PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness Review

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Genre: Adventure
Developer: MAGES. Inc. , 5pb.
Publisher: NIS America, Inc.
Release Date: Apr 24, 2017

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PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness is a Visual Novel published by NIS America, Inc. (At least here in the US). If you are like me, I honestly didn't know visual novels were a thing until I got a chance to play this game. To boil it down, it is an interactive story that is more complex than a simple Choose Your Own Adventure, and is more interactive to boot. It allows more branching plot lines, hidden scenes, and things like that. This is one of the big reasons video games are great, and I'm glad I had the good fortune to expand my gaming horizon.

Now, this game is a bit of a special case for me. The PS4 version came out almost a year ago AND we did a review on it. In fact, it was written by our own Ryan Johnson, and you should go read it now. I'll even link it for you. It's okay. Go ahead and read it. This can wait.

Great, now that you have read that, I'm not going to discuss the story. Why? Well, two reasons. Ryan did a great job already going over several key points. The second is that I recently learned (due to the Persona 5 steaming policy), that story-driven games like this shouldn't have its plot spoiled and should definitely be experienced. That said, I'm going to talk about how this game functions on the PC.

This is a pretty standard dialogue screen. As you can see, there are a bunch of controls along the bottom with key bindings.

Great, now forget them. Everything in the game (aside from something I'll mention later) can be done through the mouse. Honestly, I had a much better time with this than the controls. All of the little buttons you can just click, and since this game is not based on quick timing or anything like that, you can focus on the story more. Even a right-click brings up the menu screen. Basically, they did a great job on the controls. They are super simple, which lets you focus on making the choices which almost always seems to lead to 2 bad endings then finally a good one.

There is one caveat to this, and that's the mini game included in the "extras" option in the main menu. This one you should definitely get out the arrow keys. Why? Well, take a look at the screenshot below and tell me if it reminds you of anything.

That's right, it is 2048! Like Ryan mentioned, it is used to unlock all sorts of cool extras. It is the best of both worlds: a time sink minigame AND a way to easily get unlocks.

Overall, this game is a great PC adaptation. The controls make sense. Really, pick up this game. I'm going to give this a slightly higher rating than Ryan.

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This game was reviewed on the PC, but there is also a PS4 version.

Pro's
+Easy Controls
+Clear Story
+Very well translated captions
+Great Visuals

Con's
-Sometimes the background noise overpowers the audio
-The phone conversation subtitles don't pair well with the audio being subtitled

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Thank you NIS America for providing us with this code!

The Inner World Review

About 3 weeks ago, I received a copy of The Inner World. Unfortunately, I was busy when I first got it and put off reviewing it until last week. What a mistake that was! This game is delightfully charming and was a pleasure to play. It made me think in ways I don’t normally, and when I couldn’t find the answer, had a well-planned hint system that gives you only what you need to find your spark. The controls were simple, but I had one major gripe. I also had one bug I saw that wasn't really a big deal. Basically, save your self some time and get the time.

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You can see the trinket around the Wind Monk's neck.

The story starts off with you, Robert, an Asposian with a deformity, chasing after a pigeon that stole a trinket from your bitter guardian. This is the first chance Robert had to get away from the monastery where he was raised, so he quickly leaps into action.  Along the way, he meets a lot of interesting characters, like Laura. In Robert’s efforts to procure the trinket, he becomes infatuated with her, and she quickly becomes integral in solving the mystery that begins to unfold. Robert quickly uncovers his true origins, and why his deformity is actually very important.

Overall, I would say the story is pretty transparent. It quickly becomes apparent that the main character has a case of “The Chosen One”. They pretty well lampshade this in the opening scenes of the game. The story is also pretty short. HOWEVER, the characters are all so darn lovable and unique that they more than counteract the short-lived story. I actually found myself pursuing more dialog just to see how they interact with each other. Seriously. The swamp was probably the best part of the game. You’ll know what I mean when you get there.

This game has surprisingly pretty graphics. I thought the game was going to be another game that just has an odd style for the sake of it, but the crisp outlines and sharp colors really add to the atmosphere and help drive home the idea of this alien environment. I also found the more limited color palette to lend to that as well. It almost gives it a… Adventure Time meets Tim Burton feel.

The music is also delightfully simple. It is slightly above elevator music, but since most of the time you will be racking your mind trying to piece together the riddles, it will help soothe you. It sure helped me.

The cinematics were sparse but purposeful. Early in the game, the usage seems to lean more towards helping draw attention to specific parts of the environment. This helps to deliver hints about with which objects you would need interact. As you get used to the game, this is incredibly useful. However, I felt there is a definite shift towards then end of the game. As the story becomes delivered less in sporadic dialogs and more in the cinematics, the quality really increases.

However, the controls were the first complaint I had with the game. It was often hard to navigate the areas, and then the objects you can actually interact with only have their icon if you are close to them, which is hard to do because the areas are hard to navigate. See the cycle? That often leads to an issue where you don’t see a vital clue even if you turn on the object interaction mode. Having said that, the controls are pretty simple and easy to learn. On the XBox One, one have one control stick to move around the environment. As you move around, you can press a button to let you interact with objects, then select one. This brings up a contextual menu where you can combine it with other items, use it, or just inspect it. That is pretty much it. The game is really simple to control, which works out in its favor.

Other than that, this game is solid. The puzzles can be a bit contrived, but often each thing is done for a reason. If they bother to add something into the game, you can be almost certain you will need it to solve a riddle. The biggest example I can think of is this group of moths that molt and change color based on what is behind them. If you aren’t paying super close attention, you will miss it. Not only that, but you will also fail to realize it is key to a later riddle, and that kind of thing drives me mad. It is fair game in puzzlers like this. But man, it is hard for me to pick up on that.

The only real bug I had in this was that the background music would sometime turnoff. But that is sometimes refreshing. The silence clears your mind and enables you to focus on piecing all the small parts together.

Overall, if you like puzzle games, this is a buy when it comes to the Xbox One. It is a solid game with a unique art style. Plus, there is a sequel coming out soon that if you snag this in time, you shouldn’t have to wait too long to pick up. 

Final Score 4 out of 5

I played this game on the Xbox One, but the game is also available for PC and Mac per the website. If you want to know the exact specs, you can check the Steam page before purchasing. It doesn’t take much to run this game, so you’ll probably be safe even on a laptop. I also wanted to take the time to thank the developers, Studio Fizbin, for providing us this copy.

Trulon: The Shadow Engine Review

Trulon: The Shadow Engine

An okay experience suffering from "Poor Port to Console"-itis

The game has pretty beautiful visuals.... assuming you don't get a glitch you spoil things a little

When I first read the description of Trulon: The Shadow Engine, I was intrigued. I’ve tried a card game RPG before and it was a fun, but not riveting, experience. I was worried I wouldn't have fun. As I started playing on my Xbox One, I was starting to get into the flow and enjoy myself. I started to learn the character types, and was really starting to bring out their potential in the various card types. Unfortunately, I started finding more and more bugs until, finally, I hit a bug so game breaking that I simply couldn’t continue. This was at the 8 hour mark, which should be close to the end of the game (but isn’t).

The game drops you into the boots of a monster hunter named Gladia. She starts out as a jack of all trades character, and you quickly start dispatching enemies. You soon discover that the monsters and disease in the area are related, and pick up your first additional party member: a caster named Ferra. S/he (honestly, I can’t tell. I probably missed a pronoun somewhere) becomes an asset to the team, while you discover the source comes from a neighboring kingdom. There is more story, but honestly, it is such a short and transparent story, I’ve already covered around a quarter of it. There aren’t really any surprises, as even the big twist is spoiled by the character design from when you first meet them. The game telegraphs who your future partners will be, so there isn’t any wow factor their either. Each person you pick up fills a typical RPG roll (tank/crowd control, DPS, Buff/Healing, and Debuff).

Lots of health and aggro managing cards? I think he is a healer.

There might be another character, but I don’t know. Why? Because when I was close to finishing, I hit a bug that prevented me from fighting a boss that blocks the path. I’ve tried restarting my console and I’ve tried restarting the game. I would reinstall, but on the chance that this would delete my game and set me back 8 hours, I decided to give up. However, I feel confident that this will probably happen to most players until they patch it. The sad thing is, I ignored the warning signs until that point. I had frequent lighting issues, rubber-banding, sound issues, issues with title cards, and many more. Why did I keep playing? Well, I wanted to be able to thoroughly review the game. BUT ASIDE FROM THAT, it was genuinely fun when it worked. Figuring out how to overcome each battle was fun, but sometimes suffered from a case of “you just have bad luck”. You also struggle a lot until you get into your groove with your decks. Once I got good cards to pull off combos and proper control, the game got a lot easier (but still presented its challenges). This is one of the standard RPG progressions. You are weak until you start to master your skills and more powerful abilities. Then, you start to become a threat. Then, the game starts to get easy because you outclass everything and you keep getting rewarded with even more strength.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you like RPGs that last under 10 hours, with an okay story and mildly bland characters, this might be worth a pickup if you find it on sale. But, for everyone else, I would sadly say to avoid this port until you can confirm the bugs are worked out. I give this game a 3/5. What does that mean? Take it or leave it. You'll likely have some fun, but won't regret passing it up.

Thank you Kyy games for the review code!

ObliteRacers Review

Close your eyes and imagine the racing games of yesteryear. Most people probably think of Mario Kart 64, Crash Team Racing, or some other third thing. If you loved those games and wished you had a new game that played like those classics, this might be a decent fit. I’m not going to say it is exactly the same, but it is definitely something that popped into my mind when I entered the first race. It gives a fresh spin to the game, however, and I would say it adds to the experience. However, there are a couple issues that prevent this game from being a “must own”.

As I said, this game evokes some parallels with some classics like Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing. I say that, because I feel that if you compare it to modern racing games it would be woefully outclassed. Also, the art style really feels like a remastered game, which I feel is a good thing. Too many games fall into the trap of trying to look old and falling short, which makes the game look gangly. I don’t know if this vibe was intentional, but it definitely pays off. The music is unobtrusive, but if you don’t like it or the other sound effects, the game comes with some pretty solid controls for different volumes. That is an oddity in console games (from my experience), so hopefully it catches on.

This game has some fairly standard deviations from the standard racing formulas. The game doesn’t count laps, but instead count the number of fatalities or survivals. I would say a decent combination would be Crash Team Racing, Twisted Metal, and Speed Runner. The goal is to stay alive while eliminating the other racers. There is a plethora of weapons, but in my opinion the best ones are a static discharge orb that turns your car into a battering-ram, and a seeking missile that almost always finds its target.

However, this is where the game comes up short. The vehicles handle like race tires on ice. Every turn is a fight to stay on the track, and the camera tends to not help you on that front. Get too far in the lead, and the camera is a hindrance. It gets worse. There is an admittedly useful weapon that drops an oil slick on the road, that coats the vehicle’s tracks/tires/whatever and makes it neigh impossible to steer. That makes sense, but since the steering is already pretty loose, it only serves to further aggravate. Add in 15 more racers, and the game can become a bumbling mess of discovering which character you are, only to careen off the edge due to the slick controls.

Overall, a solid 4/5 game, but could use some high level polish. Maybe a future patch will tweak the handling so the cars feel more in control, but it isn’t strictly necessary. The game gives a good throw-back to the classics as-is, and is worth it if you want a Mario-Kart-ish experience on your XBox One Console.

NanoBot Battle Arena Review: Othello Meets Chicken Fighting

When I first looked at NanoBot Battle Arena by Derpy Games, I genuinely had no idea what to expect. For those of you wanting a quick verdict: I say the game is one you can sit down and play a couple of rounds before getting tired. I would also recommend playing with up to 5 friends, 3 being optimum. For those of you in it for the long haul, I would say there are really 2 main things to talk about: presentation and execution.

The presentation of the game was great. When I first opened the box, the contents were very neatly packed and tightly sealed. There were 120 cardboard tokens in 8 cardboard sleeves. Each sleeve contained all 15 tokens from a single faction. The tokens had decent heft and were shaped well. The art took up the full piece on both sides: one side dark and one side light. My only complaint is the faction icon on the token. It is really small, and the faction icon is on the corresponding faction cards, which makes the icon important. The tokens and are color coded however, so the problem isn't that big of a deal. That brings me to the cards. There are, to my knowledge, 96 total. Each faction has 6 level-1 cards, 4 level-2 cards, and 2 level-3 cards. The levels determine the effectiveness of the card.

I do have some complaints about the rulebook. I personally think it isn’t very well organized. I remember trying to find what to do in the event of running out of cards in the deck, and trying to find if we should reshuffle or not. The rule was buried under some section that, while it worked, would have been more easily found under another heading. The text is also incredibly tiny, as if they didn’t want to pay for the extra sheet of color paper. The art also seemed a little less vibrant as compared to everything else, but was still useful and coordinated well with the rules they were explaining. As much as I harp on the rulebook, it explains the rules well enough, and covers a lot of weird questions you may ask. Overall, it is a good rulebook that is concise.

As I said, the rulebook does a good job explaining the rules. However, the best way to learn anything is by doing it. My first time playing the game was a little confusing. For the complexity of the rulebook, a turn consists of few steps.

1)   Play a tile.

2)   Play a card.

3)   Draw a card.

4)   End your turn.

That’s it*. That’s the game. This is both terrible and great all at the same time. It is terrible because, when it is not your turn, there is nothing to do. If you play with lots of people or with people that need to think, it can get slightly stale after a game or two. It is great because, once you get into the flow, a turn lasts several seconds. It really lets you have a fast paced game, which fits into the small narrative that Derpy Games has tried to establish. The tiles have directions, and you win by having the longest connected chain of tiles. You can place anywhere except at the end of an opponents chain, unless it is also at the end of your chain. So, how can you beat the person in the lead? That’s where the cards come in. The cards have all sorts of zany abilities, ranging from disabling opponent's cards to converting tokens to your side. Overall, the most fun card lets you take a token and teleport it to any valid space on the board. The most fun cards are surge, which lets you remove a few cards at the end of one of your chains, and a card that lets you teleport tiles. However, some cards are clearly inferior to the others.

A small group of 4 players near the end of their game.

Freeze and Growth are those inferior cards. Frost has the ability of letting you prevent another player from playing random cards for one turn. While interesting on paper, it doesn't actually do too much. Sure you mildly inconvenience an opponent, but your turn can be better spent affecting the play area instead. If you could at least see what cards they had, then it would be something worth considering just to get a feel for what that person is planning. Of course, the game is so hectic and changes so much, even that isn't very powerful. Growth is also a very interesting card… on paper. The card lets you play additional tokens based on the card’s level. Taking into account the faction advantage for playing as the Echidna faction, you can play up to 4 additional tokens on one turn. That sounds amazing. However, there is no down side for other players using it against a player with the faction advantage, unlike every card in the game. Considering that most cards can almost, if not entirely, nullify any use from those extra tokens you would have gotten by the time your next turn comes around, you essentially just wasted a turn. Of course, that’s only 2 of the 8 factions, so I just suggest ignore those exist, or make some house rules to buff those cards’ abilities. Those cards aren't a big deal, however, because games don't usually last long enough for there to be a big need for much strategy for much past the next turn. In fact, I'm not sure it is even possible, considering the board can literally be in a completely different state by your next turn.

Keeping in mind that organized chaos is part of the game, this is actually a fun game. You have to live in the moment, and choose something you feel is good based on what HAS happened, not on what you anticipate WILL happen. That is a major drag if you have lots of players, because then your moment takes too long, or if you don't have enoughplayers,  because then the chaos isn't there. This is still a nice change of pace from a lot of strategy games. Too many games in the genre are decided in the first couple of turns, and this game does a great job at sidestepping that. There really is no way of know who will win until that last tile is placed. If you are looking for a fun game to purchase, I would suggest NanoBot Battle Arena, with the caveat of holding off on getting more than one pack until you actually play the game and make your own judgement.

*This only applies to the base version of the game.

Matthew Wilt from The Gamers Lounge unboxes Derpy Games new tabletop game ManoBot Battle Arena!

If you wish to purchase the game, head on over to Derpy Games. Thanks to Derpy Games for supplying a copy for review!