Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax (PS3) Review

Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, a fighting game starring characters from various light novels mashed together.  Honestly, that's pretty cool.  I'm all for taking characters from something else and shoving them into a game together, since some properties might not ever get a game, even if one would be awesome.  I only recognized about five people and am not very good at fighting games, but I figured why not review it?

Movement is fairly standard for fighting games.  The stick or d-pad can move you forward, back, crouch, jump, dash and block.  There are three attack buttons with increasing attack power and decreasing speed, as is standard in fighting games, and also an assist button.  This will call out your chosen assist character to perform one of two moves, depending on if the button was pushed by itself or with the stick tilted forward.  Not all assists are attacks, as some are shields/counters or even heals.  Assists are powerful, but have a cooldown.  Using them often, but wisely, really helps out.

Each character also has a few special moves, EX versions of those moves (which cost a meter) and super moves (which cost 2 meters).  The moves are very different from character to character, but the motions are not.  I actually really like this design decision, since it makes it easier to choose any character and know how to do their moves.  The super moves are really flashy and fun to watch, provided it's not someone doing it to you.

In addition to that, there's a burst attack that can knock the opponent away, plus gives you a big chunk of meter.  The cooldown for these is pretty long, but it's really cool that you can use them defensively, offensively, or, if you are lucky/unlucky enough, both.  There's also a Trump Card special ability each character has, which you can only use a limited number of times per fight (represented by the lightning bolts above the meter).  If it is red, it is a powerful attack, and blue tends to be a buff (like Kirito pulling out his second sword).  Plus, you can sack these during the opening frame of a super for extra damage.  Overall, the combat has a good amount of variety, depth and strategy to it, which is surprising given the simpler focus of the special moves.

The Story Mode allows you to pick a character and then do 9 fights with some dialogue in-between most of them.  The story itself is pretty thin, but gives enough of an excuse for all the characters to fight each other.  It wasn't too hard... granted, I had it set to the lowest difficutly... but I did mention I'm not very good at fighting games.  There are also two different ending bosses, both of which are unlockable.  The number of super KOs you get on the way to the final fight dictates which of the two you will get.

Also in the Story menu is the Dream Mode.  These are exclusive to the home versions of the game, and feature more personal interactions between the fighters than the more generic Story Mode.  There are only six battles per character, and they are all shown from the get-go.  They can also be chosen in any order, as they are all self-contained.  Not too hard to complete, but pretty fun to see the different characters react to each other coming from much different backstories.  Both Story and Dream Mode are worth doing in my opinion, especially if you are like me and do a lot of the single player stuff in fighting games.  Yes, I know that's weird, just accept it.

Besides the main story-related stuff, there are three challenge modes to do.  The first is Score Attack.  This is a series of up to 9 fights, where, obviously, you try to get a high score.  The second is Time Attack were you fight several opponents and try to beat them fast.  Survival is the third.  You have to fight an endless stream of opponents until you run out of health.  These three are pretty self-explanatory.  They are also not revolutionary modes, but nice to see them present as something else to do in the game.

All starting characters have each a story mode and a dream story mode to get through, which will probably set you back 10-12 hours, which is pretty good for a fighting game.  Of course most people will perfect their craft and jump online.  Knowing the outcome, I still had to try it out.  It ran well for me, no noticeable lag and I found a match quickly.  And as sure as the sun rises, I got stomped.  At least it was all on me and not the network connection.

As someone who isn't very competitive and plays fighting games more for fun, Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is pretty fun.  It has a fair amount of single player content, and on the easiest setting (which I proudly used) it's more fun than difficult.  The move list is a bit sparse, but easy to remember, since all characters intentionally use similar motions.  It's easy to pick up and play.  I didn't know most of the characters, but the game seems tailored toward those that do, even if they aren't hardcore FGC (fight game community) people.  I'd recommend fans of any of the featured franchises give the game a play, but be aware that there is an enhanced version with more characters coming to Japan in the next few months.  No word on a western release of that, so at least give the game a try until then.

Skylanders: Superchargers (Xbox One) Review

The Skylanders games have been around for a few years, and each year a new thing is added.  In Skylanders: Superchargers, that addition is vehicles.  While initially hesitant about how this could change the series, I was very open to giving it a try and see how this new direction plays out.

Surprisingly, it goes really well and fits in with the franchise.  Where before there were specialized gates that required a specific element or type of Skylander, now there are sections that need one of the types of vehicles.  In practice, each part with a vehicle is one of the stars to earn in a level.  Thankfully, you only need one of any vehicle (a land one is included in the Starter Set) to get through the whole game.  Before, each level had up to three stars that you could earn, one from beating the level, one from being under the par time, and the last for getting all of the hidden stuff in a level.  I actually prefer the new way, of each vehicle section is a star.  To me it felt like doing it that way made it so I would want to get and use each type of vehicle, rather than I had to.

The non-vehicle sections of the game are very similar to the last game.  You run around and fight minions of Chaos, jump around the platforming sections, and solve a puzzle or two while searching for hidden chests.  The controls worked fine for the most part.  The only problem I had was with Supershot Stealth Elf.  Her cannon has a function where if you hold down the button, it will keep shooting.  Sometimes it didn't seem to register that I was holding it down.  Also, getting hit or slight changes in terrain would break it off, and I would have to then press and hold it again.  It was kind of annoying, but not a huge deal.  There were no problems with Spitfire, and he is also really fun to play.

While the game offers a lot of new stuff, how does the old fare?  The previous game in the series, Trap Team, alienated some players because it relied too much on the new.  In a way, this is true for Superchargers as well, but it doesn't feel as bad.  Any character can ride any vehicle, but you get a boost for matching the element, and a special boost for matching the actual pilot to their vehicle.

You also unlock parts to modify your ride, but the special supercharger Skylanders are required to put the upgrades on.  It's a bit of a downer, but workable, since the Starter Set comes with two.  The worst part about that, though, is in the hub world.  Walking near the vehicle station will have a voice remind you that only the supercharger Skylanders can modify the vehicle, and it gets really annoying if you are walking around the hub with a non-supercharger.  The new portal that comes with the Starter Set also has a slot for the traps from Trap Team, and they unlock a Skystone card of the trapped villain, plus give you a limited number of new attacks while you are driving or flying around.

Now onto the important part - how did my 8 year old like the game?  It's probably no surprise, but he loved it.  He took to the vehicles immediately.  When asked what his favorite parts is, it's driving the car around.  He likes to go into the vehicle testing area and just drive it around while shooting bad guys.  While we don't have any other vehicles (yet), my son really wants to get some more, so I'd say the vehicles are a good addition to the series!

If you play two player co-op, the vehicle controls are split between the players.  One player drives and the other gets a reticle for attacking and gathering money.  It works really well and is pretty fun, giving both players something meaningful to do.  My son was also kind enough to switch with me fairly often, but he preferred to drive.  As mentioned before, I could collect the money and bits while he was doing so, which made him able to focus on not getting hit rather than trying to make all the jumps to get collectibles.

There's over 10 stages to go through, and each takes longer than I thought it would.  This is good from a gameplay standpoint, even if I would prefer shorter levels and more of them.  Each stage would be even longer if we had the other two vehicle types.  There's some extra challenges, races and missions in the hub if you want more to do.  I'd say you get some decent value from the game, even if my son doesn't do much to find every item and secret in a stage.  I have no idea why, since I figured he would pick up on my completionist tendencies.  Also in the game, there is a lot of dialogue between the characters.  Most of it felt unnecessary to me, but my son didn't mind all the talking.  It would be nice to have a function to skip the dialogue and cut-scenes, though.

Skylanders: Superchargers was a lot of fun to play.  The driving sections were fun, and played well in single player and co-op.  While the older figures do have some limitations, they weren't as bad as the previous game, as any character can drive any vehicle.  My 8 year-old son really liked the game, and especially loved driving the car around.  I'm looking forward to getting an air and sea vehicle to play the sections of the levels I missed.  If you or your kids like the Skylanders games, you should enjoy this one as well!

Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance (PS4) Review

It should be well known by now that I really enjoy the Disgaea series.  I've liked every entry in the series so far, so I was of course eager to get an early review code for Disgaea 5.

For the uninitiated, the Disgaea games are a series of strategy RPGs (SRPGs for short).  You move and attack on a grid and alternate turns between you and the enemy.  Stats and levels go crazy high, and the plots revolve around demons and the Netherworld.  Every item and piece of equipment has a random dungeon inside of it.  There are lots of character types to use in battle, and a lot of other things that set it apart from other SRPGs that are around.

Does the game still hold up to the Disgaea standard for gameplay?  Yes, it does.  Is the plot something that fits in the universe?  Yes.  There is a very powerful Overlord trying to take over all the other Netherworlds, and your small group is going to stop them.  Are the characters decent?  I'd say yes.  Most of them have extra things about them that aren't readily apparent, and their conversations tend to be humorous.  It's no horse weiner, but there are some funny parts.  Particularly, I like Red Magnus as the wrestler/Hercule (from Dragonball Z) role.  At first, Seraphina annoyed me, but she got less so as the game went on.  None of the characters are particularly groundbreaking, but done well enough.

So now that we got the basics out of the way, what about the changes?  Given the subtitle of the game, I'll start with the Revenge meter.  Now all characters get a new meter next to their portrait.  As they or their allies take damage, or they dish it out, the meter will fill.  When full, a unit enters Revenge Mode, where all of their skills cost 1 SP and they only do critical hits.  If the unit is an Overlord, they also get a powerful Overload skill (which I keep reading as Overlord skill).  These skills don't take your turn to use, which is a big deal in a game like this.  I don't have to tell you how great it is to be able to use any skill for a negligible cost.  However, the effect only lasts 2 turns, so make use of it while you have it, or stay clear of a powerful opponent who is out for revenge!

Most of the other changes are small, but I like most of them.  Each stage has a one time bonus that you get for maxing out the bonus gauge.  While it isn't a huge thing, it's nice.  The character world is now presented like a board game, where you make your way around a board and try to land on spaces that give you things, like mana, HL or stat increases.  If you run out of moves, you will halve any bonuses you receive.  If you make it to the end, you pick a bonus (better aptitude, more counters, etc.) and any subsequent runs will cost a lot more mana.  This cost resets if you reincarnate, which is nice.  The character world feels a lot different and easier to use, and I approve.

Groups return, and allow you to put your characters in various groups that have different effects.  One might give bonus experience or mana relative to how much the leader earns, or let you capture enemies.  These groups can be leveled up by sacrificing prisoners that you have captured or have surrendered.  Prisoners can be interrogated, which lowers a meter.  When the meter is out, they can be made allies, roam around the pocket Netherworld, or give bonus experience when sacrificed to level up a group.  Since there are a lot of Netherworlds, you can also send some of your extra characters to explore them and bring back prisoners, items and gain experience.  I really like that there are good uses for the extra people you acquire in the game, and a reason to have them get levels and have some gear on.

The item world stages are small and don't have many enemies, which is good.  This has been the case for the last game or two, but it seems faster to go through them in this game.  The biggest change is that you have to actually finish the level to get a level for the item, as it is now a bonus gauge reward.  The boss floor even has an extra level gain at the top of the bonus list.  There are a few other ways to gain bonus levels for an item, which is cool.  Innocents can now be moved off of items without being subdued.  Yay!  Now they have to be subdued to combine them.  What?  It's not a huge deal, but it is strange.  If I have to pick one, I'd rather move them without subduing then combine without subduing.  I'm not sure why we can't have both.  Subduing them still increases their value, which is still a reward for going into the item world and defeating them.  Either way, I'll take this change.

Probably my favorite change is to character creation.  While it used to cost mana to create, it now takes money (HL).  For me, money is a much easier resource to gain in the Disgaea games, so this change is huge to me.  Plus, you can also spend some extra money to increase the newly created character's level closer to your highest level character.  This makes it so much easier to have a new person actual contribute instead of being regulated to the B Team.  Characters can also now equip a secondary weapon, and switch during combat for different situations.  I love these changes.

Is there anything I don't like in the game?  Sure!  When you are in the pocket Netherworld that serves as your base, a song plays.  There are some vocals to the song, and it gets annoying pretty quickly.  It feels like the whole song is a thirty second snippet that is endlessly repeated.  You spend just enough time in the Netherworld that I was hoping for a way to turn off just the song that plays.  Other than that, my only annoyance were the battles that are clearly skewed against you.  They didn't feel as bad as the ones in Disgaea 4 at least, but there are a few.  Grinding fixes this, but it's not an ideal solution to balance.

With all of the things to do in the game, it can eat up a lot of time.  Going through only the story is almost impossible, since there are a lot of other things to distract you.  Entering the Item World to level up equipment, using the Character World to make someone even better, or even end game challenges that require mind-boggling stats to overcome.  Disgaea games do require some grinding, and Disgaea 5 is no exception.  It didn't feel necessary very often, or for very long, but that could be because I tend to use the Cheat Shop to increase the experience percent I get to minimize grinding.  Even so, it is easy to lose over a hundred hours and have fun doing so.

Disgaea 5 is really fun to play.  The core SRPG aspects of the game are still intact and working great, and my gripes with the game were small.  The many new additions and changes make this one of the best Disgaea games yet, and a must play for any strategy RPG fans.

Bladestorm: Nightmare (PS4) Review

Bladestorm was released several years ago on the Xbox 360 and PS3, and it was Koei Tecmo offering their take on the Hundred Years War between England and France.  Now, the new and improved version, Bladestorm: Nightmare, is available on the PS4.

While you might initially think that since Koei Tecmo made the game, it would be like Dynasty Warriors, but set in a different place.  Well, it's not.  However, I would totally play that game.  Anyway, the game is a much more tactical game.  It's like a midway point between Dynasty Warriors and Nobunaga's Ambition.  You will run around with your troops and attack enemies yourself, but you have some ability to give commands to people in your group.

You play as a mercenary, and can gain control of any troop type you come across and have the book for.  The book basically allows you to gain experience for that group, and hence, use them.  Each troop type is strong or weak against other types.  These can be changed mid-battle, as long as you go near another type.  Plus, if you have comrades near you, you can have them join your army and travel as a stronger brigade and lay waste to the opposition.  Of course, the trade off for that is you won't have them available to send elsewhere.  This larger group can be broken up if you do need that luxury though.

If it sounds a bit messy and complicated, that's because it kind of is.  The functions are simple enough to understand, but remembering what combination of buttons does what can be a chore in and of itself.  The controls are not like any other game I have played, and took a lot of getting used to.  They work well enough, but it's not very intuitive and I had some trouble remembering what button did what and how to do certain things.  And, no, I'm not that old.

Battles themselves take place on a large field that houses many troops, leaders, towns and castles that you have to either defend or take.  There's also no loading that I noticed while running around the large areas.  That's cool.  The uncool part is that it shows a lot of what's going on around you, even if it isn't things that are important to your mission.  It felt like they showed everything, even you didn't need to see it for the task at hand.

Admittedly, I frequently had no idea if I was doing the right thing or not.  There are lines telling me where to go, so I usually followed them and took over bases they pointed to.  Nearby were other bases that I sometimes took over and sometimes didn't... it didn't seem to matter.  Other bases were gained or lost, and I didn't know which ones or if it was important.  I felt lost most of the time, just following the lines and killing troops.  Although I would win, I didn't feel as though I was helping much, just trotting along and trying stuff, which I guess worked?  I can only infer that from me not losing.  There seemed to be a lot going on and I wasn't sure if I was helping or just showing up.  If that was the feeling they were going for, just being a cog in the machine, then mission accomplished.  If I was meant to feel more important, like I do in Dynasty and Samurai Warriors battles, then one of us was doing something wrong.

The Nightmare side of the title is the new mode added for the new gen versions.  It is an original story set around the same period, but involves monsters and other mythological creatures in with the normal British and French troops.  While it isn't realistic, I think it is a neat alternate timeline idea to have things like skeletons and trolls attacking both sides so they band together to combat a higher menace.  Some enemy leaders are large monsters that require special ways to take them out.  You can command these new troops types as well.  Battles in this mode seem much longer than their earlier story mode counterparts, with even the first one taking me an hour.  While the normal story stages seem more piecemeal, these are much larger struggles.  However, it was still difficult for me to know if I was doing well until the stage was almost won.

There are a lot of stages to complete, and the story mode itself has two main campaigns, depending on which side you help.  The Nightmare scenario is a third campaign, which will add more playtime.  If you like the style of game, you should get a lot of playtime out of the game.  With battles lasting up to an hour or more, just going through once is likely around 30-40 hours.  If you want to try for all the trophies, it's another one of the long haul games that will set you back over 100 hours easy.

I will admit I like the premise of Bladestorm: Nightmare.  It's not a bad game, and there are some fun parts.  I just didn't feel like it clicked with me or that I was "getting" it.  Since I would win the battles, I guess I did what I was supposed to, but it usually felt accidental or that my portion wasn't doing much.  Again, this could easily be on my end and not the game's fault.  It's a title I may go back to more in the future, as I do like the Nightmare campaign.  If you are going in looking for more of a Koei Tecmo Warriors experience, you are going to be disappointed.  As an action/strategy game, it does alright.