The rogue-like genre certainly is an interesting one. Despite having a pretty well-established list of game mechanics that define what the genre is, the sky’s the limit when it comes to what can be done with those mechanics. From basic RPGs to those that combine elements of platformers and shooters, there are actually quite a few different options that developers can choose to explore. This time around, I took a look at a twin-stick shooter with rogue-like aspects that places heavy emphasis on randomized builds. NeuroVoider originally launched back in late 2016 for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. After receiving mostly positive reviews on those platforms, it saw a subsequent Nintendo Switch release in 2017 and a surprising PlayStation Vita release in the spring of 2018. For the purposes of this review, I will be focusing on the Vita version.

NeuroVoider doesn’t place much of an emphasis on story, but the tutorial gives you as much as you need. You awaken as a brain floating in a test tube, break out of that tube, and acquire a robotic body by choosing from one of three possible classes: Dash, Rampage, or Fortress. Your goal from that point on is to go from level to level, kill everything that moves, destroy the generators scattered throughout, and use newly obtained parts to upgrade your body. Along the way, you’ll encounter several bosses and make your way to the master at the end. Choosing the Dash class grants you the ability to move quickly from place to place, but your HP may be lower than the other two classes. Fortress class bodies are slow-moving, but they make up for that weakness by offering you more HP. I spent the majority of my playtime using the Rampage class since it’s essentially the best of both worlds.

I’ve labeled NeuroVoider as a rogue-like, but the only real defining characteristics that led to that distinction are permadeath and randomized enemies, loot, and level progression. The structure of each level is also procedurally generated. There are between 5-6 different settings that a level can revolve around. After each level there is an “intermission” screen where you are given the choice of three randomly chosen locations. Each of these will have a randomly assigned size, structure, number of “elite” enemies, and varying degrees/quality of dropped loot. The loot itself is what really makes each playthrough unique, as each item that you obtain can be normal, uncommon, rare, or even “glitched”. You use these items to upgrade your base unit’s core, vision components, mobility, and weapons. Each item also comes with its own randomized values for HP, EP, damage dealt, etc.

When you first begin a playthrough, you can either choose to generate a brand new body for yourself or use a code from one of your previous playthroughs. It’s all luck of the draw for which parts you will be initially assigned. From there, you will obtain new items as you defeat enemies and gather parts. Depending on which level you choose out of the possible three, the quality of loot that you can obtain will increase or decrease. I found that it’s generally better to start off by choosing stages with low difficulty and medium quality items. Once you upgrade once or twice, then you can start ramping up the difficulty. Keep in mind that once you die, it becomes difficult to reclaim your lost items (though it can be done).

The last main point of customization comes in the form of forging new pieces for your body. If you obtain new parts that don’t fit with your desired class/loadout, you can scrap them and use the materials to synthesize new pieces. These new pieces will be generated at random and could be better or worse than what you had before. I’d instead suggest saving the scrap materials to help repair your unit as it becomes damaged. Additionally, if you decide at some point while playing that you’d like to switch classes, you can do so by simply exchanging your current parts for ones that are associated with one of the other two classes. Unfortunately, you can’t mix and match class-specific parts, but that ability would give players an unfair advantage.

All talk of customization aside, NeuroVoider at its core is a top-down, twin-stick shooter. You use a combination of different guns and energy weapons to mow down robotic enemies before they can do the same to you. Keeping in mind that I’ve only played the PS Vita version, I must say that controlling your unit is easier said than done. While basic movement is pretty fluid, aiming can initially be a bit of a challenge. Something about lining up shots with the right analog stick just feels a bit stiff. This could just be my own perception though and I did get used to it rather quickly. What I didn’t get used to though was the usage of the Vita’s back touchpad. Regardless of loadout, your unit comes equipped with two features, each of which are tied to the back touchpad. Tapping the left side of the pad activates special abilities that you can choose beforehand like HP regeneration or EMP blasts. The right side of the pad is reserved for class-specific abilities like shielding and dashing. The problem with this system is twofold: The left side ability can be used roughly once per level and the right side ability can quickly overheat your unit, causing HP loss. Why is this an issue? Well, if you’re like me, it’s likely that you tend to hold your Vita by resting your fingers on the touchpad. With so few games actually using the touchpad for input, I’ve grown accustomed to simply placing my fingers there. While I attempted to avoid touching the pad while playing, it was a hard habit to break and I found myself wasting my abilities and overheating when I didn’t intend to. This issue won’t exist for other versions, but it’s definitely a point of annoyance on the Vita.

Input troubles aside, the rest of the game plays just fine. As a shooter, it’s pretty competent and I enjoyed using a variety of different tactics and loadouts to see which ones worked best. The text is a tad too small to read at times, but that was never a huge issue for me. Perhaps the only other item to be aware of is the lack of multiplayer support on the Vita. If you take a look at the “New Game” screen, you’ll notice that there are four different test tubes, but only the green one is able to be selected. This is because the other three are reserved for other players. If you have the PC, Xbox, PS4, or Switch version of the game, you can select these and play local co-op with other people. Given limitations with the Vita and its low install base, it’s unfortunate but somewhat expected that this would be the case. Still, leaving out the multiplayer feature altogether seems like a huge loss for this version, especially given the positive feedback for this feature in the other versions.

We’ve talked a lot about gameplay, so let’s shift gears and talk about the art design now. NeuroVoider is a very dark and futuristic looking game. It’s comprised of really well done pixel art, both for the sprites and the backgrounds. Each level has its own theme and each of them are done quite nicely. From laboratories, to sewers, to ice levels, to what seems like hell itself, there are a good variety of different environments to explore. Keep in mind too that each level will be structured slightly differently, so no two levels will look identical.

I have very mixed thoughts when it comes to the music and sound design. On one hand, the soundtrack is done by synthwave artist Dan Terminus and I was very pleased with the tracks that were included. The music overall is very dark and sci-fi sounding so it fits in perfectly with the vibe that the developers were going for. On another positive, the sound effects themselves were pretty nice. I never noticed any issues with these or felt that they were out of place. I did however notice a glaring issue with the background music, namely that it didn’t always play correctly. There were numerous times when I would be in the middle of a level and the background music would simply cut out at random, never to return (until the next level). On none of these occasions did I notice any similarities; they just happened out of nowhere. I’ve seen online that some players of the PC version have reported having no sound at all, but I was unable to verify if my issue was specific to the Vita version or not. Regardless, it is an concern to make a note of.

Despite some issues specific to the Vita version, I walked away feeling quite impressed with NeuroVoider and I’m certain that I will continue to play it off and on now that this review is done. Aside from my reservations with the touchpad input and the sound issues, it’s still a very competent shooter and an interesting rogue-like. Since this game relies heavily on trial and error, there really is no cookie-cutter answer for how long this will take you to play. I found that my longest run was a little over an hour, though most of mine fell somewhere between 30-45 minutes. My overall playtime was somewhere in the ballpark of 7-8 hours. If you throw multiplayer into the mix, your times may vary further. In summary, NeuroVoider’s interesting use of randomized loadouts, high replayability, and reasonable price point of $9.99 (for the Vita version) earn it a thumbs up from me. Having said that, I’d forgo playing this on the Vita and spend the extra $5 or so to pick up a version that supports multiplayer.

Review Score
Overall

Review Copy provided by the publisher for review purposes.

The post REVIEW: NeuroVoider appeared first on oprainfall.

When it comes to arcade shoot ’em ups, the only titles that continue to draw crowds and leave a lasting impression are those that try something different. I’m referring to SHMUPs that possess that unique twist on traditional gameplay, include special power-ups or weapons, or have an enthralling art-style. For example, names like R-Type, Gradius, or Radiant Silvergun are still remembered fondly to this day. When I launched Fast Striker for the first time on my Vita, I went in with the intention of finding one of those unique elements to talk about.

I first came across Fast Striker while perusing the catalog of physical PS Vita games on PlayAsia’s website. At the time, I was amused by the fact that the physical version of this game is exclusive to the site. Even more amusing, I found that the game was initially developed for the Neo Geo MVS and ported to the Sega Dreamcast soon after. This PSN release is another port of the title, now for modern consoles. Having said all that, I initially skipped over it because it didn’t really stand out to me. Now that I’ve had a chance to play it myself (both on the Vita and on PS4), I can say that my opinion remains largely the same. But before you ignore it outright, allow me to elaborate a bit further.At its core, Fast Striker is a very competent SHMUP. Throughout my time playing, I didn’t notice any glaring issues with the hit detection, the controls, or really any aspect of the gameplay. If you’ve ever played a vertical-scrolling spaceship shooter before, controlling your ship in this game should come quite naturally. The hit-detection seems to be more or less forgiving depending on which difficulty you choose. The controls allow for either D-pad or left analog stick movement, though my personal preference was to use the analog stick. You are able to shoot in multiple bursts, solid beams, or charge your shields and ram your ship into enemies. This last option is nice, but limited to just a few uses per level.

In terms of sound design, the developers chose to go with a nice selection of upbeat trance music. The tracks will vary by level and boss-battle, though no particular track stands out as overly distinct from the rest. The sound-effects are fair enough, though some of them are a bit strange. There is one “enemy” who occasionally shows up and makes a sound that I can only describe as a child sighing. I put enemy in quotes because this particular enemy doesn’t attack you and is essentially just cannon fodder to obtain a shield power-up.The art design and animations are where this game excels the most. The enemy sprites range from decent to really impressive. The smaller, less-than-challenging enemies are fairly basic in their design while larger, more formidable foes are a lot more detailed. The bosses which appear at the end of each level are particularly elaborate and often have multiple forms. Animation-wise, everything runs smoothly, with no noticeable lag (even on the Vita). You would expect as much from a fast-paced game like this, but it is nice to see nonetheless. Some of the larger enemies scale in from the background to the foreground quite gracefully. While most of the game’s images are displayed using sprites, the background has a distinctly CG look to it which makes it really stand out (in a good way). There is also some nice parallax scrolling between the background and midground layers which I found quite appealing. Believe me, these screenshots really don’t convey how nice everything looks.

Now that we’ve talked art design, I’d like to highlight some of the graphical tweaks that can be made in the settings. First and foremost, you can choose between two preset aspect ratio options: 1×1 and full vertical scale. You can also adjust the X and Y dimensions independently, but I found no practical reason to do so. The best option is to use the 1×1 ratio, as this offers the sharpest image. Having said that, using this option on the Vita makes the on-screen image a bit too small for my tastes. No matter which preset option you choose, I found that playing this on the Vita was a bit straining on the eyes. The full vertical scale option uses a bit more of the screen, but the sprites don’t seem as detailed and I found that to be somewhat disappointing. If you play this on a proper TV using a PSTV or PS4, I would definitely keep full vertical scale off.Another graphics option that I’m sure many will appreciate is the inclusion of scanlines. Love them or hate them, many people (myself included) appreciate the look and feel of scanlines when playing games that use sprites. What’s nice about the scanlines option is that you can adjust the intensity of the lines to meet your needs. I prefer not to use really dark lines as they tend to darken the overall image. On the other end, using lines that are barely visible defeats the purpose. Having the option to fine tune the intensity of these lines is a big positive for me.

I’ve highlighted some of the nicer aspects of this title, so let’s shift gears and talk about some of the downsides. The first of these is the issue of power-ups. Often seen as a staple for these types of games, I can’t say that this one includes many power-ups. You can obtain a single item to charge your shields, you can collect items that increase your score, but your weapons are completely immutable (unless you switch modes). I didn’t expect this game to blatantly rip-off Gradius, but having some form of power-up or weapon upgrade system would have been a nice addition. Changing difficulty modes adds additional weapon abilities (e.g. solid beams of energy in addition to standard bullets), but the weapons that you start with are the weapons you will end with.Speaking of difficulty, this game has 4 modes: Novice, Original, Maniac, and Omake. Original mode is essentially “easy” while novice is “beginner”. Neither of these modes pose any real challenge, but are a nice way of blowing through levels quickly to grab screenshots and earn trophies. It’s rather interesting that aside from the trophies earned in these two easier modes, all the other, harder trophies are exceptionally rare (few players have earned them). Having said all that, Maniac mode is what I would recommend for most players. This mode is closer to what I’d expect from normal, with just a little more challenge thrown in. Omake mode makes a big leap from the rest. I’d classify it as “very hard”. Both the Maniac and Omake modes add the additional gameplay element of a depleting chain meter. As you destroy enemies without taking damage, your chain counter increases (along with this meter). If you don’t continuously increase this counter, the meter will begin to slowly deplete. After a few seconds of not increasing, the meter will begin to fall rapidly. You can prevent this meter from falling all the way to zero by starting the chain again. While the chain combos are present in all gameplay modes, the meter and it’s tendency to deplete exist only in Maniac and Omake mode. I found this concept to be really neat and it made the harder modes stand out as the more impressive ones.

At the end of the day (having played the game for about 2 weeks (roughly 1-1.5 hr/day), I came back to that initial question that I set out with – What unique element sets this game apart from all the others? The gameplay is pretty standard fare, the music is nice, but unmemorable, and there is no defined story or end goal. The one aspect that did stand out to me was the quality of the animations. I can’t put my finger on why, but the animations used for a lot of the larger enemies, bosses, and even the backgrounds were really impressive to me. Were they game-changing? I wouldn’t go that far, but they definitely impressed me and helped make the game feel somewhat distinct. Fast Striker currently retails for $6.99 on the PSN. Playing on PS4 is a much nicer experience than on the Vita, but this type of game tends to work best when played in shorter bursts or while on the go. If you’re interested in the limited physical editions, PlayAsia still has both PS4 and Vita copies. Given the low price point and overall level of enjoyment that I received, I’d say this one’s still worth a look.

Review Score
Overall

A review copy was provided by the publisher.

The post REVIEW: Fast Striker appeared first on oprainfall.

As someone who’s been looking to expand his PS Vita collection for some time now, Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk has been on my radar since it released this past June. The artwork really struck a chord with me and the initial impressions that I saw were very positive. However, given that it’s an otome visual novel, I initially passed on picking it up and playing it. Having played it now though, I can honestly say that was a big mistake.

Visual novels generally aren’t my cup-of-tea and otome most certainly aren’t aimed at someone of my demographic. My original assumptions were that this would end up being some sappy romance story with tons of fan service (something that I have a major distaste for). This made my shock all the greater when I discovered how tremendously wrong those assumptions were. The story, setting, and overall tone of the game are much darker than I expected. Nothing about the story feels “sappy” and the romance elements are given a bit of a backseat to a more complex, engaging storyline.

The story begins in a remote, Victorian-era village plagued by perpetual snowfall. Local legend speaks of a malevolent witch who is the source of the town’s suffering and the never-ending snowfall. Because of this legend, the villagers are quick to turn violent around anyone deemed to be involved with “the witch”. To further complicate things, the town is comprised of two factions- the wolf clan and the hawk clan. These two groups are in a constant state of civil unrest. It’s in this town that our protagonist, Jed, was born and raised. Having been born with a red eye (the sign of the witch), Jed must disguise herself as a man and keep her true gender a secret from those around her. She also chooses to reside in a secluded tower in the woods outside of town. She shares this tower with a strange man named Ashen Hawk. Ashen Hawk is a lazy amnesiac who allows Jed to stay with him in exchange for looking after the tower and taking care of him.

The information that I’ve conveyed above is all laid out at the onset of the game. As the story progresses, romantic relationships are introduced, Jed sets out to locate a mysterious artifact, and we learn more about both Jed and Ashen Hawk’s pasts. There is also a sub-plot that revolves around a mysterious string of murders. The story overall is a nice mix of heartfelt moments and some downright brutal ones. These brutal scenes serve to darken what would initially seem to be a pretty light-hearted atmosphere. The game has 12 distinct endings, some spanning multiple flows of events. I enjoyed each and every one of these endings (even though some were much sadder than the others). One of the things that I most appreciated from the story was the allusion to events and elements from the game Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly. This is Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk’s sister-game which released just a few months prior. I really enjoy seeing connected universes between different games and this is no exception. After finishing this game, I am equally excited about turning my attention towards the other one.

In terms of how the story is presented, there are three types of events: main episodes, short episodes, and talk episodes. All three of these are available to initiate from map screens which change as the story progresses. The main story episodes directly advance the main story and must be completed to progress. Short episodes are more focused on character development and relationship building. Viewing these is often necessary for unlocking main story episodes. Lastly, talk episodes are essentially short, 10-second long snippets of information about the townspeople. Viewing these earns the player points which can be used to unlock additional content and short episodes. This is one of my main gripes about the game. Throughout my time playing, I found over 80% of these talk episodes to be pointless, adding little to the overall story. They consist of a quick question and answer and neither tended to be very interesting or have much of a point. This isn’t a huge complaint mind you, but the talk episodes just felt out of place among the rest of the story content.

Other minor issues that I noticed include some very minor translation errors at points and some annoying save habits. There are autosaves in place for your progress and manual saves for your current “bookmarks”. Basically, the autosave keeps track of what you’ve seen while the manual save keeps track of where to return to when you resume the game. If you finish a series of main episodes and end up at a map screen, you are unable to save at this map screen. You need to instead choose one of the short episodes or main episodes on that screen and then save once you start viewing them. If you don’t do this, then regardless of any progress you make, you will be forced to view the episode associated with your last manual save. You won’t lose any completion progress, but you will be forced to watch or skip through some of the content again. This was a tad bit annoying until I realized what the issue was.

When all was said and done, my total playtime came in at just over 15 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed all 15 of them. The artwork was excellent, the voice acting was stellar, and the music (while a bit generic at times) fit the atmosphere very well. Combining those elements with an interesting and engaging story, I feel that this visual novel is definitely worth playing (even if you’re like me and generally aren’t interested in playing visual novels). You can grab your own copy either physically or digitally on the PSN store for $39.99 USD. To give you an idea of how much I appreciated this game, I felt compelled after playing it to purchase a physical copy. I also went ahead and snagged a physical copy of Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly. For those who don’t own a PS Vita or a PS TV, there is a PC port of Black Butterfly releasing in November and I would not be surprised if Ashen Hawk saw a port shortly thereafter. I would highly suggest that you check this one out.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy provided by the publisher.

The post REVIEW: Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk appeared first on oprainfall.

Starting 7’scarlet, I was heavily reminded of another visual novel: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Set in a seemingly peaceful country town known as Okunezato, the game blends together urban legends and a murder mystery just like Higurashi. However, as an otome visual novel, 7’scarlet tries to blend together typical dating aspects with a serious and enigmatic plot. The balance between the two elements could possibly ruin the game if not handled right.

Take on the role of college student Ichiko Hanamaki as you travel to the quiet Okunezato to find your lost brother. Joining you is the online organization known as the Okunezato Supernatural Club, a group dedicated to the mysteries surrounding the town. The majority of the members are handsome men, some of who fill the roles of cliched tropes. Of course, the childhood friend, Hino Kagutsuchi, joins Ichiko on her quest. Not one but two bespectacled gentlemen, the serious medical student Sosuke Tatehira and the quiet and clumsy Toa Kushinada, are available to romance. But then you have a few outliers, such as the charismatic chef Isora Amari and the uptight hotel owner Yuzuki Murakumo. However, despite the cliches, the men of 7’scarlet are quite charming. Even the owner of the Fuurinkan Hotel, beneath his hostile personality, has some redeeming qualities to him. The writing really backs up the characters; I only found a small amount of spelling and grammatical errors.

But besides your missing brother, many other mysteries surround Okunezato, primarily the story of the Revenants. Not quite zombies or ghosts, the Revenants are people that have come back from the dead and show up in the quiet town. In order to remain in the land of the living, the Revenants must kill people to extend their time. Despite its urban legend roots, murders start happening around the town and encourages the validity of the story. Is one of the members of the Okunezato Supernatural Club a Revenant? If so, who? The mystery is really interesting and requires many playthroughs in order to reveal everything about it.

And here’s where things get a little tricky. Ichiko initially plans to look for her brother and decides to join Fuurinkan Hotel as a maid to stay in the town longer for free. At the same time, this role interferes with her doing any real searching. Every once in awhile, she will resume her search, but it almost felt like this major plot point is left on the back burner for romance and other shenanigans. I was truly invested in the game’s mystery, which made these moments distracting.

However, as an otome game, the game doesn’t quite meet the mark either. Though there are five routes to pursue plus a hidden sixth one, certain characters need to be played in a certain order to unlock other routes. Meaning, if you want to romance Toa, you will need to play the game a second time. 7’scarlet doesn’t blatantly tell you this either; online guides are you friend. Granted, the order you take on routes does ensure that certain aspects of the plot are not spoiled to the player too soon, it still felt jarring to limit dating choices to a small selection at the start of an otome game. Thankfully, each route lasts less than 10 hours.

At least the sound was certain of its identity. The soundtrack perfectly encapsulates the mood of every scene. Though 7’scarlet doesn’t match the grotesque horror of Higurashi, the music heightens at the more tense moments in the story. The voice acting is Japanese only, but the cast seem to play to each characters’ personality perfectly. You do have the option to change the main character’s name, but if you leave it as the default name, characters actually say her name.

Visually, the game is beautiful. Of course I could mention the handsome men and their various artwork, but one aspect of the game’s art really stole the show for me: the backgrounds. The beautiful scenery looks like a sketch or even a painting. Furthermore, there are moments when the backgrounds are more lively than the character sprites, such as a forest scene with a flowing waterfall or twinkling starts in a night sky.

As a visual novel, 7’scarlet does a lot of things right. Each character has multiple endings depending on your choices. An image of a flower dazzles the screen whenever an answer a character likes is selected. If you screw up, there’s a handy quick save and quick load feature available to make getting the right choices easy. Also, when starting over, the game allows you to choose certain parts of the story to start at so you don’t have to trudge through text you’ve already read. But if so, there is a nice skip feature and previously chosen answers are shown in a dark pink. Lastly, the Tips feature is perfect to develop key terms in the game but also provide some insight on the characters and Japanese culture.

7’scarlet is a game that tries to be a murder mystery and otome game, but doesn’t always succeed at both to sustain a flowing narrative. However, the male protagonists, despite the tropes, are charming and even the supporting characters help add to the story. The moments that really deliver are accentuated by the ambient soundtrack. In this case, the highs outweigh the lows when it comes to 7’scarlet. I must have spent over 20 hours with the game, but I do not regret it. 7’scarlet is available now on PlayStation Vita, physically and digitally, for $39.99.

Review Score
Overall

The post REVIEW: 7’scarlet appeared first on oprainfall.

When I was in high school I got the JRPG itch. After playing Final Fantasy 9 and 7, I went and revisited almost all of Final Fantasy, then I went to the SNES classics like Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, then Breath of Fire, some Tales of and so on. I saved the world from the brink of destruction tons of times. As I grew up, controlling a bunch of teenagers with issues I no longer had wasn’t funny anymore. That’s where Reverie comes in. This is the story of a young boy on a trip to New Zealand to meet his grandparents that gets caught up in defeating some angry spirits. Yeah the trope is still there, but let me explain why this felt so refreshing compared to many other RPGs I’ve played.

The story begins when our hero Tai arrives to Toromi Island to visit his grandparents. After traversing his grandpa’s basement to find an old book, he ends up fighting a possessed washing machine that tells him that several other spirits are causing troubles on the island. Now Tai must put a stop to the other spirits to protect Toromi Island.

Did you noticed the part about the possessed washing machine? That’s just one of the many charms found in Reverie. The game takes inspiration both from The Legend of Zelda for its gameplay and dungeon progression, and Earthbound for almost everything else. Since the game takes place in the present time all the items and weapons you encounter are toys. Instead of bow and arrow you have a Nerf Gun, a Yo-Yo to paralyze enemies, and a plastic shovel to remove obstacles.

But that’s not all, through the game we encounter talking kiwis, ghosts, mysterious creatures and a talking microwave that loves to play air hockey. All these fun characters and the easy-going nature of the game is what made it feel so different from other RPGs. Yes there is a threat that needs to be taken care of, but everyone keeps on with their lives so it all feels very peaceful to play.

Following in Zelda’s footsteps, Reverie uses the old formula of finding the item of the dungeon that will solve the puzzles and help you beat the boss. The good thing is that this formula works and the puzzles are quite satisfying to solve. The enemies in the game are quite simple for the most part. Rats, bees and birds are the most common, but inside the dungeons you can find golems and fire spirits among others, which will prove a bigger challenge.

Visually it’s easy to make the comparison with Earthbound. While the game uses pixel art, the characters and backgrounds are not very detailed, and use flat colors with no shadows, which gives the impression of being hand draw, a technique that was used previously on Earthbound. The music is very well made and would feel right at home on a SNES game. The village and beach in particular have very catchy tunes.

My only complaint about the game is that it’s a bit shorter than we’re are used today. The main game took me 3 hours and an additional hour to collect all the items and complete the additional quests. At $13 I wish there would be more things to do, but in general I really enjoyed the game and the simplicity of its story.

In conclusion, if you enjoy the old The Legend of Zelda games, or want an adventure RPG with a fun story that doesn’t revolve around a meteorite, one-winged angels or the end of the world as we know it, then give Reverie a shot.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy provided by the publisher. 

The post REVIEW: Reverie appeared first on oprainfall.

Title	Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms
Developer	Design Factory, Otomate
Publisher	Idea Factory International Inc.
Release Date	March 13, 2018 (US & Steam), March 15, 2018 (EU)
Genre	Visual Novel, Otome
Platform	PS Vita, Vita TV, Steam
Age Rating	ESRB: M (US), PEGI: 16 (UK)
Official Website

Last year, Idea Factory International set out to become the new gold standard for otome games. Between holding the Official Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds Festival + Cafe and releasing Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds on both PS Vita and Steam, it was an impressive effort. IFI wanted people to know that they were Hakuoki’s new home and that the otome community would find a passionate ally in them. Those efforts continued this year with the Official Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms Festival to commemorate Hakuoki: Edo Blossom’s release. However, goodwill and passion alone does not make a good game or localization.

The Official Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms Festival which IFI held in celebration of the game’s release.

When I reviewed Kyoto Winds last year, I had some concerns. One was the developer’s decision to split the original Hakuōki ~Shinsengumi Kitan~ in two and release each half as an enhanced remake. The other was with the quality of IFI’s localization. However, I was hopeful. Being a casual otome fan and Kyoto Winds being my first exposure to the franchise I was intrigued. I wanted to see how this tale would end and how Chizuru would grow. So, will Chizuru and men of the Shinsengumi live up to my hopes and stand victorious? Or will all their efforts turn to ash and blow away into the wind? Let’s find out.

Edo Blossoms: The Second Half of a Legendary Tale

Time to delve into the world of Hakuoki again with Edo Blossoms… Providing you’ve played the first game that is.

Before we begin, we need to address the odd way in which Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms relate to each other. Instead of being a sequel, this is the second half of Hakuōki ~Shinsengumi Kitan~. In short, this means this is a direct continuation from Kyoto Winds and you should have played that game before even considering this one. Thus, there will be spoilers for that game from this point on. In addition, I’m going to assume you’ve played Kyoto Winds.

The reason for this is to prevent redundancy. The core problem with Edo Blossoms is that it’s literally the second half of a game. Many of my thoughts on the technical details of Edo Blossoms (graphics, sound, interface, etc.) are the same as Kyoto Winds. If there are differences between the two game engines, I couldn’t find them. So, Instead, I’ll be focusing on how these elements are used to tell Chizuru’s story.

Putting the “Visual” in Visual Novel ~ Technical Details

Like I mentioned, there’s not a lot, if any, differences between Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms when it comes to technical details. While the characters do get new outfits, that’s about it. Graphically and musically it’s the same game. That said, the way Otomate uses those elements to tell the story holds up.

The Westernization of Japan is actually a recurring theme in Edo Blossoms. So it’s quite interesting to see the Shinsengumi don Western-styled attire as they fight for their ideals.

Many visual novels are perfectly fine with describing the action and maybe providing a few sound effects. However, both Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms do try and go one step further. Both games make effective use of their visual and audio elements. For example, if you hear and see four sword slashes, but only three bloody thwacks, there’s a narrative reason for that. This kind of attention to detail is apparent in other Otomate games such as Norn9: Var Commons. The same can be said of the music.

There’s actually quite a bit of combat in Edo Blossoms. While the visual and audio elements the game uses to showcase that combat is simple, it is effective.

The music in Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms is quite enjoyable. Both games use its music appropriately to communicate the mood and feeling of each scene. Which is good. Since the voice acting is still in Japanese, it helps to communicate the emotional tone of the scene. As for the voice acting, it’s fitting. Many of the actors are well known and turn in great performances. Sadly, there is no dub, though that’s standard when it comes to otome titles. While both Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms are one and the same in technical details, it’s in the game’s progression where they couldn’t be more different.

Standing Alone or Back-to-Back? ~ Game Design

In most romantic visual novels, there is a common route which then branches off into character-specific paths. In my Kyoto Winds review, I used the example of a river to illustrate this. This was because I had assumed that Kyoto Winds had to feed into whatever common route Edo Blossoms would have. Except it turns out that Edo Blossoms doesn’t have a common route. Instead, it contains all the individual character routes you’d find in the latter half of a romance visual novel.

The route selection screens from Edo Blossoms. While this method of selecting a route could work, here it really serves to drive home the point that this is the second half of a story.

When you start the game, you’re taken to the above screen to pick which route you want. The story will then quickly recap the events of Kyoto Winds before picking up in Edo. In short, this means you’re playing the latter half of a story. This is a bit of a problem. I’ll touch more on that later, but for now let’s focus on the routes themselves, namely their length and endings.

Each route consists of a prologue, an epilogue and four chapters. The sole exception being Toshizou Hijikata who gets five chapters and Chizuru’s solo route which has one. Within each chapter are two kinds of choices. The first are your basic decisions that raise your affection with your love interest. The other relates to the corruption system.

The vial in the lower lefthand corner of the screen indicates the level of corruption a character has. Based on how you handle their bouts of bloodlust, it’ll lower, maintain, or go critical.

The corruption system is something that’s new to this game. Functionally, it’s just a way to lead to a bad ending. During each chapter your bachelor will suffer a fit of bloodlust. You’ll be given three options. The first is to let them feed on you and erase their corruption. The second is to give them some medicine which will maintain the corruption level they are at. Finally, the third to let them endure it and max out their corruption. However, this is the real choice that matters in each chapter.

During every bout of bloodlust, you’ll be given these three choices. While the system is simple and self-explanatory, it’s also predictable.

Near the end of the chapter, the game will check the corruption of your bachelor. If it’s critical, then you’ll end up getting a bad ending for that chapter. If it’s below that you’ll continue to the next one. This means each chapter has a possible bad ending. That is until you hit chapter four.

At the end of chapter four, the game will also check your affection level. If you haven’t maxed out their affection, and they are uncorrupted, you’ll get the “unrequited love” ending for that character. Only if you max out the affection meter can you get that character’s true ending. This means that each character technically has six endings. Which means there are over 70, with many bad endings having very terrible things happening to poor Chizuru. I should note there are two exceptions.

And this is one of the tame bad endings. There are a few that honestly would have fit perfectly well in something like Corpse Party.

These two are Sanosuke Harada and Chikage Kazama who do not have a fury form, thus no corruption. In these cases, affection seems to be the sole determiner in clearing a chapter. Personally, I found this to be a positive since it made things less predictable. However, that’s also because these two along with a few other characters get additional development.

The one thing I did notice that really bothered me was the difference in quality between certain routes. Some routes have additional dialogue and scenes that occur if you’re raising your affection with those characters. It makes it feel like an actual relationship is being built as opposed to just running through the motions. Which, is sadly how the other routes feel in comparison. That being said, let’s talk about the writing itself on the next page.

Case in point, this scene from Kazama’s route. He may be one of my least favorite characters, but his route is quite enjoyable. Plus snarky Chizuru is amazing

The post REVIEW: Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms appeared first on oprainfall.

While I may not be the very best at SHMUPs, I’m a big fan of them, and have beaten several. In fact, probably the most recent one I tackled was Dimension Drive, a unique crowdfunded SHMUP with a creative hook but difficulties with regard to maneuverability. Despite my issues with that title, I had fond feelings about it. But the game being reviewed today is Super Hydorah, another tribute to retro by the talented folks at Abylight Studios, Locomalito and Gryzor87. I was a avid fan of Cursed Castilla EX, and was very curious to see their take on space shooters. The question is, did it meet the expectations borne out by my time with Castilla EX?

No SHMUP is known for its plot, and accordingly there’s a standard one in Super Hydorah. The Meroptian menace is threatening the entire system, and it’s up to you to put a stop to them. The whole “one ship against thousands” is a common genre trope, and while they do a few things to mix this one up, it plays out pretty much like you would expect. Hop from area to area, laying a swathe of destruction and defeating massive bosses. They mix things up by providing unlockable weapons, sub weapons and missiles obtained by defeating bosses, which can be swapped around at your discretion before you start any level. This is a novel and appreciated tool, and helps Hydorah stand out a bit from the pack.

Another way Super Hydorah plays with expectations is the non-linear level layout. That’s a fancy way for saying you’re often forced to make a choice between which path to take through a stage, though there are several with only one clear way forward. The issue I take with this design choice is it often led to me being hit by bullets fired by unseen foes right before the camera panned, bringing them into view. Echoing that non-linear layout is the level select screen, which features branching paths that you can return to at your discretion. This is cool in theory, but in practice it’s a bit frustrating for one reason – it’s unclear which levels are harder than others, and sometimes a stage will be almost impossible to beat until you return to it with more weapons unlocked. One I have particular disdain for is an early one called Forgotten Lab. This stage has foes with shields that cannot be destroyed which hunt you, hordes of leaping frog-like enemies, laser turrets that pop out of the ceiling to blast you and a centipede boss that still gives me nightmares. This is just one example of how tricky the branching stage select can be, most of all because the game gives you little indication which stages are the truly difficult ones.

Can you tell which stages are the hardest? Cause I couldn’t…

One area that Super Hydorah does very well are the diverse and challenging boss fights. Pretty early on, they’ll challenge you to your utmost, and they only get more powerful the farther you get. Some bosses serve more as mid-bosses, such as the robotic spider in the Underground Base stage, while others are massive threats, like the hideous boss in Charybdis. Regardless, every boss will give you a run for your money, as is to be expected in a SHMUP game. Only by memorizing their patterns and fighting them off with the ideal setup will you have a chance. I only have two real complaints with regard to the difficulty of bosses. The first is that many bosses are gated by multi section stages, such as the huge Galactic Inferno stage, and if you die, you’re forced to continue the level from the very beginning. That issue would have been mitigated if the game had mid level checkpoints that you could continue from instead. My other problem, which is more minor, is that it’s not always clear if you’re inflicting damage to a boss weak point. I truly wish they flashed red like in many SHMUPs.

The 2nd boss in the game is much more challenging than you’d expect.

On the issue of aesthetic design, I have no complaints. The art style looks like it could have been taken from a SNES classic, full of detailed, tiny shapes, ranging from living flowers to drone belching machines. There’s a ton of visual flair, and I do appreciate that much attention to detail. Most compelling are the massive bosses, which are all larger than life and truly different, ranging from a sentient mass of corrupted flesh to a huge drone that scuttles on the ceiling. The music, likewise, is fantastic, though a bit different than you’d expect from most SHMUPs. Some tracks are pretty standard, but there’s also a vein of horror that pops up in some stages, notably the great creepy tunes in Verminest. The sound effects that play also work well to keep you immersed in the action. Special note goes to the corny yet delightful voice acting that pops up in a couple stages. Taken together, the aesthetics of the game are a highlight.

While there’s a lot of good ideas on display for Super Hydorah, I found a whole host of issues with the execution of them. I’ll try to avoid nitpicks, such as how destroying certain structures deduct your points, and will instead focus on the truly game breaking problems. First off, the game simply demands too much maneuverability in very cramped locations. Often I died simply because I ran into a structure that popped up unexpectedly like in the Underground Base stage. It’s expected to have to weave between shots and foes in this genre, but this game takes it to the limit and then blasts past it. I noted earlier the artistic attention to detail, but the downside is often the game will hurl tons of foes at you simultaneously. The problem is, they don’t just come at you from the top, bottom and front, they will often fly at you from your exposed back. This was especially difficult to deal with, since only one weapon I found could fire backwards, and only when you fully charged it up using power ups. Speaking of which, the power ups cycle between options too slowly for some stages, so you are forced to choose between missiles, shields and speeding up, which is beyond brutal. This often resulted in me never having usable missiles or being fast enough, as I usually prioritized the shield, since it would protect me from one attack. Lastly, I truly hate how, even when you’ve destroyed a boss, bullets they’ve fired don’t disappear upon their death, and are capable of destroying you.

This stage has some cool set pieces, but it’s way too long.

I will admit that I was simply unable to beat Super Hydorah for this review. Some may think I gave up too quickly, but I easily put in 8-10 hours and countless continues in my attempt to beat a 2 hour game and probably got through 80-90% of it. While reasonably priced at $19.99, I can’t recommend this to any besides truly hardcore fans of the SHMUP genre. I appreciate what Locomalito and Gryzor87 were attempting here. There’s a lot of good in this game and it is a fond nod to the genre, but sadly the good is hidden behind hardcore game design and frustrating decisions. Ultimately, I was more of a fan of Cursed Castilla EX. That said, I appreciated the opportunity to tackle Super Hydorah, and will look forward to the next game by this team.

Get ready to see this screen a lot if you want to keep your high score.

Review Score
Overall

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

The post REVIEW: Super Hydorah appeared first on oprainfall.

I honestly hadn’t heard of Iconoclasts until right before it released. Thanks to a few of my Twitter followers, I discovered its existence, and thanks to the flashy trailer, I became interested enough to investigate. I quickly found it was the latest from Joakim “Konjak” Sandberg, known for his Noitu Love series of games. While I wasn’t a huge fan of that series, I respected his work, and loved his detailed retro art. So when I found out that Iconoclasts was a hybrid Metroidvania with his trademark art style and a focus on complex combat, I was intrigued. So I took a chance and blindly picked it up, hoping it would be worth my time.

It’s obvious from the get go that Iconoclasts is inspired by many classic games, though it still feels original. It has that je ne sais quoi which many classic games share. If I had to name a few titles, it’s a mixture of elements from Cave Story, Mighty Switch Force, Shantae, Mischief Makers and several Treasure titles. If that didn’t get your attention, then you might also be interested to hear that Iconoclasts offers a frank discussion and analysis of the dangers of religion. At first these references are easy to ignore, but it becomes more and more clear that this is a recurring and central theme of the game, as is how religion and blind dogma can get twisted and warped into something monstrous. The religion in the game is called the One Concern, and it’s a pretty obvious mirror to Christianity. They hold onto power through their stranglehold on an exotic fuel source called Ivory, which powers all machinery and also affects organic material in unusual ways. The plot tries to help the player look at religion with fresh eyes, and question what faith truly means in a world ruled by iron adherence to arbitrary laws. This is a world where most people are rewarded for doing only what they’re told, whereas thinking for yourself is seen as dangerous rebellion. Into this is thrust our hero, Robin, a young girl mechanic who has her sights set on defying the One Concern and helping others.

Much like many other videogame heroes, Robin never speaks one word throughout the game. Instead, she displays a wide range of emotions through body language, such as exasperation or fear. You wouldn’t think so given the heavy focus on religion, but Iconoclasts is also a game with a lot of humor. Sometimes it’s black humor, but there are many other times I laughed out loud at its antics, especially when Robin interacts with the varied cast of colorful characters. Every one is distinct, from the Agents to the Isi Pirates, and even the game’s villains have personal reasons that define and motivate them, even if they’re not immediately clear. This balance between humor and drama makes this a rare treat, and that’s before we even get into the fascinating gameplay mechanics.

Although the game is nominally a Metroidvania, it also has a strong focus on puzzle solving. I can already hear some of you groaning, but it’s very well done. All of Robin’s moveset doubles as puzzle solving tools, such as using her wrench to ratchet open doors, firing rolling bombs to trigger switches, conducting electricity to activate mechanisms and much, much more. What impressed me is how the game constantly forces you to think outside the box, as it gives you new tools on a regular basis to offer more complex solutions. Some of the puzzles are head-scratchers, but I didn’t encounter any that were impossible or that infuriated me. Many of the harder ones involved precise timing and getting a full picture of the layout of the puzzle room. A good rule of thumb is that if you encounter a puzzle you can’t figure out, come back to it later, since there’s a good chance you lack the proper ability to solve it. As for the combat, it starts out pretty basic, just shooting your gun and jumping around, but it becomes more and more nuanced. Later in the game you’ll be firing shots, dodging fire, switching between weapons and deflecting attacks seamlessly. Which is important, since besides the combat and exploration, Iconoclasts also hosts utterly fantastic, over the top boss battles.

It’s no exaggeration to say that several of the bosses found in Iconoclasts are some of my favorite in all my years playing video games. There’s more than twenty of them, and they all offer a heady challenge. Many are crazed and colorful machines, though there are also organic bosses which are truly tricky (avoiding specifics because of spoilers). The first few bosses in the game only give you a small taste of what truly awaits you, as the bosses later in the game are wild and over the top. A couple of my favorites involved deflecting grenades into a mechanized helicopter and facing off against a giant buzzsaw-laden worm mech. Oftentimes boss fights are just as much about puzzle solving as they are about combat, and several involve a supporting character that will assist you, such as Mina with her rifle or Royal with his psychokinesis. Best of all, the boss battles never get stale. Much like the rest of the game, they are constantly introducing new elements and keeping you on your toes. There’s only one that I got stuck on, a battle involving a giant ice cube, and that was my own fault for not paying attention. So if you are a fan of crazy combat, Iconoclasts more than delivers.

I need to spend a little time quickly addressing another facet of the game that, while important, is also optional. Throughout the game Robin will find materials that she can use to craft what the game calls Tweaks. These are modifiers that either give you a passive boost, such as preventing damage from one attack, or give you new abilities, such as a dodge roll. You can equip a few Tweaks at a time, but what’s interesting is that damage interferes with them. For example, say you have a Tweak that allows you to swim longer underwater. If you take enough damage, it will be rendered temporarily unusable. To make this more fair, every time you kill an enemy or break an item, you’ll be rewarded with energy that refills your equipped Tweaks. It’s a very interesting system, and one that adds even more nuance to a game utterly dripping with it. It’s nice that you’re given the tools to play the game the way you want, and it even gives replay value if you decide to play it differently on another playthrough.

Though I touched on it earlier, the visual style of Iconoclasts is truly impressive. Not only is the game colorful and attractive, it also makes smart use of visual cues to tell you important details, such as when to deflect an enemy attack. There are plenty of disparate environments in the game to keep things interesting, from sandy caverns to electric forests to pitch dark ruins. Honestly, it was hard for me to believe that one man created all of it, which says everything. On the audio side of things, the game is equally well made, featuring tracks that convey adventure, drama and, most important of all, an air of breathtaking mystery. The soundtrack does a fantastic job of immersing players in the strange world of Iconoclasts, and you’ll find yourself unwilling to leave.

All in all, I was truly impressed with Iconoclasts. I spent 11 hours playing through the game, and that’s without even finishing all the side quests or finding all the deviously hidden chests. It’s not often an indie game comes out of nowhere to surprise me, but that’s just what it managed to do, proving itself a new indie gem. If you have a PS4, Vita or Steam account, go buy it. It’s easily the best indie I’ve played so far in 2018, and one I highly recommend.

Review Score
Overall

Review Copy Purchased by Author

The post REVIEW: Iconoclasts appeared first on oprainfall.

Title	VA-11 HALL-A
Developer	Sukeban Games
Publisher	Wolfgame
Release Date	June 21st, 2016 (Steam), November 14th, 2017 (Vita)
Genre	Simulation, Visual Novel
Platform	PC, Vita
Age Rating	M for Mature – Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
Official Website

I clearly remember the first time I played VA-11 HALL-A. It was PAX Prime back in 2014, and I took a meeting with publisher Wolfgame mostly on a whim. Honestly I didn’t even know the name of the game nor the premise, but I am always willing to give indies a chance. I sat down at a hotel adjacent to the convention center, met with my contact and tried out the demo. Suddenly I found myself thrust into a strange world full of cyberpunk dystopia, bartending and well animated characters. It was utterly unique and strange, but also caught my attention. So much so that I’ve patiently waited 3 years for VA-11 HALL-A to release on Vita (it did release on Steam, but the appeal of playing it on my Sony handheld made me pass on the first release). Now that it’s finally made its way to Sony’s little handheld that could, what did I think of VA-11 HALL-A?

Your motley crew.

The first thing I noticed about VA-11 HALL-A was the quality of the writing. It sets the tone adeptly while slowly introducing you to this eclectic band of characters. You play bartender Jill, a quiet and typically calm woman prone to fits of inappropriate laughter and holding onto a few painful secrets. As the game progresses, you get a very good portrait of each character sketched into your brain, with no two the same. Besides Jill, there is also shady co-worker Gillian (AKA Johnface) who at times seems a bumbling goofball and other times shows dangerous hidden facets; Dana, cybernetic armed bar owner and possibly wrestler of bears, who has a bad tendency to get stuck in things; Alma, the beautiful and flirtatious hacker with commitment issues and family drama; Dorothy, the pluckiest Lilim (think android) sex worker you’ve ever met with a vocabulary that will melt the ears off the soft hearted and who will give you a great time for the right price; and one of the best, Sei, member of the White Knights who upholds the peace and goes out of her way to help those in need. There’s plenty more besides that, but those are some of my absolute favorites. You’ll find it hard not to become attached to some of this cast, if not all of them.

Yes, even this guy…

VA-11 HALL-A‘s main plot revolves around the fact that the titular bar is soon closing, and down on her luck bartender Jill is trying to make as much money as she can to pay her rent. It quickly becomes far more involved and complex, thanks in part to the many conversations you strike up bartending each night, as well as due to messageboards you can read in between jobs at home. The latter is entirely optional, but you’d be foolish to ignore these messages, as they do a great job of painting a picture of the world the game takes place in. Though you might occasionally forget, VA-11 HALL-A takes place in the futuristic Glitch City, a place where the taxes are high, pollution runs rampant, food is nearly unaffordable, nanobots are inside everyone and the people in charge of the government are bumbling idiots at best and corrupt thieves at worst. It’s surprising that this game originally released in 2014, cause there are still many parallels to the world we live in today. In many ways, I see VA-11 HALL-A as a dark mirror image of the world we live in, and a cautionary tale of what state our world might soon find itself in. Having said that, it’s not all darkness, as there also seems to be another recurring theme in the game. Namely, no matter how hard times are, you will find hope and light in the kindness of others. That might seem peculiar in a game full of cybernetic Lilim, mercenaries, talking brains in jars, Corgi businessmen, mysterious hackers and sleazy newspapermen, but the game is portrayed so subtly that even the worst seeming characters have hidden depths that redeem them. Despite the game being cyberpunk noir, there is a lot of hidden light in between the black and gray overtones.

Sometimes finding hope can be a rocky path.

I’ve talked a lot about the setting and characterization, but you’re probably wondering about the gameplay itself. Basically it’s a mix of visual novel, with lots of reading, followed by drink mixing. Sometimes your customer will give you a very precise order, and all you’ll have to do is check your database for the drink name, mix the ingredients, and serve it. Other times, the game will mix things up, either by asking you for a big version of a drink, wherein you need to use double the ingredients, or even ask for incredibly vague orders you have to decipher yourself. The worst offender for cryptic orders is Virgillio, but other returning customers will keep you on your toes as well, so it behooves you to pay close attention to what people say. Overall, mixing drinks is pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and you’ll be bartending like a champ in no time. I’m happy you can do so with touch controls, as it’s pretty intuitive to drag ingredients into your tumbler, add either ice or age the drink, then mix or blend it to perfection. The only complaint I have regarding the touch controls is the lack of consistency when they can and can’t be implemented. For example, you select messages from your phone using the touch screen, but can’t scroll them up or down with the D-pad. It’s not a serious hindrance, but you’ll eventually end up using exclusively touch controls just to avoid confusion.

While the game itself is pretty linear, there are also several different endings you can get. One involves not being able to pay your rent on time, whereas the others all involve mixing the right drinks for the right people. In my 15 hour playthrough I only got the worst ending, but I’m already playing again to try and get a better one. My only complaint is that you really need to make use of a guide to get some of the drinks right for specific endings and I wish there was a speed reading option for subsequent playthroughs. Other than that, the game offers a robust experience, with a single playthrough taking at least a dozen hours or so. Considering there are 6 endings in total, you’ll be spending a lot of time at VA-11 HALL-A in order to platinum the game.

Make the soundtrack to your destiny!

Though I briefly touched on the art earlier, I need to reiterate how great it is. It’s all detailed and colorful, and characters don’t just come across as still portraits talking like robots. They burst with personality exemplified by a variety of quirks. They will bat their lashes, cry like children, shriek in panic and much more. Honestly, games like this are a prime example of why I don’t care about how realistic graphics are in games. So long as they draw you into the game and make the characters breathe, that’s all that matters to me. The only complaint I have regarding the graphics is that the load and save times can be a little long, but that’s a minor issue.

Trust me when I say you’ll quickly grow to love Dorothy.

I also need to spend some time talking about how great the music and sound design is. While the art and writing are both on point, they wouldn’t be nearly as effective without a resonant soundtrack. Luckily, VA-11 HALL-A‘s sound is incredible. What was unique about it was that every night, you get to pick 12 songs that play in the jukebox. There’s a wide variety to pick from, and they range from cheery to menacing to seductive and more. There’s tons of tunes, and I found none that felt out of place. While you would think that being able to pick the soundtrack would result in upbeat songs for dire scenarios and vice versa, I found this wasn’t a problem. In part that might be because I always made an effort to listen to the songs briefly before placing them, and tried to start out calm, working up to engergetic, then plateau with something mellow and moody. All I know is the music was always perfect for the mood, and it was always a delight to listen to.

Welcome to Glitch City, where brains in jars hit on buxom hackers!

In summation, VA-11 HALL-A was well worth the wait on my Vita. It drew me in much deeper than I would have thought possible, making me actually care about the lives of these characters. Kudos as well to Sukeban Games for subtly tying in themes of consciousness, sexual identity, depression, true friendship, love and much more. For $14.99, VA-11 HALL-A is a game every Vita fan should own. It’s full of heart, drama and hope. My only hope now is that the world of the game gets expanded in the future, as I would love a sequel or something similar from the developers. VA-11 HALL-A is the bar I desperately need in my own life, and after playing it, you’ll feel the same.

She may act tough, but even Dorothy has her limits…

Review Score
Overall

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

The post RE-REVIEW: VA-11 HALL-A appeared first on oprainfall.

One of the downsides to being an older gamer is that many of the games I grew up with and which shaped me as the gamer I am today were ridiculously difficult. Take for example such NES games as Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man 2, and Contra. The ethos of those early games was to make players earn their victory with blood, sweat, and tears. As a result, many older gamers, myself included, got pretty good at withstanding abuse and taking it in stride as a necessary evil. One of the biggest series to put this ethos to the test was Ghosts n’ Goblins. More specifically, Super Ghouls n Ghosts, the third game and one I have yet to fully beat. It featured pixel-perfect platforming, utter precision, and maddeningly difficult boss battles. Despite that, I have a fondness for that game, so when I see others that are inspired by it, I get fixated on them. While it’s true Cursed Castilla has been around for a while now, it just hit the Vita. Since I’m a big proponent of portable gaming, I decided to finally try it out. How did this knight errant fare?

Starting out, one thing which struck me about Cursed Castilla EX was the larger focus on story. Whereas Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts has a barebones plot at best, the story in Cursed Castilla EX had a bit of nuance to it. The tragic love story which starts the madness involves a young woman named Moura whose misery is manipulated into dark magic, which opens up the world to assault by demonic forces. Your King sends you, Don Ramiro, as well as Quesada, Mendoza, and Diego off, to fight the encroaching evil and save the day. Though you can only control Ramiro, you’ll be seeing those other knights, generally when horrible fates befall them. Nevertheless, I like the concept of a band of brothers fighting against evil forces. It never made much sense having only Arthur go and fight hordes of foes to save the day, and I like how Castilla quietly lends a does of reality to the premise.

One of the coolest parts of the game has you fighting harpies with your fellow knights.

Having said that, don’t expect too much reality in the game. Thankfully, Castilla is firmly rooted in fantasy, with tons of diverse and crazy monsters to slay, ranging from shambling zombies to winged culebras to dancing explosive skeletons and much, much more. I really appreciated the wide range of creatures in the game, especially given that each has a unique pattern of attack. This goes double for the intense boss battles, which only get progressively more challenging the farther you get. Some of my favorites included Nuberu, a bastard wizard who assaults you with tornadoes and lightning; the mischevious Bu; the armored Crazy Quixote (of the famous novel) and the serpentine witch Moura. There’s a lot more than that, and each and every boss can easily kill you if you’re not careful.

Jerk Gandalf tries to knock you off the clouds to your death!

The gameplay in Cursed Castilla EX is old school with a bit of new school convention thrown in. You can jump, walk and attack. Finding powerups will lend you new weapons, such as the multi-hit daggers and boomerang-like sickle. You are also able to find secondary items, such as the orbiting blue fairy or the double jump boots. While you only have three lives, there are checkpoints in levels and you have access to an endless supply of continues, with a catch. While you’re more than welcome to use as many continues as you want, using too many will lock you out of getting the best endings. I found that out the hard way after getting my second ending in the Realm of Pain, only to have a trumpet bearing angel blow all 23 of my continues back at me as lost souls, murdering Ramiro in the process. Luckily, you can get more lives by playing well and earning enough points. More importantly, the more you play the game, the easier it is to memorize all the levels and boss patterns, which makes it possible (though not easy) to beat the game much more efficiently. It takes effort and a lot of deaths, but it never felt totally unfair or unbalanced.

Although Cursed Castilla EX isn’t that long of a game, each successful playthrough took me about 2 hours. There are several levels, and each one features at least a couple main areas and one boss each. After beating Moura and getting that diabolical ending the first time around, I was highly motivated to try again, find all the hidden Moura Tears, and get a better ending. While I did manage that, I am still working on beating the true boss without using too many continues. So even though I only spent about 4 hours playing the game, I feel you get more than your money’s worth. That’s because the game is chock full of secrets, including 15 truly epic achievements. To those who have gotten a Platinum for Cursed Castilla EX, you have my deepest respect. I’m going to keep trying to 100% the game, even though that is a steep hurdle.

Visually, the game could easily be another entry in the Ghosts n’ Goblins series, and that’s a compliment. The graphics are dark, violent and yet somehow cartoony. I very much appreciated how there are no color swapped enemies or other laziness to be found, each and every creature is an original. That resulted in me never getting bored playing the game. Also of special note is the bestiary that can be found on the start screen, which gives each monster a special description, accompanied by an old timey portrait. On the musical side of things, I was pretty happy as well. While I don’t feel the soundtrack ever quite reached the heights of Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts, there are some catchy tunes. I especially enjoyed the sound of horse hooves clip-clopping during levels. The boss music was also dire and menacing, which helped keep me pumped as I fought each foe.

Overall, I rather enjoyed my time with Cursed Castilla EX. It’s old school hard, but not quite as difficult as Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts. It plays very well on my Vita (though I wish that the graphical options didn’t only stretch the game, making it look fuzzy and unappealing). For $11.99, you really can’t go wrong. If you like the NES hard games of yore and want a more modern, portable successor, this is the game for you.

This boat is NOT headed for Margaritaville…

Review Score
Overall

Review Copy Provided by Developer

The post REVIEW: Cursed Castilla EX appeared first on oprainfall.

As with many visual novel series, the Science Adventure series has a somewhat spotty history of official English translations. The first time was with JAST USA’s translation of Steins;Gate in 2014. It was followed by Steins;Gate 0 last year, and now with Chaos;Child, both from PQube. Unfortunately, the prequel Chaos;Head (along with the more recent Robotics;Notes) never got translated, but as I will cover later on, it’s not that important for the story.

Chaos;Child is set in 2015 in Shibuya, six years after the New Generation Madness series of murders and Shibuya Earthquake from Chaos;Head. It follows Takuru Miyashiro, a third-year student at Shibuya’s Hekiho Academy and the president of its newspaper club. He’s joined by the other members of the club; his childhood friend Serika Onoe, his adoptive older sister Nono Kurusu, his best friend Shinji Itou, and the quiet Hana Kazuki. Later on, he’s joined by the literature club’s Hinae Arimura and the mysterious, childlike Uki Yamazoe. The group investigates a new series of bizarre murders, dubbed the Return of the New Generation Madness. As the story progresses, the player along with Miyashiro learns more about the killings, the Shibuya Earthquake, the strange Sumo Stickers appearing around town, and the other members of the club.

It’s interesting to see how the game calls back to the others in the series.

The story is structured into five primary routes with six different good endings, and a variety of bad endings depending on the route you play. The first time you play through it, only the main route is available, and individual routes for Hana, Hinae, Uki, and Nono become available after you see the main route’s Over Sky ending once. In all playthroughs after the first, the story is influenced by the player’s choices in the Delusion Trigger system. The Delusion Trigger returns from Chaos;Head, where the player can choose either a negative or positive delusion for Takuru to experience at specific points in the story. After seeing all the endings, the final true story becomes available, revealing the true nature of Chaos Child Syndrome. The individual routes all break off from the main story at different points and reveal a lot of information about each character, their past, and their motivations than you can get from the main story.

I like the various ways the game presents conversations.

The characters themselves are all interesting in their own way. They have their own mysteries and arcs throughout the main story and their individual routes, and it is incredibly interesting to see each develop and learn more about them. Takuru in particular changes significantly throughout the game. He gradually grows more likable as the story progresses, after starting out somewhat pretentious and downright annoying. Seeing how the characters evolve, especially in their specific routes, is incredibly satisfying, and the story is incredibly well-written and structured to back it up.

Chaos;Child leans more heavily on horror than previous games in the series. The murders themselves are genuinely disturbing and often gory, as are many of the negative delusions throughout the game. That being said, the story is very well-paced, with most of the chapters good about periodically easing up on the tension before getting more intense in the last four chapters and not letting up until the end, keeping it from ever getting too tiring to read. The game also shifts perspectives throughout, all to build up suspense, keep the reader invested, and drive the central mystery forward. It’s a device that Chaos;Child uses to great effect; it was never hard to follow, but still kept me on my toes and unsure about what direction it would take.

The waving border on the screen shows that this is just a delusion.

The Return of the New Generation Madness continues on the next page ->

The post REVIEW: Chaos;Child appeared first on oprainfall.

2017 has been one of the best years ever in the history of console visual novels in the West. Major VNs including Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth, Chaos;Child and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony have all recently received official Western releases on consoles. However, one notable niche that will go under the radar (especially to non-Vita owners) will be the rise of officially localised otome visual novels for the West. For those that don’t know what an otome game is, it is a dating-sim genre where you play as a female character and you can romance one of many male characters. Alongside PC releases like Nightshade and Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome (the first official 18+ otome localisation from one of the major PC VN publishers), there have been a large number of Idea Factory titles (under the Otomate label) releasing outside of Japan, mostly through Aksys Games. Bad Apple Wars is the fourth and last Otomate release for 2017 with more due to come in the future. Bad Apple Wars is my first proper foray into the otome genre of visual novels (and no, this doesn’t count), so I’ve taken this as an opportunity to see what the niche of the niche in VNs is all about.

The dystopian version of the Easter Bunny will shock everyone.

The main heroine (whose default name is Rinka) is caught up in a car crash on her first day of high school and is subsequently killed. She is sent to a mysterious school called NEVEAH Academy, a mysterious place that is somewhere in the afterlife. Once there, she is told that in order for her return to her past life she would need to follow the school rules in order to graduate, hence becoming a “good apple.” The entrance ceremony that follows is interrupted by the “Bad Apples,” a team of delinquents that are rebelling against the school in the hopes that they will get expelled. Rinka is approached by the leader, Alma, and asks her if she wants to live. What is unique about this game’s structure is that you can choose a side when you make your first choice, meaning that certain routes are only unlockable on each side. If you choose the Good Side, you are hired as a member of the Perfects, the discipline committee of NEVEAH Academy. The Perfects “correct” people by hitting them with a weapon – temporarily inflicting the victim with despair. You can romance two characters on this route, Satoru and White Mask. If you choose the Bad Side, you will become a member of the Bad Apples. You can romance three characters on this side – Alma, Higa, and Shikishima. There are 10 endings in total comprised of one true ending and one “NEVEAH” (bad) ending per character. Additionally, there is a flowchart system that allows you to see what scenarios you have viewed as well as return to any point in the game to try and unlock certain endings.

White Mask is very firm and succinct as part of his mission to correct the Bad Apples.

There is also a touchscreen minigame featured in the game. Towards the end of multiple chapters in the game on each route, you have to touch the male character on the touchscreen in particular places in order to trigger an event. Doing so will net you a flashback of the character’s past, adding essential story. In chapters 6 and 7 this minigame plays an important part in determining which ending you will get for that route. As your bond deepens with the character their clothes will be removed in the touchscreen minigame and you will be required to find areas that the character likes and touch them. If you touch the areas that the character likes (this is marked by yellow circles branching out from the point where you touched the screen), this will allow you to continue to the True End. If you mainly touch areas that the character dislikes (marked by blue sparks), then this will lead to the NEVEAH ending. This was fair and balanced for the most part as most endings can be easily determined through trial and error with the exception of White Mask. This was because the two touchscreen segments had touchable areas that were mostly for one particular ending. This originally mislead me into thinking that there was only one ending for White Mask. While this unbalance does have significance to the story, I feel there should have been more balance with regards to what touchable areas unlock one ending versus another. That said, the plot in this game is very interesting. There is a strong emphasis on self-identity and individuality as well as finding a purpose in life. This is important as Rinka finds out that following the rules of NEVEAH makes you gradually begin to lose your identity. The topics discussed are done in a somewhat light manner, presumably, so it could get it’s CERO B rating in Japan. However, don’t let that deter you. This title is a nakige, meaning that any VN (all ages or 18+) in this subgenre will feature plenty of tearjerking scenes throughout the game, even on the common route. The flashbacks play a key role here.

Of course, the Bad Apples can fight back. There are a few CGs but none actually show violence.

The cast of guys was great, though I found that the Bad Side tended to have better routes. For the good side, Satoru is your antisocial bookworm whom constantly studies. His route wasn’t particularly memorable for me. White Mask’s route is one of the more interesting routes especially as he is the head of the Perfects. This means there was lots of potential to tell a unique perspective. In the context of the game’s themes, it excelled, however, this would be hard to explain without spoilers so it’s best that you find out for yourself. For the bad side, Alma is the leader who is relied on by the rest of the Bad Apples. His route gives the most exposition with regards to how the NEVEAH Academy’s mechanics work so this is one I would recommend clearing early in order to get the most background information on the world. Higa is your tsundere character. It was a very unusual experience for me having never experienced a male tsundere before. While initially jarring at first, he became one of my favourite routes. Shikishima is the eccentric loner type who loves to paint. He had my favourite true ending. One thing that all the routes had in common is there was a fair amount of variety in the bad endings even though they are rather abrupt in comparison to the true endings.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a dating sim without a kissing CG.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the main heroine’s characterisation. Rinka is portrayed as a girl who is indecisive about what she wants to do in life and what she stands for. Rinka came across to me as very one-dimensional and passive at the beginning and I didn’t like that. This is redeemed towards the end of each route, however, I felt that Rinka should have had more character development at the start, especially as repeat playthroughs meant Rinka’s passiveness became an annoyance to me. After doing some research, I found out this is a typical character archetype of otome visual novel protagonists called “Yamato Nadeshiko.” I haven’t played enough otome to make any meaningful discussion or opinion, however, this is something I think is worth noting to potential consumers so that they are more aware of the cultural context and features present in certain genres of Japanese games so they aren’t surprised. This kind of archetype is similar to how the protagonists in bishoujo visual novels tend not to have any personality or facial features in the CGs.

Shikishima might make a good body pillow. Maybe.

The localisation was pretty good. Collar x Malice was notable for featuring multiple typos in the English release and although I haven’t played that game yet I would wager that there aren’t as many in Bad Apple Wars as they were fairly infrequent in my playthrough. Furthermore, the font choice in Bad Apple Wars was also criticised as being hard on the eyes by visual novel fans (including myself), however having played the game in action it is something that I got used to over time. However, if the player has impaired sight it may be potentially difficult to read. Continuing on the subject of presentation, Bad Apple Wars’ presentation is very good. The visual art style is distinctive and really helps the game stand out from the usual colour schemes that high school settings in VNs adopt. red sky and the usage of purple were two key artistic choices that greatly helped with this. Character portraits were well drawn and had a variety of poses, however, I do feel a couple of the named Bad Apples should have had portraits too. The music was also of good quality. None of the 18 songs were particularly memorable however they all fit the environments they are used in so they fulfilled their purpose.

I guess Naraka approves of the idea of the Bad Apple Wars Day One Edition being GameStop exclusive.

To conclude, I enjoyed my 20 or so hours with Bad Apple Wars overall. Priced at $39.99 for the digital and standard physical/Day One edition (the latter is exclusive to GameStop), Bad Apple Wars is worth its price tag. This title will likely go under the radar due to the many big releases this year which is a shame as it deserves some time in the spotlight. Additionally, compared to other VNs that have come out this year it is one of the shorter ones so that may be a factor worth considering for potential buyers. On a personal level, Bad Apple Wars piqued my interest in checking out more otome visual novels which is a pleasant outcome.

Review Score
Overall

Copy of the game was supplied by the publisher

The post REVIEW: Bad Apple Wars appeared first on oprainfall.

If you were to poll the general gaming audience as to what the most “hard core” genres are, some likely answers would be Fighting Games and Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) Games. But it would not be very far down the list before you came to dungeon crawler RPGs. In fact, it is such a notoriously difficult genre of games that many people just actively avoid them and have never even played one. Part of that notorious difficulty is due to the fact that this is a genre of games that is one of the oldest in all of gaming, I played my first dungeon crawler back in the 1980’s on an Apple IIE computer. And games were generally just made to be a lot more difficult back then. But in the modern world there is also the examples of games like Stranger of Sword City, Demon Gaze, and particularly the Etrian Odyssey games, all of which were quite difficult compared to other games of the current era. There are a few examples where modern developers have tried to make a more simple version of the genre to get more people into it, such as Severed and Persona Q, but for longtime fans the difficulty and grinding is a feature of the genre, not a detraction. So the first part of any dungeon crawler review has to be for which audience it is intended. And in case of Mary Skelter: Nightmares, it is definitely an example of a dungeon crawler that is made for dungeon crawler fans, particularly when you get to the end of the game.

Beneath the very interesting gothic aesthetic, all the hallmarks of the dungeon crawler genre.

Like any other dungeon crawler, you move one square at a time on a grid based map system in first person view. When you meet up with a monster you see a large view of the group of monsters (also in first person view), only ever seeing the character portraits to the side and when you are selecting an ability for them to use. There are some more recent dungeon crawlers that have started to show more of the party members in battle but, especially on handheld systems, that is quite rare. Thankfully one modern feature does make it into Mary Skelter: Nightmares, and that is the game forming a dungeon map for you to bring up at any time. You cannot interact with the map to create any notes for yourself or to create any custom paths, with one exception. You do have the ability to select a point on the map and usually (more on that later) your party will make their way to that point with the safest route possible. The only limitations are that it cannot be blocked by any interactive objects and it has to be a point on the map that you’ve previously explored.

Escaping the Nightmares starts off fairly easy, but it gets much more difficult.

There are two aspects of Mary Skelter: Nightmares that were largely pulled from the Etrian Odyssey games, the first is devolution (more on that in the next section) and the second is something similar to the FOEs in that series. And that is a really good thing to pull from the EO series, as it’s one of the most popular features. Nightmares in this game are similar to FOEs in that they are very large monsters that you can see from the map screen (all other fights are random) and they can also attack you while in the middle of fighting other creatures if you are in their path of movement. Other than that, they switched things up a little by making the Nightmares creatures that you are required to avoid until you reach the end of the dungeon. It is actually impossible to defeat them until you destroy the core (at the very end of that dungeon). Until that point, if you are attacked by a Nightmare, you have to destroy one of its parts and that will cause the creature to be stunned while it repairs itself. During that time that it’s stunned you have to run away and get around 90 meters away from where the Nightmare is before you can totally escape it. Until you reach the fringe of its zone, the Nightmare will chase you and it will also attack you outside of combat if you are in its line of sight. To add to the terror of these encounters, on any difficulty but Easy, you cannot see the zone’s map while you are running. So you can possibly run right into a dead end and have to fight the creature again to escape in a different direction. Additionally you cannot pull up your menu at all or exit the dungeon while a Nightmare is chasing you. So if you are going to die in this game, that is the most likely cause.

There are several class choices for each character, offering a lot of variety.

On Normal difficulty the Nightmares are really the only thing that is likely to kill you unless you try to skip a whole lot of content. But on Hard mode the game is much more like Etrian Odyssey, where even random bad groupings of enemies can possibly wipe you. In either case, you can mitigate the possible chances of death by using strategic groupings of party members. Each party member has a choice of 5 different Jobs, with those 5 jobs being shared with one of the other Blood Maidens. For instance, Alice and Cinderella have the same set of Jobs (physical attacking classes) while Sleeping Beauty and Kaguya also share a different set of 5 Jobs (ranged attack classes). Additionally there is free DLC that you can download for the game off of PSN that adds a 6th class that every Blood Maiden can use, the Sakura Maiden. Sakura Maidens are unique because they are an all around class that can use a large variety of weapons and are good on the front row or back row with a general good number on all their different base stats. However, they are not a cheat code for the game, they are nowhere near the most powerful class out of any of the Blood Maidens, and it’s best to use them if you want a 5th role in your party that doesn’t match anything you are interested in for that Maiden. So even if you are uninterested in Thumbelina’s mage abilities, you can turn her into a Sakura Maiden and make her into a (serviceable) front line fighter if you still want to use her in your party of five.

One of the highlights of the class system is checking out the next cool outfit for your favorites.

You will want to change jobs fairly often, or as often as possible, because you can mix and match the active skills that you gain with each Job. You cannot change the base stats that are part of each Job (some are faster, some have higher defense, etc), and you cannot bring over the passive skills that you learn with each, but the active skills make it a huge incentive to diversify your portfolio. Ideally, if you really want to master this game, you should master all the best active skills and then switch back to a Job that meets the party spot you need. So you can gain a lot of different nice offensive skills as Alice and then turn her back into a Paladin to protect the rest of the party as a tank. That will give you the best of both worlds since she can Intimidate the boss the first round and then spend several rounds still dishing out a lot of damage while she’s still drawing the ire of that enemy. On Easy there isn’t really as much need for strategy in classes, but I really would not recommend playing any dungeon crawler game on Easy, a very large feature of the games is pitting your mind and perseverance against the designers of the brutal dungeons. If you are playing on Hard, or really far on Normal, you may also want to use Devolution. Similar to the EO games, it allows you to regress your character back a set number of levels with the benefit of a slight increase in stats and some bonus skill points (it’s the only way to have enough skill points to actually master all 6 classes).

Massacre Mode is what can separate which girls you want to be a part of your main party.

To assist you with combating the denizens of the dungeons, your party members build up a blood meter (that you see below each portrait) that acts as basically a Limit Break from the Final Fantasy series, called Massacre Mode. How long each girl stays in Massacre Mode is variable depending on what you do while in that mode, but it only ever lasts for one normal battle or one Nightmare escape sequence. While in Massacre Mode each Blood Maiden has access to an array of super powerful moves that are quite variable in effect depending on which Maiden it is. You can also stop the buildup of blood by having the girls Lick the blood off of each other (you read that right), which gives them character specific buffs. When enemies attack the Maidens they can also randomly cause the blood that is covering them to become corrupted (the blood gauge turns consecutively darker) and there is a higher chance of corruption the harder they get hit as a percentage of their total health. You really do not want them to reach the Massacre Mode state with corrupted blood, if they do there is a high chance they will enter Blood Skelter mode and go berserk, attacking anyone at random (including your own party members).

You really do not want your Maidens to reach Blood Skelter state.

There is a potential of 10 party members (9 required and 1 hidden and optional), so you are intended to have one of each Job profile in your party of 5. The Massacre abilities can be the difference between which girl you choose to bring along with you in the party. The other 5 Maidens also come with you but only as Partners, and they can occasionally assist your front line girl with a special move of their own. They also earn 50% of the experience that the front line party members do, so at least you can partially keep up with leveling all 10 characters without needing to do a lot of party switching (like in most dungeon crawlers). One last thing I would like to note about the Jobs is that I actually ended up choosing not to have one of each Job structure characters in my party. I decided to remove my mage class characters in favor of having both Alice and Cinderella in my party. If I was playing the game casually, I would not have done that, but I was trying to finish the game a little more quickly for review and 2 physical attackers with the Marshall skills makes the game much faster (although it still took me 115 hours to complete in total).

More Bloody Fun on Page 2 ->

The post REVIEW: Mary Skelter: Nightmares appeared first on oprainfall.

Oceanhorn is a Zelda-inspired action adventure game. This is a re-review of the game, with the new Vita port. If you want to see the original breakdown of the game, you can check it out here. I’m going to go into detail on how it works on the Vita as well as where my opinion differs a bit from the previous review.

Near as I can tell, this is a 1:1 port of the console/PC release. Everything is intact. If you want the same game that the PS4 and PC got but on the Vita, then this has all you want. As far as I’m aware, there aren’t any new additions to the game. Just the same game on a different platform. The original review was for the PC version, and there were complaints of poor performance. Fortunately, I haven’t encountered those issues here. The game’s performance seems acceptable to me.

The UI in this game makes it very obvious that it was designed with a touchscreen in mind. Menus for shops have very large buttons to accommodate for that. Fortunately, the Vita has a touchscreen, so you could argue it outshines the PS4 and PC versions in this respect. However, it’s a bit awkward that part of the start menu stretches off-screen and you have to scroll to see the rest of it. It would’ve been nice if the UI had been modified to accommodate the Vita.

With Oceanhorn being a Zelda clone, the focus is obviously going to be on puzzle solving and combat, and the game drops the ball pretty hard on both fronts. The combat is bad. Attacks lack any sort of weight to them, and enemies only blink when hit. Even in the very first Zelda game, enemies would fly backwards in response to getting hit. This not only makes attacking more satisfying, but it gets enemies away from you. Enemy attacks lack any kind of signposting, so trying to go toe-to-toe with those wielding weapons is a bad idea. Classic Zelda games generally relied on proper positioning for combat, but you can’t do that too well here. You might try circling around enemies, but you’re not really fast enough for that and you’ll probably take damage anyways.

I found tossing bombs at enemies trivializes the combat almost entirely. Some bosses I was able to take down just tossing bombs at them. Combat is just not satisfying at all, and I found myself circumventing enemies since they generally won’t bother to chase you. Fortunately, most bosses were clever enough to where I couldn’t just lob bombs at them and had to solve a little puzzle for them. Most of these had decent concepts but sketchy execution. For example, there’s a boss where you must lure it in front of a flamethrower in order to expose its weak point. That sounds fine, but the AI seems to just do whatever it feels like sometimes. Combine this with hard-to-dodge attacks and a wonky camera, and the experience isn’t very fun.

My thoughts on the puzzles don’t differ much from the previous review. They’re barely puzzles and feel mostly like busy work. The solution is obvious; just gotta shove some blocks around. Dungeons are incredibly linear for the most part. Zelda dungeons are fantastic at challenging your spatial reasoning. The dungeons and puzzles here only challenge your patience. Most of the items and magic spells you get generally have only situational uses. For example, the fire spell is for just melting bits of ice or lighting torches. Outside of the ice dungeon I didn’t find much use for it. Occasionally, combat requires some magic, but it’s a little less than elegant. Spells take a couple seconds to cast, and during that time enemies can do whatever while you’re standing still.

I didn’t have as much trouble with the isometric camera angle as the previous reviewer did. I was fine with navigating levels for the most part. The environments weren’t particularly interesting enough to explore, though. For the most part areas are pretty linear, with where you’re meant to go being fairly obvious. The open world is a giant ocean littered with islands, akin to Wind Waker. This had me a bit excited, but it managed to suck all the fun out of that.

You can’t actually sail around and discover things at your leisure. You can only sail to islands that you’ve discovered through dialogue, and the sailing is entirely on rails. The only thing you do is occasionally shoot some enemies and mines that might damage you. This is hardly engaging; just mash the fire button until you get to the island. There really should’ve been at least some way to skip these segments.

Overall, if you liked the original and want it on the Vita, then it’s legitimately a very good port. If you’re a Vita owner looking for something new to play, I’d advise steering clear of this. There are very few good things this game offers that aren’t plagued by a number of problems. For $13 you could get something much more worth your time.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy provided by the publisher.

The post RE-REVIEW: Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Waters appeared first on oprainfall.

When I first heard Atlus was localizing The Caligula Effect back at E3 2016, I was pretty excited. I had been following this one for a while and loved what little I had heard about the story. The combat looked interesting, and if you have a good story and decent combat you usually end up with a decent RPG, right? Let’s find out if I got excited over something really great or if this one is mediocre.

The story begins as a group of students are trapped in this perfect digital world called The Mobius. This world was created by a Vocaloid named μ. Only those suffering in the real world that can relate to μ’s songs can find their way into The Mobius. Once there they begin to forget about the real world, and are turned into students no matter what age they are. Then they will continually repeat high school over and over again. Few in this world are able to break free from this ensnaring song, but those who do have their memories slowly return. The students form “The Going Home Club” and fight for a way to return home to the real world and their lives.

I really loved the idea of this story because it deals with people trying to escape a world that doesn’t accept them and is very unkind. This could be because they were overweight, socially awkward, or maybe even flat out bullied. Neither the story or the characters really ever became interesting enough for you to care all that much. I don’t think the story is poorly written, but it just all feels very cookie cutter and bland. They do have some character episodes for your party members later to flesh them out, but like the rest of the writing, these are very plain and do little to help you care about these characters. I think the localization team did their best with what they had to work with here, but you can only do so much with lackluster source material.

Graphically, The Caligula Effect looks pretty good on the PS Vita. The character models look nice even if they are not incredibly detailed. Enemies all look basically the same, having only different digital weapons to separate one from the other. The environments all look very nice, but you can tell they reuse a lot of the same textures pretty often. In some stages it’s very hard to tell the difference between areas because of this. The effects during battle are where this one really shines, with lots of explosion effects and blasts as your party are laying to waste to every enemy in their path. The only issue with that is sometimes the framerate will take a hit when really crazy moves are going off all at the same time, but this really doesn’t affect gameplay.

The game’s soundtrack is fairly solid. While you are exploring each area you will hear the instrumental part of each stage’s song. When you begin a battle the vocal parts of the song will begin to play. I’m sure they did this for effect since the enemies you fight are affected by the vocaloid’s song. I just find it odd they didn’t have an actual vocaloid sing the tracks—I feel this would have made more sense given the context of the game. The game is fully voiced in Japanese, and while there is nothing offensive here, I feel it is kinda flat like the game’s writing.

The gameplay is pretty straightforward. You will explore each area fighting baddies and solving simple puzzles. These involve answering simple riddles, finding keys, doing fetch quests, and other various tasks. Each area basically plays out the same way, so this one can get repetitive rather quickly. Thankfully the combat is pretty good, which saves the game from being monotonous altogether.

Combat will begin when you get close to an enemy on screen. Everything here is 100% turn based with a twist. This being that you have each character perform up to 3 moves in a single turn, and the game will show you the result of all these actions in what is called an “Imaginary Chain.” This is actually a lot of fun since you adjust the timing of moves being performed by your party member to make really huge combos, or even Risk Break your enemy, launching them into the air for even crazier stuff. However, the “Imaginary Chain” can be wrong every once in a while, and your attacks may not turn out as planned. This will require some adjustment on your part to come out on top in these battles. The main problem I have with the battle system is how if there is an obstruction in the path of the party member attacking an enemy, they are not smart enough to move around it. You have to waste a turn having them move over to avoid it, and then attack.

The last thing I would like to tak about is The Casuality Link System. This is a system in which the Going Home Club gains affection with the world’s NPCs by having conversations with them. The point of this is to build relationship circles with friends as you build up affection with each NPC and gain some useful items, but it’s mind numbingly boring. Every NPC basically says the exact same things, and after about 20 minutes of doing this you couldn’t care less if students are worried about a test or physical exam. The worst part is that you can find items just about as good as what you can gain by doing this. This is quite possibly the most pointless and mind numbing system ever put into an RPG.

All and all I don’t think The Caligula Effect is a bad game, but it’s certainly not a good one. The game is a good idea buried under a ton of bad design choices. The story and characters are bland, but the combat is unique and pretty fun. The stages look good but are all basically the same. You can complete this one in about 20 hours, and you could probably get more out of it if you did all of the Casuality Link stuff. I think folks can find things they enjoy about the game, but I feel there are much better choices out there for a $39.99 price tag.

Review Score
Overall

Game provided by the publisher for review purposes.

The post REVIEW: The Caligula Effect appeared first on oprainfall.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception is a good example of a title that is better played with an understanding of the rest of the series. Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception is the second title in a trilogy of three titles and does contain references and characters from the first Utawarerumono title. That said, I will admit that I never finished the anime nor played the visual novel for the original Utawarerumono before playing Mask of Deception. However, I was able to grasp several of the references to the first game, so I wasn’t entirely lost.

To add more context, Utawarerumono, like every Aquaplus IP to date, has its roots in eroge. Originally released in 2002 for PC under the now retired Leaf label, the game later got an all ages enhanced port for the PlayStation 2 in 2006 and later the PSP in 2009. The title also got an anime adaptation, drama CDs and more, thus becoming a franchise. Although the visual novel never got an official release in English, the anime did, and the PC version later went on to be fan translated, meaning English speakers could read the visual novel that started it all. The franchise became a big name in Japan, which may have led to Aquaplus developing the all-ages sequels Itsuwari no Kamen (this game) and Futari no Hakuoro (known in the West as Mask of Truth and releasing in the West on 5th September this year). These sequels will be coming exclusively to the PS4 and PS Vita in the West, while there is also a PS3 version available in Japan.

The title is set in the kingdom of Yamato, where you take on the role of Haku, an amnesiac who is found unconscious in the mountains by the game’s main heroine Kuon. Kuon is a traveller who decides to take Haku in until he is able to be independent. She also gives him the name Haku. Although Haku is found to be physically weak, he has a sharp mind that helps the party get out of sticky situations, which he can use to his advantage. This talent is spotted by Ukon, who recruits Kuon and Haku to help him with his work. This, in turn, leads to the adventure that takes place in this title, as well as meeting several other characters turned party members, including Ukon’s sister Nekone and the airhead warrior Atuy.

This title plays out as a mixture of visual novel “adventure” segments and strategy RPG segments, though it greatly leans towards the former, with the visual novel segments being hours long in some cases. In that sense, this review will also lean more towards the visual novel side. Before I discuss the title’s story, it’s worth discussing the title’s aesthetic. Firstly, the visuals and audio are of fantastic quality. The game’s OST was orchestrated live, which is a rare thing for visual novels and places it a cut above most other titles in this genre. There are also remixed tunes from the original Utawarerumono making a return, including the vocal song “SADAME,” which is awesome as the first Utawarerumono has one of my favourite soundtracks in a game to date. The art style is distinctive, with the character portraits being a personal favourite of mine, as well as the CGs. Additionally, I really liked the voice acting, but as my Japanese is limited I can’t really offer any deeper analysis regarding this. However, with all other things considered this game definitely looks and sounds the part.

Given that world building is the most important aspect of this title, there is definitely a rich world with lots of potential in Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception. There are a lot of unique beings and philosophical beliefs in this title, hence the title’s in-game glossary that you can look at any time. One example is a being called “Tatari,” glob-like creatures that are immune to death and eat anything they find. There are also areas where you are given a choice of what order to view certain scenes, like in the original game. It’s a different approach to visual novels, though it’s worth noting that this game only has one ending, so it’s more of an illusion of choice than anything else. The translation was really well done and I liked the aspects of characterisation Atlus did with the localised text, especially with regards to Maroro’s occasional drunkenness and Atuy’s emphasis on referring to Haku as “love.” There were no issues apart from a few typos and a couple of awkward lines.

There is also a sizable amount of ecchi/slice of life content in this title (which should be of no surprise considering the history of the developer). Whereas in Dungeon Travelers 2 it was quite strong and scattered throughout the game, in Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception it is not as strong and is also front-loaded towards the game’s first 15 hours of playtime, which generally consists of introducing the game’s major characters. Personally, I feel this emphasis on slice-of-life early on may mislead people on what the title is about, as once you pass a certain scene halfway through the game it adopts a more serious tone and you don’t see much ecchi/slice-of-life content from there on out. I feel the game takes a bit too long to become really engaging and the front-loadedness of the SOL content is a big reason why. I don’t believe the SOL content should be removed however, as many of the scenes were funny and developed many of the main characters. However, it also feels like this game consists of two halves—one half being a lighthearted harem comedy and the other being an epic war drama. With the slice-of-life portion being literally half of my total playtime, I feel a fair amount of these scenes are filler, and the SOL portion of the game could have been condensed to make a better product.

Once the game crosses the halfway mark the story picks up and becomes considerably more interesting, with various events happening in quick succession before leading to the game’s end, which acts more as a prelude to Mask of Truth than an actual proper ending. There are some questions raised throughout this part of the game that do not get answered in Mask of Deception. However, I assume they will be answered in Mask of Truth, so I would keep this in mind when playing through this game. The fact that the game took this long to develop the story in an interesting way I feel hurts the game more than it helps it, especially to those that dislike slice of life/ecchi content.

However, I think it’s worth it—the feels ride gets considerably stronger the further into Mask of Deception you go, and I really wasn’t expecting how the story played out. Another noteworthy issue is that the 3D graphics take a hit on the Vita version (which I played for this review), which includes both the SRPG segments and a handful of story scenes throughout the title. Given that this title is mostly a VN, this may be something that people may not have an issue with if handhelds appeal more to said VN fans. However, these segments do look better on the PS4.

Speaking of the strategy RPG segments, they also get progressively more difficult the further in you go. These are grid based, where characters take turns to move on the board and perform various moves. There are a variety of characters with different abilities, from archers to healers. One of the title’s best features is the Action Chain system, which is the order in which a character’s moves will be carried out. You can induce critical hits if you are able to deal with either the normal or charge rings on the screen. These rings appear when you are carrying out certain attacks. Another example is the Overzeal system, where the Zeal gauge is built up through performing “Action Changes” that allow characters to act more than once during certain turns. However, these aren’t explained in the game and you will have to look on the website for this. You can also “Rewind” turns so that if you make a mistake you can rewind back to that turn, try another move, and see what happens. This is a really good design choice that greatly helps with accessibility and time.

Considering this is co-developed by strategy RPG experts Sting, these are some interesting systems at play, hence there is more depth than the game suggests. Unfortunately, given how infrequent the strategy segments are in comparison to the VN segments (there are only 16 stages plus a final boss), there isn’t much time for the player to get to grips with them before the game really opens up in the later stages, unless they replay old ones. There is Free Battle that allows you to do this with all the characters you have unlocked. Interestingly, it doesn’t seem possible to gather experience points in this mode, meaning you can’t grind for the more difficult stages later on as easily as you should be able to. You can only gain skill points, which can be used to boost stats such as HP, ATK and DEF. This is a baffling design choice that is hopefully fixed in Mask of Truth.

To conclude, I enjoyed my time with Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception. I took 30 hours to clear this title, but slower readers may take longer (VNDB marks the game as “Long,” meaning 30-50 hours). But the world of Utawarerumono is worth exploring despite the shortcomings with the execution. It also raises interest in how this saga comes to an end, and we won’t have to wait too long to find out.

Review Score
Overall

Game code supplied by publisher for review purposes

The post REVIEW: Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception appeared first on oprainfall.

The Otome genre is one that many people have preconceived notions about due to it being targeted towards a female audience. The cliché is that it’s full of hunky guys, young girls being swept away, and full of very sappy romance. Basically, the visual novel equivalent of a “chick flick”. The truth is, however, that many Otome novels have very complex characters, motives, and dilemmas. Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds certainly meets these criteria. However, as I read through this game for review I kept asking myself something. Is this really an Otome game? Or is it something more?

What Was Once Old Is Now New Again and Split in Two ~ Background

Hakuoki is a franchise developed by Idea Factory in Japan under their “Otomate” label. Consisting of several titles, Hakuoki is one of the heavy hitters in the Otome genre. While popular here in the West, the franchise shares an interesting trait with Neptunia: both series were originally localized by companies other than Idea Factory International.

Before now, Aksys Games localized the franchise along with several other Otomate titles such as Sweet Fuse: At Your Side and Norn9: Var Commons. Kyoto Winds is the first Hakuoki to be published by Idea Factory International and the second Otomate game they have localized, the first being Amnesia: Memories. This doesn’t pose a problem, however, since Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds (known as Hakuōki Shinkai: Kaze no Shō in Japan) is a remake of the first game, Hakuōki ~Shinsengumi Kitan~. To be more specific, the first half of the game. Remember this for later. For now, however, let’s talk premise.

Did I put in Corpse Party by accident? I thought this was supposed to be a cliche romance story!

Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds stars Chizuru Yukimura, a young woman who goes to Kyoto to try and find her missing father. Realizing that a young woman traveling alone in 1860’s Japan is probably not a good idea, she dresses as a boy in order to protect herself. In Kyoto, she is attacked by a group of white-haired men in blue jackets. Thankfully, she finds herself saved by three captains of the Shinsengumi who protect Kyoto. However, they aren’t exactly here to be Chizuru’s friend and quickly arrest her for seeing the white-haired men… all without realizing her gender.

After explaining her situation and revealing her gender, the Shinsengumi put Chizuru under house arrest. Both due to the previous incident and because they are also looking for her father. Thus, begins Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds and Chiziru’s quest not only to find her father but to survive the strange and chaotic world she now finds herself in. While we’ll touch more on the plot and Chizuru in a bit, let’s take a moment to talk about the visual component of this visual novel.

I… I don’t even… What?!

Cherry Blossoms and Sword Fights ~ Graphics and Sound

The visuals in Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds fall right in line with the pastel style that many Otome novels tend to use. In this case, it works well. Since the game is set in 1864 Japan, it gives the environment a very rustic look. It’s one of the times where having brighter and contrasting colors like in Neptunia wouldn’t work. The other thing I want to highlight are the visual effects. They look amazing on the Vita screen. Cherry blossoms will flutter and sword battles will have flashes that dance across the screen. While on the surface this may seem simple, it brings these moments to life. Yes, this is a visual novel, but I don’t feel like I’m staring at flat images. It never really felt static, which is a good thing. Another thing that really shone was the sound design and music.

This doesn’t look nearly as impressive as a static image, but when it’s in motion these effects look great on the Vita screen

Sound-wise, what stood out to me were the sword battles. The clash of metal-on-metal sounded convincing to me and I found myself feeling as if I was there. Musically, Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds is enjoyable. A lot of the music fits the atmosphere and time-period. In addition, there a few tunes that were just fun to listen to on their own. Regarding the voice acting, everyone turns in a great performance and you’ll probably recognize a few of them. Having just played Super Robot Wars V I recognized Shinichiro Miki voicing Toshizo Hijikata, which was a pleasant surprise. As good as the aesthetics are though, a core part of a visual novel are the routes and choices available to you. In Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds’ case, there are quite a lot of choices. However, is that good or bad?

A VN Is Like a River You See ~ Mechanics

Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds has 12 different bachelors, each with three endings (bad, neutral and good). There’s also one normal ending for a total of 37 endings. That’s quite a lot of reading to do, or so you’d think. The trick Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds’ uses to prevent the story from being overwhelming, is that most of the game follows the common route. For those who don’t know, the “common route” is what’s used to indicate the part of a visual novel that is shared among all characters. Normally it’s used to set up the overall plot and introduce you to each character. Eventually, you’ll pick a character the plot splits off to deal with that character’s own issues. It helps to give each route a unique feel. A good analogy for this and how Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds handles it would be a river.

See those choices? There are a lot of them to make over the course of the game, but at the end, you’ll always be brought back to the main plot.

The river itself can be thought of as the common route. As you flow down it, you’ll eventually come to branches and choose a direction. Sometimes these branches flow back into the main river, but usually, they go their own way. Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds, however, has many of these branches flow back into the main river. While character specific events do occur and help develop the cast, you’ll always be brought back to the common route. Everything follows this path, even the endings follow this formula.

The game consists of five chapters. While the fifth chapter will change somewhat depending on the route, the result is that once again the story flows into a common point. To continue our analogy, it’d be like the river breaking into 12 branches and they all still flow into the same lake. In this case that lake is Hakuōki Shinkai: Hana no Shō or the second half of the original Hakuōki ~Shinsengumi Kitan~. This is where a lot of issues about this game really stem from.

While you’ll be rehashing quite a bit, thankfully the game does let you know what bachelor’s Chapter 5 you made it to via these images. If you’ve never seen it, you know you’re on a new path.

The big issue here is that everything starts to feel the same. Once you’ve cleared your fourth or fifth bachelor, you can call out the key plot points that going to occur in each character’s chapter 5. While the specifics do differ because the ending must lead into Hana no Shō the game feels very repetitive. Thankfully the visual novel staple of being able to skip previous read is available so Chapter 5 is the only part you’ll have to do a lot of rehashing in.

If you know what choices you need to make, you can quickly get to each bachelor’s events. Even if you don’t use a guide, the game features a very convenient quick save and quick load using the L and R buttons. It helps a lot with backtracking or checking to see if there’s anything new down a certain path. While the game may be mainly common route, if it’s interesting that’s not a problem. So, how good is Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds’ plot then?

The answer to that and a look at Chizuru herself on the next page. 

The post REVIEW: Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds appeared first on oprainfall.

I’m not sure exactly what I expected from Bard’s Gold. I heard it was a roguelike, so I immediately had fond memories of Rogue Legacy and similar games available on the Vita. Also a mark in its favor was that it was published by Eastasiasoft, a company known for bringing us quirky and interesting games from various developers. This particular game was developed by German based Pixel Lantern, a group I knew little to nothing about. That said, I was excited by the potential of it, and decided to give this classic, challenging roguelike a try. Was Bard’s Gold the next great rogue title, or something altogether unexpected?

First let me get one thing out of the way. Bard’s Gold is not Rogue Legacy. Not even close. The reason that I say this is to downplay expectations a bit, since this game is much more old school than I anticipated. Which isn’t to say Bard’s Gold is bad per se, just different. The basic premise is that a goblin has stolen your father’s gold and you follow him into a portal to get it back. That’s pretty much it, and that’s actually more than you get from the actual game, since I pieced that together from the press kit. I knew going in it was supposed to be challenging, but I didn’t know the extent of that challenge.

Do NOT fuck with the Shadow Reptile!

An example of that is the health system, or the lack thereof. See, in Bard’s Gold, one hit from anything will instantly kill you. You are equally at risk from hulking scorpions and wimpy little slimes. Further complicating this is the fact that you can never increase your health (with the exception of Rogue-Like Mode, more on that later), only the number of extra lives available to you. This meant that I had to take the time to learn enemy patterns and plot my course through stages with deliberate care. Which was especially true because of all the traps. Yes, this may be a roguelike, but it sometimes thinks it’s 1001 Spikes instead, which got a little frustrating given the “one hit, you die” policy. You constantly have to be on the lookout for tripping switches that fire arrows at your head, falling stalactites and spike traps. Worse, the sound effects for this game are very muted even turned all the way up, so while there is an audio cue for all of those threats, you really have to keep your ears open to hear them. It eventually became second nature after my numerous deaths to always expect arrow traps near ledges and to creep forward when I saw spikes on the wall, knowing at least one of them would try and crush me to death. The game really was only built for hardcore gamers, and if you don’t have the patience for it, you’ll soon lose interest.

Death for the unwary in the Caves…

I admit I was worried I wouldn’t have the stamina to beat Bard’s Gold for review. Luckily, I stuck with it, and started to develop an appreciation for the game the more I played it. This was helped in part by the upgrades you can unlock. You can find these by acquiring hidden map pieces in levels or by beating bosses. Then, once unlocked, you can spend your hard earned cash with the Reaper to boost them. Remember how I said you have no health bar? I quickly made up for that fact by churning tons of gold into additional lives. Better yet was when I unlocked the range upgrade, letting me toss my knives from a safer distance. There’s a decent handful of upgrades to unlock, and not all of them are progressive. For example, one of the best upgrades I got was the one that unlocks the Magical Glasses at the start of a given run. These let you see hidden locations of items, such as gems, map pieces and even bonus areas. They greatly increase your cash flow, which is integral to getting more upgrades which in turn give you a better chance of survival.

Not sure why the Grim Reaper wants my money, but I need those items!

Luckily, upgrades aren’t the only tool you have to assist you on your journey. Some levels also have little shops you can visit to buy items, such as the aforementioned Magical Glasses, enhanced strength, axes, triple knives and more. There’s just one catch – if you get killed, the item you bought goes with you, unless of course you thought to buy a shield to protect your purchases. Otherwise you’re out of luck. It’s a bit of a brutal system, and really forces players to bring their A game.

Bard’s Gold is comprised of 4 worlds which are each split into 6 levels and 1 boss fight at the end. Each world is different, ranging from a library to a desert to a cave to a graveyard. There’s nothing super original, but each world does a good job of distinguishing itself from the others. While the graphics are decidedly simple, they aren’t ugly either. Of special note are the diverse and challenging bosses, which all look distinct and offer a robust challenge. The only time I took issue with the graphics was when my Bard double jumped. That animation looked a bit awkward to my eyes, and was also relatively slow, but this was an outlier issue. The backgrounds looked good and the enemies looked good enough. Sure they could have had a bit more spice, but I think I can safely assume that this game was made with a small budget in mind, and can thus forgive it somewhat. What I have a harder time forgiving are the sound effects and music in the game. I’m not sure why the sound effects were so quiet or why the music was usually so muted. It definitely didn’t help draw me in, with exception of World 2, which had great music compared to the rest of the game. Combined with the basic visual design, I can’t give Bard’s Gold high marks in the aesthetics department. Everything here is pretty bare minimum.

The boss fights are surprisingly epic, especially since you can only take one hit…

As I mentioned earlier, there are various Modes in the game. I played it for review in Normal Mode, which had the most additional lives, but there is also Retro and Rogue-Like Mode. These each have various bonuses and drawbacks. For example, in Retro Mode you have less lives but get more cash. In Rogue-Like mode you actually have a health bar but only 1 life, as well as more randomized level generation. For the sake of my patience Normal made the most sense, but the others do add a bit of replay value.

Which brings me to my biggest complaint – the lack of variety. Unlike Rogue Legacy, there is only one class in Bard’s Gold, and that’s the titular Bard. This wasn’t actually that bad, since I grew to enjoy the simplistic yet hardcore gameplay. What was more frustrating was realizing that the 4th World was the last one. I felt the game was starting to hit its stride towards the end, and even thought I would unlock more worlds after the boss. Unfortunately, all you get by beating the game is the Contract of Reaper, which randomizes traps more yet gives you more money. That’s it. No real incentive to keep playing, other than unlocking and maximizing all the upgrades. Which is too bad, because despite all the things holding it back, Bard’s Gold is not half bad. The problem is that for anyone except serious fans of roguelikes, it’s not going to hold any real appeal. It’s definitely a bargain to get 3-5 hours of gameplay at $8.99, but I find it hard to recommend to anyone outside that small crowd. That said, I did actually end up enjoying my time with Bard’s Gold, and hope to see a more robust game next time from Pixel Lantern. If they can build upon what they have here and add a lot more content, their next game might be a legendary quest instead of a small diversion.

Review Score
Overall

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

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Last year, I took a look at the “mysterious” Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters – a candidate for one of the most misunderstood games of the generation. I’ve seen thread after thread on forums of players complaining about the game’s mechanics. I personally didn’t think they were that bad but the game did a horrible job of communicating and explaining them. Does Daybreak Special Gigs fix this? Unfortunately, not really. I covered the game fairly extensively in my previous review so check that out if you want an idea about the gameplay. This review here will be shorter as I will mainly focus on what is different.

That got deep!

If you have a save file from the first game, you can transfer it but it only grants you a charm you can equip to one of your characters. Which means I had to start the game ALL over again. One of the biggest changes to the gameplay is that you can continue to use your remaining AP after attacking. As a result you can attack again or move away from a ghost, making these battles go a lot smoother. Another big addition is the “Daybreak” chapters. These are new bonus story lines which further flesh out some of the characters. These were actually a lot of fun to play as they not only gave you more gameplay, they had unique win conditions such as defeating the ghost before your rival does. It was pretty neat and made these battles very tense. The ghosts were also a lot more powerful than usual, so you really have to be on your toes to beat them.

I just assumed none of you felt like sleeping tonight.

Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters is a SRPG that plays in a rather un-intuitive way, at least at first. The ghosts will react to you based on your movements and actions during the battle. By taking their patterns and behaviors into account, you need to predict where they will land so you can ambush them. Of course missing them can cost you (literally) if you break a piece of furniture that happened to be in the room the ghost was in. This is incredibly confusing at first but once you spend some time understanding how the system works, it’s really not that bad and the battles become fairly simple and straightforward. You can also set traps before the round to help you, such as items to lure the ghosts out of hiding spots, or block them from entering certain areas of the maps. I enjoyed the battles in the first version so seeing them play a bit smoother here made them a touch more engaging. Of course, the gameplay additions will not mean much if you did not like the base game. Even though I liked it, it is not for everyone.

Unfortunately, Daybreak Special Gigs did not fix the conversation wheel. In the original game, it spontaneously shows up without any explanation or guidance and you are expected to fully understand it. The reason that’s bad is because those choices will determine what characters join you and what ending you will get for both the chapter and the game itself! As a result you end up picking random options not truly knowing what you are doing. You would think Daybreak Special Gigs would solve this and explain it to you, but nope, it doesn’t. Seriously, I don’t know why they insist on keeping this part a mystery. I’m not asking for much here, just one little paragraph in the manual showing what each icon represents.

I am not sure who they were really trying to appeal to with this game. People who didn’t enjoy it the first time aren’t likely to change their opinion here. If you had fun with the game before, there really isn’t a whole lot here to make you want to replay it again, especially since you have to start over from scratch. While it is technically the slightly better experience, Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters Daybreak Special Gigs comes off as a huge missed opportunity. I felt they could have done so much more to improve the game and make it something people will remember other than that “Weird SRPG guessing game”. Oddly enough, this and the previous version both cost $40. I can only recommend this if you are curious and have never played it before. Otherwise give this a pass.

Review Score
Overall

Review copy provided by the publisher.

The post REVIEW: Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters: Daybreak Special Gigs appeared first on oprainfall.

It can be difficult to be a Macross fan. Well, it’s certainly difficult if you live anywhere outside of Japan. Getting anything related to this franchise localized to the west has proven increasingly difficult over the years. One of the largest tragedies about this is that Macross got many of us anime fans into the genre in the first place. Like thousands of others, Robotech was my first experience with Macross, and it totally blew my mind. It was unabashedly adult, even though it was animated. And the story was continuous instead of being contained within a 30 minute episode, like Saturday morning and weekday afternoon cartoons were. There were some quality home video releases of Robotech, Macross II and then Macross Plus. But I have not been able to find anything since then. I’m a huge fan of those series, especially Macross Plus, so I was very keen to take on this new game set in the current series (that has not made its way out of Japan, of course).

The Briefing gives you some story while also providing an idea of what to expect.

The story of Macross Delta takes place 8 years after the events of Macross Frontier. Unfortunately I know next to nothing about what those specific events were, as the last Macross story I’ve seen is Macross Plus. But even though I’m not caught up on current events, many of the series tropes are still very much in existence. The alien threat of the zentraedi years is no longer an issue; they have largely entered into a peaceful co-existence with the humans. Unfortunately humanity has not done so well with the huge technology boosts wrought from interstellar war, and they have continued to fight among themselves. Music and pop stars still make a huge impact on this world, only in this series the singers are a group and also Valkyrie pilots. Valkyrie are the transforming robots that are common to the series, which normally have three forms; jet, mecha robot (battroid), and half way between (gerwalk).

Transforming your craft is a very huge part of the gameplay.

You will need to transform your craft to fit a variety of situations. And unlike many older games, you can actually change while in the middle of a round. Your controls stay quite similar, but the playstyle will vary drastically. This is a situational thing and it takes a while to recognize when you will want to change modes. In the beginning stages, you can get away with not being quite as efficient with your transformations. But once you get to the more difficult stages, it is a quick way to death or a time expiration if you do not learn when to shift forms. Even though this is a game based on a hugely popular anime, the developers take this game very seriously and there is quite a bit of difficulty to be found.

At the Mission screen you can select your controlled character and your supports.

There are three different story mission routes to play. You’ll want to do the first three Extra missions before you choose the first Delta Squadron mission. The first three Extra missions will teach you the control basics. After that, further Extra missions will be unlocked that are a lot more difficult but allow you to play with classic Macross characters from the past. Since all my experience with the series happened in the classic era, I personally get the most enjoyment out of this game from those Extra missions. After you have finished the first couple Delta Squadron missions, you’ll also be able to start selecting missions from the viewpoint of the Windermere Kingdom. That not only adds a lot more missions than there would be if you only played one side, but it also gives you an entirely different perspective (which I’m a fan of.)

The waifus in this game definitely help inspire the soldiers, so make sure you bring tissues.

Fairly quickly, you will see the entrance of Tactical Sound Unit Walküre. They are that pop idol group that also pilots Valkyries, and they fight a bit but mostly inspire the rest of the troops. When they join a battle, you can see them on your screen and hear their music. This inspires the pilot you are currently using and gives you much quicker access to your special moves. They make a huge impact on the battles, because I was using the special moves as often as I could. Given that your weapons take time to reload, I would commonly just blow my load of ammo and then do a special move (if available) while I waited for them to recharge.

The girls aren’t just eye candy; they are also ear candy.

But the major attraction of the girls is not just their boost or the visual appeal. The regular combat music is very good, but the songs that the girls sing are far superior. This game has some of the best music in any video game I’ve played, let alone on handheld. Given that the series has always been so music aware, you would expect the game to really highlight that music, but even with that expectation it still exceeded what it could have been. The sound effects also come directly out of Macross, so you can plan on hearing those series staples (especially the multi-missile launches). Another way in which the game exceeded all my expectations was with the graphics. Quite simply this may be one of the most technically impressive PS Vita games that I’ve ever played. The combat arenas aren’t massive, but they are very well rendered. And all the designs, both rendered and CG, just jump off the screen.

The game is so beautiful, it’s hard to believe that the PS Vita can run it.

The really hard part of reviewing this game comes with deciding how much I can recommend it. The controls are complicated, but you can get used to them over time. Unfortunately they are more difficult because almost every line of text in this game is in Japanese. It’s very apparent that there was little thought to making this game available to other territories, and given the history of Macross I don’t blame the developers for that. I cannot tell you much about the story, and you will not be able to glean very much out of it either unless you can understand the language. I do know that it takes place during the first half of the anime, but that’s it. It is fascinating to watch in it’s own way though, and it makes me want to buy the series if it ever gets a US domestic release. You can purchase this game from Play-Asia for $58, which is rather expensive. You can expect those prices with import fees, so I don’t find it unreasonable. But I would say that this is likely only a must buy if you are really into the Macross series or if you understand Japanese. But if you fit that qualification, this is a really great game that really pushes the PS Vita to the limit.

Review Score
Overall

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