Perhaps in another world this is an accessible and immersive visual novel-esque mobile game with a dedicated following and an IP not attached to one of the most entitled and influential bigots in the West. In our reality however it's an exploitative, unplayable mess thanks to paywalls shamelessly forced in-between every few minutes of gameplay, not allowing for any meaningful progress. It's been this bad since day 1 and the sheer thought that it's gotten worse somehow really makes me question the sanity and morals of those who are supporting this sad excuse of a game enough for it to be able to keep going after five years.

This is the most camp yet oddly cohesive story I've seen in a mobile game to date and the way it makes you care about some, if not all, of these characters and is able to give them almost equal amounts of screen time and development is a scarily impressive feat. Anything you might have heard about it is true and false all at once. You will roll your eyes, you will stare in disbelief and you will unexpectedly get overwhelmed by feelings of adoration and triumph in more than one of these event stories (if you stick around and connect to at least one of these idols, that is). Being such a character-driven game only does it favors. If the character(s) you produce get a lore dump or new arc it's honestly game over, this game doesn't pull its punches.

Where I think the game shines the most however, aside from the love many of its characters receive (including quite gorgeous and continuously improving artworks by the very talented, anonymous artists behind the cards), is the rhythm game side of it. The sheer amount of options you're given in the live settings alone, ranging from note type and size, to speed, timing, a mirror mode and several difficulties (among other things) make it one of the most accessible rhythm games I've seen, covering the needs of novices and aficionados alike. It's got a satisfying learning curve and you can always adjust it to your needs as time goes by. The presentation also has its fair share of customization and can be quite stunning, if you have the necessary storage to spare, the MVs and especially SPPs really elevate the game alongside the customizable options for idols, which are unlocked on their respective idol roads.

There's not much to say about the gacha itself. It's gambling, a mere game of chance you're tricked into thinking you have any control over, when you really don't. The most you can do is plan ahead (at least if you don't play the JP version) and save up your resources for your favorite idol(s) to increase your odds. Compared to other gacha, I appreciate the guaranteed 4⭑ in a 10-pull and quite enjoy the presentation of it all, it sure knows how to get someone excited with those rainbow stage lights. The pity for 4⭑ and 5⭑ alike is a little too high for my liking (300 pulls? Really?) and giving you at least a single free pull for new banners would be very tempting, even occasionally rewarding depending on your luck. The nigh nonexistent rerun of banners and a lack of pity on birthday banners are most definitely the greatest shortcomings of this game's gacha system. Other than that, it is what it is. 5⭑ cards themselves fortunately aren't too out of reach thanks to how events are structured in this game, but it can make keeping complete card albums for more than one specific character a daunting experience, especially for F2P.

My biggest issue aside from how certain stories are handled (a lack of planning as it just "goes with the flow", but especially regarding the issue of the game having no feature summing up key events from the basic era for newcomers), is probably idol work. The office has a great amount of customization and adorable little chibis that can interact with their surroundings, but work basically requires no input from the player. It's honestly quite a bore after the first few times when you've pretty much memorized the quotes of your go-to idols, and while you can increase the drop rates of patterns and your in-game currency, it's tedious work where you do nothing but sit idly by and hope you get the desired outcome. I find this much more tolerable in form of societies, because those can help you grind for more resources by simply being active and doing your daily tasks, unlock more things for your idols and in the rarest case even let you socialize with fellow producers.

Truly, I don't know how to sum up a game like Ensemble Stars Music. It's reached a level of infamy online I still can't fully comprehend, and yet when you get out of that specific fandom corner you realize it's still a relatively niche game, which hasn't quite reached mainstream status the way other mobile games have. To say it's an experience would be putting it mildly, and said experience will largely vary between players. But the game is definitely special in its approach and presentation, in the attention, love and hate it receives. It needs to be seen to be believed. It's a game I find easy to recommend to rhythm game enjoyers and less so to people who form unhealthy connections with comfort characters, as they are more prone to develop a gambling addiction. Casual players who might find enjoyment in the music and live stages which come with the game should have a good time with it as well. For anyone obsessed with the particular type of media which has a key gimmick that is valued above all else, discussed gravely and used to settle disputes of any kind and scale à la Yu-Gi-Oh!, Hypnosis Mic and Kakegurui will also feel right at home with Enstars. While the concept of idols is not always talked about in a competitive sense (these characters do in fact address their problems in conversations and don't immediately start a singing contest on the spot), the importance of idols in this world identical to ours, be it philosophical, economical or even psychological, is something I find very reminiscent of the previously listed media.

As can be seen, I have many thoughts and feelings about this game, which is precisely why I feel like I can't give it a fitting score just yet. I score games based on how they handle their writing, presentation and gameplay, looking into whether or not these things are balanced out and executed right. Enstars is far from finished. There's still a fair share of unsolved mysteries and unfinished plotlines (the godfather and the disease of the Sakumas coming to mind for me), characters which will be further fleshed out in the future, and gameplay features which might be added and/or altered. For now, this review is all I'll leave my log of the game with, and I'll return to score it eventually when I feel it's the right time to do so.

— for anyone wondering who in their right mind would put in the time and effort to write a serious review of Ensemble Stars Music, of all things: hello, it's me, your friendly neighborhood AdamP. I have nothing to promote, not even my reviews of varying quality, so all I'll say is that you should do yourself a favor and listen to Valkyrie's discography <3

Surpasses its predecessor in every regard. All loose ends concerning the story and main cast are tied up in a satisfying way, practically no unsolved questions remain and the pacing is improved tremendously. The best example of this is the third case in this game, which is nearly as long as the final case in TGAA1, yet its almost 10h duration is never felt. Both plot twists and the perfectly timed switch between trials and investigation sections manage to keep players engaged for longer time periods effortlessly and maintain that pace until the very end. It also somehow manages to balance its humor and darker moments perfectly without creating tonal issues, which has always been an important trait of the series, and anyone will be happy to see that it's been maintained that way.

As noted by others, TGAA2 does approach Deus Ex Machina territory, especially in the latter half of the game, alongside some standard "you've shown the evidence but you forgot this one small step, so it doesn't count" moments, which are responsible for the 9/10 rating. But, don't make the mistake of assuming these things are enough to hinder TGAA2 from being one of the best experiences the Ace Attorney franchise has to offer, because they're not. Others may also feel like the 2h of new music aren't noticeable enough to make trials feel fresh, or that the lack of new gameplay mechanics (minus one investigation segment) does the game a huge disservice. Regardless of whether or not one agrees with these sentiments, TGAA2 is an undeniably grand achievement not just for the Ace Attorney series, but for VN Adventure games as a whole, and worthy of all the praise it's gotten ever since its release.

Deserves all those stars for the cultural reset which was the Rasputin dance, but it also offers a genuinely good and varied music collection with a solid mix between original tracks and remixes which do their job just well enough to cover for the original. The choreography may not be subtle, actually it's quite silly for the most part, but just like the background artworks they match every respective song perfectly. Definitely more enjoyable with others rather than a single player workout; most modes are not playable by yourself and other than aiming for full five star scores there isn't much to do on your own.

Life can be cruel and unfair. Things sometimes don't go as planned or you constantly feel like you're running out of time, never getting to experience the life you planned out for yourself years ago. However, your choices, regardless of how small they might seem, have some sort of consequence, good or bad. And some of your choices can make life seem just that much more beautiful. There's that one song you have yet to write, the foods you still haven't tried, the friends you still haven't met who will stick with you for a lifetime. Love especially shouldn't be rejected out of fear you'll eventually be abandoned no matter what you do.

Love is worth experiencing despite the pain it might bring, so cherish the time you have together, be it platonically with your loved ones or with a romantic partner, for as long as possible. Sure, you may not hear these things for the first time, perhaps you're sick of being shoved poetic euphemisms down your throat. But these are all things a new life shows effortlessly with such beauty and authenticity, you can tell it was made with the experiences we've all been going through since last year in mind. It's precisely because of this that playing through it may serve as a much needed reminder to some of us that these things do in fact matter and we'll all have to confront them eventually, so why not go about it the right way?

Bleach: Shattered Blade nowadays has been pretty much forgotten about even by fans of the series, and I can't say this didn't happen for no good reason. The story is absolutely nonsensical and relies on dumbed down versions of the characters to progress. The presentation overall is just very washed out and shabby. Aside from some characters and the special attacks, nothing is enjoyable to look at and the same can be said about the sound design, which really messes up the usually well casted and energetic dub voices. And my god these loading screens. The gameplay can't save Shattered Blade either. It's not broken like a rushed, glitchy game would be, but in the same way button mashing can get you through a basic hack and slash game, simply moving your controller left and right, up and down, and occasionally in a stab motion is more than enough to get you through fights, and it's not even close. As a fighting game it lacks the very basis to be enjoyed competitively, it's simply not engaging.

The only things that can be considered positives here are the roster and the movesets of the characters. The movesets are one of the things I would genuinely praise in this game. While it takes a blow due to the poor gameplay, the characters' moves all at least look distinct and they're taken directly from their source material. The specials, the different bankai, I think most of them very much suit their respective character and can be entertaining to watch. That is the closest to fanservice this game has to offer (aside from, you know, the usual Bleach-esque fanservice).

I also appreciate how the roster is anything but limited. Pretty much any canon character who has combat experience, plus the Shattered Blade exclusive antagonist, are all playable. It shows they at least bothered to consider different options and included everyone just in case, even with some very fitting alts. It manages to not feel excessive as well and I can't say any special moves look copy pasted here, which given the amount of characters is quite a feat. The only ones who do feel out of place are Ulquiorra and Grimmjow. As much as I love them, they really do not belong here, regardless of whether or not they appear in episode mode. It feels strange to see them in a game that's basically an epilogue to the soul society arc, where they had yet to be introduced in canon. Their movesets are also underwhelming if you know their characters, since the game released before any of them got to show off the full extent of their abilities, hence why they didn't have much to work with.

This is probably one of the shortest games based on an anime and manga series I've yet to play, and despite that I don't think I can recommend it to anyone who isn't a fan of Bleach and merely interested in adding the game to their collection.

Hi there! If you're here after watching Arcane, never played League, and are wondering if you should check out this (infamous) game with quite a bit of history and reputation as a new fan, then let me do the honors of answering that question!

No. Fuck no. Never. Run while you still can. You can totally enjoy Arcane while knowing next to nothing about this game here.

For those of you who used to play League and are now here after watching Arcane, wondering if perhaps you made a mistake by abandoning the game, the short and simple answer is once again no. I'm not one to tell people what to do, but I've seen multiple firsthand examples of how negatively League can affect people's mental (and as a result sometimes even physical) wellbeing, so I absolutely cannot recommend giving it a try once again in good conscience. Not by yourself at least. If you can organize a match with a group of friends who aren't the toxic, competitive type of players this game is so infamous for, then by all means. Those are the only conditions under which I can somewhat see anyone have a good time while playing, but should that not be possible I suggest staying away from it.