Sunday, September 29, 2019

In Review: 200 Game Reviews




Who would have thought when I first started this blog back in January of 2015 that I would reach 200 game reviews? I am famous for abandoning projects that I start working on. I am sure most people thought that I would lose interest and let the blog die a few months after I created it. But no! I am still going on, strong as ever.

I figured I would take the time at this milestone of 200 reviews to go back and look at some numbers. It has been approximately 1800 days since opening this blog. Since I have posted 200 game reviews, that calculates out to me posting a review every nine days. When you factor in that I have an overall grand total of 293 blog posts (yes, I do occasionally write things other than video game reviews) including this one, that averages out to a blog entry approximately every 6.14 days. Or roughly one a week. Kudos to myself for keeping it up!

My most reviewed video game system is the PlayStation 3, with 37 game reviews. On its heels is the PlayStation 4 with 33 game reviews. It is funny, most people I encounter say that I am always playing "old" or retro games, but the two systems with the most reviews are two newer systems. My third most reviewed system is the Sega Genesis, with 24 games. NES: 17. PS1: 16. PS2: 15.

My least reviewed gaming system is the PC, with only one game review. There is a tie for second fewest reviews with two among the following systems: Sega Master System, Dreamcast, Xbox 360, and PSP.

I have "re-reviewed" five games, where I revisit games I had already played and reviewed, but these re-reviews don't count towards the number of my official game reviews. They exist as their own separate entities. My good buddy Jeff (RIP) posted five special guest game reviews for this blog, but again these exist as their own separate entities.

My most viewed game review is for Shenmue for the Sega Dreamcast. Somehow, this review got 272 views.

My least viewed game review is Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, with a whopping two total views. Come one people, give this review some love! 

Seriously though, I am not a big self-promoter. I share the links to my reviews on my Facebook page and rarely share them anywhere else. If anyone knows people who would be interested in my reviews, or knows of a group somewhere where I can post my reviews and people will read them, feel free to let me know! 

My most reviewed series is a tie between Star Wars and Resident Evil, with eight game reviews in each series. There is a tie for second place with seven reviews among the following series: Kingdom Hearts, Batman, Mario, and Sonic. You could make an argument for eight Sonic games, if you want to count Dr Robotnik's Mean Machine as a Sonic title, which I did not because Sonic's name isn't in the title and he also never makes an appearance in the game.

Famous series that contain games which I have not reviewed yet include Mass Effect, Persona, Assassin's Creed, Dragon Quest, Dark Souls, Half Life, Street Fighter, Tekken, Halo, Jak and Daxter, Pokemon, Crash Bandicoot, Twisted Metal, Dragon Age, Saints Row, Guitar Hero, and any Madden or 2K game. 

Here are some games that you will for sure see reviewed soon:
  1. God of War for PlayStation 4. I just beat it today, actually, so a review should be coming soon.
  2. Iconoclasts. Just got it in from GameFly today.
  3. Resident Evil Revelations 2. Made it to the final chapter of the game before my disc stopped working and couldn't be read anymore. I hope to get a new copy of this soon so I can finish the game.
  4. Spyro Reignited Trilogy. I have played through the first two games on this disc. Just need to beat the third. I considered reviewing each game as its own, but decided against it unless I am playing the original PlayStation versions of the game.
  5. Secret of Evermore. I started this game back at the beginning of the year, but abandoned it for some reason or another. I plan to return to it as soon as my GameFly subscription expires.

I also plan to continue to work through my backlog of games. Expect to see me review several Legend of Zelda games, such as Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past, Twilight Princess, and the original NES version of the game. Xenogears and the Xenosaga trilogy are on my radar. I plan to continue to play more Sonic games, like Sonic CD, Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic Adventure, and Sonic & Knuckles. I still have several Star Wars titles to play through, including Super Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Starfighter, the Phantom Menace, and two different Rogue Squadron games. I have some Resident Evil games to play. Some more Metal Gear. There are still a buttload of Mario and Final Fantasy games out there that I haven't even touched yet.

I only have two physical games left for my Sega Saturn to play and review: Fighters Megamix and Congo The Movie: The Lost City of Zinj. I need to play through these games soon because the last time I fired up my Saturn, it didn't seem to be running very well. I fear it is on its last legs. I also need to get cracking on reviewing more Dreamcast games, because that system doesn't seem to be running very well either.

I think I am done rambling, for the time being. I just want to let everyone know that I DO INDEED plan to do something special to celebrate 200 game reviews. Starting at some point this week, I am going to rank all 200 of the games I played from worst to best, starting with #200 and working my way up to #1. It should be fun (2021 edit: I never got around to doing this). After I finish that, I probably won't do another game ranking until I hit 1,000 total video games played in my lifetime. I am only at 818 games right now, so that is going to be a ways away.

To all the loyal readers of this blog: thanks for hanging with me. Someday I may get with the times and start a YouTube channel, but I'm still a bit too shy for that. Thank you all for putting up with my long winded posts and I hope you keep reading them in the future.

Anyone interested in an index of all my posts, click >>>here<<<! This posting contains links to each and every single post I have ever made for this blog.



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Video Game Review #200: Kingdom Hearts III

Kingdom Hearts III
PlayStation 4


Nostalgia Factor:

I have been waiting for this game for a really, really long time. When I first beat Kingdom Hearts II back in 2005 or 2006, I thought FOR SURE that there would be a Kingdom Hearts III shortly on the horizon. I waited patiently for years and years. Spinoff titles like Chain of Memories, Dream Drop Distance, and Birth by Sleep came out in that timeframe, but they were for systems that I didn’t own, so I just ignored them. Where was Kingdom Hearts threeeeeee????

In 2019, a whopping FOURTEEN YEARS after the release of Kingdom Hearts II, I finally got my wish. Kingdom Hearts III had arrived. To prep myself for the game, I went through and I played nearly every game in the series (you can view all of my KH reviews at the bottom of this page). Would Kingdom Hearts III be worth the wait? Read on and you shall see.




 Story:

This game picks up right where Birth by Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage leaves off. Sora has lost a great deal of his power and heads to Olympus Colisseum to learn from Hercules – who in the past has also had to deal with losing power and then fighting to gain it back. Unlike other Kingdom Hearts games, this one throws you right into the action. No tutorials or dream sequences to help you learn the ropes, you have to tackle a Disney stage right off the bat.

Story details get a little hazy for me after that. Sora, Donald, and Goofy head to the Gummy ship, where they just… uh… pick a direction and go? It seems like previous KH games had some kind of order or purpose with how you visited Disney worlds. This one, you just visit worlds seemingly at random. Oh wait, Sora is “following his heart.” Makes perfect sense! Except when it doesn’t.

The overall purpose of the game is to fix all of the wrongs that have happened in previous KH games, and to gather enough companions so you can take on Xehanort, the evil mastermind behind the events of the series. Rescuing Aqua, Ventus, and Terra becomes a priority. I am very glad I played Birth by Sleep, or I would have no idea who these people are. Another priority is restoring Roxas and finding a host body for him. Kairi and Mr. Got it Memorized are training to become Keyblade Warriors. Mickey, Riku, and Yen Sid are doing their own thing while you do yours. At the end, everyone comes together and they all destroy Xehanort and everyone lives happily ever after. Except that doesn’t exactly happen. This is Kingdom Hearts. Things are never that simple. A bunch of crazy stuff that I don’t understand happens at the end of the game. Something about Sora blinking out of existence. Time travel may be involved. I don’t know. I just smiled and said okay then. I gave up on understanding this series’ storyline a long time ago. Really, I am just here for the combat and the Disney worlds.




Gameplay:

If you are familiar with the Kingdom Hearts series, you will have no problem jumping right into this game. Really, not much has changed over the years. Run, jump, lock on to your enemies, mash the X button to swing your Keyblade, cast magic spells. All standard Kingdom Hearts stuff.

There are a few things that are done differently in this game, but none of the tweaks make too big of a difference. Some small combat elements from games like Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance show up here. You’ve got command menu attacks, form changes, team-up attacks with your sidekicks, and more. Most noticeable are the special attacks which are based on Disney park rides. I know that a lot of people don’t like these attacks because they feel that they are overpowered, take too long, and make the game too easy. I, for one, was happy to not struggle with a Kingdom Hearts game for once. I still have nightmares about Chain of Memories sometimes. But at the same time, I can definitely understand where people are coming from with this criticism.

Some of the stages introduce new themed gimmicks to keep things fresh. For example, in the Toy Story stage you can hop into a big toy robot and control it to blast away at your enemies. In the Pirates of the Caribbean stage, you steer the Black Pearl around on the open waters and use its cannon to attack enemies. Also, the gummy ship stages are actually somewhat enjoyable this time around. You use your ship to explore space and collect secret items. All of the secrets are optional, though, and if you want to just race from planet to planet while ignoring everything else in outer space, you can.

A complaint I have with the gameplay lies in how the map works. You don’t have any destination markers. The map doesn’t tell you where you came from. Seeing as how many of the environments look very similar to one another, I often got turned around and would go the wrong way, thinking I was exploring new territory when really I was going somewhere I had already been. If this had just happened once or twice to me in this game, I wouldn’t be complaining. But it happened CONSTANTLY to me, particularly in the Frozen and Tangled stages.




Graphics:

What can I say, the game looks really good. I always thought the old Kingdom Hearts games still looked great, but there is a night and day difference when you compare this game to the originals. This game looks SO MUCH better. The worlds are gorgeous, the characters are well-detailed, the animations are flawless. I don’t think the game looks *quite* as good as it is capable of looking, but it is still looks pretty spectacular.

I love the color scheme in the game. Everything is so bright and vibrant. Most of the Disney worlds are just an absolute marvel to look at. The cutscenes in the Toy Story world look like you are watching one of the movies. I also appreciate how Sora and company have their appearances change when they visit new worlds. This has always been a staple of the Kingdom Hearts series, but they do a particularly good job with that in this game. The Monsters, Inc. versions of Sora, Donald, and Goofy are probably my favorite character morphs in the entire series.




Sound: 

While the music and voice acting is overall pretty good, I do have a few qualms with things, mainly the music. There are a few stages that have catchy theme songs, like the Frozen world, but I found that most of the music in this game was a bit forgettable. All the previous Kingdom Hearts games had standout musical scores, but I feel that this game dropped the ball a bit in this category. They don’t even use “He’s a Pirate” one time, ONE TIME, in the Pirates of the Caribbean world. What a letdown! I mean, the music is still pretty good in this game, but it wasn’t quite as catchy as it was in previous KH games. Am I the only one who feels that way?

Again, the voice acting was a strength in this game. No complaints from me, except that they weren’t able to get Hollywood A-listers like Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp to lend their talents to the game. Also, is it just me, or is Sora’s constant “woo, hwaw, yaw”ing while swinging the Keyblade starting to get annoying?




Overall:

This is a good, fun Kingdom Hearts game. I for the most part had a decent time as I played it. There were a few worlds I didn’t enjoy, and the plot is convoluted as ever, but I still had a good time. Was it worth the fourteen year wait, however? No.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a fun game. But it should be expected after a fourteen year wait that the game should completely blow you away. I enjoyed the game, but never at any point would I say I was blown away. I think that is my major issue with the game. It felt like Kingdom Hearts business as usual. No major improvements, no big changes to the formula, nothing. Aside from the graphics, this game easily could have been made back in the PS2 era along with Kingdom Hearts I and II.

I expected more. The game didn’t suck by any means. And heck, I loved visiting all the new Disney worlds and seeing the Kingdom Hearts spin put on things. But I expected more. I had just as good a time with Dream Drop Distance and Birth by Sleep as I did with this game. But this is the game people have been waiting for for years. It certainly should have been better than its handheld spinoffs. You’d think so, anyway.

Still, I won’t dissuade anyone from picking up this game. Even if you have never played Kingdom Hearts before, playing through the Disney worlds is always a thrill. And if you have played Kingdom Hearts before, it is most definitely worth playing and seeing how things wrap up. I’m a completionist, so NOT playing this game was never on the table for me.

My verdict is that this a good game, but it could have and by all means should have been better. After the long wait, this should have been the ultimate Kingdom Hearts game that dwarfed everything else in the series. Instead, it just kind of maintains the status quo. Can I say with any certainty that it is a better game than Kingdom Hearts 2, Birth by Sleep, Dream Drop Distance, or any of the other countless KH sequels and spinoffs? Not really. Nothing you see in this game you haven’t seen before. I can’t help but feel just a little disappointed by this game.

I expected more.



Final Score:
B-



All of my Kingdom Hearts reviews are listed here:




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Monday, September 23, 2019

Video Game Review #199: Tom and Jerry: Frantic Antics

Tom and Jerry: Frantic Antics
Sega Genesis


Nostalgia Factor:

I don’t have any nostalgic feelings attached to this game. It has been out since 1993, but I didn’t get around to playing it until the year 2019. It is yet another one of my cousin Ryan’s Genesis games that he loaned to me to play through and review. Speaking of that box of Genesis games, I am finally almost through with those games. I’ve got about five or six more left to play and review, and then he can finally have them back. Sorry I have had them for so long!




Story:

If this game has a story, it is told through its instruction manual (which I don’t have) and not through  in-game sequences. You save some kids and you beat up an old lady at the end of the game. That's all I got! Apparently it follows the plot of the Tom and Jerry movie which came out in the early 90s, but I have never seen that movie.

*shrugs*




Gameplay:

*sigh*

I’m shrugging, I’m sighing, I’m all over the place on this one. When I first fired the game up, I struggled to make it through the first level. Shoddy controls, bottomless pits, enemies that seemingly couldn’t be dodged or avoided. This is one of the hardest first levels I’d ever encountered in a video game before. And if you die, well I should say WHEN you die, you start back over at the beginning of the level again. There are no checkpoints, no continue markers, nothing. Very frustrating.

Once you get the hang of the game, it gets easier though, right? RIGHT? Not exactly. The second level is even harder than the first. More unavoidable enemies, more bottomless pits. This time they threw in some crappy level design for good measure. You don’t just move from left to right, now you have to navigate this giant maze full of dead ends and wrong turns. If that wasn’t fun enough, there are these giant wrecking balls that appear with almost no warning whatsoever and will kill you in one hit. Yeah. One hit. Back to the beginning of the level you go. And this game does not have short levels.

I actually turned the game off in a fit of rage the first time I tried playing it. That’s right, I rage quit a 90s 2D platformer on its SECOND LEVEL. These games used to be my forte. Had I lost my touch? As it turns out, the answer is no. This is just a crappy, shoddily designed game that had no business being released to the general public.

Being the trooper that I am, I came back to the game in the ensuing days. I will never review a game unless I have beaten it first (unless the game is unbeatable), and I was bound and determined to power through this. Each time I played, I got another level or two deeper into the game. The deeper into the game I got, the worse the level design became. Not only are some levels mazes where everything looks the same, but you have to backtrack and get items in a certain order. More sighing and shrugging and rage quitting ensued.

But then, a miracle happened. The more I played through this game and the more it pissed me off, the more I actually began to like it. Stockholm Syndrome much? Possibly. But the game is so unflinching in its difficulty that I began to take it as a personal challenge. Eventually, finally, WEEKS after I first started the game, I beat it. I expected to complete this game in an hour on my first playthrough, but little did I know it would take me weeks to finish it. I almost have to admire the game for that. Almost.

I’ve spent enough time complaining about the game’s difficulty. What do you actually do in the game? You run through levels, collecting items, fighting enemies, and reaching the finish line of the stage. Simple stuff really, but the way almost everything is handled is very frustrating. You can kill SOME enemies by jumping on them, but you get hurt in the process. So it isn’t worth it. You have to collect items like footballs and light bulbs (yeah really) and throw them at your enemies. Or you can roll into them by running and hitting the diagonal down-forward key on the D-pad. But you can’t see far ahead of you on the screen and enemies tend to just appear with little warning whatsoever, so expecting to make it through each stage unscathed is an impossibility. Pattern recognition and memorizing stage layout is key if you want to beat this game.

As I mentioned before, the controls are shoddy, which helps to make this game even more difficult than it has any right being. Some levels aren’t as simple as just “reach the ending of the stage and you’re done”. Many are laid out like mazes, where you have to collect hidden items. You die, you go back to the beginning of the stage and lose everything you collected in the process. Things never stop being frustrating in this game.

I think you get my point. This game is combination of unfair difficulty and shoddy controls and level design. There really isn’t much else to talk about. I’m going to move on to talking about this game’s graphics before I rage quit this review.




Graphics:

The game isn’t necessarily ugly, but I know for a fact that the Sega Genesis is capable of so much more. There were points when I was playing this that I had to remind myself I was playing a Genesis game and not an NES title.

Things are repetitive. The colors are bland. Animations are so-so. Luckily I am not a graphics snob. As long as the game is fun to play, I couldn’t care less what it looks like. But when a game isn’t fun, and it looks the way this game does, that is when I feel like complaining is justified. So here I am, complaining. Again.




Sound:

There is absolutely nothing memorable about this game’s music or sound effects. Nothing. The fact that I played this game for as long as I did, and I can’t hum even ONE of the game’s musical tracks should tell you something. On the plus side, I don’t remember any of the game’s audio being particularly annoying. Yay for small victories?




Overall:

I would say that I have a love/hate relationship with this game, but honestly it is mostly hate. There is almost nothing good about this game, and I was SO ready to give it the rare final score of F. But I just couldn’t do it. Yeah the game is garbage and it punished the hell out of me every time I would power it on, but the fact of the matter is that it DID keep me coming back for more. As much as I hated the game for being so poorly designed, I enjoyed the challenge. I almost never get challenged by video games anymore, unless we are talking about boss characters from the Kingdom Hearts series. But as far as a game being consistently, unrelentingly challenging from beginning to end like this – that is a rare feat in my books. And no I have never played a Dark Souls game before and no I don’t want to try one (yet, anyway).

So all in all, this game isn’t a complete failure. It comes close, perhaps the closest any game has gotten to scoring an F with me in recent years. F scores are reserved for games that I loathed every second of, and as much as I hate to say it, I did indeed derive SOME enjoyment from playing this.

But can I recommend this game to my friends? No. God no. In fact, if you are thinking of playing this game, do yourself a favor and give it a hard pass. It just isn't worth it.



Final Score:
D-





If you liked this review, please check out some of my other game reviews:



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Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Video Game Review #198: Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth By Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage

Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage
PlayStation 4



 Nostalgia Factor:

I didn’t even know this game existed until I picked up Kingdom Hearts 2.8  for the PlayStation 4 last month. I did some research on the game before I played it and discovered that it is little more than a glorified tech demo for Kingdom Hearts III. It’s only a few hours long and isn’t generally considered a main game in the series. That said, I am still going to treat it as one. It’s relevant to the Kingdom Hearts storyline, it has its own set Trophy list, and it is also longer than many old NES and Genesis games that you can beat in the same amount of time. Good enough for me!




Story:

This game is all about Aqua and her journey through the realm of darkness. You walk around, you explore, you fight creatures, and you do your best to keep yourself alive, all while looking for a way to get back to the real world. At first I thought that the game took place in the “present day” Kingdom Hearts timeline and that Aqua had been there for a long time, but towards the end of the game you discover that it actually ties into the events of the very first Kingdom Hearts game, notably its ending. Aqua runs into Mickey, who is there to save Riku from the darkness. Mickey makes it a goal to save Aqua as well, but when his escape is cut off, Aqua sacrifices her escape to ensure that Mickey and Riku can get out safely.

Aqua doesn’t die. Instead, she remains trapped in the realm of darkness. In the “real world” Mickey reveals that he never told Sora about Aqua being trapped, because he knew that Sora would rush off without a plan to try and save her. Now that things have settled down in the Kingdom Hearts universe, the time to save Aqua finally arrives. Sora and crew head off to Olympus Coliseum, which is where Sora is hoping to regain some of his lost power (that happened at the end of Dream Drop Distance). Once he “levels up” so to speak, he will finally be ready to jump into action. I have heard that Olympus Coliseum is the first stage in Kingdom Hearts III, so I assume that that game picks up where this one leaves off.

All in all, the story for this game isn’t too overly complicated. It does work to serve as an introduction or a prologue to Kingdom Hearts III, and I would say it succeeds in that goal.




Gameplay:

If you’ve played any of the kingdom Hearts games, you won’t have any trouble jumping into this one. Running, jumping, attacking, casting spells, traveling on grind rails, all that stuff will come second nature to you. This game in particular doesn’t do anything to push the formula of the Kingdom Hearts series. If you have played Birth by Sleep, however, you should be happy to see the Command system make a return. Basically, if you physically attack enemies and mix in magic attacks,  you fill up the Command gauge. When this gauge fills up, you can activate a style change where you take on the properties of the magical attacks you’ve been using. Your strength will increase, and you will also gain access to new combo attacks.

Due to the game’s short length, things are very linear this time around. You have a very straightforward path in front of you, with your goals very clearly and easily mapped out. I like how there are little bonuses thrown in (kill 50 enemies with your lightning spell to earn extra armor, for example). This adds a little bit of needed variety to the game, especially when you consider its length. There are also a few puzzles to solve, but they aren’t very tough. The only one that gave me any problems is where there is a big room full of mirrors, and you have to enter each mirror and battle a bunch of Heartless until you’ve killed them all. For some reason, I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing and lost track of which mirrors I had been in and which I hadn’t (even though a big crack goes through the ones you’ve already completed).

Really, though, this game isn’t about puzzles. It is very action-oriented. You’re going to be fighting A LOT of Heartless. And I mean a lot of Heartless. And then before you know it, the game is over.




Graphics:

This is easily the best looking Kingdom Hearts game to date (that I have played, at least). That shouldn’t be a surprise considering this is the first true next-gen KH title in the series. Most of the other games in the series were released for the PS2 or mobile devices like the Game Boy Advance or the PSP. Everything is clear and crisp, and the special effects in this game completely annihilate anything seen before in a Kingdom Hearts title.

Still though, I don’t think things look quite as good as they could have. This game did come out two years ago after all. Technology has changed so much in just that time alone. It’s also possible I wasn’t as impressed because I’ve recently played games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Red Dead 2, which look truly stunning. This game does not compare to either one of those titles.

That said, it still looks really good. It was a pleasure to see so many of my beloved KH characters brought to life in HD using the Unreal Engine. It got me super pumped to see what Kingdom Hearts III has in store, graphics-wise.




Sound:

I don’t know if they are still using the same voice actor to play Aqua, but if they are, she did a much better job in this game than she did in Birth by Sleep, where her voice was super stiff and robotic.

Everything else sounds fine here. The sound effects are good. I can’t say I got super jazzed for any of the game’s music, however. But seeing as how this entire game takes place in the realm of darkness, there really wasn’t any room to include any iconic Disney tunes or jingles. While it is hard for me to get excited for the game’s musical score, I can’t and won't say it sucked. It fit the tone of the game perfectly and made the realm of darkness come to life. No complaints from me.




Overall:

Due to this game’s length, it is hard for me to judge it based on previous Kingdom Hearts titles. It looks good, it sounds good, it handles well. I can safely say that I had a fun time playing it. It wasn’t very challenging (I didn’t die once as I played) but it was still pretty enjoyable.

Is it worth paying the price of a full Kingdom Hearts game just to play this title? Hell no. Luckily, this game comes on a collection disc that also includes Dream Drop distance and a Kingdom Hearts prequel movie. This collection is kind of weak compared to the previous batch of KH collections, but I am not going to judge this particular game based on the merit of the other games it came with. I have to judge it as its own separate entity.

Its merits are strong, but at the same time I can’t help but feel that its length is holding it back from getting a good score. It feels very incomplete. There is some key component, some spark that is missing that I can’t quite put my finger on. Sure, for the most part this is a fast paced, fun, and enjoyable game. But as a Kingdom Hearts title, it feels lacking. I read somewhere that this was made to give people a taste of what Kingdom Hearts III was going to be like, and that it was never meant to be taken as its own serious entry to the series.

I hate to cop out and give it a B grade, which is what I usually give games that I enjoyed but didn’t love. But I feel a B- would be a disservice because I did have a fun time with the game. I can’t really justify the “minus” part of the grade. But a B+ indicates that I thought the game was really good, as opposed to just plain old good. I can’t say I am that excited about it to justify the “plus” part of the grade.

So B it is. The good ole’ standby B. So original. Cheers!


Final Score:
B




That's it! Next game up in the Kingdom Hearts series is the one I've been waiting for for almost 15 years now: Kingdom Hearts III. If you'd like to read my reviews of previous entries to the KH series, you can read them here:





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Sunday, September 8, 2019

Video Game Review #197: Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD
PlayStation 4 


Nostalgia Factor:

Slowly I make my way through the Kingdom Hearts series. You can read my reviews for previous Kingdom Hearts games right below.

Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

One thing to make note of before we proceed is that I have never played Dream Drop Distance before. The original Dream Drop Distance was released for the Nintendo 3DS back in 2010. The version I am reviewing, however, is the HD remastered version located on the Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Collection for the PS4.




Story:

I'm just going with the flow when it comes to the storyline of this series. I was doing a decent job following along with it for a while. It wasn't until I played Birth by Sleep that my attention finally started to waver. It definitely wavered here, too. But I am going to do my best to recap the events of the game for you.

This game takes place after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, and before Kingdom Hearts III. Sora and Riku have to undertake a test that will determine whether or not they are worthy of the title of Keyblade Master. Personally, I think they did enough to prove their worth in the first few games of the series, but that's just my opinion.

To pass this test, both Riku and Sora are sent to the Dream World, where they have to battle Dream Eaters that are corrupting several different Disney themed worlds. Of course, it is up to you to unlock a bunch of keyholes and set everything back on the correct path.

That is the very basic gist of the game. And I mean, the VERY BASIC gist of it. Organization XIII, Xehanort, Xemnas, and all these other characters that I have a hard time keeping track of all make appearances here. Since this game is set in the Dream World, I could never tell what was really happening and what was not. A lot of convoluted stuff involving time travel comes into play. A lot of long cutscenes take place, with a lot of confusing character babble.

As I said, I've kind of thrown in the towel when it comes to truly understanding everything happening in this series. I am just going with the flow. Props to the game makers, however, for referencing past titles in the series and offering recaps of lesser known Kingdom Hearts games like 358/2 Days. Playing this game is a good way to catch up on Kingdom Hearts events before attempting to take on Kingdom Hearts III, even if you aren't going to understand everything you see and hear.




Gameplay:

Despite the confusing storyline, I still had a lot of fun playing this game. After playing Birth by Sleep, it was good to come back to playing as Sora once again. What makes Dream Drop Distance unique is that the game allows you to switch back and forth between Sora and Riku basically at any time. To beat this game, you have to clear all of the worlds with each character. While it is cool being able to play as two different characters, keep in mind that this means you are going to have to clear each world twice, which can be a little repetitive after a while.

There are a few returning stages, such as Traverse Town, Tron, and Monstro. New stages include The Three Musketeers, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and my personal favorite: Symphony of Sorcery. This stage has some nice, trippy visuals. It also pays homage to the classic orchestral scores used in Disney films over the years.

Combat is similar to what you see in Birth by Sleep. Each of your characters has their normal jumping and slashing attacks. You can customize what you want your special or magical moves to be, however. These moves appear at the top of your combat menu. You can cycle through them and then press the triangle button to use these attacks. After using a special move, you have to wait for a meter to fill up before you can use that special move again.

There's not much I can say about this game's gameplay that I haven't said about other Kingdom Hearts games. It definitely follows the same old Kingdom Hearts formula. Bosses were a little easier this time around, which was appreciated.

Oh yeah how could I forget the whole Spirit system? You can capture and craft Spirit sidekicks that aid you in battle, functioning similarly to how Donald and Goofy operated in previous entries to the series. Some of these Spirits were occasionally useful, but I found this whole addition to the game to be somewhat pointless. I've never been a fan of the whole Pokemon-esque monster sidekick thing. You have to pet them and feed them and play games with them to get them to level up, and that is just not my thing. Also, they do jack shit to help you out in battle and their contributions are barely even noticed to begin with.




Graphics:

The game looks good. It looks like pretty much other Kingdom Hearts game I have played up until now. After reviewing four other Kingdom Hearts games in the last few months, I don't really know what else that is new that I can say to add to this conversation. It's a good looking game. It's not a sensational looking game, but it looks good.




Sound:

Just like with the game's graphics, I don't know what else more I can cay about its music and sound effects. The game sounds great. Good voice acting, good sound effects, good music. No complaints here!

Once again, I must give Symphony of Sorcery a shout out because I absolutely loved the musical score for this stage. I have added several of these songs to my assorted online musical playlists.




Overall:

Surprisingly, I liked Dream Drop Distance a lot. For some reason, I thought this was going to be a relatively weak entrance to the series. But no. I had a good time. If I had to rank it among Kingdom Hearts games, it would be below I and II, but above Chain of Memories and slightly above Birth By Sleep.

The game is fast paced. The worlds are fun. The graphics and sound are top of the line. The combat is among the best in the series. I had a hard time putting this game down.

Any negatives I need to point out? Yes. There are a few.

While I enjoyed the ability to play as Riku and Sora, I thought the whole Drop meter thing was a pain in the butt. How this Drop meter works, is that it steadily decreases as you play. So if you are playing as Sora and your Drop meter runs out, you are forced to switch over to playing as Riku. It doesn't matter if you are in the middle of a boss fight or anything important. You HAVE to switch. You can use items to refill your Drop meter, but you need to equip these items and they take up valuable space in your inventory.

I also felt that things were a bit repetitive. You have to play through each stage with both characters, so you are playing through each stage two times. They make an effort to diversify the stages, but it doesn't always work out. The Tron, Musketeers, Hunchback, and Traverse Town stages all feel remarkably similar.

The storyline isn't very interesting to me either. I can kind of follow it, and I can see what it is doing to set up Kingdom Hearts III. That doesn't mean I think the story is good, though. It's just so.... blah to me. I can't help but feel that the game's storyline is what is keeping me from simply liking the game to REALLY liking the game. If only it was better, I would have gotten so much more out of this game.

As it stands, Dream Drop Distance goes down as my third favorite Kingdom Hearts game so far. While I don't think it will ever go down in history as one of the greatest games ever made, there is still a pretty good time to be had here.



Final Score:
B







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Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Video Game Review #196: Rise of the Tomb Raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider
PlayStation 4



Nostalgia Factor:

I really enjoyed the original Tomb Raider reboot that was released in 2013, and I have always wanted to play its sequels. Now here in 2019 I finally got the chance to check out the second game in the new Tomb Raider trilogy, Rise of the Tomb Raider.




Story:

Lara heads out on a journey to Siberia to investigate the case that her late father had been investigating when he died. At the heart of this mystery is the Divine Source, a power that is said to grant immortality. Lara butts heads with a group named Trinity, who is also after the Divine Source. She finds out that her late father's lover was a Trinity spy who was using him for his research. He also may not have committed suicide, it is possible his traitorous lover may have had him killed.

Lara teams up with the Siberian natives as they fight back against Trinity. The deeper into the game you go, the closer you get to uncovering the secret of the Divine Source. The story in this game is a pretty basic Indiana Jones/ Uncharted type affair. Run through the jungle, shoot bad guys, explore ruins, read hidden texts, fight more bad guys, travel deeper into the heart of this lost world on the way to recover a secret buried by time.

The copy of this game that I played also came with some DLC, which was pretty cool. In one of them you have to fight a witch who resides in the deep jungle, and who uses hallucinogenic gas to try to scare you aware. I liked this little detour, as it was pretty fun. There is also a Croft Manor chapter where you can explore the mansion and learn a little bit about Lara's past and the exploits of her family.




Gameplay:

Rise of the Tomb Raider kicks things up a notch from the first Tomb Raider game. It is faster paced, there is more action, and there are more hidden quests and more things to discover on the map. This game will keep you very, very busy. There is always SO MUCH to do and so much to find when you enter a new area of the game. The first game was slower paced and more discovery based. This game moves so fast, like it is on steroids. Everywhere you turn there is something to collect, an animal to hunt, a tomb to explore, an enemy to fight, an ally to accept a mission from. It reminds me of Batman: Arkham City and how much that game expanded on its predecessor, Arkham Asylum. There is a very noticeable difference in style between this game and the first Tomb Raider. I can't say I necessarily like it better this way, however.

This game feels a lot more linear than its predecessor. Rise of the Tomb Raider definitely has a lot more in common with Uncharted than the first one ever did, and that game did indeed have a lot in common with the Uncharted series. This one is just so similar, down to the structure of the game. There are very defined chapters this time around. It always feels like you are moving from a point A to a point B. I understand that the first Tomb Raider title wasn't exactly an open world either, but it never felt like I was being guided from point to point. This game, it very much feels like this is happening.

When you enter a new area, you will find that its map is pretty big. As I said before, there is a LOT of stuff to collect. I always made sure I scooped up as many things as I possibly could, because what is the point in playing a game like this if you aren't going to explore? An addition to this game from the first one is the ability to take on optional side missions from your Divine Source protecting allies. Admittedly it was weird at first taking on missions from people in a Tomb Raider game, but it became second nature quickly. It also helped to break up the linear feel of the game a little bit, which I appreciated.

Technically, this game handles very well. The buttons are well mapped out. Lara perfectly responds to your controller movements. Running around and jumping and climbing and swinging from ropes is easy and seamless. The combat is fun, the action is fast and high flying. Exploring and searching for hidden items on the map is always a good time, although there is so much to collect it gets tiresome after a while.

Reviewers online praise Rise of the Tomb Raider as the best title in the new series. I agree, this is definitely a very fun and well-made game. But... I didn't like it as much as I did the first Tomb Raider game. Perhaps my expectations were too high. I had read all the hype and I was expecting something earth-shattering. Instead, I find this game to be just plain old good, not great. It is nothing I haven't seen a million times before in countless Uncharted, Arkham, and Assassin's Creed games. It is still a good game that I enjoyed, however. Don't get me wrong.




Graphics:

This game looks good, sure, but I wasn't blown away by it. Once again, this game's graphics are nothing I haven't seen the likes of before in countless Uncharted, Arkham, and Assassin's Creed games. Perhaps I was not as impressed because I've been spoiled with newer titles like Red Dead 2 and Horizon Zero Dawn, as well. I thought this game looked just fine and dandy, but it wasn't anything earth-shattering. I'm sure it looked absolutely fantastic when it came out a couple years ago. Now, however, it has to settle for just "really good."




Sound:

Just like this game's graphics are really good, its sound is as well. No complaints whatsoever here. The voice acting is solid. Explosions and gunfire sound like they should sound. I don't really remember any of the game's music (except for a nice Tomb Raider II throwback in the Croft Manor DLC), but I am sure it was fine. All the atmospheric sounds effects like echoing caves and leaves rustling in the wind are spot on. Everything checks out in the sound department.




Overall:

Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of those games that you enjoy playing, but afterwards won't remember much of. Everything this game does is just plain old good. It rarely does anything spectacular. I feel bad even saying this, because I did enjoy this game and I had a fun time playing it. It just seemed to me like it was missing that certain special SOMETHING that I can't quite put my finger on. That something that separates a good game from being a great game.

Everything I did in this game, I felt like I've done a countless number of times in other games. Rise of the Tomb Raider's saving grace is that it is very well made and it does these things just as well or even better than those other games. There is rarely a dull moment in this game. There is never not something to collect or an enemy to fight. Things hum along quickly and efficiently. You are always engaged. You are always kept on the tip of your toes.

I guess my problem with this game was the sense of deja vu that I got playing it. This is a good game. It's a fun game. It is very well put together. But it is just SO unoriginal. I much prefer the original.

So what will it get? I will not give this game a C grade, because that is too low. But an A is too high. I think a B is appropriate, as I don't feel strongly or negatively enough about the game to tilt it in either direction. Rise of the Tomb Raider is a fun title, but don't make my mistake and expect too much from it.



Final Score:
B








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