AsukaFortune
This game is basically a rhythm game with a coat of paint of Kung Fu. The gameplay is simple and can be learnt fast, and there's a level up system that helps on harder stages once you start getting upgrades, and compared to other similar games, this one felt easy enough to fully complete for someone like me who's not into rhythm games.
The game feels like a passion project, with rewards for completing side content like interviews with the two people behind the creation of this game, which is a lot better than what most games offer as a reward for 100% completion. Also, all the art that they created for the game just shouts "hey, we wanted this game to have its own core identity, even if it wasn't needed at all".
The only concern I find is that the gameplay can be repetitive, there's gimmick phases, but they're too similar to the main ones so there's not enough variety for a game that took me 25 hours to complete.
The game feels like a passion project, with rewards for completing side content like interviews with the two people behind the creation of this game, which is a lot better than what most games offer as a reward for 100% completion. Also, all the art that they created for the game just shouts "hey, we wanted this game to have its own core identity, even if it wasn't needed at all".
The only concern I find is that the gameplay can be repetitive, there's gimmick phases, but they're too similar to the main ones so there's not enough variety for a game that took me 25 hours to complete.
2019
I'm not a beat 'em up player so I can't really compare this game to others of the same genre, since this is really my first time on one of them, but in terms of narrative and presentation, this game does wonders.
The story is short simple, but the characters of the game have a lot of moments where they can shine and show their personalities and charisma, to the point that even some RPG main characters feel underdeveloped when compared to them.
Mechanically, the game uses some stat system that I'm not a fan of, that's because you level up your stats when you use healing items for the first time, which is an awful idea when one of those stats it's your movement speed, which translates on a really slow walking speed on the early parts of the game.
Another of my concerns is that enemies have too many invulnerable frames, when they attack with a full combo, they'll receive no damage until they finish the whole combo, which feels cheap to play against.
Each character has a similar moveset, but they have some minor differences that make them play a bit different and differenciate from each other enough to have some strengths and weaknesses.
Overall, I enjoyed the game, which I played on co-op, which is always a bonus, but I felt like it has some unpolished parts that needed some refinement, which I hope the sequel has improved on to make it even more enjoyable.
The story is short simple, but the characters of the game have a lot of moments where they can shine and show their personalities and charisma, to the point that even some RPG main characters feel underdeveloped when compared to them.
Mechanically, the game uses some stat system that I'm not a fan of, that's because you level up your stats when you use healing items for the first time, which is an awful idea when one of those stats it's your movement speed, which translates on a really slow walking speed on the early parts of the game.
Another of my concerns is that enemies have too many invulnerable frames, when they attack with a full combo, they'll receive no damage until they finish the whole combo, which feels cheap to play against.
Each character has a similar moveset, but they have some minor differences that make them play a bit different and differenciate from each other enough to have some strengths and weaknesses.
Overall, I enjoyed the game, which I played on co-op, which is always a bonus, but I felt like it has some unpolished parts that needed some refinement, which I hope the sequel has improved on to make it even more enjoyable.
2021
I expected a lot more from this game, I thought I would have a mixture of a Visual Novel/Dating Sim combined with a dungeon crawler and what I found was lacking in both areas.
The characters felt really bland to me, and after doing all their stories, I feel like I know nothing about how they are, the stories are too focused around things that happen to every character, instead of knowing more about how they feel and behave. The characters I liked the most were Isaac and Seven, and even then, they were still really niche and hard to empathize with their backgrounds (one of is a rich filantropist, and the other one is a K-pop with imposter syndrome), being hard to imagine a counterpart for them in the real world.
There's also the part that there's a dialogue tree that will get you onto different endings, from a platonic friendship to lovers, but apart from the cutscene itself, there's no way to show the status with each character, I think that this game really needs a Scene log where you could watch already played cutscenes, and that paired with a New Game+ to make it easier to unlock all the alternatives.
In terms of the gameplay part, I felt it was lacking, each character you can meet turns into a weapon, but I got to the end of the last dungeon while meeting less of half the cast, which made obtaining the cutscenes with the latter characters just a grindfest.
I think the concept of the game is fine, even if it's not my favourite genres, but the execution of the ideas needed a lot of polish since I feel that almost all the aspects of the game could have some improvements, except the transformation cutscenes, those are just beautiful and perfect how they already are.
The characters felt really bland to me, and after doing all their stories, I feel like I know nothing about how they are, the stories are too focused around things that happen to every character, instead of knowing more about how they feel and behave. The characters I liked the most were Isaac and Seven, and even then, they were still really niche and hard to empathize with their backgrounds (one of is a rich filantropist, and the other one is a K-pop with imposter syndrome), being hard to imagine a counterpart for them in the real world.
There's also the part that there's a dialogue tree that will get you onto different endings, from a platonic friendship to lovers, but apart from the cutscene itself, there's no way to show the status with each character, I think that this game really needs a Scene log where you could watch already played cutscenes, and that paired with a New Game+ to make it easier to unlock all the alternatives.
In terms of the gameplay part, I felt it was lacking, each character you can meet turns into a weapon, but I got to the end of the last dungeon while meeting less of half the cast, which made obtaining the cutscenes with the latter characters just a grindfest.
I think the concept of the game is fine, even if it's not my favourite genres, but the execution of the ideas needed a lot of polish since I feel that almost all the aspects of the game could have some improvements, except the transformation cutscenes, those are just beautiful and perfect how they already are.
2016
A casual runner game that doesn't take much time, it feels repetitive after the second run you do so that talks about how little content it has to offer
2020
I found the gameplay loop od this game really interesting, it's similar to the one that the Mystery Dungeon genre offers, but without any of the randomness, and instead, it focuses a bit more into a mix of turn based and real time action which is hard to describe unless you play it by yourself.
I find the art direction of the game charming, with characters with doll-like features that are showcased in a unique style.
There's also different characters to play as that are unlocked as the story progresses, being my main concern that a lot of them feel really similar, and the level system is programmed to make a must to play with all of them, since you can't use characters that have a higher level than the rest of them, which felt unnecessary, but for the rest, the gameplay is really solid.
I find the art direction of the game charming, with characters with doll-like features that are showcased in a unique style.
There's also different characters to play as that are unlocked as the story progresses, being my main concern that a lot of them feel really similar, and the level system is programmed to make a must to play with all of them, since you can't use characters that have a higher level than the rest of them, which felt unnecessary, but for the rest, the gameplay is really solid.
I've found this second part weaker than the first entry of the series, this time it focus far more into the RPG elements instead of the puzzle ones about studying how to tackle each one of the levels.
There's an open world where you can grind for the following levels which is a totally unneeded feature in a game like this, I prefered the classical "you start at lvl 1, you have to discover the best way to face the stage", finding myself this time overleveled on all levels without wanting to.
Luckily, time trial kind of solves this issue, having fixed levels per each stage, but the fact you can use any equipment you've unlocked on Story Mode, and not the one from previous levels, makes a lot of the stages on Time Trial a joke
There's an open world where you can grind for the following levels which is a totally unneeded feature in a game like this, I prefered the classical "you start at lvl 1, you have to discover the best way to face the stage", finding myself this time overleveled on all levels without wanting to.
Luckily, time trial kind of solves this issue, having fixed levels per each stage, but the fact you can use any equipment you've unlocked on Story Mode, and not the one from previous levels, makes a lot of the stages on Time Trial a joke
This review will speak about both The Painful and The Joyful games, and what the Definitive Edition has added to them
The LISA duology has always been one of the top games when speaking about indie RPG Maker games (not counting The First, since it's a Yume Nikki kind of game), and being its release date one year prior to Undertale's, the other juggernaut of the genre, and being both inspired heavily by the MOTHER series, it's important to point out how different LISA plays when compared to anything else.
The LISA Duology takes on a lot of dark subjects, such as abuse, emotional manipulation, drug addictions or abusive environments, but it does those things in a subtle way, instead of straight telling a story, the game focus instead on the journey of their protagonists, who, initially, we know little about them, and exploring bit by bit their traumas, their inner thoughts and their fears.
The humour of this game in my eyes is excellent, the game knows how to mix a serious, dark setting with dark jokes and gags that don't feel out of place, and a lot of the time reinforce the narrative the game wants to go for.
In terms of the protagonists, in The Painful we'll play as Brad Armstrong, and in The Joyful, as Buddy, his adoptive daughter. Brad, is in my opinion, a magnific main character, he's obviously flawed, and he's far from being a good person, but that doesn't stop him from being sympathetic, and in the end, he feels like a person trying to do the best he can to improve as a person, and you can empathize with him.
In the other hand, I didn't feel the same with Buddy, I think her goals are just stupid, and I feel like her character arc in Joyful is just there to give an extra game with more context in what happened in Olathe.
Now, about the extra content of the definitive edition, it is very few, and it's not worth a replay if you played it recently, there's a new superboss on each game, and they're both found by doing a lot of cryptic stuff (and I really mean it, nothing in the whole game points it out, and it's basically impossible to find them without a guide), they're there mainly to give some extra context that the original game didn't have, and in the case of Joyful, it gives a better ending than the previous ones (which weren't bad per se, but there's an extra conversation that feels really gratifying after playing both games).
There's also campfire conversations, which gives some extra dialogue to almost all the recruitable party members, and helps to give some extra information about them, which is always welcome.
In the end, the Definitive Version has been to me more about a reason to replay LISA, since it's basically the masterpiece that has always been, with a cherry on the top.
The LISA duology has always been one of the top games when speaking about indie RPG Maker games (not counting The First, since it's a Yume Nikki kind of game), and being its release date one year prior to Undertale's, the other juggernaut of the genre, and being both inspired heavily by the MOTHER series, it's important to point out how different LISA plays when compared to anything else.
The LISA Duology takes on a lot of dark subjects, such as abuse, emotional manipulation, drug addictions or abusive environments, but it does those things in a subtle way, instead of straight telling a story, the game focus instead on the journey of their protagonists, who, initially, we know little about them, and exploring bit by bit their traumas, their inner thoughts and their fears.
The humour of this game in my eyes is excellent, the game knows how to mix a serious, dark setting with dark jokes and gags that don't feel out of place, and a lot of the time reinforce the narrative the game wants to go for.
In terms of the protagonists, in The Painful we'll play as Brad Armstrong, and in The Joyful, as Buddy, his adoptive daughter. Brad, is in my opinion, a magnific main character, he's obviously flawed, and he's far from being a good person, but that doesn't stop him from being sympathetic, and in the end, he feels like a person trying to do the best he can to improve as a person, and you can empathize with him.
In the other hand, I didn't feel the same with Buddy, I think her goals are just stupid, and I feel like her character arc in Joyful is just there to give an extra game with more context in what happened in Olathe.
Now, about the extra content of the definitive edition, it is very few, and it's not worth a replay if you played it recently, there's a new superboss on each game, and they're both found by doing a lot of cryptic stuff (and I really mean it, nothing in the whole game points it out, and it's basically impossible to find them without a guide), they're there mainly to give some extra context that the original game didn't have, and in the case of Joyful, it gives a better ending than the previous ones (which weren't bad per se, but there's an extra conversation that feels really gratifying after playing both games).
There's also campfire conversations, which gives some extra dialogue to almost all the recruitable party members, and helps to give some extra information about them, which is always welcome.
In the end, the Definitive Version has been to me more about a reason to replay LISA, since it's basically the masterpiece that has always been, with a cherry on the top.
2020
A cute puzzle game with a charming story, with an excellent presentation and development, the experience itself is not long or extremely difficult, being suited for everyone who would want to give it a try without mattering how much experience they have in terms of videogames or their ages.
2010
The last game of the Sonic Rush trilogy, even if, unlike Rush and Rush adventure is not named after said trilogy, it's offering all the main trademarks those other two had, adding new ones in the form of wisps, while I think Rush Adventure is the best one of the trio, this one isn't bad by any means, and I find it superior to the original Rush, you still have plenty of different ways to beat the levels, but this time, you add the different power ups you'll find through them
One of the most unfair games I've ever played, it's really, really hard, but for all the wrong reasons, one of them is that the level design is highly dependent on RNG, so you could have done everything correctly, but because this is basically a racing minigame, and each time you do a lap, you get a random hazard, some of them are easy to ignore, or even benefitial in some cases, but there's also a lot of them that can be run-killer because of how absurd they're, and they're all decided (except some fixed ones) by RNG, so you'll have to redo a lot of levels just because of bad luck, how great.
There's also the fact that there's 2 "health" gauges, the health gauge itself, and the fuel gauge, which if it ever gets to 0, you die, this is specially fun because if you touch the ground, even at lower speeds, you will lose health, so the only way to not lose health is to fly, which wastes fuel, so you have to optimize the use of fuel to beat almost all the levels.
In the end, I had to do some minor "hacks" in order to 100% the game, since the save of the game is a text file that you can edit to activate flags such as level beaten, in my case, I had to deactivate the one that registers if you triggered easy mode, since I think that there's some levels that are just impossible to beat on normal mode.
There's also the fact that there's 2 "health" gauges, the health gauge itself, and the fuel gauge, which if it ever gets to 0, you die, this is specially fun because if you touch the ground, even at lower speeds, you will lose health, so the only way to not lose health is to fly, which wastes fuel, so you have to optimize the use of fuel to beat almost all the levels.
In the end, I had to do some minor "hacks" in order to 100% the game, since the save of the game is a text file that you can edit to activate flags such as level beaten, in my case, I had to deactivate the one that registers if you triggered easy mode, since I think that there's some levels that are just impossible to beat on normal mode.
2022
This whole game felt like a demo, the locations are just a few, if I remember correctly, there where only 3 main towns, and around 5 dungeons (and a lot of them are around 10-15 minutes to beat), and the gameplay loop itself got repetitive easily, being based on a rock-paper-scissors kind of RPG, there's not too many redeeming qualities when there's a lot of better and cheaper RPGs out there. The pixel art is really good, and the game wanted to make every NPC feel unique with their dialogue evolving as you kept playing, but around 80% of the cast still felt generic, with no real information given.
2005
First of all, this is a review for the DS version of the game, which is based on the GBA version, the version for non-handheld consoles is a totally different game, with the GBA/DS version being a kind of Action Search, where the other version are more like a Ratchet and Clank game for what I've seen, so what I'm going to say won't apply to those for obvious reasons.
This is an action search game with a lot of clunkiness going on, the jumping is really akward, sometimes jumping lower or higher for no reason at all, the isometric view also makes combat harder because you allign yourself with the enemies but aren't able to hit them, specially against flying enemies. This is your typical game with no substance that has been done to milk a known kids movie to try to make parents buy it for their children. There's a lot of similar games that bring a lot more to the table.
This is an action search game with a lot of clunkiness going on, the jumping is really akward, sometimes jumping lower or higher for no reason at all, the isometric view also makes combat harder because you allign yourself with the enemies but aren't able to hit them, specially against flying enemies. This is your typical game with no substance that has been done to milk a known kids movie to try to make parents buy it for their children. There's a lot of similar games that bring a lot more to the table.
This game is the result of mixing a typing game with RPG elements, in theory this combo should bring us an interesting and funny way to learn new words, but this game has, what I have found to be, a big bane that makes its main purpose impossible to be achieved, and this is the fact that the core gameplay only rewards knowing those words, but has no implemented way to make you learn any new word, and this is because of the following reasons:
- Enemies attack you, but they just use random attacks with generic names, instead of using the same mechanics you do, which could be used to make you learn some words you could use.
- You're given random letters, but there's no way to know which ones you could pick to create new words, so, unless you try every possible combination, or use an online generator (which basically ruins any gameplay element this game has), you won't be able to know any word you haven't heard before.
To sum up, this game doesn't achieve the main purpose I thought it would have, which would be improving my knowledge, and it was just a test of my previous knowledge, which has been a big letdown.
- Enemies attack you, but they just use random attacks with generic names, instead of using the same mechanics you do, which could be used to make you learn some words you could use.
- You're given random letters, but there's no way to know which ones you could pick to create new words, so, unless you try every possible combination, or use an online generator (which basically ruins any gameplay element this game has), you won't be able to know any word you haven't heard before.
To sum up, this game doesn't achieve the main purpose I thought it would have, which would be improving my knowledge, and it was just a test of my previous knowledge, which has been a big letdown.
This was my first experience with the Spyro saga, and compared to the Crash trilogy remaster, I expected a lot more from this game, the diffculty seemed way too relaxed most of the time for me, with just a few collectables being difficult, and by difficult I mean that I just needed some extra tries in order to achieve them.
In comparison to other collectathons, this one seems pretty basic, which is what I would expect from a cartoony mascot video game, so there's nothing to blame on the game, but I would have enjoyed some optional challenging levels here and there for the experienced players.
In comparison to other collectathons, this one seems pretty basic, which is what I would expect from a cartoony mascot video game, so there's nothing to blame on the game, but I would have enjoyed some optional challenging levels here and there for the experienced players.
I've been really surprised with the quality of this game, I expected to find a niche RPG, and what I've played turned out to be one of my best gaming experiences of this year so far.
This game has nothing to envy of juggernauts of the indie RPG genre like Undertale, being at the same level than the most known entries, it has a really good humour, pacing, art-style and secondary content, being all of it there for a reason and not for padding reasons, in those regards, I enjoyed more this game than a lot of triple A RPGs, where they often have more quantity than quality on their gameplay.
This game has nothing to envy of juggernauts of the indie RPG genre like Undertale, being at the same level than the most known entries, it has a really good humour, pacing, art-style and secondary content, being all of it there for a reason and not for padding reasons, in those regards, I enjoyed more this game than a lot of triple A RPGs, where they often have more quantity than quality on their gameplay.