Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (Wii U) - Impressions

Just finished Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time on Wii U after 20 hours of playtime. I never thought I would ever reach the end of this game, lol. I started playing it back in June last year and ever since then I've been playing it on and off every other month. The reason for that is because the game just isn't that captivating compared to the first one. The gameplay gets incredibly repetitive halfway through as you never learn any new attack moves and the "Bros moves" that you learn aren't really that good. Not to mention that I never felt like using the new Bros moves because you only have a finite amount of them. It's not like in the newer games where you have Bros points (the JRPG equivalent of SP/MP) so you could use them as much as you like as long as you have points. Instead, in Partners in Time, the Bros moves are based on items so you could eventually run out of them if you keep using them. So just like with many other games where you have a finite amount of items, I just saved them for the end of the game and I don't like that they did it this way because it discourages you to use them.

What I did like was the story. The game takes place in present and past Mushroom Kingdom, so Mario and Luigi will be teaming up with their baby versions in battles. I think it was really cool seeing their interactions and also how other characters from the past and present reacted to each other. On top of this, we got to learn actual Mario lore. For example, the original Yoshi's Island on the SNES is actually a prequel to Partners in Time since it was in that game that the babies were introduced and they tried to implement a continuation from that game in Partners in Time. How cool isn't that? To actually have lore in a Mario game. It's crazy to see how much Nintendo actually cared about their franchises back then compared to now.

Sadly though, with the introductions of the babies, the gameplay became even worse. Having to control four characters now instead of only Mario and Luigi and constantly switching between their special moves in order to solve puzzles was so freaking confusing. I'm just so glad that we won't see anything like that in the other M&L titles (except for Paper Jam where you have to control Paper Mario but I'll have to see how that works).

All in all, while the gameplay wasn't as appealing as the first game, I really enjoyed the story and the inclusion of actual lore in a Mario game. So overall, I (think) I liked the game. But I can definitely see how people regard Partners in Time as one of the weaker entries in the series.

@RogerRoger Yeah, I wouldn't expect most normal people to have heard of games like those. In terms of progressive degrees of weirdness:

• one is a dungeon crawler full of odd humor and vocaloid music where you hunt down and seal away demons, which you can later summon in battle.
• one of them is a life-sim/JRPG hybrid where you solve a murder mystery with a group of friends while saving people who are being tossed into an otherworld accessible via climbing into TVs.
• one is ostensibly a horror game involving a haunted school, but it trades the raw supernatural thrills of previous entries for bizarre fanservice and out of place fantasy tropes; the scariest thing about it ends up being the horrid optimization, which led to many, many crashes on my system.
• one is... um... it's a dating sim/dungeon-crawler hybrid where you make weird supernatural babies with your chosen waifu and turn them into child soldiers who can fight alongside you in the dungeons.
• one... how do I even describe this... is an action game involving lesbian warriors infected with a virus that causes them to turn into weapons (like swords, axes, guns, etc.) when they become aroused. So their partners take their weapon-girlfriends and use them to beat up other lesbian warriors, who also have weapon-girlfriends.

I'll let you puzzle out which descriptions match which titles! I got these games physically mostly because they were accompanied by really nice goodies included with the physical editions.

Yeah, it's fun learning about different types of games from someone who is knowledgeable about them. The number of licensed games I've possessed any desire to play can probably be counted on one hand, but I've learned enough about various Naruto, James Bond, Spider-Man, etc. titles over time that I'm much less likely to immediately dismiss them out of hand like I would have in the past.

And yeah, I always appreciate the rare occasions when I run into someone else who wasn't utterly wowed by Mass Effect 2! Looking back, while it's not a terrible game, it definitely felt like a downgrade in a number of respects from the original, to such an extent that, as you know, I never played the third game. I'm hoping I'll enjoy it a little more with more grounded expectations this time, since I technically own the remastered trilogy now ($10 deal for the Steam version was too good to sleep on).

Thanks. Yeah, I was super surprised by how strangely ahead of its time Mega Man Powered Up was in certain respects, since I actually didn't know a lot about it going in. The most impressive thing is that, at least circa 2019, the servers still appear to be active, as, when I checked online, there is still a small community of people uploading stages they made. For this obscure 2006 PSP exclusive.

@LtSarge The Mario and Luigi series is one I wish I liked. I also tried out Superstar Saga and found it really couldn't hold my interest at all. Also wasn't fond of the puzzle-platformer nature of the gameplay, and the way you have to switch the character lineup to perform certain manuevers. It sounds like this entry just doubles-down on those aspects and tosses in the annoying babies from Yoshi's Island for good measure, so I'll probably steer clear of it. I do still want to try Dream Team if I can ever find it for a decent price, though.

Nice write-up.

@Ralizah Thanks! I actually like the formula of the Mario & Luigi games in general because they make turn-based JRPGs way more interesting by having more player input during the battles. For example, you have to press the action button just as you land on the enemy in order to deal more damage, you need to actually jump when an enemy is about to attack you in order to evade it and so on. It's not just about choosing an attack from the menu and watch as it happens, you need to actually be an active participant. That's something that I like about the M&L games compared to your standard JRPGs like Final Fantasy.

But yeah, Partners in Time just didn't feel as good to play as the first game. I do have to add though that I played the 3DS remake of Superstar Saga, so I don't know if the GBA version was even worse than Partners in Time. But I did enjoy the 3DS game very much and it's disappointing that AlphaDream didn't get the chance to remake Partners in Time on 3DS. Not only would you have been able to own all M&L games on one system, but maybe PiT would've been actually more enjoyable in a remake form.

Either way, I'm looking forward to playing the next game in the series, which is Bowser's Inside Story. I've read that people consider it to be the best game in the series and considering I'll be playing the 3DS remake, I have high hopes for it. At least you only control Mario and Luigi this time, and I'm curious to see what the Bowser segments will be like.

@RogerRoger Haha. No skeevy extras, thankfully. Conception came with an outer box and sampler CD or something. I forget if Valkyrie Drive had any bonuses. Corpse Party games have all come with amazing bonuses the few times they got physical releases: Blood Drive came with a really pretty outer box, a surprisingly high-quality artbook, and a multi-disc soundtrack. Even if the game itself was rubbish, the extras still kinda made the purchase worthwhile. Meanwhile, the retail port of the original Corpse Party on 3DS actually came with little figures of two of the characters from the game in addition to a snazzy outer box.

Yeah, I couldn't ignore that price. It's a little annoying insofar as, regardless of being redeemed on Steam, I believe it'll actually require a separate log-in to EA's launcher, but it should be fine otherwise, and the games will all run better on my PC than they would on my PS4 (maybe not as well as on a PS5, but $500 takes a fair bit of convincing for me to part with). I'm actually pretty enthusiastic about finally getting to experience the third game.

Question, actually: I recall something about ME3 having an ending that upset people originally, motivating EA to change it after a backlash. Do they have the option of experiencing the original ending in this version of the game?

Yeah. I thought about making a level myself to test out that whole feature, but since I was a bit lukewarm on the game overall, I decided to move on. Kind of annoys me a bit that Capcom will support the online component of a failed obscure PSP game for 15 years or so (at least), but Sony barely waited a year to remove the online features from Gravity Rush 2. -_-

I'm actually revisiting a somewhat obscure PS1 classic atm. I'll give you a hint: it's a puzzle game, and it has a strangely cinematic, almost John Williams-esque soundtrack.

@RogerRoger Depends on the game. I sold the Fire Emblem Fates special edition for about twice what I paid for it, since I was kinda disappointed with it anyway. On the other hand, despite physical prices exploding in recent years, I've never been tempted to part with my MegaTen collection.

Certain retro games have also exploded in price in recent years. I managed to sell one of my old PS2 horror games for $250 back in 2020.

Well, I mean, you're 90% a Playstation guy, right? If I spent most of my time on Playstation, I'd probably be looking into upgrading my console as well, so the rush to upgrade makes more sense in your case, I imagine.

With that said, while I'm still getting a few new games here and there (primarily to play with my nephew, who is a big Nintendo fan), my consumerist zeal from the last few years has kinda cooled off. I've got a massive backlog, several very capable platforms to play games on... I don't need to spend a bunch of money on new gaming stuff any time soon.

And that works anyway, because with all of these studio acquisitions, Game Passes, Project Spartacuses, etc. it makes sense for me to lay low and see how things shake out over the next few years.

That's disappointing to hear. I guess I'll youtube the original ending at some point, then. Even if the revamped ending ends up being objectively better than what people initially got, something rubs me the wrong way about developers altering their art based on backlash like this.

Your reviews should be helpful when I get to these games, since I recall you talking to some extent about what order to play the DLC in. If there's still any confusion, if it's all the same to you, then I'll pick your brains on the matter in the future.

Yeah, I got GR2 at launch, but I do kinda regret not supporting most of their releases when they came out. Now Japan Studio is a thing of the past, and even if their games didn't sell like GoW or Horizon, I still feel like something important was lost from Sony's first-party lineup.

I'm def. looking forward to talking about it, then, and its impressive soundtrack. It's pretty much perfect as a portable game (even if it was never intended to be one), since its short, segmented into multiple stages, and has a compulsive 'pick up and play' quality to it despite the brutal level of difficulty.

It's kinda fun revisiting my PS1 library portably.

I.Q.: Intelligent Qube
Platform: PS1
Year of Release: 1997
Genre: Puzzle
Completion: Only takes an hour or two to beat, depending on how little you struggle with it. I've finished the game a few times, since my goal before posting this review was to be able to play through it without dying once, which took some time. I also wanted to check out the unlockables.

Let's start with a North American TV spot for the game.

Yeah, that'll show you for knowing how to spell words, you uppity little girl!

I.Q.: Intelligent Qube (AKA "Intelligent Qube" in the United States and "Kurushi" in Europe and Australia) is a PS1 puzzle game originally released in 1997 by developer and original publisher G-Artists Inc. (SCE actually published the game in the U.S.). In IQ, you play as a character trapped on a row of blocks suspended in a dark void, fending off the encroaching danger posed by a series of gigantic cubes that advance from the top of the screen toward you. Your goal in each stage is to use your power to mark and detonate normal cubes and advantage cubes (which glow with a green color) while allowing forbidden cubes (which are jet black in color) to roll off the end of the stage. There's a lot of depth in the gameplay, but this is the basic goal of every stage in the game.

There are life and death consequences to screwing up, because if you accidentally destroy a forbidden cube, or if enough normal cubes are mistakenly allowed to fall off the end of the stage, the stage itself will begin to crumble in segments, and if you're unlucky enough to run out of ground (or to stupidly be standing on a row that's falling, for whatever reason) your character will fall screaming into the void, presumably forever. That's obviously no good, so your goal is to master the nuances of this ostensibly simple series of death puzzles.

IQ is divided into nine stages, and each stage is divided into four sections, with each section marked by a new arrangement of cubes that advance in waves. I've already mentioned that destroying advantage cubes or allowing enough normal cubes to roll off will start destroying the stage (normal cubes will fill up a cube queue that, when filled, will punish the player and reset), but what happens if you clear a wave without making any mistakes? Brilliantly, the game's announcer will triumphantly yell out the word "PERFECT!" and a section will be added to your stage instead.

How many ground segments you have doesn't just matter to your immediate survival, either, as each chunk of ground is tallied up at the end of the stage, and you'll get a cool 1000 points added to your score for each one you have. Your goal, then, is to maximize this number by playing as well as possible.

So, I've been mentioning advantage cubes, but what's so special about them? Well, these cubes are either your best friend or worst enemy, depending on how efficiently you play. When you detonate an advantage cube, a green mark will be left on the ground, and a special explosion can be triggered by hitting the triangle button that blows up not only whatever is on that space, but also on all of the spaces touching that space. So that's eight spots detonated in addition to the spot the green mark was originally left on. Efficient use of these delayed explosions are necessary for destroying the massive swaths of cubes that threateningly advance toward you, but if you catch forbidden cubes in your explosions, you'll also start to quickly destroy the stage. This gets especially tricky considering that, unlike your normal detonation mark, which you can only have one of at a time, any number of green marks can stay on the ground during a section of a stage, and all of the green marks are detonated simultaneously when you trigger their ability. And the game is NOT kind in terms of how it mixes up the three cube types, making it easy to destroy forbidden cubes in the process.

I mentioned scoring at the end of the stage before, but there's also a separate system of scoring that happens with each wave of blocks you encounter. The game doesn't want you to just survive, it also wants you to play WELL, and the mechanism it uses to incentivize this is by challenging the player to clear each wave in a certain of actions. Well, kind of. The number might be "0/3" for the wave, which means that after you detonate your first mark, you get three successive rolls of the cubes to destroy them all. This part is crucial, because, when I first started the game, I assume the number began counting up as soon as the cubes started advancing, but the number actually tick up until you denote your first mark. The game doesn't require the player to be speedy so much as use planning and tactical thinking to achieve their goal. For example, it often doesn't make sense to try and blow up sets of cubes from the front going back. It might make more sense to, say, blow up an advantage cube, and then detonate other cubes on the side of a formation while the cube formation rolls over the green mark until you're able to say blow up a large swath of cubes blocking your way, blow up another set of advantage cubes to create marks on those spaces, etc. Each formation of cubes in this game requires a separate approach and quick, tactical thinking in order to efficiently conquer it in the specified number of turns.

At least, this was my experience up until Stage 7. The game steadily increases in difficulty as the stages go on (primarily by increasing the width and length of successive cube formations, but also sometimes by making the cube formation patterns more complex as well), but by the time the seventh stage rolled around initially, I... hit a wall. Hard. I really struggled to get through it for probably hours on end. Eventually conquering this stage, along with the final two stages, taught me a few things. Like, sometimes it's better to just allow a formation you've messed up on to squash you, roll off the stage, and collapse a few sections of ground rather than struggle until you're pushed back to the edge of the stage and fall off. While this game mercifully allows for endless continues, getting a Game Over also resets your score to zero. In a score-based puzzler, it's the worst possible outcome, so sometimes it pays to swallow your pride and accept defeat rather than allow the game to nuke your entire score.

Being a score-based game, your ultimate goal is to rack up as many points as possible through the game's nine stages. This score will somehow be translated into an "IQ" score, which can range between 0 - 999. With that said, I expected it to take longer to access the game's few unlockables, which include two new character skins (Cynthia, a female player, as well as a dog named Spike) and "Original" mode, which I'm told allows the player to create their own puzzles (I played around with the original mode, but couldn't make heads nor tails of what I was supposedly doing, unfortunately).

That probably is the game's biggest weakness, ultimately. The game itself has almost no diversity to the experiences it offers, the experience itself is short as hell (two hours or so on the default difficulty if you play well, and a little over an hour on the highest difficulty if you can somehow manage to withstand the ordeal, as the higher that setting goes, the faster the cubes advance), and the unlockables are few in number and simple to access. You'd have to really fall in love with it and play it to death for it to be a good value for the money it probably cost back in the day (and especially now, with the inflated prices of retro games almost across the board).

The game is also not terribly... photogenic. This was a point that came up back when it first released, as reviewers were disappointed by the incredibly rudimentary 3D models and lack of visual pop compared to bigger titles on the system.

I wasn't sure where to fit this, but it's probably also worth mentioning that the game doesn't have a formal tutorial sequence. Instead, there are a series of tutorial videos explaining the rules, which are narrated in a hilariously manner-of-fact manner: the closest comparison I can make is to one of those work training videos, like the one I was made to watch when I started my first job.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of Intelligent Qube is its weirdly excellent soundtrack. Composer Takayuki Hattori's memorable orchestral score, which is by turns eerie and sweeping, adds immensely to the game's atmosphere. The compositions are totally out of tune with what you'd expect to hear in a puzzle game even today, but it really compliments the abstract and strange nature of the setting and tone. It's perhaps not surprising to learn that Hattori's work was primarily featured in Japanese TV shows, anime, and theatrical movies, although he did also contribute the (also excellent) soundtrack for I.Q. Final, the 1999 sequel that never made it to the States, as well as an Arc the Lad game on the PS2.

Whatever the reason the soundtrack ended up like this, it definitely helps to show off the potential for a new console that had the ability to recreate CD quality music using real instruments, and these pieces dramatically showcase what's possible when you evolve beyond the bleeps and bloops of 16-bit era chiptunes.

(I'll be linking from the official soundtrack for the second game, which actually combines the music from both games)

So, this is the first piece you hear after the game boots up:

Quite an introduction, right? Well, this is the MAIN MENU music, of all things:

The music you hear when you go into the first stage:

Second stage:

And so on. You get the idea. The soundtrack is tiny, but literally every track is great.

So, at the end of the day, we're left with a true curiosity of a game. Despite some shortcomings, which I've mentioned, it still manages to be an utterly unique and addicting experience that puzzle fans will find themselves itching to return to. The soundtrack is also fantastic and enthralling. I own a lot of PS1 games, but IQ, despite a lack of fanfare in the West, has still remained one of the first games that come to mind when I think of the system, and I definitely enjoyed revisiting it and experiencing it more fully than I did in the past.

@mookysam Oh yeah, you could probably spend the rest of your life playing all of the weird, off-beat games that released on NDS and PSP. I also really dug the unique style of gameplay and presentation in these releases that distinguished them so thoroughly from home console/PC releases. That style of game is probably never coming back, unfortunately.

Yeah, I suppose it's an open question if MM2 would have even benefitted from a remake like this. While the level sharing building/sharing stuff is super cool, it doesn't really benefit from being attached to a remake of Mega Man 2. And yeah, a lot of the original's personality would be lost with the redone music.

I think Capcom probably did what they could to make MM1 enjoyable, but, really that entire game needs to be rebuilt from the ground up around new levels themes and bosses, at which point it wouldn't really be a remake anymore.

90s/early 00s video game commercials were the best, IMO. They got away with so much edgy, absurd marketing that just wouldn't fly today.

I feel like a lot of people probably played IQ/saw it being played back in the day and forgot about it or didn't remember the name. The imagery is fairly distinctive, though. Despite its niche status, it did well enough to actually inspire at least three sequels, although I believe this remains the only game in the series to actually be localized in NA. I guess it performed better in the Japanese and European markets.

IQ occasionally has opportunities to regain the spotlight briefly. It was notable, for example, for being one of the games included with that ill-fated PS1 mini-console Sony released a few years back. Occasionally you'll also see a small boost in visibility when some prominent youtuber references it.

Thanks for reading!

@RogerRoger Thank you! I was curious if this would end up being familiar to you. I hope the review wasn't too technical, since, with a game like this, any write-up will end up getting bogged down in the mechanics. They're really solid and unique as far as the game design goes, though, and I wanted to try and convey that.

Yeah, I feel like the PS1 was so strong partially because it had so many blockbusters as well as a metric ton of these weirder, smaller experiences. Sony's cheap CD-Rom based system really stormed the barn, so to speak; amazing to think about the sheer degree of third-party support Nintendo lost that generation by opting for cartridges and censorious content standards in comparison to the free-wheeling culture Sony was building on their platform.

I'm mixed on the presentation. I like the kinda spare, creepy aesthetic of the game overall. It's evocative. There is also some cool reflective surfaces in this game that look nice for such an old platform. But those 3D models for the humans are... not great. Thankfully, the camera is zoomed out, and you're typically focused on the cube formations stomping toward your character.

I could see this being stressful for someone. While playing it, I actually got a friend to try it on the lowest difficulty for a few minutes to see his reaction. I explained the controls and showed him what to do, but it only took a few moments for him to get irritated and shove the Vita back in my hands, defeated. Maybe for a laugh, the next time I give it to someone who's new to it, I'll set it on the highest difficulty option and wait to see how long it takes before panic sets in!

It's brutal and requires on-the-fly thinking, but I love the sort of very on-hands nature of the puzzle-solving, the way its outward simplicity belies its true mechanical depth, etc. I'd love to see a more polished modern spin on it with challenge modes, maybe some level of narrative to the campaign, etc.

@RogerRoger Nice review! I will admit, it is a bit rough-looking for the system. Scanning over it, my immediate thought was: "Looks like another PS3 game."

Still, your love for the IP shines through, and it does sound like there are some genuinely cool elements to it, like the collectibles actually creating full comic books for the player to read, the dynamic reputation system for Spider-Man (even if it's poorly implemented and forces the player to engage with repetitive side content), and the robust traversal mechanics. Pity it's short, kind of ugly, and never comes together into a fully satisfying experience, though.

We definitely all have those games that belong to series we love so much we'll fully experience them, even if we're forced to admit they're a bit of garbo at the end of the day.

As always, you do a great job of allowing your voice to naturally structure your pieces in a way that make them enjoyable reads, which is one quality I've always admired in your submissions.

The costumes that are lost to time are a bit of a pity, though. I think it'll become quite staggering over time just how much digital content is lost to time. Always frustrating to see companies use FOMO to motivate pre-orders and early purchases of games, which is all those exclusive outfits and whatnot really amount to, at the end of the day.

As always, it was a pleasure to read.

@RogerRoger You specialize in discussing certain sorts of games, and I think that's valuable too. Especially when a lot of us couldn't tell you which licensed games are worth a go and which are mere cashgrabs.

I reckon there are very few games developed without any passion whatsoever. It's just a matter of whether that can overwhelm the artifice of greed (usually foisted on the product by the publisher) and shine through in such a manner that it actually connects with the player. Perhaps ironically, I've found that regarding games more critically in general has also led me to finding redeeming qualities in experiences I otherwise would have dismissed entirely in the past.

Digital scarcity, in general, is probably one of my least favorite developments in the medium. Leave it to humans to find a way to inject FOMO into an environment where all information can be copied ad infinitum!

@RogerRoger “It's not a dumpster fire, but it's pretty close; perhaps the equivalent of somebody waiving a lit match over a gasoline-soaked trash can.” 😂

I really enjoyed reading this review! The opening two paragraphs brilliantly convey the somewhat awkward plateau us consumers must occupy between passionate developers with genuinely great ideas and corporate reality. I’m less of a steady Eddie and more of a poky, periodic Peter with posting here but your writing is as sharp and your voice as strong as ever and I do enjoy reading your work on here. Thanks!

Right, it's been a while so time for one of my mega catchup posts for this thread over a cup of tea... (or what ended up being a few cups over a couple of days)

@RogerRoger on Killzone Mercenary

I mentioned about the KZ games in the screenshot thread a while ago and I remember so little about the main games (I think I played all three) but certainly had no experience of the handheld ones.

I like the sound of a game slightly parallel to the main series though and the Contracts sound like a good idea for replayability and something that's become more prominent since. As for the gimmicky stuff, I seem to remember mainline games from the series having similar for gyroscopic aiming and for 3D mode if you had the right TV and glasses too. I think I played one of the console games not realising I could still use the controller itself to aim the sniper rifle and wondered why they made those sections so difficult...

@Ralizah on The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Interesting and weird to hear of the clashing releases of the game and the newer console. It's not a game I've ever heard of but I've never been much on a Nintendo gamer so the Zelda series is one that has mostly passed me by so it's funny to hear you say how, on the whole, they just tweaked things slightly to change the story and gameplay without really doing so much.

The trial and error stuff you mention sounds like a right pain though and would frustrate me no end. The kinstone mechanic also sounds great in practice but a nightmare in reality, particularly if there's no way of mapping where to take them. But despite the limitations it sounds like you still managed to enjoy it!

@RogerRoger on The Amazing Spider-Man

It's always interesting to hear about some of the troubled development behind games but a near 18 month delay is quite something, especially with the eventual results. The issues rescuing (or not..) sick locals did make me laugh though and I enjoyed the different structure to your thoughts.

Your review really does cover why the handheld market can struggle though as it works best for games made with the console in mind which this certainly wasn't, particularly from the fact that the story and gameplay doesn't really translate to those bursts of play. But it does the right thing for a licensed game and tells its own story rather than regurgitating the movie (badly).

@LtSarge on Mass Effect Andromeda

It's cool to hear how much you enjoyed the game! Mixing up the gameplay sounds like it worked well and being able to change up your class also sounds much more fun when it comes to combat. And your thoughts on the vibe/message of the game is an interesting one too.

Saying it is your favourite Mass Effect game is a strong statement too!

@RogerRoger on Need for Speed Most Wanted

I've never played a Burnout game but I get a strong feeling from your opening as to what those games might entail..

Overall this sounded exactly what you'd expect from a NFS game and one that sounds like it translated to handheld well.

@Ralizah on Mega Man Powered Up

Mega Man is another series that has largely passed me by but I’m well aware of the infamous difficulty of each game.

It sounds like an interesting update to the game but very curious that it is almost impossible to now play given the fact it isn’t available digitally or any other system. The updates to the overall game really are… something though!

@Ralizah on IQ

I have extremely vague recollections of this game, maybe from a demo disc on the good old Official Playstation Magazine back in the day.

What an odd little game and a particularly odd advert for it! Visually, this reminds me of something more like a Net Yaroze game than an official release but the music is quite spectacular for such a game. The core gameplay sounds like one of those ideas which is quite simplistic but can be nuanced and I can certainly see how it can end up being punishingly difficult if they want it to be.

@RogerRoger (this guy again?) on The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Well, it certainly sounds like they threw everything at this one and hoped some of it stuck but it sounds like most of it slid off the wall and into your proverbial trash can. The idea of your reputation altering as you engage with or ignore city wide crimes is a nice one but also sounds pretty badly executed. That said, the web swinging mechanic sounds cleverly executed but I can see it could cause some frustrations while you try to get used to it. And Stan’s shop sounds like a great idea too.

I was quite surprised to hear you say that the graphics weren’t that great as the screenshots liked alright. But then I realised this was a PS4 game and not a Vita one. Good lord.

So thanks for all the reviews folks!

I played about an hour of gravity rush last night, for the first time. and er, Lets just say I kinda feel bad for comparing it to mario Galaxy for as long as I did LOL.

But for real, the gravity mechanic is actually really clean, I thought the camera was going to be all over the place, Not only that, its actually fun to use during combat, even tho she just floats there.

I mean I know its called gravity rush but so this is kinda to be expected, but I really do love the gravity part, No joke I thought it was going to be clunky, and I kinda just played it because two look cool, and people said I should play the first one.

I only played a hour so I don't have harden thoughts about the game, but I didn't think I would be loving it as much as I have so far.

I also heard the story is great, so there's that to look forward to. (Side note, please do another Playstation all stars, please)

@RogerRoger No Vita for me!

I had a PSP which I pretty much only played MGS Peace Walker and Star Wars Battlefront 2 on (I did have Pro Evo and MGS Acid too, along with a few PS1 classics downloaded via the PS3).

@Snatcher Yeah, Gravity Rush isn't anything like Mario Galaxy, apart from both involving concepts of gravity manipulation.

Surprised you heard people talking up the story. The first one is... well, it's sort of like a Nintendo game. The story isn't bad, but it's just sort of there. It's very gameplay-centered.

After catching up on the thread, I've been inspired to jump back into the fold myself with a recently beaten game that was worthy of the time and effort of a review..

Judg(e)ment

Version played: PS5 upgraded edition

Play time: 58 hours

Completion: Full game, all side cases, played most mini games (the game calls it 67% complete!)

Trophy completion: 72%

It's your boy, Yagami!

I may have mentioned once or twice on here that I’m a fan of the Yakuza series having finished the main series last year so it was time to finally check out the spin off series of Judgment!

Taking on the role of a completely new character, Yagami, who is an ex-lawyer who now runs a detective agency with BFF Kaito who mostly provides the muscle but Yagami can certainly hold himself in a fight (as you’ll find many many… many times through the game). He retains a close link with his old law firm where he was once the hot shot young lawyer after getting a client found innocent of murder only to find things turn sour, leading to him leaving this career behind.

No, that is what happened

The game quickly gets the story rolling with you being asked to help gather evidence by your old team to help defend a mid rank Yakuza on a murder charge and the plot quickly gather pace and intensity as you look to untangle a web of murder, blackmail, and political shenanigans. As you do.

The game does well to set up the new cast early on and like the Yakuza games there are a lot of characters thrown at you but they feel more memorable and distinct from one another seeing as it’s not just “yet another loud aggressive Yakuza boss/subordinate” for you to separate from another. The relationship with your buddy Kaito is good fun and there are a whole load of morally dubious character you’ll meet who will help or hinder your progress.

Umm.. okay?

Honestly, I think this is one of the best stories in all of the Yakuza games as it builds up really well ad has plenty of twists and turns. The game benefits from being able to tell a fresh tale without the baggage that Kiryu’s saga had towards the end. As well as the main story I also really liked the approach taken to the side missions. Instead of random sub stories, the vast majority of these are instead side cases. Some of these are encountered randomly but plenty are detective work that Yagami can pick up from a handful of places. These range from more obvious cases like tracking a potential adulterer through to slightly weirder ones like investigating a haunted apartment and then classic Yakuza ones like chasing down someone’s wig. Very few of these feel like filler and are all varied enough to not feel like you’re just doing fetch quests.

Another main feature is the friend mechanic. Throughout the game you can come across NPCs during side cases or just out and about in Kamurocho who you can befriend. This is via a whole array of tasks from finding unique items or buying gear from them through to finding cats or even answering questions about coffee. The most difficult for me involved having to win a game of MahJong under specific circumstances which meant I finally had to learn how to play the damn game. Your friends can then either give you items when spoken to, offer discounts, or even join you in random street fights. Once you get all 50 there’s a cool side case involving a number of them. It was nice additional content that again didn’t feel too onerous.

Kamurocho looking better than ever

But like all Yakuza games there is a hell of a lot of other stuff to do from the obligatory SEGA arcade games, the batting centre, and all the usual gambling games. There are some new distractions though, the biggest of which is drone racing. Your drone is used in the main story at times for gathering info but here it’s all about speeding your way round the city against a number of other drones. There are individual races but also Grand Prix covering multiple races which you will need to upgrade your drone for to have any chance of winning. I played all the individual tracks and the basic Grand Prix but was pretty much done by then.

Dating is also back but is different from before. You can meet a small number of female characters through the game who you can get into text conversations with and eventually ask on dates (like to play darts, go gambling etc) and then have conversations with afterwards. There are set events that trigger as you hit certain levels with the women and they all have their own little associated story. It all feels a bit more natural than the other games and doesn’t end up with Yagami sleeping with them like Kiryu did. The “end point” of romancing is the woman telling you her feelings and getting to that point you can actually turn them down, and Yagami does actually question himself if you agree to be the boyfriend to multiple women, although there is no penalty or rewards for doing either.

Explore the back streets solo or with your lady friend(s)

There is a lot of other similarities to the Yakuza games though with the obvious one being the setting as you spend all your time in Kamurocho (other than for very small sections of the game in limited areas or cutscenes). The city looks better than ever though, particularly on PS5 running at good old 60fps. The combat is also pretty similar with the standard weapons, quickstep, and then light and heavy attacks alongside the good old heat actions. Yagami does have his own styles and you can quickly switch between the two with crane for quicker crowd control situations and dragon for heavier hitting when needed. The XP system is thankfully one of the more straightforward ones with XP gained for almost everything and then this is simply used to purchase abilities which are unlocked as you go along or for finding items/QR codes around the city.

Despite the improvements in romancing, the game does still feel a little weird with regards to females in the game but this doesn’t seem quite as bad as the other games. It’s something I’ve not felt necessarily uncomfortable with but it does always seema bit awkward. The “Twisted Trio” are a group of perverts you take down as part of a series of side cases which at least has a bit of context but still falls into the awkward category (although the name Ass Catchem for one of them is fantastic).

An interesting job for the localising team here

There were a few other things I didn’t like in the game with one of the main ones being that the tailing missions really suck. I get that it comes with the territory as a detective but they are too numerous, too long, and just plain boring/frustrating as you slowly follow someone, occasionally diving into cover when they turn around (although the game isn’t particularly consistent with what it considers cover). There’s also the Keihin gang who pop up a bit too frequently. This mechanic sees an increased number of gangs roaming the street as well as a few mini bosses you unlock through the main story. When triggered, you get a threat level that slowly works it’s way down over time but goes down quicker when you win fights with the generic goons or even quicker if you take down the bosses. You can ignore the mechanic but you’ll still be running into more street fights along the way. Again, this popped up way more than it needed too and just became a pain (in fact, putting “Judgment Keihin gang” into google and one of the top suggested searches is “Judgment Keihin gang annoying).

Yay! A tailing mission!

Overall though I really enjoyed the game and would probably put it near the top of the list of “Yakuza” games. As I mentioned, it really benefits from not having to carry the baggage of Kiryu’s story and all the lore, characters etc that the saga contained. Combine that with a fantastic story and cast, and it really is a great game. If you’re one of those oddballs that has never played the main series, this game is a perfect way to try the series out and looks great on PS5 too. And if you’re not a fan of Japanese dialogue and subtitles, there’s even an English language option too. So really there should be only two type of people; those who enjoyed Judgment and those who need to get round to playing it.

@RogerRoger PS4 remaster.

@Ralizah I heard that from a gravity rush sub reddit LOL. How is part two 2's story? Is it better then the first?

@Fragile Thanks. I heard a few people say they didn't like the game after the Yakuza ones and I can't see how myself. I picked up Lost Judgment with all the DLC (eurgh) in a recent sale so that's on the list for later in the year.

Weirdly, this version of Judgment gave a load of bonus items which had unlimited use in battles and were ridiculously powerful. One I did use a bit towards the end rained down lightning on surrounding enemies for pretty much a one hit kill. Useful for once I got sick of the random fights.

@Snatcher Glad to see some love for Gravity Rush. I started playing it last year and enjoyed it. Never finished it for some reason (I think because I was trying to get multiple games finished in time for the PS5's launch), but I look forward to coming back to it at some point.

A real shame we'll never get anything like it again from Sony.

@KilloWertz I know, it sucks, I wish we would get more games like this from them.

@Thrillho Fantastic Judgment review! Extremely well-edited and composed, and you did a great job with the screenshots. The game itself sounds like a blast, and an interesting evolution of the Yakuza formula. Particularly with the gang mechanic, more detective-y gameplay (especially with how it naturally integrates the side content, which definitely does sound better than the approach in your typical Yakuza game), etc.

"Ass Catchem" sounds like an amazing Pokemon porn parody name. I love it! Ditto with... ahem... "scrotum totem," which is about the most creative euphemism I've ever heard for that particular body part. Gotta say, with the sheer amount of weird humor, puns, etc. in Yakuza-related games, they must be a blast to localize.

I'm still gonna replay (and actually finished this time) Yakuza 0, but at this point, I'm kinda questioning if I even want to bother with games 2 - 6, when you have the turn-based Like a Dragon and the fresher action-based spinoff Judgment out there as well, both with new protagonists to play as (although I assume Yakuza 7 probably benefits at least a little bit from having played earlier Yakuza games, whereas Judgment sounds like it doesn't reference the mainline series significantly at all).

Gonna jump right into Lost Judgment, or give yourself a bit of space from the series before finishing it out?

Also, have you played the Yakuza-esque Fist of the North Star game?