Games

Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line (PS4) Review

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I never saw this review coming at the start of the year but I really need to get this up now because it’s oddly become something of an obsession of mine in the last two-ish months, despite the fact I’ve never really played rhythm games before, and I have no doubt it’ll end up on my Top 10 2023 Games list somewhere. It’s all thanks to the YouTube channel Good Vibes Gaming for covering the build up to its release so favourably combined with a demo release allowing me to think “well, why not? It’s free, I’ll give it a try.” Famous last words…

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Hades (PS5) Review

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I’m afraid it’s time for another classic example of me finally getting around to something long after all the hype has died down as it’s time to look at what many people classed as their Game of the Year in, um, 2020: Hades. Now I loved Bastion and Transistor, two previous works by Supergiant Games, so I’m not sure why the most highly regarded of them all has taken me so long but at least I can confirm it lived up to the hype and then some! Let’s take a look…

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Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GameCube) Review

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Another Mario Kart 8 Booster Pass release, another older game review! We’ve reached the full 3D polygon era of Mario Kart with Double Dash!! (Yes, complete with two exclamation marks!!) and with it a lot of things now associated with the franchise, especially the multiple drift levels and mini-boosts. It also came with a team mechanic where you choose two drivers for each kart and can even do co-op, something that has been dropped from later entries… let’s take a look!

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Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) / Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII – Reunion (PS5) Review

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Crisis Core is a prequel to Final Fantasy VII that was released alongside the movie “Advent Children” (a sequel to FFVII) in a celebration of the influential game, and I was dead excited. I’m not much of a portable gamer but my PSP got some serious action with this one, but in the end I got stuck on a boss near the end and couldn’t be bothered to grind. Fast forward a decade or two and a remaster arrives on modern consoles, so it was finally time to right a wrong, especially as I’m much more inclined to grind sitting in front of a TV than with a handheld (which is really the wrong way round, but hey-ho…) So let’s take a look at both games, which are actually quite different in the end… Also this is my first PS5 review on this blog, and it’s a remaster of a PSP game… Oh well!

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My Top 10 Games of 2022

David Hogan5 Comments

Another year, another “Top 10 Games” list that I feel the need to stress that I’m aware some great games aren’t on it because I simply haven’t played them. I’m just one man with a blog and a full time job, not a website that gets sent review copies! So I’m sure God of War: Ragnarok should be near or at the top of the list, but I can’t put it on there because I haven’t played it… I have played a lot of games that didn’t get released in 2022 though, including looking at 120 hours + on Super Robot Wars 30 thanks to buying all of its DLC along with the base game… and I’m still not done with it! So let’s look at what 10 games I managed to cobble together this year!

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Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA) Review

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Super Circuit sits in a strange place in my Mario Kart history in that I played it at launch (ish) and played it a fair amount, but its difficulty curve and me not really being a big handheld guy meant I didn’t really get into it the same way as other entries in the series (beyond 3DS and Tour, which I just haven’t played at all) Going back to it now has only made the challenge even more, well, challenging, despite having a full screen and comfortable controller in my hand. Much like when I played Super Mario Kart for this blog the old style controls are just so… counter intuitive after so many years of the newer style back-to-back. Oh well, it’s another Booster Pass course drop today, so let’s look at another Mario Kart game!

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Mass Effect 2: Legendary Edition (PS4) Review

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Last year I completed the original Mass Effect’s PS4 remaster and really enjoyed the experience, remarking how I skipped on them originally because a friend had played them in front of me a lot back then. Well, Mass Effect 2 he only played the first half or so and then stopped so this not only had the actual fun of finally playing it but I got to see where the story is actually going (or I guess where it goes given the original Trilogy’s storyline has been complete for sometime now…) Happy to report improvements in both gameplay and story made this a very fun experience, so let’s take a look!

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WWE Smackdown! Shut Your Mouth (PS2) Review

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The next entry into the Smackdown! series of WWE games is the rather stupid sounding “Shut Your Mouth”, I guess they’d already used “Know Your Role” on SD!2 and “Just Bring It!” in the last game so ran out of Rock catchphrases? (Well, baring in mind “Smackdown! If You Smell” sounds weird) Subtitle aside SYM and its sequel are the high point of PS2 WWE games and frankly among the best in the whole Yukes SD/SvR/2K run that only recently came to an end. So let’s take a look!

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Mario Kart 64 (N64) Review

David Hogan2 Comments

While I’m off by a week or two it’s still time to look at the next Mario Kart game alongside a “Booster Pass” release, this time the second ever MK game (that just makes me think of Mortal Kombat… oh well!) that being Mario Kart 64. At the time the 3D graphics were a great addition to the game and made for far more varied maps to race on, but in 2022 its safe to say it looks a little worse for wear, as a lot of N64 games do. How does it play though? Let’s take a look…

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Earth Defence Force 5 (PS4) Review

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Me and my friend have been playing EDF games since … well, we played two on the XBOX 360 anyway, and so it was a nice treat when he turned up with Earth Defence Force 5 in his bag over the summer. With 110 missions and us only managing to get together for a few hours a week it took a while but as per usual it was an absolute blast. It may not be much to look at or listen to but it’s hard to find a more fun example of “couch co-op”. Let’s take a look!

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