TastyRetroGaming

Destroy all Humans 2 Reprobed

I said in the review for the remake of Destroy All Humans on the PS4, that I’d be getting the remake of the second one. And, well … folks, here it is. Much like the original on release in 2006 on the PS2, well the platform I played it on. It almost eclipses the first game in every way.

Everything about this on the scale of a remake even if it is more of a remaster, alone is impressive. What they’ve done here is keep everything the same but bring it up to date. Which most remasters fail to do or just give it a reskin and a bit of gameplay tweaking which ultimately falls hollow.

The game looks super nice, it’s a real visual upgrade. They’ve redone just about everything from the ground up. Whilst the maps themselves are no bigger then they were,with updated engine and technology. Everything is scaled so much better. Bringing more height to the mountains and buildings, the bridges look more imposing, the maps seem denser and more full, along with much greater detail. Whether it be the brick work, the surfaces of roads, Cryptos skin and illuminating brain, or to the thicker foliage. Then there’s the graffiti sprawled across the streets and buildings. So much has been improved and for someone who played the original a lot, its great to see how far the world of gaming has come along.

Aside from the visual overhaul and greater sense of detail, the games controls are smoother as well. Handling the saucer isn’t as tedious and even the weapon firing seems more precise, and this is just coming off the last remake. The biggest quality of life definitely comes from the PK handling, and trigger sensitivity as it was utter balls last time.

I’m not sure if this time round the game is just better balanced with damage given and received in ratio, but I didn’t die all that much. Except for the pig shit mission where you have to destroy the Blisk warship in Tunguska. I mean fuck me, they really didn’t think that one through. Having 500 laser, missile and anything else shot at you continually. Take a tip from me go in cameo and health drain all the smaller blisk warriors, something that took me far too long to realise. Even the option objectives aren’t as tedious, I only dropped 3 the entire playthrough, making the mop up super easy. All the side quests are quick and easy to do. Whether it’s an assassination job, an Arkvoodle landing zone or cult mission, it really makes playing the game for small chunks quiet accessible. It took me around 25 hours to complete and that was at a leisurely pace, I didn’t play it very effectively either to be honest so you may be able to do it all much faster.

It wasn’t the buggiest experience I have ever had, though nothing game or save destroying, but during missions certain items for objective wouldn’t trigger, or dead bodies I’ve got to carry around would seemingly enter the void of it’s own free will. The biggest glitch was as I was playing mop up in Albion the games music and sound completely vanished, until restarting the game. Shadows and NPC would flicker in and out of cutscenes from time to time as well. It’s got nothing on an average Bethesda game though, even to this day Skyrim and fallout games are riddled with bugs. Nothing here effected the overall fun I had or interfered in anyway, so should only be seen as a small take away from the overall performance.

Whilst playing this game, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to the newer Ratchet and Clank games. Especially with the weapons, and how much better the game would be with a weapon upgrade system like that. You get furotech cells from every mission that improve your weapons, health and saucers. But having weapon levels and cool animation upgrades would really build up the game that little bit more. Added with the gene blender, where you use the Slurp master V8 to abduct a specific NPC type be it a soldier, cop or KGB agent, with a few other as well. Then once you’ve abducted the pre-requisite amount from each region, their being 5 maps in this game. You gain added or improved abilities. Again having a few more or freedom to choose what they do more like a spec limited skill tree would improve and vary play style just that bit more.

The game is fantastic, it’s fun and the humour still shines through, especially with Crypto’s fourth wall breaking, or relentless teasing of Pox being dead. (a near 20 year spoiler) All with looking top notch, handling great and performing mostly okay, with a few hic-ups here and there. However what it does do along with bringing a new audience to this classic is show that even with a spruce up. It’s lacking somewhat. Most missions only take like 10 minutes if that. With odd jobs taking even less. Even having a variety of weapons, with small upgrades, mostly doesn’t effect gameplay. Ammo being the only nuisance and as long as you effectively transmog everything into ammo in between shoot-outs that’s not much of a problem either. The maps even though now scaled, and designed far better then they were originally able too shows outside of collectible hunting there isn’t much too do in this well populated areas. Once your alert level is high enough you’ll just get the military after you but once you’ve levelled the area in your saucer there isn’t much left to do. It does however show the potential in an official sequel game built and designed for the new generation of console and how fun a bigger more varied game could be.

Overall I’d give this a meaty 8/10, A highly tasty experience. This is the same rating I gave the first remake. Even though this one is better in almost every way. It’s lacking the depth of newer games and that does shine through. With the help of Nostalgia and top tier remaster of the original by bringing all that made it great in the first place and not changing anything. This remake is worth anyone’s time old or new to the series.

Released 30th August 2022, Sony Playstation 5

Gran Turismo 7 Part 2 – Road to Platinum

Well I said I’m my review of GT7 that I’d leave it a few months and write a follow up review. However why get myself to do it when you’ve got someone who’s put in the miles and went for the 100%. The Part 2 review of the every updating GT7.

When I finished the main campaign I was fully prepared to fail at this venture, but after a LOT of hours I’ve managed it.

So first off I finished the licences to a bronze standard, and after finding these fairly difficult, it led to my previous doubt of achieving that desired platinum, I went through the ‘story’ and grabbed a few of my favourite cars and was prepared to leave it at that.

Little did I know I was actually addicted to this game, it’s far from perfect and many things could be added to make it a 10/10 stunner, but I was enjoying it. So I threw caution to the wind and began my golden hunt and after a few weeks of hard work, I managed to nab all but the last few golds. Some of these last ones took an awful long time, but nothing compared to the final S10 challenge. A full lap around the Spa circuit, in wet conditions with a dry line, using a Porsche 917 Le Man car with dry slick tyres. A 2 min 26 second lap to achieve that, no word of a lie, took 4 hours of straight driving to achieve. I remember being on chat with the Big Tasty (this sites owner) and getting more and more angry as this went on, but the elation when I completed it was only comparable to some NSFW occasions no one wants to hear me talk about, and understandably so.

With the golds smashed in record time, I moved onto grinding out money, using some of the tomahawk exploits and found myself with a colossal amount of cash dollar. This is essential as one of the trophies was for collecting 3 unique cars that cost a ridiculous amount each. This was the trophy that required the most patience. The system for legendary cars works by rotating the stock of 10 odd cars every 4 to 5 days, and with a large amount of legendary cars, this means checking the store every couple of days to see if one of those three has been added. I’ve got the 9 million credit Ferrari 330 within a few days, and the 4 1/2 million Ford mark IV around a week later. The elusive Jaguar XJ 13 however, took around two months to appear in the shop, and this meant I was putting in Gran Turismo, checking it every two days and taking it back out again.

In this time, however, I was grinding out another trophy. In-depth mastery is a trophy that requires 50 sport races to be completed. This doesn’t sound horrendous, but when every race takes about 20 minutes to restart, it can take an awful amount of time. The only saving grace to this as I was moving house at the time, and this meant that during each loading between races, I can do some packing. This keeps the wife from flying into a rage, and means that I do some trophy progress along the way.

There are a few trophies on the trophy list that sound pretty bad, but in all honesty they are okay. They’re going the distance trophies are added together with other racers online, so the trophy for 13 thousand kilometres raced, means you only have to do around 500 online. Complete 100 time trials is easy there’s a track in which you can finish a lap in eight seconds with the tomahawk.

So finally, the day came where I put the game on and the Jaguar XJ 13 was in store, and an unfathomable amount of credits later, that sweet, sweet platinum trophy popped. I’d actually recommend trying to platinum this game. The amount of satisfaction when you get the platinum, after all the work with the Golden licenses is worth it.

I don’t really know how to rate a platinum trophy, they’re all very satisfying to look at. I suppose I could give it a rating out of 10 for difficulty, and for me, it was around an 8/10. A highly Tasty game. The difficulty, of course it’s all placed on the licenses, and if you’re good at stuff, unlike me, this will probably be a lot easier for you. Nonetheless I enjoyed this platinum, as much as I do every platinum.

Stay tasty friends.

Reviewed by MoonHead

Released March 4th, Sony Playstaion 5

Super Smash Bros Melee

Nintendo’s flagship fighting series, started back in 1999 on the N64, this being the second instalment on the Nintendo Gamecube. Released in 2002 in my end. Having a bit of a lapsed play through of this particular title. With my first experience of this series coming from the Wii title Super Smash Bros Brawl. Having sunk an incredible amount of my time into that particular brawler. I then moved onto the Switch title when that was released and as far as i’m concerned, it’s one of the best fighting games going. So I wasn’t sure how it’d add up comparing to the newer titles.

Basic character choice before unlocking hidden characters.

Honestly it’s nothing short of a pleasant surprise. Still following the same crossover 2d fighting formula of characters ranging from; Mario, Pokemon, Kirby, Fire Emblem, Legend of Zelda etc. It obviously has less characters and stages from the monster sized Ultimate on the Switch. Having 25 playable characters and 29 stages. It’s still a good chunk to keep variety going at the very least. Most are playable from the offset, others are unlocked as it goes on, just from playing along .A new challenger appear,s smack them out the ring like Team Rocket in the Pokemon series. They get added to the playable roster. All characters have their own distinct play style, with moves/weapons carrying over from their respective original series.

The fighting itself is easy enough, and not much of a learning curve, the A button is for basic attacks combos, B button for slightly more damaging special moves. L and R for defence, Z trigger for throws, and then movement is standard and Y/X for jump or double jump. It’s mostly just getting used to not suiciding off the edge of the maps and timing that sweet sweet extra jump to save your life. The fighting is just as fast and frantic as in the newer games, other then the moves, controls are slightly different, It plays the same, the developers clearly not fixing what doesn’t need to be. Only improving the overall performance, which you’d expect would come naturally with better hardware and game engines.

After finishing a round, you get the chance to face, beat and unlock a new character this one being Marth from the Fire Emblem series.

You can easily sink hours into the tournament it’s if you play with friends, just cranking the tournament up to 64 and playing through them one by one. The thing that always makes this series more fun for me is the dynamic stages. Where some are static, bits falling off, making sure you don’t fall onto the racing track and get twatted out by f-zero racers. Or climbing up as the stage disappears below you. Along with these are the sprinkling of special items that fall down, these can range from straight hitting weapons, explosive canisters, red shells, Pokeballs that summon, a host of Mons that deal damage for you. Anything that can help me is a bonus, free damage to my opponents is always a plus.

One of the stage transitions, from my favourite stage, the Pokemon stadium.

The game looks great, considering it’s age coming up 22 years old, you can’t fault it really. Especially in the character designs, I especially like the chunky Pikachu design, obviously still before the rounded out the flagship mascot of the Pokemon series. Every stage feels and looks great, with diverse design, with appropriate stylised textures or designs to look straight out of their respective series. Nothing beats the soundtrack though, the orchestral songs as you go through 2,3 minutes of button mashing fighting is top. A good soundtrack whether it be a film, series or game always helps build some sort of extra atmosphere and adds to what’s going on. Here though it just adds another level to it. Really helps amp up the tension and epic feel to fighting on a moving ship up in the clouds.

Just some of the items that drop around as you brawl

Even if you aren’t necessarily into fighting games, this is just a great game. It’s fast, fun and easy to get into. With more depth coming if you want to get into the specifics of defending, and move times, reaction speeds. Allowing for a competitive experience if you really want too. This is a series that heavily leans into if it isn’t broken don’t fix it. However they continually improve and add more too it. I have yet to play the original, but having played all the others since this, it’s highly impressive to see where it was all these years ago.

I’d give this a Positively Tasty 7/10. I could rate a smidge higher, but I think a solid 7 is fair. The game looks, performs amazingly well for it’s age. The controls are simple but effective, and there’s enough choice to keep you going. However in knowing what the series became and how polished ultimate is I think I’m being a bit harsher on it. Don’t let this detract or turn you away from trying for the first time or even returning. It’s still a massively fun and precise game. Even more so if you go for co-op mode with some chums.

Released 24th May 2002, Nintendo Gamecube

Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga

Having played the first Lego Star Wars game back in 2005 on the PS2, and subsequently played it many times in the various forms since, played 2 on the PS2 and PSP, the complete saga on DS and 360, The force awakens on PS4, now I am playing it on PS5. I mean I even have the complete saga on my phone. I’d go as far to say that along with all of this and my physical Lego Star Wars collection, that I sometimes forget it isn’t a Lego IP and the story was always told this way. Not in big budget live action films.

Some nice stills looking straight from the films themselves.

This game shows how far the video game adaptions have come for Lego, and this spans the other franchises it uses as well, from Jurassic world, Batman, Lord of The Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones. Marvel, The Incredibles etc. Having a fully fleshed out galaxy with multiple hub planets, that all contain Kyber bricks, data cards, unlockable vehicles, characters and side quest to complete. There is 24 planets to be exact. There is 19 data cards which have replaced red bricks here but still unlock stud multipliers and other bonuses, and there are 1200 kyber bricks to find which are now used to upgrade your characters over all, or their individual sub class of say Jedi. Each mission now has 5 minikits to find across the 5 missions for each film as well as the three hidden level tasks to do as you go along.

The game has even spruced up combat, allowing combos now which help break the enemies defence or to get a higher string of attacks into a boss. There’s a cover and shoot system in play now, so you have more accuracy when in a fire fight. This also all comes neatly in a combo multiplier as you fight your way through waves of stormtroopers. This is another part where the skill trees come into play being able to increase your health and damage output overall.

Graphically speaking the game looks great, the facial expressions and detail on the mini figures really stand out and make the characters look individual. Not like in the originals where they didn’t even have voices they just sorta grunted and mumbled along. Which if that’s your cup of tea then you can pay 500,000 studs to unlock that mode and reminisce of easier times before bills and adulthood ruining your life. Every explorable planet hub looks fantastic and all feel independent from one another so you aren’t just trudging along looking at all the same scenery. Honestly for what it is, it doesn’t really have any right to look as good as does.

In terms of a standard Lego game though it’s huge, with 45 main missions to work through and 140 side missions, 384 characters, and 114 vehicles. Every planet area is jam packed, worth exploring every nook and cranny. Do all the activities for kyber bricks as well. I think with having so many levels this time round, some of the story ss filled in mini activities and cutscenes between missions. This however for the better allows for the levels to focus more keenly on the bigger, more memorable moments of the films.

Just a taste of how many characters you can unlock and play as

To go along with all this there is loads of open space areas, which contain races, beat the clock, shoot the targets in the time, dog fights and even chasing down gold ships. So even just flying between planets there is stuff to be done. If you just wanna play through the missions it won’t take that much time probably around 15/16 hours maybe a bit longer if you do a bit of side stuff along the way. However trying to 100% the game which is the point I’m at it’ll easily put you into the 80+ minimum region, easily twice the length of a normal Lego game. I find that a lot of it is fun though as well it doesn’t feel too tedious and it’s most quick fun. Most of the main missions are more succinct and shorter then normal and as previously mentioned there is only 5 mini kits per level now as well. The real fun doesn’t start until you’ve hit free play and can go round with first stud multipliers as who you want. Nothing better then playing a new hope and wrecking shit as Darth Maul.

The sheer amount of content I’ve barely done.

Oddly though, one feature that isn’t that prominent is the building aspect of the game. I found a lot of the time you don’t really need to build anything to by in most missions it’s very minimal. It more focuses on have the right character selected so using the force as a Jedi, or Sith. Even being a storm trooper to detonate silver blocks, or the one that pops up the most is the droid gates. So using R2-D2 or BB8 to bypass something.

Overall I’d rate this game a very strong 8/10, Highly Tasty.

The game is really great fun especially in bite-size chunks if you haven’t got the time to play for hours and hours. It looks and plays amazingly. Having overhauled the combat and added mini skill trees to beef up the character repertoire slightly. All tightly packed in fun and highly designed levels with the trademark Lego humour. All makes for a game well worth your time just a casual fan of either fandom or a die hard fan.

Released 5th April 2022, Sony Playstation 5

Christmas additions

Once more I have added a plethora of games to my humble collection. Namely Gamecube and PS5 games this year. Even with the 9 new additions, it took all my might not buying the remake of Crisis Core. I mean I am most definitely gonna purchase it in the near future but for now. I more then have enough to work my way through. A review on Pokemon Scarlet is coming up on the not so distant horizon, as i’ve all but finished the main three branching stories of Paldea.

My new fat stack of games. Taken in crystal clear 4k with no signs of reflection whatsoever.

Then I will attempt to work my through this delightful stack. Which as you can see is an eclectic mix. From timesplitters 2, the super gorey Callisto Protocol and Dying Light 2 which i’ve holding off on getting for a while, all the way to Shin Megami Tensei 5. With a splashing of the original Luigis Mansion on the side, a gem of horror game in Eternal Darkness. Then Super Smash Bros Melee, and soul Calibur 2 which I already have on PS2 but that version is lacking the playable version of Link. And finally the remaster of Destroy All Humans 2 a personal favourite of mine from my youth.

For me this is a top tier list, paddding out my beloved Gamecube collection, adding some new games and a reamke of a classic. I have no doubt that they will all make for some extremely tasty gaming.

But more then anything heading into the new year I will be aiming to continue the growth of TRG, with some potentially big news on the skyline of this dreary bakdrop of winter. As for following me I hopefully at the very least I ignite some fond nostalgia in you or for you to start your own collecting journey. As long as it’s a game you enjoyed playing or if you only play an hour every now and then but have kept all your old games. Any game you buy and keep makes for a great start or great addition to any collection.

As always, stay fucking tasty my brethren.

Happy Christmas

Here’s hoping you all have a very merry Christmas and great new year. From me here at TRG. Hoping that Santa brings you all your gaming wishes and dreams.

For me I’ve added to my never ending stack of games, that is surely going to outlast the remainder of my hours of life with play hours the way it’s going.

As we head into the new year I want to thank you all for following along this year where I have slowly but surely grown from nothing to a slight something. With heading into the new year with only more growth here.

Let’s hope that as for me the new year brings only good things to all of you my fellow gaming enthusiasts and followers.

Enjoy your holidays stay fucking tasty, and be ready for new reviews in the new year.

God of War Ragnarok

My oh my, what an utterly incredible game this is. Having played every entry including the two PSP titles, this has been a hell of journey to follow and witness what has unfolded from the original back in 2005.

With the sort of soft reboot in 2018 moving from the Pantheon of Greek Gods, to the Norse saga of these two titles, I didn’t know what to expect, I mean honestly they are both nothing short of phenomenal. This is mainly due to the directing style, the story line, the voice acting and the motion capture. I mean to be fair everything about these games are pretty much 10/10 in all aspects. But the character work and writing is where it truly shines. We follow Kratos from being the angry Spartan boy of the old games to that of a man who just wants to be a good dad and move on from his past mistakes.

The dynamic between Kratos and Atreus is just top. Not from just the excellent cutscenes between them, but from the joint combat and puzzle solving that you do. I mean I don’t wanna be too spoiler heavy here but I will probably spoil some stuff so if you haven’t finished or completed it yet I can only apologise. At the heart of this concluding game of the Norse Saga is Kratos finally becoming the God he should’ve been with people actually revering him and Atreus moving on from being the Loki of the Ragnarok prophecy to being his person. Having a good few missions where you control Atreus, in fact the entire Asgard and Jotunheim story unfold through his eyes, his combat his highly different from Kratos, quick strikes, archery and smacking the bad guys on the head with his sturdy bow. Unlike the crushing, heavy blows with precise striking and combos of Kratos. Having the blades of Chaos, the Leviathan axe and the new Draupnir spear, which quickly became my favourite weapon.

Every realm looks, breathe and feels different. They all feel so alive in the way the need to be, Vanaheim having thick forests and foliage. Midgard submerged in Snow, Svartalfheim covered in rocky landscapes. They all feel huge and that there is more past the small snippets you are privileged to explore. Each area is made for you to want to explore with some areas blocked until after the main story is concluded. Every corner seems to be a mini boss of sorts, which isn’t a bad thing. With the highlights of this for me being the dragon hunts in Vanaheim, and if you find the right relic you can even unlock a few extra secret bosses. You can go searching for Nornir chests, legendary chest, artefacts from other far away lands. Release the spying Odin Ravens, favours from the dead or other characters you meet along the way. One nagging problem I did have though and honestly it’s about the only one, was the lack of fast travel. You can travel between the many gates, but only from another gate. It’d have made life so much easier if you could just ping over to the right gate you’d want without having to traverse all the way back.

I was going for the platinum on this one, having 100% the last game, I had every intention of doing the same again. I still might, having got to the last two final Hurdles though. The two super bosses of the Game the new Valkyrie queen Gna and the big bad berserker boss King Hrolf. I am at level 9 meaning I have maxed armour, weapons, shield and upgraded hilts. They can both eat shit. Honestly only thing that ruined the game somewhat. Having a mixture of not having the time just battle the same boss for hours straight hoping I get lucky enough to win and wanting to play the PS5 upgrade of the Witcher 3 I decided to move on for now. But seriously fuck those guys, the are unnecessarily hard, considering how the rest of the game isn’t that bad even the 12 berserkers you have to fight to unlock King Hrolf are pretty standard as you keep on top of improving your strength,defence and vitality.

Each weapon has it’s own skill trees that add new function or added combo strikes to your arsenal. The same works for the companion trees of Atreus and Freya. I’d argue the best part of this is each new move or skill has it’s own 3 tiered system, so once you’ve used it enough to hit the gold level you can use experience points to add a sub feature to it, so it can say stun more or even cause slightly more damage. So through the endless slaughter it’s worthwhile swapping between the three weapons and hitting all the different combos just so you can fuck shit up just that little bit more.

I can’t do a review without pointing out how fucking amazing the game looks. Graphically it’s nothing short of immense. In fact all the pictures in this review are basically just stills from parts of the realms that just show off how good everywhere looks. The siege on Asgrard at the end of the story really exemplifies this. Having Surtr and Jormungandr in the background fighting with Thor. Whilst all the realms are bearing down on Odin in a unified attack. Speaking of Jormungandr, one of my favourite parts of these games is the way Atreus on his journey inadvertently created him, using the giants souls in Jotunheim and the fight he had with Thor at the end which sent him back in time to the 2018 game. There is many there other small details like this dotted around, and hidden in dialogue. Something the Santa Monica writing team truly excelled at.

I could probably make this review twice if not thrice as long, with what I could talk about, but ultimately it boils down to just playing it yourself. Which I’d imagine pretty much everyone who wants to has by now. This game talk me to around 45 hours to do everything bar those dickbag final bosses. Having the returning trials of Muspelheim as well, which ain’t that bad really, just a bit repetitive in the way you unlock the final six challenges. A couple bigger side quests and the small favours, finding all the hidden lore and buried treasure. There is a lot to do, not as much as other games of the same style. I’d argue this game though is more concise and in wanting you to be able to do everything without it becoming a bore or slog.

This game now firmly sits in my top 3 games, just under the Witcher 3 and just above Death Stranding. So you bet the announcement of DS2 rustled the ever loving shit out of my jimmies. In all the games I have played over the years not many reach the rich detail and story driven excellence this one hits. All encompassed in the best looking game I’ve seen off the PS5 so far, and intertwined in the rich lore of Norse mythology. Even though DLC for this probably won’t happen there is so much that can be done, and the same can be said for if they choose to continue the story. However if they choose not too. This is definitely the right end for Kratos’s story. Having made him so much more then one dimensional character of the original trilogy, and this is largely due to the performance of Christopher Judge and that can’t be understated enough.

This game gets a definitive 10/10, Real Fuckin’ Tasty.

It looks phenomenal, the combat is fast, fluid and brutal when necessary. The plot and overall story is brilliant, the writing and directing of the game is top tier. Honestly just play the game, you won’t regret it. I also realise all my pictures are just screenshots of nice views, i’m not sorry for this. I wish for you all to experience how immense it looks.

Released November 9th 2022, Sony Playstation 5

Ghost of Tsushima

Well where to begin with this one. Having already dome a 100% on the PS4 version I thought it’d be well worth my time to enjoy the upgraded version. Along with the DLC in Iki Island, for a bit of extra stealthy samurai action. So here’s the review on Ghost of Tsushima Directors Cut PS5.

Both parts of Tsushima Island, that you get to fully explore.

Honestly this game even at a few years old looks incredible, not necessarily up there with the likes of Horizon Forbidden West of the newly released God of War Ragnarok. I think the main thing that allows it still stand out is the art direction and over all design. The game just looks amazing especially with the tall grass with the blowing of the wind. The nice feature of how to track where you need to head to, swiping the touch pad and the passing wind guiding you where to go. It even comes in an artist option of black and white if you so desire and the blood staying red to add in the brutal nature and setting of the game.

You get given gifts at the various ghost shrines.

The combat in this game is great fun. The particular highlight for me though comes from the stand-off. Fully upgrading that along with the armour perk to allow to add one more in the chain. Quickly dispatching 5 enemies in one go, with a one hit kill, hitting the strike button before your foe gets a hit in. The upgrades in this game don’t really make too much of a difference until you’ve upgraded your sword, picked a style of armour you want to go with and have upgraded the four different stances. As these allow for added combo strikes, new parrying options to keep all the different types of enemies at bay. Archery is pretty fun and serves one of the four main side quest chains you can do. Which gets more fun with fire arrows and the great long bow exploding ones.

With the main plot being Jin leaving behind the teachings of the samurai for a more stealthy and dishonourable road. The stealth in this game whilst fun, and you gain throw-able weapons and chain assassinations. I do feel this is one aspect that lacked some depth, whilst fun and always a good time trying to take out a mongol stronghold without being caught. It could definitely used a bit more to aid in tactical options, maybe a dedicated skill tree for it. As for the most part it just makes you slightly more silent and allows you to see and hear enemies from further away.

The game is bleak, I mean, turbo bleak everyone in it basically dies or has some close to them die. With most of the side missions you tracking someone down who ends up being dead or someone you put down for being a piece of shit. I mean spoiler, in my defence the game has been out for years not, but even your first horse dies, and that scene fucking hurts to watch. Like the developers and director knew full well what they were doing when they chose to add that cutscene in. You can’t forget the missions of a disease that’s killed off a small holding, or the warrior monks who have all been killed, and Norio’s brother who instead of killing the decide to just fucking de-limb him completely. The story of the invading Mongolian army and the change within Jin itself is great, and his clash of ideals with his uncle. But fuck me it’s not happy, it makes for a great backdrop and setting though. Everywhere is on fire and littered with blood or corpses and rogue samurai patrol the land looking to hurt you at any point. Not to mention the pin cushion peasants filled with arrows for practice. Don’t let this bleakness detract you from playing this game if you haven’t already though, a small price for an incredible story and fun game.

Weapon upgrades using the resources you pick up on your travels.

The world design is great, with a shit ton of side activities to do, fox dens, where you follow a fox to the shrine. With the best bit being at the end where you get to pet them and they get super happy. Bamboo strikes to increase your focus metre. Hot springs to increase your health. Haiku’s for new head gear. Shinto Shrines for new charms, Mongolian outposts and the bigger town areas you have to liberate. Farmsteads which unlocks a new set of armour. The tales that give you new armours, special moves or even the longbow, where you get to do the coolest part of the games with boss duels. You also have new sword skins, ronin duels I might be missing something, but the point I’m trying to get at everything is worth your time. Everything helps to build you into the unstoppable machine that you are. With most open world games especially when aiming for a platinum trophy it can feel a slog having to find very collectible and there’s always that one that you can’t find, or you have to do a side mission first that doesn’t unlock until you’ve done this. Here though I honestly wanted to do everything, In both play through’s, I felt fairly empty once I did finish it though. I clocked in around 50 hours to do everything, so it’s not a short experience nor the longest. I long for the day soon when I can complete the Witcher 3 on death march difficulty again in glorious 4k. This is truly one of the best PS exclusives and is well worth your time if you haven’t played it yet. The story DLC is a much of muchness in that it’s good fun for the extra hours, and some nice back story for Jin, but ultimately just gives you more time to enjoy being the Ghost.

Slaughtering a camp leader auto fills your ghost bar where you can one shot kill enemies for aperiod of time inducing fear as well.

I’d give this game 10/10, real fuckin’ Tasty.

A great story told through great voice acting and motion capture all neatly packed into one of the nicest looking and designed worlds of last generation. All complimented with great combat, fun if slightly lacking stealth mechanics and super tailored side activities which make for trundling along the bleak land that little bit more palatable.

Released August 20th 2021, Sony Playstation 5.

Tekken Dark Resurrection

It’s been a while since I did quick take post as it is a while since my last PSP post also. So why not go for one of my recent pick ups of Tekken. I don’t really play fighting games outside of Mortal Kombat. Most of the fighting games I play or did tend to go back to old soul calibur or the Naruto ninja storm games.

For a cheap pick up, I was pleasantly surprised by it. Being the PSP version of 5 which was initially on ps2 then got an upgrade for ps3. It came with a lot of features, varying game modes. Standard 1 v 1, story and arcade. Then the sub modes within arcade. Some of these unlock as you progress in story mode or rising in ranks via arcade mode.

My pre existing history with Tekken was with tag tournament on the PS2 which I spent most of the time bouncing round on a sword as Yoshimitsu getting my ass whipped and not really understanding why.

I won’t lie I don’t really understand the under lying story so what’s going on is kinda behind me. The 9 stage story mode also doesn’t help. Next to nothing is explained you just fight people for a smidge of reason. Then it ends with a fight against Jinpachi who’s just an angry fiery lad who takes a little more punishment to beat.

The fighting itself is pretty standard, but is fluid enough to make it fun and getting the timings down for combos isn’t too bad. Definitely a practice makes perfect type of game. The more you’d play the better you’d become, fairly standard stuff really.

The game does look good, each character are detailed and individual enough to stand out and a roster of 32 playable characters. There is more then enough variety to go around. The stages are all distinctive I particularly enjoy the one where penguins are hobbling around as you brawl.

You get gold for every victory, and for a perfect win a high amount. A few times I had a random multiplier pop up as, dunno why but it did so you can also get that. With that gold you can buy a shit load of character customisation items which adds a nice bit of a personal touch to your favourite characters.

I can’t vouch for the local play or online play as that’s not a option for me. But I’d imagine I’d lose 100% as I’m pretty shite at the game. It is fairly fun in quick burst and is far from tasking. If you like fighting games even know you’d find a lot to keep you busy and love. However for the most part I’d imagine you’d best still stick with a full console game or the console version of this one.

I’d give this game a good and Tasty 6/10, a solid and enjoyable fighting game with enough variety to keep it fun but only in quick bursts. And missing the polish and usually more variety of a full fleecier console game. Especially in the story mode.

Released on Sony PSP, September 15th 2006.

Pokemon Legends Arceus

As a standard protocol by now, you should expect a Pokemon game review from me at any point old or new. This stems from my general love for the series and having stuck with it for every gen except Black and White 2, namely cause for some reason I never got round to buying that Gen. Well now, it’s just a slightly expensive hard to find gen to get a hold of. One day I will add it to my glorious collection of Pokemon games. This may contain those fabled videos I have long endureD to give to you my loyal readers. But then again it may not cause I still haven’t really looked into it and unsure why it went wrong last time. As my free time is fleeting and highly precious, I always endeavour to give it to you in these reviews and mini updates of my not so grand collection. The next major review will most definitely be God of War Ragnarök which my jimmies are fully rustling just in anticipation for.

This game was a welcome addition for me, not really sure what to expect. Colour me surprised, when I get it on launch day and load it up and it’s a complete deviation form the standard Pokemon game. Well not a complete deviation. Having gone one step further with the open world aspects that had been introduced in Sword and Shield. Pokemon was finally taking the first steps into what could be perceived as a full open world game. With Scarlet and Violet only a few weeks away now as well I can only imagine how much further along we have come.

The map design on this game, is a nice addition to, even allowing for quick travel points in the mini regions.

Choosing this time to overhaul the mechanics of the game and try for a bigger more open world feeling, the graphics try to reflect this. Looking better than before however still missing the fidelity they could achieve. Even on the Switch’s hardware. The world feels varied but it’s just not full when it comes to details, trees and grass seem far and between. You can tell that there is clearly a style shift being attempted and for that you can’t knock it. It could like with BD/SP have put a smidge more effort into it though.

One of the flute summed Pokémon you can use traverse the land easier.

I was initially a bit disappointed with the announcement of the new mainline series, due to how much I enjoyed how this was divided into mini open world areas with there own biome related Pokemon. This gives the Land of Hisui a bigger feel to it, a general sense of grandeur, which is usually missing in these games. I was hoping for some DLC where new areas with new Pokemon would be introduced, maybe even area specific legendaries. As I enjoyed having to complete the Pokédex entries by capturing a certain amount of the same mon, and doing different mini objectives in the process. Actually gave a reason to go out and be catch happy.

Adding to this was the new crafting ability which I hope returns in S/V as I do enjoy a good crafting mechanic. Having the ability to craft your own Pokeballs and potions fucking slaps. Only this time hopefully it makes increases your bag capacity less tedious too add a new slot, it’s easy enough. Just go to the guy that does it and pay. Right, simple enough? It is but the little fucker wants you to re-mortgage your house every time you do expand your inventory. Absolutely no idea why they made it so fucking expensive.

The new inventory interface and the thieving fucker you use to expand your carry space.

With all the different areas, obviously comes with a variety of Pokemon that are freely wondering the plains, and this can change on day or night allowing for some time sensitive catches. Which can be aided in the different type of pokeball you use/craft. Having to sneak up on them, lure them in with berries, use heavy or lighter balls. And the piece de resistance, you have full control and the throwing of the Pokeball to catch and summon forth your own party. It’s a small addition but it really adds to the aesthetic of the entire franchise and immersion of the game. It’s kinda mental how many iterations of the series it’s taken to get to this point. This on land is a lot of fun. However on the open waters, that is some bullshit right there trying to catch a water type. It’s doable but highly annoying.

A water battle, and a wild alpha Pokémon. Who is a roaming mini boss, that you can attack and comes with better stats/move set.

My favourite new mechanic though has got to be the move swapping. Having your standard 4 moves you can use in battle but you have the ability to cycle through remembered moves. Meaning you finally have more freedom with set ups. Giving more reason to have multiple of the same Pokemon. Even going as far as having move styles, strong and agile. This either increases damage or speed at the cost of an extra move PP. Battling seems a bit harder this time round, with a higher damage output, you seem to be dealing bigger damage as well as receiving it. This is not to say it’s not balanced it does seem pretty even. There isn’t many trainer battles either, which might seem a off put, but I preferred it. Along with needing to catch hundreds of Pokemon it gave you the need to battle loads of them, using different types or specific moves. The filling up of the pokedex is probably the best new entry to he entire sereis.

The new move swap mechanic in action, I really hope this makes a return.

This side entry also forgoes the typical gym battles as well, normally I’d probably be a bit miffed at this but honestly I like what they did this time round. With the building of the mystique of the Pokemon. Having almost deity like big boy Pokemon (the Nobles) run each area which you have to quell it’s anger. These Alpha Pokemon. These are dotted around the land as well as being the areas boss. So you have do all these mini task on route to them and then you face them in literal combat. You have dodge their attacks whilst pelting the ever loving shit out of them with balls made up of their favourite food. Once stunned you can choose to throw in one of your chosen Pokemon to aid in battle temporarily.

This game also makes you slightly more God like, allowing for you to choose if the Pokemon once it’s hit the requirements if they have the right to evolve. You can even bypass trade only evolutions which I fucking adore. You just have to get the right item, In this case the linking cord for the Pokemon give it then again play God. Choose to leave it as a haunter for existence or allow for it to bloom into the mighty Gengar.

Speaking of Gods, Dialga and Palkia haven’t looked better.

Another deviation in the right way, is there is somewhat of an actual story. As normally the story revolves around team rocket or the like trying to summon a legendary and you have to stop their nefarious plans all the while battling out the gym challenge of the particular continent. Having woken in a rift and spoken to Arceus (God) you get teleported back in time with no previous memories and then help set up the Sinnoh region which is home to the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum generation. Helping different clans, by being a sort of ranger/trainer. Helping the integration of Pokemon into society and building up your base of operations. You use your trusty Arc phone that you still have. As well as investigating the time-rift distortions that pop up as you traverse the land.

The two leaders of the pearl and diamond clan, as well as the guy who is the last nobles keeper. With the giant Avalugg serving as the last of the five nobles you quell.

Honestly this Is one of the best Pokemon games to date, It’s super fun and is trying to progress the series in all the right ways. I certify this a high 9/10, some Pure Tasty Gaming.

The only reason I haven’t rated it higher is that there is only 242 different Pokemon in this game. Which albeit a good selection it really could’ve done with being padded out more. The fact it finally has side quests as well. They aren’t much past fetch quests or the odd mini game. It just lacks in variety. Having said this though I hope these new aspects especially the new move swapping and crafting systems remain, and are further explored. I tend to feel most games milk you for DLC as it should normally just be content in the finished product. However this game was ripe for DLC and would’ve only served to improve a great game. Finally with BD/SP as well, this series seems to be taking cues from the newer Zelda game entries and are putting it to good use but are still in need of finding their own footing. They finally seem to be wanting to improve on the old formula and progress the series forward. I can only hope this progression continues.

Released, January 28th 2022 Nintendo Switch