightening enemies and devious traps. The game is made up of three distinctly different gameplay elements. The first is exploration trying to get your bearings in the labyrinthian house of horrors while gathering clues and important items is paramount. The second thing that you must do is solve puzzles and use key items you have found to progress past certain areas of the map, these can be quite challenging.

The third aspect of the game which most often occurs when you progress past puzzles or locked doors is stealth-based gameplay. Your character and her brother don't have powers of any kind, and if the spooks find you and catch you, it's game over. Luckily there are plenty of spacious wardrobes to hide in when things get a little dicey. The game is VERY difficult and will likely take newcomers dozens of hours to finish, but if you know what to do it can be beaten in a few hours.



The controls in CLEA are intuitive and extremely simple so players should have no problem learning how to navigate the corridors of the map. The audiovisual presentation is quite good with gorgeous hand-drawn characters and spooks as well as a decent map layout. The sound effects are decent enough while the eerie ambience sets the mood of the game quite well!



Bottom-Line: With a simple story and great gameplay with easy to learn controls and an above average audiovisual presentation, CLEA for the Nintendo Switch is a great horror game at its core and is well worth checking out, however the steep difficulty might be a turn-off for some players. As for us, we give the game a good level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 8/10

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#Review #InvertMouse #SekaiGames #PRHound #Switch #eShop #Horror #Puzzler #Stealth #Narrative

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Dragons, Heroes, And Destruction!

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Developed by Hit-Point and published by KEMCO, Liege Dragon is an epic tale of legendary heroes, an ancient evil, and betrayal that will have you on the edge of your seat wondering what's next. If this sounds like good fun, it is so continue reading the review to learn more!



The story in Liege Dragon is one of ancestry, friendship, and betrayal with plot-twists will keep you returning time and time again. The characters are charming and likable, and their personal growth is very apparent over the course of the game's 20-25 hour long story. The gameplay is rather interesting with characters facing hordes of enemies at once. Each enemy cluster loses strength as the cluster gets weeded out as it takes damage which adds a fun layer of strategy to the game. The controls are fully serviceable and the difficulty can be super hard at times which might be off puting to some players.



The graphics are nice enough with good retro inspired 16-bit characters and world and nice visual novel like story scenes which looks amazing. The music is also great with some rockin' chiptunes that will entertain most retro aficionados.



Bottom-Line: With a great story, good gameplay, and excellent audiovisual presentation we give Liege Dragon for the Nintendo Switch and PS4 a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #KEMCO #HitPoint #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop #RPG

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War of The Clones!

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Developed and published by KEMCO Alphadia Genesis is a JRPG that combines SNES era elements with some modern elements thrown in and features a fully 3-D battle system, but are these features enough to give this game an edge over its competition? Keep reading to find out!

Alphadia Genesis' story is part medieval fantasy and part sci-fi and involves the typical ragtag group of characters that must work together to prevent a rebellion, but it later becomes a journey to save the entire world! While we can't get much into the details without spoiling the story, we can say that the characters are unique and the development of the characters and relationships between them is presented flawlessly in this game!

The gameplay is standard RPG fare with random battles, great storytelling, and alot of experience grinding "late game", but this game has almost perfected the classic formula to the point that it still feels like a fresh experience! The energy ring system is similar to the magic system in some of the Final Fantasy titles where your party members can essentially learn any magic in the game by equipping energi rings and battling while they're equipped! The game also has many sidequests and guild missions to tackle which adds many hours to the game for completionists!

The only major complaint that we have with the game is that the difficulty is far too easy early on, but suddenly spikes to being a little too difficult after a certain point in the game. It's certainly not gamebreaking, but it is an issue nonetheless.



Alphadia Genesis also has a superb soundtrack that not only fits the game well, but also is very memorable! The Japanese voice acting "which is turned off by default" is quite a nice touch and those of you who are fans of the Sword Art Online anime series should instantly recognize the main character Fray's voice actor! The other sound effects in the game are decidedly retro, but work well with the game.

As for the graphics the 2-D world map, towns, and dungeons look quite nice and will remind players of classic 16-bit RPG's and the anime-style character portraits during cut-scenes look gorgeous. The battles on the other hand are in 3-D and though the battle effects and character models are a little rough around the edges the overall feel will remind players of classic RPG's such as Wild Arms and certain Dreamcast RPG's!



Bottom-Line:

With a great story, excellent gameplay, superb soundtrack, and for the most part excellent graphics Alphadia Genesis is a game that any fan of the RPG genre should purchase, however issues with the difficulty curve and slightly unpolished visuals during battles prevent this game from receiving a perfect score. Regardless we still highly recommend downloading this game!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #KEMCO #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop #RPG

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Chillaxing Like A Giraffe!

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Developed by Atelier Mimina Games and published by NIS America, Giraffe And Annika is a very relaxing 3D platforming adventure game hybrid game that is fun to play, but how does it compare to the competition in the genre? Continue reading our review to find out:



The gameplay for the most part is simple 3D Platforming with very casual difficulty that might put-off some hardcore gamers, but it all comes together in a very harmonious way that is both entertaining and enjoyable. The 3D Platforming is interrupted by boss battles which are decided in a sort of rhythm based minigame that are extremely fun in our opinions.

The story is quite simple, but is well-conveyed and is pleasing to watch during the handful of cutscenes that occur over the course of the game. It isn't a blockbuster story by any stretch, but most will likely enjoy it.



The controls are intuitive and easy to learn and the game while chill and super easy is still worth playing even if only for its charming story and gameplay! The visuals in the game are cheerful and pleasing to the eyes and will feel like you're playing an actual anime or cartoon with great character details and nice world design. As for the audio, the voice acting, or rather what little there is, is quite pleasing to the ears, while the soundtrack is pretty good albeit not all that memorable.



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay, a charming story, excellent controls, and an above average audio-visual presentation we highly recommend the fans of Japanese games and 3D Platformers, however the easy difficulty might be a turn-off for some. Overall we give Giraffe And Annika a good to great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★½☆ 8.5/10

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#Review #NISAmerica #AtelierMiminaGames #PS4 #Retail #PSN #Switch #eShop #3DPlatformer #Rhythm

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Spelunking Daughter: Return of The Spelunker!

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Developed by Nigoro Games and published by NIS America, La-Mulana 2 is a direct sequel to La-Mulana that plays like a more refined version of the first game and has quite a compelling story to boot, but is that enough for the game to stand out from the crowd of other games in the genre? We think so, but you'll need to continue reading our review to find out the answer to that question!



Building off of the success of the original La-Mulana, the sequel doesn't stray too far from the formula the first game set in place, but rather reinforces its strengths with more apps that do even more useful functions and far more devious traps that will literally kill you every step of the way if you aren't careful. The platforming is quite challenging as well, though the bosses and mid-bosses take center stage this time with some really tricky beasts that require you to memorize their attack patterns if you hope to survive the encounters.

The story takes place years after the original and you assume the role of the previous protagonist's daughter as she tries to learn what has become of her father after the events of La-Mulana 1. There are nods to the original game and easter eggs abound which adds to the charm of the game. The humor from the first game is back as you'll receive help from the same zany village chief who helped the protagonist of La-Mulana 1 in this sequel so expect dry humor and a serious dose of snark!



The controls in La-Mulana 2 are intuitive and easy to learn and as for the difficulty...the term NES hard comes to mind, which certainly isn't a bad thing if you're looking for a challenge! The game is quite lengthy as well as it took us over 45 hours to beat and we didn't even fully collect all of the apps or items that you can obtain. Oh and one word of warning, that dangerous relic in The Land of Giants is still there and if you read it twice you are going to have to face an army of Anubis that can one hit kill you for the rest of the game.

The visual presentation in La-Mulana 2 is gorgeous with even more environmental details, better animated sprites, and a much more varied stage design than the original title possessed and the soundtrack is an absolute treat and fits the game like a glove!



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay, excellent story, and a top-notch audio-visual presentation, La-Mulana 2 is on of the best MetroidVania platformers we've ever played and we thoroughly believe that it deserves to be in every PS4 and Nintendo Switch owner's library of games!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★★ 10/10

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#Review #Nigoro #NISAmerica #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop #MetroidVania #Platformer

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Alien Wars Begin Anew?

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Developed by DICE, published by ININ, and public relations by PR Hound, Ultracore is a resurrected SEGA Genesis / SEGA Megadrive run and gun MetroidVania that has finally been released over 20 years after its cancellation. Does it live up to other gems of the genre from the 90's? We think so, but you'll have to continue reading our review to find out why!



If you're interested in a run and gun platformer with exploration elements you need look no further than Ultracore a cancelled SEGA Genesis title under the original name Hardcore that was previewed in certain gaming magazines before being cancelled. The gameplay is reminiscent of Contra and features similar hardcore platforming with endless waves of enemies who try to utterly destroy you while you traverse the game's many challenging stages.

There is exploration and hidden goodies as well, but good luck finding everything since you are given a timer to beat each stage and if it runs out BOOM! The game is roughly 2-3 hours in length, but has a good amount of replayability which is always a good thing. The difficulty is stiff, but fair so no Contra (NES) hair-ripping difficulty with this title! As for the controls, they are quite straightforward and easy to learn while complex enough to give you alot of freedom of movement and shooting!



The audio-visual presentation in the game is an absolute blast from the past with true Genesis/Megadrive graphics that look actually quite nice considering that the game is limited by the hardware it was originally meant to release on. The soundtrack is top-notch and is easily one of the best aspects of the game as it sounds on-par with some of the greats of the Genesis era!

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The Vita Difference: The Vita version while a worthy port of the game has a few ever so slight issues that affect the overall score of the game. The first is that the frame-rate does dip ever so slightly more than in the PS4 version, but overall this is extremely minor, the more noticeable issue is the flickering graphics when there are too many enemies on-screen at once which is definitely a bit of an eyesore, but luckily only occurs once in a blue moon under very certain circumstances and we still thoroughly enjoyed the Vita port quite a bit!

Bottom-Line: With superb gameplay, excellent controls, and a nearly flawless audio-visual presentation with a few minor visual issues in the Vita port. Ultracore for the Vita is a great game that's a blast to play and we highly recommend it to all fans of MetroidVania's and the Contra series. We give Ultracore a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★½☆ 8.5/10

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#Review #ININ #PRHound #DICE #Action #Platformer #MetroidVania #PS4 #Vita #PSN #Switch #eShop

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The Luck of A Gamer!

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Developed by Playful Studios and published by PQube Games, New Super Lucky's Tale is a 3D platformer at its core with lighthearted and fun gameplay that gamers are sure to enjoy, but is it worth the cost of admission? We think so and here's why:



The gameplay in New Super Lucky's Tale is standard 3D Platforming at its very core and doesn't do a whole lot to reinvent the genre, which isn't at all a bad thing as its mechanics are refined and work incredibly well. The game also blends many other genres in the game's various courses including 2D-platforming, a Dance Dance Revolution style level, and much more which all come together brilliantly well and make the experience fun from start to finish! The bosses are also equally enjoyable and all have different mechanics separating them from each previous battle which makes each battle refreshingly enjoyable!



The story of course is lighthearted and isn't important, but still oozes with charm and is fun to watch unfold. Other unique features include massive hub worlds with npc's and even a shop to deck out your character and make him represent who you truly are or just to make the most adorable anamorphic fox ever, it's your choice! The Hauntington Hub even adds a carnival theme with unique elements that really add to the game, but you'll have to reach that point in the game to learn what we mean by that!



The game is pretty easy there's no getting around that fact, yet despite this we never grew bored of the game in the nearly 20 hours it took us to beat the game. This was in no small part due to the unique genre-melding courses in the game, which clearly shows that the developer knows how to keep players entertained through top-notch game design! The controls in the game are easy to learn and even the camera is quite intuitive and never gave us any issues, which is rare to see in a 3D platformer.

The audio-visual presentation in New Super Lucky's Tale is top-notch between gorgeous world design, detailed and cutesy characters that simply ooze with charm, and an excellent art-direction. The soundtrack is also catchy and highly memorable as well. Overall the game is incredible in nearly every aspect!



Bottom-Line: With excellent gameplay, a fun story, superb controls, and a fantastic audio-visual presentation, New Super Lucky's Tale is a top-tier 3D platformer that's worthy of every fan of the genre, the only downside being that the game is a bit on the short side. Overall, however we give the game a nearly perfect level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★¾ 9.75/10

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#Review #PQube #PlayfulStudios #3DPlatformer #Collectathon #PS4 #Retail #PSN #Switch #eShop

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CrossDimensional Fun!

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Developed by Radical Fish Games, published by Deck 13, and public relations by PR Hound, CrossCode is an action RPG set in a simulated VRMMORPG that pays homage to many classic games in the genre. How does it stack up to other simulated VRMMORPG's or action RPG's in general? Continue reading our review to find out!



The gameplay in CrossCode is basically like The Legend of Zelda crossed with a ton of MMO features such as quests, landmarks, fast travel, and other nuances, but the game also focuses on intricate puzzle-solving and some of the puzzles are incredibly difficult even compared to the almighty king of puzzles The Legend of Zelda series. The game's world is quite expansive for a 2-D RPG, but not so big that it becomes a hassle to traverse.

The game is extremely long as well clocking in at a whopping 60-80 hours in length depending on a player's skill level and we mean it when we say this could have been a AAA RPG back during the SNES era, but of course things like MMO's didn't exactly exist during those days, at least not in the capacity that they have existed in for the past 20-22 years so simulated MMO's obviously didn't exist either, but we digress. As for the controls, they are silky smooth, intuitive, and a breeze to learn which is always a good thing!



The audio-visual presentation while decidedly retro has a unique style all its own and is very fitting since every other aspect of the game feels like an absolute piece of art. There is no doubt that this game would have been among the most gorgeous looking games during the 16-bit era and even in the modern era of gaming it still looks stylishly amazing! The soundtrack is extremely varied and there aren't any music tracks that we felt weren't amazing. Overall the audio-visual presentation is as close to perfection as possible!



Bottom-Line: With a fantastic story, amazing gameplay, excellent controls, a ton of content, and an absolutely perfect audio-visual presentation, there's just no reason not to add CrossCode to your collection of games be it on PS4 or Nintendo Switch! We give the game a nearly perfect level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★½ 9.5/10

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#Review #PRHound #Deck13 #RadicalFishGames #RPG #Adventure #SimulatedMMO #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop

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Alien Wars Begin Anew?

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Developed by DICE, published by ININ, and public relations by PR Hound, Ultracore is a resurrected SEGA Genesis / SEGA Megadrive run and gun MetroidVania that has finally been released over 20 years after its cancellation. Does it live up to other gems of the genre from the 90's? We think so, but you'll have to continue reading our review to find out why!



If you're interested in a run and gun platformer with exploration elements you need look no further than Ultracore a cancelled SEGA Genesis title under the original name Hardcore that was previewed in certain gaming magazines before being cancelled. The gameplay is reminiscent of Contra and features similar hardcore platforming with endless waves of enemies who try to utterly destroy you while you traverse the game's many challenging stages.

There is exploration and hidden goodies as well, but good luck finding everything since you are given a timer to beat each stage and if it runs out BOOM! The game is roughly 2-3 hours in length, but has a good amount of replayability which is always a good thing. The difficulty is stiff, but fair so no Contra (NES) hair-ripping difficulty with this title! As for the controls, they are quite straightforward and easy to learn while complex enough to give you alot of freedom of movement and shooting!



The audio-visual presentation in the game is an absolute blast from the past with true Genesis/Megadrive graphics that look actually quite nice considering that the game is limited by the hardware it was originally meant to release on. The soundtrack is top-notch and is easily one of the best aspects of the game as it sounds on-par with some of the greats of the Genesis era!



Bottom-Line: With superb gameplay, excellent controls, and a nearly flawless audio-visual presentation, Ultracore for the PS4 is a great game that's a blast to play and we highly recommend it to all fans of MetroidVania's and the Contra series. We give Ultracore a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★¾☆ 8.75/10

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#Review #ININ #PRHound #DICE #Action #Platformer #MetroidVania #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop

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A Journey That Any Archeologist Would Absolutely Love!

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Developed by Nigoro Games and published by NIS America, La-Mulana is a remake of a 2005 freeware pc title with vastly improved graphics and music and is an enhanced port of the WiiWare and Vita versions of the game. The WiiWare version of the game saw many delays and the previous publisher even cancelled the North American and European releases, luckily EnjoyUp games picked up the game and it was finally released in North America and Europe in 2012. Is this game worth checking out? Continue reading our review to find out!



Story and Gameplay

The story in La-Mulana is fairly important despite how it feels, the story and events often uncover clues to difficult puzzles so the difficulty of the game can vary depending on how well you pay attention to what's going on around you. The game is a platformer that feels a lot like an Indiana Jones meets Metroid style of game with tricky puzzles, platforming, and treasure hunting this game will never leave you bored!

The bosses in the game can be nightmarishly difficult or very easy depending on your weapon choices so be sure to not use up all of a particular sub weapon before fighting the boss of a temple.

A word to the wise collect the item near the start of the game because without it you may need to backtrack or worse yet could end up stuck in a pit or other trap with no way out forcing you to reset the game!



Also avoid a particular item in The Temple of The Giants that will literally tell you not to open it and if you don't heed this warning the game will unleash Anubus like reapers everywhere that are virtually immortal and can one-hit K-O you regardless of how much health you possess and it will remain like this for the rest of the game making it nigh impossible for all, but the most skilled players to beat. We left this out in our previous reviews of La-Mulana, but we thought to ourselves, who doesn't like a free tip?

A unique feature in La-Mulana is the .EXE system that grants you power-ups from .EXE files that can be found, but your cpu memory is limited so don't expect to use every good .EXE file you find at the same time.

The game is very long and can easily take more than 40 hours to beat, but can take over 80 hours for completionists to collect every item and fully explore every area in the game which is absolutely incredible!



Graphics and Music

The graphics in the Nintendo Switch port have been slightly improved over the WiiWare and Vita versions of the game as the details are breath-taking as every single area looks not only beautiful, but also completely unique with so many background objects and enemy designs you'll wonder how Nigoro put so much detail into a retro-styled MetroidVania!

The soundtrack is quite possibly the most impressive feature of La-Mulana as there are easily 50+ music tracks in the game and every one of them sounds like something straight from a PS1 platformer! How Nigoro managed this we'll never know, but you won't hear a better sounding CD quality 8-bit soundtrack very often on the eShop!



The Switch Difference: The Switch version comes with the usual handheld mode upgrade which is done really well with little to no difference in frame-rate or visual quality. There is a negative and that is the Joycons' abysmal d-pad which is extremely cumbersome in this game. If you play on Switch either the handheld exclusive Switch Lite or Switch Pro Controller is recommended.

Bottom Line

With fun, yet challenging gameplay and unrivaled retro graphics and soundtrack, La-Mulana is as fun as ever and with the added features as well as a boss rush and time trials mode as well as great arcade borders to replace the black bars on your screen, and the handheld mode on Switch is superb with little to no drops in frame-rate or graphical quality, however the Joycon d-pad will prove frustrating to those without a Switch Pro Controller or Switch Lite. The addition of being able to play on-the-go with no reduction in the quality of the gameplay is what really gives this version a leg-up over the others and as such we give La-Mulana for the Nintendo Switch a nearly perfect level of recommendation to all Switch owners who enjoy a challenging MetroidVania!

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Score ★★★★★★★★★½ 9.5/10

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[size=18]#Review #NISA #Nigoro #Switch #eShop #PS4 #PSN #Platformer #MetroidVania #Adventure #Action

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This review can also be viewed here[/size]

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An Off-The-Rails Epic Adventure With Class VII!

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Developed by Nihon Falcom Games, the developer best-known in the western hemisphere for its Ys series. We have recently fallen in absolute love with the Trails series which is one of the most well thought out series we've ever experienced! Does the third entry in the Trails of Cold Steel arc of the series live up to the previous two games? We think so and here's why!

After a nearly three year wait, Class VII is finally back in session, but this time you, as Rean Shwarzer take on the role of instructor of the class in the newly built Thors Branch Campus. The game starts off quite similarly to the first Trails of Cold Steel title, and there are tons of nods and parallels to the first game between the storytelling and the structure of the game's chapters.



the game is a whopper in length as it can easily take well over 150 hours to do a 100% run and nearly 250 hours minimum to earn the platinum trophy. Divine Knight battles return, but the system has been streamlined and is much more fun this time around!

Battles have also been revamped with new turn bonuses as well as the new order command system that allows you to use BP to issue orders that grant beneficial buffs and effects for a set number of turns which adds another strategic layer to the series' already deceptively deep battles! The menues have been streamlined as well both in and outside of battles and visually look much tidier which is a nice touch!



The controls are flawless in this game and the game's difficulty is well-balanced regardless of which level of difficulty you select, though Nightmare is not recommended during your first playthrough. The visuals in this game are by far more detailed and gorgeous than the first two Cold Steel titles, with excellent lighting, and amazingly detailed textures and character models! The music is amazing as well, though a few of the best tracks are missing from previous games which is a shame, but otherwise the audio-visual presentation is simply flawless!



The Nintendo Switch Difference: The Switch version of the game brings with it a slight visual downgrade, but this pales in comparison to the improvement of the frame-rate when compared to the PS4 version. Gone are the slight frequent dips in frames and jerky movement, but even better is that you can play the game on the go with almost no drop in resolution or graphical quality compared to playing in docked mode. Overall we'd say the Switch version is the superior port of this game, the only downside is parts I & II still aren't available on Nintendo's hardware which needs to be rectified at some point.



Bottom-Line: With an amazing story, excellent gameplay, flawless controls, and an absolutely fantastic audio-visual presentation, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is one of the best JRPG's of the generation and there's really no reason not to add it to your Nintendo Switch collection of games. better frame-rate and almost no drop in graphical quality in handheld mode make this version the definitive port of the game! We do highly recommend playing the first two Cold Steel games first, however. Overall we give the game a perfect level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★★ 10/10

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#Review #NISA #NihonFalcom #Switch #eShop #PS4 #Retail #PSN #JRPG #PerfectScore

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A Whopper of A Collection!

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Developed by M2, published by ININ, and localized by ININ, Darius Cozmic Collection Console is a collection of console versions of several of the flagship shoot 'em up's from the famous TAITO series Darius. Does the game hold up as a true masterpiece like the Arcade Collection of Darius that we recently reviewed? No, but it's still a good collection nonetheless and here's why:



This collection features several versions of a few different Darius console titles which have all of the great shmup action you'd expect from the series, only a bit shorter and more simplified than the arcade counterparts. You still must fight hordes of ships modelled after marine life, avoid hazards, collect power-up's for your ship, etc. As per usual the console titles in the series feature branching level progression with dozens of level possibilities, although the courses are a bit shorter and there are fewer of them when compared to the arcade versions. There are a couple of games that are console exclusive that make this collection worthwhile, but the lack of options compared to the arcade collection and the missing UI elements do make this collection the less exciting of the two, which is a shame because it could have been so much better.

The difficulty is ironically harder than the arcade collection due to the lack of being able to add infinite continues in the games, despite the games themselves actually being easier. The controls are quite easy to learn, but hard to master with a bit of a frame delay. It's nothing substantial or even bad, but it takes a bit of getting used to. Overall the gameplay and controls are solid in this collection!



The visuals in this collection won't wow anyone, but are quite good with great backgrounds, detailed character and enemy models, and great special effects for games of their time! The soundtrack is absolutely incredible and will have you humming for hours afterwards. The music not only fits the games well, but is extremely memorable! Overall the audio-visual presentation of this collection is great!



Bottom-Line: With solid gameplay and controls, and good graphics Darius Cozmic Collection Console will draw fans of the genre in and the amazing and memorable soundtrack will keep them hooked and coming back for more! We give Darius Cozmic Collection Console for the PS4 a good to great level of recommendation to all arcade aficionados and fans of shmups in general!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★½☆ 8.5/10

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#Review #M2 #PRHound #ININ #TAITO #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop #Shmup #Arcade #Console

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Battling The Aquatic Alien Menace!

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Developed by M2, published by ININ, and localized by ININ, Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade is a definitive collection of several of the flagship shoot 'em up's from the famous TAITO series Darius, but is it worth the price of admission? We think so and here's why:



The gameplay in this arcade collection is frantic high-octane borderline bullet-hell goodness that'll likely hook any fan of the shooter genre hook, line, and sinker! The included games are varied and there are several versions of each game aside from Gaiden that are from various regions or with updated gameplay. The gameplay is slightly different with each game, but the basic gist is you defeat hordes of enemies and avoid a myriad of obstacles and hazards and usually face a mid-boss sometime during each level and face a boss at the end. Defeating an entire wave of enemies usually results in a large sum of bonus points and sometimes leaves you a ship upgrade to boost your firepower, shield, speed, or grants you a powerful silver form with a massive boost in power!

Each game is divided into sectors and at the end of each level you can select one of two. This selection changes based on your previous decisions allowing for a playthrough typically around 6-8 of up to 26 possible courses depending on the game you're playing in the collection! The menu allows you to view online manuals of each game, change difficulty, starting lives, whether or not continues are available, and tons of HUD display options for the on-screen UI. Overall the game offers a considerable amount of customization for each game and is a much-appreciated aspect of the collection!



The difficulty of the games in this collection is tough-as-nails even on the easy difficulty setting, however the fact that you can add as many continues as you want going forward, it's pretty easy to beat the games, of course getting a competitively high score is another matter entirely. The controls are quite easy to pick up as expected from old-school arcade games, however the original Darius does have noticeably less responsive controls that take some time getting used to, but overall the collection is good in this regard.

As for the audio-visual presentation, the visuals aren't going to impress anyone in today's time, but the mechanical sea creatures that you fight in the games are quite unique and the aesthetics of the backgrounds are a step-above most games of that era. Darius Gaiden in particular looks absolutely amazing for an arcade game released in 1994. As for the audio side of things, the sound effects are of high quality and the soundtrack for each game is quite memorable and fits the games mood perfectly, overall the audio-visual presentation is nearly flawless in this collection.



Bottom-Line: With amazing gameplay, a flawless audio-visual presentation, and a myriad of options available for each game in this collection, any fan of the genre will take the bait and snatch up this collection and the controls work as they were meant to in the original arcade releases which will reel you potential buyers all the way in! We give Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade for the PS4 a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #PRHound #M2 #ININ #TAITO #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop #Retail #Arcade #Darius #Collection

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Plunging Into The Depths

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Developed and Published by WarpedCore Studio Aqua Lungers is a couch co-op platformer for up to 4 players that will provide both a sufficient challenge as well as good fun, but does that mean it's worth a download? We think so and here's why:



The gameplay is split up between solo and multiplayer modes and each with their own nuances and challenges. To start off let's talk about the general gameplay as you'll be fighting tons of enemies during the course of the game's many stages and collecting treasures to beat the "boss" of each stage. The normal enemies, especially during the first stage are an absolute joke with one or two stabs you can do away with them, but in later stages the difficulty ramps up to insanely challenging levels. The bosses also require intelligent strategies otherwise they will literally one-hit kill you. This was both a good thing and bad depending on your skill-level, however the bosses are never truly unfair because with enough practice you can breeze through the battles. There are a few types of power-up's as well which will help players out in a pinch!

The solo campaign is actually a fair bit more difficult than multiplayer assuming your friends aren't saboteurs, there are more enemies and the levels don't scale-down either so expect a serious challenge while playing alone, but fear not it is by no means impossible to beat the game solo, you'll just need a lot of practice to accomplish this feat!



In multiplayer you and up to  three friends can compete against each other to see who can get the most treasure each round. Multiplayer also adds the necessity to keep an eye out for your friends who may decide to go rogue and attack you to steel your treasure which can be quite the task. As for the rest of the aspects of the game, the controls are quite decent and are a breeze to learn. The audio-visual presentation is also quite enjoyable with vibrant colors, excellent music, and a decidedly retro world design!

Bottom -Line: With superb gameplay, an excellent audio-visual presentation, and decent controls that are easy to pick up, Aqua Lungers is a great game at its core and its multiplayer can be a blast to play! As such we give Aqua Lungers for the Nintendo Switch a good level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 8/10

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#Review #WarpedCoreStudio #Switch #eShop #Party #Multiplayer

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Cataclysmic Devastation!

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Developed by Granzella Inc and published by NIS America, Disaster Report 4 is a disaster survival game where every choice you make affects the game's story and you are always one wrong choice away from certain death. Does this game deserve praise or should it be passed up? Continue reading our review to find out the answer to this all-important question!



The gameplay in Disaster Report 4 is basically that of a survival horror game, except instead of surviving against the supernatural, you must survive a series of natural disasters. It's all there, limited inventory, tools, first aid kits, etc. The dangers are always present and a keen sense of your surroundings is paramount if you don't want to die a horrific death in the game. Helping others can be very helpful later on as they may well save your life later on in the game, but on the other hand they can pose a threat to you if they are less than honorable people. This system of decision making is what makes Disaster Report 4 so great and we truly appreciated the effort Granzella Inc put into these little details in the game!

The UI can be a bit confusing at times and the controls aren't flawless, but they're good enough that we didn't dock any points from the final score of the game. As for the audio-visual presentation, it's pretty good the characters are pretty detailed, the special effects are realistic enough and the sound effects are top-notch and make you feel like you're really in Japan during a mega disaster!



Bottom-Line: With amazing gameplay, good controls, and an above average audio-visual presentation, Disaster Report 4 is a game that every gamer should at least try out and was a amazing experience from beginning to end! As such we give Disaster Report 4 for the PS4 a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★½ 9.25/10

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#Review #NISAmerica #PS4 #Retail #Switch #eShop #Action #Adventure #NaturalDisaster

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A Unique Game Makes A Splash on The Switch!

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Developed and published by Team Reptile, Megabyte Punch is a unique platforming, beat em' up, brawler that plays like a hodgepodge of classics such as Megaman, Final Fight, and to a lesser extent Smash Bros. Does this make for a good combination? Not necessarily, but it's not all bad and here's why:



The gameplay in Megabyte Punch is quite solid with good course layouts, no huge spikes in difficulty, and a wide-array of enemies that all have unique behavior and mechanics. There aren't any unfair hazards either, so why did we say the mechanics don't blend well if there isn't anything inherently wrong with the individual parts?

Well the fact of the matter is that the platforming has pretty precise sections that don't work with the game's floaty physics, the enemies have too much health for a slow-paced beat em' up, etc. It's not broken so much as it doesn't feel quite right or comfortable together. The upgrades in the form of parts for your machine is a great mechanic that we did thoroughly enjoy however.



As for the audio-visual presentation the game's blocky 2.5D visuals feels like it belongs back in the 90's in a good way, it's got a thoroughly nostalgic touch that is absolute eye candy! The techno soundtrack also fits the game perfectly! As for the controls, they are easy to learn and are quite serviceable, mind you they aren't perfect, but they are still good.



Bottom-Line: With solid gameplay, good controls, and a mostly superb audio-visual presentation, Megabyte Punch for the Nintendo Switch is a great game on the surface, however the game's mechanics don't mesh well together and some of the sound effects are weaker than they should be which does knock a few points from the game's final score. Overall we give Megabyte Punch for the Nintendo Switch a decent level of recommendation.

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Score: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ 6/10

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#Review #TeamReptile #Switch #eShop #Platformer #BeatEmUp #Brawler

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A Landmark SRPG Series Returns!

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Developed by Chara-Ani Games and published by NIS America, Langrisser I & II are HD remakes of two iconic GENESIS/Megadrive SRPG's. Does this remake collection live up to the original releases? We think so, but you'll have to read the rest of our review to find out why!



Pre-dating the Western localization of the Fire Emblem series by more than a decade, the Langrisser series was the defacto go-to for strategy RPG fans outside of Japan, at least until Final Fantasy Tactics was released and even still this series was superior to FF Tactics in depth and strategic gameplay in many ways. The story, while good shows its age with very simple storytelling, which isn't necessarily a bad thing since the light story elements allow you to quickly get into the heart of the game which is its strategic gameplay!

As with any good strategy game you've got grid-based combat, units that can be promoted, tons of different unit classes, and a surprisingly good skill system with attacks, support, and even passive skills and attacks. The games are pretty long, with Langrisser I clocking in at 25 hours in length and its sequel Langrisser II clocking in at over a whopping 40 hours in length. The controls are easy to learn and are quite a bit better than those in the GENESIS versions of the games.



The game has a both modern and original audio and visual options which is a fantastic touch, while it's mostly fantastic some of the character sprites are pretty low quality and have a mobile freeware feel to them, but overall the visuals and soundtrack are top-notch!



Bottom-Line: With a good story, excellent gameplay and controls, and a mostly top-notch audio-visual presentation, Langrisser I & II is a superb title for any aficionado of SRPG's and RPG's in-general and as such we give the collection a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #NISA #CharaAniGames #SRPG #Strategy #PS4 #Switch #PSN #eShop

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A Journey That Any Archeologist Would Absolutely Love!

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Developed by Nigoro Games and published by NIS America, La-Mulana is a remake of a 2005 freeware pc title with vastly improved graphics and music and is an enhanced port of the WiiWare and Vita versions of the game. The WiiWare version of the game saw many delays and the previous publisher even cancelled the North American and European releases, luckily EnjoyUp games picked up the game and it was finally released in North America and Europe in 2012. Is this game worth checking out? Continue reading our review to find out!



Story and Gameplay

The story in La-Mulana is fairly important despite how it feels, the story and events often uncover clues to difficult puzzles so the difficulty of the game can vary depending on how well you pay attention to what's going on around you. The game is a platformer that feels a lot like an Indiana Jones meets Metroid style of game with tricky puzzles, platforming, and treasure hunting this game will never leave you bored!

The bosses in the game can be nightmarishly difficult or very easy depending on your weapon choices so be sure to not use up all of a particular sub weapon before fighting the boss of a temple.

A word to the wise collect the item near the start of the game because without it you may need to backtrack or worse yet could end up stuck in a pit or other trap with no way out forcing you to reset the game!

A unique feature in La-Mulana is the .EXE system that grants you power-ups from .EXE files that can be found, but your cpu memory is limited so don't expect to use every good .EXE file you find at the same time.

The game is very long and can easily take more than 40 hours to beat, but can take over 80 hours for completionists to collect every item and fully explore every area in the game which is absolutely incredible!



Graphics and Music

The graphics in the PS4 port have been slightly improved over the WiiWare and Vita versions of the as the details are breath-taking as every single area looks not only beautiful, but also completely unique with so many background objects and enemy designs you'll wonder how Nigoro put so much detail into a retro-styled MetroidVania!

The soundtrack is quite possibly the most impressive feature of La-Mulana as there are easily 50+ music tracks in the game and every one of them sounds like something straight from a PS1 platformer! How Nigoro managed this I'll never know, but you won't hear a better sounding 8-bit soundtrack very often on the eShop or PSN!



Bottom Line

With fun, yet challenging gameplay and unrivaled retro graphics and soundtrack, La-Mulana is as fun as ever and with the added features as well as a boss rush and time trials mode as well as great arcade borders to replace the black bars on your screen this is the definitive version of the game and as such we give the game a perfect level of recommendation!

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Score ★★★★★★★★★★ 10/10

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#Review #NISA #Nigoro #PS4 #PSN #Platformer #MetroidVania #Adventure #Action

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This review can also be viewed here

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Bub And Bob Are Back With Friends!

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Developed by Taito and published by PR Hound, Bubble Bobble: 4 Friends is a delightful throwback of the classic 80's arcade game, but does this new release live up to the original? We think so and here's why:



Bubble Bobble 4 Friends has frantic and highly enjoyable gameplay for 1 to 4 players where you must encase enemies in bubbles and then pop them to defeat said enemies much like in the arcade game back during the 80's. Bonus rounds are back and just as fun as ever, and there are tons of new power-ups to help you defeat your enemies. All in all, the game is a blast that faithfully recreates the nostalgic feel of the original Bubble Bobble. That said as good as the game is, the game is SUPER short and clocks in at less than half the length of the original "game-time not the number of stages" which is the main reason why this game isn't receiving a perfect score.

The entire Bubble Bobble classic arcade game is included in this title which we highly recommend playing! The difficulty is pretty easy and the controls are intuitive and easy to learn which is always a good thing in our opinions. As for the audio-visual presentation, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends has colorful and detailed retro themed graphics that feel like a perfect blend between retro charm and modern flare and it really stands out. And the soundtrack is bubbly and cheerful which fits the game perfectly!



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay, flawless controls, and an excellent audio-visual presentation, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends will have you hooked from the get-go, while the inclusion of the original 80's arcade game will keep you coming back for more! The only negative aspect of this game is that the new content is pretty short due to quicker movement and other adjustments and can be finished in a half an hour which does hurt the overall score of the game, but even so we give the game a good level of recommendation!

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Score: 8/10

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#Review #Taito #PRHound #BubbleBobble #Arcade #Platformer #Action #Switch #Retail #eShop

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An Old-School Challenge That Sabotages The PS4!

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Developed by Clive Townsend and published by SimFabric Games, Saboteur is a re-release of a 1980's Commodore 64 action-platformer with additional content. The game was exceptionally fun at the time of its original release, but does it still provide a fun experience in 2020? We think so, even if the game hasn't well it is still an enjoyable experience and here's why!



The gameplay is simple enough, you must stealthily infiltrate locations, gather items, and avoid enemies if possible. You can defeat enemies, but your ability to survive is dependent on avoiding as many enemies as you can. There is a good deal of new content in this re-release of Saboteur including new stages, remixed music, and leaderboards. The controls in the game are a bit unresponsive, but aren't a big enough issue to affect the score we'll be giving the game!

The difficulty is pretty challenging so don't expect to breeze through the game's campaign straight away. The audio-visual presentation is terrific in this game with excellent retro vibes and fits the game well! The sound effects are admittedly terrible, but that's more an issue with the era the game originally released in rather than an issue with the game itself. You can choose different versions of the game as well, including the Commodore 64 version which is a nice touch!



Bottom-Line: With fun gameplay, and a ton of new content, Saboteur for the PS4 is a top-notch remake of the game, and though the game show's its age it's still a fun romp and as such we give Saboteur for the PS4 a solid to good level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★½☆☆ 7.5/10

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#Review #CliveTownsend #SimFabric #Action #Platformer #PS4 #PSN #Retro

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Luigi's Funsion!

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Hey there gamers, Bre here with another fun packed game review! Luigi’s Mansion 3 is a fun filled game that brings back the story of our friends Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad but giving the story a twist while also featuring the location of our favorite haunted mansion! Our friends this time have found themselves invited onto a fun packed vacation at a resort, but little do they know trouble lies ahead for them! Once at the resort they are met by the hotel owner who’s appearance seems a bit off from the start, and the staff themselves are a bit odd, but hey when isn’t there something odd going on within the Mushroom Kingdom? Our friends get settled into their rooms, but just when it seems they are finally going to get a good vaction things take a turn for the dark side! King Boo is back! And this time he has the help of the hotel owner and the staff!



King Boo has captured Mario, Peach, and the Toads and now it’s up to you and Luigi to get them back! This game is full of a multi-level story mode with puzzles and twists around every corner, and along with it comes back our Gooigi! That’s right you get to play as not only Luigi but Gooigi and the lovable pup Polterpup! It’s up to you to now explore the hotel obtaining objects for Professor E. Gadd and dismantling the ghosts throughout the hotel. Along with a multi-level story mode comes a fun loving multiplayer mode for you and friends featuring Gooigi himself! The things I love the most about this game is the way that it keeps you on your seat around every corner and every floor constantly needing to figure out what will come next! If you have not played this game make sure you do, I give it a great level of recommendation! I can’t wait to finish this game and see what comes next!

Pros to this game: Full of puzzles and twists on every floor, multiplayer mode, and features numerous characters!

Cons to this game: I would of liked to see a bit more multiplayer content.

Until next time gamers keep gaming!



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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #Nintendo #Switch #Retail #eShop #Horror #Adventure #Action

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Amazing, But What Happened To Paper Mario?!

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Developed and published by Nintendo, Paper Mario: Color Splash is an amazing 3-D platformer?! with JRPG and adventure genre gameplay elements, but does it live up to its true roots as a standout JRPG series? Not quite, but the game is still superb in its own rights and here's why!



The story in Paper Mario Color Splash for the Wii U is pretty funny albeit relatively non-existent which is the first of several disappointing aspects of the game, but in spite of these flaws the game is still absolutely superb! The gameplay in Color Splash is fairly straightforward, restore color to the world with you paint hammer, defeat enemies with cards, explore the various courses, and save the day. The battles are a blast to play unlike those in Sticker Star, with much more depth and strategy involved.

The world itself is separated into individual levels and there are dozens of courses in the game. Despite not being heavily story-driven, the game is still well over 25 hours in length which is pretty sizable. The controls are also silky smooth and easy to learn which is always a good thing! The game is well-balanced for the most part so don't expect any radical difficulty spikes. And lastly the Gamepad features include some touchscreen controls as well as off-TV play which is always welcome in our opinions!



There's one more gameplay aspect we're dying to talk about and that is the boss battles which are an absolute blast to play and typically have some sort of gimmick associated with them. Usually gimmicks are not a positive when it comes to core gameplay elements, but the boss battles handle these very well in Color Splash! There is one thing that has left us scratching our heads though and that is the complete lack of unique characters and enemies in the game which has always been a staple of the franchise.



The audio-visual of in Paper Mario Color Splash is absolutely breathtaking with gorgeous character designs and unique and vibrant locations that look like they were taken straight from a gorgeous work of art or a vibrant picture book. The soundtrack is equally amazing with many iconic songs beautifully remixed in this game! Overall the audio-visual presentation is complete perfection!



Bottom-Line: With a simple yet funny story, excellent gameplay, intuitive controls, and an amazing audio-visual presentation, Paper Mario Color Splash for the Wii U is a superb game for the console that is only marred by the fact that it continues to be too different from its roots as a top-notch RPG series, but regardless we give the game a great level of recommendation to all Wii U owners!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★¼ 9.25/10

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#Review #Nintendo #3DPlatformer #RPG #Adventure #PaperMario #Mario

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Overlord of The Century!

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Developed and published by Nippon Ichi Software, Disgaea 4+ Complete is a collection that compiles Disgaea 4 and all of its DLC into a single bundle and to be honest it is an absolutely amazing deal! Continue reading our review to find out more about this fantastic title!



Disgaea has always been the epitome of excellence when is comes to Japanese strategy based tactical RPG's and this game is no different with a superb and zany story and excellent gameplay that we'll be talking about shortly, overall this game oozes of quality and any SRPG fan should checkout this amazing series!

Now as for the gameplay itself the game is split into a few different parts, a city hub where you shop, train your units, among other useful things, missions where you battle in strategic grid-based battles against enemy units, and there are online matches to test your mettle against other players! There are other gameplay modes as well, but these are the three primary sections of the game.



The hub of the game has a ton of various functions as is typical in the series, but there are new things to do such as expeditions, which are basically roguelike missions that can pay players off handsomely assuming they can complete these missions. The story missions are well thought out and the story itself is quite enjoyable.

The controls are easy to learn as expected from a strategy RPG, and the game can be quite challenging at times so don't expect to breeze through the game. The audio-visual presentation is terrific as the characters, objects, and areas are vibrant and detailed and the voice acting and soundtrack are equally as good and fit the game beautifully.



Bottom-Line: With a humorous story, great gameplay and excellent audio-visual presentation, Disgaea 4 Complete+ will hook fans of the genre almost immediately and the included DLC with many hours of additional content will keep them coming back for more! We give the game a great level of recommendation!

Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

#Review #NISA #NipponIchiSoftware #PS4 #PS3 #Vita #Retail #PSN #SRPG #Strategy #RPG

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A Demonic Adventure To Restore The World!

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Developed by  Cattle Call Games and published by NIS America, Alliance Alive HD is a remaster of the 3DS JRPG of the same name which was met with a somewhat mixed reception from critics, but we rather enjoyed the game and this version is a great game as well in our opinions! Continue reading our review to find out why we think this game is worth a purchase!



The story in Alliance Alive is pretty good, but is decidedly retro with very simplistic story-telling as well as no voice acting. It all ties together with the old-school look and feel of the game. The game is pretty short only clocking in at around 20 hours in length. As for the gameplay the battles are done in simplistic turn-based fashion with a slight twist to the skill learning formula which is actually quite advanced as you learn skills based on the way you battle, but the algorithm is extremely complex and thus is difficult to figure out what actions trigger certain skills to "spark" and be learned.

The game has a ton of side-quests as well so completionists can expect to add an additional 15-20 or so hours into the game just for the side-quests and if you want to unlock every skill for every character chances are you'll need to sink 80+ hours into this game. As short as the game is, it truly shines in its replayability which is fantastic news! Now for the downsides, the dungeons are too simplistic and can be boring at times, the story is very predictable and uses many overused tropes, there isn't enough variety in enemies, there are a few glitches here and there, though none we experienced were game-breaking, and in-general Alliance Alive is simply solid to good in its best aspects, luckily there isn't a whole lot wrong with the game so it's still a fun game for JRPG fans.



The audio-visual presentation of the game is quite nice, but of course it won't wow gamers though that's sort of expected from a game that was designed from the ground up to be a love-letter to the classic 32-bit era classics in the genre. The world map feels like it was ripped straight out of a PSOne era JRPG and that's a good thing in our opinions! The character models are gorgeous however thanks to the unique art direction the game uses, and some locales look breathtaking as well, but again it's a result of the amazing art direction rather than the actual graphics engine the game's assets utilize. LUL

The soundtrack is pretty enjoyable as well with some catchy tunes here and there that fit the game quite well, but there are other tracks that feel out of place or are rather forgettable which is a shame, but overall the audio-visual presentation is good!



Bottom-Line: With a good, but cliched story, solid gameplay, and good audio-visual presentation Alliance Alive HD Remaster is an enjoyable experience for all fans of the JRPG genre, but a few issues do hold the game back a bit. Overall, however we give the game a solid to good level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★½☆☆ 7.5/10

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#Review #NISAmerica #CattleCallGames #JRPG #PS4 #Retail #PSN #Switch #eShop

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The horror game that lacks enough horror...

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So in this game the main character is for some reason strapped and chained to a wheel chair and he can’t speak, the only way he communicates is by using a button on his hand that turn on a laser on his head, he is accompanied by a little girl who speaks a fictitious language and the game has no subtitles, it seems the developers wanted to make this game a puzzle were you read into what she’s thinking based on her movements but honestly I don’t see how her interactions give a single clue to any puzzle because it just looks like she’s looking around thinking, now the game started rather simple with pretty easy puzzles but after the first few, I think it was around six puzzles (I lost count) the puzzles got extremely hard, so hard that I haven’t been able to continue, in one puzzle there were some pictures with lasers and in the other one there’s a statue with a tool that measures weight between two objects, (I don’t recall name of the tool) and I can’t understand what to do, the clues each room gives players are so vague that the only way to solve them is pure trial and error until you eventually find it.

 Now regarding the horror, yes there is certain amount of horror in this game because if you get the puzzle wrong both you and the girl die in different ways depending on the trap, and even when you get the puzzle right you still see part of the trap activate making you think you messed up only to be saved in the end, that I kind of liked because it would be boring to not see the trap activate if it was easy to pass it without seeing something. However my problem is that the deaths are rather boring in the sense that they would usually be crushed or fall down a hole, but there is no blood or gore unfortunately. When the girl dies she usually dies disappearing in to something black or is taken off screen and when you die it just fades to black so it makes it feel so fake, the fact that you’re stuck motionless in a chair kind of ruins the experience for me because i would find it much more scary if you could actually move around. Although there was one puzzle that makes me flinch every time. When you lose in this one puzzle a giant snake eats both you and the girl, but since he does it so slow and the snake looks realistic and you even see when he opens his mouth to eat each of you it's quite terrifying and is the only death that makes me flinch or try to close my eyes. 



The atmosphere is there because of the traps, but the execution is rather poor and I can’t even tell what the story is about, each time you pass a puzzle the two characters just end up in front of a cliff near the ocean and different things happen like in one the girl falls of the cliff and such and then you're back in a dark room with a lamp with something attached to the handle and you have to use the laser for the girl to turn the lamp on to proceed. To be honest at first I was enjoying the game because the puzzles weren't all that difficult, but some were a bit too easy, but then suddenly the difficulty just spiked to near impossible to solve levels unless you spent hours figuring out different possibilities. 



 Bottom-Line: So we are giving the game an average level of recommendation, but to be fair maybe I’m not that good at solving puzzles, there's always that possibility, I'd recommend seeing gameplay before purchasing. Also I forgot to mention everything is done with the headset motion control and 1 button and you can either use a DualShock 4 controller or PS Move controller, it makes zero difference either way.

Pros:

 1.   Good atmosphere.

 2.   Creative puzzles.

3.   Shows parts of the traps even when you've done puzzles correctly.

Cons:

 1.   Poor execution of deaths making them boring to watch and less realistic. 

2.   Huge spike in difficulty that goes from extremely easy to extremely hard. 

3.   No subs or background story.

4.   Very little interaction.

5.   A rare, but major glitch that causes the button on the controller to not charge the energy needed to use the laser essentially glitching glitching the game because without it you cannot proceed.  Not sure what causes it and it only happened once.

6.   No exit button so the only way to go back is to do the puzzle wrong and die.

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Score:  ★★★★★½☆☆☆☆ 5.5/10

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#Review #Amatakk #PS4 #PSN #PSVRRequired #Puzzler #Survival #Horror

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The Greatest Manwitch?

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Developed by Galapagos RPG and published by Idea Factory International, Dragon Star Varnir is a fun RPG that has quite a few unique gameplay features and elements, but is this enough to cement the game as a standout title? We think so and here's why!



The story is actually quite unique and drew us in really quickly with an excellent cast of characters that bring the world to life. Dragon Star Varnir has a unique "layered" battle system that not only adds vertical movement rarely seen in JRPG's. The game also uses an advanced weakness system that makes you have to use your head and carefully choose what type or elemental attack to use and even which character should attack which enemy! This might sound overly complex, but the game does a good job with on-screen displays and tutorials so it should be easy for most players to learn the ropes of the game. Also every character also has a field skill that can help you get past obstacles or even earn items and equipment so it's a smart idea to frequently switch between characters!

Another unique thing about the game is the skill system where you must devour dragons to unlock skill trees to unlock abilities, passive skills, and stat upgrades. This forces players to really explore the world and try to devour every type of dragon to bolster each of their characters! The game also allows you to bond with the older witches by gifting them to see events or feed the younger witches dragon meat to keep them from permanently disappearing from the witches den.



Dragon Star Varnir is fairly lengthy at over 50 hours in length, but the game can easily take longer due to its difficulty. The controls in the game are easy to learn which is always a good thing. The audio-visual presentation is quite nice with great character and enemy models, and reasonably nice looking dungeons, and the music and voice acting are superb! The game brings back the ecchi transformations from Death End Re;Quest so it's definitely not something we'd recommend playing around younger audiences. Overall the audio-visual presentation is very solid in our opinions.



Bottom-Line:With an excellent story with great character development, great gameplay that's both enjoyable and extremely challenging at times, flawless controls, and a very solid audio-visual presentation, Dragon Star Varnier is an excellent game through and through and we highly recommend picking up the game if you're an adult gamer who's a fan of Idea Factory or RPG's in general! We give the game a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #IdeaFactory #GalapagosRPG #JRPG #DragonStarVarnir #PS4 #Retail #PSN

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Let’s turn up the heat in these dark woods or something?

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Bonfire is a very short virtual reality game made by “Baobab”, it starts off in space where the main character has awoken from hyper sleep because he is a scout meant to look for other planets that can be inhabited by the human race because humanity made earth uninhabitable with their destruction and use of the planet's resources, so you crash-land into the planet and then make a bonfire alongside your ship's navigation computer AI.



Basically it’s a very short narrative adventure that you can interact with and is only about 15-20 minutes in length give or take a minute or two. The art style is cute and the game has nice voice acting as well. The story is kind of nice as well, but again it’s WAY too short. There are some interactions that the game will do for you if you don’t do anything during them. You can also play through it multiple times for some minor changes in what the AI says but that’s about it



Bottom-Line: [i]We give Bonfire a solid level of recommendation because it was well made and the art style and voices were nice, but it was too short for our tastes, and while there were interactions they were a bit limited. If what you seek is a cute small interaction-based adventure for PSVR, you will likely enjoy this game, however if you are not into these types of games I recommend skipping it entirely. It’s cute, but it's most likely one of those games you pick up once and will never play it again. It does have easy trophies so if you are a trophy hunter this is an easy platinum to earn!

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[b]Score: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 7/10

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#Review #Bonfire #BaobabGames #PS4 #PSN #PSVRRequired #PSVR #Interactive #Adventure

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An Amazing Robot Shinobi Smackdown!

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Developed by Taito Games, a subsidiary of Square Enix and published by PR Hound, Taito's The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors is a remake of a classic Taito arcade-style beat 'em up released decades ago during the golden age of arcades! How does this game stack-up to the competition of that era? Really well actually, continue reading our review to find out why!



The gameplay can be extremely challenging at times, but at the heart of Taito's The Ninja Saviors - Return of the Warriors, it's a relatively simplistic beat 'em up. That said the various playable characters offer a very different experience with different range and combos which adds a layer of replayability to the game, but also ensures that there should be a character to fit every gamer's playstyle.

The controls in the game are pretty tight, but some combos can feel somewhat awkward to pull off which can be frustrating at times. There's a wide array of vastly different enemies and bosses which well test your mettle in the game. The normal enemies during stage one require little strategy, but by stage two things get quite a bit more challenging.



Every boss is a challenge however, even the stage one boss really presented a serious challenge to us and the game literally took us a month to beat! While extremely difficult the game always felt fair in its mechanics and if you learn the patterns of the enemies you could make slow, but steady progress in the game and eventually beat it. This difficulty was a breath of fresh air in an era where most games are far too easy, it was nice to actually earn our victory through hard work and determination!

The audio-visual presentation in the game is decidedly retro with authentic 90's style graphics with a ton of attention to detail with amazing character designs and superbly designed levels with multiple layered backgrounds. The soundtrack is also top-notch with a wide-variety of tracks that fit the game perfectly!



Bottom-Line: With excellent and challenging gameplay, good controls that can be a bit tricky at times, and a superb audio-visual presentation that will bring back memories of the old arcades of yore, Taito's The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors for the PS4 is a great game that's well worth a purchase if you're looking for a challenge or enjoy retro-style arcade games or beat 'em ups! We give Taito's The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors a good to great level of recommendation!  

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Score: ★★★★★★★★¾☆ 8.75/10

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#Review #TheNinjaSaviors #Taito #SquareEnix #PRHound #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop #BeatEmUp #Arcade #Retro

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An Off-The-Rails Epic Adventure With Class VII!

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Developed by Nihon Falcom Games, the developer best-known in the western hemisphere for its Ys series. We have recently fallen in absolute love with the Trails series which is one of the most well thought out series we've ever experienced! Does the third entry in the Trails of Cold Steel arc of the series live up to the previous two games? We think so and here's why!

After a nearly three year wait, Class VII is finally back in session, but this time you, as Rean Shwarzer take on the role of instructor of the class in the newly built Thors Branch Campus. The game starts off quite similarly to the first Trails of Cold Steel title, and there are tons of nods and parallels to the first game between the storytelling and the structure of the game's chapters.



the game is a whopper in length as it can easily take well over 150 hours to do a 100% run and nearly 250 hours minimum to earn the platinum trophy. Divine Knight battles return, but the system has been streamlined and is much more fun this time around!

Battles have also been revamped with new turn bonuses as well as the new order command system that allows you to use BP to issue orders that grant beneficial buffs and effects for a set number of turns which adds another strategic layer to the series' already deceptively deep battles! The menues have been streamlined as well both in and outside of battles and visually look much tidier which is a nice touch!



The controls are flawless in this game and the game's difficulty is well-balanced regardless of which level of difficulty you select, though Nightmare is not recommended during your first playthrough. The visuals in this game are by far more detailed and gorgeous than the first two Cold Steel titles, with excellent lighting, and amazingly detailed textures and character models! The music is amazing as well, though a few of the best tracks are missing from previous games which is a shame, but otherwise the audio-visual presentation is simply flawless!



Bottom-Line: With an amazing story, excellent gameplay, flawless controls, and an absolutely fantastic audio-visual presentation, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is one of the best JRPG's of the generation and there's really no reason not to add it to your PS4 collection of games. We do highly recommend playing the first two Cold Steel games first, however. Overall we give the game a perfect level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★★ 10/10

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#Review #NISA #NihonFalcom #PS4 #Retail #PSN #JRPG #PerfectScore

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Totally Atohkable!

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Developed by Compile Heart and Sting Entertainment and published by Idea Factory, the latest title by the masterminds responsible for the Neptunia series, Date Alive: Rio Reincarnation for the PS4 brings all three currently released Date Alive titles in one package including the two previously Japanese exclusive PS3 titles! How do these visual novels stack-up to their competition? Continue reading our review to find out the answer to this all-important question!



Date Alive: Rinne Utopia (PS3)

The game that started it all! You play the role of a high school boy who has the ability to see spirits, girl-like entities who are living natural disasters who can potentially destroy the world. He also possesses the ability to seal their power by...dating them and making them fall in love?!

Yes it's a bizarre premise, but it works, and works well! It has some hilarious moments with some action and romance as well. It's a self-proclaimed gal-game and is certainly meant for adult males, though there certainly are some female fans of the series as well thanks in no small part to its clever writing and funny dialogue.



The story is fairly short for a visual novel, however many branching paths make the game take easily 50-60 hours to reach the true ending which is totally worth it in our opinions. Also some super rare events can occur seemingly randomly due to complex flag algorithms which means to earn all story dialogue and CG's in the first Date Alive title to earn the coveted platinum trophy can take upwards of 100 hours to accomplish just in this particular third of the trilogy!

The audio-visual presentation is nothing short of amazing in this game. The art-style is beautiful with absolutely gorgeous character models, good special effects, and detailed world backdrops. The music is also top-notch and almost always fits the mood of the game at any given moment!



Bottom-Line: With excellent gameplay and an equally good story, a decent amount of content, and an amazing audio-visual presentatio, Date Alive: Rinne Utopia is a superb game that many adult gamers would no doubt thoroughly enjoy and as such we give the game a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #IdeaFactory #CompileHeart #StingEntertainment #VisualNovel #PS4 #Switch #PSN #eShop #Retail

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Time for the NEP NEP Review of SUPER NEPTUNIA RPG!

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 All righty then let’s have some fun with this, first things first, the art style backgrounds of this game are just beautiful; I truly like how everything looks. Now then on we go, Super Neptunia RPG is a side scroller platform type of game but the battles are still turn-based just a little different from the usual. Instead of the usual, those with high speed can attack faster.

This game battle system is set with a circle that fills up and as it does, you can attack depending on how many points of charge it has and how many points each attack does, I haven’t quite figured out what attack uses how many points other than the effect being larger like higher hit damage or higher healing. The story begins as usual in Neptunia game universe, some being going against the goddesses for whatever reason, usually hates them or think goddesses should no longer rule, but after Neptune and the gang lose they lose their memories and powers and wonder about in this new world were goddesses no longer exist.

Slowly they experience living in a 2d world and thanks to a woman named Chrom and Histoire reunite with one another learning of the true nature of this world with its 2d games and how anything of higher quality has been lost or its against the law of a group named Bombyx Morri, so the group has to regain their memories and their power in order to stop them.



Now the battle system isn’t as simple as it sounds since all four characters share the same circle. It means not all of them can attack at once unless you charge enough points to make them all attack. Also, each character has only one attack depending on their position, once you get the other team members they can change positing mid-battle and depending on what position they are in, you press the button for the character you want to take action.

You learn the skill by buying gear and equipping it and learning their skills by gaining skill exp instead of the usual unlock skills by certain levels. There are attack skills, passive skills and skills that add status like regen or blocking certain type of attacks or elements. Also, you need to take into consideration your attacks as well, because if you attack an enemy that has absorb lightning, for example, your meter that charges goes into negative, making you wait even longer to be able to attack. Also, the enemies work the same way.

They have to charge their meter in order to attack, and also, while these fights are technically turn-based, they still run in real time, meaning that if you just leave the meter charging you’re going to get attacked only opening the menu stops the fights. There is also the break skill which is a bar that charges as you attack, it charges faster if you hit an enemy with a weakness.



Once you get the goddess power back you can transform like previous games and they have their own unique break skill when they transform as well. Also you should know that due to the meter charging slow these fights usually take very long but you don’t have to worry because the game offers the feature to press L2 to speed up the fight and depending how hard you press it’s how fast it goes, so if you only want to move the fight a bit faster you only have to slightly press the L2 button or if you in a hurry and just want to end the fight fast then press the whole L2 button to make it go really fast.

Right now there are some audio glitches with the game, which can also be caused by pressing L2, whenever a character attacks, they usually say something but if all enemies die and she’s not done, she will say victory line and then finish saying the line when she was attacking for example Neptune has an ice skill that at the end she says “ice cold”  so if I were to speed up fight it would go something like this “get some, (victory line) you can’t defeat a protagonist duh!, (attack line) ice cold!" so yea that can be a little annoying for some and at the moment it hasn’t been patched yet, same with when everyone levels up at the same time they talk together so you most likely won’t understand what they are saying. Sometimes the background music does glitch up but it’s rare it hasn’t occurred to me that much

Now something I find personally annoying it’s that the npcs in this game are extremely limited in what they have to say, as in you can talk to those who have a quest and they will repeat a little of what they want but most other npcs just say this “…” same with the ones you finish a quest once quest done all they say is “….”, which is weird because npcs have voice acting and they say hello or something of the sort but speech bubble just says “…” and it’s very unusual for an RPG game that has interactable npcs and they say literally nothing.

Something I don’t like is that once you pick up a quest while some do give you enough detail to know what to do, some do not, like where you can find said enemy or item. Same with the story. You get a reminder on top of the screen on what you need to do, but it’s very limited and if you were not paying attention to the story, you might get a little confused because unlike previous games where they give you like a quick summary of what you last did, this game doesn’t. Still, this game is super fun and as usual it’s got the making fun of other series or games thing, I won’t tell you which to not spoil it.



Something that might bother players and honestly it’s really minor, it’s that on occasion the game skips a frame which is strange for the type of game this is but it’s really not a big deal. Sometimes the victory screen kind of glitches out but its only recently starting to happen. I don’t know if it's because of the map, but it’s really minor. Also on some parts of the story, the screen stays black, but it’s not because the game froze it’s just that your suppose to press the x button like if it was continuing a dialogue, but since transition is black you can’t tell.

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Score: ★★★★★★★★½☆ 8.5/10

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#Review #IdeaFactory #PS4 #Retail #PSN #JRPG #Sidescroller

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Labyrinthian Platforming At Its Finest!

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Developed by Nippon Ichi Software and published by NIS America, Lapis x Labyrinth is platformer with RPG elements, great aesthetics, and unique gameplay, but is it worth diving into? We think so and here's why:



The gameplay in Lapis x Labyrinth is absolutely bonkers, but in an ingenious and highly enjoyable way. There are tons of genres crammed into this title ranging anywhere from puzzle to platforming and even JRPG elements and the gameplay elements meld together seamlessly. The story is hilarious and fun as expected from a game developed by Nippon Ichi Software so expect to have an enjoyable romp!



There are a ton different enemies in the game and the bosses are creative and a blast to take down! The controls are intuitive and easy to learn and the game's difficulty is nicely balanced! There are tons of skills and a balanced leveling system that adds a JRPG feel to the game as well.

The audio-visual presentation is superb with gorgeous character and enemy models, gorgeous level designs, and a fantastic soundtrack it's hard to not love this game!



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay, intuitive controls, and a fantastic audio-visual presentation it's hard to not immediately be immersed in Lapis x Labyrinth's amazing world and there's no real negative aspects to the game! Overall we give the game a good to great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★¾☆ 8.75/10

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#Review #NipponIchiSoftware #NISA #PS4 #Retail #PSN #Platformer #Puzzler #Action #JRPG

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Discovery of The Year!

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Developed by Studio Artdink and published by NIS America, Neo Atlus 1469 is a simulation game that tasks you with exploring and mapping the entire world as well as creating trade routes with other nations and more in this thrilling strategy title, but is it worth checking out? We think so and here's why:



Neo Atlas 1469 is a remake of the 1999 classic, Neo Atlus II with an enhanced audio-visual presentation and a bit of extra story content, but is otherwise the same game. The gameplay is fairly straightforward, you must explore the vast and mostly unexplored world and create trade routes while trying to survive natural hazards such as storms, sea monsters, and tsunamis as well as pirates and vessels from enemy nations. This is not easy, but is thoroughly enjoyable despite being somewhat repetitive. The world is randomly generated as you explore it, but luckily if you don't like what generates during a voyage, you can retry to get a desired outcome which is a wonderfully useful feature!

The amount of micro-management in the game is pretty deep, but not to the point of being hardcore in this regard so it's a little more accessible for newcomers or players who aren't used to the genre, than say, Civilization 6 in this regard. The game's length is literally infinite, though once the world is fully explored it's actually much more fun to start a new game. In-terms of a single playthrough most players will probably take between 30 to 50 hours to fully explore the world, perhaps longer if the RNG isn't in your favor which is a reasonable length in our opinions!



The controls work amazingly well so there are no complaints from us there, and the audio-visual presentation is fantastic for a game that is over 20 years old, even if it's a remaster! The visuals are definitely better than the likes of Civilization II, and Sim City 2000 that were released in the same time-frame. The soundtrack is great albeit a bit repetitive as well, but it has aged gracefully!



Bottom-Line: With great gameplay, excellent controls, and a fairly large amount of content, Neo Atlas 1469 for the switch is a superb strategy title that's deep, but not too deep and is accessible to newcomers of the genre! The audio-visual presentation is also superb for a game that was released 20 years ago. For these reasons and more, we give Neo Atlas 1469 for the Nintendo Switch a great level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

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#Review #ArtDink #NISA #Switch #Retail #Strategy #Simulation #Exploration

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Another KEMCO Masterpiece?

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Developed by Exe-Create and published by KEMCO, Sephirothic Stories is an adventure RPG with some interesting mechanics and a great story! Best of all it's the first fully 3D game that KEMCO has released on home consoles. Is it the best KEMCO game we've reviewed? No, but it's still a top-notch game in many aspects and here's why:



The game's story is pretty good even if it's cliche and plays things safe for the most part. The gameplay feels quite interesting despite being very rudimentary. You won't be wowed, but you should enjoy it nonetheless. The game is fairly short, clocking in at under 20 hours in length. The controls are easy to learn which is always a plus.



The audio-visual presentation is where the game struggles alot. The 3D visuals are quite clunky and while I wouldn't call them ugly, Exe-Create needs to put more focus in detail for their next 3D game. The soundtrack is hit and miss, but mostly miss and while the songs are rather unimpressive they aren't bad either which is good at least.



Bottom-Line: With a good story, unique and fun gameplay, and flawless controls, Sephirothic Stories is a worthwhile purchase for any JRPG fan, but a somewhat lackluster audio-visual presentation holds the game back. The jump to 3D is the most noteworthy addition to this KEMCO RPG and is a fun change of pace. In any case we give Sephirothic Stories for the PS4 a solid level of recommendation!

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Score: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 7/10

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#Review #KEMCO #ExeCreate #PS4 #PSN #Switch #eShop #JRPG

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