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Review by Dustin Murphy

Pros:
-Very easy control scheme to work
-Graphics remain almost identical across all platforms
-Recruiting characters adds high amounts of diversity between all characters
-Dialogue remains hysterical and well-knitted for its sense of humour

Cons:
-PS Vita and PS4 do not share a cross-save function
-Framerate issues on PS Vita will be noticeable when exploring

Originally posted on Kickstarter as a game with a rather interesting concept, Citizen’s of Earth was one that did not reach its goals, and ultimately seemed to die out because of it. This time around it’s not the case thanks to well renowned publisher Atlus. Intent on seeing the game succeed, the developer took some notes that do deserve an honourable mention; first and foremost is the mentioning that fans of Earthbound will definitely be able to take a bit of a notice on the game itself. With revolving around recruiting new team members, taking on enemies in the open world, and even solving random “missions/quests” players will up their antee against any enemies that seek to stop them in their path to victory. But does a game that focus on classic takes and mechanics as well as other deciding benefactors help this game succeed?

Starting on a high-note you, the player, are introduced to the new Vice-President of the World whom has decided to return home and relax after a rather long campaign. Much like other classic RPG’s of the sort, the game allows for players to edit every characters name to their choice. Doing this allows players to enjoy a focus on a game that matters to them in some form of another. Though that’s only the tip of the iceberg. After naming your starting party, it’s time to take on one thing – righting all the wrongs in the world and ultimately making the citizen’s happy. This includes taking on mediocre quests such as finding a Mascot’s spirit, helping a woman get your publicity out with her pictures by showing off the good deeds done, and even helping programmers get their equipment back from their work. Though this is oddly not done by the Vice President himself as he stands back and lets his family and cohorts do the fighting all on their own. Sounds about right though for the personality that this character is making a satire of.

Much like in previous games, players will remain exploring, unlocking new zones, and even helping citizens with their troubles at hand. As stated this is all done by grinding out quests, which some actually require players to just grind out certain enemy types, but while doing so there is something helpful that happens. Players will find themselves earning experience in order to up their party members and making them all the more powerful. Doing this means new abilities to take out enemies, easier time fighting high level opponents, and well quite a bit more of a twist on what a character’s role is in the long run.

For some fans, they will easily be able to notice the games solid nod towards Pokémon with the games “Daycare” system, which in turn in this game is replaced by sending characters to class where they can learn new abilities, levelup, and even come out more useful than before. One thing that is troubling though is the game having a very limited party system, which leaves players with only three members, and sets them to focus on a team build throughout the game. Another one? Players will easily find themselves swapping out team members on a constant basis in order to fight through certain enemy types at an easier rate. This isn’t required, but definitely is advisable so that players know their strong and weak points through each zone as new enemies will be exposed through the adventure in doing so. This also means that players will get rather familiar with this games rather unique energy building combat system. Instead of starting out with a form of energy or ‘mana’, players are given an energy point, which allows for their party members to ‘cast’ a unique ability that pertains to them. This can include a healing ability, a stun ability, a defense ability or even something as simple as a elemental type ability that will cause enemies to find themselves quickly defeated and getting an energy restoral for using an enemy’s elemental weakness. It can easily said that this is a direct nod to some of the games most successful RPG’s and even a renowned card game to date.

Even as mentioned before, the game nodes towards some of the industries largest RPG’s out there such as Pokémon, Earthbound and for some fans the card game Magic the Gathering due to the games turn based energy system. During combat, players will notice the rather psychedelic and trippy wavy colour themes that will remind people of something from Earthbound or a rather trippy poster someone could buy at a store. Unfortunately, to some, this is quite easily a headache, which is something I learned all too quick after having spent countless hours between both the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 versions. Unfortunately, a lot of this was due to having to progress through the campaign on two different platforms to ensure a solid review could be given. Sadly, many of the games many focuses, features, and ideas are taken from other games, which works quite well. Though it would have been interesting to see a game that didn’t use as many classic tropes as it did and took to a system all of its own. Granted this has been done with a mind blowing art style that sticks out rather graciously against most modern games, and even gives players a classic feel for games that made themselves well known on the Sega and SNES days of 16-bit and 32-bit systems.

In a way the entire game itself is rather charming, fun, and even was a nice way to kick up my feet and explore a uniquely crafted world that offers plenty of diversity. Unfortunately all that is charming is not all that great. Some of the games features are ones that can be quite troubling and allow for folks to find themselves cringing in turn. Even with a rather unique art style that is always popping out, I found myself frustrated with the quest system, which fails to mention who players should turn their quest into, which means it’s time to do the retro way of quest tracking: pen and paper. Yes, you read that write, I ended up finding myself writing quite a few notes until I got the groove of what quest went where, and how to complete it. After having done each quest twice, it wasn’t hard to get the hang of things after sometime, but it did feel unnatural to have to keep my own personal quest tracker where the game should have provided one.

With all the aforementioned features and even interesting parts of the game, Citizen’s of Earth is fun as well as hysterical in many ways. Though at times it tries to take itself way too seriously or not serious enough, which at times makes the game feel unnatural or even a bit phony at times. Though with that aside the game does a great job at the nods it gives from other games and makes them work quite well. This is something I find rather enjoyable as the game itself seems to work quite well and gives a rather enjoyable experience across both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. The only downside? Buying the game across multiple platforms means that the game has a restrictive save access that will lock it to that version only due to the lack of a cross-save feature. Even with that aside the game itself is a solid title that Atlus should pride themselves upon publishing.

Review Score: 7 out of 10

Authors Note: Our review copy was provided to us on the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation Vita by Atlus and was reviewed on the two platforms. The game is now available in digital format on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U for 14.99 USD.

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, MMO’s, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable and can’t be softened by even the biggest names in the gaming industry. 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. To follow Dustin, hit him up on Twitter over at @GamingAnomaly, find him on his Google+. Wanna game with him? You can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+
Review by Dustin Murphy

Pros:
-Contains all expansion content that released for the game in its previous days
-Controls have been updated to fit the modern first person shooter needs
-Remains uncensored unlike its Nintendo 64 predecessor
-Graphics have been upgraded to current day standards
-OpenGL Support for the remade content and DOSBox for the Classic Version
-PC version supports WASD and mouse for more modernized shooter fans.

Cons:
-PS3 and PS Vita version both suffer from some framerate stuttering
-Multiplayer for PS3 and PS Vita version sometimes don’t work
-Intermittent soundbugs that can occur. Sometimes requires an app restart on Vita or game restart on PS3.

What do you do when a game such as this smash hit classic re-releases on PC, PS3 and PlayStation Vita? You download it, launch it, and sit back for some alien arse kicking. This is something that Duke Nukem is all familiar to when he isn’t throwing his one liners around and showing enemies just how hard his balls of steel really are. Remaining as satirical as it was for the “dumb blonde” antics that Duke has become well established upon remains all the same in this new version. Reimagined and upgraded in many ways to current standards by the teams over at 3D Realms (original work), General Arcade, and Abstraction Games have done to make this port and updated version possible. So it’s hard not to see why this game made it out the way it did.

If you were like me, you grew up hearing this gum chewing badass, well when he’s not out of gum. Players will always remember him and his constant knack for stomping alien balls in for one reason – the babes. Yep, he’s at it once more, but not completely in the way I remember him. When I was growing up, the game had this option for parents to lock down Duke Nukem 3D so children couldn’t play; this meant backing up save files, uninstalling, re-installing, and hoping my parents didn’t find out. Luckily? The game doesn’t need to be watered down with mild editing to filter out Duke’s adult content.

Returning in much of the way he did before, Duke has become an iconic character of sorts for the first person shooter genre, and that is one reason this game deserved the remake it got, one that was pulled off rather well. Like before, players are once more rounding up a rather 10-weapon loadout without reload times; something that has become common practice these days; that also features weapons that would make almost no sense in todays modern games. The game itself still boasts one thing that most games outside of DOOM, Wrack, and a few other retro style shooters do, and that is hidden areas. The game itself contains some among the best of the best where players will fight enemies, grab off the wall rewards, and maybe even find a babe to make Dukes day.

Like everyone knows, Duke Nukem is filled with references, puns, and even a full-on-camp of one liners that would make almost any gamers head spin. Among them however, are the ones that make any gamers head fill with a recollection of nostalgia. Though it’s hard for gamers not even to laugh at a bit of them while smashing an alien’s head in after having made him fall to his knees and shake at the sight of this guy. For many fans however, this game will be one for the newer audiences that may or may not captivate them the way it would have at one time due to the outdated jokes and references in which he has targeted. Though for some – it may just be that little bit of a brush off that bit of crude humour that will leave one chuckling or even cackling like a hyena.

With all jokes and puns aside, the game was solid. For games back when 3D Realms designed it, there wasn’t much in the means of storytelling beside a few mumbles from Duke Nukem, and a rather large careen of enemies coming your way. This is where Duke Nukem once more begins to shine thanks to nearly every room hiding something within it such as fire extinguishers, gas cans, hidden door switches that cause some event, or just a hidden lock code for a locked door that needed to be opened. Even though this game is 20 years old, it’s not surprising to see that the Megaton Edition has once more revived one of gamins great classics. Unfortunately, it’s one of the few of the genre that has actually made it through time since developers have yet to try and revitalize games such as Hexen, Heretic, Quake, Quake 2, DOOM, DOOM II, Final DOOM, DOOM 64, System Shock, Dai Katana and many more. Though this game should help fill the need for the others until they get re-released or modded to operate on modern computers for those that don’t.

Though now the question is, what are you buying for a game of this type that is flows on stages where you hunt secrets, kill the enemy, try to beat the time trial, and even pick up a few guns or two? The price is a not-so-steep 9.99 USD. This is for what is considered all four episodes that released, well “official” episodes for Duke Nukem 3D. Each of these episodes features between 8-10 levels, and each are rather unique. For those that are unaware, 3 of them were developed independently and follow a rather unique and Duke Nukem twisted theme to them. Such as Duke Caribbean: Life’s a Beach where players will find themselves as Duke on a tropical vacation beating enemies down with Super Soakers, Water Pistols, and well Shotgun Supersoakers, which isn’t complete without enemies whom are decked out in the attire to match the occasion. Though my personal favorite? Is probably the Duke: Nuclear Winter, which features enemies fitted out as snowmen, Rudolph, or simply dressed up so that they are wearing only a Santa hat and their normal gear. Oh, did I mention Duke himself invading the North Pole? Yea he does and it’s an interesting take on top of Dukes normal antics.

Unfortunately the one that seems to drag its feet a bit is Duke it out in D.C, which feels as though the developer itself had fallen a bit bored with the game. Though none of these are new, which isn’t surprising with a 1997 release date, it’s still worth saying that they were rather difficult to find when going to the store, unfortunately back then we didn’t have steam as a convenient source to download from on PC. However, this time around it’s a pleasant sight for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita owners as this is the first time the title has managed to be released on them. Thankfully the developers did take note of how to implement controls into the PlayStation Vita’s touch screen. Swiping left or right or even tapping the touch screen allows players to sift through their weapons quickly and with ease; this means no worrying completely about the weapon that pops up next. So this is quite a bit of a welcomed sight. Except for when dying and using the Megaton Edition’s new rewind system or figuring out what weapon is next among your ten weapon roster while taking on a horde of enemies that are careening over each other to get to you. This is fixed with the games ‘rewind’ feature that will allow players to go back in time, pick a safe spot, and plan for the enemy that killed them previously. This is something I found myself doing more than once due to my lack of timing and having remembered where I got shot in the back from. Fortunately? Turning around and unloading a bunch of lead in the enemies was not a problem after that. Newcomers; learn to utilize this as it will be something rather helpful for your first time through.

When the multiplayer there is multiplayer, however, as noted before – the multiplayer from my experience tends to work or not work due to sometimes latency, which isn’t surprising in many ways as sometimes the connections for the peer-to-peer playstyle don’t always work the best, but the multiplayer is still functional and still allows for a Duke Nukem fragfest. that is filled with the antics that many will remember. Thanks to PlayStation Plus I was able to experience the game for free on both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita while having purchased it on PC out of the sheer want to relive my childhood. Hopefully we can see more games get this well done of a port in the future. This is definitely one to place in the digital collection with a smile on your face due to how well done it was and how well the original game was kept intact while new features were implemented such as the touch screen access and the death rewind to a safe place within your campaign.

Review 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, MMO’s, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable and can’t be softened by even the biggest names in the gaming industry. 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. To follow Dustin, hit him up on Twitter over at @GamingAnomaly, find him on his Google+. Wanna game with him? You can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+
Review by Dustin Murphy

Pros:
-New weapons, armor, and appearance changers
-Slightly Expanded Story About the Hive
-Vanguard ROC Playlist Helps for Light Level 26+

Cons:
-Short enough all missions were completed in about 3 hours
-New gear from Vanguard and Crucible requires reputation marks
-Overpriced Expansion
-The Raid Outshines The Expansion’s Content

It’s hard to say that I’m not a fan of Destiny in some form or another. With having all three classes sitting near max level, it’s hard not to mention this, and the fact that the game has been heavily updated since the last review, but this time around it’s not about the past content, but about new content. Recently Bungie released the games Expansion I: The Dark Below (19.99 USD without season pass). This expansion itself focuses upon one of the most eerie enemies of the lot; The Hive. These creatures are what many would call ravenous dark-dwelling demon-spawn that just need wiped off the face of the galaxy. Fortunately that is a statement that stands true.

The content released starts out at level 20 (realistically; you need to be much higher to actually complete the content) through the games new vendor Eris Mourn. She is reluctantly one of the few characters that have managed to make their way from the deepest pits of the Moon and survive tell a tale that is spine-chilling were we to actually be in the Destiny universe. As players take on her missions, which are given to them like bounties, players will find themselves taking on enemies with unimaginable power and difficulty, which will truly test their skill. Some of these missions include removing a characters capability to double jump or even glide depending on your class, and limiting your evasiveness. This means teamwork was definitely put into design when the content was probably drafted over a few of the developers meetings. Unfortunately they forgot one very important thing in all this; we want to see new areas, not revamped old areas.

Much like the base game, players will be seeing a lot of the areas they are quite familiar with, minus the fact a few of them have been altered to fit in with the newly released content. While playing through the content, it was interesting however, to see places like inside of the Warmind Rasputin, to visit some of the old areas that have hidden enemies that are exclusive to the DLC’s story hidden away in a corner. It was because of content like this that the “expansion” or “DLC” in many ways felt alive, but just not alive enough this time around.

Once players have unlocked some of the missions towards the end of Eris Mourns bounty line, players will get to visit a new and truly devastating boss by the name of Omnigul who serves as one of Crota’s “generals”. With her fierce presence as a Wizard based enemy, it’s not surprising to see how hard she was, which made her fight all, but fun. That’s not to state that her constant phasing to new waves didn’t help ignite this tid-bit of interference. To many, this fight will resemble “Phogoth, The Untamed”, but with more Wizards, Knights, Acolytes, and Thrall’s of both types that just seek to literally eat your characters face rather than say hello to your character. With this strike being as hectic as it was, it was time to walk away, find a new one that didn’t feel like a prolonged mission with an absurdly annoying end boss. So it was time to visit the Expansion’s second new strike by the name of “The Undying Mind”.

“The Undying Mind” was probably the most interesting of the two newly added strikes. This one focused upon the Vex once more, which have seemingly not been entirely wiped out with the death of Atheon being a faucet to that occurrence. This time players are once more battling off hordes of enemies inside of “The Black Garden”. The fights as well as the dungeon design are unique, thoroughly thought through, and well implemented as each encounter felt unique, difficulty, and at times like a puzzle due to the enemy types that appeared within each battle. There were moments where players would feel exposed, weak, and left out in the open as enemies spawned in from behind, in front of, and beside fire teams in order to devastate them and ultimately cause a wipe. As highly unexpected as it can be, this seems rather intentional within the levels design as well as built around difficulty.

But the strikes unfortunately are hard to really even cover as they are much like any other strike. Players will fight through a few pools of enemies, move on, dispatch more enemies, and fight a boss. One boss is destroyed, move on, and once more encounter a batch of enemies. This is what lead the fire-team I was with into the expansions big focal point; Crota’s End Raid.

The raid itself is where the Expansion does truly shine. Due to even the PvP mans, while cool, are still lacking and may not interest those who are die hard for PvE. Stepping foot into the raid delivered a sight that differentiated from the games basic formula. Once in the raid, the fire-team as well as myself were exposed to a very dark, dreary, and uneasy place. The Crota’s End Raid decides to open up with a bang. Players will fall into the center of the Moon, hit rock center, and become acquainted with the very dark, very hard to pass through, and punishingly difficulty “Lamp” portion of the raid. With players being limited on maneuverability due to this portions debuff “Weight of Darkness”, players will find themselves trying to move from lamp to lamp while fighting off endless waves of Thrall’s and Ascendant Thrall’s so that they don’t die from either being mauled to death of simply blown up. This portion of the raid was probably one of the most interesting portions as players will find themselves working on a strategy that works best for themselves, but also the firing squad they are part of. The problem? This formula is used consistently through the raid. Each fight is a puzzle in its own as players will find themselves pelting down Ogres, Knights, Shriekers, Thralls, Wizards, and even Thrall themselves. Each of the fights will provide fire teams with having to think on their feet, and constantly be on the go. Here is where communication, tactics, and even the capability of taking notes comes in hand.

Overall, the raid outshines the rest of the content as players will learn each fight comes with a heightened sense of urgency. Some such as the Death Singer will provide teams with a very limited time on how quickly they must kill enemies, but also how well coordinated each kill must be. This also goes to say, weapons, skill, and even a proper build will become tested as players will need to find a medium ground and balance between each of the classes, but unfortunately this is where players will find the height of “The Dark Below” as players will find it overall lacking in content, excitement, and reason to continue forth for those who do not raid.

With all the good designs being thrown into “Crota’s End” it’s hard to really feel excited about what will be coming up in the future expansion “The House of Wolves”, which is slated to release sometime this year. I hope for the sake of that expansion we see a thorough launch of new zones, new missions, new armors, new weapons, and even a rather fun batch of new strikes and hopefully two new raids as this marks the last DLC of this season pass and possibly the last bit of content to launch for Destiny until we see Destiny 2 since it’s already in early development.

So the final question comes down to one thing at the end of this review. Is Crota’s End worth the 19.99 USD or 34.99 USD for the Season Pass? For those who are the casual gamer, it’s hard to really justify the spending of your money since the massive amount of content that this expansion has lies heavily within Eris Mourns short quest line and excessive reputation farming, but the almost necessary requirement of at least experiencing the raid more than once to really feel the money’s worth has been placed in a good spot. The answer is? If you are looking for higher replay value for a casual gamer, this is definitely not an expansion for you unless you PVP.

Review Score: 5 out of 10

Reviewer Note: The review version used was not supplied by Activision or Bungie and was purchased at our own accord and is based off the PlayStation 4 Version. However, we did not state or remark towards overall game performance, but rather content of this Expansion.

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, MMO’s, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable and can’t be softened by even the biggest names in the gaming industry. 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. To follow Dustin, hit him up on Twitter over at @GamingAnomaly, find him on his Google+. Wanna game with him? You can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.

Join the Blast Away the Game Review Community on Facebook or Google+
Written by Allen Michael Jenkins

Pros:

– The CRT Television effect is lovingly crafted and very realistic
– The controls are tight and responsive

Cons:
– The graphical style is bland and generic, and the color choices are often garish and hard to look at for long periods of time
– The music is bland
– Gameplay mechanics seem copied directly from games like Zelda II and Megaman
– Level design often seemed disorganized or arbitrary

For gamers with nostalgia for the 8-bit days of yore where Nintendo reigned supreme, there isn’t a better or worse time to be alive. Waves of 8-bit titles continue to be released in the indie sphere—and much like in the old days, when the games are good, they’re really good. And when they’re not, they’re mostly just mediocre platformers that borrow heavily from other franchises. This is where Super Win the Game comes in.

Much like Retro City Rampage, the game has an artificial frame rendered around the game screen, which is made to look like an old CRT Television (Retro City Rampage uses a screen like an arcade board). At first glance, this effect is very cool—everything has the soft fuzzy glow of old 8-bit gaming. However, upon starting up the game, I was struck by how simplistic the graphics were. Normally, I’m a huge fan of pixel art—Shovel Knight was a revelation in both design and use of the 8-bit trope. Super Win the Game’s graphics are definitely 8-bit, but perhaps too faithfully so. The colors seem to literally have the palette range of an NES, and those colors are not used to the advantage of the game. Things are muddy and unmemorable. The character sprites are too small for the huge expanses of space on the screen, usually taken up by big chunks of sky and empty backgrounds. It gives the game a decidedly empty feeling.

The gameplay is split up into two main chunks, feeling like a mash up of Kaizo trap platforming games and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. You spend some of your time time traversing a large map with small, deserted looking towns that both feel as if they were copied directly from Zelda II. The other half of the game is focused on platforming sections that take notes from Super Mario Bros 2, with vertical falling sections, and Mega Man, with its smaller obstacle course screens. These become progressively more difficult as the game goes on, although one modern touch comes with the addition of bells at the beginning of many sections that serve as checkpoints. These sections, however, continue to feel as uninspired and bland as the graphics, and at first I couldn’t figure out why.

The game is full of retro references, right down to the cover that features a Nintendo Power-esque layout. Normally, I would love this. Those kinds of tongue in cheek references made me absolutely love Retro City Rampage. However, the references in Super Win the Game were one of its main problems. The references aren’t really played for laughs—they’re built into the code, and they don’t really have much of a personality of their own. They feel cut copied and pasted from gameplay mechanics in other, better games. This isn’t to say Super win the game is by any means bad—the gameplay is solid and the controls are tight. Still, I often found myself thinking “I wish I could just play Mega Man/Super Mario 2,” although I never found myself wishing I could stop and play Zelda II.

Inevitably, I began comparing it to Shovel Knight, which some might say does some of the same things. However, using modern coding and imagination, Yacht Club imbued Shovel Knight with a sense of originality. Super Win the Game has retro mechanics, but they have little to no variation on those mechanics. The wall jumps didn’t even have a specific sprite animation. The graphics were 8-bit, and the CRT effect was lovingly crafted, but the color choices were bland, often leaving most of the screen full of large expanses of black or blue. The level design often felt incoherent and disorganized, with random sets of tiles in places that seemed arbitrary or deliberately confusing; even the title is generic and uninspired.

Did Super Win the Game reach its goal? Did it bring with it a feeling of intense nostalgia for the 8-bit days? Yes, in a way—for me, however, it was reminiscent of a different type of game than it was trying to emulate. The 8-bit ere of games was filled with companies turning out generic platformers that used tropes from other more successful games. Sonic and Mario clones dominated the rental shelves everywhere, many of them now forgotten. Unfortunately, Super Win the Game feels like those forgotten soldiers. Not bad enough to be memorable, like Bubsy, and not good enough to rise above, like Cool Spot.

Review Score: Super Win the Game earns 5 bootleg NES cartridges out of 10.

Review Notice: The game was provided to us by the developer and is based upon an early access release code.

About the Writer:

Allen Jenkins is a contributing writer for Blast Away the Game Review that has a love for retro gaming. His entertainment value and want for a challenge is easily noticed when he discusses games. His thoughts and opinions about the industry is what helps make him a man who is passionate about the topic, but also a valuable member of the journalism, and gaming industry.

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Written by Dustin Murphy

Pros:
-Plenty of Japanese Subculture Referencing
-Quickened load time on the PlayStation 4 Version
-PlayStation 4’s Twitch.tv integration added in unique twists and plenty of chaos

Cons:
-Minor load times still exist between each zone
-Combat enemy lock-on’s are still problematic
-PS Vita and PS3 versions both struggle with long load times
-No Cross save functionality

Ever wondered what it would be like to wander through Akihabara, Japan’s Electric District? That has been handed to us by Acquire with their imaginative, hilarious, and rather creative title; Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed. Undertaking this game some must enter with the knowledge that this game makes fun of the stereotyped Japanese social groups and even to some, stink with sexist jokes and even sexism at its finest, but this is not something that the game does in any form of intentional purpose. In the game players get to take control of Nanashi (used by default or renamed). This character is an ordinary otaku who just manages to live in Akihabara that has decided to apply for the job of being an experimental drug testing position in exchange for some rare figurines. The problem here? He was blinded by the fact of his promise for shiny plastic things, but low and behold; he was turned into a Synthister or vampire like creature that harvests life-force of enemies in order to survive. Let alone does he end up constantly beating the clothes off of enemies and stripping them down into their underwear and or bra’s in order to defeat them.

This is where the game begins to take a bit of an amazing – yet at times unsettling twists in the world of a video game; players will find themselves exploring the idea’s of anime fandom, obsession, and even the darker twists of what underlies within the fandom world. After spending a bit of the game it was not hard to see that the story would spend time with Nanashi spending time to come to grasps with the fact he had almost been brainwashed in order to become one of the lifeless Synthister.

Finding out what had happened to him, it was no surprise that he had decided to take on the task to rid the world of Synthisters and to protect Akiba (short for Akihabara). With his mind free, choices made, and his enemies set clear, it’s time for players to meet the bigger picture; a team of rascals that hang out at the local bar called Mogra. Once learning of what happens, the team decides it’s time to set sail and protect the otaku of Akiba from the darkness growing from within.

“‘Explorations such as a Sega store ended with my character walking away”

When stepping away from the game, the story itself is very anime-like and will keep those who want an adventure such as this at bay. Unfortunately, several of my explorations such as a Sega store ended with my character walking away, and almost (not really, but we can pretend) tears running down my face in frustration at having not been able to go in. This was repeated several times due to the iconic stores being present within the game, but only to learn once more; these are just empty shells of their real-life counterparts that one could go see in real life if the money, time, and effort was taken. With that aside, players were able to visit several more places and actually enter them only to be introduced to a rather cliché storefront where the menu is simply “Buy, Sell, or Leave”. This can become frustrating as the ideology of such an open world on Platforms such as the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 would have seemed fully possible given the chance. Much like other reviewers have pointed out, there are many places within the technological paradise that are cordoned off to those who have a free-roaming spirit.

Unfortunately; that is where the Vita version did begin to suffer a bit more than its PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 counterparts due to the load screens. They were easily timed at between 10-20 seconds per load screen (and there are tons of them), 5-10 on the PlayStation 3, and roughly 2-5 seconds on the PlayStation 4. Even with these load times having been trimmed a bit, it didn’t leave a good feeling there as players will want to explore the open areas and see what Akiba has to offer them on its rather ‘small’ map. True to what it is, Akiba’s Trip does take a few things about itself seriously; avatar population (this had bad pop in and out’s on the PS Vita version), sights, sounds, and even a lot of varied passer-by’s such as the “Gothic Lolita”, “Privileged Skank” (this one I felt was a bit overboard), Tourists, and even “Oktau Fanboy” as a few of the many names that players will come across. Spotting them on the PlayStation Vita version was a bit of a hassle due to the version having suffered rather large load times of NPC’s even after having loaded into a zone (I spent a quarter of the time loading in within the fifteen hours spent playing, free-roaming, and even starting random fights) and causing a bit of frustration when finding the proper fight or finding the proper NPC’s to speak with.

Much like one would expect, the game doesn’t leave its setting as a stereotyped JRPG with its brawler quirks. Many of the games missions are simply a matter of going somewhere, grabbing an item, and or reporting back. Players will need to note that many of these missions will disappear after completing certain points within the games main campaign. Some of them included finding an enemy and beating them up in order to strip them of their clothes and watch them vanish in a purplish shadow like appearance before reporting back, but this is where the stat system, weapon system, and progression system on the RPG front play a role. Weapon’s as one would expect determine how much damage is done to each piece of an enemies clothing before it can be removed. These weapons fortunately can be upgraded to increase their damage and usability while clothing can be found and just worn in order to provide more ‘health’ or ‘armour’ depending on the way one looks at it.

“With the plague of brief Loadscreen, I felt myself cringing each time on the PlayStation 4 itself”

Unfortunately there were things that the PlayStation 4 version had available that could have saved the game; processing power, larger discs, and the ability to add more content within it. Unfortunately, it settles for a rather familiar taste that I received when playing its counterparts on PS3 and Vita. The game was lacking, NPC’s were barely interactive, the game was hit with brief loadtimes, and even with the Twitch.TV feature the game still felt bland despite the small changes that viewers could add in. This was something that the game was deserving of in changes, the lack of load ties being necessary, the ability of seamless gameplay had been fully possible had the time been taken to fully rebuild the game itself. With the plague of brief loadscreens, I felt myself cringing each time on the PlayStation 4 itself, which made the game feel as if each area could have been one giant zone that could be explored thanks to the games anime-style graphics and the powerful machine that we know as the PlayStation 4. With this version being slightly underutilized, many players will find themselves slightly flustered at this lackluster touch since areas don’t feel like one giant one.

Instead, this game attempts to make up for it with the games Toybox mode, which gives players access to every avatar, item, and even weapon in the game from the start. Whilst this game is fun, players will be disappointed to see that the Toybox mode does not have its own trophies and even locks trophies. Though the best part of it all for me was the experience of having broadcast viewers changing the way my gameplay. They were able to start a brawl, drop panties, and even create NPC’s of their own name, and drop them into my game. This wasn’t as outrageous as one would have hoped, but it does change the way the game is played and makes for an amusing time for those wanting to see their game get taken over by people they’ve never encountered before or their friends looking to settle old scores.

“One was the want for minor load times”

Even with these changes, there were a bit of things to actually look upon when digging deep into the games tastes. One was the want for the minor load times; while this game was fun, this had truly taken away from the game itself and actually hurt the game itself. This was something that cripples it at its highest peak. Unlike other reviews, the use of stripping enemies down to their underwear or even to nothing and being covered by glimmering light offers for a rather amusing game. Though it is not an area that will allow for players who dislike this thing to avoid. Instead it is imbedded very much-so within the games DNA (code) to be apart of the base game itself. Even with the games insanely realistic boob physics that could easily put it in competition with both Senran Kagura or even Dead or Alive in this area. This is not to say though that it is not amusing regardless of it being a possible fan service or not. Even with this being a small possible issue, there are others such as the small load screens that damage the console versions from being one of the most amusing sandbox games to take on the most famed area of Japan for tourists and locals alike. Combat is another part where this game was suffering. The combat system feels flawed in many ways due to how players will find themselves frustrated with the game being stuck in what seems to be a not-so-soft-lock mode. Unlike other games where the target lock felt more like a good idea, this time around it was not such a good idea to not let players swap targets on the fly while yanking off pants and shirts as well as hats and or glasses.

Even with this, it’s not hard to see a rather skilled storyline behind the main game. It’s not hard to see that the skilled writers behind this game did a good job, but there is also a heavy nod that is due to the XSeed Games localization teams hard work to provide such a humorous game. Even the game being aware of its own tropes, pop culture references, and its not-so-hidden gamer showings; Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed can be considered a Japanese culture masterpiece despite its small hitches and even humour that some who will not understand outside of the games anime-filled humour. Unfortunately for those who have not played it prior to the PlayStation 4 release will find the game between 6-7 hours with only the main quest at the games primary focus. Though the question will come down to whether or not that players can enjoy the game in its default state or if they will take to the games visual editor and enjoy the game in varying appearances, which all of them make the game quite fun and easy to enjoy. Players can turn their screens all sorts of interesting colour’s in order to amuse themselves within this game.

With all of these things stacked up, it is not hard to see that Acquire targeted at a specific group of fans, and they will not be displeased. However, to those that don’t understand this type of game; it will be seen as sexist and filled with sexism that could be considered a disgrace to the gaming industry. With all that said, this game is one of the funniest, most awkward and even brilliantly composed to be a neatly weaved piece of hilarity. If players were to get any, the PlayStation 4 version is the go-to-version out of all three.

Review Score: 7 out of 10

 Review Note: Our PlayStation 4 copy was provided to us by the publisher and is based upon the final retail version downloaded through PlayStation Store. The PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3 versions are based upon the final digital versions, which launched earlier this year.

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, MMO’s, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable and can’t be softened by even the biggest names in the gaming industry. 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. To follow Dustin, hit him up on Twitter over at @GamingAnomaly, find him on his Google+. Wanna game with him? You can find him on PSN with RaivynLyken.