Nier: Automata – My First Yoko Taro Game

yoko taro

“Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle…and wonder if we’ll ever get the chance to kill him.”

These are the first lines of dialogue you hear in Nier: Automata, and if this doesn’t immediately tell you what kind of game you’re about to experience, then you are in for one hell of a trip; one that could only have come from a director like Yoko Taro. Anyone familiar with his work kind of had an idea for what to expect but for a newcomer like myself, no amount of research into his previous games could prepare me for what this one had in store. I thought I knew after listening to those opening lines, but that was, appropriately and obviously, only the beginning. First, though, let’s get some backstory out of the way. Continue reading

Favourite Moments in Fiction #19 – Nero VS Dante, Round One (Devil May Cry 4)

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Devil May Cry 4

DMC4COVER

I don’t know how Devil May Cry fans felt when playing Devil May Cry 4 for the first time, but I imagine that they’d at least be rather confused. In retrospect, DMC 4‘s opening was kind of ballsy on Capcom’s part. It’s a brand new game but, instead of the beloved Dante, players are put in control of the seemingly less cool Nero who, while still kick-ass when it comes to fighting demons, is first seen running to a church so he can see his girlfriend sing – very different to how Dante is usually introduced. And then when Dante does appear, it’s by crashing through the ceiling and murdering a harmless, old priest. Continue reading

My VG Music Picks #77 – Devil Trigger (Devil May Cry 5)

I’ve been wanting to highlight this song for a long time now, ever since it accompanied Devil May Cry 5‘s announcement trailer at E3 2018. The confirmation of a new entry in the series would’ve got people excited regardless, but this song only pushed the hype levels into maximum overdrive. Everywhere I looked, people were going nuts over the song and it was even at the top of the iTunes charts in the UK for a while. Hell, it’s what got me to actually pick the game up myself (especially when I found out it was an in-game battle theme too). Continue reading

My VG Music Picks #75 – Vector to the Heavens (Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days)

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

This is possibly an unpopular Kingdom Hearts opinion depending on who is reading this, but I was never a big fan of Xion. I didn’t dislike her per se; I just never got attached to her like some fans did since I found her character to be rather generic and, considering 358/2 Days’ status as an interquel and the fact that she was never mentioned in Kingdom Hearts II (probably because Nomura hadn’t come up with her character at the time), she was most likely going to die by the end of the game. It’s hard to become engaged with a character when you know they’re not going to be around anymore soon. But that being said, her theme music never fails to make me emotional – especially the version of it that plays during her boss fight. Continue reading

Ten Characters I Want in Dragon Ball FighterZ

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the following:

Dragon Ball FighterZ
Dragon Ball Super
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Dragon Ball Z

2032a769864a5d9683a22fb5aba5f5c8105d2e14

I’m not the biggest Dragon Ball Z fan (in fact, I’ve never watched a single episode of any of the various anime series) but even I couldn’t help but look at Dragon Ball FighterZ – a fighting game developed by Arc System Works – and think “Damn, this game looks cool. I want it.” And so I got it, and while I’ll probably never be “good” at it, it’s still a lot of fun to play casually.

So with the recent announcement that ‘Season 2′ will begin this year, which will no doubt see more of this series’ eclectic cast of fighters join the fray (apparently starting with Jiren from Dragon Ball Super), here are ten characters that I personally would love to see make an appearance and fight against the likes of Goku, Vegeta and co. Continue reading

Spider-Man (PS4) – Does Whatever a Good Game Can

marvels-spider-man-hero-banner-02-ps4-us-16jul18

The announcement of a brand new, wholly original Spider-Man game being developed by Insomniac Games got a lot of people, including me, very excited. It had felt like it had been ages since we got something like this – a console super-hero game that wasn’t just a cash-grab tie-in to a new movie or TV show. Everything about it looked promising and I felt like this could herald in a new age of high-quality superhero games. And judging by this game’s success, I think it’s safe to say that might just be the case.

Unless you’ve just not been paying attention, it’s no secret that Spider-Man (or Marvel’s Spider-Man – they seriously needed a better name) has been positively received. What was expected to be a moderate success has become Sony’s fastest selling first-party game ever and its first month’s sales beat the likes of God of War and Uncharted 4. It’s a good game is what I’m saying.

Honestly, I probably don’t even need to write a review about it. I’ll tell you right now; all the positive reception you’ve heard is right. If you have a PS4, this is a must buy. But, you know what, this game is SO good that I need to gush about it regardless. So rather than posit the question “Is Spider-Man on PS4 a good game?,” let’s discuss WHY it’s good. Continue reading

My VG Music Picks #63 – Boss Battle (Steven Universe: Save the Light)

Steven Universe is well known for a lot of reasons – one of those reasons being its numerous musical numbers; the quality of which can range from decent to down right amazing. So it’s kind of a shame that the soundtrack for it’s console tie-in game turned out to be very generic. Not bad, just… a bit bland, maybe. It does have a couple killer tracks though that stand above the rest – one of them (fortunately) being the boss battle theme.
Continue reading