Unboxed's Reviews
While Live A Live wouldn’t have been the first game I would have picked to get the HD-2D treatment, I am certainly glad to see this underappreciated gem finally get the respect it deserves, while full 3D remakes certainly have their place some games are just better conveyed it that old school art style and Live A Live is no exception.
If you liked the previous titles then you’ll like Bayonetta 3 because its more of the same with action set pieces ramped up to 11, while there are some behemoths when it comes to bosses, the game has enough leeway with dodging and health so things don’t get frustrating and average players should at least see a silver medal in most of their battles, while it’s difficult to tell what the future holds for Bayonetta, for now, it is always special when she finally pops around.
Even with all the issues with performance and objectives that are more mystery than the game’s actual case, I still thoroughly enjoyed Deadly Premonition 2 and could barely put it down. The characters, York’s continuous Movie References, even the combat works a treat with no need for melee whatsoever. But, like the original, this game is gonna be just as polarizing, you can either look past the decade-old graphics or not, you can see Morgan as endearing or insane. But one thing you can’t call Deadly Premonition, is boring.
The Last Campfire is a simple yet heartfelt story that really anyone can pick up and play, my biggest gripe with it all is that it is far too short and would have really liked to have spent more time in the world with the game barely clocking in at 8 hours.
The main issue with No More Heroes 3 is that while the bosses can be wild and flashy, everything between them can get incredibly samey and monotonous, there’s only so many times you can be grinding the same mini games and going only vague scavenger hunts before you feel bogged down with it all. What’s worse is that even though they are featured at the beginning, neither Shinobu or Bad Girl are playable during the game.
Unmetal walks a fine line between 80's action movie stupidity and a narration of the absurdity of game design and mechanics including where your inventory items go after you've used them. I honestly believe that Unmetal isn’t just a Metal Gear parody Kojima would be proud of, I wouldn’t be surprised if he worked on this himself.
From the very beginning with the opening cinematic, it’s clear the small crew over at MegaPixel Studios are certainly Panzer fans like myself, putting a lot of time and effort into making this as familiar as possible, the recreated opening cinematic runs in sync with the original version on Saturn, just with far much more detail.
I had a lot of fun playing through Shantae’s latest journey. But I knew I was going to enjoy this, because I did 4 years before. Again, this is what terrifies me, Shantae is coming back again and again with the same basic concept, and I know this girl, I know this STUDIO has so much more potential.
The world is absolutely stunning, especially the new enemy designs and the completionist in me loves finding all the Toads and holes to fill. But on the other hand, the game is plagued with niggling issues including the complexity of the ring battle system potentially driving new players away.
The truth is, Fall Guys feels like that quick little game you boot up between other bigger games, its the little snack break in-between titles or the one you play with something else in the background. Much like Tetris 99, it’s best to play Fall Guys in small bursts throughout the day rather than a marathon session.
While there are certainly some difficulty curves, the creators behind Skully were far from dropping the ball…..or skull in this case. I actually got fairly invested in the story, especially the third act twist even though I did see it coming from a mile away.
The game plays similarly to the original God of Wars with fixed moving cameras over a 3D world, although the camera feels incredibly far away making Raji almost a speck on the map. Combat is a standard affair with normal/heavy attacks and the dodge button, but Raji can also pull out some Prince of Persia moves with her wall jumps and swinging around poles to attack the beasts that show up.
Ghostrunner has a lot going for it, it's an awesome concept that really could have benefited from some more fine-tuning. While there were times I was getting visually frustrated in segments, I couldn’t put the game down for long. It reminds me a lot of Katana Zero, basically the same slow-mo ninja concept but as a retro 2D game and I absolutely adored that title.
All in all, while PacMan 99 is not fundamentally different from its older brother, I still found it to be a blast. And I highly recommend trying it to see how you like it. I really don’t think I’ll never return to Tetris 99 after this because when I play this game, it’s my time to shine.
Turnip Boy is a fun character. We don’t know why he’s such a prick, he just is. He rips up love letters, commits bloody murder, and for some reason he hates taxes. And he does it all by just standing there… staring… smiling… like he has no other emotion while he gazes into your soul… He’s great and we love him because you can’t get mad at that adorable face!
Sadly connection issues can still plague the game at times, but at the very least things are now balanced out if you drop during a match. While I still have my concerns, Splatoon 3 still has that frustratingly addictive gameplay that we all know and love, just stick to one title per platform from now on.
Cyber Shadow is an attempt for lightning to strike twice with Yacht Club and while the presentation and music are absolutely brilliant its missed some of the best aspects that made Shovel Knight work, like the combat, story and characters which really kept the world structure together.
After DOOM 16 became such a big hit, winning awards from all publications, there were obvious expectations to top themselves with the sequel, more weapons, more glory kills, ballsier enemies, essentially making the whole game Bigger, and Better. Well…..they got the Bigger part down.
While the game is a beat em up at heart, that hasn’t stopped the game going completely off the wall and throwing everything from platforming puzzles to a full-blown twin-stick Bullet Hell Shooter into the game, this is accompanied by self-aware dialogue that ends up being 50:50 between hilarious and cringe worthy. The entire game feels like a jumbled schizophrenic mess where they felt the beat-em-up sections on their own weren’t enough to carry a new Battletoads game and chuck a whole bunch of random affairs into the second half of the game, some work like the aforementioned Bullet Hell levels and others just frustrated and confused me like the elemental Jeff slide.
Soon enough levels get extremely complicated with reflective surfaces that break after one use so be prepared for trial and error, A LOT of trial and error and restarting levels as the game throws new mechanic after new mechanic into the fray like killer crows and rotating platforms.