The Mummy Demastered (PC) Review

What happens when you mix WayForward's wonderful sprite animation, their metroidvania pedigree, and a blockbuster movie license?  Well, you end up with The Mummy Demastered, a 16-bit looking side scrolling action adventure...that needs better mixing.

Off the bat, the game looks really cool.  The sprites and animation are top-notch, and what I expect from WayForward.  The music ranges from average and forgettable to downright annoying.  You control your agent to run and gun through several areas of the map that don't always feel like they should match up.  I mean, if you are that close to the headquarters, why would you take a helicopter to the starting area?

Anyway, the map isn't the point of the game.  The action is.  Too bad it's just not that good.  Hit boxes seem off, the damage is too high, and there are too many enemies on most screens.  Crows move in medusa head patterns, and are somehow not the most annoying enemy.  Screens have lots of little crawling and jumping monsters that can be hard to aim at.  Many enemies have cheap placement just off screen so you hit them when you are trying to advance.  Most things take too many shots from your default gun, which drags down the fun.  To top it off, you can't even damage things that are too close to you, but of course they hit you, even if it doesn't seem like they even touched you.

You will get new weapons to use, but they all have limited ammo.  So, you may be like me and save them for bosses.  Even so, you will quickly run out of ammo in those fights.  Outside of boss battles, there are plenty of ammo drops, but still not enough to replenish what you use just to go anywhere.  If you are full of an ammo type, it will still be dropped.  Why not replace that with health?  Health pick-ups don't drop near frequently enough, considering how much damage enemies can do.  Plus, there are no rooms that restore your health to full, meaning you have to grind to restore it.  Not a good design decision.

Boss fights aren't much better.  The first was fine, but the second was just a horrible experience.  Lots of damage, lots of time, and it didn't always stick to its patterns.  In fact, they all take way too much time if you just use the default gun.  Because of the death mechanic (see rant below), you won't get any spent ammo back if you die.  So, you have to either hope you win, take forever, or grind for drops.  Not a great choice.

How about the platforming?  Well, it's not that great either.  It feels a bit stiff.  I'm not sure if there is a slight delay in jumping, or maybe the floor properties of the ledge aren't great, but there were plenty of times I tried to jump off a platform only to fall down.  I was playing with an Xbox 360 controller, and it didn't feel like it was a peripheral issue, just an issue in the game.  There's also plenty of low and inconsiderate ceilings that can get in the way of jumps.  I will admit the ceiling grab you get is really cool, even if the environment designs quickly limit how much you can use it.  It's like Mark of Kri all over again.

Now we can move on to the unique mechanic in the game that I alluded to earlier: the death mechanic.  If/when you die, your agent revives as a zombie.  At first I thought it was a cute animation, but nope, it's an actual enemy you fight.  Oh, and did I mention that it has your stuff?  Well, it does.  So, now you have to kill it.  With the default weapon.  And the default health.

You read that right, you have no upgrades whatsoever, because this is a new agent.  So you have to fight an enemy that has the weapons you did, but with the default stuff.  Ugh.  Oh, and you will only get back the ammo you lost.  Did you have 5 shots left in that machine gun?  That's what you recover.  Never mind that the zombie agent shot at you with that same gun 50 times, or threw 10 grenades, since you clearly didn't have that.  Somehow, he did.

It's a nice idea.  It fits with the game theme.  It's also not fun at all, and in fact sucks out any fun you were having.  You just end up in a worse position than when you died.  Thankfully if you die on a boss, the undead agent won't be with the boss, but the room before.  Since it automatically saves when you die, you have to get creative to avoid it.  Once I reached a new save point, I would quit out and copy that file to an empty slot.  If I died, I would copy it back and continue on, so I could avoid the annoyance.  That's not an effective way to play a game, but made it less stressful.

Like other metroidvanias, there are secret rooms and items to collect.  The teleport rooms are nice, as it's just a chopper that you ride to other drop zones.  The elevators to other areas are rappelling stations.  Another nice fit.  I'm also a fan of opening up some blocked rooms with grenades and their upgrades.  All three of these things are very appropriate to the setting, and are pulled off well.  Past that, we also get collectibles.  Not upgrades, actual little trinkets you pick up that don't really do anything.  I guess they ran out of useful stuff for players to find.  While I'm not opposed to collectibles in games, these don't feel like there was any care put into them.  The medallions are seemingly placed at random, and rarely hidden.

I'm not sure I have to reiterate my overall feelings on the game, since it should be pretty obvious.  The Mummy Demastered is far from WayForward's best work, and also not a very fun game.  It has promise, but fails to deliver in just about every way.  I wouldn't recommend it to metroidvania action/adventure fans.  Maybe if you really liked the latest movie, but even though I doubt it.  Well, at least it doesn't have a melee counter that you constantly need!


The Good:
Graphics and animation are good.  Some elements seem very appropriate to the setting and license.

The Bad:
Too many enemies; too much damage; hit, ledge, and jumping detection feel off; the death mechanic, and really just a lot of things, big and small.

The SaHD:
I shudder to think what the game would play like if it came out when the movie did.

(Review code for The Mummy Demastered was provided by the publisher)

Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds (PC/Steam) Review

Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds is a visual novel otome game set in, well, Kyoto at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.  It's also only the first part of the whole story.  I previously reviewed the PS Vita version, and the Steam release for PCs is largely the same.

As an Otome game, you will play as a female protagonist, with many romance options.  In fact, most of the guys you meet are romance options.  You won't interact with all of them in every scene, as that would get way too crowded.  They float in and out of each scene, which feels logical.  You are a "guest" of the Shinsengumi after all, and they wouldn't all go to every thing together.

There are several dialogue choices as you go through the game, some of which change the affection of the various guys, and some of which will change the next scene.  Once you get to the final scenes, it will be exclusive to the guy with the highest affection, and is effectively their route.  Then unfortunately, the game will go to a "to be continued" and we have to wait until the second part is released.  Other than that, I do like the story.  Having fantasy takes of real events is pretty neat, and they pull it off well.

One playthrough is about 4-6 hours, depending on reading speed, and if you reload to change a choice.  Since there are over 10 romance options, you will get a fair bit of replayability finishing the final chapter several times.  I'd also recommend playing through at least twice, since there are a few different scenes depending on dialog choices, and they are worth seeing.  They're also sprinkled in throughout the story, so it wouldn't be as easy as just replaying one chapter, which you can do for the character routes.  I'm not sure if and how the character endings will play into the second part of the story, but it might be worth doing a few, just in case.

Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds ran perfectly on my i7 with 16gb of ram.  I mostly used an Xbox controller for it, but a keyboard should work perfectly fine, since it's a visual novel.  It's a pretty good story with good replayability for the different endings.  Now to continue to wait patiently for the next part...


The Good:
Good story, lots of options for ending routes.

The Bad:
Having to wait until the second part is released to finish off the story.

The SaHD:
Maybe after the second part, we will get Sengoku Winds?

(Review code for Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds was provided by the publisher)

Moero Chronicle (PC/Steam) Review

In a world where monster girls are going crazy and attacking their formerly allied humans, someone must find the cause and put a stop to it.  Io, forced by the local mayor, is that someone.  He quickly recruits his childhood friend and monster girl Lilia, then sets out to find the cause.

Previously released in Japan on the Vita as Moe Chronicle, Moero Chronicle is now available on Steam.  It's a first person dungeon RPG, but with a unique twist.  When it comes time to save the monster girls, you have to...well, poke, pinch, and rub them.  If you have played Monster Monpiece, it's basically the same mechanic as it is there.

Dungeons are set on a grid, and you can move forward, backward, or turn to the sides with the d-pad.  While using an Xbox 360 controller, movement was locked to the d-pad.  This was unfortunate, since as much as I like most aspects of that controller, the d-pad is easily the worst part.  The d-pad being bad isn't the game's fault, I would have just liked to be able to set movement to the stick instead.  The stick is used for...some kind of menu shortcuts that I didn't use.  I could change the button setting in the options, but not the setting for the sticks.

Battles are turn based, but use the agility stat to determine order.  However, it isn't broken into traditional turns.  Instead, faster characters just act more often than slow ones.  The monster girls in your party can attack, use a skill, defend, or calm Io down.  Attacks don't cost anything, but tend to be weaker than skills.  Skills use MP, so they should be used sparingly.  Besides the monster girls and enemies, Io can do some actions as well.  He can "store" his desire, and later "release" it to power up one of the monster girls.  This...sounds more questionable than it is.  Normal battles might not see this used to much, but it helps during boss battles.  Sometimes it will fail, and Io gets too excited.  When this happens, he can't do anything for a few turns.  If the girls use their "calm" command, this time is shortened.  Io is also the one that can command the team to flee, or use an item on them.  I like that you don't have to spend an attacking turn to use an item, even if you can only use one.

Now we can go back to the rubbing mechanic, Bumping Scratch.  To recruit a monster girl, you must first damage their clothing.  After that, it's just like Monster Monpiece.  you have a time limit, and where the girl is...affected...by your actions changes.  If you don't fill the meter in the time limit, the monster girl will run off.  She will return in a little bit, so you aren't out of a party member because of a small mistake.  Using the mouse for this is fine, but what about the controller?  Well, it's functional, but feels slow and sometimes unresponsive, particularly the rubbing action.  I really didn't like using the mouse for battle, so I stuck with the controller.  I didn't lose many of the Bumping Scratch games, so it didn't really hamper me playing the game.

Each monster girls can also change their stats and skills by equipping different...uh...battle panties.  They are similar to class changes, as changing the skills they use can change their function in battle.  First you have to find the different pairs of panties, then give it to them.  You can only change at the inn in town, and you will have to fight many battles to learn all the associated skills.  It's a useful system, but I do have one gripe.  The girls' costumes change when they wear different panties, but it's really just putting them in different underwear.  I would have liked to see actual different costumes, or even recolors of the default ones as well.

Length and difficulty of Moero Chronicle is fairly standard for the genre.  There are only a few dungeons, but it will take you hours of walking and fighting to get through each one.  Some bosses and enemies are very strong, so you will spend time grinding.  You'll also probably grind for money, job panty skills, and pet monsters.  There is some post-story stuff once you have beaten the game.  You can also set the game on easy if you want a slightly easier time.  I would have liked a lot more save points in dungeons, or even nice shortcuts through floors.  It won't bother some people, but I'm a save-a-holic.

Moero Chronicle ran flawlessly on both my i7 desktop and my i5 laptop.  Loading times were very short.  I did prefer to use the controller for dungeons and battles, and it worked well enough for Bumping Scratch.  Still, I would be better off getting a different controller than the one I had.  The game was pretty fun, although the content will be a barrier to some people.  Still, a very competent dungeon RPG with a good amount of content.  If you are in the mood for a dungeon crawler and don't mind some lewd-ish content, then Moero Chronicle is worth trying out!


The Good:
A very unique and competent dungeon RPG with plenty of party members.

The Bad:
Just like the majority of games in the genre, expect to grind and repeat areas.

The SaHD:
Definitely not one I played near my kids.  However, my wife doesn't care, since she played the Vita version.

(Review code for Moero Chronicle was provided by the publisher)

Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls (Steam) Review

Idea Factory International continues to bring their titles to Steam, so I recently checked out the PC version of Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls.  I previously checked out the PS Vita version, which I enjoyed quite a bit, and I expect this version to be in line with all the others.

Instead of starring Neptune or one of the other (non-Vert) goddesses, this one focuses on IF and her new friend Segami, as they battle to repair time and keep the history of Gamindustri safe.  Along the way they will meet new characters modeled and named after various Sega consoles (remember when they made those?)  Dungeons are mostly what you would expect: 3D environments to run and jump around in, with enemies patrolling around.  Now you can also climb ladders, monkey bar swing across rope lines, and crawl through small openings.  There's also coins and baseballs to collect, and item boxes to open.

Touching an enemy in the field (or getting to a certain point in story scenes) will start a fight.  Combat also looks familiar, but with some new tweaks and twists to keep it fresh.  You still move around a small plain to aim your attacks, but now each action fills part of your action gauge.  The more you do, the higher it goes, and the longer your next turn will take to come around.  If you fill it into the red zone, your turn ends by itself.  Normal attacks fill it a small amount, but there's also a charge attack that fills it the rest of the way, but you get a strong attack for the sacrifice.

Special skills require SP to use, which builds up as you attack in battle.  This is great because you can always build it up, but bad if you want to switch around your characters.  I usually ended up just saving it for boss fights.  A new addition is the Fever Meter.  When it is filled, grab the star that appears and your characters can continuously take turns while it lasts.  This prevents the enemy from having their turns, and, like SP, is best used on bosses.  Combat as a whole was pretty fun, and the different systems gave it some strategy.

Progress through the story is made by undertaking missions.  There's a limit to how long each quest will hang around, and that number decreases whenever a quest is completed.  This means you are going to miss some quests, since there are more than you can do.  You have to be a little careful of what ones you choose, since some will be very difficult or impossible on your first run through the game.  There is a great new game+ that lets you keep just about everything.  This make it easier to run through the game subsequent times.  My first run on the Vita version was under 25 hours, and I ended up going through the game a second time.

I probably sound like a broken record with a lot of my PC reviews, but the game ran fine on my i7/16gb machine.  I didn't encounter any weird problems in the few hours I played.  The keyboard and mouse work ok, but I far prefer the controller for this style game, and the Xbox 360 pad worked great.  Fans of Neptunia games should definitely check the game out.  Superdimension Neptune is a solid JRPG.


The Good:
Fun RPG featuring everybody's favorite scout, IF!  Plus, several new characters.

The Bad:
Bosses can and will require grinding.

The SaHD:
I'm never getting a Vert-based game am I?

(Review code for Superdimension Neptune was provided by the publisher)

Dark Rose Valkyrie (PS4) Review [5/28/18: Updated for PC]

As a fan of most Idea Factory and Compile Heart games, I was eager to try out Dark Rose Valkyrie.  It sets you in a world where a virus is turning people into monsters called Chimera, and you head up a special group tasked with fighting them and keeping citizens safe.

The game started off pretty strange, by offering me the three difficulty levels of easy, hard, and very hard.  So...no normal?  The one difficulty level you should have is not present?  Well, against my better judgment I went with hard.  For the most part, it worked out pretty well except for some boss and mini-boss fights.  It just involves more grinding.  After about 30 hours I put it down to easy.  You get more experience after fights, but quest rewards are reduced.

Grinding does actually take time, since the game sports day/night and moon phase cycles.  As you spend time in the world map, it will slowly move from day to night, and back to day again.  After each day, the moon shifts forward one phase.  While you are in a dungeon, time will pass, but it will not be reflected as long as you are inside.  Once you leave, it will jump to where it is supposed to be.  This is helpful for the times when you need to fight a monster that is only around a certain time of the cycle.  However, enemies are stronger at night.  Unfortunately, the first time you do a dungeon, it will always be night.  Seems a bit steep to me.

Thankfully you won't waste time walking back to a dungeon, because there is a very helpful warp feature.  There are a few warp points scattered around each dungeon and the world map, and you can fairly easily warp among them from a warp point or a save point.  Sadly, you can't warp to a save point, which would have been nice.  Especially since they don't always have great placement for the warp and save points.  You can work with them, but they aren't in the most convenient locations.

Combat is some good old fashioned turn based goodness.  On the left side of the screen is a long bar with icons for everyone in the battle.  Your icon moves up (based on your speed stat) and you can take action at an appropriate time.  If you have played any of the Grandia games, you will quickly realize the basics.  When your turn comes up, you can attack, charge attack, use a skill, or even switch to your back up character.  The attacks have three different levels that you set the combo for, and each higher one is stronger, but takes more time before you do it.  For whatever reason, I stuck mostly with the level 2 combo for 90% of my attacks.  While hitting an enemy, their icon is stalled, which makes fighting one target easier than a group.

The charge attack will knock an enemy's icon back a bit.  I rarely used this, since the benefit is about equal to stalling them while you do a normal combo, but you get higher damage doing that.  Skills are things I mostly used on boss and mini-boss fights, at least in the early stages to knock down the extra targets.  There are plenty of elemental attacks in there to take advantage of enemy weaknesses, but no way to change your attack type (strike, slash, pierce).  There are healing skills, but they felt very weak versus the damage strong monsters could do.  Not good.  It was better to use them between fights and instead rely on expensive items for battle.

Since it is a Compile Heart game, enemies have guard gauges.  If you deplete it before their icon starts over at the bottom, you get some extra damage, plus your EX attack at the end of your normal combos.  You also build up TP while attacking, which you can use to defend from an enemy's special attack (SUPER useful) or unleash a powerful sync attack.  Using it for defense felt necessary for the boss fights (especially on hard), but using it for attack was more fun and flashy.  After you execute an EX move, the person behind you may rush in to get in a few more hits.  Afterwords, you can choose to spend 1 TP for a total (all enemies) or single (the target) sync attack.  The entire backrow will appear an unload their shots on the foes.  It's fun, and useful to rack up the hit count for extra damage and reward and the end of the fight.  Problem is, they don't always seem to activate when you actually need them, and instead are available many times when weak targets are already dead.

Lastly, your characters can use TP to activate a power-up for a few turns.  Called Ignition, it boosts your stats and protects from status ailments.  Honestly, I rarely ended up using it, which may explain why some boss battles are hard.  In my defense, I needed the TP to block (so I don't have to use the weak heals), and therefore didn't really have it to spend otherwise.  Also, the stat boost didn't seem that great, but I always appreciate abnormal status protection.

When not fighting or exploring, you will be spending your time at the ACID base.  Here you can make new items, sell items, rest, and accept quests.  They don't call it "sell items", so it took me a bit to realize that was what turning them in was.  The last section of items to turn in will give money and also components that you need for powering up your weapon and making pieces of equipment, so make sure to sell some of those when you get the chance.  You can also talk to party members for extra events, which will affect their relationship with you (and the ending).

The game follows a fairly simple path: event(s) in base, go to dungeon, return, event(s), do missions, return, rinse, repeat.  A lot more of the missions are required than I thought.  Even so, I was stubborn about doing all of them, even those not required, before moving on.  I didn't really run low on days to turn them in, either.  To mix things up, interrogations have also been included.  You see, not everyone is who they appear to be.  One of the group is a traitor, and you (Asahi) have to figure out who it is.  To do that, you will question characters about themselves and the others at a few points in the game.  These were...ok...but I found it odd you could only ask so many questions.  Yeah, it's probably to make it harder, but it feels a bit too limiting and hard to put it all together in a satisfactory way.

Even though I enjoyed Dark Rose Valkyrie and its high-hitting combo battles, there are a lot of little things that bug me.  Money is really hard to come by early on, story dungeons force it to be nighttime, and boss battles are aggravating on the hard setting (sometimes on easy, too).  It should take well over 40 hours to complete the game, especially if you try to do all the side quests like me.  Still, I'd say it's worth trying out for JRPG fans, even if you were put of by some of Idea Factory's non-Neptunia offerings.

5/28/18: PC Release Update
I recently got a code for the PC release on Steam.  While most PC releases of games I have already reviewed run well, Dark Rose Valkyrie broke the streak.  The story and dialog scenes ran perfectly fine.  Battles and moving around the map were choppy messes.  It looked like it was running at 10 fps.  I'm not a stickler for graphics, but it should not look like a failing flip-book animation.  Audio seemed to skip at times.  Battles aren't hampered by the choppiness, but they look bad.  On the map, the bad frame rate makes getting those first strikes all but impossible.

At first I thought maybe running on higher settings, or on a hot day, made it run so poorly.  I turned the settings down to low (which seems crazy for my i9, but I digress), and ran the game on other, cooler nights.  There was a slight improvement, but not one that actually helped.  I'm not sure what happened to this PC release, or if there is something amiss on my machine, but it ran poorly.  If you can, stick to the PS4 release.


The Good:
Fun combat in a completely stand alone game.

The Bad:
Lots of little nitpicks, like the high damage you take and the low amount of healing, among others.

The SaHD:
Another Asahi?!

(Review code for Dark Rose Valkyrie was provided by the publisher)

PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness (PC/Steam) Review

PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness came out last fall for the Vita, and is now available on Steam for PC fans to enjoy.  It is a visual novel set in an alternate Japan in the year 2112.  There is a computer system called Sybil, which dictates what your future path should be.  Everyone's feelings are quantified, and those with "clouded hue" can be deemed dangerous.  It's used as an indicator for criminals, and Division 1 is tasked with dealing with them.  To do so, they use a special gun called the Dominator.  It can either subdue a target, if their hue isn't too clouded, or, if they are beyond redemption, blast them into tiny bits.  "I am the law" indeed.

As you go through the game, you follow your chosen protagonist (either Tsurugi or Nadeshiko), and together with the rest of CID Division 1, solve some crimes.  From their perspectives, the crimes start out as unrelated, but quickly coalesce into an over-arching story that is pretty enjoyable.  Admittedly, I'd like a little more closure to one of the game's bigger mysteries, but it may be tied into a future game or even the TV show (that I still sadly haven't seen).

At many points throughout the game, there are choices to make, which will affect some of how the story plays out.  The game is great at showing you when the paths diverge, but it's not always obvious how or why certain choices would affect it.  Your choices will also affect a scene in the middle of the game where you get to know one of your colleges better, and the ending.  As noted in my review of the Vita version, my first ending felt very abrupt and out of nowhere, and felt more like an extra scene than an ending to the game.  Still, much of the story plays out similar regardless of choices.  However, there is also a mini-game to play, which lets you earn points to unlock things in the gallery and other bonuses.  It's a pretty fun mini-game, but you will have to get really good at it to get enough points to unlock everything, as the total cost is way too high.

As a visual novel, the controls shouldn't make much of a difference.  The keyboard works, but the controls felt really off, and it took me a few tries to figure out where the menu was.  It's on the "1" key, which, in my limited PC gaming experience, is kinda weird.  Once I found that, I was able to look at the keybindings.  I left them on default, which is ok once I knew where everything was mapped.  To me, the mouse is the best, as left click advances text or makes a choice, while right clicking is the menu.  Pretty much everything you would need is right there.  Plus, you can click the on-screen buttons if you wanted to set the text to auto (which advances for you when the spoken dialogue reaches the end of the line).  The Xbox 360 controller works just fine as well, if you prefer that.

PSYCHO-PASS is a fairly engaging visual novel that takes around 5-6 hours for a first run.  The two main protagonists and the branching paths give good replayability, although I wish some choices were clearer in what it affected.  I imagine the system requirements aren't too high, but the game ran perfectly fine on my i7.  Loaded quickly, too.  I'd recommend the game to any crime drama fans, as the story is well written, and the world is pretty interesting.


The Good:
Good story, lots of choices, and many ending scenes.

The Bad:
How the route changes is rarely apparent.

The SaHD:
I'm glad the real life (non-killing) Dominator sold out so I wasn't tempted to get one.  Not like I could afford it, though...

(Review code for PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness was provided by the publisher)

Monster Monpiece (PC) Review

Monster Monpiece was released on the PS Vita two and a half years ago, and was a competent card-based strategy game that was unfortunately mired a silly controversy.  It could also be a bit creepy.  Regardless, it has made its way to Steam, and is now in 1080p!  It looks pretty good, too.

It also boasts having all of the original artwork from the Japanese release, which should mean those four censored images are restored.  This also means all the whiny people can finally chill out and play the game.  However, the PC port lacks multiplayer, which is an odd omission to be sure.  I'm not big on versus multiplayer, so it doesn't effect me personally, but I know others love it, so I'm sure there will be people bothered by this.

As you and your friends make your way around the game world, you will frequently encounter characters that you must battle.  The card battles take place on a 3x7 grid.  Each participant can place a card in the closest 3x3 section, leaving the middle column neutral.  On a card's second and subsequent turns, it will move forward one space (if able), and attack if it is in front of an enemy card.  There are four types of cards- melee, ranged, heal, and support.  Melee fighters usually have higher damage and health, ranged fighters can predictably attack a few panels in front of them, healers restore HP of the friendly card in front of them, and support will increase the attack of the friendly card in front of them.

Monster girls cards have HP and Atk values, and heal/support ones have MP.  Your Atk value does that much damage to HP, and if you run out of HP, the card disappears from the field.  MP dictates how many times a card can heal or buff another card.  Cards also have a family or type, and a color for their border.  If you place a card of the same type on top of another, it will fuse them for the duration of the battle, which adds their stats.  If you summon the same color card multiple turns in a row, you get bonus mana and subsequently, extra health and attack.  These make sense once you start getting into the game and deck creation, plus it adds a few layers of strategy.  At first you don't need to use them, but later in the game you will need all the tricks at your disposal and have a well-balanced deck to succeed.

Now to the infamous part of the game's mechanics.  You can power up cards in your deck by using rub points to...well, rub the cards.  You have to find the right spot on the girls to poke, rub, and pinch to fill up the gauge.  If you fill the whole thing in time, the card will level up, and hopefully get stronger.  Admittedly, it can be a bit creepy, but it's a little better than the Vita version since you aren't grabbing both sides of the Vita and rubbing furiously.  I tried both the controller and mouse for this, and the mouse is easily the better of the two options.  The controller works, but is much slower.  I would very much recommend using the mouse, even if just for this section of the game.

Since the it's a card game, I didn't see much need for the controller.  I did try it and preferred it, but by such a narrow margin that I could easily stick to using the mouse and keyboard.  When I first tried to play the game, it wouldn't work.  I suspect my graphics card wasn't working properly.  Once it was, the game started up and ran just fine every time I played it.  It saves and loads quickly, and the game runs well on my i7.

I enjoyed Monster Monpiece on the Vita, and now that the card artwork integrity is intact, hopefully anyone that had a problem with that will now give the game a chance.  Sure, it had to give up versus battles, which seems strange, but I'm not sure it was a heavily used feature to begin with.  The story give you plenty of battles as you make your way through, that you might not need to fight your friends.  It might not be for everyone, but the card game and battle mechanics are very solid and worth trying out for CCG fans.


The Good:
The game was bumped up to 1080p and contains all the original Japanese artwork on the cards.  It's also a fairly fun and involved strategy card game.

The Bad:
Increasing a card's level doesn't always make its stats better, limiting the usefulness of the function until you can max out the card.

The SaHD:
I'm sure the people who moaned about the Vita release will find something else to complain about for this version...

(Review code for Monster Monpiece was provided by the publisher)

Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force (PC) Review

Fairy Fencer F was a new RPG from Idea Factory when it debuted a few years ago.  Since then, the original was ported over to Steam (and looked good), and had a re-release with new content on the PS4 (which was fun), titled Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force.  Now that has also been ported over to PCs.  The cycle continues.

The Advent Dark Force release doubles your battle party to 6 people, and adds two new story routes through the game, for many hours of additional content.  Battles are turn-based.  Each character has a movement radius that you can move around in as much as you want, until you do an action.  You attack has a radius as well, but you can only attack one enemy in it.  The characters also get combos that allow you a lot of freedom and customization once you start to purchase moves.  Stronger moves have more wait, which will make subsequent turns happen a little later, so there is a kind of balance to it.  If you have played any of the Neptunia games on PC, the battle system is similar to that, and you should feel right at home.

Each character gets a few special moves and spells, which take SP to use, and can be extremely useful to eliminate several enemies, or to do big damage to a boss monster.  There is also a meter around the character's portrait that allows you to combine with your fairy partner.  This is called Fairize, and gives you ridiculous and awesome mecha armor.  Oh, it also allows boosts your stats, changes the battle music, and gives you access to a powerful move if that's what you want to focus on.

For the most part, the story flows like most other RPGs.  Get a bit of story/dialogue, enter a dungeon, defeat the boss, return to town, rinse and repeat.  Dungeons are 3D areas that you can run and jump around in, while encountering enemies on the map.  A great twist is the faries that you get throughout the story can be bound to the swords impaling the Goddess and Vile God.  These swords, called furies, can then be used in world shaping, which allows you to stab them into the world map and provide modifiers to any dungeons they touch.  For example, you could have one that gives extra experience, but lowers money gain, or even one that changes the enemies that appear in the dungeon, but lowers magic damage.  You can place several around a dungeon, too, if you want multiple effects.  I would prefer less negative effects, but I can't deny you can get some great effects out of it, especially if you stack the extra experience!

My PC is an i7 with 16gb memory, and the game ran flawlessly.  I mostly used a controller, as the game plays so much better with one.  The keyboard works, but the layout is strange to me.  You could go through and re-map all the keys, but I find just plugging in a controller to be far easier.  The frame rate was stable and very smooth, although the graphics themselves didn't quick look as nice as the PS4.  It could easily because of the distance difference from monitor to TV, though.  My only problem with the PC version is the dungeons had a smokey or fog-like filter over the screen.  This extended to the battles, which made them appear washed out but still kind of bright.  It's not the whole game, since this effect disappears during a character's special attack animation, and during the godly revival fights.  I didn't see a way to turn it off, and it was fairly distracting.  On the plus side, the first cave dungeon wasn't too dark, as it was on the PS4 release.

I really enjoyed the PS4 release of Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force, and the PC release on Steam is no exception.  The only real issue I had was the fog effect, but I would definitely recommend fans of the first release get this one, even if you have to start over.  The extra content and changes are worth it.


The Good:
I enjoyed the original release, and Advent Dark Force brings good improvements and a lot of new content.

The Bad:
Sadly there's no way to transfer your saves from the original's release, so you have to play the game all over again.

The SaHD:
I'd love a way to use the first Fairize music every time, instead of the later version.  Also, I unabashedly used the Nepgeardam heads because why not?

(Review code for Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force was provided by the publisher)

STEINS;GATE (PC) Review

I enjoy playing visual novels, and really wanted to try STEINS;GATE when it first released on the Vita.  I didn't get a chance to, so I jumped at the chance to try out the PC version.

The game starts out introducing us to the main character that we will be following around and he's...well, an idiot.  Okabe Rintaro (Japanese order) fancies himself a mad scientist (named Hououin Kyouma) on the run from the evil Organization.  He's pretty much that guy that didn't really grow-up, and still plays pretend.  Even so, his silliness is the cause of some funny dialogue (I like that he keeps adding "name subject to change" for the Phonewave), and a surprising amount of other characters go along with his disillusion.

There are a surprising amount of pop culture references, and they even figure in to the plot, some heavier than others.  Many of the references are obvious, but the names are changed.  All entries are put into the game's encyclopedia so you can read them later if you so desire.  The pop culture reference might make you think the game is a more silly, parody type of game, but it isn't.  There is a scene early on that at first glance would support that, but...well, I don't want to ruin it.  The game, and the science it presents, are both taken seriously.  I'll admit I don't know if all of the science was accurate when the game was created, but what little I do recognize seems legitimate.

STEINS;GATE is also a very long game, especially for a visual novel.  Clocking in at around 25 hours (assuming you read the story, which you should!), it takes several hours to even get to the first branching path.  There are six different endings to uncover as well as befriending the various characters through phone email responses.  Unless you want to re-read a big chunk of the game, creative use of the save files is recommended.  Thankfully you get more than enough, and you can even lock them so you don't accidentally save over them!

The game ran really well on my PC.  As a visual novel, it should run fine on many machines.  I tried using both mouse and keyboard and a controller to play the game.  Since a vast majority of the game is reading, either works well enough for that.  There are several points where you have to take out your phone, whether to read messages or respond to emails, and here is where I have to recommend the controller.  Despite having many more buttons on it, the keyboard doesn't seem to have one that calls up the phone.  The options only list the controller buttons, which are, by default, mapped to the triggers on an Xbox 360 controller.  I didn't see an option to set it on the keyboard, which effectively locks off an important function in the game.

STEINS;GATE was a really good story, and a good visual novel.  It does take awhile to get going, but that's because the story is long and involved.  I had fun playing the game, however I still would prefer to play the Vita version.  Even so, the game is an easy recommendation to science fans, and fans of visual novels.  Definitely a great one, and I'm looking forward to the sequel!


The Good:
A very hefty length for a visual novel with a really good story.  Locking save files is a great idea.

The Bad:
The story is a slow burn that takes awhile to really get going.

The SaHD:
The early scene with the alpaca game was done brilliantly.

(Review code for STEINS;GATE was provided by the publisher)

DoDonPachi Resurrection (PC) Review

Shmups!  I love to play them, and we don't get near enough of them in the US.  DoDonPachi Resurrection was one of those that was released for a home console (Xbox 360), but not in the US.  Therefore, I was happy to jump at the chance to play and review the PC port of the game.

Strangely, the system message are set to Japanese when I first loaded the game.  Thankfully the menu was in English, so I was able to change that quickly.  You are also greeted with a multitude of game types.  There is Ver 1.5, which seems to be the core game.  Next is Ver 1.51, which has some slight changes, plus you can get crazy points, but no achievements, sadly.  Then there is Arrange B, which is like a score attack for a stage, and Arrange L, which doesn't have bombs or allow you to pick a ship, but you can change the position of your options (little satellites that shoot with you).  Too bad this is the only mode that allows you to switch option positions, since I don't like the ship you are stuck with, but really like the position switching mechanic.

Next are the three Black Label choices.  The one just called Black Label is a harder version of the core game, where enemies shoot many more bullets.  Novice is an easier version, and Arrange is, well, slightly arranged.  Also, Arrange doesn't allow you to choose a ship, but instead gives you a unique one to use.  Too bad it's only used in this mode, since I really like this ship.  Besides those, you can do Score Attack or Training versions of any of the aforementioned modes.

Like most bullet-hell shmups, you move your ship around and shoot at lots of enemy crafts while dodging a ton of bullets.  In DoDonPachi Resurrection, tapping the shoot button will fire your shots in more of a spread pattern, perfect for large waves of weak fighters.  If you hold the button down, it concentrates your fire into a narrow laser.  This is much stronger than the normal shot, but more focused, ideal for bosses and other tough enemies.  I actually really like this system, since you can quickly and easily switch your shot type, with only needing one button.  The only real downside is mashing the shot button so much when going through the stages.  It would get really noisy with an arcade stick!  In some of the modes, you can set each shot as a different button if the mechanic doesn't appeal to you.  I only played the game with an Xbox 360 controller, and the stick moved the ship a bit too quickly for my tastes, which resulted in many a crashed ship.  I don't think the keyboard and mouse would fix that problem for me, so I'd have to try out some different controllers to find a perfect fit.

In some of the game modes, you can select bomb style, power style, or strong style (but can you be the king of it?).  Bomb style is just what it sounds like, you have a stock of bombs.  Power allows you to use Hyper mode, but you don't have bombs.  Strong style is a combination of the two.  Personally, I need the bombs more than the hyper mode.  The bombs not only protect you by destroying enemy bullets, but they also do damage and even activate automatically when you are hit (in most of the modes).  Hyper mode requires filling a gauge, but when you activate it, your shots are much bigger and stronger.  Seeing it with the spread is screen-clearingly fun!

As fun as the game is, I did have a few problems with it.  Mostly, it is the numerous little systems in the game that it doesn't explain (or if it doesn't, I haven't found where).  Hyper mode requires filling a meter...sometimes.  Others, it takes from you bomb stock.  I'm not sure which is when.  There's also a Red Gauge in some modes.  I have no real idea what it does or how to fill it.  I assume the enemies fire more bullets when it is full, but that is just a guess on my part.  Black Label has numbered chips to collect.  I don't know how to make them spawn as certain numbers, or exactly how they work.  I only know they are multiplier chips because of the achievement descriptions.  Lastly, many enemies have laser attacks.  These aren't avoidable, so you have to use your laser attack, which shields you from them.  I eventually figured that out, but knowing it ahead of time would have been nice.

Being a shmup, a normal game only lasts about 30 minutes.  Of course, the point of these games is not usually to beat it, but to beat it on one credit.  I'm not sure I ever could beat this particular game on  one credit, as the later levels are really crazy with the shots everywhere.  Plus, the secret boss at the end is beyond ridiculous with its attacks and HP.  I do want to get better at the game, since I think it is fun (except the secret boss).  If you are a stickler for achievements, the game has 100 of them for you to try.  They are spread across the various modes (mostly normal and black label though), but 100 seems like an excessively high number.

DoDonPachi Resurrection is a fun shmup that I would definitely recommend to fans of the genre.  It's not the most clear in terms of mechanics, but it does offer multiple modes to play around in.  For shmup fans, I would say it is worth the price, as you will get your money's worth playing all the modes, getting better at the game, and maybe even trying for the long list of achievements.


The Good:
The two shot type system works surprisingly well, lots of game types.

The Bad:
Even on the default setting, the later levels are crazy.  It can be really easy to lose yourself in all the pretty effects everywhere.

The SaHD:
The secret boss got really boring after fighting him for 20 minutes.  It really needs a lot less health, that is ridiculous.

(Review code for DoDonPachi Resurrection was provided by the publisher)

Trillion: God of Destruction (PC) Review

Trillion: God of Destruction is part sim and part strategy RPG, combined together in a game I rather enjoyed on the PS Vita.  You take control of the Supreme Overlord, and must train your chosen vassal to make them strong enough to defeat the underworld eater with one trillion hit points.  It's a very daunting task that has you managing stat growth, rest and attacking the beast in short bursts to whittle down its massive HP bar.

The game is divided into two main parts: training and battle.  Training is basically selecting things from menus to increase your experience in one of 6 areas.  This experience is used to purchase stat upgrades, active skills, and passive skills.  Each training increases fatigue, which in turn increases the chance for getting a bad result from training (either lower experience gain or even injury).  So, you have to balance getting stats and resting, while also juggling the time limit before Trillion eats its way through the Netherworld.  What, you thought it would wait for you?

Battles are all grid-based and resemble strategy RPGs, or more accurately, mystery dungeon style games.  All turns are taken at the same time, depending on speed.  So, if you are fast enough, you can move twice in the span others move once.  You can move or attack in the eight adjacent squares.  Each character also has special attacks that consume MP when used.  Besides the fights against Trillion itself, there are smaller fights in the Valley of Swords and the mock battles against Mokujin.  The latter is very useful in figuring out how best to battle Trillion...except for the final form.

Time ticks down for every choice, from training to resting.  There is a constant counter on the menu that shows how long you have left before Trillion moves.  However, you can flee the battle with the mighty beast and buy yourself more time.  There is a limit to this, so you can't do it indefinitely.  When Trillion does inevitably destroy one of the overlords, another steps up to take her place, and even inherits some of the experience to make it easier the next time.  Easier does not mean easy, as it is very much possible and probable that you will lose your first run through the game, even with its numerous extensions.  Still, future runs are easier with new game+, so you can eventually win.

I played a few hours of the PC version on my i7 with 16GB RAM.  The game looks its best on the PC, and the frame rate was really smooth in battle.  However, there were two separate times the game soft locked on me.  Both times it was trying to load up a tutorial message, and got stuck on a black loading screen.  I'm not sure why that is, since many other similar messages happened without incident.  Since the game is not very action heavy, the keyboard and mouse works fine for the game, but I still prefer to use a controller.

Trillion: God of Destruction is a game I very much enjoyed on the Vita, and this version looks slightly better.  I had a few hiccups when playing the game, but it is still a game that I would recommend to JRPG fans, as it is a very unique offering and worth trying out.


The Good:
Best looking version of a game I enjoyed playing.  Very unique blend of training sim and mystery dungeon RPG.

The Bad:
Very easy to fail your first run, too many random events.

The SaHD:
The third form of Trillion is really a pain in the butt.

(Review code for Trillion was provided by the publisher)

MegaTagmension Blanc VS Neptune + Zombies (PC) Review

MegaTagmension Blanc VS Neptune + Zombies is certainly a mouthful, but also a spiritual sequel to Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed.  As such, it is a 3D action game where you hack and slash your way through groups of enemies and tough bosses.  After reviewing the PS Vita release, I have come back for seconds with the PC release on Steam(here).

The game follows the Gamicademy movie club as they seek to make a zombie movie to help out their school.  They quickly enlist Blanc to write, direct and star in the movie.  It's a very silly story, frequently lampooning the zombie apocalypse genre.  To make your way through the game, you take on a series of 'cuts' (basically missions) that go through the film club's ordeals while making the movie and saving the day.  It's fairly linear, which is an improvement over Action Unleashed, but still has good replay value.  Some scenes are slightly different depending on who you choose to use.  Each mission is short, but overall you get several hours of gameplay spread over the 12 chapters.

The action in the game is solid, although I prefer the previous game's special move system to MegaTagmension's cooldown.  The tag mechanic works well, but I rarely ended up needing it.  There's a weapon upgrade system that has a combo of being confusing and not very useful, ensuring that I almost completely ignore it.  The multiplayer can thankfully be done by yourself, and offers some very unique boss monsters to fight for their loot.  It's a fun addition that lets you play with other people (still strangely no local co-op).  I only tried online a few times, and it worked really well for me when I eventually found a game/had people join me.

While it is probably possible to play the game with the keyboard and mouse, that is no way to play an action-heavy game.  The Xbox 360 controller comes to the rescue once again, and it feel really good.  It ran flawlessly with the game, and I think it plays better than it did on the Vita, and certainly better than on the Playstation TV (Vita TV for those in the know).  The game also looks better in this incarnation, as would be expected, and runs really smooth on my system (i7, 16gb ram).

MegaTagmension Blanc VS Neptune + Zombies is a fun action hack and slash game.  It is more focused than the previous offering, and I would recommend it for fans of that game or any of the Neptunia series to try out.  It isn't that hard, and you can play with your friends (or strangers) online.  It's not going to replace the main series, but it is a very fun diversion for 10-20 hours.


The Good:
Fun hack and slash action game, good character selection, fun story.

The Bad:
Bosses can be much stronger than the stage level suggests, ignorable crafting system.

The SaHD:
Still hoping for the Vert themed game... (although Iffy's was fun)

(Review code for MegaTagmension Blanc was provided by the publisher)

Azure Striker Gunvolt (PC) Review

After a successful launch on the 3DS over a year ago, Azure Striker Gunvolt has come to PCs via Steam, and brings improvements to address some of the problems players had with the initial release.  It returns the mid-battle dialogue, voices and updated translations.

Gunvolt himself is a lightning septima, hence he can generate electricity and attack foes with it.  He can also dash, jump and shoot his gun.  Although his gun does damage, the amount is very little.  Its main purpose is to tag targets.  Normally, Gunvolt's electric powers are a field around him.  However, if you use it while a target is tagged, the attack will track them and do a lot more damage.  This is his main method of attack, and you can do it as long as you have EP, the semi-circular meter under Gunvolt.  It can refill decently fast on its own, but you can also quick charge it by pressing Down twice.

Additionally, if you get hit, it deducts from your EP first, as long as you have enough.  This can only happen if you actively aren't using your EP.  Unfortunately, this means in order to defend yourself, you have to give up most of your attacking prowess.  Also unfortunately, the game seems built upon your ability to abuse this mechanic.  Finally, Gunvolt also has SP skills, denoted by the card-like icons in the lower left.  These are slow to charge up, but offer special effects, like a powerful attack or heal.  The heal was very useful, and the one that I used 90% of the time.  Too bad it isn't a very good heal.

There's a good variety to the ten stages, as some have some sort of gimmick that uses Gunvolt's lightning abilities, whether they are used to move platforms, operate switches, or float with magnets.  These parts are kind of neat, but I feel they were used just a bit too much.  To get through all the areas, it takes about 3 hours, and more if you want to get all the hidden gems or complete the challenges.  You are likely meant to grind the stages since the extra levels would make things easier.  Unfortunately, you will also fight all of the bosses at least twice.  Other than that, there is a speed run mode, and endless attack mode, and an easy and hard difficulty modes to give you more bang for your buck.

Killing enemies gets Gunvolt experience, which is used to level up once certain experience thresholds have been reached.  This gives him more HP, so it is possible to grind a bit and get more health to make the game easier.  Plus, every time you complete a level, you play a bonus game to gain materials.  There is a very rudimentary crafting system in the game, and the gear you make can provide you with some bonuses or extra abilities.  Trouble is, you either have to grind out the stages multiple times and complete some optional challenges to get enough loot to actually make something by the time you are nearly done with the story.

The difficulty level of Gunvolt feels closer to the old school, but with some new sensibilities like checkpoints.  I did die a few times, but not as much as similar games from back in my youth.  The stages definitely had parts that were difficult, but the bosses felt more like they relied on cheap hits to get damage.  More than one of them has an instant kill move that is nigh unavoidable.  Fun.  I can definitely see room for improvement, as the goal is to get through the stages without getting hit rather than just get through it.  It's pretty hard, at least for the bosses.  It's not overly hard to not take damage (most times), since the prevasion anti-damage shield helps out a lot, but that won't help you keep your score if that is of importance to you.

Since the game was adopted from the 3DS release, there are a few strange holdovers.  For one, the menu in-between missions is presented as closely as possible to the original, so you have two smaller screens on the screen.  I get why that is, but it does look weird to me.  Second, Gunvolt's SP skills are mapped to F1-F4.  I don't see a way to map them to something much easier to hit on the controller.  As it stands, I would have to move my hands quickly and accurately to the keyboard, because there's no way I would play a game like this without a controller.  Seeing how responsive the Xbox 360 controller is with this game, I see no need to try otherwise.  One last holdover from the 3DS release would be exiting the game.  In the game, there is no menu option to exit the title.  Instead, you hit ESC, which just immediately closes the game out.  It works, but it's jarring and I didn't see that listed in the controls, so it took me a bit to realize that's what exited the game.

Azure Striker Gunvolt can be a fun game.  Blasting through the levels, tagging opponents and using lightning powers is a lot of fun.  The difficulty is uneven at times, and bosses are plagued with cheap hits to mar the overall experience.  It's still worth playing for side-scrolling action game fans, and old school fans of the Megaman franchise.


The Good:
Familiar type of game with some very unique mechanics and different ways it is used in the stages.

The Bad:
Relies too heavily on the prevasion mechanic to avoid health damage.  Bosses can have some ridiculous attacks.

The SaHD:
I can't tell if the different shot types you get just aren't very useful, or if I'm missing what makes them so good.  The standard shot worked the best for me through the whole game.

(Review code for Azure Striker Gunvolt was provided by the publisher)

Rive (PS4) Review

RIVE is a hardcore, twin-stick shooting action game.  You move around the various rooms, hallways and ducts of a derelict space ship while battling waves of enemies at various points.  The right stick can be set to aim and fire, or just aim, while firing would be another button.  That's sadly the most control you have over the button configuration.  The jump is set to L2.  This works...but I would like to try it as another button, considering I've hit both R2 and the X Button in a twitched response to jump.  Thanks, muscle memory.

You can use bits from defeated enemies to occasionally purchase upgrades and weapons for your vehicle.  They have a variety of types of special moves, from close range to AoE.  Unfortunately, you only get one shot before you have to replenish.  Not one shot of each, as would make more sense...just one overall.  Therefore, it's probably best to just buy the one you like and forego the rest.  Or, being able to actually upgrade your gun would be nice, too.  To get more ammo for the special attack, you have to hope for a random drop from an enemy.

Thankfully, unreliable special attacks aren't the only thing you have to help you.  You eventually get power-ups that let you hack turrets, nurse drones and other things to help in your mission.  Nurse drones will heal you at the cost of their health, and be destroyed afterwards.  Turret drones shoot when and where you do, effectively doubling your fire power.  Sadly, they are destroyed when they run out of ammo or health.  Considering how much you have to shoot, they don't last long.  So like most things in RIVE, they work okay, but could be much better and more reliable.

Probably my favorite part of the game is the personality it has.  The two talking characters are well voiced, and have some good dialogue.  A fair amount of the dialogue is tongue-in-cheek though.  The game does start off by switching the camera to "side-scrolling shooter" mode after all.  They also make references to video games, memes and tropes.  At one point, the player character even remarks why would someone store fuel in the middle of a molten furnace.  He also wastes the effort and space to have fireworks in his small vehicle so he can shoot them off when he completes a mission.  That's dedication.

The environment is really good looking and the atmosphere is set perfectly in each location as well.  Trouble is, the game is really too linear to take advantage of it.  You run down some hallways, stop, fight enemies, go to another room, stop, fight waves of enemies, rinse and repeat.  Being able to roam around the station, or even use the warp rooms 'correctly' (ie, not only one way to a set destination) would make the game a lot better.  I would really like being able to explore this cool looking desolate place instead of being shuttled off to another place to fight way too many enemies.

While I'm on the subject, the difficulty of the game is its biggest downfall.  It is just unapologetically hard.  Enemies swarm in from off the screen, move quickly and do a lot of damage.  The most prolific enemy is a fast mine that homes in on you with absurdly high accuracy.  It might not be that bad if they didn't routinely throw 5 or more at you at the same time.  Enemies from every side of the screen, plus homing enemies, plus homing shots, plus high damage equals high frustration.  Don't even get me started on the shielded enemies that are only vulnerable when dropping 8 of the homing mines and/or other homing enemies.

Assuming the enemies don't kill you, the environment likely will.  The whole game is filled with areas and traps that either flat out kill you instantly, or do half your max health.  Kind of negates the armor upgrade, huh?  Sometimes they just combine them all to piss you off.  One early section had me on a conveyor belt pushing me toward a high-damage saw and an instant death stomper.  On the other side of me was another instant death stomper.  I had to constantly jump to avoid moving in one direction while not going too far in the other.  Oh, and they also had me fight waves of enemies (those stupid mines) while doing so.  This is a bit much for the end of the second stage.  Sheesh.

At the very least, the game has plenty of checkpoints (although there is no indication of when/where they are) and there is no real penalty for dying, so you can keep trying until you succeed or quit playing.  It also loads really fast from death (yes!).  Sadly, this also has the problem of sometimes putting you in a situation where you might die again instantly, or at least take unnecessary damage.  The game is filled with instant death following the need to make split second decisions, so I guess it is true to itself.

The game isn't overly long...assuming you don't die a lot.  Sadly, that about doubles the play time for mere action game mortals such as myself.  To be fair, the difficulty is apparent when you start the game, since you can only select 'hard mode'.  It is possible to switch to a slightly easier mode in the game.  When/if you do, it places a bear on the screen in an attempt to humiliate anyone trying to make the game more fair.  I get what they are going for, but trying to make fun of a person just trying to have fun playing a video game, or one trying to make the game not so unfairly hard, is just dumb.  Anyway, you can replay the missions if you want, and there are two other modes, speedrun and single-credit mode.  Both speak for themselves, and both are modes I have little interest in.  Single-credit works for shmups, but here?  Yeah, good luck with that.

Overall, RIVE is a fairly average game.  Vehicle movement, attacks and upgrades work okay, but easily could be made much better.  The difficulty is cheap as well.  This is fine for some folks, but it takes the game down a few notches in my book.  I see a lot of potential in how the hacking and other things could have made for a great Metroid-like game, but instead it's just a linear game with hordes of frustrating enemies.  If you like unapologetic tough-as-nails action games, then definitely try out RIVE, but everyone else can easily skip it and not miss much.


The Good:
Lots of personality in the characters, environment, and dialogue.

The Bad:
Cheap, just throw everything at the player at the same time difficulty.

The SaHD:
The shmup-like sections are kind of fun.

(Review code for Rive was provided by the publisher)

Megadimension Neptunia VII (PC) Review

Megadimension Neptunia VII (V-two, not seven) is a game I reviewed on the PS4, and like many other Idea Factory, Intl. games, has also been ported to PCs and is for sale on Steam.  The game was originally three smaller games that got compiled into one, with each smaller game now becoming a story arc for its full release.

Dungeon and battle controls are largely the same.  You walk and jump around the dungeon areas, and if you make contact with an enemy walking around, you will enter battle.  Battles are turn based, and when it is your turn, you can move around a set area to attack enemies with your combos.  What has changed, though, is one of the attack types.  The break attacks and break meters from previous games have been removed, with a 'standard' attack joining the 'rush' and 'power' ones to form your combo.  For better or worse, the number attacks you can use in a combo is defined by your weapon and not character level or skill.  Personally, I'm not a fan of that particular change, since stronger weapons may not be better at all, or even worse because you are losing out on full attacks for an increase in damage.

Another big change to the game is the overworld map.  Before you just selected the place either from a list or by moving a cursor, but now there are paths that you follow.  Paths are basically connected dots, with a fight possible on most dots.  Towns restore your health just by walking on them, so you don't have to actually enter the town menu to get healed.  The towns also offer shops and other functions that you will need throughout the game.  Sometimes the roads Neptune travels have to be built to connect, allowing you to travel there.

For all of my PC port reviews, I like to see how the game runs on my PC.  I have an Intel Core i7-4790, 3.60 GHz with 16 GB of ram, and the game ran fine for the most part.  It ran smooth, and loaded quickly.  The only area that was suspect was the victory and level up poses after battle.  They seemed a little choppy.  I don't know if that is because of the game, or my system or maybe even intentional, but the framerate was noticeably lower just in these parts.  Other than that, I didn't encounter any problems in the few hours I ran the game, and it looked just as good as the PS4 release.

The three arcs of the game give a good story length, though there will of course be times when you will need to grind.  Still, the game is a fun RPG, and a definite play for fans of the Neptunia franchise.


The Good:
Really mixes things up with the three arc story, and the new characters are pretty cool.  Bosses feel less tedious with the removal of the break meter.

The Bad:
Scouts can increase the difficulty of the enemies in dungeons, with no way to turn it off like the old blueprint system.  Combo length is tied to the weapons, and not the characters.

The SaHD:
The special attacks of the Gold Third characters are all pretty awesome.

(Review code for Megadimension Neptunia VII was provided by the publisher)

7 Days to Die (Xbox One) Review

7 Days to Die has made its way to the Xbox One and PS4, and is a first person perspective game that combines survival horror with crafting.  I imagine it as a cross between State of Decay and Minecraft.  While it is a strange combination that could work, it is equally as likely to be a train wreck...so which way does it go for 7 Days to Die?

In many ways it goes both.

The game starts out by dumping you in a randomly generated wasteland with next to nothing (you don't even have the clothes on your back).  From there, it is up to you to survive.  The game does give you a few simple quests in the beginning to help you get started, lightly covering gathering and crafting.  However, they don't offer much information on them...unless you check it in the quest tab of the menu.  Most are self explanatory, but I was stuck on "upgrading" the frames for a while (use the LT on them with the appropriate tool).  So some of the information I needed was there, I just had to know where to look for it and that I had to.

That's very indicative of many parts of the game.  It gives you some information, but much of the game is up to the player to figure out.  It's a feature that I sometimes like, since figuring it out yourself or accidentally finding something new is wonderful.  However, there are times you have to consult outside sources (the internet) to find out some basic information.  That's a sure fire way to take a player out of the game.

You find a lot of stuff while exploring the world, and pretty much everything has some use.  You gather basic supplies and craft a multitude of things to use in the game, from building materials to food and weapons.  Many things can be repaired, or broken down to use the materials for other things.  You also have to manage your food and water levels to maintain your wellness.  If you go too long without either, your max HP and stamina will go down.  Fortunately, the reverse is true, so if you maintain them correctly, they will increase.

There's also a temperature rating.  Unlike the food and water ones, which I can deal with, I hate the temperature system.  Every piece of clothing adds or subtracts from it, meaning if it's too hot, you have to take off your clothes (but leave on your cowboy hat and sunglasses!) to cool down.  While I get the realistic aspect of it, it's obnoxious.  There are a lot of clothing styles, and even armor, but you end up having to juggle it all around because it's warm or cold outside.  I'd rather the clothing is more down to what you find and how you want your character to look instead of having to throw on (or take off) different things as often as you do.  If a good solution to the problem is walking around with only a hat, bandanna and sunglasses, your system is flawed.

Learning to manage your inventory and crafting recipes is important, but unfortunately, the menus feel really awkward.  They are a combination of PC-like and console-like controls.  For example, you can navigate the tabs and recipe pages quickly with controller buttons, but you select many things by moving a cursor.  It isn't horrible, but does take getting used to, as does remembering where every recipe is and what materials you need for stuff.  Many of the best recipes have to be found, and some items can only be found.  Either way, you are again at the mercy of the random number generator.

Building is the second component of the game.  In some ways it is really nice, since you will usually place "frames" that are the outer parts of blocks, and help you rough-in the design.  These can be picked up and placed easily.  Then you "upgrade" them to fill them in and give them some durability.  After this they can't be moved, but you can keep using materials to make them stronger from enemy attacks and to fix them.  Digging up and placing dirt is a lot harder, as it doesn't use the great grid-like layout of building blocks.  Instead, it is much more vector-based, or something similar.  The effect of the dirt (or rocks) shrinking as you harvest them is pretty cool, though.  There is also some gravity in the game, so you can't really build things too high without supports.  If you do, they crash down.

Problem is, the gravity seems very inconsistent.  Once, I was climbing a tower, and it just started to collapse as I did so.  It dropped me to my death.  Annoyed, I set back to grab my stuff and found only part of it collapsed.  I'm still not sure why, since it was standing in the first place.  Another time, I was on a pier, and it just randomly collapsed.  I fell 2 feet into the water and was killed.  Again I set to get my stuff back, more annoyed and bewildered than the first time.  A third time had the ground collapse beneath me and reveal a cave.  I didn't die, but did break my leg.  I managed to climb out and then was immediately mauled by a bear.

Ok, so the bear isn't part of the weird gravity.  Even so, it is just too wonky.  Things will randomly collapse, like a bridge my wife had just finished crossing.  It also leaves water looking strange, like there are invisible blocks in it, or an anime character is rippling it by powering up.  Hopefully the system gets fixed or tweaked enough that it will stop randomly making things collapse (and killing me in the process).  I guess I really did die to misadventure...

The third major component of the game is combat.  It's also my least favorite.  Thankfully is doesn't have to be a common occurrence.  Most enemies you run across are just regular zombies.  On normal settings they are fairly slow during the day.  Because of this, or because you see many more zombies than you do other things, their attacks are really strong.  Besides the chunk of damage they do, there is a good chance they will give you a status ailment, too!  Wow, what a deal.

Seriously, though it is annoying.  The normal enemies are stronger and tougher than I think they should be, and that's only in the day time.  Once night rolls around, they can run.  Before it was usually best to just run around the zombie to avoid it, but that isn't possible in the dark.  In fact, you aren't really safe in your shelter either.  Nights in 7 Days to Die can be downright terrifying.  Zombies can be straight up crazy, smashing through whatever is between you and them.  Occasionally you even get a horde.

Nights in the game make me look paranoid.  When it gets dark, I tend to go inside my spike perimeter, shut the doors and wait around.  I usually craft to pass the time, because there is no shortcut.  It would be nice to sleep, but I assume your character is too scared to.  There are lots of random noises that do make me jumpy.  Even if you turn the enemies off, it is really dark outside at night.  Yes, you can carry a torch or flashlight (assuming you can find one), but you would have to put it away to gather or build anything.  You're just better off sitting inside and cooking or something.

Death comes frequently in the game.  It feels like it has a timer, and will send something to kill you when it thinks you have lived too long.  I assume that's why there are achievements for living for longer periods of time.  The penalty for death is a loss of wellness and some inventory (you can set what drops upon death in the options).  It's honestly not as bad as it could be, but it is an annoyance.  You can turn off 99% of the enemies if you are so inclined.  This does cut down the number of deaths, and still leaves the game surprisingly fun.

One great bullet point of the console release is the inclusion of couch co-op.  So, I grabbed my wife and had her help me out.  At first I didn't think she would like the game, but she quickly became addicted and we ended up playing a lot of the game together.  For the most part, it runs fine, and you are allowed to get really far from the other player (we didn't hit any limitations on that).  However, the game tends to hang up every minute or so while playing.  It's annoying, and happens more often in co-op.  Plus, sometimes one player will be stuck in a menu, or the buttons will stop functioning for a few seconds.  It seems to happen when one person is in a menu or dealing with inventory, which is pretty often.  Your maps aren't shared, and you have to remember to unlock any storage you create so the other player can use it.  At least they give you duplicates of any schematics you find so you can share with your partner!

Thankfully there are many options when making or loading a game to tweak your experience.  You can have a random map, or a more starting friendly random map (it starts you near a shelter).  There are options for loot amounts, enemy density (or off!), daylight timers, and others.  I strongly encourage you to mess around with them to find your sweet spot.  It does make a difference!

Since each world is random, there is a lot of replayability to the game.  Plus, playing with friends always adds something.  It can take a lot longer to set up a base and get supplies than you might realize, so it is really easy to play the game for a long time and not get much of anywhere.  It doesn't bother me as much in 7 Days to Die, simply because I feel like I'm learning something most of the time I'm playing.  Every once in a while, it will also throw you surprises, even if you've played the game for 40 hours or more.  If you can get into the game, it has a ton of playtime.

7 Days to Die is very much a mixed bag.  The visuals are dated, menus are awkward, and combat is not skewed in your favor.  However, it can be very fun to play when exploring, finding new places and making better items.  A few of the systems work okay, like the food and water.  Others, like the temperature and wellness, not so much.  I like that it tries to be realistic, but I wish some of the more unfriendly systems in play were more in the player's favor.  I can easily see people not liking the game off the bat, but it does get better once things start to click.  If it sounds at all interesting, I would encourage you to try the game for a few hours, as my wife and I have a lot of fun playing it.

The Good:
Exploring the random worlds can be really fun, and there is a lot of stuff to do and a ton of replayability.

The Bad:
It can be hard to get the hang of menus, crafting, gathering and combat.  I also severely dislike the temperature system in the game.

The SaHD:
Wow random animals can sure take a lot of effort to kill.  Also I did track down the bear mentioned previously and ended his existence.  Yay me!

(Review code for 7 Days to Die was provided by the publisher)