I think I've put about 30-something hours into this game so far, but then one day I suddenly just lost interest and stopped playing, I'm not really sure why.

So far, the combat is pretty fun, and the special abilities are really cool. The boss fights are great as well, really cinematic.

However, the story and characters are sooo lame. I imagine the characters were much better in the original and I will agree they are iconic, but they're not very well adapted in this game. It's really hard to get emotionally invested in anyone's story, for the most part I was just trudging through it.

I do like the environments and the art direction though, this is a highly imaginative world and it's really fun to look around at all the different environments. However, the actual task of exploring the world itself can get a bit stale.

Also, you'll probably hate me for this, but I don't always vibe with the soundtrack. I will say there are some absolute bangers in this game, but sometimes when I'm exploring or just walking around some songs get annoying.

I will say that I like this game's approach to its levels. It drops you into this big area with lots to do and then you can spend as much time as you want doing sidequests or other exploring before moving on with the main story. It does help get you immersed in your surroundings, but then again a lot of the sidequests are kind of forgettable, so this can feel like a slog at times.

I will come back to this game one day, especially because I hear Rebirth is really good so I want to eventually play that one as well. But from what I've played so far, I feel kind of "meh" about it, but I enjoyed it enough that I want to come back and finish it at some point.

Yakuza Kiwami, while not as memorable as Yakuza 0, is still a game worth playing and a strong entry into the series.

The gameplay is largely the same as it was in Yakuza 0 and Kiryu has all of the same moves he had in Y0, with maybe a couple new additions. You're still playing in Kamurocho and many of the activities are still there. Because of all the similarities, I recommend that you don't play this game directly after you play Y0, play one or two games in between.

Regarding the combat, I believe Kiryu's combat in this game is much better than it was in Y0. First of all, you're still able to switch between different styles, but this time, the dragon/legend style is accessible from the start. I really like what they did with the dragon style. When you first start out, it's practically useless, I would only use as a desperate last resort to try and get a couple extra hits in. However, as you progress through the game, you gradually unlock the full potential of the style and it becomes Kiryu's strongest style by the end (tiger drop is so broken and I love it). Also, I prefer how they set up the skill tree in this game as opposed to how they did it in Y0. In Y0, you used money to upgrade the skill tree, and even though it was really easy to get money in that game, I still found myself unable to max out the skill tree in the 90 something hours I put into the game. However, this game uses upgrade points that you get from defeating enemies. Because you're not able to use upgrade points for anything else, this system works much better in my opinion, and I was able to max out the skill tree after about 30-40 hours or so. Because of this, I enjoyed the combat in this game much more than I did in Y0 (at least for Kiryu).

The side activities in this game are also still just as fun as you'd expect from a Yakuza game. I will note however, that this game has more erotic activities than I remember the other games in the series having (although to be fair I haven't played most of the games so I'm only guessing). That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I thought I'd point it out.

Perhaps the highlight of this game is the Majima Everywhere system. Majima popping up all over Kamurocho was so funny and Kiryu's reaction every time was just golden. I never got tired of fighting Majima and I really liked how his encounters really felt random, like he was truly popping up out of nowhere.

Finally, Kamurocho has always been a really fun location to explore and it's still done justice in this game.

Okay, I'm going to tear into this game a bit, but I want you all to know that I still like this game and you should definitely play it if you like JRPGS or are into the Yakuza series.

Perhaps my biggest complaint with this game is its boss battles. They suck. There are twenty four boss battles in this game, and only like three of them are actually good. What's more is that two of them are against Majima, who by those points in the game you've already fought dozens of times. The rest of the bosses are honestly just pretty lame. Some bosses, like Hayashi and Lau Ka Long, have a decent move sets, but their large health pools and defense combined with the lack of QTE's make their fights feel repetitive and stagnant. The lack of memorable bosses was a real letdown, especially after playing Yakuza 0, which had a lot of incredible bosses.

Second of all, the story for this game is not as good as Y0's. Again, I haven't played past Kiwami 2, but so far Yakuza 0 has had the best story. That being said, I do think the story is pretty solid and is definitely better than Kiwami 2's. Nishiki's journey in particular was very compelling, it gave a lot of emotional weight to the story considering the relationship that Kiryu and Nishiki had in Yakuza 0. Haruka is a great character as well and adds a lot of depth to Kiryu's character. Also, I love Shinji, he's awesome. Overall, I would say the characters are good for the most part while the plot itself is a little shaky at times.

My last big issue with this game is its substories. For the most part, they feel very repetitive and aren't very creative or memorable. This is especially apparent when you compare it to the substories in Y0 or Kiwami 2, which feature some incredible and hilarious substories. There are a few standouts, but by and large they're not very interesting.

Overall, this is a great game and a solid entry into the Yakuza series, though it is lacking in areas that the series is known for.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a criminally underrated title and if you are a comic book or superhero fan you should absolutely check it out. I'm hoping that this review can help bring a little more awareness to how awesome this game is.

I'll start off by saying that this game is really strong on nearly all fronts. No aspect was particularly weak, so overall this game feels pretty consistent, which is nice.

This is a fairly linear game, both in its story and level design. It's set up so that you're always working towards the main story, and the levels are designed so that you always know where you're supposed to go. However, I will say that there are a couple sections where you're allowed to roam free around a bigger area, which is nice. The other levels usually have a couple paths you can pursue in order to find collectibles and loot. I think that this design works great for the game and I didn't have a problem with it at all, if this game were open world or open zone (is that a thing), it wouldn't have worked out very well.

Now, let's get to the gameplay. The gameplay is pretty fun! Exploration and puzzle solving, while fairly easy, is still enjoyable due to how it incorporates both the player's abilities as well as the abilities of the other guardians. Each guardian has a unique "puzzle/exploration ability" that is utilized effectively. If there's a ledge you can't cross, Groot can grow a bridge. If there's vines you can't get through, Gamora can cut through them. If there's a small space you can't crawl into, Rocket can. If there's something heavy you need to lift, Drax is there for you. Often, you'll need to use multiple abilities in conjunction with each other (I think) to traverse an area.

The combat is fun as well. I disagree with the people who say that the game should have allowed you to play as all of the guardians, because it would have overly complicated things and honestly, Eidos-Montreal would have to create an entirely different kind of game. Solely playing as Star-Lord but being able to give orders to the other guardians both in exploration and in battle gives players the best of both worlds while not becoming overly complicated. Anyways, the combat is pretty fun. The gun play is nice, Star-Lord has a few gun forms that he can cycle through as well as his own set of abilities. The abilities for the guardians are also really fun, and comboing them with your own attacks or the attacks of other guardians is seamless. I appreciate the animations for the hand-to-hand combat as well. Not only does Star-Lord have a few unique melee combat animations, but he also has auto combo finishers with each guardian, and they're all cool to look at. While you're not actively using the abilities of the other guardians, they'll fight on their own, and there is a surprising amount of effort put into how they fight, even though the player won't always notice these details in a typical encounter. Additionally, you can also perform finishers on enemies when their stun bar is full and their health is low enough (to be honest I'm not sure of the exact criteria needed to perform a finisher, but it shows up pretty often). These finishers are really cool because each guardian will take turns attacking the enemy and the camera will temporarily go to slow-mo when the attack hits, it's just an awesome finisher. Finally, I want to mention the huddle up system because it is by far my favorite part of the combat. Star-Lord calls the guardians in and then the player has to choose between two dialogue options in order to give a successful motivational speech, and then a famous song from the 70s/80s will play while you're fighting, and that whole sequence feels very cinematic and really pumps you full of adrenaline. It's particularly effective when you're being overwhelmed and about to die, because it allows you to miraculously come back and win against all odds, it's just an awesome mechanic that is perfect for the Guardians of the Galaxy. If you play the game for extended periods of time, I can see how the combat may feel tiresome or repetitive, but I don't think it will happen for everyone. Overall, combat = fun.

Now, let's get into my favorite part of the game, its story and characters. I imagine that it was very tempting for the writers to just try to copy James Gunn's versions of these characters and just reskin the plots from one of the MCU movies. However, I was thoroughly surprised and impressed by how the story and the characters were handled. While the major characters are adapted from the Marvel comics, this is an entirely original story that feels like a distinct and fresh take on the Guardians of the Galaxy. Of course, their personalities are largely the same, but not in a way that feels like they're copying anything else. The guardians in this game will feel familiar to fans, but they also stand on their own as unique interpretations. I'm a big fan of James Gunn and adore the GOTG movies, but at times I liked this game's version more than the Gunn's, which is something I thought I'd never say. Their conversations feel genuine and are interesting to listen to, and the dialogue options for Peter are also creative. You really start to grow close to these characters as you play through the story and become invested in their bonds and the trials they go through.

This game is also pretty funny. Funny dialogue is one of the rarest occurrences in any video game, so this game deserves praise for sticking the landing on most of its humor. Not everything is a gut-buster, but it's good enough.

Besides the main guardians, the other characters are also well-written and fit well within the story. Most of the standouts don't show up until later into the story, so I won't spoil anything, but I think marvel fans will be pretty happy regarding which characters are included and how they're adapted. The new characters that they've added I thought were excellent as well. Lady Hellbender and Raker were two characters that I had never heard of before, but I very much enjoyed their presence within the story. I love that the game's villains were characters that most audiences have never heard of before, it made me more invested in the story because everything that was happening was something new.

Overall, the story is completely original and very compelling, and the characters are well-written and entertaining. Since the game is linear, the story and characters are always at the forefront of what's going on, so none of the impact or nuance is lost on the player.

I also could not accurately review this game if I did not acknowledge the absolutely incredible art direction on all fronts. The levels in this game are absolutely beautiful and are just brimming with creativity. Each area has a lot of vibrant colors on display that just make the game a joy to look at and explore. The art direction breathes a lot of life into the world and makes the game more memorable as a whole. I also am in love with the character design. Not only are their personalities unique, but they all have a new look to them Even though there are other outfits you can discover for each guardian, I want to acknowledge how full of personality Eidos-Montreal's original outfits for them are. The character design is just really good.

The soundtrack is also very memorable due to the several 70s/80s songs that they include.

I also want to say that this game has my absolute favorite version of the Milano (the guardian's ship). You're able to explore the interior of the ship several times throughout the game and I love the attention to detail and how lived in the ship feels. I love that they condition of the ship also reflects the state that the guardians are in. It's hilarious how they're locked out or unable to access a lot of the cooler functions of their ship because they're broke. I really like that you're able to explore each character's room as well.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Hey, you've only said good things about this game, why is it only four stars?" And that is a valid question. Well, I guess I would say that as much as I like the dialogue, it can be a bit much sometimes (the use of flark is a bit excessive and loses its luster early on in the game). I also wasn't the biggest fan of one of the later chapters where you're in a cave, that one dragged on way too long and the gimmick that the dialogue was based around got kind of old. There's also a couple characters that I wasn't a huge fan of, but they definitely had their moments at some point in the game. Also, there is a certain fan-favorite character in Gunn's movies that is absent from this game, though there is a good reason. My problem with this is that many fans will likely be unhappy with the reason for their absence, and I actually think that the reason is very interesting and has a lot of narrative potential, it's never expanded on and kind of left a bad taste in my mouth because it felt like a plot point that should have been resolved. Hopefully it does if this game gets a sequel. Regardless, these are more or less minor complaints. I'd like to rate this game higher but my I know in my heart that it's not higher than four stars, at least for me, but I still absolutely recommend this game and it deserves your attention.

Overall, this game is really fun and a blast to play, it's what Marvel's Avengers should have been. Even if you're not necessarily a Marvel fan, I'd still recommend you play this game because there is a lot to love.