This game has been sitting in my “games to review” queue for quite a while now, and I’m not really sure why. True, I was not the biggest fan of Metro: Last Light, but I do have fond memories of playing the original Metro 2033 years ago and a remastering like this would ideally improve whatever shortcomings that game had. Ideally, but in trying to fix a few things, it turned what I recalled as being a delightful little experience into a far more annoying one. (more…)
Continuing with my Genesis-era Sonic retrospective from parts 1 and 2, Sonic CD originally began development as a portion of Sonic 2 before mechanical differences led to the game being too vastly different, causing it to later be repurposed as the marquee title for the Sega CD. Unlike the three mainline games, I’ve actually never played Sonic CD as I simply lacked access to it as a child, and as such don’t have much of a history with it. So without further ado, let’s just spin dash through a loop, bounce off a badnik, and grab a couple of rings… or whatever. (more…)
This game has been on my radar since it first appeared in late 2015, so naturally I proceeded to ignore it until it was conveniently placed in my hands, and long after the fuss and fervor about this game had passed. Even though at the time of its release, I had already played and coincidentally adored The Stanley Parable, and was quite curious as to what one of the two people behind that game would do with their next project. The results… were unexpected. (more…)
About a month ago, I started going through the beloved Mass Effect series once again, starting with the less than stellar predecessor to the series that I just couldn’t seem to love. That was Mass Effect 1, but Mass Effect 2… When thinking about what games really resonated with me, what games brought me an overwhelming amount of good feelings, and offered an experience that I kept coming back to, Mass Effect 2 is one of the first that comes to mind. It was among my favorite games of all time before my, what, sixth playthrough, and I think I may love it even more after going through the game yet again. Also, I played the game using a controller mod, which you can find here. (more…)
Continuing my quest to revisit the mainline Genesis era Sonic games, one done simply for my own curiosity, I am brought away from the disheartening Sonic The Hedgehog and towards its far more beloved sequel Sonic The Hedgehog 2. A game I fondly remember playing at my dentist’s office while I waited for her to clean my teeth and tell me how many cavities I accumulated over the past six months. Good times. (more…)
Kirby Super Star Ultra is one of those games that regularly rings throughout my head whenever I try to pinpoint what my favorite games of all time truly are. A title that I remember as a purely joyous experience, and one that shines brightly as a more traditional Kirby game, when they tend to be solid and fun platforming affairs. Being a fickle and temperamental person, I chose to revisit and replay the title in order to remind me why I felt this way, and provide a review explaining why it is among my favorite games of all time. (more…)
Little King’s Story is among my favorite Wii games, and while I technically reviewed this game way back when, I generally look upon my writing during that time in a very negative light, and with a PC version recently coming out, I figured it was as good a time as any to revisit this delightful game, and I’m not too surprised by how I feel about it.
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After the unveiling of Sonic Mania, it occurred to me how little I personally remembered the Genesis era of the Sonic The Hedgehog games. I only ever played them at a young age, and I don’t think I played them very much at that. Heck, the first Sonic game was the first video game I ever played, and all I remember about it was being in Marble Zone, losing all my rings, and getting upset after I died. A memory that acted as a very poor first impression of video games. Yeah, so I already have reason enough to not like this game, but being a poorly constructed relic doesn’t help much either. (more…)
Red Faction: Guerilla has been off my radar for quite some time, which actually surprises me, as it is a game developed by Volition, the people behind Saints Row, and I absolutely loved the second and fourth games in that series. It is also a game about destroying buildings, which has a primal and cathartic appeal to me. However, the brown aesthetic of this game always put me off, and it wasn’t until I caught a few glimpses of people gushing about this game before I chose to check it out and see what made their knickers so tight and cozy. Yeah, I still have no idea what they found so appealing about this game. (more…)
My thoughts on the Neptunia games should be well documented by now. From Re;Birth 1, 2, and 3 to U and Hyperdevotion, every game in this series has loads of potential, and could easily be a zany and lighthearted adventure overloaded with adoration for the medium of video games. Unfortunately, the lack of polish present in these games, and the lack of quality of their content has prevented any game in this series from being greater than being okay. For over a year, I’ve looked at Neptunia VII as the point where the series would ideally start getting good, where it would ascend to new plains and become a genuinely great series of fun lighthearted RPGs… it almost does. (more…)
So, I’ve been wanting to revisit the Mass Effect trilogy for a while, but I kept putting it off for various reasons. The vicious opinions surrounding the ending, the overpriced DLC that isn’t included in any bundle, and the lack of controller support. Although, I managed to remedy the latter using a handy mod. Anyways, with Andromina still a looming enigma on the horizon, I figured now is as good a time as any to start the spacefaring adventure of Shepard the space shepherd. So I’ll just jump on in. (more…)
I should probably explain that my goal for this blog for the past six months has been to get one review posted every week, and I’ve been doing my best to curate my game playing schedule to accommodate that. Unfortunately, sometimes I run into a game that I struggle to say much of anything about, and I spend very little time with before reaching the conclusion, as there just isn’t much to it. That’s unfortunately the case with Love At First Sight, and I feel sorry for the game because of it, as it really is quite nice.
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Well, it’s finally here. After 3.5 years of anticipation, and a second playthrough for both 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors and Virtue’s Last Reward, the conclusionary chapter of the Zero Escape series Zero Time Dilemma is finally here. I already spoke of my love for this series, so without further ado, let’s jump right in. (more…)
I originally wanted to begin with a preamble about berating this game for having an insufficient amount of its advertised waifu abuse, as both the quantity of true waifus and their abuse leaves much to be desired. But that really isn’t what VA-11 Hall-A is about, despite what 18 month old marketing materials led me to believe, and instead it is a visual novel about cyberpunk bartending, and a pretty wonderful one at that. (more…)
Following the initial release of 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, the game failed to capture a sizable market in Japan, with sales failing to surpass 50,000, while in the west it sold enough to justify a second printing. Because of this the game was viewed as a success, and a sequel was put forward, one that would release on two platforms in order to maximize the audience, feature a far larger and more ambitious story, and be rebranded under the moniker of Zero Escape. However, the game failed to perform adequately in Japan, and there was a brief period where it was believed the series would end forever on the cliffhanger of the series. Which would have been a colossal shame, but that isn’t the case as the final chapter is due out in a week. But before that, let’s dig into the middle chapter of this trilogy with Virtue’s Last Reward.
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I regularly wonder if my thoughts on a game are too shallow or surface level, that I don’t really dig into the greater and subtler meanings of a game, and instead choose to jump from one game to another about once a week. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but it gets to me when I play a game and feel like I’m just reciting what snippets I heard of it before, as I generally agree with the common conception about it. Anyhow, I played Dropsy, wrote a review of it, and am putting it up during the week of E3 because scheduling demands it. (more…)
Cat Girl Without Salad originated as an “April Fools joke” back in 2013, with developer WayForward claiming the game will be every genre under the sun, and come out for every system possible in fall of that year. That didn’t happen, and the game’s announcement, despite being supposedly real according to WayForward staff, was largely dismissed as a simple joke. Over three years later though, the project was announced on the tumblr of the lead artist and was released exclusively through the Humble Monthly Bundle for June 2016. Was this oddball little curiosity something worth waiting so many years for? Eh… Kind of. (more…)
So, it’s been about four years since I originally reviewed Zero Escape: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, and with the third installment in the series, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma only a month away, I decided I should refresh myself on a series whose intricacies and strong narratives that acted as a key source of inspiration for me as a writer. …And of course I’m going to review them. I mean, the very idea of investing a lengthy amount of time into a game and not reviewing it would be positively preposterous after doing this for four years. (more…)
This year has not been marvelous in regards to the games I’ve played. Most have been pretty average so, far, which is unfortunate since I try to curate my list of games to play to contain games that are generally well received. I enjoy being able to deconstruct elements of a game and articulate what exactly I dislike about them, but I’d rather be releasing relentless praise upon games, joyful that I had the opportunity to play them. …Unfortunately, I can’t do that here. (more…)
This is a review that has been looming over me for roughly four years now. I originally bought Xenoblade at launch after the participating in Operation Rainfall, planned on reviewing it, but after seventy hours with the game my disc drive broke, and my interest in the game dissolved as complications delayed repairs. So the game was dropped, and I always felt bad for not finishing it. Now, four years later, I decided to replay the game using the Dolphin emulator and an HD texture pack. About a hundred hours afterwards, I really wish I had cleared this game years ago, if only so I wouldn’t have spent the past few weeks rushing to finish it. (more…)
“Natalie! Natalie! Why are you reviewing a game that came out 18 years ago?” “‘Cos my backlog was cleared out when I played this game a month ago. Also, I liked this game, wanted to replay it, and did so in order to reassess its quality.” “But do you really have the knowledge and foresight to properly analyze games like this in the detail they are accustomed to?” “…No. I played it for twelve hours and wrote a two page thing about it. Is that unacceptable, Maple-chan?” “I guess it’s fine. But I’m not gonna read it.” “Yeah, nobody will. Nobody ever reads anything I write…” “Okay… I’ll leave you alone now.” (more…)
This is the fifth Neptunia game I’m reviewing after going over the PC ports of Re;Birth1, Re;Birth2, Re;Birth3, and U, and my expectations for what these games will deliver have been set. Serviceable gameplay, rampant recycling of the same assets, and a cheesy story peppered with enjoyable characters and a sense of humor that I can’t help but love on some level. With this being an Strategy RPG spin-off I wasn’t expecting much, and those expectations were met. (more…)
Coming off the heels of the overall well received port of the first Danganronpa game on PC, Spike Chunsoft and Abstraction games released Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. I originally reviewed the Vita version in 2014, but I like to think that I’ve grown substantially as a writer since then, and I am always willing to support companies, especially Japanese companies, when they support the PC marketplace with niche titles.
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Backstory for anyone who is not aware: I was a big Sonic fan during the Gamecube era, and despite recognizing that the majority of 3D Sonic games are messes on a technical level, I still hold some fondness for them and the franchise at large. …I really wish I didn’t at times. I’d be a far happier person if that were the case. (more…)
It’s been about three and a half months since I looked at Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, a sequel to a game I came around to loving despite a few gripes, but found irritating to play because of a few mechanical changes. But with Dark Souls III coming out tomorrow, at least for those who haven’t grabbed the Asian English version, I figure I may as well give it another go and actually beat the game. (more…)
Despite being a bit too overt with some of its sexual content, made worse by a later patch, I really liked HuniePop. It was a game about learning more about and establishing relationships with a diverse and interesting group of characters, including a catgirl, an alien, and even a spoiled little mall brat. It featured sharp and clever writing with high quality voicework, and was a pretty compelling puzzle game to boot. So when I caught wind of a sequel, I noted it, ignored it for a couple months, picked it up to play, and… yeah. (more…)
I’m one of those few thousand people who threw a few bucks at Hyper Light Drifter during its Kickstarter, as the project looked interesting, and I would surely check it out after release. Then, with a week’s notice, the game came out, and everybody proceeded to announce their adoration of it. While I would love to do the same, I genuinely cannot say I like Hyper Light Drifter. Yeah, after going through this game, trying to find everything without a guide, I never want to play it again. (more…)
“Electric Nigma! Electric Nigma!” Um, actually I go by Natalie now. “Whatever! Why are you reviewing D4 now? Haven’t you owned it for almost a year now?” Yes, I have owned it for several months. I did not review it because I was afraid I would not like it after playing it for 20 minutes. “But didn’t you adore Deadly Premonition?” I still do, but that’s not how enjoying things works. If you are a good girl, I’ll tell you why in the form of a review. “Natalie! Natalie!” What? “Do you feel like an insignificant creature who will never accomplish anything of worth in their sad little life?” …I’m glad I’m killing you off. (more…)
Throughout 2015, I reviewed the three Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth games, a trilogy of remakes for the first three games in the series, and my dissatisfaction with their quality only intensified as I went through one every few months. They weren’t bad games, just meddling and complacent with abiding by negative gameplay based JRPG tropes and recycling content and assets like mad. But before Megadimension Neptunia VII, which is looking to fix a lot of the misgivings of its predecessors, comes to PC, there’s Neptunia U: Action Unleashed, a button basher spin-off from the Senran Kagura developers. (more…)
Considering how this is my third review of one in the past three months, I shouldn’t need to preface how I enjoy visual novels, specifically of the Japanese variety. When done right, they are able to tell captivating stories with an enjoyable cast of characters, often interspersed with a lot of things that would be difficult to do in another medium. But that’s not to say that the medium is free of its own share of trash. So without further ado, time to talk about Cho Dengeki Stryker! (more…)
One of my biggest worries for the future of the medium is how people will find, uncover, and catalog the thousands of games that come out each and every year. Especially with Steam opening the floodgates for any small time developer with a Unity license and a nifty idea. The problem gets worse when you consider how many games are not made for a specific language, namely the scrappy little mutt that is English. But somehow small freeware titles like LiEat can still be picked up and sold by the folks at Playism.
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This game has been sitting in my backlog since around the time of its release after I experienced technical difficulties for reasons I could not determine. So after roughly two years of tempered anticipation, I finally had the chance to go through this eccentric little game. Although, that three word description exemplifies it all too well. (more…)
After many requests from people who don’t own PlayStation Vitas, and an announcement that there were no plans to port the Danganronpa series to a new platform, Spike Chunsoft decided to bring this beloved little visual novel franchise to the PC market. I originally reviewed the Vita version in 2014, but I like to think that I’ve grown substantially as a writer since then, and I am always willing to support companies, especially Japanese companies, when they support the PC marketplace with niche titles. So on with the review!
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A few months ago, I reviewed the first chapter of MangaGamer’s retranslation of the decade-old Doujin darling that is the Higurashi series, liking it quite a lot, and choosing to dedicate myself to see this series through as it gradually releases over the next few years. Once again, I played the game using a fan created mod that adds in new visuals, changes the aspect ratio, and gives the game voice acting, all of which were from a PS3 compilation of these games, but not the PC version. You can find the mod here. (more…)
In my quest to explore, experience, and analyze the Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy, as seen in my reviews for XIII and XIII-2, I was dreading this installment. Not due to any quality concerns, but due to the time limit. I was horrified by the idea of being unable to do everything I can in a given amount of time. It was enough for me to go through this game with a guide to assist me, and I played the game on easy mode as well, because Square Enix actually recommended doing so. (more…)
Wolfenstein: The New Order has been on my to-play list for quite some time, even though I don’t have much affinity for first person shooters. Ever since it clicked to me that they visually look like games about disembodied guns shooting people, it became difficult for me to not look at them as somewhat gauche. Yet, I heard good things about the story, which is weird for a game where you shoot nazi robots in the face with dual wielded shotguns. (more…)
Before I packed up my consoles into a plastic box for what I assume will be a rather long time, Shadow Complex was a game I played annually since its release, always coming away from the title with a smile on my face. As such, I was pretty happy when I heard that the game was going to be released on PC, and quickly got to it and cleared it twice in two successive days. I realize that more praise for a game that is almost universally beloved may be unnecessary, but after writing well over… 200 game reviews, many of which I discarded for quality reasons, this sort of thing becomes a habit. (more…)
Cherry Tree High Comedy Club has sat in the pile of games I was not sure about for roughly 1.5 years. Not because of anything having to do with its quality, I enjoyed the characters and writing a good amount, but I could not stand to go through its stat driven gameplay, as I quickly become obsessive about that sort of thing. As such, I chose to look at its sequel, a kinetic visual novel, and an experience I would describe as little more than flaccid. (more…)
A few months after its initial release, I reviewed Gone Home, a very divisive little game that I knew next to nothing about before playing. Despite my attempts at the contrary, I walked away from the game with a rather negative opinion of it. Not because of the subject matter or my bias against it, or the lack of traditional skill based gameplay or any one of those common criticisms that are brought up by some people. Rather, my problems come from the story itself, and seeing as how the game recently released on consoles, I figured now is as good a time as any to better explain why. (more…)
Over the past few years, there has been a resurgence of games that have tried to play with the medium, break the fourth wall, and blur the line between an isolated game narrative and the actual game. Games like Undertale and The Stanley Parable are just two of the more well known examples, and Pony Island is certainly deserving of a spot on that steadily growing list. (more…)
I’m pretty sure that everyone who played Final Fantasy XIII at launch did not expect Square Enix to make a sequel for it, even those who managed to look past a plethora of problems and enjoy the game. The ending was very cut and dry, and the reception quickly lost its warmth after the hype died down. So it was surprising when not only did Square Enix choose to continue the story, they chose to take the already confusing plot of XIII and insert time travel into it, which almost sounds like a joke. (more…)
You know that feeling when you finish a game and have no idea what the hubbub about it was, as you not only feel like you missed something, you do not feel any substantial emotion about any aspect of the game. The feeling where your time may as well have evaporated instead of playing the game despite the game not being actively boring? Well, despite going in optimistically, that is what I felt about Gravity Ghost, a year old puzzle game I decided to play because it was recommended by the lovely Laura Kate Dale. (more…)
I gave this game another shot several months later. Please consult the full review I wrote for it.
Despite having a poor initial introduction to the series, I came to love Dark Souls in due time. Its mechanics, atmosphere, world design, and so forth are all what makes it an incredibly memorable and ultimately excellent game. As such, I was quite eager to play Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, but after spending roughly 16 hours with it, spread across two playthroughs, I felt myself lose the will to continue playing, as the game was simply making me depressed and resent myself as a human being. (more…)
I have been waiting to revisit this game for years now. If only because I built up so much hype and excitement for Final Fantasy XIII before its release, and the fact that I actively enjoyed it back when it first came out. Heck, the fact it was a multiplatform title was what sold me on the console I primarily used for the next five years. As such, I felt I have some unfinished business to attend to with this title, and going back to it after all this time was at least a little disheartening. (more…)
Normally I try to include a little personalized intro that helps to explain, in some weird manner, why exactly this review exists other than the game was next in my game library. However, that was exactly the case for Grim Fandango Remastered, a game I checked out on a whim due to its level of reverence and praise, knowing nothing about the game that was not included in the initial trailer I watched about a year ago. (more…)
Okay, there is a lot to unpack here. One, Student Transfer is a collaborative visual novel made by the some people over at tfgamessite.com. Two, the game uses assets ripped from ‘adult’ Japanese visual novels, though it censors the naughtier bits. Three, this is simply a review of the first publicly released build, after the implementation of a couple patches. Four, this was made in about three and a half months, which includes pre-production. Also, I’ve been following this game’s production since its inception, and since it was an idea introduced in the Press-Switch thread.
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Despite my dedication and interest in the franchise, I still find the Neptunia Re;Birth trilogy to be a very temperamental collection of JRPGs that are, and I’m not sure the developers even realize this, are… pretty poorly designed. Re;Birth1 was a massive improvement in comparison to the awful original Hyperdimension Neptunia for PS3. Re;Birth2 was a better game in theory, but it had so many repetitive, temperamental, and annoying elements that I quickly dropped it after beating the game. While Re;Birth3 is probably the best of the bunch, but even I couldn’t convince myself to go through the post game content due to a plethora of issues. (more…)
I often try to avoid playing games that bring me frustration, and even if I want to write a review about it, I try to stop my playthrough after I invested two digits of time into the game. However, I only got about seven hours into Remember Me, a ten to twelve hour long game, before I became so frustrated with it that I felt that it would be a waste of my time and energy to continue playing it. Why did I feel this way? I would likely forget within the year, so here’s a review to properly articulate why I disliked this title
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Note: I re-reviewed this title in 2020. Please disregard this review.
Before beginning, I feel I should clarify what I mean when I refer to prior Ys games, as I have played Ys Chronicles, Ark of Napishtim, Oath in Felghana, and Origin before delving into the creatively titled Ys Seven. Aside from Ys: Memories In Celestia, which was released after this title. I just want to clarify how I’m going into this game, as it does a few things I feel it makes some… notable changes. Also, I legally own the game via PSN, and played it using an emulator, because the Playstation TV displays PSP games at 480p, which looks terrible on a 1080p monitor. (more…)
About two years ago, I gave my thoughts on Ys Origin, a game I thoroughly enjoyed well above all other Ys games, at least the ones I played, meaning the ones on PC. Although, I didn’t technically fully complete the game as I only cleared it with a single character, Yunica, and felt that I should try out the other two and see how the game stacked up, only to then realize that there was a true ending I was not aware of, which leads into Ys I. Plus, I just felt like playing it again. (more…)
