Rise of the Tomb Raider PS4 Review

Rise of the Tomb Raider is a Action-Adventure Third Person Shooter game for PS4, XBONE, X360 and PC, which was developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. It is a sequel to 2013's reboot Tomb Raider.

The first reboot of Tomb Raider is quite a such ace game when I've played on my PS3 in three years ago. I've enjoyed the single-player campaign with amazing story presentation, well played combat gameplay, the game's atmospheres, darker tone, well designed graphics and it has great action that the game has to offer for Tomb Raider's fans. While I'm hoping to look forward to sequel, I'm kinda bummed to see Rise of the Tomb Raider being first released for XBONE and X360 in 2015 as timed exclusive which angered to most of the PS4 and PC owners who are hoping to look forward to play this game on their consoles until they finally released the PC version in January 2016 and of course the PS4 version in October 2016 as 20 Year Celebration edition. I've finally picked this game for PS4 from the game market store because it took me awhile to get the game since 3 months ago, so then I've started to play this game for a week and did I like the game? the answer is yes because it's another great sequel that won't be disappointed to all fans of the series. The game retains the same combat gameplay and updated graphics to keep the game refreshing, the story and characters in the game are still pretty remarkable as the previous game and of course the new campaign story Blood Ties are also pretty nice edition too.

So without go further do, lets start the review.


Presentation

The game takes place after the event of Tomb Raider 2013's reboot, it's starts off with a British archaeologist Lara Croft who appears to suffered with stress disorder after she's learned the past of her experience of the supernatural on Yamatai. She still works on her late father's research into lost city of Kitezh and decided to head at Syria to uncover the tomb of the Prophet of Constantinople until she was encountered by groups of Trinity. After shes managed to escape and discovers a symbol, she and her friend Jonah decided to head at Siberia in search of the legendary city of Kitezh.

The story in the game are quite impressive at the start of the game where Lara Croft talks about her horrible experience at Yamatai which gives a great recap from the previous game. The actual story in the game were magnificently surprising that the developer teams did a stunning job with the main storyplot, cinematic design of cutscene and adventurous sequences are very well done that helped increases the experience of Tomb Raider universe. I also wanted to point out to character Lara Croft's character development have started to get better than before since the 2013's reboot and honestly she's still a amazing female protagonist that makes the series so memorable over the decade. I also liked the side characters such as Jonah, Jacob and Sofia are also decent, while I finding the Konstantin are by far the weakest villain in the game except Ana is definitely better antagonist.

Overall, it has terrific storyline, adventurous cinematic design and awesome female protagonist, but lackluster male villain.


Gameplay

You take control of Lara Croft in open-world level where you have to complete the mission throughout the story.

The open-world area has different kinds of single player missions such as main quest, side-quest, and two new campaign such as Baba Yaga and Cold Darkness Awakened. Controlling Lara are pretty simple which she has ability to jump around each platforms, swims under the water, and climb on the obstacles by using the climbing tools such as pick axe which can be sticked on the wall while climbing and she can also climb up the trees and rooftops. She can also traverse between the camps and across the island using footpaths, ziplines and climbable tracks. You can highlight the objects by using the survival instincts which she can able to spot enemies, collectables and objects nearby. In combat gameplay, you will have four selectable weapons to choose such as pistols are balanced and simple to use, the rifles can be shot through far-distance, the shotguns are quite useful for close range combat, and the bows which you can able to craft four sets of arrows such as regular, poison, explosions and fires. You can use the melee attacks on the enemies by using the axe which allows player to instantly perform finishing kills on enemies. During the stealth gameplay, you can throw any of objects such as bottles or cans which can be used for distracting the enemies, but you can also craft these items to create the molotov cocktails and grenades and the player has advantage to hiding in bushes or trees to prevent getting caught by the enemies nearby, but try keeping eye on player's stealth status which tells you if the enemy sees you then it will indicate red symbols. Crafting items may requires the materials items such as cloth, animals skins and leaves which can be found on any level environments. You can also upgrade your weapons, gears and skills through base camps which helps improves Lara's overall abilities and you can also change her outfits too. Base camps are also part of the save points which saves your progress to continue where you left off and you can also travel through the different location by using the fast travel which is quickest way to travel through instead of continue running on the whole area.    

The gameplay plays and feels much like the previous game which is still pretty damn playable. Controlling the player is just played perfect especially with those combat mechanics has great shooting range, impressive stealth kills, amazing crafting systems, and useful upgrades. I still find the quick time events is just little bit better than the previous one, but still it wasn't sounds brilliant which are still impossible to hit the correct button. I really enjoyed the single player missions with tons of great epic actions, but it seems to be it's not having enough puzzle elements in the game which they would have nice to added more puzzle elements are the most important things for the franchise. I really liked the cool open-world environment seems to be very large area which are good for exploration such as discovering hidden secrets, collecting relics, hunting down animals, and there's lot of things to do in the game.

This game does have croft manor which has DLC story called Blood Ties which are also pretty fun to explore Lara's homeplace and there are one of the challenge mode to play such as Lara's Nightmare which you have to take down the groups of zombie-like horde and defeating skull-head boss, but it may not be challenge friendly which can also cause many of rage quit, but it's still plays okay.

Overall, it has great combat gameplay, cool open-world levels and epic missions.


Graphics

I honestly got to say that the graphics are pretty looked similar from the previous game, but they managed to update some of the improvements such as visual effects are slightly looked cleaner with great use of lighting and the environments has larger depth of open world area with deeper backgrounds from far-distance and some crispy textures details which they did a fabulous job to keep the game up to date. The animation is still pretty amazing to see how outstanding these characters looked on modern day consoles and it's running on rock-solid performance of 30fps with no shimmering issues and lag inputs that makes the PS4 version feels more superior which they have managed to fixed the problem that was found on Xbox One version, so the actual game looked spectacular when running on PS4 Pro consoles with stunning 4K resolution.

Overall, it has cleaner visuals, larger environments and amazing animations.


Music and Sounds

The original soundtrack is sounds frigging incredible that fits the tone of the game's presentations because it sounds very dark, but amazing at the same time that gives a feeling of the game's atmospheres. The sound effects has spectacular atmospheric backgrounds and intense noise coming from the sound of gun firing and boom explosion. The voice cast did a fantastic job on their character's role is just sounds good as the previous installiment.

Overall, it has incredible soundtrack, spectacular sounds and fantastic voice cast.


Special Features

This game comes with all completed content such as Blood Ties, Lara's Nightmares, new endurance mode co-op and includes all DLC for single player campaign. The PS4 version also comes with nice artbook style with brown video game case has Lara Croft's 20 Year Icon on the front and it also has really impressive artwork page to look at the art style of Lara Croft's fan-made images.

Overall, I loved the artbook cases and it has all completed features on PS4 version.


    

Advantages

Terrific story

Awesome female pragtonist

Great combat gameplay

Larger open-world area

Epic missions

Amazing graphics

Incredible soundtrack

Well made artbook cases


Disadvantages

Lackluster male villain

Weak QTE

Not enough puzzle elements


Final Verdict


Presentation 9/10 - terrific storyline, adventurous cinematic design and awesome female protagonist, but lackluster male villain.

Gameplay 9/10 - great combat gameplay, cool open-world levels and epic missions.

Graphics 9/10 - cleaner visuals, larger environments and amazing animations.

Music and Sounds 10/10 - incredible soundtrack, spectacular sounds and fantastic voice cast.

Special Features 9/10 - impressive artbook cases and  all completed features on PS4 version.


Overall 9/10 - Rise of the Tomb Raider is another great sequel especially with PS4 version are far more superior than the Xbox One has to offer. This game definitely lives up with the fans of the beloved franchises with great combat mechanics, superb missions, larger open-world area to explore, all completed content and of course the incredible story and female protagonist that made the game such legendary which is worth to pick this game up and enjoy the Lara Croft's adventures.

My second opinion is that I still liked this sequel, but I prefer 2013's reboot a lot better.  


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Yakuza 0 PS4 Review

Yakuza 0 is a Action-Adventure game for PS4 and PS3 (Japanese release), was developed and published by SEGA. It is prequel to original 2005's Yakuza for PS2.

Five years ago, I remember playing both Yakuza 3 and 4 for my PS3, and I was really surprised with these games overall because I loved the combat style gameplay where you have to beat the shit out of these guys, I loved the open-world area where you can explore the different places in the city, and of course the story presentation has well written main-plot and badass cast of characters that made the series so amazing to watch and play at the same time. After liking these two games, I'm hoping to look forward the sequels such as Yakuza 5 for PS3, but unfortunately I never had a chance to purchase the game due to lack of physical copy for worldwide release and my limited PS3's hard drive space, which is quite a shame for people like me who prefers physical game disk over the digital download copy from the PS Store. Despite not being able to play Yakuza 5, I'm able to pick up Yakuza 0 for my PS4, which I am happy that I get to play another game in the series since 5 years ago.

My overall impressions on this game is that Yakuza 0 are by far not the only best game in the series, but it's another fantastic game titles of PS4 library that the western audiences should able to enjoy the story driven action-adventure genres with outstanding main plot, great characters development, cinematic design, intense combat gameplay, more variety of exploration, realistic graphic design, and it has more to offer that made this game worth to play for your collection. However, the game itself are pretty super long because it focuses on slower-paced story which helps giving the player a fresh start to the series. So far, it took me awhile to finish the game in one to two weeks and it's turns out that I really enjoyed the game as much I've enjoyed Yakuza 3 and 4.

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



Presentation

This game splits with two different main plot between the main protagonist in the game. The event takes place in December 1988 in Kamurocho, the story starts with Kazuma Kiryu, who works with Dojima's family of Tojo Clan as debt collector, was being framed for murdering a innocent civilian as he leaves the business to investigate and search a true killer before his family is forced to take responsibility on his behalf, while other events takes place in Sōtenbori, which focuses on Goro Majima, who runs a cabaret club as the founder, was offered by Sagawa to accept the assassination job until he realises his target is in fact a defenseless blind girl named Mokoto Makimura, which he decides to protect her instead and find out why she's being targeted.

I say the presentation in the whole game is quite well done because the story was well-written which explains the innocence of Kiryu showing that he wasn't involved with the crime scene incident as he searches the killer nearby before they turning his family against him, which makes the Kiryu's main story more interesting with tons of mysteries plot and has tone of dark suspense. I also liked the Goro's main story that explains the refusal of assassinating blind girl and finding out why Sagawa wanted to kill her for reason, which is quite a plot-twist going around in the story.

I say the cast of characters are quite impressive such as Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima are two of the greatest protagonists that has proper personality, more appealing look and being the most badass brawler in the series that kick the crap of the Yakuzas. I also liked the rest of the side characters in the story such as Akira Nishikiyama are quite a decent character that shows how much he cares Kiryu a lot to keep him away from getting involved with bunch of Yakuzas and Mokoto Makimura is just a very sweet emotional girl that really shows how much she needs a support due to her blindness. I also wanted to point out this game does have a impressive sub-plot that really adds the scenario of the game which is pretty good, but if you want to focus more on the main plot of the game then it's best to stick with story missions rather than doing side-missions on single player campaign.

I really liked the cinematic design of cutscenes with realistic captures of character model as you can see they did a great job with lip syncing that really matched the speech well and it feels much like a human the way the character moves in the scenes. I also liked the use of cinematic style between actual CGI and slideshow text which they did a such professional job on this game. I also loved the action sequences of the game with fully action packed Yakuza style movie.

Overall, I loved the outstanding main stories, excellent characters and well made cinematic design that puts the presentation overall step up in right direction by game developer teams.



Gameplay

You take control of two of the playable characters such as Kiryu and Goro, depending the story chapters. In open-world area where you can explore the city of Kamurocho or Sotenbori, your goal is to complete the mission throughout the story scenario which can be marked with the pink symbols on the map screen.

You may be encountered by groups of Yakuzas which you are being forced to fight them during the battle gameplay. In battle gameplay, you'll start with three basic moves such as weak attack, strong attack and grabbing, while you have the health bar and heat power bar at the top-left corner which representing character's health and heat. The weak attack are pretty much quicker to attack enemies, while the strong attack can also give bit of damage. The grabbing can allow you to grab the opponent which lets you smash them into the objects if the heat power are fully increased and there are some different kinds of weapons to pick-up such as katana-swords, pistols, bins, bicycles, crates and more of them are very useful during the combat gameplay. You have three sets of fighting styles such as brawler which is more balanced fighting styles, the rush or breaker is pretty much more fast-paced figthing style which is quite good for performing faster combo moves, and the beast or slugger is pretty slow but more powerful fighting style with brutal fighting moves can give more heavy damage to the enemies. You can unlock the new moves in each three fighting style sets through the abilities options which allowing you to perform more variety of fighting moves. The battle gameplay does also sometime involves quick time event is where you have to hit the right button which can be appeared on the screen. You can also earn completion points by beating the challenge which you can spend these CP points to the shrine area which gives you ability to run longer, gather more money from enemies, and more useful CP unlockables.      

Besides the story mission, you can also do the side-missions depending on which area you went on. You can visit any places in the city such as convenience store where you can purchase the variety of items and the restaurant or fast food is the place you can enjoy eating the amount of food and drinks which helps increases the character's health and heat power. You can also enjoy your free time by visiting places like SEGA arcades which lets you play your favourite arcade classics such as Space Harrier, Outrun, Super Hang-On and Fantasy Zone which is quite awesome to have it on this game. You can also play different kinds of mini-game like Karaoke, Pool, Darts, Bowling and some more which can be found in different places in map area. You can earn more money by doing the business at Real Estate Royale is where you can buy properties and hiring staff which helps the player increases the amount of money. You can also take part of working at Cabaret Club is where you have to help groups of hostess to purchase the new clothes, make-ups and accessories to help impressing the customers. You can also visit at the women fighting clubs is where you can place bet on group of female fighters to win the prizes.

I really liked the battle gameplay a lot better than the previous game because it's adds the improvements of fighting style that keeps the game up to date. I also liked the insane finishing moves where the enemies gets ass beaten with weapons, objects and barefists is quite brutal to see them bleed to death. The things that I did not like in the game is the price cost of new moves is ridiculously expensive which is over 300,000,000 Yen, Yikes! that's quite too much to spend. I also liked the overall open-world gameplay where you can visit and explore at the same time. Controlling the characters in both battles and open-world gameplay worked really well in the game without having any issues. My favourite part of the game was the driving rail-shooter mission is where you have to shoot down the enemies which kinda reminds me of SEGA's early shoot em ups classics such as Virtua Cop. I really enjoyed playing as these two characters with fantastic story missions in each chapters which adds the Yakuza's overall experience.

Overall, it has better combat gameplay, magnificent open-world area, great exploration, entertaining missions and enjoyable mini-games.



Graphics

The graphics are looking spectacular in whole game because I really liked the realistic characters design which looked amazing in story cutscenes and in-game battles. It has impressive facial expressions which shows their overall personality and their body figure feels more human like which they did a outstanding job in whole game. The open world area seems to be same size as the previous game, but still it has two cities to explore which feels like they wanted to expand more levels to discover new things in the game. I really liked the details on the buildings with stunning textures, it has great use of backgrounds areas with no slow downs pop-ups at far-distances and it has numerous of crowded people in whole cities. The game is quite bloody during the both battles and cutscenes which they did a good job with the gory effects seems to be real and crude looking things.

Overall, it has realistic characters, stunning textures, great backgrounds and bloody amazing gory effects.



Music and Sounds

This game has fantastic original soundtrack by various of Japanese composers did absolutely great job with these musics that fits well for both presentations and in-game battles which adds the game's mood and atmospheres. The sound effects are quite well made with city background sounds and in-game sound works. I had to admit the Japanese voice cast did a perfect job with their characters with fitting voices that adds the right tones of chraracter's voices. The game speaks in original Japanese languages but offered with English subtitles which helps the western audiences to understand the storyline of the game.

Overall, this game has fantastic music, well made sound effects and perfect voice cast.


Special Features

This game has new game plus with cleared data which adds the replay values, the platinum adventures mode allows player freely walk around the city without focusing on story, it has 2-player local mini-game mode which contains Karaoke, Pool, Darts and Bowling, while online mini-game has Poker and board game to play. It has climax battles mode where you have to fight the enemies to complete the challenge. This game has 4 classics SEGA's arcades at the SEGA Club Arcade such as Space Harrier, Outrun, Super Hang-On and Fantasy Zone. This game also have trophy achievements and leaderboards.

Overall, it's a great edition to the game's content.


Advantages

Outstanding main story

Memorable characters

Amazing battle gameplay

Great open-world exploration

Stunning graphics

Fantastic music

Perfect voice acting

Impressive special features


Disadvantages

Unlockable new moves are ridiculously expensive

Each chapters are quite bit long


Final Verdict

Presentation 9/10 - Outstanding main stories, excellent characters and well made cinematic design.

Gameplay 9/10 - Better combat gameplay, magnificent open-world area, great exploration, entertaining missions and enjoyable mini-games.

Graphics 9/10 - Realistic characters, stunning textures, great backgrounds and bloody amazing gory effects.

Music and Sounds 9/10 - Fantastic music, well made sound effects and perfect voice cast

Special Features 10/10 - New game plus, mini-games, climax battles mode, SEGA arcade classics, achievements and leaderboards.


Overall 9/10 - It's a awesome prequel that gives a player new freshstart of a series. Yakuza 0 is amazing titles for PS4 owners and fan of the series should able to experience with Yakuza's universe. With outstanding presentation, great exploration, and amazing battle gameplay that adds the game's overall and it is definitely must own game for your PS4 collection. I'm still hoping to look forward to see Yakuza Kiwami for PS4, a remake of first game, coming out on the end of August.


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Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy PS4 Review

History of Crash Bandicoot franchises:

In year 1996, Crash Bandicoot made a first debut for PS1, which was originally developed by Naughty Dog. It is a 3D platformer game where you take control of mascot hero named Crash Bandicoot has his mission to stop the evil scientist named Dr. Cortex from taking over world and rescue his girlfriend named Tawna. This game was best known for soild gameplay, unique levels, impressive visuals style, great presentation and of course the main protagonist. It was well received by most of the video game critics and had becoming the PS1's eighth best-selling game sold over 6.8 million copies.

The success of the first game has spawned with the sequels such as Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes back, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, and of course the spin-offs such as Crash Team Racing. During the year 2000's, SCE and Naughty Dog has sold the rights of Crash Bandicoot franchises to Vivendi Universal and letting developers Traveller's Tales takes charge of developing Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and Crash Twinsanity for multiplatform consoles was released in between 2001 and 2004, while 2007's Crash of the Titans was developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment, and then the last game in the main series was Crash: Mind over Mutant was published by Activision in 2008.

In year 2016, Sony's E3 Press Conference has finally announced that the HD remaster of classic Crash Bandicoot will be released for PS4 as Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy will include original first three games in Crash Bandicoot series running on high-definition 4K resolution, remastered audio and cutscenes, and newly recorded dialogue from past voice actors from the franchise.



Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy PS4 Review:


Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy is a 3D platform game for PS4, which was developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision. It is a HD remastered and video game compilation of first three titles in Crash Bandicoot series, which were all originally developed by Naughty Dog for PS1 in the 1990s.

Back in my old days when I was younger, I haven't played any of Crash Bandicoot titles because I was busy with playing popular platform games like Mario, Sonic, Rayman, Banjo-Kazooie and Conker, but I heard lot of positive things about Crash Bandicoot series because my old friend from school, who had PS1, told me about the game was really entertaining and fun to play. Then now in 2017, I have finally get to play these classic Crash Bandicoot games on my PS4 and I've been played it for a weeks. These are the best video game compilation for PS4 owners should be able to enjoy incredible 3D platform game because these are very faithful to Naughty Dog's original trilogy due to upgraded HD visuals, remastered presentation and sounds, and of course originals classic style gameplay that makes these game worth owning it for the fans of the platformers genres.

So without go further do, lets start the review.



Presentation

After the beginning of the game's logo, I really liked the scene of polygoned character Crash Bandicoot threw the wooden boxes and jumps into the upgradable machines that turns him into freshed-new looking character, wow he looks fantastic in his remastered appearences.

Then you will have 3 selectable games to play on the main menu, which are nicely done.

These games takes place in fictitious Wumpa Islands, South Australia. In first game, the story starts off with evil scientist named Dr. Cortex and his assistant Dr. Nitrus Brio experimenting the new device Evolvo-Ray which are used to mutate most of the animals into beasts with superhuman strength, so they also experimenting on Crash with untested Cortex Vortex until it rejected allowing Crash attempt to escape, while Crash's girlfriend Tawna, who attempting to save Crash, got captured in Cortex's castle. Crash has the mission to stop Dr. Cortex's plans and rescue Tawna.

In second game, it takes place the event after the first game, Dr. Cortex falls towards to lair of dark caverns and discovers glowing crystals as he takes the crystals to his laboratory to examine it. One year later, Crash was living with his sister named Coco as she forces him to get her new battery for her laptop until he abducted by Dr. Cortex instructing him to bring a crystals, while Coco who is suspicious of Cortex's true intentions.

In third game, Dr. Cortex's space station was destroyed by laser beam device and demolished into tropical mountain which causes evil masked Uka Uka, who is Cortex's mastermind, to set free and confront Dr. Cortex's failure to retrieved the crystals and gems. While Uka Uka recruits Doctor Nefarious Tropy to join him and Cortex in their latest plan, they decided to create a time machine that allows the villains to travel through time to find more gems and crystals scattered across the timeline. Meanwhile at the Bandicoot homeland, Aku Aku senses his evil twin brother Uka Uka's dangerous plans and orders Crash and Coco to prevent them from collecting crystals before it's too late.  

I got to say that I really liked the story overall because it's very simplistic and easy to follow the dialogue plot in the game. I also liked the design of the cutscenes are completely re-done giving a cinematic look of the game that fits well on the HD remastered version. The various of the characters are very memorable in the game such as Crash Bandicoot is quite a cool video game protagonist with his awesome personality and his rad appearance, while Dr. Cortex considered to be impressive villain in the series with is sinister plans and comedic humour that made him entertaining. I really liked the level presentation that takes place in different set of locations such as Jungle, Beach, Ruins, Mountains and many more interesting places. Crash Bandicoot has the funniest death animations in the whole game after being attacked by enemies and obstacles or falling of the stages are the best part of the in-game's presentation.

Overall, it has great storyline, cinematic cutscenes, hilarious death animation, memorable characters and excellent level presentation.


Gameplay

You take control of Crash Bandicoot to complete the stages from start to finish which is more like of the linear 3D platform game. Crash has his abilty to jump and spin-attack in first game, while in later game like Cortex Strikes Back allows you to perform slide attack and body slam, which are used for attacking enemies, smashing crates and collect items can be found on the crates such as wumpa fruits, extra lives and protective Aku Aku masks which protect Crash from one single hit from enemy and obstacle. Collecting 100 of wumpa fruits will also gained you extra lives.  There are some different types of crates such as letter C for checkpoint that lets the player resumes the level after losing life, arrow crates which makes Crash bounces on, and the TNT crates makes the things explodes, but the Nitro crates are quite deadly which makes instant kill to Crash, so be careful. You will able to earn the gems by destroying all the crates without dying, so it can be found on hidden levels or alternatives routes. You can also find bonus stages which can be appeared as question mark sign in each stages. You can also earn relic by beating the time limit from time attack mode which can be available after beating each stages. In later game like Warped, you can also earn Crash's new ability by defeating boss, so you can perform any of his ability such as longer spinning attacks, bazooka, double jump and dash which is quite nice edition for later Crash's sequel. These game does shares with great mini game action such as ride stages where you ride with hog, bear and tiger to avoid obstacles, race to finish at motorbike stages, fight out with planes at dogfight stages and of course Coco's jet-ski stages that made the game quite entertaining. You also get to play as Coco for each games which sounds pretty cool to see any playable characters in whole three games.

I got to say the gameplay plays really great with these 3 games because the controlling Crash is pretty playable with left thumbstick are highly recommended for 3D platform game style to make it easier to control, while using d-pad are actually used for someone who preferred the classic style PS1 controls. It's takes awhile to practice the game because sometime Crash may have floaty jump which causes sometime to fall of the stages or accidentally being touched by enemies or obstacles. Despite the levels design are quite well done, some of the stages may have a dodgy hazards objects which causing players to struggle to get past through the level, but practice makes better once you get used with these levels. I really liked the boss battles on each games because each of the boss characters are quite balanced and challenged at the same time. My favourite part of the game is the stage where you have to evade from the rolling boulder is quite epic. I felt that I liked the Crash Bandicoot: Warped a lot better because this game offers new variation of Crash's abilities making it easier to play and it has better level stages, boss battles and motorbike mini-game which makes the game even better in comparison to first two games which are also a great game, but I felt the first game considered to be hardest in the series. I got to say that revisiting same levels from previous are quite useful for collecting relics and gems will adds the replay values of the game which is fantastic for 3D platformers genres.

Overall, It has great gameplay, well done stages, entertaining boss battles, enjoyable mini-games and nice replay values.


Graphics

I got to say that the games developer did a stunning job with these three games with upgraded visuals runs on 1080p (regular PS4 or PS4 slim) to 4K resolution (PS4 Pro model), stellar animation for character design and the level environment has magnificent setting for most of the level locations that fits the theme of the game. It gives a cartoony style of the game that made it more appealing and faithful to classic PS1 trilogy. I also liked the special effects of lighting and contrast in each levels such as the stage is where you have to use fireflies to glow in dark, the beach stage has well made sea water and the snow stage was covered with snow and outstanding icy particles inside the cave.

Overall, it has nice visuals, stellar animation, magnificent environment, and outstanding special effects.


Music and Sounds

I got to admit the original theme song sounds very catchy and memorable with jazz-style soundtrack which fits really well for Crash Bandicoot series, while rest of the soundtrack in all levels sounds really great too. It was originally composed by Josh Mancell from the original PS1 trilogy, while it was was arranged by Vicarious Visions audio team did a perfect job for the N.Sane Trilogy. It has superb sound effects with cartoony style soundworks, atmospheric noises for each stages and of course the voice cast did a amazing job voicing their characters which are completely re-done with newly dialogue from the past actors who originally did their voice from the franchise.

Overall, it has fantastic theme songs, superb sound effects and amazing voice cast for their characters.


Special Features

This game features some replay values such as revisiting same levels for collecting more relics in time attack mode and more gems when destroying all the crates. It features one playable character for all 3 games such as Coco and trophy achievements. It also including additional features for all 3 three games such as unified checkpoints, pause menus and save systems, including both manual and automatic saving, which were first introduced in Warped.



Advantages

Impressive presentation

Memorable characters

Great gameplay

Epic boss battles

Enjoyable mini-games

Stunning graphics

Catchy music

Amazing voice acting

Nice replay values


Disadvantages

Dodgy hazard objects

Floaty Jump


Final Verdict


Presentation 9/10 - Great storyline, cinematic cutscenes, hilarious death animation, memorable characters and excellent level presentation.

Gameplay 9/10 - Great gameplay, well done stages, entertaining boss battles, enjoyable mini-games and nice replay values.

Graphics 9.5/10 - Nice visuals, stellar animation, magnificent environment, and outstanding special effects.

Music and Sounds 9/10 - Fantastic theme songs, superb sound effects and amazing voice cast for their characters

Special Features 9/10 - Replay values, one playable character, trophy achievements and more additional features.


Overall 9/10 - Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy is a fantastic video game compilations for all platformers fans should able to enjoy these 3 awesome games from the past. I'm very glad that Vicarious Visions did a wonderful job of remastering these 3 originals trilogy has finally come to PS4 consoles. This is definitely must own game for PS4 owners and I'm still hoping for the developer teams will able to give Spyro The Dragon a PS4 remaster treatment for the future. Overall, Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy are by far the best 3D platformer game for my PS4 collection in my opinion.


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Top 5 SEGA Saturn Games

SEGA Saturn is a 32-bit game console for fifth generation era was released in year 1994. It was a successor to one of the SEGA's most amazing 16-bit machine called SEGA Megadrive/Genesis and it was a rivalry to their competitors such as Nintendo 64 and of course SONY Playstation that hits the market in mid-90's. Unfortunately Saturn did not sold well in western release because both N64 and PS1 are the biggest top-dog of the fifth generation era that offers amazing games titles, innovative controllers and groundbreaking graphics that defines the 3D gaming, but the Saturn was best known for most of the games genres like fighting game, racing game, shoot em ups and RPG. It has impressive list of games library such as Panzer Dragoon, Nights into Dreams, Manx TT Superbike, Virtua Cop, Street Fighter Alpha and more great games to play.

I really enjoyed playing SEGA Saturn games that brings me so much nostalgia in my 90's days and it has the incredible gaming accessories for the system such as Saturn's light gun and racing wheels are perfectly best for the arcade games. I decided to make my top 5 favourite SEGA Saturn games of all time and please enjoy my recent top 5 list.



5 - SEGA Rally Championship

 

I was really amazed to see one of the SEGA's best racing game of all time hits the home console itself. SEGA Sports team did really show off the powerhouse of the Saturn's game system to see how SEGA Saturn was capable of running the arcade perfect port. SEGA Rally Championship is a rally racing game for the Saturn which offers the new content for the system such as time attack mode and 2-player mode. It has 2 playable cars and 3 track course to complete the championship mode.

This game plays very well with ether 6-button controller or racing wheels featuring excellent driving controls and great driving range of speed that made this game absolutely fun to play. The graphics are just almost good as the arcade version and it has really kick ass soundtrack that keeps the player motivated. If you want to play the best racing game on the system then this game is for you to play.


4 - Virtua Cop 2

     

Virtua Cop 2 is the remarkable light gun shooter that plays lot better than the originals. You get to play as 3 police offers has their mission to wipe down the group of thugs was led by criminal gang leaders. I was really surprising to see any of the light gun games came out on the home console bundled with the light gun controller was highly designed for playing light gun games on the TV. It worked really well with the CRT TV (except HDTV) giving a retro vibe to the game.

It has 3 playable stages to play on arcade mode and featuring combat training simulator known as proving grounds where the players has to take down groups of thugs. This game has excellent selection of weapons, more action sequences, amazing variety of stages, epic boss battles and of course you can also enjoy with your friends with 2-player co-op mode which makes the game even more fun. If you're the fan of the light gun shooter genre then this game is definitely must play for Saturn owners.



3 - Virtua Fighter 2

One of the sequel to grandfather of 3D fighting game was released on home console. Virtua Fighter 2 was considered to be one of the best-selling game on the Saturn which helped boost the hardware sales. This game featuring 2 new playable roster along with returning characters from the originals, more variation of fighting styles making it easier to play and upgraded visuals runs on 60 FPS which really improves the game's overall over the first Virtua Fighter.

This game has basic arcade mode, battle out your friends with local 2-player battle, complete with time attack mode and practice your moves through training mode. The fighting controls are very simplistic for 3D fighting game genre and the groundbreaking graphics adds the realism to the animation and stages without any of slowdown issues which turns out the Virtua Fighter 2 has becoming another arcade perfection to Saturn's hardware. This is must play for fighting games fans.


2 -  Nights into Dreams

 
If we didn't get any of proper Sonic games for Saturn then what is the solution? here is the Nights into Dreams which was created by same team behind Sonic the Hedgehog franchises.
It's a quite shame for Saturn owners didn't get a proper 3D Sonic game like Sonic Xtreme was already cancelled in mid-90's instead they end up with two pointless Sonic games like Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R which SEGA fans was never asked for, but at least Nights into Dreams is rather being a fantastic action-platformer games for the Saturn's systems.

Nights into Dreams takes place in dream world called Nightopia, the story follows two teens, Claris and Elliot who enters to dream world with the help of Jester-like named Nights, so they begin a journey to stop the evil ruler Wizeman from destroying Nightopia. This game features beautifully made presentation with stunning cinematic cutscenes and great storyplot.

You take control of Nights in 3D stages and imposes time limits on every level, so your goal is to collect and recover the stolen ideyas. It splits into different 7 levels depending on between two playable characters such as Claris and Elliot. This game offers unique 3D stages with atmospheric levels design and really weird boss battles are worth for the challenge. It plays well with not just with 6-button controller, but 3D Saturn controller are highly designed for most of the 3D game genres giving it more precised gameplay controls to make it easier to play. The graphics are very colourful and more vibrant looking visuals that made the game look gorgeous. The soundtrack is absolutely well done that fits the feeling of the game's presentation and gameplay stages. Nights into Dreams are very sweet action-platformer game for Saturn owners to enjoy the magical experience of Nights universe.



1 - Panzer Dragoon 2: Zwei

Panzer Dragoon 2: Zwei is a rail-Shooter game for Saturn and it is sequel to original Panzer Dragoon.

Most of the video game developers had difficult time to develop 3D games for Saturn due to hardware limitations, but this game proves that Team Andromeda can manage to make really outstanding 3D rail-shooter game which definitely shows the Saturn's powerhouse that pushes the hardware limit allowing to have magnificent results of overall 3D graphics technology.

This game takes control of Jean-Luc Lundi with his dragon Lagi has his mission to battle out against Sestren to prevent them destroying villages. The game is quite simular with other rail-shooters game like Nintendo's Starfox series, but this game features 7 levels in single player mode. It offers amazing variation of combat gameplay such as faster shooting laser, lock-on target allows shooting in multiple targets in row and berserk special which shoots multiple lasers are the coolest thing in the game and I believe it plays lot easier than the first Panzer Dragoon has to offer. I really liked the atmosphere of level stages are perfectly well designed and gorgeous looking environment. The music in the game is absolutely sounds masterpiece being the most quality CD soundtrack for Saturn's library.

This is one of the best SEGA Saturn games ever created and it is one of my top favourite Saturn of all time. This is must own game for Saturn owners which this game had becoming quite expensive to purchase on online store, but lucky I had this game for worth £15 from Ebay.


Honorable Mentions:

Virtua Cop
SEGA Worldwide Soccer
Manx TT Superbike
Street Fighter Alpha 2
Athlete Kings
Last Bronx
Panzer Dragoon
Marvel Superheroes
Saturn Bomberman
Guardian Heroes
Burning Rangers



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