by teknodwarf
Showing 1-10 of 10 items
My top game is technically a remake of an old game. This is a remake of Yakuza 2. What pushes Kiwami 2 ahead is how it feels like a culmination of the best things from the most recent entries. It runs on the same same engine as 6, which includes the seamless transitions of battles and lack of loading when going into buildings and shops. It has some of my favorite activities like the hostess club management simulator from 0 (which they really need to make a mobile game spinoff of) and the clan battle tower defense mini-game from 6. This game also has the most infamous scene in the series where you’re infiltrating a yakuza-occupied Osaka Castle and the boss unleashes a tiger on Kiryu, which he nonchalantly neutralizes with a punch to the face. I played a lot of Yakuza in the last 2 years, and will likely play more when the remaster of 3 comes out and I’m really looking forward to the studio’s next project, Judgment in 2019.
Yakuza 6 is a game I was prepping for since my introduction to the series in 2017. I played Yakuza 0 and Kiwami in succession. Then took a break before diving into Yakuza 4 and 5 which I had in my game library thanks to PlayStation Plus. Yakuza 5 has a special place in my heart because of the idol segment of the game played heavily into my interests. Also it was worth checking out 5 as it directly tied into Yakuza 6 and it closes out Kiryu’s story with the series. Yakuza 6 is the first time the series has been developed directly for the PS4. As such, the game world feels way more fleshed out. Every shop and building is interactive—there are no more loading screens when entering/exiting a Don Quixote, for example. You’re no longer locked into arenas for street battles and can fight virtually anywhere. Beyond the technical improvements, the story is very engaging and the side content is super entertaining. You can micromanage a baseball team, you can cyber with cam girls played by real life adult video actresses, and my personal favorite, a tower defense RTS game akin to the Fort Condor missions from FF7, but you’re fighting New Japan Pro Wrestlers like Naito and Okada. The other goofy/awesome mainstays like karaoke and arcades are here too.
This is the best Tetris game since Tetris DS. The music was really good. It blended so many genres such as space Enya pop, world music, hip hop, jazz, and techno. When playing through the journey mode, I really like how the game guides you through each stage and how there’s a good balance from fast-paced to more relaxed songs. The different effect modes were entertaining as well, though I mostly played them during the weekend challenges. The game is also has VR support. Playing it in VR was definitely a different experience as I felt all the visual effects much more intensely. Overall, Tetris Effect came out during a busy release period but I always found myself jumping in to play it for a few sessions before going to bed. Tetris is still a good game.
I became a believer in VR last year when I played Resident Evil 7. After playing Astro Bot, I’m an evangelist. This game is good. I had my doubts because it starred those robots from the VR demo game, but after hearing the buzz of how “it’s the Mario 64 of VR” and I saw it in action, I can say though claims are founded. It really is like playing Mario-style platforms in VR, but unlike Lucky’s Tale where you watch from a distance, you instead actively follow the robot through levels from behind and you physically go through the environment yourself. The most visually impressive parts are when you go underwater and it feels like you are scuba diving. Moreover, there are parts in other levels where you, independent of the robot you’re controlling will be interacting with environment, whether it’s physically hitting your head through obstacles like wooden boxes, or headbutting soccer balls back at enemies, it really immersed me in the game and opened up my mind to the possibilities of what VR gaming can do. The game itself is just about the perfect length and every stage is completely unique. Even in the stages that reuse certain gimmicks, the developers still put an interesting and new spin on it.
Smash 4 was probably the one entry in the series I played the least. Mostly because the single player content was nonexistent and I also didn’t have a regular group of people to play it with. While nothing has changed in the latter department, Ultimate goes back to doing a full-blown single player story mode with World of Light. This long journey took me over 30 hours to complete and I really enjoyed how creative the team was with putting fun twists on the roster in order to include every single game character imaginable as a Spirit. I have enjoyed the few opportunities I had of playing multiplayer, especially when playing it the way it was meant to be played (all characters, all stages, all items).
Monster Hunter is a series that I have avoided like the plague for years. But the rumblings claiming this was the most newcomer friendly entry was what got me initially interested. After getting used to the controls and learning the gameplay loop of hunting monsters, using the materials from monsters to craft new weapons to hunt more monsters, I was hooked. The biggest factor in my enjoyment was having a crew of like-minded gamers to party up and hunt monsters with. This was easily one of my favorite gaming experiences in years and it has been really difficult trying to replicate it with anything else.
Like Pokémon Let’s Go, DQ11 brings the series into the modern age while maintaining the classic elements that define what Dragon Quest is. It’s a traditional RPG with a beautiful art style. There’s no random encounters, you can switch out party members mid-battle, and overall the game just feels like it belongs in 2018. This feels like the most polished product that Square Enix has produced in years, especially when compared to Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. I would have loved for the soundtrack to be fully orchestrated but the series’ scumbag composer got in the way of that.
I am not the biggest Spider-Man fan or even a Marvel/comic book fan. The hype behind this game and impressions claiming “this is the Arkham Asylum or Spider-Man,” eventually sold me on this game. Guess what? It worked! Swinging around New York as Spider-Man is just so fun. This is what an open-world game should be like (looking at you Red Dead 2). Where navigating the world is so good you don’t want to use the fast travel system. Where the optional missions and challenges are addicting and fun. Moreover, I was actually interested in the story and wanted to see it through the end. Marvel’s Spider-Man does what the Arkham games did for me with Batman, make me like the character.
This game was a pleasant surprise for me. Fans have been begging for a full-fledged Pokemon RPG on consoles since the first set of games came out on Game Boy. Well, I personally feel the Let’s Go games fill that need, albeit not exactly how some have imagined. It’s a full on remake of Pokémon Yellow (the 1st series) with some modern twists and quality of life improvements. The two biggest being able to see all the wild Pokémon out in the field, allowing you to choose which and when you encounter them, and carrying the Pokémon Box with you at all times, allowing you switch out your party instantly. The twist they put on the game that a lot fans complained about is the removal of wild Pokémon battles. Instead, you just mindlessly throw balls and berries Pokémon Go style but with motion controls. While, I could have done without the motion controls. The lack of wild Pokémon battles was actually a welcome change. I realized how much time you waste mashing the A button to use thundershock on wave after wave of Zubats in Mt. Moon. A brand new Pokémon game is coming out in 2019 and I won’t be surprised if they incorporate a lot of elements from Let’s Go.
Octopath Traveler came out at the perfect time. I was on summer vacation and was on the road a lot, which meant lots of time to play my Switch. There weren’t that many other releases during this time either so it was nice having a big juicy RPG to dive into. What drew me to Octopath Traveler wasn’t only it’s gorgeous art style, but also the homages it was paying towards Final Fantasy VI and other 16-bit RPGs of yore. With 8 different characters each having their own unique story and plot thread I knew this would be a game that’d keep me busy. Unfortunately, the characters’ stories don’t really overlap and there’s not much organic party interaction, but the battle system was interesting enough to keep me engaged. If Square Enix ever takes another stab at this game with a follow-up I hope they’ll work on intertwining the characters’ stories.