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
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!
Continue readingMass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (PS4) Review
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!
Continue readingDragon Ball: Final Bout (PS1) Review
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!
Continue readingDragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 (PS1) Review
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?
Continue readingGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2) / Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – Definitive Edition (PS4) Review
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…)
Continue readingLegends of Wrestling II (PS2) Review
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!
Continue readingDynasty Warriors 5 / XL (PS2) Review
The Dynasty Warriors film is up next in this marathon, so why I am reviewing Dynasty Warriors 5 and not the first Dynasty Warriors? Well, the first was a pretty poor 1v1 fighting game rather than the series that film is based on that started with DW2, and DW5 was the first game in the franchise (and indeed the first Warriors game in general) I ever played, so it made the most sense. It’s not like they don’t all share the same story anyway! So let’s take a look at Dynasty Warriors 5 as well as its “XL” expansion, given you needed the original game to play it anyway so it’s more like DLC, to use modern terminology…
Continue readingStreet Fighter 6 (PS5) Review
Street Fighter 6, it’s safe to say, overachieves in its debut, a lesson clearly learned from the poor barebones release of Street Fighter V. Not only does it have a good selection of characters old and new, not only does it have arcade mode, versus, online, and other classic modes but it also has a massive and lengthy single player campaign complete with create-a-fighter facilities and open world elements plus an online hub complete with old arcade games you can play and compete against others on. Out of character in a very good way! Let’s take a more detailed look.
Continue readingMortal Kombat 11 Ultimate (PS4) Review
The next “game to live action movie marathon” at least has an accompanying game this time! Yes, the reboot Mortal Kombat movie is under the microscope and due to that it made the most sense to look at the most recent (as of this review) MK game, given a lot of the visual identity and extremely gory fatalities seen in the film are based off of the most recent efforts. I enjoyed my time with MK11, but I’m glad I waited for it to be cheap (and with all the DLC) as it’s never been my favourite fighting game franchise, and some decisions made in its design are, um, questionable, to say the least. Let’s take a look!
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