Moon Hunters - Review

Last year I played a game called The Beginners Guide, which was absolutely fantastic.  One of the many things that stood out was the music, composed and performed by Ryan Roth and Halina Heron.
I decided to listen to some of their other works, one of them was a soundtrack for a game called Moon Hunters.  I looked into the game and decided it had to go on my list of games to play.


Who likes chocolate digestives?  I know you might be thinking, chocolate digestives?  Come on, there are better biscuits than that.  Well the biscuits I eat are often like the films I watch, that is say it is all dependent on my mood.  If I'm feeling a bit meh, then I'll watch a comedy, equally if I am not feeling the best the chocolate digestives are my go to biscuit.  Playing Moon Hunters I found myself asking was this the right biscuit for me?

Story

The game is set in the fictional world of Issria, your starting character is a choice of: a druid, witch, ritualist or spellblade, (this choice expands once you finish the game).  The story starts with a celebration feast, everyone is gathered around to wait for the moon to rise.  Unfortunately it doesn't and people aren't dealing with it all that well.  As you are the only one keeping calm it's up to you to save the day, your mission: find the moon.  Seems straightforward enough right, I mean the moon is pretty big?  Well there are few issues, there is a Sun Cult trying to destroy the current way of life, oh, and you only have five days to set everything right, no pressure.


The game has an interesting story that offers multiples endings that are well worth exploring. The game certainly has an out with the old, in with the new feel but as we all know new isn't necessarily better.

Visuals

The visuals are quite interesting and remind me a little of the original Flashback game, only with a top down view.  The loading screen is one of the best I have seen in a game for a long while and I never got tired of seeing it (see below).  There are different locations you can visit, expect to see small villages, forests, mountains and deserts. Initially these are interesting to look at but get repetitive quickly.  My favorite location was Adulis - at first glance it looks like a snowed cover mountain but it actually hides a small village inside. While the up close details of the characters look simple this all changes when a dialogue window is open.  My personal favorite was the druid who wears an outfit made from vines and leaves, along with a wooden mask that hides his face.  The most standout enemy was Humbaba who is basically a house sized boar that has part of his back hollowed out and is filled with lava and fire.

Overall an interesting art style, the characters look unique and there are some locations that look great but unfortunately they get repetive quickly.


Music


The score shifts from a singer song writer to a Zeldaesque styles of music.  While these two vary massively they some how manage to work together.  The people responsible for this odd match of music are:

Ryan Roth also hails from Canada but unlike Halina focuses on very different genres of music, mostly electronic & ambient.  He has worked on other albums with Halina along with doing his own solo work including; The Yawhg EP, Good Snowmen Are Hard To Build and Shattered Planet OST.

Halina Heron is a singer-songwriter from Canada, she has released a number of albums & EP's including; The Yawhg EP, Back Then, A Morticians Tale and Bloom.

The score run at little over thirty minutes but for the length of the game itself this is perfect.  My favorite pieces included: 'Night Sky', 'Perilous Cave', 'Portside Daybreak' and 'Up Rising'.  Overall an unusual but solid soundtrack.

Gameplay


The game is described as an RPG Personality Test.  The game is quite short, is set over five days and can be completed in about an hour.  There are multiple endings available which have varying requirements to unlock them.

The game menu is broken up into three sections: abilities, reputation and stats.  The abilities section just shows the three abilities you have equipped, these can be upgraded by giving money to merchants.  The reputation section is where the personality test comes into play, depending on your actions you can be noted as being: patient, compassionate, prideful - there are also a few others.  The issue I had with this was that sometimes they would not appear in the menu or others seemed to simply disappear.  The stats sections I found to quite interesting and were broken down into: intellect, faith, endurance, charm, spirit and strength.  The traditional way of leveling up stats by defeating enemies does not exist, instead Kitfox Games goes for something a little different.  When you clear an area you have to go and make camp, when you are there you will have multiple options as to what you can do, there is: cooking, hunting, stargazing, resting and keeping watch.  Each of these help increase different stats, it's fun to try them all, the first time I varied between them, the second time I focused on charm to help in unlocking a different ending.  This to me was one of the most enjoyable parts of the game and was a fun way to level up.

 My favorite role to play by far was the druid, I liked his design and I thought he had some great abilities including mad leaf throwing skills and growing fields of vines to slow enemies.  While the game can be played in co-op, if you don't want to play with others but want a little company you can find familiars. One of them is a turkey, which I had the option to greet or cook, a glowing flame given to me by an angry spirit, and a snake who is pretty bad ass and was my favorite.

Overall exploring Issria was interesting, that is until you finish the game a few times and it gets repititve despite the fact the levels are supposed to be randomly generated.  While reputation was interesting as a whole I did not really feel it had a major impact on the way the game played out, with the exception of the ending where your decisions reflect what people thought of you.  I loved the leveling up system used in the game and some of the characters.  The multiples endings was a good idea but very quickly I grew tired of trying to unlock them, unlike when I played The Stanley Parable where I wanted to get all of them.

Final Thoughts

So after fours of playing how did I feel?  Mmm, it had some good and not some not so good elements.  The positives, story was interesting, there were some nice visuals and characters designs, the music worked well even though there were two very distinct styles used, the gameplay offered some interesting exploration options and a fun leveling up system.  The negatives, the story could have been explored more, the visuals had a tendency to repeat themselves, the personality test side of the gameplay didn't really have any ramifications, the multiple endings, while interesting, lost my interest quickly. Overall the game had some great elements but suffered from being lackluster, this one gets 3 out of 5

What Remains Of Edith Finch - Review

Last year I was looking at playing a game called What Remains Of Edith Finch, an intriguing title that was created by Giant Sparrow, who also made the Unfinished Swan.  I quite enjoyed playing the PlayStation Vita version of the Unfinished Swan a couple of years back.  I added What Remains of Edith Finch to my list of games to play and promptly forgot about it until a few weeks ago.  I couldn't remember what the premise of the game was or what the gameplay was like but I thought to myself let's give it ago.

 Any fans of beans on toast?  I am, there is something about its simplicity that makes it so great, all you need is a can of beans and some bread.  There are a few additions I have seen added, my personal favorite is adding a little cheese on top.  I remember eating beans and toast growing up and I always loved it, there is just something comforting about it, throw in a cup tea or a mug of milk and you have the perfect meal.  Playing What Remains of Edith I found myself asking was this the tasty comfort I was looking for?

Story


The story starts on a boat, with you looking down at a journal with the name Edith Finch on it.  It is clear from Edith's narration that you are going to her family's home that has been long since abandoned.  The purpose of this journey is to learn more about her family and the unusual house they all lived in at one point or another.  The journey you are taken on is both magical and sorrowful and keeps you engaged constantly.  I really liked some of the dialogue, one of my favorites lines is when you see a disheveled living room to which Edith remarks "It was like a bomb had gone off and killed everyone and spared the furniture".


There is a deep simplicity to the story which had my attention the whole time, making me want to constantly learn more about the Finch's.  I can't say any more than that without ruining the experience for you.  Overall though I can tell you that the story is amazing.




Visuals


The visuals in the game are amazing, the world you are in feels alive and filled with many interesting sites.  Something that first caught my attention was when the handwritten dialogue popped on the screen, I opened a gate to move further up a path and this action caused the letter and words to be knocked apart almost as if they were part of the landscape.  The grounds around the house are filled with vibrant lush nature, which you have the opportunity of exploring before entering the house.  I was skeptical initially as to how visually interesting exploring a house could be when it looked so nice outside, this was quashed fairly quickly.  The house felt real and lived in, books stacked haphazardly, old dishes laying around, boxes partially packed up giving very much the feeling that whoever left, did so in a hurry.


Throughout the game, you will get to see a glimpse into the Finch's lives, there are some really interesting moments one of the most fun visually was getting to conduct a bunch of bath toys including a frog and a whale.


Games are art, and this statement could not be relevant than with What Remains of Edith Finch.


Music 


When I'm writing a review I always listen to the soundtrack independent of the game, it helps me to better focus on it.  It is rare when I listen to one that I feel almost confused like something is missing.  There are various elements that make up any game: story, visuals, music, and gameplay.  Generally, these can be taken and reviewed individually and based off of this they help in establishing the overall strength of the game.  However, with What Remains of Edith Finch these elements are so dependent on each other that their true strength comes when they are brought together, but it is more than that.  Each part is so fundamental to what makes up the game that viewing any one element seems lost without the others and I really felt this way in particular when listening to the soundtrack.

The composer for the soundtrack is Jeff Russo an American composer, performer, and producer who has a diverse background.  He is part of two music groups Tonic and Veruca Salt, who both have released a number of albums.  Outside of this, he has also worked on a number of TV Series including, Lucifer, Fargo, and Star Trek Discovery.


The soundtrack runs just short of an hour, and has a number of great tracks, my favorites include:
'Edith's Theme', 'Gus's Kite', 'Lewis Coronation - Daydream', 'Lewis Coronation - Sailing Ship','The Finale' and 'The End'.  Overall the music keeps its distance but is never afraid to announce itself when required, it always manages to do this without ever spoiling the story.

Gameplay


The gameplay itself is more like a first-person visual novel, but don't get me wrong this is a good thing.  This style of gameplay helps better enjoy the subtlety of things going on around you.  The journey through the family home is an interesting one, there are hidden locks and passageways that really add to the overall intrigue.  Around the house are shrines to the family that used to live there, investigating them allows you to experience a glimpse into their lives.  Each time you complete one it will be added to the family tree in Edith's journal.  The memories are full of emotion and depth, my favorites were Molly's, Sam's and Lewis's.


In honesty, it is tough for me to say more than that, not for lack of wanting to but purely because it is all so important and revealing.  The overall gameplay is amazing and highly enjoyable, the replay value may be low but with a game that has this much impact experiencing it once is enough.





Final Thoughts

So, after four hours of playing how did I feel?  Really good!  The story was engaging and interesting, the visuals were amazing, the music was just right, and the gameplay was right on the money.  It didn't take me too long to score this one, overall this gets 5 out of 5

Sonic CD - Review

Back in 1993 Sonic CD was released. I didn't own the Mega-CD console so I was unable to play it, that is until my downstairs neighbour bought one.  She was a nice old lady, who smoked too much and often ate cooked mince out of a plastic bowl, which even as a child I thought was weird.  Anyway, I digress; thanks to her I got to play a new console and a new Sonic game.  It was really cool, and it was on a CD, who knew console games would end up being on discs!  Sorry, I'm easily excitable.  Unfortunately, I only got to play a little bit each time I visited her, so alas I never got to play it all the way through.  Many years later I contemplated picking up a Mega-CD, but unfortunately, they were/are quite expensive for a good quality one.  Sonic CD left my head again for a few more years that was until recently when I remembered it and decided to settle for downloading it on the XBOX 360.


When I was younger I loved drinking banana flavored Yazoo, it is a flavored milk-like substance that was a low-cost version of a real milkshake.  When I was in my early twenties I still loved drinking it, but the last few years I don't like it all, in fact, it sometimes gives me headaches.  Every now again I buy one, maybe for nostalgia or because I am hoping I will like it again, but the outcome is almost always the same.  Playing Sonic CD I found myself asking, did I still like banana flavored Yazoo, or was I just trying to relive the past?

Story

Dr. Robotnik is once again up to his evil schemes, and this time he has his eyes on Time Stones that are able to control the passage of time.  He manages to chain down a planet called Little Planet, where they are located and is slowly turning it into his new home.  This time he also has a new creation Metal Sonic, a badass metal version of Sonic.  

Sonic's task is a little tougher than normal, in each act (with the exception of boss ones) you have to travel to the past and destroy the robot production capsules.  Once this is done it will help create a good future, fail to do this and you will get a bad future.  Alternatively, if you collect all the Time Stones you can unlock the good future.  In theory, it sounds interesting, but makes things a little bit more awkward than they need to be, the biggest issue I had is that if you fail to go to the past and destroy all the robot production capsules in every act then you get the bad ending.  This to me was a bad feature, and while I understand the need to branch out, and try sometime new this just did not do it for me, especially as there is not standardly an act select menu.

Visuals

When you start the game you get a really cool animated introduction which is done by Toei Animation, they have worked on Dragon Ball Z, Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, and Digimon, to name but a few.  I felt this to be a nice touch and reminded me of when I was younger watching Sonic The Hedgehog animated series.


There were some interesting level designs, my favorite being Collision Zone, a mixture of the Chemical Pant Zone and Casino Night Zone from Sonic 2, industrial meets casino, a strange combination but it works.  The enemies were not very standout with the exception of Metal Sonic, and Sasori who is basically a scorpion crossed with a tank, a scorpion tank!  Overall the visuals weren't bad but as a whole nothing hugely exciting.


Music

The soundtrack is quite different to a lot of other Sonic games, it dips in and out of a pop sound that features heavy use of piano, to a more industrial sound.  The pop sound features in the present or good future, while the industrial sound features in the past, and bad future.  There were two versions of the soundtrack created, the original was for the Japanese and PAL regions and the other was for North America. I listened to both, but the one featured in the version I played was the Japanese/PAL version that was created by:

Naofumi Hataya, a Japanese composer, and performer, who has worked on a host of Sega Classics including, Golden Axe, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sega Rally Championship, Night's Into Dreams, Daytona USA, Sonic Generations, and Rub Rabbits (if you haven't played this Nintendo DS gem go play it now).

Masafumi Ogata, a Japanese composer, who has worked on a number of games including; Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic 4 Episode 2, and Death Crimson 2.

The music rolls on for little over ninety minutes, and contains more than forty tracks, one of the strongest parts of the game for me was the music, my favorite pieces included:

Sonic CD Intro
Quartz Quadrant  - Present
Collision Chaos - Present
Collision Chaos - Bad Future
Stardust Speedway - Bad Future
Metallic Madness - Present
Metallic Madness - Bad Future
Boss!!

I listened to the shorter Northern American version of the soundtrack and I was massively underwhelmed.  They went for a funkier sound which I felt really didn't suit that game, in fact, the only piece that I thought may surpass its Japanese counterpart was the boss music.

Overall the Japanese/PAL version of the soundtrack was really good, and the only issue I had was the sound effect used when collecting TV's and finishing an act which was an annoying kid saying 'yes' which just sounded very out of place.

Gameplay

Onto the meat! The game plays for the most part like a standard Sonic game, you have your spin attack, TV boxes with power-ups, and special stages.  What sets Sonic CD apart from a lot of the other games in the series is the ability to go into the past or future.  This can be done by hitting a signpost with either 'past' or 'future' on it, you then need to build up enough speed to go to the desired point in time.  Going into the future does not really have any benefits, as it is the past you need to change to affect present/future.  It sounds good, but the issue is that if you go to the past, fail to locate the robotic capsule and destroy even one you will get the bad ending.  There isn't a level select so if you miss one then you have to start from the beginning again.  Some could argue as the game can be completed in about an hour it's not that big of a deal to start from scratch, apart from it really is a big deal.  Being honest there was no need to have a good and bad ending, Sonic has never been about that, and it felt really unnecessary.  But why I am complaining, I could just use the bonus stages to collect all the Time Crystals?  Because they are really badly designed, feel clunky, awkward, and unless you use an exploit then the only way to do is to collect enough rings before the end of each act to enter the bonus level, and even then if you mess up you only have a limited number of tries to collect all Time Stones.

Stardust Speedway Act 3 requires you to race Metal Sonic, and win the race if you are too slow Dr. Robotnik will kill you, if you get too close to Metal Sonic he uses cheap moves to either make you lose your rings or kill you.  Collision Zone Act 3 seemed fun, that is until I felt like I was in a pinball machine that I had little control over.  My favorite act was Tidal Zone Act 3, I liked chasing Dr. Robotnik, then you fight him underwater, he uses protectives bubbles that you have to grab to not only survive but also defeat him.

Overall pretty underwhelmed by the gameplay and the inclusion of good and bad endings.

Final Thoughts

So after a few hours of playing how did I feel?  Disappointed, the story was only okay, the visuals were interesting enough, but one level had a tendency to blend into another.  The music was really good, the standard Sonic gameplay was good, but the rest of it felt awkward and unneeded.  Overall I have I am going to have to give this one 2 out of 5

Project X Zone 2: Brave New World - Review

Despite not using my Nintendo 3DS very much, I do really like it, I just have difficulties finding games I really want to play on it.  Well over a year ago I saw Project X Zone 2: Brave New World in GameStop, I checked out the back of the box, liked the style, and the idea of playing a game with a multitude of characters from different game series. I went home checked out a little more about it, and then finally decided to buy it.  It has taken me a long time to finish the game, but I finally got there, so here's my review of Project X Zone 2: Brave New World.


Who loves peanut butter?! I really love it, it's tasty and works well in chocolate, biscuits, cakes, doughnuts, and sandwiches.  One of my favorite ways to enjoy it is between two slices of bread, sometime I might even toast the bread depending on my mood.  Throw in a large mug of milk, and I feel like happy little kid again.  Admittedly it's rather simple, but it is great comfort food.  Playing Project X Zone 2: Brave New World I found myself asking was this a simple tasty sandwich with milk or was it just simple?

Story

The game takes characters from Capcom, Sega, and Bandai and has them working together to help stop the destructions of their worlds.  The mission is simple, stop the bad guys summoning an ultimate evil.  There are characters from: Resident Evil, Megaman, Strider, Darkstalkers, Virtua Fighter, Resonance of Fate, Streets of Rage, God Eater 2, Tekken, Soul Caliber V, and .hack// to name just a few.  The characters are mostly arranged into teams of two, my favorites were Xiaomu/Reiji, Phoenix Wright/Maya, Kiru/Majima, Dante/Vergil, and Sheath/Saya.

The story, while good feels a little more complicated at times than it needs to be, but for the most part, this wasn't really an issue for me as there was so much great dialogue between the characters.  There are jokes about other games, nods to the player, plenty of sexual innuendos, and just generally funny conversations.  The only thing that initially threw me off were some of the in-jokes, that you would only fully appreciate if you had played all the games the characters were from, but as time went on it just made me want to go out and play those games.  Overall though, a good story, with lots of fun dialogue.

Visuals

Handheld games sometimes suffer from poor visuals, this is certainly not the case with Project X Zone 2: Brave New World.  When you are organising your characters on the field of battle they are in a chibi/8-bit style which looks really good, the designers picked a style that suited the 3DS perfectly.  The conversations between characters are displayed well and gave a really dynamic feel, unlike some games that can feel quite static during dialogue sequences.  The animation sequences when pulling off a special attack look fantastic, and I never grew tired of seeing them.  One of the coolest things for me was the Dragonturtle MK 1, a mobile base that contains absolutely everything, including a games room!  

Overall I can't fault the visuals in the game, for me I really like when game designers push a console to its limits, but without overstepping and creating a visual mess.  I kept this section rather short, not due to laziness but more because one of the best parts of the game is the visuals themselves and didn't want to spoil anything.

Music

Being honest I don't think I have ever listened to a single video game soundtrack that contained such a colossal number of composers, arrangers, performers, and lyricists.  To have such a talented number of artists working on one game is amazing, and while sometimes 'too many cooks spoil the broth' this certainly not one of those times.  To me, music is just as important a part of a game as the story, visuals and the gameplay itself, if you don't feel the same way you may want to skip this section. Below is a list of all the people who helped create the soundtrack:

Chikayo Fukuda, a Japanese composer, lyricist, and arranger, her works include: .hack// and, Naruto TV Series,  along with the video games Asura's Wrath and LieN.

Yuki Kajiru, a Japanese composer, she is also part of a duo with Chiaki Ishikawa called See-Saw, and another with Yuuka Nanri called FictionJunction.  She has worked on a number of anime series including: Kubikiri Cycle, Sword Art Online, Reservoir Chronicle: Tsubasa and Noir.

Yoko Shimomura, a Japanese composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer, her works include: Street Fighter 2, Kingdom Hearts, and Xenoblade.

Masami Ueda, a Japanese composer, and arranger, he has worked on a number of video game series including: Biohazard Series, Devil May Cry Series, and Bayonetta 2.

Thomas Parisch, a German composer, and arranger, his works include: Resident Evil 6 Biohazard

and the anime series Prison School.

Laurent Zilani, a French composer, and arranger who worked on Resident Evil 6 Biohazard.

Kinuyo Yamashita, a Japanese composer, and arranger, who has featured on Video Games Live along with having worked on Castlevania 20th Anniversary Music Collection and Megaman X3.

Maskazu Sugimori, a Japanese composer, and arranger who has worked on a number of awesome video game titles including Ghost Trick, Vanquish, and the Gyakuten Saiban series (Phoneix Wright Ace Attorney).

Kohei Tanaka, a Japanese composer, arranger, and performer who has worked a number of anime series, and games including Sakura Wars, One Piece Music & Song Collection, Hayate The Combat Butler, Sega Saturn History: Saturn Was Young, and Gravity Rush 2.

Hidenori Shoji, a Japanese composer, arranger, lyricist, and performer whose works includes Yakuza 3, Code of the Joker and Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed.

Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Japanese composer, arranger, performer, lyricist and programmer who has worked on a number of video game titles including Outrun, Virtua Fighter 1, 2, Virtua Fighter Kids, 

Burning Rangers, and Shenmue.

Yuzo Koshiro, a Japanese composer, arranger, lyricist and performer who has worked on both video games and anime including Bare Knuckle (Streets of Rage), Perfect Collection Ys Heaven's Sanctuary, 7th Dragon, and Misty Blue.

Rio Hamamoto, a Japanese composer, arranger, and performer who has worked on a number of video game titles including Soulcalibur 2, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Tekken 7 and Ace Combat Assault Horizon.

Akhiro Namba, a Japanese composer, performer, and lyricist who worked on the God Eater Series.

Hiroyuki Kawada, a Japanese composer, and arranger whose works include Tekken 3, The Legend Of Valkyrie, and Beep Special Project.

Takuya Hanaoka, a Japanese composer and arranger who worked on the first Project X Zone, along with Shining Force Resurrection of The Dark Dragon, and Super Robot Wars.

The soundtrack contains eighty-six tracks and over fours hours of music.  It is really good, I wanted to buy a physical copy of the soundtrack, but I had to settle for a digital download.  There are so many great tracks, my favorites include:

Brave New World

Objection! 2001

You Will Know Our Names

Funk Goes On

Pressing Pursuit

Stair Of Time

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Opening

Burning

Volcanic Rim Stage - Oceania

Theme Of Ryu

Gentle Hands

Ride On Sea

Feast of the Damned

New World Project

Evil Profusion 

Faster Than A Howling Wind

Accelerating Chaos

Ship Battle

Sega Saturn - Shiro

Vengeful Beauty

Angels With Burning Hearts

Engage The Enemy

Gameplay

Onto the peanut butter that makes up this sandwich! The game is best described as tactical, turn-based, roleplaying game.  The game is not timed so you have all the time you need to plan before attacking.  Once you make your move you will go into a classic fighting game view which has you pulling off simple combos to do the most damage to an enemy. In most cases you will have two characters working together on screen to defeat one enemy, it might sound unbalanced but it actually works perfectly especially considering the health bar of some enemies.  If you are in close proximity to other characters you can call on them for help which can use to carry out powerful cross attacks.  Once your XP bar builds up high enough you can pull over powerful attacks that will kill a lot of enemies, and in other cases severely damage them.  Then onto the enemies turn, this times things play out a little different, when an enemy tries to attack you can defend, full defend or counter them.  Of course, this is only possible if you have enough XP, and even if you do some enemies are able to ignore this. This, for the most part, is how the game plays out, with the exception of a fewer protect your territory missions.

At the end of each mission, you can spend some time shopping for weapons, equipment, and items, arranging your teams, and leveling up your characters.  This is a big part of the game, as you can decide which moves to level up, in the early stages I put a lot of focus on improving the character basic attacks, and later focussed on their special attacks.  Overall I found the system simple, and fun to use.  

The game itself also has another element, skills.  These can be used before moving a character, some of them allow you to move more spaces, enhance the attack, and defense of characters, along with a multitude of others.  The strange thing is with the exception of the last few missions I didn't need to use them.  I only died half a dozen times in the game, so overall I felt they were kind of unnecessary.

Most missions went okay with the exception of the last one, it took me a few tries to complete, and in the end, it took me over three hours to finish.  

Overall some really good, fun gameplay with little to complain about.

Final Thoughts

So after over fifty hours how did I feel? A mixture of happy, and sad.  Happy because after a long time of playing I finally finished it, but sad because I finished it.  The story might be overly complicated at times, but the visuals were great, and I really like the gameplay.  I am sad it's over but I had a great time with it, and might even play it again in the future.  This one gets a solid 4 out of 5

As you can see below I have a new addition to my review, it's a happy monkey, created by my better half - thanks, Nolls.  If I liked a game you will see him, if I the game was meh or didn't like a game you will see one of his friends.

Bloodborne - Review

Well, it's been a while since I last did a review, this is due to a few reasons; I have been sick for over a week, visited London and made some new friends (shoutout to Katie and Ger), and have been slowly working my way through Bloodborne.  Anyone who plays a lot of games knows that it can be quite expensive.  I would love to buy all my games brand new, the moment they are released, but unless you have a ton of loose cash it's just not possible.  What's a gamer to do?  You need to be smart, buy second hand, share games between friends, or even go halves on a game, this is exactly what Siniša, and I decided to do with Bloodborne.


I'm not a big breakfast person, but every now and then I fancy something like a bacon sandwich, mini breakfast, or even some cereal.  On occasion, I even feel like having porridge.  The thing about porridge is that it is hard to eat, even a small amount fills you quickly, and can rest heavily on your stomach.  It's doesn't look very appealing either, dress it up any way you like it's still not going to look very enticing.  Finishing a bowl, while challenging can be quite nice, and there is a feeling of fulfilment.  Playing Bloodborne I found myself asking was I really in the mood for porridge, and did I feel fulfilled?

Story


What's the one thing none of us want to wake up to?  A creepy old guy in a wheelchair looking at you?  That's pretty bad, but imagine you are on a less than clean medical table, you are having a blood transfusion, and you are seeing demons.  It's clearly time to stop drinking and get off the drugs. It turns out you are now a demon hunter of sorts and need to, well, kill demons.


The story is really hidden, you are given small tit bits, here and there but nothing major.  According to the writer this was purposefully done, and all the answers are in the game you just need to piece it together.  I needed to check a few forums, and got the answers I was looking for, it sounded quite interesting.  Now don't get me wrong I don't need my hand held through a story but the way it was told in Bloodborne just felt lazy.  Some people seemed to really like the way it was hidden and cryptic,  but it didn't do it for me, which is a shame because after checking online it seemed that story itself was quite interesting.

Visuals


The visuals in the game are amazing and are really where it shines.  The town of Yarhnam is bleak, and devoid of all hope, the enemies are terrifying and are straight out of a horror movie.  There are of course your crazy townsfolk, but for me something that constantly freaked me out were the carrion crows.  They are really large crows, that look like they have been bitten in half, and often only make their presence know once you step on them.  There are some really great looking bosses, two of my favourites with Mergo's Wet Nurse, and Vicar Amelie.  Mergo's Wet Nurse looked liked the Grimm Reaper, but with multiple arms each with scythes in them. Vicar Amelie looks like a beast, but unlike the others it looks like she is pain, huge amounts of hair, and horns on her head.  While almost everything is dark there was one area of serenity, the Hunter's Dream.  It is your home base, and is a beautiful garden/graveyard.  The picture above shows the Messengers who you can buy weapons, and items from.


There are number of complaints I had with this game, but when it comes to the design, and overall look of it I had nothing but praise for it.


Music


The soundtrack suits the game perfectly, it is dark, eerie, and there is a real unsettling feeling throughout.  There is harsh uses of stringed instruments, and there is a choir who are featured heavily, especially during boss battles.  The score was crafted by a slew of artists including:

Ryan Amon, an American Movie and Video Game Composer, he has worked on;  Assassins Creed Unity, Elysium, and Blackhat.

Tsukasa Saitoh, a Japanese Video Game Composer, who has worked on a number of titles including; the Armored Core Series, Eternal Ring, and Kings Field IV.

Yuka Kitamura, a Japanese Video Game Composer, who's works include; DarkSouls II and III, and Armored Core: Verdict Day.

Nobuyoshi Suzuki, a Japanese Video Game Composer, who worked on; Super Mario Oddessy, and Dark Souls III.

Cris Velasco,  an American Composer, who worked on a number of big titles including;  Overwatch, Injustice: Gods Among Us, God of War, Borderlands 1 and 2, and lots more.

Michael Wandmacher, an American Movie and Video Game Composer, who has a really varied background, his works include; Underworld: Blood Wars, Ben 10: Alien Swarm, Tokyo Pig, Twisted Metal.

The original soundtrack runs at just over ninety minutes, it a great score with many chilling pieces, my favourites included: 'Omen', 'Bloodstained Beast', 'Hail The Nightmare', and 'Darkbeast'.

Gameplay


Onto the blood chunks that is the gameplay!  The game starts with you designing your character, there are quite a lot of options which is really fun, in the end I settled on a professor look, and called him Professor Tim.  There are different back stories you can choose for your character, which all effect your initial stats, my favourite was called 'waste of skin', the description was 'you should never have been born'.


Bloodborne had one of the best save areas in a game, the Hunter's Dream was a nice tranquil place, despite all the graves.  It has a storage area which was really great, anytime you collect too many excess items they automatically get transferred there.  When you are in the Hunter's Dream you can purchase items, weapons, and armor, along with levelling up.  The currency in the game is blood echoes, they are used for everything, at times this can be tough as you need to sacrifice levelling up to ensure you have enough healing vials, or other items.


The are a multitude of weapons in the game, but being honest I only found a few that were worthwhile, most notably the Axe, which I found to be Axe-tastic!  It has two modes, one handed (close range), and two handed (long range), and could be changed at a moments notice depending on the enemy you had to take on.  The combat as a whole is similar to Dark Souls, roll, roll, roll some more, and occasionally hit an enemy.  The targeting had a lot to be desired, and I found on a number of occasions my weapon did not make contact.  The armor was very underwhelming in the game, and did not get much better which was a little disappointing.


The gameplay focuses on you working your way to the next boss, some were okay, others were bordering on the ridiculous.  The two most straight forward to me were, The One Reborn and Amelia, mostly due to the fact that by careful dodging, and not being afraid to hack at an enemy they were easily beatable.  Then you had bosses like Blood Starved Beast, everything would be going fine, dodging out the way, taking cover, using antidotes, and then all of sudden you just can't get away from him, the difficulty kept spiking like crazy.  Being honest the bosses in the game nearly made me walk away from it a few times, sometimes it felt like you won due to skill, other times luck.


The gameplay for the most part was good enough, but some poor weapons, and armor, some frustrating boss fights, and poor targeting stopped it being all it could be.




Final Thoughts

So after forty hours plus how did I feel? Conflicted.  The visuals and music were impressive, the story was valed for the most part, the gameplay, and difficulty spiking varried between fun, and frustrating.  So many reviewers game it ten out of ten, and being honest I really can't see why because it has multiple issues.  I struggled scoring this game, but in the end, I can only give it 3 out of 5