Phantasemo

I've made it just past the halfway point (Chapter 7: Dragon and Koi) and color me unimpressed. I've played the remake of this game with Kiwami and would honestly recommend sticking to that superior version rather than slogging through the antiquated original release that Yakuza purists seem to hold in the most favorable of a light. The combat system is clunky and not up to par considering how much the game relies on it as its primary form of gameplay. Doesn't feel too bad when you first boot up the game, but as time goes on you really start to feel where it's lacking. First, when fighting big, aggressive groups of enemies they can easily wear you like an oven mitt as you can get locked into a series of hits without much recourse other than getting knocked down with some distance between the two of you so that you can recover or for there to be a break in the barrage of fists for you to strike back. There is a “lock-on” functionality called “shifting” that is meant to hone in on an enemy and let you dodge, but it also isn’t up to snuff as Kazuma will lose it entirely at times and you’ll be left with a rousing round of shadow boxing with a ghost while the enemy combatants queue up to bugger you. Also, the camera just can’t seem to be able to keep up with the action as you dodge around and whatnot, but the camera thinks the wall to your back is particularly interesting rather than the three thugs in front of you with knives brandished. This becomes especially annoying when you go up against Majima at the batting cages and thanks to how much he dodges around good luck keeping him in the frame for more than a split second or the GB Holmes fight where you’re in an octagon with no one other than Holmes present and he doesn’t move fast and the camera still can’t manage to keep the guy in view. Hope you enjoy getting **** punched by a freight train because I lost this fight so much the game actually offered to drop to “EASY Difficulty” I bested him without needing to, but I wasn’t losing because I hadn’t grasped the mechanics of the game and, therefore, wasn’t utilizing them properly, but because the mechanics haven’t been refined enough. I also hope you are an individual who pines for commitment because when it comes to dishing out a combo and you miss the guy your swinging at you can’t adjust midstream to the direction he currently is in; however, you do get a move that’s meant to compensate for this by allowing you to swing in the opposite direction with your final hit, but it doesn’t make too much a difference on top of the previously mentioned shortcomings of the combat system which in time does get to be pretty samey. Oh, if you're expecting some of those glorious HEAT actions that the series is known for I’d go ahead curb your expectations right now as they’re pretty limited and unexceptional to the current repute of the series. Now let’s toss some shade at the localization and how lacking it is. You won’t have a choice between an English or Japanese dub so you’ll be stuck listening to the mediocre English actor's drone their way through the script, but hey, at least, you get Mark Hamill doing a withheld Joker impersonation with Majima so there is that. In all seriousness, no one brings their A-game to this project with Haruka’s voice actress phoning it in hard as can be. Also, Kazuma’s voice actor seems to be no prize himself as he repeated just one tone throughout only slightly raising it if Kazuma becomes uncertain. At the best of times it gets the job done, no more no less, other times you’ll think “I’m not a voice actor, but I could give a more enthusiastic performance than these twits!” Oh, and the script holy jumping **** Jesus this script. I’ve played other Yakuza titles so I have a definitive feeling towards how the scripts are structured with the odd expletive here and there for some added emphasis, but this script feels as though they handed it a thirteen-year-old and really emphasized the aspect that it pertains to criminals as it is especially “try-hard”. Multiple instances of the word **** are liberally peppered throughout the script with **** thrown in for good measure. If you’ve any familiarity with these characters or world then you know how off-model this is for them. I got nothing against profanity, but it needs to be used properly and with some care or otherwise, it starts to sound less like believable, engaging dialogue and more akin to Timmy just learned about swearing and he thinks it’s just **** Pro-tip: Stick with Yakuza Kiwami for experiencing the first game of the series as this one doesn’t hold up much at all. Kiwami not only being superior in the gameplay department, but it added an additional story beats like the fall/rise of Nishikiyama which really gives much more depth to his character rather than coming off as more of a rival to Kazuma.

Velocity 2X a unique if rather unimpressive mixture of a top-down shooter with a 2D side-scroller. To be brief on the subject everything functions competently and the top-down portions from time to time gave a brief impression of Ikaruga with a minor dash of Galaga throw for added measure. The side-scrolling segments provide a semblance of Sonic as well. After that however the game boils down to a slew of levels that have a bad habit of melting into one another. As of this point I have played through 22 of the 50 on-hand missions available from the outset and the only response that I am able to muster is "Meh". There isn't particularly anything wrong with Velocity 2X it’s a game that is just lacking in ideas and creativity. Fact of the matter is that Velocity 2X runs out of ideas in the early levels and from there things just appear to be stuck on repeat for the remainder of the play time. It doesn't take to long for you to start feeling deja vu until that turns into monotony as it feels like your darting through a nearly identical gauntlet each and every time with only a cosmetic change to accompany the new levels. The game follows Lt. Kai Tana a pilot who was sent on a mission to disrupt a black hole that threatened Earth with her newly designed ship. Things as expected go sideways and Kai ends up horribly maimed and in the clutches of an alien race that seeks to use her for their own plans and restore her with cybernetics. After revival she with the help of the alien Ralan escapes the facility with her ship and proceeds to mount a rebellion against her captures. While their being some more finer details to the narrative the story remains as simple as it arrives. It's rather boring really as every action in the story is punctuated by a level so that you experience the thrilling events through another predicable level. Rinse, wash, and repeat. There may be twist down the line meant to shake things up but, I have doubts that it would arrive out of nowhere or be telegraphed so hard that it wouldn't even deserved to be called a twist. So needless to say the story isn't breaking any new ground but, then again it is passable at the very least. Before we move on I should say that everything is told to you through text bubbles and slide show panels that have been well drawn. Now for the audio accompaniment, it's there, is about all I can say towards it. I mean yes there is sound but, the vast majority of it is by the numbers. Lasers sound like lasers, explosions sound like explosions, that’s really all there is. Actually this is really unfair of me degrading the sound when what really gets my goat is this wretched cyberwave soundtrack someone dredged up from the cellar to torment my ear drums. It's not like I dislike cyberwave either, for the most part I'm indifferent on the fact. While there clearly is a varied, and I use that word loosely, amount of tracks the difference in them can be so minute at times it comes off barely noticeable. Seriously, while playing I could have sworn that there was one track and it was on a continuous loop. The repetitive gameplay didn't lessen this fact what so ever. One might say that you could very well excuse various short comings **** if the gameplay is up to snuff and can carry the experience. That is not the case with Velocity 2X which allow me to say doesn't make it bad. Doesn't make it good either but, you know not bad. The real addition it brings to the table of gameplay mechanics is the ability to teleport in both forms of play. Whether it’s to bypass an obstacle, jump back to a set point or to access areas beyond your reach the teleporting aspect is the primary concept in which this entire game was designed. The vast majority of the time you will be stopped by a wall and need to quickly teleport before the vertical screen encompasses you. Pretty much between the two differing play styles you'll be met with nothing more than some arbitrary hindrance impeding your progress and disrupting your flow. Even when enemies are introduced the most they do is stay stationary and shoot you, fly in circling formation, or patrol in a fashion that allows you simply bypass them completely. The game offers you additional weapons and abilities throughout but, these are on offer only due to the fact that the developers wanted to switch up placements of things. You get a rifle fairly early on to replace your staring arm cannon but, it's pointless to use since it can only fire left and right while your arm cannon can fire in 360 degrees. This amplified by the fact that most things in need of shooting are typically above, below, or at an angle. All-in-all is Velocity 2X, with all things stated, worth the $20 asking price? In my opinion, no not really. The game seems short and doesn't offer the player much incentive to return for more. Only ardent fans of classic shooters like Xevious and alike might take interest but, with Destiny a week away there isn't much reason to not wait.