Sonic Racing Crossworlds PS5 Review

 

Sonic Racing Crossworlds is a Kart Racing Game was released in 2025 for PS5, PS4, XSX/S, XBONE, Switch 1&2, and PC.

It was developed by Sonic Team and published by SEGA, and it is a 12th title of all-previous Sonic racing games. 

We all know SEGA had fair shares with many great racing titles starting with the mid-80s arcade hits like Outrun which not only it showcasing the super-scaling effects but also a fast, simple, and fun arcade racing game with tons of replayability, and then all the way to early-90s we had games like Virtua Racing becoming a first racing title showcasing the use of 3D polygon visuals featuring a 3rd-dimentional track design and 3rd-person perspective view of vehicle which is quite new for the 90s arcade gaming at its time, then it get really better with later titles like Daytona USA and SEGA Rally Championship became a pinnacle of 3D arcade racing genre that got really popular at the release that made everyone remembers SEGA as the king of their arcade racing games.

Not only SEGA did create the individual racing titles, but they also then come up with the idea of creating a racing game featuring the iconic video game mascot Sonic the Hedgehog with the Sonic Drift for SEGA Game Gear in 1994.

It's basically a Mario-Kart style racing game for SEGA's handheld system featuring playable racers with Sonic and his friends as they race to the finish line with 18 tracks themed after levels in 1991's Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sadly it wasn't well received at the release was criticised for difficult gameplay and lack of overall fun factor, same goes with Sonic Drift 2 was released in 1995 are also had a similar middling reviews still not as fun to play.  

In 1997, SEGA had bought Sonic R for SEGA Saturn became a first racing game to feature 3D computer graphics which had a mixed reception at the release but it's not terribly bad racing title which can be a good fun for the casuals who are into with the racing games.

Then the later ones in mid-2000s like Sonic Riders and Sonic Rivals for 6th-gen system has received mixed reception but also became a commercial success at the release.

SEGA then decided to improve upon the Sonic Racing games with the Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing in 2010 for 7th-Gen system and PC featuring Sonic and many SEGA's playable rosters is where it all got started to become better than the all previous Sonic racing titles.

It was positive reception at the release for its driving gameplay controls, multiples of great game modes, and of course the fun overall multiplayer.

Then the next installiment was made in 2012 with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed for 7th-Gen systems and PC had done something better for its innovation of vehicle transformation mechanic, various of great game modes, and additional improvements over the first game is what makes the second title being my favourite in the racing series. 

Then we had Team Sonic Racing was released in 2019 for 8th-gen consoles and PC are totally going on different approach making it a first game only features Sonic characters but not including the SEGA rosters from different franchise, so I say it wasn't as good in comparison with the predecessor but overall it's still a fine racing game which I wish they could have gone back to its roots like the previous Sonic Racing game that we much liked.

SEGA had then bought a 2025's title such as Sonic Racing Crossworlds for both 8th and 9th-gen consoles as well as PC which many had said it's one of the better racing title than the previous installiment featuring large playable rosters including 3rd-party guests and returning style of 2012's title for gameplay mechanics is all praised by fans and critics which gives me the reason to own this kart-racing title for PS5.

Is this racing title worth any of fun? let's all find out how the latest Sonic Racing game really plays it well for its whether the overall fun factor is entertaining enough or not and how much they putting much effort on quality gameplay, visuals, and content.

So without go further do, let's start the review.

Presentation

The game starts out with really cool cinematic opening intro showing Sonic and his friends going for the race as they drives through the portal which traverse and teleporting into other worlds.

I really liked how it shows many good parts of the sequences such as everyone flying on the mid-air in the slow-motion before landing on the race track, starts chucking their attack items at the opponents, the driver just catching-up to them, likes to crashing on each other, and there are tons of crazy destructibles going on is just simply fun to watch the openings. 

As I enjoyed watching the opening intros, you are greeted to the title screen in which after you hit the start button which takes you to the main menu which displays any of your favourite character you've selected sitting on their vehicle at the racing track course, so I also want to mention the customisable menu which allowing you to customise cars which changes the appearance of the driver's vehicle to display how the car really looks.

It had many types of wheels, bumpers, attachments, colors, and decals to choose from and you can however add it to your vehicle that suits your style which is the reason that I really liked having to play a racing games that gives you a choice of customising the themes and appearance of the vehicle looked really nice on the menu display.

I got to praise the game for its cast of characters being featured as the playable roster, so starting off with the base rosters which has Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Silver, Big, Blaze, Charmy, Cream & Cheese, Rouge, Vector, Espio, Omega, Dr. Robotnik, Metal Sonic, Jet, Sage, Storm, Egg Pawn, Wave, Zavok, and Zazz, where as the season pass rosters from Sonic Prime has Nine, Dread, and Rusty Rose, as well as pre-order bonus character such as Werehog.

It also featured the playable guest characters starting off with 1st party rosters such as AiAi (Super Monkey Ball), Hatsune Miku, Ichiban Kasuga (Yakuza Like A Dragon), Joker (Persona 5), Nights, Tangle, Whisper, and 6 more characters yet to confirm, where as the 3rd party rosters from season pass has Spongebob and Patrick from Nickelodeon's Spongebob Squarepants, Steve, Alex, and Creeper from Minecraft, Pac-Man and Ghosts from Bandai Namco's Pac-Man, Mega Man and Proto Man from Capcom's Mega Man, and 6 more characters yet to confirm.

I say the overall presentation in the game is quite stunning which I really liked the choice of race maps and locations they included in the game.

It has standard tracks such as E Stadium, Rainbow Garden, Water Palace, Wonder Museum, Metal Harbor, Ocean View, Apotos, Colourful Mall, Mystic Jungle, Sand Road, Kronos Island, Northstar Islands, White Space, Market Street, Donpa Factory, Chao Park, Radical Highway, Urban Canyon, and Aqua Forest, where as the crossworld tracks has Sky Road, Roulette Road, Kraken Bay, Magma Planet, Dino Jungle, Cool Edge Night, Dragon Road Night, Digital Circuit, Cyberspace, White Cave, Galactic Parade, and Sweet Mountain.

The DLC tracks which includes Minecraft, Bikini Bottom from Spongebob Squarepants, and Pac-Village & Maze from Pac-Man Worlds 2.

Most of the race maps are being well structured on environmental design sides depending on any stages that shares the own style of themes like there are quite a bit of the bright and colourful in some areas and some others are can be sometimes dark and gloomy in some ways which is why I really liked having the kart racing game with different themes on each race track.  

So far, the game's presentation delivers many great racing rosters, has really amazing numbers of race maps to participate the match race and grand prix, and of course the cool cinematic opening is just makes the Sonic Racing Crossworlds a stunning looking racing title that is designed to impress for those who previously enjoyed the first two Sonic racing games of the early-2010s era.

Overall, it has cool opening intros, great cast of characters, and stunning overall presentation.

Gameplay

The game has various of modes such as Grand Prix which has 7 base cup + 3 extra cup to complete the championship event. 

Race Park has various of match types such as triple team match (4 vs 4 vs 4) with ring grab or tap boost, double team match (6 vs 6) with shootouts or dash plates, and of course 3 free-for-all matches such as quick match, extreme match, and custom match.

Finally the Time Trial which is simply a time challenge where your goal is to beat it for the new record to earn the highest rank as a reward.

It can be played on single-player solo or 4-player local split-screen and 12-players online matchmaking.

You take control of any of playable roster in 3rd-person perspective view, so in order to beat your opponent your main goal is to race through track on each lap and get to the finishing line at the end in whoever gets the 1st position declared winner. 

Push the left-stick controls or press the d-pad left or right button is to steer around, but you can also these controls for air-trick moves while in mid-air.

Depending on which are two control settings you have selected to suit your playability, so I'm gonna make the label easy by including the brackets for alternative controls where as without brackets are the standard controls.

Hold the cross button (or right trigger) is to accelerate which drives forward, and holding the circle button is to use brake or reverse to go backwards.

You can perform the drift controls by holding the right trigger (or left trigger) then pushing left or right-stick controls which allowing you to drift your car on the sides of the track, but there are a gauge meter appeared on the screen which is used as dash boost meaning the more you drift your car then the higher your gauge meter goes higher then release the drift button to use boost.

Your vehicle has ability to automatically transformed onto 2 forms such as flight form which allowing you to fly on above if the track are empty, so while flying tilt the left-stick down to ascend and tilt it up to descend.

Then you have boat form which allowing you to ride on water track, so while on water hold the right trigger (or left trigger) to charge the gauge meter then release it to jump, but your jumping distance will increase depending on how long the gauge meter was charged. 

You can also look behind by holding the square button to use rear view for surroundings such as how far the opponents close to your position. 

Press the left trigger (or cross button) is to use items such as weapons to attack your opponents or the ability to use like shields or boost as an example.

If that's not enough then I will list the items that are used for combat and ability that are designed to use it for the match race such as boost gives you a burst of speed, laser will make you move at high speed toward the machines ahead, drill will move you automatically toward the finish line, warp ring will warp you to the machine ahead and crush things, monster truck transformed you into massive vehicle allowing you to crush opponents, boxing glove will launch green for rocket punch files straight ahead and bounces off walls or red for homing punch will lock-on and attack the opponent ahead, slicer will split the machine in half, throwable bomb that increases its size the longer it's held so the larger the bomb become the bigger will explode, king boom boo will attack the opponent in 1st position, slime blocks the vision of the other opponents which reduces their speed causing them to drop their items, weight drops on the opponents in 1st or 2nd position which crushes them, dark chao forcibly grants items to all opponents, void will attract and grab items like rings from farther away, shield will temporary protect you from opponent's projectiles, tornado will not only to protect you from projectiles but also deal damage to opponents on contact, spiked iron ball can be thrown ahead or placed behind on the track, and lastly the magnet that can be thrown ahead or placed behind on the track which attracts opponents.

I also wanted to talk about the use of gadgets, an additional enhancements for your vehicle can be customised at the customisation gadgets menu which are designed to attach your gadgets to the custom cars and unlock special abilities to use during races, so some gadgets are unlocked after multiple races.

I will list the gadgets item that benefits your driving ability such as ability to swap stock items, item stock increases to 3, start the race with a warp ring, your attack, defense, boost, and hazard items will appear more often, rocket punch will become bigger for large projectile attack, ultimate drift charge will add a 4th level allowing you to charge all 4 levels to unleash an powerful boost, speedy air trick will perform air tricks faster, technical drift will allow drift charge to fill faster in land form, perfect drift boost will release as soon as the gauge meter is filled to boost even faster, switching quick charge completely fill the drift charge with a switch drift while drifting in land form, collision boost will collide with a machine to get a boost, slipstream enhancement will extends the range of slipstream, and others useful gadgets to add on your customs.

 

So far, the driving controls plays it really smooth especially having an option to change control configuration which I've switched the standard control scheme to the alternative control option is because I preferred having the drift and accelerate on both the trigger buttons and using the cross button to use items which makes it easier to play than using the standard control option. 

I say the drifting control works really well which I liked how the gauge meter system actually works on racing game because this gives me the ability to drift then boost at the same time which really helps me to boost my acceleration for speed, and these drifting are also feels responsive keeping tacked-on the road nicely without having to fall off stage or going off-road.

While the controls plays really smooth, I say the choices of weapon and ability items are actually pretty good for most part with effective attacks on opponents and gaining enough speed is just a straight-forward to use these kinds of helpful items during the race.

I am glad that the game has finally returned the form of the first two game, as you can tell that the transformation of the vehicle is just like you see from Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed where your car has transformed onto 2 forms like plane and boat depending on the design of the race track and then you have the crossworlds segment where you get to select any of two-paths traveling ring before you're reaching to the second lap, so I really liked having to travel to other worlds with different kinds of wacky and fun stages going on is something that I can able to enjoy this kind of kart racing game.

The best thing about this game is the customisation of cars with gadgets and modifiers because these gadgets gives you the enhancements that adds up the additional upgrades to your car and like I've mentioned about customising your car's appearances with different types of wheels, body, and stuff are also improves upon your class's stats such as speed, acceleration, handling, power, and boost which also helps the player's attributes to make their cars drive faster, smoother, and better which is why I really liked having a kart racing game with customisation options to improve the vehicle's performances and having a different playstyle in which you are not being stucked with default stats like most of the early kart racing game. 

I got to praise the various of game modes including the grand prix match which I really enjoyed playing the championship matches for both solo or versus, where as the race park has many great number of group matches including both the triple team or double team matches where teams of players earn points by completing specific challenges such as collecting the most rings or hitting the most opponents with items.

My favourite part of these race matches is got to be a solo or team rivals where you get to challenge these guys for the individual or group matches is something that I would like to play a racing game that features the rivalry challenge. 

Having to defeat the rivals will award you with the tickets which you can able to spend these points to unlock various of gadgets, decals, and wheels is something that keeps me playing the game every whole hours of day in order to unlock the whole thing is what I loved about racing games in general. 

I also liked the time trial challenge that involves beating for the new records is something that I like to practice through the race tracks in order to get a best record to earn highest rank as a reward that keeps me playing the game overtime.   

Then of course it had multiplayer in which you can able to play with your friends or anyone you know through the local 4-player split-screen or 12-player online matches with cross-platform support.

I forgot to mention that you can change speed class mode ranging from normal to super sonic speed which effects on the overall difficulty, such as the normal speed is slow but acceptable for casual players, high speed is good for keeping the pace of speed on balance, sonic speed is quite fast which is recommended for competitive matches, and of course super sonic speed is much more faster and chaotic action which I kinda much prefer playing on both sonic speed and super sonic speed is because this is how most of the SEGA racing titles works...ever heard of blast processing? sure you do guys it's mother f***ing Sonic Racing game everyone it's supposed to be played fast which I love it.     

Overall, it has smooth driving controls, cool customisation gadgets and has different class systems, and of course various of fantastic game modes for local and online play.

Graphics

I say the graphics in this game did good in some parts which I really liked the environmental stages that are crispy detailed for its textures surfaces on the structures, objects, and roads.

Some of the stages has different kind of environmental sizes, so some has larger landscape on backgrounds then the others are tad short and simple, and finally these tracks can be wide or narrow on-screen with curvy spaces.

The use of special effects sure has quite flashy and more glossy feel to add the boldness of game's visuals to appear more brighter and colorful throughout the game's environments just looks quite nice on the stages.     

The character's animation is looking amazing with silky-smooth frame movements just feels responsive during the race match with no signs of jankyness whatsoever, but I do want to point out the certain parts in some stages because there are some of the background animation that has few flaws such as the Casino Park stage where you can see the slow frames of falling coins below and some jets in Metal Harbour are quite has a bit of choppiness that didn't look too good, where as the foreground animation on many stage are completely just fine with no issue whatsoever.

The game's performance may vary on some platforms depending on how well the game can able to run on consoles, so let's start out with the 9th-gen systems.

The PS5 (both base and pro) and XSX/S (X model) offers a choice between graphic mode and performance mode, so the graphic mode provides full-on 4K resolution with 30fps which appears to have a sharper visuals but it is definitely not recommended for fast paced racing game as opposed to the performance mode ran on 1440p/1080p resolution with 60fps appears to be much stable and cleaner experience is the best way to play the racing game with better performance option.

The XSX/S (S model) are also perform just as well with the performance mode option running on 1440p/1080p resolution with 60fps seems to be quite a good news for those who owns the S model may not going to have an issue when playing the game.     

The Switch 2 has 1440p resolution on docked mode and 1080p resolution on handheld mode running on 60fps ran so much better in comparison with the Switch 1 are quite inferior which ran on 1080p on docked mode and 720p on handheld mode with 30fps had suffered with numerous of blurriness and missing graphical details making it the weakest of all console platforms which is why playing on Switch 2 version is the best way of playing racing titles for those who preferred to play mostly on Nintendo platform. 

The 8th-gen consoles such as the base PS4 and XBONE has 1080p resolution with 30fps where as the pro version such as PS4 pro and XBONE (X model) had upscaled to 4K resolution with 30fps which appears to be look better than the Switch 1 but not quite as good in comparison with 9th-gen consoles.

I say the PC version has an superior video configuration with the support of VSync that keeps the game fully stable and eliminates these screen tearing issue, 60fps to keep the game performance faster, and of course having the higher quality visuals, full native resolution, and anti-aliasing option that cleans out the bluriness and looks neater on the monitor screen.  

That being said, the graphics are still quite decent overall for latest PC and 9th-gen console hardware which performed really well as opposed to the previous platforms are quite mostly had an issues on Switch 1 but not terribly bad on PS4 and XBONE side is something to consider better off sticking to the 9th-gen or PC platform instead.

 

Overall, it has great environmental stage design, nice special effects, amazing character's animation, and very good performance for 9th-gen systems.

Music and Sounds

The original soundtrack in the game has some quite decent music and some are okay at best, so the opening theme song of the game are not quite bad which did however deliver really good instrumental and oh boy I'm quite surprised that I did not expect to hear James Bourne, as some of you may recognise him as the lead singer of pop-punk band Busted, did perform the song which is an odd choice for Sonic racing games but it actually worked to be fair.     

I say I rather much preferred the in-game soundtrack on many stages such as E Stadium, Rainbow Garden, Water Palace, Urban Canyon, and Blizzard Valley are sounds fantastic and quite has the energetic level to amp up the atmosphere, where as the Ocean View is a terrific cover of two likable songs from the 90s-era Sonic games such as Toot Toot Sonic Warrior (Sonic CD) and Super Sonic Racing (Sonic R) is definite my favourite of the whole soundtrack.

It was composed by Takahiro Kai did a tremendous job with his original score for this game that never feel let down because it's sounds quite amazing overall.

The sound effects in the game is excellent for it's vehicle's motor sounds, swoosh dash panels, collision noise of weapons and projectiles, and of course the surrounding sounds of environmental stage are perfectly well designed because it really fits not only the game's atmospheres but also sounded quite perfectly on sound system equipment just booming around the room are just awesome to hear thing. 

Overall, it has decent soundtrack and excellent sound effects.

   

Special Features

The game features unlockable content such as the both free and season pass DLC characters, has numerous of skins, decals, gadgets, and stuff for vehicle customisation, and of course several of unlockable soundtracks from various of Sonic games. 

Overall, an impressive overall content.

Advantages

Has great playable rosters

Stunning presentation

Smooth driving controls

Cool customisation gadgets and different class systems

Fantastic game modes for local and online play

Great visuals and decent soundtrack

Disadvantages

Stiff background animation

Sluggish performance on 8th-gen systems (9th-gen is better in comparison)

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - cool opening intros, great cast of characters, and stunning overall presentation.

Gameplay 8.5/10 - smooth driving controls, cool customisation gadgets and has different class systems, and of course various of fantastic game modes for local and online play.

Graphics 7.5/10 - great environmental stage design, nice special effects, amazing character's animation, and very good performance for 9th-gen systems.

Music and Sounds 8/10 - decent soundtrack and excellent sound effects.

Special Features 8/10 - both free and season pass DLC characters, has numerous of skins, decals, gadgets, and stuff for vehicle customisation, and of course several of unlockable soundtracks from various of Sonic games.

Overall 8.5/10 - Sonic Racing Crossworlds is a triumph return to its formula of early 2010s like the first two Sonic racing game for 6th-gen console that we all loved back then, so this is could be another best entry of the Sonic racing series that does the whole job right.     

With many great rosters to play, useful customisation and class systems for vehicles, and has various of enjoyable game modes for local and online play is something that the Kart racing fans will appreciate how amazing the recent Sonic racing game really has to offer such a good thing. 

I am happy to say that I did not fully regret to play this is something that the game has bought the light of my day is the reason why I managed to enjoy this game for whole hours of fun.  

The physical copy for all console platforms are cost between £30 and £40, where as the digital releases for PS Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop, and Steam are just £65.

Is this game a must play for racing game fans and casuals? absolutely I think it's a worthy purchase for those who are looking for a fun racing title or someone who are into with the kart racing game as an genre makes this game an easy recommendation for all players.

    

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Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac PS5 Review

 

Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac is a 3D Platforming Game was released in 2025 for PS5, PS4, XSX/S, XBONE, Switch 1 & 2, and PC.

It was developed by Now Production and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, and it is also a full remake of 2002's 3D Platforming Game titled as Pac-Man World 2 as well as the sequel to 2022's remake of 1999's original titled as Pac-Man World Re-Pac. 

Around 3 years ago, I've previously reviewed the 2022's remake for PS4 which I've praised the game as a good remake title which the fans of the 1999's original version will likely to appreciate with the visual overhaul and improved controls, while still retains with great platforming levels, cool boss segments, and has unlockable features are quite good enough to recommended to those who loves platforming games in general.

If you haven't previously seen my review on Pac-Man World Re-Pac for PS4 then the link is down below to check it out first: 

https://zeeshanmirzasblog.blogspot.com/2023/01/pac-man-world-re-pac-ps4-review.html

So going back to this now, I am here to review the second installiment which is why I've picked up the PS5 copy of Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac to see if the sequel does add-up anything better with the new content and enhancements, so the stuff will be answered on this review because we are taking a look of the 2025's remake to see what the game has to offer in terms of platforming adventures, visual presentation, challenging gameplay design, and of course the additional features.

So without go further do, let's start the review.

Presentation

The story sets in the present day begins with the colourful group of 4 trouble-making ghosts such as Blinky, Clyde, Inky, and Pinky had sneaked into the Pac-Village, a homeland of Pac-People, at night to cause mischief as they began to steal the shiny magical objects known as the golden fruit are used to protect the Pac-Village, but unfortunately the removal of the magical golden fruit had caused to release the powerful evil ghost knight named Spooky from the tree and commands them to aid his plan to eliminate all Pac-People and their homes, so the ghosts accepts the agreement and each one takes the golden fruit with them as they follow the Spooky's commands.

In the next morning, Pac-Man had receive the terrible news from Professor Pac informs him that the golden fruit was stolen by the ghosts and urges him to go on the quest to retrieve all the stolen golden fruit in order to save Pac-Land before its too late.  

The opening story in the game is quite positive which I really liked the idea of how the ghost villains had unexpectingly releases the evil ghost knight from the tree which gives Spooky an advantage to conquer the Pac-People's home land as his plans.

I also liked the backstory set in 100 years prior to the game's events mentioned by Professor Pac had told Pac-Man about the history of magical golden fruit is the important reason to keep the Pac-Land protected from the evil hands of purple ghost knight, which is why Pac-Man had agreed to go on his adventure to retrieve all the stolen golden fruit that the ghosts had kept with themselves.

It is a simple and easy to get into story that I absolutely liked the beginning of the opening scene right just before getting ready for the platforming adventure.   

The characters are likable throughout the campaign especially like Pac-Man is an iconic mascot hero we all know since from the beginning of the early 80s of golden-age arcade with waka-waka around the maze with full of pellets that made him recognisable, so what do I think about Pac-Man as the character in this game? the answer is that I still liked him as a character who has light-hearted personality and fun adventurer goes on his exciting quest.

I also liked the 4 coloured ghosts villains which has Blinky the red ghost who is the leader of ghosts gang and also portrayed as the most aggressive ghost known to have a short tempered but also a good friends with his ghosts, then you have Pinky the pink ghost are the only female ghost and appears to be pretty as she attempts to have a crush on Pac-Man, then you have Inky the blue ghost is often depicted as a goofy and slow-headed ghost are not quite as strong compared with Blinky but also quite good at teamwork with the ghosts, and finally Clyde the orange ghost is quite something else who is not quite clever and also chickened out from chasing after Pac-Man making him one of the most bashful of all ghosts.

I say Spooky is incredibly look badass because it's sort of like Kirby's Meta Knight on steroids so judging with the heavy-bulk armor and his strengthy power that made him look menacing and strong which I quite liked his appearance and portrayal as the vicious brute villain.

The presentation for whole game is looking fantastic which I described these settings as bright, colourful, and cartoony for sceneries and design-wise, so I say I really liked the environmental stages and structures on each worlds.

It has paradise meadows filled with bright day environment such as green grass on the ground, shorter broadleaf trees, and many colourful plants.

The tree tops has large sized trees and logs, and of course the tree house just fits the style of forrest site.

The snowy mountain are the cold environment region are covered with snow, frozen water, and of course the icy ground.

The volcano are the hot environment area filled with ground lava, magma chamber, and of course the tomb structures.

The ocean is a underwater site with sea animals including sharks and jellyfish, sea plants and sand on the ground, and of course massive-sized shipwheck underneath the ocean water.

The ghost island is a halloween-style place filled with night-time environment such as haunted houses, graveyards full of tombs, swamp areas, and of course bunch of minions like ghosts, bats, spiders, and skeletons wandering around. 

Then lastly a Pac-Village are the home land of Pac-People filled with houses, arcade club, garden full of fruits, and of course the outdoor stuff like statues used for collectable figurines and tree that holds the golden fruits. 

Overall, it has simple opening story, memorable cast of characters, and fantastic presentation settings.

Gameplay

On single-player playthrough, you'll start off with the overworld map where you get to select any of stages on each worlds, so you're playing as Pac-Man in 3rd-person perspective as your main goal is to beat the stage and defeat each bosses in order to retrieve all golden fruit they stole from the Pac-Village.

You have 2 difficulty options to select that suits your playstyle such as the adventure mode is basically regular difficulty for those who are fully experienced with the 3D platforming games with the greater level of overall tougher challenge, where as the fairy mode is genuinely easy with assist hover jumps, adds platforms to difficult gaps, and infinite health are only for less experienced players.

Push the left-stick controls or d-pad buttons to move Pac-Man around, and push the right-stick control to rotate the camera system.    

Press the cross button to jump used for jumping on the platforms, but rapidly pressing the cross button will make Pac-Man bounce on the floor which acts as ground pound attack on the enemies, but you can also perform a high-jump by pressing the cross button while bouncing in mid-air at the same time as when you see yellow-circle symbol on the screen touches and flashes Pac-Man causing him to bounce-up high works mostly better for higher platforms.

The bounce are also used for breaking objects like boxes, hitting ground switches to activate things, and of course jumping on trampolines to reach long-distance platforms. 

You can also use flutter while in mid-air to float through the platform by holding the right-shoulder button which lasted in 2 seconds. 

Pac-Man has ability to use flip-kick by pressing the square button which used as an melee attack on enemies or then again breaking objects and hitting switches on the wall. 

You can use those Pac-dots as a throwable attacking item by holding the circle button while aiming with left stick, then let go the circle button to throw which works effectively depending on which types of enemies that are immune to the Pac-dots except ghosts which cannot be hurt by throwable Pac-dots or jumping on them.

The only way to defeat the ghosts is to use large-sized power pellets that turns Pac-Man into a mega-sized form allowing him to eat ghosts, who turned fully blue becoming vulnerable against large-sized Pac-Man, in limited time. 

Pac-Man can also perform charge dash by holding then let go the triangle button which can be used as dashing attack on enemies, reaching up the slippery-slope platforms, and activating moving platforms such as ramps and stuff.

Pac-Man can able to hold on cliffs such as gaps and ropes, so you can able to let go, climb, and cross through the ropes in some stages. 

Pac-Man are also has ability to swim underwater by pressing the right-trigger and right-shoulder button to float up and dive down, where as the cross button used as dive dash allowing him to traverse through or used as dash attack on enemies.

So far, the controls plays really great with smooth analog movement, fine camera rotation, and of course the timing of bouncy jump just feels right to play, so you can also re-configure the control layouts on the option menu which also really helps anyone who mostly prefers the customised controls over the default controls makes it suitable for their playstyle.

Aside with the controls, I wanted to talk about how good the single-player adventure really is that something that made the game quite fun for its stage action segments, overall design layouts, challenges, and of course the boss battles.

Each of the stages had shares with many chaotic things that are doing something better than the first original game, so you may encounter with a massive-sized snow boulder came rolling down like Crash Bandicoot style and you had to do a skating segments to race through the stage while dodging all these hazardous objects in snowy mountains stage.

Then you had the ocean stage where you had to avoid getting caught by large-sized shark may give you an instant kill, and my favourite part has to be a yellow submarine segments which is basically a rail-shooter style action where you had to shoot down many enemies and hazardous objects to avoid taking damage until you've reached at the finishing goal. 

In ghost island, you had one of the puzzle area of maze where you had to rotate the paths in order to get through the blocked stage, and you had to destroy all of wormwood's hosts to defeat him.    

I also wanted to praise the overall stage design which I really liked how the platforming games are designed to make it looked dangerous for curtain areas such as the tree tops stages are filled with buzzsaws and gas hub on the logs to avoid touching these obstacles, and you have to jump on these trampolines to being able to reach the platforms from far distance and higher heights, and of course you need to get across these ropes without falling off the stage.

In snowy mountains, there are slippery floors that made you trip or fall over the gaps, you could sometime fall into the icy pond for instant death, and there are multiples of snow boulders or ice particles at above came tumbling down at you in some areas.

In volcano, you need to get across these large platforms without falling off stage, trying not to touch these hot lavas on the ground, and evading all these traps like flames and fiery objects in some areas.

In ocean, there are multiples of spike bombs, propellers, and electrifying sea animals to avoid contacting them.

In ghost island, there are full of swamps in some area that may suck you down under may lead instant death, and there are flying bats wandering in circle may come in your way while going through the squared-shaped platforms. 

These stage segments and design layouts is quite positive that really adds up the overall challenge, but if its not enough to impress you then you got to love the post-game stages which adds up a difficult layouts and also expands the stage design into a large-sized portion that makes it look impossible but also a chance to beat the stage may going to satisfy your platforming experience.

I also liked the task challenge in each stage where you have to complete each of the objectives such as gaining high score, collect all fruits, defeating all enemies, and of course breaking all boxes which is totally fine for most part, but to be honest on this thing that kinda drags my fun part away which is the time trial challenge where you had to beat the stage in short time in order to get a new record, so having a new record will reward you with the each medals like bronze, silver, and gold depending on how long takes you to beat the stage, but unfortunately it turned out the time trial challenge is quite a frustrating time to gain the gold medal is due to unforgiving time record length may require you to memorising the stage patterns and avoid repeating all the faults until you're finally being able to beat the time trial stage takes you more than 2 to 3 hours to solve is something that I cannot enjoy as much in comparison with the task challenge are simply not as hard. 

I got to say that I really liked the boss battle in each worlds such as you have Clyde controlling with killer frog has ability to use tongue grabber which can drags you inside and began chewing you in pieces, where as on golden form uses the tongued spike ball as an weapon.

Then you have Inky uses the metallic owl for not only to fly around but also throws metallic feathers directly at you where as on golden form fires the laser beam and 5-shot golden feathers.

Then you may encounter with Pinky had a mecha-polar bear firing multiples of missiles, where as the golden form fires the ice beam around the circle.

Then you'll be facing with Blinky in the heavy metal concert with his mecha-spider firing the 4-floating musical notes directly at you, where as golden form fires multiples of fire balls, spider webs, and of course the extended musical notes projectiles.

Then you'll be facing all 4 ghosts gang with their mega-whale which fires sea missiles and laser beam, where as the golden form which shoots out massive range of sea beam and then you'll entered inside the body of mega-whale are full of laser projectiles to avoid while trying to destroy the core covered with golden cogs.

Finally you'll be facing Spooky has ability to shoot multiples of fire balls and lightings, summoning bunch of skeletons, decoying his two version of himself, and finally his golden form unleashes his projectiles makes the patterns difficult to dodge things.

The post-game stages are also had a same bosses but has different attacking patterns and obstacles to evade that made these bosses much more tougher and badder than was before which makes the overall challenge quite high-up to the level is just insanely chaotic but damn near good fun to play.

As I love the stage and bosses, I also liked the replay-values where you can able to re-visit the stages that you're already completed which means you can able to do things like collecting all fruits or completing tasks which unlocks the collectable items like vending machines which unlocks the collectable figurines which requires enough tokens to reveal each figures so that you can place your favourite figurines outdoor as an display statues, then you will have collectable music items which stored onto the juke box to listen your favourite original soundtrack, then you will have key item which unlocks bonus maze challenge plays really similar to traditional Pac-Man game which can be played on arcade club centre, and finally these arcade cabinets which lets you play these classic Pac-Man games from the past such as the original arcade Pac-Man, the isometric maze-style action Pac-Mania, and of course the SNES's puzzle game Pac-Attack.

I really loved these kinds of content that has unlockable stuff that made my reason to play this game that offers really cool thing being included on this package.

I got to mention the DLCs level pack based on SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog are also an welcome edition to this game which is quite unexpecting to see a collaboration between SEGA and Bandai Namco had agreed to bring the blue blur's iconic stage into a yellow-chomping platforming game, just like they did a same with the yellow-chomping hero being included on recent blue-blur's racing game is something that is cool to have a 3rd-party guest in video games.

Overall, it has great controls, fun and challenging platforming stages, entertaining boss battles.

Graphics

The graphics in this game is just look so good in details depending on how these environmental stage design, textures and surfaces, colours and effects, and the overall animation really compares to the 2002's original game.

The key difference is that the stage design in this remake tends to be look larger in comparison because the 2002's original game is slightly bit a narrow-side and has less detailed layouts due to 6th-gen hardware's limits, where as the remake has many background layouts and has open-wide levels to make it look fully spaced which I really liked the additions that made the game look appealing on many stages.

I say the details on stage environments tends to be a bold and sharp just adds up a cartoon feel with great use of textures and surfaces appears to be look fine in many areas.

The use of colours are brightful and clean that keeps the environments simple and nicely balanced without making any wrong level of roughness and smoothness, and I also liked the use of special effects in some areas like the shade of shadows, shiny and glittery particles, and sharp lighting effects are done it quite decently.

The character's animation is quite solid for its movements and expressions are amazingly job well done on cutscenes and in-game action, and of course the overall character's design appears to be look better than the 2002's original game...no pun intended, guys. 

The game's performance for PS5, XSX/S (X series), and PC are fully ran on 4K native resolution with 60fps delivering a smooth overall experience, where as the XSX/S (S series) runs on 1440p resolution with 60fps are also quite acceptable.

The Switch 2 has 2 options such as performance mode which targets at 1080p resolution with 60fps for better gameplay where as the resolution which targets at 4K resolution with 30fps are genuinely not as good in comparison with PS5 and XSX/S for visual performance, so stick it to performance mode instead if playing on Switch 2.

The PS4 and XBONE ran on 1080p resolution with 60fps which still maintains the good framerate but has lower resolution compared to PS4 Pro which succeeds to 4K resolution with same 60fps. 

Sadly the Switch 1 can ran up to between 720p and 1080p resolution with 30fps is by far the weakest of all consoles is not quite nearly smooth as the PS4, XBONE, and Switch 2 in comparison. 

Overall, it has bold and sharp environments, solid animation, good usage of colours, and good performance.

Music and Sounds

The soundtrack in this game is very good which I really liked the light-hearted adventurous score that really fits the style of platforming games.

It almost sounds like the combination of Thomas the Tank Engine and Crash Bandicoot been mixed together seems to work well on many stages, so some music can be cartoony, some can be epic, and some can be catchy to listen is something that I would adore the rest of the soundtrack.

While it was composed by David A. Logan, he was not involved in the 2024's remake project which is why all his original soundtrack from the 2002's original game are all included in this game to add faithfulness that made Pac-Man World 2 sounds decently.

The sound effects are also good with the use of bouncy noises, comical sound design, and cartoony environmental effects that matches the stage presentation and platforming segments, and I got to say that the voice casting in this game are pretty did a great job especially we had the original voice actor, who previously voiced the titular yellow-chomping hero from 2005's Pac-Man World 3, reprising his role as Pac-Man which I am glad this remake has finally adds the full voice acting that was never featured in the 2002's original game.  

Overall, it has very good soundtrack, decent sound effects, and great voice acting.

Special Features

Then again that I've mentioned before, the game has many collectables including fruits and figurines, soundtracks, bonus maze stage, 4 classic games, and of course the Sonic the Hedgehog DLC pack includes level and costume.

Overall, a stunning overall package.

Advantages

Fantastic presentation settings

Fun and challenging platforming stages

Entertaining boss battles

Has replay-values

Solid graphics 

Very good music

Stunning collectable and unlockable features

Disadvantages

Time trial is not great

Switch 1 version has poor performance (stick to other consoles instead)  

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - simple opening story, memorable cast of characters, and fantastic presentation settings.

Gameplay 8/10 - great controls, fun and challenging platforming stages, entertaining boss battles.

Graphics 8/10 - bold and sharp environments, solid animation, good usage of colours, and good performance.

Music and Sounds 8/10 - very good soundtrack, decent sound effects, and great voice acting.

Special Features 8/10 - collectables including fruits and figurines, soundtracks, bonus maze stage, 4 classic games, and of course the Sonic the Hedgehog DLC pack includes level and costume.

Overall 8/10 - As I previously enjoyed the 2022's remake of the 1999's original game, Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac is one of the better remake and also better sequel than the predecessor in terms of stage design, platforming segments, boss battles, and overall content are the main reason to enjoy Pac-Man's platforming adventure.  

Nothing wrong with chomping up bunch of ghosts, eating and throwing pellets around, collecting all fruits, and of course jumping and bouncing on the platforms is something that keeps me playing this game overnight.  

I was hoping the team will consider making another future remake project with the 2005's original game titled as Pac-Man World 3 just to see if anything is just a good as this game has to offer.

This game could cost about between £30 to £35 physically for PS5, XSX/S, and Switch 1 & 2, where as the digital releases on PS Store, Xbox Store, and Nintendo eShop cost £35, while Steam cost cheaper with £25. 

Is the game an recommendation for everyone? I say for platforming fanatic yes it is an definite play because it's a fun and charming 3D platforming action that will never disappoint for those who loves to play platforming video games is the good reason to own the game.

  

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Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Ultimate PS5 Review

 

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Ultimate is a 2D Beat-em-ups game was released in 2025 for PS5, PS4, XSX/S, XBONE, Switch, and PC.

It was developed by Mages Inc and published by Rocket Panda Games, and it is also a 2025's fully remastered version of 2013's original titled as Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds was originally released for X360, PS Vita, and PC, and also later ported to PS4 and Switch in 2015-17 releases as Overdrive. 

The game acts as an spin-off title to 2011's fighting game titled as Phantom Breaker for Arcade, PS3 and X360, then later released in 2022 as Omnia for PS4, XBONE, Switch, and PC.

First of all in last month, I've previously mentioned the 2011's fighting game that I never actually played it before, so until now I've finally had a chance to bought the game off from PS Store thanks to winter holiday sale.

After downloading the game on my console, I had a first go with the 2022's update version of 2011's fighting game titled Phantom Breaker: Omnia for PS4 which features all fighters from previous version in addition to 2 new fighters, remixed soundtrack, new fighting game style, balanced adjustments, and the ability to play through stories of both the 2011's original and 2013's extra making it the first time the game will see a release outside of Japan featuring both Japanese and English voice acting. 

My first impression is quite bit mixed because it may not be as good in comparison with other anime fighting games that plays slight better like Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, Arcana Hearts 3, and Under Night In-Birth in terms of fighting controls and design wise, but I do praise the game for its cast of rosters, story presentation, visuals and sounds, and of course the full complete content does help the game quite a bit...I say it's not a bad package overall. 

So enough with that because now I'm going to focus on reviewing the spin-off title called Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Ultimate for PS5.

Before I begin reviewing the game, I had previously played Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds for PS Vita quite long time ago and the game is kinda plays similar to one of Treasure's cult-following classics such as Guardian Heroes on SEGA Saturn which is why I had a reason to bought it for PS Vita digitally, but I never quite had a chance to finish the whole game because I got busy with studying at my university back then, but now pushing forward to many years later I've finally going back to this which is why I've bought the ultimate version for the PS5 to see if the game is actually fun as today.

So what I've learned about the ultimate version is that it features freshly updated visuals, enhanced battle system, and adding 6 to 8 players online for co-op and versus mode with full cross-platform play is something that I'll be interested in playing this game.

Is the ultimate version of the original game worth a look? so let's find out and see how the game really goes.

So without go further do, let's start the review.

Presentation

The game set in Tokyo, Japan as the story starts out with the mysterious villain named Phantom has ordered the young fighter groups with magical artifacts to fight and creating spacetime rifts to regain his sealed powers, as he kidnaps the girl named Nagi which prompting her sister Waka and the allies to team up traveling across the parallel worlds to rescue Nagi and preventing chaotic plot from the hands of Phantom. 

The story in the game is however decent, so you're just a bunch of anime girls squad went on mission to rescue the kidnapped girl and confronting the evil who manipulates young individuals into fighting which causes the creation of dimensional rifts and plotting to obtain the sealed powers, so that he can able to do something very dangerous that harms the world.

It's kinda like any of Beat-em-ups video games with similar plot which I don't really mind at all because it's just the way it is supposed to be that makes the game quite interesting to play.

Aside with the story, I say I really liked the choice of the characters in the game such as you have heroines like Mikoto Nishina the music college student with big-ass sword, then you have Waka Kumon who is part of the Kumon's family clan and also Nagi's elder sister, then you have Itsuki Kouno the heroic house maid on the mission, and finally Yuzuha Fujibayashi the kick-ass high-school ninja, so these are the main 4's had agreed to team up together to battle against the hordes of Phantom's younglings.

Then you have sub-character Nagi Kumon who is Waka's little sister which poor thing was being captured by the Phantom.

It also featured two mid-bosses such as M the Scavenger and Cocoa who is nothing but sort of trouble maker becoming part of Phantom's ally, and of course various of enemies including Kagebito once human being but became Phantom's parasite, T-DA Monster who is Cocoa's creatures from her favourite video game, Robot corps of Wahrheit created by military manufacturer, groups of Yin Yang fortune-teller who believe in the Phantom, and of course the large-sized bosses such as big fat green dragon, tall red-horned devil, and of course the bulky mecha-dude.

I adore the game's presentation which I really liked the anime art-style for its visual settings and design, so the game has really awesome opening intro that has eye-catching, flashy, and stylish sequences are incredibly beautiful to watch.

I also wanted to praise the settings of stage locations starting from light to dark scenery in each levels such as you have street, city building, gaming arcade club, school outdoors and refectory, cargo ship area, underground sewers, parking space area, construction site elevator, train station, temple, and of course the dark dimension place.

As the ultimate version of the original game, I really liked the changes on the visual side because I liked the 3D-cel-shaded style on background area of each stages which is looking spectacular on the modern platform that made it look different from the previous version's simple 2D-style background design.

Overall, it has decent story, good characters, and great presentation design. 

Gameplay

The game has story mode which is single-player based campaign, where as the co-op mode for both local up to 4-players and online up to 6 or 8 players.

You take control of 4 of the heroines in 2D side-scrolling perspective, as your main goal is to fight through the stage and defeat the bosses in order to proceed the next stage.

You will have both of your health and magic bar being displayed on top of the screen which I will explain these for later on this review.

For movement, press the left/right d-pad button or push the left/right with left-stick control is to move player, and press the up d-pad button or push up with left-stick control is to jump, and holding down with the down d-pad button or with the left-stick control is to crouch down.                     

Double tap the left/right d-pad button or with left-stick control is to dash, where as you can able to perform the air dash while in the mid-air.

Press the left shoulder button is to change side of line from back to front or front to back, so this will allow you to fight the enemies on foreground or background side. 

For combat, press the square button is to use quick attack deals light damage on enemies, the triangle button is to use middle attack deals medium damage on enemies, the circle button is to use fierce attack deals heavy damage on enemies, and of course the cross button is to use SP attack allowing you to use various of special attack deals very heavy damage on enemies. 

Attacking numerous of enemies are also fills up your magic bar up to 2 meter levels in which if its fully filled-up your magic gauge then you can use it to perform 3 of the special ability moves, such as you can activate the overdrive by pressing the right trigger button which allowing you to perform multiple of quick combos attack for 10 seconds, then you have out-range attack which allowing you to release a homing projectiles on enemies by pressing the right shoulder button, and finally the special move which allowing you to release their strong special attack by pressing the left trigger button.

These are the special abilities may result with faster combo hits up to more than 300 and of course it deals massive damage attack on enemies and bosses pretty easily.

You can also restore your health by finding the food items can be found on trash bins or objects, and you can also regain your half of your health points by activating the overdrive mode as well depending on how much remaining red-lines you had on your health bar.

After defeating bunch of enemies will drop down both of the score item and red gem, so your score item with a high score is determined by enemy strength and the number of combos you have performed will result adding multiples of scoring system like most of the arcade Beat-em-ups games do, and you will have the red gem which increases your experience level which means after you've collected many of red gems and beat the stage you're prompted to the skill menu where you can able to upgrade your skills parameters and moves to improve upon your character's attributes.

It will enhance your attack power, speed movement, and defense system which increases your strength to attack your enemies with high damage hits, your speed of combos will go much faster, your defense will reduce taking damage from enemy's melee and projectiles, and of course having to learn all the skill moves may improve upon your fighting style like dash attack, double jump, air throw, counter bursts, increased levels for combos and specials, and of course the super finisher known as phantom break will easily wipes out the enemies and bosses with massive damage blow.

So far, the gameplay plays it great because I really liked the fighting system with the choices of upgrading your skills and attributes just really adds-up the RPGs-style element is the kind of Beat-em-ups game that I like to play.

I say the fighting style and controls are solid which I can able to pull-off the moves and techniques with melees and combos just works really well throughout the stages.

The game does have an option to configure the controls scheme which allowing you to remap your button layout to suit your playability, but I also wanted to point out the one thing that doesn't allow me to change the button layout is the jump button which sets up d-pad button as default, so I wanted to change it to the cross button to make the jumping lot easier to control which sadly it didn't have an option to change it.

I am hoping they should consider adding it to the patch update to resolve it, so that I can able to remap the jump button.

I agreed with having a 10 or 12 enemies on whole screen because this adds-up a significant results with multiples of juggling combo hits and having to fight many of baddies just adds-up a overall challenge especially playing on hard or nightmare difficulty where you could sometime get an ass-whooping or being able to kick their asses depending on your luck is what the fun of the game is all about, but it may get quite tedious on some part which you may can sometime losing track with your character when some of your enemies gets all crowded together on screen may block your view during the battle, so please pay a close attention to your character and try not to get crowded by others too much.  

I also liked the mix of small and large enemies has their own advantages with different damage attack and pacing which I love the balance of having a both of tough brawlers and average fighters in the whole screen.

I got to say that I adore the boss battle in the game is because not only you're fighting with the bosses but there are multiples of enemies may start intervening you for the fights just makes the battle quite insane to play.

Not only the game had the single-player story mode, you can also enjoy the game with your friends through the co-op mode for 4-player local and 6-8 players online may going to satisfy your arcade experience, then you have the single-player arcade mode which has score attack where you must earn many scores as possible before beating the stage and you have time attack where you must beat the stage fastest in order to get a new records, and then finally you have battleground mode which is basically 4-player versus match like the fighting game where you must fight and defeat your opponents in order to win the fight.

These are the game modes that are enjoyable to play is something to appreciate the game most that you likely never to get tired of playing it for hours of fun.

Overall, it has solid fighting system, insane boss battle, and excellent game modes.

Graphics

The game's visual design is looking amazing for anime Beat-em-ups game which as you can see that this remastered version is completely remade it with the Unreal Engine 5 resulting a freshly looked visuals to make the game look better on the modern platform release.

While retaining the chibi art-style for adorable characters but with modern polish and smoother animation, and it also improves upon the visual aspects with vastly improved design, higher resolutions, and better performance is something that we had to take a look of how the game's visuals are compared to the previous version of the original game.

In 2013's version of the original game, the environmental stages and settings are all 2D with flat-surfaces on background, few minor lighting effects, and has old-school sprite animation is kinda similar to the 32-bit SEGA Saturn game, where as the ultimate version which I'm currently playing on has significant changes from the previous version which you can see the stage background is now cel-shaded design to make it look bold and sharp visually and I also notice the background is now 3D when scrolling through the stages, the special effects on this game is much more flashy on collision box which doesn't bother me much to be honest, the use of colours are much cleaner on many areas, and of course the sprite animation is looking more smooth, so I got to say it's a nice overall improvement over the previous version in terms of visual enhancements that made the game appealing on the modern platform.

I wanted to praise the use of screen-zooming effect which you can see the screen goes zoomed-in when your character is standing close to enemy, where as it zooms-back the screen when you're standing far-distanced away from the stage that made the whole landscape looked large on the screen.

I also liked the line-shifting on the stage where your character switch sides from top to bottom just like you've seen it from Treasure's Beat-em-ups classic like Guardian Heroes does. 

The good news is that all platforms including both the PCs and consoles version had appears to performed well throughout the gameplay with 60fps thanks to its Unreal Engine 5 upgrade with stable performance even during intense brawler action which I am pleased with the results on 9th-gen consoles and PCs, and I also glad to hear that the game had run smoothly on 8th-gen consoles with no signs of issues whatsoever. 

Overall, it has amazing visual design, smooth animation performance, and nice screen-zooming effect. 

Music and Sounds

The soundtrack in this game is fantastic because not only it includes the original soundtrack from the previous version which uses the style of chiptune & retro arcade music, but this ultimate version features a remixed soundtrack of the original game with the style of catchy J-Rock & Anime music just sounds incredibly awesome that keep you pumped for brawling action.  

It was composed by Takeshi Abo, who was being known for his score on Science Adventure series, did an amazing job with the original soundtrack, where as the opening and ending song was composed by Epsilon_Zero featuring 2 vocalists such as Maestra (Mai Sato) for Japanese version and Shoyun for English version are also did a good job on both songs. 

I wanted to praise the sound design for its collision detection noises, flashy sounds, and environmental effects is being well tacked on throughout the stages, and I say the voice acting in this game is doing pretty great especially on both the Japanese and English dialogue during the cutscenes. 

Overall, it has fantastic soundtrack, decent sound design, and great voice acting.

Special Features

The game has 2 unlockable Nightmare mode difficulty option and paid DLCs characters. The day one edition as physical copy comes with instruction booklet, collectable card, and exclusive skins.

Overall, a stunning content.

Advantages

Great presentation design

Solid fighting system for combos and upgrades 

Insane boss battle

Excellent game modes for both local and online co-op

Amazing visual design

Fantastic soundtrack

Disadvantages

Can't remap the jump button

Enemies can get crowded on your way

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - decent story, good characters, and great presentation design. 

Gameplay 8/10 - solid fighting system, insane boss battle, and excellent game modes.

Graphics 8.5/10 - amazing visual design, smooth animation performance, and nice screen-zooming effect.

Music and Sounds 8.5/10 - fantastic soundtrack, decent sound design, and great voice acting.

Special Features 8/10 - unlockable game's difficulty, DLCs characters, and physical edition's goodies. 

Overall 8/10 - I can honestly say that I mostly much preferred the Phantom Breaker going for the Beat-em-ups action brawler route than the traditional fighting game which is why I think it a perfect fit for the series, so please don't get me wrong because the Phantom Breaker: Omnia is still an okay fighting game had some good stuff, but I feel that this game is just stepped in the right direction by going for the spin-off title with the Beat-em-ups gameplay just seems to work better in my opinion.   

You have a wide cast of characters to play, has the option to upgrade your moves and skills to improve your fighting system, then you can't go wrong with the various of game modes to play for both locals and online co-op play, and you could able to enjoy game for its story presentation, action-packed stages, and of course the boss battles is the reason to like the game which felt like it's a love letter to cult-classic SEGA Saturn game like the Guardian Heroes has to offer.  

I am glad that the Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Ultimate had made the improvements with visuals enhancements, arranged soundtrack, revamped battle system, and adding 6 to 8 players online with cross-play feature is something that you'll be fully appreciate the game most.

The physical copy for PS5 and Switch as day one edition is cost around £25 or more, where as the digital releases for PS Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop, and Steam are cost about between £20 and £25.

Is the game worth for play? if you love the Beat-em-up as an genre then yes that is correct because Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Ultimate is a solid anime action-brawler that is worth checking it out may going to impress many Beat-em-ups fanatic will not going to miss out this amazing hidden gem title.    

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Touhou: Luna Nights PS5 Review

 

Touhou: Luna Nights is a Side-scrolling Metroidvania game was originally released in 2019 for PC and was ported to consoles such as XBONE and Switch in 2020, and was later ported to PS4 and PS5 as 5-Year Anniversary Edition in 2024.

It was developed by Team Ladybug and published by Playism, and it is a fangame title under the indie series Touhou Project created by Team Shanghai Alice.

The series was started back in year 1997 as the Shoot-em-up games which was being known for the style of subgenre as bullet hell, a term that heavily focused on gameplay design which involves a large amounts of projectiles the player is required to dodge adding a extreme level of difficulty, so similar to earlier Shoot-em-up arcade games like Batsugun and DonPachi where you must navigate through impossible swarms of bullets which made the game quite challenging to play.

First of all, the series hasn't been introduced to outside of Japan so what I've learned about this is it has become more particularly notable as a prominent source of Japanese doujin content with the series spawning a vast amount of fan-made works such as artwork, music, print works, and video games.

The popularity of the series at outside of Japan doesn't start till in mid-2000s when the online forums, social network, and video platforms became a thing with the internet memes, music videos, animated videos, fan-art site, and of course the video game playthroughs is where I've discovered Touhou related stuff on YouTube such as Bad Apple!! which is a catchy anime music videos became one of the most famous pieces of Touhou music, and lets not forget the insanity of soundtrack from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil such as U.N Owen Was Her? was notoriously famous for 2008 viral video titled "McRoll'd" which remixed the song with samples of Japanese McDonald's ads featuring Ronald McDonald falling off the bench seat.

Because of this, it has gained a large cult following thanks to multiples of fan-made content which the series has been still around over the years.

Not only the video game series just had Shoot-em-ups titles, but also shares many fan-made spin-off games with different kinds of genres such as RPGs, Dating Sim, Fighting Games, and of course Metroidvania.

To be honest, I've never played any of Touhou games which I had a trouble of picking which Touhou games should I play on my console until I've discovered the game that got me interested to play which is Touhou: Luna Nights for PS5, so is there the reason to review this? well first of all I've been playing several of Metroidvania titles from the past like Metroid, Castlevania, Shantae, Bloodstained, and Hollow Knight is the first reason that I've loved the genre for video games, and the second reason is that this game plays really similar to anime-style Metroidvania games that I have previously played it from the past as well like CreSprit's Rabi-Ribi and Tevi in terms of gameplay design and presentation style which is why I am here to review this game to see if this title actually good to play or not.

So without go further do, let's start the review.

Presentation

The story starts off with the Remilia Scarlet who is the head of the Scarlet Devil Mansion sends her head maid Sakuya Izayoi to a parallel world which resemblance to home world of Gensokyo. 

Having all her powers been stripped off, Sakuya set her journey through the world to recover all those powers and finding way of get back to the real Gensokyo while uncovering the secrets behind the creation of alternative home world of Gensokyo.

I say the story in the game is kinda below average at best which is not really terrible but seems okay because I find the plot of the game is rather too basic which I was expecting most of the Metroidvania games has the story-focused plot with the in-depth details and backstories which unlike this game had quite lacked, so instead you're just been thrown in the game after the 30 seconds opening intros and went on the quest to confront a vampire lady who creates the alternative universe castle with bunch of monsters and stuff for you to fight, but there are an interesting twist in the story which you will find out at the end while progressing through the single-player game. 

Aside with the story, I say I really do like the characters in the game which I adored the cuteness of anime girls in general, so you have chief maid Sakuya Izayoi has ability to use time-stopping system and uses the knifes as a throwing weapons is pretty cool, and then you have a supportive character like Nitori Kawashiro, a shop owner who was really good with her engineering skills provided to sell her useful item to Sakuya.

Lastly you have 4 of the bosses to encounter with such as Hong Meiling, Marisa Kirisame, Patchouli Knowledge, and of course Remilia Scarlet.

I adored the pixel-style presentation that kinda gives me a 16-bit vibes to its settings and design throughout the stages, so it's kinda like the style of Castlevania games which had a similar gothic architectures in some stages like the underground area, palace room, dungeon, library hall, and of course the clock tower, where as the first stage has a Japanese style temple house filled with water pool, outdoor's full of bamboos and man-made objects, and of course the flat-designed rooms is what I liked about the game's layout design and structures which really stands out the game's overall presentation that fits the Touhou's universe.

Overall, it has below average story, but has decent characters and good pixel-art presentation.

Gameplay

In single-player playthrough, you take control of Sakuya in 2D perspective as your main goal is to defeat various of bosses and confront Scarlet Devil leader for her action behind an alternative universe she created.  

For basic controls, press the left and right d-pad button or push the left-stick control to move your player, as well as the crouch by holding the down d-pad button or left-stick down, and lastly the cross button is to jump. 

For the combat and ability, you have two time mechanics system to use such as slowing down time by holding the square button till the round-symbol went full then release it to temporary activate slow-mo time, so this will allow you to bypass the impossible gaps and spot as well as your enemies will move slower till it goes back to the normal speed after 10 second.

Then you are able to freeze time by pressing the circle button will make the whole thing froze including enemies and objects which limited with the stopwatch count at the top-middle of the screen which tells you how long can you use it, so these stopwatch count will decrease quickly when you move around and once it reaches to zero count then it goes back to the normal time, but your stopwatch count will automatically replenishes when it's not in use.  

You have throwing knife as a primary weapon which you can use these to attack enemies at long-range distance, so tapping the square button is to throw knives which also decreases the amount of MPs, but you can also recover your MPs meter by activating your freeze time then obtain all MPs item by standing close to your enemy's hitbox.

While not using the time stop mechanic, you can also obtain all HPs item by standing close to your enemy's hitbox to recover your HPs meter, so this is the best way of replenishing your health and magic meter when grazing the enemy's attack.

You can also perform various of your special weapons by pressing the triangle button which allowing your player to use the special attacks that can heavily damage your enemies and bosses such as shield dagger are used for stunning or blocking the enemy's projectiles, homing daggers that automatically track and home in on targets, chainsaw is effectively useful against the floating enemies dealing a significant amount of damage, and of course the thousand knives that unleashes a large auto-aiming spray of daggers which can also automatically graze enemy's projectiles to recover HP, so those are the special weapons which can be found and obtain from any of each stages during the exploration.

You can also switch any of special weapons with the left and right shoulder buttons or you can also hold the triangle button to access the weapon-wheel slot menu to select any of special weapon to use.

You can able to obtain the ability can be found somewhere in the areas, which allowing you to use it for various of unaccess spot such as the double jump which allowing you to jump on high platforms that are difficult to reach, grip knife is used for when during the freeze time you can able to make platforms with the knives allowing you to reach at the impossible platforms, screw knife is useful for breaking a solid-boxed object to access undiscovered area, and of course the sliding knife is used for sliding through the smaller gap hole, so these are the abilities you may need it to being able to bypass though the next area.

During the exploration, you may find some of the upgrade items which can be hidden in any areas, so having to obtain these items will increase your health, magic, knives, and time will improve your power-up skills makes your player last very long. 

At the safe station area, you can able to save progress by simply touching the phone booth and also acts as the checkpoint system as well, and you can also fully replenish your HPs and MPs by simply touching the vending machine.

You can also visit Nitori's shop which gives you a choice of selling the gems that you have collected and also buying the useful items like HP item, MP item, knives, clock, and EXP.

While exploring many areas, you'll be fighting with bunch of enemies, so defeating them will drop their gems which like I said before you can sell them to the shop for bigger currencies, but having to keep all the gems with you without selling them all are also temporarily slight increases your attacks, defense, graze, and of course regen for time, MP, and HP might help you a little, but I highly recommended to stick with levelling up your stats by defeating many enemies on screen for farming which I likely to preferred more for Metroidvania games, so having your stats levelled up will improve your attributes making your attack and defense system lot easier to defeat various of strong enemies and bosses. 

So far, the gameplay plays really good because I liked the idea of using the time-stop mechanics system which works really well for Metroidvania game, so using these time-stop mechanics will allow you to do something really cool for some areas such as the stage's hazards objects like rotation blades which goes backwards when using the freeze time then turn it off to go forward, then the floating platform will move up and down during the freeze time then it will stop moving when the freeze time reaches to zero, then you have the broken bridge will float up high when using the freeze time allowing me to bypass through then it will fall down on the ground when the freeze time goes off, then during the freeze time you can able to walk across the water on top till the freeze time goes off causing you to fall underwater, and of course using the slow-mo time will allow you to do something like sliding through the small gap before the door goes shut.

It also worked on enemies and bosses too because their projectiles will get slow-down or freezed during the time-stop makes it easier and faster to dodge those incoming projectiles and you can also throw multiples of knives till the freeze time goes off resulting a massive damage attack on enemies and bosses during the battle is quite an effective way of defeating them quickly.

I wanted to praise the use of graze system in the game because unlike most of common Metroidvania games where you normally replenish your health and magic with the potion item through the menus,  this game has the different way of replenishing the health and magic system by grazing your enemy's hitboxes which makes the game quite interesting to go on the different style of gameplay which I liked it.

I also loved the use of abilities and skills which works mostly well for platforming and combat, so I liked using various of stuffs like the protective shield, homing attacks, jump manuvering, and you name it.

The main highlight of the game is got to be a boss battle because Touhou series was very known for its aggressive difficulty thanks to bullet-hell frantic action where the bosses had fire multiples of their projectiles that scattered all over the places in single screen making it impossible to evade their attacks, but thankfully it's not quite as tough in comparison to most of the shoot-em-ups games which I've managed to defeat them by being able to avoid many projectiles as possible while memorising their attacking pattern to know where they shooting at me on the spot.

I say these bosses are actually quite fun to fight against such as you have Hong Meiling, a kung-fu waifu has ability to use projectile shield, fires multiple of plasma ball, and shadow jumping. 

Then you have Marisa Kirisame, a flying broomstick witch drops down the red smoke to paralyse your time system, fires ground plasma laser, and has colorful rotation orbs.

Then you have Patchouli Knowledge, a floating girl with bunch of library books flying around firing a projectile arrows, waves of water, and fireball. 

Then of course Remilia Scarlet, a leader of Scarlet Devil with bat-wings unleashing her bunch of lasers and beams all over you is totally insane to fight against her is what makes the battle with bosses quite fun to play. 

As I had a fun of playing the whole game, I do find the length of the game is ridiculously short which takes about 7 to 10 hours of playthrough is rather makes the game quite completely goes fast which is kinda shame because I would love to see more of the exploration and having more locations for a new discoveries and more bosses to fight with to extend more playthrough time could have made it better, so I do like having a unlockable 2 game modes which has all skills mode which retains all the skill weapons you previously obtained from the first playthrough and of course you have 1 HP mode which you will start out with one health point remaining where you had to beat the whole game without taking any damage from the enemies and bosses with one hit damage makes it quite brutally challenging to play, so that is completely fine which I'm happy with the 2 game modes but I rather have much more lengthy single-player playthrough to satisfy my expectation, so please give us a more extra campaign for this game.           

Overall, it is ridiculously short, but it has cool time-stop mechanics and graze system, decent combat and platforming gameplay, and insane boss battle action.

Graphics

The game's visual is quite nice for its pixel-art direction which like I said it before about the 16-bit style of presentation just made the whole game look decent for the indie Metroidvania games.

It has sharp quality of details that made the stage layout looking bold and clean, and I liked the use of colours that made the whole stage quite gritty and dark really makes the game quite standout for gothic style levels.

I do want to praise the use of special effects in some stages such as bouncy pool of water and raining effects in stage 1, the rotating blades moves in 360 degrees in the library room, you could see the clockwork machine behind the background in the clock tower, the red coloured cloud scales forward at the outside of the castle, and of course you can see the parallax scrolling in some stages like stage 1 for example where you can see 2 or 3 layouts between the moonlight and trees scenery in background and temple house in foreground move quite smoothly as you go across the area from back to front.

I do like the sprite animation in the game because I find the player's walking and stance animation is quite smooth and being well animated which they did a good job of keeping the sprite well detailed, and lastly I got to praise the use of projectiles effects that has bright and heavy impact of explosion, flashiness, and waves of beams just looked so amazing on both of exploration and boss battles.

As far as I can tell that the game's performance is running smoothly on all platforms including PS5, PS4, XBONE, Switch, and PC, no matter what platform you're playing on because it's just a simple indie 2D side-scrolling game that you may going to enjoy this game with no signs of slow-downs whatsoever.   

Overall, it has sharp quality details, dark gothic colour layouts, nice special effects, and smooth sprite animation.

Music and Sounds

The game actually has a good original soundtrack that fits the style of Touhou games, so it had a number of kickass track for some stages such as Lunar Clock/Luna Dial, Shanghai Alice of Meiji, The Maid and the Pocket Watch of Blood, Love-Colored Master Spark, Voile the Magic Library, The Young Descendent of Tepes, Septette for the Dead Princess, Flowering Night, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's kappa, and of course one of the Touhou most famous song is definitely U.N Owen Was Her? which I got to say that the whole soundtrack is quite so catchy just really adds up the intensity level of action-packed Metroidvania game.

It was composed by an indie musician peposoft who did a remixes and arrangements of classic Touhou Project music to fit the style of game.

The sound design in the game is great for its use of environmental sounds in some stages and of course I love the collision noises from the projectiles that has the heavy use of wavy and beamy effects.

Sadly there are no voice over feature in the game which is kinda bummer, but that's the way the game is made. 

  

Overall, it has good soundtrack and great sound effects.

Special Features

The game does have 2 unlockables game modes such as all skills mode and 1 HP mode which I've mentioned it on above before, and it does have the boss rush mode where you had to defeat all bosses while aiming to earn a high ranking grade.

The physical collector's boxset of 5-year anniversary Limited Edition comes with physical PS5 copy, instruction manual book, 3 cover-art inlays, steelbook case, double CD soundtrack, and of course the certificate of authenticity.

Overall, a solid features and package.

 

Advantages

Good pixel-art presentation

Cool time-stop mechanics and graze system

Decent combat and platforming gameplay

Insane boss battle action

Nice looking visuals

Good original soundtrack

Disadvantages

Below average story

Short single-player length

Final Verdict

Presentation 7/10 - below average story, but has decent characters and good pixel-art presentation.

Gameplay 7/10 - ridiculously short, but it has cool time-stop mechanics and graze system, decent combat and platforming gameplay, and insane boss battle action.

Graphics 7.5/10 - sharp quality details, dark gothic colour layouts, nice special effects, and smooth sprite animation.

Music and Sounds 7.5/10 - good soundtrack and great sound effects.

Special Features 8/10 - has unlockable game modes and stunning physical collector's boxset.

Overall 7/10 - Despite the couple of flaws that the game could have done it bit better, Touhou: Luna Nights is still a good game as it became my very first game to experience this beloved Japanese bullet-hell series.

It had several of fun aspects about this title filled with hidden discoveries during the exploration, using time-stop mechanics and graze system worked really well for platforming and puzzles, the combat and upgrades are simple and straightforward, and of course the bullet-hell boss battle are insanely fun to play which is why I never regret playing this because I had a good time playing it for days.    

I would love to see a future sequel which I was hoping the team behind this title will able to consider making a next installiment with longer single-player adventure, bigger exploration, and hopefully make the story development bit more interesting, so that's all I can say about it.

The physical copy of the game for PS5, PS4, and Switch release cost around between £30 or more, where as the collector's edition cost about £70 or more.

The digital release for PS Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop, and Steam are slightly cheaper for between £12 and £14. 

Is it worth to play? it depends on whether if you're the mega fan of the Metroidvania games or Touhou series in general. If your answer is yes then you're likely going to have fun playing this title without any of doubt whatsoever, so give this game a worth of go.  

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