Review by Matt S. For all its popularity in Japan (and it is really, really popular here – that 30th anniversary Dragon Quest art exhibition that recently ran in Japan was intensely busy), Dragon Quest has a checkered history in the west. Games have gone unlocalised. Other games have sold…
Read MoreReview by Matthew C. Note: This review contains spoilers to the first game, and you should play the first game before playing this. This is your advanced warning, if you don’t want the plot to the first game spoiled going in (though why you haven’t played it already is beyond…
Read MorePreview by Harvard L. I don’t know if the opening of Final Fantasy XV is a tongue-in-cheek joke or not, but I really want to believe that it is. Our first impression of Noctis is an insufferable sarcastic teenager making jabs at his father, the king, letting the audience know…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Finally! Finally Circle Entertainment has its name attached to a game that I actually enjoy. That might be because the publisher’s only role in the production of Adventure Bar Labyrinth is that it’s the publisher of the 3DS version of the game (it’s developed and self…
Read MoreRetro reflections by Nick H. If the game mentioned in the headline sounds somewhat familiar, there is a good reason for that. A while back I was on a serious strategy/RPG kick, and was talking at length about the Shining Force series of tactical games. These were among my favourite…
Read MoreExplainer by Matt S. Last week I took a look at three of the key defining features that I felt characterised a good rhythm game. Perhaps surprisingly, none of those features was the music itself. I’m going to do something similar this week in looking at the JRPG genre, because…
Read MoreReview by Harvard L. It’s no faint praise for a game to be compared to the early Legend of Zelda titles, but there is no easier way to express the feel and mechanics of Heart Machine’s indie masterpiece Hyper Light Drifter. This is a top down action RPG which values…
Read MoreRetro reflections by Matt S. I’m going to talk about Final Fantasy in my retro reflections this week, because Final Fantasy is a game that is slowly slipping out of people’s thoughts. It’s almost never listed among people’s favourite games of the series any longer, and very few talk about…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. NISA has been busy this week. In addition to the big reveal of The Longest Five Minutes, the publisher has also unleashed a new trailer that gives us a closer look at how Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors will play. Related reading: Matt’s review of the…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. NISA really does choose some fascinating projects to localise. Earlier this week it announced that it will be bringing The Longest Five Minutes to the west (PlayStation Vita and PC), and it’s a fascinating sounding little game, to be sure. From the press release: Originally developed…
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