Well now the new year is well and truly upon us and the 2024 Christmas festivities have firmly finished. It’s now unfortunately time to crack on and get back to the normality of life. I was well and truly spoilt with many a good new game. And I can only hope to that you my fellow and dear readers were also spoilt. After all tis the season, if nothing else it’s to get lots of new goodies, along with some socks and deodorants. The way God intended it to be.
Well this will be a just a quick update as it’s just a showcase of my newest acquisitions. The are predominantly on the PS5.
So i’ll get stuck in. First up we have Dragons Dogma 2. This for me was definitely a long awaited sequel. I was a big fan of the original completing it twice on the Xbox 360 and once more for the remastered version on PS4. For a long while a just assumed it’d never happen.
Next up we have a remake in Persona 3, Persona 3 reload. This is a mega helpful as finding the older Persona games is rare at the best of times. Finding an old game in good nick is even harder. Add that together you get some wildly over inflated prices. As with any collecting hobby you’re beholden to the whims of the seller and the greed of chain stores. It’s a real shit show on occasion.
For number 3, Sonic Frontiers. Sonic finally stepping back into the limelight wit the first feature length film. Luckily we dodged the un-godly abomination that was the first CGI attempt. And we were given a new trilogy and spin-off series. Sonic games were always a main stay but the popularity had dwindled over the years. Stepping into it’s first foray of an open world title I was highly interested in this. I always enjoyed the older titles and spent many an hour on my gamecube playing Sonic adventure 2 Battle when I was a wee whipper snapper. Now I’m an ageing meat sack covered in hair languishing in work with back pain setting in. But that misery is another issue entirely and most definitely not for here.
Up comes number 4. Insomniacs Marvels Spider-Man 2. With number 1 being a certifiably banger. I naturally got Miles Morales. Both of which I got the platinum for. So, 2 was a no brainer. The unbelievably slick web slinging combined with the freedom from wall running, bouncing and whatever else a spider does, Altogether they alone are worth hours of gameplay. I may be abit behind on some of these titles but if you’ve read anything i’ve posted before then you’d know I love a bargain. I really fucking live a bargain, especially when it’s game or console related. Plus £70 a game is a tad steep I find. Not many games feel worht that price tag on release. Now, i’m not gonna get into developer time,crunch or engine costs blah blah blah. Some of these things really need fixing along with these bigger companies cutting studios and peoples livelihoods. I just think 10 hours or so of game ain’t worth that cost regardless of what happened during the development time.
Lastly I have Nintendo Switch title. Just to change it up a tad. This is the remake of Super Mario RPG. Originally on the SNES but it never came to Europe so we never had the pleasure of it. That is until this remake. I have nearly completed this game already and that’ll be the first review of the year and will be coming very soon. As for what’s next I’m not too sure. I flitter between games along with this new stack of backlog to keep me going. My wayward gaming pattern only worsens. Luckily for me it’s the best past time and not much else comes close to it for me.
As always my fellow gaming friends. Stay well, stay happy and stay heavily pre-occupied with the many gaming delights out there. Regardless of whatever genre or game tickles your pickle. But the most important part of all. Stay tasty. Until next time.
This isn’t my first foray into Devil May Cry V nor the series as an entirety. I’ve been a massive fan of this series since playing 2 on the PS2 back in like 2003 or so. I was blown away by the action of the game and having two discs with dual protagonists to play as with slightly differing missions taking place at the same time.
Turns out 2 is the worst one and I still kinda like it. The first entry is great, 3 is incredible, 4 is meh at best and then comes 5. What a game. Honestly it’s just so much fun. If you are after an older aesthetic hack ‘n’ slash style game in the modern era, look no further.
It’ll definitely help playing the entire series up until this point unless you played the light reboot DmC that doesn’t matter it isn’t canon to this games universe. As this game has returning characters and overarching lore that if you want to know what’s going on then it’s pretty vital. The game can be played blind and it does give exposition within cutscenes and with information imbedded in the games menu if you search it out.
This game has 3 playable characters as standard, Dante the main character of 1,2,3 and V, the returning Nero from 4 who looks and plays so much better this time round. And, finally the mysterious V. If you get the special edition you also get Vergil, who is one of the main antagonists and twin brother of Dante.
Your main three characters from left to right, V, Nero who mustve been modelled on Cody Rhodes this time round and finally Dante.
Each character has their own distinct play style, Nero has his gun,sword and devil breaker which arm weaponised arm attachments. Dante has dualling pistols,shotgun,RPG and Dr, Faust hat, plus his devil sword, nun-chucks, demonfied gauntlets and chausses. On top of the best one which is a bladed motorbike that splits in two. Then V fights with his summons, Griffon, Shadow and Nightmare then finishing off the downed foes with his cane. Each play fast and heavy. With separate skills to unlock for each which come with additional, jumps,dodges,attack chains and combos which all flow seamlessly heightening your offence. I wont go into it too much, but Nero is heavier hitter with more methodical combos. Dante is all about very fast paced exploitation, swapping between your available arsenal on the fly to break shields/armour then swapping again to hit as hard as you can. V uses his three familiars to overwhelm with sudden mid range continuous damage. All along with the returning devil trigger for each where you get health replenishment and extra damage for a brief period.
Killing hundreds of demons over the 20 missions couldn’t be more fun and engaging. The combat is a precise flurry of perfectly executed mayhem. This game is very much an arced style game in its increasing difficulties. Where learning to dodge perfectly and execute the right combo on the specific enemy at the right time is highly rewarding. Having a distinct lack of big damage moves or quick time events to help turn the tide. It’s very much skill based. This shouldn’t be a deterrent as the easiest difficulty which is what I started on again isn’t particularly difficult and is still just as fun. The game is designed around all levels of players and re-playability so if you want more of a challenge then those difficulties unlock along the way.
A few of the enemiesmyou’ll come across in game, with the returning Cerberus boss from 3.
The game is completely linear and lasts for around 11 hours I’d say but it could be less or a bit more depending on how you play. Each area is designed to be followed in one way. Occasionally they divert off to find a branch to cut down blocking a path or to complete a blood puzzle. There’s a few extra rooms with blue, purple orbs in which with 4 increase vitality and the Devil trigger gauge, allong with a secret mission which if you look at the ritual markings at the correct angle unlock. These are mini games comprised of killing waves of enemies or collecting red orbs in a certain time. Red orbs are the main currency of this game, which you use to upgrade the characters and buy items.
The in store upgrades from the few items you can purcahse, weapon set collection you can customise order in once unlocking more as well as unlocking new moves/combos.
For a game that originally came out on PS4 and Xbox One with minor graphically upgrades this game still looks incredible on PS5. The character models are second to none. The world and bigger enemies usually the boss show their age a tad but nothing too glaring. The new ray tracing is used to add more depth to reflections and reflective surfaces. Along with the particles on screen at once. I had no lag or crashes. It was a flawless experience. The blood soaked underworld with pulsating plague like skin looks just as gruesome as ever and when in the Londonesque world it takes place in that looks fully realised.
There’s a healthy amount of enemies to fight with each mission adding a newer nefarious foe to do battle against. Which is normally capped off with a big ol’ boss battle. Something this series has predominantly done right is boss battles and this is no different. They are always engaging and hard hitting as you’d expect.
the two big bads this time round in Urizen ad Vergil.
I don’t think there are too many negatives to this game. A few are I’d say the game moves as fast as the combat which can leave a few key points in the dust along with not necessarily being friendly to new players. It could’ve done with having a tad more cutscenes or the ones they had having just the extra but in them. I feel it’s a bit too short not by a lot though. The red orbs you need to fully complete each character comes in at a might 12 million and that’s hard to farm. I hit about 700 thousand by the end of my first play through. If you want to 100% the game for the platinum or achievements it’s particularly grindy. As it locked between 6-8 full play-throughs along with the bloody palace 101 floors of enemies to defeat. It’s absolutely catered towards a particular sort of play base.
The story isn’t the strongest and is kinda there just to hold the game together which obviously sounds a bit stupid. But I’d argue you could easily have just as much fun hacking your way through thousands of enemies for shits and giggles due to how good the combat is.
Ultimately this game is a score chasing arcade game. With the stylish ranks coming from the way you fight. Starting at D all the way to SSS. The higher damage and chained hits you get the more multiplier for red orbs you receive at the end of a mission. As long as you treat the higher difficulties this way the lack of a strong story doesn’t matter. Just keep on grinding and keep improving that’s the core of this game and series.
I’d rate this game a hefty 9/10, Pure Tasty Gaming.
As a 23+ year long series now, this 2020 entry is peak DMC and if there is never another mainline entry it’s a hell of a way to go out. It so close to being a 10/10 for me. However the drawbacks are it’s a bit short story wise and has an over reliance of people knowing the entirety of the story from the previous entries, even if there is a short recap you can access in game. There is a steep learning curve once you go up in difficulty as well but that’s where the fun really starts I’d argue. But the missions are beyond fun and the combat is an utter masterclass in the genre. It’s never a dull moment and with the constant addition of newer enemies to mix up the predicaments you find yourself in and the many boss battles. The increasing difficulty means the call of a replay is never too far out of reach.
It’s my favourite time of the year, where I have to spend all my spare money on my car with insurance renewal, servicing and an M.O.T. Chucked on top with the festivities and all the money that disappears with that and finally the myriad of family birthdays. Now, if that wasn’t bad enough my uni year kickstarted again at the beginning of October which I already juggle around my full time job and now alongside my daughter who is oh so very close to walking. It’s basically game over for my free time along with me buying any really rare goodies. It saddens me.
But, not all hope is lost. No no no. As I am still fully able to horde games like the treasure hoarding cave goblin I truly am.
Now, I haven’t done much of an update since August. So I can’t be entirely sure if i’ll end up missing anything out but imma give it a blast.
The most important thing I have attained though is my Evercade which I have spammed a bit. Nevermind though. Also if you wish you will find my review on this handheld console from a wee while ago. (a lovely bit of self promotion there if I do say so.) I really enjoy this bit of kit and my small collection which will most definitely be growing in the near future.
Gotta promote this some more people need to know of its existence.
I also round off my mainline Gran Turismo collection for the PS1 by finally purchasing 1 and 2.
Gotta love a bit of Gran Turismo. My top racing series by far.
I have purchased a few WWE Smackdown games for the PS2 in Here comes the pain and Shut your mouth. In my quest to get every WWE wrestling game. Which is far more vast then I had anticipated. Especially when you consider older WCW and WWF games.
Really starting to build up a decent collection of WWE games now. With here comes the pain being one of the all time greats.
Theres only 1 PSP and 3DS game. For the PSP the Metal Slug anthology. And for the 3DS Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. I still really need to work on my 3DS collection,as i’ve had one since it came out and I basically just neglected it’s existence outside of Pokemon and Monster Hunter games.
I chose to re-buy all Assassins Creed games. Having made the poor life choice over the years to trade every single one of them in. I started with the PS3 era. That is now complete as I have; 1,2,Brotherhood, Revelations,3,4 and Rogue.
I even sneakily put in AC 3 Liberty on the PS Vita to pad out the collection.
And finally to round off as complete at the time of writing this. I have two new PS5 additions. As I may buy many a game over the year. Its less often that they are new games. As previously mentioned with my lack of time to play games I don’t see much point in spunking off £70 on a new game very often. I caved in pre-ordering Dragon Quest 3 -HD-2D Remake though. I wanted it, I wanted bad so I got it like a real chump. No regrets. I also bought Planet Zoo for my PS5. As I fucking love park building games and with added depth of park management it makes my knees weak. Being on offer for £20 also really helped, and I can’t move onto Planet Coaster 2 until I have attained complete mastery of this earlier entry in the planet games.
Two absolute bangers. I’d recommend you waste your money and time on both of these.
So there it is folks until sometime after the new year now. I’ll be out wasting my hard earned cash on games. And i’ll have 1 or 2 more reviews up before then as well hopefully. I have just completed Jedi survivor but no need to review as my compadre has already done one like a year ago. If you so wish to read. (Again, more self promotion. I’m feeling it today I tell ye.) I’m currently on 100% Platinum run of that bad boy cause it slaps real fucking hard. It’s great. I’ll have Planet Zoo and DMC V Special edition in the works. I do need to work on my older games which is super hard to do. Especially considering i’ve started Ratchet Gladiator, Enter the Matrix and Call of Duty 2. I may be dropping a whole plethora of content soon, who knows? I doubt it but alas I can dream.
However, I wish you all to keep up the good fight in this mostly horrid retro game market. Buy, sell and complete as many games from whatever year and generation you please. Just unwind, relax take a load off and have a banging time. You deserve it.
As always though my Tasty brothers and sisters. Stay fucking Tasty. Until next time.
I do love me some Assassins Creed. Initially I was a naysayer ignoring their existence until revelations. Once I chose to actually play them I was firmly hooked by Brotherhood and since then I’ve played every mainline console title other then Rogue, which is on it’s way to me as we speak. I’ve played the PSP and DS titles, and I’ve got liberation on my Vita which admittedly I haven’t gotten that far in, so I was always going to get Mirage the same way I’ll absolutely be getting Shadows when it eventually releases.
This game serves as a precursor to the story of Valhalla, as that is when we first meet Basim and learn of his past and ties into the overall story of the AC world and less then confusing lore. Granted I had forgotten a lot of what happened and had to refresh myself with what was going on. I have weak memory retention for these sorta things. Which is a shortcoming of the game, as one of the defining features of the main line titles in the series is the duelling stories of your assassins past and the protagonist of the future. This game omits the secondary protagonist so there is no present story this time round.
Another issue with the story is I found to be brutally honest it doesn’t serve any purpose overall. Sure, you can say it’s nice to see how Basim was originally and ultimately became. From unlocking his true memories and inherited legacy he gained via rebirth. However, it does nothing to enhance or progress what you already know from Valhalla.
Your main interface where you can pick your outfit and weapons. The talisman doesn’t do anything other than add to your outfit. which I find is an odd choice.
The gameplay is more tightly focused on stealth again. As even by AC 2 the games had made combat basically primary with optional stealth kills, along with infiltration etc. Mirage really went for the assassin lineage in this game as the game really wants you to be a real sneaky boy. Combat blows major ass, I mean it’s pure dog shit. You can do light or heavy attack with the same trigger button, parry which hardly works, dodge with a roll physic that likes to roll you back into the enemy your aiming to avoid. It’s highly counter productive. Your swings are combo limited and don’t get any better from the skill trees. You get a roll over move that lets you vault over the bigger enemies. Which by then if you just pop a smoke bomb you can go behind and assassinate them anyways.
Whilst clearing out this location it devolved into a straight slaughter. It shows combat can work but it’s nowhere as near as fluid or as useful as it should be.
Your primary way of getting around your targets is the tools you get which honestly just pump your resources into throwing knives and smoke bombs. Once they’ve been fully upgraded you can fuck major shit up. Don’t worry about running out. Most your victims will carry some item or another plus most places contain replenishment loot boxes so you’ll never be short.
Your main three skill trees. Other than the last few most the skills don’t really do anything . All your tools have three tiers to unlock.
You can only chain two assassinations together which is weak and if the focus skill wasn’t available you’d be a really weak assassin by previous games. Once you have all three upgrades for focus, you can one shot five enemies in a row which is fairly helpful.
The world looks utterly incredible even if this game is limited to just the area of Baghdad. One thing the AC games always knock out the park is the worlds. Hardly any other title or series rarely manages to create games that look so impressive. Off the top of my head I can think of maybe the Witcher 3, or Ghost of Tsushima that creates such a striking world to explore and complete.
One of the synchronisation points showing how tightly designed the explorable map is.
As graphically impressive as the game looks, on occasion character models often looked less then impressive. With character movement and facial expressions being kinda janky, but I can find that forgivable for the most part.
For the main story you are tasked with taking down the order that is controlling Baghdad with five targets in total to kill. The first four allow some freedom in that you can find the headquarters and start that chain of mission if you choose. It’s a bit like breath of the wild in that you have objectives and it’s your decision in which order you complete them.
All missions, whether main or tertiary come here and once red they are complete. As you can see not a great amount.
Along with the main missions theres a few side quests I say a few as there are 7. You also have contracts which again there aren’t many. These are mostly kill missions, extractions or escort someone to safety. All of which are highly missable unless you are going for the platinum trophy. The same goes for the collectibles which are gear chests which give you weapon or outfit schematics which again are few in number, and honestly don’t do much outside of damage, defence and maybe noise reduction.
You have notoriety again in this game, which you can pay to clear it or tear down a couple of wanted posters. But the game doesn’t care f you are wanted or not most time and guards will just swarm you like a fly to a freshly plopped shit. So you often end up running round waiting to clear your name to get back on with the story.
A good chunk of the explorable world is the wilderness and it’s basically empty. Therea no outposts to clear, no real threat from wild animals even though you encounter a rogue Ostrich from time to time. It’s just lacking in content all round. I don’t think every game needs to be the size of Valhalla or Odyssey. Probably somewhere between this and Origins just so you aren’t swamped by an overbearing sized map or having nothing to do.
Best glitch I ran into basin just spontaneously ignited and spent the rest of the time in fire. There were a few others, like bodies spinning around or floating off in mid air. But nothing too game breaking.
You can pickpocket anyone that has a purse strapped to their back, but there is an over reliance on getting your money and bribe tokens this way. There aren’t many items to collect and most are junk you just sell to merchants anyway. Once you’ve hit the midway point of the game you don’t even really need bother with it.
Oddly this game comes with new game plus as well and honestly I don’t see why you’d bother going through it again. You can 100% this game easily in one playthrough with only missable trophy/achievement which is fairly hard to miss if you just do what the game tells you to do.
Overall I’d rate this game a Tasty 6/10.
I know a lot of people enjoyed this return to more stealth game play, but I just think even in that regard there wasn’t much. I think nostalgia goggles play an important part in that sentiment. The game has few big locations to enjoy and often you end up in combat even when playing as sneaky as you can. Then it just unfolds from there. The world is mostly empty. And, I’d argue this comes from the fact it was originally developed as DLC for Valhalla and you can see that in the finished product. With every area lacking in depth or content. It’s worth a go but if you don’t want to miss it out you’re not even losing any extra long term story development. It’s not as essential as it should’ve been and that’s what let’s it down the most.
Obviously this hardware review was coming, if any of you follow my socials, it’s what the vast majority of my posts have been the past month or so. I have so many others I could finish or start but I’m having way too much fun with this device which I ignored for far too long.
I have known about the Evercade systems for a while, I just kinda waded past them like a rogue floating turd in the ocean as it didn’t seem something I necessarily thought was for me, I’m not sure how really. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
This nifty little gadget has been my go to handheld since purchasing it, now it’s not your full console experience nor your Switch or Switch OLED, let alone a steam deck, Odin or whatever else you might choose to play. And, granted all these other devices are probably perfectly capable of running homebrews or emulators but they aren’t the real deal. Not like this. These gaming systems run either relicensed games for their cartridges or even newer indie games stylised and purposely developed for older styled game systems. All neatly packed in their multi game cartridge, as each one comes with a range of 2 to 20 games loaded onto them.
My current little collection. I’m sure it’ll swell in due time.
As for the version I chose to buy, I purposely chose to get the white EXP rather then wait for the shinier more spangled version the EXP-R dropping soon. I was far too enticed by the 18 pre-loaded Capcom titles on the system. Namely the original SNES version of Breath of Fire. Having a super Nintendo system myself for a while now, I admittedly haven’t bought any new titles for it as much as I’d like too. This particular title however outside of the re-released Gameboy Advance version I have I can’t get for my region. So, outside of buying a pal or Japanese region SNES and importing this game I can’t play it the way the good lords wish me too. This all changed the moment this glorious little console graced my sweaty palms.
Your homescreen once you’ve got a game in. You can’t beat a jovial jaunt through Nosgoth in the original PS1 games of the Legacy of Kain.
Again a few other titles installed that gave me a happy twinge were Mega man, Mega man X and Street Fighter II Hyper fighting in its full arcade version beauty. So even before any cartridges are snuggly fitted into the back of the console you’ve already got a sickening back catalogue of games to come too terms with. It’s any avid collectors moist laden dream, why complete a game I’ve had collecting dust for three years when I can start 18 more at the same time?
Just a few of the titles loaded for your enjoyment.
Not to mention the extra 9 hidden games, which can be unlocked in the settings menu under secrets input the correct codes or on the main menu screen, even more endless hours of fun can be had. I won’t ruin the codes for you, but it’s easy enough to find with a certain search engine.
Again just a few of the hidden titles you can play.
Something small I do enjoy about evercade game boxes are along with the cartridges come these nifty game manuals. Now I think the art of a game manual being included with a game seems to be dying and it’s not particularity a trend I appreciate. These tiny folded laminated joys, come with the games controls and if it’s a fighting game it will even list each characters combos. I just love it. I’m what you’d call a forgetful gamer or just genuinely bad. So, having these to hand make my life just that little bit better.
The game manual that comes with the console itself. All you need in life a good manual.
Depending on what sort of game you are playing, there is a wee button on the bottom left of the console with the letter ‘T’ on it. This being the tate button allows you to flip the rotation of the screen so you can play with just the D-pad and the extra A and B button. This is one of these features that when you read you can do it you kinda just ,’oh cool’ and move on with your life. I say nay to that sort of thinking. It’s old and outdated. Say yes to forward thinking, especially these neat little functions. Some games excel with the in game switch, making for a more fun time.
The old switcheroo, this is NNNNNN a game I may genuinely be addicted to.
Even though you can buy a more traditional style home console version of the Evercade, something I’m sure I’ll get in the near future, if you wish to still sit in front of your tv you can get yourself a mini HDMI to HDMI cable slap that bad boy straight into the back of your tv. Then, ta-daaah! You’ve got your EXP as a controller and all the marvels of the games that become alive and in technicolour, all in glorious 50 inched 4K.
The screen isn’t the biggest and ideally for my dead eyesight, it could do with being just a smidge bigger. It’s a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things. The IPS screen that is used is lovely and bright though, the colours do really come through. Having a vibrancy that lets the older games pop more.
I think the system itself has a decent heft to it, it doesn’t feel too over cumbersome and in my beastly hands it does fit nice and snug. Much like the cartridges that slot in and out all nice and smooth like.
I personally find this hard to not give it a 10/10. I just can’t find any faults with it. It does what you want if you want old retro games from the Atari or C64 days. Plus some more modern titles like Duke Nukem, Tomb Raider and some of my personal favourites in the Legacy of Kain series. The battery lasts me about 4 hours which is reasonable. The one big downside I will say there is revolves around the games themselves. Having come somewhat late to the game, with licensing it means some of the cartridges aren’t in print any more as it were. Meaning, they now class as legacy games. Making a couple hard to find and already falling into the deep crevice of second hand store pricing if you can find them. It’s not completely horrendous now but I can imagine in the future it’ll definitely be something that’ll cause a sense of grief.
As previously mentioned overall I rate this a real big 10/10. Certifying this properly Fuckin’ Tasty. I love this contraption and hope to enjoy many more fruitful years enjoying old but new titles all these years later.
I was interested in this title from when it was first announced being a fan of Rick and Morty. So being an Xbox exclusive a console I don’t have I just assumed it’d fall into the category of games I may play one day. Then on top of that all the stuff Justin Roiland had been doing came to light and caused it’s own controversy which effected this game along with Rick and Morty. With him voicing the main gun Kenny in the game plus many many others NPC’s. I decided to go ahead and purchase it still whilst it was on sale. If for no other reason it supports everyone else involved,with Roilands involvement ending before the DLC High on Knife was released as well., squanch games acknowledging the wrong doings he’d done as well.
Now, I wasn’t completely sure on what the entire game would be outside of a first person shooter set in alien worlds and that all your arsenal are alien life forms that are talking guns.
It’s not a massive game by any stretch and even though the planets are slightly open world, the game is linear. There are no side missions to be had only story missions which are objective orientated. It’s mainly go here and kill these enemies along the way, with new weapons you unlock and the occasional new enemy type that appears.
Just a few snippets into some of the lcoales you explore.
The main plot involves the silent as well as faceless hero finding Kenny the Gatlian sentient gun. Whilst the G3 cartel invade Earth and begin smoking humans as a new high. Get the title now, ey ey? Your house gets teleported to Blim city and you meet a now injured and retired Bounty Hunter named Gene. You take up his place along with his bounty hunting suit. Where you then kill the G3 officers one by one.
The big bad of the gameand the head of the G3 Cartel. Who ends up getting an unfortunate explosive anal passage death.
There is five guns in the game all of which are their own personality and come with their own skill set. Now I’d argue Sweezy is the best weapon as you can fire multiple rounds into an enemy and use her special ability to multiply all the effects in one blast from holding down the firing button. Gus is the shotgun style gun, Kenny the pistol and creature shoots his own babies who attach to enemies and explode. Plus the best character is knifey who pretty much gets forgotten about once you get Gus. You have Lezduit for the final mission only who is the most powerful gun in the game.
A family pic, these are the five main guns of the game and Gene.
Combat is mid in this game, its competent enough and each weapon does feel different when fired, so not entirely bland, but it’s nothing like what you’d expect in a standard AAA budget game or even a lot of AA games. There isn’t much to it to be even remotely be counted as standout and the enemies aren’t particularly numerous or difficult. Just a few variants in melee, shooting, sniping or the bigger hulk, bullet sponge style character. It’s all cut and dry stuff you’d expect. Knifey only stabs or you can do a critical execution style move, something that could’ve had more life put into it. He also doesn’t get any upgrades in the base game.
In terms of setting each area isn’t massive and the only explorable parts are when looking for lugboxes which are chests that contain either money, weapon upgrades and collectible cards. This is mostly only worthwhile doing if you want the platinum trophy.
This is a Lugbox that gets gored by knifey to obtain it’s treasures.The only collectible of the game in trading cards.
The worlds and creatures that inhabit each place though are colourful and varied enough to give the game enough setting and world building. With a start of in game lore coming from the many talking npcs who talk loads. You traverse across a jungle mining planet, a desert and futuristic cities. They are similar in style and aesthetic to that of Ratchet and Clank, but lacking the part where you return to find golden bolts whilst unlocking new areas.
Your portal interface and bounty board to complete the main campaign.
The game won’t be for everyone as well, due to its humour and the sheer amount of swearing. It’s offensive and definitely aimed for fans of rick and morty style comedy with the toilet humour cranked up to a rather healthy 10. At one point there’s a drug addict who’s coming down and ends up passing out in his own ‘shit piss’. I found this game to have some real funny moments in it but I can definitely see why someone wouldn’t.
Your invenotry, standard stuff. Outside of where you meet an alien who gives you this if you so desire. Carrying it until the end and you ping a trophy as well.
Something else the game would do that if the humour isn’t for you the 20 adverts that are in the game will annoy the shit out of you. Some of them are fairly funny others do grate on you a bit after the third or fourth time you’ve seen them.
Also if you don’t fancy playing the game there are I think four full movies in game you can stand your character in front of a TV and just kick back and watch it in their entirety. There’s also a warp disc that can be purchased that transports you to a cinema which is dedicated to this past time.
You can buy and find upgrades as well, so you can increase ammo capacity, fire rate, damage, health and shield capacity. So all of the usual suspects in these sort of games. I’d argue they are lacking a bit though as if you didn’t purchase or find any of them it wouldn’t really impact you’re ability to complete the game in anyway.
The remaining few upgrades i had yet to buy. Mostly limited and don’t really add all that much to the gameplay.
In terms of traversing around the game, again, it isn’t world breaking you can use knifey to latch on to points, magnetic boots to help climb silver paved areas and a bit of a weak jetpack. Which even once it’s fully upgraded the fuel still runs out quicker then what’s useful. Plus it has a weird height restriction on it. Sweezy and creature help unlock hidden areas for lugboxes but don’t do much else.
These forums are in game challenges, you unlock more as the game progressive and you are rewarded with in game currencies. I’d argue this is only worth going out your way for if you intend to do a platinum trophy run.
I can’t say I ran into any technical difficulties or glitches during my play through. Something that was an issue on release for the Xbox Series. This could be due to patches and fixes it’s since received but my experience was pretty solid. I’m not one that cares all that much about frame rates or other nit picking shit like that. As long as it doesn’t freeze, crash and stutter I’m a happy guy. This falls straight into that category.
Overall I’d rate this game a decent Tasty gaming 6/10.
The game isn’t too long about 10 hours to complete so it doesn’t over stay it’s welcome. I think the shooting could be a bit tighter and a bit more to combat as a whole. A few side missions to help build the world up and give you more of a reason to explore. Better upgrades and more challenging enemies. All of which could easily be corrected in a sequel. I find myself often saying this for first entry games of a new series. That it’s a strong foundation, and that is the truth here. Keep everything they’ve already done and just add to it. A few passive skills to unlock wouldn’t hurt. The humour isn’t for everyone but if it’s cheap enough it’s worth giving ago if you’re a bit short on anything to play at the moment.
I bought Cat Quest 1 and 2 on a bit of a whim due to the fact they were both like £2 on sale from the PS store. So I thought, why not? And, i’m so glad I did. As you can see in my previous review of Cat Quest 1 I really enjoyed the quick and nifty RPG.
With this sequel they’ve improved upon nearly everything. The first noticeable improvements are the graphics. Immediately you notice the higher quality of detail. From the shading on the traversable map. The water, the translucence of the floating clouds above. All the while losing none of the charm of part and whimsy of part one.
The two kingdom capitals that house the waring faction of cats and dogs.
You have two playable heroes this time as well, whom you can swap between at anytime. Having expanded the map to contain two kingdoms, one is the land of the cats and the other is dogs.
Having two heroes you have even more weapons and armour options, which function the same as in the first game. You initially find them in chests or you get them as rewards and they can be upgraded at either the armourer or blacksmith to improve their stats. This time round the game feels more balanced and the builds you choose to use feels more worthwhile as a direct result.
Your new and improved menu UI, it’s still not the best but far better then in Cat quest 1. You swap between each character to select what weapons/armour and magic to equip to them.
There are more dungeons to be spelunked this time around, and they have been overhauled. They still aren’t massive and only take a couple mins to run through. Still quick, fun and to the point. But they look better along with having more traps and better enemy variety. Plus a few of them are now trials, which are three to four enemy waves you have to defeat. A small improvement but in the platinum run it helps out instead of the same sort of monotonous dungeon each time.
The vastly improved dungeons you come across 73 of them on your way to 100% the game.
The main story is better, it’s still not the best but there’s a slight continuation from the first game. Some returning side characters appear and even smaller ones for a few side quest as you go along your journey. Which even if you haven’t played the first, it won’t infringe upon playing this game in anyway.
Combat is pretty much the same as last time. You can attack and roll once the red circle triggers on the enemies to allow time to dodge the incoming attack. You have magic attacks returning again. This time you have 12 to choose from, each hero can equip four ago once you’ve found the corresponding rune stones. Which also boost your overall mana pool.
The three shops you use to upgrade any of your spells or equipment.
Along with these, there are four royal arts which are passive abilities. A new feature to this sequel. You get water walking, added damage to your roll whilst you dodge into your enemies. A power smash attack with critical hits doing added knockback damage. You don’t get flying this time round which would’ve been a massive help in mopping up during the last few hours. However, water walking is still mightily helpful.
They’ve added a few quality of life improvements as well, you can scourer the map properly this time it still doesn’t come with a zoom function though. The menus are better to navigate through and there are fast travel points dotted around for slight easier travel. If you want to do multiple playthroughs there are three save slots and multiple difficulties with new game plus. Now it took me 11 hours to do everything and that’s with me playing it slightly badly. So it’s not the longest game, nor the shortest. The quick fun, nature of the game really shines through each time you play it. Whether for a quick half hour or a few hours a go.
The fast travel hub to a few helpful markers around both traversable kingdoms.
I’d argue the side quest still suffer the same as the last game, now the idea is supposed to be quick and easy. Which they achieve and they are fun, don’t get me wrong. It just misses the mark in that there needs to be a few bigger side quests that are bit longer then go here, kill these monsters or clear this dungeon. Just something a bit meatier that could award you with bigger stacked upgrades for you weapon or they end in a much bigger dungeon with a bigger mini boss to defeat.
The world and lore of the game is expanded on as well, adding to the story started in part one. I have high hopes for three and have seen good things from it. As long as it follows the improvements from 1 too 2. I can only imagine those few niggle points will have been addressed and will make for an even better game which is already really doing most things right.
Overall I’d rate this belter of a game a highly Tasty 8/10.
A great sequel too an already slightly hidden gem of a game. Where it only gets better from the moment you boot this game up. A quick, fun and easily replayable game that hopefully sets up the third game just as well as one did for two.
I picked up this game on sale for £2.49 I think it was after completing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and feeling a bit lost as to what to play next. I can say that I am glad that I chose to pick this up.
It’s a whimsical action role playing game which is similar to the older Zelda games. Where the entire world is inhabited by humanoid cats and the world littered with dangerous monsters.
You play as a nameless and mute hero, so pretty standard stuff here. So all the talking and exposition comes from your companion spirit guardian, Spirry. The plot of this game is that you are in search of your sister who was taken by the evil Drakoth.
On this search you are able to traverse the world at first by foot, but later you gain the abilities to walk on water and even fly. These come along as you defeat the evil dragons summoned by Drakoth. As you are marked with the Dragonblood emblem you are the only one who can defeat them.
The overworld is inhabited with a constant respawn of monsters to fight, where each area they become harder to fight. So, you can only go through each area effectively as you level up.
The capital along with two message boards where you can get side quests from.As much of the world map i’m able to fit in one go.
In order to level up the defeated monsters drop gold and exp orbs, and the levels come with stat increases. Gold can be used to go to the smith and open either a chest of 50 gold or 5000 gold. These give you new armours and weapons which also stack increasing their levels and stats. This does allow for slight character build as you can go for defence, damage or magic. With the middle ground option being a bit of two of them. Some give high damage but decrease health, or give high magic but low weapon damage etc.
The arcane shop to upgrade your magic.This is how to unlock some new or upgrade pre-existing weapons/armours.
You also have 7 magic attacks you can buy and upgrade, equipping up to 4 at one go. You get the power of fire,lightning,ice, healing, doubling in size, spike traps, and the best move an aether like laser beam.
Your basic magic menu where you can equip any variation of the four available to you.
Whilst adventuring around the land, you will come across many dungeons to explore. These dungeons only take a few minutes each and aren’t particularly large. With the goal simply to clear them, which is done by defeating all the monsters inside and claim the chests within.
Now some of these dungeons you’ll visit a few times as the towns you find all come with quest boards and have roughly three to four quests to complete. All rewarding you with exp,gold and new items.
Your armour and weapons menu again, basic and not the easiest ot navigate.
Nothing in this game is long, overall the game only takes about five to six hours to complete. With a couple more to get the platinum. It’s as simple as do the main quest, level up to level 99. Go through all dungeons and find the monuments which give a bit of lore to the game.
It’s a nice experience. Nothing over stays it’s welcome and you’re never particularly bored. Combat happens in real time, it’s quick and to the point. You attack and can dodge, and use your magic which replenishes whilst landing successful blows upon your foes. You can save and heal up at rest points which are everywhere.
The game has a great cartoon design and aesthetic to it, it’s a colourful throwback. Giving me early final fantasy, Breath of Fire or Golden Sun vibes. One nice feature which even some bigger games fail to do is every bit of armour or weapons once equipped show up on your hero. Also having a weird fetish for rituals and summoning circles. Even going all in for it on a four side quest journey involving Santa Claus. Where you save Kitmas.
I think in terms of drawbacks, it could have had a bit of a better plot, slightly bigger map. Gold for the most part doesn’t start stacking up until you are around level 40 which is a detriment when items have levels which require buying a shit load of chests. I think the combat could have just a bit more to it, even if it was just a shield with a block function. Also, maybe having like four or five bigger much harder dungeons. Not too mention when you zoom out on the map it’s static so you can’t look round. It also falls into the same trap of giving you all the best gear far too late into the game so it’s worthless. You can complete every dungeon and mission by the time your level is around the mid 80’s mark.
This game is a banging and Positively Tasty 7/10.
A quick and quirky adventure in the land of dragon slaying cats. What’s not too like? And for a few quid you can’t go wrong with some easy dungeon spelunking across a magical, monster filled land.
Just another quick game collection update in-between the reviews that’ll will continue coming your way.
I’ve got a good spread this time, and if you have been following my on any of my socials you’ll have already seen what I’ve amassed the past two months.
I’ve got a few titles I’ve been after a while which makes me very happy. I’ll start with the PS2 titles. Here we have Guitar Hero 3, Call of Duty 1 and 3. Along with Max Payne 1 which the case has seen better days and the manual is mising, which is less then ideal. A couple of film adaptations in Star Wars revenge of the Sith and Peter Jackson’s King Kong. And a title I have been after some time and comes in near mint condition which is a blessing these days. Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga. A game I was enamoured with but never owned only borrowed for a brief time. Potentially being my first proper JRPG. Next up in the very near future will be the sequel to this beast of a game to round out my collection even more.
Rolling onto the PS3, my newest additions for this console are Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Castlevania Lords of Shadow. Two games again I want to repurchase as having regretting my youth in trading in everything I have to rebuild parts of my collection. The last Simpsons game to be made and it’s that old it doesn’t come with trophies. This doesn’t take away from the fact it’s a really good game. Finally, Alice the Madness Returns, this was one of these games I managed to get an absolute steal with, as it’s becoming increasingly harder to find and going up in price and I’ve been after it since getting my PS3 about 8/9 years back.
I have one new game for the Nintendo Ds, in Guitar Hero on tour, a bit of theme here I think. Which you can also find a review on this game locked and loaded already from a few weeks back. Along with a new title for the Gamecube a favourite of mine from my much younger days. XIII, a game that didn’t deserve the piece of shit remake it got and ruined it’s cult legacy. You’d do yourself a favour and play it as it was supposed to be played and that’s on the Gamecube.
And lastly, my newest additions which are for my second favourite handheld console of all time the small and might PsVita. Again if you have the time a review of this console is ready to be read on my site. I have three new games for this system, start with the worst in Fifa football a custom built game for this system. Then the Mortal Kombat 9 port with all DLC content and my 2nd favourite pick up of this update in Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus. The more complete version of the PS3 title of Ninja Gaiden sigma. With the best way to play being this version on the Vita.
So another collection update comes to an end, I’m sure I’ll have another one ready to go soon enough. As I’m already eyeing up a few rare titles to purchase as well as always been on the lookout in my travels.
As always my friends stay happy, safe and the most important stay Tasty. Until next time.
When I did my review on the PS5 edition of the Final Fantasy 7 remake, I was probably a bit biased and wearing nostalgia googles. I maintain my review stance and still say it’s a 10 out of 10 game. This however, is a true 10 out of 10.
This game is truly a behemoth in it’s own right as well as being the second game in a planned trilogy. Now I know this game really does aim for fans of the original more than anyone and it does rely heavily on having played that on PS1 or recently enough to know what the fuck is going on.
Without trying to spoil too much, this game doubles down on the ending of the remake with the multiverse time lines. As well as really bringing in aspect of other stories from the surrounding game series. Taking a more prominent role is Zack from Crisis Core, theres a few flickering scenes that’d you blink and miss from the film Advent Children, as well as character tweaks and outright changes.
From a story point this is a true masterclass in story telling, and this is namely done in the writing and world design. The characters are so well fleshed out and actualised. From all the interactions from the benign chatter as you run around, to the carefully design synergy attacks during combat. Everyone has their time to shine and given reason to care for. The voice acting is of a gold standard across the board helping bringing the correct nuance and intonation as they talk. Having dedicated side quests where a certain companion takes centrefold. You can deepen your bond by selecting the correct dialogue choice and actions. This doesn’t amount too much but you do get to hang out with one of your chums at the end of chapter 12 depending on who you are closest too.
The party comprises of Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barrett, Red XIII, Yuffie and Cait Sith with the remaining Cid And Vincent being present but not playable. I think this game does a real service to making them all stand out as well as when controlled in combat all of them feel like they could be the protagonist of any JRPG series themselves. My party usually consisted of Cloud, Tifa and Yuffie and Using Tifa as the main heavy.
How to change your mateira, weapon abilities and view stats.General party and menu UI.
Whilst fighting you can do the standard of attack, dodge, and defend. Whilst charging up your ATB gauge to use spells, items and abilities. New to this title is being able to use synergy attacks as well which also grant temporary boons, like increasing the ATB gauge to three instead of two or temporary unlimited MP or nulifying physical damage etc. You also have Limits and summons to help dealing even more damage.
I think the fighter is tighter than the remake and more engaging. You have less control over the builds as your character, weapon and party level all increases. You get stat increases to the character as well as the weapons stats. You can pick the order you unlock your character skill trees but you can obtain them all with two playthoughs which you’d need for the platinum. You definitely hit harder but in return also get hit harder. This time round the devs really upped the sheer amount of boss fights as well as making them far harder. It’s by no means the hardest game in existence but some bosses do cause you a wee bit of grief. Along with a few hidden bosses the most prominent being Gilgamesh. Where once you’ve completed all the protorelic missions which there are 4 to each region. Something I wasn’t the biggest fan off you unlock his island which ends in a fight with him.
Gilgamesh as the sand giant who gets on your tits throughout the dunes of Costa Del Sol.
The game world covers nearly all of the planet this time rather than just the linear Midgar of remake. Now rather then being a complete open world it’s more of a connected up overworld with self contained open areas. Now you get Chocobos to run around faster which each come with their own terrain specific abilities which help traverse the grasslands or desert of Cosmo Canyon. I think this game looks phenomenal and not just graphically. I think some may disagree but the sheer level of detail and effort gone into each areas design is outstanding. From lush pastures, to thick forest encompassing ancient ruins or the rocky terrain lording above the desolate desert below. Or the chilled summer vibes from the beach resort at Costa Del Sol.
As you go around each area, there are a plethora of enemies just plumming it around to run into and battle. Now most bigger enemies or mini bosses only spawn from finding all of the areas intel and summoning them or from a side quest that takes place. Having the variety to fight makes for battling again being better then remake. I thought remake was a bit limited in enemies as well as very little in open areas which stunted it somewhat.
Fucking Tonberries and their one hit killshot. Fuck ’em.Love me a bit of Chocobos and their pint sized babies that lead you to fast travel points.
I should probably mention Chadley a returning Professor Hojo created shinra cyborg who helps you by acting as a guide, materia merchant as well as giving you access to beating the summons such as Titan, Odin and Bahamut to use in battle. He pops up all the time, and if you find a life spring, do a battle challenge, the protorelic quests for each area or activate a beacon he will pop and chat some shit at you. It’s fairly constant. I didn’t mind it all that much though, but I think that I played this game from release until recently and it was broken up that much I was never exposed to him in big chunks. He even creates an AI himself called Mai who then also chats shit at you.
The duality of Red XIII, also just a sheer apreciation at the visual fidelity of his design.
The game only has I think something like 34 side quests which isn’t loads but for the most part they are such an improvement over remake. They mostly count for something or help expand on the world and lore of everything. But what this game does have in absolute spades is mini fucking games. I’d argue this is my one draw back from this game. There is an endless stream of them. Now I like mini games as much as the next person but this on regular interval forces you to play them. The games platinum is locked behind them if that’s something you’d usually go for. Having to complete them on hard mode which is unlocked once initially completing them. Most of them I didn’t mind and I often go the highscore with minimal effort but some of them just blow ass.
The world map and misison, Queens Blood and Protorelic tracking.The areas map unlocks as you traverse back and forth.
This sentiment isn’t bestowed upon the might that is Queens blood. My favourite addition to the series. This is what Gwent was to the Witcher. I loved it in fact I wish there was more of it, and more trophies specific to this pass time. I did everything to do with this, I collected all the cards, beat everyone and I wanted more at the end of it. The story that centred around it was weak but it needed to be there to give you more reason to play it. Chocobo racing was fun as well, very Mario Kart like, I did however hate those bastard Cactuar gates which are designed to ruin your life.
Tonally this game is peak Final Fantasy, you have such sincere heartfelt moments which are broken up by the grittier darkness of the looming dying planet. The mental struggles of Clouds fragmented mind from the five years of torture he endured and then you randomly find yourself battling in a colosseum whilst a past villain is on the DJ decks and his cronies are rap battling at you. I find the levity something to behold. This happens through much of the game with the last few chapters really failing up sadness and serious nature of the main story. Forgoing the campiness and comedic moments that are sprinkled throughout.
I do have complaints about the lack of Zack and Sephiroth in the 40 hour long story. I assume this is because they’ll be used more in part 3. I do like how they’ve made Sephiroth straight up evil though whilst retaining the madness he gained in his pursuit of Jenova. I think this was the right choice stylistically and creatively with the game being expanded in such a massive way. Really abusing Clouds psyche against himself by repeated getting him to try and kill his companions.
The Whispers returning En masse even with their own white varience along with Sephiroths further control over the timelines.
So some slight downsides as much as I don’t want to admit them. The overworlds were sometimes not fun to go around, Gongaga was a bit shite, you had to bounce around on big ol’ mushrooms in specific orders. This was mildly infuriating but nothing major, now I hated Cosmo Canyon, you had use your Chocobo to glide around to platforms which you were kept afloat by fans on the ground and air. Some times you had to loop around near half of the map. Luckily you can fast travel to markers everywhere, from settlements, any side stuff you’ve cleared, Chocobo stops you’ve fixed so the more you do the easier it is along with the fetch quests that send you here there and every fucking where.
Just a real visual treat across the board, truly one of the best looking and designed games of this generation so far.
I really enjoy this story and I love the way it’s gone, expanding it’s own universe by using all the media that has subsequently being released since 1997. The over reliance on knowing everything that happened in all these games just stunt the end somewhat. I think the open ended nature of the game is left so we can all sit and speculate what it means. Who knows what, who’s from which timeline, which ones were merged, destroyed, whose swapped places. As well as not really explaining the black or Holy Materia enough. As well as taking away the scene of Cloud putting Aerith in the water. Which is beyond iconic. Now I do personally believe this will be in the last game as a moment of clarity when everything is fully explained but we will see.
Honestly this game is superb. I can’t physically rate this any lower then 10/10. It’s Real Fuckin’ Tasty.
As long as you are intending to play the entire trilogy and just played the main scenario you’d be in for a real treat. The nearly fully realised world of Gaia, as a party of expertly written characters trying to save it. Along with tight and precise combat that’s never a slog. It’s hard to not want to keep going and put the game down. It’s only hampered by slight pacing issues caused by an over abundance of mini games which I think because the developers put so much effort into it they wanted to make sure you played them. I can’t recommend this game enough.
TastyRetroGaming 