Sit-Rep: Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel – A Succulent Fruit Hidden in Ashes

October 26, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+Revisiting The Painted World of Ariamis with Ashes of Ariandel
+New boss fights and creatures provide a worthwhile challenge
+New PvP Arena is spectacular and fulfills a PvPers desires
+Very well paced for the small download size offering between 3-4 hours of gameplay

Cons:
-Difficulty at times can be mind boggling occasions
-Exploring can be difficult for newcomers to the series that started with DSIII.

Dark Souls 3 has been delivering an enjoyable experience for us since the day we snuffed out the flame of the Soul of Cinder boss for our review. Ashes of Ariandel delivers a very similar experience for fans to enjoy. With a new icy landscape to enjoy, new weapons, armor, and even spells, Ashes of Ariandel isn’t shy on delivering a satisfactory experience for everyone involved. However, the hunt for all of this? It will only last depending on the want players have to fight creatures to farm for their gear or even players just wanting to wipe out the bosses for the experience.

However, this expansion isn’t all-that-difference from the lands we once explored in Dark Souls named “The Painted World of Ariamis”. However, it’s not exactly the same due to where players get to visit. In this world, players will find enemies that are rather diverse, deadly, and will deal just as much damage like any-other-enemy. Players will once more find themselves becoming familiar with enemies such as “The Followers, the Millwood Knights, and even the vicious wolves that wander around. Unlike many of the enemies we’ve met before, they are vicious, they are brutal, and these Viking like enemies that like to blow things up with their weapons.

Unlike many of the places we’ve visited in the game, Ariandel itself is just as deadly as the enemies within it. With treacherous mountain cliffs, false snowbanks that randomly fall from beneath you, Ariandel will leave you in perilous situations as enemies will openly jump you without knowing. While snowy-covered lands may be a large part of the land you explore, players will also find themselves going through buildings within the land, but also they will find themselves exploring the rather deadly path of twisted roots in order to explore the lands below. The only thing that makes this experience saddening is Ariandel itself isn’t all that large as one would hope. Compared to any other zone within the game, Ariandel is almost just a blip on the radar with it only hosting two bosses, around a dozen items to be discovered.

The one thing that does make this zone a bit troubled isn’t the mobs, how small it is, or how few bosses there are. It’s the fact this zone is packed full of bonfires that allow fans to move through the zone a heck-of-a-lot quicker than they’d like. Unlike Dark Souls world “The Painted World of Ariamis,”fans will find themselves not concerned with moving once more through the lands. Like much of the game compared to the previous entries, Ashes of Ariandel remains tame compared to the rest of the game, and even makes itself feel less challenging than ever before.

This approach, however, doesn’t take away from what the expansion is about. The bosses, the monsters, and even the treacherous terrains are formidable foes that will leave players reeling in pain. As mentioned before, Ashes of Ariandel remains a pivotal point in the direction the next DLC could go. Despite how easy the DLC felt at points, the expansion itself offered up plenty of challenges for me to experience. Whether it was the Millwood Knights or even the wolves hiding within the forest, Ashes of Ariandel’s three hours of play time offered plenty of challenges for me to go through, and became a rather quick awareness check for me to experience. PvP arenas remain locked until players defeat the optional boss that’s hidden within the lands.

While mortality within the game is quite easily tested by players exploring the lands, you can quite easily expect this to shine through in Ashes of Ariandel with the games new arena. For players looking to PvP, Ashes of Ariandel offers up a rather large amount of this to be had. Players can choose from 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 or even blood filled free-for-alls, and the ability to choose whether or not to heal within it. Seeking avenues within each map is quite pleasing as players will find multiple approaches to each encounter, which will allow players to blast back against their enemies or even wither them down to nothing. Worried about spawn camping? There’s none of that to be had here since the game manages to negate this issue with an anti-spawn camp mechanic. This will definitely encourage PvP later in for those that tire of the games campaign.

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel – PC, PlayStation 4 (PlayStation 4), Xbox One
Developer: From Software
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Cost: $14.99
Release Date: Now Available

However, with all that said, Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel is an enjoyabl experience that will keep fans busy for hours to come. Fr those looking to PvP, the DLC will keep fans busy for longer than expected as they find themselves exploring the frozen wastelands or even beating other players around until their ashes scatter within the winds.

Our review is based upon the release of the DLC via the games Season Pass. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the boarders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter, Google+, and or you can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Sit-Rep: Sword Coast Legends – Do Swords Clash Well on Consoles?

October 11, 2016October 11, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+Beautiful top down cRPG that follows a play style close to Baulders Gate
+Class system is very much along the lines of pen and paper DnD in real time
+Character creation is in-depth, intuitive and does require attention to stats

Cons:
–Extremely Limited Dungeon Master Mode
–Character classes at start are limited as are race selections
–Horrific quest markers that seem out-of-place and rather misleading

A lot has happened since Sword Coast Legends launched on PC earlier this year. Thanks to our friends at Digital Extremes I was able to get my hand on the original PC release. A lot has honestly changed since then thanks to the DLC content, but also some fine tuning that the game needed rather badly. In my previous review, I also stated I’ve experienced some in real life hysterical moments with my friends Matt and Ben when we sat at a table to play Dungeons & Dragons on weekends.

For this review, we’ll once more pretend I didn’t play with my friends, that I don’t know what D&D is, and I certainly don’t know the legendary Gary Gygax. In this review I’m also pushing to the side I have previous experience of the game and approaching it from a new view all together thanks to Digital Extremes and my friend as well as colleague Christopher Adee. So let us get this underway.

Sword Coast Legends Keeps the D&D Fans Know Alive

When it comes to D&D we’ve all had that feeling that we’ve walked in circles many-a-times. We’ve seen games such as Baldurs Gate, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Neverwinter Nights, and even an MMO-version of Neverwinter release across all platforms. Among these many titles we now have Sword Coast Legends, which is oddly familiar in many ways. Much like Neverwinter Nights, Sword Coast Legends fills a much needed gap when it comes to D&D Games, unlike the publishers game Warframe, it doesn’t sate a deeply hungering desire that players have.

As one would expect, Dungeon Master is something that’d be rather important within the game and honestly it is one that should have performed the best. Unfortunately, this isn’t where the game shines in all unfortunate circumstances. Much like any game, D&D titles survive based on story, which is where Sword Coast Legends shines the best out of it all. Much like any D&D title, players begin the game as a part of a mercenary band, a member of the Burning Dawn guild, and one that must guide their caravan to the pirate city of Luskan. Being attacked by a group of mercenaries being led by a Knight of Helm, players finds their guild is being condemned by him for possibly being composed of demon worshipers.

By the end of this beginning sequence players find themselves investing the city of Luskan around the Sword Coast and looking for answers to what is happening to them. While the opening cut scene was one players will be rather familiar with, it’s an issue that this game comes across besides the fact it had a chance to be intriguing, albeit difficult at the same time. The game comes out with a default “defend the caravan” scenario where players will get acquainted with combat by fighting rats, goblins, and the infamous mercenaries we discussed.

While the game grabs our attention by killing off a caravan member early on, players could easily cringe if they’ve played Pillars of Eternity since both games begin almost on the same note. If you’re like myself, don’t equip all your party members with the best gear you find, there is a chance you will lose them and the gear itself won’t remain permanent. Once getting this out of the way, the game effectively joins the collective of games that Bioware has inspired after the release of their Knights of the Old Republic titles. Players will find themselves growing accustomed to wandering around multiple landscapes such as sewers, woodlands, abandoned castles, dungeons, caves, and the likes. Sadly, this is something that remains rather common within Sword Coast Legends.

It Gets a Bit Weirder for Sword Coast Legends

While one would assume enjoying a game wouldn’t be a common occurrence, it’s something that does tend to happen quite often, which makes it odd to the games pacing. Players will find themselves doing it quite often to level up their party members, choosing items, placing points into spells, and even itemizing themselves properly so that they may become insanely overpowered. This all, of course, requires a bit of Dungeons and Dragons know-how players may be unfamiliar with at first. Trust me, it happened to me to, and I know D&D somewhat well as long as it sat within the 2.5 guidelines.

While the A.I. knew what it was doing, I did find myself swapping to my healer, more-so to ensure healing would be done properly, and would provide proper buffs needed to complete each battle. Trust me, it worked, and quite a bit. One thing that players will find problematic isn’t that the difficulty isn’t there, but it’s the fact it isn’t there when it should be and is there when it shouldn’t be. A few rats or a few goblins? No problem. Have your caster blind them, freeze them, and annihilate them with their most powerful AoE spell.

While Chris and I did take time to notice the difficulty didn’t scale in our favor, we wiped a few times, picked up the pieces and tried once more. With the few kinks in our mistakes cleared out, we ran off, grabbed our objective, and were on our merry ways due to our excessive amounts of healing items and defensive potions. Not that this is problematic at all, but the reviving friendlies without a spell doesn’t help to alleviate this issue. The only time I found a real problem was when Chris took over the tank only to have our cleric waste a healing spell that wasn’t needing to be used a few times. The other issue? The AI loved to use our healing kits, potions, and resources without really needing them, which left us in fear of never having them when they are truly need in things such as a boss fight.

With that aside, the game is quite enjoyable thanks to the character classes that are in play, which puts each character uniquely crafted as you start recruiting your party. With the new leveling system, players will be able to build the characters they want through these rather in-depth skill trees. For those unfamiliar to D&D, these may be a bit dumbfounding at first, but once figured out, they’re quite fun. Want a battle caster? That’s fine, craft your caster to do so based on the large array of skill trees to do so. My fire mage? He quickly went battle mage, which isn’t uncommon in the game. I made him good for close range combat while wearing light armor. I’m sure Hommet was calling me dirty things in the background. It happens, but he’ll fight through the storm. Our rogue? I made her more useful at picking locks, revealing secrets, and dealing delicious amounts of damage without being spotted.

Our little elf friend cleric? She quickly became our dedicated healer. While many would frown upon my choices, it’s because this game easily made this capable of happening as characters level up, and offer players a chance to designate characters to how they want them. If you are out adventuring and have a class missing from your party that synergies with your build? You could find yourself troubled, but thanks to the class system that shouldn’t happen, and won’t if you prepare properly. The only thing dumbfounding is that characters can communicate from camp by the means of magic. Wait, dwarves can’t use magic can they?

Oh, Dungeon Master… You Need Some Upgrades

While finding people to play with on Sword Coast Legends was enjoyable, I found myself cringing on several instances, but not because of the multiplayer. The game honestly has one of the most solid netcodes I’ve experienced to date, but the fact the game goes beyond the campaign and leaves players to an opportunity to play the Dungeon Master mode, which is troubled due to its rather lacking amount of content.

Just like in tabletop D&D, players are given a chance to allow players to build their own dungeons and play them shortly after. Sound familiar to anyone? We did this in Neverwinter Nights also. Players can select from traps, monsters, and loot tables for players to enjoy. While it could be heavily edited, it’d have been nice to see more complex codes so that players could add in interactive NPC’s, secret rooms, and even special loot sets for players to discover.

Sword Coast Legends – PC, PlayStation 4 (PlayStation 4), Xbox One
Developer: n-Space
Publisher: Digital Extremes
Cost: $19.99
Release Date: Now Available

Much as you’d expect, once your dungeon is build, you can take your friends or internet friends on an enjoyable spin through your carefully crafted world. Players can directly manage the party so as to make the progression of their friends even more challenging and unpredictable. Of course, this can be done without intentionally making them fail like I did a few times to show what DMs are capable of. The Dungeon Maser can openly place new traps, new missions, and spend resources (threat) to provide an elevated sense of difficulty to their dungeons.

Unlike my chances at home, Sword Coast Legends’ difficulties have proven true as to what I had expected. While some could harp on the game for such a lacking feature, it’s one that the publisher Digital Extremes could have had developer n-Space improve upon post launch. The downside to this is even more painful – n-Space has closed, which means no new content will be headed this way. We can only hope that Sword Coast Legends gets improved upon by famed publisher Digital Extremes by providing some of the love they’ve shown to Warframe.

Our review is based upon the final version that the publisher provided us with. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

Final Score: 6 out of 10

About the Writer:

Sit-Rep: PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness – Smile for the Camera

October 8, 2016October 8, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / 2 Comments

Pros:
+Stories are short, deep, and incredibly well written
+Anime knowledge isn’t required, but is suggested
+Choices matter, big time, even the small ones
+Multiple endings that actually reflect your choices made

Cons:
-The graphic novel approach could deter some players
-Better choice options could be priceless if better ones were put in

When looking at games, many of us are used to narrative driven shooters, action-adventure, and even RPG titles. Many of us are used to scaling across landscapes, through buildings, and focus on rather active games, but what if one of the best narrative titles didn’t have any of this? What if this game was presented as a children-esque picture book made for adults? That’s exactly how PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness is approached.

While that seems like a negative to some, PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness isn’t scared of bad endings, and it isn’t ashamed of them. This game is fatalist in every sense of the word. One wrong choice could result in a rather grotesque and brutal death of the main protagonist. Want to play the 20-to-30 hours I did and know that your character could very well die? That’s fine if you are up for it. This game isn’t scared to give you that formulaic approach. It’s built into this games nature.

If you play it like I did, you’ll also know you can complete this game in one swift and direct playthrough. With it lasting only roughly 3-4 hours per story (one of mine took a bit longer due to my PlayStation TV not loving this game as it should have, which was hardware based problems), I was able to see quite a few endings within 9 hours. Luckily, this game tempts you to actually play it once more, and if you think you want to ignore all the possible endings, I’d by you dinner if you didn’t have even the slightest want to obtain them all. Hell, I’m still playing due to this.

Psyco-Pass: Mandatory Happiness is Based on an Anime After All

While it’d be hard to justify a game not based on an anime, PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness follows suit in this world that’s already been created. Just as the anime is actually relevant to the game, Mandatory Happiness is more-so an offshoot of the already established franchise.

In Mandatory Happiness players take the role of one of two characters. Players can choose from either Nadeshiko Kugatachi or Takuma Tusurugi. Both of these characters are unique in the sense that both of them come from different backgrounds. Nadeshiko is an Inspector for the Public Safey Bureau. Takuma is an Enforcer. Both of these characters serve very different roles within the game, and each of them also give a new insight to their own underlying plots. Something that is quite important to the end of the game.

For those unfamiliar with PSYCHO-PASS lets take a bit of a look into it before we begin. The series starts in a rather futuristic Japan where technology has reached all new heights when it comes to surveillance. This new technology has reached a point to where it can keep tabs on everyone and will predict their chance of committing a crime. If they get near it, the system will warn them and alert the authorities of such a risk. Let alone does it do this, the system also creates a profile about each of the citizens it watches over. With the Big Brother-esque Sibyl Systems in place, everyone is not free of being scanned. The system scans, as stated, both mental and emotional metrics in order to keep a check on everyone’s “Psycho-Pass”.

In this system, people are monitored based on a Hue. If a person’s stress level changes, their color will grow cloudy, and if it continues to stay cloudy too long, they are flagged as a risk for society. Society’s goal is to keep their Hue clear, which means they must control their anger or their sadness. On top of the Hue, Psycho-Pass also has a Crime Coefficient that works along side with it. This number, the Crime Coefficient that is, keeps a number on the citizens. If the number reaches a certain point, the Public Safety Bureau (PSB for short) will send a detective team of Inspectors and or Enforces to determine if a person needs to be enforced. If they do, they’re knocked unconscious with a weapon known as a Dominator. If people are knocked out, they are sent to a hospital to try and rehabilitate.

If that was too long, lets just understand that Minority Report is an excellent movie to use to describe this system and how crime is predicted, but with technology instead of psychics. Regardless of which character you play, you’ll learn that one of them has lost their memories, the system has decided that one of the characters needed to rehabilitate before going back into action. Unfortunately, this does set one of the characters apart from the other, which creates a void between what characters should expect in the long run. This aspect brings the anime to life within the game and makes it so players don’t exactly have to understand the anime in order to play.

There’s No Action Outside of the Graphic Novel Reading

While many of you are quite possibly used to anime games such as Freedom Wars, Lost Dimension, and even Soul Sacrifice – Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness forgoes all of this for the graphic novel -like appeal. While Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness would work quite well as an action game, the fact it comes off as a graphic novel works out quite well for fans. Even with all the reading, it’s a game that is rather addicting once players get started.

While I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least slightly discouraged by the graphic novel appeal, PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness, is one of those that has been very well done to the point that players would find themselves drawn in more than once. Decisions, as you would expect, play a major role in this game, even the smallest ones. In PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness players will find decisions to be something of importance in completing their play throughs one by one. However, how will your decisions be made? Will you infiltrate a location that serves as a home base to a possible suspect? If not, will you stay back and research your options? All of these will play a radical point in your overall story. Each of them will manipulate your possible endings.

PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness – PS4, PS Vita, and PC
Developer: 5pb.
Publisher: NIS America
Price: $39.99
Released: Available Now

While these choices certainly don’t seem as exciting as they should, each one serves their purpose, and each of them remains important to the stories final outcome. If you were to look at the Steam achievement list or even the PlayStation Trophy list, the possibilities for your options are truly astonishing at what you could do. While I could argue that PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness is an astonishingly well crafted game. For players that want a game with multiple outcomes, multiple choice paths to take, and multiple endings this is one for their shelves, this is a must have as fans of the anime will surely find this game a diamond in the rough.

To be honest? Because of this anime. I’ve found myself watching the anime in order to understand the game world a bit better.

Our review is based on a full release version that was provided to us by the games publisher. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

About the Writer:

Sit-Rep: Touhou: Scarlet Curiousity- Blurring the Lines of Bullet Hell and Brawler Genres

October 6, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+Accomplishes the amazing blending of multiple genres
+Highly fun and addictive to play
+Levels offer variety, beautiful views, and charming songs to experience

Cons:
–Enemies sometimes blend into the environments
–Can be easy to lose direction of where you need to go
–For some the game could be an easy hit or miss

Lately it’s almost odd to see as many bullet Hell games as we have. Just recently we got a chance to play that missed chance with Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet, which could have offered a rather large opportunity, but failed to do so in the end. Next up is a second chance for the bullet Hell genre, but luckily? This latest entry does an amazing job at several feats, but in a rather interesting way for fans to enjoy.

But before I begin I want to disclose the fact I’ve never heard of the Tohou series until now. Thanks to XSEED Games that’s no longer the case. We here at Blast Away the Game Review have now become familiar with the famed Touhou franchise that captivates fans around the world. This entry is only the second one to come here to the West, and with what it is, it’s actually one that we can now say how we feel about a franchise of this prestige. As some of you may see this as a sincere apology, it’s anything but that since it was interesting to approach a game franchise that left me scorned with the spin-off fighting title.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity Is Surprisingly Fun

As one would expect, a game of this kind is unique, and because it’s one from the East, it makes it all the more interesting to see due to how unknown this series is in the West. To begin, Touhou: Scarlet Curiousity is surprisingly and astonishingly fun. It’s a captivating title that manages to blend multiple genres together in one. With its combat fluidity as balanced out as ever, the game flows gracefully between Bullet Hell, RPG, Adventure, and even brawler hanks to the unique presentation of the games core mechanics by the developer. In my earliest hours of gameplay, it was hard for me to find the story as captivating as it could be, but later in I found myself hooked and unable to quit.

Our story presents itself as a tale that takes on the adventure between Remilia, a 500-year old vampire that could easily be a tween, and her maid Sakuya. Sakuya of course being tasked with keeping care of this rather powerful and bored vampire that she just so-happens to know rather well. While all would seem well for Remilia, all is not as well as one would think. Living together proves this true for Sakuya who lives within the Scarlet Devil Manor in a place known as Gensokyo (Tokyo anyone?) and more often than not finds her mistress wandering around the colorful wildernesses nearby. With fantastical creatures such as fairies, wolves, lively plant life, and giant bugs running awry, Remilia has decided to wander off to see the world around her.

While many of us are familiar with Remilia’s every-day problems, many of us get to take a glimpse into a common occurance we all know rather well: Boredom. Alleviating it for Remilia involves her taking off into the wilderness near by, however, for her it’s not an experience like one we know where we can alleviate such issues with video games, movies, and music, but instead for her it’s an adventure. Unfortunately for us, her adventure includes her need for finding a challenge that would be noteworthy and make her legend famed. Fortunately for her, this happens quickly as a rather large monster has been seen in the areas around Gensyoko, which includes her Scarlet Devil Mansion being left in ruin, which she returns to almost immediately upon this discovery. Their new adventure is no longer about curing Remilia’s boredem, but instead takes the twist of becoming a full on adventure.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity Perfectly Blends the Genres

As one would expect, the game is all about both Emilia and Sakuya. Both of these characters come with several features that are unique to them. Each have their own spells, their own equipment, and even their own approach to the story itself. Underneath those two features, the game drives deeper into core mechanics than any other game I’ve played, which is a wonderful thing for Touhou: Scarlet Curiousity. In the beginning we first get to see the game as a top-down dungeon crawler with core JRPG mechanics in it. However, things go a bit deeper as the game quickly goes into a transitive change where it goes from the aforementioned genres to blending in two more: Bullet Hell and Hack-and-Slash.

With these genres blending together so perfectly, traveling through each forest, each town, and each maze comes in with amazing designs. The game will appeal in a top-down style where players are looking down upon the world around them and in the next section, the game could quite easily transform into a side-scrolling title. While it sounds like the game would eventually starve players of something to do, it manages to divert players from this with switching between those formats only to bring in an all-new interesting twist: sometimes the zones become tricky mazes and puzzles to complete. While aggressively fighting enemies seems it would be wise, this isn’t always the case as sometimes using ranged attacks is best, and can quite easily set up enemies to be dismissed with a rather powerful combo counter. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy a rather humorous appeal to the game with a “5 HIT!” counter quickly goes up to a “100 HIT!” combo counter? I know I sure as heck did and chuckled every time I got to that point.

While all this sounds fun and all, something underneath it does seem a bit problematic, and can be a bit of a pain. While you could be like myself, and enjoy combat, the biggest issue is getting hit by enemies that can cancel out your combos. However, in turn, it’s quite easy to get these combos back up, which provides player with a new approach to their combat situation. The biggest change of pace is the games boss fights, which come out of the box as a bullet Hell experience. Projectiles are quickly unleashed across the screen in a vast array of colors and shapes. While these sound fun to look at, these will quickly remind players that they need to move as quick as possible to carefully avoid them, and will then send players screeching players into an abrupt halt in order to smack the enemy a few times. These fights can take a decent amount of time as enemies will find their health bar degrading rather quickly before the enemy dies if you don’t approach the fights with some care.

The biggest problem I faced here was the contrast — or lack thereof — of the enemies to the environment, sometimes creating moments where I would unfairly lose my combo counter to an unseen fairy or sneaky frog. The combo counter increases gold and experience gains, so these losses are about more than just losing the high score. Still, the combat throughout each level never presented much of a challenge, being more fun and relaxed than most bullet hell games. Finally getting to the end of these stages presents the real attraction of Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity. The boss fights are a true exhibition of Touhou’s bullet hell roots, seeing patterns of brightly colored projectiles that must be carefully avoided in order to get in close enough for a few brief attacks, slowly whittling down their health until victory is yours.

And Here’s the Problem in the Game

While the combat is enjoyable, and I’m adamant for others to experience it, there’s a large and overly glaring issue a the forefront. Playing through Remilia and Sakuya’s story didn’t see much variety within the game. You see the same paths, same levels, same fights, and ultimately you see the same story at hand. The only change to make this work? Changing names in the narrative where the writers deemed it necessary.

While this can be considered a minor nuance, it brings the question forth: Why not write a unique story for both? After all, isn’t the idea to give us two sides of the same story, but one from each view? Well, that’s not the case. It makes the story feel artificial as we pick from both characters to experience a new story, but instead get the same one, which could have had a lot of potential in exploring each characters unique motive. However, completing the story with one character opens up a bonus dungeon and an alternative ending for players to enjoy, which would have made the alternative narrative a bit more enjoyable in the long run.

Okay, okay, the Game is a JRPG After All

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity
Developer: Ankake Supa
Publisher: XSEED Games
Price: $19.99
Released: Available Now

While many of the encounters could be seen in a bullet Hell fashion, it’s hard to call the game a true bullet Hell title due to its underlying JRPG mechanics. Players will find themselves grinding out enemies in order to level up, obtain new gear, and even hunting down hidden treasure to provide themselves with a leading edge against their foes. While I didn’t find the mildly letdown of a story bug me, I did find myself more interested in the overall progression of both characters. Downside? They aren’t all that different from one another. Both fight almost the same, they both almost itemize the same, and they both approach tactics to each enemy the same.

While picking fights with these minor sprites can seem fun, the game does find itself growing dry on the enjoyable experiences after the first time through. The most enjoyable part was seeing the flashing “bullets” going across the screen and seeing the spectacle of magic flowing across the screen when new spells are integrated into a players combat. Their most usefulness utility is when boss fights present themselves for players to enjoy. Whether it’s sending Remilia’s shadowy like tendrils into the ground to dispatch enemies or even her “spiral of death” as I endearingly call it.

Like any JRPG, Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity finds its most enjoyment in exploring, the beautiful animations, and the boss fights due to the fact many underlying itemization options such as shops and spell equipping seem minor. However, purchasing and discovering items seem minor due to the fact most of them offer the same bonuses with little effect.

However, if you can look past these small flaws, Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity is rather enjoyable, charming, and quite unique among many of the PlayStation 4’s franchises that are already here.

Our review is based on a full release version that was provided to us by the games publisher. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

Final Score: 7 out of 10

About the Writer:

Sit-Rep: Warframe: Silver Grove – Where Faeries Exist

September 28, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+An improved void system allowing for a much broader variety of Prime gear
+New Solar Map that’s a lot more in-depth
+Fusion system improvements that are more intuitive by design
+Titania’s codex quest explains more about Warframes

Cons:
–Frame rate jumps still remain problematic
–Kavat’s die extremely easy

A lot has changed since the last time we did a review on Digital Extremes’ smash-hit free-to-play title Warframe. Last time we covered the updated titled Sands of Inaros, which continued the rather well done cinematic approach that has premiered on the game. The latest update The Silver Grove continues this trend quite well as it introduces us to another portion of the`story behind both Warframes and Tenno.

However, this latest one doesn’t just carry on with that tradition, it improves upon it even more than one would expect. While this is one of the minor changes made, the rest of the game has been majorly overhauled in some major ways between Specters of the Rail and the Silver Grove updates.

The Changes to Void Missions and the new Rune Segment

When it comes down to it, the void has been heavily changed, and for the better. Instead of having to worry about Void Keys pertaining to each mission type such as Tower I Defense, Tower III Survival, or even Tower IV Interception’s. While each of these missions till exist, Void Fissures have changed the game by allowing for Relic’s to activate during alert style fissures. How so, you might ask, and the answer is clear: the galactic map is now your playground.

When selecting these missions they may call upon relics, whether they are upgraded or not, and will determine the possible loot that can drop. While each of these relics will differentiate based upon what the fissures require. This also allows for players to choose the chance of what loot they want to attempt getting. Want a Galantine Prime? Load up a Neo V3 Relic in order to have a chance.

Want a better chance at getting that drop? That is possible thanks to the new Rune Segment allowing for players to use their void fissure samples in order to upgrade the relics. Doing so, as stated, upgrades your chances to obtain the prime parts wanted. This change is one that has been highly wanted by many players as it opens up the possibilities of us obtaining more prime parts without removing others.

The Fusion Upgrading Process Changes are Spectacular

One of the biggest changes that comes to Warframe is one that’s been needed more than ever in recent days. Players have been waiting for this one to happen. Fusion cores have been completely removed from the game and replaced with a new essence called “Edo”. This new “essence” allows for players to do the same thing that Fusion Cores did, but with a bit more ease, but doesn’t change the overall cost.

Just like Fusion Cores, Edo can be picked upon the breaking of loot crates, opening of lockers, or even the elimination of enemies. However, the amount you get, seems to variate upon the difficulty of the missions. This allows for a much cleaner inventory and less need to navigate through Fusion Cores. Additionally, the addition of Edo, also makes it so that players could quite easily take their duplicates and break them down for Edo.

The Addition of the Galactic Map 3.0 Makes it Easier to Navigate

Ontop of all these additions, Warframe has made another huge leap with its addition of the new Galactic Map, which mixes the best of Galactic Map 1.0 and 2.0 and making easier to navigate. Let alone does this offer players a new way to see the planets around them and the resources they gain. The new map also allows for players to zoom in on each planet and see if the there are alerts on each planet. It also will allow for players to see if missions take place on the planet or a ship.

All That Shines Isn’t Gold, However

Warframe: The Silver Grlove – PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One (Reviewed), and PC
Developer: Digital Extremes
Publisher: Digital Extremes
Price: Fee-to-Play
Released: Available Now

Even with many of Warframe’s changes, Digital Extremes has pushed to make the game the best experience ever, and in many ways, they started doing so quite well. However, there are a few things that could be improved upon even with these most recent changes. The problems don’t sit on Warframes surface, instead many of them sit in the underlying mechanics such as the Kavat.

Much like their Kubrow twins, Kavat is another companion that can be used. Instead of packing brute force like their Kubrow cousins, the Kavat is all about speed and their cunning. They can also buff the squads they are with, however, they are also easy to die over first. Unfortunately, this can be problematic for some in higher level missions where plenty of damage is being tossed about.

This is where the Kavat, unlock the Kubrow, tends to become a casualty and constantly doing so as enemies will tend to bring it down quickly.

Rest Assured Tenno It’s Still a Solid Experience

Just as one would hope, the Warframe experience remains solid for players to enjoy. With the new update coming up titled The War Within there is plenty to come that can feature some changes, some re-balances, and even new mechanics. Warframe still remains as strong as expected and enjoyable as ever. All we can do now, is wait and see what is coming up, and tune in to the Warframe Primetime on YouTube and Twitch.

Our review is based on the full free-to-play version that can be downloaded on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

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Sit-Rep: Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet – Shooting Only Blanks

September 21, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / 2 Comments

Pros:
+A concept new to player versus player games
+Interesting story concepts that become enjoyable with time
+Grabs the true ideal of being a bullet hell title

Cons:
-Gameplay balancing is a huge issue
–Tutorials are awful and could use reworking
–Online latency is a huge issue.

Bullet Hell games are nothing new when it comes to games. Titles such as Gradius, Darius, and a host of many more, the genre is still alive, and is receiving the content needed to keep the genre alive. This latest entry is one that decides to blend the worlds of fighting games and bullet hell games into one. Like any fighting title, the goal is to whittle your enemies health down to nothing before unleashing a “spell” to take them out.

Touhou Genso Rondo is just that. A bullet hell fighting game. As strange of a concept it is, these two genres mesh together for a very interesting title. Unfortunately, due to some choice design decisions, it doesn’t work out as well as I would have hoped.

Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet’s Great Ideas are Poorly Executed

Fighting games and bullet hell shooters have always existed in two separate genres until now. Blending the two has been a questionable thing for some time and now we’re seeing the first attempt at it. While the fusion of the two seems as if it would fluidly transition between the two, instead of choppy, confusing, and oddly coordinated controls with lackluster tutorials.

Unfortunately, Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet finds itself in some awkward places as it doesn’t do much to welcome newcomers like myself. Instead I found myself mindlessly mashing at buttons such as my L2 button, my L1 button, and even smashing across the face buttons on my controller in order to perform randomized attacks I am still figuring out even after having spent a good ten-to-twenty hours in the game. While the idea of a fighting game based on bullet hell mechanics would have been lovely, this game is great ideas put into a flawed situation, and proves how flawed design executions can come to life

While the game itself, once figured out, becomes enjoyable, it proves that the team didn’t take the time to fix what was needed in order to ensure a successful launch. For now the flawed mechanics are intact and will become infuriating. While I could focus on the bad for an entire review, I prefer not, and would like to take my time to focus on where it can improve.

Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet’s Tutorial and Speed Need Reworked

Improvement is something that all developers seek to do as their games life gets underway. Over time we see menu’s get reworked, bug fixes implemented, overall enhancements get underway, and even a few additions to the game that were already in place. However, this game needs quite a few improvements before it’ll be a solid, and steady game. Before we begin, lets bullet point the games most critical flaws when it comes to learning how to play it.

Training tutorials
Fight Pacing
Bug fixes for new rule sets

While these three seem so few, it isn’t unsurprising to see where the game needs to improve after playing for the many hours I have. While music, animations, and graphic novel scenes may seem rock-solid; because they are; the game still has underlying issues. Tutorials being the weakest one of them. As any gamer knows, when it comes to a new game, it is the utmost importance for a game like this to actually have solid tutorials, to guide players through the game they are playing, and help them understand it.

The second issue comes with the fact players will find themselves consistently using the games fast paced attack mode, where they will glide through the arena. Unfortunately, another thing that needs fixed is the downloading newer versions, which will appear if they’ve released new data. When you do, it’ll be not-so-uncommon to see the data state “corrupted”. Here at B.A.T.G.R.’s home office, I found myself attempting to download the file multiple times. Once downloaded, a few things changed quite well. However, for now, the game remains plagued with minor issues.

Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet – PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), PlayStation Vita
Developer: CUBETYPE
Publisher: NIS America
Price: $49.99
Released: Available Now

While the combat modes appear in the game through a single set of buttons players can easily find themselves moving towards trying to figure out what each one does. For example in slow mode, players can find themselves grazing past enemy bullets in order to boost up their charge bar. In other modes players move fast, seeping up less charge bar, players can move across the screen faster in order to damage their opponent. Lastly, we have charge, which is all about dealing as much damage as possible in one swift go.

Closing Thoughts as the Ballet Ends

While Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet is a troubled game, it is also a game that offers a chance for players to try something new despite its shortcomings that in many ways, could hurt it in the long run, but shouldn’t deter players from trying something new. For now, I’ll be sticking to the game as a pick-up and go title as the stories are actually quite easy to ignore if players are wanting to just jump straight into the action.

Our review is based on a copy provided to us by the games publisher. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

Final Score: 5 out of 10

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Resident Evil VII: Beginning Hour is About to See More Content Starting Today

September 15, 2016September 15, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Tokyo Game Show hasn’t been short of any large surprises. Among them came Capcom announcing that Resident Evil VII Teaser: Beginning Hour demo – exclusive to PlayStation Plus – fans will find themselves upf or another scare starting today. Having broken records as the most downloaded demo within a week in North America on PlayStation 4 – Capcom seeks to bring a bit more of the mystery to the forefront for players to enjoy. The new “Twilight” version will feature a bit more of the mysterious and decrepit mansion.

In the newest bit of the trailer and the demo, we’ll get to see what is going on within this disturbing feast we’ve seen from the Baker family, which will be the premise for our fight for survival. Additionally, the company has announced that those looking to pre-order the game can do so with either the Deluxe Edition or the Standard Edition starting now on PlayStation 4. The Deluxe Edition will run you a rough $89.99 USD and will contain the games Season Pass as well as the game.

The Season Pass will contain additional playable story episodes for fans to enjoy. Capcom has also confirmed that the Deluxe Edition will contain another playable story episode that will bringing the total amount of content to three episodes, and will run $89.99. Will you be buckling down to explore the Baker Mansion and find out what’s really going on there?

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Sit-Rep: Fair Fencer F Advent Dark – A Darkened Cloud Looms Overhead

August 22, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+1080p graphics pop out with an anime-like realism to them.
+The story emains unique and fun as ever
+Combat systems remain largely intact from the previous release
+Characters remain amusing as ever
+Combat remains difficult as before, providing a moderate challenge

Cons:
–Side quests remain as lucrative as before with little to no change in them
–Most of the stories interlace with the main story remain pointless as ever.
–Grinding remains problematic just like before.

Almost three years ago we got our hands on one of the most unique games of that period for the PlayStation 3. Known for their hit series Hyperdimension Neptunia, Idea Factory Inc., has continued pushing out some of the best, some of the most unique, and even enjoyable games in recent years. It’s been almost three years sine we got our hands on Fairy Fencer F. This latest installment Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force can be considered more of an upgrade than anything. With developer Compile Heart once more at the helm of this remastering; Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force can be considered a “Enhanced Edition” version of the game.

Unfortunately, this means that all of those problems that existed in the original release? They’re all still intact since Advent Dark Force is, at its core, still Fairy Fencer F. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing since the game had enjoyable moments to it from script, to character interactions, and even he dungeon melding that players could do. This includes the classic JRPG formula that the publisher Idea Factory is known for.

Much like in their other series Hyperdimension Neptunia you have the base ideology of how the game will play. This includes diving from dungeon to dungeon without a true overworld, clear to going from conversation to conversation while micromanaging friendships, items, and character levels. Much as one would expect, there are still minor nuances that remain, and even monotonous instances that will drive a player to almost depart from what they are doing. Much like any game from Idea Factory and Compile Heart – Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force carries on several things that still become stagnant with time.

Much as you’d expect, the game takes place in a world where our protagonist just happens to be the boring, lame, and useless person. His name? Fang. In our story Fang is one that likes to eat, sleep, and do absolutely nothing unless it involves free food. His job he obtains without a choice? Becoming a Fencer. His job now entails food, freeing Fairies by obtaining weapons dubbed “Furies,” which are hosts to these fairies. Their job is to awaken the Goddess in order to bring light to the world and in turn? They can also choose to awaken the Vile God thanks to Advent Dark Force. The outcome is completely different. The third option is there. but in truth? It hasn’t been explored just quite yet by us.

Meanwhile, the base game itself doesn’t actually change all that much in the fact the story remains fairly the same all around. For veterans? There’s just not a lot to of new stuff to keep themselves excited about when it comes tot his game minus the fact you can now take six members into combat. This means players will no longer be optimizing their team for the situation since three of the playable characters will not be reserves. This means Compile Heart has eliminated the need for choosing their battles carefully. This means their tank, their mages, and even their fighters will be joining in with each fight every time around. Unfortunately for the sake of difficulty – bosses remained untouched to accommodate for these changes. The downside? This means the grind has become too real for those trying to get away from that.

Fairy Fencer F: Dark Advent – PlayStation 4 (Reviewed)
Developer: Compile Heart
Publisher: Idea Factory
Price: $59.99
Released: Available Now

As combat has elevated in the sense of the fact there is more dangers that come with it. Healers and tanks will struggle from time to time due to the situations that unfold. If a member goes down? Players will find their healer as the mainstay savior for the team as they will be forced to keep players alive. They’ll be forced to heal, revive, and struggling as damage becomes problematic in the long run. Players will want to ensure that they leave with plenty of potions, feathers, and even the proper equipment for combat. The best thing you should do besides saving in Zelwind City is also picking up any side-quests and ensuring your party is properly leveled while exploring.

Unlike the previous time through, Advent Dark Force felt like a chore in the late game, but that was mostly because the lacking of a true overworld, a focus on the grind, and even the fact many of the side-quests couldn’t even be completed until much later into our playthrough. While the game held my attention again for a rough 30 hours, it became a tasking that in many ways was only subtly tamed by often quite humorous dialogue, especially when it came to Fang being as lame as he tends to be, but in a rather comedic way. My eagerness to complete the campaign and free the Goddess became even more-so nerve wracking as the sub-conversations became the only filler a part of the entertainment as the rest became less lucrative from the earlier portions of the game. While Advent Dark Force tends to be a bit more enjoyable than the original release with the new story arch with the Vile God, it still finds itself troubling due to the grind being much worse than before. For those who took an adventure through the game on PlayStation 3 like myself, will find themselves revisiting a rather familiar game in comparison to a newly introduced title, with fully new twists, turns, and minor plot deviations.

For those visiting the game for the first time? It’ll be a splendid exploration for a while before it grows monotonous and troublesome due to its rather predictable stories that seem to almost overlap one another. If anything? It’s a game that pushes to head in the right direction while stepping back into the wrong one putting it almost on par as a re-release of a game that’s already been played.

Our review is based on a copy provided to us by the games publisher. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

Final Score: 7 out of 10

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Sit-Rep: DOOM (Multiplayer) – A Bloody Good Time

August 16, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+Weapon load-outs take away the need for hunting down basic weapons, leaving only power weapons to be found via pick-ups.
+The verticality in maps allow for players to traverse into combat how they please.
+Demon rune changes the entire approach to combat that players may have.
+Maps variate between UAC themed and Hell themed while some use both in “Unto the Evil” DLC pack.

Cons:
–Intermittent lag issues can cause some to be deterred from playing.
–Connecting issues can cause some frustration when connecting to the servers.

Editor’s Note: Our review for the multiplayer portion of DOOM features Unto the Evil DLC content. The content is now available for 14.99 USD or through the Season Pass for Season Pass holders.

Heralding in the multiplayer genre via LAN or Online; DOOM as a franchise has remained at large as one of the greatest arena style shooting games of all time. In the recent years, we’ve seen a decline in games that follow the idea of fast momentum, no camping, and constant blood bathing as foes are turned into masses of viscera.

Something that DOOM has always been known for is its constant push for fast movement speeds, shotguns, blood, and a constant need for fragging enemy players. With a smash-hit campaign, DOOM‘s multiplayer is just as strong as its single player campaign in its own creative rights. So much so, that we decided to give the game its own individual review from the rest of the game. While the formula changes from being a badass taking on Hell to badass Space Marines chasing other badass Space Marines in order to see who can acquire the most objectives completed. This renders the game rather different from the singleplayer experience. While it’s damning to say, the game feels more like Unreal than it does DOOM or Quake.

This isn’t because the game is actually bad; instead, it makes since with the recently announced Quake Champions seeking to fill the arena shooter aspect of the game. With loadouts in the game, DOOM seeks to fill those familiar spots with random pick-ups such as speed boosts, demon runes, invisibility, and even things such as regenerative health. Even weapons such as the Gauss Rifle (railgun renamed), and even the BFG have made sporadic appearances through ever game mode in timed intervals.

While sniper weapons like the vortex rifle remain useful, they aren’t mainstay weapons like one would hope, which leaves them as weapons that could potentially be hyper lethal almost useful. Their diluted usefulness is mostly due to weapons such as the rocket launcher, lightning gun, and even the chaingun as weapons that can be placed in player loadouts from the get-go. This even has something to do with the fact the game’s doublejump from the campaign has made its way into the multiplayer, which eliminates camping from the game overall. If you aren’t used to this style games? Weapons such as the Vortex Rifle and the Stasis Rifle can dish out some heavy amounts of damage in a short few seconds.

Along with virtually every gun being able to be used in loadouts, there are a few new additions as well such as hack mods that will allow players to gain unique advantages in combat such as shared XP with the Osmosis perk, Bloodtrail, which allows players to hunt down enemies as they run away during combat. While these are usable for those instances, accessories have also made their new debut. These little tools include things such as the personal teleporter that allow players to move through combat in an instant while putting out as much damage as possible. Accessories such as the kinetic mines allow players to set lethal traps for their enemies while maneuvering throughout the battlefield. A long with these comes weapons such as the Siphon Grenade that allow players to regain health while damaging enemies as much as possible.

DOOM (Multiplayer) – PC, PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One
Developer: id Software
Publisher: Bethesda Zenimax
Price: $39.99 to $59.99 USD | Unto the Evil: $14.99 USD | Season Pass: $39.99

Release Date: Now Available

The most unique change to combat isn’t necessarily just the games hack mods, but also a few disgruntlement’s that also lie within the game. First and foremost is the fact that most alternate fire modes are limited to the games overall progression. Players are limited to the combat shotguns grenade round, the heavy assault rifles scoped mode, the rocket launchers remote detonation, and the plasma rifles heatblast that allows for players to cover an area in heated plasma in order to take out enemies. Even weapons such as

While I’d have loved to have seen all the modes stripped away all together, DOOM does offer a clean and unique vision of what the multiplayer should be like. Unfortunately, the reason behind why some of these may not be possible? Is because things such as the Heavy Assault Rifles rocket rounds may not be all that favorable with the games netcode. That or just the fact it could quite possibly do too much damage in the short term. If anything, it does leave room for glory kills to remain satisfying as players take one another out in rapid combat while smashing each others skulls in. The netcode issue shows true as it won’t be uncommon to see players connections drop from 3-4 bars ping only to hit yellow or red for the rest of the match. However, this is infrequent, and shouldn’t take away from the games overall enjoyment.

Overall, DOOM’s multiplayer offers a unique vision of what a game could possibly do in the near by future with game modes such as Team Death Match, Soul Harvest (kill confirmed for those who have played Call of Duty), Warpath (King of the Hill with a moving objective), Freeze Tag, and a few others. Each of the modes offer a unique blend of variation while keeping players amused and combative against one another while completing their objectives. Game modes such as Exodus (Capture the Flag), which force players to cooperate while locking down a traveling turn-in point.

Our review is based on a retail copy of the game and a season pass we purchased. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

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Sit-Rep: Warframe (Lunaro Update) – Warframe Athletics Done Right

July 18, 2016 / Dustin Murphy / Leave a comment

Pros:
+Short ball possession duration offers up team work via passing
+Inability to use abilities enforces players to work together to keep the team from scoring
+The arena is fairly well sized allowing for a fun 8 to 10 minute match

Cons:
–Minor ball delay when passing or shooting goals
–Decent players can easily stop an entire team

Warframe has been changing for many years. It has evolved past a game that was simply about going in and out of Dojo’s and missions in order to operate functionally. It has surpassed the boundaries that gave it a minimal story only to create a phenomenal story that has captivated fans from around the world. It has broken hearts, caused tears, and even created a few moments of laughter within its own story. It has even caused players to hate certain villains, and rightfully so. The evolution of story telling has also caused us to understand order and balance within the universe.

Among these designs, we’ve gotten to know our Tenno, ourselves through a fictional universe, but we have also gotten to fight against our fellow Tenno for training purposes via Conclave. Since its launch two weeks ago for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 while PC has had it for a few weeks more than the console, but that’s alright! The console version lives up to expectations just as it did on PC.

The idea behind Lunaro is rather close to several sports you may already know: Rugby, soccer, football, basketball, and a little bit of martial arts – because nothing says “HELLO!” like a swift kick to the jaw then stealing the ball. The objective to the game? Get the ball into the enemies goal point and win. The team with the most points between Sun and Moon will win the game. Much as expected, the game has two halves, and they take place over roughly ten minutes, which is nicely paced due to how fast paced the action can get.

Controls are simple, all normal movement schemes remain in place for all intents and purposes of the game. The only difference? Depending on your controller (since PlayStation 4 is our primary console for reviews, we’ll be going with their button scheme if using legacy where the touchpad is enabled) L2 is to help focus on the ball so you can intercept/block/catch while L1 remains to duck/slide/slide-jump. However, doing a slide-jump with the ball in-hand does make the carrier drop it in order to provide fairness for the sake of the game. In turn normal jumping and sliding remain fully usable by the ball carrier who can pass and or otherwise launch the ball towards the enemy teams goal.

To throw or pass players can combine L2 and R2 to launch the ball even further whether they are sliding or running up-right. Doing so will allow for more range, a stronger pass, and a chance to get the ball where it’s needed to go. All-the-while making opposing players work even harder to obtain the ball. Except for when you score where they get instant grabs on the ball (much like basketball) and force you to move to the halfway point before being able to go on the offensive.

Warframe – Lunaro Update – PC, PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One
Developer: Digital Extremes
Publisher: Digital Extremes
Price: Free

Release Date: Now Available

While the basis of the game is short, it runs smoothly, and carries on a solid concept of what it is like to have sports in an ever-growing universe. The downsides are is the minor lag that tends to happen, which makes the ball slightly hard to track, and give those players that have mastered Lunaro a winning chance to one-man an entire match. Want to be the Kevin Durant or Michael Jordan of Lunaro? Your chance is here if you decide to take it. Lunaro is rewarding in the essence that it does provide a chance at Conclave mods and even Conclave reputation for those needing it.

All-in-all? Lunaro is a highly enjoyable game that may attract those who found a love for games like Rocket League if they decide to give it a chance. If you aren’t hooked on this Conclave mode? You surely will be if you decide to dive into it for a few hours.

Our review is based on the free-to-play game with all current updates installed. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

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Final Score: 8 out of 10

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Sword Coast Legends Keeps the D&D Fans Know Alive

It Gets a Bit Weirder for Sword Coast Legends

Oh, Dungeon Master… You Need Some Upgrades

Final Score: 6 out of 10

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Psyco-Pass: Mandatory Happiness is Based on an Anime After All

There’s No Action Outside of the Graphic Novel Reading

Final Score: 8 out of 10

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Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity Is Surprisingly Fun

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity Perfectly Blends the Genres

And Here’s the Problem in the Game

Okay, okay, the Game is a JRPG After All

Final Score: 7 out of 10

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The Changes to Void Missions and the new Rune Segment

The Fusion Upgrading Process Changes are Spectacular

The Addition of the Galactic Map 3.0 Makes it Easier to Navigate

All That Shines Isn’t Gold, However

Rest Assured Tenno It’s Still a Solid Experience

Final Score: 8 out of 10

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Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet’s Great Ideas are Poorly Executed

Tohou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet’s Tutorial and Speed Need Reworked

Closing Thoughts as the Ballet Ends

Final Score: 5 out of 10

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Final Score: 7 out of 10

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Final Score: 8 out of 10

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Final Score: 8 out of 10

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