The original Skullgirls featured a fantastic fighting system, great characters and music — but not much more. With very little in the way of a single player suite, virtually nothing to unlock or explore and so few features that it was difficult to recommend to anyone except hardcore genre fans content to do nothing but duke it out in versus mode endlessly. Skullgirls 2nd Encore has complimented the meat with potatoes and given the title some substance. Now you get that stellar fighting with lots of modes to explore and plenty to unlock. This is the best version of the one of the most original fighters we've seen in the last decade. So go get it.
Ultimately, as with Vanillaware's other titles, Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir is a high quality product. It's quite clear that a tremendous amount of care and consideration went into virtually every component of the game. From the gorgeous visuals and expressive music, to the diverse character affairs and deep combat, to the mountain of game-play systems, content, replay value and sprawling, fully realized game world, this game is brimming with beauty, nuance and detail. It's an excellent gaming experience, and a must for fans of Japanese RPGs and/or action games: or fans of mesmerizing artwork.
With an exciting and epic visual novel campaign that will take the fastest readers more than a dozen hours, a huge playable roster of wonderfully unique, personality filled and intricately designed characters, scores of unlockable artwork, movies, additional scenes, full online suite and customization options, BlazBlue Central Fiction is certainly the total package and surely a worthy pickup for fans of visual novels, fighting games and everything in between.
What is true right now is that Guilty Gear Xrd is a phenomenal fighting game, potentially the best of 2014 and a must have for series and genre fans.
Even with those complaints though, Stella Glow is an awesome game if you like JRPGs. It has almost everything one could ask for: a lovable cast of characters, solid voice acting and music, a moving story, sharp anime stylings and most importantly, deep, satisfying game-play. As a new IP, I honestly thought Stella Glow would leave me wanting and with a list of improvements to be made in the sequel. Instead it left me surprised with how good it was, elated, and very hopeful for a Stella Glow 2.
The story events are engaging and the game even goes a way to cater to newcomers with a strong recap. You’ll get to know the characters quite well thanks to hours of character development and the vibrant game world and engaging story combine to make the game feel immersive. PS3 and PS Vita fans have no shortage of JRPGs to choose from, but The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II exhibits enough polish and quality to help it stand out from the pack and above several others. It may lack the innovation and whip appeal to draw players not typically into RPGs and it can’t match the production of the genre’s biggest brands, but it nails the important stuff. Genre or series fans shouldn’t miss this.
The various gameplay components combine to make this into a satisfyingly addictive title that you can and will sink dozens of hours into. Whether it was witnessing the dark and compelling story and events, devastating enemies with my unique demon and skill combinations, exploring the varied dystopian setting, fusing better demons, completing side quests or customizing my character’s apps, skills and appearance, I was always engaged while playing this game. It doesn’t improve on SMTIV in many fundamental ways but it doesn’t need to; Atlus is wise enough to not try to fix what isn’t broken. This one is sure to please series fans.
Although it seems to lack the production value and spectacle of the genre’s heavy hitting Project Diva series, Persona 4: Dancing All Night makes up for that with narrative substance, use of an IP already adored by millions and a soundtrack that has something for everybody, all topped with a certain polish unique to Atlus and the Persona series.
Thanks to a dynamic and challenging play experience, there are plenty of reasons to get back up after you meet your untimely end in Shiren the Wanderer. Fans of this genre know exactly what they’re getting into and fans of RPGs in general may find the formula fresh, fast, easy to pick up and exciting to play. The lack of online support may render the co-op useless for many, but even without it the game’s rather enjoyable.
With a cool cast of characters, a suspenseful story, a huge and beautiful world, unique exploration, addictive combat a and main scenario dozens of hours long, Exist Archive has quite a lot to offer the action RPG fan. You can and will spend many fun hour playing this. Despite the issues it’s worth the price of admission, particularly for its fast combat, a wonderfully pleasant contrast to the waves of purely turn-based JRPGs we constantly see.
The game is paced well, with mini-games, scenes and boss fights breaking up the basic dungeon progression in neat intervals. It keeps things feeling exciting and dynamic. At $14.99 the game is a fantastic value. Parin and her pals are easy to love and so too is the game itself. The main campaign should take you at least 9 hours and there are various secrets and things to collect for completionists. Fifteen bucks is very little to pay for a title that channels some of gaming’s best known IP in its strongest moments.
I came in expecting another bad anime game but was instead blown away by Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization’s enormous game world, addictive combat and different gameplay systems. Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization has a charming cast of lovable characters, plenty of dialogue, countless missions, skills, equipment and areas to uncover, relationships with the girls, a level cap of 100 — I could go on. The abysmal story pacing, technical blemishes, online shortcomings and inadequate tutorials are considerable shortcomings, but not enough to keep this from being a standout action RPG.
If you're not among that number and you crave a bit more flash and innovation in your JRPG, then you might understandably skip this, even if it means missing out on an intriguing tale.
Grand Kingdom is a JRPG for those bigger on game-play than flashy production values and gripping narratives. For its effort to do something interesting with the combat system alone it's worth getting, especially when (to this very day) the genre largely leans on a basic, decades-old turn-based combat system. Fighting and navigating the game board can require strategy at times and so too can sinking your teeth into the tremendous amount of content in this game. While Grand Kingdom makes some strange game design choices at times, it remains mostly a breath of fresh air in a particularly formulaic genre.
What could and should be a worldwide spectacle is confined to a house party, that much of the time may include only you and three AI competitors. If you have the hardware and bodies to fill this party then buy this game immediately. If not, you might want to wait for a price cut.
Ar Nosurge features a unique battle system, a charming visual style, interesting settings and a winning soundtrack but is hampered by the utterly boring yet completely necessary Geometrics mechanics, super attacks that instantly end most fights and a story so inflated you’ll find it difficult to care one way or the other. I definitely do recommend Ar Nosurge, but only if you’re prepared to bear with the negatives.
Even so, Atelier Sophie gets right the same things as many of its predecessors. It’s a charming, relaxing adventure with a new cast, strategic depth of combat, lovely visuals and a uniquely bright setting and atmosphere. It does almost nothing new, but it doesn’t have to because the fans don’t want it to. If you’ve played any of the recent series entries, you already know if you want this. If you’re a series fan, you probably already have it.
Even so, what game is here is rather enjoyable. The fast combat is refreshingly different, there’s tons of character development and dialogue, the visuals are gorgeous and there’s plenty of fan service, which is a plus in my book. That said fan service had to be censored is a tragedy (if expected), but genre fans should still find enough for a pretty good time.
God Eater Resurrection is a fun action RPG with a dark atmosphere and story. You’ll also find very deep customization options, fast combat, and a wonderful multiplayer experience. The characters are likable, even if held back by the omission of the original voices. There’s a lot to discover and complete in the game; completing the story mode alone will take upwards of 40 hours and there are scores of additional missions. However, without playmates the game loses a lot of flair and devolves into a harshly repetitive and far less effective romp with one guy, a huge enemy with tons of health and a few sidekicks to revive you if you get knocked out. There is still fun to be had alone, simply not nearly as much.
Even if you typically don’t like cutesy, playful titles like these, you’re bound to find yourself dancing along to one tune or another. I recommend this to anyone who likes other “mini-game collection” games or music games.