Recent reviews by Seraph

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Originally released in Japan for the Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita on March 26 2015 with North American and European releases following on March 15 and March 18 2016 respectively, we have Senran Kagura: Estival Versus. What you’re seeing here is the PC version of the game which was released on March 17 2017 and for transparency, I was given a copy of this game via a PR network. Developed by Tamsoft and published by Marvelous in Japan and Europe with XSEED handling the game in North America, Senran Kagura: Estival Versus is the seventh game in the Senran Kagura series and the fifth game to be released in English. The eighth game Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash was released for Playstation 4 in Japan on March 16 2017 and I’ll be covering that game in a future review.

In Estival Versus, our four teams of shinobi get transported to a mysterious island by Sayuri, the grandmother of Asuka, the leader of Hanzo for the Kagura Millennium Festival where dead shinobi with regrets are temporarily brought over to the world of the living where they can be laid to rest. As well as that, our four teams as well as the overseers of the festival; the Mikagura sisters are to participate in the Shinobi Bon Dance, a battle royale of sorts where each team must destroy platforms belonging to the other teams with the reward being the road opening up to the status of Kagura, the highest status in the Shinobi World. On top of that, you’ll also get the light hearted humour and slice of life moments in between, but is the game any good? Find out in…

[THE GOOD]

I found the gameplay of Estival Versus is quite an improvement over Shinovi Versus. The game includes a few new elements such as wall running and attacks as well as Fusion Aerial Raves where if you’re playing a mission with a teammate, you can perform a combination attack of sorts. You can also pick up bomb shells with do various things such as freezing or paralysing the opponent to even summoning grunts or a ridable mech for you to deal more damage with which is pretty fun. Another thing introduced to the game are Creative Finishers where if your opponent is defeated near certain areas (reflected by a signpost with an exclamation mark on it), they fall into the trap in that area whilst losing all their clothes. While some are a little over the top, this is to be expected in a Senran Kagura game and I feel it adds to the charm. However in comparison to Shinovi Versus, the gameplay does feel a bit slower so I wouldn’t be expecting a lot of fast paced gameplay.

I quite enjoyed the Shinobi Girls Heart Missions that I unlocked over the course of the game. In certain levels you’ll find festival platforms that you need to destroy. Some of these platforms can be a bit out of the way or hidden and some require you to think outside the box on how to reach them. Once a certain amount of them have been destroyed you’ll start unlocking Shinobi Girls Heart Missions which are 5 stages where you play as a certain character. These missions also tell a small story whether it’s Miyabi wanting everyone to call her a hunk or Asuka’s grandfather switching bodies with her, the missions act as a small slice of life tales to the game, complete with a CG for the ending.

Diorama mode is a returning feature I also enjoyed too. Returning from Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson on the 3DS, and as an expansion of the Dressing Room mode of the original, the Diorama mode allows you to dress up characters and have them pose in backgrounds. The costumes you give the characters can also be used in battle too so feel free to experiment around and customize the girls to your liking.

The game also introduces a bunch of characters with a number of them being DLC. Returning characters include Rin and Daidouji who were originally introduced through a free update. New characters introduced include Naraku and True Kagura who first appeared in Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson as well as the shopkeeper and member of Hanzo Academy Ayame making their first playable appearance (New Wave doesn’t count). The game also features crossover characters such as Ayane from the Dead or Alive series and most notable, three characters from Ikkitousen. Originally due to licencing issues the Ikkitousen girls weren’t available, but after some negotiations, they were allowed in, however, they’re identified by the Three Kingdoms hero they represent. Each character I’ve found DLC or not also plays differently so it’s easy enough to pick a character that you’ll work well with. But, all’s not well with the game so with that we’ll move onto…

[THE BAD]

While the game has you play through as certain Shinobi, the one I felt was most left out of a playable role was Homura the leader of her Crimson Squad having the only playable story role in a Tutorial mission. While the game has you playing as just about every character at least twice, I feel that out of the team leaders, Homura really gets shafted for playable roles. On the plus side, you can replay completed missions as any character and Homura does get a Shinobi Girls Heart series of missions, but I feel that she’s a little unrepresented in this instalment.

The game from my understanding is a little bit on the buggy side as well. While I have come across bugs in which my game’s crashed or I’ve been forced to quit the game through ALT + F4, I’ve been one of the luckier ones, as I’ve heard from some folks playing the game that they’ve been forced to quit the game as early as the tutorial missions. Hopefully though the game does get patched soon so people don’t have to put up with this.

I also felt that the story was all over the place and some of the translation changes didn’t make much sense. While it does take a much more serious turn near the end, I felt that a lot of the story was padded with filler content and situations if you excuse the pun. One of them for instance has Miyabi the leader of the revived Hebijo group attacking the Mikagura Sisters over Sugar and Soy sauce to make an Egg Rice bowl with her mother and one that bugged me was where Shiki, one of the Gessen members was, according to the translation learning French when in the original and clearly in the dialogue it’s English. Asides from that, I don’t really have much else to complain about so it’s now time I give…

[THE OPINION]

Senran Kagura: Estival Versus, bugs aside is a fun game that people will either like or hate. Under the gratuitous fan-service, I’ve found the game does have a more serious outlook and explores themes around reuniting with dead loved ones while throwing in the trademark humour the series has since been well known for. If fan-service is your thing and if you’re a fan of the series, I’d say pick the game up. For the additional characters and missions, you’ll be paying out the ass in DLC. I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing the game and I’m looking forward to what the series has in store for the future after Peach Beach Splash.

Don't like reading? You can catch the video review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUMHvMgbmjo

Released on the Playstation 4 on January 30th 2017 in the west with a PC release following on the 31st of January, we have Double Dragon IV. Developed and published by Arc System Works, Double Dragon IV departs from the graphical update seen in Double Dragon Neon and returns to the NES console style in the vein of the first three Double Dragon games on the NES. While the Original Double Dragon games were made by the now defunct Technos Japan, some of the staff members from Technos got together to help make Double Dragon IV. The Double Dragon series have traditionally been side-scrolling, beat em’ up games and was one of the series that defined the genre.

Taking place after the events of Double Dragon II: The Revenge on the NES which had a more positive ending than its Arcade release and most subsequent ports, the Double Dragon brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee have set up martial arts dojos around America teaching their Sosetsuken techniques. On their way to one of those dojos they get attacked by a mysterious group known as the Renegades who have teamed up with the remnants of the Black Shadow Warriors to finish off the brothers once and for all. Now there has been a little bit of confusion in regards to the release of this game and the Double Dragon timeline, so to clear this up. The series began with Double Dragon, next up the events of Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones play out, then after that, the events of Double Dragon II: The Revenge take place. Double Dragon IV is a sequel to Double Dragon II as Super Double Dragon was known as Return of Double Dragon in Japan and was its own game, Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls was based off the animated show in the 90s and Double Dragon Advance served as a reboot.


[THE GOOD]

+Nostalgia factor achieved through sprites as well as chiptune music

+Bonus features such as Tower Mode and replaying the game as enemy characters


[THE BAD]

- Lack of Online multiplayer

- Game is far too easy

- AI could use some work.


[THE OPINION]

Despite how short the game was, I had a reasonable amount of fun playing through Double Dragon IV. The additional modes and being able to replay the story as different characters certainly kept the replayability factor, and because I grew up playing the series on a console, when I first heard about Double Dragon IV, I was pretty much on board. While the game is a little on the too easy side and lacks online multiplayer, it was fairly enjoyable overall and definitely worth it if you’re a Double Dragon fan, however opinions may be divided depending on whether you liked Double Dragon Neon or not. I wouldn’t say the game was better than Double Dragon II on the NES, but it’s certainly a contender and I can see myself coming back to play this game on a more regular basis.

Click here for the video review!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbM9QUNNLiw

Released worldwide for PCs on January the 12th 2017 with the development and publishing of the game handled by Red Candle Games we have Detention. Set in a fictional school in Taiwan, Detention is an atmospheric side scrolling point and click adventure with some psychological and horror elements.

For context, the game is set during the 1960s in Taiwan during a period known as The White Terror. This was a time where Taiwan was under martial law and any opposition to the KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party was met with being put into jail if you were lucky, or death. The White Terror period lasted for 38 years and to this day remains one of the longest periods of time where a country has been under Martial Law. A lot of people prosecuted during that time were usually intellectuals or people with higher social standings and that was because at the time the KMT were afraid that they could resist their rules and policies, or start becoming communist sympathizers. In this game, you play as two students, Wei and Ray as they try to find out what’s been going on in their school. As they uncover more about what’s been happening, they also need to avoid the Lingered and other horrors roaming the place.



Good:

+ The game has it nailed when it comes down to atmosphere.

+ Interesting use of Taiwanese/Chinese customs and mythology

+ Enjoyable story



Bad:

- Short game

- Lack of monsters to add tension to some areas of the game


Detention is a fun, short game. While the game lacked in jump scares like a traditional horror game, it certainly made up for it in terms of atmosphere and soundtrack. The time period was an interesting choice which flowed quite well and the story was certainly one that kept me interested through the short amount of time I spent with the game. I would highly recommend this game. It’s a short game which can be beaten in an Afternoon or Evening and I know I’ll be repeating myself again, but it’s worth it for the atmosphere.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnG47k4UIdg

Released on Steam on August 5th 2016 we have Haven. Developed and Published by Cleril Calamity Studios, Haven is an RPG developed using Enterbrain’s RPG Maker. This isn’t the first RPG Maker game I’ve reviewed, and you can catch the other one here. For transparency, the developer sent me a key to the game for me to review.

In Haven, you play as the poet Cleril, within his mind. Over the course of the game, Cleril is joined by three other denizens of his head and together they fight against his subconscious for control. The game has a very psychological aspect to it and adapts a fairly interesting battle system. But is it any good? Let’s find out in…

[THE GOOD]

The hand drawn artstyle is a good touch. One thing I’ve never been too keen on with RPG Maker games is the reliance on the stock assets or sprite edits of existing assets and Haven’s implementation of having custom assets goes to show the effort made. While a section of the game does have a snippet of the stock assets and the menus absolutely reeking of them, it’s used in a much more creative way, considering the setting is Cleril’s mind. Interaction with objects has been done pretty well, It’s a little impressive that for every stump in the game, there’s different text when you interact with them, then again, I’m pretty weird and you’d have to be in order to interact with every stump in the game.

The game’s battle sequence I thought was a little unique. Cleril and his allies each have a Sanity and Ink meter. Sanity acts like HP while Ink acts like MP. Alongside a standard attack, Cleril and his Allies also possess skills which can use Ink or Sanity, as well as support skills which can be used to replenish them. Each character has unique abilites which you can use to strategize for the battles ahead and new skills can be learned in the Dictionary upon receiving Ink Wells throughout the game. As Cleril’s allies level up, they can also learn skills of their own as well as having a unique skill or ability that Cleril can spend Ink Wells on. Allies each have unique personalities and certainly add to the good aspects of the game. However, with all things good, there’s always…

[THE BAD]

The biggest complaint I really have here is the game is too vague in parts, especially in the story department. Without spoiling too much, we quickly learn that we’re in Cleril’s mind and that Cleril is insane, but why? Why is he insane? How did this all happen? Is there anything else going on in the world around him? The game leaves a lot of unanswered questions which still left me scratching my head once I had completed it. Granted, I did come across a sidequest that hadn’t been implemented into the game yet so I suspect there’s much more to it, but the game isn’t listed as an Early Access title giving me the impression that the game I should be playing is a complete game.

I feel the game was a little misleading with the ‘no handholding’ element. I found the game essentially guided me to just about everything, even telling me that I should save before a certain battle, how to escape battle (though admittedly I never had to), and that to heal, I could return to the main hub, or Haven while I was out of battle though it didn’t always work.

The game also features a couple of frustrating areas which requires a lot of trial and error to bypass. One particular area I found required a lot of reloading due to what’s happening. Encounter rates seem to skyrocket in certain areas with one pretty much setting me up for an encounter each step towards a chest with an Ink Well in it. The game’s lack of items while explainable since we’re inside someone’s mind does force players to play more strategically and use skills to regenerate Sanity and Ink. Asides from that, there isn’t much else to talk about here so we’ll now move on to…

[THE OPINION]

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of RPG Maker games, but don’t get me wrong, there has been some good come out of it (I’m looking at you Corpse Party). I was able to beat the game in a couple of hours with the only real hurdle being the frustrating areas I mentioned earlier. Story was interesting enough and enjoyable, but still quite vague. I do like the setting and the idea of the game taking place inside the mind, as well as your efforts to try and control yourself but I feel execution could have been handled a little better. The game certainly has potential and I think Cleril Calamity Studios has done good on it, but hey, keep at it, I think you can certainly improve.

Don't like reading? Check out the video review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSKRq2-hyjQ

Originally released on arcades in Japan on April 30th 2015 with Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 releases on December 10th 2015 in Japan, February 2nd 2016 in North America and April 7th 2016 in Europe we have Nitro+ Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel. The version of the game being reviewed is the recent PC release of the game which came out on December the 8th 2016. Developed by Examu with Nitroplus and Marvelous publishing in Japan, and Marvelous and XSEED Games handling the game outside of Japan, the game is a sequel to Nitro Royale Heroines Duel; a Doujin game released back in 2009. For transparency, I received this game for free from a PR network.

Nitro+ Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel pits 14 characters against one another from Nitro+’s works as well as guest characters such as Homura from Marvelous’ Senran Kagura series, Aino Heart from Examu’s Arcana Heart series and Saber from Fate/Stay Night in her Fate/Zero appearance. As well as 14 characters, players can also pick 2 from 20 assist characters to aid them in battle with those characters coming from Nitro+’ works. Be aware if you do look further into some of the series the characters come from, they do contain some NSFW material and content that may offend. The main story of the game has the characters drawn in from their respective worlds to fight their way back home. But… Is the game any good? Find out in…

[THE GOOD]

While the story seems more like a standard Arcade mode where your character fights their way through a gauntlet of opponents and has an ending, I really liked the additional story content added after completing the game. Without spoiling too much, the additional story plays out like a visual novel with fights happening inbetween. It also allows you to play as different characters and learn their strengths and weaknesses. You also don’t need to know the characters or their backgrounds to understand what’s going on which makes it accessible to newcomers and veterans alike. The game also mentions which Nitro+ title to look into for more information which I found quite nice.

The range of characters I though was good. Each character has some pretty unique moves and a good range of attacks. On top of that they each have 21 different colours available with some acting as references too. Homura, Aino Heart and Super Sonico also have a swimsuit as an alternate costume as well. Character’s ultimate attacks are accompanied by an animation which adds its own sort of flair to the game. Support characters I found were useful and how you use them can also turn the tide of battle in your favour. But with all things good, there’s always…

[THE BAD]

User interface could do with a bit of work. If I were to accidentally select a character I didn’t want to play as, the game offers no back option. When the appropriate button is pressed, the game will request whether you want to go back to the main menu as opposed to cancelling the previous choice you had made. This can get very annoying, especially when you accidentally pick the wrong support character and have to go all the way back to the beginning again and select your main character again, just to pick the right support character.

Ironically coming from someone who edited Melty Blood stages in the fighting engine MUGEN, most of the in-game stages I thought were a little bland. In comparison to Nitro Royale Heroines Duel, the stages may visually look better, but I feel they’re empty and lack excitement. Maybe adding in background characters or more effects on some stages would have been a nice touch, but you would have to balance it out so the stages aren’t distracting the player in the middle of a fight. A couple of stages I’ll admit fit the atmosphere but asides form that, there really isn’t anything memorable to take away from it. Thankfully the character roster and their animations certainly make up for this. Asides from that, I can’t think of anything else, so it’s now time for…

[THE OPINION]

Nitro+ Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel is a solid fighting game with a story (or well, extra story) that was interesting enough to read. While it doesn’t seem to bring anything new to the table, I’ve found that even for someone who isn’t great at fighting games such as myself, it’s an easy game to pick up and adjust to. I do know a majority of the characters and support characters, but for newcomers, no prior knowledge about them is needed if you want to enjoy the game. However, for veterans, I don’t think the game will really scratch the itch but I would still play it for the enjoyment factor. Netplay was rather enjoyable and I never really had any issues with it despite my location being terrible for latency. Overall, I had a fun time playing the game and I can see myself coming back to it every so often to play it.

Mind you, the game is still in Early Access, but I’m quite impressed with what I’ve seen so far. The game shows a lot of promise and with features such as procedurally generated worlds and in game events, I’m sure that people will have a fair amount of fun with as this game gets polished and improved.

In regards to bugs, I didn’t run into any that caused my game to crash and there were one or two visual related ones, but I’ll let that slide. If you’re a fan of survival games, or if you like the sounds of a dystopian 1960’s England setting, then I think it’s worth looking into this game. But it isn’t quite done yet so don’t set the expectation bar too high.

You can catch the video review below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpjjHjUi56A

A very fun game along the same veins as Harvest Moon and Rune Factory. Revive an overgrown farm, mine for ore, befriend the townsfolk and have fun in this game as minutes become hours and hours become days. If you like Harvest Moon, Rune Factory, or Shepherd's Crossing, definitely give this game a go.

For the more detailed video review check it out in the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtG3rydaEag

You can catch the more in-depth video review below or read the short summary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uDyT1qwGg4

I really enjoyed playing through Danganronpa. The visual presentation was well done, the music is catchy, the story I felt was well constructed and the trial mechanics make the game well worth playing. I felt a majority of the issues I had with the game such as the chore of collecting, how the screen can get convoluted and the monotony of School Life mode, was more or less me venting and if you don’t have a Vita or PSP, give the game on PC a shot (pun unintended). I have high hopes going into Danganronpa 2, so here’s hoping they can keep the momentum going.

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A wonderful assortment of characters and excellent use of caricatures by JJ Grandville with 19th Century illustrations and music from various composers (mainly Camille Saint-Saëns) mixed with some Ace Attorney gameplay makes this an absolute treat to play.

However it's incomplete due to Act 4C not being available, I also found some of my minor choices didn't really make a great impact in the game and I found Act 2 to be the most predictable part of it.

Still worth picking up, especially if you're a fan of the Ace Attorney games.

For a more detailed look on the game, feel free to check out the video review below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvwprq4_9Ts

Unfortunately Steam doesn't have a 'mixed opinion' option, but that best suits my thoughts on the game.

Check out the review below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdLcGNGEjIQ