JamesFrankel

I really want to like this game, but I can't. Let's start with the good things: The story is nice, the characters are very charming. I really enjoyed the plot, the funny dialogues and the character development, the little side quests that tell you more about certain characters, the fun events that happen throughout the story (dating show, enough said), it's really everything I want from most games. Furthermore, the art is also pretty decent, and the music, at times, is also very good. Another good thing are some of the more unique levels, which provide good variety. Especially some of the 'reverse boss fights' are great parodies and fun. So, what's bad about the game? Basically, almost all of the gameplay. The controls feel very slippery. The acceleration curves just don't feel good. Once you are in the air, there is barely any control anymore, making certain parts of the game way more frustrating than they should be. Some sections were just way too difficult in a not-fun way. What do I mean by that? As a comparison, Celeste has also many difficult sections, but in Celeste, the controls always feel tight and responsive. Here, often I had thoughts like "Hey, I'm sure I pressed the jump button right there! Why did I fall to death there?". It's these things that just don't feel good in Nefarious. And the problem is that these meh-ish controls accompany you through most of the game. Other than that, the level design at times could really be better. Certain sections are just very slow or unfair and not very fun. The game really could have used much more polish. Maybe add a difficulty selection to make the game more fun for people who don't enjoy very punishing platformers? Maybe add a option in the start menu to reduce the volume of the music (it's really loud on the switch when you start the game)? Speaking of Switch, the loading times are also pretty long for just a 2D platformer. Also, the game actually crashed for me once during a level, requiring me to restart the level, which is just not acceptable. Furthermore, the main menu, while it has some charm, does look like of cheap. Having the Unity splash screen is not a game-breaker to me, but does add to the feeling of "hey, this game kinda feels unpolished". As a last criticism, while the art of the game is nice, the sprites are way too small in the normal gameplay to actually appreciate them. The character design is really detailed, but in the game, the sprites are just zoomed out too far to properly see them, which is sad. So, all in all, this game is a really big missed potential. It's kind of crazy: Story and plot-wise, I really want to love this game. But as a game, the game has too many flaws that I could recommend it to anyone. I would rather recommend people to watch a play-through. And this is really sad. I hope someday, the devs take the criticism to heart and fix the various issues of this game. It really could have been so much better. I feel sad giving the game a low rating, but in its current form, it really does not deserve any higher.

A switch remake of the classic Pokemon Yellow/Blue/Red (and to some extent, FireRed and LeafGreen, as these were remakes of the old games themselves), bringing the classic game to a 3D world. Story - 3/10 There was no real story in the original, and neither is here. We do get some little story bits, like a short story involving a Cubone, the general plot of defeating Team Rocket, but that’s about it. New good cutscenes for these parts do improve the storytelling. Still, don’t expect any deep story here. It’s just about fighting and catching Pokemon. Sound - 8/10 I'm not a big fan of the regular 8-bit Pokemon music, but I have to admit that in this game, some tracks were really nice. The classic tunes from the original games got new versions remade with actual instruments which really sound great at times and sometimes I even caught myself humming to the tunes. Graphics & character models - 7/10 Compared to modern titles, the graphics could be better, but compared to the old titles, the graphics are pretty good. It’s definitely good enough for its purpose, and has its charm. I also really liked how some of the models of the Poke-trainers looked. General gameplay - 6/10 Really, not much changed. It’s still mostly the old game. Many people have complained the lack of newer mechanics present in newer Pokemon titles in the game, which makes no sense to me, since, as a remake of the classic game, it makes sense to not have those new mechanics here. Deal with it. The new catching mechanic - 6/10 In general, I really like the idea of having separate mechanics for fighting Pokemon trainers and catching wild Pokemon, as it adds variety. The usual ‘beat a wild Pokemon up until almost dead and then throw a Pokeball’ is replaced by a ‘throw a Pokeball like in Pokemon GO’ mechanic. And you even get EXP for that. Problem is, the throw controls with the joycons are very random. Throwing a Pokeball to the side often does not work. In. handheld mode, throw controls are much better, but the game actually gives you a throw bonus when you use the joy-cons. Yeah, this ****. Still, overall, I’m kind of fine with the catching and throwing mechanics. Throwing straight forward at least works most of the time and the new mechanic adds some needed variety. Regarding random encounters, the game now shows the Pokemon as actual moving 3D models in the world, so that the old fear of running through bushes only to be jumped at by a wild Pokemon is gone, which is quite a quality of life improvement. Now you can avoid Pokemon if you really don't want to fight. Though, in tight areas like caves, avoiding the 3D Pokemon models is still difficult due to limited space. Therefore, in some caves, encounters with Pokemon will still annoy you and Repel items still exist for a reason. About the difficulty of the game The game is much easier than the original. All of your Pokemon gain EXP at once, and your main Pokemon (be it Eevee or Pikachu) is able to learn very strong attacks for almost every type from a new guy at Pokecenters. With this, you can pretty much oneshot almost every enemy. Since I don’t mind an easier difficulty as much as others, I’m kind of ok with this, but to be honest, it does break the game. Other than this, certain other elements are also easier. For example, in the original, getting Porygon was rather time-consuming. In this remake, you just get the Pokemon as a gift from an NPC. That’s kind of… too simple. Post game content - 9/10 After finishing the game, you still can do the following things: - Fight and catch Mewtu (and the legendary birds, if not done yet) - Fight master trainers, who specialize on one Pokemon and will only fight a 1 vs 1 match against that Pokemon (e.g. Eevee vs Eevee) - Challenge all Pokemon gyms again (they now have stronger Pokemon) - Challenge the Elite Four again (they also have stronger Pokemon now) - Complete your Pokedex - Do some shiny hunting (apparently much easier here than in other games) Personally, this is more than enough post game content for my taste. Random complaints about the game - You cannot use the Pro Controller for. this game. - In the attack menu, when pressing down, the selection loops. In the catch menu, that does not. - Bushes that have been cut reappear when the map loads again. - Cutting a bush takes way too long. It's annoying. Overall - 6/10 The loop of fighting, leveling up and catching new Pokemon can be quite fun and addicting, despite begin simplistic and repetitive after a while. My problems with the remake are the same as with the original: Having to fight trainer after trainer can become tiresome, some of the dungeons feel too long and annoying, and the story could really be better. Other than that, I found the remake to be completely fine. Sure, a difficulty option would have been great for people who want a greater challenge, but still, the game is fine enough and fun enough.

Both the gameplay and the story take some time to figure out and to get used to. Don't expect another Bastion, since the gameplay, while still having some common elements, is distinctly different. What is similar though is the quality. The gameplay has quite some depth to it and bonus challenges also teach you what is possible in combat. The real star of the show is though the story and presentation. This time around, it's a sci-fi setting, but a pretty unique one compared to the common scifi story stereotypes. Also, while the main story is easy to follow, figuring out all the details requires some initiative and analysis from the player, which is a cool thing (if that's not your thing, just watch some story interpretations on the internet). Like with Bastion, the soundtrack is excellent and adds a lot to make the good story even more memorable. The ending is also very satisfying. Overall, I'd say that the combat/gameplay is a 7-8/10, while the story + soundtrack leans towards 8-9/10. Definitely a recommendation!

Much better than expected! Thought this would be just an artsy game with almost no gameplay, something like a walking simulator, but instead, it actually was a good puzzle platformer, given its length. The puzzles are pretty creative and sometimes really cool. Towards the end, I found them a bit confusing, but overall, they were pretty great and use the art of the game wonderfully. Apart from the main gameplay and objectives, there are also bonus, optional items that can be collected, which is a great addition. Speaking of art, that‘s definitely the highlight of the game. The visuals look really great, the way how the main character‘s looks change when using her abilities is just gorgeous and some levels have fantastic contrast and visual designs which look great on a big high contrast screen, like an OLED or similar. The music is equally great and contributes a lot of the emotions invoked by the game. The game is not perfect: At times, the colors on screen make it hard to figure out what is what. Also, the puzzles get a little too convoluted towards the end for my taste. Overall though, the game offers quite an unique, emotional and enjoyable experience, somewhat similar to Journey. Since it takes only about 3 to 4 hours, I would definitely recommend to give it a try, though I would not call it a must-play.

Similar to Phantom Hourglass, but with this weird train system. Makes getting from point A to point B pretty tedious. Why is there no proper fast travel? The dungeons are mostly good, but the dark dungeons and the stealth part is pretty annoying. The controls overall kinda ****. Movement is only possible by tapping, not with the D-pad. The phantom controls are horrible and prone to miss-tapping. Fast-switching between items/weapons is not possible. It all makes the game more challenging than it actually would be. Also, there's a big dungeon tower that you need to revisit couple of times in the game where everytime, the game makes to climb more and more strairs instead of a quick travel to the dungeon entrances. Fun! Towards the end it gets worse, and the final boss requires you to have perfect timing with those fuzzy controls instead of some witty puzzle to defeat him. And if you die even once, the game makes you replay the whole final boss battle with its 4-5 stages from the beginning. Even more fun! The story is better than in Phantom Hourglass and having Zelda as a character you actually talk and interact with (and she even helps in the dungeons!) is way better than her usual 'damsel in distress' role, but other than that, the story is your usual 'defeat the villian who is evil for no real reason' thing. Also, in you ever take a break from the game and decide to continue it afterwards, it's quite hard to get into the game again. There is no encyclopedia or similar where the game mechanics, weapon effects, defeated enemy types, etc. are described. Similarly, the world map has only very basic hints on whats on the map. The game instead makes you take notes directly on the map. Good luck with figuring out what your notes meant after half a year. A simple green mark next to the already visited locations would have been great. So your best bet is just to grab a guide, or starting over. I don't like this. Despite quite the criticism, overall, it's still not a bad game per se, and if you enjoyed Phantom Hourglass, you will enjoy this one and (most of its) dungeons too. But keep in mind that the game lacks fast travel, has meh-ish controls, that the train travel isn't great and towards the end, there are couple of frustrating moments. Not a game that I can recommend. Phantom Hourglass was overall a better experience.

Most negative reviews for this game come from people who have only shallow knowledge about anime/manga related stuff and have no idea what exactly a visual novel (short, VN) is. A VN is not an usual 'game', but more a book accompanied with still images and music. If that doesn't appeal to you, this game isn't for you. This game is mostly VN, accompanied by a small part of SRPG (Strategic RPG, usually tile- and round-based; see Disgaea games). Expect a lot of VN content. Sometimes, between two SPRG battles, there lies more than 3 hours of reading text. So the enjoyment of this game comes mostly from the reading part, while the SRPG part should really be seen as a bonus. For this review, I will expect that you know that this game is a sequel to the original 'Utawarerumono', a visual novel which also got an anime adaptation. This sequel has completely different main characters and can be enjoyed without knowing the first game, but several characters make cameos, so watching at least the anime of the first game is highly recommended. Btw, this game (Mask of Deception) also got an anime adaptation already, which does differ from the game though in various details. So, how is the story? First of all, pretty...'anime'. You have lot of the usual cliches, from stereotypes over fanservice to demonized, one-dimensional villians. You'll definitely need a certain 'tolerance' for those things if you want to enjoy this VN. On the good side, certain other aspects are handled quite well: Most of all, the world is quite fleshed out. The game comes with a glossary where lot of details about the world, it's culture and food are included and also in the story, various side stories revolve around the game world's various aspects and details. These side stories, which have a slice-of-life character, are pretty humorous in nature and bring the characters closer to you. Much later in the game, there are more serious parts, which work pretty well, since the characters grew on you in the previous segments. At the end of the game, I really liked all the characters and really wanted to know how it continues - exactly, the story is left unfinished, but it is already known that it will be completed by another sequel named 'Mask of Truth', set for release in Sep, 2017. The SRPG part is also surprisingly well made. It isn't as complex as other games in the genre, which is actually rather beginner-friendly. After the 17 battles in the main story, which can be played in 'normal' or 'hard' mode, an extra 16 battles await the player in post-game. These are much more difficult than the main story battles, but can be beaten after understanding the game's mechanics and tactics well. Graphic-wise, the game isn't anything special. The japanese version actually appeared for the PS3, and even for PS3 standards, the graphics can be described as 'functional' at most, though, honestly, it could have been much worse. The attack and character animations actually look nice. Outside of the SRPG part, the VN parts look pretty good, of course, coming with a bunch of great-looking CGs. The physical copy of the game (at least, the german version) comes with an additional art booklet. It's the same size as printed manual booklets (remember those?), but filled with artworks and infos to the characters and the world. This was a great addition and again showed the love to detail. The western version of the game is kind of censored, as one certain CG is altered a bit. This change was pretty minor though and can be tolerated, in my opinion. The trophy list of the game is quite easy and if you've beaten all of the game including the post-game battles, the platinum should easily pop up. So yeah, easy platinum here. All in all I can recommend the game to every anime fan, especially fans of the first anime or the existing anime. Don't except an epic tale, but expect a fun journey with loveable characters and a story that gets quite interesting towards the end. And be prepared to buy the sequel, lol.

It's an ok-ish game. If you like puzzle games, you'll probably find the puzzles here too easy. If you don't like puzzle games too much or don't like how often in puzzle games, the puzzles get too hard, you'll probably feel somewhat comfortable with this one, though the puzzles towards the end can get pretty difficult. In general though, I did like how instead of making the puzzles more complicated, every level simply added different, new elements to the puzzles to keep the experience fresh rather than going to **** difficulty levels with few puzzle elements, as many other puzzle games do. Still, towards the end, the puzzles got uncomfortably difficult for me, at least. Also, some of the new elements were rather annoying and didn't really add any puzzle value (like darkness, for example). The puzzle controls could definitely be better, since often, with the first-person-perspective, you will need quite a precise aim to target that one cube you need. Here, I believe, they could have implemented a better way of controlling, though it's still very playable. The story of the game is pretty interesting and got me hooked in and I cared more about it than the puzzles, but the final revelation is kinda meh. The lonely atmosphere of the game fits the story, but it's nothing groundbreaking. The same can be said for the whole game. There are just better games in general, and while this short ride (I think about 3 hours of gameplay) isn't that bad, it's not something you need to see either. Got it for free from PS Plus and wouldn't recommend spending money on it.

Horrible bugs ruin an otherwise nice and enjoyable gameplay concept. In the version 1.04 of the game, loading a savefile in the normal difficulty will automatically change it into the highest available difficulty 'nightmare', where getting from A to B gets quite a lot more difficult...great. Apparently this was fixed around March 2018 in the North American PSN stores, but guess what? As of 22nd Jan 2019 (!!), the EU PSN store version of the game still is at v1.04 and the glitch/bug continues to exist. This makes the game unplayable for me. Too bad! If it was bug-free, I would have liked the game, I think. I usually like such horror games, which don't rely (too much) on jump scares or gore for shock effect.

Total playtime: 1-2 hours (at max) It's basically a visual novel-like game, with the difference that instead of the typical VN-format with a fixed text box and choices as buttons, it's a more free form of story-telling and choices are selected by the way you interact with stuff on the screen. Controls: They aren't very good. You have to press one button to widen your limited viewfield in one direction, which after a time causes the characters to move in that direction. Feels little weird. Even worse is the click control, where you navigate a cursor to specific regions to click them. Probably works well on mobile phones and PC, but on PS4, it's quite a bad control. They should have added some snapping or something similar. Story & Gameplay: The story is fine, but nothing great. Bearded men go on an adventure and meet certain mythical creatures and other strange occurances. It sounds cool, and it is, but it is too short (one adventure, or playthrough takes about 10-15 minutes at max). What also **** is that every adventure basically ends the same way with the travelers returning to the starting point. There are no bad ends in that sense, no deaths or other permanent consequences of the choices taken, since it always loops from the beginning. Some choices don't even really matter (except for trophies), since the outcome is basically the same in both cases. Also, when going for another playthrough to see the other missed choices, you always have to repeat the whole thing. So skipping, no in-between saves to speed up the consequent runs. You gotta do the whole thing again. Since a run is just 10-15 mins, this is kinda ok, but still a waste of time and I wish they added a better way for further runs. At least the dialogue changes a bit depending on what choices were taken the last time, but that doesn't really excuse anything. Music & Art: The best thing about the game is the soundtrack, imo, which has lots of acapella voice sounds (reminded me of Botanicula) and sounds really nice. The art is pretty minimalistic, but consistent, and fits really well with the soundtrack and the dialogue. This all gives a consistent look and feel and atmosphere to the game, which is probably why one could overlook the flaws of the game listed earlier. Conclusion: It's not a great game, but it has its charme. Very short playtime, but you get a very easy platin-trophy, in case you care. I wouldn't recommend paying money for it though. There's simply too less content for that. I personally got it from PS+.

The comic-style of the game looks great (and there are lots of cutscenes/images in the game) and sexy. The gameplay, being some candy crush like thing, might appear a bit disappointing at first, but actually works and is more interesting than you'd first think. Still, ultimately, the gameplay relies way too much on luck, so I can't really praise it that much. The story is probably the most interesting part of it, even though it's not too good. There are too many things or characters that just appear a little bit too chliche or hard to believe. Still, if you accept the comic-like exaggerations and villians, it's actually an interesting tale. Especially the solution to the 'mystery' was actually done rather well. The steam of the game is kind of censored. There is basically an normal NSFW version of the game, which shows boobs, sex, but shows nothing explicit, and then there's a 18+ version of the game, which shows male and female genitals and longer and completely explicit sex scenes (for the steam version, you can simply download a patch to have everything uncensored). The sex scenes and their animations aren't great, but given how in, for example, eroge visual novels, the sex CGs usually don't move at all, it's actually not that bad. And the art itself, ignoring the animations, is still pretty great. Speaking of visual novels, this game actually feels like one. Apart from the candy crush gameplay elements, there's lots of story/dialogues in the game and some choices, which lead to different endings... and the different endings also kind of lead to different sex scenes with different girls, so yeah, there's quite a similarity to eroges, though the story here is much darker, grittier and more 'western comic like' than the average eroge. Sadly, the game is pretty short (max 4 hours for all endings...), which is why I can't fully recommend it. Still, I had fun with it, and seeing the story slowly unraveling itself was fun. If it's on sale and you like a sexy story, give it a try!

The comic-style of the game looks great (and there are lots of cutscenes/images in the game) and sexy. The gameplay, being some candy crush like thing, might appear a bit disappointing at first, but actually works and is more interesting than you'd first think. Still, ultimately, the gameplay relies way too much on luck, so I can't really praise it that much. The story is probably the most interesting part of it, even though it's not too good. There are too many things or characters that just appear a little bit too chliche or hard to believe. Still, if you accept the comic-like exaggerations and villians, it's actually an interesting tale. Especially the solution to the 'mystery' was actually done rather well. Important to mention: The PS4 version of the game is kind of censored. There is basically an normal NSFW version of the game, which shows boobs, sex, but shows nothing explicit, and then there's a 18+ version of the game, which shows male and female genitals and longer and completely explicit sex scenes, so if you don't want to miss out on that, get the PC version (even for the steam version, you can simply download a patch to have everything uncensored). The sex scenes and their animations aren't great, but given how in, for example, eroge visual novels, the sex CGs usually don't move at all, it's actually not that bad. And the art itself, ignoring the animations, is still pretty great. Speaking of visual novels, this game actually feels like one. Apart from the candy crush gameplay elements, there's lots of story/dialogues in the game and some choices, which lead to different endings... and the different endings also kind of lead to different sex scenes with different girls, so yeah, there's quite a similarity to eroges, though the story here is much darker, grittier and more 'western comic like' than the average eroge. Sadly, the game is pretty short (max 4 hours for all endings...heck, it's one of the easiest and quickest platin trophys ever), which is why I can't fully recommend it. Still, I had fun with it, and seeing the story slowly unraveling itself was fun. If it's on sale and you like a sexy story, give it a try!

The premise is great: A stealth game, kind of combining Hitman, Hotline Miami and Commandos. You are a normal guy who is annoyed by the neighbor's party and decides to just kill everyone. Of course, you should not be seen while killing. For your aid there are various environmental traps you can use like pushing people from the roof and various items like poisoned booze. So, where does it go wrong? First, the game-play isn't nearly diverse enough. Traps aren't always very useful and are used up very quickly. The randomness of events and people's movement, paired with the player's very limited abilities (stab, sprint, carry bodies) make stacking up the kills more tedious than fun. In later levels, there are some characters that will attack you (and it doesn't even happen consistently), causing some game overs, which are especially annoying considering that getting the required 40-60 kills per level take quite some time and since there's no saving inside a level, you have to restart it all. Second, the game isn't really polished. I noticed some glitches and bugs, like where a person thrown from roof still stood on the roof, but dead. The PS4-version I played actually had frame-rate issues (especially when using items/traps that kill multiple people at once) and long load times. My guess is that the game just wasn't programmed with performance in mind. To mention 1-2 good points, well, the story was actually kinda nice and interesting to follow. And as tedious the game-play can be, there are also enough fun moments where the initial ideas actually work. All in all, nice little game, but not nearly as good as expected and got quite some issues. Let's hope Party Hard 2 will be better in these regards!