FATED: The Silent Oath Review

Mass VR is still relatively new, which means that we are going to see a lot of experiments and different approaches to types of games. FATED: The Silent Oath minimizes gameplay and focuses more on an interactive cinematic experience that puts the player right in the middle of a beautiful 3D animated movie. 

In the beginning of FATED, you find yourself on a carriage near death. A god comes to you and tells you that she will trade you your life for your voice, meaning that going forward the only way you can communicate is by nodding yes or no. This way of interacting felt new to me although I don't think very much changes based on your choices. 

As the story starts to develop, you begin to discover that the lives of everyone you know have been shattered by the return of angry ancient gods. Everyone in the town, including your family, is feeling a sense of dread, so it's your mission to bring everyone together while protecting your family. 

As I mentioned before FATED is more focused on a cinematic experience rather than gameplay, but the few gameplay moments all work incredibly well. You'll find yourself hunting for food, driving a horse and carriage, and solving a few puzzles over FATED's five acts. While none of these parts are extremely long or very challenging, it does help to push the story forward. 

Another nice aspect is that graphically FATED is one of the best PSVR games that I've played. The scenery is gorgeous and the characters have a cartoon quality that's a bit Pixar-esque. The only drawback is that this experience lasts just over an hour, so while you may fall in love with the world FATED does end a bit too early. Without spoiling anything, I, unfortunately, have to say that when the game ended I was completely caught off guard. A major dramatic event takes place then the credits roll leaving you wondering what happened? It honestly feels like the end of a TV episode and that you have to tune in the next week to find out what's going to happen to these people that you've become attached to. This is a real bummer because the entire game is focused on the story and to come up short really hurts the experience. I even played the fifth act a few times to see if there were multiple endings just to be sure, but I always got the same results. 

FATED: The Silent Oath does a great job introducing the concept of interactive cinematic experiences to the PSVR, but with the abrupt ending it feels more like a long tech demo rather than a complete game. The world is gorgeous, the interactions work well, but you will most likely be let down by the ending. 

3.25 stars out of 5

Thank you to Frima Studio for providing us with the code. 

Unearthing Mars Review

Generally, there are two types of VR titles; experiences where you are immersed in your surroundings with very little interaction, and games which can be almost anything; rarely do we see a title that is both. Unearthing Mars combines these two elements into an interesting story with some surprisingly fun gameplay.

When Unearthing Mars first starts, it doesn't do itself any favors. You are standing in front of a large holographic map of Mars listening to two people who sound robotic talk back and forth to each other. There are a few interactions like responding to two people and spinning around the Mars map, but then the chapter ends and you're left wondering "what did I get myself into?" These reservations are rightfully felt, but if you just give Unearthing Mars a little more time you'll discover an odd but interesting game.

The second chapter puts you in the seat as a copilot aboard a spaceship that is headed for Mars. You and your commander have to work together to ensure that you land safely. If you mess up along the way, you lose something similar to health and if you do too many wrong inputs, you ultimately fail. After you safely guide your ship to Mars, the game really starts to open up.

Once you're out of your spaceship you can move around by hopping around to different designated areas. It seems like the biggest hurdle for any VR game is how to move your character without making the user feel nauseous. While I didn't feel any discomfort with Unearthing Mars, I did find the way you move to be a little odd. To move you simply aim the PlayStation Move Wand and click on one of the designated areas. The issue with this is that for some reason there is an arch added to the movement rather than just a straight line. This means to move somewhere far away you need to point the Move wand up at an angle instead of just straight ahead. It's an odd design choice and it just doesn't feel natural.

Voice acting has to be one of the hardest things to nail because it seems that so many indie games have trouble with this. I mentioned earlier that the voices between the two characters sounded robotic, but fortunately the voice acting gets progressively better as it begins to sound more natural. This definitely helps the immersion because you are no longer focused on how bad the characters sound.

The objectives in the game are pretty easy to figure out which keeps the story going. The entire experience will take you about one and a half to two hours to complete. You may run into a few parts that take some thinking, but for the most part, you won't have any issue completing the game. The best part of the game comes towards the end when you get to battle against hordes of evil aliens using a shield and a gun. This part came totally out of the blue and I wish that there was more of it, but regardless, it was an absolute blast.

Overall, Unearthing Mars is rough around the edges, but it does have its charm. The world is developed nicely and there are some interesting gameplay elements. If you feel like you've exausted all the PSVR choices then you may want to give Unearthing Mars a chance, but don't expect to be blown away.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Winking Skywalker Entertainment for providing us with the code.

DYING: Reborn PSVR Review

Publisher Oasis Games has been consistently releasing games on the PSVR since launch and after playing all of their PSVR titles I can say that DYING: Reborn is their best game yet. The main character, Mathew went out to search for his sister only to find himself locked in a room full of cockroaches, metal bars, and puzzles.

There are a total of three rooms that you have to escape from in the PSVR version compared to the six in the PS4 and PS Vita version. Because you are buying an abridged version, the price comes down to $9.99 instead of $19.99 making DYING: Reborn one of the cheapest PSVR games and not a bad deal.

Usually, when I play puzzle games I find myself overthinking and getting stuck. With DYING: Reborn overthinking is your friend. You have to examine everything in the room because the solution is rarely obvious. The best approach would be to play the game like a point-and-click adventure game where you find an item and interact with every object to see if they work. I did find myself getting stuck one time because of the graphics quality of the game. There's a part when you have to play a melody on a piano and for the longest time I couldn't figure out the hint. There's also a puzzle in final room that I was stuck on for easily over an hour because of no other reason than it was hard to figure out. It's tough for me to criticize the game because the solution was available, I just wasn't prepared for there to be such a difficult objective.

One thing that felt odd was that the game ended abruptly. I'm not sure if it's because it's the abridged version, but you don't really get closure. This, unfortunately, does make the experience feel rather incomplete. The entire game took me about three and half hours to finish and I did enjoy my time with it despite the conclusion and getting stuck on one puzzle for over an hour.

Overall, if you're looking for a PSVR game to play and you want to be challenged, then $9.99 is a low risk. While trophies never determine how I feel about a game, it is nice to know that completing DYING: Reborn PSVR will get you 100% of the trophies in one playthrough.

3.75 out of 5 stars

Thanks to Oasis Games for providing us with the code

Tales of Berseria Review

The Tales series is back with another installment, but things are a lot darker than they've ever been before. The story features a young woman named Velvet who is raising her little brother, Laphicet. One day when Velvet is away from her home the town is struck by a daemonblight that turns all of the citizens into "daemons" (prounced demons.) Amongst the chaos, Laphicet goes missing. Velvet tracks him down to only find that her brother-in-law Artorius is sacrificing Laphicet as a part of a ritual. Artorius attempts to sacrifice Velvet, but she is able to fight him off. Unfortunately for Velvet, she was somewhat affected by the daemonblight and is partially turned into a daemon. Velvet then sets out to avenge her brother and kill Artorius. 

One of the highlights of the Tales series has always been the combat system. While a lot of JRPGs use a variation of turn-based combat, Tales of Berseria uses a live-action system that is much more frantic than other RPGs. You also have four people total that are fighting with three of them working completely independently. You can adjust their behavior with a simple button command, but this never felt necessary. Additionally, Berseria doesn't use mana for special abilities, but rather a Soul Gauge that depletes as an ability is used and regenerates as you either stun an enemy, kill an enemy, or just over time. This unique system is great when you're kicking butt, but can be a pain when fighting a stronger enemy. I appreciate it when any developer attempts to freshen up old mechanics, but I wouldn't miss this system it if it didn't show up in the next game. Your companions also use this.

One of the big drawbacks that I felt with Berseria is that the fights, for the most part, are incredibly easy on the normal difficulty. Unlike other JRPGs you can see the enemies in the field and can choose to either fight them or ignore them. It's logical to think that you should fight every enemy so you can level up, but the fact is that you can do a minimal amount of encounters and be fine. There were times where I was working my way through a dungeon and discovered that I was absolutely dominating every enemy. After a while, I became bored with encounters and just wanted to advance the story. I'd recommend that after about 10 hours if you find Berseria to be too easy, that you should either increase the difficulty or switch to any character other than Velvet. You can always switch back later.

Speaking of the other characters, you eventually have six people to choose from. One thing I really enjoyed about this is that the majority of your characters are in your party within about 12 hours of starting the game. This doesn't cause any inconvenience later on down the road of someone joining your party at say 30 hours, meaning that you have to buy all new gear for them or start leveling up their skills. Each character has a set of "Artes" and the more they use specific Artes, the better they become. This is also true for equipment. There's actually a lot to level up in Berseria, but most of it just happens naturally without needing to pay attention to what you're doing so you don't need to focus on it. 

As I mentioned before, the dungeons are pretty massive. There are tons of corridors, breakable walls, and puzzles that you have to run through. Now, when I say "dungeons" you get the image of some dark, dank scary place, but in Berseria most of the dungeons are actually outside. Aesthetically this is a nice change of pace because it's more fun to run around a beautiful forest than a dingy cave, right? One issue is that one of the puzzles is repeated a few times and it's kind of a pain. There are color coded floating objects that you have to touch to deactivate colored doors. The issue is that when you change one color you activate another, so this may mean that you need to run back to another part of the dungeon to deactivate another color. This wouldn't be bad if it was just one dungeon that did this, but there are at least three where this happens. No one likes doing the same puzzle mechanics over and over and I am not an exception.

The story itself will take you around 50 hours to complete, but there are plenty of things to do outside of the story. There are mini-games, side quests and an awesome real-time ship simulator where you can find ingredients to cook with. Cooking is actually a pretty awesome feature that allows you to get extra perks, as well as automatically heal yourself during combat, as long as you reach certain perimeters. I definitely recommend partaking in the extras because the benefits are absolutely worth it. The story also features an amazing amount of hand drawn anime cutscenes that are always fun to watch.

Overall, Tales of Berseria is a good game for people who are both experienced and inexperienced with JRPGs. The fact that the storyline is much darker than any of the previous installments will excite people who are looking for something that breaks away from the usual "good guy" story. 

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Bandi-Namco for providing the code. 

Geki Yaba Runner Review

Most runners are built on the premise that you run as far as you can until you die and then you start over. Geki Yaba Runner for the PlayStation Vita does away with the run until you die concept and incorporates a story that takes place over the course of 136 levels. 

As the player, you control a gnome who has the task of rescuing a princess. The majority of levels have a minimum amount of socks that you have to collect to progress because well, you're a gnome and that's what you do. This is, of course, easier said than done. Geki Yaba Runner actually touts itself as 'one of the hardest runners out there' and I can't disagree with that. The reason for this is because not only do you have to be extremely precise, you have to remember to use all of your gnomes abilities. 

The abilities consist of jumping, floating, falling fast, increased speed, and plowing through objects. If you touch a spike, you die. If you hit a wall, any wall, you die. If you run into a tree, you die. Pretty much everything will kill you, so you need to do everything perfectly and at times you're required to use two abilities or more to get through one tiny section of the game. This requires patience and muscle memory, but thank goodness respawns are instant.

I personally play a lot of runners and I can say that this one is definitely difficult, but thanks to the frequent checkpoints, it's not impossible. Regardless of the frequency, you will most likely die over 1,000 times. It wasn't unusual for me to die around 40 times on one level and in one case I died 133 times. Of course, this sounds like it would be frustrating, right? This actually drove me to play even more because I was determined to advance. There were so many times that I would say "one more level"  or "one more attempt" only to find myself playing three to four more levels. 

As I mentioned earlier, Geki Yaba Runner features a story, but it's pretty shallow. The story elements only feature a few still images that require you to piece together what's happening. I respect the decision to include a story in a runner, however, because it doesn't add much to the overall game, it wouldn't be missed if it wasn't there. Maybe if there's a Geki Yaba Runner 2, the story will be more developed. 

Geki Yaba Runner took me about 3 1/2 to 4 hours to complete. The difficulty progresses nicely and while at times you'll get stuck, the game is addicting enough that you'll want to complete the entire adventure.

4 out of 5 stars 

Thank you to QubicGames for providing the code. 

Dexed Review

If you happen to be a PSVR owner you know that the library of games is fairly limited. At launch, it looked promising, but it's slowed down quite a bit. Lucky for PSVR owners, Ninja Theory, who is developing the much-anticipated Hellblade, supported PSVR with their latest release, Dexed. 

Dexed is a rail shooter where you use fire and ice to defeat enemies. The concept is simple enough - ice kills fire, fire kills ice, but as you may expect, it's not always that easy. The main goal of Dexed is to get the highest score possible. If you accidentally shoot ice at an ice enemy, your score will freeze and if you shoot fire at a fire enemy your score will burn and decrease dramatically. 

There are a total of five levels (including a boss fight) that can be played on easy, normal, and hard. You will have no trouble completing the entire Dexed experience in a little over 30 minutes. The first time I played a level I played it on easy, but for the next four levels, I played it on hard. This didn't make Dexed all that difficult because you can't die or lose, but there is that added pressure of trying to destroy every enemy to get the highest score possible. 

Although I finished the game fairly quickly, I did go back and play levels over and over to try to improve my scores. Dexed is a fun enough experience that you would want to play through it more than once and it would be a great game to compete against one of your friends on the leaderboards. The trophies in Dexed are also pretty tough, so if that's your sort of thing you'll find even more replayability. 

Overall Dexed is short but does offer a great amount of replayability.  Dexed is currently $9.99 on the PlayStation store which is the perfect price point, especially if you're looking a new PSVR game. 

3.5 out of 5 Stars

Thank you to Ninja Theory for providing the code. 

Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live Review

Not every video game is made for every person. There are niche titles that are made for a very specific audience and sometimes you have to consider that when reviewing a game. Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live features the extremely famous VOCALOID, Hatsune Miku, performing her songs in front of the player as well as a massive digital audience. 

The gameplay of Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live is minimal. You use your DualShock 4 to wave and pump a glow stick in rhythm with the crowd and an occasional mini-game and you also use the mic to call out "Miku" to help get the crowd excited. If you successfully do this well enough you are rewarded with an encore, which gives you a "private" concert with Hatsune Miku. Each "stage" (which is what they call each DLC) lets you choose three songs out of a possible six for Miku to perform. The game does keep track of the songs that you've heard, so it's easy to go back and listen to the tracks you haven't heard. 

The best part of the whole game are the songs. They are almost all upbeat J-pop songs that honestly make you smile. You may not know what she is saying, but it's really hard to not smile while listening to the songs. This will make people want to go back and listen to the songs that may have missed during their first playthrough. 

Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live is much more of an experience than an actual game.  During the concert, you are able to sit in different seats around the arena which gives you a different perspective of the show. My biggest gripe is that at $15 per DLC the arena never changes. If there was an option to have some variety in the venues it would at least feel like Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live had more depth. 

Overall this is not a game that I would recommend to anyone who isn't already a fan of Hatsune Miku or VOCALOIDS - and that's okay. This game is intended for a Hatsune Miku fans, but just know that it is a bit shallow and you will probably want more from the experience. 

2.75 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Sega for providing us with the code.

Robinson: The Journey Review

Crytek is known for making visually stunning games, so I was pretty excited when I found out they making a game for the PlayStation VR. Robinson: The Journey is an exploration puzzle game that takes place on a distant planet that's covered with dinosaurs. You, your floating AI HIGS unit, and your pet Tyrannosaurus, Laika will work together to try to discover what happened to your ship, as well as sending out emergency signals out into the universe. 

Graphically, Robinson: The Journey looks as good as a game possibly can on the PS VR, but unfortunately the hardware restricts Robinson: The Journey from really shining. With that being said, Crytek has done a wonderful job creating a rich prehistoric world. One of the things that you can do is collect information on a variety of different creatures using an item that looks sort of like a move wand. In most games, this might be a drag because it feels like a pointless collectible, but in Robinson, it feels like it would be a necessity for actual survival. 

The world isn't that large, but the variety in scenery makes up for a lack of areas to explore. When you are inside the area you will get hints from your HIGS unit, but outside of that, you are pretty much on your own. There are no breadcrumbs or mission indicators that hold your hand to your next objective - you are truly living in this world and must figure out what to do next. This can be both frustrating and rewarding. The sooner that you're on your own the more you will start to enjoy Robinson: The Journey. 

The puzzles in the game are pretty straight forward. You'll either use the HIGS unit to distribute power to different items, use Laika to scare dinosaurs into moving where you want them to go or dropping items, or use the item that looks like a move want to pick up objects and move them. You might also be able to say that there are puzzles that have to do with the actual act of exploring. When you are climbing trees or scaling mountains you'll find that there are multiple paths. Some of these will lead you to your goal and others will lead you to a dead end. This is a nice touch because it makes Robinson a lot less linear. 

The entire experience can take anywhere between 3-5 hours depending on how much exploring you do. If you take your time and collect all the data on the animals it will take you over 5 hours. Anywhere between 3 and 5 hours is the perfect amount of time for any VR game, but what makes Robinson: The Journey tough to recommend at the current digital price of $59.99, but GameStop and Amazon both sell the physical version for $39.99 and I think that is the perfect price. 

Overall score 3.75 out of 5. 

Thanks to Crytek for providing the code.

The Brookhaven Experiment Review

If there is one genre that shines brighter than any other in virtual reality, it’s horror. Saying that you won’t jump or panic pretty much guarantees that you’re setting yourself up to be scared. The Brookhaven Experiment isn’t just a battle against virtual monsters, it’s a battle against fear itself. 

You start off every level directly in the middle of multiple corridors, walkways, and huge openings that give zombies, horrific mutations and huge insects a direct path to you. As the waves of enemies come, you have to think about more than just taking them out, you seriously have to assign priorities of which enemies you need to kill first. Oh yeah, and there’s no tutorial, so make sure you press all the buttons early to figure out what they do. Here’s a quick tip, the circle button on the left controller is a quick turn around. Without knowing this, I was using the Start button to completely readjust my screen, which is not an effective way to play the game. 

When you enter the level, you get to choose from a handful of weapons, attachments, and throwables. Early in the game, you fairly limited to what you can select but as you progress you have to start going into levels with certain game plans. It’s safe to assume once you reach the fourth level you’re probably going to a few times and you have to start really thinking about what worked and what didn’t work. This is where I feel a major issue starts to creep up its ugly head. 

To get more ammo and throwables such as proximity mines, chemical grenades, and flares you have to complete levels that you’ve already finished. About halfway through the game, there’s a level titled Storm Drain, which has one of the highest difficulty spikes I’ve ever experienced in any game. Up until this point I felt that I was being challenged, but there was never a time where I questioned the actual impossibility of the game. 

Now I understand that every gamer is different, but having played well over 500 games on my PlayStation consoles, being a person who likes difficult games I feel comfortable addressing the difficulty curve that The Brookhaven Experiment takes. 

One of the first issues lies 100% in the PlayStation Move tech and I won’t fault the game for that too much, but there is a time when you have to aim directly above your head at spider enemies that are crawling down the walls. These spiders shoot webbing at you that can either disable your gun or blind you temporarily which renders you ineffective against the enemies who are quickly bearing down on you. Because the Move Wands can’t be recognized above your head (and I am not that tall) you have to hold them against your chest and angle them outwards. This isn’t a natural feeling, but once you get the hang of it’s not too bad. 

The other issue is the lack of ammo and throwables that you have. Whenever you complete a wave you get to decide between health and an ammo supply that comes with a random throwable. These throwables are proximity mines, chemical grenades, hand grenades, stun grenades, and flares. When you go into a level and die whatever ammo that is used doesn’t get restored and whatever throwable you bring in completely disappears whether you used them or not. Now the simple answer is don’t die and don’t get hit, but as I mentioned before the difficulty spike is tremendous. The end result of dying and reattempting the same level is that you have to go back and grind for supplies. At one point I went into a level with 900 machine gun rounds that I was saving for the final two rounds. I made it through the first wave only using around 300 rounds leaving 600 for the final wave. I quickly ran through those 600 rounds and just had to stand there waiting patiently to die. They game will tell you that you can use the butt of your gun, your knife and you totally can when you’re reloading or if there is a single enemy, but you’re definitely not going to be able to make it through waves of enemies unless you’re a samurai. 

I will say that I did eventually finish the Storm Drain, but it took probably 15-20 attempts where I would die late into the 3rd or final wave and it required hours of grinding ammo and grenades just to have enough supplies to finish it.

Overall The Brookhaven Experiment is a terrifying experience that requires users to keep a level head to succeed. The intense difficulty spike will probably end up frustrating a lot of gamers. 

3.25 out of 5 Stars

Wayward Sky Review

When reviewing PlayStation VR titles it's easy to get overly impressed with games that would be average because the level of immersion is unlike anything gamers have experienced before. Your body actually responds physically and at times you get fooled into believing that you can interact with virtual objects. I've had the pleasure to play and review a handful of PlayStation VR games and can say that Wayward Sky is one of my favorite virtual reality games. 

The story follows Bess, a young girl who must save her father from a slightly mentally disturbed kid named Thaddeus who shot down their airplane. Thaddeus lives on a monstrous flying base that is maintained and populated by robots. Over the course of the game, you solve puzzles and meet friendly robots while ascending this floating fortress. 
 

The first and most noticeable aspect of the game is the gorgeous art style. For the majority of Wayward Sky, the camera is a fixed isometric perspective, which makes the presentation sort of look like a board game. There are a few times where the camera does switch into a first-person mode and you have to solve puzzles by controlling two separate hands. The game looks just as great while in first-person, so it was nice to see that the graphics didn't lose any quality, which can be an issue in VR games. I did find that I had some issues while trying to complete the puzzles in first-person. There were times where my hands wouldn't respond the way that I expected and it took extra maneuvering to complete objectives. 

The world itself is pretty fun to explore and there are a lot of hidden collectibles. I am usually not a person who enjoys hunting for collectibles because it just seems like a cheap way to add more time to a game, but I really didn't mind it in Wayward Sky. The reason is because there are only two different types of collectibles to find: windchimes and robot pieces. Once you collect all the pieces of a specific robot you can then use that robot in a mini-game that is sort of like a beat 'em up / 
horizontal shooter. It's a fun little game and it also gives the collectibles an actual point.

Wayward Sky will take around 2-2 1/2 hours to finish which isn't a bad length, but this is one game that I wouldn't mind another hour. The major issue of Wayward Sky is that the puzzles are incredibly easy. Just by using trial and error you'll be able to make it through any of the Wayward Sky's challenges. Without having to think about the solutions, the objectives just become something that slows you down rather than something that adds anything to the experience. 

Overall Wayward Sky is a quick, solid game that has a wonderful presentation. You can easily sit down with your PSVR, discover a nice story, and see a beautifully designed world all before you have to go to bed for the night. 

3.75 out of 5 Stars

Thank you very much to Uber Entertainment for providing the code. 

The Assembly Review

Whether or not you are a believer in the staying power of virtual reality, it is here now and we must embrace it. The early games that we're going to experience may not always be the most mind blowing experiences, but what we are seeing is paving the way to the future. The Assembly by nDreams is a game that introduces a deep narrative that follows two characters through the end of one journey and the beginning of another. 

When we are first introduced to the characters we find out that they are both scientists. Caleb Pearson and Madeline Stone are both at a critical time in their lives when they must make a serious decision that will not only affect them, but possibly change the world. Caleb is working on trying to escape The Assembly, while Madeline is attempting to become their newest scientist. 

Both Caleb and Madeline have very different styles of gameplay. As Caleb, you are attempting to smuggle out classified material. This takes a lot of thinking and discovering all while making sure that no one finds out. Luckily, there are no real stealth elements to the game and it's pretty much narrative driven. This keeps the player going forward in a story that you really want to find out more about. Madeline's story is a little darker and is more like a puzzle game. You must pass trials and make moral decisions that will greatly impact your character's future. 

The Assembly uses the Dualshock 4 and doesn't have an option for the PlayStation Move. I was a little disappointed at first because you really want to try out all of the cool new options of the PlayStation VR, but after awhile I didn't think that the Move would add anything beneficial to the experience. One awesome feature of The Assembly is that you can change your movement style. You can walk fast, slow or snap to locations. I originally put the game on walking fast (which is actually called normal) and found myself getting motion sickness. After playing with the control options for awhile, I found the perfect fit for me. I can't really knock the game for motion sickness because not everyone is going be as sensitive as me, however, I do recommend that you play with the options to find the optimal settings to prevent this from happening to you. 

As far as exploring goes, The Assembly has a fairly large world. You make your way through plenty of different areas in this massive laboratory that is partially underground. This prevents the player from getting bored of the same old locations and even though the labs may look the somewhat the same, there are plenty of layouts and different rooms to go into. The variety in the lab and the bouncing back and forth between characters really helps drive the player forward. 

There are a few minor annoyances with The Assembly that could have definitely been improved upon. I've played a few VR games and I have the PlayStation Gold Wireless Headphones which feature the ability to hear 3D audio. The audio in The Assembly doesn't utilize the spatial sound which would create a much more immersive experience. Another issue I had is that there isn't a lot to interact with in the world other than what's related to the story or things like drawers and cabinets that you can open that may or may not have something important in them. There are a decent amount of voicemails that you can listen to on phones, and computers you can log into to read people's emails, but it would benefit the world if the player was able to just pick up an object and toss it. This doesn't necessarily affect the gameplay, but it does help the immersive experience. 

I finished the 12 chapters of The Assembly in just over 4 hours. I, unfortunately, had to stop twice because of motion sickness, but if that didn't happen I could have easily finished the game in a single sitting and been fine with it. Right now with the limited number of VR games out for the PlayStation, I would say that the $29.99 price tag is completely fair and that it is an enjoyable experience. If you like narrative driven games then I could comfortably say that The Assembly is one of the better choices for PS VR right now. 

4 out of 5 stars

Thank you to nDreams for providing the code. 

Loading Human: Chapter 1 Review

In Loading Human you play as Prometheus, an aspiring scientist who has been summoned by your dying father to retrieve the Quintessence, which reverses the aging process, ultimately saving your father. No pressure, right?  

The gameplay of Loading Human is very similar to Heavy Rain, except in VR. You'll find yourself interacting with plenty of items, some useful and some not. You can pick up pretty much anything you could imagine a normal person can pick up. I found myself picking up glasses, plates, bottles of wine, dropping them just to see them break. None of this is probably mind blowing, but what are usually mundane tasks are so immersive that the player finds themselves completely engaged in what's happening. This could be the very nature of VR, but to succeed at this, the world has to be developed and that's exactly what Loading Human achieves. 

Loading Human was the first full PlayStation VR game that I've played, so when I first started I felt that the pacing was a little slow. Your character only walks and there is no option to run. I feel that most people who are making their first full dive into VR with Loading Human will feel this way, but after playing a few other games I feel that the pacing is actually perfect. The reason being that motion sickness is very real and in fact, Loading Human handles movement better than the other games that I've played so far. Some other games, such as Batman Arkham VR make you teleport around instead of walking. 

There were a few hitches along the way with Loading Human. One issue that I found was with the hint system. There aren't any breadcrumbs or item tags that show you your next objective, which is totally fine, but the hint system that is in the game can be very vague or just flat out wrong. There was one time where I had to restart the game a few times to understand what I was missing. This can, of course, be very frustrating when you're trying to progress through a game which relies on its narrative to keep the user engaged. The other issue is that the base that you are in is fairly small and you'll find yourself exploring the same areas quite a bit. There are a few space simulations that are fun, but they are only "exercises" that you don't actually use. Then the final major problem without spoilers is that once you finally get to the point to where feel like the game is going to completely open up, it ends. If the developers would have just given the user 30 minutes to an hour of gameplay that used the space simulations again it would have broken up some of the mundane tasks. 

Even with all the issues that I felt, I have to say that I am definitely looking forward to Loading Human: Chapter 2. From what I've heard there are supposed to be four chapters total which is a hefty investment if they plan on making every game $40. What would be nice is that the first installment is $40 and the rest that follow can be downloaded for $20 each. 

If you like narrative driven games and are looking for something to play on your PlayStation VR, then I feel comfortable recommending Loading Human: Chapter 1, but if you are looking for something that has a lot more action then you may want to try something else. With that being said, I definitely think that as the story evolves that Loading Human should be a series you keep on your radar. 

3.5 stars out of 5. 

Thank you to Maximum Games for providing the code. 

Slain: Back From Hell! Review

Slain follows the adventure of a Bathoryn, a doomed hero, who wishes nothing more than to sleep. Unfortunately for Bathoryn, duty calls and he must wake up from what seemed to be like a very long nap to cleanse six different lands from demons, monsters, and the living dead.

Within the first few minutes of Slain, I died, and then I died again, and then I died again. If Slain’s objective was to die over and over, I would be the grand master of Slain. Luckily, the checkpoints are so frequent that you never get stuck anywhere for too long. There were plenty of times where I had killed all of the enemies, only to be killed by a trap, causing me to completely redo the part that I had just finished. I really only have myself to blame for constantly underestimating the world of Slain. There is never a moment that just lets you breathe. Whether it’s a group of enemies or a boss fight, you’re going to experience your fair share of deaths. 

Most of my early deaths could have been prevented if I would have taken a step back from trying to murder everything and embrace the complexities of the combat. One of the main features of Slain is the ability to reflect almost every projectile - and there are a ton of enemies who shoot different types of projectiles. There is also a parry system that allows you to time your blocks and then land critical hits. Parrying enemies is the best way to get through difficult encounters. 

Overall, there is a decent variety of enemies. There are a few reskins, but their difficulty has been increased. I never got to the point I felt that I saw the same enemy too much. Because Slain has such a wide variety of enemies I always felt that I had to stay on top of my combat game. The game even introduces new enemies right before the final the boss fight. 

The boss fights in Slain are all intense. They use every aspect of the game’s combat mechanics which makes it critical that you never let up. One constant throughout the game is that once the boss starts to lose health they start to speed up their attacks making you have to work even harder. There were plenty of times that I felt that I was about to execute the boss only to get them down to a quarter of their health and die. 

Slain's biggest issue is that there is a lack of any sort of upgrades. The health and mana you start with are the same that you end with. Eventually, you're able to switch your regular weapon to fire or ice, but it doesn't feel like much of an upgrade. I find myself torn if this is a major issue or if it's just something that I'm not used to. Traditionally, games will have an upgrade system, so when you run into one that doesn't have one it's kind of odd. In the end, this was okay for me, but other gamers may find this to be an issue. 

I had a great time playing through Slain: Back From Hell. It took me roughly about 7 hours to finish which is a great length. If you like difficult games, heavy metal, and tons of gore, then this game is right up your alley! 

4.25 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Wolf Brew Games for providing the code. 

Headlander Review

When I first played Headlander at the 2015 PlayStation Experience I got the impression that it was a puzzle game, but within the first 30 minutes, I realized that I was wrong. Headlander has rich environments, a lot of useful upgrades, and a good amount of reasons to want to explore.

The first thing you’ll notice is the 1970s sci-fi aesthetic – and of course, the fact that you are just a floating head. Your primary ability is being able to tear the heads off bodies and then taking over the body. As the game progresses, you’ll encounter different colored enemies. These different colored bodies grant you access to different areas of the map. For the most part, the correct enemies that you need to progress are pretty close or will spawn within a few seconds allowing you to continue on your adventure without much effort. In fact, I found that even though Headlander touts itself as a Metroidvania style game, most of the time I was going forward and completing objectives without really having to backtrack. This sort of contradicts what I typically think of Metroidvania games, which is slightly unfortunate because I wouldn’t mind spending a little more time in the world of Headlander.

You can upgrade both your body and your head abilities by finding orbs, secret rooms, and completing side missions. By upgrading, you can increase your ability to suck enemy heads off, speed up your regeneration, increase your thrust and health and plenty more. Even if you just tried to blast through Headlander you would still find a decent amount of upgrades, which is great because some of the abilities that you earn are absolutely essential to making sure that you succeed on your adventure.

The combat in Headlander gets progressively more intense. The early bodies that you get have a pretty simple shooting mechanic that will slightly bounce off of the walls, but as you continue your laser shots will start to bounce a lot more. The bad news is that the enemies also get these upgrades. So what starts off as a cool little mechanic eventually makes you feel like you are playing a hell-shooter. Luckily, dying doesn’t punish you too much.

Headlander features a couple awesome bosses, but unfortunately, there were only two. They both require you to use both the head and body mechanics to destroy them, which I really enjoyed. The game could have easily just made you use your shooting abilities and completely ignored the power of your head. Although Headlander is not a very long game there should have definitely been at least one more boss – especially since the ones that are in the game are a lot of fun.

Now being a Double Fine game, Headlander features a quirky story and a ton of humor as you might expect. This specific game was created from Double Fine’s Art Director, Lee Petty, who was the project lead of the hilarious and brilliant, Stacking. I bring this up because if you played Stacking and enjoyed it, then Headlander is definitely a must play and if you haven’t played Stacking, I couldn’t recommend it enough.

The overall experience took me a little over five hours to complete. Because I was constantly making progress, I felt that I didn’t get to enjoy the world as much as I’d like. Also, Headlander could definitely benefit from adding one or two more boss fights.

4 out 5 stars

Thank you very much to Double Fine for providing the code.

Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors Review

When you think of Hell you probably think of fires raging, demons ripping people to shreds, and an incredible amount of suffering, right? That’s not the case with Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors. In this journey, you play as a Program Instructor, who is tasked with helping seven beautiful girls get a second chance at life through “reformation.” This is, of course, met with many different challenges from an antagonizing pest that is constantly slowing down your progress by making you go through trials and tribulations in attempt to keep you in Hell forever.

From the beginning of the game you have access to five of the seven characters, but can only use four during battle. The battles start off pretty simplistic due to the lack of skills, but eventually get much more involved with combo attacks, skill attacks, group heals, and support skills. You earn these skills by “motivating” the girls using bondage style mini-games such as “Scrubby Scrub", "Spanking X" and "Pinch the Balls” which I will get to later.

Once you have a few skills under your belt and you start fighting stronger enemies, the game really begins. During fights each girl has an attack, heal, or support option. These options are mostly situational, so if you have a lot of magic power or MP, you’ll most likely be forced to attack using a skill. Also, if your characters are low on health, your healer or healers will get a healing prompt. The game definitely knows what situation you are in, which makes the battle system a lot of fun. There are a few ways that you can re-randomize the skills as well, just in case you don’t like the hand you were dealt. It’s always nice when a game attempts to change up the turn-based fighting, but it’s even better when the game nails a unique design. 

As I mentioned before, you use mini-games unlock new skills. Each mini-game has four levels and after each completed level you get to choose one of two skills. These mini-games use the in-game currency, CM, so you can’t just play them whenever you want, but as long as you’re doing well you can get a new skill every 2-3 attempts. Now I’ve played a few games with fan service and I feel that there is no reason to make a big deal about them, but the one mini-game that I felt was a little odd was "Shocking Bondage." The other mini-games aren’t really meant to inflict pain, although I really have no idea what is actually happening in “Pinch the Balls", but this one does and I don’t know why. You may have heard about the western version’s censorship, but after watching a few videos and doing some research, I would say that the censorship is being blown way out of proportion. There are only a few things that changed and the most noticeable one is the sounds that the girls make while actively playing one of the mini-games. There is also supposed to be a reduction in restraints, but when you think “censorship” you imagine something that is much more explicit and that’s not really the case here. So if you’re in the mood to protest the game because we aren’t getting the “real” version or something along those lines, I’d have to say that the fight you’re putting up is a lot of effort for something that really doesn’t change your experience. With all of that being said, I do have an issue with how the mini-games and the story are somewhat disconnected.

Criminal Girls 2 is all about facing your demons and getting a second chance at life. The girls start off timid, nervous, and reluctant, but as the story progresses they become powerful and confident. So my issue lies in the fact that you have the development of strong girls only to shock, pinch, and scrub them. There is even one scene when one of the girls appears to have a tear on her cheek. I’m not even saying that the motivational games are a problem, but there is definitely a better way to work them into the story. Maybe next time the motivational tactics can unleash some sort of direct ability from them that makes a bit more sense. I’m not a game designer by any means, and I trust NIS, but there has to be a way to incorporate these activities in a more seamless way. Are you ready to get back to the gameplay? Me too!

As you traverse through Hell you find quite a lot of landscapes. There’s Bloody Hell, which features big stuffed animals (or real animals) with severed heads and blood everywhere, Sunken Memories which is dark and has school / home feel to it, Maze Hell which has butterflies and flowers everywhere and a few more. The changes in scenery make it a lot easier to traverse through, compared to a game which is just fire and demons over and over. I really enjoyed the different levels and always looked forward to see what the next one held. 

There are also plenty of enemies in the game and the only time you really feel like you’re seeing the same enemy over and over is when you’re grinding. This is a nice touch, because there are a lot of games with fan service that rely on the sexuality of characters to propel them through the story. There are also many interactions between the characters that show fantastic character development. You really feel like you’re learning a lot about the girls and you begin rooting for them. 

Overall Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors is a JRPG that with many upsides. I do wish that the mini-games were more connected to the story and who knows, maybe we will see that in Criminal Girls 3. If you’re looking for a new JRPG to play then Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors should definitely be on your radar. I mean, there’s no doubt that this is the sexiest journey through Hell you’ll ever take!

4 out of 5 stars 

Thank you to NIS for providing the code!

MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death Review

Have you been itching to save the world? How would you like to do it with a massive robot who uses one of five elements? Well, you’ve come to the right place! The planet’s rotation has stopped and to get the world back to normal you’re going to have to take Estra, her faithful Guardian, and a few friend’s through a 25-30+ hour journey to resume order!

When you first dive into MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death you’ll feel that it’s a traditional turn-based JRPG that you may have played in the past, but a few twists develop this game into a much more strategic affair. One of the major mechanics is the use of elements. Using fire, wood, ice, earth, and you’ll be able to expose enemies weaknesses, but enemies can also be resistant to these elements, so you’ll need to adjust your strategy as you go. There are a few ways to change your strategy. As you progress in the game, you’ll unlock new Guardians, body parts, and gems that all have different elements or bonuses. Finding the right combination can get a bit tricky, but MeiQ doesn’t really penalize you for dying, so anything you do is low risk. 

Once you figure out your elements and you’re ready to kick some butt, the fun begins. Eventually you’ll have a six party team; 3 Guardians and 3 heroes. You’ll primarily use your Guardians in battle, but the heroes have some awesome abilities to help you get through the fight. Each hero has a different set of skills such as group attacks and party buffs that increase attack, defense, etc, and heals. These abilities are limited, so you really have to think about when you want to use them, especially when you first start playing. As you level up, the limits will increase and you can use them more freely. You can replenish these abilities by visiting a spring, setting up a portable camp, or returning to the inn to rest. This isn’t a very complicated system and anyone who’s experienced in RPGs should pick it up fairly easily. 

There are four main towers that you must conquer with a few additional ones that appear later in the game. You’ll find yourself trekking back and forth between them to complete main and side quests. Most of the side quests I completed just by playing the main story and grinding so you don’t have to pay too much attention to the requirements. I don’t feel like this is a bad thing, but it doesn’t really add much to the experience ether. In most dungeon crawlers when you walk along a path, the tile you step on is uncovered - MeiQ does some slightly different and a whole lot better. As you progress, you’ll see a few of the surrounding tiles lit up as well, which is nice because to uncover the entire map you don’t need to step on every single tile. The only issue with this is that at times you’ll think you’ve been somewhere, but you actually haven’t. I have to say that even though there were times I had to backtrack because I had missed something, I still prefer the way MeiQ uncovers their tiles than say Etrian Odyssey. 

As you make your way through the four towers you’ll start to notice that the difficulty level, as well as experience can be all over the place - this is one major issue that I had with MeiQ. In one battle you may be able to kill a group of enemies that yield you less than 100 xp (which is significantly low) only to encounter another group of enemies that will give you thousands after defeat. The biggest discrepancy that I found was an area that had enemies that gave you 600 xp only to be followed by enemies that have 4xp. I’m not sure why there is such an imbalance between battles, but this made finding a good place to level extremely difficult. 

Overall MeiQ: Labirynth of Death is a JRPG players RPG. For those who are experienced with turn-based battles, but I wouldn’t consider it an easily accessible game for new comers. One question that I know people have is if there is a new game and I’m happy to say that there is. The bottom line is if you’re looking for a solid JRPG for the PlayStation Vita then this is definitely worth the time and money, just be ready for some head-scratching balance issues. 

Thank you so much to Idea Factory for providing the code.

3.75 out of 5 Stars

Fenix Furia Review

Jump, dash, die, repeat. That's pretty much what you're going to be doing over the 4-6 hours of Fenix Furia and you wouldn't want it any other way. 

Fenix Furia is one of the most frustrating and addicting games I've ever played. As with most games, the beginning is fairly easy, but this doesn't last long. There are 10 worlds in Fenix Furia, each with 20 levels, as well as an Arcade where you can unlock extra games. Your objective is to use your unlimited jump and dash abilities to weave in and out of enemies who are moving up and down and all around. I would say once I reached the later levels I would die around 10-15 times guaranteed with a high of being 48 deaths on one level.

There are five modes when you select a level: Easy, Rage, Two, Challenge, and God. Easy mode gives you an extra hit and there is no time goal. Rage mode has one-hit kills as well as a time goal to beat. Two, which is the multiplayer, puts two people in a race to finish the level. Challenge restricts the amount of jumps and dashes you can use. God mode makes you invincible and you have to kill all the enemies on the map before time runs out. When you successfully complete these different modes, you are rewarded with stars. You can use these stars to unlock mini-games that are actually fun. 

Along your journey you will also find cookies - that's right, cookies. Collecting all of these cookies will unlock 10 Fenxi Furia themed recipes. Just let that sink in for a moment. Besides earning trophies you can get a delicious recipe. How cool is that? 

The only real issue I had with Fenix Furia is that the levels in each world don't progressively get harder. You may come across a level that feels like it's impossible and the next level you breeze right through. I don't feel like this is something to knock points off the games total score for, but at times the difficulty does feel inconsistent. 

Fenix Furia is an absolute blast. My stats show that I died over 2500 times and I have no issue with that. The game is challenging and rewarding and that's exactly what you want from a game. I'm holding out hope that one day Fenix Furia makes it way on to the PlayStation Vita because I think it would be the perfect console for it. Do yourself a favor and buy this game!

5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Green Lava Studios for providing the code. 

Hands On With The Golf Club 2

I think it’s safe to say that golf games are designed for golf enthusiasts. The Tiger Woods series definitely opened up the genre to a wider audience, but without a big star’s name on the cover, most people probably wouldn’t give a golf game the attention it deserves. While these games may not be at the top of everyone’s priority list, Golf Club 2 has a good chance to be the golf game that returns everyone to the genre. 

Usually when a golf game comes out, you can expect it to have licensed courses, but being a small developer HB Studios has decided to go a different route by creating an incredible course editor. In the first Golf Club, users created over 108,000 courses. This allows HB Studios to rely on an obviously healthy community and invest money in improving gameplay, as well as updating their course editor. One major improvement to the course editor is that users will be able to import their maps from the original Golf Club and add new features like waterfalls to their course. 

The gameplay is fairly straight forward, but by no means easy. You use the right analog to pull back on the club and then push forward to drive the ball. The key to success is timing your swing and making sure the ball goes straight. After playing the game for about 30 minutes, I felt comfortable getting to the green, but putting is a whole different beast. 

Putting uses the same mechanics, but trying to figure out how far you should pull back and how fast you should push forward can really become a challenge. The best I could do out of all the courses I played, was getting a birdie on a par 5, which means 4 shots total. 

Having an easily accessible golf game with one of the best course creators I’ve ever seen in any game makes my Golf Club 2 experience a hole in one! Yes, I did go there. 

Trillion: God of Destruction Review

Lately, RPGs have been taking chances and coming up with some really creative ideas. We’ve seen Persona go into full-on dance mode, we have the side-scrolling multiplayer strategy RPG Grand Kingdom coming out soon, and we have Trillion: God of Destruction, a JRPG unlike anything that I’ve seen before. 

When the game starts off you learn that the the six layers of hell are under attack by a monstrous god who devours everything it it’s path. As the hero, it’s your job to prevent the destruction of your world, but that is definitely easier said than done. Trillion: God of Destruction doesn’t operate like a standard RPG. 

The first thing you have to be aware of is that the game works on a day / week cycle. Each event, (which I will get to later) takes one game day and adds a certain level of fatigue. If you reach maximum fatigue, it’s game over.  At the end of the first few weeks, you train against a giant wooden dummy who mimics Trillion’s attacks. This way you are fully prepared for what’s in store for when you have to fight Trillion. 

While preparing to fight Trillion, you only control one character. Your character levels up by completing training missions (which is a simple quicktime event), participating in the "Valley of Spears" (which is a dungeon that you can fight in once you collect 5 tokens from each training mission you attempt), and by building relationships with other people in the kingdom. Everything you participate in gives you some sort of experience points that you can allocate to six different stats. 

Once you reach Trillion the fun really begins. The floor is covered with a grid. Each move or attack that you do causes Trillion to either call enemies, prepare an attack, or attack. You’ll know when Trillion is about to do something because the ground will be highlighted in white. You have a limited amount of moves / attacks before the grids turn red and Trillion unleashes a devastating attack on you. Because Trillion has 1,000,000,000,000 health, you won’t be able to kill him in your first attempt. This means that you have to do as much damage as possible without dying, because if you die it’s permadeath for your character. This means that you have to know when to escape the battle. How much damage you do to Trillion depends on how much destruction he’ll cause on your world. After each fight, he’ll start to devour parts of towns. The better you do, the less he’ll destroy. This is a good way to prevent the player from exiting a fight prematurely. One quick side note, when your character dies, some of their stats will be transferred to the new character. 

Trillion: God of Destruction is really involved, but with only one dungeon that you can participate in and everything else controlled from a hub, it does tend to get repetitive. Now that doesn’t mean that you can just press X through the entire game and not pay attention to anything, but really Trillion is a game centered around a single boss fight. Luckily, a play through doesn’t take all that long and it can be completed in about 12 hours if you don’t skip the text. 

3.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Idea Factory for providing the code.