RetroPokeFan's Corner (Reviews and other tat)

[RetroPokeFan]

Thought I'd do my own little blog thingy which I review stuff and talk about other stuff too.


Final Fantasy XV

4/5

An enjoyable RPG that I liked. It's not perfect and it does have it's fair share of flaws (story content not being in the game for example) but I really liked the characters, the world, the spectacular music and the phenomenal voice acting the game has to offer, probably helps that I have the Royal Edition as opposed to the regular vanilla version otherwise the rating would have been a 3/5 as opposed to a 4/5.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

SuperSponge (GBA)

2/5

Just decided to play an old GBA game since I was bored (one that I could finish easily) and it just so happened to be SpongeBob Squarepants: Supersponge.

Really isn't anything special with this one: graphics are alright, gameplay is fairly easy and the game can be completed in under an hour. Not really a fan of the music (or rather how weird they sound on the GBA, the PS1 music is better) either. Not one to check out unless you're a massive SpongeBob fan.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

.hack//G.U. Vol 1: Rebirth (PS2, but playing on PS4 via the Last Recode release since they were never released here in the UK until said PS4 release which includes all 3 PS2 games, the brand new Volume 4, a recap on the other .hack PS2 trilogy and some parody clips)

3/5

Pretty good start to the story and an enjoyable enough RPG (I did try the first one from the other trilogy but found it too slow for my liking). Haseo is a bit of an asshole at the start but I know for sure he'll gradually improve as the series goes on.

It's the kind of game I just couldn't put down too (unless for dinner or teatime of course) especially towards the end where I would always think of putting that game down for a while but then continuing on just to see how things would pan out.

Needless to say, the cliffhanger ending had me on the edge and having just started Part 2 I'm quite curious to see what the story has in store for me next.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

.hack//G.U. Vol 2: Reminisce

4/5

Immediately jumped onto this straight after the end of Vol 1. While it does have a rather slow start with piling on a little too much filler things gradually start picking up and the last few hours of the game had me absolutely hooked with the obligatory plot twist thrown in too.

Much like what I mentioned with Haseo before, he slowly and steadily improves as a character and alas like with Vol 1 and going into Vol 2 immediately, I'm doing the same for Vol 3. Sure has been a wild ride so far and I can't wait to see how the (kinda-sorta-not really a) conclusion (thanks to Vol 4) plays out.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

.hack//G.U. Vol 3: Redemption

4/5

Easily my favorite of the three volumes and has some of the most memorable moments of the game. It really was great seeing Haseo change from being rude and mostly to-himself to the skilled hero he becomes by the end. One of my favorite performances from Yuri Lowenthal too.

Gameplay is the same so not much to talk about there but the battle system is fun, if a little repetitive at times.



.hack//G.U. Vol 4: Reconnection

3/5

Not much to say other than it's a good little extra in Last Recode to help round off the package and finally bring some full closure to the story with Haseo bringing Ovan back. Short (only lasting about 2-3 hours) and enjoyable too.



Promare

5/5

Watched this on New Year's Eve and god, this has become one of my favorites. The animation from Trigger is incredible, the music surprisingly catchy and it's a pure visual treat that never gets dull either. Superb dub from NYAV Post as well with easily my favorite performance from Billy Kametz and stellar voicework from the likes of Johnny Yong Bosch, Crispin Freeman and Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld too. Only criticism I have is that I wish some of the other characters got a bit more to do.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

M&M's Shell Shocked (PS1)

0/5

It's like Crash Bandicoot...

except made by a bunch of dim witted monkeys who know absolutely nothing about why Crash Bandicoot is so beloved... and they're making it on a train that's about to head off of a cliff and crash into a nearby building.

M&M's Shell Shocked has all the makings of a classic bad game: terrible graphics, stiff as hell controls, a lifeless presentation and some of the most wretched collision detection ever known to the history of human civilization itself.

About the only good thing would be the cutscenes.... but they're all taken straight from The Lost Formulas (a PC game which is the same as Shell Shocked but also had educational segments to break up the platforming) so technically there isn't anything good about it.

Don't send this to a games store. Burn it. Burn it all and make the world a much happier place. *unless you're like me and are still keeping it in your collection anyway *

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo Switch)

5/5

Wanted to check out Mario Odyssey for quite a while and so picked it up for Christmas. Super duper glad it lived up to my expectations because my god, is this one of my new favorite games of all time.

After a rather stagnant run during most of the 2010's it was quite clear that Mario needed a little shakeup and they went all out with the premise. Yes, it's the usual Bowser kidnaps Peach/Mario must save Peach story we're all familiar with but it was certainly a fun take on it with Mario going through many different kingdoms, all of which are superbly designed and filled with surprises.

Cappy's also a great addition and it was great being able to take control of enemies (a Goomba for example) and use them for platforming scenarios and dealing with any enemies or problems in the way.

Game looks gorgeous (even in Handheld Mode which I normally play my Switch games on) too, easily one of the best looking Switch games there is popping to life with color and variety.

Kinda has me wanting to look for the other Power Moons too since there's plenty of them hiding around the levels.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Cars Race O-Rama (Nintendo DS)

2.5/5

It's a licensed game all right, the kind that doesn't feel like it's had much heart or soul put into it. I haven't seen the main console version of it yet (I do have the original Cars which I think is good) but surely it must be better than the DS version.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Finally got to meet two Pokemon VA's yesterday on Zoom: Michele Knotz and James Carter Cathcart.

Was a really great time and I hope I get to do something like this again with some other ones soon.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Jet Ion GP (PS2)

0.5/5

Had the misfortune of purchasing this for cheap a while back before COVID reared it's ugly head and the whole lockdown shenanigans began. I would have been happy to have just called this a fairly generic and unremarkable racer that doesn't do much to stand out from the crowd but what really pushes this from being poor into nigh on horse shite is the framerate.

Jesus Christ riding a motorcycle, is this one of the worst frame rates I've encountered for ANY PS2 game period! It essentially makes the whole game unplayable. I've heard the original Japanese version is worse with it but it's already bad enough here that it'd make that look like 60 FPS.

That and the controls aren't good and the game doesn't look all that great either.

It really does feel like no one at Gust gave a crap and it shows. Garbage racer, do not pick it up even it was for free.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Worms Forts: Under Siege (PS2)

2/5

Right from the very first few minutes of Worms Forts, I felt that something was really... off with this game and while it is quite an interesting entry for one of my favorite video game series with the solid idea on building the classic Worms gameplay around destroying other teams' forts and being the last one standing, it's a shame that it completely butchered the whole concept to utter shreds.

The gameplay isn't really much fun, the destructible environments are gone, there's far too many things in the way on some maps making attacking other teams a real pain (made worse by said problem with the environments), the whole thing feels slow as molasses, the camera is shite, the controls are wonky and the game plays worse and has a framerate that's worse than Worms 3D lacking the polish even that game had (it's also a Compact Disc game as opposed to being on a DVD Rom like Worms 3D).

They even tried doing lip-synching for the Worms and every time they finish saying something their mouths are just left gaping open as if they saw some terrible events occur... *maybe it's because they're stuck in this game*

As a regular game this is disappointing but as a Worms game this is just terrible and easily the worst entry in the series.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Crash: Mind Over Mutant (Nintendo DS)

0/5

Wow. Just wow. I know most of the Crash Bandicoot games on the DS are just shite (asides from Crash of the Titans which surprised me with just how decent that version was) but this is such an embarrassing end to the orange marsupial's short lived run on Nintendo's portable console.

It makes me wonder why they even bothered releasing this version with how lifeless it is. In fact, they should have taken every last cartridge and set them all alight to cut their losses.

Mind Over Mutant may not have been all that good but this somehow makes the mainline console versions look like the original by comparison.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Happy early birthday to me,
happy early birthday to me.

I don't know why I'm doing this so early,
but ah!screwit, itdoesn'treallymattersoregardless happy early birthday to me!

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Yu-Gi-Oh (Duel Monsters)

Season 2

4/5

Getting close to the end of Season 2 now with only the Yami Bakura/Yami Marik duel left but otherwise this is most likely going to be my favorite season as of now with plenty of great duels and moments to enjoy. Next up is Season Three but I'll be going straight to the Battle City stuff and skipping out on the Virtual World nonsense unlike the last time I watched it.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

EDEN

4/5

Got a chance to watch this along with some of the cast and crew on Twitter and by oh boy was this a big ol' emotional rollercoaster of a series this was. David Tennant and especially Ruby Rose Turner are fantastic here and there are also great performances from Neil Patrick Harris and Julie Nathanson too. Wonderful stuff, just a little on the short side though.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

The Prince of Tennis II Hyotei vs. Rikkai Game of Future

3/5

Funnily enough, I don't really have much to say about this other than it was an amusing way to spend some time watching some tennis in anime form and the dub (yes, FUNi is planning on dubbing more of the franchise) by Sound Cadence was decent enough with Christopher Wehkamp, Robbie Daymond, Billy Kametz and Austin Tindle being the highlights, the others were pretty good too. Probably should watch more to get a bigger picture so for now it gets a 3 from me.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Crash Nitro Kart

2.5/5

Alright racing game but it is nowhere near as good as Crash Team Racing is or even the remake which honestly does a lot of the tracks here so much better. The cars don't feel anywhere near as fast as they did in TR on top of the whole boost mechanic being rather unfulfilling. The whole gravity sections during certain races feel kinda off too with how your car just kind of comes to a crawl (although it is kinda cool to see them do it before Mario Kart did)

Also I certainly do not appreciate the extremely sudden difficulty spike that comes right the hell out of nowhere for the final boss which I just gave up on, Velo you suck ass.

On the plus side, this is one of the better looking Crash games on the PS2 (the cutscenes especially) and the music is the usual wacky Crash style we've come to know and love.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

That Digimon Tamers Live Stage Sequel

0/5

What the bloody hell is this crap? This isn't a sequel, this is just somebody's big ol' boomy boomy boomer rant slapped onto a recognisable property.

Who thought this was a good idea again?

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Goofy in How to Stay at Home

2.5/5

Very nice hand drawn animation but not only are these three shorts ridiculously well, short (two of them are only a minute and another is 2 making me wonder why they didn't just combine them into a single short), but I can already tell these will be immediately dated within 2 seconds and...

Yep, they're now dated to me. Chalk this one to a 2.5 for the animation.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Kingdom Hearts II

5/5

I actually finished this a loong while back but putting my short little review up on here since I've started my own backloggd account

Well, what can be said about Kingdom Hearts II that hasn't been said by others?

Great story, fantastic fast-paced battle system, a kick ass soundtrack and plenty of memorable moments still make this one of the best entries in the series.

Sure, it's not entirely perfect such as the Disney side of things for a few worlds story wise feeling rather half assed and the story taking a bit of time to truly get started (I actually do like this beginning) but when it does, boy is it good.