This was a fairly recent pick up and has some what taken precedent over other games. Namely due to my childhood nostalgia running ripe once I saw it and because as previously mentioned, any relatively short handheld game is far easier for me to complete lately.
Now this is somewhat of a quick take review but this is due to being one of those games that there isn’t really a lot to cover. Also, if you have any experience playing any iteration of this series you’ll know exactly what it is.
So, like any normal guitar hero game this comes with it’s own imaginative way of electronically playing the guitar. This comes in the form of the grip and strap. This adapter plugs straight into the Gameboy Advance port of your Nintendo DS. It can be played left or right handed, so for me being a righty. I just tilted the DS anti clockwise and was able to play the four colour coded frets with my left hand and use the guitar shaped pick to strum the touchscreen in time to not create any dead notes.
This game only comes with 25 songs and a tiny campaign. This career mode comprises of five sections where you play bigger venues as your notoriety rises. Each block contains five songs to master. No boss type song either to prove more of a challenge.
Within each block there are four separate difficulties starting from easy going to medium, hard and expert. Again the usual for this series. I always start on medium as on easy you don’t tend to have to use the blue fret button and I don’t see the point in that. It took me only a couple hours to go through the entire thing not having to replay any songs. And for the most part medium didn’t provide much of a challenge unless I had to play red and blue simultaneously for a chord. Which more often then not my dexterity failed me.
The left screen acts as the stage and the tab then scrolls the notes to play, whilst the touchscreen has the guitar. In order to successfully play a note you have to hit the strings on the touchscreen as you press the fret. You gain a score multiplier for hitting a successful chain of notes. This can be further bolstered by activating star power, which does use the microphone niftily you can either shout into it or blow into to activate not losing your flow as you go along.
You can unlock alternate attires for the few characters you can pick and get some extra guitars to play on stage with as well. But for the most part it’s highly lacking. I know this is a handheld version of a console game but they did put half if not a third of the effort in.
The game runs surprisingly well, as I did think it’d have a chance to be laggy or not as responsive as it should be. You just have to make sure you full press down on the buttons as it won’t respond correctly and give you a miss. Ruining a nice long combo. The other thing to watch out for is if you’re in the zone to make sure you don’t stray too far from the guitar strings as you’ll be playing in time but still missing the notes.
Now the game doesn’t look like complete shit but, it does look it’s age. Fairly fuzzy around the edges and even for the hardware it’s on with the DS not being the most powerful console ever made. I think it passes muster.
My big complaint about the game is even though you can play each song on four varying difficulties, and there is a guitar duel mode where you use pick ups to stop a rival guitarist playing correctly racking up a bigger score, due to the lack of songs and only being able to play the guitar part of the song it’s not all that replayable as I can’t imagine you’ll want to keep playing the same few songs all the time. As for my music tastes it’s nowhere near heavy enough. It’s all but lacking in metal music. You do have Nirvana, Incubus, Ozzy Osbourne and Red Hot Chilli Peppers sprinkled about though.
Overall I rate this a respectable and Tasty 6/10. It’s an admirable attempt at porting a bigger more fleshed out console game series to the little handheld. If it’s there to play you may as well, but you’d probably enjoy playing something else if you can.
I could only find a decent picture in Italian, i’m not sorry.
I initially bought this game on sale for my Switch a good while ago on a whim and never really got round to playing too much of it.
However, in between trying to play any game normally which more often than not I fail at, trying to to fit in life, work, uni work and being a dad there is little time left for gaming. So, having a game like this or Binding of Isaac is perfect to fit in small doses.
I’ve not played it for more than a couple hours having failed miserably on my first few runs as it required me to use my brain. This turn based strategy game with rogue like elements is a quick grab and play.
You play as humanities last hope in giant mechs against the invading alien threat of the Vek. Now you start with a primary squad of three. All teams comprise of three but throughout game play you are able to level up the pilots, find new armour new pilots with different skills, as well as varying types of weapons and armour.
You are tasked with liberating four islands where they are split into separate procedurally generated missions for each run. So no two games are the same where you are tasked with defending civilians or the grid which if buildings are destroyed and it reaches zero you lose.
You drop your mechs into the allotted areas and the vek or boss veks will spawn throughout the game until the turn counter reaches zero and you win the round. Your objectives come with secondary objectives which can reward you further like collecting a pod with new cores and weapons.
Much like each mech the Vek are only able to move in certain manners and attack specifically, so up close and personal, long range bombing or buffing their allies etc.
Now game over here isn’t a complete reset, you are able to transfer a pilot with all accumulated experience with you to start a new campaign.
Each campaign you can choose difficulty as well as a few game modifiers to make it even harder if you wish. I’m not ashamed to admit I had to drop it to easy after a few goes. As I suck major ass at this.
With each run you are awarded coins, to get coins you must reach a milestone or a team specific action. With coins you can purchase new teams to do battle against the Vek with. Along with the standard enemy threat you also have the incoming threat of thunder storms or if you are controlling the terraformer. You can use this to your advantage by punching them into an incoming thunder strike, drowning them in the water or crushing them as grassland becomes desert.
If you are on the defensive you can repair yourself, set up barriers or even if you want to take a hit, place your mech on a square where a new Vek will emerge from halting them completely.
For many I assume this basic tactical play is mere child’s play but for me it can be a wee challenge. But with each round only taking a couple minutes as it runs at a fast pace. You can easily pick this game up in very small goes and achieve a lot even if the Vek win in this timeline. You are always able to go back and give it another run.
I’d rate this game a very respectable and highly tasty 8/10.
An easy but well thought out and executed turn based strategy game that can be played as leisurely as you’d like. With fantastic art direction and infinite re-playability and honestly who doesn’t love a good bit of mech V alien sci-fi action.
I’ll admit my reviews have dwindled somewhat lately, this isn’t due to personal choice,no. I namely blame having three uni assignments dropped at me in the space of a month. Now they are out of the way I can try and get back on track.
Especially having the dual use of the Switch and my Portal, I should be able to zip through some of my backlog in no time. I am half way through two reviews as we speak and one shouldn’t be too far behind.
Now even though my gaming has halted somewhat, my collecting has not. If anything I’ve been more rampant with that then ever as of late. And if you follow my instagram or facebook pages you’ll see I’ve periodically posted my new additions. So this post is somewhat just a quick overview of everything I’ve acquired lately. A bit of an overdue update, I have more yet to come that I’ve already purchased and a few more titles in the post. So there will be much more coming your way my tasty lot.
So as you aware of my amazing photography skills from previous updates, you’ll see I’ve attempted some stylistic flair now. In showcasing my ample collection.
I’ve added a few Wii titles, in Destroy all Humans Big Willy Unleashed and Far Cry Instincts. Then I’ve gained Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary for the Xbox 360. Along with a lesser known gem on the PS3 in Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom.
For the PS2 I’ve added Mercenaries and Shellshock Nam ’67 as well as the Hitman Triple Hit pack, And rounding off this consoles additions is my favourite new game for now in Evil Dead and a Fistful of Boomstick. Most the time i’ve only really bought games I’ve played and have just wished to replace but this is genuinely a game i’ve never played. Being a massive fan of the Evil Dead film and tv series I am very much looking forward to giving this a bash.
I decided to get some more handheld titles as my DS and 3DS collection is missing many a title I wish to own. I managed to nab a couple of ebay bargains and for the DS I’ve added two Final Fantasy titles. With Crystal Chronicles Ring of Fates and Final Fantasy 3. I didn’t stop there oh no, I also went out of my to buy Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars, complete with the map. Not only is this one of my top DS titles it’s also one of only eleven titles that got slapped with an 18 certificate for the console. A wee bit of trivia for ya, don’t say I don’t give you anything people.
On the 3DS so far I only managed one more title for now and that comes in at the series that is the mighty Dragon Quest. Specifically Dragon Quest VII Fragments of the forgotten past.
I also added a few games to my PSP collection. The three new titles in question Killzone Liberation to add to the Killzone series I’ve nearly completed. Along with Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories and the legendary God of War Chains of Olympus.
So as you can see not too many games for this part but far more then I’ve added thus far in one chunk. It only gets better or worse depending how you see this game collecting endeavour as I have like another ten or so titles to catalogue and showcase in the coming weeks.
As always don’t forget to visit the site regularly or keep up to date via one of my social media accounts. And the most important part of all, forever and always. Stay Tasty my friends.
I love me a bit of the Professor Layton games, especially the original trilogy. Now the other titles have their own merits still and for the most part are just as fun but they are lacking somewhat.
This spin-off was initially released on the 3DS and as a game for your phone for IOS and android I believe, before dropping like a year later as a deluxe edition on the switch. Now I think the deluxe edition is more for show than anything. Without looking too much into it I think some puzzles were changed and the ordering swapped over, you can get all the daily extra puzzles and clothing DLC from the get go. It may be a bit more than that but that’s the meat on the bones of it I’d guess.
Now unfortunately the puzzle master who did the six main line games before for the original trilogy and prequel trilogy sadly passed away. It does show somewhat in the puzzles this time round. A lot of them a fairly similar or just a harder version of the previous one so the variety has dipped and if you play it for long enough chunks you kinda just get used to the pattern you are looking for. I won’t say I breezed through it some of them did properly stump me, and made me use some of the precious hint coins you find on your travels.
For this spin-off game rather than you being Professor Hershel Layton and his trusty companion Luke you play as his adoptive daughter Katrielle, who has started her own detective agency in London.
Some of the new supporting characters, Emiliana and Inspector HastingsAlong with Ernest and Sherl.
One of the biggest draws for the early games was the story that interlinked over titles along with its unique and distinct look. The kinda Victorian, steam punkesque setting. The weird ambience and music, all the strange designed characters you get to know as you travel back and forth from differing locations. Now a lot of this carries over and you can tell it’s set in the same world, but it all just seems dialled down.
Some of the areas you wonder round on the chapters.
Even on the switch with the clearer and brighter HD, and the added rumble from the joy cons to add to it even more then the DS or 3DS could. It just lacks. Now the game runs smoothly, the animation and voice acting are top notch but the weirdness isn’t quiet there and the new characters don’t feel as fresh or fleshed out as much as they could.
The story is told over twelve chapters which revolve around solving a case per chapter. Taking around an hour and a half per one I’d say so if you just want to complete the game without doing any optional puzzles you’d be looking at around 17-18 hours. But if you want to do everything revisiting the chapters opens up more puzzles. As well as utilising the touchscreen to tap at everything to find hint coins, fashion coins, hidden collectibles as well as hidden puzzles.
Your UI for working round the game and mini games.The ideal meal game is one of the three mini games at your disposal.Some of the hidden collectibles i managed to sleuth out.
I think collectively with daily puzzles there’s something like 550 puzzles to work though, as well as three mini games you can do at any time. One is finding the perfect four course meal for some supporting characters. You have the mini maze game for Sherl where you have to get to the exit in a required amount of moves. And lastly the shop game where you have to direct customer to purchase everything in your inventory.
Each puzzle still awards you picarats the higher the amount the harder the puzzle in theory. With the daily puzzles awarding you points to unlock bonus behind the scenes stuff from the entire backlog of the series. You unlock furniture points so you can decorate Layton’s office as you’d like as well, and can even get new outfits for Katrielle and Sherl.
Puzzle difficulty comes fromthe picarat rating.You have a memo option to help solve these conudrums.
So there is a lot to be done and keep you occupied as long as you like quick thinking riddles or brain teasers. So going in as a new fan I’d doubt you’d be too disappointed but going in as a long standing fan it is a bit underwhelming. The story isn’t the strongest even if the games had already started losing it’s initial more grounded roots and the supporting cast isn’t as interesting either. You have Sherl a talking dog with amnesia who is the best new addition, Ernest Greeves, Emiliana Perfetti and inspector Hastings which round out the main characters.
You collect six pieces of info to complete a case.
Overall I think there is a lot of enjoyment to be had and the game story is neither tasking nor does it overstay it’s welcome. Each chapter being relatively bite sized really allows for ease of play along with re-playability for at least two rounds of each chapter. Along with the bonus content that can be earned through the extra puzzles at your disposal.
I’d rate this game a respectable Tasty 6/10, an easy going puzzle driven story that’s only lacking due to the hefty weight of it’s main titles legacy bearing down on it. If given the chance a sequel could easily improve on a lot of small things amounting to a much better experience overall.
This is a strange one to begin, not because I don’t know what to say rather than it’s just an all-round strange game. At it’s core it’s a rogue like game with every dungeon run being different, as you’d expect, but that’s where the similarty ends.
What sets this one apart is the horror setting and it’s weird obsessions with scat and everything exploding into gore. The basis of the game is you play as Isaac and his mother has been hearing and talking to a voice whom she believes is God, who naturally tells her to kill her son to cleanse his sin, and in fleeing he jumps into the unknown.
Now the unknown in this case are random procedurally generated dungeons, which contain all sorts of enemies. From floating heads, headless bodies, flies, masses of flesh, poisonous spiders, even literal turd monsters along worm looking things that pop up through the floor and that’s just the tip of what you can run into. Most of them have variations that spew poison rather the shoot blood at you, and some may explode causing further damage, turn into other enemies or spew more out of themselves. You defeat these creatures by shooting tears at them, in a twin stick shooter fashion. Now along with basic enemies you have bosses. Which you have to defeat at the end of each level to progress. However with this being the sort of game it is you can easily run into multiple bosses just as you make your way through the rooms. Within the rooms as well are hidden chests, fires, spiked floors, piles of shit which along with the rubble you can destroy for items.
I’m not lying about the scat and goreOne of the many bosses, that during screenshot end up looking like turds.
Luckily though you aren’t stuck with just the base stats of Isaac or any of the other characters you unlock along the way. This game gives you items aplenty, from random enemy drops, loot from bosses, chests you unlock if you find a key. Along with all the alternate rooms you come by on your travels. Some are just reward rooms with loot in, some are shops, others a ritual covens you make with the devil, or vice versa for angels along with arcades and challenge rooms. I’m sure I am missing some, however the only other to mention are secret rooms, where you have to use bombs to blast a hole in the wall to access. I should probably cover bombs as well, now bombs are one of two other methods of killing your foes. You pick these up like loot if you come across them, and the other is power ups you can get which usually require batteries to recharge or limited use.
Some of the floaty friends you can acquire. One of the four horsemen boss fights.
Now this game which is loaded with various rooms to help buff you up and kill your mother faster which is the aim of the game to survive. Now you usually face her at the sixth level, so by then you should have picked up a plethora of items to help. On the downside like any game some pick ups are shit and detrimental to you. You want ones that increase your health, range and fire rate for your tears. Then you also want the bonuses that increase damage but also allow for you to shoot in 360 degrees and having a little devil friend that periodically shoots laser beams, or you leave a trail of damaging blood. Now some revive you but you only come back with 1 health, or some blur your vision up one stat but lower the other etc. The usual sort of quid pro quo style you get in games.
Some of the many in game stats.I love a good bestiary that somehow includes myself in it.Game is loaded with items.
This is the bad part of the game, it relies heavily on constant play where you can learn all the enemies movements and knowing what all the items do without automatically collecting them. Along with everything being ties to spawn rates, so on some runs your pick ups are phenomenally bad and this can continue for multiple runs in a row. Now I get that this is how these sort of games run and it’s not a downside as such. But with multitude of updates and DLC that’s been added over the years, it’s not exactly beginner friendly nor something you can ease back into, if you want to play this game it’s something you’ll either get frustrated at an put down quickly or continue to play until you finally get through a full run.
For me this game is frustratingly fun, now I’ll be the first to admit that I am utterly awful at this game and my good save file died with my original switch which for some reason never backed my save data up. I had a good few completed runs and I’d unlocked a few more characters than I have now. Since returning to this game I just die, and again this ties into not being beginner friendly. As you need to know what to do get even more out of it which I find by looking a forums mainly. Learning that in shops sacrificing gold to the machine in the corner means the next shop that spawns will have better items, blowing up the shop keeper encourages more devil rooms to appear, knowing where to find secret rooms etc.
Character and difficulty selection,Progress slowly,Die, rinse, repeat. The life cycle of this game.
I am aware of the final DLC in repentance which adds even more of everything and I’ve been tempted to get it but whilst getting back into this game I think I’ll leave it a while longer. As I’ve got around 10 more endings to unlock, however many characters still. I’ve only filled out about half the bestiary and a third of the items, not to mention the alternate difficulty options and challenge modes I can run through still. For a game if you know what’s what, it won’t take you long to complete around 40 mins I’d say. It’s loaded with re playability, even more so than a lot of similar games. However with the weird horror and brutality of this game, along with it’s hundred of items and enemies its a real standout.
Overall I’d rate this game a mighty 9/10, Pure Tasty Gaming.
Over the 13 years I believe it’s been out, this game has masterful become a frustratingly addictive game with fine tuned balances and multitude of variation with in game rewards that benefit your time and dedication learning the ins and outs of every aspect of the game.
Well this one is coming in a bit late considering 2k24 came out like a month and a bit ago. But hey-ho, better late than never. Plus I’ve yet to pick said new iterations for this year so I may as well go for this one in the interim. Not to mention it’s Wrestlemania weekend, time to get hyped.
Now if you are just a casual fan of WWE a hardcore WWE is the only wrestling show for me or even just a fan of the games, you’d be aware of the year gap of 2021, this was because 2K20 was such a steaming pile of shit they needed to build it up from the ground again. This gave us 2K22 which was the year of Rey Mysterio and I gave the game a deserving 8/10.
I bring up this because 2K22 was one hell of an upgrade to the series, it was a blast not without it’s faults though. Multi man matches especially ladder matches were just an absolute shit fest. They were a mess, albeit sometimes fun but mostly 40 minute slogs that the AI refused to target anyone other then you. Some of the character models were awful, the my rise story was a bit ass. My faction was too pay 2 win for no real gain and MyGm was lacking. Now some of these issues were addressed this time round. MyGm is definitely more in depth and comprehensive still half a game though if you ask me. Not enough control over your shows still, its a tad limited in all the options for the slots of the show even if there’s far more match types to choose from. You can’t do much from a promo, trying to build feuds is wobbly at best. Not too mention if you don’t want to wrestle the matches yourself the chances are they will all be lowly ranked. Which negatively impacts you winning the ratings and getting more followers. I am waiting patiently for a football manager style wrestling game. I think there is money to be had there.
Some of the choices you can do to imprive the quality of your shows.Not much control on the match as a whole, just select type and whos involved.
Now multi man matches are still broken, it is definitely the least fun part of the game for me, especially when you have to do one in either of the story modes. Which there’s two to choose from and they both have slightly branching choices which allow for multiple play through. Still I’m not sure why you would again this year it isn’t much better. You can tell they are working on it but the lock story, the main character even with dialogue options just comes off as a dick bag and it isn’t the most enthralling story. Then the other story, the legacy has a bit of a better story but again not worth the hassle or the fact one of the new original characters again just is highly unlikeable. I think this was more of a planned choice though. It’s still a noticeable improvement however.
Just one of the dodgy looking environments you’ll come across with all the souless looking npcs you could want.
Now in terms of just match variety or creating your own character there’s just so much variety to be had. I think attire selection is the weakest area, not much to use unless you are willing to go that extra mile and mess around yourself to create something from scratch,but there’s an endless amount of moves you can choose from. You can even make and edit your entrance again not the most in-depths and I think a lot of people won’t bother but it’s nice to have the option.
The creation suite is something to behold really, you can literally create a superstar how you want and use them in evey standard mode, or if you want tweak existing sueprstars to your hearts content.
The graphics are slightly better and I think the game play is slightly tighter overall, reversing doesn’t feel as horrendous and there’s more option of attacks to do. It has the same reversal and dodge system or if you want to counter that’s still in play. There’s a more pronounced stamina gauge in the wheel that turns up. So the wrestlers get more tired, you can launch over the top ropes set up more moves with ladders, putting some through a table etc. Just small quality of life improvements or additions. Which is what it needed to be 22 should be the ground level and for the foreseeable future it should just be a myriad of improvements rather then system overhauls. I think the combo choice and grappling works well, just a couple button inputs and the move-sets auto changes on your position to you opposition. Same as if the are grounded, outside the ring on the apron, going for a superplex etc. I’m gonna judge the hair graphics though, that still blows I’ not sure why they can’t seem to do that well. In fact a lot of the background graphics and NPC in the story modes were fucking dreadful as well. Including dodgy body movements and voice audio. I think though for immersion sake it’s not the worst thing in the game.
Just a casual power bomb through the top of hell in a cell.
You get wargames for the first time in game and mostly I enjoy it. I think if you crank the difficulty up and are willing to play for a good half hour, you’re in for a good time. Especially when you make your self the first entrance. Introducing weapons into the match is more fiddly then it needs to be, but for variation it’s a welcome addition.
Now this year is the year of John Cena . It runs the same as last years and those before where you play out some of their biggest matches with some nice video introduction before the match as to why and stuff. Now the slight twisty twist this time is that you play as Cena’s opponents and are aiming to win rather then lose to ol’ John boy. I like the concept and that you get some actual match footage thrown in but I do think for what it’s worth the matches do go on a bit and for some reason Cena is insanely hard to beat sometimes. I usually play on a mix of normal and hard, but for ease of unlocking everything from winning I dropped it to easy. My fucking good God it’s constant reversals, signatures and finishers its relentless yet this doesn’t carry over against him in any other mode.
I should mention as well in just standard play you earn points for your match ratings as long as you win and you can unlock more superstars, arenas and trophies which for me is a win. I’m all for a game with unlockables you can get by just playing the game. I won’t go into myfaction all that much as you either like it or you don’t. Getting ranked cards of the same superstars with better stats that can only be used in this mode. You gain points that unlock new packs or you can fork out a small fortune to buy points and get them that way I don’t see much point in that but that’s just me. I like it and I do play it a far bit, but I’d rather just play with who I want and in what match type I want, as in settings you can set each superstar to higher or lower stats anyhow.
One of my favourite moves to do, always looks super cool.
Now I will compare it to that of AEW Fight Forever as both games dropped in the same year. Both offering different takes of the wrestling game. Now in terms of content and match variety WWE just kills it, no question. It’s the more realistic sim with probably 200 odd superstars to choose from and so many match types to piss around with. Ladder match, all the no disqualification varieties, tornado tags, hell in the cell, cage match, iron man, submission only,backstage brawl. war games, royal rumble now and that’s probably not even half. You have 1v1, 2v2, triple threat, fatal 4 way. It’s fucking loaded. Now this is my biggest drawback to Fight Forever. The lack of variety in matches, now they’ve had some dlc and have added stadium stampede as well, and in terms of ease it’s an easier game to get behind. It does the arcade style well and I regularly play it on my switch still, but it’s hard to argue that this game offers far more. Which is why if I wanna wrestle I am going to be booting this up for a couple hours of mindless fun.
Just some of the match types on offer.You’re only limted by what you don’t want to play.
I’m going to give this game the same as last year which is highly tasty 8/10.
Now for the most part outside of a change in roster slightly it’s basically the same game as last year. This comes with the still weak story option, long and annoying campaign but this comes with a better MyGm and MyFaction. As well as slight graphical tweaks and gameplay tweaks. It’s still a ridiculously enjoyable game which I think the biggest fix needed is the bigger multi man modes ’cause they just don’t work. Even if you don’t keep up to date with every years version I think I’d go for this over 2K22 and stick with it for a while and maybe buy 24 when it’s on sale.
Where to start with this one. First off the story is good, kind of what you’d expect from a final fantasy, big bad guy, a twist and Cid is introduced in this game as the inventor. Unfortunately that’s where my praise for this one stops, the gameplay is ok, it’s the same turn based combat as the first game but the level up system is this game is very divisive.
It reminds me of the Skyrim style of levelling where you gain xp for your weapons like swords or axes or magic and the more you use them the stronger you are, which is great except FF2 also does this for health. So the more you get hit the more health you get, which makes it very easy and tempting to exploit this and break the game. You could for example go unarmed with one weaker character and wail on one of your others and get your health up to 9999 before even the first boss if you really wanted to. The pixel remaster does fix this a bit, it lets you switch it to health gained after a set amount of enemies are killed but it’s still very easy to exploit.
For example I had no idea where I was going and ended up grinding through 2 hours of higher levelled monsters with magic which meant that all my boss fights I could run on auto and win while AFK making an unbranded non sponsored noodle in a pot snack. This dulled any challenge in the game for me and meant I flew through the story once I realised where I was going.
Another issue I have is I’m addicted to platinums and intend to try and platinum as many ff’s as I can and the bestiary in this one that you need to 100% is in the strangest order imaginable. When your trying to catch all the enemies and the first 3 you find are 15,74 and 140 in the list it makes it very challenging, in an annoying way. I had to use a guide online to find them all, some of which are missable, which was very annoying and takes away from the achievement.
I finished this game in 14 hours and like I said before it was very easy to do after my initial balls up which led to being massively overleveled. I enjoyed to basic story and I do like the swap out mechanic for the 4th character in the party which constantly swaps at points in the game, however they are irrelevant because of this as my main 3 we’re 4 or 5 times stronger than them.
There are no classes in this game so everyone can do everything. I can see where they were going, giving you more freedom to level the areas you want and make your party more custom to your preference however it doesn’t seem to work, probably again due to the massive overleveling but none of them feel like they have any real characteristics. I prefer having a leader that’s balanced, a tank and a mage or two.
Overall I can’t give this game any higher than a 6/10, it’s not bad but it just doesn’t feel right and the combat elements take away from what this could have been. I can see why the original was divisive and if it wasn’t for the fixes the pixel remaster introduces this could have been as low as a 4/10. After that disappointment, it’s on to the next one.
Now this isn’t something im proud off, but i’ve never actually played most final fantasy games. I played 13, 13-2, 15 and now 16. I am a fan but I was never really introduced to anything before I saw a friend playing 13. After recently playing FF16 it’s made me fall head over heels for the franchise and I decided to purchase the pixel remaster and play through every Final Fantasy game from the beginning and i’m hoping you Zesty lot will follow me on this journey as I post up mini reviews for each game in the series, so let’s begin our journey here with FF1.
This game has aged really well, considering it was released in 1985, the remastered version has only improved the graphics slightly and yet the general gameplay is the same as it was way back when, yet it plays very well. The combat is easy to understand and therefore very accessible to any new players and the movement is your standard top down 4 directional style and feels quite comfortable.
The story is kind of your standard big bad guy controlling 4 other big bad guys, but there is a little twist thrown in there at the end and I’m presuming no one minds spoilers for a nearly 40 year old game but I still won’t spoil it. I really like this style of bestiary, where it’s the same monster just stronger with a new name and colours which final fantasy uses a lot but does well. Even with this there is still a great selection of monsters to flesh the world out and the bosses are nicely designed, especially for the time.
I managed to complete this game in 14 hours, this would have been quicker but being a modern gamer i’m not so great if the game isn’t directly telling me go over there with map markers and a constant quest list. You do, in this game, actually have to pay attention to what people are saying and where they tell you to go and there’s no map markers which means you have to search for the destination rather than following the markers.
I’ve got to give this 10/10. With the time this came out, RPG games were brand new and this was top tier, also as this is a remaster they’ve done a great job adding in little bits like XP boosters and Gil boosters while still keeping the game as original as possible. I’d highly recommend playing this and am really looking forward to the next 11 games as I attempt to catch up to where I started in 2013.
First of all I’m just gonna straight up say that I rate this game a 10/10, I honestly have very little bad to say about it. Granted I am a tad bit bias in that this is one of my all time favourite game series. Also this’ll be my second complete play through, I originally completed it back on release on PS4 and just completed it again on PS5 just in time for the release of Rebirth. A refresh of the story and where it ends never hurt nobody.
Even though it’s called a remake, this is somewhat misleading. As to a degree it’s kinda it’s own game. With the game being split into what is to be a new trilogy. It does for the most part follow the story of the original from the PS1. For part 1 which takes around 30 hours to complete and if you want to platinum the game double that with two full play throughs and a few extra plays of three chapters to get the dress trophies. This game has fully stretched the original prologue area of what maybe 5 or 6 hours into a full stand alone game. Expanding on every aspect and then some. The entirety of this game takes place in Midgar, you don’t even step out of the city until the end of the game. Not to mention it incorporates story elements from Crisis Core and the film Advent children. I’m hoping with rebirth it’ll even go as far as using elements from Dirge of Cerberus. So without going into too much detail or spoilers, this game also has new enemies the whispers, these are arbiters of fate that basically rewrite the timeline and infer there is alternate timelines that potentially change the original story or even crossing into an alternate one entirely. The near 4 year wait to see how it all unfolds is nearly over and I can honestly not fucking wait.
Graphically final fantasy games always look stellar on launch, which usually means they hold up even a good few years later. This game is no different, especially on main character models they just look phenomenal still. Even the detail of all the different sectors and slums. Now some bits are starting to show their age like some of the NPC characters along with some janky facial features. Not every texture has stood the test of time but I think some games namely what a lot of flagship Nintendo games do. That strong stylistic design reigns supreme of graphical prowess, now obviously this looked banging on release but having a strong design and aesthetics throughout with attention detail helps it stand out still. Having a clear stylistic line in design between the slums beneath the plate, to the corporate upper society above the plate again aids in this.
Even though the game is played in chapters it does run in a linear fashion with the vast majority of the areas been linked up. Giving a more open world feel, not that there’s much in terms of hidden areas or alternate paths. Most the time they lead to the concluding area or a small hidden passage with an item chest. If you are lucky it’ll be a weapon chest.
I find the combat highly engaging a strong mix of basic combat and turn based attacking. Now you can dodge, guard and attack with one button controlling each manoeuvre, but there’s no complex combos. Now you can control Cloud, Tifa, Aerith and Barret in this game along with Red XIII as a companion late into the game. Each character has their own attack chains and special moves, which change with whatever weapon you have selected at the time. To combat the lack of combos and to keep the turn based strategy in place. You have the ATB gauge of two bars as standard that fill over the course of a battle, each slot allows for either a spell to be cast, a special move or the use of an item. So in the later boss fights this is especially important to time so you don’t run out. As with load outs from time to time you are character locked. The only other thing outside of equipment you get is materia. Now materia are your spells and extra buffs that most can be levelled up with AP you earn from each fight. Then there’s SP which allows you to fill out your weapon skill tree which each one has it’s own to fill out and improve it’s base stats. It all works fluidly and seamlessly swapping character mid battle never feels out of place.
I think with the extra padding and splitting the game into three parts is for the best. Even though the original was no slouch taking like 40 hours to go through to complete and that’s not doing everything. The extra hundreds of hours by the time this trilogy wraps up will allow for a much deeper telling of the story, giving side character more time to shine and more importantly far more Sephiroth. As well as the capitalistic greed of mega corporations that creates massive societal divisions whilst killing the world they live on, and giving rise to eco terrorism that the general populace are turned against by said corporations. Nevertheless the inclusion of more side quests help flesh out Midgar along with the big evil that is Shinra whilst it kills everything with no remorse. All with the aim of setting up the bigger moments yet to come.
My few complaints of the game are slight but I’ll list them nonetheless as my very little gaming review integrity states I must point out bad points. I think there should be more side quests as some aren’t great and as the story progresses in a continuous and linear manner, some chapters which could have more have none or very few. I think there is 26 all in all, and 4 are linked to choices so two will always be missable during a complete run. I think there’s an alright amount of weapons but not enough items for that much to make any difference to your character builds. I think either two small open areas or one bigger one should’ve been included for a bit of materia/level grinding also a few more enemy variants. There aren’t many bosses in game, well hard ones, most come towards the end of the game and the hardest are chapter locked behind hard mode. More fights in the colosseum or Shinra VR missions to allow more summon unlocks. A bit of dialogue choice would’ve gone far for an extra bit of immersion. Now I believe from the info and trailers this has been resolved tenfold in Rebirth.
Honestly I loved the original and I love this version. I love the gameplay which is only aided by the still fantastic story. There’s not much here considering how much I could write about the game. I’d argue this is due to even though there’s 30 hours or so to sink into. It’s still just the prologue. Most of the extra fluff comes into the expansive nature of the story and I don’t really want to ruin any of that if you’ve never played any version. Everything is designed and finessed perfectly for what it needs to be. The voice acting and character works is fantastic and the build up until the climatic fight of the first game rolling straight into Rebirth.
I should probably mention that I never played the DLC intermission with the extra chapters playing as Yuffie. My PS5 version is pre-owned and for whatever reason they code locked the DLC behind the one use activation codes from new. The PS store doesn’t recognise I’ve got the game and won’t let me download it. This is a common problem from what I can find out. I’m sure there may be a work around I’ve yet to find but I’m out of time to try as my copy of Rebirth has been dispatched as you read this line. Maybe if I choose to go for the platinum on the hard play through I could attempt to get it again one day.
I am going to rate this a non bias full 10/10, Real Fuckin’ Tasty.
If by chance you’ve managed to never play anything to do with this series, I can’t recommend it enough to go out your way to do it. Even if this title is the starting point. Now with part 2 released in a few days from now, it couldn’t be a better time to dig in and treat yourself.
Released on April 2020 PS4 and June 10th 2021 on PS5.
I’ve got something a bit different for this review, whilst I add my finishing touches to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake review I’m doing. Hopefully I’ll get that done in time for the release of rebirth which is imminent and brings me a considerable amount of joy.
Anyhow onto the task at hand a quick review on the newest handheld device in Sony’s repertoire. I say a quick review namely because there isn’t a fat lot to talk about, not due to it being bad but rather due to the lack of features.
The portal in all its glory.
This for me came in at £199.99 and at the core of it, it’s just a glorified handheld streaming device Which you can already use your phone with a backbone controller attachment or use an Ipad or any other newish tablet to the same effect. However they don’t come with the dual sense controller in built. Now the dual sense in my humble opinion is the greatest achievement that came out of the PS5 cycle thus far. The haptics and feedbacks do add to the gaming experience more than you’d think. So having this in the palm of your hands where a standard controller has been firmly sliced in twain with a fancy full HD LCD touchscreen in between makes for a nice pairing. Now it’s a good looking screen to be fair to it, it’s not quiet as crisp as my OLED on my Switch which I highly rate for quality. That does cost over a hundred pound more and has the added function of being a full console as well. I do think the touchscreen is also a nice touch, but with the lack of features it’s a bit pointless. Outside of having to double tap the screen to activate the touchpad functions in game it ultimately serves no purpose.
Now unlike my beloved PSP and PS Vita’s the Portal doesn’t come with any specific tailor made games. It only directly streams the disc inserted or if you have any games installed on your SSD. So in order to play you do also need to have your PS5 in rest mode to activate at the very least. Whilst on though it does allow you to play wherever you are as long as you have any internet connection. Now I have seen people going abroad and travelling miles away and it still working. This is pretty neat but I don’t fancy much fucking off for weeks on end leaving my PS5 in rest mode to wake up no matter how much I want to play something. Also if you accidentally hit power down it’s game over.
Incredible photography capturing it in its natural state, placed poorly upon a pillow.
You do also get the full functions of the dual sense so inbuilt mic and light bars come integrated as well as the option for wired or bluetooth headsets. Along with the 6/7 hours of charge which isn’t too dissimilar to what I get out of my actual controller. Taking around 2 hours to fully charge which I don’t thinks too egregious. In comparisons to the Nintendo Switch as well it definitely carries more of a heft to it. Now it’s nothing too major but after playing for a while you can tell there is more of weight to it especially if you hold it one hand. I can’t say this is really that detrimental but if your main mode of gaming is handheld it’s worth considering.
A little bit of WWE 2K23 on the go and let’s not forget the size comparison against the dual sense. We can all ignore the fact I am too lazy to rotate the images.
Now I wouldn’t say this is an essential bit of gaming hardware to have and at my guess around £30 more then it should be sold at considering it’s just a controller and screen. I love it, in fact I’d argue I’ve gamed more than before I had it, which at any rate is a big fucking yes in my book. Having recently become a dad having the ability to play my Playstation 5 anywhere in my house is such a massive boon to my life and for many others in my same position would benefit from it no matter how casual or serious a gamer you are. I have also seen some reports of lag or image quality not being great, even connectivity issues. I’ve not ran into any such issue.
Something I would be more worried about in the long run is a broken button or if one of the analogue sticks gain stick drift. This though would be something to get to if it becomes an issue. As I’m sure you’d be able to remedy it yourself if it after strenuous hours of play it wore down.
Overall I’d rate this bit of tech a, Highly Tasty 8/10.
If you just need the extra option to play your games that runs smoother than streaming to your phone and you’ve got a bit of extra money lying around, then this is definitely worth your time.
TastyRetroGaming 