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Sweet Jesus, it's happening! The Crash Bandicoot trilogy is being "remastered from the ground up" on PS4! It may not be the new game fans wanted, and Crash IS appearing in Skylanders like I suspected, but at least we're getting SOMETHING. Even though there's no footage of the the remasters just yet, the Skylanders clip actually gives me some hope that these remakes will turn out to be good. Crash is more or less back to his original design and looks to have most of his original moveset intact, so maybe.... just maaaybe, Activision can redeem themselves for the godawful Titans series and nearly ten years of sitting on the Crash license. And who knows what this could mean? If Crash does well, we might eventually see Spyro remakes too! Heck, I'd even like to see Croc: Legend of the Gobbos make a comeback. Platforming is one of my favorite videogame genres, so I really hope Activision and Sony take this thing seriously and that Crash sells the way they want it to. If it does, old school cartoon platformers could have a very strong resurgence in a console market that's become far too "mature" for its own good.
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This past week marked the return of an Amiga classic in Shadow of the Beast for the PS4. My first exposure to SotB was during the summer of 2014, but for the life of me, I can't remember how I discovered the series. I watched playthroughs of all 3 Amiga games and loved them right away, so Heavy Spectrum's remake was a high point on my "to play" list for this year. Hey, what do you know, I even had the chance to work the protagonist, Aarbron into an art challenge recently. So, what's the verdict? Does it live up to the hype? Does it pay respect to the source material? Let's carve a bloody swath across this title and find out.


---PROS---

Gorgeous visual style - First of all, the graphical quality of SotB is very high and it doesn't give off that small project feel that many PSN games have. Here and there you'll notice things that don't look quite right, but they're not really worth quibbling over. The visuals are based on the fantasy artwork of Roger Dean who crafted the illustrations for the original SotB while working for Psygnosis. The world of Karamoon is faithfully recreated in breathtaking detail and the creature design is beautifully grotesque. As a whole, the world feels familiar yet alien, and even carries a fair bit of dark Lovecraftian influence. What I really love about the art style is that it doesn't rely solely on washed out colors or shades of brown to make it seem gritty and serious. In fact, the starting level takes place in a verdant field under the bright midday sun. As conditions change, the light and scenery adapt to the mood, as strongly implied by the violently red Autumn-like swamp where Aarbron exacts his revenge on his cruel handler, Zelek. The brown/grey palettes are definitely there, but they're confined to certain levels so that each area feels almost like a world unto itself.

Riveting musical score - David Whittaker's music from the 1989 SotB was one of the things that set it head and shoulders above the competition. It was haunting, otherworldly, and totally infectious. Every now and then I catch myself humming little snippets of the soundtrack like all the other gaming tunes I've memorized. Ian Livingstone's new orchestral score is nowhere near as catchy, but it certainly sets a more serious tone for the adventure. As a bonus, you can replace the new music with the old if that's more your style. Both the Amiga and PS4 versions of the soundtrack are well worth a listen even if you have no interest in the games themselves.

Story - This tale revolves around a man named Aarbron who was abducted at birth and transformed into a vicious monster by the evil mage, Maletoth, who wants to control the land of Karamoon. During one of his forced killing sprees, Aarbron murders his own father, awakening visions of his past life in the process. Enraged, and with his family's blood on his hands, Aarbron breaks free of Maletoth's control in a violent bid for revenge. The game's approach to storytelling is rather odd because you'll only get a rough idea of what's going on by playing each level, while locating hidden orbs in each stage will unlock the rest of the narrative which can be viewed on the world map. This actually works quite well as it provides much needed details that would have felt like needless exposition within the game itself.

Extras - In the "Wisdom of Shadows" (ie, the in game shop), you can spend points you earn in battle on items to make your quest easier. Here you'll unlock a lot of upgrades to Aarbron's abilities, which is a good thing because you start out so weak. You can also equip magic talismans here to augment your abilities and stats beyond the normal level. In addition, you can access a bunch of cool extra features like extensive lore, character bios, and subtitles for the various languages spoken by each species. As expected, you can even play the original Amiga game here, and it's quite a different experience than the main attraction, let me tell you. It's got elements of exploration as well as fighting tactics that the remake lacks, and I like that. Now that I've beaten the main game, I'll be going back to tackle this one.

Fluid combat - The action sequences really had my blood boiling for the first hour or so as I tried to get into the swing of things, but after a separate attempt with a few upgrades, I realized what was possible in combat and came to appreciate the system a bit more. It functions like a 2D Arkham Asylum in that you need to fend off enemies coming at you from both sides of the screen while maintaining a "flow" with your moves. Oddly enough, your attacks don't really correspond to your button presses. Pressing the attack button doesn't just throw a simple punch; it activates a stylish execution that often lasts longer than you want it to. It's very weird getting used to watching these flashy animations play out, but after you realize that you can break out of them at any time to deal with other threats, it doesn't feel bad at all. On the plus side, enemy bios even recommend tactics for dispatching foes and minimizing damage. Even so, Heavy Spectrum needs to do a bit of streamlining, because if we're being brutally honest, 4 separate means of avoiding damage (block, dodge, counter, and move behind) are just a few too many when the outcome is ultimately the same. The worst part about combat however, is what I like to call "the pinball effect." This occurs when one enemy knocks you backwards into another and the game does not allow you to dodge or counter the second hit. The "pincer attack" works the same way, but happens when the enemy lineup gets off kilter and allows 2 foes to attack simultaneously. Some of this might be avoided with the dodge roll I mentioned earlier, but it happens so sporadically that you can neither predict nor prevent it consistently.

Price point - The game is short, but it's designed for people who like to challenge their old scores again and again. If you approach it from that perspective, $20 is a pretty fair asking price for a game with potentially unlimited replay. If you're a "one and done" kind of player however, you might want to wait for a sale. The fact that the original Amiga game comes packed in only sweetens the deal.


---CONS---

Clunky platforming - The platforming in this game is something like playing as a combination of Ezio Auditore and Knuckles the Echidna. The X button is labeled as "jump" but it's more of a context sensitive suggestion than anything. Press it while moving toward a low ledge and you'll quickly hop over it. Press it while running at a larger ledge and you'll scramble up the side. You can climb walls by jumping and pressing the button again to latch on, but that extra button press feels really awkward since most games allow this sort of thing if you simply tilt the thumbstick toward the wall. For all intents and purposes, it works, however it's very slow,disjointed, and uncertain, and that just takes the joy out of the platforming sections. I'm going to list backtracking in this section as well since it deals with stage design. Getting a gold or platinum rating in specific encounters will trigger much harder secret fights somewhere in the level. Going out of your way for a bonus is understandable, but reaching some of these battles requires you to go as far back as the stage will allow, and that's just plain annoying.

Conflicting goals - Did you ever play Donkey Kong Jungle Beat on the Gamecube? If not, it's an awesome score attack game that was also a platformer of sorts. When it was eventually ported to the Wii, Nintendo decided that it needed a health meter and lives tacked on to complete the platforming experience, and everyone thought this was a stupid move because it was a freaking high score game. SotB shares the same problem because it doesn't know if it wants to be an action platformer or a score attack game. It tries to do both things, but it only divides your attention between maintaining your combo multiplier and simply surviving. If I was to offer Heavy Spectrum my two cents, I'd suggest ditching the high score aspect altogether and trading the Bayonetta-style, roped off "encounters" for the more traditional combat found in the original game. Hell, I'd even settle for keeping the scoring system, but having the option to turn it off.

Long loading times - 15-20 seconds isn't a very long time in your everyday life, but for such a small game in today's market, these load screens feel inexcusable. To make matters worse, restarting a stage from any point means you've got to wait it out again. There is, however, a minigame you can access via code (X,X,square,triangle) that makes the load times a little more entertaining, but still....

Lame final boss - [SPOILERS] The final encounter SUCKS. It's short, too easy, and the only stage of it's kind. I didn't die once and it's probably easier than the first level. You'll be using the plasma canon and jetpack from the original game for this battle, but it feels SOOO out of place here. These items came out of left field on the Amiga as well, but they felt like they existed for variety rather than a forced homage. If you had a couple of these rail shooter segments prior to the boss, or if the boss was just a bit more challenging, the fight would have felt justified. As he stands though, Maletoth is just a big pushover.

Retail disc is exclusive to Asia - If you're like me, you don't favor throwing your money at digital only games. Unfortunately the digital age is the world we live in now, and only Asian countries get a physical disc at this time. I would have imported since there's absolutely no difference in the game save the addition of Chinese subtitles, but it would have cost roughly $15 extra plus the time for international delivery. With installs being required this gen, the lack of a physical disc is not such a big deal, but the collector in me is still disappointed that there's no case to display on the ol' gaming shelf.

FINAL VERDICT [ 7/10 ] - This last comment is more of a history tidbit than a legitimate complaint, but it does hold some sway over the final score. When SotB debuted on the Amiga, it was widely praised for its unique soundtrack and impressive use of parallax scrolling in its backgrounds. Nearly 30 years later in the midst of heavy competition in the gaming market, the remake really has nothing new to offer gamers in terms of technological advances or design. It's a well made score attack game heavily coated in both blood and nostalgia, and is well worth the asking price. Heavy Spectrum put forth a valiant effort on this title, but in the end, I think SotB will strike a chord with only a very small audience due to its demanding play style and various inconsistencies in its design. Most of the reviews I've seen so far are reasonably positive with only a handful that are openly negative, and the people that weren't having any fun with the game more or less admitted to just plowing straight through everything as fast as they could for the sake of a paycheck (I've lived with a few game journalists, so I've seen how this works). I hope that PS4 owners will support this series so that we get the sequels remade as well, but I also hope they'll be vocal enough that Heavy Spectrum will change the things that are legitimately wrong with it.
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---Ratchet & Clank--- [PS4 - Action Platformer] - Despite owning a PS2 and PS3 for many years, the PS4 reboot/remake is my first excursion into the Ratchet & Clank series. For some reason, I never paid attention to it before, but this title was a must buy after playing the demo, plus the PS4 needs more support for good mascot platformers. I'll update with a finalized review after I've had a chance to play more, but for now, let's see what this baby can do!




---PROS---

Jaw-dropping graphics - The demo impressed me with R&C's visual style, but sitting down with the full game is truly something else. In my previous review for Knack, I said that the graphics look very close to a real-time CG movie. Well, R&C does ol' Knack one better by looking like a freaking Pixar film. This game's visuals are the gaming equivalent of Mary Poppins in that they're practically perfect in every way. The textures and the lighting work together in such an amazing way that you just have to see the effect to believe it. The resulting atmosphere is perfection, and until now, it's something you could only dream about in a platformer. One of the little cartoon details that really breathes life into the characters is the significant amount of squash and stretch used in the animations. There's something oh so satisfying watching an enemy fold like an accordion when you send him flying with your wrench! The only negative things I've noticed are that Ratchet's fur is not very pronounced, and he doesn't look wet after swimming. What makes these things so disappointing is that another fantastic looking platformer, Conker Live and Reloaded, was doing this kind of thing over a decade ago on the original XBOX, so why was it left out, especially after all the effort that went into the awesome animation I just mentioned? All in all, R&C sets the graphical bar extremely high for any future games going for the cartoon look. Knack 2 better bring it's A-game if it wants to stay relevant.

Gameplay/stage design - The first thing I noticed after the graphics was how well the action and gunplay work within each stage. There's plenty of room to move around so you don't get stuck on anything. Shooting from the hip is is simple enough, but taking precise aim is extremely well integrated into the fast paced action and does not slow you down at all. You can ground pound, but that sometimes gets you into trouble, so choosing the right weapon for the situation is also critical. Objectives are clearly marked on the map so you don't have to guess where to go next, and the map itself shows where you've already been in case you're looking for a new area.

Unrelenting humor - R&C's sense of humor is hands down its best feature. Without it, the game would be another run of the mill action game with very little soul. The first 30 seconds of the game are pretty grim as a prison inmate is escorted to a new cell, but the chuckles soon follow as Insomniac shamelessly plugs both the game and the upcoming movie through a conversation between incarcerated superhero, Captain Qwark, and said inmate, who always dreamed of being arrested by him. From that point, Qwark dramatically narrates much of Ratchet's adventure with comments about things like power ups and  basi tutorials. My favorite exchange so far is when he's talking about the health item, Nanotech, and the inmate responds, "Yeah, I used one after a bank robbery once. It healed like 3 out of 5 gunshot wounds." It's not always laugh out loud funny, but the commentary keeps a big stupid grin on my face the entire time.

Extras - Remember the days before DLC when games often came with a bunch of cheats and other goodies right out of the box? R&C follows that formula, allowing you to earn cheats, screen filters, and various other doodads to augment your gaming experience by searching for golden bolts throughout your adventure. I'm sure there will be DLC, but this is a big step in the right direction.

Price - As an added bonus, R&C is available for $40 as opposed to the usual $60. I assume they're doing this because it's technically a movie tie-in, but it's still an absolute steal at that price.


---CONS---

It's a movie tie in - This is practically the only beef I have with the game at the moment. There's a sticker on the shrink wrap to remind you about it. It's printed in the synopsis on the back cover. There's an insert inside the box. Insomniac even pokes fun at the idea by opening the game on that note. That last one is pretty funny, but they beat you over the head with these reminders, and you'd swear you're about to start a free-to-play game that subsists on generating ad revenue. I'm making this out to be worse than it is, but I had to come up with at least ONE con to make my point of view sound objective. Maybe there will be some more flaws in the later portions of the game, but right now it's very hard to pick out any.

---CURRENT VERDICT--- 9/10 - The 2 or 3 stages I played this afternoon may not be enough to go on, but for now, I'm having an amazing time with the game. Even with no prior R&C experience, it's exactly what I wanted it to be, and I hope that both the game and the movie do well so we can get a few more platformers into the spotlight. I'm calling it now. Activision counters with a crummy Spyro reboot and a half-assed Crash Bandicoot remake, both with empty voids where their souls should be.
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---Knack--- [PS4 - Action Platformer] - What are your expectations of a console's launch titles? Do you expect a brilliant new IP that shows off everything the system can do straight away, or are you just happy to have something to pass the time until the "real" next gen stuff comes out? From personal experience, it seems kind of silly to ask for the former, but reviewers talked like Knack would revolutionize the genre, and were subsequently pissed when their lofty expectations came crashing down in the shape of a very formulaic action platformer. My initial impressions were skewed to the negative side as well, but as I played, I began to understand the game has a very clear objective that simply may not jive with most people's tastes. Let's have a look at some of the pros and cons, shall we?




---PROS---
Fantastic visuals
- Some of the reviews I've read had the gall to knock the game's visuals when they're pretty damn stellar for a launch game. Textures are high quality and the lighting is perfect. There are some bland, sterile looking areas, such as the starting laboratory and some blocky, futuristic temples later in the game, but those are stylistic choices rather than bad graphics. Knack himself is visually impressive as his "body" is comprised of hundreds of tiny floating relics that increase his size. These relics are really the graphics' selling point because there is A LOT of detailed destruction going on. It's a subtle addition, but the way things break apart in this game is really quite beautiful after you've noticed it. The other characters and the art style as a whole are gorgeously modeled and are closer to a real-time CG cartoon than we've ever been. On top of all that, the draw distance is quite extensive, and the game runs at a very smooth, consistent framerate. It's not the silky 60 FPS I was hoping for, but that's really a small price to pay for a superb looking game with minimal slowdown.

Likable characters - There's nothing original about the game's characters, but I found them likable all the same. You'll be spending most of your time with genius inventor, Doctor Vargas, his young protege, Lucas, and the game's titular hero, Knack, a sentient, shapeshifting pile of ancient Lego bricks. Ryder, Lucas' action hero uncle who looks like a blonde caricature of Patrick Warburton, is also along for the, ahem, "ryde." The gang's nemesis is an evil Tony Stark wannabe named Viktor who commands an army of deadly robots, as well as a sultry elite bodyguard named Katrina. Even though I like the cast, there are still some problems with them which I'll address in the cons section.

Challenging gameplay - This is really what will make or break the game for you. The combat is not exactly tough, but as a general rule, you can only take a measly 1-3 hits before you're dead. Knowing that, you'll need to assess each battle quickly and accurately if you want to make it through the fight with more than a sliver of your life intact. The penalty for dying is merely restarting from a checkpoint that may or may not be right where you left off. To make things even more challenging, there's actually some thought put into the enemy types and locations within each arena, making the order in which you dispatch your foes critical to your success. That kind of thought is much appreciated, but there are times when the enemy layout feels downright unfair, so I found myself reserving my super meter purely for these sections. As you collect extra relics, Knack will bulk up and gain more power and defense. However, enemies become stronger later in the stage, so you're almost always on equal footing with the exception of the giant Knack sections where you can more or less go on a rampage with little regard for your own safety. The difficulty annoyed the hell out of me at first, but once I understood how things were set up, I found myself enjoying it immensely. After you've completed the story, you'll unlock new game plus and survival mode, which are excellent features for extending the life of any game.

Fast loading times - Aside from the 7-10 seconds it takes to load the stage, everything is practically seamless. Not Jak and Daxter seamless, mind you, but the only "loading" you'll see is a fade to black for scene transitions.

Nostalgia factor - The game is directed by Mark Cerny, who has had a hand in many of the Playstation's defining series, and it shows. There are chase sequences where you'll need to run toward the camera like Crash Bandicoot, and the combat reminds me very much of a stripped down version of Jak and Daxter. I really hope that Cerny Games continues down this road with that nostalgia in mind, because there are a lot of us who would like to see a few more big name platformers on the market these days.


---CONS---
Linear stage design - From a gameplay perspective, Knack's biggest drawback is that it doesn't play up the exploration nearly enough. Stages stick to a rigid point A to point B setup while all the collectibles are found behind breakaway walls along the main path. Occasionally, you'll need to backtrack for a gem or gadget part, but that's only when the developers were feeling SUPER sneaky about their goals. Another depressing aspect of the design goes back to Knack's size. Remember when I said you could bulk up with relics? Well, that's very "on rails" so to speak, because you can never be larger or smaller than what the stage design dictates. It's understandable that you can only be a giant during the rampage sections, but why limit the player during the rest of the game? There are a couple of segments that allow you to switch sizes, but they never expand upon this idea when it clearly could have improved the stage design and by extension, your goals for the duration of the game.

Cumbersome collectables - Along your journey, you'll find parts to build some nifty-sounding devices that will enhance Knack's abilities. As it turns out, they're far more useful when you equip a bunch at one time, but doing this obscures your view with a very cluttered HUD. But don't worry too much about that. You won't be finding enough parts to build anything until the final few chapters, so your field of view will be totally clear for 90% of the game.

Convoluted story - Knack may have the worst story I've ever witnessed in a video game. Rather than pen something original, the writers gave us a train wreck built around every trope imaginable because writing is hard. To summarize, there's a war going on between humans and goblins, so Doctor Vargas creates Knack as a living weapon against said goblins after they mysteriously acquire very modern technology. The narrative meanders slowly this way and that, and completely falls apart around chapter 7 just as things get moving.  Everything from this point on is absolutely laughable, and I completely understand why people bash the game in this area. By the final chapter, the goblins are pretty much written out of the story to focus on Viktor, reducing who we thought was the main enemy to nothing more than padding in the process. It all becomes less of a story and more of a race to see how many cliches the writers could pull out of their ass before Cerny caught on and told them to go stand in a corner and think about what they've done. The poor writing also has a negative effect on the characters, most notably on Knack himself. The main character in any game is usually a stand-in for the player, allowing them to live in a make-believe world through a badass avatar who can do just about anything. Conversely, Knack spends most of his time taking orders from a fat, aging scientist. He's designed to be a hero whose cool factor comes from his own infallible moral compass and selfless attitude, but he comes off as more of a goody two shoes who can't wipe his own ass without a command from Vargas. I might have been okay with this if Knack was a silent protagonist who acted as an extension of Vargas' own moral character, but that's not the case. In addition to all this, our hero doesn't seem to understand the difference between good and evil anyway, because he and the goblin leader, Gundahar, both level a city in a Godzilla-like showdown, and Knack thinks he can get away with millions of dollars worth of property damage simply because he had to get huge to stop the bad guy. News flash, Knack my boy, doing the exact same thing as the villain just makes you the villain regardless of your good intentions.

FINAL VERDICT - 7/10 [Good] - Knack is by no means an extraordinary game, but the internet talks so much shit about it that I was genuinely scared of buying it for a while. People seriously need to stop expecting more and more and more from developers and simply let them stick to an idea that works and improve it with sequels. Knack is a fully functional, albeit restrictive, title that gives Cerny Games plenty of material to work with should they ever decide to follow up on this franchise. Story related problems are negligible to me as long as the gameplay is good, and I welcome the more difficult combat because it actually has a method behind its madness. So that said, would I be down for Knack 2? Heck yeah, I would. I had a great time with this game, and as long as you're not expecting it to redefine 3D platforming, then there's a good chance you'll enjoy it as well.
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Senran Kagura: Estival Versus [PS4 - Action/Hack n Slash] - How often has a game's sequel failed to top the original? By the same token, how often is online multiplayer the guilty party? Senran Kagura: Estival Versus was released in the US 2 weeks ago, and I've been waffling back and forth on my opinion of the game since then. Even though I was happy to support XSEED's localization of such a fanservice oriented series on day one, Estival Versus continues to disappoint me as a game. Rather than my usual paragraph review, I'm going to try out the pros and cons layout this time, so without further ado, let's get crackin'.

WARNING: INCOMING PARTIAL NUDITY. DON'T LOOK, ETHEL!!!



PROS
Excellent bonus features
- XSEED spared no expense on the physical edition of the game. A snazzy reflective box houses the game disc, a set of holographic trading cards, a soundtrack CD, a gorgeous artbook, and even a thick, full color printed manual just like the good old days of gaming. XSEED delivers another uncensored game plus a ton of bonuses at no extra cost.

Great graphics - The game's graphics don't scream "next gen," but they're pretty nice all the same. The cel shading is crisp with practically no aliasing, and the new animations lend quite a bit more life to the characters. Water effects are particularly good looking.

Presentation is top notch - The first time you pop the disc in, you'll notice that a lot more thought went into the visual presentation of this game. Menus are no longer built with a touchscreen in mind, making the layout a bit more streamlined and intuitive for Dpad navigation. Beach-themed character dioramas play in the background, giving the menus a nostalgic "endless summer" feeling. Story mode's cutscenes have been tweaked to be less like a visual novel and even make use of hand drawn anime sequences in some spots, such as the astounding choreographed J-pop opening. The jiggle physics have been improved, but they're still not accurate at all. I know it's a cartoon, but you'd think a game selling itself purely on sex appeal would be pioneering some kind of new physics engine to avoid gaming's weird clipping issues.

Exploration encouraged - Stages can be much larger than they look, and using the new wall run ability to search for festival podiums will reward you with unlockables such as extra outfits and missions. In addition, defeating other shinobi in designated areas of the stage will strip them to their birthday suits for fatality-like cutscenes called a "creative finishers."

Various issues were fixed - Shinovi Versus suffered heavily from a really bad camera as well as defensive mechanics that simply didn't work. Thankfully, both of these items were addressed and the game benefits from
these fixes. One such fix was made to the stun effect of your "limit break," which knocks enemies away at the cost of some of your health gauge. In the previous game, this feature left you vulnerable long enough for the
enemy to jump right back on top of you and continue the beatdown as if nothing had happened. Estival Versus swaps that around, giving you the advantage, and that is a VERY helpful change.

Dressing room - In all honesty, the dressing room may be the best part of the game. There's a ton of options for customizing your favorite ninja girls and you can create some pretty wacky outfits using all the provided accessories. The newest addition is photoshoot mode which lets you set up scenes that can be saved as image files. I probably won't mess around with this too much until I've unlocked all the costumes and want to draw some fanart for the series.



CONS

Limited movesets - Fighting consists of punching light attack a few times and capping off that paltry 3-hit combo with a strong attack because the AI will usually counter you if you try any of that fancy 6-hit nonsense. It's easy to learn, and I'm used to this setup, but your tech list is TINY compared to other games in this genre. They didn't bother to improve it for the Neptunia U spinoff, so why change now? Sure, your moveset gets altered a bit when your character does a Shinobi transformation, but there are characters who become nigh unplayable when you do this, making the risk greater than the reward. In addition, Shinobi transformations are once again a one-shot deal during battle, meaning you can't revert to your normal state, or even upgrade to the totally overpowered frantic mode if you want to finish things in a hurry. To me, this is a big flaw that probably could have been solved with some kind of simple rock-paper-scissors advantage system.

Inconsistent AI - One minute it's just standing there absorbing your hits like you were just a pesky mosquito, and the next, it's after you like an angry mother bear. It just cannot make up its mind!

Boring mission structure - Fight a wave of bad guys, move to the next room, fight another wave of bad guys, bosses show up, kick their asses, rinse and repeat for every damn stage. They keep making references to things that happened in the TV series, but Tamsoft couldn't be bothered to break the game's monotony with a minigame or two based on those events. This super repetitive formula is the real reason it's taken two weeks to write a review for the game. It's a chore to play more than 2-3 of missions at a time, which translates to roughly 30-45 minutes of playtime including cutscenes. Dat's bad.

Steep difficulty - The first time you complete a stage, you must do so with that mission's mandated character. This creates a big problem when a girl doesn't show up until later in the game, because everyone's stats begin at level 1 and they're absolute trash until at least level 7. You can level up by revisiting missions as any character, but when they're all the same crap, why bother unless you missed some of the collectables? The most difficult thing however, is having to fight 3 other Shinobi bosses. 2 is challenging enough, but that third one just screws everything up completely.

"Rebalanced" characters - The roster definitely needed some balance, but sweet Jesus, this is not the way to do it. As implied by my opening question, online multiplayer returns at the expense of the single player experience, with many characters taking unnecessary hits to their abilities while others remain largely overpowered. Tamsoft wanted to give everyone an equal chance at winning in vs mode, but that chance applies to the AI as well. The general lack of hitstun allows the AI to just absorb your blows up to a certain point and come back with a quicker, more powerful strike of their own. To add insult to injury, status effects are too prominent, and the only way to break out of a state like freeze or paralysis is to simply wait it out, or sacrifice some health by using your limit break. Even with all the unbalanced rebalancing, the game still leans heavily in favor of speedy characters, so players using slower shinobi will have to rely on every exploit they can to survive.

FINAL SCORE - 6/10 [Slightly above average] - Although I can't say anything for the 3DS Senran Kagura games, the Playstation titles are bad. Not Lair bad, or Drake of the 99 Dragons bad, but still not worth the time or money you'll spend unless you're a big fan of anime. In short bursts, there is some fun to be had IF you're playing the right characters at a high enough level, but the best breast physics in the world couldn't save the game from its own heavy handed repetition. My final verdict would have been around a 4.5 if not for the fact that major issues from the first game were actually fixed and that the presentation is so dadgum beautiful. Effort was definitely put into this game, but much of it was sorely misguided. Sadly, I could never recommend either Versus title to anyone as anything more than another shiny collectible for their anime collection.
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