Joe Gribble's Reviews
Overall, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is a fine visual novel that improves greatly on the Danganronpa formula – The only things holding it back however are a somewhat fractured, filler-ladened plot and some poor characters.
All things considered, I am having a lot of fun with Ni No Kuni 2 – Its world is colourful, bustling and interesting, its characters engaging and exciting, and the stories of each country hook onto you and drag you in for just a few more hours. I don’t know how the game will conclude at this point, but I dearly do hope that it doesn’t abandon the darker roots of its opening, and explore more of Evan’s struggles.
All-in-all, Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness is a well-crafted, dark, gritty and edgy, detailed visual novel that I would happily play through a couple of times whenever I get bored of other visual novels such as Phoenix Wright or Danganronpa. The visuals are crisp and clean, voice acting (Whilst only in Japanese) is still top-notch, and the plot is tense and thrilling. My only concern is that I fear it will stumble near the end.
If I had to describe Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in a nutshell, it would be "A flawed diamond", beautiful by nature and at it's core, but extremely flawed on the offset, which makes criticizing this title all the more painful; I want the Xenoblade franchise to succeed and improve, and to swell into a beautiful, wonderful franchise, however after seeing the top-notch Xenoblade Chronicles and well-performing spin-off that was Xenoblade Chronicles X, I feel that Xenoblade Chronicles 2, as a sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles and on it's own merit just gets outshone by it's precursors. I would definitely recommend this title on the Nintendo Switch – It'll certainly keep you busy, but wether you'll enjoy every last second of it is a totally different, and personal story.
Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope is a slow-burn JRPG that you play when you have a spare hour or two, and nothing else major to do – Just to sit down in the Captain’s chair and blast away to other worlds. Is it as action-packed as other JRPGs, such as Final Fantasy XV or some of the Tales games? No. But that’s not a bad thing by nature… The 4K remaster does a great job of bringing this game up to modern standards, and brings a level of options tweaking that I can only hope will become industry-standard.
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.
Overall, Megatagmension Blanc + Neptunia VS Zombies is a silly, short hack’n’slash visual novel-esque game that’ll entertain you if you’re into cutesy girls doing cutsey, random things in a school environment – If you’ve had exposure to the Megadimension universe before, into anime such as K-ON or Lucky Star, or are just looking for something different to shake up your Hack’nSlash life, certainly pick up this game. If, however, you’re a newcomer to these types of games, visual style, or haven’t played a Megadimension game before…I would say there’s better out there.
For me, Cat President is just a whole lot of dumb fun; the game isn't visually pleasing, nor is it technical in any leaps or bounds, but my god do I love it - This game is definitely one to keep out of the litter box, and should be set atop the scratching posts of fame for just how much fun you can have with it after a few drinks with some purrfect company.
I have to suggest that you wait for a price drop, or for the whole collection of chapters to release until you get this game - The game is charming, and full of energy and wonderful characters that could carry the series on their own merit, however I just feel that as a video game, it falls short. Perhaps if the story had explored a different media (Such as a comic or webnovel), would it've fared better? Only time would tell. I would rate The Secret Monster Society a 7/10 as an introduction into the Point & Click genre.
All in all, I'm conflicted about Rogue Wizards; I want to love it, given the brilliant art, fluid combat, and addicting gameplay, but if it's just going to sit on my PC...Then it's just going to sit on my PC. The sterile soundtrack and similar environments, along with bosses only being upgraded enemies only screams repetitiveness; I want to see where the game will go with it's story and gameplay, but already only two hours in, and I'm already feeling the slog.
once you get used to the way the game wants you to play, get used to the framerate, and the camera, and start to understand more and more of the game, the more you grow to enjoy it - I loved getting new skills to see the flashy new costumes and animations, and love the feeling of slaughtering my foes, and, whilst I didn't find any sort of boss battle in the few hours I had with the game, I'd love to see where the game goes nearing it's middle, and ending chapters. With loveable characters, comical writing, enthusiastic voice acting, addicting gameplay and easy-to-pick-up nature of the game, Megadimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls is a different type of game than what you may be accustomed to, and might help you to shake up the mix, to try and get you to play something new.
All in all, The Silver Case is a long, enjoyable visual novel that is feeling the aches of time – The controls haven’t aged well, nor has some of the dialogue…But if you can fight through it, and battle against the urge to fall asleep during some of the lesser parts of the game and understand what the bloody hell is happening, you’ll possibly find yourself with a new gem courtesy of Suda51…
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.
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.
All in all, as a newcomer, Middle-earth: Shadow of War brings somewhat clunky controls, unnecessary loot boxes and an ending effectively locked behind either paying or grinding leads to a sour first impression. The game looks brilliant, sounds brilliant and really grips you with it’s updated rendition of the Nemesis System… But I can’t help but feel that there’s better out there. It’s a fun walk through Mordor, but a fun game…? Perhaps not entirely.
I want to love Shiness, I really do, however little things here and there keep pushing me back more and more; it annoys me, since this game has the sort of charm and love that I look for in games, just graphical and battle-system based issues keep it locked behind a low score. Shiness gets a 6.5 / 10. I REALLY want to give this title a 7 / 10, but for the reasons above, I feel like it needs a little more work to achieve this vision.
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.
Overall, Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet is a fun, but repetitive, and sadly shallow bullet-hell battler, which aims to catch the eye of Touhou fans; if you're a fan that has yet to pick up the game, you're more than likely to love the combat, humour and visual style of the game – However, if you're an outsider looking into this game, I would wait for a sale or price drop before seeking this game – For fans, I'm sure the game is worth the £30 price tag alone, but for newcomers and people only hearing of the franchise now… I would have to say that the game isn't worth £30 for the amount of content provided. Given that, however, I can't help but find myself returning to the game over and over again; it's like a drug, hooking it's claws in - I don't think it's the greatest game ever, but I can't help but continue to come crawling back for more.
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.
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.