31 public written reviews
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Gnosia is a single-player version of Werewolf mixed with looping game elements. What’s Werewolf you might ask? It’s a social game that involves two different teams: Werewolves and villagers. The game is played in segments called “days,” and each day all of the villagers (including the wolves) get together to deliberate who is actually a werewolf in disguise, and then vote to eliminate whoever they deem to be the…
*Images taken from official trailers* ATLUS seems to have a fetish for bringing out Persona titles right at the end of a console’s lifespan. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment released a few months after the launch of the PlayStation 2. Persona 4 could arguably be considered one of the last unique PS2 titles, coming out in 2009. And even as recently as this past gen, Persona 5 graced the PlayStation 3 and 4…
Read the full review Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth - Review
You can also watch this review instead of reading it. https://youtu.be/9PRw-Qd0QyA ICEY is an action game developed by the Chinese indie group Shanghai FantaBlade, and was originally released on Steam in November of 2016. It’s a hack n’ slash that’s similar in vibe to Muramasa or BloodRayne: Betrayal . You fight your way through hordes of enemies on a 2D plane, but ICEY , tries to inject a little bit more…
There's also a video version of this review available Writing is an important aspect in any medium where you are trying to tell a story, or even just convey information. When it’s done properly you can do some interesting things, especially in games when it’s coupled with good gameplay, visuals, and other aesthetic choices. Keep in mind that writing is more than just throwing big words on a page or overstuffing a…
Valkryia Revolution is the successor game to SEGA’s Valkyria Chronicles . Much like Chronicles , Revolution is a combination of turn-based tactics and real-time action. Chronicles was able to find a weird middle-ground between these types of games, and built a trilogy of cult hit RPGs. Valkryia Revolution takes its own spin on the genre its predecessor built by focusing more on the action side of things. Revolution…
Nintendo put remaking older Fire Emblem titles on the backburner after the fiscal failures that were the DS remakes of Shadow Dragon and New Mystery of the Emblem . It wasn’t until Awakening that Nintendo found their golden goose to revive the slow-selling series. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia feels very out of place with that philosophy. It goes against almost every design choice and convention that…
Read the full review Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Shin Megami Tensei 4 was first released in the west almost three years ago. It was a great game. Its story was interesting, it offered a multitude of endings, and it played around with a lot of mechanics from older SMT titles to give them a bit of a modern spin. It didn’t really need a sequel, but here we are several years later with Shin Megami Tensei 4 Apocalypse . Calling is a traditional sequel would be a…
In recent years, Koei Tecmo has taken many a shot at adapting popular anime titles into games similar to their Warriors series of games. Having done crossovers with the likes of Mobile Suit Gundam , Fist of the North Star , and even The Legend of Zelda , Koei Tecmo has released a new game with the popular manga and anime series Attack on Titan . Unlike previous crossover titles though, Attack on Titan takes a very…
The shoot ‘em up genre is something that has not been in the mainstream spotlight in a long time. In decades past, top-down and side-scrolling shooter games were some of the most dominate forces in arcades and by proxy some of the most popular titles to be ported to consoles. Nowadays though, the arcade designs of “make games shorter, but also much harder” doesn’t work very well, and most shmups come from smaller…
Often times, companies want to release games within a franchise in a proper order. Missed prequels or sequels can often do more harm than good for a story-driven series, by alienating players that don’t know the story’s context. Thankfully, 7 th Dragon III: Code VFD falls outside of this realm, and delivers a great dungeon crawling experience despite being the 4 th and final entry in the now seven year old series.…
Three years ago Nintendo announced a crossover project with ATLUS, combining their Fire Emblem franchise with the latter’s Shin Megami Tensei franchise. Two years later, and another trailer reveals that what many thought would be one of the best strategy game crossovers is now a new, independent, title. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is final product of a three-year long campaign to create something new from older…
Miniboss games is probably not a studio many have heard of. A two-person team based out of Brazil, their biggest claim to fame was helping with art assets for the platform-based brawler, TowerFall Ascension . There’s so much more to Miniboss though, underneath that pixel art aesthetic is small devoted team that pushes a lot of unique ideas explored both inside and outside the world of 24-hour game jam events. Out…
Gust Co. Ltd, is a company best known for producing the Atelier franchise, a series of turn-based RPGs dating all the way back to the PlayStation. This style of game would become their go-to, as the Atelier series grew in popularity in Japan and reached a niche status in the West. It’s both odd and exciting to see Gust produce a game like Nights of Azure, which deviates quite a lot from their familiar formula.…
Of all the Niche JRPG titles out there that anyone expected to get a sequel, Project X Zone was not one of them. A 3DS title that’s the continuation of a Japan-exclusive PS2 crossover game, Project X Zone had a myriad of problems that resulted in a lot of warranted negative feedback. Despite the backlash, it somehow sold enough copies overseas for Bandai to seek to make a sequel, aptly titled Project X Zone 2 .…
It’s been a long time since the Digimon franchise has had a worthwhile release overseas. A franchise plagued by the curse of falling out of popularity with its target demographic in the West, the release rate of games for it had slowed to a trickle in the past decade. After the poorly received (and poorly developed) All-Star Rumble , it seemed like the series was as good as dead outside of Japan. Digimon Story:…
HD Remakes and Remasters sure seem to be Capcom’s forte these past few years. Following the Devil May Cry HD Trilogy, DmC Definitive Edition, the Japan only Sengoku Basara HD Collection, Resident Evil Remaster, and Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition, Resident Evil 0 is the next game added to the “Remastered” list. Born from the unpredicted sales of the first Resident Evil Remaster, Resident Evil 0 is the second and…
Gundam is pretty big in Japan, literally 59-feet-big . Such a storied franchise has plenty of anime, manga, novels, and of course, video games to carry on it’s now 35 year legacy. One of the most popular game franchises being the Gundam Vs series that grew into mass popularity in Japanese arcades and home consoles. Unfortunately not many of these titles ever made it outside of Japan, and the rest of the world has…
Stella Glow for the 3DS is probably some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time with a strategy RPG. It’s colorful, has a nice soundtrack, a solid cast of characters, and fun gameplay that feels just right in length and difficulty for a portable RPG. Oddly enough, there’s not much inspired here. Imageepoch, the company behind Stella Glow , also made the Luminous Arc series of games on the 3DS, and Stella Glow pulls…
Fatal Frame as a franchise never really saw the mainstream popularity spikes that both Resident Evil and Silent Hill had. It has its dedicated fanbases in Japan and in the West, but I think you need only to look at American pop culture today to understand why a series of games tied to themes based around Japanese occult motifs would never catch on like one based around a zombie apocalypse set in America. Thankfully,…
Out of all of Nintendo’s IPs, Chibi-Robo is one of the few that never garnered much of a following outside Japan. Starting out as a quirky 3-D platformer on the GameCube and turning into a plethora of spin-off titles, Chibi-Robo’s footing was made with its cute, titular, mascot character who is programmed to help humans with their daily chores. In Chibi-Robo Zip Lash , the series takes a jump from a…
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer is a spin-off game to the now 2 year old game Animal Crossing: New Leaf . Unlike its source material though, Happy Home Designer does away with the debt repaying grind along with the massive amounts of collectible furniture, wildlife, and other oddities in favor of something a bit more streamlined and linear. Your job is no longer to be the mayor of the town, but instead to be an…
Lost Dimension is an interesting game. It’s the end result of what you would get from mixing the gameplay of Valkyria Chronicles , with the level design of a dungeon crawler, and bits and pieces of the trial systems from games like Phoenix Wright or Dangan Ronpa . On paper it sounds like a bit of a hodgepodge mess (and it kind of is), but oddly enough it creates a unique experience that helps to set the game apart…
While known more for Pokémon catching, Mario karting, and bro smashing, Nintendo has jumped into the shooter genre with Splatoon . A little bit arcade, a little bit puzzle solver, and a lot of bright colors help Splatoon stand out in some bold ways. Splatoon is a game that revolves around its online multiplayer. You gain money to spend on gear by playing multiplayer, you level up that gear and your character by…
Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker is a 3DS remake of the original Devil Survivor 2 which came out on the DS about 3 years ago. Coming out near the end of the DS’ life cycle made it one of the harder to find games for the handheld. Devil Survivor 2 was one of the better RPGs on the Nintendo DS, and Record Breaker finally brings the niche title back to store shelves with a nice amount of extras. Devil Survivor 2’s…
Read the full review Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker
Codename S.T.E.A.M is an interesting 3DS title made by Intelligent Systems, the company behind the Advanced Wars and Fire Emblem series. At its reveal Codename S.T.E.A.M generated a lot of buzz in looking to play similar to Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles games; however, outside of them both being odd combinations of turn-based and real-time strategy, S.T.E.A.M does a lot to display itself as something all its own.…
“Resident Evil: Revelations 2” is Capcom’s leap into the realm of episodic gaming, a style of release most well known for being used by Telltale Games. Telltale produces point-and-click style adventure games, which are very different from the action-style gameplay of “Revelations 2.” There is more to this game than its release schedule though. Being put out at a budget price, a big worry for many people is the…
Well over a decade since it originally came out on the Nintendo 64, “Majora’s Mask” has followed in the footsteps of its 3D Zelda predecessor and made a new home for itself on the Nintendo 3DS. Bringing not only a visual and auditory overhaul with it, “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D” has brought about a noticeable amount of changes to its gameplay, making it fall somewhere in between the area of port and…
Almost 13 years since the original GameCube release and a little over half a decade for the Wii port, Capcom has released REmake in the form of an HD remaster on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC. Despite more recent Resident Evil games aiming for a more action-oriented gameplay approach, REmaster is a rerelease of a game showcasing the series’ roots in survival horror. REmaster is more…
It’s been a little over 6 years since the last release of a Guilty Gear game that wasn’t an update patch to a pre-existing game, and well over a decade if you only count the arcade fighters. Guilty Gear Xrd brings the series into 3D and HD on the PlayStation 3 and 4 with a few old characters as well as some new faces. With its unique blend of rock and heavy metal inspired characters and its charming anime aesthetic,…
Released during a time when Namco Bandai was hesitant to push their flagship RPG in the west, the original Tales of Hearts never made it overseas. Hailed by the game’s producer, Hideo Baba, as being the one Tales title he wished had been localized, Tales of Hearts R for the Vita brings the game to the west in a 3D format with a little bit of new material, such as two new playable characters. Tales of Hearts R…
Persona Q: Shadows of the Labyrinth is a marriage of Atlus’ Persona 3 and 4 with Etrian Odyssey, called Sekaiju no MeiQ in Japan. Specifically, it’s a merge of the Persona characters into a world with mechanics inspired by the Etrian games. While it might seem like nothing more than an entertaining side-project, Persona Q creates a unique experience that gives a fresh perspective on the RPG franchise. The story of…
