Hot on the heels of the magnificent Shredder’s Revenge, Konami are re-surfing the half shell renaissance and have had Digital Eclipse gather together these titles in the superb value for money package that is The Cowabunga Collection, and it’s chock full of amphibious action and warm retro nostalgia with a fair strike rate of good to clunker. Not only is it generous in gaming content, but it is stacked with a mind-boggling amount of extras, including stuff that nerds like me really enjoy looking at such as original box and manual art, concept drawings, comic book covers, and even stills from the vintage cartoon show. If I was to moan, it can be quite tiresome going through these due to an annoying delay between each slide, but I was willing to let it go.

As well as the extras, The Cowabunga Collection includes a handy rewind function, and the developer has even hacked into some games to do stuff like make quality of life improvements, allow Game Genie-style cheats and enhancements, or even turn of latent flickering in some of the NES and GB titles. You can also select which regional version of the game you wish to play – and believe me there are differences. It is a seriously impressive effort all round.

There are three main titles here that I suspect most people will reach for first – those being the two arcade based scrolling fighters – the eponymous 1989 original that started it all, and its superb 1991 Turtles In Time sequel; and the superior Street Fighter II clone Tournament Fighters for the Super Nintendo. All three are emulated nicely – and dare I say it in the case of the JAMMA pairing – actually seem a little smoother, with lack of button lag and a slightly less relentless level of difficulty.

The original, which I can remember ploughing a ridiculous amount of 50 pence pieces into (this was an unscrupulous arcade owner cashing in on the Turtles buzz), remains a fun – if repetitive experience as you batter a multicoloured multitude of Foot Clan fodder on your way to the Technodome. Longer, more varied and just much more fun, is the Turtles in Time sequel, which is the best game on the compilation.

In 1993, one on one fighters were ten a penny, both in the arcades and at home. There were a lot of exceedingly poor efforts released in the wake of a certain Capcom mega-hit, which included the polished Tournament Fighters. In its SNES incarnation it is a big, bright, colourful and very fun fighter which matches the four series heroes up against a cast of characters that include familiar foe Shredder, and a whole host of deep cuts from the comics and films. It still plays well to this day, has an early version of the “super move” bar, and it is fun learning the simple and easy to execute movesets. Sure, it pales in comparison to the more combo heavy fighters that preceded it, but just as I was satisfied with my purchase back in the day, I am more than happy to spend some time enjoying this one all over again.

Best of all, the aforementioned trio, along with the Mega Drive corker Hyperstone Heist – can all be played online with friends, which makes even the sometimes-dull repetition of the first game a nostalgic rush. I found it strange that the SNES port of Turtles In Time – included here of course – was not also online-ready. It is a superior version of the game, with more levels, bosses, and some truly outstanding music – as you would expect for a Konami game of the time. Weird.

Joining the four online capable titles in The Cowabunga Collection are a bunch of 8-bit and Game Boy releases. The original TMNT NES game was a curious platformer that is strangely beloved, yet in the cold light of 2022 doesn’t actually do a great deal with the licence and isn’t a fun time. The “sequel” is an impressive stab at the original arcade game, which is a bit of a remix, with the addition of a few new bosses including nefarious fly/scientist Baxter Stockman. Rounding out the NES trio is the fun Manhattan Project, which is more of the same scrolling goodness, with a tonne of baddies from the comic and toy lines, as well as from the Secret of the Ooze movie, which is only notable in my brain because it featured then-WWF wrestler Kevin Nash as Super Shredder. One of the best 8-bit scrolling fighters for me, Manhattan is the king of the NES fare here. Completing the quartet of NES titles is the take on Tournament Fighters which pluckily has a good go of things but like most 8 bit one on one fighters lacks the oomph and power to make it a recommendation.

The three Game Boy titles are best summarised as two basic side scrolling platform fighters, and in the case of Radical Rescue, a seriously impressive proto MetroidVania which brings all of the four Turtle lads and their abilities together to solve puzzles and progress. This one passed me by back in the day, but captured my imagination this time around and is a real gem.

Rounding things off are the aforementioned Hyperstone Heist – a scintillating, fast paced belt scroller which is a kind of scaled back take on Turtles In Time with a more frenetic feel. It really comes into its own with friends. Finally we have the inferior Mega Drive version of Tournament Fighters. It has arguably a better roster of more familiar characters than its SNES counterpart, but is severely lacking in the gameplay stakes and not helped by employing a two button system to the SNES’ four.

As you can see there is much to see and do with The Cowabunga Collection, and whilst the games are arguably all eclipsed by the recent Dotemu reboot, there are still some blinding retro classics and so many extras to enjoy that this collection is a great value trip through your childhood console and arcade memories, showing that for the most part, Konami did the red hot licence justice.

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The LEGO games have always enjoyed a special level of freedom when it comes to storyline. Regardless of which franchise it’s based in, a LEGO game has the privilege of being able to cherry pick the elements it wants from the franchise whole. In-jokes and pop culture references abound throughout each one, but the Marvel ones have the special dispensation to raid not only the MCU but the broader comics universe, too.

As a result you get some characters based on the movie counterparts and others based on whatever TT Games decides. You get the smug, arrogant Tony Stark so uniquely created by Robert Downey Jr in an original storyline alongside the likes of Dr. Doom, Jane Foster, The Fantastic Four, and Wolverine. It begins with the familiar, of course, as the aforementioned Iron Man teams up with Hulk and Spider-Man to take on the likes of Abomination and Sandman.

It feels immediately comfortable to me having played this version when it was originally boosted for release on PlayStation 4. The satisfying rattle and click as you assemble items out of broken piles of LEGO to solve puzzles is just as glorious here as in any title since. Cycling through characters to utilise their unique ability combinations is endlessly fun. Flying around as Thor, hurling Mjolnir at enemies and obstacles doesn’t get old. Neither does swinging through New York as Spider-Man for that matter, or wreaking havoc as Dark Phoenix or Deadpool.

The spread of characters is as impressive as the variety of locations, objectives and set-pieces pulled from the movies and comics. The fact that this also launches with the DLC packs means there are even more heroes to battle against Galactus with. The story is often silly, of course, but does a solid job of mixing in most of the characters and giving you a reason for their inclusion.

Most stages are a mix of light brawling and puzzle solving, asking you to occasionally think your way around a problem. Combat is fun and satisfying as enemies explode in a shower of bricks, but using your selected heroes to overcome environmental conundrums is equally as rewarding. It’s a surprisingly sizeable game, and the trademark LEGO variety prevents it from becoming stale.

It’s just a shame that it’s such a straight port of that original release. After 8 years a host of LEGO titles, it would have been nice to see something added in for the Switch port. That said, it arguably doesn’t need anything. It’s just as playable now as it was then, and the stellar animations and familiar LEGO aesthetic mean you’ll feel immediately comfortable. The low price point of £24.99 doesn’t hurt either.

If you’re a fan of Marvel comics, the MCU, X-Men or, of course, LEGO titles and you missed this one originally, this is a perfect time to rectify that. It was surpassed by its sequel, as is often the way, but in its day this was perhaps the best example of what TT Games could with such a huge source franchise. If you get the chance now, you should absolutely give LEGO Marvel Super Heroes a fair crack.

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Odd is definitely the operative word when talking about the Oddworld series. Packed full of capitalism, dark humour and genocide, the games have shifted in genre and changed their main character multiple times across the four titles. Despite having regular releases over multiple generations, there hasn’t been a new Oddworld game since Stranger’s Wrath in 2005. With a new title coming to PS5 next year, there’s no better time to replay the first game in the series in the form of Oddworld New ‘n’ Tasty on the Switch.

The updated version of the PS1 classic Abe’s Oddysee sees you playing as Abe. Abe’s life (similarly to many of his Mudokon brethren) is a life of slavery, toiling away in a food processing plant that is secretly planning to make his species into the next tasty product. When Abe discovers the fate of the Mudokon, he takes it upon himself to use his unique powers to escape the factory and save as many of his colleagues as possible along the way.

Abe controls in the rigid style of some of the oldest platformers (the 1989 Apple II Prince of Persia for example). He can jump from standing or running, or hop upwards, and every time you input one of these maneuvers the outcome will be identical. Once you jump you have no control over your trajectory, so you’d better be certain you’ll make it to the other side of a pit, or over a landmine. It takes some getting used to this style of movement, but once you do it’s strangely satisfying to use such a limited set of jumps to make it past a tricky section.

Abe has plenty of other tricks up his sleeve to get past the security personnel standing in his path. One of the most unique of these is his ability to possess an enemy by chanting. Taking over a gun-toting guard and walking them into a whirling blade of death is consistently satisfying, and an incredibly effective way of dispatching your oppressors. As strong as this ability sounds, the amount of time required to dominate the mind of an enemy is significant, so you’ll need to find a safe place to chant. There are even some areas that prevent you from chanting at all, with a hefty dose of electricity awaiting you if you try.

The varied environments of Oddworld New ‘n’ Tasty are packed full of traps just waiting to end Abe’s fragile life. Trap doors, proximity mines, motion sensors and more litter the lands, and you’ll need to find way to avoid their danger at all costs. Almost every one of these hazards can be turned on your foes too, with hilarious results. Getting the attention of a guard, only to pull a lever and watch them tumble to their doom is just so pleasing.

Getting rid of these baddies is important, but not as important as rescuing your friends from their capitalist captors. Using Oddworld’s Gamespeak system to communicate was incredibly innovative in 1997, and it’s still pretty charming today. Each direction of the D-pad corresponds to a different phrase you use to talk to your fellow captors. You can say “Hello” to get somebody’s attention, get them to follow you or wait, or just let out a delightful fart to lighten the mood. Once you guide a Mudokon to a circle of birds, you can chant to create a portal for them to escape through, saving them from becoming tinned produce.

No two sections of New ‘n’ Tasty feature the same challenges. Some areas require you to throw grenades to set off traps from afar and blow up enemies, others are full of steam that you’ll need to hide behind. Sometimes you’ll be tasked with riding a wild animal to progress through a desert, other times you’ll need to memorise a string of Gamespeak commands to input a password. The sheer variety is seriously impressive and means that the game feels fresh through it’s 10 hour runtime.

It’s worth mentioning that much like its original release, Oddworld New ‘n’ Tasty is a really tough game. The remake added a few extra checkpoints so death doesn’t feel quite so devastating, but even in the opening hours you’ll die a lot. The precision needed to get past an obstacle course of blades and explosives may be off putting for some. Even the puzzles are tough to navigate, and you’ll often be plopped into a room of traps with only your wits (and plenty of respawns) to help you escape.

As much as I love the original Oddworld, the Switch port of the game is one of the worst versions technically. The framerate suffers on the Switch, and in a couple of the busier visual sections, it really takes a hit. One of these sections is the opening 10 minutes of the game, which is the most unfortunate first impression. When this happens, the camera feels juddery as it follows Abe (especially when running) and the end result left my head hurting. The vast majority of the game is much more playable, but it’s such a shame that areas have this issue.

Oddworld New ‘n’ Tasty is the perfect way to experience the start of the Oddworld series, but the Switch port is not the version I’d recommend from a technical standpoint. It still feels satisfying when you manage to maneuver Abe through a hallway of deathtraps, all while saving a friend or two, but the framerate issues make this a tough port to stomach.

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ibb & obb is purely a two-player cooperative game, meaning that if you don’t have another person with you, you won’t be playing the game. Once you have a willing participant you can choose between the title characters (ibb is a green blob with legs and obb a pink blob with legs) and begin your platforming adventure.

The two player platforming means you’ll be jumping and boosting off each other constantly to navigate the obstacles of the world, and good communication is key. To complicate matters, ibb & obb is split into a surface level and a reverse gravity upside down level. Using barriers to switch sides (and often ensuring one of your blobs with legs is on each side) will help you avoid obstacles and danger as you travel to the right to victory.

ibb & obb is full of hazards from the get go. Enemies exist in both of the game’s gravitational planes, but on one side they will always be vulnerable to being defeated by a single touch. As you have no means to attack an enemy outside of touching it’s weak white side, avoidance is the name of the game. If either you or your partner make contact with the deadly black side of an enemy, you’ll both disintegrate and have to start at one of the game’s (thankfully very forgiving) checkpoints.

Switching sides and gravity is a really fun mechanic to centre the game around, and finding the best way to navigate an enemy heavy section does require some thinking, as well as a little trial and error. Some of the mysterious gates you use to switch sides are coloured green or pink, meaning that only ibb or obb respectively can go through, which leads to some lonely moments where you’ll need to travel separately. Alongside the gates you’ll also find bounce pads. If your partner is on the other side of one and you land on it, your momentum will be transferred straight into them as they go soaring through the air. Utilising every aspect of the environment, and manipulating gravity at every opportunity is the only to traverse the world ahead of you.

The actual levels in ibb & obb are incredibly stylish, with colourful background objects and beautiful skies that fade from one gorgeous shade to another. Alongside these aesthetically pleasing areas, you’ll also find a variety of charmingly shaped friends on your adventure. Not only do these allies add to the visual appeal of the world, but they can also aid you in traversing the landscape as a handy living platform.

There are two main methods of playing ibb & obb, with individual Switch consoles, or with a joycon each. The controls are simple enough that a single joycon is a more than functional way to provide a control stick and a jump button. You do need another person available to play with you to enjoy ibb & obb, but with a fairly short runtime of around 5 hours you could feasibly beat the game in one wild weekend session.

ibb & obb is an incredible enjoyable and utterly charming local multiplayer experience. Thinking through how to overcome it’s various gravity defying obstacles, and applying your plan successfully feels truly rewarding. As long as you have a pal to team up with and laugh at appropriately, you’ll find yourself having hours of fun dying repeatedly and blaming each other.

Originally this review stated there was no online functionality. This isn’t the case and we apologise for the error.

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Switch Re:port covers the Nintendo Switch port/version of a game newly released on the platform. Originally released on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in 2013 and scored 8/10.

Six years is a long time in the West. Indeed, it seems like Gunslinger’s protagonist Silas Greaves can pick off some of the Wild West’s most notorious outlaws and bandits in that time. He achieved much in just over half a decade. It’s interesting to see whether Call of Juarez: Gunslinger has aged as well in the same period since it launched back in the last console generation.

The positives are still here for everyone to enjoy. It was a decent looking game when it launched, with its pseudo-cel-shaded graphical effect standing the test of time, even if textures do look a little outdated. The level design is varied as you progress through caverns, forests, mountains and those infamously-robbed trains of the time. Action-wise the shooting feels impactful, and the combo points system for multiple kills ramps up the adrenaline and makes you feel like a badass cowboy when you pull them off.

Nintendo’s portable console brings gyro aiming into the mix which works well, especially when coupled with the game’s Concentration mechanic – essentially bullet time. Being able to quickly and accurately move and take down enemies one by one is both satisfying and well-executed if you pardon the pun. The gyro aiming even in normal time felt in control, allowing you to nab those all-important headshot kills either in Story Mode, or the time-limited Arcade mode.

The niggles from the original game also creep through, and some feel more noticeable thanks to the passage of time. The draw distance is a problem, leading to noticeable pop-in of scenery, especially when the camera and mission objectives are forcing you to look into the far horizon. And no amount of gyro controls can overcome the frustration of not knowing whether an enemy that you can see poking out from cover is able to be shot or not. This is thanks to poor hitboxes on occasion and invisible walls around cover scenery that extends beyond the visible boundaries. If anything it feels more irritating now, given the gyro controls, and that’s a real shame.

But, despite that, it’s still a fun game to play, much like the original. The voice acting feels like it’s taken right out of a Western, making it feel immersive and believable. The story is bonkers, but that’s fine because it’s all action and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It isn’t perfect, but for those who missed the original, this is a good port of a decent Western action shooter that doesn’t outstay its welcome.

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Without getting into spoilers, Trails of Cold Steel II picks up right after the events of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. Unlike the original that focused more on the school aspect, everything is bigger and grander here with airships and more. Most of the characters you love are here and it is great to hear more voice acting. Pacing is still the same as the original release, but the addition of turbo mode helps a lot. At this point with both games released on multiple systems, it is best to count Trails of Cold Steel I and II as two parts of the same super long game.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II on PS4 has all the improvements of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel on PS4. This includes drastically better performance and visuals compared to the PS3 and PS Vita versions. I’ve only played a bit on PS3 and mostly stuck to PS Vita for both Cold Steel releases and the difference in performance and visuals is massive.

In terms of core story content, this is the same game available on PS3, PS Vita, and even PC. The PS4 version has a lot of the important features that were in the PC release like turbo mode that speeds things up (more so in battles) which is one of the best additions to a remaster ever. After using turbo outside battles for even a few minutes, it feels hard to go back. You can toggle this at anytime as well. In combat, it is a game changer. The whole experience just feels a lot better thanks to this. The combat system is still a great blend between the Materia system in Final Fantasy VII and Grandia’s nice aspects.

It isn’t a Falcom review without heavy praise for the music. Trails of Cold Steel II has amazing music that you will never tire of listening to. In terms of audio, the big draw for a lot of fans with this PS4 release is the addition of not only dual audio (the PS3 and PS Vita releases only have English voice acting), but the addition to the massive extra voiced content that was added for the English voice track on PC. XSEED really went all out with this release and I’m glad to see Trails of Cold Steel II finally see a definitive release with all content for a low asking price.

While the visual issues with Trails of Cold Steel II are similar to those in the original with things still feeling designed for handhelds, this release has a performance issue. The frame rate on PS4 Pro tanks in some situations. It doesn’t look like this will be patched either which is disappointing. Unlike the first game, Trails of Cold Steel II has a mostly stable frame rate of 60fps but it isn’t perfect thanks to those drops.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II on PS4 is the best value proposition for this game on any platform. It is a massive improvement over the PS3 and PS Vita version and it even includes some unexpected things like dual audio. XSEED Games definitely went the extra mile for this release not only in terms of game content, but also for the physical release. It is disappointing that the performance issues will not be fixed, but this is still the best way to play the game on console. With Trails of Cold Steel III out this September, now is the best time to jump into the series with both previous entries being available on PS4 at a low asking price. Trails of Cold Steel I and Trails of Cold Steel II are essentials for any JRPG fan.

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The one question I get asked with almost every Nihon Falcom game review is can someone start with this game? Yes, you absolutely can start with The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel on PS4. In fact, you might want to do it since Cold Steel II will arrive in a few months on PS4 and Cold Steel III is due this Fall. While most people know Falcom for the superlative Ys franchise, there’s a ton to love with Trails of Cold Steel and Trails in the Sky. Hopefully Falcom or another developer licenses the Sky games to port them to current consoles in the future.

Trails of Cold Steel is set in the Erebonian Empire and is a very long game that has a story that isn’t just concluded in the follow up, but one that lasts 4 full games. Social classes are still prevalent with tension brewing across the land. Class VII is where you come into the picture as Rean Schwarzer who is the protagonist. He is complemented by colourful classmates who have their own unique personalities and traits. Trails of Cold Steel is one of the rare games where talking to every NPC is worth your time. The localisation is beyond superb. The amount of care put into even the smallest details is shocking.

In terms of core story content, this is the same game available on PS3, PS Vita, and even PC. The PS4 version has a lot of the important features that were in the PC release like turbo mode that speeds things up (more so in battles) which is one of the best additions to a remaster ever. After using turbo outside battles for even a a few minutes, it feels hard to go back. You can toggle this at anytime as well. In combat, it is a game changer. The initial prologue battles last under a minute now. The combat system is still a great blend between the Matera system in Final Fantasy VII and Grandia’s nice aspects.

You probably know how much I love Falcom Sound Team JDK’s music by now. I still consider them some of the best and most versatile composers out there. Trails of Cold Steel has a superb soundtrack and I never grew tired of listening to it. The big draw for a lot of fans is the addition of not only dual audio (the PS3 and PS Vita releases only have English voice acting), but the addition to the massive extra voiced content that was added for the English voice track on PC. XSEED really went all out with this release and I’m glad to see Trails of Cold Steel finally see a definitive release.

The only real flaw in this release is that since this was originally designed for PS3 and PS Vita, it looks quite dated in many areas even when running at 4K. Every other issue I had with the PS Vita version has been addressed here. One nifty addition is the ability to transfer your PS Vita or PS3 save to the PS4 version and pick right up. The one downside to this is you can’t transfer it back to either old version of the game. The cross save is a one way sync and while it isn’t ideal, it is another welcome addition.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel on PS4 is the best value proposition for this game on any platform. It is a massive improvement over the PS3 and PS Vita version and it even includes some unexpected things like dual audio. When I picture what I’d want for a remaster or port of a game I love, XSEED delivered in spades with this release. It even has a SteelBook with the physical release. I can’t wait to replay Trails of Cold Steel II when it releases on PS4 before Trails of Cold Steel III sees a release in the West later this year. I will never hesitate to go back to a game with these fantastic characters.

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If you’ve no clue why the name is beyond insane, well this is the ultimate version of a fighter that existed on PS3 and PC that was already an enhanced release of an arcade release in Japan. You’re probably wondering why anyone would release a fighting game this close to Dragon Ball FighterZ and even Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. I was shocked at the release date for this as well but after playing it, there’s definitely a niche for this kind of anime fighter. When I mentioned getting into the stuff Arc System Works is involved with, despite owning every single BlazBlue game and playing through the story modes, I haven’t actually had fun playing it as a fighter. Guilty Gear has been my go to game but BlazBlue just never clicked with me.

UNIST (the acronym for this game) hooked me in real good once I started spending time training and getting into the various systems at play here. In fact it feels like a nice middle ground between the Street Fighters and the anime fighters available today. In fact, despite its somewhat flashy (at least in animations) visuals during the crazier moments, it is relatively simple to get into. Meter management plays a big part of your learning here. There’s a GRD system here that can be molded into various things like a damage boost or you can use it to get out of sticky situations, but it isn’t something you can rely on to comeback or easily turn the tide of the current match. The tutorial while not as nice as the Revelator one that basically is the gold standard, does a great job. It is very detailed and teaches you everything from the absolute basics to Chain Shifts and mastering the GRD system. In addition to this, there’s a combo challenge mode and the usual modes you’d expect like survival mode and score and time attack modes.

Instead of just having a traditional arcade mode with 10 battles and a light story, there’s a whole visual novel like story mode called Chronicles that is split up by characters. Each character segment has its own chapters and I didn’t expect this to be interesting let alone long. It is meaty enough to satisfy me for what I look for in anime fighter story modes, but visually it is it sadly inconsistent. Spending time with any in game mode usually rewards you with currency you can use to unlock cosmetics for use online or different colours for characters. There’s also a gallery that has various promo videos, openings, and static art for the game and characters.

I’m a big fan of nice sprite work in fighters and I love the stuff on display here. The characters themselves are quite different from each other, but the animations and arenas are very slick. The environments are forgettable, but I expected that going into a game with what definitely has a lower budget than other Arc titles. The only real complaint I have with visuals is how the portraits themselves in the story mode visual novel sections and the portraits on near the health gauges look low resolution. In a lot of ways this feels like a barebones port of a PS3 game when it comes to visuals at least. The main menu is also very poorly thought out. You just have a list of everything together with no segregation.

Voice acting here is all in Japanese. Given how bigger titles like BlazBlue Central Fiction didn’t get a dub, I’m not surprised by the lack of one here. Raito’s soundtrack is really great. Even background music during stages is good but the highlight is the character battle themes and the opening music for sure. The problem here lies in the localization. There are some situations with broken sentence fragments and what feels like a direct translation without any thought to how things fit in context to the scene.

If you’ve been playing and sticking to fighting game franchises like Street Fighter only, this might be a great way to dip your toes into the anime fighting world mechanically at least. The biggest thing working against it right now is the release date as far as I’m concerned. The few games I managed to play online during the review period were mostly lag free. There was one that was a slow motion teleportation fest but the rest were ok. Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] is a mechanically sound fighter and it may be my favourite Arc System Works fighter outside the Guilty Gear Xrd series. Hopefully this being on PS4 along with cross play across PS3 and worldwide servers will see it getting a decent community online.

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Like every episode prior we begin pretty much where we left off in the last one with our team of friends emerging back into the world near Beacon Town. Things have taken quite the turn in Jesse’s absence with the town undergoing a major restructure including a huge floating palace in the sky. The Admin has taken on the form of Jesse and has been ruling Beacon Town with an iron fist. The residents have been subjugated and are now living under a tyrannical regime, fearful of the Jesse imposter and what he might do.

Friendship has been a recurring theme that runs through season two; we have had Jesse upset that Axl and Olivia aren’t around as much any more, Radar is desperate to please and befriend Jesse and there has been more than a few moments where Petra has lamented that Jesse’s time as leader of Beacon Town means that he isn’t around to go adventuring with her as much any more. Friendship is also a key component to Romeo, the Admin’s personality. Over the course of the season we have learned that he hasn’t always been alone, there were two other Admins who were his friends, but something went wrong between them and he killed one and imprisoned the other. In his guise as Jesse, Romeo is keen to establish friendly ties with all of Jesse’s friends, including the absent Axl and Olivia who we find in Beacon Town. He constantly remarks what a great friend he is and demands very public displays of friendship from Axl and Olivia.

I’ve often wondered why the first season went to such great lengths to set Jesse up with a core group of friends that included Axl and Olivia to then pretty much cast them aside after the culmination of the Wither Storm story. It felt odd then, and it feels odd to see them back in this episode playing a relatively key role in helping Jesse to regain control of Beacon Town and defeat the Admin. It appears over time in their absence that Olivia has got a new voice actress; she doesn’t appear to be voiced by Martha Plimpton any longer which is a shame and is particularly jarring when you first hear her speak. I speculate that this is perhaps why Olivia in particular hasn’t featured much over the latter part of season one and all of season two and as such I question why Axl and Olivia even needed to be in this episode at all. The writers have done so much to make them irrelevant in previous episodes that their appearance here acts purely as a means to hammer home the plot points about friendship which could have been achieved either way without them. The same too could be said about the ridiculous appearance of Ivor as a stealth ninja, other than for comedic effect of course.

The action ramps up quite a bit in Above and Beyond with a fair amount of fighting one on one with Romeo. The battles are particularly QTE ladened, but as always due to the intended audience the window for error is pretty wide. I will say though, that the violence in this episode seemed to stand out a lot more for me than in previous ones. The way that Jesse deals with Romeo in the finale is particularly violent and there was a scene very late on where one character breaks the neck of another that I felt was a little over the top in a game that is largely aimed at young children.

In the previous episode I complained about audio issues a fair amount, this episode thankfully runs very smoothly and in actual fact features another great soundtrack. The accompanying music at the beginning reveal of Beacon Town under the rule of the Admin had a very faint hint of Flash Gordon which I found interesting especially when considering that Romeo’s floating palace bears a not too dissimilar look to Mingo City from the early 80s cult classic. Why this comparison, I have no idea, but it amused me nevertheless.

Overall I liked episode five, it is a definite improvement on the previous installment, however despite being very action-packed it lacked a lot of the humour of earlier episodes in the season. Tonally it seemed a bit off as well, particularly in the depiction of the violence that the characters inflict on each other. Previously this had been restricted to only battling the various mob enemies that Minecraft has, but the way that Jesse defeats Romeo feels a little heavy handed (quite literally!). The ending epilogue scene does manage to top and tail the season very well with a reference to Radar becoming the Hero in Residence which I thought was a neat touch, and the final choice between Jesse and Petra felt particularly fitting considering the over-arching theme of friendship. There was a certain sense of finality to Above and Beyond which felt good, but it was also left open for perhaps a season three so this may well not be the last time we see Jesse and friends.

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I think part of my issue with Below the Bedrock is that there isn’t any menacing baddie for our crew of heroes to pit themselves against in this episode. Romeo, we are told is above ground in Beacontown in the guise of Jesse and up to all sorts of trouble. He doesn’t make an appearance in this episode and it feels poorer for it. The story is very much an extended fetch quest, and while there are a couple of exciting action-packed sections to it, much of it consists purely of conversations with people of the underneath world, and a few scenes where the adventurers are travelling via minecart to different destinations.
 
There are a few sections that try some new things though. Over in Fred’s fortress there is a trivia contest that demands that players really pay attention to what the characters are saying to them. And there is an exciting action scene in Romeo’s town which requires a bit of problem solving to be successful, but these two scenes feel fairly sparse in the two hour episode.
 
Other elements of the story feel disjointed and out of place. There is a section that introduces a strange group of people that promptly disappear never to be seen again, although this may well be dependant on a story choice made a few seconds prior. And there is a reappearance of an old character that we haven’t seen for ages that feels totally at odds with what is happening. He appears, conveniently provides Jesse with an item required to return over ground, and leaves again with only a really tenuous explanation as to why he was even there in the first place.

 
The disjointed nature of the narrative is further exacerbated by some really quite serious audio issues that plagued my play through. The worst of which was in the section where you enter the trivia competition. In this area you must speak with different characters to learn some personal details about the former admin, Fred. During one of these scenes, after performing the actions that would open up the character to trust me enough to part with the information, the sound dropped entirely and I didn’t hear the answer. Fortunately, the sound returned and Jesse repeated what she had told me otherwise I would never have known the detail. Sound issues have been fairly common across every episode, but they generally take the form of a bit of stuttering, having a whole section go silent is very poor indeed and further emphasises the need for Telltale Games to update their engine.
 
It isn’t all bad, there are continuing themes that have run right through this season that get some satisfying progression. Firstly, Radar the overly needy and cowardly side-kick has had a pleasing arc over the course of the four episodes and he gets his moment to shine towards the end of Below the Bedrock. Furthermore, the ongoing notion of friendship and how that changes over time gets some more meat added to it in the form of a surprisingly tender moment between Petra and Jesse. It is a shame though, that these moments weren’t part of a more interesting and exciting episode overall.
 
Below the Bedrock is a disappointing episode, particularly on the back of the mostly excellent Jailhouse Block. It feels like a tricky middle episode despite being the penultimate one in this particular season.  The action sequences continue to be a lot of fun, and there are some nice moments with characters both old and new, it’s just a shame that it feels nothing more than filler in preparation for what I hope will be an action-packed finale.

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Jailhouse Block begins where Giant Consequences left off with Jesse being cast down into the depths of the Nether into mysterious location that we soon discover is a Prison of some sorts. I am continually amused at this series’ ability to constantly mine the source material for ideas and the Prison block is a great source. I’ve never actually played on one of the community built and maintained “Prison Servers” but the ideas and principles of those heavily administrated servers are carried forward into this episode and work very well with the idea of the overarching baddie being an “Admin”. There are plenty of areas where downtrodden “Guests” have to perform various activities within the prison and all within very strict parameters – the most obvious one being that no-one should have a sword in their inventory.

The episode is jam packed with action which is great to see, and there are more opportunities to build and craft as well as some simple problem solving with a sequence of levers. I am very much enjoying these more interactive episodes as previous instalments always felt a little dry in this aspect. By allowing some of the more creative aspects of Minecraft to filter through into the heavily scripted events maintains the illusion that there is some freedom and scope for playing through how you wish. I am yet to be convinced, however that the moments where the pop-up detailing that your story is changing have any meaningful significance to where Jesse and her friends end up.

Despite being an action filled episode, there are some quieter moments where Jesse can talk to different people within the prison to find out a bit more about what is going on and who the Admin is. These quieter moments actually work really well and help forge some developing characteristics for Jesse and her friends. In particular I have enjoyed watching Radar’s character change and grow in the light of constant support and encouragement from Jesse. Again, I am unsure whether this was always the path that Radar would walk on, but this episode further maintains the illusion that your choices for Jesse have had a direct impact on Radar.

Minecraft: Story Mode is predominately a series for children, but there are some great jokes in Jailhouse Block aimed at the adults who will be playing along with their young ones. I chuckled along at a few visual gags a couple of times and there are some great one liners from a few characters. Jack, my new favourite character, makes an appearance and continues to delight me with his heroic bravado shtick.

A particular stand-out in this episode for me was the music. I haven’t noticed it in any great detail before, but it works exceptionally well in Jailhouse Block. There is an extended sequence of peril for Jesse and Jack as they run from a variety of hideous zombies and creeper/spider hybrids, and the music that accompanies it is suitably tense with lots of synthesized bass that communicates very well the excitement and danger of what they are doing. Whilst the soundtrack was exceptional, there were a few audio issues I experienced with character dialogue merging with other characters almost like the the speed at which some conversations were being played out wasn’t quite in sync with each other. It happened on a few occasions and was just enough to be distracting. The audio issues were once again a reminder that I really wish Telltale Games would update their engine for these story games.

The only criticism of Jailhouse Block is the extremely abrupt ending. It felt like the episode had just reached it’s flow and then it was over. I understand the need for a cliffhanger, but it wasn’t even that, there was a brief glimpse of some glowing eyes and then it ends. I am keen to see where Jesse goes next, and in particular who the mysterious Prisoner X turns out to be – an ally or another baddie Jesse will need to overcome.

Jailhouse Block is another strong episode, it feels much more action packed than any episode has been across both seasons which is great. The story is developing into a fun and interesting one and I am pleased at the direction of the characters. For now the façade that choice is an option continues with the growth of Radar as a character and a I am very much looking forward to episode four.

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Once the colossus has been vanquished a new enemy appears, this time in the form of a snowman. It turns out that it is still the Admin and now he has used his powers of control over the world to plunge Beacontown and the surrounding area into a state of eternal night with all the dangers that darkness brings in the world of Minecraft.
 
I very much like this idea of the enemy being a server admin, as a conceit it amuses me greatly to see him use a clock to set time to night, and introduce new parameters for our band of heroes to overcome. In this particular episode, Jesse and friends are tasked with recovering the clock from the Admin’s Ice Palace, an imposing structure filled with games and traps to complete. He sets a task for Jesse to be the “winner” and to recover the clock first. By doing so he will partner with him and together they will be all powerful.
 
I talked briefly about the introduction of the new character Jack from the first episode, and I’m pleased to see that he is back in this episode. He is very well written with some amusing dialogue, and he is joined in this episode by the Admin with some very amusing one liners. The introduction of these new characters brings me again to wonder why the early stages of Minecraft Story Mode went to such lengths to introduce Axl and Olivia to us to then completely disregard them for new characters early on in the first season. One can only assume there were issues with the obtaining time with the actors who voice the characters, but it seems odd that they have been cast off – a point that the writers attempt to address in this episode with a touching moment filled with existential crisis between Petra and Jesse.
 
The events in Giant Consequences are a lot of fun and I particularly like that in this episode and with the new season so far there is a lot more emphasis on crafting and elements that make up the source material. The opportunity to rebuild Reuben’s memorial statue in any way that you saw fit with the limited materials supplied to you was a nice touch.

 
The pacing of Giant Consequences is significantly improved on the previous episode with the story whipping along at a good pace. There are still moments where the characters are just filling for time, but I can start to see a thread emerging between Petra and Jesse that is interesting, and the theme of friendship and all that entails is taking shape. There are a few cool action sequences that will delight younger players as well; a fight with huge hybrid snow iron golems being a particular highlight which itself followed a really fun fairground shooting range scene.
 
Giant Consequences is a better episode than A Hero in Residence, moving along at a greater pace and with more purpose than the more meandering narrative of the first episode. The new Admin baddie is amusing and I look forward to seeing what other Machiavellian antics he has for our friends to tackle in the next episode.

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As this is season two you have the option to bring over your save game from the first season which will incorporate the choices you made throughout the eight episodes. It is a nice touch and ensures a little continuity between seasons, albeit a very light touch approach. If you don’t have a save file handy you can create a back story to flesh out your characters a little bit. I’ll admit that having this refresher at the start helped to bring these characters and their stories back to the forefront as I had forgotten a couple of the key choices I had made, and although the illusion of choice is always ready to be exposed in TellTale games, it was nice to have some of those decisions reflected back to me at the start of the game.

The first season of Minecraft: Story Mode started off strong with a good story about the threat of the Wither Storm, but over the course of the eight episodes and after the conclusion of the threat of the Wither Storm, things kind of got a little stale with self-contained stories that didn’t always hit the mark. It seems that with this episode the ideas, certainly at the beginning, seem to have dried up with a first half of the game being very slow. We are introduced again to Jesse, and his/her friends Axl and Olivia who featured heavily at the start of season one, only to never be seen again towards the end of the season. Sadly, these two are cast aside again very quickly which is an enormous waste of the vocal talent of the likes of Martha Plimpton in particular who plays Olivia, and makes me wonder why they even featured in the first place.

Themes of friendship run deeply through Minecraft: Story Mode and this is continued with a small sub-plot between Jesse and Petra, the fearless adventurer that joins Jesse, Axl and Olivia at the start of season one. Things have become a little strained between Jesse and her, mainly down to Jesse’s new found responsibilities as the leader of Beacon Town. The story begins with knowledge that the town is to celebrate its foundation with a huge event, and walking around the town on the way to meet Petra, it is clear that Jesse is a big favourite with the townspeople. He is continually distracted by calls from the residents to judge their builds, or assist in the design. Within the town there is a repeat appearance of popular YouTubers, StampyCat and StacyPlays with mixed success. I say mixed success, because I find the presence of these two characters jarring, but they are a useful reminder that this series is not aimed at me, but rather the legion of young fans that Minecraft attracts.

The meandering around town and the subsequent meet up with Petra make for a very slow start to the story, and as it progresses, it almost feels like it wasn’t needed at all. Thankfully, once the main thrust of what this season will be about gets going the episode itself starts to pick up. We are introduced to a new character called Jack who is really funny, and made me chuckle several times during the latter chapters of the episode, and I hope that he will feature much more.

To make up for the slow start the end stages of the episode really ramp up with some interesting locations and an action packed finale. Quick Time Events are used extensively throughout the episode, from being chased by a swarm of cave spiders to dodging the attacks of the enemy at the end. In keeping with the intended audience of Minecraft: Story Mode these QTE events are very generous, with exception of one right at the end that has a ridiculously short time frame and resulted in me failing it a couple of times, which seemed at odds with the rest.

There are some neat little narrative tricks in the story, with a sly reference to the idea of a mysterious being called “The Admin” who is responsible for all the structures that appear in the world. As well as repeated references to Lukas who is busy writing the story of the Order of the Stone. This meta-fiction technique amused me, and I would like to see if it continues throughout the season as it could lead to some interesting ideas being presented.

Season two adds in a new feature called Crowd Play that allows family and friends watching the game being played to partake in the choices made. This wasn’t something that I tried out, but I thought it was an interesting way to engage people in the story being told. There are also some changes that have been made to the points in the story where decisions lead to different branching narratives with a direct notification that the “story is changing” at that point. Choice has always been a bit of an illusion in Telltale Games, but it does serve to remind the player that there is some mileage in replaying to see what else happens.

Overall, Hero in Residence isn’t quite the start to season two I would have expected. The start is a little too plodding and pointless, however it does end very well. Jesse and his/her friends continue to be a likeable bunch with the voice acting throughout the episode consistently high. Some narrative quirks and an interesting new enemy means that episode two could be very interesting indeed.

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As narratives go, Spirit of Sanada maintains a pretty straight-faced and easy-going approach throughout, without being too dramatic or oppressive. It isn’t bad in any way, it’s just that the game’s primary focus is elsewhere. Masayuki and his family aren’t the most developed set of characters that you’re ever going to meet, but when their main job is to kick backsides and take names, they don’t necessarily have to be.
 
Unsurprisingly, the combat is the big draw here. Fans of Dynasty Warriors, of which Spirit of Sanada is a double spin-off of, will likely feel right at home thanks to the hack-n-slash nature of combat. It’s particularly exaggerated, a bit silly and somewhat satisfying,with each strike throwing your enemies either into the air or further away from your good self. The impact of charged and special attacks is even more enjoyable, with your foes tossed up into the air like ragdolls in zero gravity. It’s silly, non-bloody violence; the grunts you come up against offer barely any resistance, and are essentially fodder to boost your KO chain, but the emphasis is on fun here, and it works. Even though battles have time limits, it never feels like you don’t have long enough to accomplish your goals.
 
You’re not expected to take out all of the enemies on offer in the game’s decently-sized areas, which is just as well as they can frequently number over several thousand. The game instead encourages you to explore each map, uncover sub-objectives like battling lieutenants, pick up materials and eventually take down a boss, thus ending the battle. These large-scale fights will slowly get more complicated as you delve further into the game, with the ability to control multiple characters, issue commands to attack specific targets and unleash stratagems to strengthen either yourself or your troops added into the equation. Traversing each map is made easy thanks to the addition of a horse, who will remain nonchalant and utterly unfazed as you chop down hundreds of people right next to it, whilst awaiting your next command obediently. Cracking steed.

 
Away from battle, time is spent in your hub doing standard RPG stuff; fishing, item upgrading, crafting and training. It’s a nice change of pace from combat, with the ability to slash enemies repeatedly and mercilessly nicely juxtaposed by the fact that you can give presents to the other members of your clan. Would your son like a dandelion, a stick, or a wolf pelt, perhaps? Everyone’s too polite to say anything other than thank you, at least, even if you don’t give them their favourite type of item. All of these things and more can be picked up from previous areas that you’ve explored, with exploration outside of main story battles encouraged as a means of gaining loot, and then using said loot to upgrade your abilities, like attack, reach etc with your chosen weapon. Fishing feels disappointingly basic, given that your input is a simple, quick button prompt when you’ve got something hooked, but it’s nice to have it there at all. The addition of museums that house the game’s cutscenes, soundtrack and a comprehensive index that chronicles every character, place and minute element of this world is a nice touch, too, given that the game’s plot can get a little convoluted.
 
Spirit of Sanada doesn’t feel particularly tough to get into; even if you don’t have an interest in the narrative, the basic principle of a game handing you a weapon and a seemingly unending supply of enemies and prodding you to have some fun isn’t tough to wrap your head around. What it loses due to the quality of its visuals, it makes up for with a consistent framerate, colourful style and good performance, which is impressive given how often the sheer multitude of the things happening on screen borders on the ridiculous. As action RPGs with plenty to offer and fun combat go, Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada will likely quench your thirst for throwing fools up into the air whilst making you feel like a historical badass in the process.

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You have your usual versus modes, but what really blew me away in both Revelator and Rev 2 is the tutorial and mission mode. The tutorial relies on various mini-games and objectives for you to accomplish in a stage. You aren’t just shown an attack or combo and told to execute it on an opponent. There are balloons, moving mini opponents (Jack O servants), and multiple obstacles here. I love the way the tutorial is more interactive and the inputs are colour coded getting you used to the buttons slowly if you aren’t familiar with Guilty Gear Xrd. I’d recommend doing the tutorial even if you’ve played Sign just to see how well done it is. I wish more fighting games had tutorials this good. The next step is the mission mode. This goes above and beyond the tutorial and teaches you how to respond to certain attacks and how to execute advanced moves. This helps you learn how to react when you play against a real person. I can’t believe Arc System Works actually put in a mode that helps you learn to react to various things you might experience online or offline.
 
You’re probably wondering how online mode is for a game that already packs so much single player content at this stage. Well, the online mode allows for massive 64 player lobbies and has ranked matches as well. What really stands out is the lobby system that has you moving around as a small figure in a garden that is surrounded by various game system setups where other people’s online avatars are playing. There’s a fish pond in the middle that lets you use in game currency you have earned to unlock various unlocks for media, colours, and more. In my time pre-release and post-release I had no problem finding lobbies filled with players and even tried playing people far away from me. The netcode is really great just like it was in Revelator.

 
The world of 2.5D anime fighters is pretty crowded and the move to Unreal Engine has allowed for some super stylish character models to be complemented with some really great effects starting with Xrd Sign. It may not be Injustice 2, but I adore the look and performance of Rev 2. Everything from the varied instant kills to the basic idle animations feels polished and looks great.
 
Daisuke Ishiwatari also composed some of the best fighting game music ever with the Xrd games. The soundtrack for Rev 2 is by far the best I’ve heard in a fighting game even above the awesome Persona 4 Arena soundtracks. I may dislike those games, but the music is superb. The new opening “Break A Spell” is also a welcome addition.

 
My main problem with Rev 2 is something that has remained from Revelator. Xrd Sign has a very nice English dub and both releases since then have dropped English voice acting and only retained the Japanese voice acting. This isn’t bad if you’ve always used that, but I got used to characters with the English voice acting and still will not forgive Arc System Works and the publisher for this. I am yet to find another flaw with Rev 2 for newcomers. One small interface related complaint is I found no way to disable the player two text on the top right of the screen while playing single player against the CPU. I wish I could disable this from ruining my screenshots and captured footage. After three games you’d think they would let you do this.
 
If you own Revelator already though, you’re probably wondering if this is worth an upgrade. Not only do you get a few new stages and two new characters in the form of Baiken and Answer who play amazing, but you also have various balance changes made to the complete roster. Many characters play very differently and you also get a superb new opening theme. The subtle changes to working with your meter encourage a more offensive play style which I really like. The real value in the budget standalone release is for new players though. They are getting far too much quality content for the asking price.  If you missed out on the Revelator DLC characters, you get them when you upgrade to Rev 2 as well. The asking price isn’t much for a rebalance, new stages, and new characters.
 
I hope more people give this series a chance. It’s funny how a nice looking limited edition got me into one of the best fighting game series out there. I’ve had a blast playing online and offline and will be playing this for a long time unlike certain other fighting games. Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 is a league above most of the competition in every aspect and one of the best fighting games available today.

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Instead of being restricted to a more rural setting like in Persona 4, you have the big city of Tokyo and various districts within at your disposal. Many are unlocked through story segments and side activities. Safe to say, the busy streets of Tokyo through the likes of Akihabara and Shibuya are super fun to explore with the strikingly gorgeous art style displayed here. You play as a high school student, but there’s a twist. You’re actually serving probation in a new city and in a new high school after a tiff with the law previously. This is even reflected into the Velvet Room that is a place that exists between dreams and reality. You serve as an inmate in a prison with Caroline and Justine serving as wardens with Igor calling the shots. After Persona Q, it is great to see Igor back.

Given how this is a singleplayer experience and the story plays a major part in the experience, I’m not going to spoil anything. While the plot in previous entries has been mature, the overall feel has sort of evened things out. Not only are things taken a step further thematically here, but the way the story and overarching narrative come together really impressed me. You get to see how success and failure change certain characters you thought you knew well and how things like suicide and abuse change others. There are no punches pulled and it is impressive to see certain sensitive subjects dealt with such care here. There’s a sense of community created with the members of the Phantom Thieves (your party and friends) who all feel like outcasts in society or from their own families. I really enjoyed the presentation of the story in a very unorthodox manner initially. Things of course all make sense later on. There are multiple endings and the true ending is a perfect conclusion to the tale of the Phantom Thieves. I’d also recommend not checking out YouTube or even hashtags related to the game to avoid spoilers for characters and the endings.

Persona 5 still follows the calendar system as with the previous two entries so there’s an element of time management thrown into the fray. A normal day in the life of the protagonist involves taking the train to Shujin Academy, sitting through class, and then deciding what to do with his free time. Free time here feels like a much scarcer resource just because there are tons of activities for you to enjoy. Activities are useful for raising your personal traits that are in turn useful for allowing you to talk to certain people. You have the option of visiting two kinds of dungeons as well.

The main story dungeons here are very different. Instead of being procedurally generated and revolving around a certain party member as in Persona 4, you have meticulously crafted dungeons with their own gimmicks that ooze style. These are called Palaces. Palaces exist for certain people because of their own desires or nature. Palaces are alternate reality versions of real life locations that are full of enemies, traps, puzzles, and more. The goal is to steal the treasure at the end of the palace and change the heart of the person whose palace the party is in. Combat is thankfully still turn based, but it is supercharged. More on that in a bit. There’s a new stealth mechanic and don’t let the name turn you off. It is just a way of quickly navigating from different cover locations as you try and ambush your foe. This ensures you have the upper hand and can act first in combat. I’ve had a blast playing through each dungeon thanks to the unique visuals, enemies, and mechanics at play.

While the story Palaces are not random, there’s another dungeon that is the collective psyche of not a single person but multiple people. This is a randomly generated dungeon with floors going down instead of up. It can be compared to Tartarus from Persona 3. This isn’t an essential dungeon, but it is basically a means for you to take a break from the school life and social aspect of the game to do a bit of dungeon crawling, gain experience, some new Personas, and even complete side quests for items. Each dungeon also has many locked chests and an alert meter. You need lockpicks to open the aforementioned chests and can craft them using items dropped from shadows. The alert meter should be kept low because when it reaches 100% you will be sent away from the palace for the day. Early on there are story segments that require heading back to the real world before jumping back into a palace and also the fact that SP restoring items are few and far in between in the opening sections.

While many studios are dropping turn based combat for a more action oriented style in their games, Atlus stuck to their guns and improved Persona’s combat with elements from older games and even mainline Shin Megami Tensei ones. Instead of plowing through menus to choose skills, there’s a new face button system that speeds things up and lets you stylishly destroy the enemies. Gun as a mechanic is back and party members have limited ammo and different kinds of guns that are super useful against some enemies. If you target an enemy’s weakness (this is strongly encouraged once you know it), you get another turn. If you get all the enemies down through critical hits or weakness exploitation, Hold Up takes place. This lets you either execute an all out attack that will usually end the battle with a stylish conclusion screen or talk. The normal difficulty is a bit higher than what it was in Persona 4 and 3 for sure, though. But thankfully there aren’t any difficulty spikes and you don’t really need to grind unless you’re after some specific trophies.

Talk in Persona 5 is demon negotiation in Shin Megami Tensei games and it is one of the only ways to get more Persona masks for the protagonist. I’ve grown to love this over the last few Shin Megami Tensei games I’ve played. Each shadow has a unique personality and how you respond to them will determine whether they give you their power or go back to attacking you. Experimenting with new party members is always useful as they have their individual affinities and weaknesses.

Speaking of party members, I adore most of the Persona 3 and 4 casts. Just having Never More play on shuffle will remind me of my time spent playing Persona 4 and the memories with Chie, Yukiko, etc. I’ve really grown to love every character here. Makoto and Yusuke in particular are my favourites from this cast and it is good to see more than just shoehorned characters to fill up anime tropes. My only complaint about the characters is how given game progression, you spend less time with the ones who join your party and the Phantom Thieves later on. Even the NPCs are really interesting and I wish I could’ve gotten 100% with cooperations in my first playthrough. Social Links are now called cooperations and they let you spend time with another character to learn more about them, and this lets you get closer to them resulting in bonuses in combat, or in various dungeon mechanics in addition to personal stat boosts. My favourite cooperations were with the nurse at the clinic, Takemi, and one of your high school teachers, Kawakami in addition to Ann and Makoto from the main party. As of now Morgana has annoyed me as much as Teddie did in Persona 4, but I love them both.

The city of Tokyo is your oyster so to speak and you can do everything from renting a DVD to working at a flower shop, or even fishing and then attempting a Man vs Food esque burger challenge. Each of these activities gives your knowledge, charm, proficiency, kindness, or courage as a boost. Some cooperations don’t even begin until you’ve mustered up enough charm or courage. Activities like studying gives you knowledge, but studying in a diner while its raining will give you some courage as well. After conquering the Beef Bowl in Aiya from Persona 4 Golden, I knew the Big Bang Burger challenge was something I needed to complete quickly. The Vox Populi system from Persona 4 Golden returns as the Thieves Guild here. Tapping the touchpad on the controller will bring up activities others engaged in on that particular day. This is useful if you’re ever stuck or just looking for a suggestion on what to do in your free time. I love it when the smaller quality of life enhancements from previous entries are not discarded in new games.

There are some personal milestones I have in Persona games. The food challenge is one and fusing certain Personas is another. Fusing happens in the Velvet Room. You can visit the Velvet Room from various locations in the city and not just the entrance to palaces or Mementos. Fusing is absolutely essential to make any real progress against shadows in dungeons because most of the base Personas are quite weak. Fusing Jack Frost early on and then spending a good amount of time fusing various Personas to finally fuse Mara felt great. It isn’t a Persona or SMT game for me until I’ve fused Jack Frost at least.

When I first played Persona 4 Golden, I dropped it in a few hours like I did with a lot of games back then, but the music stuck with me. I ended up going back to it and binge playing it over a week just because the music was so good. Shoji Meguro’s composition and Lyn Inaizumi’s vocals have somehow managed to create a soundtrack that is nearing the top of my greatest soundtracks ever list. The acid jazz has elements heard in the score in Catherine and influences from Meguro’s older Digital Devil Saga work. Each Palace theme is perfect for the story segment and the smaller things like music in the weapon shop and the tune that plays during exams or tests are superbly done. The battle theme in particular never gets old even after a hundred hours. ‘Life Will Change’ and ‘Beneath the Mask’ are my favourite songs here. I’d rather not mention where they appear in game to avoid spoilers. The elegance of the music extends to the sound effects. Even each person’s phone ringtone is nice and subtle. I’ve only played about 40 hours of the Japanese release so haven’t heard every character’s Japanese voice but the English voice acting is mostly great. I have a problem with a certain party member’s voice annoying me enough to make me not use said member in combat. The protagonist and Morgana are absolutely perfect.

One of the first things that caught anyone’s eye for Persona 5 was the stylish menu system. I haven’t played a game that even approaches the style on display here. This isn’t limited to just the menus during combat or in the in game shops. The results screen, transitions into combat, and even loading screens are stunning. I love the small touch in the loading screen that reflected the school trip location as well. The colour of choice in P5 is most definitely red. This is seen across the game and everything is so tastefully displayed. This is an elegant and grown up Persona game that hasn’t let go of its own ideals. Even the arcana cards for each cooperation look great. There’s no point where the developers have compromised on their style. It is a pity that screenshots are blocked for most of the game. I’ve ended up with like 500 photos taken on my phone instead.

Two small things have annoyed me though. There are a lot of items in the background across the city and inside locations that are low resolution. This is a stark contrast to the gorgeousness on display everywhere else. A poster with text that looks blurry is an eyesore compared to the stylishly animated faceless NPCs walking around the meticulously replicated train station in game compared to real life. I’m also not a fan of the dialogue boxes when there’s three lines of text. Things get a bit cluttered since the Japanese release interface sizes had only two lines of text. I wish there was some change done here because that’s the only interface related problem I have. If there ever is an enhanced release, the story is already more or less perfect so the only additions I could see is an in game cutscene viewer or a jukebox for music. Both of these are lacking right now.

Persona 5 is a fantastic video game. It’s pacing is amazing and it never bogs you down with filler content. You can start with this one as a newcomer who is probably impressed with the menus and returning fans will enjoy everything from the slight nods to things from previous games or to the end game section that will please older fans of the franchise. Now is the best time to jump into the Persona franchise and there’s no better JRPG than this one right now. I’ve beaten Persona 5 nearly a month ago and haven’t stopped thinking about it ever since. I keep reloading old save files to revisit different areas. This one is really special.

The post Persona 5 Review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

I’ve owned the PS4 version of this for a while now (one of my son’s Christmas presents) and I can say that the Switch version is aesthetically identical in every way. Every feature is here aside from the camera recording that uploads to Just Dance TV; this itself is a shame as the scrappily cut videos were always a source of unintended hilarity when you’re dripping sweat gasping for breath, but, other than that it’s the same experience as you’ll get on any other console, even to the point where if you’ve run out of Joy-Cons you can use the Just Dance app to tether your phone to it and use that as a controller.

As I’ve stated before, I’m not the best dancer, so it’s hard to tell if the game picks up my controller movements adequately enough, all things told though very few beats were missed, and my ratio of ‘Good’ to ‘Perfects’ was decent enough for me to pick up at least three stars on every track (with one five star rating, but we won’t go into that); so, it’s safe to say that how the game picks up Joy-Con movement in 3D space is good enough. All things told, despite how knackered it made me the game is pretty fun and it really brings out your competitive side when you realise your star rating is sliding under that of your seven-year-old son.

The tracklist comes in at a respectable 40 songs, with a considerable range in quality – thankfully there’s no Drum ‘n’ Bass, Garage or Dubstep, but there’s plenty of cheesy pop for you to get your teeth into. You can gyrate to Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie’, go silly with PSY’s ‘Daddy’, slow it down with Maroon 5’s ‘Don’t Wanna Know’, Whip it to Silentó’s ‘Watch me’ or go completely mental with Miku’s ‘PoPiPo’ although why you’d want to take on this ludicrous challenge is beyond me, even if you do want to see some poor Miku cosplay in action.

There’s also another 200 songs through the game’s premium service Just Dance Unlimited, for which you’ll have to pay a subscription for. You’ll find costs ranging from £3.29 for 24hrs up to £25 for a full year, and on your first use of the game you get 90 days of access to Unlimited for free, so you can try it out and see if it appeals to you before you start paying out.

This sub-service is fair enough; I mean games like this and Singstar should be platforms rather than singular games, but it does highlight that 40 tracks for £42 (lower on other consoles) isn’t really good value. You can go down to HMV and buy Now That’s What I call Music for £12, get more songs and dance away to your heart’s content without anyone judging you. Also kept being this pay-wall are the game’s mashup feature which allows you to select songs to put together in a ‘mash-up’ just to give you more of a challenge and even more gutting is the gate-keeping of a selection of kids songs; it just feels unfair to keep that away from you unless you pay more money.

The game’s topped off with a mode for using the songs as a workout routine, which is good for people who like to use dance as a means of keeping fit. The amount I was sweating from regular dancing was bad enough for me, and I wasn’t brave enough to take this on lest I not be alive to write this review. Sorry, but sacrifices must be made somewhere.

If you’ve played Just Dance before you’ll know what to expect from the 2017 installment; a bunch of new songs to gyrate your body to and make yourself look like a fool at parties, now you can take it with you and create dance parties wherever you like – what could be better? The gate-keeping of features behind the Unlimited service sticks in the craw a bit, but what Ubisoft needs to do now is stop making Just Dance games and focus more on making Unlimited a value proposition for people to get behind. But otherwise this is an enjoyable, tiring time and the way my back feels right now can attest to that.

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Here we’re treated to the story of how Spectre Knight brought the Order of Knights over to the side of The Enchantress. You’ll choose levels from a Megaman-esque selection via the Dark Portal and battle through to each area’s chosen Knight guardian, knocking seven shades out of them to have them join your ranks. This is done through the main hub of the Tower of Fate where you can exchange money and skulls for an assortment of skills (bestowed upon you by Curios) and armour upgrades. As you take down the bosses they’ll join you in the main hub granting access to other areas within which you’ll find extra pick-ups to aid you.

Spectre Knight himself is a bit of a slow walker and doesn’t really have a nimble jump (it’ll only barely clear the majority of enemies), he can, however, clamber on walls and dash attack when in the air. While this is fiddly to begin with you’ll soon be chaining wall jumps with ease to get up to some of the high points or save yourself from death by hole. The mid-air dash attack is especially handy, as all enemies and much of the scenery can be ‘attacked’ to launch Spectre Knight across the screen like an unladen swallow. You’ll need to watch how you approach them though, as the wrong angle can send you plummeting to your doom rather than sailing gracefully to the next chain point or moderate safety of a ladder.

This dash attack is invaluable for getting around, but it’s all too easy to fall back on in combat; the majority of tougher enemies can be disposed of with relative ease using it, as a successful attack on something that doesn’t die will see Spectre launched back up into the air so he can perform the attack again and again and again. Repeat use of this can see even the hardest of enemies fall with merely a flesh wound; in fact many of the bosses I was able to ignore attack patterns completely and just use airborne assaults for the entire duration, add in the curio for healing and this becomes even easier.

In games like this though the bosses come second to level design and here Yacht Club Games’ work is exemplary. Every level is constructed to eke out every ounce of your ability just to get through to the next check point; they’re filled with secret nooks and crannies to find extra cash and secret rooms to test your climbing and dashing proficiency to claim extra spoils with which to upgrade with. While each level is doable with the basic abilities, you’ll certainly find some of the levels considerably easier if you venture elsewhere to improve yourself before taking them on.

If Shovel Knight reignited your love for 8-bit platforming, then Spectre of Torment is worthy of your time. It’s challenging without being unfair and even if you’re new to this sort of thing you don’t have to go and play the prior content first before taking this on; you might even find that this will give you reason to go back and play the rest afterwards. In pure 8-bit fashion the sprites pop with detail and the excellent chiptune music will have you tapping your feet as you drop to your doom again and again. Failure should always feel this good.

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When I reviewed The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, I said Persona 4 Golden and Final Fantasy X HD finally have some competition. Cold Steel II improves upon its predecessor in a lot of ways and managed to surprise me. If you haven’t played Trails of Cold Steel I, shame on you. Rectify that immediately. If you have and ached for more, Cold Steel II delivers in spades.

If you played Cold Steel I at launch and needed a refresher, there’s a nifty option in the menu that will narrate with images what happened in each chapter. It’s a much better way of reminding you of a long tale than simply putting it all in a short video. Cold Steel II picks up a month after the conclusion of Cold Steel I. Rean’s world has been thrown into despair and he has to pick up the pieces. I found myself expecting “The boys are back in town” tune to play at any time as a joke because that’s what things felt like to me (I also wish I hadn’t linked Cold Steel II with that song because I cannot unhear it now). Rean looks to meet up with everyone from Class VII across the land early on before things start to properly pickup.

Since you will spend a good amount of time in combat, the battle system builds on that of Cold Steel I. It still feels like Grandia meets Final Fantasy VII’s Materia system but there’s a new overdrive system available. This lets you act for three turns in a row and all arts are cast instantly. This isn’t overpowered like it sounds but is still useful especially in some battles that otherwise take too long. It isn’t a brand new turn based combat system but there are some great improvements to the basic formula. You can even fight with your mech as seen in the latter areas of the previous entry and there are link bonuses to classmates.

Airships are always welcome for quick movement but here you even have the ability to ride a motorcycle or horse to get to your destination quickly. My only complaint is not having access to these forms of fast travel early on in the game.

Visually there are still some inconsistencies in Cold Steel II. Even though this is the second game using the engine, animations are sometimes stiff and some character models could look a lot better. Dungeons improve later on but you aren’t playing Cold Steel for its visuals. I hope with the jump to PlayStation 4 in Cold Steel III, Falcom can manage to put some more effort in the visuals and performance. Performance also had problems here and with more people on screen, things seemed to run a little worse than they did in Cold Steel I in some areas on PlayStation Vita.

Thankfully the music and voice acting make up for the visuals. XSEED’s Trails localisation is second to none and they always give it their 200%. Each and every character is written well and the voice acting is on point. I know many people are already raising pitchforks at the lack of Japanese voice overs in Cold Steel II, but the acting is really good. Falcom’s soundtrack is even better. I definitely think they had more budget for the new music this time even though a lot of tracks were reused from Cold Steel I.

With Cold Steel II, any fan of JRPGs or even immersive world RPGs needs to give the franchise a shot. Cold Steel I and II make for one amazing package that will give you over a hundred hours of quality gameplay.

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You play as a transfer student (because of course you do) who spots a ghost while being shown around the school. The class president Sayuri has a Tsundere thing going on initially but is forced to take you around the school until you find yourself deep within the Gate Keepers. You have the ability to sense ghosts and basically aim to exorcise them.

I’m a big fan of interesting ways to tell a tale, be it in game form or any other media, and the episodic split up here works really well. There’s a nice intro chock-full of anime style that you get to see a few times in your journey as well. Instead of just limiting you to a few responses, you have a unique input system that lets you select an emotion followed by a sense. This results in some hilarious dialogue like Fukurai telling me “I’ll give you your reward after you defeat the ghost okay?” when I chose the heart followed by tongue in the input screen, when the situation obviously demanded something else.

The actual ghost hunting takes place in a strategic setting with visuals akin to the lower screen in an Etrian Odyssey game. There’s an annoying element of luck and guesswork at play. On paper, I was absolutely sold at SRPG elements being added to a visual novel that already looked amazing with elegant animations. In practice, hunting ghosts is the weakest link. The mission preparation phase lets you set up various traps for the enemy before you get to actually prepare your turns and predict where to attack the ghost based on its movement. This results in a ton of trial and error and while brute forcing does work, it is annoying to deal with this system.

On the bright side, the visuals are really great. While most visual novels and games that employ this mode of storytelling have static portraits with a bit of animation, we get an animated oil painting style here. The combination of animated character models and lovely environments make the experience really memorable and also show you how much visual novels can push the graphical barrier.

The aesthetics carry through to the music that has a very 90s feel to it with crunchy guitars playing almost throughout, and I was pretty shocked to learn that Nobuo Uematsu had a part to play when it comes to the music. I also wish there was more voice acting as it feels inconsistent in terms of quantity. The opening sequence was enough to really wow me with the atmosphere and uniqueness on display.

Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters: Daybreak Special Gigs is well worth a try if you are willing to stomach an annoying combat system, because the visual novel side is really worth it. I would’ve preferred a standard turn-based combat system or just more structure and explanation for the combat. The sad part is this is an enhanced release and I still despise the combat sequences. If you can look past that, there’s a very interesting payout waiting for you here.

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Episode Three follows Bruce after the unveiling of his family (or more specifically his parents) to be criminals, using their money for horrendous deeds and working with the mob for sordid reasons. The Children of Arkham are now out in force, and although they are a murderous band of terrorists, their message is one that seems to be confusing many of the civilians of Gotham. There are plenty of important story points that unfold as the episode progresses and they include some real corkers. It takes a horrendous amount of time for the narrative to gain traction, but when it does it’s full systems go.

I remember when Telltale introduced Oswald Cobblepot early on and really not liking the road they went down with his character, but after New World Order, the decision to make him a slimy businessman makes perfect sense. Vikki Vale’s character is more developed and her meeting with Batman sets everything into motion. Probably the star of New World Order is Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman; there’s always been a connection between her and Bruce, but this time it feels a lot more personal and honest. The two of them are shown in a vulnerable light – two heroes beaten and bruised, both in need of compassion, love and companionship. There is a really nice moment between the two that stands out as one of the best they’ve ever had, in print or on the screen,

In the first hour or so, you’re constantly wishing things would pick up. You spend a bit of time with R & D maestro Lucius Fox, but when it should be interesting to learn about a whole range of Batman’s tech, you can’t help but feel like it’s an opportunity wasted. It seems like Telltale are using plenty of filler moments in episode three instead of moving the story forward with the familiar charm, panic and pageantry we’re used to, and you’ll find yourself hoping the lack of originality and intrigue moves over.

As the story draws to a close, there’s a moment I never saw coming – a moment I guarantee you’ll never expect in a million years. A character you know and will’ve known for years breaks down limitations and takes leadership of the Children of Arkham; Telltale are doing away with tradition, history and common story elements to present a completely fresh take on Batman and his supporting cast of friends and villains. It’s such a shame it took so much of New World Order to find its feet and deliver a better story.

Episode three of Batman is overshadowed by such a lacklustre start, but as soon as the glimmers of a main villain starts to show, things get really good, and after a pretty hectic confrontation, a whole load of shit goes down to set up episode four incredibly well. Hopefully, the traditionally bad penultimate Telltale episode can have its curse broken and provide a fantastic platform for Batman as the series begins to draw to a close.

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It feels like this ending has been a long time coming, and in some respects has been well over-due. The standalone episodes since the culmination of the Wither Storm narrative have felt a little disconnected from the decision-based nature of TellTale games and I really felt they exposed the futility of the structure. Nevertheless, the individual stories themselves have been entertaining at least, and A Journey’s End is no exception.

The last episode hinted that our team would finally be able to return to their homeworld once one final hurdle was overcome. Harper, one of the “Old Builders” our friends found in Access Denied, told Jesse of a way to find the right portal to take them home: locate the other Old Builders, find the portal atlas and go home. Simple.

One of the things I have enjoyed about Minecraft: Story Mode has been the gentle referencing of the source game. Right back at the beginning we were treated to a journey to the Far Lands with a montage of all the new biomes that had recently been released on console versions of Minecraft, and in A Journey’s End we are given a tale woven around the recent release of the battle mini-games as well as some pop culture references to things like The Hunger Games, where a sadistic crew of people force others to play in violent games for their amusement.

Our team are thrown right into one of these games, a large arena of snow blocks built over a pit of lava with a huge mechanism that crushes anyone unfortunate enough to fall. This is Minecraft though, and a game designed for kids, so death is not final. Every character that fails “respawns” in a holding arena and is then forced to work in the quartz mines until they are allowed to fight again. It’s a surprisingly grim theme, but Minecraft: Story Mode hasn’t been shy with some of the darker stories it has told.

The battle is already in place and Jesse and his team must act quickly. What follows is another story where Jesse is forced to make decisions to keep his friends safe, while also saving the enslaved people of this world and overthrowing the tyrants that run it. It’s a familiar tale, having been done in every episode since Order Up.

Familiarity aside, the tale isn’t without fun. There is an extended QTE sequence that requires you to guide Jesse through a gauntlet of lava, jumps, sword fights with gladiators and a climbing sequence. It is an exciting section and forces you to sit up and pay attention; sadly however, the rest of the tale isn’t given enough time to really flesh out its ideas.

It feels like each episode has become shorter and shorter, and unfortunately with A Journey’s End a lot of the ideas aren’t given breathing room. There is a promising section where Jesse has to decide who of the new people he encounters he can trust, as well as an interesting story about a former competitor who managed to beat the system in the past, but it is over before it ever really begins, and without allowing any time to build up the interesting and compelling backstory it becomes really hard to care about the outcome. Not that I have seen my choices impact the outcome in any meaningful way anyway, since the culmination of the original story with the Wither Storm.

I’ve touched on this a number of times over the past few episode reviews, and it is apparent again here: the contained mini-stories, while entertaining, don’t work as well with regards to the decision-making elements that a longer narrative spread over a number of episodes does. Ultimately, what the different choices amount to is all revealed at the end, when you find out whether you were one of the 72.3% of people that chose X over Y. Purely as a means to move the plot along, or to make you feel like you have some impact on the story, they are rendered entirely redundant and feel more like something to keep you physically involved in the story by making you press a button, rather than significantly shaping it in one way or another.

The end itself was pleasing, managing to reminisce about all the adventures Jesse and his/her friends have been on over the course of the eight episodes, but overall A Journey’s End feels a little under-whelming for potentially the last time we see this group of characters. Decisions made over the course of all entries in the series feel a trifle redundant, and while there are entertaining sequences over the course of the play time, I am not sad to say goodbye to Jesse and friends.

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Here, Bruce Wayne is struggling to come to terms with the news about his parents and their ties to crime. If Realm of Shadows’ goal was to allude to Thomas and Martha’s illegal past, Children of Arkham downright exposes it. The episode is all about revelations, and my God, are there some zingers. The story starts off on crime alley, and off the bat (no pun intended) you’re given some really sad information about Bruce’s parents. Telltale has some great ideas and their vision of Batman and his family is original and interesting.

The Batman comics never shy away from tragedy or death, but Children of Arkham sees some pretty shocking moments. You may not be surprised with what happens, but they’re still big moves. One such moment made me almost shit myself because I wasn’t expecting it, especially in the sudden way it happens. After finishing the episode, I’m fully trusting of where Telltale takes the story; they may have started off a bit wobbly, but it now feels like they’ve gained control of a sinking ship and I’m very happy with where the story’s going.

It’s commendable how Telltale is focusing on many of the smaller characters within the Batman universe. There’s no sign of the Joker, Riddler or Robin, and I’m ok with it. We may end up seeing them in later episodes or even in another series, but things are good without them. I’m still not a fan of how the Penguin has been introduced in the two episodes to date, mainly because Oswald was better as a crime boss and not Bruce’s childhood friend. If you want to feature characters from Bruce’s younger years, bring in Roman Sionis or Thomas Elliot. A minor criticism maybe, but Black Mask and Hush are much better villains to lead with, especially with how Oswald Cobblepot doesn’t have much of a personality beyond his generic craziness.

Telltale Games prides itself on decisions and how the story changes depending on what you choose to do in certain situations. I can’t remember any of the decisions from last month’s episode, and it was one of the reasons I hadn’t liked it that much. Children of Arkham features a few tough choices and you’ll likely struggle with them. One of the choices you have to make had me entertaining both outcomes, and even when I made my mind up I felt back for contemplating both paths. Being Batman is hard, and putting you in his mindset gives the character a new dimension.

Some of the visuals in Children of Arkham are impeccable: the Batcave is immaculately designed and detailed, and the general colours provide a nice pop to every environment. The voice-acting is on point for most of the episode, but I still can’t get to grips with Troy Baker’s Batman voice. Much like Bale’s in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, it’s too gruff and comical.

Children of Arkham is a great episode, and it’s opened up the world of Batman to allow plenty more shocks as the series goes on. As the episode concludes, we’re shown something deplorable from someone never associated with heinous acts, and it’s going to make a big difference. Bruce Wayne’s life has always been about juggling balls and spinning plates, but now his own legacy is in tatters and you’re free to watch Telltale work wonders with it.

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Wings of Freedom covers the complete first season of Attack on Titan story wise and has a few cameos from later on in the Manga in the form of certain Titan side missions. A lot of the key moments from the anime have been shown off in Omega Force’s engine which has character models looking really good. The story is split up into chapters representing different moments from the anime. I did enjoy seeing characters like Sasha be as quirky in game as they are in the anime.

This is not a Musou or Warriors style game; it’s not all slicing Titans up. The tutorial mission is very good and I’d recommend playing it twice to properly get the hang of things. The main flow to subjugate a Titan is hooking a body part followed by boosting towards it and eventually slicing with your blades. This combo doesn’t change much until you acquire more skills that have you mashing triangle once you attack the Titan. As you score hits, materials are acquired from key body parts indicated by a gold nugget. This adds a slight element of strategy to the mix as you need materials to upgrade your gear. Chapters sometimes end with a boss Titan, which is the same as a standard one, really, but harder to subdue and with more health for each body part.

During missions there’s tons happening on the battlefield, ranging from smoke signals that have you complete certain side missions during the main objective and others that have you rescuing cadets to be rewarded with consumable items for that level. There are some annoying missions early on that have you leading Titans to a trap, and some that require you to protect a target against waves of enemies. The AI here is pretty hard to deal with. Outside of those flaws, the only real problem I have with the gameplay is how repetitive it gets. Given the subject matter, it’s no surprise that a lot of time is spent subjugating Titans, but a difficulty bump would have helped to keep things fresh. There’s an online multiplayer mode available that has you doing survey missions and I played online with a friend for a few hours. It was fun slaying a Titan in coop for sure, but the repetitiveness cannot hide.

Visually, Omega Force has done a bang up job with character models. Even the Titans manage to look good and match the anime episodes. The environments, however, make you feel like you’re suddenly playing on PS3. There’s also a lot of visual pop-in from a few meters away, where buildings from far away have loaded but a tree suddenly appears. The characters and expressions look great and will bring up good memories from the anime for any fan. I just wish more effort was put into performance and environments. The frame rate is variable and really drops when a lot of Titans are near you attacking and destroying buildings. There’s also an annoying amount of motion blur that can’t seem to be turned off.

Voice acting is only available in Japanese so if you’ve been watching the anime with the English dub, you’re out of luck here. I like the Japanese voices but an English dub would have been a nice option for fans. Sawano’s amazing score for Attack on Titan is absent here and you have an original score used in the game, which is a bit of a shame as to many, Sawano’s score is integral.

Fans of the anime have a lot to enjoy in Wings of Freedom, even with the flaws. If you have never watched it, I urge you to at least watch the first episode. It will definitely be enough to get you to continue watching. This could have been fantastic if performance issues were ironed out and it had the Sawano soundtrack. I’m still waiting for the definitive Attack on Titan game, but this is the closest we’ve been to one.

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Things seem to be moving along at a much faster pace now that the stories are being told within one episode, and this feeling is helped on considerably with Access Denied being another short episode and with no late title sequence. The credits appear immediately with an extended montage of the gang running into and out of the various portals leading to strange worlds. Once we do get control again, our friends enter a new portal and the story begins.

I was disappointed with the last entry, A Portal to Mystery, as I felt that the fan element with the introduction of the YouTube “stars” detracted a little from the quality of the first few episodes. I am pleased to say that Access Denied is a better overall entry than the previous one with a fun storyline and some quite clever little jokes. However, I still feel that the smaller, self-contained stories are exposing the pointlessness of the decision-making process that characterises Telltale’s style. It is hard to feel anything about the choices you make because the story ploughs on regardless of the decisions you make. Despite this, Access Denied is still fun to play.

Our team begins their journey in a barren land, this time set in the Mesa biome, and we are quickly introduced to a mystery in the form of zombies in the daylight. Our friends find a village (again, beautifully detailed with lots of new ideas for buildings to try in your own Minecraft worlds) and it seems the villagers are themselves a form of zombie or automaton with strange redstone circuitry in the back of their heads. It is then down to our band of heroes to solve the mystery of why villagers are acting this way, fix it and then find their way out again to finally get home.

As with A Portal to Mystery, Access Denied has a number of nods to other genres of storytelling, and as mentioned before, some lovely little in-jokes about gaming in general. There is Ivor’s quip about getting out of trouble using “[…] the power of our imagination”, referencing the ‘make your own story’ nature of Minecraft itself; then there is the baddie that borrows heavily from the likes of Portal, as well as a delightful little skit on the forthcoming virtual reality functionality of games like Minecraft. It’s a pleasant little story, made charming by the animation and characters we’ve been with since the start, even if it doesn’t feel all that original.

Access Denied also does a good job of quickly building up the character of the mystery woman our friends find. The short runtime doesn’t allow a lot of room to do this, but there are some really interesting techniques that Telltale use to try to get as much information about her as possible without endless dialogue trees. It is moments like that where the game does stand out and it’s a shame that these additional episodes haven’t been given a bit more time to be more fully fleshed out as there is some talent on display. As it stands, Access Denied, as with those episodes before it, feels a little rushed.

The shorter run time means that there isn’t an awful lot of interactivity to be had — there is some mild problem solving, some crafting, a few fight sequences and thankfully not many conversation trees. The lack of this branching dialogue feels welcome as it allows for a smoother pace, but on the other hand, makes you feel a little short changed in the ‘game’ department.

Access Denied is a better episode than the previous one. The story, although not original, is fun with some strong character moments and a few decent action set pieces, but the length and lack of interactivity overall could make you question the value of these standalone episodes. Once again, I am sure that young fans will delight in what is on offer here but there is no escaping the feeling that Access Denied and previous episodes could have been much better had there been more time allocated to producing them.

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As a massive Batman fan, it’s hard not to treat every new vision of the franchise with trepidation, especially when the focus isn’t solely on your crime fighting shenanigans. Without giving too much away, the Wayne family name is being dragged through the mud, and certain rumours have started to fly around regarding links with the mafia. It’s up to you to try and work out what is going on by using your brains more than your brawn.

For those of you who are expecting cameos galore or a bunch of references, you’re going to be a little blue. There are some familiar faces, but nothing that made me scream my lungs out with excitement. Characters like Carmine Falcone, Jim Gordon, and Vicki Vale all have quite a role to play, along with other series stalwarts like the unsullied Harvey Dent and Selina Kyle. There is the appearance of one character I wasn’t expecting, but the way his background story and appearance is presented diverges from what we’re all familiar with.

You do play as Batman, of course, and you’ll really get to test the waters with how far you’ll go when facing mercenaries and other bad guys. Batman has never killed anyone, but he can have a reputation for being too violent, and there are instances when you make a choice to shape the kind of Batman you want to be; and in these moments the game really shines. In the later stages, you’ll get to dabble with the detective side of Batman, but it’s a boring inclusion. Unlike Arkham Knight, the build up to recreating crime scenes can be long winded, and the payoff isn’t nearly as satisfying as Rocksteady’s efforts. It feels as though these parts are late inclusions and mere background noise in the story that takes centre stage.

Bruce Wayne is the centre of the story here, and for the majority of the episode you’ll be chin-wagging with upper class acquaintances, appearing at fundraisers and speaking at press conferences, all while trying to build a strong character for yourself. Bruce naturally comes across as arrogant, but you’re given the chance to show some integrity and kindness; you don’t always have to be a dick, and being a stronger person sometimes means you get to stick up to horrible shits like Carmine Falcone. There’s a scene early on where you can talk to the crime boss, and sticking to your guns and not giving in to his bullying tactics will do wonders for your confidence, and your character. These interactions make up a majority of the game, and even though there are quite a few playable moments, you will just be watching and chipping in with a statement or two every now and again. The game goes on for too long and the story feels like one I’ve heard a thousand times before. It isn’t until the end when I started to see the story for more than just another Batman tale.

There are some QTEs throughout and on many occasions you’re really pushed to the limit. During a fight within the first five minutes, I was throwing punches, using batarangs, and zip-lining all over the shop. They aren’t too difficult to execute, but you really need to pay attention to every attack and every move your opponent makes. Along with these QTEs, you also have multiple choices – some are relatively typical, but most shape the way others view you as Bruce Wayne, and the way you view Wayne also.

One of the better features is the Batcave and more so the batcomputer. You’ll get to read about characters and locations you’ve discovered in the codex, watch the local news, and dip into the Gotham media feed to keep up to date with all the news stories. There’s also a radio playing as you keep up to date with current affairs, revealing some potential story arcs for future episodes or seasons, including some crazy goings on at ACE Chemicals.

Realm of Shadows is a good start to the series, with no real wow moments or memorable set pieces, but it does offer a new take on Batman and Bruce Wayne, including a couple of revelations that’ll hopefully give the upcoming episodes some vigour. It’s also clear how improved the visuals are, especially some of the longer shots of Wayne Manor and the newly constructed mental health facility. Unfortunately I wasn’t blown away, but I just hope the story picks up the pace and delivers a more dynamic and thrilling affair next time round.

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The story starts off with Jotaro Kujo (who is a cool mix between the Fonz and Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club) defeating the vampiric villain Dio, when various characters that have died throughout the JoJo universe are coming back to life to attack Jotaro and his friends. After meeting the excellently titled Robert E.O. Speedwagon, they must travel though space, time and alternative dimensions to stop whatever it is bringing fallen friends and enemies back to life with the power of the Holy Corpse. If you do follow the JoJo Universe, you’ll be happy to know that the author and cartoonist of the series, Horohiko Araki has overseen the creative direction in Eyes of Heaven.

The most interesting and gratifying part of Eyes of Heaven is the combat. Each fight is a tag team battle where you can control one character and the computer controls the other. Pressing square starts of your attack and pressing triangle will introduce a harder strike. Depending on when you press triangle, there are various combos you’ll be able to do. Unless you auto-lock on your target, it can be awkward to land a punch or kick because the combat is so frantic. Another issue arises when you knock your opponent to the ground and then have to wait four or five seconds for them to get back up; in this time you can’t do any damage and waiting can become tiresome.

Regardless of these minor qualms, the range of attacks and in-game action stretches much farther than two strike buttons. Holding in L1 and pressing one of the relevant buttons down the side of the screen will open up dialogue, animations and new attacks, differentiating between the 50 plus characters, each with a different Battle Style like Stand User and Vampire. The Dual Combo gives your team a unique attack, but the Dual Heat Attack provides the best kind of attack and my favourite element of the game. Pressing both L1 and R1 together will activate a wonderful animation between your two characters, and if you successfully charge at your enemy you’ll double team in the most glorious of ways, also taking off a substantial amount of health away from your opponent.

Between fights and specific chapters, you can explore incredibly small areas, but it’s not really a case of exploring. You have a very short area in which you can chat with the characters around you and replay specific battles, but it doesn’t really bring anything special to the table. It is the batshit insane story, dialogue, and environments that make JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven so much fun. If you try to take it seriously then its glory will be lost on you.

The visuals are something spectacular and the cel-shaded art style makes it such a treat on the eyes. Every environment is so detailed and alive, with a varied colour palette making it pop and stun in equal measure. CyberConnect2 has such a gift in making their worlds some of the best out there, and Eyes of Heaven is no different. Every fight you have remains clear and focused, never blurring or stuttering in frame rate. It’s stunning in every way and certainly one of the best looking fighters on the current gen.

Outside of the wonderful story mode, you can duke it out in a Vs mode where you can choose between all the characters, or even take the fight online and lose in true fashion like I did. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven is such a fun fighter with a range of environments and characters all with different styles so you always need to adapt. Throw in a bizarre story with loveably eccentric characters and you’ll find plenty of fun to be had. There are also plenty of collectables to unlock, with a shop to buy even more stuff from, and you can edit characters amongst other stuff to keep the most diehard JoJo fan happy. Don’t be put off by the craziness, embrace it. If you like fighters that don’t take themselves seriously, this is the game to get.

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Star Ocean: Integrity & Faithlessness’ protagonist Fidel Camuze is a softer sort, but still harbours a dislike for his father due to the pressure heaped on him to follow in his footsteps (like Final Fantasy X’s Tidus or Tales of Graces’ Asbel). Fidel’s country is at war for some reason and after repelling an enemy attack on his hometown of Stahl, finds himself having to play politics with the capital to seek aid. What follows is an adventure that winds up with them involved in a conflict of galactic proportions.

The beginning fight serves up your battle tutorial, introducing you to the game’s three button fighting mechanic; X executes a light attack, O a strong attack, and Square guards. This gives the battles a rock paper scissors mechanic, with guard blocking light attacks, and hard attacks breaking guard, while light attacks can be comboed easier. Holding the attack buttons down for a short period produces a special attack which consumes your mana. Winning battles grants you skill points to use, which in turn opens up new skills, roles and talents which then bestow upon you more skill points with which to make your characters more powerful. Expanding your roster’s skill set can make battles a dazzling feast for the eyes, with large pieces of rock erupting from the ground, fireballs blazing across the battlefields, or sword slashes slicing through the air.

Despite all the new technology and happenings that occur around Fidel and his childhood friend Miki, they very rarely express any sort of bemusement. I can only assume that this is because whenever they arrive somewhere, they’re normally on their way back out shortly afterwards. Journeying throughout Star Ocean: I&F’s world is frequent, relentless and with no fast travel. It feels as though this is an attempt to encourage you to battle more often, removing the need for grinding, but only serves to make you roll your eyes when the subject of your troupe having to move on once again raises its head.

Story exposition generally occurs while you’re moving from point to point, sometimes making it difficult to pay attention to. The game is fully subtitled, but there’s never an indication as to who is talking, so you’ll need to make sure you recognise each character’s voice (Miki and little Relia sound very similar), or you could find yourself getting confused. As these moments play out, you’re granted the freedom to move within a tiny circle when everyone has said their piece, though it can take an age to disappear — a little bit frustrating when you’re trying to get on with things.

Fidel’s planet of Faykreed IV certainly is stunning in places and there’s some lovely texture work on display here. The rolling hills of the Resulian plains and the intricate architecture of Stahl are highlights. Character design for the most part is lovely too, with excellent anime stylings for the majority of the cast (Emmerson and Anne aside). They’ve also managed to capture some very anime-like animations for them, but these tend to match the dialogue delivery which is akin to a Friday night down the local amateur dramatics society.

The good looks aren’t helped by a camera that has a mind of its own. As you traverse the environments, it reacts to every single bump and crevice that you pass over, creating a constant up and down movement that really plays tricks with your eyes. When I first started, I assumed it was because I’d had too much to drink but it turns out that wasn’t the case at all. It actually gets worse in battle as well, sweeping and panning constantly trying to find some way to frame the action, but regularly getting stuck on scenery elements or behind enemies meaning that you can’t see what you’re doing.

It’s easy for the fighting to get monotonous too; you’ll often be asked to fight waves of constantly respawning enemies with no indicator as to how long you have to hold out, during these moments you’ll be forgiven for just reclining back, and browsing the web on your phone while tapping away alternately between the X and O buttons like some track and field game.

There is at least a wealth of stuff to do in the game with items to scavenge, and side quests to undertake. The side quests thankfully don’t require you to kill things all the time, you’ll be asked to track down people, and items to get extra skill points, experience points and equipment, this at least gives you a way of levelling up without having to grind the way older RPGs used to.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness isn’t a terrible game by any means, but is let down by some poor story-telling, dreadful delivery and a lack of originality. If you don’t mind the slightly repetitive nature of the combat, the poor camera and hammy acting then it’s well worth a look, especially for the silliest use of the word ‘piss’ that you’re ever likely to hear in a video game. It just feels that this is another attempt by Square Enix to adjust their games to appeal to fans of western RPGs. The action oriented style is nice and simple and the looks are good but the characters lack personality and the scope just isn’t as large as it really needs to be.

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It feels quite strange, actually, coming back to the game that kickstarted the love affair with this series for us game playing folks. LEGO Star Wars was the first game most of us played and loved, and I’ve been heavily critical of the amount of games that have been made with that “LEGO” prefix (almost as annoying as having to capitalise LEGO every time), especially when you get single movies getting their own game, as opposed to the situation with a series like Harry Potter, where six films were dolled out over two games. With that all in mind, it’s in the back of my head that people will be reading this to find out what’s new for The Force Awakens (there are new bits), and which games are my favourites (Dimensions, Harry Potter, Star Wars – in that order) so they can check the score and judge if this is for them.

Firstly then, what’s new? The most surprising new addition is the cover shooting sections. Yes, you read that right, and no, I’m not taking the mick. Pre-defined sections will have cover you hide behind, whereby you hold the left trigger to pop out, and then hammer square (PS4) or right trigger to fire. You can move the reticule if you want, but otherwise it’ll auto-lock to the nearest enemy. These are quite cool, in fairness, but like much of the series, because there’s no penalty for death (save losing some studs, that is) they aren’t quite as exciting as they could be, despite trying to change it up ever so slightly with different character’s skills. It is an issue for people wanting a challenge, but if that’s why you’re here, you picked the wrong game.

Next, certain builds are now called “Multi-builds” and let you choose from a few different things to create. Most of these are supposed to be done in a certain order. For example: a three piece water puzzle is solved by creating part one of the multi-build, blowing it back up, moving to part two, blowing it up, then moving to the final part and finishing the puzzle. It’s rudimentary and will be more fun for kids than adults, but it’s a nice idea. More interesting, though, is that often one of the build options seems unnecessary, and that’s because it’ll lead to a hidden red brick, or another secret.

Part of the prologue is playing out the final moments of Return of the Jedi (it acts as a tutorial), and at first it seems odd to be playing the old films in this new game, but flying around in the Millennium Falcon is a nice distraction, even if it’s a little squirrely to control. Before each story level there are mini hub worlds which you can muck around in, or choose to replay levels in free-play (and thus access secrets with non story-level characters as per usual). Obviously in an effort to not short change you, the story is stretched over multiple levels, but it’s done quite cleverly. The first stage sees Poe Dameron help the people of Jakku to find their weapons caches so they can attempt to fight back against The First Order, and the second is about Poe and Finn’s escape. Likewise, when Rey finds the lightsaber there’s a puzzle to solve before the story continues. There are also levels that aren’t from the movie which are unlocked with gold bricks and show the lead up to the story of The Force Awakens. Whichever way you look at it, this is a good value proposition, with the usual high number of collectibles, characters, gold bricks, red bricks, and more to find before you can honestly say you’ve done everything there is to do.

The main issue here is that the new stuff is leaned on too heavily. The cover shooting sections are used in nearly every level, and after the first few times the cracks start to show, with the imprecise nature of the controls for older players at odds with the locking on for the younger audience. By the halfway point of the story you’ve experienced enough vehicle sections, too, and while they make sense in the story context, from a gameplay perspective you almost want to get back to the good old fashioned LEGO fun.

But what is here is a good time, and its amplified by co-op as usual. I’ve never gotten on with the dynamic split screen so switching back to a vertical split is a godsend. While The Force Awakens does feel a little more geared toward solo play (sometimes during co-op the partner will be sat waiting for the character with the required skill to unlock a path) it’s enjoyable nonetheless. The character skills feel like they make sense, here, with Rey beginning as a melee fighter with great agility, BB8 able to interact with machinery and power objects, etc.

It looks great, of course, and while the audio is typical Star Wars fare, there does appear to be some inconsistencies with the voiceover audio. While some voice actors have added their words to additional dialogue for the game, the quality seems to vary. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but there’s a definite difference in the audio production in places. Whether that’s just a case of some being directly ripped from the film and some being new, I’m not sure, but it’s not really bad, just noticeable if you’ve a good ear.

So while it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, The Force Awakens is a surprising time sink. Each level is hefty enough if you’re the type who likes to get “True Jedi” ranking, and as usual, there is reason to replay each level to unlock all the hidden stuff. What could have been a quick and easy cash grab is another LEGO game fit to burst with content, and one that actually strives to make a more modern feeling product. While it’s not going to change your mind one way or another, often there are two types of LEGO game, and thankfully this firmly falls into the “good” pile.

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From the start you’re put into a tutorial that teaches you basic movement and attacks, before the game throws you into assault courses that need to be navigated with your newfound mobility, against enemies to be taken out with basic combos. From then you’re given a whole new set of lessons to teach you more advanced techniques, and from there you can go onto missions that allow you to try a stricter learning regimen to see how you well you can execute moves under duress. It’s exquisitely done. Before long you’ll have the basics down, be performing Roman cancels to lengthen your combos and able to judge your zoning to a better degree.

Additionally to this, if you find that you’re still struggling to get to grips with what the game is asking, Revelator borrows ‘Stylish’ mode from its stable mate Blazblue. This will string together the combos and special moves for you based on your proximity to your opponent and also automatically block if you’re standing still (except crouching hits). There are downsides to this though: you’ll take more damage, and traditional inputs don’t work, which means that as flashy as Stylish mode makes you look, technical players won’t be at a disadvantage against that play style.

Once you’re out of the dojo and confident in your abilities you’ll find the game has a range of modes to choose from in which you can hone your skills against differing odds. You’ve got your usual versus mode to challenge your buddies in local combat, and then online in fantastic 3D lobbies (if you’re brave enough to test your abilities). Single player has M.O.M mode within which you choose opponents that come with certain buffs and resistances; beating them earns medals and currency which can be used to unlock perks to buff your performance in M.O.M. and also unlock art, music, sound effects and character colours for use in the other modes.

After that you have ‘Episodes’ (not to be confused with Story mode), which take you through a series of fights with interspersing vignettes that tell you what your chosen character went through between the story of GG Xrd SIGN and the story contained in Revelator. You see, you don’t actually play Revelator’s Story mode, it’s actually a feature length anime for you to sit and watch as a bit of a chill away from the meat of the actual play.

The story is completely rendered in the game’s engine giving you a chance to see just how good Ark System Works’ cel-shaded aesthetic is. It tells a story of warring factions, sneaky assassins and traitors in one big excuse for a bunch of weirdos and muscleheads to beat each other up. The characters are an odd bunch, with glorious hair, bulging biceps, pulsing pectorals, strangely tiny waists and odd names. You have Sol Badguy (actually a good guy), Bedman (a kid nailed to a bed and capable of astral projection), Faust (mad doctor with a bag on his head), May (diminuitive pirate who fights carrying an anchor); they’re really an odd bunch and all bring completely different fighting styles to the genre. I’m being serious here: Sin is a character who can perform dazzling combos, but unless he eats (done via special move) he will end up vulnerable to an attack, and there’s also Jack-O Valentine who can create minions that attack her opponent for her; there’s a real abundance of imagination behind not only the designs of the characters, but how they play as well.

All in all there isn’t much more in Revelator than there was in Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN, so unless you REALLY have to see how the story pans out there’s not much reason to pick it up if you’ve got its predecessor. The inclusion of Stylish mode and the extensive training available for newcomers makes this an incredibly welcoming entry into the fighting game genre if the stylings are to your taste.

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Jesse and his or her friends, Petra, Lukas, and Ivor head towards a huge, mysterious mansion in the distance and it is there that the story begins: a classic “whodunit” murder mystery with a few deaths and lots of redstone fuelled traps. Once our team arrive at the sprawling mansion we met a new cast of characters; a crew who will only be familiar to fans of YouTubers like StampyCat, Stacey Plays, and LDShadowLady.

The introduction of the YouTube cast feels wedged in, a deliberate piece of fan service that totally alienates you if you aren’t familiar with their “Let’s Play” shows on YouTube. The fact that their characters in the episode retain their YouTube persona’s just adds to the awkwardness of it all, it’s hard to feel bad about a character called CaptainSparklez having something bad happen to him when he’s called CaptainSparklez, rather than his real life name of Jordan. Furthermore, the dialogue feels like there are a lot of references to events that have happened in these various shows and streams, but as someone who has no interest at all in them despite loving Minecraft itself, the jokes are lost a little bit. As such A Portal to Mystery feels the least funny of all the episodes so far.

I don’t want to go on too much about the introduction of the YouTube characters, but they do play a significant role in the story itself and the quality of the voice acting is at times a bit jarring, especially when compared to the usual high standard that TellTale Games has. This isn’t a slur on the people themselves as they do try admirably, but voice actors they aren’t and it becomes increasingly distracting the longer the episode goes on. Thankfully, or not depending on your views on the introduction of these real life characters, the episode is pretty short, clocking in at just under and hour and half for me.

TellTale often comes under fire for the fact that the choices you make while playing their various stories do not really have a major impact on the overall outcome of the narrative, and generally that is fine because the stories are crafted over numerous episodes and you have a feeling that they do matter even if it is only on a very small scale. Unfortunately, with the shorter stories contained neatly within one episode the choices you make really are exposed as moot. They really feel outdated and pointless during A Portal to Mystery and serve only to keep you focused so that you don’t miss the timer count down on one of the choices. It’s a shame that they have been exposed so much in this episode because I really felt in the first few episodes that the decisions I made reflected in a different experience; the choice to side with Axel for example took me to Boomtown, rather than Redstonia with Olivia, the choice to save Gabriel or Petra feels like it has implications for later episodes in the tale of the Wither Storm, but here they don’t have any impact at all and that is a shame. The story feels like it is happening regardless of whether you participate in it or not, and that isn’t how I want to feel when playing one of TellTale games.

There are positives for A Portal to Mystery, the whodunit murder mystery is very engaging and the twists and turns meant that I had a few suspects in mind. I was kept guessing who the culprit was right up to the end reveal. The story also leads us neatly around various parts of the mansion with some fun building and light problem solving to do. Overall though, I am starting to feel that the lack of any real serious threat for Jesse and his or her band of friends means these episodes are starting to become a bit lacklustre as there is no real drive to continue to see what happens next. Even the next episode reveal didn’t show much in the way of further peril and adventure for our team. I also miss Axel and Olivia.

A disappointing episode then for a series that has been good fun so far. I felt that the introduction of the fan element detracted a great deal from the episode as a whole, but as I have mentioned in reviews for earlier episodes, I worry that I’m no longer the intended audience for this series. Minecraft has a young and very passionate community (I’m a huge fan of the game) and I’m fairly confident that those fans will adore this episode with their favourite YouTube stars playing pivotal roles. But the self-contained story lines are starting to show the cracks in TellTale’s model of storytelling, which I’m not sure is a good thing.

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Shredder and Krang are planning an invasion on New York City and it’s up to the turtles to go and stop them. Nothing new there really, and you’ll pass through each stage at the speed of light until you meet up with some of the turtle’s most famous foes (favourites like Beebop, Rocksteady, and Karai all make an appearance). If you’ve ever played any of the One Piece or Samurai Warriors games, the pace may be familiar to you, but for many it will be chaos over control. Members of the foot clan will appear or mousers will emerge and you’ll have trouble spotting them straight away; everything happens so fast and when you finally spot them, there’s a good chance one of your brothers has already taken them out.

You run around a relatively small level area with certain challenges popping up that you’ll need to complete in order to reach the end of stage boss, such as protecting a pizza van, disarming a bomb or fighting off waves of foot soldiers. They’re quite varied so it does offer a challenge, but the frustrating camera angles take a great deal of fun out of both the challenges and the combat.

Combat does feel different between the characters, with Raphael being stronger than the others and Michelangelo being a lot faster, but after 3 or 4 stages the fighting feels repetitive and uninspiring. You have a normal attack and a strong attack, with upgradable Ninjutsu attacks causing most of the damage. Each of the turtles has 4 of these attacks and depending on the kind of character they are, these moves will focus on their heightened attributes. Upgrading and interchanging these attacks in the loadout screen will help to mix things up a little, but generally the combat doesn’t feel that different.

There are some good features when it comes to manoeuvrability and defence. You can climb walls, glide through the air and travel along railings and phone lines, helping you to get to where you want to go a lot easier than simply running. Parrying and dodging plays a big role as well, and this will help a great deal when fighting hulking brutes like Slash.

The art style make up for some of the game’s frustrations. The cel-shaded rendering of the environments and characters give the visuals a sharp and colourful appeal, with the overall feel sharing a little in common with previous iterations of the TMNT. The recent Nickelodeon cartoon is an obvious comparison, but the tone of the story and the art style is reminiscent of the comics. The voice acting is probably where Mutants in Manhattan shines the most thanks to VO heavyweights like Nolan North (Nathan Drake, Uncharted) and Gavin Hammon’s (Kenny, The Walking Dead) involvement and the brotherly bond is portrayed really well.

It would instantly be a better game if local co-op was a feature. You can go online and play with others, but there’s no real inclination to do so. Teaming up with your friends on your sofa is so much more appealing than over an internet connection and the absence doesn’t seem to make much sense. The turtles are all about camaraderie and friendship and not being able to play the game over a few pizzas just doesn’t seem right.

It’s such a shame Mutants in Manhattan doesn’t hit the mark. It could’ve been such a better game if they’d feature more diverse levels, local co-op, and a much longer experience. I know Transformers Devastation wasn’t the longest of games either, but depending on the difficulty you can finish the game’s 9 levels in less than 5 hours which is a massive let down. Needless to say, this won’t be the turtles game you’ll want to be shouting from the sewers about.

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While most “remasters” these days are just the original game running at a higher resolution, Odin Sphere Leifthrasir includes the original game with mechanics untouched but running at 1080p and 60fps as well as the new refined game that plays and feels completely different. For this review I’ve put an equal amount of time into both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita versions using cross-save to sync my progress across.

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir takes place as a set of books being read by a girl in her attic with her cat. Each of these books represents one of the protagonists of Odin Sphere Leifthrasir. The storytelling unravels across multiple tales where each protagonist runs into another. These may happen at different times and cliffhangers can lead into another protagonist’s tale. Odin Sphere does a great job at developing each character to the point where you care for them and understand their motives for every little thing. The timelines intertwine and you finally begin to understand things more and more as you get closer to completing the five main tales. I never thought I’d enjoy the story this much but without going into spoilers, I feel like Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is a masterpiece on multiple levels.

As you get into each protagonist’s tale, you get your bearings in order for their play style with each one performing differently. Gwendolyn uses her sister’s Psypher spear and is the daughter of Odin. She has a very standard hack ‘n’ slash attack style with the power of ice. On the other side of the spectrum, Velvet has a Psypher chain that lets her execute long range attacks while Mercedes wields a cross bow. Each character is unique and discovering how to chain together their combos using skills and attacks is amazing. Psyphers absorb phozons from fallen enemies and grow in power, with each protagonist has some form of a Psypher weapon.

Gameplay flow has you go through various interconnected rooms and stages, with chapters being split up by various story cutscenes. These rooms range from battle stages to resting areas, and even include random locales with destructible environmental objects that give you rewards. Each chapter ends with a boss fight and there’s usually a mid-boss fight as well. I. Expect to take about 6-7 hours for each protagonist’s book — there is at least 40 hours of gameplay here. Even once all the books are completed, the game continues on in breathtaking fashion but I won’t spoil what’s in store.

Combat involves attacking with your Psypher and using skills. Skills either consume POW or PP. You unlock plenty of skills as you progress and can setup shortcuts or activate skills by pressing L1. You can invest phozons, acquired as you please, and change your build depending on your play style. The real meat of Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is chaining multiple attack combos by staggering big enemies and bosses. You get a real rush out of managing to take out a mid-boss in a single combo across multiple layers of health bars.

Levelling up is a manual process, barring combat experience through planting seeds. Once you plant a seed, you use up a phozon to bloom said seed and consume its fruit. Early on, you also unlock travelling chefs who can cook meals that give you an HP boost and a lot of experience. There’s a big gathering element at play throughout where exploration is rewarded since certain ingredients are incredibly hard to find or completely unaffordable. Again, you can invest your phozons into levelling up overall or levelling up individual skills as you please. You also are encouraged to mix glass beakers with other items as alchemy to concoct your own attack and defence potions — many of which are very useful in boss fights.

Visuals are definitely a highlight here. The lush colourful environments and detailed character models and animations make Odin Sphere Leifthrasir one of the best looking games ever. It also runs smoothly, only noticing a few drops in framerate on the Vita during certain boss fights where there were heavy particle effects at play. Other than that, it took everything I threw at it, chewed it up and spat out gorgeous and fluid visuals that had me hitting the Share button more often than I should have on PS4. Bonus points for the detailing on dishes in the travelling chef restaurants. If you haven’t upgraded to the 2000 Vita model, you’re in for a real treat as the OLED screen really makes Odin Sphere pop.

If you’re a fan of Japanese voices, you can choose to use them from the get go as Odin Sphere supports both Japanese and English audio options. The voice acting is great but the real highlight of the sound department is Hitoshi Sakimoto’s score. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir features arranged tracks while retaining some original tracks from the PS2 game’s soundtrack.

The only real problem you will face while playing Odin Sphere is how things start to feel repetitive later on in terms of visuals and in some cases gameplay. There are reused stages because of story reasons, and the gameplay might be a little too stale for some as you power through the stories of each protagonist. My suggestion is be creative with skills and try out new ways to chain enemies into massive combos.

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is an amalgamation of everything a great game should have: addictive gameplay, gorgeous visuals, a gripping story, and a heck of a lot of customisation. If you missed this on the PS2, you owe it to yourself to experience one of the best games out there on current PlayStation platforms.

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The focus this time is on King Graham’s quest for love. He’s won his kingdom, his subjects are happy, he’s spent an awful lot of time in the gym – but he’s terribly lonely. Subtle digs from his guards even prompt him to make a fake dinner guest using a coat stand, a poster, and a hat made from a napkin. Dire straits indeed. At the behest of his trusty magic mirror, he sets off into the wilds where he’s heard that there just happens to be a pair of rather lovely princesses in need of rescuing from a tower.

Riffing off Rapunzel (the Tangled version in particular), Once Upon A Climb also takes a good deal of inspiration from comedy classic The Princess Bride. The talky humour feels reminiscent of Carey Elwes’ swashbuckling adventure, particularly thanks to the theme of true love – and Wallace Shawn returns as Chapter 1’s Manny, too. But the greatest success of Chapter 3 is the introduction of the aforementioned princesses, Vee and Neese.

Far more than just sounding boards for Graham’s clumsy ramblings, both women have unique personalities, likes and dislikes that you’ll need to figure out and appease as you attempt to decide which is your true love – a choice that never really feels is Graham’s to make. While dealing with various perils – not least the wicked witch Hagatha, who keeps the princesses locked in the tower – you’ll genuinely feel you’re getting to know them, and you’ll want to avoid making mistakes that reduce their favour.

Not as busy or involving as the first chapter, Once Upon a Climb makes up for a its slower pace with its colourful characters and sense of adventure. There’s real chemistry between Graham, Vee and Neese that slowly moves into love triangle territory as he begins to win over their affections, making for some great moments. As always, it’s worth at least two playthroughs to investigate the results of different narrative choices, but my natural first playthrough felt satisfying on its own. Though, I did spot a returning character who I’m sure died in my run of Chapter 2, which was a bit jarring. The Odd Gentlemen should be wary of moments like that if they’re going to sell King’s Quest as a choice-driven adventure.

Graphically beautiful and well-acted, Once Upon a Climb is a solid return to form for the King’s Quest reboot, but a faster release schedule would be much appreciated. Four months or more between episodes is a long time to wait and it’s not always easy to remember every choice or story beat from previous instalments, which robs some of the impact. I could barely remember the present day stuff with King Graham’s grandchildren, for example, and so felt way less invested in the burgeoning drama between the siblings than in Graham’s retelling of his adventures.

Some of the puzzles felt incredibly tricky simply because you so often have to resort to clicking and combining everything, which is more tedious than genuinely challenging, and more than once I had overlooked a simple solution because I hadn’t found every part of the puzzle. Often failures result in going back a few minutes, which isn’t a problem in itself, but becomes irritating when you have to watch the same conversation or cutscene play out several times.

So, Once Upon a Climb is a strong third entry then, and repairs relations between player and game after the slightly dull previous instalment. Some of the puzzles are a little hit and miss and it takes a while to get going, but the central narrative, new and returning characters, and romantic humour make for a likeable, charming episode.

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If you were faced with the zombie apocalypse every day for the rest of your life, how on earth would you handle the constant threat of being the focus of a walker’s lust for flesh? How would you try to make sense of a world where that kind of risk is normal? Imagine having to deal with losing your sanity and your most precious family members all while fending off a group of nutcases with rifles. You’re getting the picture I’m trying to paint, right? The third episode of The Walking Dead: Michonne is a tense bloodbath where the conclusion of Michonne’s story arc is coming to an end, with all hell breaking loose.

What We Deserve may not be as gripping as previous episodes, but it makes up for it with action. We’ve seen Michonne have to deal with the dead and the living in equal bouts of intensity and the final showdown sees you have to deal with both in abundance. It’s great how player choice is implemented in one particular scene: you’re trying to negotiate a deal with Norma in a heated situation, and as things go south it’s up to you to keep your head. I hadn’t seen this kind of dynamic in the previous episodes so it was refreshing to be given a chance to show your mettle in a rapidly deteriorating situation.

There is some great character interaction, especially between Michonne and Sam and her siblings. If you remember, Sam has seen her brother and her father die, all whilst facing her own death as well. As a mother herself, Michonne struggles intrinsically to show compassion for this family, but manages to despite everything she’s going through herself. There is a really sweet moment where you speak with Sam’s youngest brother Alex, and by choosing the right dialogue options, you can provide some much needed comfort.

The quality of acting here is superb. The level of emotion the characters provide is astounding, and the majority of the cast have such a natural ability. Alex and James are really good in What We Deserve, especially when child actors tend to be a little wooden. The scene in Alex’s fortress is particularly moving and James and Michonne’s interaction over choosing to have a gun or not is a particular highlight. In the end of episode two, I battered Randall’s skull with a wrench, so unfortunately he isn’t in the episode (as he has been anyway), but his sister Norma is and she does a fantastic job of flitting between desperation and power.

The star of the episode (and the series) is undoubtedly Michonne. Sam Wiley is just as excellent as she has been from the start and with the constant hallucinations and freak outs becoming more frequent in What We Deserve, Michonne is falling apart. We all know her as a strong and focused character, but her emotions are tearing her apart and Sam makes us feel such empathy for her. It’s a great dynamic seeing her try to right the wrongs of her daughters by protecting the children left alone after the deaths of their parents, and her love of these characters is the main reason she keeps on fighting.

There are quite a few technical concerns in What We Deserve, such as framerate issues and gruelling loading times. I hadn’t noticed it before, but the wait between some scenes was awful, reaching almost two minutes at times. It broke up the tension and caused a little frustration for me, especially as I just wanted to see what was going to happen with Michonne and her fellow survivors.

I really enjoyed The Walking Dead: Michonne and I’m happy Telltale Games decided to explore one of the comic’s best characters, but I felt the final episode lacked some of the series’ greatness. It is in no way a bad episode, but the absence of any real important choices and lack of surprises helps to make What We Deserve the weakest of the three episodes.

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The first episode of The Walking Dead: Michonne did a great job of painting the bigger picture in regards to who Michonne really is, and it also managed to introduce new characters and settings we hadn’t seen before. Along with newcomers Randall, Norma and Sam, we get to see deeper into the psyche of the titular protagonist as she struggles to cope with the loss of her daughters, Elodie and Colette. If you thought you’d seen Michonne at her worst in Episode One, there are a few times in Give No Shelter where her sanity slips even further into the darkness and you’ll start to see a completely new side to her.

After the grisly events at the end of Episode One, Michonne, Sam and Pete find solace in the makeshift home of Sam’s father, but when everything (and I literally mean everything) goes to shit, Michonne has to make some important decisions that will affect the constantly diminishing group of survivors. There didn’t seem to be any huge decisions in Episode One where the repercussions were felt in any way, but there are some monumental decisions to make in Give No Shelter, and by the end you’ll be left wondering if you made the right choices.

The characters in Episode Two are given more of a presence, with Sam playing a much more important role than before. We learn a lot more about her and her family this time around and it helps to show why Sam is as confident and strong as she is. Even after watching her brother die at the end of Episode One, she realises there is still something to fight for in the messed up world of a zombie-infested America.

Not all the characters in Give No Shelter are as endearing as Sam, mind you. If you weren’t a fan of Randall before, I can guarantee you won’t be by the end of Episode Two. Where villains like Negan and the Governor both had a sense of control and respect, Randall doesn’t care about what he does or what he says to anyone. He’s a vile, despicable human being and you’ll hate him so much, which is a good thing really; it would be disappointing if he pulled a box of cookies out of his backpack and starting singing Katy Perry songs, wouldn’t it?

As gripping as the story is, you don’t really feel any closer to knowing where it’s heading. Penultimate episodes of any show or game tend to give some sort of focus for the finale, but you get the feeling there’s a chance the next episode will be rushed. It feels like a lot has to happen before Michonne joins Rick and the gang.

The story in Give No Shelter is nothing short of shocking or intense. In true The Walking Dead fashion, you can’t rest or relax at any point and thinking things can only get better is naïve. There is a moment towards the end that stunned me so much I failed to see the command prompt that popped up and I took a bullet to the head as a result. Moments like this make up most of Give No Shelter, especially as it reaches the closing moments. Zack Keller and Andrew Hansom have written a thrilling piece of drama and its director, Sean Manning, makes all the pieces fit together wonderfully.

Trying to make three episodes fit well within the comic book’s canon was always going to be a challenge, and if the final act pulls it off, The Walking Dead: Michonne should be as highly regarded as the two seasons preceding it. It’s such a shame that many of the issues letting down The Walking Dead return once more, feeling more prominent in this episode; lagging in some scenes was more frequent, and some of the dialogue stopped momentarily causing some frustration. Minus these problems, Give No Shelter is another great entry into a respectable and beloved series and you’d be smart to pick it up and continue the story of one of the best characters in the series.

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Upon loading up the episode, I was surprised to see that a further three episodes had been planned for release after the finale, with presumably a new season pass for the remaining content on the way too. It seems that episode five is more of a new beginning than a conclusion to Jesse and his/her friends’ story. This may come as a bit of an annoyance to some people who will find that they will need to purchase and download more content should they wish to see the series to its actual conclusion. Thankfully though, Telltale seem to be aware of this and Order Up stands up well as a contained story all of its own.

Order Up picks up after the long break from the previous episode with our group of friends firmly rooted in their latest roles as the new Order of the Stone. It’s great to see that their confidence and acceptance into the wider community that they live in has been finally realised, having been built up as a key theme throughout previous episodes. To see the confidence in the team’s abilities and how the crowds in their home town treated them was a wonderful thing.

With the conclusion of the Wither Storm story arc in episode four, Order Up has a lot to do: it has to establish a new story arc for future episodes, as well as maintain a reasonably well contained plot. As such, we start with Jesse and friends already out on an adventure, visiting a jungle temple with unknown treasures inside. It’s clear that Telltale wanted to delineate this episode from the previous ones, with the title sequence appearing immediately rather than shortly after the completion of the first chapter––making it feel like something new was beginning.

Order Up hasn’t entirely abandoned the story threads from the earlier episodes with a few familiar faces popping up to provide links with what has happened before, including the main antagonist who provides a useful link to demonstrate how far our group has come from the earlier days.

While the writing in Order Up is the funniest it has been with some genuine laugh out loud moments, it is still nowhere near the heights reached with Tales from the Borderlands, but it is a significant improvement on previous episodes. Furthermore, our team of adventurers has been slimmed down a bit with Jesse’s team reduced to four again; dropping two familiar faces in favour of two surprising additions. The reduction in the roster of characters means that a little more time has been given to fleshing out the team members we aren’t too familiar with. One particular character may have been exaggerated a little, but I think younger fans will find his antics amusing.

Once again, the environments have been beautifully done with a fantastic city that got the creative building juices flowing again for my own Minecraft projects. It’s because of this that it’s a real shame that some of the technical issues that plagued earlier and indeed most Telltale Games’ products are still prevalent. The engine is still sluggish, and there are many occasions where the animation is behind the vocals and a couple of times the quicktime event prompts failed to load up in time. I even died during one particular point for a completely unknown reason which was frustrating, but this is indicative of Telltale in that I expect this sort of technical nonsense.

The story itself works as a standalone with a satisfying conclusion, and only at the very end does Order Up create any real desire for people to want to find out where Jesse and his/her team will be heading next. For some people, Order Up may well be all they need to finalise their experience with Minecraft: Story Mode, but for others the tease of where they might end up will be enough to continue their investment for three more episodes. It isn’t as strong an episode as the conclusion to the Wither Storm story was, but Order Up does a very good job of creating a fun and entertaining story as well as laying the groundwork for future adventures.

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In Conquest mode, you can play through a selection of scenarios from different time periods in Japanese history. Depending on the time period, you’ll have different clans to play as and face and the events in history have an impact on your game, but the general gameplay remains the same regardless of the scenario you choose to play through. At the beginning, you get to choose from a wide selection of clans and once you’re happy with your clan, the game will really start to captivate you.

Outside of the actual battlefield is where Empires shines. Every decision you make is done at your Castle – which acts as a hub of sorts. From there, you can make military and political decisions that affect everY officer you employ within your castle. From a selection of characters in your castle, you can select magistrates who will suggest directives to help you out in a whole manner of things. For example, raising the rice yield will mean nobody starves and the morale of your people won’t fall. Making military decisions can help you greatly on the battlefield; whether that’s adjusting certain formations or recovering your troop’s strength, each directive has major implications. You’ll also be punished for making decisions that affect the lives of your people, meaning your fame will drop and the amount of decisions you can make on each turn will decrease.

It’s set within the four seasons of the year. My clan, the Satomi Clan suffered a heavy defeat early on in the game and it took me around two in-game years to be battle ready. I stupidly went into war with a rival clan when most of my troop’s strength was low, resulting in a quick defeat and bruised ego. Just like Nobunaga’s Ambition, you can’t play the game without spending a considerable amount of time preparing for battle.

The loyalty of your clan will also be tested, and making sure you respect the relationships between certain characters within your castle can reap rewards for you on and off the battlefield. These relationships play a huge part, and allowing two characters to deepen a bond can add additional benefits to your clan. Various events in battle can also create a nemesis for your clan, which can impact you later on and events during the fights, such as earthquakes and severe weather will wreak havoc on your crops and your castle’s structure. Omega Force has tried to fit in plenty of variables you’ll have to consistently prepare for and recover from.

As always, battles take place on a standard map where you can station your selected officers at different points, allowing you to use the best tactics possible for the destruction of the opposing clan. In these base battles, you’ll be able to take out large numbers of enemies and secure areas which will allow you to create supply lines between them. Claim the stronghold and victory will be yours. Combat is exactly the same as other titles in the series, too: you have a normal attack, power attack, and a Musou attack. The more you connect with the normal and power attacks, the more your special bar fills allowing you to use your Musou. It feels incredibly fluid and you’ll rarely struggle to dish out plenty of damage.

One of the nicest new features is the ability to create your own character, giving them their own name, attire, weapon, and crest. From there you can thrust them into whatever conquest you’re playing. It’s great if you’re a fan of Omega Force’s customisation as it allows your own unique character to feature in not only the battles, but the cut-scenes and historical events as well.

Genesis mode allows you to completely change a clan’s locations on any of the conquest’s maps and also the members of each clan. It’s merely an extension of the main game, but for those who like to have total control of every aspect of a game this mode is most definitely for you.

Samurai Warriors 4 Empires makes a welcome return after eight years in the shadows, giving fatigued Omega Force fans something refreshing to sink their battle worn fingers into. It can feel a little repetitive after a while, but random events do help to mix things up a bit. The difficulty of the battles will change depending on how prepared you are, but even then the game can be overwhelming at times, especially when you’re constantly faced with onslaught after onslaught of thousands of enemy soldiers.

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With the majority of its attention arising from the wonderfully bleak television show starring Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus, it was a pleasure to see Telltale Games bring the focus back to its source material, creating two record-breaking video games from the world of Kirman’s vision of The Walking Dead. Now, after well over a year since Season Two was released, Telltale is back with The Walking Dead: Michonne and it is just as good as ever.

The story takes place between issues #126 and #139 of the comics where Michonne left Rick, Ezekiel, and the rest of the group to deal with her own sanity in the hopes of putting her demons to bed. You are part of a crew on The Companion, a ship that picks up a distress signal from a stranger. Setting the story on the water is a refreshing change because dull woodland and dilapidated housing can be consistently morose and all too familiar.

Right from the start you’re reminded of how unforgiving The Walking Dead can be, and after a fantastic opening scene involving high levels of tension and emotion, In Too Deep goes from strength to strength. We’ve seen Telltale harness the power of music excellently before (Tales from the Borderlands for example), but Dorothy’s ‘Gun in my Hand’ is easily one of the best songs I’ve heard in a video game before.

Throughout the episode, you’re introduced to a lot of new characters, but it never feels like any one of them are simple filler. Every character fills a purpose; from the potential love-interest of Pete to the vile Randall, each personality feels fleshed out and written with detail and aplomb. In typical Telltale fashion, the choices you make will be affected by the way you care about the characters around you, and within an hour of the story you’ll already start to feel protective over your new friends.

Michonne has always been one of the more complex characters, and to finally see more of her in her own story was the perfect choice. Samira Wiley (Orange is the New Black’s Poussay) does an incredible job of representing the troubled antagonist. Samira has a soft and calming voice, and her ability to make you feel compassion and empathy for Michonne is instantaneous. You’re right there with her, wanting her to overcome the sadness in her heart, and even though you may know the reasons for her going back to Rick Grimes in the end, it’ll be interesting to see her journey to that point.

There are plenty of dialogue choices and the way you answer will change the way people view you and how the story pans out. There aren’t a huge number of pivotal decisions to make in this episode, but when you are greeted with them, there is no time to think. Most decisions have a time limit so you can’t make a nice cup of tea whilst you mull over the options, but certain choices do have longer than others. The controls are as straight forward as ever and that’s absolutely fine; the most important aspect of any Telltale game is the story and its characters so giving you minimal buttons to press keeps things simple.

The pacing is excellent and the unpredictability is ever-present: one minute you’re looking around a ferry’s exterior and the next you’re dealing with a sudden attack from a herd of walkers. You can never relax, you can never take the quiet for granted, and you can never assume you’re safe. You’re going to encounter some dangerous set pieces involving a whole manner of individuals and the way Telltale does this is second to none. They have had plenty of time to hone their craft over the years and this episode is a perfect example of how dramatic storytelling should be done.

There are mild frame-rate issues with some strange pauses between character interactions and the Thunderbirds-like movement of character heads can be a little off-putting, but these minor issues are by no way detrimental to stunting your enjoyment of it. These issues have been a part of Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead from the very first episode of Season One and if they haven’t gone by now, they’re probably sticking around for good.

The Walking Dead: Michonne has started off incredibly well and the next two episodes have a great deal of potential to be some of the best yet. The settlement of Munroe and the people therein have the opportunity to rival those seen in the quaint town of Woodbury and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

The post The Walking Dead: Michonne – Episode 1: In Too Deep Review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

Arslan: The Warriors of Legend has been adapted from the various anime and manga titles with the same name, with the majority of the focus on the 2013 manga series by the creator of Full Metal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa. It tells the tale of Arslan, a kind and gentle Prince that is forced to fight for the kingdom in which he has been ousted from after the betrayal and defeat of his father, the King of Pars, Andragoras III. Before becoming an anime or manga, the series was written as a novel in 1986, with a subsequent fourteen novels following it, providing a lot of content to draw from. It really does feel like you’re playing something really important – something that has such an integral place in Japanese fiction and the way in which Omega Force has presented it does a fantastic job of sucking you in.

Being blunt, combat here does very little different from other musou titles. While on foot, you have normal attacks and charge attacks acting as the foundations of battle; laying bodies to waste by pummelling these buttons helps build your special attack gauge. Once filled, you’ll be allowed to attack the hordes of enemies with a furious and powerful manoeuvre. There are Unique attacks as well that provide you with more opportunities to kill the enemy, and being able to change between weapons in battle can help mix things up. With that being said, the combat does end up feeling somewhat monotonous, echoing the same kind of gameplay you’ll probably be familiar with if you’ve already played an Omega Force game before.

There are some minor tweaks and additions to gameplay that try to add to the experience such as skill cards and weapon arts. Skill cards grant addition points to certain stats and you can select three cards at any one time. You’re also given the option to synthesize a handful of cards to create a brand new one. Weapon Arts add skills to certain weapons once the mastery has increased, giving you additional power on certain attacks, but they never feel as though they help you a great deal.

Many of the areas let you travel around on horseback, but rather than simply being used for getting from A-to-B, you can also attack enemies whilst sat on the saddle. The awkward camera angles make striking enemies incredibly difficult on your steed and it can take quite some time to master the art. It’s certainly easier to ride through select groups of enemies on your horse, but having to turn around to wipe out the few you missed can be a lurid mess.

In many of the battlefields you’ll be able to initiate something known as a Mardān Rush. There are three different varieties of the Mardān Rush mechanic and each one allows you to cause a great deal of damage to the opposition; you can charge at the enemy on horseback, fire hundreds of arrows down on areas of your choosing and have spear-wielding infantry attack in great numbers. This is by the far the most enjoyable element of the game as watching these rushes unfold can add large amounts of XP and treasures to your virtual caddy, not to mention it looks bloody impressive.

There is a lack of variety outside of the main story mode, but that’s not to say what’s there shouldn’t be dabbled with. In free mode you can replay the various missions you’ve played through in story mode with characters and outfits you’ve unlocked along the way. You’ll also be able to co-op online and offline, which is good if you have a friend that wants to help you tackle either the story mode or free mode, both of which are available at your disposal.

So this is a musou game with a meaty narrative, but the likes of One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 executes the combat a lot better, and when you’re frantically running about from one checkpoint to the next, its camera angles can interrupt the flow of battle. Arakawa has made the game look stunning with his signature style and the cell-shaded aesthetics help to set it apart from other Omega Force titles. It’s a great stress relief game after a tough day at work and a chance to become acquainted with one of Japan’s finest fantasy tales.

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Nothing makes or breaks a fighting game more than its cast and mechanics. This one has an all female cast (as the name suggests) from the Nitroplus visual novels and other media involving the same writers. This brings us a very eclectic cast ranging from my favourite: Saber from Fate/Zero, and the Fate series to Saya from the visual novel Saya no Uta. There are twelve playable characters and many more support characters.

Each player can have two support characters along with their main character in a battle. The support mechanic is really interesting as it allows for unexpected twists in combat thanks to the diversified support options. You can set up your support to freeze the screen or shoot a series of missiles into your opponent as you prepare to unleash your ultimate lethal blaze. Each support character has her own voice actress with dialogue in the story and battles as well.

Controls are a bit different to what I was used to and there’s a heavy reliance on quarter circle movement for executing special attacks. Guilty Gear Xrd Sign got me used to some complicated combos through various button combinations so I didn’t have too much trouble here. What really made this one stick with me was how varied each heroine’s special attacks and standard moves are. On booting it up for the first time I spent a few hours playing story mode as Saber but switching to Super Sonico completely changed my playstyle. Lethal Blazes are super moves and they use up three bars of the super bar. These are accompanied by anime cutscenes that are really great and serve as appropriate finishing moves. The cutscenes reference the media said heroine was from so Saber gets into Fate/Zero mode with Excalibur and has the same dialogue making the whole spectacle a badass experience.

Most fighting games these days are too pro focussed so I appreciate the simplicity in Nitroplus being there when you need it. It lets you get as complex as you want or just button mash if you aren’t into fighting games. Speaking of not being into fighting games, there’s no tutorial mode so the only way you can actually learn is by playing against the CPU or going into a free training mode and looking at the move list.

I did come in expecting a good story thanks to the pedigree of the characters but came away disappointed. The main story mode is basically an arcade mode with a bit of dialogue before each battle. Once you clear this, you unlock “After Story” which is more of a visual novel with a lot of dialogue split up into ten chapters. This is the actual story content and it still failed to impress me.

Visually, Nitroplus is good but inconsistent. Many elements appear to be blurry while others look great. The anime cutscenes during lethal blazes are great and character sprites look very nice. Even the portraits in story mode are really well done. I wish more effort was put into polishing the visuals because it is pretty jarring seeing closeups where the characters are blurry. One of the annoying issues I faced on the PS4 was the amount of times screenshot taking was blocked. Thanks to this, there are times where I saw five notifications within a span of ten seconds indicating when I could and couldn’t take screenshots or record gameplay.

My experience with the online network mode ranged from a lot of fun to frustrating. Some games were plagued with lag while others were great. I do appreciate the ability to play against people on both PS3 and PS4 across the globe, where some other games will lock you into your own region for online play. There are various filters you can use to tweak the online search for the ideal experience you’re looking for.

If you’re a fan of fighting games that don’t take themselves too seriously and enjoy anime or just the franchises these ladies are from, Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel will not disappoint you. They even have a really catchy opening song featuring Super Sonico. Job done.

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LEGO Marvel’s Avengers is a yellow brick compilation of the Marvel universe, the main missions coming from the two Avengers films, with Iron Man 3, both Captain America films, and Thor: The Dark World also providing levels. As usual, the adaptation and construction of the films playable scenarios is fantastic, each level providing enough variation in gameplay, from puzzles to combat, to keep you engrossed. The combat is particularly good this time around, the ability to team up characters for special moves adding more interesting ways to take opponents down. Combining Black Widow and Quicksilver is a personal favourite of mine, any enemies in the circumference of them being obliterated by the quick whirlwind of bullets that their pairing creates.

The game time for each main character is another positive, my moments with each of the Avengers heroes being well balanced and fairly distributed. The final act of Age of Ultron does this particularly well, the chaos of the films final scene being broken into small, playable chunks, your time with the hero’s divided fairly. As usual, there’s lots of replayability, each level asking you to go into Free Play mode with other characters in order to fully complete it and, as usual, you’ll find yourself happily obliging, the “must collect everything” ethos that drives these games pushing players to carry on long after the stories are over, which is rather quickly.

In total, it took me fifteen hours to finish the story missions, which doesn’t seem bad for a LEGO game. But you have to bare in mind that there’s six films worth of content here, the one level film stories outside of the Avengers feeling more like easy add-on content than well thought out mini-games. The truth is there’s too much content, which seems like a ridiculous thing to say, but here this sentiment rings true. If the developers and publishers had come to some sort of agreement to break this game into two releases, with each Avengers film perhaps being the flagship for the titles, the storytelling here might not have been as rushed as it is, a feeling of being hurried through the game prevalent throughout, especially during Avengers Assemble. There are a few occasions, where large narrative leaps from one to the next scene are obvious during the film storylines, and while these do not cause stories to be incomprehensible, they make for distorted viewing, which may cause some fans who have seen the films to be disappointed in the lack of story-line exploration. As much as I don’t play the LEGO games for their plot creations (mainly because most of their games narratives are already mapped out beforehand) they have proved before that they can tell a story well, the great memories of LEGO Harry Potter fading fast while playing this.

That isn’t to say I didn’t have fun while playing, my time never felt like a chore or a bore. I particularity liked the many hub worlds and the contrasts they offered to the linear action. From the sprawling landscape of Manhattan that encourages you to explore, to the idyllic beauty of Malibu, each hub world provides an interesting rest bite from the story-lines, side quests bringing with them many Marvel characters to meet, some of which you will get visibly excited about and some of which you may not even know. Then there’s the attentions to detail that you see, such as Coulson giving you the wink when you think he’s dead, with the usual LEGO humour providing the laughs, the concoction of the serious nature of the Avengers and slapstick LEGO comedy being an entertaining mix.

With LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens recently being announced, it makes sense that TT would want to leave the Marvel world behind for a while, their concentrations lying elsewhere. However, this game really could have done with a less is more approach, the decision to cram everything into one game meaning that quality is sacrificed in places. For avid fans, this will make a nice addition to the collection, the ultimate Marvel experience being brought about by the sheer amount of characters to unlock, replayability, and the quest for 100% ensuring that players pick this game up time and time again. For anyone else however, Marvel Super Heroes is still the best game to pick up when looking for a LEGO superhero fix, Marvel’s Avengers falling short of its predecessor in the style over substance stakes.

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Resident Evil 0 has all of the bombastic storylines and oblivious humour as any game in the series, but it still managed to scare me on more than one occasion. I had forgotten how well the game managed to provide those moments where a zombie or two would suddenly appear from a locked freezer or behind a door and you were expected to act fast and either take them out or run away. You are always encouraged to think; the element of survival never feels more prominent when faced with these decisions, and Capcom’s choice to deviate from this tried and tested formula as the series progressed was always a bizarre one.

The most obvious improvement to the game is how much detail has been put into the graphics. Its HD makeover has done the game a world of good and within minutes of playing you can tell that a lot of hard work has been put into it. Watching the heavy rain hit the windows or the light glare into the carriages in sporadic spurts as you travel through tunnels is vastly superior to the original; the paintings and statues you see wandering around the training facility are also worth mentioning because of the amount of detail put into their textures and palette. Some of the cutscenes suffer from shading issues, and the same blur of the GameCube is still prevalent in certain parts, but not enough to make an impact on the overall experience of the game.

You can now play in 16:9 widescreen, and rather than the image being stretched, it has been perfectly adapted to fit modern TV screens and monitors. If you’d prefer to play the game in its original 4:3 ratio, then you can do that instead. Sound has also been drastically improved, supporting 5.1 channel output and giving you the option to change different dynamic presets in the menus to match your own preferences. It’s evident as you play through the game that these improvements have been made; every zombie’s groan or crow’s caw roars with great clarity and with Seiko Kobuchi’s exceptional score heightening tension and atmosphere, Resident Evil 0 still stands up today as an audio delight.

The controls have had an overhaul too. Those tank controls of the original are still there if you want them, but there’s an alternative now, just as there was with the previous re-re-make. You can now use the left stick to move Billy or Rebecca around freely which feels a lot better, but on more than one occasion I kept cutting back and forth between areas due to its awkward maneuvering. Sometimes, pressing forward on the left stick means you’ll go backwards as you pass on to the next area which breaks up play and can become frustrating. That’s a facet of older game design that happens less now, but this is an old game made new, so it’s worth noting.

I’ve also become so used to holding L2 to aim and R2 to fire in video games and with its absence in Resident Evil 0, pulling R2 to aim and cross to fire doesn’t feel right. There isn’t an option to change to a more familiar control system and with all the other alternative control patterns you can choose from, this never figures into any of them. Even opening the map or accessing your inventory has been given strange button choices. It feels unnatural and awkward, especially when you’re panicking because some zombie dogs have just jumped through a sodding window and you’re messing about with a map instead of blowing their heads off.

Once you complete the main campaign, you’ll unlock Wesker Mode. It’s a nice addition and if you loved playing the game, you’ll now get to do so with series’ antagonist, Albert Wesker. Instead of playing as Billy Coen, it’ll be Wesker dressed in his attire from Resident Evil 5, complete with glowing red eyes and a whole host of special abilities. All the cut scenes have been changed to feature Wesker, and even Rebecca has a new outfit which is reminiscent of the one Jill Valentine wears in RE5.

Resident Evil 0 is a reminder of how great the series once was complete with a whole host of improvements that make it well worth returning for. If you’ve never played the game before or if you’ve never stepped foot in the franchise, this is the perfect place to start. It may feel a little dated at times, especially if you’re used to horror games like Until Dawn or The Evil Within, but this series played a major part in their creation and without Resident Evil, these wouldn’t exist.

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Our adventure takes place in the Erebonian Empire in a region known for military prowess. The social class system is still in place and there’s tension between nobles and common citizens. In the midst of all of this is Rean Schwarzer, the protagonist who enters Thor’s Military Academy. There’s a new class in the academy called Class VII which does not distinguish between anyone based on their social or economic status. Every student in this class is unique (with abilities, and in personality) and these characters grow on you right from the start. Trails of Cold Steel is also the beginning of another story in the same world so it can be played without having experienced the previous games.

And if you’re familiar with classic JRPGs, you’ll be right at home here. It is very story driven so you will have hours spent interacting with your classmates and NPCs before getting into combat – be ready for a slow burn in from the start. As it progresses, you learn more about the characters and their relationships, their pasts, and more. The social and economic class status starts to matter less as you discover the bigger picture: war is nearly upon us.

Training will take you all over the Empire, and there’s also an old school house with a changing inner structure that reminds me of Tartarus from Persona 3. Cold Steel’s combat is great. While this will not come as a surprise to fans of the franchise, newcomers will love it and fans of turn based combat will have their thirst satiated in a time where some JRPGs are moving to hack and slash or button mashing action combat. There’s a mashup of things I like from Grandia, Final Fantasy VII (Materia system), and Persona in combat.

Spending time with classmates and consuming bond points strengthens your links with them and grants you link experience. This lets you learn more about people and gives you bonuses during combat. This tactical link system is new to the series, and link bonuses range from healing partners to follow up attacks and more.

Combat also gives you restricted movement, which is useful against area of effect attacks where you need to decide whether tactical links are worth the AoE risk. Each party member has their own combat style: Rean uses a Katana; Laura has a large sword; Machias uses a gun, and Emma uses an Orbal staff. All nine members have their own style and abilities, and while the visuals do detract from an otherwise incredible experience, the battle animations are superb, with the special attack animations in particular a sight to behold.

It’s an impressive world, though. Every NPC has their own story that progresses as you continue playing, which encourages talking to nearly everyone you run into, and exploration on the whole. You could just blast through the main story quests, but the real meat comes from characters and the world. I decided to talk to someone staring into the water and he gave me a fishing rod which unlocked fishing for me – the amount of content and things to do is staggering.

A single play-through will take you upwards of 50 hours, but expect to spend more than 70 hours if you don’t rush. Incredibly, there’s very little filler, and the only real problem you might have is how slow it is to get going. The prologue has you right into the action, but if you are short on patience, maybe this one isn’t for you. There are quests, general student life, battles, fishing, and so much more in this dense world.

XSEED needs to be commended for their localisation. I love the commitment to the franchise, and we see the best of that here. The voice acting is great for almost every character, and there’s unique battle dialogue as well. NPCs never sound similar, which is a definitely positive in a genre that often falls afoul of peripheral characters sounding the same. The soundtrack is also one of the best soundtracks a JRPG has had in a while. One annoyance with the voice acting is how some scenes go on without any voice acting – it feels inconsistent at times.

The one big problem is the loading times. Rather than hide it behind transition animations or tutorial screens, Trails of Cold Steel just shows you loading screens before and after every battle. It’s simply annoying, especially on top of the fact that it’s generally not the best looking game. While the characters and overall art style are fine, it looks dated and inconsistent in many areas, even on the Vita. This might add to the classic JRPG aesthetic, but I wish more care was put into the visuals for the important areas.

But this is a great and lengthy experience. If you’re a fan of JRPGs or turn based games and enjoy story driven games, consider investing time into it – you will not regret it. While it doesn’t do anything new, it manages to take a few things from RPGs I love and weave them into a wonderful package. Despite the issues, I can’t praise Trails of Cold Steel enough for making me so invested into yet another JRPG franchise.

The post The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

This reimagining brings back all of the features and fun of the original with a brand new, custom-made soundtrack that is undoubtedly the best feature. Unfortunately, after a few hours, you may find that its simplicity will wear thin, and unless you’re a glutton for punishment, its basic approach to the rhythm game genre will have you feeling like Bez after an all-night bender.

From the moment you start playing, you’ll notice how basic the core game is: pick a song and play through it in one of the two game modes, quick play and campaign. In quickplay, you can play through all the tracks you have unlocked and engage in the addictive score attack system. You don’t always have to play alone, as there’s a competitive multiplayer where you can team up or face your friends online.

The campaign has a somewhat tenuous sci-fi story and it doesn’t really have anything to keep you interested. For a game that doesn’t offer anything more than the continuous playing through of tracks at different difficulties, it is a shame that this mode is as weak as it is. Still, it doesn’t pride itself upon its storytelling and it had no bearing on my overall enjoyment, even if it was short and sweet. Amplitude is designed for people who want a challenge, and it doesn’t disappoint.

Trying to play through the tracks on expert is ridiculously hard. The awful clunking of the music (due to me missing every note) forced me to crash out after barely 20% completion, and after missing practically every note it was too much to take. For those of you that adore a challenge, this game is perfect. I’m sure the satisfaction of reaching the end of a song on this mode will be euphoric, but unfortunately, I never got to see it. One day maybe.

You get to choose between different spaceships that shoot at different notes through the duration of Amplitude’s many songs, and the higher the score, the more boosts and songs you unlock, and the better your energy is. Amplitude is fun. In fact, the three-button/trigger approach makes it easy to pick up, and within no time you’re playing along. Each track is split up into multiple tracks that have you choosing between instruments like synths, guitars, drums, and vocals. The basic layout and the fluidity at which you can transition between them helps the songs to come to life as you play.

There are a selection of power-ups that you can use to help you progress through each song. For example: using cleanse will destroy the next bar of music and give you the points for it, or using flow will have you ascend to the sky and allow you to freely move around without having to hit the notes; still giving you points in the process. These power-ups add another level of gameplay and help to break up the repetition a little, and in multiplayer there are certain boosts that are specifically aimed at slowing down your opponent, helping to give you the edge.

The music itself is incredible. There is a varied mix of electronica to keep everyone happy, and discovering each one is ridiculously exciting. Think about the first time you played Hotline Miami: prepare to feel that love for a soundtrack again. With its scorching music comes basic but brilliant level design. The visuals come to life as you hit more of the notes, and the environments interact with the beats of the song. You may struggle to notice all of the beauty in it because you have to focus heavily on what buttons you need to press, but there will be moments when you’ll be able to look around and appreciate the vibrant, neon arrangement of its design.

This is a rhythm game that doesn’t have lots to offer in terms of gameplay, but the time you do spend on it will help you to appreciate the work that has been put into making it aesthetically pleasing, easy to play, and enjoy. The soundtrack alone is a good enough reason to pick it up, but the level design and simplicity are other great features, and if you like near impossible levels of difficulty, then grab Amplitude and play until your ears bleed and fingers wear away.

The post Amplitude Review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

We begin where we left off, with Jesse’s failed attempt to destroy the Wither Storm at the end of episode three. It’s an action packed start with our band of heroes running for their lives in a QTE-packed sequence. I’ve mentioned previously that there didn’t seem to be a fail state for these sequences, which was perhaps in keeping with the intended young audience, but in this episode that appears to have changed. I found that to be an interesting difference which does seem to coincide with the development of some of the more mature elements of the story that continue to unfold during A Block and a Hard Place.

Part of my earlier disinterest was that despite setting up the story to be a classic adventure tale where our intrepid hero goes on a quest of discovery, there has actually been very little sense of actual adventure. Everything seems to have been just around the corner (notwithstanding the use of the Nether rail system for fast world traversal) and within easy reach. A Block and a Hard Place changes this feeling somewhat with a real sense of journey throughout most of the episode. Jesse and his/her team must travel to the Far Lands, which, as any Minecraft aficionado will know, is the outer limits of the “infinite” world where the algorithm that generates the landscape starts to fail. It’s a nice touch, and forms part of the late title sequence we have come to expect from Telltale Games. The fact that the journey took our crew through many of the very recently introduced biomes to the console editions of Minecraft was a particularly cute touch, and after playing the episode I fully expect younger fans to launch straight in to Minecraft to see if they can find the Ice spikes or Mesa biomes in their own worlds.

The Far Lands are the base for much of the episode’s content with some interesting puzzles to solve. These are a nice addition and keep the gameplay engrossing without being too difficult to become a block to progression. They aren’t without some issues though, given the intended audience. There is a maze section which could frustrate younger players as the lighting and camera angle is at times a little obtuse to be able to clearly see the route forward, and the solution to a locked door could be frustrating for younger players if they haven’t paid that much attention to a lot of the dialogue that preceded it. These are minor complaints though, in an otherwise fun episode.

Some of the themes that were starting to emerge in episode three are continued in four. The Order of the Stone’s history is finally revealed and suddenly the insufferable nature of some of the members makes sense. The set up for it was signposted a mile off, but I’m sure that younger fans will have mouths agape when the final reveal is made, and I am smiling thinking about it now.

Episode three had some emotional elements that I said that younger players may need to be guided through, and there is a continuation of this in episode four. I was surprised that the story took this specific turn as I believe the events will be felt keenly by younger players, but I think it is indicative of how the story has developed and introduced new ideas as it has gone along.

I was surprised to learn that Telltale made it clear that episode four would tie up the story featuring the Wither Storm. It makes for an interesting episode five as I am keen to find out what is next. Will they start on a completely new adventure? Will they take on the mantle of the “new” Order of the Stone? Is this a deliberate step to set up a sequel? There weren’t any hints as to what the last episode will entail in the post credits, so we’ll have to wait and see.

A Block and a Hard Place builds on the shift in pace and tone from episode three and is another strong episode. The conclusion to the Wither Storm storyline is delivered in a refreshing and heartfelt way, and I am looking forward to seeing what Jesse and friends get up to in the conclusion.

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The story is profound and extensive, featuring hours and hours of intrigue, violence, and typical gangster tropes, yet it never feels dull or repetitive. If you’ve ever watched Infernal Affairs or The Godfather, Yakuza 5 will be something you’re going to want to play. Each character has an interesting story to tell and the arc of Yakuza is thoroughly enchanting. If you really want to play it, but are worried about catching up on the story, there is an option that lets you watch previous videos from the last four games, which is a welcome touch.

It is quite clear from the start that you’re in it for the long haul, and it takes at least ten to fifteen minutes before you actually get to do anything because of the length in its opening. As you put time into the game, more and more of these cut scenes affect the flow and add many minutes onto your play time. Depending on whether or not you’re immersed in the story, it can sometimes become frustrating as you can go a long time without actually playing the game – sacrificing gameplay for the cinematics.

There are five locations which all feature stunning environments and plenty to do for each of the five main protagonists. You start playing as series regular Kiryu Kazuma, who has changed his name and is living in Fukuoka, masquerading as a taxi driver. Later, you’ll get to play as other returning characters such as Taiga Saejima, Haruka Sawarmura, and Shun Akiyama, with newcomer Tatsuo Shinada also being playable as a disgraced former baseball player.

There is plenty to do and after a few hours of typical tutorial missions, you’ll start to appreciate what Yakuza 5 is trying to achieve. Like Shenmue, you are made to live the life of its characters. Not only are you tasked with completing story quests, you’ll also be expected to carry out your typical day-to-day responsibilities (like the forklift truck section in Shenmue). As Kuzuma, you’ll wake up and go to work at the taxi company. There, you’ll choose missions which will involve taking a customer from one place to the next. You get points for driving within the speed limit, indicating, and even making small talk with your passenger. Don’t expect an opportunity to go ‘GTA’ behind the wheel because you are rewarded for your patience and driving etiquette. To some it will become frustrating and at times it got to me, especially when you have to do certain missions within a time limit. But it really is a nice touch that makes the game different to so many others out there.

Sega has tried to make Yakuza 5 as immersive as possible with its diverse quests along the way. I’ve helped a young lad study by answering exam questions, jumped behind the counter of a noodle bar, and begun to collect trash off the street within, all within the first few hours, encountering tons more mini-games and quests before the end of the game. There are tons of racing mini-games that are very reminiscent of Virtua Racing from back in the day, and the fighting also harks back to Shenmue and Virtual Fighter.

You’ll also be able to visit Club Sega (Yakuza 5’s resident arcade joint), where you’ll be able to spend your hard earned Yen playing Virtual Fighter 2 or Taiko: Drum Machine. Again, similar to the arcades and shops in Shenmue, you can collect and win classic Sega characters from the toy grabbers, such as Dreams and Opa Opa. If ever a game was a tip of the hat to a video game publisher’s history, then Yakuza 5 is just that.

Combat in Yakuza 5 is probably its main downfall. With games like Batman: Arkham Knight providing such varied combat, the age of Yakuza 5 starts to show its face. Originally released in Japan in 2012, there aren’t really any updates to the way you fight. The repetition in pressing the square and triangle button takes its toll on your enjoyment, and after any fight the satisfaction in your victory begins to wear thin – even having the ability to thrash your enemy with foreign objects like bicycles and bins can become a chore.

Yakuza 5 offers all the pomp and quirk of Japanese storytelling which helps to lighten the mood of its heavy storyline. This is a game that not only delivers an immersive story, but it provides hours of entertainment – confidently giving the PlayStation 3 a strong game to finish on. Although the combat is repetitive and the cut-scenes feature far too prominently, Yakuza 5 is a fantastic game that brings together all the best arcade experiences Sega is known for, merging them with a great story that will take you hours to even scratch its surface.

The post Yakuza 5 Review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

In the previous episode, Jesse and his/her friends had managed to locate two of the former Order of the Stone members: Eleegaard, the Redstone Engineer, and Magnus, the Griefer. During that episode it became apparent that at least of half of the fabled team that defeated the Ender Dragon and “saved the world” were insufferable, egotistical idiots. Thankfully our friends lost them towards the end of episode two, which ended on a fairly feeble cliffhanger. Episode three begins with them trapped in a room with no discernible way out, however get out they must if they are to find Soren and his super TNT bomb to defeat the Wither Storm unleashed way back in episode one.

So far I have been fairly underwhelmed with Minecraft: Story Mode. The characters are not as interesting as some of those from other Telltale Games series, and it has been a little light on laughs, which is likely a reflection of the intended audience and perhaps unfair of me to criticise too heavily. Having said that, this episode does more work in character progression and heightens the laughs a little more. Of particular note is a recurring image of Axel landing on Lukas, which is shown enough times to be funny without overdoing it.

The action is ramped up a lot more in episode three, with the opening title sequence being perhaps the most thrilling section of the entire game so far. What features here is an extended chain of QTE events and decision making which propel the team through a huge redstone-powered grinder. It is perilous for our friends and as such is an exciting start to the episode. Again, perhaps indicative of the intended audience, there doesn’t seem to be a fail state if any of the button prompts are missed, making the entire scene only appear dangerous on the surface, however I am sure young players will not even notice and be more than thrilled with the events.

In terms of narrative, the stakes are increased a lot more as well, as emotional character connections are progressed; in particular Lukas’ growing dis-engagement from the rest of the group and the rapidly advancing wither sickness on a character whose identity is down to a decision made in the very first episode. There is even a touching moment towards the end of the episode that very young players may need to be guided through.

As with the previous episodes, the attention to the details of the Minecraft world is excellent. There is a trip to The End, where Soren, the Master Builder, has built a beautiful paradise world made of wool, and a testing laboratory for studying the most compelling and frightening enemy from Minecraft – Endermen. It’s in Soren’s laboratory where I chuckled the most; in a wonderful nod to background storytelling through the use of recordings found in game worlds, we learn a little bit about Soren before meeting him in person. This is achieved through placing four music discs into a jukebox. The recordings paint Soren as an amusing, scatter-brained character and it’s the funniest writing so far across all the episodes. Thankfully, Soren is not as intolerable as the other two Order of the Stone members. The escape from Soren’s lab is another lovingly detailed and wonderfully observed acknowledgement of the source material. Surrounded by Endermen, our intrepid team must avert their gaze and work their way out.

The ending of The Last Place You Look is the most compelling so far. It’s fairly predictable, but after the stagnancy of the previous episodes it’s refreshing to have our friends actually try to achieve something, and it’s clear that Jesse’s dream of being “somebody” rather than a “nobody” is getting closer and closer.

This is the strongest entry to date in Minecraft: Story Mode. It still isn’t hitting the heights of some of Telltale Games’ best work, but this episode makes good strides in that direction. It has a lot more action than the previous two, and the narrative is tighter, with greater focus on character development and progression. I’m interested to see how the next episode plays out, and going on the release schedule for the first three episodes, hopefully we won’t have to wait too long.

The post Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode Three: The Last Place You Look Review appeared first on GodisaGeek.com.

As a quick recap, we were presented with two options at the end of The Order of the Stone, either go to find “The Griefer” or “The Engineer”. Depending on your choices, you begin Assembly Required by heading to the location where one of those two can currently be found. You will also have a different friend accompany you on your journey and when you reach your destination. As I mentioned in my first episode review, I have been playing through with both a male Jesse and female Jesse, and sadly it seems that my feelings about the latter continue here, with her particular run through of the episode being the drier of the two.

Regardless of choice, each destination is a riff of elements within Minecraft that will delight fans. The Griefer is located in Boomtown, a crumbling settlement where TNT and tomfoolery reigns supreme. Without giving too much away, there’s a wonderful extended sequence of dodging explosions and eggs which culminates in a TNT cannon stand-off. For anyone familiar with the myriad of wonderful videos on YouTube, the TNT cannon is a particular favourite and to see that fan service done in this way is delightful.

If you made the alternate choice, you and your companion head to Redstonia, a utopia of smart individuals creating clever contraptions utilising the Minecraft engineering tool of redstone. The activity in Redstonia is more sedate than in Boomtown, and the writing is more comprehensive with a lot more jokes thrown in, albeit jokes that will appeal to a younger mindset than mine. It’s interesting that there is such a stark difference between the two areas with one being all out action and the other more sedate with the laughs coming from the dialogue rather than the activity. I found this interesting in a game genre that is often criticised about choice not really having much impact on how things play out. At least for the time being, that most certainly is not the case with Minecraft: Story Mode.

Once you have collected your target individual the different story strands converge and we are back following roughly the same path again, although there is an interesting difference in the characters waiting for you back at base depending on a choice you made in The Order of the Stone. I’m keen to see how that plays out over the next few episodes.

The rest of Assembly Required whips along at quite a pace, and it is pretty much over just as it begins, which is a shame as it feels a very short episode with not a lot to progress the actual story. Along the way some more things fans of Minecraft are familiar with are introduced with a pretty cool QTE sequence involving Endermen and gravel, but overall this episode feels fairly light on content.

Once again the Minecraft aesthetic is absolutely pitch perfect, and again ideas for future builds of my own were presented, further fuelling my enthusiasm for the source material. The blocky world of Minecraft is so well represented that even the notoriously criticised, stuttery engine that TellTale Games uses blends into the overall feeling that this is a Minecraft world. It’s really very well done.

Assembly Required very much feels like a tricky middle episode, despite it being only the second in a five-part game. Despite there being two very different beginnings to the episode which will encourage multiple playthroughs, it feels very abrupt and for those who only play through once it is exceedingly short, I hope that it’s not indicative of the rest of the episodes going forward. The laughs feel light too, but I suspect that is my age talking as I am clearly not the intended audience. It’s a solid episode, but like its predecessor, not extraordinary. I hope that episode three pulls it back again.

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Sword Art Online: Lost Song takes place in Alfheim Online’s first expansion, Svart Alfheim, and sees Kirito return to beat the MMO before the Shamrocks: a huge guild led by the pop singer and professor, Rainbow Arsharvin. As someone completely new to the series, I found the story quite straightforward to follow, even though there were a lot of those moments where it was assumed I was supposed to know who these people were and what had happened to them in the events leading up to it. The game does try to help a little – providing some dialogue and information about the in-game MMO world of Sword Art Online and its “die in the game, you die in real life” ethos. The idea is smart and full of opportunity, but the story in Lost Song is bland and devoid of any real intrigue or delight. Kirito isn’t trapped in Alfheim Online so there is no real underlying threat to his cause. He’s just a chap playing a game with his mates, girlfriend and little sister – bless him.

The MMO element of the game is well-implemented. There are many nuances within the body of the story and environment that make it feel like a real mass multiplayer. Countless NPCs are running across the towns and chatting to each other. In the open areas where the majority of the fighting takes place, other NPCs are engaging with bizarre creatures as you fight your own battles. Fetch quests are in abundance and text appears on the left of the screen when a character in your party uses an item, attacks a monster or heals you. The effort exerted making this MM faux (you can thank me for that zinger on Twitter) feel authentic is evident; even the dialogue used in the cutscenes is ace. At one point, someone said “He tanked everything for us, so we could sit back and focus on DPS,” which if you are familiar with games like Warcraft, Guild Wars or StarCraft, you’ll understand.

In the fairy-inspired Norse setting of Alfheim Online, you can fly for the first time. At first, the controls can be a little frustrating, especially as there is no fluid transition to go from walking to flight. Instead, you stop, press the up button on the D-pad and take to the sky in a relatively quick fashion. Once you’re in the air, it can be quite liberating. There are a lot of different foes in Svart Alfheim, and after a rather gruelling marathon of hacking and slashing your way out of a pickle, there is nothing better than getting away quickly and soaring through the beautiful blue sky.

The camera angles can get a little aggravating when you’re trying to turn around, fight a large group of enemies or reach the surface of a floating island; even after ten hours of playing, you can still encounter these issues in the most random of instances. Fighting in the sky combines all three of these bugbears, so when you engage in a dogfight, be prepared to turn the air blue.

Combat is not too dissimilar from other Japanese hack-and-slash titles. Square is for your lighter attacks and triangle is for the more forceful manoeuvres. You can hold the R1 button in and try out a bit of magic if you like, offering an alternative to the repetitive nature of the weapon attacks. The flow of combat isn’t as satisfying as say, One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 or the Dynasty Warriors series, but it does have a better sense of control and skill. It isn’t about button bashing and going hell-for-leather – the at-first clunky mechanics will begin to morph into a solid system that provides many satisfying battles, especially against some of the games larger bosses.

My only grumble with combat comes when you are overwhelmed with some of the monsters, particularly the flying ones; the feeling of fighting your mate on Street Fighter as he picks Dhalsim, continuously punching you with those long arms as you seethe in the corner of the screen comes to mind – fundamentally, if they hover over you, it’s curtains. You can try everything, but they won’t let you move at all.

Your party is now made up of three different characters, and you don’t always have to play as Kirito, unlike before. This helps to offer that little something new and keeps the fighting fresh through its rather long campaign. Each of the 17 playable characters is different to offer so experiment with them and learn what works best for you.

After you’ve cleared the first Island (Woglinde, the Island of Meadows) in Sword Art Online: Lost Song, you’ll get a chance to play the multiplayer. You’ll become familiar with each of the creatures quickly, so getting to test your skill against other fighters from around the world will offer a completely new thrill. You’ll also be able to team up with three other players in co-op mode, taking on quests together and forging friendships in an online capacity within a fake online video game. I appreciated the fact that I had to work for the experience too, given how other games offer it on a plate – often meaning players can bypass the single player game just to get stuck in to the multiplayer elements (cough, Call of Duty).

Sword Art Online: Lost Song is one of the few games I’ve ever played that had me go from disliking it at first, to finding something good in almost every aspect. That isn’t to say it doesn’t suffer at times. Along with the some repetition of combat and the dreariness and monotony of its dungeon segments, there are some really odd scenes referring to sexual harassment and adult magazines that feel completely out of place and unnecessary; the choice of clothing for the female characters is blatantly sexist as well, which begs the question of its necessity in a game aimed at a wide range of people.

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