Gamer Escape
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So I say with no reservations—and the aforementioned caveats—that for better or worse Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth is unabashedly the game it wants to be, and the game its fans will enjoy.
All-Stars is still a competently-made game, and fans of the series and Koei Tecmo’s properties will probably find much to enjoy here. Outside of that demographic, though, this game is blindingly mediocre, and hardly worth your time.
It’s not a game for everyone. As a remake of a cult classic with a reputation to maintain and loyal fans to come through for, the new White Day is a sound investment. Those enrolling blind may end up taking the withdrawal.
If you’ve not played this game before, it proves to be an enjoyable action RPG, even if you’ve not played the earlier games in the series. For those who have played the PSP version, however, this new edition adds nothing new of note and can probably be passed over.
I really can't recommend this title enough. It may not hit as high as Zero did, but it does a damned fine job modernizing a game that fans fell in love with a decade ago. Tack that on with a budget price and an abundance of gameplay, and you'll be finding yourself among the ranks of Yakuza fans, as I have.
Despite the complaints, I can easily see Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana going down as a modern classic of the genre. The sense of wonder the game offers during exploration, the beautiful artistic presentation, and the just plain solid and fun gameplay make this a title that you absolutely should not pass up.
If you can fumble your way through the gameplay, you’ll find a unique and intriguing story buried beneath it. With everything you have to put up with to get to it, though, I’m not really sure it’s worth the effort.
At the end of the day, Original Journey takes a solid concept of a shooter with a unique art style that sends you through progressively harder gauntlets with the gamble to proceed or head back to the start and bank your earnings, and mars it with a number of poor design decisions.
The repetitiveness of the school life portions is the greatest offender – the game really comes into its own when you’re out of the school environment and exploring Erebonia. Still, if you’ve been on the fence about giving this game a shot, the PC port is easily the definitive version.
Still, it’s an above-average trek down a narrow and familiar path; a dalliance not to be furgotten. If you enjoy classic Zelda games, cute cats, and bad puns, give it a chance. (Especially if there are kids around.)
Even with the repetitiveness and occasionally ridiculous difficulty, Sundered is still a title I’d recommend to fans of the genre. It’s worth it just for the atmosphere alone, but even beneath that, you’ll find a respectably solid game.
With Pyre, Supergiant Games continues to showcase their unique gameplay, art style and sound. All of these elements come together beautifully and leave a lasting impression.
It may not have the sharp writing that we’ve become accustomed to in gaming these days, but at the end of the day, it’s perfectly playable. Sometimes that’s all you need to have an enjoyable time. This one’s worth kicking back to.
This remaster is definitely the way Final Fantasy XII is meant to be played. If you've already played the original to death, there's enough changes and improvements here to warrant your time and money. If you've never experienced the twelfth numbered title in this series, now would be the greatest time to finally jump in.
For fans of the series that have been waiting to return to the world of Valkyria, I’m saddened to say that this opportunity isn’t really worth your time.
Part of me wonders if this might have worked better as more of a short film or something similar, because the story really is worth looking at. Instead we get a disjointed game that ends up stumbling to deliver what it set out to do, and it is honestly quite a shame.
Really, I wish the writers would’ve dove into the themes of escapism more, rather than just hinting at and playing with them. After completing Ai’s and Yuriko’s story routes, it was easy to look back and see all of the unrealized potential.
Yet while its objective flaws stand out, they don’t weigh Mask of Deception down quite enough to diminish its entertainment value. It lands awkwardly between a serious SRPG-VN and a quirky Aiun-inspired harem anime a mere stone’s throw from its eroge origins, yes. But will that do anything to turn off its target demographic? Probably not.
It has its flaws, but still proves to be a very enjoyable game that I had trouble putting down (as the sparse nature of this review can testify.) If you’re a fan of the series or picking up a Dynasty Warriors game for the first time, I highly recommend this.
If you’re hesitant to check this game out because it’s marketed to female gamers, I would encourage you to get over that stigma and give the game a shot regardless. There’s a well-crafted story hiding behind the marketing, and reading it from a woman’s point of view is a nice change of pace in the gaming sphere.