Pokemon Legends ZA

With anything game related for the past year and half I have tried my hardest to be better and not buy games on release. I managed 2 days after this launched before cracking, I’m overall improving and slowly making a good dent in my backlog, only diverging a bit here and there. No matter how good or bad a Pokemon game is I’m just weak to them. The only reason I haven’t got Pokopia yet is because I’ve relented in buying a Switch 2, but the time for me slipping and buying that is nigh I feel.

Now I was going to try and wait for the Switch 2 version of this but honestly I’m not entirely sure the better hardware is worth it for. I can’t personally compare but it looked and played good enough for me. I’ve sat on this review for a while having actually completed it a while back and I’m waiting for a gap to play the mega dimension DLC which I’ve had since it dropped as well.

I loved Legend Arceus it’s my favourite Pokemon game in a long time it did loads of things right and a few more tweaks it could’ve been even better. I’d hoped this entry in the spin-off series from the mainline titles would build on everything Arceus did. In some regards it does but others it dropped the ball on.

The whole crew and the ceo of quartsico who is in charge of the wild and battle zones.

A big drawback is the map itself with the entire game taking place in the city of Lumiose, now being a sequel to the 3DS titles of X and Y. It makes sense. However for all the grandeur of the more fleshed out map. It needed at least another smaller area of some sort or a few outside wild areas just to help expand the world. As it does feel a bit tiny even with the freedom of running around the rooftops. There’s a few section that involve the underground of this city but again its real small. They could’ve easily made this area a lot larger and increased the amount of base Pokemon available to catch. Give it a bit of tears of the kingdom feel to it. It’s all very much crammed into the modern urban setting, even littered with scaffolding for that real life city feel where everything is pinned up with metal.

An overhead view of the map and the very cleat nod to the land of France, and a picture of a fish Pokemon just being summoned to the cold hard pavement for shits and giggles. Only slughtly cruel in a real life context.

Graphically again another step up for the usual lagging behind of Pokemon games, the Pokemon themselves look good, the textures look better. The character animations are improved less of a clunky marionette. There’s more expression to help convey stuff which would be even better if some form of voice acting made an appearance in these games. Its still a bit choppy and all over the shop with a mix of higher rendered cell shading era with some more realistic graphics for backgrounds. It needs to meld better to find its own footing still, somehow which for a series going this long is a weird statement to make. For me I enjoy a graphically technical marvel in gaming but it isn’t everything, having a far more enjoyable gameplay loop is more important and Pokemon does always scratch that itch, luckily.

One of my biggest gripes of Arceus was that there needed more variety and a large pool of mons to collect. Now this title has less, if you take away the mega evolutions which makes a triumphant return. Easily my favourite gimmick of the games. I wish however they’d figure a way out to over stat Pokemon and just let them have alternate permanent evolutions of a fourth tier. That’d properly tickle ma pickle, but I digress. There’s 232 base Pokemon and 65 megas before the DLC. It’s again not enough a cool 400 or so would be the sweet spot, and the wild zones that open up as you progress through the story to catch them is limiting. It’s a cool idea to make a living breathing cohabiting relationship in this fictional world. But when they open they take a chunk of the city away and they aren’t all that big. Some smaller areas of them can be opened up with a particular ability like burning a vine, or breaking boulders, even washing away sludge. This goes with what I’ve already said having one or two areas outside of the city could’ve expanded on the amount to catch with a better variety of explorable areas without taking from the city itself.

My starter choice in Chikorita may not have been the best starter from its inception but i’ve always had a soft spot for it.

This title is a lot more battle heavy then Arceus which preferred the capturing of Pokemon in large quantities to fill out the Pokedex. Which I really loved doing it made you feel part of the history of the series. I overall preferred the older setting and more laid back approach to that game. Now I’m all for battling and this really reminds me of Colosseum for some reason which is no bad thing as love that game. Its definitely more engaging but it’s missing the grit bags to help build up your teams personal stats. The optional battle styles for attack with agile or strong which is an odd choice to remove as it makes more sense for this game being more battle orientated. The more dynamic approach of feeling like the battles take place in real time being able to run around the battlefield and your moves having a range or chances to miss is cool, as well with the limited pp gone becoming a cool down option for the four moves that are chosen. I think that’s all a great improvement. But to launch an attack you have to hold the ZL button down at all times which doesn’t quiet hit the mark 100% of the time it should’ve been more of a toggle

.

There’s more of a story here and it’s slightly longer to complete and without going into the plots of X, Y and this its a decent way to wrap it all up. The use of Zygarde being the main legendary is well used and is merged more into the entire plot which makes a change as well. The side missions are still there even if they aren’t normally that tasking. You unlock these once you meet Emma the detective, and she gives you some quest if you’ve downloaded the free gifts to get a couple extra legendaries.

The ZA tournament is the central part of the game and is even the end game content once you’ve completed the main missions, outside of mopping up side quest and capturing everything if you wanted to. Again something that is a step back is you have trade only evolutions again rather then being able to buy the items you need to keep the entire game self contained for a solo player.

Now the tournament in the story has a big jump from rank V to F which is annoying but does help progress the story but this is kinda filled in by the end game content. With the wild zones used to capture Pokemon you get sectioned off areas where free battles take part, where these are filled with trainers all wanting to battle. They give you points per victory to aid in your rank up battles. Your main source of income comes from here as the mpre you beat the higher the multiplier is at the end. You can also pick up little battle cards which if you do the optional objective it rewards you with more coins. You can only hold three t one go however, they can be swapped out if you find a better one.

I really enjoyed the rogue mega battles, these were the boss battles of the game replacing gym leaders to some extent. The were always fun and they did pose more of a threat then a standard battle. Not having the right elemental advantage within a mega yourself would really prolong the battle especially after a couple of hits to your player you blacked out even if your team was at 100% health.

Some of the new megas, and Starmie had to be captured in all its leggy glory.

An odd choice I find id the removal of crafting which at long last had finally been added. I really enjoyed making everything I used to catch Pokemon and getting new items as I ranked up or purchased new recipes. I think that’s a real step back for this title.

I found catching Pokemon wasn’t as fun either, it’s more auto-locked then in Arceus and doesn’t feel as fluid or interesting when you miss or you score that sweet sweet head shot from a weird angle. The need to crouch and use items to help increase your chances has gone, sneaking doesn’t aid you. When these were primary functions of the initial entry I don’t get why they’ve suddenly gone.

The final form of Zygarde who you use to fight the big boss at the end of the game. I enjoyed how they just become a massive fucking cannon. Its almost like a digimon in the ebst way.

A few more quality of life features have been added, like passing time on benches which helps with filling out the Pokedex as some only come out at night etc. If your Pokeballs miss when trying to catch something, some guy stands outside of all the healing centres to give you them back. You can fast travel to any important location or wild zone from the off set.

Overall I’d rate this game a positively Tasty 7.5/10.

If you like Pokemon games the you’ll love this, it has the strong roots that we’ve all come to love and the battling this time round is more fun then it’s been for a good while. There is some lost ground here and the bits they’ve improved upon don’t make up for it. The playable world is too small including the weird choice of not being able to enter basically any of the buildings in a map designed to feel like a living,breathing city. And there needed to be at least another 50 or more Pokemon needed for variety instead of relying on new mega evolutions to pad these numbers out. Omitting crafting is an odd choice I can’t get behind either and reducing the prominence of the Pokedex once more is weird. But this is a fun,vibrant extension of the Pokemon franchise which really needs to find the ultimate middle ground between the Legend titles and the mainline ones. There is truly something special to be had here if they game freak can do that.

Released 16th October 2025 on Nintendo Switch 1/2

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.

Time for another deep dive into one of the mighty worlds from the team of Bethesda. This time returning to the mega RPG classic that is Oblivion which first released in 2006. The fact this is twenty years old already makes my hairs go that little bit greyer just writing this.

I won’t dive to much into the specifics of this game as I suspect that there’s a high chance that if you’re reading this you are well versed in the original already. However, to be called a simple remaster feels a slight on the effort that would’ve gone into this. It’s not just overhauled 4k visuals and lighting. Its new textures, overhauled assets, new models, redesigned environments in and outside of the cities. New animations for everything which is a blessing for combat with better hit boxes. Especially if you wanna play as an archer. The upgraded system has been tweaked, health regenerates out of combat which is a nice bonus. I’m sure I’m missing something. But the sheer amount of quality of life upgrades are immense. Nothing against Bethesda games, but they are normally gammy as fuck, littered with bugs and glitches. Some of which are endearing and can be fun overs not so much.

So naturally being a massive Skyrim player completing it in its entirety on 4 different consoles across 3 generations. I went Nord with my character choice along with the option of picking their area birth being the western side for higher endurance. I couldn’t be to arsed in character creation so I just hit random a couple times, a splash of ageing and some facial hair. I felt that did the trick. But you can used the enhanced character creation to do far more then me. And because I’m edgy and like to be different I went for a crusader build under the warrior star sign. Which is daring I know, but it means I can pick up a stick and beat shit out of everything out with it. What can I say and I’m an easy type of guy effort ain’t my thing. However full magic or stealth builds are completely doable from the get go, with the race you pick also aiding in your chosen play style, from Orc, Breton, Redguard or any of the Elves you can choose. You unfortunately can’t respec in the game once you leave passed the sewers. But that doesn’t mean you can’t mix and match your play style to be a hybrid of another vocation if you wish. Its more akin to the special system in fallout where you main attributes do the heavy lifting and everything around it can still aid you even if not to its full potential.

A few select pics for the Oblivion gates and the darth maul looking mother fuckers that try to run your day whilst in there.

Another bit with the skills is every 25% of filling out to level 100 you can a permanent bump and it ranges from damage boosts,stamina boosts, new abilities like dodging. Even gaining the shield bash which can be handy as you can multi hit with either hand like in skyrim, the dexterity isn’t there in the system. You can only defend, attack or cast spells which can be a tad annoying on some occasions when you’re surrounded by multiple enemies who just start to really lay into you from all angles and you can only really hit slowly, waiting for a gap in between defending and trying to heal yourself. You do have potions that replenish all these things or give you temporary boosts or scrolls that acts as one time use spells. Like fireball or summoning a one time monster.

These were my final stats and build by the end of the game.

One of the best things from Skyrim for me is crafting, it’s not the most in-depth system in the world. But I fucking love me a crafting system. Now there isn’t one in oblivion which I think limits your weapons and armours a tad. Having the option to bump it all up by a few points would go a long way here. You can if you max out your armourer with repair hammers at level 100 over repair temporarily but it dips off quickly.

The books and lore in this game far surpass Skyrim something that needs to return when 6 is eventually released at the turn of the century.

There’s a deeper enemy pool then Skyrim as well, and the dremora are more on focus as well with the closing of the Oblivion gates. However it lacks a lot of the cool shit from Skyrim you know with the dragons, giants, mammoths etc.

A few of the bosses you may enounter in this game.

I’d say there’s gotta be around 200 explorable locations in this game. So there’s much spelunking to be had if you really want to explore everything this world has to offer. I would say on average though the chests and loot in theses kinda fucking suck. It’s mostly shit potions or gold and if you sell everything like me once you hit the item weight limit you’re caked up pretty early on so it becomes a wee bit redundant. Better stuff appears on your enemies as you hit personal level miles and around 15 is where it hits it stride. This helps the rng chance of the best version of rare stuff or named items. This is where the dungeon bosses start to come in handy if you need an easy enchanted weapon or armour piece to buff you up a tad.

The continent of Cyrodiil has a real wayward wondrous nature about it as you plip plop around. It’s odd as you feel you need to do the main quests or jump into the nearest mining cave you find but simultaneously you don’t ever feel the need to rush yourself. Everything has it’s time and place and if you only wanted to do the main stuff and the bigger side quests in the guilds. So the mage, fighters, thieves, dark brotherhood and the arena. Now I’d recommend smashing out the arena as soon as due to the easy levelling up and skills you get and its not particularly difficult to rinse your way through and earn a few septim along the way. The dark brotherhood is the best side questline by a long mile, the fighters and thieves guild are a bit naff but still worth your time to explore more of what this sprawling rpg has to offer.

The two world maps with only a small chunk cut off for photo capturig but you can see how populated the map os with things to do and i’ve probably missed a good wad still.

Now this being a bethesda game it does come with its bugs and glitches. For the most part it’s just part of the charm that comes with them. Many games suffer the same sort of fate but often these come in spades with these titles. I got mostly lucky except for at one point a will-o-wisp was hunting me down like the fucking terminator on every single save option. It wouldn’t take damage and it was mercilessly cutting down the npcs. It was nearly game breaking, funny but ass-clenching as I was like 50 hours deep at this point. It eventually gave up after I ran the length of the map from one end to the other and it allowed me to finally fast travel and then I never saw it again. Hopefully it died. This was the only one that caused any real issue nothing a quick load of a quick or auto save didn’t fix if anything else appeared.

The dlc for this game even when it initially dropped was the gold standard and it still is. The two main ones are the path of the nine and Shivering Isles. The path of the nine is a fun linear experience which rewards you with some of the best armour, sword and shield. However, as previously mentioned it sorta matches with your level. I didn’t realise this and did it a bit early on my final defence and attack I got form it was a wee bit shite. Also it’s best to do it after the dark brotherhood and thieves guild quest lines as it gives you a negative morality standing with the games system. The first quest clears all this off for you and you can redo it anytime but you need to have only like 2 points max going against you else you can’t wear or use anything which you need to finish the missions.

Some of the DLC armour sets make you look fresh on the killing fields.

Now the Shivering isles is magnificent, just everything about it is amazing. The weird and wonderful dialogue especially from the Daedric Prince Sheogorath. This particular plane of oblivion does feel like an extension of the main game but with it’s own odd flair. The strange creatures you come against and the odd flora that inhabits the land. The plot is great and easily stands on par with the main story but in some regards I actually preferred it. It has more choices in it which don’t do a lot but make you feel more involved. It adds a good 20-30 hours for your playtime if you wish to explore everything and do some of the most tedious collecting side quests going. But it adds new weapons, armour types, spells to help flesh out the game more. It”s everything you’d need in an expansion which is often missed in most games nowadays. I would complain that it should be harder and feel more of an endgame expansion though whereas you can kinda just do it whenever. This could more be a complaint on my particular preference then an actual grievance.

A few more poorly taken photos to attempt and capture the essence of The Shivering Isles.

I did find lockpicking to be the absolute drizzling shits and I can’t recommend enough to do the daedric quest for Nocturne. This rewards you with the skeleton key which is an unbreakable lockpick so you can just spam the auto chance option. All the while reaping that sweet sweet skill exp. Ironically by the end of the game I was pretty decent at the very hard lockpicking an often didn’t need to use the auto chance. So perhaps its just a skill issue on my part.

Overall i’d give this a massive 9/10, some Pure Tasty Gaming.

Its not a 10/10 for me though just on the basis of the main quest feeling lacking and the oblivion gates kinda being sucky and a bit boring after a few off them. Along with the dungeons often feeling a bit rinse, repeat. However, the world is great, the variety is there in all other aspects. So for me to only rate it down for these minor things should show you how amazing this 20 year old game is. It is a masterclass in the genre still, not as in-depth as Morrowind or missing the less lore-heavy books and stories of Skyrim. All three have there merits and there is some quality of life and improvements that went into the more casual Skyrim which after replaying this I can appreciate even more. I definitely enjoyed the more rpg heavy mechanics, the clunky combat could’ve felt a bit more modern still but it fits the game perfectly. I never felt bored at any point in this game. In- fact once I had finished all the main quests and did nearly all the other quest I could find I felt sad to be finishing it. Luckily though its always there to dive head first again when I need too.

Released Aprill 22nd 2025 on Sony Playstation 5.

Alan wake Remastered

I’d like to say I vividly remember playing this on the Xbox 360 back in 2010 having fond memories of really enjoying it and always wondering if they’d ever continue it. However, it transpired I remembered I borderline nothing. This isn’t a bad thing this time round as It meant outside of gameplay the story was somewhat new again. Plus it’s nice its available on a Playstation console this time.

The game mechanics fighting off the Taken, the poor unfortunate souls who had been possessed by the Dark Presence. The overall bad of the game is what I remembered most. Blasting the poor fucks with the light of your flash light or eventual lantern beam before filling them with lead. Turn this writer into a bona fide monster killer or just serial killer depending how the denizens of the fictitious Bright Falls reacted to hundreds of their fellow neighbours disappeared into nothing. As he hunts down this malevolent force in the hopes to save his wife who was abducted by this spooky old bitch.

Aesthetically this games narrative and setting are a superb mix between the Twilight Zone and Twin Peaks. With just a dash of some of that uncanny valley weirdness. This helps give this game its own sorta special horror vibe which helps let it stand out. With the intention of the game being released in an episodic manner much akin to a limited TV series you’d watch. It breaks the story up without actually breaking it up, it’s weird but it works. It really invites you in with it’s strong narrative and constant twists and turns.

Your trusty pal and agent Barry.
The last boss of the main game, bit of an odd choice but it works.

The world that Bright Falls inhabits is a tight little area strewn together with a real sense of travelling through a part of rural America. You can tell that it was supposed to be an open world game as initially intended. I’m not entirely sure how that game would’ve felt but this more linear story driven experience was definitely the better choice.

Some of the sights of Bright falls, i’ve missed mnay but you can get the jist of it.

To give it that extra spiciness to the horror aesthetics, most of the gameplay except a few small interludes takes place at night. Fully allowing the game light mechanics to shine (i’m not sorry for the terrible pun). Using lights is the primary way you fight off the taken, possessed machinery or objects that launch at you with no wanton care. They are kinda annoying as you can’t really deal with them in an orderly manner. Nothing major but can be a bit annoying when you’ve got 5 concrete tubes launching at you around mach 10. Every time you hit a light you get a checkpoint or save plus an instant top up of your health. The constant encroaching darkness closing in allows for a claustrophobic impending doom to always linger over Alan’s head, before some farmer with a sledgehammer or something appears from behind aiming to cave it in.

I’d say for the most part the combat and dodging you can do is functional at best and feels mostly satisfying when you finish them off. But at several points you lose your entire inventory, ammo can be sparse at some points and can be a bit tedious if you aren’t near a lamp post or flood light. You can dodge which causes a bit of a time delay to help you manoeuvre the camera in your favour. But as the enemies get harder to take down and some of them hit 3 times in a row which can’t be dodged or parried if caught and you can only take 4 hits before dying. It’s a bit unforgiving for no real reason. There is no way of upgrading weapons or ammo capacity or even your health. With each of the weapons, the revolver, either of the two shotguns or the hunting rifles being ammo capacity locked as well sometimes you think you’ve saved up a good amount only for a checkpoint to rinse you of everything. So you end up back at square one. The best items by far are flash lights and the mighty flash-bangs, they fuck shit up real good along with the flare gun. Which is ideal for taking out the many flocks of demon birds that pop up to ruin your night regularly. I just think one or two more guns just to pad the armoury out a bit more wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Your weapon quick change menu, the street light savepoint and tool box for some ammo. Plus them pesky birds.

If you are aiming for the platinum trophy of this title it will take you a clean 2 runs minimum due to having to play it on the hardest difficulty and some of the collectibles are locked behind this which you have to find nearly all 291 on them. For me that was a no go, I just don’t have it in me for this particular game. It’s a bit of a cheap way to bloat gameplay for no real cause you don’t get anything for finding all of a certain thing whether it’s the manuscript pages which are narrated by Alan himself which is a nice way of reading the story for extra context. But there’s a few hidden TV shows which are fun to watch I won’t give them away to much, radio shows, can towers to shoot, signposts, some hidden chest for extra ammo or weapons and the biggest chunk the coffee thermoses. I’d probably say it’s not horrific to collect them all but without following a guide there’s a good chance you’ll miss a couple which even though each episode can be played at any point once completed. It’s always from the start with the basic set of weapons or flash lights not your previous loadout. So it’s always a bit of an annoying soft reset.

Just an example of the many collectibles to be found in this game.

I did start the DLC for it but for whatever reason they decided to up the difficulty without any real way of balancing it on your end. The waves of enemies is upped significantly and usually padded out with the harder ones to take down. It also comes with a new mechanic for the flashlight activating the floating word and its’ following action. Which I think in principle is cool but in action it kinds didn’t work all that well. When you haven’t got the time to point or waste the limited amount of battery you have whilst your about to be gang jumped by scythe wielding maniacs and exploding the bang option also inflicts damage to yourself its a bit asinine.

This a cool feature they added if you scan these in game it leads to some pre release stuff for Alan Wake 2.

The story is the strongest aspect of the game, its a nice twist from the standard sort of horror game by having an unravelling author who is trapped in his own work of fiction with his own words having a deadly effect to the real world he lives in. I’m not entirely sure how it all pans out into the expanded universe yet, I am working on that slowly. I have completed Control previously but prior to the releases of the story DLC and I’ve never played quantum break. I’m really looking forward to getting through most of these and wrap up with Alan Wake 2 soon. Hopefully before Control Resonant drops. So I can really get into the very expanded lore of this converging game universe.

Overall I’d rate this game a very high 7/10, Positively tasty.

I feel I enjoyed this more the second time round, so having very little memory of the story made for a more enjoyable time. The remaster elevates the graphics and textures a little bit more with enhanced character models but I’d probably say not enough to make it a must have if you have access to the original. The biggest highlight is having the extra DLC in one disc as well. I think if the game itself had a few more enemies and this was balanced out with a few extra weapons and 1 or 2 ways of upgrading Alan it could’ve been that little bit better. As it nots a fully fledged action shooter nor is it a full survival horror. It falls nicely in the middle but could’ve dipped its toes more in one aspect of it. But its a great story and a fairly compelling way to wrap it up, it’s a shame it took 13 years for a sequel but I feel it was worth the wait.

Released October 5th 2021 on Sony Playstation 5

Game Collection update, March 2026.

It’s that time again whilst I finish working on a couple other reviews including Pokemon Legends ZA, and the mighty Elder Scrolls IV, Oblivion. After the dismal year of gaming that was 2025 for me. I’ve managed to hit the ground running this year, solidly working through my main backlog. I’ve still got a long ways to go and it will undoubtedly get worse, even in my best attempts of not buying new games. The same doesn’t apply to older games or repurchasing games I regretfully traded in many a year ago.

But until the next wave of reviews drops for now I’ll do a small collection round up as I try and get on top of this as well as the playing of many, many games.

Kicking this collection round up, is The Lord of the Rings, Battle for Middle Earth II on Xbox 360. Anything Lord of the Rings related is worth a purchase in my books. This entry into the greatest literary series of all time, I’m right on that and you can fight me about it. I’l never change my opinion. This real time strategy game is the second and last entry into this series which is a true shame as it definitely deserves a third part. However at this point i’d guess not likely at all.

Next up on the PS5 is the game of the year for me. Death Stranding 2. I got this beautiful creation on launch and it took me a fucking long ass time to complete it. By my god what a ride it was and was it worth it. I whole heartedly recommend this to everyone. And for a wee bit of self promotion, that was my last game review to see why its a 10/10.

For the Switch we have the House of the Dead remake. No I made a boo boo here. I have a bad tendency to not read things properly and I’m turbo shite at proof reading which is especially bad considering I’m doing a uni degree currently. But this was just a game code in an empty case. I mean what’s’ the fuckin’ point. I want my cartridge considering I’m paying the same price, but what’s done is done.

Something that I patiently awaited for and pre-ordered as soon as I was able to, the Soul Reaver 1 and 2 remaster. The Legacy of Kain series is one of my all time favourite gaming series. And it’s legacy has somewhat been lost in the shuffle as the years went by. Now we also have the remake of Defiance, which I can only pray for a physical edition so I may get another copy of that as well.

I got two decent charity shop finds in Bloodrayne and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for PS2. I think both for like £1 each so I helped myself to them.

Here we have an absolute classic on the PS1, the Alien trilogy. This was a happy find for me as it was a game I had when I was younger and had long since disposed of. I even got it in its Platinum cased edition which for the most part disgusts me but its how I originally had it so I had to do it for memories if nothing else.

Next up another passing random find, Naruto Ultimate Ninja for PS2. Naruto being in my top 5 Anime of all time and having completed a shit tonne of the games over the years I’d never played this entry in the earlier gaming series. So I was pretty chuffed with this one.

And finally for this round up another Switch title, in Daemon X Machina. I played the demo for this when it initially released and ad every intention of buying it. I did not. Now jump along like 6 years this was oddly hard to find. It didn’t cost a whole lot but trying to find a decent copy proved an effort.

So for now I’ll leave things here my tasty chums, as I do some actual life and some gaming for more mediocre reviews of mine which I often realise after I’ve posted that I’ve missed crucial points I wanted to include. But never come back to include because I’m that type of guy, I hope you also continue to thrive in your daily endeavours and continue to keep up the good fight against your gaming backlog. And if you feel like by all means follow me on my socials for even more updates and random nonsense. You can find me on FB, insta and threads. But fuck X, that’s a real pit of shit. But stay frosty my friends and see you soon for another one of my riveting reviews.

Death Stranding 2

Well this was always going to be either a train wreck of a sequel or another masterclass in gaming from Hideo Kojima. For me Death Stranding on the PS4 was easily a top 5 of that generation and it became one of my favourites of all time.

Luckily for me and everyone else who enjoyed part 1 this was not a let down. Easily my game of 2025, granted I didn’t play a whole heap and I do have expedition 33 to sink my teeth into eventually.

This title sticks with the decima engine which Kojima has used previously and its the right choice, this gaming engine is nothing short of incredible. Visually this game is stunning, it’s probably the best looking game I’ve played on the PS5 and I’d hope it would look even better on the pro or the top setting on the upcoming PC port. The world is stunning from the lighting and photorealistic textures, it’s an incredible achievement. Not too mention the likeness to the many famous faces who play the central characters are second to none. The were already impressive on the PS4 but the fidelity has somehow been ramped up again. Along with the uncanny valley addition of Dollman who acts as the Mimir type figure from God of War.

Just some of the many amazing views that transpire in this world.

Once again this is a game that centres heavily on the blurred line between gaming and a full series or film. Kojima really nails the direction on the head here this can be shown with the emotionally driven story and the motion capture of the main characters coming in from top notch actors from the industry allowing for more nuanced storytelling. Along with more precise camerawork as it were which is bundled up in the 6 hour worth of cinematics within the game.

The full connecyed chiral network at the end of the main game, the red areas are the extra facilities at this time i had yet connect too.

The game world you inhabit whether it be the opening area of Mexico or the main area of Australia which I believe is three times the size of the first game. Really expanding the differing biomes within the open area you can explore. This become especially apparent towards the end of the game when you have to traverse all the way from one end to the other. The landscapes are bigger, more impressive and imposing, there is a vastness that comes along with unlocking new facilities. The environments seem more detailed and individual. The world is more reactive with the timefall rain, which effects rivers causing floods, theirs rockfalls, avalanches along with sand and snow storms. Most of these are luckily are relatively trivial but are nice addition to give a sense Sam inhabits a real breathing world. Especially once you get a truck for the most part you can just power through and normally a good egg has left a conveniently placed charger to use allowing for ease of travel.

Sam remains a psychopath, sleeping with neither the pillow or blanket gicen to him and full covered in blood and other shit, hes truly unrepentant.

One of the parts I enjoyed the most in the first game was the horror aspects of the beached creatures and how they would often stunt your progress until late into the game when you were better equipped. Now they still do what they did the first time round but straight out of the gate you are loaded up with better weapons and ways of dealing with theses beasties. The need to sneak round holding your breath isn’t as necessary every weapon can near enough annihilate them. The only ones that cause you to stop and fight a bit are the bigger ones which can kill you causing avoid out. They seem more minimalist but from a story point of view it makes sense seeing as everything you learned has carried over and acts as a general civilian/porter improvement between each of the facilities. Showing how what Sam achieved connecting North America. I find this has inadvertently watered down the horror aspects just by giving you the player all these quality of life improvements, striping away the terror these otherworldly creatures bring forth.

The mighty DHV Magellan

The quality of life don’t stop just at better weapons and easier transportation. You can now fast travel via the DHV Magellan to any place you have connected. That is unless Tarman has popped up tot tell you the tar currents are unstable or some shit which happens a lot. Hindering your fast travel, late game this can become somewhat tiresome. What else helps is you can once again rebuild roads,along with a monorail system. These allow for transporting heavy loads especially from the mines you can reactivate for materials. These are a specific connected line between the bigger facilities so you can directly travel albeit a slow travel to a specific destination with relative ease.

Some of the pavers creating the roads you can use. And the Monorail you can use to get around ableit a slow choice which you cannot skip.

I think in a lot of regards the game does seem easier which could be seen as a detriment especially to the games aesthetic. As this is a game at its core a delivery sim, I mean that does belittle the game somewhat but its true. But the gameplay loop is so fun, it’s oddly relaxing and this is probably helped by the stellar soundtrack, this time coming from Woodkid who deserved to win the soundtrack at the game awards. You always know you’ve hit the right path when a haunting yet beautiful song kicks filling in the usual gloomy and lonesome vistas.

The improvements to on foot traversal and the vehicles you can use can also be seen in the higher amount of weapons and gadgets at your disposal. This makes for multiple ways in which you can tackle the entire game or type of delivery you have taken on. You can choose to be heavy handed with the action side by shooting the fuck out of everything, my approach. You can be stealthier take limited items to help with silenced weapons or the melee choices. Or you can just be all about the delivery time by streamlining your load-out, dumping everything up on a bike or truck ignoring everything else in your way and driving straight to the destination.

These dance scenes happened, i’m not mad at them if nothing else they were excellently done but they come outta nowhere.

I feel the story this time round isn’t as strong as the first game, it starts off like a crack of thunder, then just dawdles. However by chapter 8/9 it really hits its stride and picks up the pace. The best physical direction of the game starts to shine through here as well, with some very cool cutscenes. I won’t give to many details away but I probably will, but Higgs is fucking fantastic even better this time round. He’s just a horrible asshole for the sake of it mostly. He does some truly wicked shit and Troy Baker is as excellent as he always is. Neil Vana whilst crucial to the story is just a replacement for the superior story of Cliff Ungor. It’s nothing against the actor but filling Mads shoes is a hard ask anyhow.

One of the most visually impressive things i’ve seen in a game, such a cool way to intorduce the character.

The ending is nothing short of mental though once on the APAC beach it just turns batshit it the best way. With the personal highlight for me is the game shift of a 1v1 fight against Higgs which then has a ripping guitar solo battle. All the while giant super BTs are brawling in the background and a giant baby Lou is being birthed out of the tar in a lava filled display. Not many games can go from delivering an albino kangaroo one moment to this the next. It’s truly wondrous in the most mental of ways. This can also be said of the flying whale missile strike that happens from time to time as well, I can’t help but feel somewhere out there Gojira are smiling about this.

Some shots from the final mission, including the amazingly random guitar battle sequence.

You get to experience all the cool stuff the dualsense controller can do, with the colour changing light that wraps the touchpad depending where you are and what you are doing. The speaker acting as an extra level of immersion, with talking coming through it. The warning ding of the odaradek to tell you something unruly is coming your way. The sound of rain rattling around the controller or the sound of footsteps sludging through the mud. The trigger feedback is responsive and adds to the feel of losing control going down a hill or falling arse over tit into a fast flowing stream. Giving a bit more of a weighted feel to the controlling of Sam whose saddled with a shit load of cargo.

Just a couple of the new enemies in this game, two of which are big ol’ boss battles.

There is definite nod to the Metal Gear series in this game and not just the obvious ones, the sheer amount of VR missions you can do which amps up the action shooter aspect of the game. Which I think is more solidly integrated into the gameplay for me personally once I got the level 2 shotgun it was go time. I just fucked everyone up, need to clear a mech facility no problem, need to rescue someone from a brigand camp, no problem, a BT pulls you from your truck, no problem. I enjoyed the offence but it did make the stealth options and a good chunk of the equipment pointless for me. If you’re that way inclined there is a hella lot of fun to be had playing a sneaky approach to a lot of these areas.

The online connectivity is still prominent where you all act as a porter within the game world and share built structures which then bleed into one another own games. Its still a really cool socially team-driven idea and brilliantly executed again. Even the delivery of materials and upgrading of roads along pre-existing structures benefit each other which makes them worthwhile doing. You can do it all by yourself but it’d be seriously heavy going along with a metric fuck tonne of time ferrying all the materials.

I just really appreicate the entire art direction of this cult Higgs uses.

I reckon I sunk around 50 hours into this by the time I finished the main story. Now I’d argue there is around double that left if I want to 100% the game and achieve the platinum trophy for it. This is down to achieving the 5 star rank on all 42 facilities you connect up. Some of these aren’t too hard to do with the more deliveries unlocking which give higher likes but there are some that take the piss. I have done some post game clear up and I would really like to go for the full trophy listing but its a hard slog sometimes no matter how enjoyable the gameplay is. I’ve left it installed and have periodically gone back to do a bit here and there so hopefully I’ll chip away at it slowly.

Overall I’d rate this a stellar 10/10, Real Fuckin’ Tasty.

I’d imagine much like the first game this won’t be for everyone but if you can stick with it you’re in for nothing more then a masterclass of storytelling, with stellar art direction. The ambience and aesthetics of this game really are phenomenal and its the lynch pin for the strand gameplay which is what both games are built around. With hyper refined gameplay that has improved on everything that came before. Making everything you do worthwhile irrespective of your preferred play style.

Released June 26th 2025 on Playstation 5

RoboCop Rogue City: Unfinished Business

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.

Released 17th July 2025 on Sony Playstation 5.

Cat Quest 3

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.

Lego Horizon Adventures

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 Tallneck
The 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.

Game Collection Update, December 2025.

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 good fortune for 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.

Pokemon Legends Arceus – Revisited

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.