Originally Published on the Official Blast Away the Game Review Facebook Page
Review by Dustin Murphy

Pros:
+Moral choices that actually weave a story of their own
+Deaths punish a player by removing items providing a challenge
+Emphasizes the use of anime character designs and vibrant visuals
+Traditional rogue-like dungeon crawling mechanics
+Angel and Demon forms offer an edge in combat

Cons:
–Time taken between graphic novel and combat can bore some players
–English dubbing leaves room for improvement
–Character choices, at times, can leave players dumbfounded by what they are picking

What would you do when your decisions choose your fate as God? That is something that Shin Kamikaze has learned to take on earlier than before. As a follow up to the 2013 title Guided Fate Paradox, the developer (Nippon Ichi Software). In this sequel, however, it is time to take on the original build and emphasis on that in order to to help the series evolve into a bit more of a strategy like title. So what does this mean? A much more enjoyable title than before.

As stated, your story takes on the role as God from the get go. Shin Kamikaze is the perfect host to become such a figure. With a bright attitude, a rather pessimistic attitude, and a huge issue for trust, our hero finds himself rather quickly killed only to be revived so that he can become our stereotyped JRPG lead character. The question that will come to mind is easy to answer; yes he fits the role perfectly and will definitely entertain fans and newcomers for hours. Some of this is due to the fact the game emphasizes itself around the well used anime-like visuals that include character designs, terrains, and even settings. Following the tradition that worked in the past title, Guided Fate Paradox, The Awakened Fate Ultimatum feeds itself in a graphic novel type style, which should find itself as a draw for those who find huge interest in Manga’s.

When playing The Awakened Fate Ultimatum, it’s hard not to see that the game feeds off the successfulness of many games out there that come from Japan, and in this game it actually works quite well thanks to how the story unfolds. But where do you look to a game that is driven by a powerful narrative with tropes based upon the anime genre as a whole? To a dungeon crawling experience where players will take on enemies across a grid-like map. The combat is very straight-forward for players wishing to engage enemies. Players can navigate each of the maps that they are trying to go through by using the controller’s’ D-Pad, analog stick, L2 (Angel Form), (L1 + Right Stick to Select an ability), R3 (release ultimate power), R2 (Demon Form), triangle (character menu), and ‘X’ to attack. Outside of this, navigating dungeons are easy to do and so the game is rather easily explained for those wanting to explore through the dungeons.

But what else goes into this games combat system? As before, it was mentioned that L2 and R2 changed players between Angel and Devil form, which causes a new form to take shape and abilities to be used. Doing this players will alternate between using SP and just energy. When using SP, players will note that every attack, step, and even ability uses up SP, which can leave the player running around in their ‘human’ form. When out of SP, players will also be able to note that it regenerates while using up their stamina by moving around the map. In order to regenerate SP or their stamina, players will need to use their food, use their medicines, and even use those items against their enemies for the opposite effect of what would happen to them. This tactic is something that players will become familiar with in their 10-20 hour adventure through this title. Do note though; you run out of stamina? You will start losing health, once out of both? Shin dies, your dungeon ends, and you must restart where you left off.

With that mentioned, maps are explored in a birds-eye-view. Players will get to see a rather nicely detailed character models that show off with each character movement. As the game progresses so does the change in elements as players gain new weapons, trip and evade new traps, but also find themselves being randomly activated in order to halt the players progress. Outside of these combat scenarios, the game is one that is very straightforward and will attempt to keep players interested as they level up both their angel and demon (devil) forms in order to progress through the games campaign. Even with these bare essentials as part of the mechanics, the game boasts something else even more detailed that players may not realize. Outside of these well planned out dungeons with rather well placed enemies, the game boasts a system where players choices actually matter, and these choices will influence a grid like system that will determine what stats they have between both forms. So why does this matter more than the games rather straight forward combat system and dungeon exploration tactics, the game boasts something unique.

When playing through The Awakened Fate Ultimatum, players will be able to take on the tasks, as mentioned before, of taking time to make decisions that will alternate between both Angel and Devil. These decisions will give players points to spend in each of the trees in order to make that form (when used) more powerful in combat when sneaking through dungeons. Overall – what does this leave for a game of this caliber?

The Awakened Fate Ultimatum is a charming game that will leave players with quite a bit of duration that will offer fun gameplay mechanics, an entertaining story, and even decisions that seem to actually matter through the duration of the game.

/-/ Closing Thoughts /-/

Normally I’m not one to do closing thoughts when it comes to games that are rather simple when it comes to controls and story. This is one of the few games I can honestly state that actually let me go through around ten hours of enjoyment before finding myself departing from a rather amusing campaign. With that being said, the game is entertaining, which leads me to say – this game is unique, fun, and equally challenging, which got me coming back for more and enjoying what I was playing.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

Editor’s Note: This version of the game is based upon a pre-release retail version of the game. Our copy was provided to us by the games publisher. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

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:
+Well done transition from JRPG to Strategy RPG
+Carries on the series as a sidestory of the Hyperdimension franchise
+No annoyances in the ‘shares’ system for the Gameindustri market
+Semi-linear gameplay direction adds to a quick on-the-go experience
+Creative chibi like character models that make the game one of the best looking on Vita

Cons:
-Boss difficulties, just as in other games, can be challenging and at times too hard
-A massive amount of tutorials that slow down the games pacing
-Characters do not heal up when leveling up in combat scenes, which improves the games difficulty

Where do you go with a franchise that has become so well known for its take on the gaming industry by having four CPU’s from different ‘realms’ and constantly fighting each other go to? A side-story adventure that puts one of the most anti-social of all the characters at the focus; her name? Goddess Blackheart or Noire for short.

Our story takes us into the world of Lastation where Noire (the CPU goddess Blackheart) has gotten tired of existing in the shadows of her allies; Vert, Blanc, and Neptune to name those allies. This time around we are finally getting to see Noire in action where her heart is full of hope, her mind is filled with determination, and her innermost embarrassments are for us to see as her secretary. That’s after she condemns the world into a ‘shares blackout’ and strips the CPU’s of their power. This is where you the player becomes important. For the first-time ever players get to see the world unfold in front of Noire’s eyes where she gets to put the spotlight on her, but also shares the advantage of being in her very own strategy role-playing title, which does itself a lot of justice.

The game takes us into the alternate universe known as Gamarket, which is a huge change from the traditional world of ‘Gameindustri’ where Noire, Vert, and Blanc are always going to war with each other and well Purpleheart or rather Neptune herself. In this newly unveiled world, we get to see Noire as the commander and chief who runs her world with an iron fist and lets the other CPUs know exactly where she stands. Unfortunately for her, there are a bit of issues where she’s tricked into wishing at the sharacite crystal, this being after she is tricked into wishing upon it, and loses all control of her power, the other CPUs power, and well each of the countries generals are out for blood, and hers is to be exact. After almost being attacked by a monster that would normally have been a simple task for her, you – her secretary in all reasons and purposes for this story – are her saving grace that allows her to have her CPU form back. This is, however, where the plot becomes paper thin and focuses on character development versus a solid story that would normally send fans into a craze.

With all of this aside, the games story is, as stated, very thin and leaves little to no room as to a heavy concern on what happened, but instead allows players to see the behind the scenes look at Noire as well as her personal inner-workings. With the game having done this, players will at times feel as if they aren’t playing the game for the story, but instead to experience the fresh-new-look at a series that hasn’t changed all that much since its days on the PlayStation 3. In this game, the new combat system is the most unique twist to the whole thing, which improves upon the old system with the newly implemented “Lily System”, which allows for characters to team up by standing beside each other, getting a peck on the cheek, and performing their skills. Doing this will cause abilities to require less skill points to perform, and will even allow for a buff to be given depending on who, how many, and when the ability is used. The best time for this usage? Making sure your entire team is around you and popping the ability to vanquish enemies that could be annoying to fight.

In this new system, players will also get a ‘kissing currency’, which can be used in order for characters to turn to their CPU appearance and allow for their HDD form as well as abilities to be used. In these forms players can take on using special attacks (just like in the previous titles) and even deploy more units on the field when they start digitally phasing out one by one like some bad sprite from an old game. However, do not think this is something you’ll want to focus on since it does mean that your arsenal of characters to choose from can be used up and leave you defenseless when you really will need those characters on the battlefield. However, who doesn’t want to see every character they can put on the field out in combat in all their animated chibi glory?

Even with the subtle changes to the old combat system, one thing does main majorly intact, and that is the individuality that each character portrays in previous titles while in combat. This means that abilities, their range, and even attack animations remain much the same, but it also means that abilities very rarely become overlapping, if at all. Something that was done quite well in the Re;birth 1 and Re;birth 2 titles (reviews coming soon). Thanks to how Idea Factory approached this, it’s not odd to Vert send a spear piercing through enemies and nuking their health bar to nothingness or see Neptune go into a flashy spiral and knocking a rather large chunk of their health bar off. Though this isn’t something that should always be celebrated. While moving across the battlefield may seem easy, the developers became crafty and allowed enemies to use traps (terrain, etc) against you, they’ve also managed to allow enemies to enjoy a bit of their own quickly dispatching attacks. Enemies can use a range of viruses, poisons, and even status ailments in order to prevent players from proceeding through battlefields as quickly as they would like. Players will also find themselves taking on CPU like characters (no HDD form, but very devastating are accompanied by them).

For those of you who like to move between one point to the next, it never hurts to opt out of attacking and instead moving an extra turn so that players may get to a goal that may need quickly maneuvered to. Luckily those of you who are constantly in trouble due to status ailments, it’s not hard to pick a character on your team setup (assuming you’ve failed the mission and returned to Lastation) can revisit the mission, build your team best suited for the mission, and retry it. Note, anything you’ve obtained or found will be lost upon the mission fail and will require a chance at re-obtaining it by once more taking out enemies and finding that hidden loot.

When not on the battlefield, players are given a chance to visit vendors that will seem rather familiar from the past titles, which is the item developer, disc developer and even a chance to visit the Basilicom. Here players can use special plans obtained from bosses, missions, or simply finding them from chests, this is something rather useful when wanting to create more powerful weapons and armour but this also means that players will be dealing with hard to kill bosses that can be an almost guaranteed one shot when trying to take them on for the materials and item plans. This is where the Lastation Hub becomes an important place when not in the middle of missions.

Visiting the Basilicom is something players can do in order to visit Noire and chat with her or even undergo a small conversation and spend some Sim Points in order to better situate her living area, which is just short of being a shack due to how trashy it looks to begin with. Here is where players can also undertake requests from the people of Lastation and chat with Noire regarding these requests. These requests give an insight into what the possible every day life of Noire must be like. Some of them causing a small chuckle as it tends to be a bit of comedy relief depending on the options chosen.

Outside of this, the game is rather straight forward as a Hyperdimension franchise installment in the fact that players will find themselves doing what they need at the Lastation hub when not trying to complete objectives, missions, and working with the CPUs as suggested, the game is creative and allows for a unique spin on the JRPG series it originates from. With even a paper-thin plot, the story, character development, and even graphics are eye popping and will leave players entertained longer than they would have thought, which is what makes this game well worthwhile.

Closing Thoughts: Reflecting on the Sim

When thinking about where the Hyperdimension series originated from, it’s hard not to see that the game itself has become a bit of a unique spin on the world of Gamarket and the look at what Noire would do if the world was hers. Luckily the game is amusing in every means of amusing and does not cut any corners to fill in the classic puns the series is known for. With requests for missions now being side missions, the game provides quite a bit of fun and even allows for a few of the games rib nudges that can get a small chuckle or laugh out of a person. The game itself is enjoyable and allows for a strategy take on the familiar RPG series. This is definitely one that fills a spot that has been void on the PlayStation Vita and allows for fans to enjoy the series, but for fans who want a very story driven game should look elsewhere for their entertainment.

Final Score: 6 out of 10

Editor’s Note: This version of the game is based upon a pre-release retail version of the game. Our copy was provided to us by the games publisher. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

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:
+Beautifully Artistic
+Intriguing use of the front and rear Vita touchpads
+Challenging stages that offer plenty of puzzle variations
+An intriguing story told through scenery and actions

Cons:
-At times unresponsive reactions when using shadow world firefly
-Can, at times, be boring and cumbersome to play
-Lack of analog controls makes the game hard to play for those on the go

htoL#NiQ, also known by Hotaru no Nikki, is by all the means is a beautiful game. It is one that I’ve been closely tracking since it’s Japanese launch and was almost tempted on more than one occasion to download it. Before I begin, I want to applaud Nippon Icchi Software America for picking up this title, it is gorgeous, and at times gives players a truly troubling story that is told through the scenery and the actions of the characters. So where do we begin? First of all, we’ll begin with introducing the game. htoL#NiQ tells the story of an amnesiac child by the name of Mion whom has awoken in December 31, 9999, and has come to witness the dark and desolate world that has been left in ruins. Unfortunately, Mion has to escape the rubble she is stuck in so that she may see the outside world and hope for the best. In this story, Mion is lead by her companion firefly Hotaru whom is leading her through her journey upwards through the ruins Mion is stuck in. Unfortunately, not all that looks good – is good. With distorted and ruthless shadows, machines, and the bodies of dead children hanging around in random areas, Mion is put into a world that looks like it may not all be that great when she gets out.

In our exploration the game instantly opens up with some of the most beautiful art that one could expect to see for a game such as this, but afterwards our eyes will be drawn from enjoying this portion to a tutorial that teaches players how to control both Hotaru and Mion. Hotaru, being our playable character that guides Mion. Once players have become accustomed to using both the front and rear touch pads to control both Mion and Hotaru, it is time to try and get to safety. Within the game the atmosphere fits the setting with rather industrial areas that seem drab and dark, htoL#NiQ seems to try and boast a lot about its atmosphere, which it deserves to do, which is where I will leave it at that. This game is gorgeous is all that can be said to keep from going on a spew regarding it.

But in many ways, I felt that is where the games controls began to go downhill since the levels will eventually require players to have quick reactions to maneuver Hotaru and Mion from dying due to shadows, machines, and even the terrain that can be rather brutal. At times, it will become frustrating at how fast or slow the game seems to be. Though, that is where the charm comes in regarding the games puzzles that have a rather decent pacing until late in the game, which is where the game seems to have gone downhill and slowed down to a point I felt like I had chain and ball hanging on my thumbs. This is unfortunate since many of the games level designs (some of them overly challenging and left me rage quitting – admittedly) are almost too hard to do without a analog stick since they are almost impossible at times. With Hotaru at the lead, it’s not surprising to see that the developer has brought a few challenges that players will not expect, these challenges include Mion becoming confused and walking in the opposite direction of what Hotaru is in. This will lead players to needing to adapt and overcome in levels where they must use devices to protect Mion from floating up into saw blades, shadows, or simply just a terrain that will kill her. With this happening seemingly quite often, players will find themselves muttering, grunting, or even yelling in pure frustration since Mion seems to walk slowly above a world of death that awaits to claim her.

When not worrying about death, players will be growing frustrating with the slowly adapting touch screen controls, which will leave them frustrated when trying to move Mion up ladders, over boxes, and even to release items for some boss fights that will require her to run away. With Mion being as slow as she is, it’s hard not to get a cringe going when trying to re-position your firefly (Hotaru) where you need it. If you don’t when climbing up a ladder or box for example? You may end up dismounting it back to where you came from, this can be annoying and lead some players who want a faster pace to walk away and move onto another game; something I admittedly found myself doing multiple times before coming back to htoL#NiQ. This admittedly is a good thing though since it has actually shown that htoL#NiQ (Hotaru no Nikki) has some lure to it and will keep frustrated players coming back for more in order to find more saplings and even help Mion regain her memories.

With this exploration for such items, the question in mind that comes is the wondering of something else – where is the sprint? Does Mion just not know how to run or have the designers decided to omit this from the game on purpose? With moments of urgency that pop up, it would have been nice to see Mion run depending on how fast Hotaru is from her, which would make moving back and forth across the larger puzzle rooms rather nice while trying to also avoid falling death that tends to happen quite often throughout the game. On the bright side, the slow scenes due seem to end rather quickly thanks to events that help relieve this bit of annoyance throughout the game. We can only hope this is something that is added in if the game ever gets analog stick support.

When stepping away from the minor annoyances of the game, htoL#NiQ is a charming game that finds itself as a touch screen puzzle title that could easily find itself launching on tablets, phones, and other devices including the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. The Nintendo 3DS? It would have been a rather charming addition to the game thanks to the New Nintendo 3DS implemented C-Stick and Adaptive 3D. However, that is not a portion for me to discuss, which leaves me trying to revisit Hotaru no Nikki again so that I may snag up all this difficult (at times) to obtain Saplings so that Mion can regain her memories.

Final Score: 6 out of 10

Editor’s Note: This version of the game is based upon a pre-release retail version of the game. Our copy was provided to us by the games publisher. For information about our ethics policy please click here.

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.