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Gianluca Arena


Favorite Games:

281 games reviewed
76.7 average score
79 median score
60.1% of games recommended
Feb 21, 2023

It's really a shame that Bandain Namco didn't realize how important and beloved Tales of Symphonia is for both the franchise and the public. This is a barebone remaster, with a missing game and a little overpriced too, even if the game itself stil deserves praise.

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Feb 17, 2023

While Octopath Traveler II is a better game than the first overall, thanks to improved writing, visuals and combat, we would have liked to see more courage from the people at Square Enix and Acquire, which both did a great job with this IP five years ago. Nonetheless, this is an absolute must buy for RPG fans all around the world.

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Feb 17, 2023

Yes, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio could have redone this with the Dragon Engine and yes, it plays exactly like the original, which is a game from nine years ago, but Like a Dragon Ishin! is still a delight for both newcomers and old time fans alike.

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Unscored - Risen
Feb 11, 2023

If despite problems that are not at all secondary such as a backward technical sector, controls that are not always precise and at least revisable general balance, the role-playing games signed Piranha Bytes are never completely rejected, neither by critics nor by the public, it is because they have a soul – and also not negligible merits as much as their defects.

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Jan 28, 2023

We do not feel like rejecting the work that Cold Symmetry, because in the vast majority of cases, especially during the main campaign, Mortal Shell has also managed on Switch (especially in portable mode) to offer a satisfactory gaming experience for stability and image quality, although the compression has been particularly aggressive and we have found several drops in performance in the most agitated situations.

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Unscored - Persona 4 Golden
Jan 22, 2023

We see no reason why you should not play Persona 4 Golden in this "new" version: the improvements are not many, but they are all useful to refine the experience of the user who had never played the masterpiece Atlus and to warmly embrace those who, instead, wanted to return for a second (or third) run.

Review in Italian | Read full review

Don't just be dazzled by the golden shine of the best game in the PSP game library: our only advice is to play Persona 3 Portable before Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal, which are both superior to it by several spans. Only by doing so you can appreciate, despite some limitations too derived from the portable nature of the original output, the writing, the characters, the combat system, the longevity, the soundtrack. All these merits would come out in any case, of course, but the overflowing quality of the two subsequent titles, brought to Switch in more inviting formats for the new generations, could partially obscure what is good in this third episode, a real watershed for the franchise and the founding basis of all the Persona who will come.

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8.4 / 10.0 - Fire Emblem Engage
Jan 17, 2023

Fire Emblem Engage is a great celebration of a more than 30 years old franchise, and also one of the best looking Switch games of the last months. We dare to say it's not one of the best episodes in the franchise, but it is, nonetheless, a great SRPG if you have at least fifty hours to invest in it.

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Dec 23, 2022

March of the Lich King is a courageous expansion, impressive content, which bets on a new class and, regardless of the thousand problems in which the development team had already run into at the time of the debut of the demon hunter, tries to offer even more substantial news, between the tripartite rune system and the new keyword "Thirst for mana". The result has so far impressed us, and we are having a lot of fun composing mixed decks of the knight of death and experimenting with the various synergies between the cards, much more than had happened in recent years.

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Dec 8, 2022

Dragon Quest Treasures builds on the legacy of old Dragon Quest Monsters titles, making exploration and treasure hunting the pillars of its gameplay. It's a solid effort for youg player and a celebration of the 30-year franchise it belongs to, but also too simplistic and easy for long time fans of the series.

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Nov 30, 2022

It's a pity that Square Enix and Forever Entertainment had both settled for a (too) faithful remake of a game that was fascinating and difficult but also unbalanced and often unfair. Little things like new menus, new tutorials and a slew of QOL options could have made this a much better game overall. The way it is now, it's only recommended to hardcore long-time fans.

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Nov 28, 2022

Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana is and remains probably the best episode of a long-lived and beloved series, to which just over a decade ago we assigned a very high vote, which we would not hesitate to assign again if we had to examine only the purely playful aspect of the matter. But here we are called to judge the work done for PS5 users, the presence of novelties and, from these points of view, this version of the Falcom game has not particularly excited us, although it is, in absolute terms, the best among those published so far.

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Unscored - Sifu
Nov 16, 2022

Seeing Sifu running on Nintendo Switch is as captivating as it sounds, but of course this isn't the best release of the game and comes with some technical compromises, even in its frame rate.

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Nov 10, 2022

One of the two kings is back (the other one being Final Fantasy Tactics), and it is in a wonderful shape even eleven years after its last appearance. We're not 100% sure this is the best version of this classic, but it's a version no strategy fan should miss nonetheless.

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Nov 3, 2022

Football Manager 2023 is a solid iteration of one of the most beloved sim franchises on the market. It's addictive as usual, it adds some welcomed new features and an extra layer of strategy and official licenses. Now all that remains is to fix the abnormal injury rate and we're done.

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Oct 28, 2022

Star Ocean The Divine Force is a much better effort than Integrity and Faithlessness was, and with it the Star Ocean franchise goes back on track six years after. tri-Ace revamped the combt system and added new features, now it's up to Square Enix to decide the future of this long lasting series.

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Unscored - Persona 5 Royal
Oct 24, 2022

Persona 5 Royal is the same masterpiece and now you can play it wherever you like.

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Oct 17, 2022

Even if Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is clearly the sequel of the game from 2017 in game mechanics and structure, the people at Ubisoft took some risks trying to refine the formula and opening the maps, building in the process a much better game. As of today, this is one of Ubisoft's most promising IPs, and we can't wait to see what it has in store for the foreseeable future.

Review in Italian | Read full review

Nier Automata End of YorHa is an absolute must-have of this generation, and the Nintendo Switch port makes no exception.

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7.5 / 10.0 - Valkyrie Elysium
Oct 6, 2022

Valkyrie Eysium lives and dies by its fast paced combat system, and it's worth trying for that one alone. It's a distinctly low budget effort from Square Enix, but still a game with a soul, even if with a lot of room for improvements. If you like fast paced hack''n'slash games in the vein of the ones from Platinum Games, give this a try.

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