ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove - PS4 review

I must admit, I never thought I would see a new ToeJam & Earl after part 3 on the original Xbox but here we are 17 years later with a new installment. I played a lot of the two ToeJam & Earl games on the Sega Genesis when I was a kid so you could say I was excited to try Back in the Groove, especially knowing that Greg Johnson, the original creator, was also making this one.

Upon starting, the first thing you're greeted by is the games first and only cut scene. Let's start with the story itself. ToeJam, Earl, Latisha, and Lewanda head back to earth just so ToeJam can impress Lewanda. Once they get to earth in the Rapmaster Rocket they find things too quiet so ToeJam tells Earl to turn on the sub and to hit the red button that says don't press. Of course, Earl presses it which makes a black hole that sucks earth and the Rapmaster Rocket in. Now the ship is in pieces and they must find all the pieces to get back to Funkatron.

Luckily no one plays ToeJam & Earl games for their story but that wasn't the only thing that made this scene so bad. I found the animation to be of poor quality and then there's the sound issue. The scene plays music and there is different background music playing at the same time. The sound problem could be fixed with a day one patch but as of this writing, it has not been fixed. (Note game just update and the problem has been fixed) The voice acting in this short scene is decent enough with singer Tonez the Prince as ToeJam and Greg Brown reprising his role as Earl.

The player can pick from six characters to start with and three others that can be unlocked. There are two versions of Toejam & Earl to pick from. The new ones or the old school versions where they look like they did back in the original game. Each character has their own skills and presents they start with. ToeJam starts with the hi-tops present that lets him run and one of his special skills lets him have double time with them. Earl starts with food presents that restore health and his skill lets him eat any food without hurting him.

There are 4 modes of play. One being the Tutorial world which is a shorter game with hints but you cannot get the ending this way. The Fixed world where the world is not random and is the same every time you play. Then you can unlock the Random world by beating the Fixed world. The Random world mixes up the levels by scrambling the locations of ship pieces and enemies. Then by beating the Random world, you unlock the Random Hard world. It's the same as Random but with harder enemies.

After selecting a character, you can pick the difficulty level for that character. If playing multiplayer, both players pick their own difficulty level. You can pick normal, Easy-Farty, or Toddler. I played and beat all game modes on normal but I did try out the easier difficulty settings. Each one lets you take less damage from enemies and on toddler mode, you take almost no damage and can swim for as long as you want without needing air. Toddler mode was in fact so easy that I let my four-year-old nephew give the game a try and he didn't die once... and this was the first video game he has ever played. These settings allow anyone to play, whether you're a young gamer, new to ToeJam & Earl or someone who has played them all like me.

Back in the Groove plays much like the original game with some features from the second. You are tasked with finding ten ship pieces strewn across twenty-five levels. Some of the features added let you search trees, bushes, and even houses by shaking them. Sometimes you may find something good like a present, food or money. Other times you may find something bad such as a bad earthling or a bowling ball that hurts you if you get hit by it. Thankfully, bowling balls can also be used to take out bad earthlings if it hits one of them... be sure to spare the good earthlings. A few mini-games from earlier installments return in a rhythm game where you match button presses and the return of the Hyperfunk Zone. An endless runner type mini-game that fans will remember from the second game.

Doing well in these games can give you money, experience points, and presents. You also can get experience points for almost everything you do in the game like opening presents, opening a part of the map or finding something hidden. All these points let you level up by visiting a Wise Man in a Carrot Suit. Much like the original game, you level up from wiener to dufus and so on. Leveling up randomly picks three stats to go up. You could end up with more speed, health, or room for more presents to name a few. To advance to the next stage you must find an elevator, again like the original game but this time instead of it going up really fast which too me gave me a headache, this time around it goes slow. Also, you will get text in the elevator of what your characters are saying. Some of these can be funny and they change depending on whether there are two players or not.

Multiplayer is where this game shines. I knew exactly who I wanted to try this game with, the person who played the Sega game with me all those years before, my Dad. In split screen couch co-op you can do much more than in single player. Running low on health? You can hi-five the other player to share health. Ran out of lives? You can give one of your lives to your friend to bring them back! Even some of the presents are for multiplayer like the present that heals your partner. At the time of playing the game, there was no online multiplayer until a new update that just came out today. Due to this I was unable to test out online play.

The remixes of some of the songs from the older games are really good. Cody Wright did an amazing job updating these classic game songs. If you beat the game, you get an awesome song sung by ToeJam & Earl. Beating the game is worth this song alone but you also can unlock one of three new characters to play as each time you beat the game. Upon completion you also unlock "power hats". You pick one of three power hats every-time you beat the game. Power hats give you power-ups like being able to eat any food even if you're not playing as Earl, allow you to walk on sand, snow, water and many more hats can be unlocked. At the start of the second stage, the game asks if you would like to enable them. You can also do this in the menu so you are not forced to use them if you would rather play it old school. One other thing about power hats is they are randomly picked at the beginning of each level. So the more you unlock, the more random your picks become. Sometimes you might get none at all.

Back in the Groove can also be humorous at times. Opening the present gassy tummy makes your character fart randomly for a time and when you do, it sends the earthlings running away. Sometimes you can get amped presents which are more powerful versions of the normal ones and the farts are much bigger! Call me juvenile but I couldn't help but laugh at this. One other thing that I found hilarious was the earthlings "scientific names" like the Clipboard Volunteer who, if she catches you, takes your money. Well her scientific name is "Standaroundus Takeyermoneyum" and the Cosplay Nerds are known as "Embarracus Awkwardicus". So be sure to look at the 'how to play' and read the names, you won't regret it.

Back in the Groove is a great throwback to the original game. So great you could almost say this was a remake and not a sequel. It's a lot of fun to play with another person but when playing alone it can get old fast. After beating the game multiple times, I just got bored of doing the same thing over and over. On the whole, the game is fun for short bursts or with a friend but there's little reason to play repeatedly unless you want to unlock all of the power hats. I also didn't like that they used the same old mini-games. They could have added something cool or neat but instead used something that has been done before. ToeJam & Earl Back in the Groove is not a bad game and the nostalgia you feel while playing the game is great. Still, it left me wanting more from it.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
HumaNature Studios
Publisher(s):
HumaNature Studios
Genre(s):
Adventure
Roguelight
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer
Coop
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
Nintendo Switch
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Jim

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Tales of Vesperia - Second Opinion - PS4 Review

The Tales series of games has always been a forerunner in the list of “things I want to pick up when they come out”, and when Tales of Vesperia was first announced, of course it made my list. Until I found out it was a 360 exclusive. Now finally available on systems that I own, I can finally rejoice at having my Tales collection come back together, instead of me being forced to borrow my friends Xbox.

Since Vesperia has been reviewed earlier by Robert, I’m not going to go in-depth into review, rather just point out things I liked/didn’t, and some aspects that stuck with me. First of which is the characters. I personally find that the main qualifier of whether I enjoy a Tales game more or less is all about who the recurring cast is, whether it be bland “justice junkies” like Flynn or Sorey, or the sassy quipping characters like Raven and Edna, what really makes a Tales game pop is the interactions between the characters. I can honestly say that Tales of Vesperia, while not actually having any of my favorite characters, definitely had my favorite cast. Apart from Karol, all the characters were interesting or unique in their own right, and their interactions and skits were really fun to watch.

Even though the newly added Patty doesn’t have a lot of leeway, since she was basically slapped in as an “append”, I loved the way she was introduced. Best pirate ninja move. And you keep the substitution doll, I loved it. Also, the only Tales game I know where you can beat people up using a dog with a dagger. Repeede is best doggo, and the fact that he now has actual costumes and can be the party leader is even better.

The second qualifier for me about Tales quality is the battle system. Is it fun? Annoying? Did they overextend trying something new? Did they turn a 4 player possible game into a soft cap 2 player *cough*Zesteria*cough* ? While the button placement has been swapped up a bit, and the “downtime” between combos is disgustingly long, the skill learning was fun, and I’ll be damned if me and two of my friends didn’t sit down to abuse the hell out of the bonus skills. “Blah Blah Blah meteor storm” comes to mind. Pro tip, on the Xbox version you could crash the game if you had too many meteor storms going at the same time. Rita is now an ascended meme mage amongst my friends. Speaking of battling, screw the dog at Emmead Hill. Y’all know what I’m talking about if you’ve played the game before. Hardest boss in the game, and he’s like, what, the third? So dumb.

So. The story. Well, the second half got better? I mean, the first half of the game is basically “I’m going the complete opposite direction from you, but I’ll join you anyway”, and felt super forced. At least you get a decent sized team for couch multiplayer rather fast.

If you weren’t aware, you now know that the original voice actor for Yuri did not come back to voice the swathe of extra scenes/voices added for the definitive edition. On the plus side, you don’t really notice unless you’re aware and looking for it, barring a few minor exceptions.

Last line of complaint: GLOWING. SKY. ORB.

Please, Namco Bandai, we aren’t three. We can handle big boy puzzles.

As a general whole, while Vesperia definitely won’t hit my number one favorite Tales installment, it’s pretty solid in at number three or four, which is a big thing considering how much less I had to play it when it originally came out. Backed by a swell cast of characters, some solid voice acting, a great opening theme, and a swell soundtrack, not to mention the character customization through the use of skills, Tales of Vesperia is definitely a title to get your friends into the series, and to leave series veterans pleased. It also looks and runs really nicely on the PS4 which I'm happy to own.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
Namco Tales Studio
Publisher(s):
Bandai Namco
Genre(s):
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
4-Player Battle coop
Other Platform(s):
Microsoft Xbox One
Nintendo Switch
PC

Source:
Purchased

Article by Richard

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Rainbow Skies - PS4 / PS3 / Vita Review

Rainbow Skies is the sequel to EastAsiaSoft’s Rainbow Moon that originally released for the Vita years ago before finding its way over to the PS4. Taking a new direction, you no longer have a single protagonist but instead a true party of three brought together by some careless magical casting binding them together until they can finally break the magic spell that holds them together.

Starting off after having made a bad decision, Damien wakes up to a legendary hangover right before his exam being given to him by none other than his friend Layne. Starting off the exam with the knowledge that if he doesn’t ace it with high marks, Damien will be cast out as the worthless bum that he’s been up to this point in his life, he gets right to it hangover and all. Turning things from bad to worse with what should have been a series of “good ideas”, the boys both fall to their deaths off of the flying island that they’ve called their home for the past nineteen plus years into the perfectly timed casting of a binding spell meant for a monster cast by Ashly on the ground below. Who said JRPGs can’t bring about a wacky good time?

Stuck together, the three adventurers set out in this brand new world for the two of them that have been told since childhood was an uninhabitable region that would kill them simply by breathing the air found there. Rainbow Moon was all about a warrior cast into another world when he acceptable a duel and was tricked and punted into another world where he eventually picks up others to join him. Rainbow Skies takes a much better direction by having a cast come together rather comically with plenty of humor and dialog making it feel much more like an adventure than simply a really bloody hard grindfest.

Rainbow Moon was bloody hard. Seriously it was not easy to get into as you had to fight for everything. Wanted to move forward? Combat. Wanted to get just a few coins to heal up? Combat. Died? Had to fight more money to heal up and buy new healing supplies. Rainbow Skies in comparison, is much less of a grindfest as things are a lot more balanced especially with the fact that you start off fairly early on with all three of your adventurers. If you want to grind to get more powerful, if you want a challenge in order to really test your mettle, there’s an option for that but it isn’t mandatory. If things get too hard, the difficulty can always be dropped from your main menu but in a good twist, you’ll have to re-unlock the harder difficulty which can only be changed from specific NPCs.

Having gone with the fantasy trifecta, your three characters can fully support one another between the Warrior (Damien), the Ranger (Layne) and the Wizard (Ashly). Each have types of enemies that they are strong and weak against before even taking into account their individual skills. You’ll really need to capitalize on these because often there’ll be battles of the three versus ten or twelve enemies and even if they are weaker, there are more of them than there are of your which is where upgrades come into play.

The upgrade system unlocks as your party’s levels grow. Adding in points for attacking, points for defense and surprisingly extremely useful, hit points. Because of the often 3v12, you’ll need to survive the hits from multiple sources if you’re going to counter attack and win the fight. Each of these upgrades require a skill point that is dropped by enemies alongside other materials that you can use in order to upgrade equipment which is also a must and should not be ignored especially if you plan on upping the difficulty.


Everyone in this world wants something whether big or small. So because of this there’ll be plenty of back and forths when it comes to acquiring quests and submitting them. With all of these opportunities, it was great to see the whole party involved in the discussion instead of a one sided affair from the “main protagonist” since they are all in the driver’s seat. What I really appreciated was that EastAsiaSoft weren’t afraid of a little bit of Meta and referencing Rainbow Moon through their tutorials which have the character don university graduate robes and hats as mechanics or theories on mechanics are explained to both you, the player, and to Damien who’s a bit on the slow side. It’s a good thing that he’s good with his swords!

Now, the biggest factor to Rainbow Skies isn’t its gameplay, but how you can actually experience the gameplay. Rainbow Skies is a shining example of what a cross-play title should be. Loading it onto both my PS4 and my Vita, I currently have my PS3 in a non-gaming location, I could play either comfortably at home on the big screen or on the go while on the bus to work in the morning or in someone else living room while getting ready to do whatever it was that we had set out to do. It’s also hassle free. When you go to save, you can either save to the HDD / SD Card, or, you save save straight to the server. The same can be done with loading which makes it fantastic to move around while you play. Just prepare yourself if you’ve moving from a 103” screen to that of the Vita’s 5”.


Rainbow Skies is a perfect example of a sequel that takes everything from its predecessor and does it better. From the dialog to the various system enhancements and the sheer ease of playing on the platform you want when you want. This is a sequel worth looking into and the best part is that you don’t have to play Rainbow Moon to enjoy it as the adventure itself only references its predecessor in passing meta dialog.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation 4
Developer(s):
EastAsiaSoft
Publisher(s):
EastAsiaSoft
Genre(s):
Strategy RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Cross Platform / Buy PS3-4-Vita

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms - Vita Review

Ahh... Another heart throbbing, tear jerker, romance novel-y game. Better grab that box of tissues ladies and gentlemen, to dab them loose tears and un-fog those glasses, because this one actually has some serious in depth story telling.

Hakuoki: Edo Blossom is a visual novel game and is the sequel to Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds. Unlike the first one, this one focuses more on the romance aspect. If I had to sum up the two in short form, it would be that the first game was one open storyline and every choice you made would shift your story from one character to another, not really making it linear on just one character's story. The second game is a bit more straight forward. Before you even start the game you can choose which available bachelor you'd like to focus on.

Once again, you play the female lead as Chizuru Yukimura. Continuing from the last game she strives to support her reverse harem of beautiful samurai warriors. As she struggles to keep up with the oncoming war, her choices, or more precisely your choices, could be the life or death of your super powered, demon blooded, boyfriend.

What I was hoping for from the first game wasn't rewarding enough. It felt like I was missing half of the story. It wasn't until months later that I realized that it was a two part game release. The first one kept you on your toes, like climbing to the top of a roller coaster and suddenly stopping. Never truly satisfying that thirsty need to romance your man candy into loving you. The second game was the real treat. Sending you down that roller coaster at high speed with your heart pounding from the adrenaline is exactly what I was waiting for.

The music and art style remains the same from the first game, with the added bonus that everyone gets a new outfit. Beautifully crafted still-frame background and string orchestra bring a nice balance to the games story.

There really isn't any frustrating obstacle in the game, unless you're me, and you try your damnedest to get so-and-so to love you, but you choose the wrong answer. THANK GOD FOR THE QUICK SAVE AND RE-LOAD ASPECT OF THIS GAME. I'm one to hate getting a bad ending, so having the ability to go back in time and retry the opposite answer has saved me plenty on getting that one happy ending.

I found Edo Blossom to be half the length of the first game. Finishing up the end of the story we never got in the first place. I don't see why this version had to be two separate games, they could have easily made this into one. Most other Hakuoki games that have spread throughout the many consoles, DS, PSP and PS3, only have the one game to them. No two parts.

To conclude, I loved that I finally got to the end of this story. Hakuoki: Edo Blossom is by far my favorite visual novel game. I give it a 8.5 for its gripping storyline and breathtaking scenarios. I recommend having this game part of your collection if you fancy these types of games. Start with Kyoto Winds, in order to understand the whole  first part of the story, and end with Edo Blossom.

Now if you don't mind I have 13 other bachelors to woo... Adieu

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation Vita
Developer(s):
Idea Factory
Design Factory
Publisher(s):
Idea Factory International
Genre(s):
Visual Novel
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Natasha

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Tokyo Tattoo Girls - Vita Review

Over the years I’ve had the chance to experience a lot of strategy titles but none have quite been like this one. Tattoo Girls from Sushi Typhoon Games and NISA risks staying very niche not because of the gameplay but because of the ideas behind it. That said, it’s a good one.

From the outset the ideas driving Tattoo Girls are very Japanese. Tokyo has been decimated and then split into twenty-three wards which have largely been abandoned except by those forced to stay. Each of these wards is run by women who have more powerful tattoos than the rest which draws a correlation to both Japanese history and their current mafia. Essentially being outlaws, these women who have essentially become gang leaders build upon their tattoos to show the rest exactly how powerful they really are in comparison. This is where you come in. Being a magical tattoo artist you back one of the available women of your choice and make them as powerful as you can so that they can break the current system that is in place.

The core concepts are fairly easy to grasp however things can ramp up fairly quickly making you wonder if the woman you back will make it to the point of taking over the twenty-three wards. You’ll be spending about a good eighty percent of your time looking at the map of the twenty-three wards that now make up Tokyo. Only at the beginning will you chose which of the wards to start attacking first and then essentially half sit back while you watch your tattoo girl’s forces spread out in over to conquer both that ward and the rest.

While looking at the map it essentially becomes both a waiting game and a sort of whack-a-mole. Everything is automatic so you’re really waiting for things like briefcases full of money to appear in order to issue orders and recruit either punks or clanswomen to your side or alarms that you need to stop out quickly as to not lose honor.

Honor above all else is what you’ll be worrying about because is the honor gauge hits zero, that’s it. Kiss the domination of the twenty-three wards goodbye. In order to stack things in your favor you’ll have to pay attention to your map and try to prevent as much as possible that turf wars don’t erupt or that if they do, you win them. If you lose, you lose honor. As the alarms go off, you lose honor. The longer you let them wail the more honor you’ll lose. There are commands to restore a bit of honor but as fast as the money comes in you’ll need it for both issuing order and paying for the tattoos that you need to insert upon your champion’s back.

Some may take a look at Tattoo Girls and think that the level of fanservice is all that’s really going for it. It’s not. While yes the woman that you decided to back is topless and laying down on a mat in order for you to tattoo her, that’s about it. The tattoo designs that you both place and the ones that the twenty-three ward leaders have are all intricate in design and great to look at. More than that, you’re not simply putting on tattoos but you’ll be choosing which ones as they enhance powers such as making it easier to recruit in certain districts by raising either your girl’s threat or her charisma. If you make it that far, by the end you’ll need both.

That’s about it from a gameplay perspective as there are no boss fights. If you make it far enough and become powerful enough, you’re rewarded with cutscenes of your leader versus each of those that lead the twenty-three wards. As a bonus there are choices in dialog as to what your reasons are and the better the reason not only do you get a restoration of your honor gauge, but the artwork also goes into a gallery to be viewed later.

The playthroughs are not very long but they can be intense especially the first few times when you’re trying to figure out the balance to everything. After that, completionists can go back through in order to get all of the artwork while others can pick another character in order to see the events play out from another point of view.

Tattoo Girls as I mentioned risks staying very niche but the ideas behind it, the gameplay elements and the artwork are worth experiencing. I’m not sure if another title will pop up in this style but Tattoo Girls was quite memorable for me and I do hope to see another such experience down the line.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation Vita
Developer(s):
Sushi Typhoon Games
Publisher(s):
NIS America
Genre(s):
Strategy
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Demon Gaze II - Vita Review

I’m not sure about any of you reading this, but I was a huge fan of the first Demon Gaze, even playing through the bonus dungeon that was more than a little bit of a pain in the arse. Especially Luna’s cell. Demon Gaze II is a weird type of sequel, where the events of the first game are followed but not needed to be really known about until the epilogue, although knowing the first game will definitely make some of the recurring characters a lot more hilarious. Like the first Demon Gaze, Demon Gaze II follows the dungeon crawling experience its predecessor left, making a lot of changes and improvements, almost all of which I was glad to see.

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Bad Apple Wars - Vita Review

Admittedly, I don’t normally play the style of games that Bad Apple Wars falls under, mainly the “dating sim” style games. Even more so when it’s also female oriented, so this is a step in a new direction for me, so bear with me a bit. That being said, the game isn’t bad, even from a male perspective, but I wouldn’t say it’s all that great either. The music is good, but the storylines and characters could definitely use some work.

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Mary Skelter: Nightmares - Vita Review

If Moero Chronicle could be considered the Moe (cute) of dungeon crawlers, then Mary Skelter is going to takes the crown as the macabre of the genre. Cast down into the depths of a place known only as jail, Jack, Alice and Red Riding Hood are going to need some help if they are going to make it back to the surface and see what no one has observed in generations: the sun.

There are a few similarities between Moero and Mary, though the ideas behind the later will most likely sit better with some than others. Both use the idea of a main protagonist leading a party of powerful women while also having their own actions that are not directly combat related. Compared to the previous however, Jack isn't some hormonal libido machine but instead a source of calm and peace for those known as Blood Maidens.

More powerful than the average human these women possess the ability to fight what are known as Machen and Nightmares which act as Jail's enforcement. The drawback to this power is that if they get too splattered with Machen blood they can go insane and enter what is known as Skelter mode. Once to this point there use to be no going back and they would basically be berserked until the end of their life. Enter Jack whose blood can bring these woman back to normal through less than normal means.

These women aren't vampires so Jack won't be covered in fang marks. Instead, after originally having to cut himself he obtains a gun that allows him to shoot his blood and keep the wound it causes clean of infection as well as help the coagulation process for his own healing. It sounds a bit on the disgusting side but when leveraged against losing one’s mind and hurting those closest to them, it seems like a small price to pay.

Now while there are no visually overt sexual tones like a lot of Compile Heart's work, the dialog and some of the dungeon crawling features are full of them making this an adult experience but not a lewd one. Jail, the massive dungeon that our cast finds themselves within is a living breathing organism that gets hungry, sleepy and has its own libido to worry about. So while you won't be worrying about Jack's you will be worrying about Jail’s.

This alone starts to differentiate Mary Skelter from the rest. The Dungeon isn’t some ancient relic that appeared. It isn’t laden with traps “just because”. Instead it’s a living and breathing organism made up of the stuff of nightmares in which the traps can be viewed as its immune system in order to keep itself safe. These traps come in many different forms but unlike a lot of other dungeon crawlers you’ll have to be constantly on your toes as just because the basics have you moving one step at a time, it doesn’t mean that the traps will. Those run in realtime.

After even a dozen or so hours Mary Skelter continued to surprise me with how well it was designed. The Dungeons are seriously massive which makes the appreciation of teleportation points on the same floor a blessing. Unlike some others, the twists and the turns feel natural as everything about this place feels massive though you may not realize it in the beginning.

Each Blood Maiden that comes into the group holds an ability that is essential to moving forward in the various dungeons. Alice “from wonderland” for example can create a Rabbit Hole that allows for either a Save Point to be created or a portal back to town if things are getting a bit rough and both Hit Points and Special Ability points are low. Red Riding Hood has the ability to cut objects such as wires, membrane or boxes in order to move forward. These passageway will not be seen on the map so until they are taken out it gives one more reason to re-explore an area after another member has been added.

Following on that train of thought the puzzles continue to get more complicated and require a bit more effort on the party’s side. Not everything will always be easy and exploring every nook and cranny in order to move forward is a must. Sleeping Beauty for example can help with this by loosing arrows to a faraway switch while Snow White will simply place a poison bomb (don’t stay close) in order to blow something like a tree out of the way. Others like the Miko Kaguya will be able to form a barrier that allows the party to move through traps in order to continue forward because some gouts of flame are simply too much to survive.

Combine these puzzle elements with other traps such as raising spikes from the floor and descending swords from beings stuck in the walls and there’s plenty to look out for. This gives all the more reason to thoroughly explore to find the waypoints in order to teleport back to this location faster as Alice’s Rabbit Hole is a one way trip home and you’ll have to walk back to these far points otherwise. Thankfully the map is both auto-generated and there’s an option to auto-walk which is pretty good unless it has to go through locked doors. Then you’ll have to auto-walk to the switches and then continue the passageway forward.

In the midsts of all of this is a very heavy combat system which I found to be very well designed. Each turn order is based off of speed unlike what originally seems like Jack goes first. I thought it was the case until hours in when Sleeping Beauty of all people with her epic archery and gunnery skills is so quick that she just about always starts the battle. From there the system takes the basic elements of a dungeon crawler with Hit Points, Special Ability Points, Attacking and Defending. From there however is Mary Skelter’s Blood system which simply adds to it all instead of taking anything away like the previous libido system.

As the girls get blood splattered the chances of going Skelter is increased as the Machen blood is essentially toxic and can corrupt them. To keep them from this Jack is going to have to use his “weapon” in order to shoot blood at each party member in order to keep the corruption level down. Because he’s using his own blood Jack will need to take turns in order to produce more otherwise it’s possible for him to get stunned and knocked out for a few turns just as easily as if he puts himself in harm’s way to defend one of the girls if their hit points get too low.

Skeltering however can happen even if you micromanage the blood cleaning. The corruption can increase in a heartbeat if a party member takes multiple hits in a row, a critical hit or simply destroys enemies very quickly alongside the other two. If this happens then all bets are off and they’ll hit whoever they deem to be a good target. If it happens Jack’s other ability is to try to bring them back to sanity. If the battle ends Jack will do this automatically but generally it’s a good idea to do this within battle in order to save the rest of your party. Now while Skeltering is always a possibility Massacre Mode is more than welcomed.

Each party member has a blood guage that once filled will activate Massacre Mode. They get stronger, tougher and obtain other abilities that are not normally available. It’s worth allowing them to reach this point as long as their corruption levels are not high. If they are then you’re running the danger of Skelter Mode which as previously stated is not pleasant! So how could you simply avoid the Skelter Mode all together if you’re not certain? This is where Compile Hearts brings in what it does best.

In the middle of battle each girl can lick the blood off of another as long as the gauge is sixty percent filled. This comes with a quick animation of blushing from the one who is currently being licked which does not happen with Auto-Battling is on (just in case you are playing this on a bus!). Now while the suggestiveness of the action lies just underneath it does come with a gameplay mechanic which makes it worth it. Each character can trigger an effect when the blood is licked off of them which can turn the tide or at least stem the bleeding in tougher boss fights against the nightmares.

Licking the blood off of Alice will restore a hefty amount of hit points while licking the blood off of Red Riding Hood will create a HP regeneration effect that will last a few turns. Add in restoration of SP or raising Critical Hits and there are a few possibilities that open up. All of these features come together for a system that doesn’t get boring especially when the idea of an auto-battle is introduced. Doing so Jack will auto-generate blood, the girls will all auto-attack and go into massacre mode whenever the gauges are up and if you need to manually control the events and slow down the pace that works too. This allows for long term dungeon exploration settings without getting bored and thinking “ugh another battle.”

Adding to this flavor are the weapon, item and class upgrade systems. The reason that the three are thrown in together is that they all require gems of the various blood types in order to perform anything. -A A A+ the Bs and the Os are all available to be picked up either through harvest points or through various enemy types. The stronger the weapon the more that is going to be required. Different weapons require different blood types and changing classes is no exception and even requires a substantial amount so you generally won’t be changing every party member at the same time.

Changing classes other than changing a character’s physical appearance will also change how her stats become allocated on level ups. While I would love to say figuring these out as you go forward is key to making a proper and informed choice, you basically get silhouettes of any unlocked classes and a vague description. If you really want to try them out then you’ll need to class change which requires points that are gained by leveling up to certain values. If you feel like you may have made the wrong choice then points for leveling down also become available but cost a good deal of blood gems so that either will not be happening earlier on in the adventure. That said, the option is there and it allows for bonuses to be granted for leveling which really allows for character customizations for any situation.

Finally one of the last features really fits the profile and I would have honestly been surprised otherwise, is a purging “minigame” in which Jack rubs off any of the Machen blood that is left over after going back to town. Thirty seconds are granted to clean the blood off of the chosen Blood Maiden while they are wearing nothing but a swimsuit. Doing this grants them stat boosts until the next time that they fall into battle or the party comes back to town. This only needs to be done once before the option to skip the process is granted keeping it playing on the bus friendly. Not every Blood Maiden can go through this process at the same time as it relies on a percentage of Jack’s blood meaning you really need to choose who should be granted the bonuses or who needs them in order to survive a little easier.

To tie everything together, as previously stated Jail is a living and breathing entity and all of the above comes full circle to that. As the party hunts Machen and Nightmares the bloodlust and the blood will increase the Jail's hunter. Licking the blood from one another or finding emotion points on the map will increase Jail's libido. Doing nothing at all but walking and exploring will increase Jail's sleepiness. All three of these have their own separate meters that can also increase or decrease depending on Jail's own mood. Filling up any of these meters either inside or outside of battle is beneficial and it'll prompt a bonus wheel. The bonuses are different both inside and out but all are worth it so capitalizing on Jail's mood is well worth it.

In an aside to how the game runs and how it plays out it really is the little things that make what is already an amazing experience even better. With all the blood flying around especially on a critical hit or taking out an enemy with a weakness you'll see the blood on the walls and the floor of where you're standing after battle. The environments never feel stale but alive with all the little additions such as creepy sentry eyes, moving bits and pieces, beating hearts that can be slashed open for items. All of these little inclusions only made it better and easy to spend hours at a time inside of these labyrinths either on the Vita's tiny screen or on the PSTV with whatever it was hooked up to.

Mary Skelter: Nightmares is one of the best Dungeon Crawling RPGs that I’ve played in a very long time and it does everything right. The blood gem currency for equipment and classes, the dungeon progression, the fairy tale characters and their special abilities as well as Jack’s blood gun to keep them from going berserk. Everything provides a well balanced system that doesn’t get old and only makes you want to keep moving forward. Even as the difficulty ramps up into the new dungeons never does Mary Skelter become obscenely hard or unfair, it just means that auto-battle needs to come off and you need to take control on your party before you game over.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation Vita / TV
Developer(s):
Compile Heart
Publisher(s):
Idea Factory International
Genre(s):
Dungeon Crawler
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Collar X Malice - Vita Review

If you’re looking for an otome game that has a dark and dangerous story, and romance that’ll keep you on your toes, look no further than Collar X Malice. Although it has a slow start, those who persevere through the beginning will be rewarded with an engaging story, despite some flaws such as somewhat generic choices for the possible love interests and the rather niche genre.

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Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion - Vita Review

A short while ago I had the opportunity to review Fallen Legion for the PS4, and I mentioned that I hadn’t had the opportunity to play the Vita version. Well, now I have, and my quote of “There are a lot of issues that people can be divided on: music, politics, flavors of jellybeans, and of course also ruling a country” is proving its worth even more so. While I greatly enjoyed the experience I had with the PS4 version, I found the Vita version to be a bit less enjoyable.

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Accel World VS Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight - Vita Review

Accel World vs Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight is the latest in the SAO series’ original entries. Merging both SAO and Accel World, it is up to both sets of characters to save Kirito and Asuna’s beloved Yui and both groups’ respective Online Worlds.

What I love about the SAO series, at least in regards to the gaming entries, is their willingness to explore brand new ideas instead of sticking too close to the anime seasons or the manga. Because of this the stories can be developed as the developers see fit while still using the characters and ideas that make the series was it is. Millennium Twilight is no exception - especially since they explore the idea of one digital VR MMO world invading another. After seeing the original SAO location of Aincard from the first season appear at the end of it inside of Alfheim Online the idea isn’t out of the question so to add some depth and craziness to the mix, enter time travel as the invading MMO world is from the future.

All of these factors have allowed to create an experience that is both new yet familiar as the world of Alfheim Online is still there but different. While familiar characters will be making their appearance both inside and out of the game through communication, the inside has gone through a bit of overhauling as the two worlds have started to merge. What does that mean for the players still left inside? Nobody wants to leave as this “new event” looks too cool to pass up. Unlike Aincard and those kept within once Kirito beat the game, players can log out but once they do they can’t log back in making this a quest that the main cast need to see through to the end regardless of what it does to their outside selves.

It’s a neat approach and it really comes together once you get fully hands on and get to start exploring the fields and the new city hub that is a result of the world mergers. The city offers up shops to buy new equipment and items as well as connect up online and play with other players. While there is an autosave, there’s also a location in order to manually save which lets you know for absolute certainty that your file and progress have been preserved. Finally there’s the most important factor that comes through the Quest Board that should be frequently visited between story sections in order to get the most out of it and obvious rewards for your efforts!

Now while this next statement is just a personal thing, I would love to play an original SAO title with a brand new self created character not unlike Dragon Ball Xenoverse. The reason for this is that once again with Kirito in hand you start off in the level one-hundreds. Not much is going to kill you and the beginning monsters and even boss fights are a bit of a joke because of how strong you are. That said the system in place while being in the level one-hundreds is fun.

Starting off with Kirito and Asuna it’s not long until you have Black Lotus from Accel World in your party and then other members start to trickle in from both sides. Only being able to take three members out at a time you’ll soon have enough choice for exactly how you wish to fight. Dual-wielding, larger two-handed swords, bows, quick rapiers so on and so forth are all at your disposal once they’ve joined your party. Switching between these characters is also fairly easy and once the meter is filled up joint attacks can be used for loads of damage.

There are some gameplay elements that while they work, you can tell that they were either designed for the PS4’s touchpad or were designed that way to supplement for the lacking L2/R2 buttons. While most of what you need will be found between the L or R shoulders and both sides of the controller, switching between characters and putting things in focus require tapping the screen. Now these work for the most part as long as you remember that you need to hit the screen in order to perform this actions.

Combat is smooth with a ton of skills that can be assigned to the above mentioned L and R shortcuts. Between these and your regular attacks your arsenal won't be lacking. As characters level up and use these skills they’ll obtain new ones and make the ones that they currently have more powerful. The only issue is that because of how high of a level your party is most of these mobs are basically just hanging about for you to create new skills or obtain materials as they really don’t pose a threat or a challenge and are really there for filler between main story events.

The one thing that I loved above all else are the flying mechanics. These can honestly be so hit and miss that it was awesome to be able to fly around either slowly or quickly and then just swap into battle mode without your toes ever hitting the ground if you didn’t want them to. Boss battles the same could be said with them flying around and you could attack from either above or below as you saw fit. It felt natural even inside of caves where you were limited to how high you could go since they don’t let you simply fly to the end instead of trudging over the pathways.

One major downside is that regardless of how hard they tried to make the Vita version work, the limitations of the system can be seen in the performance. Not currently having the PS4 version to compare it to, AW vs SAO can often be laggy once things come into focus or make their appearance on the maps. Monsters in the field is a common example as you are often out there and when flying around you can have multiple levels appear causing the system to slow down.

Even in town when walking into a building it can take time for some characters to finally load which wouldn’t really be such a bad thing if you didn’t need to talk to them in order to initiate a quest. While I appreciate the continuous love for the system, this is not the first time that the Vita version suffers because they tried to pack just as much in as they did on the much larger and more powerful home console.

Accel World vs Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight is a great title though the smaller platform suffers from the lack of power that the larger one benefits from. Is it worth diving into? Definitely. If you don’t have a PS4 then I would recommend picking this one up on the Vita. If you do have a PS4 it’s probably a safer bet to take to the skies on the bigger platform unless you really enjoy the portability factor. One way or the other it should not be passed up on for fans of the series.

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation Vita
Developer(s):
Studio ArtDink
Publisher(s):

Bandai Namco Games America Inc.

Genre(s):
Action
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation 4

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Tokyo Xanadu - Vita Review

Released in Japan in 2015, now coming to North America is another installment in the Xanadu series, Tokyo Xanadu. Tokyo Xanadu follows the adventures of Kou Tokisaka, as he fights the supernatural labyrinths that are appearing in the city of Morimiya. With interesting characters, a good storyline, and a really solid soundtrack, there was a lot I liked about Tokyo Xanadu, despite some of its flaws.

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Ys Origin - Vita Review

Ys Origin was originally released for PC in 2012, and has finally received a PS4/PSVita port this year. Created as a prequel to the other Ys games, Ys Origin takes place roughly 700 years before the events of Ys I and provides backstory of the world. With a story that will draw in new and veteran players alike, with a simple yet effective combat system and a stellar soundtrack, Ys Origin definitely demonstrates a quality product.

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Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku! - Vita Review

Cladun Returns is exactly what the series needed in order to make a successful comeback. Originally for the PSP, this newest entry is releasing for both the newer PlayStation handheld as well as the big box that sits in your living room.

Conceptually Cladun hasn't changed all that much, as its scope still aims for small stages that are designed to be done in a minute or less. That is the core concept, at least in theory. In actuality Cladun is anything but small, with tremendous amounts of content that provide considerable replay value as you simultaneously grind for experience and tackle challenges within each stage in under the target time.

If you’re looking for a in-depth story with massive plot twists? You won’t find it here which adds to the charm as it’s all about the gameplay. For those that have never played either Cladun or Cladun X2 on either the PSP or the PC, having one minute levels can seem short but before you know it eight hours have gone by and you’ve done maybe… four chapters? With chapters each having five stages a piece that number seems a bit low as you would think that you would already be done the game.

It’ll be rare to go through a stage on the first run and ace it under the target time. It happens, but generally you’ll be going through it in order to get the lay of the land. The second time? That’s generally where you aim to get your time clocked under the target. So then why would you spend eight hours, minimum, to re-do those stages that many times? Surely you can’t be that bad you think. Thankfully I’m not and that’s where all the quests come in which is unfortunately the only issue that Cladun can have. There’s no fast travel to the quest hub and the probability of what you need appearing on that particular run of a stage is either 100% or slim to none.

Destroy xth amount of said enemy. Pick up an item from defeating another said enemy. There’s the chance that only one of these enemies shows up and you need twenty for your quest just like there’s a chance that twelve show up. You just never know. The same can also be said if they’ll actually drop the item that you require. So first they actually have to show up in good enough numbers to hedge your bet and then they need to drop the thing that you are looking for. Being an RPG this simply means more experience every time that you try but sometimes it can be a bit annoying to have done a stage eight times and not having seen what you are looking for.

At its core Cladun is an RPG and a Dungeon Crawler to boot with plenty of characters that can be created and brought along for the ride. Each of these characters will need to level up which is where diving back into these levels a few more times comes in. Between the quests and the leveling? Time goes by quickly because of the length of each stage being deceptive in its progress as they are only a minute long. One more is extremely easy to say and with the portability of the Vita even more so.

Unlike a lot of RPGs there’s no downside to having lots of characters and spending time to level them up as they’ll never be useless. Different classes all have access to different stat trees and skills that can be used in combat once learnt. Unlike just about everything else that I can think of, Cladun is special as you actually only ever use one character at a time. How this differs is that the rest are present but they are there in a totally different context. They’re there as meat shielding stat boosters.

Along with their stats and their skills each character has what are known as Magic Circles. These circles are basically formations in which you can create a party of vassals that protect their lord, your current playable character, as they run through each stage. Alongside their equipment loadouts, each slot that a character can be inserted into have both positive and negative boosters. The negative are clear to see such as if one dies then their partner will die at the same time. Others are -40% to their Hit Points making them much more vulnerable while they take a hit for the Lord. When it comes to the boosters however? Bring on the HP drops!

Each formation has its own specialty with some being rather balanced while others are designed for maximum attack / minimal defense and vice versa. To achieve this however each placed character in the formation must set up artifacts to boost these attributes. Slotting artifacts in is easy however the amount of artifacts that are active at any point in time is reliant on a character’s total mana. If it passes then the last artifact in the line will deactivate. A bit of math can be required but mana boosters can also be equipped if a character hasn’t yet leveled far enough to hold the total required.

Artifacts can also only be equipped in their specific slots. Attack boosters cannot be equipped inside of a Defense slot just as HP boosters cannot be equipped in Attack slots. There are a set of artifacts that do exist however that can be installed anywhere regardless of what should be there. These have their own page and the above mentioned mana boosters reside inside.

Sometimes these are almost worth putting in instead of what should go there as each artifact can come with a title that can increase what you’re trying to boost in the first place. Need more mana for an attack item simply put in a mana booster that boosts attack and you’ll have more than you set out to have in the first place. As you progress and get more there’ll be lots of experimentation and it’s worth it as it will only help you as the stages get harder.

Gameplay itself is much less complicated than getting ready for it. Your characters having the ability to walk, run, swing their weapon, block and use magic. When you need to hit your target times there’ll be many instances of you not even swinging your weapon but instead running around and dodging past obstacles. If you’re grinding for experience however there’s no penalty for going over the clock so eliminating every enemy in sight for experience is a go.

Cladun hosts four types of dungeons. The first are the story that have a bit of dialog in order to move a semblance of the plot along. The second are EX dungeons that exist to help grind and they mention them existing for that said fact. The third Neo-geon and fourth Tri-geon are variants of each other existing under the Ran-geon banner. These last two unlike the others are not designed for speed running but instead designed to see how long you can survive.

The Ran-geon are special and are basically an experience unto themselves. Instead of rushing for the exit you’ll find yourself running around in order to eliminate everything in sight in order to get the most of being in there. Each floor will have multiple ways in order to continue downwards through the floors but the exits can seem few and far between. Sometimes the choice of leaving with what you have or continuing and risking only taking half (which may come up to what you had when you made that decision) isn’t worth the choice to continue as Ran-geons are quite random with the variety of “gates” that lay in your path.

Gates, which act as your way downwards, come in so many different flavours that some will have you running towards them while others will have you avoiding them like the plague. Angels, Demons, Rainbows, Vines and so many more all come with their own modifiers for good or bad. Each time you hit one of these gates to go downwards the randomness kicks in and you’d better pray that the results don’t bite you hard in the ass. Addition to enemy levels, addition or subtraction to item drops and others will all be on the table and some gates like the Demon’s Gate will spike enemy levels by 10~15 at a minimum. Minimum. I died within a floor or two from that point because my lord and vassals were not prepared for that level of abuse. At least I knew what the gate did by then. Picking and choosing your gates will either make or break your run.

Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku! is an amazing return to the series. Handheld on the go or with controller in hand through a PSTV or a PS4 it runs brilliantly and it’s so easy to lose hours upon hours to this dungeon crawling brilliance. Now if you don’t mind I’ve got another Ran-geon to dive into!

Game Information

Platform:
Sony PlayStation Vita
Developer(s):
Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher(s):
Nippon Ichi Software America
Genre(s):
Action
RPG
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation 4
PC

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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