[PS2] Love Hina Gorgeous ~Chiratto Happening!!~ Review

Love Hina Gorgeous was the last game to be developed by Konami based on the popular manga of the same name. The game seems to take a page from Konami's popular Tokimeki Memorial franchise by using a mix between visual novel and study management, with the addition of mini-games.

The game sees Keitaro having to pass his final mock exam with flying colors or else Grandma Hina will force him to go to Paris, with roughly 2 week left before the exam he will have to do some deep study sessions and rely on the girls' help to make sure he will be able to produce favorable results.

The story is presented to the player in a fully voiced visual novel style with the female Japanese cast reprising their roles and Keitaro being the only unvoiced character. Keitaro's skill at each subject takes the form of various level based status', in order to level up each status Keitaro needs to twice a day partake in a study session where he will choose between three to five subjects to  level up, the amount of subjects you can choose and the rate at which your stats level up vary depending on what you do during the exploration mode and which girl accompanies you during the study session. 

In between study sessions Keitaro will be able to take an one hour break where he will enter exploration mode, during this mode he will be able to explore the Hinata Inn and interact with the girls,  there are two forms of interaction one is interacting with the the girls that are identified by a blinking star symbol found on the mini-map, in this case the player will have the chance to enter an event where the player can be presented with dialogue choices and mini-games, depending on how these unfold the girls' affection for Keitaro can either rise or drop. The other form of interaction is by talking with the girls that are wondering around the Inn, when this is done Keitaro will be able to answer a random exam question and answering the question correctly will raise the girls affection for and reward the player with a status boost. Managing what you do during this mode is really important in order to get the best ending for the selected girl and for getting a good grade in the final exam.

There are roughly ten styles of mini games, ranging from furiously sliding both analogue sticks up and down to pointing both sticks in the indicated directions, with every mini-game having a count down timer. One thing that is very noticeable is how the difficulty for each mini-game drastically rises in certain events, the majority of times the mini-games are easily completed with patience and understanding of the mechanics and in some events they are infuriatingly hard with the balancing mini-game and completely changing how the mechanic seems to work. Successfully completing a mini-game will reward the player with an event CG, sadly most of the CGs are locked behind the mini-games making completing your album both time consuming and nerve-wrecking. Players of the previous PS1 Love Hina games and fans of the manga series might also notice that some of the CG and art spinets are either reused CG from the previous games or recolored panels from the manga.

Unlike most visual novels the player will manually choose which of the girls' scenario he will want to at the end of the first week, the girl's affection level and Keitaro's overall subject level will impact which of the endings the player will get. One of the games' biggest flaws is the lack of a skip function for previously seen events due to the fact that the player will see many of the same events during his/hers multiple playthroughs. Sadly the stories are of filler quality and mostly lacking in impact but the situations are still amusing and over the top enough to keep the player entertained.

In the sound department there isn't much to complain about, the music although not memorable blends with the game's envirounment pretty well and the voice acting is top notch. One issue that does show up, especially when Motoko is talking is that the music tends to cover up her voice due to the fact that she talks rather softly at times.

VERDICT: For fans of the franchise wanting to see more of their favorite characters.

NOTE: Images found through Google Images.

Scary Games For Halloween Night

Corpse Party: Blood Covered - Repeated Fear

Platform: PC, PlayStation Portable, iOS, Nintendo 3DS

Corpse Party is an Adventure Survival Horror with Role Playing elements originally developed by doujin developers Team GrisGris. Presented in a top-down perspective and featuring sprite based graphics with story elements being delivered in a visual novel style the game still manages to be eerie and disturbing. Its anime style visuals might not please everyone but for those that don't mind this particular style, this title is an experience that shouldn't be passed on.

Project Zero 2

Platform: PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo Wii (Remake)

Fatal Frame 2 is a Third-Person Survival Horror game developed by Tecmo. This game expands and improves on the original title considerably, additionally it keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the majority of it's run with pretty good pacing and level design, it is undoubtedly one of the best and scariest survival horror games ever released.

The Witch's House

Platform: PC

The Witch's House is a freeware Puzzle oriented Survival Horror game developed by Fummy. Presented in a top-down perspective and featuring sprite based 16-but graphics the game is surprisingly scary due to it's immersive design, story and well placed jump scares.

Calling

Platform: Nintendo Wii

Calling is a First-Person Survival Horror game developed by Hudson Soft. Taking place through multiple different eerie locations like a deserted school and a hospital, this game manages to keep the player tense throughout the entire game, additionally this title makes good use of the Wii Remote's speaker by using it as the in game phone's speaker where ghosts talk to the player. Although not an amazing game, Calling is an easy recommendation for a scary Halloween night gaming session.

Silent Hill 2

Platform: PC, Xbox, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 (Remaster), Xbox 360 (Remaster)

Silent Hill 2 is a Third-Person Survival Horror game developed by Konami. For years Silent Hill 2 has been considered one of the staples of the Survival Horror genre and for good reasons, be it it's well written characters, immersive gameplay or well designed levels this is a game that will keep bringing players back to it for years to come. 

Resident Evil (Remake)

Platform: GameCube, Nintendo Wii, PC, PlayStation 3 (Remaster), PlayStation 4 (Remaster), Xbox 360 (Remaster), Xbox One (Remaster)

Resident Evil is a Third-Person Survival Horror developed by Capcom. The remake of the original Resident Evil title is easily a superior version when compared to the original with the addition of new and deadlier enemies, a revised script and new mechanics among other improvements. Revisiting Jill Valentine's and Chris Redfield's first encounter with B.O.Ws before the tragedy that would befall Raccoon City is always a terrifying and entertaining treat.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

Platform: PC, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, iOS, Android, PlayStation 3, PlayStation VITA

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is a Murder Mystery Horror Visual Novel developed by doujin developers 07th Expansion. 

[GC] Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! Review

The first entry in the Gekitou Ninja Taisen! series was released in 2003, the same year as it's PS2 sibling and unlike the Narutimate Hero games which are presented in a 2D plane this one is in 3D akin to the Tekken series giving the player the ability to side step during matches. Visually the game is very good looking for its time and he combat itself is pretty well executed and very simple to get into giving the player a vast set of moves including many jutso. The main problems that the game has starts with its Story Mode which is very short and easily beaten within 30 minutes, it only follows the beginning of the story until the end of the Zabuza arc which leads to the other problem with the game, the limited number of characters having merely a total of 7 selectable characters and 3 transformations, sadly the game suffers a bit from this.

Overall Gekitou Ninja Taisen! is a fun game with great gameplay which suffers considerably from its short length and lack of characters, its a game that can only be recommended to pure Naruto fans or to those who are curious to see how the series started off.

SCORE: 7/10

[PS2] Naruto: Narutimate Hero Review

The first entry in the long running beat-'em-up series based on the popular anime and manga of the same name features a total of 12 playable characters, which at the time of the game's release in 2003 summed up to the majority of heroes and villains that had made an appearance in the animated show, most of these characters can be unlocked during the completion of story mode and with Naruto and Sasuke featuring transformation that can be done when specific conditions are met. The game also features many areas taken from the show and which are beautifully replicated.

During matches you are able to restore your character's Chakra which you will need in order to perform certain moves and to walk on water, you're also able to use the substitution jutso which will leave your enemy open to attacks, you can pick up weapons and items that will give some advantages over your opponent. The game also includes the presence of support characters that randomly appear to give your character weapons, chakra or health and additionally includes the ability to switch stages mid-combat, this is activated when a character is knocked down and has low health, if a character manages to switch to a different stage some of its health will be replenished this is a good strategy if you find yourself in a tight situation. 

The cell shaded graphics make this game quite enjoyable and very beautiful, the character detail is pretty amazing and the use of visual sound effects like those seen in manga really adds into the fun factor of the title.

The game features over 2000 unlockable content, including action figures, music, videos, cards and much more. 

One of the problems with the game is the limited amount of moves that the characters have which can make the game a bit repetitive because you will find yourself using the same combos many times during the course of the matches but this is compensated by a great Story Mode that is quite faithful to the original work, but the main part of the game is Mission Mode, you will find yourself spending many hours in this mode in order to earn money to buy items, it starts off with some easy missions like defeating your enemy in a certain amount of time and ends with hard missions like defeat your enemy without missing one hit, which you will have to play at least 20 times in order to complete. 

The game also features a Practice Mode where you can train your moves and a Free Play Mode where you can either battle against the computer or against a friend.

The music used in the game is simply awesome it is faithful to the type of music used in the animated show while introducing something new, the sound effects are brilliantly used and the voice actors from the show return to provide voice work for the game.

SCORE: 8/10

[PS2] Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses Review

A NEW YU-GI-OH! FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Or so they say...this is without a doubt one of the worst Yu-Gi-Oh! titles on the market. Konami decided to turn a Trading Card Game into a Chess Card Game, who could have imagined!?In this game the player is taken back through time into a fantasy Medieval Europe where the "ancestors" of Yugi and Kaiba are in war for the fate of world. After you start a new game a "Prologue" will start playing, once it's finished you are asked if you wish to run the tutorial, if you are like me and like to play through tutorials if it's your first time playing a certain game, you will find out that it's a big mistake, the tutorial runs for over an hour, you will be bored of the game even before you start playing it and the worst thing about it is that you can't quit the tutorial without resetting the console, but do not fear the bad news doesn't stop there!!! It has also on of the most boring storylines ever in a  game, this story makes no sense at all and the soundtrack will bore you to death. 

The worst feature of the game is the duel game system; the traditional game mat was replaced by a board that features various different landscapes and the gameplay took a huge twist as you play with chess style rules, the chess pieces being replaced by duel cards. Your deck leader plays the part of the King and your objective is to move your cards to "take out" your opponent's deck leader and whatever he throws at you while setting trap cards, spell cards and summoning monsters, besides this the rules to putting the cards into play are pretty much the same as the original game.

The game's only good sides is the not so bad artwork, the monster battle videos, which unfortunately get a little repetitive after a while, the fact that you can choose to play on Yugi's or Kaiba's side gives the title some replay value and the 800+ cards that where included in the game will allow you to set up your own strategic style of play.

In the end this Yu-Gi-Oh! title is hard to recommend even to the most hardcore of fans especially since it brings very little from the actual card game.

SCORE: 3/10

[PS4] Infamous: Second Son Review

Infamous: Second Son, the fourth installment in the franchise, picks up seven years after the events of Infamous 2 and this time around you take on the role of Delsin Rowe, a graffiti artist and a delinquent who has the ability to absorb the powers of other conduits.

Starting off from a visual standpoint Second Son delivers an astounding representation of Seattle and the most realistic character models seen on the system at the time of it's release, the facial animations and motion capture truly displays what the 8th generation is all about.

The gameplay hasn't received that much of a change from the previous titles so fans will feel right at home, the good and evil karma choices make a return and affect the fate of some of the characters and the ending, however the cover system has been completely removed with players having to rely more on hit and run tactics rather than camping under cover and picking off targets. One major addition is the ability to change between powers, throughout the majority of the game Delsin will have at his disposal three different powers: Smoke, Neon and Video; unfortunately I feel like this feature isn't as good as it could be due to the fact that the powers are extremely unbalanced, Delsin's base ability of Smoke does substantial damage to opponents however the dashes are short and might leave you open to attacks, Video is the worst of the abilities in terms of attack power dealing little damage with each hit but it gives Delsin ability to fly which comes in handy for exploring the city, then there is Neon the golden egg of the bunch, this power makes the previous ones obsolete by giving Delsin the ability to run at high speed leaving a behind a blur and the range attack when upgraded will allow the player to take down the majority of enemies with 1-2 hits with either a well placed headshot for a deadly takedown or a hit to the legs for a submission, by performing attacks a bar that the player has will be drained this can be replenished by draining "elements" from objects in the world.

All of these powers are upgradable by collecting blast shards that are scattered throughout Seattle, these upgrades range from each attack draining less from the bar to the addition of new moves, unfortunately there aren't that many shards to find and they are conveniently displayed in the map when you destroy mobile D.U.P. command centers turning the upgrading really easy and fast to do.

In addition to the main missions there are a couple of side missions/activities that the player can perform, the most interesting of the bunch are the tagging graffiti spots, in order to do this the player has to hold the controller sideways and shake it as if it were a real can, and the inbuilt motion sensing is used to aim.

The story is Second Son's weakest point, personally I feel that it doesn't make much sense and the way that they explained the survival of conduits feels cheap. The characters are pretty forgetful, Delsin will keep you amused at times with some well placed jokes but most of the times he feels like a rebellious teenager rather than someone his age, Augustine who is the main antagonist is someone that you just can't really care about and you probably wouldn't remember her if she wasn't always being mentioned and the rest of the cast is just bland and uninteresting which is a shame seeing as the game features some really good voice acting.

The game itself is pretty short, with roughly 6 hours of play time, 10 if you decide to go for all the side mission, however on this occasion it feels just like the right length.

Bottom line Infamous: Second Son is a game that no PS4 owner should pass on,

SCORE: 8/10