JackintheBox333

If you do not like Visual Novels, you will not like this game. Period. That being said, this game sets the bar incredibly high for the Visual Novel medium in the English speaking world, a bar which was already hard to match considering the previous quality of the series. Gyakuten Saiban 6, known as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice somehow manages to continue the high standards of writing that the previous 5 titles in the main line series had managed, and excel in in the presentation of the narrative. The music is superb. The game is full of contextual clues and foreshadowing for plot points that are sprinkled all over the narrative. For the first time in the series, the game has clues that the in-game characters do not point out, but you as the player can find and make a mental note of, which can provide clues for future plot progression and plot twists. Even the English title of this game has a double meaning. This title would seem to the first time player to play off the mysticism aspect of the new setting, however the title also represents Apollo Justice himself, as he grows and finally surpasses Phoenix Wright. The 3d engine this title runs is a reworked Dual Destines one, and is far more optimized for this game. This allows for full in engine cutscenes using the in game models. They look fine for the most part. It is a 3ds game, so don't expect anything too realistic looking. The complaints for this title are fairly minor. Case 4 is somewhat weak and there are less animated cutscenes than in the previous 3ds title. That's really it honestly. The only thing I can say to people looking to jump into this game is that this game, unlike Dual Destinies does rely on the player having some prior knowledge of the previous games. Jumping into the Phoenix Wright series blind with this title is not recommended.

Going into this game, I did not have that much of a history with actually playing Dragonball video games. Outside of playing some of the older DB video games and small amount of time with Sparking NEO, I hadn't really touched any of the 3D DBZ video games. In 2018, at the cheap price it was on sale for, I figured it was worth a look. For those not in the know, the game reuses a ton of character designs and story bits from Dragonball Online, a MMORPG that never made it West and got cancelled years ago. That being said, if you are at all familiar with that source material, this game really isn't going to offer much for you. The music in the game is rather forgettable. None of the background music stands out and really doesn't do much to highlight the action that is going on. The game's translation is also seems sorta iffy at points. The game does have selectable Japanese voices, which is what I played the game with, and you notice, even not knowing the language all that well, that certain things that are being said are not being translated correctly. It's also worth noting that the game pretty much assumes that you are playing a male character, as the game a multiple points referred to my female Saiyan character I was playing as, as a he. " The game also suffers from quite a bit of slow down in some of the more action heavy bits, to the point I thought the game was going to crash and the game dropped into single digit frame rate at points. However the game's fighting system isn't too complex. It's pretty easy to pick up and play, and you will feel like you are playing a Dragon Ball Z fight. The character creation is pretty good, and the light RPG elements allow you to grow and get stronger in a way that feels natural with the way the story progession is set up. While some of the actual story missions could be better, quite a few of them are quite creative and well thought out, and aren't just another basic play the show game. For that the game should be praised. The animated cutscenes and the voiceovers are all quite good (English and Japanese). If you don't have an upgraded system yet, than this game is worth getting, and would easily be a 7 or 8, but there are enough technical issues with the game that make the game have enough problems. I have to imagine other versions of this game lack the slow-down. I would recommend those over this port.

I have played more of the original Shaq Fu than pretty much everybody who has ever existed. So I know pretty well exactly what this game is trying to build on. So with that out of the way, what does this game have in common with its infamous predecessor? Absolutely nothing. The characters from the original? Thrown out and disregarded. The only thing that comes close to resembling anything from the original is the ancient Chinese master which has been transformed from what was a Mr. Miyagi rip off in the original Shaq Fu to something else. The game also gleefully riffs on product placement that was rampant in the original Shaq Fu, by replacing it with Icy Hot and Gold Bond. It sorta works. The game play is fairly sound and the controls responsive. For a beat-em up, it plays fine. If you're looking for something to innovate the genre, look elsewhere, however the game does manage to get a decent amount of enemies on to the screen at once and has quite a few enemy types, which can provide a suitable challenge. There are some nitpicks worth pointing out. You cannot rebind the controls. The default setup is all you get. While the default setup is okay for the most part, with the exception of the jump button, having the option would have been nice. This is also a single player only game. A beat em-up that is a single player game. Also the biggest issue is the game's length compared to its price point. The game is $40 for 5 hours of gameplay. The game is good, but that is a lot of money to command for a purely single player experience. However the gameplay, what is here anyway, is good. The dialogue, pretty funny at parts, and there are quite a few references in the game to Shaq's playing career and music/acting career from the obvious and not so obvious. If you're a fan of the Houston Rockets, there is a dig in the game about them, as they were the team that swept Shaq in his first NBA finals appearance. Bottom line: The game isn't perfect, but dangit they actually delivered on making something that didn't ****, and took the premise of the license and went as far out as they could. I've played better games, but this game doesn't ****. So in that regard they succeeded. Also bonus points for Shaq's rapping actually being decent.

Graphically the game looks great. The music, while not the best in the series, is still quite enjoyable for what it is. However the biggest problem with this game is the gameplay, an issue which makes this game one of the worst games I have ever played in my life. Unlike other games in the series, the only method Mario has attacking is jumping on an enemy to first strike them outside of battle. After that, all battle actions must be taken by using stickers. What do you get for fighting these battles? More stickers. The RPG elements are pretty much gone and the battle system is designed in such a way that there is no incentive to fight any of the random battles. Where do this leave the game? The game turns into a collectathon in which you have to find enough stickers and hope you have enough to fight the games underwhelming bosses while doing mediocre platforming and puzzle solving. The worst part about all of this is the game drags on for way longer than it has any right to do. The story in nearly non-existent and is simply there is a generic framing device to say, oops gotta go do the generic Mario thing for the 15th time. Good luck! When Shaq Fu of all games has a better story than you do, as a designer, you are very clearly doing something wrong. When Shaq Fu has arguably better gameplay than your game does, then you have clearly FAILED as a game designer. Do not play Paper Mario: Sticker Star.