Monster Hunter Rise

(Available for Nintendo Switch only)
(PC Version coming out Next Year)

For this review I’m joined by my colleague Reece who is a major Monster Hunter fan so my review will be coming from the perspective of someone who casually enjoys the game whilst his review will be from the perspective of someone who has played the franchise hardcore throughout the years. Monster Hunter Rise becomes the first Monster Hunter Game to hit the switch that wasn’t previously on another console. That coupled with the fact that the game is on what is in part a handheld system and the largest selling console in Japan alongside the very Japanese aesthetic does give the impression that Rise is largely targeting a Japanese audience though they have done a good job also marketing the game to American and European audience especially trying to convince the fanbase that enjoyed Monster Hunter World to get back into the game. The shift to the switch also makes sense given the ease of multiplayer the console gives which has always been a driving force of Monster Hunter’s success.

Pros

• Gameplay and controls: while I’ve liked the gameplay in other Monster Hunter games I’ve always found it bit clunky and taxing though had some good fast paced moments. In Rise however it feels great simply to new features like the Wire bugs which allow to zip through the air for added movement as well as some excellent on the fly dodging and super attacks. You get 2 at the start but can collect 1 extra temporary one within the map. Once again the game is about hunting specific monsters you’ve been tasked with killing or capturing by your home village with your choice of weapon which you can upgrade at any time you like and are once again joined by a cat like Palico but now you are joined by a dog like Palimute. The buddys are fantastic since they are more useful than ever since they not only attack and assist you but you can also ride the Palimute and use items while riding which was a great help given it allowed me to sharpen my blade before each encounter. The game also has good improvements such as infinite whetstones so you never have to worry about sharpening your blade, a good upgrade system for weapons and armour which is easy to understand and it’s got rid of most of the tedious jobs which held you up from the boss rush you signed up for when you bought Monster Hunter. As a result I was able to get into more of the bigger hunts way quicker and that’s the best part of the game as you learn their characteristics and patterns as well as how to take advantage of weaknesses. The game feels more than ever like a big boss rush mode and it is incredibly addictive I have been doing at least 3-4 hunts a day since getting it. Btw make sure you eat some Dango before every hunt to get stat boost they can make a huge difference on harder difficulties. The weapon selection is also there from the start and it’s a good idea to experiment with various weapons before landing on the one that suits your style of play. By having all of them from the start it is way easier to do this and gets you used to the combat very quickly. The controls while not much different to previous games are still fantastic and do also feel very streamlined and suit the new mechanics well and the game gives good tutorials to get to grips with these mechanics which even retuning players should take part in since it useful to get used to the using the wirebug triggers for dodging and attacks. So not only are you getting improved gameplay but the controls are also excellent to go with it.
• The environments: the game has great use of different locales. It starts out with the Shrine ruins which have been shown off in most of the trailers that are in regular circulation but you soon get the same variety of locations you’d expect in Monster Hunter like Lava Caves, a Flooded Forest , a Sandy Desert and many more and are all very well designed. The big difference is that thanks to the Wire bug they have really been able to add extra dimensions to these maps so there are less flat surfaces this time around so exploring these environments is way more interesting than usual
• Multiplayer is still excellent no matter how you do it: I have been playing multiplayer consistently since this game came out and it hasn’t failed to impress me. This was the one thing the developers had to nail and they succeeded. Myself, Reece and Elliot tested the game through wireless communication and it ran smoothly at all times we had no frame rate drops or communication breakdowns which was surprising given that games like Smash Brothers and Mario Kart do have occasional instances of these issues, it really felt like we were playing on one system. Online Muliplayer is as good and has really enjoyable co-op multiplayer with up to 3 other players with each being allowed to 1 buddy with the monster’s health increased to account for the number of players in the hunt and it was surprising how well the multiplayer worked even without voice communication as a feature. Multiplayer has been such good fun to play that I’ve been using it for virtually every mission when playing the game docked (multiplayer drains the battery a bit too much in handheld for my liking)
• Graphics and performance: It is amazing how good Capcom has made this game look. The developers have used a modified version of the RE engine that has been used on most of the recent Resident Evil games and the fact they have manged to get the engine to work on the Switch in any capacity is outstanding. While it suffers from a few issues when blown up to larger monitors which I’ll detail later. That being said this is still one of the best looking games on the Switch and the fact that Capcom have got the most out of Nintendo’s hardware is outstanding, there are first party Nintendo games that don’t look as good as this game. while some people may not like that the game runs at 30 frames a second but the game is designed around that frame rate so it’s not really an issue and I wasn’t really noticing any frame rate drops even on multiplayer as previously mentioned.
• Monster selection: fans of previous entries will like the designs of the new monsters for this game which is an admittedly small amount as well as how returning monsters are integrated into the game. Each of the monsters has their own attack patterns and characteristics so once again learning how monsters behave is a crucial part in defeating them. Taking on Rathlos and new headline monster Magnamalo are particular highlights.
• Soundtrack: as usual for a monster hunter game the soundtrack is really good with a real emphasis on Japanese instruments and sounds. Songs of note include the soothing songs in the village and the song Proof of a Hero which sounds like the journey of an epic adventure.

Mixed

• Rampage quests: the Rampage quests are a new feature that work like a tower defence game where you and possibly 3 other players use various automatic and manned weapons to defend a gate from several powerful monsters. This mode has nothing inherently wrong with it and I didn’t even dislike it but I also wasn’t a fan of it either. I did a few of these and every time they felt less strategic like the hunts and more of a bombardment of stress trying to account for several monsters and clash with other players ideas about what was the best weapon to go where. It just doesn’t have much of the enjoyable nature that I got from doing the hunts and was avoiding them for the most part when I could.

Cons

• Amiibo Support: as usual it’s entirely cosmetic but I wish it went a bit further. For example I can make my character look like it has the Magnamalo armour if you scan a Magnamalo Amiibo but why can’t I get a Link costume if I scan a Link Amiibo or something like that. The Amiibo support could easily be better but it’s not great right now and I am aware that licencing issues are a large part about that but I don’t understand why we couldn’t get some Nintendo Easter eggs considering how much Nintendo is financially backing and heavily marking the game.
• Lower content than usual for a Monster Hunter game at launch: this is quite good for new players to the franchise since it’s not the huge time sink other games have but at launch the game is about 15 hours for a bare minimum, you can really up the play time to around 40 hours to invest in extras and has a 102 hour time for 100% completion. Now the real downside is that despite the fact it mostly makes good use of the time you have with it most of the extra content is not in the post game and that means most of the extras come from busy work, fun busy work but busy work nonE the less and it does feel like a game waiting for added content which will mostly be free and be coming later this year, presumably a few months after Monster Hunter Stories 2 comes out.
• Story: it’s not very interesting by any stretch despite how the trailers made it out to be but to be fair you aren’t playing a traditional Monster Hunter Game for the Story so it’s not a big deal.
• Some noticeable texture issues when blown up to 4K monitors: this was an issue on my TV at home compared to the monitor in my office which isn’t 4K ready. When it was on large 4K ready screen I noticed that there were some texture issues especially on faces of characters though these were confined to certain areas and situations. as I mentioned in the Bravely Default 2 review if the rumours of how the rumoured Switch Pro is going to work is true I do feel Capcom could benefit from a DLSS patch to get it true 4K ready.

Overall thoughts

Monster Hunter Rise has been the game to finally really get me into Monster Hunter after games like World and Tri whilst commendable, didn’t grab me. I love the combat and the extra level of movement from the new mechanics which really make a lot of the annoying aspects of Monster Hunter a non issue and the move from Hunt to Hunt is particularly addictive in how enjoyable it is that you will spend a lot of time saying phrases like “c’mon let’s get one more monster before bed”. The graphics are great and really use the hardware on the switch to the best degree making this possibly the best looking Switch game not made by Nintendo. The multiplayer is incredibly good and has been some of the most fun I have had playing multiplayer on the Switch and both Online and wireless lan play with multiple switches close by run consistently well. I would say this game eases in new players to Monster Hunter much better than many previous entries so if you haven’t gotten into the franchise yet do not be afraid to make Rise your first Monster Hunter experience and I think there’s plenty here to excite veteran fans though I have heard many are skipping the Switch version due to it running at 30 frames a second preferring to wait for the PC version, to come out in 2022. All I can say is you’re missing out if you do since this game runs perfectly well at that rate and the combat has ben tailored to suit it so it’s not too limiting and you really will be waiting quite a while especially if the game gets a delay which given the uncertainty of supplies in many countries is a possibility.

Score: 9.4/10

This will not go on sale any time soon so absolutely buy it. If you have a good micro SD and particularly want to take part in on the go multiplayer I would recommend picking up a digital version for quick access to the game. if you don’t have a switch there is bundle available that includes Monster Hunter Rise but I would add buying a new switch right now could be risky since Nintendo is likely to announce the Switch revision within 2021.

And now for Reece’s review

My history with the Monster Hunter series is that I’ve played to completion all western releases Monster Hunter games from the original back on the PS2 back in September 21, 2004 and I have been in love with the series ever since. The only Monster Hunter game I’ve not played is Monster Hunter World due to not having access to a PS4/Xbox1/PC at the time of its release.

The Monster Hunter game that I put the most time into was Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on PSP, where I maxed out the in game clock by spending over 999 hours on it. So I definitely have experience with the franchise and have been following the franchise since it’s inception in 2004 till now (Yes that includes the terrible live action film, that no person or fan should force themselves to watch)

Monster Hunter Rise is the second Monster Hunter game for Nintendo Switch following Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate in August 25, 2017 in Japan and August 28, 2018 worldwide.

It is part of the 5th Generation of Monster Hunter games along with Monster Hunter World that released worldwide back in January 26, 2018.

Pro’s:

Freedom of movement. Freedom of movement has been greatly improved with the introduction of the Wirebug. Players start off each hunt with 2 uses of Wirebugs that can be used to traverse the environment by catapulting the player through the air to reach higher areas off the ground or use in conjunction with the new ability to wall climb any flat surface similarly to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Players can also pick up a temporary third Wirebug to use but this will disappear after a short time. 

Freedom of customisation. One of the main strengths of the Monster Hunter series is being able to create a Hunter that is unique to you as there are over 40+ sets of armour that you can wear and mix with other armour sets to get the skills you want. To go along with this is the 100+ weapons available across the 14 weapon types, and unlike other games there are no bad weapon types as any weapon can be used in the hands of a skilled hunter. So you as a player are free to try each of the 14 weapon types to find a type that suits you and your playstyle as the game begins with giving you one basic weapon of every weapon type, so you are free to experiment in the training area free of monsters to get to learn each weapon type.

New Silkbind attacks. Through the use of these Wirebugs, the players can also perform new “Silkbind attacks” that use 1-2 of the these Wirebugs to perform new attacks exclusive to Monster Hunter Rise that are similar to the “Hunter Arts” from Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate. Each of the 14 weapon types have their own specific Silkbind attacks that when used on a monster build up enough Wirebug damage to allow players to mount and ride the monster. When a monster is mounted it gives the player a new set of controls that allows players to directly control each monster, unique with the monster’s signature move set that players can then use to attack other monsters on a hunt to do big damage along with doing enough damage to build “The Mounted Punisher” bar than when filled allows players to perform a final combo that will knock down the opposing monster for a long while, allowing other players to attack while the monster is down.

Graphical innovation. Monster Hunter Rise is also the first Monster Hunter game on Nintendo console to use the modified Resident Evil game engine that is currently being used in the Resident Evil game series, so this is the best looking Monster Hunter game so far with the exception of Monster Hunter World that is on superior hardware for graphics as it is currently on PS4, Xbox One and PC. It is a vast improvement other the previous Switch Monster Hunter game with Generations Ultimate as there are improved textures, lighting and shadows.

Most stable multiplayer experience. In my experience of nearly 60 hours in game, I have never once had a disconnect during a hunt in my time playing and I have not experienced lag or frame rate drops. It also brings back “local multiplayer” so instead of needing an internet connection you can play with upto 3 other Switch owners in a small proximity to yourself and this method works just as well as online multiplayer does.

New monsters. Rise introduces 11 new monsters to the franchise, while 2 of these new monsters serve as the final bosses so 9 can be fought before endgame at the Gathering Hub. These new monsters are very fun to fight and are unique to fight against with my favourite being the “Flagship” monster of Magnamalo, for being a hyper aggressive tiger-like monster.

Returning monsters. Along with the new monsters it also features the return of monsters from previous games including the fan favourite Khezu from the original game in 2004 (Which finally has its own music theme after never having a theme before meaning that it used to be hunted in silence in previous games).

New weapons and armour. Along with the new monsters this means that there is a lot of new weapons and armour to make from the new monsters. Generally each monster allows a weapon to be created in each of the 14 weapon types, so if you like a monster then it will have a weapon available for whichever weapon type you prefer. The new armours also come with a variety of skills allowing to be used in conjunction with other armour pieces to create a custom armour loadout to have a plethora of skills available.

The Palamute System. Since Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on PSP back in 2008, it introduced the Felyne Comrade (Later renamed to the Palico) a supporting cat monster who could come with you on hunts to better simulate multiplayer while playing solo. Since then it’s role has expanded into different weapon types and skills to be a good supporter throughout the years, but now we finally have a new supporter type of monster called a Palamute. The Palamute is a big game changer in that it’s a domesticated wolf who supports the player and allows the player to ride on its back to quickly traverse the map rather than previous games when you had to slowly run across the map. This cuts down on the dead time of slowly running around the map to find the monster, compared to now you can dash from one end of the open map to the other. The player can also leap off the Palamute in order to do an aerial attack on the monster for big damage and can use the Palamute to quickly scale walls covered In ivy, increasing the speed that the player can use traverse the map. The Palamute also comes along with its own skills and weapon types that the player can customise along with armour that you can craft from the monsters you hunt, these weapons can range from leaping and attaching itself to the monster to do damage over time or use scrolls to buff the Hunter or other players.

Endemic life. To represent that this Hunter is more in tune with nature, the player can receive buffs to their various stats e.g. Health, Stamina, Attack and Defence by interacting with small creatures on each map by simply running into them. This is a great new change as sometimes an extra few points of Health makes all the difference between winning and losing a hunt. There are also other various non-buff types of endemic life that can be collected by the Hunter to make hunting the monster easier, these include “Puppet Spiders” which allow a monster to almost always be able to be mounted so the Hunter can use it to attack other monsters or slam into the environment to do more damage to it.

Polished controls. Arguably one of the most important things for an action game to get right is it controls. Thankfully Monster Hunter Rise is the best the series has ever felt control wise as each of the 14 weapon types has an extremely polished move set and most of the time if you miss a move to mess up in game then it is normally the players fault so not timing the weapon correctly.

Monster introduction videos. A majority of the monsters when first introduced in the Village quests will have an short introductory video explaining the monster and it’s typical behaviour. In these videos the monsters are spoken more about in song (This is more prevalent in the Japanese audio version, where the voice actor actually sings their lines as if reciting a traditional folksong giving the monsters more of a history in the world and that they are living creatures of legend who are both feared and respected by the people of this world) rather than a documentary like with what David Attenborough produces. These videos are only short and can be skipped if the player wishes too, but I would recommend watching them atleast once as all cutscenes can be rewatched by going to your Housekeeper and going through the menu.

Key Quests. For the first time a Monster Hunter game tells the player which quests are “Key Quests”, Key Quests are certain quests that need to be completed to unlock the next level of quests in the Village or Hub. In previous games these quests were not shown to the player, so players had to complete quests at random and hope they had done quests that were also hidden Key Quests. Whereas now players can plan what quests they want to do, since they know that they only have to do the shown Key Quests to be able to progress to the next level of quests in the Village or Hub.

Sound. One of Monster Hunters strongest points in my opinion is its focus on it’s soundtrack and sound effect. This time around Monster Hunter Rise has a stellar soundtrack that is definitely most enjoyable with the Switch in docked mode hooked upto good speakers or by using a high quality headset using the Switch’s audio jack. Even the sound effects in game are amazing as to be expected over the series, as each monster has its own specific series of roars, noises and theme. These help make the monsters sound and feel more like living, breathing creatures rather than just typical enemies in a video game. As the player can even observe the monster before engaging them in battle and see how they interact with other smaller monsters, eat food from carcasses (If they are a carnivore) or get into “Turf Wars” with other large monster (These are a spectacular to watch as the two monsters engage in a mini skirmish. My personal favourite being Magnamalo vs Aknosom, where they take the battle into the sky and I couldn’t help but just watch the aerial acrobatics)

Rampage mechanic. New to Monster Hunter Rise is the use of Rampage quests, where the player is tasked with defending a fortress from an increasing wave of monsters that have to be repelled before they destroy the final gate guarding the Village. These quests are similar to the massive Elder Dragon hunts of previous games (Namely the Lao-Shan Lung quests) where a player is tasked with defending a fortress from a monster that is normally the size of a building. The differences are now instead of simply fighting one very large monster, the player is tasked with fending off a horde of many different species of monsters and have access to many more fortifications than in previous games, ranging from ballista, cannons, to the mighty Dragonator. New to the Rampage missions is the ability to summon an npc from the Village for fight for a wave of monsters before leaving they help take some pressure off the player as they do a lot of damage or can give the player buffs to increase their own abilities. These quests are a fun distraction and do not clash much with the traditional style of Monster Hunter and the player is only forced to do these Rampage quests a handful of times as they are mostly optional. Then once the player has progressed enough then they unlock the ability to take on Rampage quests at any time for extra rewards, so if traditional hunts are getting too repetitive then the player can go on a Rampage Quest which basically turns the game into a “Tower Defence” game. They are also very fun with multiplayer compared to solo as the Rampage quest mechanic feels much more suited for multiple players due to how many fortification encampments are posted around that is normally impossible for one player to use, and the horde of monsters can get overwhelming at high difficulties if the player is hunting solo.

Con’s:

Limited Endgame. No G Rank on release, this means that it has substantial less content than other Monster Hunter games currently on the market. With Monster Hunter World and Generations Ultimate (Which is already running on the same system) offering more quests and a lot more monster to hunt. So players are technically getting less content that other games that are currently cheaper than Monster Hunter Rise was at release. (Rise has 35 large boss monsters to hunt, in comparison to World with 71 including its expansion and Generations Ultimate which had a staggering 93 large monsters to hunt)

Repetitious quests. Due to only having 35 large monsters most of the monsters get reused for multiple quests where you have to hunt 2 of the same monster or you have to fight 2 different monsters in the same quest that previously had to be hunted alone. Due to this reusing of monsters, players will be rehunting the same species of monster across multiple quests leading to a lack of variety in quests.

Village quests lack finality. The Village quest line abruptly ends when you finish the 6 ⭐️ quests with no finality as it expects the player to then move onto the multiplayer Gathering Hub to get the remainder of the story plot. This can be difficult and frustrating if you don’t have other people to play together with as Monsters in the Gathering Hub have increased health values and do extra damage, so if you are playing solo then it is definitely less enjoyable to try and grind through the Hub to see the ending of the story. Compared to previous games where the story was almost entirely contained to the Village rather than the Gathering Hub. The game’s director, Yasunori Ichinose said that the game’s story won’t wrap up until the end of the second dlc, so players will have a while before the entirety of the games story is told.

Multiplayer focus. As with previous games, the majority of the game is in the Gathering Hub as while the Village quests only consist of Low Rank quests the Gathering Hub has both Low Rank and High Rank quests. If you do not have access to the internet or poor internet signal then it is much more difficult to play through the Gathering Hub with others as you will have to play solo with only your Palamute & Palico for support. This can be a turn off for newer players who may be playing Rise as their first Monster Hunter game as they may feel overwhelmed playing solo with no other players to distract the monsters.

Quick battery drain. The battery drains a lot faster for Rise than previous Monster Hunter games as we (Myself and my fellow colleagues) found that during just one multiplayer hunt between the 3 of us, that the battery in our Switch drained about 20-25% each. So if you plan to play multiplayer with your friends either local or online then you should make sure your Switch is fully charged to be able to play multiple quests in a row.

No new Weapon Types. While not a new problem, there are no new weapon types in Monster Hunter Rise. This has been the same since Monster Hunter 4 back in 2013.

Only “currently on” Switch. This is a downside if you want to play the game but do not have a Switch, as with Monster Hunter World it is due for a PC release but is not scheduled to release until the first half of 2022. This can be a potential dealbreaker for people who would prefer to play Monster Hunter Rise without being locked to 30fps on the Switch compared to Monster Hunter World, which had 3 different frame rate settings, that being 30fps, 60fps and no limit (Basically 60fps+ if your PC could handle it)

Lip Syncing. Now while the game does offer 3 different voiceover languages for the npcs (English, Japanese and the traditional Monster Hunter language that is meant to sound like gibberish). These are welcome inclusions but the lip animations for the npcs are made for the Japanese language so when the player selects English voices they do not really match the lips of the characters. It is a minor issue that would of required a lot more work on behalf of Capcom, it does not detract much from the final product but it is noticeable if you are looking for it.

Glitches. It would not be a Monster Hunter game without some glitches. In my 60 hours of play time I have only encountered a few minor glitches (My last one was my Palamute getting stuck on a piece of geometry unable to move, but thankfully if you the player get too far away from your Palamute & Palico then they will dig into the ground and then spawn next to you so you are not without them for long). While no major game breaking glitches have been widespread a few have been seen and catalogued in video format mostly shown by TeamDarkSide on YouTube with their series of “MHRise gone wrong” which is good fun to watch along. Unlike many other games being released effectively broken to the public, Monster Hunter Rise works really well without server issues or game breaking glitches like broken AAA games being released with little to no care.

Final Thoughts:

This is another great entry into the Monster Hunter series and I would recommend it people who are new to the series as rather than the daunting prospect of going through Low Rank to High Rank and then G Rank, it is more streamlined with just Low Rank and High Rank.

I definitely enjoyed my time with the game and came out at a great time where there were not many other releases so I was able to spend a large chunk of time with the game and almost finishing it.

Experienced players may be let down by the lack of content at launch of Monster Hunter Rise compared to Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate which is already on Switch. Newer players may not mind the game being only 75 hours long compared to World at 100 hours and Generations Ultimate at 175 hours (These figures are from howlongtobeat.com as a reference) as newer players may not have the free time or patience to put into playing a game for a 175 hours if they are new to the series and would instead prefer a shorter and more contained story with Rise being under 80 hours to beat the Gathering Hall.

Considering that you can expect to get 75+ hours out of the game if you plan to finish it, then I definitely say it is value for money and worth the price of admission compared to other games currently out on the Switch.

If you are only able to play solo and have a Switch then I would recommend buying Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate instead as it offers nearly 3 times the amount of large monsters to hunt (35 vs 93), as well as provide an entire extra level of difficulty above High Rank with G Rank.

Overall I would say that if you have a bunch of friends to hunt with, then Monster Hunter Rise is definitely a great time and with all previous Monster Hunter games Capcom will be releasing free dlc including new Monsters, with the first batch of free dlc due out near the end of April that will reintroduce fan favourite monsters such as Chameleos. So there will be more monsters to hunt over the coming year or so, unless Capcom decide to do an expansion like they did with World as they released Iceborne which introduced 40 large monsters into the game, both new and returning monsters.

So if you are a returning player who has already completed Monster Hunter World with its Iceborne expansion, then I definitely recommend Monster Hunter Rise as a fun return to portable Monster Hunter games. As Monster Hunter Rise brings enough new features to the Monster Hunter formula to entertain returning and new players.

Score – 9.1

Bravely Default II

(Available for Nintendo Switch only)

The sequel to the Squere-Enix 3DS franchise finally comes to home consoles after a pretty long gap by Nintendo published games standards having been revealed at the 2019 game awards and only just coming out in February. It once again is a turn-based RPG with 4 characters with different jobs based on classes like warrior, monk, white mage, black mage etc. the only difference this time is that the game introduces the brave and default system which adds an extra risk/reward system to combat which I’ll go further into detail about later.

Pros

• Jobs and RPG mechanics: the best aspect of this game is how it handles the various jobs. Characters will have access to 2 classes at a time with one acting as the main job and the other acting as a sub job. Each character will have a character level and individual job level for each job which gains that character more abilities when they have access to that job however it will only level up if that’s the main job they’re using after a successful battle. It really is a good idea to find great combos for all 4 of the characters and is one of the most rewarding aspects to the game when you get it right though finding a way to balance the different jobs is something to take into account for most of the game.
• The brave and default system: Battles are pretty typical for most JRPG’s however there’s the new Brave and Default system. It’s very similar to how battle points worked in Octopath Traveller since you can defend yourself by using a default command to build up brave points which can be cashed in for up to 3 extra moves for that character. You can also make those extra moves at any point but if you go into minus brave points, which if you do ,that character must skip their turns until they reach 0. It is a certainly decent risk/reward battle system which will make you think about each battle

Mixed

• Art style: the backgrounds in this game look amazing especially zoomed out for towns but I’m really not a fan of the chibi doll aesthetic of the characters which oddly makes them feel rather lifeless. The resolution does not hold well either on modern monitors especially if they are large or have a 4K Resolution I think this game could really benefit from a DLSS patch if this is the solution to getting Switch games into 4K for the heavily rumoured Switch Pro
• Story: it’s perfectly fine and serviceable but is pretty much what you’d expect and is very reminiscent of classic Final Fantasy particularly the first 6 games. It’s your typical find the crystals of the 4 elements to prevent the end of the world which is fine but it doesn’t have real character and world depth like other RPG’s on the Switch do have like Octopath Traveller and Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2. I couldn’t tell you much about the characters in Bravely Default 2 which makes following the story feel rather mechanical rather than engaging.
• Grinding is kind of mandatory: this is a problem I’ve noticed with a lot of modern RPG’s but this problem will effect you depending on your propensities to grinding experience for levels but this is another RPG where you will be underleveled if you just follow the main quest. It does feel like a lot of modern RPG’s do have to force you to do the side content so you’re not underlevelled for a boss but even in my playthrough where I did start doing quite a few I seemed to be underlevelled for quite a few bosses and I was not avoiding combat the bosses feel like they have quite a big difficulty spike. If you like to do a lot of grinding in your RPG’s this won’t be an issue but I felt the developers expected you to do way more than you should’ve done.

Cons

• The weaknesses don’t mean too much: I hate to keep bringing up Octopath Traveller but this is a system that really brings up the same weakness sytem to certain spell types and weapons except it’s not handled as well. in Octopath there was a real benefit to hitting those weakness as if an enemy was hit a certain number of times you could incapacitate them for a turn where they wouldn’t be able to attack. It added a risk reward to combat in building up characters battle points, do you save them up for multiple hits to incapacitate an enemy or save them up to hit a very strong attack to deal extra damage or even save them up for a stronger heal for your party. In Bravely default 2 enemies weaknesses are way less rewarding for successfully identifying and hitting they only seem to give a slight boosts to attacks and don’t effect much else and I wish they were implemented slightly better. That boost is certainly going to make a difference if you cash in a ton of Brave points for multiple attacks but the point still kind of stands.

Overall thoughts

Bravely Default 2 is a decent RPG with some cool mechanics and is a decent throwback to those classic RPG’S from the 90’s with a modern flare that can impress in parts particularly in strategizing how you level up both characters and jobs. However it is on a console with Octopath Traveller which did a similar thing but all of them had just a bit more of an effort with very interesting job systems, a great series of storylines, a much better risk reward system of combat and a much better art style. As a result instead it really highlights that Bravely Default 2 is a rather middling RPG which while I do enjoy it isn’t really holding up given the competition on its own console and even its own publisher. I think the delays to the games release kind of hurt the game given that we just heard about Project Triangle Strategy being made by the Octopath Traveller team a week before this came out which looks to really be another innovative RPG to be excited about and really didn’t help since it really highlighted a lot of the games flaws. I want to stress I think Bravely Default 2 is a good game and has brilliant implementation of Job Classes but it’s on a system with great RPG’s and it’s biggest issue is that it’s very set in it’s ways and kind of lacks innovation

Score: 7.8/10

Persona 5 Strikers

(Available for PlayStation4, Nintendo Switch and PC )
(PlayStation 4 version played on a PlayStation 5 used for Calvin’s review)
(PC version used for Elliot’s review)

Persona 5 Strikers is the second spin off title from the Persona 5 after Persona 5 Dancing Star Night confounding a lot of predictions it would repeat the history Persona 4 had the dancing game then Arena. Strikers is a new avenue for publisher Atlus since it is a Musou game like Dynasty Warriors and Hyrule Warriors so expect it to be infiltrating environment and fighting large numbers of enemies with the Phantom Thieves and like Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors it’s not only been developed by Koei Techmo it also adds elements of Persona 5’s RPG mechanics to the Musou gameplay. It also is a new avenue for Atlus since this is a direct sequel to Persona 5 and could legitimately be considered Persona 5-2 (for those not in the know each persona game starts with a new setting a cast like the Final Fantasy Games). The game also announced with its western release that it would be coming to not only Nintendo Switch like it did in Japan (presumably part of the deal for getting Joker in Smash) but would also go to Steam which is good to see given that if feels like Atlus are starting to take the space seriously after the success of putting Persona 4 Golden on there.

Pros

• Story: Doing a sequel to Persona 5 would be tough given how the end of that game pretty much wrapped up the storyline and every character arc (your perspective on that part would depend on which confidants you maxed out during your playthrough). Somehow however the developers pulled this off, the story takes place a few months after the events of Persona 5 with the Phantom Thieves reuniting for Summer Vacation which happens to coincide with a mysterious Girl named Sophia who says she is “Humanity’s Companion”a few new structures from the Metaverse appearing called Jails, whose monarchs are stealing the desires of the masses for their own personal gain thus requiring the Phantom Thieves to travel across Japan to stop the Monarchs by changing their hearts and returning the desires. It’s a decent excuse for why the group needs to get back together but the plot itself actually plays off the established group dynamic well and it’s also really interesting to see these characters travel across Japan to put them in settings other than Tokyo. The story this time has some genuinely great moments for fans of the original with the characters in both the actions and the times just winding down and enjoying Summer. The villains also bring a new dynamic to the series which I won’t spoil too much but believe me when I say while they won’t stick with you the same way that characters like Kamoshida did but trust me they are genuinely interesting. If I had any minor complaints on the story it’s that it occasionally rehashes quite a bit of the plot of Persona 5 at points but it’s not as if it’s not rehashing something good. Also this game is not 100 plus hours like a Persona game normally is and hovers more around the mid 30 hours mark for main story alone, which is a bit of a disappointment given how good the story is you kind of want it to go on a bit longer but it does use the time well
• New characters: so I already talked a bit about the villains and there are quite a few new characters introduced but there’s really 2 new characters to talk about Sophia and Zenkichi. Zenkichi is the Public Sector investigator acting as an informant to the Phantom Theives and Sophia is the new playable character who is an AI that lives in Joker’s Phone outside of the Metaverse. Both are nice new additions to the group with their personalities meshing with the group well, particularly Sophia, whose bubbly demeanour feels like she was always meant to be a part of the group. She also gives you constant access to Bless Persona abilities from the start of the game which is excellent given how long it was to get that in the original Persona 5 making her one of the best parts of the game.
• Combat: once again Koei Techmo’s developers have done an excellent job of taking another game and fusing its game mechanics well with the gameplay style of Dynasty Warriors. It doesn’t play exactly like those games and Hyrule warriors since while you will be fighting a lot of enemies it’ll never quite be to the same degree of numbers that those games had so that they could put in the stealth and ambush aspect of Persona 5 into the game. upon combat you will fight a lot of faceless shadows as well as the various Personas you fought in the previous games and you will have to use your own Persona’s abilities to target their weaknesses. This is achieved by in the middle of the fight holding the trigger to summon the Persona which will freeze time and allow you select from their abilities with varying range and power with can be levelled up with your character as time goes on which reminded me way more of FF7 Remake’s combat than it did a game like Hyrule Warriors. This was a great way to pull this off and with all the characters you want to try someone out since I really ended up likening trying out everyone’s combat style. That’s saying a lot given that I don’t think I’ve ever played Musou game where every character played extremely well to my style which is good because you really want to keep swapping your character to pull of chain attack to stun as many opponents as possible in order to pull off the signature all out attack. The combat was so much fun to do with myself rarely looking to avoid it and would even keep some party members in longer that I should of just to see their showtime moves which are just as flashy as you think they are. I’ve heard some people say it’s not as complex as a game like Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity though I’d say both games are on a similar level but approach combat in different ways though both do an excellent job of making the most of the characters and prioritising targeting weaknesses to give the satisfaction of pulling off a cool combo and rewarding you with awesome showtime attacks. In short this might be my favourite action RPG mechanics though you still have to prioritise what equipment you’re using as well as what items your taking since SP for Persona abilities is limited and being able to heal and restore SP in boss fights could come down to stocking up on healing and SP recovery Items more so than in previous Persona games. But if you played Persona 5 but haven’t gone near Mosuo games you might surprise yourself on how easy you transition to this gameplay style with you prior knowledge of Persona 5’s gameplay which is a compliment to the developers in their respect for the original game.
• Controls: the controls are great in this game and I got the hang of them quickly (except for the action button the PS4 version being O rather than X like in most Persona Games that took getting used to). They suit the combat excellently and allow for the flow of combat to feel excellent. They will however trip you up if you played the recent Hyrule Warriors since they play rather differently such as the lack of a guard command and a slightly different dodge mechanic. You also should really not use jumping to doge attacks which I learnt the hard way during the first boss fight against a Jail Monarch.
• Graphics and performance: it does look excellent and runs well. obviously there is some stuff reused though and the models look a bit different but it still looks and feels like Persona 5 and brings back the excellent art style which really gave Persona 5 its character. the developers did an excellent job however since the game looks really good and it ran at a smooth 60 frames a second when I played the PlayStation 4 version on a PlayStation 5 with very few Frame rate drops. It took me a bit to get used to these character moving at 60 FPS since Persona 5 wasn’t at that frame rate but for the game that’s given it’s welcome that the performance is this good.
• Boss fights: these are some of the best Boss fights in a Musou game ever. You really need to pick out your characters well, keep an eye on character interactions it often gives away at least one of the bosses weaknesses, this is where it’ll test you to use the environment well, exploit weaknesses and chain attacks to together to break down their shields and hit an all out attack to knock down serious amounts of health. The design of the bosses are great but the implement of the combat is so enjoyable in these moments that I was taking on the bosses again in rematches whenever I had the opportunity and even took on a couple of the optional bosses which I normally never do on a first playthrough. Btw on those option bosses plan ahead of time and stock up on SP recovery items they are really tough if you’re not prepared
• Level design: while none of the Jails are as interesting as the palaces in the original Persona 5 I really did enjoy these open environments which really tested how I approach enemy encounters and they did a good job turning the various cities in Japan into these very imaginative environments such as turning the famous Shibuya District of Tokyo into an Alice in Wonderland inspired theme park. The layouts and designs are not quite as imaginative as Persona 5’s Palaces but they still are excellent places to explore
• Soundtrack: it’s a Persona 5 soundtrack of course it’s gonna kick ass. While many songs are reused from the first games soundtrack verbatim like Tokyo daylight and Life Will Change, in keeping with the Dynasty Warriors vibe many songs have been given a rock remix such as Last Surprise. The remixes are excellent and fit well in the game I especially like the remix of Keeper of Lust. But the new songs are also great and fit well with the established soundtracks of the franchise. Daredevil in particular is a song I haven’t been able to get out of my head since playing.

Mixed

• Compromises for the Switch Version: The Switch version had to compromise to 30 FPS and I did briefly try out the Switch version (mainly to automatically get the Sophia spirit in Smash Bros Ultimate by have Persona 5 Strikers save data on your Switch and complete my collection) and in both handheld and docked it ran fine but it was difficult going down to that framerate so on that basis I’d say the only reason to pick up on Switch is if you plan playing it away from home. The only impact these compromises had on the other 2 versions is that some cutscenes had to have lower framerates to be on the Switch
• No higher frame rate for PC version: there’s not too much wrong with the PC version from what I’ve heard but it’s more of a quick port of the PS4 version rather than one that was made to take advantage of the benefits to PC gaming. Particularly I was hoping to play the game at either 120 or 144 FPS but the game is still locked at 60. Now this isn’t a deal breaker and it’s good to see Atlus working to put more Persona on Steam after the success of putting Persona 4 Golden on there but it does feel like a bit of a missed opportunity .

Cons

• Making tougher Personas is more difficult: so like Persona 5 the main character has access to multiple Persona and can fuse them to make tougher Persona in the Velvet Room. In this game you don’t have to worry about them matching up to the Arcana types of the people you want to build on your relationship with so in that sense it’s been kind of streamlined and you only have to worry about getting the best Persona. The problem comes in the fact that a new edition of this game is that instead of just fusing together the correct combo of Persona like in the oringinal game you now require the Persona to be at a certain level for it to be successful which was not a change that I liked. This meant I often had to take a away some of the Persona points from levelling up and instead of giving them to the Persona I wanted to they went to some I was about to get rid of to get one I wanted. This just made things more difficult than need be but I would say if this is the worst aspect of the game it wasn’t a big deal since I never entered an environment feeling like I was screwed over in combat by bad Persona’s being in my party and there was rarely a moment I couldn’t fuse my Persona to get something better.
• Persona 5 plotline spoilers are frequent for Steam and Switch users: Strikers really assumes you’ve played Persona 5 and gives tons of Spoilers to plot points in that game which is fine for PlayStation owners since they can do a playthrough of Persona 5 or Persona 5 The Royal to get context. But for Steam and Switch owners they are out of luck since neither of those games is on either format which I think is not incredibly accommodating to those fans however I do also think the only people getting this are big Persona 5 fans who likely know the story just be prepared to be lost otherwise since I will reiterate that in many ways this is a way more a sequel than it is a spin off.

Overall thoughts

Persona 5 Strikers is one of my favourite Musou games now and is easily a must buy for anyone who loved Persona 5.the story is excellent as well as engaging with every character getting time to shine, the gameplay is interesting, engaging and strategic in ways this genre has not quite ever really gone to, the soundtrack is amazing as to be expected and the Game had me hooked with doing side missions and optional boss fights which is not something I usually invest my time in on a first playthrough of any game and I would say it’s a game that makes me really want to grind experience to level up my characters since the gameplay is never really boring. It does feel a bit short for a Persona game coming in at around 35 hours for the main story alone though adds another 15 hours on for die hard completionists and you won’t be as involved with who you hang out with in your downtime as you would in a normal Persona game but with the fact that the game still has tons of cool character moments it didn’t bother me that much. I really hope this means that we will see Persona 5 or Persona 5 The Royal come to Switch and PC soon so people on that forum can enjoy the game fully and really appreciate it but as it stands I really thought this game was excellent though you should also consider that Persona 5 is one of my favourite games and the game is very geared to that audience.

Score: 9.6/10

And now for Elliot’s review (the first part will makesense in context)

Ryuji “FOR REAL” count total: 20 

Pretty much anyone who knows me knows how much I adore Persona 5. From the story to the characters, from the gameplay to the music and the style of the game, those reasons and many more are what easily makes it my favourite game of all time, I absolutely love it. So, naturally, if anything Persona 5 related is announced, I’m gonna gorge myself on it all like No Face in Spirited Away. We previously got Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, and now we’ve seen the release of Persona 5 Strikers, released on the 20th February 2020 in Japan and 23rd February 2021 worldwide for Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 and Steam.

The story takes place a few months after the events of Persona 5, where Joker, leader of the Phantom Thieves, and Morgana return to Tokyo to meet up with the rest of the Phantom Thieves and to spend the summer on the camping trip together. While in Shibuya, looking for supplies for the trip, Joker, Morgana and Ryuji wind up meeting an idol named Alice Hiiragi, who gives them and others in the crowd her keywords to a new app taking the world by storm called EMMA. After typing the keyword into the app they find themselves back in the Metaverse, in a new type of place called a Jail, which seems to be changing the hearts of anyone who enters. While there they meet Sophia, an AI who wound up in the Metaverse and self proclaimed humanity’s companion. Eventually, after meeting up with the rest of the Phantom Thieves, they find themselves meeting Zenkichi Hasegawa, member of public security, who explains to them that these incidents of changing of hearts are occurring all over Japan and that the Phantom Thieves are the primary suspects in the case. Deducing that the Jails have something to do with it, they set out on a trip across Japan to find out why they’re showing up and to clear their names. As to be expected, the story had my attention from beginning to end. It feels like a great extension to the first game’s story while never out staying its welcome and while it takes a lot of plot points that were in the first game, it does enough different so that it doesn’t feel like a rehash of the same story. 

Presentation wise, the game looks just as good as its inspiration. I played on the PC and it ran at a very consistent 60FPS, and I never noticed it dip once. Just like they did with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Koei Tecmo has done a really good job at mimicking the look of the original game, from environments to the menus the game carries on the stylish look that Persona 5 has. Battle animations are done really well as well, they did a really good job of taking their attack animations of the characters from Persona 5 and expanding on them while also ensuring that the moves were believable for the characters to do. The voice actors of the Phantom Thieves reprise their roles for this game, and all of them – from Cassandra Lee Morris as Morgana and Matthew Mercer as Yusuke Kitagawa (notice me senpai), as well as the actors for new character like Megan Taylor Harvey as Sophia and Tom Taylorson as Zenkichi Hasegawa – play their roles brilliantly adding a ton of life and personality to the characters and making them all for more likeable for it. The soundtrack of the first game was one of the main highlights for me, and this game is no different. The remixes of songs like Last Surprise and Rivers in a Desert, as well as new songs like Daredevil and Counter Strike really add an extra sense of flare to the game and gives some serious kick to the game to make it more fitting to the change in gameplay. That being said though, the audio mixing wasn’t that good, there were a couple of times where the dialogue was significantly quieter than the music, in fact there were a few moments where there should clearly have been spoken dialogue and there wasn’t, luckily these occurrences were very rare, and didn’t ruin the overall game. 

Speaking of gameplay, the game, as expected from Koei Tecmo, has the same style of gameplay seen in the Dynasty Warriors series, where you take on large crowds of enemies, though like with Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity this isn’t just a clone of those games. The game actually tries to be as reminiscent to Persona 5 as possible. For example, the crowds of enemies are treated as if they were encounters in an RPG. Just like in Persona 5 your main aim is to sneak up and ambush the enemies, known as shadows, to gain the advantage and be able to deal some decent early damage, however if you’re spotted by the shadows they’ll end up getting the advantage and you may end up taking some early damage because of it, or you can just attack them before they notice you and have a straight fight where no one has any advantage. During battles, there’ll be a chance that one of the enemies you’ve defeated will drop a mask, when one does you can pick it up and add it to Joker’s arsenal of Persona, which will give him access to more attacks and abilities. These Persona will be able to be levelled up and upgraded in the Velvet Room, where you’ll also be able to perform executions which will allow you to fuse together multiple Personas and create a more powerful one. 

Each of the enemies has their own elemental strengths and weaknesses that you’ll have to take advantage of, arranging your party so that you have the right characters to help deal the most amount of damage that you can. Though if you don’t have the specific weaknesses needed for the enemy and die because of it, you shouldn’t worry too much, because if it’s a scripted fight, you’ll be able to go back into the menu and swap party members before starting the fight again. While this is an element that was in Persona 5, it doesn’t really have the best fit in this game, it makes sense in that game for there to be specific elemental weaknesses because it was a turn based RPG, it just feels a little odd to have this kind of function in a game like this. 

As to be expected, all the characters play vastly different from one another. Though unlike other games of this nature while you will find your favourites (mine ended up being Joker, Yusuke and Sophia) and be exclusively playing as them, you’ll likely be swapping between each of them regularly, taking advantage of enemy weaknesses as well as utilising the baton pass, which will make your Showtime meter increase faster – your Showtime meter slowly builds up as you fight and defeat enemies, once full you’ll be able to launch an AOE attack that deals massive damage to the enemies around you. 

While exploring the Jails you’ll find checkpoints at certain spots. They act in the same way as the safe rooms did in Persona 5, where you’ll be able to save, wrap to other checkpoints, access the Velvet Room and return to the real world if you need to replenish your HP and SP. When back in the real world, you’ll mostly be able to explore the stores there for supplies to aid you in the Jails, like HP and SP restoring items as well as ones to help with status effects. You’ll also be able to buy ingredients that can be used for cooking meals, which will further aid you in Jails by affecting everyone in your party rather than just one person.

For side content, you have requests. You’ll receive requests as you progress through the game, though you can only accept eight at a time. These will require you to go into previously completed Jails to fulfil, the tasks vary from killing a certain amount of enemies using a particular attack or a particular character, finding a certain item or an amount of said item and reaching a specific point in the palace without alerting any of the shadows. The rewards for completing these includes weapons, items or money.

In place of confidants from the mainline Persona games, you instead get the Bond meter. The Bond meter increases as you do a variety of things in the game, from completing requests, fighting encounters or just progressing in the story. Each time your bond levels up you get a number of Bond points, the amount you get per level increases the more you level up, using these points you’re able to purchase quirks to aid you in the Jails like having your Showtime attacks deal more damage, having more ammo in your guns at the start of an battle or being able to regain some HP and SP after completing an encounter. 

One slight complaint about this game, when compared to other Dynasty Warriors like games, is that the game is pretty easy. Don’t get me wrong there is plenty of challenge to be had here and you’ll no doubt be coming out of some battles by the skin of your teeth. Though I played the game on hard mode and after a while, especially when you know the game more, the challenge lessened by a fair amount, and I didn’t feel as much struggle as I did before. Hell, in the last couple of Jails the only times I got a game over was because I failed to defend Futaba while she was trying to hack into one of the rooms. It’s just a slight shame that I wasn’t able to get more of a sense of brutality in this game, but I acknowledge that that’s just a personal taste of mine and it still doesn’t ruin the game at all.

I cannot simply express just how much I love this game. From the story to the combat to just being able to play as the Phantom Thieves again, I had an absolutely brilliant time with it. It has easily become my favorite Dynasty Warrior like game (I know there’s a name for them, but sadly I can’t remember what it is), and it’s a game that I think every Persona 5 fan should play, and if you’re not a Persona 5 fan, you should feel ashamed, play Persona 5 and then play this. I’m dead serious, if this doesn’t end up being my game of the year, I will be legitimately surprised.

Little Nightmares 2

(Available for PlayStation4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC )
(PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions due out at a later date)
(PC version used for review)

Little Nightmares 2 is the sequel to Indie Horror Puzzle Platformer Little Nightmares which saw you play as a small child navigating a dark world being hunted by grotesque giant adults hunting them down. I played the original in prep for this review and it is really worth a go, It’s only 4 hours long (not including DLC) which I did in 2 sittings. The sequels doesn’t really change up much, it’s the same physics and environmental based puzzles as before but the major differences being some limited combat and the fact you’re joined by the kid from the first game as a partner so if you played the first one you know what to expect though you will have a few surprises

Pros

• Longer game time: the original game can feel over before it’s even begun with its run time of 4 hours without the DLC but in the case of the sequel we have a rise to 6 hours of game time which is a great improvement. I still beat it quite quickly in a few sittings but I appreciated more time to take everything which made it feel like more of a complete game
• Larger variety of environments: in the original game the environments were a bit more limited with the setting being confined to a prison and then a ship but in this game the majority of the game takes place in a dark city which allows for more varieties of environments like a school, a hospital and even some rather experimental environments. But it’s not just the variety of environments that has been improved it’s also the way you explore those environments has improved which allows for way more gameplay possibilities particularly in better use of the contrast between the foreground and background for puzzles and enemy encounters. And the atmosphere is amazing there’s been very few games that can give a sense of dread all around like this one but it now more than ever feels like we’ve been transported into an actual nightmare with the City backdrop having very wonky and foreboding outlines, a dark fog broken only by minimal light mostly coming from abandoned televisions broadcasting just static as well as how freaky the enemy designs are (more on that later). You have to experience this game for yourself to truly feel how subtly frightening it is.
• Gameplay: the gameplay is still great, like the first one the platforming is very physics based and does bear similarities to the Little Big Planet games which is hardly surprising given the studio that developed the game “Tarsier Studios” helped with the development of those games. I actually found the gameplay was way more forgiving this time and the controls have actually improved in many ways with a lot of the frustration I felt in the first game from some wonky depth perception. Combat is not something you’ll be doing a lot but it’s used in some sequences by adding a timing factor to it to keep up the tension effectively.
• Graphics: I played the PC version and once you get this game up to 4K the graphics really excel themselves. a game like this requires excellent lighting effects and it truly delivers on that front it also seems like there’s been a major improvement in the way textures have been rendered though I will admit I played the first game on the Switch and have now moved on to the PC version so obviously I’m playing on more powerful hardware however I am aware many people agree saying that there has been graphical improvements between games. In regards to the graphics on the Switch version which is obviously not as powerful as the other consoles while it doesn’t look bad it doesn’t show off the graphics too well from what I’ve seen especially when playing handheld
• Switch version has major improved load times: while I haven’t played the Switch version of 2, I have it on good authority that the ridiculously long load times the first game had are gone in the sequel which is a vast improvement.
• Monster design: wow I thought the enemies were scary in the first game they are down right petrifying in this game. I don’t want to spoil all of them but one example that’s been in all the advertising is the teacher than can stretch her neck out to grab you and fans of Doctor Who will appreciate the Mannequins that can only move in the darkness and will only cease moving when you shine a flashlight on them. A lot of real effort has gone into their design which once again give you a feel of being a small part of a frightening huge world

Mixed

• Story is great up until the ending: the story follows new character Mono who rescues first game character Six and together they try to escape the city they are trapped in. Now there once again is no dialogue and much of the game is open to interpretation but it does a really good job really building up the settings and the characters but the ending while apt is also kind of confusing at first. I’ve heard plenty of theories that explain the ending and I would subscribe to either Nitro Rad’s theory or the various theories eluded to in the brilliant pieces of animation created online for YouTube which you should check out. But if you prefer less speculative plots this won’t change your mind on that.
• Collectables: the collectables have improved from the first game where they really only existed for compeltionists. There’s the hats which are entirely cosmetic for Mono to wear but there’s also the static ghosts of children to collect and getting them all does give you an extra ending. While the collectables are better implemented they still feel a bit like padding though I do appreciate the greater reward. My bigger problem is that some of the collectable hats for Mono are DLC or entirely pre order bonuses which you cannot obtain in the game or purchase for extra though they still show up in the menu of collectables as missing. You don’t need to purchase these to get all the Trophies/Achievements in the game however I don’t feel the game communicates that well enough

Cons

• Final segment: this was torture, I don’t want to spoil the last segment of the game for plot reasons however what I will say is up to that point the game had puzzles which were challenging but not impossible. With this particular puzzle I have no idea how I solved I just seemed to succeed at random, it took me most of about 30-40 minutes and drove me insane and really soured the experience. I’m sure someone will explain it to me but I don’t think without repeat playthroughs you can figure it out and I’ve seen multiple let’s Play Youtubers and Twitch Streamers also have the same level of confusion as me which is why I’m confident writing it down without the risk of being accused of being an idiot that didn’t get it
• Limited replay ability: once again I hope there’s really good DLC on the way because it’s another experience where the only real replay value is getting all the collectables and the sense of dread is lessened with each playthrough when you know ahead of time what you’re up against. This should be fixed with future DLC.
• No co-op: with the amount Mono and Six interact with one another you’d think this game would have a 2 player function but it’s surprisingly absent and feels like a missed opportunity.

Overall thoughts

Little Nightmares 2 is a genuine improvement over its original in many ways. It’s why it’s a shame that it falls down at the last hurdle with its final segments. Still if you want a great puzzle platformer and a great horror experience you really should buy this it’s great experience in every other regard. The gameplay feels really improved and everything feels like the developers looked at the first game and looked at expanding their scope to deliver a terrifying experience. It is a one off experience with low replay value. however the £25 price tag seems fair for the amount of game you’re getting. I did find some segments frustrating but they were few and far between and the atmosphere this game give off is amazing. If you have the ability to play this with headphones that have 3D audio features take advantage it adds a whole new level to the experience.

Score: 8.8/10

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury

(Available for Nintendo Switch only)

As part of the Mario 35^th Anniversary Nintendo announced that they wold be bringing the Wii U game Super Mario 3D World to the Switch making it one of the last major titles from the Wii U to receive a Switch Port. Though to justify the game being full priced the game would also receive a new mode called Bowsers Fury which would be more open world experience with a day and night cycle and fight with new enemy Fury Bowser. The question then becomes is Bowsers Fury enough for people who owned 3D World on the Wii U to double dip and buy the Switch version. However I also have to acknowledge that considerably more people have bought a Switch compared to how many people bought a Wii U so for many people it’ll be their first experience with the game. 3D world maintains it’s gameplay of being a more linear Mario game of going from 1 end of the level to the other and can be played with up to 4 players. Your choice of character are Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad and eventually you can eventually unlock Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy (not a spoiler she was in the trailer for the switch version) and each character has slightly different strengths and weakness making you think about different ways on how to approach a level

Pros

• Improved Gameplay in 3D World: the game has seen some real improvement from the Wii U. small changes like a quicker move speed and the cat suit allowing you to stay on wall longer (thanks to my colleague Reece for pointing that one out to me) have really made tackling some of the harder levels way more manageable and have really made some of the faults of the Wii U game like making mistakes during precise platforming way less frequent. It also is going to make the game way more interesting for speed runners.
• Offline multiplayer: Mario 3D world’s best quality was it’s co-op multiplayer and that’s no different here it is most certainly the  strongest quality of the game. The levels are designed around the up to 4 player multiplayer and it can work out well provided you’re all good at communicating with one another and picking which of the 5 characters suits you best. In fact the multiplayer is so good it kind of makes the single player experience feel much more lonely and challenging. Bowser’s fury does have co-op for 2 players but it’s not quite as good since player 2 takes control of Bowser JR and his move set isn’t as fun or as helpful since Bowser’s Fury was aimed more at being a single player experience but I’m glad it’s at least there
• Bowers Fury Gameplay: Bowser’s Fury is a small bonus game which puts a 3D Mario platformer in an open world environment. The game puts you on travelling between several islands in a large lake with a large Fury Bowser appearing at night to battle against you to make platforming challenges your involved in harder. You’ll be collecting Cat Shines to power up a super bell to make Mario giant cat Mario to fight Fury Bowser. Honestly the experience is really interesting and it really feels like the most freedom we’ve had since Mario Odessey in a Mario game with tons of challenges and some interesting exploration. Fury Bowser isn’t too difficult to deal with but does provide some adversity at times that are inconvenient but it’s not until later portions of the game when he stays out longer and therefore gets tougher. The map isn’t massive but there are a few secrets to find with 100 Cat Shines in total to collect with a lot of different platforming challenges and few that require Fury Bowser to be active. If this is the testing grounds for a future open world 3D Mario I’m on board for it
• Controls: all the character control really well and with the gameplay improvements it does feel like controls has been something that’s improved from the Wii U version with some slight hiccups which I’ll go into more detail later about. they also surprisingly transfer well to Bowser’s Fury which I was not expecting given the change in perspective but it surprisingly tranfers well,
• Amiibo support: if you’re a massive Amiibo collector like me you won’t get the most out of your entire collection but there’s some good uses for the Amiibo in both games. The new Cat Mario and Cat Peach Amiibo give you some bonuses which can help tackle harder levels but the best use is using any Bowser Amiibo in Bowser’s fury which summons Fury Bowser automatically so you don’t have to wait around for him which I exploited a lot. You have to have your character static to use and amiibo so there’s a risk to it but it’s worth it and is some of the best use of Amiibo in recent memory.

Mixed

• Online multiplayer: when testing out the game I did a few Online Multiplayer games with my colleagues Reece and Ellliot and our experience was mixed. The game ran fine unless one of us ran into a connection issue which really caused the game to lag and made playing impossible. Once again Nintendo has launched a game with not great online functionality though this will likely improve through updates. When it worked it was great  though I would say make sure you have some way to talk to your mates when playing given how much communication is necessary
• Gyro controls: to get around the issue of the lack of a Wii U gamepad, for the segments of the game that require the gamepad the game lets you use the touchscreen in handheld mode and gyro controls when docked to a tv. The touchscreen controls function fine and replicate the gamepad but in 3D World they really feel cumbersome and don’t function as naturally as the gamepad though are not total disasters. In Bowsers fury however they function a lot better since they’re more of a bonus than a main function.
• Bowsers Fury game length and world design: the length of Bowsers Fury will not occupy too much of your time since it comes in at 3 hours for the bare minimum and only 6 hours for competionists. Now that’s fine because it’s a bonus but I’d be lying if I said it felt like a bit too short of an experience. As for the world design my issue is mainly that there needs to be bit more variety in the locations though I accept that once again this is a smaller environment because it’s more of a test run than a full game though if they are going to do this in the future the developers need a bigger world with more varied environments.

Cons

• Bowers Fury performance in handheld mode:  now both 3D world and Bowers Fury run a 60 Frames a second and run pretty well in docked mode and when playing handheld 3D World still maintains a 60 FPS speed. However Bowsers Fury only manages 30 Frames a Second in Handheld Mode which in itself isn’t too bad if noticeable but what is both bad and noticeable is some performance issues when in handheld mode which did sour the experience
• Touchscreen controls really suck for multiplayer: in the original game the touchscreen controls were only available to the player with the gamepad but now they’re available to all players which especially if you have bad communication can lead to disasters and messes with the level design. I think the game could’ve been improved by restricting the touch and gyro controls to 1 player.
• Miiverse functionality not being here makes parts of the game feel weird: I know Miiverse was not a great feature of the Wii U but 3D world was one of the better games to manage it and a lot of the menus and functions that use it feel empty without it. I would’ve appreciated some return to other players using the stamps to drop hints to other players like the Wii U game since the collectable now has no use outside of the new photo mode, though collecting them all is still required to reach the final bonus world.

Overall thoughts

The Mario 3D world + Bowsers Fury is a really nice package for both newcomers and return players. Scott the Woz said in his video that in his opinion what held 3D World back was the fact that it was the only 3D Mario game on the Wii U and felt more like a supplementary title to ease people into a more traditional 3D Mario and I would agree with that opinion which is why I think the game works better on the Switch given that it now stands alongside not only Odyssey but also Super Mario 3D All Stars (provided you bought it before March 31^st) which means it become the more fun party Mario platformer to play with your friends and if the online multiplayer is improved I think it can serve that purpose well during lockdown and it’s offline multiplayer will be even better post lockdown. The improvements to the gameplay also make it a much smoother experience to play each level and I really found myself having more fun revisiting it than I expected. As for Bowsers Fury while it has a few technical issues and I’m not the first reviewer to say the cat shines could have a bit more variety in how they are obtained, if this is Nintendo’s test run for a full open world 3D Mario Game they absolutely should go for it since it was good fun exploring the various islands and to obtain the cat shines and the gameplay has real room for expansion.

Score: 9.2/10

Destruction All-Stars

(Available for PlayStation 5 only)

The PlayStation 5 launch has not been a total success with the issue of shortened supply due to scalpers and while it has launched with a few great games as well as some truly great enhancements to some PlayStation 4 games it hasn’t changed the fact that while Sony has stated several games like Horizon Forbidden West and the New God of War game do have 2021 as their scheduled release year no dates have been assigned, Returnal which was the only dated exclusive has been pushed back to April 30^th and we still feel like we’re waiting for that next big exclusive game that’s going to make the PS5 investment worth it though the news that Ratchet and Clank Rifts Apart has a June release date eases some of that worry. During it’s first unveiling of the PS5 we saw the first trailer for an online multiplayer game called Destruction All Stars that would be a PS5 exclusive and be at launch, though later got a delay to February 1^st 2021. To make up for it Sony made it a free game for it’s first month to PlayStation Plus account holders which is how I got it. The game is similar to classic destruction derby games with several hero like characters to pick from a kin to games like Overwatch and League of Legends. The big difference is you won’t be in cars at all times and you will have the ability to leave your car try a new one or jack in to someone else’s. the game comes with 4 multiplayer modes which range to 2 battle royal modes one of which is score based and the other being survival as well as a 8 vs 8 team game. there’s also an offline single player campaigns but some of them require extra purchases

Pros

• Use of the PS5 controller: this is one of the game’s best features they really have taken the innovative Dual Sense controller and looked at what ways that it can enhance the experience. It does so by making using the trigger button really feel like you’re pressing down on a pedal and having the rumble make you feel the impact of crashes or the effect of the spring
• Controls: they’re actually perfectly serviceable and I got to grips with them fast and they were largely responsive the only issue I really had was that the camera occasionally wasn’t great but other than that don’t really have a negative

Mixed

• Hero designs: the heroes do have very good designs for the most part and the Overwatch inspiration is very apparent but there’s a couple designs that are bit on the nose to their inspiration from other game, for example both the lucha libre characters bear a bit of resemblance to Juan from Guacamele and I can’t see a character with a lion head without thinking of King from Tekken ( I know King wears a Leopard mask but the point still stands). Plus the heroes are really lacking in personality, I really couldn’t tell you much about them off the top of my head which is not something I could say in regards to overwatch.
• Graphics and performance: performance is good it runs at 60 fps and despite some lag issues (and this was with an Ethernet cable connected to the PS5) it most of the time ran at a consistent 60 Frames per second. I’ve heard some people have had desynch issues with matches though I didn’t experience this much though that’s probably due to the fact that there’s a dedicated server in Europe and most issue are with people in regions like South East Asia and Australia which don’t have that. As for the graphics they’re fine and do feel like they certainly are a slight step above the PS4 but this is not a game pushing the Playstastion 5 hardware

Cons

• Boring level design: all the maps look the same, they have all these different locations like Bacelona or Vegas but I couldn’t tell you on sight alone what the difference was between them. There’s also no real change in strategy or even much to do with the layout depending on which map you get so they all blend into each other.
• Most Game modes are uncompelling: the game is currently sporting 4 modes, Mayhem which is a point based destruction derby style games and is the default option in which every match I was in was really confusing and kind of dull with no real consequences for wiping out and doesn’t reward too much experimentation since all the cars don’t feel all that different including the hero cars which only stand out because of the unique power ups, Gridfall a battle royal on a map with slowly disappearing floor in order to elimiate the competition which was so quick that I barely was playing before I got eliminated and had to go back to the menu (couldn’t even spectate the match if I wanted to) and this game mode would’ve been way better with multiple lives, Carnado which is an 8 vs 8 team game that involves wrecking cars to earn points then attempting to transport for most of the great them to a tornado to bank the points whichever team scores the most wins and finally Stockpile which is another 8 vs 8 team game and sucks because it involves getting out of the car for large portions which sucks because that’s the worst gameplay gets lots of flailing around hoping you hit someone . All these modes suffer from a lack of ability to experiment with the cars and there really doesn’t feel like much rhyme or reason as to how the wrecks effect the points scored
• Several modes can’t be played with your friends: ok I finally have at least one friend with a PlayStation 5 and I was going to ask him to party up for a few games to test what it’s like to play this with friends. However I never ended up inviting him because I soon discovered that many of the modes do not let you play with players you party up with. This means you just have to hit the mode you want to play at the same time as your friend and hope you get partnered together and that really sucks. Right now we’re incredibly cut off from each other and online games are a great way to do that and this game wouldn’t allow for that.
• Paying extra for lacklustre single player: the single layer is really not great and what’s worse is they charge you extra for parts of it. on one of the 3 single player options comes with the game the rest cost extra, the one single play I tried wasn’t great so I wasn’t willing to pay more for content that should’ve come with the game. Now I’m aware when I picked this up it was a free game with my PlayStation Plus subscription but if I’d bought the physical release I would’ve had to pay extra on top of a full price release.

Overall thoughts

Whenever I review a game with a largely online multiplayer focus I always say to myself will this join the games I will regularly play for the online multiplayer and this game will certainly not be joining them. It’s functionally all right but the games are far too quick, the gameplay is dull and boring with no real sense of experimentation to find a style that works for you, the online maps have virtually no difference between them and the multiplayer is not well handled in terms of playing with friends. It really is not worth it right now maybe it’ll get better as time goes on but it’s on weak foundations to do so right now.

Score: 5.1/10

Get it digitally right now while it’s free if you are morbidly curious the physical edition is not worth it for the price.