One of the biggest surprises for me in 2023!

Can you imagine a game in 2023 that doesn't rely on ultra-realistic graphics, a super complex storyline or the biggest innovation of the decade? Imagine a game made that's just meant to be fun, well, that's exactly what Hi-Fi Rush is.

It has stunning visuals, stylish design, and fun gameplay, Hi-Fi Rush is top of quality. It reminds me a lot of the PS2 era with its cartoonish elements and level design that I adored so much as a child. On top of that, the soundtrack is amazing, perfectly matching the scenery and actions.

The game is short, so besides that i don't have much to talk about. Just go on and play it, you will not be left dissapointed.

Edit: XENOGEARS REFERENCE YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH

I'm tired...
Once again, a game with the potential to become a new classic, the game that could bridge the gap between SMT and Persona, but it failed on both.

Soul Hackers 2, to paraphrase another review I read, is a game with many amazing ingredients, but it doesn't taste like anything at all. It's like Mystery Food X from P4, perhaps the only thing it borrowed correctly from Persona.

Before I start ranting about the story, or lack thereof, let's talk about gameplay. It's actually good! Again, I hope that Atlus continues to not gameover when the protagonist dies. The combat in this game is the most basic of basics, it works, but it misses a lot from an SMT experience, and yeah, it's dead easy too. I played on hard and didn't have a single "oh shit" moment because weaknesses in this game are basically a buff in damage in you. I didn't feel threatened by being targeted by a weak at all. Weaknesses on the enemies, however, are strong and very encouraged. Sabbath is amazing, seeing the demons we love so much making a bloodbath.

Talking about demons, it was a terrible decision to make a main human party. In all the other Atlus games I remember playing, with the exception of Persona and Digital Devil Saga, your party is made up of your demons. In this game, they just lend their skills to the party member they are assigned to, and I don't think I like that. It misses the feeling of collecting demons, when they are just a 3D model you see when fusing, and never more, because you will skip 99.99% of the Sabbath animations where they were supposed to appear.

The story dungeons are very boring, adding nothing more than, again, an obstacle to continue the story, not a fun progression to the game. Soul Matrix is the worst dungeon design Atlus ever made. 15 floors of emptiness where you don't even need to use it to grind, but you will lose powerful skills if you don't, and worse of all, the true ending is locked behind it in NG+.

Let's touch on some minor things like art style and OST quickly. All the budget of this game went to the opening song and the character designs (except for Arrow). The shops are pretty and stylish. Ringo's design continues the trend of amazing protagonist designs we got from previous games. The only good OST in this game (which isn't hard since it only has like 10 OSTs) is the opening, and it's probably one of my favorites of all the games from Atlus I've played. It can really deceive you into thinking the game is good.

Now the big S: the Story. OH MY FREAKING GOD WHAT WERE THEY THINKING??? They throw a lot of things at you with little to no correlation, and in the end, we were supposed to fight against what? A war of generations we only heard about 15 minutes ago in an undubbed cutscene? Characters we don't care about because they just appeared and died? The only good characters in this game are Saizo and Ash, and not because of good writing, but because they had writing. All others are so shallow that they're completely blank. Don't get me wrong, the main party is okay, their interactions are cool, but there's nothing more than a "hangout event." Arrow was clearly made to be the protagonist, but people wanted a female protagonist, so let's make Ringo and write whatever for him. People wanted an adult cast, so let's make a post-sex scene and have them drink beer every other cutscene because that's adult, right? The game tries to cater to different audience preferences, but ends up being superficial and lacking in substance.

"Less is more" applies strongly to Soul Hackers 2, which was clearly made with minimal effort and great ambition. Despite borrowing the name of a long-forgotten classic from the 90s, the game lacks the soul that its name suggests.

Cyberpunk 2077 features amazing concepts, but was executed in a lazy, mediocre, and greedy manner.

After waiting for years and enduring the disastrous launch of an unfinished game, I finally played it despite my friends advising me not to. My thoughts on this game are that it is a lazy attempt to recycle the generic AAA formula for open-world games. It feels like Fallout, but with an excessive amount of unfunny bugs. I avoided many game systems, such as upgrading, crafting, and even the skill tree, yet I still completed the game easily on the hard difficulty. If a company cannot produce a decent RPG-FPS, they should at least focus on the story or the characters. However, they failed to do that.

The main story of Cyberpunk 2077 is extremely dull. I cannot even say it is generic because it is not even done well. It features a time skip of V's entire journey from a nobody to a mid-level Edgerunner. How can I grow to like characters when the story rushes through events as quickly as possible? The only character I enjoyed was Johnny, who was well-played by Keanu Reeves. His charisma was necessary. Apart from Johnny, I do not care about anyone else in the game, except maybe Judy to a small extent.

One aspect of the game that they did do well was the city itself. The city is stunning. The best way to enjoy the game is to use the photo mode. My PC is high-end, which allows me to witness the game at its best, but I am aware that PS4/XOne gamers have to endure a poorly optimized and ugly game. That is unforgivable for a launch.

There is not much else left to say. The number of bugs ruined my overall experience, but I can see myself going back and playing the game again with a different gameplay style (although it does not make much of a difference).

I wasted 37 hours trying to find something to like in this game, and i didn't find any.

It is repetitive, it has an uninteresting story and the only reason i played this much is because i don't like to drop games... but i can't anymore... Not even a save editor made this more playable.

Just skip to next game, and i am going to it with very low expectations.

The legendary 999. The game I heard the most about after starting Chunsoft games and this crazy man called Uchikoshi. I finally played it!

It's a visual novel with escape room puzzles. They are cool, but after a while, I started to get tired of them, unfortunately. Sometimes when I am really invested in a story, especially in visual novels, I kinda want to skip gameplay parts because usually nothing really moves the story forward until we return to our novel part. But I did every puzzle, and besides being easy, I now feel smarter :D

The story itself is pretty simple to be honest, and the characters are also very simple. Instead of developing as characters, they were made very charismatic, and pretty fast, you start to like them.

As you might be asking, this review doesn't show someone who liked the game a lot, so why the high rating? Just like the game, it's pretty simple: the game is so well-written. Everything has a connection to something. They took a topic and utilized it very well, no more no less (of course, we have to suspend our disbelief a little, it's still a work of fiction, after all.). There are so many hidden plot points in your face, so many subliminal messages in the puzzles, EVERYTHING has a meaning.

That is what makes 999 so good; it is pretty well-made, well-written, and well-executed. They really sit down and start writing with a burning pen. Definitely one of the best and an amazing start for the later Chunsoft games that I already like so much.

First of all, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is one of the best/worst games I've ever played.

That being said, it's impossible to talk about this game without spoiling the end, so I won't go in any of specifics due to spoilers.

The gameplay is the best of the series, no doubt. The art style is amazing; they changed the engine but maintained the charm of the series, and even went beyond that.

The cast is a bit hard to judge. When they're good, they're really good, but when they're bad... Actually, "bad" isn't the right word, they're just insufficient.

Overall, the cases were fine. The first, fourth, and fifth were pretty solid and very emotional, but the others were just fillers. I skipped most of the investigations and class trials for those.

Just because I can't say much about the ending doesn't mean I can't give my opinion. For me, if you really didn't like it, you were filtered, but at the same time, you're not entirely wrong to be mad. It's a very polarizing ending, and it's totally acceptable if you dislike it.

For me, Danganronpa V3 is the worst of the series, and that's why it's so good. It makes me sad, but that's the truth I get from all these lies.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is one of the hardest games i ever had to rate. I have a lot of things I didn’t like, but even if just a few I liked, they balance enough.

I was not liking the game for like the first half of my 40 hours. Combat and systems were too much complex or bad explained that made me completely overwhelmed. But after a while and some “tips i wanted to know before playing” videos, the game itself isn’t that hard, but I still think it shouldn't be so poorly explained

XC2 is more of a mobile gacha than a “classic jrpg” game. If you compare it to his antecessor, the difference is quite considerable. A friend of mine describes it as a “Pokemon of Waifus”, and I agree. Like i was saying, managing a good party was hard enough with 3 members, while micro the 3. Now we have 3x3 micromanagement, with each one having like 3-5 systems with different effects and leveling. HOLY F$&@. You can actually play the entire game without touching 90% of these, but will be a harder and incomplete experience. The 10% is because some of story areas are locked behind real time system and certain rank of skills that you can’t skip to level.

I know our edgy friends liked XC1 because of its darker atmosphere, counter balacing with emotive and character focused scenes, and jumping to an anime kind of story, even if still has some moments of serious and dark, is not easy. Rex himself says “lets win with the power of friendship”. If you cant handle the classic (and some unnecessary) anime cliches, you will definitely hate this game. But even that, XC2 expands xenoblade’s lore more than 1, and its almost justificable the change of atmosphere.

I liked Shulk as a protagonist a lot, can i say the same for Rex? Not much. He is just a kid who wants friends (and love all of them). I can't take him seriously (mostly because of the english voice actor but we will get to that part later). Even if not that deep explored in base game, every other caracter has a simple but satisfactory arc (Tora does not need one because he is a Nopon and Nopons are perfect) and Rex simple didn't convince me.

Story and gameplay done, i can now talk about one of the things i hate the most: the english dub. If you are going to offer a localization, do it right, or do not do it. There is no lip sync, at all. I am not talking about miliseconds of unsync, it is like 2 seconds of complete mute sometimes. I am not going to criticize the voice actors, because almost every problem i see was entirely by the lack of a good director. By the end of the game some of the actors who started awful were doing an okay job, so they understand at least a minimal of the character after hours of "scream that". A lot of emotional scenes made me laugh, breaking the immersion. Perhaps if it did not, i could like some characters more, instead of seeing them as a joke.

Technically, the game is gorgeous. Unfortunately, another one trapped by the stupid and bad console that is the Nintendo Switch. So many possibilities chained, and even with that, Monolith does almost a miracle. The soundtrack is, just like the first game, simple amazing!

I will talk briefly about the DLC here. So many good ideas and mechanics, stuck behind a forced side quest simulator. The DLC is a prelude so if you finish the game you already know everything, but staying with these characters and learning what happen to them with themselves is a good thing. Made me like some of them more. Nothing much to talk tbh.

In the end, i like so much xenoblade universe, and besides a lot of problems i had fun playing XC2. Not a perfect game, far from it, but it was memorable enough.

I have developed ultra despair by playing this game.

This spin off has so much to add to danganronpa lore, but it wastes so much time in stupid things.

There are only 2 characters in this game (we have a few more but are more like cameos) and are the protagonists. I will not say names because i have some friends who are interested to play danganronpa and they read my reviews. Their interactions are so fun, i liked it a lot.

Now the bad part, the rest. Gameplay, there is an attempt of a cool puzzle fps, but i don't think it works well, especially in the last boss, where THE DAMN CAMERA IS LOCKED ON IT.

To where my ultra despair comes from: the villains. And guess what? They are not in the game, they are in the credits. Talk about child abuse and trauma is really sensitive and, unfortunatly, they made the worse and criminal decision a lot of times. If you played you probably know the chapter and the moment i am talking about. Weird camera angles are, again unfortunatly, common in anime enviroment and high school characters, we grow acostume of, but on kids who suffered abuse it's too much.

Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls is a good expansion for the series lore, but fails a lot in the execution of it's discussions, and made me the one who is feeling despair.

I finally kill the meme of a persona fan who doesn't play all personas!

The infamous Persona 1. Yeah, it is bad.

Besides some very annoying things, the story and the soundtrack (thanks Meguro) are some things i can like. I read the manga before so maybe that is why i could understand the story better, even with a very bad pacing.

It's hard to review this game. It's terrible to play, but does have some few qualities. If you really like the franchise, try it, but you'll not lose much if not.

My first review from Danganronpa 1 started comparing it to an series/anime/movie that has a lot of mistakes and bad takes, but you can't say you don't like. Well, now is not entirely the case, it's a very evolution from 1, in all ways.

The characters are FAR better and more likeable than from 1. There are exceptions of course. Overall they are really superior.

The cases? Amazing, creative and very cool. The new minigame and mechanics are a nice different touch to an already stylish moment that is the Class Trial.

The plot i think is decent, i mean in a good way. Some points i was really jaw broken by different (and somehow creepy) twists.

Like i said, overall a completely evolution from 1, and if i gave it a 4.5 before, this game is easily a 5.0 for me. I had a lot of fun playing it, and i am excited to continue in the series.

I was not ready.

I said in my Yakuza 0 review how the game is a rollercoaster of emotions, and here i am again repeating this phrase. I cried, i laughted, i screemed, i became the mad dog and so on...

Yakuza does a very good job by growing likeable characters really fast (even if some of these i want to kill and punch until break the planet). The plot is very simple, some might say very shallow, but i am not one of them.

The combat still not great, but the bosses fights are a little better.

Kiryu Kazuma. How can someone be this good? We acompany him since 1988. We are now in 2016. Kiryu grow older, he lost and gained so much. We suffer and fight together for almost 30 years. It's impossible to get to his final chapter and not be emotional. He became what he always wanted, someone who protects the ones he care about, thinking only about them and never to himself. Kiryu lost many possibilities to be happy, just to make sure those around him are. You can actually use the substories like an example. Kiryu is always helping people with the most stupid and simple activities. For me, this is not only a subquest type of thing in games, but a way to tell how he cares to the well being of others. We don't deserve him.

Yakuza 6 isn't the best game in the series, but it's the best ending Kiryu Kazuma could have. The Legend of the Dragon of Dojima, the Guardian of Kamurosho is now a song of life and hope for those who shared this incredible experience that the Yakuza series provided.

I will finish this review just like i finished Yakuza 0's so long ago:
"Therefore, instead of reading reviews, go all out and play it, i swear to you, it's definitely one hell of a journey."

Yakuza 5 is why we love Yakuza series so much. We have characters, we have a decent plot, we have amazing minigames, we have amazing sub stories, we have bad combat again.

I am a big fan of the Real Estate and Cabaret Club from 0. Now we have 4, actually 3 because the hunt one is boring. Let's evade spoilers so i will only say the first and third are 50% of my playtime in this game.

We have 5 protagonists this time!. The last one has bad combat but he is a great character. The other ones we already know and love, just more time with them. The way the story goes between every protagonist is good, the resolution is acceptable and we finish with cliffhanger to destroy cliffhangers.

Yakuza 5 has a lot of moments that destroyed me. The game really is making the base for a conclusion, that in the next review, you will see why i was not ready to say goodbye.

Holy Majima, we have now 4 protagonists! And the forth is bad!

It's a diferrent aproach, they tried to make something and i kinda like it. Akiyama and Saejima are so good that is not even funny. The police boy... no. You can see i don't even remember his name.

They have different combat styles that are enough to make a little variation. Saejima destroys blocks and this makes me happy. Again, bosses fights are shit. The last one? With the worse character? Why?

Story is... yeah it is a story ever made. I just want to talk about a little scene that made me very uncomfortable, even if they triy to justify later. If you played you probably know. Thank god is isolated and Saejima becomes an amazing character later on.

Yakuza 4 is not worse than 3, but it is disappoint to say the least. We got some great new characters and this is the only one thing i am happy to remember the game for.

The infamous and hated Yakuza 3. Does it deserves? Yes. All of it? No.

The first of the remastered and not remake games. This game is pure Ps3 and not in a bad way. Unfortunately, combat still shit. Why we fought so hard to become the legendary Dragon of Dojima, and EVERY LITTLE THUG CAN DEFEND OUR PUNCHS WITH EASE?

I am tired to hate yakuza combat so let's go to the story. I can see why some people don't like this game. A big part of it is just a "normal life simulator" (i will not use the other title to avoid major spoilers), and the biggest conspiration plot to bring Kiryu back is just not good enough. Characters are meh, i don't like at all the little yakuza gang from Okinawa, they are there just to fill empty spaces. And please, BEAUTIFUL EYES??? Really???

Yakuza 3 is good? Far from it. But is not that bad and definitely not skippable like i heard some people say. It's very important to make Kiryu this amazing character, and if you skip, you are wrong.

If someone was waiting for a review, i decided to play the entire saga before writing anything. So, let's begin.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 brings back the Cabaret Club minigame from 0. I don't need to say anything more.

Jokes aside, the story this time is ok, nothing that big, but we have characters again! I liked them a lot. The rain scene is peak (even if the soundtrack was not suppose to be there).

Now we go to the low points: I HATE THIS COMBAT. Kiwami 2 is made in the infamous Dragon Engine from 6, beautiful, yet not great for combat. Every blow of wind will kick Kiryu to the ground so it will be frustrating yet again. Bosses fights still are a hell.

Kiwami 2 starts and finishes like a Yakuza game, and thank god, refreshed my will to continue Kiryu's saga.