I am back for round 2 of the RoboCop Rogue city games, With the stand alone expansion of Unfinished Business. I do feel this could’ve easily been an expansion pass but it works perfectly fine as a stand alone entry.
This game follows much of the same as the first title, which in this case is a good thing a very good thing. If you’ve played it then diving straight into this will feel like a warm night home after being run ragged at work all day. It is a direct extension of the original game only building slightly on the gameplay and systems that came before it.
Robocop looking clean and crisp again showing off how good the unreal engine can be.
The game is a lot more action centric, there is a whole heap more enemies that you gun down gleefully as you work your way through the many levels of the slum filled omni tower. Which is the only location you can explore in this title. I think considering you act in the name of justice racking up a body count of about 200 by the end of the second main mission I’d argue at this point you are firmly the villain of the story with the amount of orphans and and broken families you leave in your wake. Luckily this is a game aye?
The outside of the Omni Tower where the entirey of this game takes place outside of two flashback missions.
But don’t you worry the game is as full of blood and guts as it was before, shooting chunks off the mercenaries and leaving them in a pile of their own blood and misery still remains firm. Leaning into the ultra-violent gritty nature of the original film. You can even get an extra gore perk depending on which chip board you use for your trust PCB hand gun. Allowing for more maiming, head explosions and rivers of viscera painting the walls. Allow for quick efficient and brutal dispatching of your foes. Luckily the gunfights are still tight as can be, you do however still have to act as a sponge due to know cover system in place. But there is now more things to help you, you can hit a one shot finisher if you are close for an immediate melee take-down and some convenient placed ricochet pads that ping your bullets off to hit hidden enemies.
The gore remains, you can at times utterly eviscerate the poor souls in front of you.
There still lacks much depth to the shooting outside of the builds that you make for the auto-9 and the few power ups you have, a dash, temporary shield boost, and an explosive burst. You can still pick up dropped guns, from pistols, grenade launchers and gatling guns. You can’t improve any of these and once in a no fight zone off they go. I think if there is another title, there needs to be some improvement here even if it’s a skill tree overhaul. It can only lean into the nostalgia and nicheness of the auto-9 so much. I fully agrre it should be the primary weapon but I want to fuck the waves of enemies in other ways. Pack some oomph into the bullets, its sci-fi as anything. Nothing wrong with some elemental damage. There is an ice gun but its kinda wank it’s cool freezing the place up and it looks solidly done with the particle physics around it. But gun attachments would work nicely as well. Ramp up the physical upgrades to the tin man himself. Also some form of duck and cover would be great even if it does look great shattering the concrete off everything.
The new cryo gun you get to use absolutely freezes the area around you off a full shot.
The upgrade system is exactly the same as rogue city. Just slightly re-jigged to accommodate the slight variation in gameplay. I’d still recommend going for deduction first as fully kitting that out allows for more XP to be earned for everything. As well as helping you with a few dialogue options when dealing with the npcs. So you can then plough all the remaining points into whatever you want. I think I all but filled out two rows of skills by the end of it. The auto-9 chipboard upgrades for your gun is still not properly explained like previously which is an odd choice. But I’d take either the starting one for a single rate fire handcannon that rips through anything in a couple hits. Or the last one you can get 7.3. Which allows for high fire rate without the need to reload so you ca just obliterate the fuck out of everything with very little standing in your way.
The returning upgrade systems from the previous game, basically just a copy and paste job.
I’d argue the story is a bit more fleshed and more interesting then rogue city but ultimately only acts as the backdrop to the incredible fun gameplay. I mean I’d play the shit out of these with minimal story so it’s nice that they still try to fit the continuity of the first two films by fitting a narrative that seems like it’d work as a film in it’s own right.
A new enemy type, which leaves katanas for you to throw at unsuspecting law breakers.
Many aspects of this once again showcase the unity engine in the way it should be with the main man himself looking fantastic and the side characters looking just as good in many ways. It’s got the vibe and aesethetics nailed down. Many fine points including the neo noir grit reflected neatly in the dismal conditions these people live in. The dimness that bounces back off the puddles that litter the living areas and the muddled neon glow of the living hubs. There’s still jank to many points of the game. Some of which are returning from numero uno. The mouth movements are off the character movements at times in cutscenes are a bit funky. But it’s an improvement over rogue city and some improvements on textures and the frame rate is a bit more balanced. Not juddering out as much. There is glitches but nothing game breaking, nps falling through the flaws bouncing around. Multiplying themselves. Mostly funny things that you just pass by and can carry on with your day.
Doing his best Captain America impression.
You are awarded with a performance rating still at the end of each main mission. Which getting an A is top marks where you need to have found most if not all of the side missions you can do which aren’t many or overly taxing. Finding contraband worth a certain amount of XP. And the omni crates which give you auto-9 chip board chips. Which can be merged to give a higher percentage to it’s boost.
Health charge points returning.The new ricochet pads you can hit to get covered enemies.
I’d say this is roughly the same length as the first title with a higher focus on slightly longer main missions for a linear narrative and a sparse sprinkling of side quest and cat petting. It’s a great game to play in-between longer titles or if you just want an hour or so mission to blitz through causing a shit tonne of carnage. It’s a perfect length which would be made better with new game plus which I thinks a strange choice not been included as it’d work perfectly as a two run game for a platinum trophy. It’s an easy list to go for if that’s your thing only a like 4 maybe 5 trophies you have to go a smidge out of your way for.
And the new bad guy for this story, pretty standard villian stuff. Especially if you watch a lot of 80’s early 90s action films.
Overall I’d rate this a beefy and highly tasty 8/10, a whole point higher then Rogue City. Even though I think it carries over many of the worst parts from Rouge City it also subtly builds on a lot points and shows an overall improvement in many small ways. I do wish there was some more variation in skills and character builds, and some new mechanics for the shooting but you can’t complain too much when the shooting is ass responsive and on point as it should be. But this is such an unbelievable fun game and if they continue to make more games and keep improving the developers could end up being something special.
I am a big fan of the Cat Quest games, I really thought 2 was a truly great little rpg adventure. It built upon the first game excellently and I expected much of the same to have happened in 3.
I was mostly happy with this next entry in the journey of the seekers. It did lack in what made two so great though. If nothing else the continued endless cat puns in the games continue to my childish delight. You gotta give it to the developers on that one they are never short of a on the nose joke or purposeful ramming in of a cat reference whenever they can.
Cathulu making a return, revamped and bigger then before.
You can tell how far the small development team has come with the graphical upgrades of the game itself. It is by far the best looking game in the series I mean I think it helps the last entry was like 5 years ago if not bit longer. Its a wonderful looking 2.5D art style which I think helps encompass the aesthetics of the series better then a regular game would. And it plays exceptionally well, I didn’t stumble into any issues whilst playing, no stutters or frame drops.
The detail in the entire game makes for a very whimsical setting that really benefits the series.
This entry positions you in the place of the Purribean as a swash buckling pirate, as always you are a silent protagonist and the spirit companion does all the talking. You however lack the option of swapping to a different character as before in 2 where you could play as a Cat or a dog. As a pirate you control your own ship, which makes for what I’d guess to be a larger world then before with the sea travel. This also helps give a bit of a better sense of world building within the in game universe. But I’d argue the land mass as a result is diminished and the very small island you come across lack much to do. Resulting in a smaller feeling game devoid of life. You have a hub area where you can upgrade your equipment and spells rather then having a couple dotted around. Again pulling your main activity into one area rather then giving a reason to explore.
One of the last bosses to fight out in the open seas.The infinity tower for a bit of extra game, enetering sends varying waves of enemies at you.
There is very few dungeons in this game which is an odd choice considering how many where in the previous entries which was about 80 if I can remember correctly.. Along with the way you upgrade your armour and equipment. You’d think with the option of ship blue prints as well there’d be a need for a good amount of dungeons not just the what I’d guess was about 20 or so dungeons in this one.
The story felt shorter and wasn’t as interesting as before either, it didn’t particularly build upon the whole apawcalpyse overarching story until towards the end. There didn’t seem to be as many enemy types, mini bosses or even big boss fights. Everything seemed muted and the game took a good few hours less to 100%. There wasn’t much in the way of end game content not much to mop up, there was a couple bounty posters to collect which you’d get a chest for once defeating the boss and turning it in at the tavern.
The world map.You can upgrade your ship with blueprnts. Magic returns.The weapon selection in the game i mainly stayed with high damage using the shields. You can also use ranged weapons but there wasn’t a great deal of choice.
I’m unsure if it’s just quality of life upgrades over the years but combat felt easier and levelling up seemed to happen nearly every couple encounters or every big fight. There was no real reason to go out of your way for other battles even though each main island was level scaled. Magic seemed a bit more redundant outside of the lightning attack. All magic can be maxed out at level 3 as well. There wasn’t a whole heap of armour, melee weapons and even less guns. And as long as you stuck with your build so if you wanted higher magic, or strength even more health as long as you kept the items level about the level your character was you’d never struggle. It felt easier then 2 which isn’t necessarily a detriment but even on the middle difficulty setting it just wasn’t really an issue at any point.
Overall I’d rate this game a healthy 7/10, Positively Tasty.
This is a very, very fun little RPG game filled with charm and whimsy which has nestled itself wonderfully in it’s own quirky little world. It’s inoffensive and does what it sets out to do. For me I’m just a little disappointed with the seeming lack of content when compared to 2. I just thought it all fell a bit flat, a short story with not enough boss battles. Not enough dungeons, all equipment was lacking. And the Ship part of the game should’ve been expanded more. More explorable islands with more dungeons would’ve done wonders for this game. I want number 4 to be closer to number 2, a higher variety all around. A slightly longer more in depth story and a more realised world to explore. By no means does it need to be a 40 hour epic but a solid 10-12 hour non stop game packed with all the best features of the three games before. However overall I do thoroughly recommend this series if you want something to tide you over for a few play sessions.
Released 8th of August 2024 on Sony Playstation 5.
Well what can I say about this, at least a little something I’d hope considering this is a review of the game. I am a big fan of the series, the first game is phenomenal, the second is a step down due to my opinion on the story being guff in the end and the story overall isn’t as fun or seemingly complete. Plus I hated the melee combat in it but I could be the minority. The world is still fantastic and the machines, are just a chefs kiss, the archery combat is stellar as well. I also love Lego as anyone should, I’ve proudly got the Lego Tallneck on display in my living room. So this game was a no-brainer.
I did wait for this game to drop in price as I’ve seen that it isn’t the greatest game and that the length of the game is short. It took like five maybe six hours to complete everything with the lack of content in this title.
First appearance of the TallneckThe game really does this machine justice.
I was immediately impressed with the graphic quality of this game it looks top tier. The team who made this made it with love in that regard. Everything in this game as far as I can see is made of actual Lego pieces you could get and build yourself replicating anything you saw. Which is easier said then done when it would come to the machines. It gives the vibes of playing your own Lego adventure in your younger years if you took the time to build everything yourself. The quality is spot on to Lego itself as well. The fidelity and detail is truly the highlight of this game.
A couple of the bigger machines you can encounter with the snapmaw being one of the best exp grinds.
Combat sucks, I mean its a right fucking stinker. You press square to attack or hold it down for ranged attacks. That’s it. The sum total of you are capable of. This goes for all four playable characters of which only Aloy seems to be mildly fun to play as. You also have Varl, Erend and Teersa randomly. Rost acts the narrator and Sylens is in it minus the fantastic Lance Reddick lending his voice due to his far too soon passing. All of them have had a disservice done to their characters for some reasons unknown Erend is opposed with doughnuts. It’s literally all he talks about.
I will say you can pickup gadgets and special weapons during the missions themselves. They are ammo limited and mostly not great either. Oddly the best one is a random hot dog cart summon which throws explosive hot dogs. The only returning weapon from the mainline series is the tripcaster which is even weirder considering the main games have a variety of weapons that should’ve been included. You do have focus powers which reveal weak points but you can still damage those without activating it. The characters get buffs every level increase, extra hearts, more damage etc. As well as the option to buy upgrades which can grant longer status effects, higher spawn rate of better gadgets and increased ammo capacity. But I imagine you could probably coast through the entire game ignoring them mostly.
A full level skill unlok and the various upgrades you can buy with some of them being tiered, uo buy bronze,silver and then finally gold.
The game super short like I think it took me 5/6 hours to do everything short. The missions act as linear and oddly cannot be replayed once they are completed. You then get the option of 4 apex hunts which again are not replayable. This does unlock expeditions for each four areas once cleared which are similar to the missions you played with more and slightly stronger enemies. They all take like 10 mins tops. They are very cut and paste as well, the variation is minimal almost lacking in some regards. The three tallneck missions basically play out the same and the cauldrons are functionally cool but again basically just a rinse repeat situation.
The Tallneck making further appearances in a cauldron, I feel the developers went all in on this machine for the game.
The hub area of the game comes in the form of mothers heart where you use your gold bricks you unlock to build new buildings that mostly do nothing. It looks nice but outside of the costume shop and upgrade area they do nothing. The customisation available is good but with the colour change, different roofs and what you put in the yard of the buildings it just misses the mark for me. Its mostly used to promote other lego series like ninjago or city. There is a distinct lack of horizon specific costumes or building variations available which is such a strange choice to make it’s to reliant on other sources when there is a wealth the could’ve used from the two games.
A few community missions you need to complete 20 for a trophy and they reward gold bricks for unlocking more customisation for your buildings and decorations in mothers heart. with the final purchase I did giving me the platinum trophy.
Gold bricks only unlock customisation options, red bricks do return as well but not with the cheats or in game mods of any other Lego game before it. In fact I don’t think red bricks do anything. You get 1 per completing each apex hunt. There’s no collectibles to find in the game, no minkits. I get that this is a game for the younger generation but the last few Lego games especially the skywalker saga were huge and such good games. They really did justice to the films themselves whilst staying true to Legos whimsy and quirky charm. The try to do the same here but at the cost of the apocalyptic grit that made the original story so fun and downplaying the violence which again works against it a bit. The closest I could compare it to would be Lego Lord of the Rings (still the best one they’ve done) or the Hobbit where the use the comedy to tone it down and add good laughs in which miss the mark in this game.
The two biggest bosses in the game the Thunderjaw who you only meet in a cauldron and the death bringer imbued with Hades who isn’t Hades in this game well properly.
There is overall a lack of incentive to replay the game due to the lack of main missions being replayable. The trophy list is easy to attain bar 2 trophies, reach max level which is 20 and max level for all characters. This grind fucking sucked. Honestly such a ballache trophy for very little reason. I’m not a platinum hunter but if it’s easy enough to do or I’ve just had endless fun with a game I like to try and go for it. It took me over double the time to play the game to reach max level with each character. It would’ve been faster if I did co-op and had two characters at once. Would this have made me hate the process any less. Fuck no. It really soured the game that little but more for me. I don’t get why you couldn’t just redo the main missions which would’ve made it easier and less tedious. I don’t get why exp once you hit level 16 seemed to disappear from many enemies for no reason. I’m aware I didn’t need to and could’ve stopped at any point. But I clearly hate myself, well a little.
Evry mission or expedition around halfway through you are greeted with the shop keeper who gives you three free chests to open.
Overall I rate this a meagre 5/10. Certified Barely Tasty.
I wanted much more from this then what we got. It lacks in almost every area and has some wired design choices with the gameplay. It does truly look amazing and with the main entry counterparts the machines remain the highlight and honestly look like the were made to be Lego from the get go. I would buy any machines in Lego form in a heartbeat. I think if you really want something easy, inoffensive to play in co-op to pass some time then I think this is perfect for that but wanting much past that then you are better looking elsewhere for that gaming itch.
Released 14th November 2024 on Sony Playstation 5.
Well this is still not a fully fledged game review as I’d hoped to do by now. But in truth I just haven’t had chance nor have I played a whole heap this year. My PlayStation wrap up was a tragic 135 hours played for the entirety of 2025. And 30 odd of those were Death Stranding 2 which I have been playing since launch. Which unlocks a whole heap of self induced woe at how little I have achieved my favourite pass time this year. I’ve not done my Nintendo one as it won’t fare much better I suspect but at least i’ve had some variety in my year. So once again this will be a brief a collection update which unsurprisingly is also behind the times, ’cause why wouldn’t it be. I have a trend at this point to uphold and i choose not to disappoint folks.
So without further ado lets start covering some of the new games I have attained sporadically over this year. And I start with one of my favourite new additions. I managed to get Bayonetta 3 for the Switch but the Trinity Masquerade Edition. One of the coolest special/deluxe editions I’ve got, not that I have many.
For the PS2, Shadow of Rome. I have a game I’ve wanted since spying on it a revolving shelf back in an old CO-OP, I think I was drawn to it namely because it had the big red 18 rating on it and it was a violent gladiator game. I didn’t know all that much about it back then but it took me a good while to track down a decent copy.
Next the PS3 version of Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furon. I’ve heard and seen that this isn’t a particularly good game. I mean it did kill the franchise, until the fantastic reboots of 1 and 2 which I highly recommend, oodles and oodles of fun to be had.
Another PS3 title in Star Wars the Force Unleashed II. I’m naturally a massive Star Wars fan and I loved both these games when they first came out. So seeing this for like £1.50 I naturally slapped it in my basket with some force. I’m sorry for that it had to be done.
I went a bit PS3 heavy the run and decided I wanted to play Brutal Legend again so I went out and got it. This game reminds me of my highschool years and the formative time of where I evolved into a dirty metal head. I feel this game is part of the reason I now like to be screamed at when I listen to music. It soothes my soul the way a normal silky voiced singer couldn’t Also the game is genuinely decent fun to be had.
This PSP title of Silent Hill Origins was an immediate grab when I saw it, didn’t even go into the store looking for it but I had to have it. Zero regrets iin buying this and adding it to my collection. I do intend even with the insane price hikes of the series to try and attain a complete Silent Hill collection. It’s up there on my to do list when I have money one day, well maybe one day. Until then I can most definitely dream.
I don’t know why I bought this game it’s in utter fucking tatters, I mean I reckon it was thrown at a wall at some point. The game case is cracked, the manual is worn to fuck and this disc is mauled. But again another gaming collection pursuit of mine is to collect all wrestling games, so WCW Mayhem fits that category. I just got it just cause it will most definitely be a game I will replace with a better version eventually.
An honourable mention goes out to a digital purchase of Digimon survive. It’s an honourable mention due to me buying it digitally. Now normally digital only games is against my mantra unless its on PS plus or its the only way I can get it. This was athe case of being super cheap and I wanted a different sort of game to play. Whilst I’m like 45 hours into it I’ve still not completed this title, I got a bit of burn out on it leading up to me moving. I am intending to return back to it sooner rather then later.
So this’ll wrap up for this instalment for now and early into the new year I’ll do another round up. Now through all my doom and gloom of not doing near enough game reviews I wanted to do this year. Due to what may be due to the providence of God or just some goof fortune fir once i’d assume. I have unlocked more time to start playing games as of late. In fact I have completed one title, nearly finished another and a good way through another game. I can actually start trying to put more time into this pastime hobby of mine. So I will legitimately have 3 reviews coming in the very near future.
So if I post nothing before the end of the year my Tasty folk, have a very merry Christmas and very happy new year. And I hope you all get what you want over this festive period and spending time with the people you care for most. Until then stay tasty, safe and most importantly enjoy life to the fullest.
Here lies before you the original review I did of Pokemon Legends Arceus, honestly I was gonna do a new one after deciding to replay it in it’s entirely semi recently. But re-reading my own work I felt this to be fairly comprehensive and most my original thoughts remain intact. However I endeavoured to add new pics if nothing else. A light overhaul much like the next gen upgrades of a game you’ve already played. But I will add a few more thoughts down at the bottom if you wish to scroll through.
As a standard protocol by now, you should expect a Pokemon game review from me at any point old or new. This stems from my general love for the series and having stuck with it for every gen except Black and White 2, namely cause for some reason I never got round to buying that Gen. Well now, it’s just a slightly expensive hard to find gen to get a hold of. One day I will add it to my glorious collection of Pokemon games. This may contain those fabled videos I have long endureD to give to you my loyal readers. But then again it may not cause I still haven’t really looked into it and unsure why it went wrong last time. As my free time is fleeting and highly precious, I always endeavour to give it to you in these reviews and mini updates of my not so grand collection. The next major review will most definitely be God of War Ragnarök which my jimmies are fully rustling just in anticipation for.
This game was a welcome addition for me, not really sure what to expect. Colour me surprised, when I get it on launch day and load it up and it’s a complete deviation form the standard Pokemon game. Well not a complete deviation. Having gone one step further with the open world aspects that had been introduced in Sword and Shield. Pokemon was finally taking the first steps into what could be perceived as a full open world game. With Scarlet and Violet only a few weeks away now as well I can only imagine how much further along we have come.
The map design on this game, is a nice addition to, even allowing for quick travel points in the mini regions.
Choosing this time to overhaul the mechanics of the game and try for a bigger more open world feeling, the graphics try to reflect this. Looking better than before however still missing the fidelity they could achieve. Even on the Switch’s hardware. The world feels varied but it’s just not full when it comes to details, trees and grass seem far and between. You can tell that there is clearly a style shift being attempted and for that you can’t knock it. It could like with BD/SP have put a smidge more effort into it though.
One of the flute summed Pokémon you can use traverse the land easier.
I was initially a bit disappointed with the announcement of the new mainline series, due to how much I enjoyed how this was divided into mini open world areas with there own biome related Pokemon. This gives the Land of Hisui a bigger feel to it, a general sense of grandeur, which is usually missing in these games. I was hoping for some DLC where new areas with new Pokemon would be introduced, maybe even area specific legendaries. As I enjoyed having to complete the Pokédex entries by capturing a certain amount of the same mon, and doing different mini objectives in the process. Actually gave a reason to go out and be catch happy.
Adding to this was the new crafting ability which I hope returns in S/V as I do enjoy a good crafting mechanic. Having the ability to craft your own Pokeballs and potions fucking slaps. Only this time hopefully it makes increases your bag capacity less tedious too add a new slot, it’s easy enough. Just go to the guy that does it and pay. Right, simple enough? It is but the little fucker wants you to re-mortgage your house every time you do expand your inventory. Absolutely no idea why they made it so fucking expensive.
The new inventory interface and the thieving fucker you use to expand your carry space.
With all the different areas, obviously comes with a variety of Pokemon that are freely wondering the plains, and this can change on day or night allowing for some time sensitive catches. Which can be aided in the different type of pokeball you use/craft. Having to sneak up on them, lure them in with berries, use heavy or lighter balls. And the piece de resistance, you have full control and the throwing of the Pokeball to catch and summon forth your own party. It’s a small addition but it really adds to the aesthetic of the entire franchise and immersion of the game. It’s kinda mental how many iterations of the series it’s taken to get to this point. This on land is a lot of fun. However on the open waters, that is some bullshit right there trying to catch a water type. It’s doable but highly annoying.
A water battle, and a wild alpha Pokémon. Who is a roaming mini boss, that you can attack and comes with better stats/move set.
My favourite new mechanic though has got to be the move swapping. Having your standard 4 moves you can use in battle but you have the ability to cycle through remembered moves. Meaning you finally have more freedom with set ups. Giving more reason to have multiple of the same Pokemon. Even going as far as having move styles, strong and agile. This either increases damage or speed at the cost of an extra move PP. Battling seems a bit harder this time round, with a higher damage output, you seem to be dealing bigger damage as well as receiving it. This is not to say it’s not balanced it does seem pretty even. There isn’t many trainer battles either, which might seem a off put, but I preferred it. Along with needing to catch hundreds of Pokemon it gave you the need to battle loads of them, using different types or specific moves. The filling up of the pokedex is probably the best new entry to he entire sereis.
The new move swap mechanic in action, I really hope this makes a return.
This side entry also forgoes the typical gym battles as well, normally I’d probably be a bit miffed at this but honestly I like what they did this time round. With the building of the mystique of the Pokemon. Having almost deity like big boy Pokemon (the Nobles) run each area which you have to quell it’s anger. These Alpha Pokemon. These are dotted around the land as well as being the areas boss. So you have do all these mini task on route to them and then you face them in literal combat. You have dodge their attacks whilst pelting the ever loving shit out of them with balls made up of their favourite food. Once stunned you can choose to throw in one of your chosen Pokemon to aid in battle temporarily.
This game also makes you slightly more God like, allowing for you to choose if the Pokemon once it’s hit the requirements if they have the right to evolve. You can even bypass trade only evolutions which I fucking adore. You just have to get the right item, In this case the linking cord for the Pokemon give it then again play God. Choose to leave it as a haunter for existence or allow for it to bloom into the mighty Gengar.
Speaking of Gods, Dialga and Palkia haven’t looked better.
Another deviation in the right way, is there is somewhat of an actual story. As normally the story revolves around team rocket or the like trying to summon a legendary and you have to stop their nefarious plans all the while battling out the gym challenge of the particular continent. Having woken in a rift and spoken to Arceus (God) you get teleported back in time with no previous memories and then help set up the Sinnoh region which is home to the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum generation. Helping different clans, by being a sort of ranger/trainer. Helping the integration of Pokemon into society and building up your base of operations. You use your trusty Arc phone that you still have. As well as investigating the time-rift distortions that pop up as you traverse the land.
The two leaders of the pearl and diamond clan, as well as the guy who is the last nobles keeper. With the giant Avalugg serving as the last of the five nobles you quell.
Honestly this Is one of the best Pokemon games to date, It’s super fun and is trying to progress the series in all the right ways. I certify this a high 9/10, some Pure Tasty Gaming.
The only reason I haven’t rated it higher is that there is only 242 different Pokemon in this game. Which albeit a good selection it really could’ve done with being padded out more. The fact it finally has side quests as well. They aren’t much past fetch quests or the odd mini game. It just lacks in variety. Having said this though I hope these new aspects especially the new move swapping and crafting systems remain, and are further explored. I tend to feel most games milk you for DLC as it should normally just be content in the finished product. However this game was ripe for DLC and would’ve only served to improve a great game. Finally with BD/SP as well, this series seems to be taking cues from the newer Zelda game entries and are putting it to good use but are still in need of finding their own footing. They finally seem to be wanting to improve on the old formula and progress the series forward. I can only hope this progression continues.
Released, January 28th 2022 Nintendo Switch
All in all I still think this is a solid 9/10 game. I did just wanna catch a couple Pokemon whilst I was bored one day but went straight down the rabbit hole instead and just restarted the game. I did want to pick a different starter but I bloody love Typhlosion, so I didn’t. I also really like his spooky from this time round being a mix of ghost and fire type.
I would say I was more thorough this time though. I made better use of the crafting and the different Pokeball types you unlock as you work your way to research level 10 and even buying the extra recipes and that. I found using lighter feather balls make catching water and flying Pokemon easier but not by a whole lot. As did using the berries, food, mud and smoke bombs that are readily at your disposal.
All the extra crafting recipes you can buy.
I went out of my way to catch a metric fuck tonne of Pokemon to fill in those Pokemon entries and I did as many side quests as I could. Except for the balloon popping timed races. Fuck them, fuck them to hell and back. The controls are not flush enough and the necessity of quick swapping between the specials summons suck. Don’t do them save yourself.
I kinda overlooked the grit levels first time round and I will admit as such on occasion I did struggle more then I needed too. I highly recommend every time you go to one of the open areas to just catch anything and everything. As you go to you ranch and then just send them back from whence they came and you get a whole heap to pump directly into your mons blood stream like a steroid injecting gym bro. You can then really fuck some shit up. I am aware this game is for children and you do minimal damage in the games world itself. And all is happy between trainers and Pokemon alike for breeding them for tiny war games. I mean imagine if a war happened in any of these regions the lasting effects would be devastating, that’d make a hell of game but that’ll never happen.
My mighty, fully gritted, kitted out squad lead by the mighty Typhlosion, again.
I haven’t yet fully completed my quest of taming God, to do my bidding. I’ve got the last couple of Legendaries to acquire and a few rare spawns to find. These are usually in the space time distortions that appear once you’ve been out for like 30/40 mins. They also drop a whole heap of goodies which can be sold to help buy crafting items. What I will say is everything is like level 70 if not higher so you’ll need be prepared as you’ll get swarmed super fast. Like a moth to a flame or fly to a lump of fresh steamy turds.
The main quest line, where im on the search for God to squeeze into a tiny ball to summon at my every whim.
For all I enjoy this game at times the areas do feel empty and when you are flying around this becomes more apparent. The lack of Pokemon in this game also does hold it back I honestly think another area and hundred or so more to catch would’ve done wonders for this particular entry. Even a few more explorable areas as there aren’t really many cave systems or temples to wander around.
Flying above one of the open areas you see how it can come across empty and less then appealing.
There isn’t enough boxes in Pokemon storage to make use of catching a whole load of Pokemon and organising the ones you need. Due to the nature of this game I think the standard of 8 boxes just isn’t enough. It’s not as if it makes the game easier either, the same can be said for bag storage. Late game you do really need to have expanded your carry capacity a good whack so you can make the most out of your time decimating the local wildlife by forcible capturing them.
My pokemon storage filled with deities and Gods as i finish my pokedex completion.
Even with playing Scarlet after my first review I found returning to this game and coming off thinking this was still far more innovative and fresher. It’s fun and more relaxed and you need to find that the fun comes from the catching rather then battling. Though, I would say a few more re-playable trainer battles in each area is needed just to help with the end game grind. Levelling up would be more fun if not a bit easier as well.
I still think this game was ripe for DLC as much as I find often is just money grabbing content that should’ve been in the base game or just straight up pig shit that I regret buying. This game could’ve easily blossomed in to 10/10. A couple more open areas, a battle tower and more crafting. It was a no brainer.
I am very much looking forward to ZA even if I think the shift back to modern/futuristic setting wasn’t the way forward. If they have built on what we have here, by adding a higher amount of Pokemon to catch a more in-depth crafting and item pool, along with a few more battles. I find it hard to believe with out a crossover point with the gameplay and mechanic changes here that the mainline series will be keeping up with this new spin-off series.
Its been a good while since I last managed to do a lection update. I’d like to say it’s because of this or because of that but its just cause I haven’t done one in awhile. Honestly its just been one of those years. I haven’t played near enough either for reviews but that’s by the by. If you follow any of my socials you’ll have a rough idea of what I’ve been up to anyways.
When I think on it, the last update came back in January from what I collected from Christmas. Sweet Jesus that was far too long ago. I really have been lagging and I need to sort that shit out. For all I haven’t played much I have absolutely been keeping that backlog fat and oh so plump. As with any hoarding problem you don’t fix it you keep adding to it.
Enough of my rambling you didn’t come here for that, you came for the meat off the bone. The games.
First up I found a cheap copy of the Super Smash Bros for the 3DS in adding to my overall collection of my favourite brawling series. With Ultimate on the Switch being one of the best games on the console and is deservedly the king of fighting games. You ain’t changing my mind on that.
A magnificent sight to behold, it’ll be even better once i have the last few games i’m misisng.
I procured a second version of Need for Speed 2 Underground on the PS2 which like a fine red wine with a hearty t-bone paired ever so nicely with my Xbox version.
An absolute classic which is yet to be eclipsed in the seires.
Then we have the Evercade Cartridge dedicated to everyone’s favourite weaponised and genocidal garden inhabitants. Worms.
You can’t beat a bit of Warm based combat.
A game which I should’ve added far sooner then I did. Midnight Club La Remix on the PSP. Genuinely one of my favourite PSP games and racing games. Is it the best to have ever existed, no, but it’s got that old school PS2 racer feel all on the mighty yet tiny handheld which I’d argue is missing in many of today’s racing games.
A magnificent series that i’d love for rockstar to bring back
Another console variation of the same game, Soul Calibur 2. The Gamecube one is superior simply on the basis on having Link as a playable character but it’s worth having on the PS2 as well. As it’s never a bad thing to double up.
Back when fighting games were consistnetly getting better.
Here we have everyone’s favourite web slinger, Spider-man. Specifically the game version of the film. Not only on Gamecube but also on PSP. The PSP version I can’t recommend enough that you don’t play this and waste your life just get one of the main console versions. I’d always go Gamecube if you can as it’s the best and thats not bias but a scientifically backed up truth.
It’s Spider-man 2, enough said. Probably the best film in all the film sagas that exist.
A bit of an oddity of a series in Way of the Samurai, here we have number 4 on the PS3. I first stumbled across this series back on the Xbox 360 when I played number 3. Obviously I just traded it in after a while and now I need to track a good copy of that down to add back in to my collection.
Another seires that deserves more love an dit would do wonders if a new mainline title was made for PS5/Xbox series x.
Mortal Kombat peaked on the 6th generation consoles, specifically with Deception. I think for all the extreme gore and polish the newer ones have they lack the fun and ingenuity of this era. However at the time I only had Deadly Alliance and Shaolin Monks.
I was more pleased with this find then I should’ve been, having already owned the base title. But the Game of the Year edition of the second best Fallout game, 3. I will some day soon have the complete edition for New Vegas which is the best Fallout game and that’s just fact.
War never changes.
And I think for now I’ll end on this title. Another PS2 game, Yu-Gi-Oh GX Tagforce Evolutions. It’s not the PSP series that I am after but it definitely fills that hole a smidge whilst I try and find cheap versions of them. As they do not come cheap like most things in life.
Well I have got a good few more months of collecting to show off but that means I can stretch this out for another post or two to keep the content machine rolling out. As all good content creators do we leave you dangling for the juicy bits.
But until that time comes, keep well, safe and most importantly my friends stay tasty.
This will be a fairly short review with a couple images sprinkled in. The reason being it follows suit in the length of the game itself. In that it takes about 40 minutes or so to blitz through the four chapters available to you.
I wouldn’t take this as a direct indictment to it;s existence or that this makes it inherently bad from the get go. This is a faithful adaptation of the original arcade shooter which in turn isn’t long by design. Each chapter is broken up into shoot your way through some canon fodder enemies then a boss at the end. The only real difference is the difficulty spike on the end boss which kinda comes out of nowhere.
The end game boss before they explode into nothingness aftet defeating them.
There is a few options available to increase your own personal level of fun and making the games length lasted by doing multiple runs. You have your standard difficulty switchers as well the horde mode option. This is exactly the same but every enemy encounter is doubled. This is my preferred way of playing the game.
Now I opted for the Nintendo Switch version, I also incorrectly read the option I purchased because like proof reading I chose not to read initially properly either. I am truly my own worst enemy. So I got a download code box which lacked a cartridge. So I now just have an empty box, the fuck I want that for?
The first chapters boss where you shoot chunks off them until they are just a skeletal reminder of what once was.
Anyways I chose the Switch version so I can play the game more like it was intended to play. Whipping off the joycons and pointing them at the screen and shooting the ever loving shit out of everything in my way. Watching the blood spray gratuitously as everything is reduced to carrion mulch and chunks. Which is a satisfying way to pass the time. You also get the touchscreen option if you choose to play it handheld, which is the easiest way to cheese bosses critical hit points as you just target the area and spam the screen.
A couple of rounds make mulch out of the undead that stand in your way.
Now in terms of graphical fidelity it’s not the best, it’s laggy and there is noticeable frame rate stutters and the game makes the enemies fully disappear before they’ve hit the floor, which takes away from the annihilation somewhat.
There are a few weapon variations to unlock in mission and permanently as well as a cabinet of achievements that come from in game actions. This again aids in replaying the game, there’s star tracking as well as a bestiary of sorts. It’s not a game completely devoid of content there just isn’t much too it. It could’ve easily added a speedrun option, mini objectives a few more unlockable weapons and even stat built characters. This all exemplifies what the game is about as well so takes nothing away from the original arcade shooter.
The collectible wall you get from playing through the game a couple of times, this was from one playthrough.
Overall I rate this game a Tasty 6/10.
I think if you need something that is completely designed to just be a gun ‘n’ run to kill about an hour or even a cool 15 minutes. This game is it. It does what it needs to, doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel and honestly it’s decent fun. For me there just isn’t enough to it. I do run back to it semi regularly though so it’s doing its job properly. For a cheap you can’t go wrong here, just don’t expect anything to amazing.
Recently I’ve been streaming older games through the PlayStation Plus classic catalogue, trying to rekindle my youth now I’m on the cusp of turning 30. I started with one of my favourite game series from when I was a young lad, Ratchet and Clank.
I started of course with the original ratchet and clank from 2002, though the classic catalogue on the PlayStation store is from the 2012 HD remaster. With this in mind I can’t really rate the graphics from 2002 however I do remember them being quite decent for the time. This HD remasters graphics are nice, everything’s a little bit brighter and crisper and on par for ps3 games of the time.
One thing I can rate this game on is its gameplay. It’s very fun and simple, there’s no real aiming for the weapons you use and movement is again fairly simple. On one hand I would commend this simple style as this game is aimed at kids, but on the other hand some strafing with weapons wouldn’t be a bad thing. The enemies are fairly basic and not designed for crazy combat, they’re happy standing still while you swing your wrench at them or lob explosives in their general direction.
This easy enemy rule does not however apply to the games final boss. For some reason the difficulty massively spikes for the end of the game. I didn’t really encounter any issues all the way up until this point in terms of difficulty, but the end boss took me quite a fair few attempts and rage quits. This coming from a seasoned gamer that’s almost beaten the tutorial boss on dark souls.
Story wise this one’s pretty simple, good guy with sidekick against a bad guy, fallen hero in captain quark, the usual. Again tho with this game aimed at kids I wouldn’t expect any more and I think this is more than enough.
Overall I’d give this game a 7/10, positively tasty.
It’s good and it gets a bonus point for starting off the franchise that firmly became one of my favourites ever. The next games I know will get higher scores and I look forward to getting onto them.
Now I wouldn’t say I am the biggest Sonic fan in the world and to be honest I’ve not played all that many titles especially in the last 10 years or so. This one did however catch my attention with the bigger bosses and open areas. I thought it’d be worth giving a go as something different if nothing else.
I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect and colour me surprised that it ended up being far better than I anticipated. It doesn’t deviate that much from your standard Sonic game most the time. A lot of the same features return, some for the better some for the worst it’s a bit of a mixed bag. This all melds together with the added emphasis on them happening in a bigger play area for you to run around at high.
One og the ways you upgrade your stats.One of the Titan bosses you fight.
You still run around everywhere at a faster pace, with boosts and bounce pads dotted around everywhere with automatic rail grinding allowing for the most effective gold ring collecting. Which still make that ever so delightful noise when collecting or getting them knocked out of your fuzzy blue fur. I do feel the if you are able to keep up with boost and hitting all the pads effectively you’d have a better time with traversal, I enjoyed it but I often whiffed it or had to slow down which ruins the flow a tad.
Your main chums you interact with during the course of the game which is the same three it usually is, Tails, Knuckles and Amy.
The game has 5 open areas to explore, there’s not too much to find. You have your portals which you unlock with gears from beating the bigger enemies on the island. Which in turn reward you with keys to unlock chaos emeralds. There’s enemies specific to each island dotted around with a few bigger enemies to fight. With a mechanic robbed from Breath of the Wild and Tears of The kingdom, who I’m sure pinched from another game. But they all reset after awhile re-spawning to be a hindrance again. There’s fishing spots which allows you to trade coins for useful items. And there’s music to collect which you can play at your leisure then. The OST for this game as some real highlights especially the big Titan battle music it’s legit great, with Kellin Quinn from Sleeping with Sirens on vocals for them.
One of the fully unlocked maps with all you can do on show.Ths final boss fight of the game which eventually takes you out to space giving more scale to the games world.
These portals are more classic Sonic in that you have to reach the goal in a set time, and you have to avoid enemies, spikes falling platforms, do many loop the loops collecting rings along the way. If you hit the four extra missions within these you get an extra key for each of them. Luckily you don’t need to get each bonus key to move on with the story as some of the timings are ridiculously tight. It’d cause a raging aneurysm in the average person if you did.
One of the many portals you’ll come across.Big the Cat returnong for the fun fishing minigame i’d recommend doing.
There’s more RPG elements to this game with a small skill tree that isn’t the best but adds extra combat moves mostly. You can level up your defence and damage from item drops which you take to the Hermit Koco. Then the Elder Koco you collect missing smaller Koco’s which give you higher ring capacity and extra speed. For the most part it doesn’t feel like levelling these up make all that difference. Even by the end of the game you still getting your shit kicked back in by basic enemies from one hit and you lose about 120 rings ago which seems excessive to me.
The complete skill tree, it’s a it underwhelming and easily completed 3 islands in to the 5 you do.
There isn’t much a fast travel system but each portal unlocks a rail you can follow to other portals for easier traversal, then if you fish out the two scrolls for the Koco’s you can travel to them. Then once you’ve unlocked the entire island by doing the little challenges you can fast travel to each portal but thats mostly redundant if you don’t intend to 100% the game.
The big Titan boss fights where you go super sonic with the power of all the chaos emeralds are the highlight of the game. It really imposes a sense of a bigger world. The are great fun and make use of parrying and a quick time events along with the aforementioned great songs playing in the background.
A couple of the bigger enemies in the game, i did have more but i didn’t transfer them over and i can’t be arsed to go about uploading them again. So thes two will have to do for now.
I would say the Islands can feel a bit empty, a few more enemies and varieties of them to pad out the areas between checkpoints wouldn’t go amiss. The combat isn’t the most intuitive and is basic at best even with the extra skills you get. There aren’t any side missions as such, each island is dedicated to telling the story of one of Sonic’s companions so you talk to Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Sage. This happens by collecting an item specific to them to trigger a cutscene. Eggman isn’t in it all that much considering he’s the big bad usually. There’s a few mini-games which break up the standard gameplay. Again a few more of these would help pad the game out a tad. The game itself looks and ahndles compentently enough for a three year old game. It’s defiinetly not the shapest and a bit more fineses on the finer details would help it pop a bit more.
Overall I’d rate this game a solid 7/10, Positively Tasty.
It’s a nice change of pace from the usual Sonic game’s I’ve played in the past and for the normal sort of games I play. It took me around 25 hours to get the Platinum so it doesn’t over stay it’s welcome and nothings too tasking. The game needs a bit more content which could easily come from what’s already there. Combat needs tweaking and one or two more big boss fights just because they were really fun and I want some more banging tunes. I believe there is a second title in the works and I will be getting it as if everything here is built on then I have no doubt will it’ll be a stellar game. Ultimately it’s a small twist on a tried and tested formula of whats come before but will hopefully continue to propel the series forward.
I often wait for games to drop in price which falls in line with me not having the most amount of time to play games any more. I am however currently on a couple month gap from my uni studies so that frees me up somewhat. I was lucky enough to get a whole heap of great titles at Christmas, with this being one of them.
I have waited oh so patiently to find a gap in my time where I could dedicate the entire play-through of this game seeing how much I enjoyed the first one and the spin-off Miles Morales. So I’m not entirely sure if the self hype for me ruined this game a tad or if it just doesn’t build upon the first game enough.
Just a friendly Spider-bot
Firstly I’ll say the game looks great to fantastic and it uses the source material designs faithfully whilst sticking to insomniacs own design interpretations. The villains and Spider suits look peak (me giving chefs kiss in the background). The symbiotes you’ll come across are top tier as well. Even though this game has been out a while now I should probably mention this’ll be a bit spoiler heavy. The biggest show off what this game and PS5 are capable of comes from the opening fight against Sand man. Honestly what a way to open a game it’s the best looking boss fight in the series, it’s spectacular, pardon the pun. The game however doesn’t manage to reach this sort of high again. It just dips off and meanders for a while.
Just some of the villians you face in the game, Sandman, Venom, Scream and Lizard.
The game relies on the city of New York to do a lot of the heavy lifting to tell this story. The developers have tried to make the city feel alive especially with the constant crimes that pop up and are easily thwarted. As the story progresses the incidents that spawn change to fit in with what has transpired. It’s a nice feature to see the consequences of the game effecting the world, whether it be the destruction of certain buildings, fires getting put out from derailed trains, sand littered across the streets or even towering symbiote nests. A lot of the exposition comes from the frequent podcast monologues that come through in the form of podcast snippets. As most of the side stuff feels hollow and doesn’t lend much to the story but it kinda sets up what I assume was supposed to be DLC or future instalments. Such as the weak 4 part flame cult story which implies Carnage is coming, or the feint nod to Silk at the end. Miles feels shoehorned into the main story a lot of the time just because he’s there as the second spider man and the relegation isn’t deserving. Especially when to flesh his purpose out more a lot the side stuff is specifically for him. And it fucking sucks. It adds a bit more to the story of the districts themselves rather then him. The rewards aren’t worth it either.
Just some stills showing off how nice this good looks.
Now the web slinging fun of the first one is just as smooth and fluid in this sequel. It even has the additional bonus of web wings so you can glide around the city faster. There’s up-drafts and slipstreams a plenty to cover hundreds of meters in no time. With the additional unlockable skills that help make snapshot corner turns, mid jump boosts and faster launches from each swing. Honestly it’s immensely satisfying.
Gliding around the city is a blast.
The game at its core much like the Batman Arkham series is a bit of a rhythm fighter game. With basic string of combos, parry and well timed dodged from the indicators. Just following that you’ll beat most enemies no problem. Now add in the special abilities, whether it’s Peters mechanical spider arms, symbiote surge or anti-venom moves, or Miles faster more dps based evolved venom moves. You have some of the tightest and fluid combat in gaming. Not to mention that they look great to execute as well. You still have your four trusty gadgets to help out as well and if all else fails you can web them up. Which also feeds into your focus bar which allows for healing and insta finishers. By the end of the game both characters are super over powered, you can decimate any encounter with no trouble. This canonically feels right though as an average guy with a lead pipe shouldn’t pose much of a threat to either of the Spider-Men.
Your three seperate skill trees yu can max out.
I wasn’t enamoured with the main plot as the first third of the game takes a long time to do a lot of nothing. Then when it does start to pick up it finishes as fast as it started. You only get one mission to play as Venom which just feels wrong. In which you bite off Kravens head who was pitched as the big bad of the game, he mostly does fuck all. Outside of killing most of the sinister six in the background for no real reason. Again Miles doesn’t do much but kinda acts as a convenient plot point when required. Even MJ gets a couple of missions again which honestly don’t improve from the terrible outing in the first game.
Tech stations dotted around the city for upgrades.If you know, you know.
I could be in the minority here but I found most of the side stuff shit and inconsequential to the overall game. I like a game like Ghost of Tsushima where the side bits are worth while the add something to the story, character or extra skills. These mainly did none of those things and at best only alluded to future story lines. Which isn’t the worst thing but when that’s all they do it just feels like you’re missing a good chunk of the game. The only collectibles are the spider bots which are dotted around and I’ll leave that conclusion spoiler free. Cause fuck me was it worth it, no.
Overall I’d rate this game a respectable 7/10, Positively Tasty.
This is in every sense a triple A game it looks, plays and feels the part. But we have a bigger map this time round which feels emptier. A story that’s been done several times over and is paced pretty poorly not adding anything of particular interest. The momentum from the the first game seems to have gone. If the games portrayal of Spider-Man himself wasn’t so good, along with the superb combat and web swinging it really wouldn’t be great. I’m hoping part 3 ties up more story threads and has a more engaged world where the side content feels worthwhile. Instead of just insinuating another known villain is coming. Don’t get me wrong it’s a decent length for a game and I did enjoy it, it never felt like a slog but it’s not exactly the sequel I was hoping for.
TastyRetroGaming 