Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

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(DEMO IMPRESSIONS)

Persona 5 Scramble

Platform: Nintendo Switch Lite

The Japanese demo for Persona 5 Scramble went live on the Nintendo eshop in Japan today, so I thought I'd go ahead and download it on my Switch Lite. The demo is an hour or two long and features a few different combat encounters, as well as a rudimentary boss fight. It's also quite dialogue-heavy, like Persona 5 itself.

So, the first thing to get out of the way is that, yes, this feels more like a Persona game than a themed Dynasty Warriors spinoff. While I've not seen any evidence of the social sim gameplay thus far (going to school, studying, getting a job, etc.), the presentation, focus on dialogue and story development, music, and even dungeon-crawling all feel like they're ripped straight out of Persona 5. There still seem to be explorable 3D environments outside of palaces as well, suggesting that there might be a larger focus on the social aspect than was presented in the demo.

The combat itself is interesting. The battle at the very beginning of the demo does take place across a giant, Dynasty Warriors-esque arena, but subsequent combat encounters an hour or two later happened mostly organically as I was exploring a small dungeon. One of the interesting aspects of combat is that there's no transition to any sort of special battle screen or arena. You fight in the environments where you initiate combat and, when the battles are done, you just go back to exploring with no pause or delay.

Combat is a mix of real time and menu-based elements. Your basic attacks, mapped to the Y and X face buttons, can be combined into some rudimentary combos. At any point throughout a battle, though, you can pause time by squeezing your right shoulder button and target nearby enemies with Persona skills. Like in the main game, these do additional damage if the enemy is weak to your skills. Additionally, when you knock down a group of enemies by targeting their weaknesses, you can engage in group attacks (similar to the all-out attacks in Persona 5) to take them out quickly. Some enemies, such as ones hidden behind shields, are harder to damage, but, in an inspired twist, you can actually interact with your environments mid-battle, jumping onto platforms and ledges in order to spring a special attack on your enemies. It's also worth mentioning that, by holding down the L shoulder button, you can pause time and target enemies with your gun.

When I faced off against a weak first boss, I discovered that, by hitting its weakness with an attack, I could employ a version of the "one more" mechanic from Persona 5 and attack again to inflict additional damage. There's also some sort of flashy super attack you can employ against bosses which are, visually, very similar to the all-out attacks in the main Persona 5 game.

I wanted to quickly mention that most of the RPG aspects of Persona 5 seem to be included here. Personas can learn new skills and level up. Characters level up. And the Velvet Room is still a thing, suggesting that it might be possible to fuse Personas. With that said, one change I was unhappy to see is that demon negotiation seems to be gone in Persona 5 S. Instead, after certain battles, mask icons will drop on the ground, giving you access to new Personas.

Performance is fairly strong in Persona 5 Scramble's undocked mode. While it's clearly not running at the buttery smooth 60fps seen in the PS4 footage, it's a stable enough 30fps that I never really thought twice about it while I was playing.

Image quality... could be better, though. Cutscenes, both in-engine and of the animated variety, looked great on my Switch Lite, but the actual character models, menus, text bubbles, and whatnot are fraught with jaggies. Lots of aliasing, to the point where characters not close to the screen look very messy on-screen. I'm not sure if this is due to it running at a low resolution or what, but it honestly sort of feels like playing a PS2 game. Persona 5's strong art direction keeps it from being too aggravating, but people concerned with visual fidelity might want to keep this in mind.

The music in the demo is mostly very catchy remixes of songs from the base game. It's going to be another very strong OST from Atlus. There are also a variety of interesting new characters who are introduced in the demo, so I'm looking forward to learning more about them.

Story-wise, my understanding of spoken and written Japanese is extremely limited, and I wasn't exactly keen on battling my way through an hour or so worth of untranslated dialogue, but the game is a direct sequel to Persona 5. The characters are going on a summer vacation, but a mysterious new phone app, the reappearance of explorable palaces, and an AI girl named Sophia introduce new mysteries to the former phantom thieves.

It's worth mentioning that I've only played the demo on my Switch Lite. I do plan on downloading it to my dockable model at home and updating this post if there are any image quality improvements to be had that way. Overall, though, it was a pleasant enough experience, and I'm glad Atlus seems to have focused on delivering a smooth level of performance for their upcoming action-RPG.

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I recently completed Tetris Effect (PSVR), one of gaming's most storied puzzlers re-imagined for one of it's newest innovations.

Gameplay:

• At it's core Tetris has always been a falling block puzzler, and that remains the same here. Pieces called Tetriminos fall from the top of the playfield (they come in a few different shapes, but always consist of four blocks connected together), and it's your job to slot them together like a puzzle, filling out horizontal lines, which are then cleared from the playfield (you can clear up to four lines at once, which is known as a Tetris). You are able to rotate the pieces as they fall (and hold onto a piece for later), which can help finding a slot for them to fit into. If you fail to clear lines in enough time the Tetriminos will stack to the top of the playfield and it'll be game over. Traditionally the speed at which the Tetriminos fall increases as the game goes on to make it more difficult. That's mostly true here as well.
• The core gameplay discussed above is true to this release & is as responsive & addictive as ever.
• The main mode in Tetris Effect is "Journey Mode", which consists of 7 areas (which themselves consist of 3-5 levels, all save for the final one which just has one extra long level). Your score carries across from one level to another within an area, and while you always can restart from the newest level you have unlocked if you lose, getting the best possible score depends on you clearing all the levels in an area in one swoop.
• "Journey Mode" is playable in 4 difficulties. Practice, in which there is no game over, but only contains the first 4 areas, then Beginner, Normal, and Expert (these last 3 difficulties contain all 7 areas, and don't seem to differ in terms of actual game difficulty, but rather how many lines you have to clear in order to beat a level. It's usually 30 lines in Beginner, 40 in Normal, and I haven't tried Expert). While things start out with a pretty standard gameplay rhythm (start out at a slower speed before speeding up as a level goes on), later on things get shaken up as you may go straight from speed level 1 to level 9 instantly, start out at level 9 before slowing down to a more manageable speed, or have the speed fluctuate up and down through a level, which can create some heart pumping scenarios. However, it should be noted that "Journey Mode" has a gameplay element all it's own called the Zone, which allows you to temporarily stop Tetriminos from falling, so you have a chance to clear multiple lines at once in order to rack up a large score & get yourself out of a tight spot (as a catch, it can only be activated after filling up a meter that charges with every line you clear).
• Each level has a different audio-visual theme, which are unlocked for use in the game's other modes once you clear the level. Once you clear all of "Journey Mode" on Beginner or higher you unlock theater mode, which lets you soak in any level's audio-visual experience without any gameplay.
• outside of "Journey Mode" you have various "Effects Modes". There's over a dozen of these and they contain classic modes (such as trying to clear 150 lines, or survive for 3 minutes, while the speed slowly picks up), relaxing no game over versions of the classic modes, and unique modes (such as one where you have to clear dark blocks).
• You can also orbit the Earth, with everyone who has the game having a lit up dot on the Earth's surface (the US, Japan, & western Europe are lit up like Christmas trees, but not so much elsewhere). It's neat once or twice.
• If you care about game length, I'd say it took me roughly 3 hours to clear "Journey Mode" on Beginner (about 20-30 minutes per area, and I only had to restart a level twice), but with the different difficulty settings and various game modes on offer, it's length is really only limited by how much you like Tetris (I can see myself coming back for a couple rounds here & there).

Audio/Visuals:

• VR really brings the experience to the next level. A much more out of body experience than any other VR game I've played, the playfield floats out in space in front of your face, while a cascade of colors assaults your senses along to both the beat of the music, as well as your own gameplay (whether it be as simple as the rotation of a Tetrimino, or very colorful displays that flash up whenever you clear a line).
• Level themes range from both the abstract (such as a kaleidoscope patterned barrage, glittering jewels, or blue & orange orbs clashing in epic battle) to the more naturalistic (usually my favorites, there are themes such as a forest under siege by a thunderstorm that eventually breaks revealing brilliant sunbeams, floating ever higher over the Sahara until a visual shift transitions you over the surface of the moon with an astronaut riding a buggy down below, ascending up a snow capped mountain until you're surrounded by the auroras, and starting out inside a space station before being shot out and floating above both the station & Earth). The Tetriminos themselves will go along with the theme, often taking on the form of blocks of sand, flame, or even other objects such as cogs or jewels.
• The music is an equally important component, and across your journey you'll play along to soothing pop ballads, energetic hip-hop, tribal chanting, jazzy band tunes, and more. It mixes well with all the visual flair, and combines into something almost hypnotic at times in VR.
• Although I haven't tried it, I believe it can be played normally as well if you don't have or can't use PSVR. I can only imagine that it'd be a visually less interesting game that way.

Conclusion:

• Tetris has stood the test of time because it's easy to pick up but hard to master, and Tetris Effect is as good an example of the game as you'll run across. Sure, it doesn't need to be played in VR, but honestly now that I have, I don't want to play it any other way, and that has to count for something. It's not the kind of game you buy a VR set for, but if you already have one and are in the market for a Tetris game, I don't see why you'd look elsewhere.
• I included no screenshots because honestly PSVR screengrabs look terrible on a flat screen and way too dark.

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I recently completed New Super Lucky's Tale (Switch), the former Xbox One exclusive 3D platformer that has jumped over to Switch.

Ready to go on an adventure, Lucky?

Gameplay:

• A throwback to the era of 3D mascot platformers, Lucky is able to double jump & tail swipe (in the air this lets him prolong a jump), with his most signature move being able to burrow under dirt surfaces (this lets you dig under certain obstacles, and pop up under armored foes). With no power ups, it's a pretty straightforward setup, however they manage to do quite a bit even with that simple moveset.
• The game is split up into 5 Worlds (plus 1 postgame World), each of which is a hub world to run around in. Once in a world, you're able to play it's levels in any order you want, and are able to tackle it's boss as soon as you have the required number of pages (the game's main collectable).
• Exceptions include the 5th World, where you have to play it's main levels in a set order, and the post game world, which doesn't have an end boss (it does feature boss levels, but you can play them in any order, just like the rest of it's levels).
• In the main game, main levels are accessed via glowing doorways and have 4 pages to collect, while side levels are accessed by diving into wooden manholes & have 1 page to collect.
• Main levels most often take the form of 3D environments to explore with more of an emphasis on puzzle solving (though get tougher platforming elements as the game goes on) or sidescrolling levels with a more pure platforming focus, but at times can take the form of mazes with an overhead/isometric view, or auto runner levels. You get 1 page for simply clearing the level, 1 page for collecting at least 300 coins in the level, 1 page for collecting all the letters in "LUCKY", and there's 1 hidden page usually hidden behind the level's toughest platforming or puzzle element (not always, but this is usually segmented off into a separate area accessed by finding a hidden wooden manhole in the level).
  
  An example of one of the game's exploratory 3D levels.
• Side levels are always either statue sliding puzzle rooms (you slide the statues along paths with your tail swipe, trying to get the fox statues to end up resting on green spaces), or Super Monkey Ball like affairs where you have to manoeuvre a sphere bound Lucky around by tilting the level with your left analog stick, collecting coins. As mentioned before, these levels only have the completion page to collect.
  
  An example of one of the game's Super Monkey Ball like side levels.
• The post game world is a bit different in that all it's levels are equal in terms of rewards (no matter if it's a main level type, side level type, or boss level, all have 1 collectable for completion, and 1 well hidden/hard to reach collectable to nab as well).
• Similar to Super Mario Odyssey, there are numerous different costumes you can buy with the coins you have collected, from a shop that pops up in every hub world (new costumes unlock for clearing a world, collecting all it's pages, and numerous post game goals).
• Apparently the game has had some tweaks to improve it after it's lukewarm Xbox One release, hence the "New" in the title. This apparently ranges from increased camera control to even completely reworking entire levels, but as I don't have the other version, that's all I really know.

Audio/Visuals:

• The game pretty much nails it in terms of creating colorful, charming worlds to explore, that manages to avoid feeling generic (heck, the desert world is home to a civilization of pro wrestling obsessed Yetis, who also happen to be Buddhist monks). At times the character designs can border on the fugly (such as the earthworms), and the try hard goofiness of some of the world themes (coupled with some punny writing) rob it of any potential timeless appeal, but it's mostly an endearing romp.
  
  The game offers some downright extravagant level themes.
• In terms of performance issues, it's mostly smooth sailing, except for a few brief moments of slowdown when trying to move the camera in some of the 3D levels. The most notable of these is when traversing the middle of a boardwalk in a haunted carnival level, however most of the challenges here seem to be segmented off into their own rooms, so it wasn't a big deal. Also, it can have some lengthy loading times, especially the one upon startup. I usually don't get bothered by such things, but that first one got to me a bit each time.
  
  This is the hub world where the level mentioned above resides.
• I'm never one to pay too much attention to music in a game unless it's particularly good or bad, so I don't have much to say here. Sounds good for what it is, I suppose.

Story:

• There are a group of guardians who protect a magical book that connects various worlds (the in game worlds you travel to), but when one of their own turns rogue (a sorcerer cat named Jinx), it's pages are scattered, the worlds are separated, and it's up to Lucky (the little brother of one of the guardians) to rise up and fix things.
• It's simple, as you can expect from the genre, but it gets the job done, and the storybook like intro & ending are a nice touch. Plus, it has a nice twist if you manage to complete post game.
• As mentioned before, the writing can be a bit puny (expect to hear jokes about "Finstagram" for example), which can be a bit hit or miss.

Conclusion:

• It's not quite as tight as something like Mario Odyssey, Astro Bot, or DKC: Tropical Freeze, and some may find it a bit easy (I had pretty much 0 issues 100% completing the main worlds, and am only missing 4 of post game's hidden collectables), but it's still a very fun romp and feels like more effort went into it than some of Switch's first party platformers (like Kirby: Star Allies), so I think it'll go down really well for fans of the genre, plus Lucky is simply cute as a button. I actually liked it about as well as Yoshi's Crafted World, which I really enjoyed.
  
  That's right Lucky, celebrate my recommendation with those ugly redneck worms.

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Yakuza 3

Total time: 75 hours
Trophies: 58%

AKA Yakuza: Daddy Daycare

Story

The story here partly picks up almost straight from Yukuza Kiwami 2. In fact, part of the opening sequence actually starts at the final moments of YK2 in the graveyard with Sayama. But this leads to the first erm-what? moment as she just straight up leaves the country after being slowly built up as a love interest in the first game.

The main story sees Kiryu leaving the Yakuza life behind (again) and has set up his own orphanage in Okinawa with the help of Haruka. The new setting makes a nice change after spending so long in the same two location in Y0 to YK2. The orphanage and surrounding beach looks really good and the downtown area is a nice compact area that has it's own feel, particularly around the market.

The "daddy daycare" aspect at the start is cute but quickly becomes a bit annoying as you run around sorting the kids out. But it's not long before we got drawn into another ridiculous story involving dead characters, international intelligence agencies, and a new BFF. Some of the new characters are great fun, especially Rikiya and his bromance with Kiryu but there's plenty of old faces in there too.

And some familiar locations too; Kamurocho never felt so busy

Gameplay

The main story unravels at a nice pace but everyone knows Yakuza is also about everything else there is to do. This game has the most sub stories of the series (118!) and these are a step back in the right direction after YK2. There are plenty of quick beat-em-up missions but a good number of ones with multiple phases or that span chapters, with the most memorable seeing Kiryu trying to solve a murder by questioning numerous people and then presenting the evidence to bring it all together.

Elsewhere, the Coliseum is back (I couldn't be bothered this time around... more on why later) and the normal cohort of gambling mini games, baseball, bowling, karaoke, and more. You can also turn your hand to fishing and golf here and one of the weirder new mini games sees you massaging Kiryu. There's also an interesting set of missions where you take down a range of assassins which end with some good battles but towards the end it gets rather repetitive. New chase sequences and sub stories mix things up a bit as you chase and knock down enemies and were a nice addition.

Hostess Club is back but in a very different (and inferior) way as you recruit and dress/train a girl up to become the number one hostess in the club. You can also visit numerous hostesses yourself with the obligatory sub story once you've spent half and hour (and much yen) wooing the young ladies. I am starting to find the portrayal of women in these games a bit awkward and depressing as Kiryu gets to know them, has them fall in love with them, and then sleeps with them to "complete" their story and moving in. Nothing as creepy as the photoshoots from YK2 though..

There are also a few different things to be done post-game which I didn't bother with as I was more than happy with my time with the game after 75hrs.

Still no mini game to sort Kiryu's fashion sense though

Combat

I have no idea what is going on in the series but combat is even more reduced in this game. There's only one combat style again but the range of moves feels even more limited than before; I pretty much did the whole game using the same combo with some variety in boss battles. Tiger Drop is given nice and early here as well as some other good high power moves. Some new heat actions are also fun and there is a good range of ways of acquiring them from beating combat masters through to defeating enemies in VR.

The overall lack of variety meant it all felt very samey and is why I couldn't be bothered with the Coliseum.

The main upgrade system is also a bit basic as it's split into four sections which require an increasing amount of XP to upgrade and give you either a new ability and/or increase your heat/health bars. Despite doing everything, I only completed 8/10 in two sections and fully completed one.

I didn't feel Kiryu really needed to vocalise that

Other

First off, this is clearly more of a graphical spruce up rather than the full remasters of the Kiwami games. Graphics are overall fine but not as sharp as the Kiwami games and there are a few moments it looks quite blocky. Having introduced saving anywhere in YK2, it felt weird to lose it again here. Losing the map from the touchpad is also an annoyance and the first time you hit a (quick) loading screen when entering a shop was a bit jarring too.

Not Y3's finest moment graphically

Overall

If you've made it to the third/fourth game in the series then you know what you're going to be getting. The story is as bonkers as always but does stretch things a little bit too far here but I still enjoyed it and the new characters were mostly good fun (but seriously, how many families does the Tojo clan get through??). I enjoyed the game more than I thought I would after previously reading this was a missable game in the series, possibly due to localisation issues with the original release, but having played it I don't know how people could think that.

The game isn't as polished as the Kiwami games but I am very glad they released these remasters to continue the series on PS4.

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I recently finished up LEGO Jurassic World (PS4). It's actually my first crack at a LEGO game.

Welcome to Jurassic Park (& World).

Gameplay:

• the core adventure spans across 20 self contained levels (5 per film), which mostly consist of light puzzle solving & platforming, with a bit of combat thrown in as well (boss fights mostly consist of quick time events & puzzle elements).
• There are 3 main collectables you'll find strewn throughout levels. Lego Studs, which are numerous and grant you with True Survivor status if you collect a certain amount within the level (there is really no punishment for dying since you respawn on the spot and there's no lives system, however you do lose a few studs every time you die, so if you do so consistently, you may miss out on True Survivor). An often hidden Amber Brick that unlocks a dinosaur for Free Play. Plus 10 Minikits, which are hidden and unlock a skeleton version of that level's dinosaur for Free Play. You can earn up to three Golden Bricks depending on how thoroughly you complete a level (one for completion, one for obtaining True Survivor, and one for collecting all Minikits). However it's all but impossible to 100% a level your first time through, as some items are hidden behind obstacles you need extra characters for (upon completing a level you can Free Play it, which lets you play as any unlocked character).
• Characters have differing abilities which will require you to switch between them to get through levels, and collect hidden items (for example Alan Grant can dig up items, cut rope/vines, & build bone blocks. Ellie Sattler can rummage through dung piles, jump high/interact with parkour elements, & water plants. Ian Malcom can enter dark places with a road flare & solve equations). You can play as dinosaurs too, and while you can use small class dinos (Raptors, Compys, the acid spitting guys, etc.) just like other characters, unfortunately mid class (Triceritops, etc.) & large class (T-Rex, Brontosaurus, etc.) dinos are limited to certain areas in the hubworlds (which I'll get to next).
  
  Your options for stomping around as this big guy are limited.
• Outside of the main levels, there are 4 different hub worlds to explore (one based on each film, with Jurassic Park & Jurassic World unlocked at the start, though you have to play Jurassic Park's first level before anything else, with the Lost World & Jurassic Park III being unlocked in order after completing JP). At first you're guided through them pretty linearly (overcoming a few obstacles on your way from one level to the next), but once a film's story is complete it's hubworld completely opens up for Free Play, allowing you to solve extra puzzles, races, and the like to earn extra Gold Bricks (plus Red Bricks, which activate cheats you can use in the main levels, such as Stud multipliers). As mentioned before, use of the larger dinosaurs are limited to certain areas within the hubworlds.
• All in all there's absolutely tons to do & unlock (you can even play as Mr. D.N.A., Steven Spielberg, and Jimmy Fallon of all people after you clear all story missions), and when it was all said & done my completion rating is just over 50%!

Audio/Visuals:

• It's not a stunning looking game, but it gets the job done & doesn't have any sort of performance issues as far as I could tell. I will say that the self contained levels have a bit more graphical detail than the open world areas, and mostly look good.
  
  Some good lighting effects as seen in one of the main levels. Comparing scenes like this (and the rain effects during the level where the T-Rex escapes it's enclosure) can be night and day compared to the open world areas, such as the previous screenshot.
• the Jurassic films have great soundtracks, and their music is put to good use here.
• When it comes to dialogue, it's clear that lines are simply ripped from the films and inserted here, but really what else could they do, and it works fine. However, Jimmy Fallon (who had a bit part in Jurassic World during a park infomercial) did seemingly record a lot of new dinosaur jokes, which can be heard by interacting with certain terminals in JW's final level, which was a nice touch.

Story:

• It simply retells the story of the films in a humorous really kid friendly way (no one ever dies, as even Nedry, Gennaro, & Muldoon are discovered old & grey in Jurassic World, hiding out in the Jurassic Park ruins unaware of the new park (and lots of people) to the south, which is exactly what you'd expect going in.

Conclusion:

• I ended up liking this quite a bit. It was a pretty standard experience all said & done, but there's nothing wrong with a relaxing platformer adventure from time to time, and there's not a whole lot of good Jurassic Park games (outside of a few park building sims, which really aren't my cup of tea), so I welcomed it. Probably going to be extra picky when it comes to selecting future LEGO games, so I don't get burned out on the concept.
  
  When dinosaurs ruled the toy bin.