Playstation

Assassin’s Creed: Mirage Review

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“What’s old is new again” is the motto for Assassin’s Creed Mirage as it’s far closer to the original 7th Generation XBOX360/PS3 Assassin’s Creed games in structure, scope and a lot of the gameplay mechanics too. The only problem is the story itself isn’t very interesting, especially as our lead’s final fate was revealed in the previous game, which is especially frustrating because this is the first AC game to not have any modern day story content at all, something I’ve wanted since day 1 of the franchise… Oh well, let’s take a look!

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Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix (PS4) Review

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Over the past couple of years I reviewed one series I’d played many times (the PS2 GTA games) and one I’d always wanted to play (Mass Effect Trilogy) so I thought I’d do the same again, and in this case Kingdom Hearts is the series I’ve never played before but it’s always been on my “I’d like to try that some day” list, especially as more and more people started ragging on its apparently convoluted storyline (I do love a good convoluted storyline…) So I saw a “Story So Far” collection of most of the games on PS4 for under a tenner and thought, why not? Sora in Smash only pushed the series back into the forefront of my mind anyway. So what did I think of the original game? I really enjoyed it, actually! Let’s take a deeper look from someone playing the 2002 RPG for the first time in 2023…

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Persona 5 Tactica (PS5) Review

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Frankly given how much I love the Persona 5 story, characters, and general vibe with the presentation and music as soon as this was announced I knew I’d be getting it day 1, even though I’m not a big fan of the art style they went with and I’ve never really played a Tactics RPG before (beyond X-COM, I guess?) and while I wasn’t as into it as I hoped I’d be I still enjoyed my time with the game. I think I was most disappointed with the storyline, which was weak compared to even fellow spin-off Persona 5 Strikers, and at the lack of challenge the game gave me. There were plus points though, so let’s take a deeper look!

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Spider-Man 2 (PS5) Review

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The first Spider-Man game took me by surprise because I assumed I’d like it and due to that didn’t really pay much attention to it until playing it, where I was blown away by not just the fun gameplay and open world but the new spin on some old favourites in the storyline. Spider-Man: Miles Morales was released alongside the PS5 but given I didn’t actually buy one until a few years later I never got around to playing it, despite it being on my “must get that at some point” mental list. Anyway, fast-forward to now and Spider-Man 2 was this time something I knew would be great, at the most it would more of the same with a few added bits and another great chunk of story, and … yeah, that was what we got! I think a Spider-Man 3 might have to at least change locations to freshen things up, but for now I was pretty damn happy with what we got! Let’s take a closer look.

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Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) Review

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I wasn’t sure about Final Fantasy XVI for a while, I knew I wanted to play it but I wasn’t sold on the visual setting and the more “gritty” style so I waited until it was a bit cheaper and I had the time to dedicate to it. Now I’ve played the game all the way through I have to say that it’s an odd one. There were times when I was thinking of either giving it up or just running through the main missions, then by the end I did every side quest and monster hunt available before hitting that final chapter, so it got its hooks into me at the end, but if someone were to say to me they gave up half way through I’d understand… Want more detail? That’s lucky, I’ve written a whole review, so let’s take a look at it!

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Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (PS4) Review

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It’s time to cap off my first ever run-through of the Mass Effect Trilogy (via the PS4 Legendary Edition) by taking a look at the controversial third entry. All I really knew is that people didn’t like the ending so they patched in new cutscenes with more context and stuff but people still weren’t generally happy, but by the time the credits rolled I didn’t mind the ending really. Well, the one I got anyway, though again that obviously has all the added stuff from after people complained… Anyway, I did find things I didn’t like about the plot and gameplay, so it’s definitely a step down from ME2 as the general consensus seems to be, so let’s take a deeper look and find out why!

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Dragon Ball: Final Bout (PS1) Review

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I know what you’re thinking, “Didn’t you just say how much you hated Ultimate Battle 22 and you waited until the PS2 games came out?” Why yes, and that’s still true, but what I did do was at some point in between Budokai 1 and 2 I found Final Bout in a second-hand games shop for a couple of pounds and thought “why not?”, assuming it was a poorer man’s Tekken or Street Fighter EX, not knowing of course that it was literally UB22 but with 3D graphics instead. *sigh*. Still, by covering this now it means whenever I get to the first chunk of Z films I can review the Budokai trilogy one after another, so that’s nice, plus there’s something fitting about review a GT-heavy game while reviewing the Dragon Ball film that was released while GT was airing and featured GT elements… It sort of matches! Let’s take a look!

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Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 (PS1) Review

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Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 was the first Dragon Ball game I played, being released here at the start of the newly emerging but quickly expanding English speaking Dragon Ball explosion but way after the game was in any way relevant. Hell, the PS2 was already out and well established by that point! I brought it cheap thinking it would “tide me over” until the PS2 DBZ games came along (which they thankfully did quite quickly!) but I barely played it because it was so… SO bad. Even my newly minted DBZ hype couldn’t cover the slow, clunky gameplay. Guess what? It’s not any better now! Let’s get this out of the way, shall we?

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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2) / Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – Definitive Edition (PS4) Review

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It’s time to bring a close to my look at the PS2 GTA trilogy and their “Definitive Editions” with the iconic San Andreas. As you’d hope with the final entry in a trilogy it built upon what came before it and added so much more… everything, even cities to explore. Sadly this is the one game where its Definitive Edition is still a bit of a mess, but ignoring that little modern road bump I’ve had nothing but praise for San Andreas since it came out, let’s see if that still holds true in 2023, nearly 20 years later (bloody hell…)

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Legends of Wrestling II (PS2) Review

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After the original Legends of Wrestling was a “Fun experiment” that I quickly grew tired of Legends of Wrestling II came along and much to my surprise was far more playable than I was expecting, crossing over into just plain “good” thanks to the new territories-based career mode and the addition of four World of Sport era legends from the UK (in the PAL version). Does it still hold up in 2022 though? The answer may not be as straight forward as I would’ve thought!

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