God of War: Ragnarok PS5 Review

 

God of War: Ragnarok is a Action-Adventure game was released in 2022 for PS5 and PS4, and it was later ported to PC in 2024.

It was developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by SONY Interactive Entertainment, and it is a sequel to 2018's original game titled as God of War.

Before I begin reviewing this game, I wanted to discuss my past experience and nostalgia on how I got started to get into with the SONY's landmark franchise.

At the beginning of summer 2011 when I had the PS3 as my very first SONY's gaming console on my birthday along with the bunch of PS3 games to play that will be my first time to experience the HD gaming.

After owning my PS3 and the games that I've obtained, I also continued to search for more libaries of PS3 games that I'm interested to buy it one from online store, so I've found God of War HD Collection which is a video game compliation packed with two titles such as God of War (2005) and God of War 2 (2007) as a HD remastered of these PS2 classics featuring fully-HD graphics with 720p resolution and 60 FPS, and of course the GOW 2's bonus materials previously featured on PS2's 2-disc release are now included in this HD collection.

I've been playing those games for a whole 2 weeks to see how it really goes and oh boy...I am incredibly satisfied with the results turned out to be such a masterpiece.

The game set in ancient greek mythology, the brutal battles takes place in ancient city of Athens, and of course you have a badass warrior went on hunting down many Olympian gods for bloody vengence is something that I've appericated the most thanks to epic storyline, unstoppable protagonist, button-mashing combat, has QTE and puzzles going on, appealing visuals and sound design, and of course the solid replayability that made these games quite memorable especially on HD collection are also welcoming for the series newcomers.

I also enjoyed the third and also the final title of the ancient greek era with the God of War 3 which I've descibed it as another fantastic sequel had give the series a justice in terms of story, visuals, and gameplay action makes it a worthy play. 

Then moving to the Norse mythology era with the 2018's PS4 masterpiece titled as God of War which completely taking into the new direction of game's presentation settings, storylines, characters, and of course the gameplay design and environmental visuals are completely giving a newer approach that are different from the series previous installiment.

I say it's another best title in the series, next to 2005-07's first twos original games, thanks to powerful storyline between father and son, well-builted gameplay design with solid combat system and many quests to explore, quality looking visuals showcasing PS4's powerhouse are strikingly beautiful, and has stronger casting roles delivering an amazing performance throughout the story campaign is something that made me appreciate the series even more.

Then finally the 2022's sequel for the PS5 console which is God of War: Ragnarok, a game that I'm ready to look forward playing another epic adventures of Kratos and BOY!!!! I mean his son Atreus you know I'm saying. 

As I previously enjoyed the 2018's original game which I concidered it as outstanding, you might be thinking this 2022's sequel may be just as good, right? well...almost but not quite on the same level as the predecessor which is why I am here to review this title to explain how was the story campaign going and does the combat and exploration doing the game's justice.

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

Presentation

The game set in the events after the 2018's original game, as it follows the journey of Kratos and his son Atreus went on their quest is to prevent a prophecy of their deaths and the end of the world, leading to a massive war against the Norse gods.

The story also involves Atreus seeking for his answers to find out his true identity as well as finding his way to stop Ragnarok from the apocalypse despite Kratos trying to protect his son from putting in dangerous risk, then you have Freya goes on battle for her revenge against them, then you have Odin and Thor arrive to threaten Kratos if the deal are rejected, and then finally traveling across all 9 realms to find recruiting alies like Tyr hoping he can help them way to lead the army against the Odin.

The story in the game is somewhat decent depending on what story chapters whether you like it or not, so I say the journey between father and son relationship are remained strong that keeps the story narrative going forward and I also liked the concept of having to go on their quest to find the way of saving the world from the creation of mass destruction like Ragnarok is something that I'm more interested on these storylines, where as I finding the paceing on Atreus's story quest are kinda mixed bag despite being a fine secondary protagonist which I had no problem, but on his story quest it's not simply quite the best is because I find the segments like Angraboda section and his quest in Asgard are kinda felt rushed out and scripted as opposed to Kratos story quest are slightly has the better segments in comparsion, so I wish they could have made Atreus's story quest done the job properly rather than falling flat.

The game has few of good characters which is mostly Kratos as an primary protagonist in the whole game which he still remains as an unstoppable fighter while he cares about his son safety to made sure to keep Atreus out of trouble.

Then you have everyone favourite BOY!!!! well I mean't Atreus which is now grown up as a teenage young lad who became a secondary character in the game, so even though he is portrayed as a douchebag throughout the story segment but he will eventually reduce his stubborness in later part is because what do you know it's Atreus being an Atreus which is a whole point of the game, so cut him some slack guys.    

The game also shares with some of the supporting cast of characters that are half good and some others are kinda forgetable, so you have the returning casts such as Freya the witch goddess, twin brothers Brok and Sindri, and talking headless Mimir are the only good ones that are remained likable in the game's story, where as the new character cast such as Angraboda and Thrud are kinda lackluster in comparsion is because I don't find them interesting throughout the story section which I described them as bland and also boring, and then you have Tyr is just basically a generic looking tall-giant dude which is nothing special about the character.

Lastly you have cast of villains that are incredibly decent like Odin the All-Father is absolute menacing antagonist with his act of being manipulative and charismatic mob-boss, then you have big fat Thor made his habit of being an alcoholic...yeah you could tell he had a huge gallon of beer pouring down on his big fat belly...enough said, and of course Heimdall the asshat with punchable face and insufferable personality that makes everyone loved to hate him making his eventual showdown quite entertaining fights in the game.

The game's presentation design are astoundingly solid for its cinematic aesthetics in terms of in-game cutscenes and sequences are quite look pleasing on the screen just feels really good to watch, so I highly recommend to set the graphic options to visual mode which I think having a 30fps is suitable for cinematic design wise.

I also liked the settings of the Norse mythologies themes which I find the cultrial of scandinavian history quite appealing in this game, so there are numerous of locations to discover such as you have Midgard which is a harsh and frozen wasteland with heavily iced-over lake of 9 navigable by wolf-drawn sled and scattered with deep snow drifts, looming realm towers, and stark Norse ruins.

Svartalfheim is a vibrant dwarven realm featuring a steaming wetlands, geysers, and lush green shores with heavy industrial elements like massive pitmines, canals, and the busting city of Nidavellir. 

Alfheim is a striking desert realm featuring sweeping sand dunes, massive canyons, and towering elven architecture. 

Vanaheim is a vast and lush realm which has dense jungles, vibrant red-leafed canopy trees, winding river deltas, and the open expanse of the crater.

Muspelheim is a fiery volcanic realm filled with glowing lava rivers, charred rock formations, and ashen cliffs. 

Nifheim is a frigid primordial landscape defined by towering ice formations, stark frozen fields, and sweeping mist.

Helheim is a frezzing realm which has bitter windswept icy landscape, towering dark stone architecture, and an oppressive somber atmosphere with giant spectral eagle Hraesvelgr and tear-ridden green mists. 

Asgard is a rugged fortified Nordic village surrounded by massive defensive walls, towering scaffoldings, and steep rocky terrain rather than overt pomp and splendor. 

Lastly the Jotunheim is a lush and warm landscape filled with coral reef-like plant life, stone trees, rivers, and glowing twlight skies.     

These 9 realms are filled with many manmade landmarks, village homes, caves, camping site, and many environmental structures and landscapes going on. 

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

Gameplay

In single-player campaign, you take control of Kratos or Atreus (depending on story progression) in 3rd-person perspective of open-world environment, as your main goal is to complete all mission task being listed on the map and inventory menu.  

Push the left stick control is to move the character where as pressing the left-thumbstick button is to sprint, and pushing the right stick control is to rotate the camera which not only is to move camera around but also used for targeting cursor.

You can interact the stuff by pressing the circle button which are used for picking up items or objects, hitting the lever, and talking to NPCs for dialogue.

You can access to character and map menu by pressing the left or right touchpad button which you will see the character's status, weapons, and armours as well as displaying the map inventory screen which helps you navigate through the pinpoint and whereabouts.

For combat, press the right-shoulder button is to use light attack which deals a small melee damage where as the right-trigger button used as heavy attack which deals a strong melee damage.

You can also perform throwing attack by holding with the left-trigger button then press the right-shoulder or right-trigger button which uses for long-range attack, but you can also retrieve your axe-welding melee weapon by pressing the triangle button which returns back to your hand.

The left-shoulder button uses for not only just blocking the enemy's melee projectiles, but also uses for parrying system which allows you to deflect the enemy's incoming melee attack if you see the yellow-circle being highlighted on enemy, so be sure you press it on the right timing as they get close to your range.

You can also do dodge roll the enemy's incoming attack by tapping the cross button while holding the left or right of the left-stick control is to perform evade.

You will have Atreus aiding with you to fight against the enemies or destroying objects that required specific arrow type, so you will have to command him to shoot with his arrow by pressing the square button.

You can cycle the weapon by pressing the d-pad button allowing you to switch your weapons, as well as the Atreus's arrow types.

When your rage meter is fully filled-up on the left-side bottom of the screen, this will allow you to temporarily activate the spartian rage mode by pressing both left and right thumbstick button, so this will make your melee damage attack much stronger and severe on enemies which can only last until it ran out of your rage meter bar. 

So far, the default control scheme plays it brilliant which I had no issues with controlling these layouts for its movement and combat, so you can also reconfigure your gameplay and controls through the option menu which gives you a choice to remap your button layouts, change gameplay style, and other accessibilites to suit your playstyle.

We are now going to talk about the combat gameplay is because the franchise was best known for its mass-killing combos, deadly weapons, and tons of upgradable skills and abilities to learn is something that I'd like about God of War as a whole, so does this game managed to do a good job? absoultely which I'm gonna discuss my thoughts on the combat system and skills.

You have the axe act as an primary weapon where as the later twos like twin-blades and spear which you will eventually obtain it for later part of the game.

You'll start with the leviathan axe which is slow and strong weapon great for the ice element which can be thrown and recalled from any distance and it can also freezes enemies.

Then you have blade of chaos which is fast and wide-ranging weapon perfect for the fire element which excels at hitting hordes of enemies and it is also applies burning status effects and utilizes flame whiplash.

Lastly the draupir spear which is agile and ranged pressure weapon good for the wind element which can rapidly impales enemies with projectiles that can be detonated and it is also siphon enemy elemental magic to unleash amplified attacks.

What I liked about the combat system is the upgrade and skills for your weapons and armours, so each of them will have many attributes to improve on such as strength, defense, relics, cooldown, and luck which you will need to have these leveled up, so that you can able to fight against the high-class enemies that are tougher to fight during the battle.  

So in order to do that, you will need a certain requirements such as looting many required materials, gaining many XPs after defeating enemies and bosses or completing numerious of quests, and collecting all currencies.   

Once you gain all the stuffs that you need, you can head over to inventory screen which you will see the list of weapons and armours that the stuff you have equipped and others are not equipped, so these weapons can be upgraded if you have one of the required material which can be found on any area of each locations, so you can upgrade them through the blacksmith shop which Brok or Sindri will help you smithing your weapons which levels up your player's weapons will not only it increases your strengths for your attack power but also allows you to access your new fighting skills to unlock.

The fighting skills menu can be accessed to the inventory screen which gives you an option to choose which fighting moves you want to unlock, so it will also require XPs to unlock these skills.

This will make your fighting ability a lot easier to perform more combos and technique attacks delivering a solid damage on enemies and bosses.

Then you will have various of armours to select such as chest, wrists, and amulet which can be also upgraded through blacksmith shop which improves upon your defensive system reducing damage taken from the enemy melee or projectiles. 

You will also have the 4 of the enhancements stuff such as the enchantments are the boosters which grant you an specific bonuses such as your strength, defense, relics, cooldown, and luck.

The attachments allowing you to customise gear by adding distinct perks, special abilities, and stat boosts to your weapons and shields.  

The runic attacks is a special weapon skills has 2 slots to equip which allowing you to perform a various of light and heavy special weapon attacks such as winter's bite, mists of helheim, cyclone of chaos, tartarus rage, huldra charge, and the finger of ruin    

The relics uses to amplify or prolong your effects such as granting melee damage bonus, burst of rage, push enemies back with force, and of course creating a shockwave to stun enemies.  

These upgrades, skills, and enhancements that I've mentioned above really adds-up your benefits such as reduces your damage taken from the enemy's melee or projectiles, increased power for stronger damage attack, and also faster cooldown for your runic attack, relics, and companions to recharge. 

I say these combat gameplay plays it really amazing throughout the battle with new skills to learn and more upgrades to improve on is something that I really enjoyed having to leveling up the character's stats just really adds-up a realism of the combat design, so this motivates me to be better fighting against the tough enemies and bosses.

I got to say that I actually liked the combat battle between Kratos and the enemies where you'll spend time to kick their asses by keep throwing the axe directly at them, swinging your blades around them, and thrusting and stabbing them with your spear.

Having to unleash your rage mode giving you ability to instantly knocking them out faster till it ran out your rage meter.

Finally finishing them off with your brutallity moves allowing you to rip and tear their body in pieces displaying the gorefested animated sequence of these enemies getting mauled to death on screen is something to enjoy the game's ultra-violent action-adventure.  

What can I say about the open-world exploration? I say it's fun to explore many places in each 9 realms, so I've spent time of browsing through the areas searching for looting items on chestboxes, fighting hordes of enemies to farm XPs, visiting any undiscovered villages, homes, and fortresses, rowing on the boat, and so on.

The most important thing about the game is the campaign quests as a whole is because there good and bads to talk about regarding on whether the story quest are actually done right and some others might be not as quite good, so starting off with Kratos campaign quest which I personally liked the big adventure of father and son worked together on their journey which I really enjoyed exploring around the areas, doing many puzzle solving, fighting off the enemies, and of course those segments are actually great such as the prologue, search and find Tyr, and solving Groa's secret just off the good start.

There are also a side quests to do which is an optional choice for the players giving you a freedom to do an extra mission outside of the story quest, so having to play the side quests are not only it will expand your campaign's length to keep you busy but also it is a very useful for the beneficial reason to do it for the rewards such as valuable XPs, unique armour sets, crafting resources, and runic items just made the kratos whole adventure quite fun to play.   

Not only you take control of Kratos throughout the playthrough, you also get to play as Atreus which is a secondary playable character that you'll take control of him in later chapter, so is the Atreus campaign any good? well...not quite so much as the Kratos campaign too be frankly honest.

I say he did have a good things for his combat system which he uses the bow as an weapon are perfect for range-shot on long-distance and he uses 2 types of arrow came handy for stuff like destroying blocked objects or puzzle solving related area.

His melee combat are fast and fluid which he can pull off his amount of combo attack and of course his transformation into bear or wolf is incredibly cool which I did apperiecate his combat style just worked really good.

Unfortunately his story quest started out decent at the first start of his independent adventure until the later chapter of his are kinda falls flat which I did mention earlier about the segments on Angraboda section and his quest in Asgard just kinda bores me is because I find these story segment quite uninteresting just made the paceing of the playthrough quite painfully slow and scripted, so I wish they could have made a better segments that has simple and straight-forward dialogue and more balanced paceing could have helped his story campaign much fairer. 

The positive things in the campaign is has to be a boss battle which the game did it right job is because I actually liked having to fight these insane bosses that does quite an intense charge attacks, throwing magics at your face, and showing off their power ability.

You have Bjorn the grizzly bear came charging at you, the big fat Thor welds his heavy thunderous hammer to smash your head off, the big lizard-like dragon Niohogg is rediculously huge creature with impressive strength and immerse durability, the large-giant wolf Garm is quite bloody dangerous being with chained-collar around neck, and of course I find battling with Heimdall is got to be the most entertaining showdown that do not drags everything down, so I'm glad that they made the boss battle quite solid with many fun strategies and epic hand-to-hand combat is something that I can able to enjoy this game.

The game also has a free DLC called Valhalla which is basically an single-player expansion which takes place after the main game featuring roguelite mechanics where each death resets your tempoary stats and runic attacks while keeping the permanent upgrades between runs, so this is actually a tough but also a fun single-player experience that got everything right makes it an outstanding addition to this game are definite worth checking it out.      

         

Overall, it has brilliant combat gameplay, fun exploration, great single-player quests, and entertaining boss battles.

Graphics

The graphics in this game is still stunningly look amazing for its visual quality even through it doesn't support the use of ray-tracing which is suprising that it's was meant to be the AAA title because it uses the simular game's engine and the assets from the predecessor to fit in for the PS4 version which I totally understand the reason, but the key difference is that they have added the improvement for the PS5 version featuring the shaper images, dynamic lighting amd shadows, cleaner environments and textures, and faster-loading times which did really help the game's visually.

As you can see the open-world environments are nicely opened-wide filled with many structures, objects, and landmarks that are perfectly well-designed on many landscapes and areas.

The textures of wall and surfaces are bold and detailed giving a shaper environmental look on many places, and then these lighting and shadow effects are also quite good on some locations depending on which areas has the clear balance of light and dark tone.

The use of HDR support does also improve the aspect of image level such as the color saturation, brightness, and sharpness just adds up the suitable screen filtering.      

The motion capturing of character's animation is still remains intact and perfection throughout the cinematic cutscenes as well as in-game battle and sequences, as you can see their body figure and facial movement are incredibly well-synced and responsive just made the whole game quite realistic that proves how fantastic the visual design looked on modern-gaming platform.

Finally let's not forget the gore system in the game which I really liked the finishing kill animation of the enemies and bosses gets their body tore-up in pieces while the blood spreads everywhere on the ground is something that I adore the series well-known brutality throughout the in-game battle. 

The game's performance on PS5 has four graphical options such as performance mode, quality mode, performance-HFR mode, and quality-HFR mode. 

The performance mode targets with 60fps using dynamic resolution scaling between 1440p and 2160p, where as having the performance-HFR mode turned on unlocks the 60fps and over which is a solid choice for those who perfers a smooth and responsive combat. 

The quality mode locked native 4K resolution with target between 30fps and 40fps, where as having the quality-HFR mode turned on unlocks the 40fps and over offers a sharper details much suitable for a cinematic use.

While the performance mode with both HFR on or off is still runs great, I rather much prefered the quality mode with both HFR on or off is because I find the details looks more bolder and cleaner on draw-distance, foreground, weather effects, and character's outfit just made the game look appealing on the screen.   

Overall, it has amazing visual environment, fantastic animation, and great performance.

Music and Sounds

I say I adored the orchestrated folklore soundtrack that is still incredibly sounds fantastic throughout the whole campaign just adds-up the level of emotional depths between the father and son.

It was composed by Bear McCreary who previously did the score of God of War (2018) has done the job really well again proves that having an epic and powerful sound score in video games is the work of art.

The overall sound design is pretty solid for its environmental backgrounds, atmospheric noises, and surrounding areas just sounded great in many open-world locations.

I say the voice actors such as Christopher Judge and Sunny Suljic did such an excellent job for delivering an remarkable performance between the twos just really nails their character role entirely.  

Overall, it has fantastic soundtrack, solid sound design, and excellent voice cast.

Special Features

The game has unlockable new game plus and of course does feature a free DLC-expansion called Valhalla.

Overall, an outstanding content. 

   

Advantages

Decent story and good returning characters

Solid presentation design

Brilliant combat gameplay and fun exploration

Great single-player quests

Amazing visual design

Fantastic music and sound design

Outstanding free DLC-expansion

Disadvantages

Atreus's story section are not great

New supporting characters are forgetable

Final Verdict

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

Gameplay 8.5/10 - brilliant combat gameplay, fun exploration, great single-player quests, and entertaining boss battles.

Graphics 9/10 - amazing visual environment, fantastic animation, and great performance.

Music and Sounds 9/10 - fantastic soundtrack, solid sound design, and excellent voice cast.

Special Features 9/10 - new game plus and free DLC-expansion called Valhalla.

Overall 8.5/10 - I say it is a good but not a perfect sequel which didn't quite match-up to the predecessor is because I felt the 2018's original game that was on PS4 console had done flawlessly outstanding job in terms of quality storyline, has better quest mission, and of course the epic battle sequences which is why I liked the original game's charm that made it very interesting to play, where as this does have amazing visuals, brilliant combat, and has great single-player quests which is fine but it falls shortly with the slow-paced Atreus's story section and lackluster new supporting characters wasn't the best part in which they could have done the job better, but that doesn't mean the game is a let down is because at least you'll still may find Kratos story campaign more enjoyable filled with many quests and duties to do and of course the showdown battle with the enemies and bosses is what really matters the most that helps you keep the busy with the game entirely.

That being said, God of War: Ragnarok is a solid action-adventure game which is still worth to play, so the physical copy are cost about £20 or more mostly on local shop or online store, where as the digital release on PS Store are retailed for £70, but you can also access to this game by getting it on the PS Plus subscription under the game catalogue.        

Is it an definite play? I say if you previously liked the original game then you might gonna give this game a worth a shot.

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This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone. 

            

     

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero PS5 Review

 

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is a 3D fighting game was released in 2024 for PS5, XSX/S, and PC, and then was later released both on Switch 1 and 2 in 2025.

It was developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, and it is a sequel to 2007's title such as Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 making it a 4th installiment in the Budokai Tenkaichi series.

Before I begin reviewing the game, I wanted to mention that I've previously reviewed 2 of the Dragon Ball Z games quite long time ago.

I've covered the review of Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit for PS3 in 2017 which I've described it as one and the only decent DBZ game for 7th-gen consoles in comparsion with the later games like Raging Blast and Battle of Z are definitely not good as the Burst Limit, and then I also covered the review of Dragon Ball FighterZ for PS4 in 2021 which is definitely being one of the best fighting game in the Dragon Ball Franchises is something to appericate anime-style fighting game genre more thanks to numerous of memorable base roster, enjoyable 3 on 3 matches, well-written story, quality visuals, and smooth fighting gameplay is what makes the game epically fun on the 8th-gen system.

Here is the link on down below to see my previous review of Dragon Ball games:

https://zeeshanmirzasblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/dragon-ball-z-burst-limit-ps3-review.html

https://zeeshanmirzasblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/dragon-ball-fighterz-ps4-review.html

 

Okay let's get on with this review shall we? we all know this media franchise was created by Akira Toriyama in 1984 which started out as manga series was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995. 

As manga series has been adapted into two anime TV series such as Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z which together were broadcast in Japan from 1986 to 1996.

It was later aired on worldwide channels like Cartoon Network in late 90's, as well as CNX in 2002 and Toonami 2003. 

Since the release, Dragon Ball has widely become one of the most successful manga and anime series of all time with the manga sold in over 40 countries and the anime broadcast in more than 80 countries.

It was highly praised for its art, characterization, and humour of the story, as well as many manga artists citing Dragon Ball as a source of inspiration for their own now popular works.

Many people had talked about Dragon Ball Z which is the reason why it became popular across the world and is considered one of the most influential in boosting the popularity of Japanese animation in Western culture has impact on global popular culture such as artists, athletes, celebrities, filmmakers, musicians and writers across the world.

It also spawned into films, both animated and live-action, collectible trading card games, numerous action figures, along with several collections of soundtracks and numerous video games.

As I grew up watching Dragon Ball Z as a child back in the days of late-90s and early-2000s, I also got interested to play any of DBZ games which I had a blast time playing with the titles like Dragon Ball Z 2 -Super Battle for Arcade (via Mame 32), Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit for PS3, Super Dragon Ball Z for PS2, and of course Dragon Ball FighterZ for PS4, but there's one of the series that I've never actually played which is DBZ: Budokai and DBZ: Budokai Tenkaichi is because I'm mostly got used with the traditional 2D fighting game as opposed to 3D-arena style fighting game for DBZ games which is why I've never payed closely attention on 3D fighting DBZ games, but I did hear many positives things about these games by the fans including my classmate from my old-days at college in early-2010s had talked about these game he played said something really special about how fun these DBZ: Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi games really are in terms of story mode, base rosters, tournament matches, and perfectly great for versus battles which is why it got me convinced to tryout these games if only I had a chance to get it on my gaming console, so it took me 15 years to finally getting my hands-on a 3D fighting DBZ game and also my very first Budokai Tenkaichi game for the PS5 which is Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. 

It's one of the game that the Budokai Tenkaichi series made the return since 2007, so it's been incredibly long time for DBZ fans were expecting to see a new entry for the modern platform is because it really shows how much they loved the series back in their PS2 days where you had bunch of fighters flying around the arena, throwing tons of rapid punches and kicks, and blasting the shit of each others with projectiles is something that made the series quite special, so does this game lives up the same expectations as the previous entries or is it a huge step backwards in comparsion? let's find out how this game plays it well throughout the journey.

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

Presentation

The game's episodes depict the story of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super where you must take control of any of selected fighters including Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Future Trunks, Frieza, Goku Black, and of course Jiren, so each of them has their story arc that follows the canonical events of these two animated series, but it also featured the story branching which require players to complete the secondary objectives in order to access the "what if" scenarios that change the course of history.

Thats the interesting way of having the multiple paths in story mode which resulted a different outcome of story cutscenes just makes the game quite unique for fighting game genre.

The game however shares a really great sagas starting from Saiyan Saga to Frieza Saga and then Cell Saga to Majin Buu Saga is the reason I loved watching Dragon Ball Z back in the good old days, where as I haven't watched Dragon Ball Super but thankfully this game includes two sagas such as Universal Survival Saga and Future Trunks Saga which are also quite decent too.

While these story sagas are pretty amazing in the story mode, it also shares likable heroes like Goku who is the main protagonist of whole Dragon Ball franchise which was loved by many fans and communites due to his super saiyan power and fighting techniques are incredibly badass throughout the fight sequence and he also quite an likable character with his friendly personality which he enjoys challenging with tough opponents, eats huge amounts of food, and being quite kind-hearted and forgiving person.

I also liked Vegeta which is another badass fighter which was best known for being an arrogance and stubborness as he likes to test opponents to prove his dominance, but he then evolves from a cold ruthless villain into a dedicated family man and hero throughout the story.     

Then you have Gohan who is the son of Goku which descibed as gentle and compassionate pacifist who hates fighting, but he only steps up when forced to defend home planet and his friends.

You have Piccolo the green alien dude who is formally villain from the original Dragon Ball are now shifts dramatically as wise mentor and trusted ally after bonding with Gohan in Dragon Ball Z.

Future Trunks is basically the future version of Trunks who is a Vegeta's son, as he visited to his past timeline to warn Vegeta and Goku about the incoming threat of two invincible foes such as Goku Black and Future Zamasu.

Then you have the cast of villains such as Frieza, Cell, and Super Buu which I concider these dudes are the best bad guys in Dragon Ball Z saga, where as you have Goku Black and Future Zamasu in Dragon Ball Super are just as crazy chaotic villains like the previous ones.         

Lastly I concider Jiren as not a traditional villain but rather more of being an rival in the tournament match which he has an incredibly impressive power throughout the battle sequence.

The game's presentation is excellent which I really liked the Akira Toriyama's style of design that are bold, bright, and colourful just like the good old days of animated series we knew and love back in the 90s.

I really love the overall design of cutscenes that are fully cinematic during the conversation dialogue between the characters and the whole scenery in the cutscenes are all in 3D perspective giving the story sequences a dynamic feel which I got to say it's a pretty well designed throughout the story campaign. 

I say I do like the game's main menu screen which has fully animated navigation are filled with cast of characters and the background scenery in each menu screens, and I also liked the menu's user interface design which has really nice layouts and fonts throughout the navigations just looking quite good on the menu screen.

The game does have 12 really great fighting stage locations such as Planet Namek take place on a small clearing surrounded with destructable trees and mountains, empty namekian village with destructible homes and furniture, and small shore that leads to a ocean with underwater.

Open Field is a wasteland areas are filled with small mountains and trees covered in grass and multiple dirt patches along it's vast surface.

Rocky Land is a desert level filled with uneven terrain and has many tall rock formations, canyons, and short small rivers.

City is a large metropolitan places are filled with tall skyscraper buildings, parks, and road with futuristc style layouts and design.

World Tournament is a fighting stadium with large arena of grey tiled square shaped that's elevated over a big patch grass and the whole area is walled off by brick walls on three sides.

Tournament of Power Arena is another fighting area takes place on a huge floating circular battle arena with a huge pole struck in the middle and the surface of the stage is littered with serveral big pieces of debris and broken parts of the ground.

Hyberbolic Time Chamber is an open cicular structre with two small rooms, big clock, two giant hourglasses with green sand, and small pole with a glass sphere.

Land of the Kais is an open field filled with small rock formations and trees covered in grass and a long winding dirt path that crosses along it's vast surface, and it also has a few purple rivers, lakes, and a waterfalls on the background.

Islands is a stage takes place on a 8-shaped island with palm trees and oak trees, tall rock formation, ocean, and small mountains above the surface.

Cell Games Arena is simular to World Tournament stage but without the stadium layout which has open field with mountains and trees.

City Ruins is a stage that depicts a dilapidated city from the future timeline featuring abandoned run down buildings, wrecked cars, and many pieces of debris.

Destroyed Planet Namek is a dark and gloomy stage are filled with red hot magma spewing from the planet's core, and a lot of jagged terrains along with a few trees and mountains left to be destroyed.

First Demon World takes place on a huge floating circular rock arena with huge curved spikes sticking around the edges and surface of the stage is littered with serveral big spikes and broken parts of the ground.

Overall, it has amazing story sagas, recogniable cast of characters, and excellent presentation settings.

Gameplay

The game has serveral of game modes to play including episode battle, custom battle, mission 100, survival mode, battle mode, and tournament mode which I will explain these game modes for later on this review.

You take control of any playable fighters in 3rd-person perspective as your goal is to defeat your opponent till their health points reaches to zero to win the match.

You have 3 of HUDs such as your health, ki, and skill bar at the top of the screen which displays your character's real-time status during the battles.

The health bar changes the color from blue to orange/red gradients as the health depletes, and it also has small numerical icons or stacked indicators which show how many total health bars remain.

The Ki Gauge represented by the yellow meter boxes underneath the health bar, so it fills up your ki power as you manually charge or land physical attacks, but it also depletes when you fly, dash, or fire energy blasts.

The skill count is a blast stocks shown as blue charging segments beside the main meters, so these fill over time (and faster when dealing damage) to let you use transformations, fusions, super perceptions, or revenge counters.

Sparking! Gauge becomes available to activate once your ki is maxed out and you have at least one skill count ready, pushing your character into a temporary hyper-powered state.

Lets get to the controls scheme starting off with the basics, so push the left-stick control is to move your character around, where as the right-stick control is to move camera around.

Press the left shoulder button is to jump, but pressing the same button again in mid-air to make you float allowing you to fly around in the air, but you can also ascend and descend your flying by holding with the left shoulder button and left trigger.

Press the cross button is to use step which allowing your character to make a short dash used as dashing speed or evading enemy's melee or projectiles.

You can also perform high speed dash by holding the both right trigger and cross button which treverse your dash speed into the enemies much faster. 

Press the square button is to use rush attack which acts as an melee deals weak damage attack on enemies, but to perform the smash attack hold the square button is to charge your melee then let go of it into a strong damage attack on enemies causing them to fly-off the stage in mid-distance. 

Press the triangle button is to shoot multiples of ki blast deals weak damage projectiles on enemies, but to perform charged ki blast hold the triangle button is to charge your ki blast then let go of it to shoot out a large ki blast deals strong damage projectiles on enemies.

The triangle button is also used as a rush chain meaning that you had to make chain attack by pressing the square button from 1 to 4 times then hit the triangle button which creates the chain combo deals a mid-damage attack on enemies.

You can perform a vanishing assault by pressing both of cross and square button near an enemy to teleport behind them allowing your character to attack your enemy from behind.

To defend yourself, hold the right shoulder button is to block the enemy's melee attack, where as you can able to parry enemy's incoming melee attack or projectiles by pressing the circle button at the right time as their enemy attacks you closely will deflect their melee attack or projectiles away from you.

To charge up your ki gauge, hold the right trigger to charge up your ki meter which you will see on the ki gauge bar, so having a fully charged up ki energy will allow you to use it for ki blast, super attacks, execute high speed dash, and of course the sparking! mode.  

To perform super attacks, hold the right trigger then press any of two buttons such as square or triangle which allowing your character to use their super attacks deals heavy damage attack on enemies.

To activate the sparking! mode, make sure your one skill count is ready before you charge up your ki gauge, so once you have obtained the skill count on top of the screen then you can able to activate it by keep holding the right trigger to charge your ki gauge till it reaches up to fully maxed level, so this will allow your character to perform an ultimate blast by holding the right trigger then press the circle button to use it resulting a cinematic finishing blast deals servere damage on enemy.

So far, the controls is not that complicated is because it may takes a while to learn and practice at the very beginning until after you have done completing the tutorials you've finally get used with it at the very end will eventually make you play better throughout the matches.

You can also customise your controls scheme from the option menu which lets you re-map your button layouts to suit your control preferences, as well as giving you an option to turn on assist settings to suit your playstyle which is fine for the beginners, but when it comes with having the best settings for competitve matches I always have all assists turned off except recovery assist is turned on is the better way of playing the game without any unwanted interference or breaking inputs during the matches otherwise your combos and parry system stops working which prevent players enjoying their experience on this game which is why I highly recommended to turn off all battle assists, but you can keep the recovery assist turned on to ease tedious button mashing when trying to recover or stabilizing in mid-air after getting launched which makes pretty sense is because the recovery time is quite slow which you don't really want to keep mashing all the buttons to get it recovered.

Is the control scheme plays any good? I say it plays really decently which I had no problem with controlling the character which I find the movements and fighting system plays out really smoothly, so I can able to pull off many good combos, melees, blasts, dashing, flying, and of course using the special techniques that made the match quite enjoyable to play.

What I liked about the game is the customisation which lets you alter fighters using alternate costumes, accessories, and of course the stat-boosting ability items which tweaks your character's stats like health, strength, and speed for offline and permitted modes.

This will change your fighter's attributes starting from default to custom status meaning that your fighter will have larger advantages of their fighting ability making it stronger and faster during the battles, so its entirely up to you whether you like to change the fighter's stats or just sticking it to the default instead if you do not wish to make changes.

You can get these stat-boosting ability items from the shop which requires zeni coins to purchase these items. 

I did had a blast time of playing various of game modes such as episode battle which is the story mode based on both Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super with epic story sagas that are incredibly great for not just the canon story, but also shares with multiple routes which resulted a different "what if" scenarios that aren't present on the original animated series meaning that once the alternate objective has been met then you will see the new outcome with different storyline and endings which I really liked the idea of having to choose between the scenario A and B that makes the story in the game quite interesting to play, but the issue is that in order to access at the scenario B you have to set the game's difficulty to normal settings is the only way of unlocking the new scenario which unfortunately it's not that easy is because you had to go through fighting with the opponent while trying to complete the alternate objective is painfully takes too long to beat it just adds up frustration for players who really wanted to get access to new story route.

I'm not saying it plays bad, but at least try not to make alternate objective quite difficult to play otherwise it's takes forever to beat it. 

Despite the difficulty swings on alternate objective, the rest of the whole single-player story mode still plays great which I really liked having to battle against any of the foes such as Frieza, Cell, Super Buu, Goku Black, and Future Zamasu is what keeps the whole story campaign going forward.

I do like the custom battle which includes bonus battles where it had numerous of battles with original scenes that have different victory conditions and some that have event cutscenes trigger during the middle of battle, so not only you can enjoy the bonus battles but it also featured the edit mode is where you can able to create your own original scenes allowing you to freely select any of playable characters, along with camera cuts, poses, facial expressions, effects, dialogue, BGM, and even title screens which I think it's a cool feature that you can create your own original story and battle can be uploaded to the bonus battles servers, so that the public users can able to select and play any of these custom made battles.               

Then you have mission 100 from Budokai Tenkaichi 3 makes a return in a free update which consists of a 100 difficult battles against preset enemies, so it is good to include this mode for this recent title which I adored having the challenge mode for most of the fighting games in general.

Then you have survival mode which features 2 battle types such as round robin where you fight every fighters one after the other, and you have the deathmatch tests you to see how many win streaks you can rack up for a high score.

Then you have battle mode where the players must challenge each other through local split-screen and online multiplayer matches.

It also has tournament mode where you can create or join a tournament online with rivals around the world or play offline.

I say these game modes are actually fun to play especially playing with your friends or rivals through local or online matches, as well as having the tournament mode in this game is also a great addition which I fully appericate.

I wanted to praise the game for its over 100s of playable base roster including your favourites such as Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin, Master Roshi, Goten, Trunks, Yamcha, Tien, Mr Satan, Majin Buu, Android 18, Kale, Frieza, Cell, Super Buu, Broly, Cooler, Raditz, and many more amazing cast of rosters to play as in the game.

I do like the base content in this game where you can able to earn the bonus points by completing serveral of single-player episodes and other modes or bonus log-in message will reward you with the zeni coins which is a in-game currencies where you can use these to spend on shopping menu to unlock various of playable rosters, outfits, musics, emote voice lines, and title cards.   

If this wasn't enough, you can also get a paid DLCs pack called "Super Limit Breaking NEO" which includes 30 plus new playable roster, 20 more new expanded customisation, 4 brand new stages, and of course the new single-player solo mode called limit breaker journey which is available on digital storefront including PS Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop, and Steam for £29. 

I do appericate the additonal content of the game which sounds pretty cool to have one, but I don't think it's the right price for everyone to purchase which I think it's quite too expensive, so it would have been acceptable if the price were down to £15 or less to get everyone easily to purchase this paid DLCs.

  

These are all the game modes and base content that keeps me going with tons of replayability really proves that this game is just as entertaining that made the Budokai Tenkaichi series quite fun to play thanks to multiple story routes on episode battles, creating your own original story on custom battles, take the challenge of mission 100, and of course participating the local or online match on battle mode is something that makes the game worth of play.  

I had a fun time of playing the game with many cool battles between the fighters with many punching, kicking, and blasting each others, destroying many of environmental areas, having to fly around the arena, charging their power level up, and of course throwing large gigantic spirit ball or blast out with KAMEHAMEHA!!! right at your face is what I love playing Dragon Ball games in general.        

 

Overall, it has decent controls and fighting system, and many great game modes and base contents.          

Graphics

The graphics in this game is looking very good for its cel-shaded environments that has an large open-area which is perfect for big arena battle, and I do like the stage layouts with many structures and objects around the areas such as rocks, trees, houses, and walls which can be break apart in pieces, so I really liked how destructable these stages which I had a wonderful time of having to smash these objects and launched opponents onto the buildings and rocks is just looks awesome during the battle.

The texture surfaces are nicely bold, the art-style are colourful, the background landscape are detailed, the use of lighting and shadow effects in some stages are perfected, and of course the use of special effects is very well made especially the fighters charging up their ki gauge and throwing their blast at them is looking sharp and heavy that made the previous entry of the series look very appealing.

I got to love the character's animation in the game especially the Akira Toriyama's art-style which I really liked the anime/manga in general is because I find their design quite unique and appealing with cool facial expressions and movements is something that made the series quite likable.

Let's talk about how was the game's performance ran on the system is because PS5 and XSX/S (X Model) had managed to run on dynamic 4K or 1440p resolution with 60fps that keeping the pace of the whole quite smoothly as well as the sharp images on the screen is wonderfully look amazing throughout the battles.

I also got suprised finding out with the XSX/S (S model) had managed to upscale between 1080p and 1440p resolution with 60fps which thankfully its runs pretty smoothly throughout the battles.       

The Switch 2 on other hand which the game runs on 810p resolution with locked 30fps on both docked and undocked mode which makes the whole image of the game appears to be a bit soft on the screen and the performances does appears to have minimal stutters during the battle but it's still remains playable. 

Then sadly the Switch 1 is a huge step backwards in comparsion with the 9th-gen systems which ran on 720p docked and 480p undocked with locked 30fps which makes the pace of the game appears to be quite janky to play and it is not running smoothly and detailed as the Switch 2 which you better off sticking with the new Nintendo system instead for playable experience.

Overall, it has very good visual design, great character's animation, and wonderful performance.

  

Music and Sounds

The game has the solid numbers of epic soundtrack done really right for most of the in-game cutscenes and battle.

It fuses the style of J-Rock and epic orchestra just sounds so good to listen especially when battling against the foes just making the players ready to pump up for fast-paced brawling action, so you have the tracks like "Let the Battle Begin", "Flurry of Power", "Believe in Tommorow", "Limit Breaker", "Ultimate Instinct", "Dragon Spirit", "My Hero", "Day of Awakening", "The Final Battle", "Hidden Potential", "Next-Gen Hero", "Peaceful Days", "Serious", "Hope for the Future", and of course the "Main Theme".

It was composed by Takanori Arima, a same composer behind his work on Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and 3, did a great job on his original score.     

The game did a stunning job with the sound effects uses the same collision noises like from animated series which is why I finding these sound designs fits perfectly for the fight sequences with the sound of the clinging fists and exploding blasts everywhere and I also liked the heavy impact sounds of the destructable environments scattered all over the places is just sounds magnificent.   

It also has the returning English dubbing voice cast from the long-running series for their iconic character role that we all know and love which is why it brings me back the nostalgia of the DBZ as my childhood anime TV series.

  

Overall, it has solid epic soundtrack, stunning sound design, and returning voice cast for iconic characters.

Special Features

The game has many unlockable base contents including many playable rosters, outfits, emote voice lines, BGMs, and title cards.

It also has paid DLCs such as "Super Limit Breaking NEO" which includes 30 plus new playable roster, 20 more new expanded customisation, 4 brand new stages, and of course the new single-player solo mode called limit breaker journey.

Overall, an awesome overall content.

 

Advantages

Amazing story sagas and cast of characters

Excellent presentation settings

Decent controls and fighting system

Many great game modes and base contents

Very good graphics and performance

Solid epic soundtrack and stunning sound design

Disadvantages

Alternate objectives is painfully tough

Battle assist option is not suitable for competitve matches

Paid DLCs is overpriced

Final Verdict

Presentation 8.5/10 - amazing story sagas, recogniable cast of characters, and excellent presentation settings.

Gameplay 8.5/10 - decent controls and fighting system, and many great game modes.

Graphics 8/10 - very good visual design, great character's animation, and wonderful performance.

Music and Sounds 8/10 - solid epic soundtrack, stunning sound design, and returning voice cast for iconic characters.

Special Features 8/10 - unlockable base contents and additional paid DLCs with many awesome features. 

Overall 8.5/10 - While I concider Dragon Ball FighterZ as the strongest and also my top favourite fighting game in the series, this could be my 2nd favourite title is because they did a fabulous job of putting so much effort to work on this game with many overall content are filled with many cool things like the story mode has branching paths and choices, custom battles gives you a freedom to create your own original battle, has 100 challenge missions, survival, versus, and tournament modes to keep you busy with the game, and of course having to earn rewards to unlock base content by simply beating the game is what makes the game quite fun to play.

I had a wonderful good time of fighting these opponents by rapidly throwing punches and kicks, shooting many crazy blasts, dashing and flying around the fighting arena, and launching them onto destructable environments is what I loved about playing Dragon Ball games.

I am glad that I've picked really great 3D fighting game that do not regret playing it which shows that how much fun this game really is and I can honestly say is that the game is definitely made for those who previously enjoyed the Budokai Tenkaichi games.

You can get it physical copy on PS5 and XSX/S cheaper for £25, where as the Switch 1 and 2 are slightly expensive for £40.

It is also available on digital storefront such as PS Store, Xbox Store, and Steam for £45, where as the Nintendo eShop are quite pricey for £55.      

Is the game worth playing? the answer is if you really love playing the Dragon Ball's video games then "IT'S OVER 9000!" yes is because it's a solid 3D fighting game title that you may going to find this game an entertaining to play.

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This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone. 

Shadow of the Colossus PS4 Review

 

Shadow of the Colossus is a Action-Adventure game was released in 2018 exclusively for PS4. It was developed by Bluepoint Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, and it is a remake of the 2005's original game for PS2 was developed by Team Ico.

Before I begin the review, let's talk about the team behind the masterpiece that changed video game history.

Team Ico led by Fumito Ueda was responisible for creating his work of art during the early days of PS2 era in the year of 2001, so that is Ico. 

It's an interactive action-adventure was heavily created on subtracting design approach to create a simple and less interfernce game's design elements and focused more on the story and settings to add immersion.

At the game's release, while it's not commercially successful at launch the game had recieved critically acclaimed by the gaming medias praising the game for its immersive atmosphere, influential puzzle design, technically impressive visuals and sound environments, and of course the interactive storytelling and emotional connection between the characters is what makes the Ico a work of art in gaming.

The team was later created the spiritual successor in 2005 which is Shadow of the Colossus for the PS2, so it is an action-adventure title that was originally in development as online multiplayer game titled NICO directly after the completion of Ico, but it underwent a lengthy production cycle during which it was redeveloped as a single-player title, as the team aims to create an cinematic interactive experience including a distinct visual design, unorthdox gameplay template, and NPC's sophisticated artificial intelligence.      

At the game's release, it was met with strong sales compared to predecessor due in part to a larger marketing campaign and had gained widely acclaimed by the gaming media, as its been fully recognisable as an important example of video game form of art due to its minimalist landscape designs, immersive gameplay, and player's emotional journey.

It won several awards for its audio, visuals, and overall quality, as well as cited as an influrential in the video game industry and listed as one of the greatest game of all-time.

Due to legacy, both games are later being remastered in 2011 for PS3 adding support for HD resolution, higher performance, and stereoscopic 3D designed for HDTV with 3D support which are also recieved acclaimed reception for its additional enhancements and easy recommendation for newcomers.

Then finally the 2005's original title are also getting the full remake in 2018 for the PS4 titled as Shadow of the Colossus. 

First of all, I haven't had a PS2 console at the early 2000s (until I got it as in 2022) which is why I haven't had a chance to play both of these till I had a PS3 console as in 2011 which I did get a chance to play these on HD remastered collection, so thanks to PS Plus's free monthly games subscription back then.

My thoughts on HD remastered collection for the PS3 are incredibly fantastic especially playing on the HDTV, so I liked the Ico which is gorgeously beauitful game but I think the Shadow of the Colossus supasses the predecessor in terms of visual presentation settings, open-world environments, and of course the epic gameplay action is something to adored the most which I concider the game as masterclass in gaming.

I decided to re-visit the game by picking up a copy of 2018's full-on remake title for the PS4 to see if the game does holds up well to the today standards in terms of performance and quality, so is the game still remains as the masterpiece or is it not as what I've remembered? so let's find out the pros and cons of this title.

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

Presentation

The game takes place in the fantasy world of unpopulated peninsula known as the forbidden land, as it begins with long opening cutscenes of the young man named Wander traveling through the isolated mythic region alongside his loyal horse named Argo, as he carries the deceased body of the maiden named Mono to the massive stone temple called the shrine of worship where he meets the mysterious entity named Dormin. 

Driven by his grief, he begs the entity to revive the girl's body which the entity has agreed to help the young man, but under one condition he must destroy all dark armored beast known as the colossi to achieve his goal is the only way of bring the dead maiden back to it's life.   

The game' story is quite has an emotional start where Wander had learnt about the maiden who was sacrificed because she was believed to have a cursed destiny had led Wander desperately going on his quest to find his way of bringing her life back, so I think these kinds of story reflecting on the character who witness the death of the loved ones had their soul taken away is something that the game's opening cutscene shares an grieving moment but also finds the last big hope.

Wander is the protagonist in the game is perhaps described as beginner warrior due to his slow and clumsy sword skill, but he is determined to save Mono at any cost.

He has horse companion Argo is crucial for traversing the massive landscape and accessing certain battles.

Lastly the deceased maiden Mono is described as beautiful woman with long dark hair kinda like the sleeping beauty laying on the temple altar...yeah that's all I can say about it, no puns intended.

I concider the game's presentation as a astonishingly gorgeous for its art-direction and environmental quality which proves that the video games like this are concidered as the work of art thanks to dark coloured filter for cinematic view, isolated open-world areas, dynamic scenery, and the settings of style has the mixture between gothic and nature just adds up the game's artistic vision makes it everything look beauitful.

There are various of the locations such as shrine of worship is an massive ancient hub near the center of the ancient lands, so it has an enormous bridge that leads directly to the shrine, the first area has a cylindrical room with a lengthy spiral ramp winding around its edge and the shallow basin of water, the second area has the main hall filled with the altar, the idols, the balcony, and a sunlit aperture in the ceiling.

The sanctuary is a fortress-like battlefield takes place on the top of a high tower which has the gate entrance, the unstable bridge, the cliffside, the barricades, crumbled stairs, and the arena.

The ruins is a old ruined city are filled with the alligned pillars, the large wall of archs, the temple, the big tower, and the lake inside the cave. 

The canyon takes place in a foggy lake is dotted with platforms, ruins with an intact bridge, and a giant pillar.

The deserts are filled with long distance rocky mountain, ringed structures, the broken temples, few unique rock formation, and pile of sands on the ground.

The geyser is a desolate land covered in black clouds, has the crater trees on some areas, and of course the distinct hill mound.

The Kirin's hill is a green land are filled with the underground tunnels and 4 hill-like graves.

The misty falls is an area distinguished by a wide river flowing south with gigantic waterfalls.

The parthenon is a cobblestone plaza are flanked by buildings on both sides and it has inside walls of the arena.

Overall, it has beautiful opening story, gorgeous art-direction, and fantastic open-world settings.

 

Gameplay

In single-player campaign, you take control of Wander at 3rd-person perspective in open-world environments, as your main goal is to go explore around the open-world area and hunt down all 16 colossi to resurrect Mono back to life.

Push the left-stick controls is to move player around and push the right-stick is to rotate the camera around.

Press the cross button is to jump which are used for jumping on platforms, where as holding the right trigger is used as grab are designed for climbing on stuff like ledges, gaps, and of course the fur of the colossi.

You might want to pay an attention to the yellow-symbol on the bottom-right hud which indicates stamina bar shows you how long can you grab on till it reaches zero causing the player losing grips may lead to falling off.

You can also ride on horse by pressing the cross button is to get on the horse, and then to control horse press and hold the triangle button is to gallop, so the more you hold the button down the faster the horse runs. 

You can stop controlling the horse by holding the left-stick down then press the triangle button to stop gallop. 

You can make horse move backwards by holding the left-stick down then press the triangle button to walk back.

Your horse can make a quick turn by holding the left-stick down then press the triangle button twice during the gallop.

You can also perform various of stunts such as standing up on the horse by holding the right trigger then push the left-stick up, then you have the horse does auto jump itself from the small cliff, and you can jump off from the horse by pressing the cross button while gallop, and of course you can also lean side of your horse by holding both of the right trigger and cross button then push the left or right stick control.  

You can access to the world map screen by pressing the touchpad button and you will see the map displayed on the screen which tells you where you heading to and where to find the colossi, but heading back to the in-game exploration when equipping your sword hold the right shoulder button which pinpoints the colossi's whereabouts, as you will see the long blue-colored beam of light coming out from the sword points directly to the spot where the colossi are being located on.   

For the combat, press the square button is to use sword which acts as an melee weapon for close-range attack, where as the right shoulder button is to use bow when equiped which is used as ranged weapon for long-range attack.

You can cycle your weapon by pressing the d-pad left or right button to switch your bow or sword to equip, where as you can unequip it by pressing the d-pad up button.

Press the circle button is to dodge roll which are used for evading colossi's incoming attacks or projectiles.

Hold the left shoulder button is to use camera focus which zooms in to your player, where as the left trigger is to view colossus which pans the camera system at the colossi.  

The control scheme has 2 options such as the modern which is default control for this game are designed for the newcomers, where as the classic which are using the button layouts based on PS2 original, so I say the modern control scheme plays it better which I finding the new button layouts for this remake are slightly easier to learn than the 2005 original's classic controls meaning that having to modernised control schemes improves upon certain things like horse riding, jumps, climbing, and striking being mapped correctly on button layouts will make the playabilty accessible to new players.

Despite the improvement on control scheme, there are few issues that may gonna put you off is the clunky physics and camera system during the battle against the colossi is because we understand Wander is not the best fighter to start with which is understandable for his character perspective, but when its comes with the in-game battle the problem is that his movement and platforming can feel quite stiff and wonky when climbing and holding on the colossi's body and the camera can get lost track in the fur of the colossi just adds-up fraustration for many players.

I say having to ride on horse is useful for travelling around the open-world area which is acceptable for action-adventure games that you may needed an companion that can take you anywhere in the open-world environment, but controlling the horse can be hectic sometimes that may cause the horse to stop completely if avoiding tight spaces like narrow bridges or forrest paths, as well as straying from instructions which sometimes flee in fear of the colossi making it difficult to mount horse when you need to make a quick escape.     

I say the controls are doing fine for the platforming and striking throughout the campaign as well as modernising button layout does really help the playability which is good, but does share the few flaws with the physics, camera system, and horse's A.I can be sometimes be tedious during the battle.

What I liked about the game is the exploration which I really liked having to travel around the open-world environments which are incredibly big at the time, especially on the previous platforms like the PS2 console are being capable of rendering a large potion of open-world design that is quite enormous for the Sony's 6th-gen machine had achieved the technical aspects back in the year 2005, but going back now to the PS4 remake the game is still remains beautifully for the open-world design which I can able to travel anywhere from ancient ruins to underwater cave, then forrest to broken temples, and of course sandy deserts to foggy canyon which are perfectly great for sightseeing to embrace the outdoor natures. 

I also wanted to mention about the upgrades which are also important part of the game is because you do really need to improve your player's stats such as health and stamina that really needs to be maxing out, so you may want to find and collect the specific items like the lizard tails and fruit which can be found anywhere in the open-world area or if you want to go for the quick method option then killing a colossus will also improve upon your player's stats if you want to go for that route. 

The major highlight of the game's campaign is got to be the epic boss battle is because this is the game's only main objective is to defeat many colossi are the only way to resurrect maiden from the dead, so all you had to do is to go, search, and hunt down the large enormous beast which I find the game's quest objective quite simple and straight-forward that made me spend more time with the game for hours.

It had various of bosses to fight against such as you have Minotaur A which is a tall-large beast welds with massive club, Mammoth is a huge 4-legged beast that can stump you with the large feet, Knight is simular to Minotaur but instead welds with massive sword, Kirin is a giraffe-like creature with two-longed braid on the chin, Bird is a wide-looking flying creature with big-flat wings, Minotaur B is another tall-large beast but instead uses the fist to smash stuff, Eel is a long-looking sea-creature with electrifying pointer swims around underwater, Yamori B is a 4-glowy armed monster has ability to crawl around the walls, Kame is a big tortoise-like creature that can blast you with the projectile, Narga is a enormous dragon-like monster swims under the sand, Leo is a big-fat brute with bull-horns will charge you with the running attack, Poseidon is a giant creature with two hands will blast you with the thunderstruck, Snake is another flying creature with long tail, Cerberus is another large brute also does charge attack as well as smacking you with the fist, Minotaur C is another tall-large beast but instead it welds heavy sword-like weapon, and lastly Evis is the total non-stop iron giant.

These of the bosses that gives you an intense fight where you had to find the way of defeating them by searching for their weak-spots can be located on any of their body parts, so all you had to do is to find the reachable place to jump on and grab onto their hairy fur or armored ledges to proceed the fighting on the bosses with lot of climbing and jumping to do till you found their weakness is the only way of fighting them.

This really adds the epic moments of the whole campaign is all about little guy going out fighting against the giagantic titans is what I loved about this game with epic action sequences and has problem solving strategy going on just made me play the game an over the hours.

Overall, it has modernised control scheme, incredible explorarion, and epic boss battle.

Graphics

The graphics in this game is excellent in which this remake just got made from ground up was designed for PS4's hardware resulting an ambitious details that overhauls the visual quality and performances.  

Its has the large potion of the open-world environments are filled with many structures and objects in many areas including ruins, towers, caves, pillars, and altar are displayed nicely on the in-game exploration.

It has detailed landscapes of hills and mountains, skies and clouds, and waterfall are perfectly layed out from the long-distance view, and the textures are sure looked crisp that adds the sharpness on the surfaces that made it look bold and clean.         

I also liked the foggy effects on some places that gives the some area look gloomy and dark, and the use of shadow effects reflecting on surfaces gives the illusion of light and dark shades.

The dusty particles and falling debris from broken surfaces of objects and walls such as colossi's idol as an example came crumbling down are nicely intact, and the water from outside has a nicely shims when swimming around the pond area.

The ground details has the soft pop-ups of grass and the flat surface of sands are looking quite smooth in some areas.

The character's animation is spectcular especially riding on the horse is looking terrific with impressive animation frame just feel realistic during the exploration, and I say the animation on colossi is also quite intact with slow-paced movement which captures the feel of the heaviness just works really well in the game.

You can also change the colour filters on the option menu which features 15 adjustable in-game visual filters allowing you to completely change the atmosphere of your playthrough ranging from classic black and white to highly saturated or muted styles that suits your preference. 

The game also supports HDR which results a fine detail of color balance to make it look neater on the modern TV screen, and it does have an option to adjust the motion blur which the game looks better by lower it down to zero making it look less blurry on screen.  

I wanted to praise the inclusion of the enhancements which provides 2 graphical mode such as the performance mode and cinematic mode.

The performance mode runs on full 1080p resolution with 60fps provides a smoother gameplay performance, where as the cinematic mode runs on full 1440p (PS4 Pro) or 1080p (Base PS4) with 30fps which result clearer picture on the screen.

The cinematic mode is great, but I kinda perfer the performance mode for its clean performance and responsiveness makes the gameplay plays better in my opinion.

Overall, it has excellent open-world environments, impressive animation, and stunning visual overhauls.

Music and Sounds

This game clearly has the best original soundtrack out of all action-adventure titles you ever heard which I adore the epic score of orchestrial music for many films, TV series, and video games.

It really fits the action sequences of fighting against the giagantic titans that are so intense and terrifying but also a remarkable score that really defines the 2005's original title.

Stuff like you have these track like "A Violent Encounter", "Revived Power", and "The Opened Way" has sort of Hans Zimmer-esque feel to it which made the whole track in the game quite outstanding to listen.

It was composed by Kow Otani, a Japanese music composer was known for creating soundtrack for the Heisei Gamera trilogy and Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, did a fabulous job of creating an amazing score of 2005's original game still featured in this remake is the reason why I loved the game.

The sound design are also highly praised for it dynamic environmental noises on many open-world areas as well as the heavy use of impact sounds that the colossi had made when stomping and banging on the ground is quite satisfying to hear.

Overall, it has outstanding soundrack and superb sound design.

Special Features

The game has in-game unlockable content including new game plus, hard mode, galleries, time attack mode with reward items, and collectable hidden relics really adds the game's replayablities.

 

Overall, an amazing in-game package.

Advantages

Fantastic presentation

Incredible exploration

Epic boss battle

Excellent graphics

Outstanding soundtrack

Disadvantages

Clunky physics and camera system

Hectic horse's A.I

Final Verdict

Presentation 10/10 - beautiful opening story, gorgeous art-direction, and fantastic open-world settings.

Gameplay 8.5/10 - modernised control scheme, incredible explorarion, and epic boss battle.

Graphics 10/10 - excellent open-world environments, impressive animation, and stunning visual overhauls.

Music and Sounds 10/10 - outstanding soundrack and superb sound design.

Special Features 9/10 - new game plus, hard mode, galleries, time attack mode with reward items, and collectable hidden relics.

Overall 9/10 - I say it's an wonderful improvement over the 2005's original game thanks to visual overhaul and modern control option may going to impress many newcomers will likely to enjoy the epic single-player adventure.

Shadow of the Colossus is not the only just being an 2018's incredible remake of the gorgeous 2005's original game, but also still remains as one of the action-adventure biggest masterpiece that defines the gaming history.  

I love the art-direction, the open-world exploration, the quality soundtrack, and of course the battle between the small guy vs big titans is something that made the game so incredibly special to play.

I am really glad that I get to re-visit the title again since I've played the PS3 version of the original game on 2011's remastered collection are also pretty amazing, but I got to say this 2018's remake for the PS4 console is suprisingly fascinating to play is the reason to love the game.

The physical copy for PS4 are cost around between £15 and £20, where as the digital release for PS Store which you can get it for £30 individually or play it for free from PS Plus Extra subscription.

Is the game worth for play? absoultely yes it's an full recommendation for both newcomers and to those who previously played the 2005's original game will likely to enjoy this 2018's full remake...it is a must play title for the PS4 hardware that you definitely need to check it out.

  

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This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.