Recent reviews by カービィ

Was initially turned off by the change in protagonist and the style of combat to turn-based. Finally gave it a try when it was on sale and was really surprised by how good it actually is. Granted there are some moments where I found Ichiban's (the new protagonist) decisions questionable and how I can't seem to understand why he does certain things sometimes, at the end of the day, it still makes a more fun and light-hearted story where you tend to just accept that he's just a nice guy who's always trying to stand up against injustice, no matter how big the cost or sacrifice is. That being said, however, I still felt the story and plot overall were quite cleverly written (even though Ichiban seems like an unbelievable character). It also ties back to the main Yakuza franchise in a really nice way (will avoid spoilers, so you can find it out yourself when you play).

As for the combat system, opting for a turn-based approach kind of removes some degrees of freedom from the player in that your attacks/actions are now confined to your turn and you can't really do much when the enemy is attacking except watch (and maybe press a button to perfect guard and reduce damage taken). However, I felt this is a refreshing change as it kind of makes combat more tactical in that you have to plan your movements and actions carefully so as to make the most out of your turn. Furthermore, instead of playing as just Kiryu, you now control a team of 4 characters including Ichiban and there are things to consider such as picking out the correct team composition to make sure each of the characters and their roles sort of complement each other. Overall, it is a very refreshing change to the hack-and-slash style combat in the previous games, essentially making it more of a turn-based RPG now.

Unfortunately, in the later half of the game, enemies get really imbalanced and are made a lot stronger. This means there are now certain battles that become very difficult to win if you have not obtained the correct gear and equipment and levelled up your characters sufficiently enough (so that they have better stats and also new and more powerful skills). There are some parts where I just wanted to progress the story but was turned back by seemingly impossible boss fights where my team members would just get one-shot, forcing me to take a step back and grind some of the dungeon fights to level up my characters and get resources to craft better weapons. This part was really quite tedious and time-consuming for me. Even after grinding for a fair bit, there were still a few bosses I got stuck at where even though I was at the same level as them, I was still not dealing nearly as much damage as them, though the fights did get more manageable.

For their first attempt in a turn-based RPG in such a long-running franchise (with about 7 games before it), I would still say this is a really great attempt and definitely worth a shot, both for longtime Yakuza fans and players new to the franchise (though there are still some parts at the end you probably would appreciate more if you played the previous games). Even without the charisma of the legendary Dragon of Dojima himself as the lead protagonist, this Yakuza game still stands pretty solidly on its own, something which I was not expecting.

Very bad optimization, uses an insane amount of VRAM, ~11 GB for ultra and more than 8 GB for high preset just for 1080p.

Can't even play the game without crashing for every 5-10 minutes. At one point my GPU even froze up

Definitely not worth the price at launch. Get a PS5 and play it on there instead, this is a bad PC port

This is without doubt the weakest entry in the series.

Boring story with bland, uninteresting characters that you don't care about

Combat gets repetitive real fast with very little variety of enemies (a lot of them are just variants/reskins of other base enemies)

Game feels very tedious with scripted sequences and QTEs that don't even feel necessary at all. There are also portions where you just get stuck in some other dimension and you do nothing but fight off wave after wave of enemies before you are able to progress in the mission.

Finally the boss fights (which are always a big part of Ninja Gaiden games, literally every stage in each game has a boss) are really no fun at all here. The majority of the boss fights feel annoying and cheap as they flood the screen with projectiles and basic enemies that constantly disrupt your rhythm and occasionally even block your entire camera making it impossible to see/anticipate the boss' next move. Most of the boss fights also felt like repeats of one another as they are usually just different villains but with similar movesets and attacks, this is also ignoring the fact that there is a particular boss you actually have to fight 4 times throughout the entire game, where each encounter felt exactly the same.

Series should have ended with Ninja Gaiden 2 which was perhaps the best in my opinion.

Basically Resident Evil but with swords and demons.
Absolutely enjoyable and fun ride from start to finish with the only downside being its really short length. Only took me about 5-6 hours and there is no New Game+ as well.
Graphics might be pretty outdated but still a classic nonetheless.

A good shooter in its own right, with satisfying gunplay, a wide range of abilities (known as Vigors) that are fun to use and the constant use of skylines to flank enemies and get to more strategic positions. However, the story was kind of convoluted and uninteresting, the constant backtracking also made it a bit tedious to get through certain sections of the game.

Nevertheless, all of these are minor flaws that can be overlooked. My major complaint about this game is that it should not have been labelled a Bioshock game. It has nothing to do with the first 2 games in terms of story except probably a few nods here and there referencing the events of Rapture. The combat, though fun, still feels rather generic and lacklustre compared to the first 2 games. You move from point A to B, shoot a few enemies, progress to the next section and rinse and repeat. What I liked about the original Bioshock games is the sandbox-like levels where exploration was encouraged and battles became easier as you controlled more turrets/first-aid stations/security cameras via means of hacking, players could "shape" the environment to their advantage and use the enemies' own weapons against them. Furthermore, the atmosphere in the original Bioshock games is just so on-point and immersive. You really felt like you were being trapped in the underwater city of Rapture. This is also something that Bioshock Infinite is lacking in. It does have better visuals and graphics, owing to it being the latest game in the franchise, but it just does not look or feel as captivating as Rapture.

This game is definitely enjoyable and fun as a FPS game on its own but it does not deserve the title of a Bioshock game and does not even remotely resemble or play like its predecessors. Fans of the first 2 games should not come into this game expecting it to be a Bioshock 3 because it is not and could not be further from it.

This is definitely one of the best Star Wars shooters out there. Essentially a clone of the classic DOOM games but Star Wars instead. There is a wide range of weapons you can utilize in your arsenal which are all fun to use and a huge variety of enemies to keep the gameplay fresh as well. The boss fights are also enjoyable and pay homage to classic Star Wars villains that all Star Wars fans would appreciate.

However, it would be great if this version of the game is patched to improve on the overall experience for the player. Currently, there are some, albeit rare, game-breaking bugs that you may encounter that can cause you to be stuck on a level and unable to progress unless you restart the entire mission (especially the one I encountered on Mission 12 with the moving platforms). Furthermore, as this game is really really old, you are going to get low resolutions and low framerates unless you do some tweaks to the DOSBox (the emulator that is used to run this game by default) configuration file (this file is named Dosbox.conf in your Dark Forces installation directory) such as by adding parameters "windowresolution=1920x1080", "cycles=auto" and "scaler=supereagle" (makes the graphics and textures smoother and easier on the eyes). Finally, in its default state, the game also does not let you move your mouse vertically but only horizontally. Fortunately, there is a very useful Steam guide that can help you resolve this (See: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2311190593)

I should mention that there is something known as the XL Engine which you can use to run the game instead of using DOSBox and it has already resolved all the issues above. HOWEVER, BE VERY CAREFUL AND THINK TWICE BEFORE USING THIS. The reason being that it is an unfinished project and has been abandoned. In its current state, you will encounter issues such as not being to use 3 out of the 8 or 9 weapons in the game or constant crashing on the Nar Shadaa stage due to a sound bug (though this can be resolved if you play with no sound just for that stage). I realized this too late and restarted the entire game running on the DOSBox emulator instead as I felt the experience provided by the XL Engine is incomplete and is not the way the game is meant to be played.

I recommend doing the tweaks I mentioned manually instead of using the XL Engine such as not to change the original game experience (except for the textures and resolutions). It really makes a world of difference especially since I am so used to playing modern shooters with 144 FPS and actually being able to aim both horizontally and vertically. However, the game is entirely playable and enjoyable even without doing any tweaks, if you are up for the nostalgic and classic experience.

This is really a timeless classic and even though it might be quite a hassle to do the tweaks and patching manually if you want the best performance, I still feel it is worth the trouble, given how rare good Star Wars FPS games are.

Gonna leave a negative review until the devs crack down on and stop blatant ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ teaming up in solo matches. This is very unfair to those who play the game properly and join a solo match expecting to be matched against solo players, not squads of 2 or 3 players that make a truce and gang up against other solo players. There is an option to report teaming but this problem still persists in almost every solo game that I've played so far (and you can probably tell from my playtime that I have not played for a significantly long amount of time)

This spoils an otherwise fun and enjoyable BR game.

Very bad PC port and impossible to play on KB+M with the terrible mouse lag issue. Tried various ways to resolve it but to no avail.

This is otherwise a really great game and a classic.

Play this on console instead.

I really really wanted to like this game after playing the first Dying Light which was an absolute blast. However, everything just feels very repetitive after a while. The story is really generic and uninteresting and there is WAY too much filler content in terms of the overwhelming amount of side quests and activities that are really nothing more than generic fetch quests that require you to help out random strangers with mundane errands that really feel like chores to do. Furthermore, with the huge amount of side activities to do, you will most likely have maxed out your abilities and weapon upgrades before you even reach halfway through the main storyline (unless you skip all the side activities and only go for main missions) and you can literally 3-4 hit every boss/enemy in the main missions which makes everything way too easy and there is barely any progression after you reach this point. I guess with the reported "500 hours" to complete everything in the game", it is not a surprise that there would be so much filler content. I would rather have a much shorter game with more quality content and writing.

Why is it always liar ahead?