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.
This was a game I had seen good things about and it was firmly on my list to acquire at one point or another. So when it became one of the games included in the monthly line up from PS plus I was pleasantly surprised. As more often then not I either already own or have no interest in what is available.
Now I won’t say I’m a massive RoboCop fan I have seen the original films years and years back but I can’t recall a lot of what happens. So to some degree this is very much all new to me again. I know there is general complaint of how the series went from the second film as to why I’m not sure. This game looks to rectify those issues and then some.
The big man himself, Robocop.
For me this game was a real treat for several reasons. The biggest is the overall aesthetic and world design. The game highlights the use of the unreal 5 engine, showcasing some particular highs of its capabilities. Thus allowing for some real crisp looking graphics. It’s a generally a decent looking game but not across the whole board. The eponymous robocop himself looks incredible and I do believe it’s the original actor who voices him as well for that added level of nostalgia, if not highlighting nuanced authentic details. The environments looks great from the reflections in the glum puddle laden streets of old Detroit or the dull 80’s styled offices of the police precinct that acts as the central mini hub of game. Now it could be that Cyberpunk takes some visual nods or acts as homage to the original films as I often thought how the vibes of the game made me think of Night City. Which is no bad thing considering how immense Cyberpunk 2077 is.
Just a couple nice stills form Detroit showing how nice the game can look.
There are some graphical drawbacks such as how the NPC’s look janky as fuck and their dreadful clunky movement or facial animations in cutscenes. When you’ve got some decent voice acting going on and the face of the character moves like a robotic poundland sex doll it’s a tad off putting.
The game took me around 15 hours to fully complete and pick up the platinum trophy. All of which are easily obtained via just playing the game. Well three are tied to a highscore on the shooting range and one is clearling a warehouse of enemies under 10 mins.
A few evil bots you kill and the big boss at the end of the game, which is basically you just holding the fire trigger to unload hell into this big mechanical bastard.
Both of those extra trophies are easily obtained late in game with the upgrade system and the interchangeable PCB boards for ol’ Robo’s gun. The upgrading system is a slightly lacking but does the standard of upgraded health, damage, armour etc. Then every couple notches you get an extra boon like focus where you can slow time down for a bit or extra health replenishment slots. The gun upgrade system is a bit convoluted and as far as I’m aware, unless I’m being thick as shit, the game doesn’t really explain how it works. Which in itself is a weird choice, as you plod along and I say plod as you walk like you’re scraping dog shit of you shoe and the run option doesn’t increase speed all that much. Even if it’s for immersion a bit of a faster pace wouldn’t hurt the game any. Now back to the PCB upgrades you have an option to find different boards that come with specific tailored builds as it were and as you, ‘plod’ around you find crates with chips that are used to upgrade fixed stat percentages. As you plop these chips in you can then get say fully auto fire, no reload which is a god tier build may I add, board 5.3 look out for it. Helps with the highscore trophies as well. You can however activate the red nodes which add a minus valuation. They are useful but I think it could’ve been implemented better. As these don’t help for any weapon you can pick up along the way they have set damage, clip capacity and fire rates.
Your gun upgrade treeHow my final build looked by the last mission.
There isn’t a whole lot to the story it’s pretty much the standard bad guy trying to stop Robocop for revenge reasons whilst ruining it for everyone else along the way. The missions are linear and have no deviation. A couple of side objective will pop up but ultimately it always falls to go here shoot the ever living shit out of everyone, move on. It does enough to get the game form point A to B you can trudge through Detroit three times in between a couple of main missions. Where you can do a couple of side missions or hand out fines to the citizens. This is an aspect of the game I think could’ve been fleshed out more as if you got rid of it outside of maybe some easy XP it doesn’t do anything for the game. I’d argue that it’s a shame as it really could’ve made the game slightly longer for the better. There’s a couple of open dialogue options that appear and can attribute to the ending you unlock but again the developers could easily just have a set ending if it wasn’t there.
The shooting in this game is gloriously gorey in the best ways. The violence reminds me of Fallout where you just exploded everything leaving blood and viscera everywhere. There’s even a nod to the first film where you get a trophy for shooting someone square in their johnson. What’s not to love about that. You can pick up a plethora of extra guns from pistols, rifles, grenade launchers even explosive round snipers. You can only carry one extra gun which can’t be held permanently either, again a separate upgrade branch would’ve made sense here as some of these weapons are straight up trash. You have to basically act as a sponge in all shootouts as there’s minimal cover and now way to crouch or hide around corners for covers which is a bit detrimental late game with how many enemies start appearing. The second to last mission really started to lag causing some very noticeable dips in frame rates as a direct result.
Not for the faint heartened as you casually explode some gang members head into buckets of blood.
Overall I’d rate this a hefty 7/10, Positively Tasty.
From all accounts this is a very faithful representation of the original films and as such I think some of the niggling points may come from the developers not wanting to ruin that. The shooting is fun and responsive but lacking in depth, the game is probably near perfect length for what it is. It looks good to great most of the time. A bit more side content along with better versions of the two upgrade trees available would help really cement this game if there is plans for an official sequel. This isn’t to say this game is bad or lacking in enjoyment. I had a really good time with it in 1 to 2 hour chunks. Nothing overstays its welcome and delivering justice in an uber violent shower of blood and guts is immensely satisfying as it is disturbing.
After waiting for a physical edition I jumped onto this game after it had already won game of the year 2023. I started a character, was baffled by the amount of genital options, and started my first play through. I’m not sure if it was because my setup was so bad, or maybe because I wasn’t in the right mindset but I bounced off it after 6/8 hours. I put it away and vowed to try it again at some point.
Fast forward to February 2025 almost 9 months after first attempting it, I started a new character and dived back in with fresh eyes and let me tell you, this game deserved game of the year and every other award it got. I played between 60-80 hours, hard to specify because I had to keep loading previous saves that were an hour or so earlier because I decided I’d go in on tactician difficulty, not a good idea. I did drop the difficulty on the massive end of act 2 boss fight because it was just too difficult for me having not prepared at all. That being said the whole game was fun even with the replays.
The story is sublime, with several different endings as well as complete freedom to change it however you want. I loved the companions I chose and all of them are very well voice acted, you can really feel the emotion in Karlach’s story and the charisma from one of my new favourite voice actors in Neil Newbon or Astarion in game.
JK Simmons as one of the bosses in game is great as well as Jason Isaac and Maggie Robertson, they all did a great job along with the character designers to make you detest them and want nothing more than their virtual deaths.
This game has an insane amount of detail in the world from random side quests to stumbling upon huge quest lines that end with fighting a huge iron golem of death far too early in your game. I love the idea of having a world that changes while you’re playing and this game excels at making you feel like you’re making a different to your environment and the npc population within the game.
The turn based combat is very well done and is in tune with the DnD theme of the game. Keeping most of the dice rolls in the background is great because it helps to keep the pace of video game combat going. Dice rolls are however used for lock picking, persuasion and other skill checks and other non combat situations which greatly helps tie back to the best and most fun parts of DnD. In my opinion there’s not much better than walking into a huge camp of goblins and rolling a natural 20 while convincing them your the new messiah and having them all allowed you to do and take whatever you please, then you can kill them all afterwards while your 10 levels over there’s to fulfill your characters murderous ideals.
When it comes to the RPG aspect there’s nothing better than DnD and this game does an incredible job of showing that. The only thing I’d change is increasing the level cap from 12 to 15 because I maxed out 1/3 of the way into act 3 and actually skipped some side stuff because I felt like i wasn’t gaining much other than story and finishing quest lines. This however does leave me with some more options as I go onto my 2nd play-through that I have started immediately after finishing this one.
I’ll be playing this time as the dark urge which adds different interactions, a new companion that is used as one of the mini bosses previously and an almost completely different act 3 as you can become the slayer of Baldurs gate which leads to different endings and in some cases having to fight your own companions that are more light sided. I’ll be attempting tactician mode now I know what to expect and can plan for some of the more insane boss fights.
Overall there’s no way I can give this anything less that 10/10, Real Fuckin’ Tasty. It’s been my favourite game since probably the Witcher 3 from 10 years ago. Nothing else to say other than I’d urge anyone that likes RPG games to give this a go.
Revieded by MoonHead
Released on Sony Playstation 5 6th September 2023.
A title that was originally released back in 1996 when I was barely 1 years old. The reason I didn’t play it though wasn’t due to my inability to keep my head up and grasp the controller in anyway to touch the buttons. Rather it was never released on PAL regionally so even when I was older, outside of importing the game itself and a Japanese or North American SNES I was unable to play it. We as a community were denied for many a year.
Now, well I say now the remake itself has been out well over a year I’ve only just got round to it. Either way I now have the joy of finally playing this.
The game in terms of plot is a pretty standard Mario affair. Nothing to wrong with this seeing as not many games or characters can boast such a depth of history, or the breadth of the gaming catalogue the tiny moustached plumber has. You start off by rescuing Peach from Bowser, the same old obviously. This is where it changed though when a giant sword descends from the sky and pierces bowsers keep. Where both Peach and Bowser go missing.
Your party at full capacity with a nice CGI cutscene once you’ve defeated the boss of the area to reclaim the star.
You then set forth in search of Peach you run into Mallow, Geno and eventually Princess Peach along with Bowser joining your party.
Bowsers castle gets fucekd at the beinnging by this big ol’ sword. I just enjoy the longing look these constatnly beseeched citizens give to a castle of a near tyrannical overlord who tries to oppress them at any given moment. You’d think they’d be a little bit happy.
The party system isn’t particularly revolutionary, you can have two other party members active at one go with Mario being a mainstay. Depending on the combination you have you can perform special moves. Deciding on your battle tactics you can swap out in the throes of battle anyhow allowing you to perform them every couple of battles.
Each character has their own stats that increase in increments up until the level cap of 30. You also get the bonus stat boost of either HP, damage and defence or the choice of Magic attack and defence. This just helps to give a bit of more of a dedicated build to each character. I imagine though if you choose to give everyone extra HP or attack overall it wouldn’t hinder you all that much.
The levelling up cycle, initial stat boosts then you shoose from the three extra to pump up the damage that wee bit more.
Battle is your standard turn based system. You take it in turn to attack or hit a special move. This can be Marios’ jump, Genos’ magic blast or Peach with healing etc. You can choose to skip a turn for defence or using an item instead. What spices the fighting up is if you hit the A button as the exclamation appears above your characters head. You can inflict critical damage which also has a shock-wave effect injuring the surround enemies. Likewise when they attack you can negate incoming damage. This all helps to build up your special move meter. Which once it’s at 100% allows for the aforementioned special move to be triggered.
A small quick time event for some of the special moves Geno uses. GEtting all 5 red stars deals peak damage.
As far as I’m aware this game is a pixel to pixel remaster. You also have a choice of the original OST or the new soundtrack. Apart from some name changes and hidden chest locations it’s the same game. The game is bought up-to modern standards. Better or for worse.
The game looks as a good as any top title for the Nintendo does especially a Mario game. It’s no 4k behemoth like Horizon or God of War. This doesn’t need to be that, it’d be kinda strange if it was to be honest. The world is as bright and joyful as you’d expect. Having that very distinct Mario aesthetic that just promotes wonderment. All neatly tied together with the very distinct world that’s carefully been built for decades. As you travel this compact world you’ll come along many familiar faces and locations which make it feel that little bit more alive.
Smithy the big bad of the game. Not sure why the chose to give him a full on dick nose. Straight up looks a goon.
Even with my many interruptions when I play a game this took me around 13 hours. I could’ve shaved potentially 2 off that if if I hadn’t just left my Switch lying around as I did others tasks or paid more attention to the TV etc. It’s very much a chunk game, you can easily run through an area or two in a couple hours and make decent progress. Along with the limited items and buffs you can use or weapons and clothing you equip. Nothing is imminently pertinent to collect. Which is also a shame as adding a few more in would’ve padded out the game that much more helped in stat allocation for team builds. Even post game content is basically just re-doing the boss battles but a slightly tweaked for a different battle experience. Outside of doing personal goals, finding all the hidden chest, collecting all the items which some mini games are required to do. You won’t come across any side quests or much other reason to re-visit any areas. Unless you wanna 100% the bestiary and get all battle data against the enemies. As nothing extra is really required it’s a strange design.
A quick look at the world map which allows for fast travel. The bestiary of all fallen foes.
What lets it down is that game is small. The story isn’t long nor that in-depth, neither are any areas you battle your way through. It’s no slog just underwhelming. Now nearly 30 years ago I imagine it’d look far more impressive, especially when compared to some of the juggernauts of today’s rpg ilk. We have been spoiled many times over. Even still it is a neatly packaged and complete game that comes with two difficulties standard easier. Which at least makes for a reason to return for a couple play-throughs. Especially if you want to play first time on standard mode and second on the harder difficultly.
The goal is to collect the 7 fallen stars to form the Mega star.
Overall I’d give this game a a deserved 7/10, Positively Tasty.
Don’t get me wrong it’s a very concise and tightly built game. Everything runs smoothly and the game is a joy to play. It’s just too short, not enough of a challenge in the battle, a distinct lack of weapons and clothing to aid in character building. Which is also hampered by the level cap being set to 30. I’d happily play it again but it’s only worth going through a second time if I’d want to play it start to finish again.
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