Soul Sacrifice Delta (Vita)

Soul Sacrifice Delta is a game that’s meant to fill in the void left by the absence of Monster Hunter in the PlayStation Vita’s library. Delta is an expanded version of the original game with extra story content, monsters and re-balancing of gameplay. This is effectively the definitive version of the game, making the original release redundant.

The game has a confusing opening and the tutorial feels rushed as a result. Luckily the game is fairly easy to pick up. What drags the game down in the beginning is the messy menus, and how it progresses. There are numerous menus that you’re not too sure on what they are for since it uses unfamiliar terms. Then there are all the customization options, so you’ll need to spend a bit of time playing around in order to feel more comfortable with everything. It takes around four hours before the game really opens up and you’re more comfortable with the flow of the game.

The story is told via text cutscenes with voice-overs as if you’re reading a book. This is is not ideal but probably decided upon for cost reasons. You’re a trapped prisoner by the sorcerer Magusar, and are facing certain death when a talking book appears before you. The book, named Librom, is a chronicle of a powerful sorcerer’s past exploits. Through the book’s magic, the player is able to experience those battles and gain enough power to challenge and defeat Magusar.

This is an action RPG, and attacks are effectively various abilities called Offerings, which are hotkeyed to three of the face buttons. You gain more abilities through completing quests and are able to power them up. Then you press the hotkey to execute the attack which can be a melee attack, a ranged shot, defensive abilities or a myriad of others. These are fully customizable and you’re able to map six of these at once. The fourth face button is used for dodging, and the left shoulder button is for locking on. It works well enough but is still fairly clunky.

As you’re only limited to six abilities in total, you have to pick and choose the ones you like. This is made harder because there are also elemental effects on abilities, and a monster might be weak against one. Luckily, there are sets that you can customize, save and swap, so you don’t have to constantly adjust if you have a go to all-rounder set of abilities you prefer to use.

You might find the lack of a default block button frustrating, especially if you have played other games of the genre. You miss is quite a bit against the faster enemies, which can be quite annoying. You need to specifically equip blocks, using up a precious slot. Although this introduces the clunkiness of swapping to handheld weapons as it requires a short animation, by which point the boss is out of their stun animation.

The main gimmick here is the Save or Sacrifice option. Whenever you defeat a monster, you can either Save them or Sacrifice them. Saving them will boost your HP and defense upon level up, while Sacrifice will increase your attack power. This is changed slightly once you get further into the game, along with third option of Fate, where it randomly decides whether Save or Sacrifice. It depends on your play-style on which one you want to level up more of. You have a maximum level cap of 100, but it’s your choice on how to spread those 100 levels among Save and Sacrifice.

The game is comprised of many smaller bite sized quests where you defeat monsters and is designed to be played in small chunks. In the story quests, you either fight solo or you’re joined by the story character. In the optional quests, you’re allowed to bring up to two NPCs, and their AI is much improved compared to the original. They are more powerful, useful and actually worthwhile to bring as they make the quests much easier.

As it is with games in this genre, bosses can have an enormous amount of HP and you’ll be wailing away at them for a while. It has the issue of your character easily dispatching the weaker enemies but then bosses take much longer and are much harder. While most major enemies do it, the human enemies are worse because they dodge and jump around too fast, so you can’t even hit them if you are primarily a melee user. These battles just serves to be very annoying and frustrating.

The game goes for a dark gritty realistic look, thus the graphics aren’t amazing since it doesn’t have stylized aesthetics to cover up its flaws. Instead it can look muddy at times but it is still serviceable. The game can still feel very rough, even this improved Delta version, it does not play as refined as other games in the genre like God Eater.

The game can spike in difficulty if you are playing solo as enemies have limited openings. They like to chain their powerful moves that pretty much destroy your health bars in a few hits. Their attacks cause you to flinch but yours don’t have the same effect to them. They move really fast, can aim much better than you and it’s generally fairly unfair. Perhaps the worst aspect is that enemies hit really hard. Yes, you can learn attack patterns but all it takes is an unlucky move and you’re dead.

Despite being called one of the easiest games to solo the story in the hunting genre, the later levels are brutal. When you’re fighting a monster with such a gigantic health pool solo, where one or two hits will easily kill you causing you lose the quest, it is infuriating and feels really unfair. You now have to whittle down the boss’s health from the very beginning yet again, presenting a really repetitive and dull process that punishes you too heavily for a simple mistake. For this reason, this puts off a lot of casual players who aren’t too into the genre, and why the game lacks a wide appeal.

The game ends up forcing you to grind levels fighting against the same enemies again and again if you don’t want to spend a long time fighting bosses, their health pools are just too big to be fun. While it makes story sense to force you to go solo in story quests, it really never should be the case in a gameplay sense as it stops you from progressing since you don’t have AI partners to draw the heat away from the boss. This means it drags out the extremely short story much longer than necessary.

Another annoying part, although some may love it, is how your Offerings have limited uses before breaking permanently if you’re not careful. You’ll definitely run out during a quest so you need to replenish it by... fighting weaker enemies and then sacrificing or saving them. Not too bad when you’re only fighting weak enemies, but extremely frustrating when you’re fighting a boss... solo... and sacrificing takes time that you cannot afford.

While the concepts in the story are intriguing and has a lot of potential, the storytelling via a text method makes it lacking. Now, a visual novel style is not bad, but the game uses such a small amount of text that it never conveys enough detail or emotional impact to make it pay off. The game includes the story of the original, as well as an expansion taking place afterwards. The expanded story content, compared to the original, feels very short, almost like a token effort. Nevertheless, the game still takes around 30 hours to complete.

Even finishing off the story, there are a ton of other things left to do. The amount of content in Delta is mind-boggling, there is so much to do. However, while it has the quantity, it doesn’t have the variety. At least it has a decent collection of different monsters; it’s just weird that it doesn’t use them all in the story quests, instead opting to repeating the same ones again and again while leaving unused ones as optional quests. There are literally hundreds of optional quests to do.

Overall, Soul Sacrifice Delta presents its own unique twist to the hunting genre. While the combat is simple to understand, given you take six different abilities to the battlefield, it’s the flexibility of the abilities, coupled with the buffs that you decide to specialize in, that allow it a lot of different play styles. The story is average and at several points is hampered by annoying solo quests that slow your progress. All in all, it is definitely a great and unique game in the Vita’s library.

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Toy Review: Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Kingdom Waspinator (Deluxe)

Review:  #700

Name:  Waspinator

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Predacon

Line:  Generations - War for Cybertron:  Kingdom

Year of Release:  2021

Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 4)

Mold Status:  new

BEAST MODE:

Time sure flies by because the last time we got an update for Waspinator, that was in 2013!  As an update to his Beast War Season 1 incarnation, Waspinator transforms into an organic wasp.

This is a pretty good beast mode, despite the obvious robot legs.  The purple wings look really nice though and brings out the sculpting and evilness of the character.

Waspinator is a Deluxe, above is a size comparison against TLK Bumblebee, he isn't a bad size considering how small figures are nowadays.

The wings are on balljoints, so can be positioned however you want.  This time around, unlike the previous figure, there are no gimmicks for the wings, so there's no bulky piece wasting space.

Another interesting thing is that the mandibles can open and close, while the antennae are on balljoints.  It's not really necessary but is a nice touch nonetheless.

The legs are not as good though, since the front pair are joined.  You can only lift the head up and down for posing purposes.

The dark green and purple wings contrast nicely, leading to an excellent beast mode that's better than you'd have expected at first glance.

TRANSFORMATION:

Transformation is easy, the legs unfold from the bottom and spans the length of the beast body.  They fold down, at which point you can then flip the arms out to the sides.  For the final steps, you collapse the front half of the beast, including the head, down to form the torso, although annoying, it doesn't actually clip together that solidly.

ROBOT MODE:

Waspinator's robot mode is fairly accurate to the show, with one exception, his arms don't have the pair of legs there anymore, there's only one leg, as the other two / four are moved down to his legs.

He has the wings on his back and also the back piece of the beast as kibble, sadly, they do get in the way.

The head sculpt, at first glance, isn't as sharp or defined as the previous figure, but it grows on you.  The purple used for the eyes are perfect and accentuates the figure.

For size, above is a comparison against Siege Sideswipe and unfortunately, Waspinator is a bit on the shorter side.

Poseability is fairly good, his has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

Annoyingly, his chest doesn't peg in solidly so the wasp head likes to detach and flop around when you're trying to pose him.

Waspinator comes with his gun, formed from part of the beast.  Due to cost-cutting, it literally looks like a piece of his stinger, rather than the gun from the show.

He can hold the weapon in either hand but it looks pretty bad due to its shape, it just looks like a blob held by him.

The insect legs also loves to get in the way, all the time.  So while the robot is great in theory, there are little practical annoyances.

Having the option to position the wings down or up is great, and this leads to an above average robot mode.

OVERALL:

Waspinator is not going to win any prizes for innovation.  He plays it safe and this leads to a solid Transformer, albeit one with a few minor design flaws that make him more annoying that he should.  He's still worth the asking price though, especially if you're a fan of the figure.

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John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)

The third film of John Wick continues straight after the second.  After John falls on the other side by breaking the rules, the High Table is now out to get him, putting a $14m contract on his head and making him the target of everyone.  The biggest theme of the film is how there are consequences for breaking the rules.  Everyone that had helped John now gets their punishment, and there is a sense of loyalty and fealty.  The film explores further the workings of the High Table, their reaches, and the respect that they command.  John is only one guy against everyone, but since he is John Wick, no doubt he manages to survive and become a one man army.  He still struggles though and is finding a solution in which he doesn't die.  The plot is well paced, there was never a dull moment and it feels that it is constantly moving.  It starts off with an excellent fight scene, and the rest of the film is peppered with them.  It builds up to the climax where it is a massacre.  One thing to note is that the violence seems toned down compared to the second film, just slightly.  There are still gory parts, and over the top kills, but it feels like its focus isn't on how far they can push it but rather whether it is just enough to get the message across.  While it doesn't compare to the original (and frankly, nothing will), Parabellum feels like you can root for John Wick again.

Guilty Crown (2011-12)

Guilty Crown is a 22 episode anime set in the near future. The anime doesn’t do a great job at explaining the premise in the first few episodes since you’re left with a messy pile of concepts mashed together. The protagonist is Ouma Shu, who is a normal Japanese high schooler with an issue in truly befriending others. There was something called the Apocalypse Virus years ago and this led to the government organisation GHQ eventually gaining power. The virus is still circulating, striking fear in residents as it causes the body to crystallize and the person to eventually die.

Shu quickly meets Inori, who was hurt and hiding inside an abandoned building that Shu regularly visits as he uses the computer there to create videos. This is where he gets caught up with a vial containing the Void Genome. Naturally, through events somewhat outside of Shu’s control, he gains this power and is able to pull the “void” out of people. By pulling the void out, it materializes it into something that reflects that person. In order to get out of a jam, Shu pulls the void out of Inori, which is in the form of a long blade.

We quickly learn that Inori is part of an organisation that are branded terrorists as they oppose GHQ. Gai, as the head of this so called terrorist organisation, is well liked by its members, who all look up to him even though Shu doesn’t understand why. He has quite the hate for Gai at first, which can feel completely irrational. Gai on the other hand is portrayed at perfect (or near perfect) in a lot of ways, which can be annoying as well.

Shu unfortunately falls into the class of anime protagonists who has multiple female characters straight up falling for him. Some will fight for his attention, while others only discover it when they become jealous. The bad news is that this aspect can take a bit of the focus at times, which does not add much to the story. His character development gets worse when it goes through a generic phase of not fully believing in the cause. The lack of conviction and direction from Shu is frustrating. When Shu gets to a stage of being horrified at what he’s done and can’t go on, you can’t help but feel that there’s little going for him.

The anime combines a lot of popular elements such as the protagonist being a normal person that gains a special ability, giant mecha being involved in a lot of the fights, a futuristic sci-fi setting and of course, the ease at which Shu finds himself with the opposite sex. However, having them all together doesn’t automatically make it a success and the flaw that Guilty Crown has is that it struggles to make all the elements coherent.

There is a mix of slice-of-life in among all the other crazy stuff to the point that it feels kind of at odds. You’ll have Shu being arrested and then breaking out of GHQ before returning to school the day after. It doesn’t fit with common sense even if the anime tries to explain why this was possible. There are contrived scenarios where a person with a void that has the perfect ability needed for the situation is conveniently just found or identified moments before it is required. There are too many instances of the story leaning on these contrived conveniences.

The middle of the season if where the plot goes off the rails with some weird and unexpected developments. While the first half wasn’t great, it was okay, the second half gets worse with every episode. It feels as if the writers gave up and just made stuff up as it went along. Contradictions start to appear, characters become unlikable and the plot developments are eyeball-rolling cringeworthiness in every episode. It is hard to stomach in many points. The ending is jumbled and the anime felt like it wanted to move away from all the cliches of the genre but ended up embracing a lot of it anyway. Tropes are not bad but when the anime does it in such a forced awkward way, it’s terrible.

The second half of the season tries for some highly impactful character development of Shu. This only serves to highlight the same flaws of the character again and again. Shu flip-flops lacking conviction and is too easily influenced. It feels like a switch is being flipped on and off, he goes from one extreme to the other making the whole process weak and hard to expect. This is on the same level as amateur writing trying to be edgy and dark. To make matters worse, this happens with all the other secondary characters such that no one in the whole anime is compelling or likable. Their change in personalities and their actions just completely contradicts how they were portrayed before or were irrational. Yes, there are extraneous circumstances but it just too out of character for a lot of them.

Overall, Guilty Crown had potential but it effectively squanders it right away. None of the characters are truly likable and all of them became terrible characters in the second half. This means that there is no one left that you feel like that you can support for. The story continually gets worse as the season goes by pulling stuff out of a hat again and again, going in a direction that you don’t expect, but not in a good way.

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Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4)

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is a standalone expansion to Uncharted 4 and the first game in the series to not follow Nathan drake, instead opting to focus on Chloe instead. The story starts off in India, where Chloe travels through the warzone in search of the rebel leader Asav. She joins up with Nadine and together they steal Asav’s disc, which is the key to finding the legendary Golden Tusk of Ganesh. In their search for this treasure, it’ll take them through the wild exotic places that the series is known for.

The gameplay will be familiar to anyone who has played Uncharted 4 or any other game in the series. Chloe can easily climb and shimmy across ledges, as well as using a rope to swing from place to place. While it is also a third person cover shooter, pretty much all encounters can be gotten past stealthily without alerting the enemy. The gun play is solid, using the trigger buttons to aim and shoot, and there are a variety of guns to use, which are all picked up from the enemy. The melee combat is not that great, and very awkward, particularly when you’re forced to use it during certain fights.

The gun play doesn’t form a huge part of the game, which is great since it’ll get quite repetitive if that was the case. Instead, there is the treasure hunting aspect and while the game is linear overall, in the beginning you’re plonked into a huge map and you set your own pace in exploring all that is hidden. This includes the major structures that you know will progress the game. You get access to a vehicle, and when you get your first glimpse of the wide open area, you’re still left with the same awe as when it happened in Uncharted 4. Although the map may be a bit too big so it can be confusing and overwhelming at first glance.

While exploring, there are light puzzles. These are not designed to be extremely hard and stop you from progressing. They are mostly fairly easy to solve except for the few where it’s challenging. It might combine elements such as timed sections, platforming or rotating / lever puzzles. To be honest, the puzzles are nothing special and we have seen these gimmicks before. They mostly are more of an annoyance rather than being anything clever.

Chloe and Nadine actually have fairly good chemistry and while at the beginning of the game they aren’t too keen on each other, their banter soon indicate otherwise. Despite Nadine being your partner for the game, she barely does anything except fire off a few bullets during gun fights. As expected, the game is filled with big set pieces but unfortunately for the game, we’ve seen a lot of this type so it definitely isn’t as big of an impact as it once would have been. Also, when you’re being chased or fired upon, and the point is to run to the next section, it can get confusing on which path you are supposed to go as it is not clear in the confusion.

After having five games (including the Vita entry), it means that the game doesn’t really hold any surprises anymore. Chloe will jump to a ledge and it’ll crumble but not before she manages to grab onto another ledge. Or she falls down multiple stories but gets back up after a minute or two without any sort of injuries. It just all feels so normal and generic by this point, which is unfortunate since it’s not the game’s fault, it’s just that players has now been desensitized to this genre.

Of course, the game also runs into the problem that the other games had. That is, despite your best efforts in solving the cryptic puzzle in order to be the first person in hundreds of years to gain access into the ruins, the bad guys will easily swarm you soon after. They also don’t have anything stopping them from destroying and blowing everything up as well. Combined with the exaggerated and over the top nature of things and again, it starts to become the norm, lacking the oomph that you’d expect.

After the gigantic open world style map that you get to explore in the early parts of the game, you might be expecting more. That is not the case, since the game then becomes a linear adventure to the finish. This isn’t necessary a bad thing since you already got to spend a few hours playing around, and having a faster pace that the linear section brings means it’s a lot more engaging. The plot moves much more briskly, and it takes this chance to reveal a bit more about Chloe’s past and her family.

The ending rapidly increases the actions, and is one big event after another, which can be quite the rush. Although because it constantly tries to top itself more and more, you might end up with a sense of apathy. Nevertheless, it’s a strong ending to a solid story. Needless to say, the graphics are phenomenal and looks amazing. Although the game can be called slow paced at times since Chloe only jogs, and the action is perhaps stretched a bit too thin at the beginning. There is a lot of downtime spent travelling from place to place. The game started off as a single player DLC of Uncharted 4, so it’s not as long as the mainline entries. It’s still of a decent length and the high quality more than makes up for it though. It takes around seven to eight hours to complete your first playthrough at a leisurely pace. There are plenty of collectibles scattered around each area.

Overall, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy might fall into the category of being more of the same, however, it is still a very high quality game. It’s got a good balance between action and exploration, and giving you the freedom early on to explore and do things at your own pace is pretty fun. Then after that, it’s a straight rush to the end.

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