Joe Gribble's Reviews
Asides from confusion, one thing that Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is good at is providing interesting, well written character dialogues and interactions between it’s varied and colourful cast of 16 school students – From Akane, the Gymnast with the heart of a tiger, to the eccentric and folklore-spewing Ghundam, to the calm, quiet and reference-spewing Chiaki, each character has their own unique charm, quirk, and memorable piece of backstory that’ll stick with you throughout even the final moments of the game.
All in all, Lego Worlds is an amazing Lego game...But as an exploration / sandbox game...It's nothing more than flat, boring and short-lasting. Definitley worth the money if you have a kid who loves Lego, but not if you have two or more children that'll be wanting to clamber around the controller. All you'll get are tears due to the bad optimisation (On console) and lack of +2 player co-op. It's fun, but in short bursts.
Overall, Berserk: Band of the Hawk is probably the best adaptation of the manga's story to date, and lives up to the chaos, havoc and authentic visual style of Berserk - Where it falls short, however, is when you start to compare it to other Musou titles, or if you try to jump in without ever seeing a single speck of the original story - My recommendation? Read the first 16-or-so chapters of the Berserk manga, to learn the underlying characters, story and premise, then move onto playing Band of the Hawk; that way the movie cutscenes and dialogue will fill in all blanks up until the end of the game, which stops short around an arc or two where the manga currently rests. If you've played Musou games in the past, this title may seem extremely simplistic and a bit watered down, but for newcomers to this subgenre of war game, there really isn't a better introduction, or a better time to get into them than right now.
Nights of Azure looks pretty. It feels pretty. It sounds pretty, but it's heart is ugly. Bland, samey and generic - Sure, perhaps if you haven't played a JRPG Hack'n'Slash before, then give this a shot, otherwise you'd most likely find better for your money elsewhere.
All in all, Alwa's Awakening is an enjoyable retro romp built from the ground up for nothing other than retro-junkies. If you grew up on the old Amiga, NES, SNES, or even Mega Drive titles, then I'd certainly say for you to give this title a fair chance...However if you're just looking for a way to get into the subgenre...Then I'd look elsewhere.
Overall, there's not too much more to say on Rise & Shine - Some characters are likeable, some just disappear, and some are just killed off outright for irony's sake - The gameplay is difficult, and doesn't hold your hand too much, and the references to gaming culture are up there in the hundreds. If you're looking for a good-looking and challenging game that may make you chuckle here and there and go "Oh that's from xxxxx game!", then Rise and Shine is certainly for you. If you were coming into this expecting all laughs and something a bit more casual, then I'm afraid you may be disappointed...
Regardless, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD is an enjoyable romp that'll last you a good number of hours. If this is your first Kingdom Hearts game, then for the love of God almighty PLAY ALL THE OTHERS PREVIOUSLY. You won't understand a single thing otherwise! The combat can be clunky at times, and can be a bit annoying to control, but once you get a knack for it, you'll be hooked.
For launch though, Siegecraft Commander rushes out the gates with a healthy amount of content that should satisfy you strategy and Worms-loving junkies for months to come, especially with that glorious Cross-Platform multiplayer! I can't wait to see what Siegecraft Commander has in store for the near future, and will be monitoring it's progress closely.
All in all, Enter the Gungeon is an enjoyable little indie game in a similar vein to The Binding of Issac, yet is different enough to be set apart from it's counterpart in many ways - The difficulty, the variety, and the god-damn puns are more than enough to satiate any Binding of Issac naysayers, and will keep you challenged for over 30 hours or more! I would rate Enter the Gungeon an 8.5 / 10.
A mixture of bad design choices, minimal testing, persistent and worrying issues, and a disappointing conclusion and lack of content is what has put an end to The Binding of Issac - What was a swan song to the Rougelike genre has now instead fizzled out, not with a glorious finale, but instead with a disappointing, flat note. I would rate The Binding of Issac Afterbirth + a 6 / 10. If it's on sale, then by all means pick this up, but for the asking price of £10 for new adopters, it certainly isn't worth the price, and is something I'd see Maxis or EA employing. Not Nicalis. Here's hoping that Mod Tools can save us.
The game, however, doesn't come without detriments - As a rougelike, you can expect the game to kick your arse, over, and over, and over again, especially when first starting out; learning different attack patterns and clearing hectic rooms can be a pain, and can easily harm your enjoyment when you get owned by an inescapable attack in some later instances - Another issue is the lack of proper stat tracking and item explanation; whilst on PC this can be remedied by using Missing HUD 2, console and portable players are stuck up creek without a paddle, sadly. This can be annoying when you need to quit out and check exactly what an item does, only to be confused and have it ruin an amazing run. However, once you learn more of the game, overcome the difficulty, and start to experience some of the wacky and crazy combos you can execute, I'm sure that no matter what kind of gamer you are, you'll be hooked!
7th Dragon III: Code VFD proves to be yet another star-studded JRPG to add to your 3DS collection - Filled to the brim with a lengthy 50-70 hour Story Mode, varied and interesting dungeons and locales, and more compelling characters than you can shake a stick at, 7th Dragon III: Code VFD certainly delivers.
Overwatch is still an extremely fun, enjoyable package regardless, with regular events, a deep competitive scene, and fun, addicting gameplay, I'm sure that Overwatch is bound to stick around for years to come...Possibly as long as Team Fortress 2, infact.
When a game slaps you with a hugely overpowered enemy that just demolishes you, and robotically says to your face "That'll £0.50.", I find it insulting. I wanted to love Let it Die, with it's amazing soundtrack, sound design, and signature Suda51 goodness, but cheeky business practices, clunky combat and unfair difficulty spikes hold back what could've been Suda51's graceful explosion back into the modern gaming scene.
Overall, Trillion: God of Destruction is an interesting take on Hell, with addicting gameplay, good characters, great voice acting and interesting world, but is unfortunately shackled down by a bad mix of difficulty, sound design, limited completion time and over-focus on grinding bring this game straight down to the Seventh Circle.
So, on a closing note, what do I think of Pokemon Sun and Moon, having played every single entry in the main franchise? All I have to say is that I love Pokemon Sun and Moon, and has now wormed it's way as one of my favourite generations of Pokemon; I look forward to the innovations Game Freak will eventually bring with Generation 8, or even with the Diamond and Pearl remakes that everyone basically know are already confirmed at this point.
I wanted to love Exile's End, but the hard, honest truth is that I've played so many other titles like it that are so much better. Exile's End's main issue is that it doesn't do enough to stand out, to shake up the formula, or to be different. It tries too hard to say it's different to Metroid...But in the end all they did was make it into the same thing they wanted to drift away from.
All in all, Killing Floor 2 is an exciting, enjoyable romp that you can pick up for around 30 minutes a time, either alone or with friends, and either feel like an absolute badass, or be challenged out of your wits - The port itself is brilliantly stable, functions extremely well, and feels like a native PS4 game. I just wished that there was only more content baked in to enjoy. For these reasons, I am rating Killing Floor 2 (PS4 Edition) an 9 / 10.
Given this, however, I wanted to love Dungeon Bros; disregarding the annoying voice acting, audio issues, lag, boring story and finicky controls, there was still something that drew me to the game - Maybe it was the trap design? The gameplay? Maybe it was just some mindless fun? Regardless, I do feel that this game was seriously created for mobile devices, and I feel that if it was ported to these platforms, I might play it a bit more, but as a console game, Super Dungeon Bros unfortunately falls flat on it's face...Quite embarrassingly. Overall, with my time in Super Dungeon Bros, I would rate the game a 5 / 10 - I certainly wouldn't pay £15 for it, but if it was on sale for like £3, I may've given it a shot had I not gotten it for free.
Co-Op too is a treat to play, with each warrior having specific attacks and specials that benefit other warriors in very different ways (I.E. my Sword & Shield warrior can freeze enemies, allowing Luke, who was playing a Ranger, to easily snipe enemies with a charged attack); whilst there isn't friendly fire, there is environmental damage, so you have to be careful where you're throwing those bombs! The game also supports local 3-player co-op, however one minor issue I had was that you can't do this AND play online, which was a little depressing since a game like this shouldn't have these sorts of limitations. All in all, Viking Squad is an exciting, engaging and often challenging romp through viking mythos, that looks, sounds and plays the part. Definitely one I'm going to be replaying over and over again!