Recent reviews by Bashfluff

When you charge money for something, you should deliver what it is that you're selling. Namco seems to have forgotten this by releasing a bare bones DLC pack that skimps on content and can be mostly be completed in a few minutes. The only thing that gives me hope is that this says GT Pack 1, which makes me think that they're going for small batches of content to be released frequently. Still, there's no guarantee of that, so I'm going to review this as if this is one of the three DLC packs we're going to get, because it very well may be.

So, let me put this into context. In the main game, there are over fifty side quests that essentially consist of one fight. How many of those did they add in the DLC? Two. Only one of them is related to the actual story of GT. I know that people gave GT lackluster reviews, but if you're going to add content based on a theme, you shouldn't shy away from doing just that.

Related to that is the two Masters, Tien and Yamcha. They exist, and that's all I can say about them. They're not related to GT and people weren't exactly clamoring for them. However, they are the meatiest bit of content that we get, so I can't complain THAT much about them.

What is related to GT, then? Well, we have three new characters and a few special moves. They're genuinely fun to play as and feel like they had a bit of work put into them. The special moves are a combination of outstanding and lackluster, but that's always been the case and I'm not sore about it at all. But here's the thing: they're GT Trunks, GT Goku, and GT Pan. That's the bare minimum, isn't it? If we paid a few for this DLC pack alone, the characters would have justified it.

As it stands, this is 25 bucks for three DLC packs, packs that I assume are this similar a size. If that's true, you could combine all three of them into one and it would be worth maybe ten bucks. So instead of being excited about this, I can't recommend it. There's next to nothing in the pack that I could even argue tries to be worth the price.

If that changes, I'll be back to edit this. As it stands, don't grab it.

You know what my favorite arc of Dragon Ball Z is? It's the Android/Cell Saga. Alternate timelines are my favorite part of any story. I picked up a PSP to play Shin Budokai - Another Road, because it featured my favorite DBZ character, Future Trunks, in an alternate timeline dealing with villains like Majin Buu. That's how you make an easy spinoff that isn't a rehash, I thought. Then I played the game and wondered how they managed to do one anyway.

--Plot--

Dragon Ball Xenoverse is unapologetically a rehash. You fight the same fights and follow the same DBZ storyline as a member of the Time Patrol! You create an original character and go back to fix events in the DBZ universe to how they're meant to go. Is it inaccurate to call it a rehash, then? Well, yes. Much of it has been removed.

Maybe I'm being unfair. Some of it has been altered. Vegeta doesn't kill Nappa, Ginyu switched bodies with your playable character, and Frieza transforms straight into his final form. Still, this doesn't change compared to what the cutscenes show you. I want to fight two Oozaru at the same time! I want to fight alongside Goku in Vegeta's body as he fights the Ginyu force! Hell, why not have Goku die and have secondary characters rush to bring him back to life on Namek? There are so many possibilities, but the game bring any of that to the table. It doesn't even bring much of DBZ's plot to the table, either!

When I say content has been removed, I meant it. Early DBZ games would bring you each and every fight from a certain character's perspective, but Xenoverse only puts you in particular sections of the timeline. So instead of fighting Nappa as Gohan, then as Piccolo, then as Goku, you fight him once. This gets particularly galling when you beat Frieza and then skip the entire Android saga.

What? The entire saga? Why is it that you have less story content than fighting games that came out almost fifteen years ago, Xenoverse? The What If saga in Budokai Tenkaiichi 3 were better than this, and that was only a fun little aside. So the game's plot doesn't reach its full potential. It's spread too thin and doesn't get up to much until the end. A great end, but the only time I felt invested in the story at all.

,In short, it's bland and lazy.


However the side missions provide a barrel of fun. You can fight alongside Raditz as any character you want to beat up Goku and Piccolo and Gohan. Help Guldo make the cut so that he can join the Ginyu force. Play through the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Android Saga. There are nice little nods given through dialogue depending on which character you choose to fight as or have on your team, and more than once, I was surprised on the sheer amount of character interactions there. More than that, you can play them in online co-op, unlike the story!

Not to mention, it covers everything and then some. Absolutely sublime.

C

--Gameplay--

Did you ever wish that Battle of Z came out on the PC? You don't need to gather up the dragon balls for this one, because here it is. Its a button masher, but it's a hectic and fun one. Repetitive, but somehow never boring. You have quick access to a variety of super moves and ultimate attacks to have fun with, and the flashy displays never tire. However, the game fumbles this advantage with truly awful character customization, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Ai, and a nightmareish difficulty. Not to mention a variety of tiny ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that make the game more frustrating than it ever has to be.

You get to pick your own race, gender, height, and build, all which have a massive impact on your stats and playstyle. The game doesn't balance for any of them. Take Saiyans. I played as a male saiyan and took on the slew of baddies with basic melee attacks, but I soon found myself losing, because I was running out of help too fast. Turns out that my buddies had sat back and were just watching me get my ass kicked because I was being too aggressive for the AI to keep up. Then, I played as a female saiyan--a character with virtually no health and with punches as effective as a feather duster--and stood back firing super moves, and my AI partners kept knocking my opponents away from me. Of course, they didn't do much damage, so eventually the enemy would get tired of kicking their ass and appear right behind me for the K.O.

Fantastic.

The more you build up your character, the easier it tends to get, but the game pulls no punches--fairly or not. While your partners' AI tends to hang around useless unless you want to fly so far away that they have no choice but to fight, the enemy AI have no such reservations. You will get teamed up on by two or three characters at once and be left to do nothing but be stuck in an unbreakable combo and then die constantly. It becomes the luck of the draw, trying to f get your partners to engage with an opponent so you can go attack the remaining one to go 1v1, the only even matchup. I suspect this difference in AI was made in order for the player to feel like they were completing missions and not their partners, but this was perhaps the worst way I've ever seen developers tackle this problem in a game.

In the side quests, since they're meant to be played with multiple people, this problem doesn't even exist.

Now, on to some nitpicky criticisms. DBZX wants to be an MMO, you see, and that means scattering everything around a hub town. Want to play a side mission? Go to one of the three areas, find the NPC, scroll down the list, then pick play. Don't worry if you forget, because after you complete a side mission, the game will throw you off somewhere in that area. You'll have it memorized by the end of the game.

You're free to use items in story and side missions, but they don't stack and you can't put the same item in multiple slots. So if you unlock the MEGA HEALING CAPSULE, you can only use one of them per fight. If you want another healing item, you'll have to settle for THIS MAY HEAL 25% OF YOUR HEALTH BAR. DON'T YOU WISH YOU HADN'T PICKED A RACE WITH ♥♥♥♥♥♥ HEALTH CAPSULE. More than that, if you die, you're dead. No matter what the senzu capsule tells you, there's no way to revive after dying. That's only for the side missions. On top of that, items that heal your allies are the same deal. They'll only work in the side missions.

Maybe you want to mix your own items? Best of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ luck to you. Walk across the map to the mixing station. Look at the recipes--which you can find no where else--walk across the map to the item vendor to buy ingredients. Walk BACK across the map to the mixing station to mix. Or if you're not dumb, just pull out your Z wallet and buy healing items from the item vendor and don't bother.

There's an excellent mentor system to teach you special moves and that provides real flavor to the text in the story, but potential mentors show up at random, two at a time, hidden somewhere in the city. Oh, and the game doesn't tell you the requirements to unlock certain mentors. Have fun. Also you can only level them fast in the side missions, because this game hates you.

But the most damning sin of all is progression. Maybe, you, like me, think that after certain story fights, you'll unlock special energy moves in the skill shop so you can get more and more powerful. Budokai had a system like this, where after particular fights, the game would say, "Bing, you've got a capsule! Here's what it is, how much energy it costs, the character who can use it, how rare it is, and its favorite food." Instead, special moves only unlock after you complete an arc, and there are few of them to choose from.

They're drops from the side missions only, and a few of the mentors only give you your ultimate in exhange for items in the side missions! Is that what you want us to play, developers? You seem to be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ over the main story mode in favor of it left and right. In a word, yes. That's where you'll get your money's worth. Forget the main mode and do that.

C+

Not bad, but not a game I would recommend over the original.

This is certainly a new interpretation of Oddworld, I'll tell you that. Where the original focused on a sense of realism and grit, this has a more fantastical bent. It looks less like the iconic world we used to know and more fantasy. Some parts of the game benefit from the visual style, but for the rest, it hampers the atmopshere. It never makes me groan out loud, but it never impressed me. Abe had a distinct sort of feel that the graphics were a key part of, and they were packed with grit and more than a few punches.

This has none of that.

The game feels directionless more often than it should due to that issue, like the original elements and the newer ones are at war, and neither one seems to give any ground. Whereas in the original, it feels like you're navigating a facility, my reaction to the shifting of goals, "Instead of rescuing Mudokens, you're just going to swing on over here for a bit and platform it up," was that I was pulled out of the environment I was in to go to another one.

If this seems minor to you, it shouldn't. Oddworld became a cult classic due to the atmosphere the game presented, and that atmosphere is not preserved here. A lack of overall consistency contributes to an experience that feels like its lacking an overall flow, like it doesn't quite fit together properly. It seemed like the team here tried to reinvent the original without understanding what made it so special or without injecting any of their own creativity to it to make up for what they messed up.

Perhaps this is a natural problem when it comes to newer games. The original Oddworld wasn't a graphical powerhouse and used single screens with careful attention to detail in each one. In a fancy modern game, I don't know how much of that can be replicated. It would be nice if they used the newer tools to their advantage to make improvements instead of making the game worse by not wanting to. Graphics is only one part of it. I love the camera. It could really add to the atmosphere of the game. Why, then, aren't the puzzles designed to fit it rather than the fixed camera that we used to have? Controls are more fluid than ever, but jumping is a pain in the ass. I feel lost in puzzle rooms until I explore them, and oftentimes I die because I wake something up that I couldn't possibly know about. There's no context to the game, and it needs it.

I never died in Oddworld once due to a reason outside of my own inadequacy, but here, it's a regular problem, and it gets old fast.

Oddworld has never looked this good, but it's never been presented this poorly. New n Tasty is not bad, but every time I play it, all I think of is how the original did almost everything better. Its one trick is compelling, but that's all that it has over the original. Granted, it's a sizable benefit, but is it worth making the gameplay worse? I don't think so.

If you've played the original and loved it like I have, the fresh coat of pain provides a welcome reason to revist it, and despite all of the things I've dinged it for, nothing becomes a dealbreaker if you're an old-timer. If you're a fresh face, I'd recomend you play the original first and then give this a shot if you're still interested.

Dying Light is what happens when Dead Island and Mirror's Edge had a baby, although anyone could expect that from the first game trailer. What I didn't expect is that Drying Light took the best of both games to make something that feels more like a true zombie game that almost any other.

From Mirror's Edge, it takes the parkour, and given that I didn't like Mirror's Edge, I didn't expect to enjoy it, but it's become one of the defining reasons I'd give for why the game is good. What this game got that Mirror's Edge sadly missed was the first person platforming doesn't work in closed environments. Everything is nice and open so that you can stretch your legs, and almost anything that you can see can be climbed on top of or used to be climbed on top of other things, all while zombies can only shamble around as you dart past them. It's fluid in a way that few games are, and the sheer joyful fun that comes from the freedom to hop around is unmatched on this scale.

This does somewhat contradict the established tone of the story, but the story itself isn't worth mentioning and not what I think we're here for, anyway.

What is worth mentioning is that even with all of my run and jump prowess, I never stopped behind afraid of the zombies. Combat as rather frantic, as you have weapons that degrade and a small stamina bar for fighting that makes it hard to take out even one of the bastards. Legging it is the better option most of the time, but it's not an option that comes without its own risk. Zombies can be almost anywhere, and while staying above the streets tends to be the better option, getting up there after you've fallen down can be tense if you're in a jam and don't have the time to check out what you're climbing on top of for the undead. Still, it never feels unfair. The game's controls are built around the freerunning mechanics and--for once in a game--surprisingly useful dodging controls. If you die, it's because you weren't prepared enough or ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up a jump or didn't know how to handle yourself, 100% of the time.

What I had wondered going in was how the game would handle its horror elements, The elements I've just mentioned make it tense, if nothing else. It does an adequate job at this with its atmosphere. That alone doesn't make it for me, though. If that was all the game had, I'd question the use of the horror tag. What sealed the deal for me were the story missions. They take advantage of all the tools in the box to make you scared. In one mission a little ways in, for example, you need to hop into a sea of zombies and set up a few traps inside the hood of some cars. All you can do is throw firecrackers in the general vicinity of where you wanted the zombies to go towards and cross your fingers as your character turned away from the hoarde for a few precious seconds. Moments like this make the game shine, and there's enough in here to recommend. I don't know if I'd call the game horror with those story missions, either, but it's close enough that horror fans will find something to love.

Still, I can't help but feel like the game is unrefined, somewhat. Scavaging is a chore and sometimes parkour can be frustrating with how fast you move. With the combat restricted as it is, the game can be somewhat of a bore at times, as you stick to the rooftops and prance above the town, more or less safe from danger. Once you get used to how to move around and get yourself out of a jam, there's not much the game does to spice things up to shake the feeling of security you begin to develop, which is disappointing. The ingredients are here, and the game does what it can to make use of them, but it doesn't come together in a truly wonderful way due to a lack of polish.

What is Dying Light, then? Dying Light is unique, fun, and better than the games that inspired it, and what more can you ask for from a game? I'd recommend a price drop before picking it up if you're lukewarm, but if you're not bored of zombies and the parkour looks fun to you, it's an easy recommendation at full price.

Keep in mind this is a quick review to help people decide if the game is worth a look at this price. I've played about thirty minutes or so thus far, but I will keep updating this review as I come across more parts of the game.

Agarest is a fantasy tactical role playing game, much like Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem. Straight out of the heart of Japan with its flashy style and exaggerated character designs, this game drew me in right away with its setting and characters. It leads to a slow start; the game making sure that it introduces the characters and teaches you about the combat for thirty minutes minutes before FINALLY getting into the good stuff in regards to the story and character creation wasn't a good call, but it lays the groundwork for the story ahead.

The real problem isn't the length of the opening in and of itself, though. It's the tutorial segments. The tutorial is drawn out and doesn't teach you anything you wouldn't know from playing any tactical role playing game. The characters and writing are on full display as you're taught the mechanics, making sure that you're at least slightly entertained, and they give you what you should well expect: flashy and fun attacks with all of the functionality you should expect from a game like this. But it's only exactly what you'd expect, and if you're going to demand total attention from the player like this, you need to be introducing things that players wouldn't know off the bat, and it just doesn't have any features like that in that first segment.

Eventually, it does get into some new features, but at the time of writing, after going at this game for nearly an hour, I'd only just finished the tutorial and I'd only learned two things from the game that I wouldn't have known otherwise from playing other ones. Just two. When this game says 60-80 hours, it means it, but if this is the way that they're going to stretch out the playtime, I'm a bit wary. Still, they were able to cram a good bit of story in that time, too, and I actually rather enjoy it so far!

This is a story-driven game, and make no mistake, it shows clear signs of the style it was drawn in. From only being voice acted in Japanese, to the tropes that are made evident from the first moments of the game, it is made clear from the get go that this is a game that's going to follow the trends of anime in regards to its story and characters. If you aren't fond of that, you may be better off looking elsewhere for your fantasy tactical role-playing game fix. But I am, and trust me, you have never seen a game that makes you think that you're watching an episode of anime more when you get past that tutorial and start the first boss fight. It's surreal to watch.

From what I can tell, you're going to be in for an anime style game with stylish combat and a kickass story. If the story doesn't grab you, you're going to be waiting a long time for gameplay to kick in, because you have to go through a LOT of dialogue, but the gameplay itself is solid , and I can already tell the combo system is going to lead to plenty of fun down the road.

First impressions? Grab it.

Starbound looked like a knockoff at first. "Terraria in space!" I thought. It wasn't an awful way to spend fifteen dollars, and it seemed polished to the point where I felt comfortable buying it. I started it up, feeling like I was about to revisit an old battleground. Starbound then sideswiped me and knocked me on my ass, demaning my attention. And it deserved every bit, because even if it may be derrivative, it offers some of the most unique experiences I've had in a game ever.

Mechancially, it builds from Terraria's base, but it puts it to shame in the amount of new content added and how it makes the game feel tighter and with more focus while still allowing players to feel like they're always exploring somewhere new. The ability to visit different planets was key. At the click of the button, you can visit an old outpost, or go into a world unknown. It keeps things fresh and interesting whenever you start it up. How you want to play this game is up to you, and giving the player so much freedom and choice when it comes to exploration makes it an easy task to do what you want.

The exploration gives me the feel of Metroid Prime, coming down to the surface of a planet and dealing with the wildlife before heading to abandoned ruins filled with treasure and foes. The weapons are satisfying and make you feel like a badass, but it's never too hard to get killed if you don't know what you're doing. Dungeons are intriguing yet terrifying, placing you the belly of the beast. Here, you know you're going somewhere that is insanely deadly, someplace where you're going to be without all the safety of the overworld with your stash of goodies and you comfy house, but treasure and adventure call out and pull you deeper and deeper, forcing you into the dark center of the world.

This is a game that gives you all the freedom in the world, but still leads you along by its mechanics to show you the true wonders--and true horrors--of the universe.

This is only the surface of the game. There's so much more to talk about. There are pets, there's actual space exploration, weapons, bosses, the building, and all the other bits of icing on this cake. But the best part of this game to me was when it was at its most simple.

I had traversed sprawling dungeons and destroyed titans. I had lived to wreck the catles of kings, and had my own either destroyed or abandoned. Entire planets seemingly were laid barren of all of their resources in my wake.

But it was only when I was building a small hut underneath a sea of shining stars as the booming soundtrack played that I truly understood how it felt to feel awed and humble. There I was, toiling away on the ground as each and every star emitted a heavenly glow, the soundtrack making it impossible not to be drawn to them. It brought out a sense of wonder and majesty, a connection with something that is a deep part of every one of us, that connection only made more tangbile as time went on. The feeling heightened by how insignificant everything I was doing suddenly seemed by comparison, as it seemed like I was just a tiny man on a tiny planet in the corner of the universe.. Gaming for me is about experiences that make me feel things that can truly be felt no other way, that bring out parts of myself I never see without me realizing it. This game did that. And it never stopped.

Buy Starbound for the combat. Buy it for the buliding. Buy it for the exploration and the character progression and the quests and the sheer insane fun of it all. But just buy it, please. Because it's been a long time since a game could capture the magic of looking up at the stars for me, and a game that can provide such magnificent narrative without speaking while still retaining its sense of fun and adventure is worth your time and money.

Starbound is a game that seems to have no right being as good as it does, but it makes the source material seem base and unrefined by comparison. Starbound not only fought to prove itself a good game, but a fantastic one that deserves a place in everyone's library. You will not be disappointed with this one.

This game is a solid mixture of good and bad. It's not very intuitive--you'll have to learn many things yourself, and it's not fun to do so--but once you've figured everything out, you're in for a good romp. The claim to fame is that this is a fantasy RPG with dragons. The fantasy RPG part is plagued with problems, from an insane amount of grind to some very bland classes. You don't seem to have well defined roles that work well in a team. It seems, bizarrely, that you need to build your character around DPS while you trick out your dragon to do different roles.

The fun part comes with the dragons. I'm happy so much of the game is built around them. It's fun to ride on their back and do a fun minigame to catch them. Flying around on them is fun and staisfying, and having help in battles is a welcome change. Even if many of the dragons seem to look similar, I don't care. There are plenty that stand out and make you proud to own them. They can bring you resources for crafting, grant you skills that you can use yourself when you have them in your party, take you around the map, tank damage for you, or wreck the monsters that stand in your way.

It's incredibly satisfying to collect dragons, farming them to find that one dragon with a healing spell you can use, swapping their skills with other dragons, careful deciding how to raise them and build them into what you need them to be for your needs. If any of that paragraph appeals to you, you need to try this game.

Unfortunately, they do have a habit of nickeling and diming you. It's not a large amount, mind you, but you are almost forced into it. You can only have two dragons in your party, two dragons in your lair collecting resources, and six dragons in your dragon bank. You'll find that this isn't enough to suit your needs as you go along to the point where you'll almost be forced to upgrade. It's the same with inventory and bank space, although both of those feel far more restricted because of the sheer number of items the game throws at you for its crafting, enchanting, shard embedding, and cooking skills, in addition to quest items and regular monster drops. On their own, none of these smaller purchases seem to be an issue, because they're relatively cheap and optional, but there are so many of them that you almost HAVE to make that it's a little off-putting. Do yourself a favor and drop 20-30 bucks on the game if you're considering playing. You'll have more of a fun time, and it's a reasonable price for a game. If you treat it like that, I think you'll find the whole business more enjoyable.

Another shining beacon is in the players. Maybe it's because there are hardly any around--although I hear end game content players form a solid base--but they're some of the most helpful players I've met in an MMO to date. Group up with a guild ASAP and enjoy a wonderful playerbase in the best way possible! Plus, there are certain guild specific advantages you'll want, like a area to summon dragons with guild specific items.

In spite of all its issues, I love this game. The fantasy part is passable, and it's made better through the dragon mechanics. It nickels and dimes you in places, yes, but it's not a large amount in the end, and seeing as its a free to play game, I think that dropping down some money to get your full enjoyment on it is okay. I don't expect to make this my chief MMO, nor should you. But you'll have a good amount of fun running through this game, however long you choose to.

Have fun, and good hunting!