Omega Labyrinth Z (PS4)

Omega Labyrinth Z is a roguelike dungeon crawler that is a sequel to the Japanese only Omega Labyrinth. This game was originally going to be released in English but was infamously refused classification in Australia and UK, before being blocked by Sony themselves. As a result, there exists an English translation somewhere… but officially, it is only in Japanese, Chinese or Korean. This is a dungeon crawler with an extremely heavy dose of fan service, it’s to the point where it is right on the boundary about to cross over to adult content territory. From the dialogue at the very beginning and when you get to the first CG (and it doesn’t take long), you’ll understand why it was refused classification and why Sony America and Sony Europe were hesitant with the game.

This game is actually a sequel to the first Omega Labyrinth, and the story continues on here. After the events of the first game, we’re introduced to Akanezaki Rio, who had just healed after an injury forced her to take a decent time off school. Upon returning to the school, she learns that the Holy Grail had broken. She meets a fairy who tells her that the Holy Grail can be made whole again, and thus Rio pursues that goal. On the other hand, the returning cast of characters lead by Akemiya Aina soon meets with Rio as a new mysterious cave opens up at the school.

The majority of the game has Aina and Rio being rivals of sorts. Then, as per typical of these types of anime inspired games, they get to know each other and become friends. There are a few misunderstandings along the way, and a lot of small talk that shows off the backgrounds and personalities of each character. Thus, there’s not much complexity to the story and is a bit too straightforward at times, which are just the characters running through the dungeons that appear in order to chase the Holy Grail (or basically prevent the antagonist from getting it).

The bulk of the gameplay revolves around the dungeons, which are randomly generated. Characters take on a chibi form as they explore each floor of the dungeon tile by tile. You always start a dungeon at level 1, and can gather new weapons, armor and items on the way. You do keep your equipment throughout each dungeon (in addition to the standard weapon and shield category, there is also the… bra and panty category). There are traps hidden on the floor, which are annoying as you cannot see them until you actually trigger it. You can only carry a limited amount of items which quickly fills up your bag.

Enemies roam each floor, and even if you defeat one, they will respawn. When you do encounter an enemy, it’s turn-based to a degree. You perform an action and the enemy will perform an action. Attacking is easy, it’s at the press of a button, and that’s pretty much it. You can use items that have different effects including ones that give you a ranged or magical attack. Defeating enemies provide Omega Power, which act as experience points (as well as increasing the character’s bust size…). There is a stamina bar that slowly depletes (but can be refilled via items), and if you die, you lose all items in your bag at that time and have to restart the dungeon again. At least there is the option of a suspend save if you need to quit mid-dungeon.

If the constant mention of breasts doesn’t tip you off, then the various other gimmicks will. The sexual references and innuendoes are the tamer aspects of the fan service. You’ll encounter your first minigame when finding an item that needs to be appraised in the dungeon. How to you appraise it? The character puts the object (coincidentally shaped as a long stick) between their breasts, and you must either use the analogue sticks or the touchpad to squeeze the object… If that wasn’t enough, when you save your first character at the end of an early dungeon, a CG pops up with the character in a compromised position and once again, you use the analogue stick to touch the character in various places to free them. Finally, you’ll encounter hot springs in dungeons that can heal and gives buffs. In its more daring attempt yet, the CG is pretty much the character naked strategically covered with wisps of steam, and you need to touch various places again.  Although as if the developer had the foresight that these gimmicks will wear off pretty soon, you’re able to skip them in the future.

As is the nature of dungeon crawlers, it can be brutal if the game ends up wanting to serve you a string of bad luck. You might step on trap after trap, or worse yet, fall into rooms filled with an overwhelming number of monsters again and again… while triggering traps as you desperately try to survive. You lose your items if you die in a dungeon (whereas if your partner dies, they’ll respawn at the next level so it’s not too bad there), but at least you get to keep your experience and levels. Still, it’s not fun though when it happens and it can get quite intense when you’re on the verge of dying.

There are several annoying aspects that are staples of this genre. Traps are frustrating, especially the ones that confuse you (so the character doesn’t go where you want them to go), and the ones that causes your items to spill out. Speaking of which, enemies whose attack can knock your equipment out are also annoying for the fact that you need to go pick up those items and equip them again, wasting a lot of time over the course of the game considering how frequent they are. Enemies that can phase through walls so they can attack you but you can’t attack them, combined with the corridor map layouts and you’re in for some frustrating times.

As you’d expect, dungeons get longer and longer to clear as you progress through the game. It goes up from 5 minutes in the tutorial dungeon to over an hour long midway through the story to nearly two hours in the final story dungeon. You’ll easily run out of bag space and become constantly bogged down by inventory management. This severe restriction wastes your time since moving items around takes a turn (meaning it jumps you out of the menu, so you need to open it up again and navigate to the next item you want to move). Despite this, it is an addictive gameplay loop that has the perfect difficulty balance, although it leans more towards the easier side.

The game takes around 25 hours to complete, which is the perfect length as it’s not too long and not too short. The difficulty of the game lies in the normal enemies and persistence in going through the numerous floors that gets larger and larger.  Random effects from enemies and traps also become more dangerous. The bosses at the end of a dungeon, and this includes the final story boss, are much easier by comparison and goes down in a few turns, especially if you spam moves. This can lead to an anticlimactic end, and doubly so for the story as despite the build up of the antagonist, they go down too easily.

However, finishing the story is only the tip of the iceberg. The game has a wealth of content, and most of it are optional. You start to unlock them as you progress through the story and the final pieces unlock after the story. There are several puzzle dungeons as well as high difficulty challenge dungeons. The loot and equipment upgrade aspects become more important and is your motivation for pushing forward. The challenge dungeons are no joke as you will eventually require top tier equipment in order to clear them.  You are also encouraged to replay dungeons to get higher scores, complete specific requirements to get bonus items and of course, grind for loot.

Overall, there’s no doubt that Omega Labyrinth Z is well known for its heavy fan service content, and rightly so. The fan service is constantly thrown in your face throughout the story, with some extremely suggestive CGs. However, look past this and the dungeon crawling gameplay is surprisingly solid. It’s simple to learn but has enough going for it that it doesn’t get boring even after you finish the story. There are some deliberate decisions on the gameplay mechanics that can bog down the player, such as the overly restrictive inventory management and the harsh penalties of dying from randomised events, but all in all, it’s a fun experience.

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Plastic Memories (2015)

Plastic Memories is a 13 episode anime that’s an original story. It takes place in the future where androids now exist that has artificial souls inside them and are indistinguishable from normal humans. It follows Tsukasa, who had just started work at the Terminal Service section of the company that produces and sells these androids. The twist here is that all androids have a limited lifespan of just a bit over nine years before their personalities and memories break down. Tsukasa’s job is to collect these androids about to terminate from their owners.

Tsukasa’s partner, Isla, is also an android. Isla is already experienced in this role but has the appearance of a young girl. The first episode sets up the tone, as just from the nature of their role, it’s always a sad and heartbreaking moment tearing away an android from their owner / family when they had built a relationship from all these many years. You can probably tell where the story is going to go, where Tsukasa will probably fall in love with Isla and their ending can only be a sad one.

Before it falls into the romance angle, the first half of the season is slow paced and shows off the responsibilities of the Terminal Service unit. Basically, Tsukasa and Isla are going around, trying to convince the owners to sign a paper to give up on their androids because they’ll go crazy and out of control otherwise. The results of which could be devastating so it begs the question on why the company didn’t build in safeguards in the first place to prevent the massive flaw if it is guaranteed to happen, given that they’re all machines and software anyway.

Otherwise, it tries to tug at your heartstrings with its various stories of how the android is now part of the family, and they do not want to part with them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite succeed given the short setup times. Along the way, we find out more about Isla and her background. Despite first impressions, she has a personality where she retreats into her shell, and it takes a lot of effort from Tsukasa’s part to find out why. While it isn’t too boring, there are scenes where it drags on for a bit too long and so feels like not enough is happening as a result.

The relationship between Tsukasa and Isla isn’t quite there. We see Tsukasa pretty much immediately fall for Isla, but this can feel superficial like with a lot of other “love at first sight” scenarios. When Isla eventually reciprocates the feeling, it just feels contrived and forced. It’s as if that this anime is a tragic romance, therefore they must fall in love kind of deal. As a result, the pair lacks chemistry and charm, which also means you don’t really care as much about them as the writer would have wanted you to.

Despite her cute appearance, Isla can be an annoying and frustrating character to watch. Yes, she is an “ice queen” that Tsukasa has to defrost, but she doesn’t give him much to work off. Her closed off demeanour means it’s hard to sympathise and understand her, so you never quite warm up to the character. You’ll develop a sense of apathy, going through the motions of watching but not really invested in it at all. Her constant clumsiness, meant to endear her to the viewer, comes off as pointless, especially since as an android, there’s little excuse for such accidents.

The limited lifespan of an android is akin to death, the only difference is that they die faster than humans. There’s not much special in the way the anime approaches this topic, so you can swap the androids for a normal human (or someone with terminal illness etc) and nothing would have been lost. While it is used as an excuse for some side events, it never truly explores this concept of limited time in this specific context.

Towards the end, you will wonder when are they going to start really immersing the viewer into Tsukasa and Isla’s predicament. The answer is that they never do, at least not on a deeper level. As it is, the last episode is where it somewhat shines through and shows its potential at reflecting what someone would do when they know it is their last day. The feeling of having fun the last day but also knowing that it’ll end all too quickly, it is an indescribable feeling. At least the anime does not try and sugar-coat things to achieve an idealistic ending, although it’s not as sad as it could be.

Overall Plastic Memories squanders the potential of its concept. It could have gone hard with a sad and touching story by getting the viewer to truly invest in the relationship between a human and an android with a short limited lifespan. Instead, it spends a bit too much time on the worldbuilding and then rushes through the romance portion so that it we never become too emotionally attached. It’s not a bad anime, but there leaves a lot to be desired and it never hits you hard.

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Toy Review: Transformers Generations Studio Series Soundwave (Bumblebee) (Voyager)

Review:  #723

Name:  Soundwave

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Generations - Studio Series

Year of Release:  2022

Size Class:  Voyager (Wave 15)
Mold Status:  new

VEHICLE MODE:

Soundwave transforms into a Cybertronian hovercraft.  This is basically an excuse for an alternate mode, made easier since the he never appeared in alternate mode in the Bumblebee movie.

It's a poor form from the front thanks to the exposed knees and obvious leg pieces.  The back is better, and at least this mode doesn't have any big gaps.

Looking from the underside, you can see that this is literally the robot mode with the limbs tucked around the torso.  Interestingly, the chest compartment that opens, opens directly downwards so you can "drop" Ravage off in vehicle mode, which is pretty neat.

In terms of size, Soundwave is very flat, but he's about standard for a Voyager sized figure.

The two robot weapons peg onto either side, and doesn't look very good.  It would have been better if there were ports on top for them instead, at least it can pass off as a Cybertronian tank as well.

A poor alternate mode that's obvious here just to sell him as a Transformer.  It's not that very little effort was here, but more so that the designer prioritised the robot mode and tried to incorporate an alternate mode from that instead.

TRANSFORMATIONS:

For such a poor vehicle mode, the transformation is a little bit more involved that one was expect.  While basically it is the limbs folding around the torso, there are some neat elements such as the two separate panel pieces on each shoulder that had covered up the head.  The legs are also quite compact thanks to numerous panels and gaps for the pieces to fold and peg into.  The panels at the back of the robot mode also has a few rotations so that the detailing can be seen on the inside of his chest when you open it in robot mode.

ROBOT MODE:

Soundwave's robot is where you see all the effort was placed in, and with great effect, as he looks absolutely amazing.

Thanks to the non-descript alternate mode, it means that no sacrifices were made in robot mode and he has no kibble whatsoever.  To be honest, you would be forgiven to think he couldn't transform at all.

The head sculpt is so so, since due to the way the visor is angled and the huge face plate, it seems a bit off.  The head is also quite large, when proportionally compared to the rest of the body.

In terms of size, he's bang on compared to an average Voyager figure.  He still has various hollow limbs but it doesn't feel too bad here.

As part of the Studio Series, he comes with a cardboard stand that shows off the war-torn Cybertron that was shown at the start of the Bumblebee movie.

For poseability, he's quite good with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

The interesting part is how his crotch panel hides the waist rotation and can lift up to give it space to move.

As is usual for Soundwave figures, his chest opens up to reveal a space for his minions to store.  He doesn't come with one so you'll need to buy them separately.  The chest is springloaded with the button on the top left of his chest.

He comes with two weapons, the familiar shoulder cannon and a generic gun.

The shoulder cannon attaches weirdly, since there are no ports on top of his torso, the cannon has a piece that folds down so that it can peg onto a port on his back.

While the gun can be held in either hand.  It's a shame that they went for the generic looking gun rather than the other half of his iconic weapons, his blue missile launcher.

When not in use, both weapons can peg onto his back.

The white and blue are unpainted plastic, all the paint budget actually went to the grey, gold and red detailing which actually looks really nice.

A fantastic and near perfect robot mode.

OVERALL:

Soundwave is one of those figures where one mode is brilliant, while the other mode suffers or at least, not very good.  The hovercraft mode is a pathetic excuse for a vehicle mode, but the robot mode pretty much makes up for it.  The robot mode looks great and plays great, it's just missing his more iconic weaponry but that's a minor complaint.

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World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman (2015)

World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman is a twelve episode anime based upon the light novel series. It is set in a world where some people have memories of their past lives. These people are then identified and sent to a special school where they are trained to fight against monsters known as Metaphysicals. This is because those people have special powers, so while the setting seems to be modern day Japan, there are all sorts of fantasy abilities ranging from magic to various oversized weapons.

The story follows Moroha, who at first does not remember his past life. This is soon remedied when we’re introduced to Satsuki. They were lovers in their past life and this is something that Satsuki does not allow Moroha to forget, so she comes on very strongly. Completing the main cast is Urushibara, who also knows Moroha in their past life, but here’s the twist, Moroha is naturally special and thanks to that, he has latent powers far exceeding that of his peers.

Moroha ends up unlocking his insane powers and gets recruited into the top group that helps out fighting Metaphysicals. Although you’ll be forgiven if you didn’t realise since the story has a strong fan fiction and wish fulfilment component to it. Moroha is your typical overpowered protagonist, that naturally attracts the opposite gender into falling in love for him. Given that Moroha had not shown anything to demonstrate that he earned those powers, instead of just effortlessly inheriting them, the anime becomes extremely predictable and generic. It doesn’t help that it ends up focusing on the fan service rather other things.

You would think with such a premise as spells and superpowers and gigantic monsters, that there’ll be plenty of opportunity for the action to come to the forefront and help redeem itself. Nup. Fight scenes feel clunky and their hits lack weight. It just feels like a lot of jumping around or speed streaks without any sort of choreography to help tie it all together into an exciting and tight sequence of attacks.

Playing into the disappointing fights is how predictable and generic those fights are. It’s like it took the template from other anime and then did nothing to try and differentiate itself. In all fights, Moroha will battle against his opponent, he’ll manage to hold his own but won’t be able to win. Then conveniently, he will remember more details about his past life and then have access to a more powerful ability to win the day. There’s only really so many times they can pull this off (i.e. once) before it gets tiring and cliched.

The anime also tries to pull off scenes that are supposed to get the viewer attached and emotional to the characters. Unfortunately Moroha from the first episode is exactly the same Moroha from the last episode. Likewise for Satsuki, Urushibara and all the other supporting characters that might have appeared in one episode. None of the characters develop at all, and it’s more so that they’ve just been introduced, we haven’t gotten to know them well, before the anime tries to pull this rubbish so you just can’t care about them at all.

All the problems that the anime has is amplified in the last few episodes. It does not spend the time to build up before going for the climax, so we get two major ones in the last four episodes, and this means more apathy and sighing. Moroha has reached god status, after awakening to his powers only a short while ago, he is now the most powerful person alive and everyone relies on him (heaven forbid how the world coped before he arrived). He also pulls the “I don’t want to kill anyone” card in a “war” that he instigated… alone. It’s quite sickening whenever he announces that he remembers and pulls off some ace in the hole out of nowhere.

It’s like the anime is trying very hard to be edgy and appeal to its teenage audience but without fully grasping that we need characters that slowly achieve that status. His harem of girls constantly grows with every episode, which wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t absolutely useless by the time half the season had gone. It all just feels superficial and pointless. The only good thing is the music that plays, but its effect is hampered by the fact that viewers won’t be caring about the outcome, because we know that Moroha will unleash some new overpowered move and win with little (meaningful) effort.

Overall, World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman is another anime to put on the shelf with other generic anime with overpowered protagonists right from the get go. It had an interesting premise that is promptly squandered by mixing in the stale mix of overpowered protagonist, a harem, no setup for its story arcs, poor animation, lack of character development, and many more. It’s one to avoid unless you really can’t get enough of this style.

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