Kill La Kill If PS4 Review

 

Kill La Kill If is a 3D fighting game was released in 2019 for PS4, Switch, and PC. It was developed by A+ Games and published by Arc System Works, and it is based on the anime television series titled as Kill La Kill.

To be honest, I've never actually watched the TV series except you guys may have seen or heard of it before, but I did hear many positive things about this anime TV series which most of the media critics and fans did enjoy watching these kinds of show was known for its frantic and over-the-top action, gorgeous visuals, high-energy storytelling, and of course two hot-headed chicks is the reason it got popular has maintained a dedicated fanbase and strong viewership numbers since its release in 2013.

After the popularity, it also got adaptated to manga series got released 2 months after the anime TV series and then of course the video game adaptation. 

Before I begin talking about the video game adaptation I wanted to talk about my thoughts on anime fighting games as an sub-genre.

There are many of great anime fighting games when we had titles like Arcana Heart 3, Under Night In-Birth, Skullgirls, Persona 4 Arena, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Blazblue, and of course Guilty Gear.

These of the kinds of fighting game sub-genre which combines 2D fighting and anime that makes these games quite unique at the time with the cool numbers of fighting rosters, stylish fighting systems, and of course the cinematic story campaign featuring visual novel cutscenes and duel battles is something that I adored the anime fighting game as an sub-genre.

There's one of the fighting game that are totally different from what I've mentioned above, so instead of going for the traditional 2D fighting game approach which is why I've discovered the 3D fighting game that not many of people have played or ever talked about it...that is Kill La Kill If.

So despite the positive reception and popularity of the TV series, the game itself has mixed reception by gaming critics were not impressed with the results where as it gained not many but has a small numbers of fans did actually enjoyed the fighting game which is why the sales units are pretty low that leaves the game quite niche at the release.

I decided to review this 3D fighting game to show you what's really good and bad about the game's story, combat, rosters, and various of modes to discuss everything.

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

Presentation

The story campaign is split in two chapters with 10 episodes featuring an entirely original alternate version of the plot in the anime series.

The 1st chapter follows a "What if?" storyline with Satsuki Kiryuin as the protagonist instead of the original protagonist Ryuko Matoi, so you have Satsuki fighting to unite the student council and overcome her's mother's brainwashing schemes, where as the 2nd chapter focuses on Ryuko takes center stage to uncover her own branching path of twists and turns. 

Despite the game's storyline has nothing to do with the original timeline from the anime series, it's basically an alternative timeline of the original story that made sounded different with the "What if?" scenario that has resulted an alternative outcome which is why I finding it quite good is because instead of sticking to the original timeline its good to have another alternative branching path that makes the "What If?" storyline quite interesting in story campaign.

I say the cast of characters in the game are actually awesome in the story campaign, so you have Satsuki and Ryuko are the twos badass hot chicks with their nice-looking outfits and stylish blades.

Then you have elite fours like Ira Gamagori the big muscular dude with heavy armored suit, Hoka Inumuta the tech genius does a hacking job, Nonon Jakuzure the sassy pink hair girl loves to play drums, and Uzu Sanageyama the cocky athletic guy with long-ass sword and his green-colored mecha.  Then you have two antagonists such as Nui Harime are pretty sure look cute on the outside but she's definitely inside sadistic and childish does such an evil things, and lastly you have Ragyo Kiryuuin who is Satsuki's mother is kinda look attractive judging with her appearence...well despite her portrayal as wickedness and treacherous person does a horrible stuff in the story cutscenes you can't go wrong with that madam just got her perfect look...that's all I got to say guys.

The game's presentation is looking spectcular especially I really liked the anime as a animation genre for video games, films, and TV shows.

I say the game has really cool animation opening at the start of the story campaign with stylish title cards and crazy fight sequences just like you normally see the opening of anime cartoon series.

I also wanted to praise the design of the cutscenes are well animated throughout the sequences just looks really stunning to watch.

The game has 6 fighting stages sharing with the different settings of the sceneries such as you have honnou-cho open field which is the small town filled with many tiers of houses at the background, then you have the medium sized stages such as naturals election stadium are concidered naturals with the daylight fighting arena and bright looking sky where as the polling grounds are much more darker tone with crooked fighting arena and devilish looking sky, and then lastly you have ragyo stadium runway are long and narrow with limited space fighting arena where as the ragyo stadium grounds and thread palace are extremely large stage with long distance fighting arena.

These are all 6 fighting arena has the mix of small and large size of stage can be benefiting for any players that has a choice to choose any of the suitable arenas for them to battle on.       

Overall, it has interesting story, awesome characters, and spectcular presentation design.

Gameplay

The game has various of modes to select such as you have story campaign which features two chapters with 10 episodes such as Satsuki and Ryuko to uncover their alternate events, and you have 1 on 1 versus mode which includes free battle for local play and of course the online battle for player or ranked match, and then lastly the practice mode which has tutorials, training, and challenge.

The game has 10 playable rosters to play on both versus and practice mode such as Satsuki, Ryuko, Ira, Hoka, Nonon, Uzu, Nui, Ragyo, and of course the 2 DLCs roster such as D.T.R and Mako.

The game is played in 3rd-person perspective on the fighting arena, so you and your opponent must face to face on the arena battle and who ever the person knocks out their opponent with their life bar down wins the round. 

For the controls, push the left stick control is to move your character around, and press the cross button is to jump but press it again while in mid-air will allow player to jump dash towards the opponent.

Press the square button to use close ranged attack for the close combat melee, and press the triangle button to use long ranged attack for far distance melee.

Press the circle button is to perform guard break attack which temperaily destroys opponent's shield block. 

Hold the right shoulder button is to weld guard which allowing you to block an opponent's melee attack, but while holding the right shoulder button you can able to perform two movements by pushing the left/right of the left stick control for evade allowing you to dodge opponent's projectiles where as the up/down of the left stick control is to dash forwards or backwards.

You will also have SP gauge on the bottom of the life bar up to 3 level displaying how much your gauge power you have filled up on the bar, so this will allow you to perform a special moves known as deathblow which has 3 flashy special attacks such as close-range deathblow, long-range deathblow, and of course the guard break deathblow which delivers a heavy damage blow on the opponent, so these can be used by holding the left shoulder button then press any of 3 buttons such as square for close-range deathblow, triangle for long-range deathblow, and circle for guard break deathblow. 

I say the controls are pretty straight-forward is because it feels quite simple and easy to learn things that are not complex and confusing to play.

It's just all slashing, dodging, dashing, and jumping around the fighting arena makes the fighting control a lot easier to get into.

The combo system works pretty decent with the button mashing system where you can able to attack the opponent with lot of slashing, juggling, and dashes forward at the opponent feels really natrual to press and I say I really liked the deathblows on the opponent which does a really cool blows at the opponent just works really good.

I also want to mention a special technique called bloody valor system which is a ultimate form of deathblow meaning that if your SP gauge meter is fully packed to level 4 then this will activate it by pressing both of the shoulder buttons together which triggers a rock-paper-scissors QTE sequence which has 3 action buttons such as taunt deals the most damage, provoke heavily recovers your SP gauge, and of course the mock recovers your life, so if the attacker wins or ties the QTE they trigger a cinematic clash and win the debate will award you with your valor level up to maximum of 3 stars.

If your valor level reaches 3 stars and you have a full SP gauge with 4 bars then this will allow you to perform a cinematic match ending blow which instantly kills off the opponent for good.    

These fighting system are actually done a fine job which does not feel anything dull to play for the 3D fighting game.

I did manage to enjoy the story campaign quite a bit with few of the story battles that plays really fun on both character's scenario with action-packed stuff going on in the game, but unfortunately it suffered with the short-length playthrough in which you can beat the game for like an hour-in-half in each chapters that makes a total of 3 hours long which I don't think it's quite enough to progress the story campaign enough, so despite the game has a good story I wish they could have add a bit more of scenarios for more characters could have helped the game a bit.

The game does have various of game modes to play such as the 1 on 1 versus mode in which you can able to enjoy battling with your friends through local play or online battle which is quite acceptable for fighting games that was known for a 1 on 1 multiplayer battle, and it also has a useful practice mode where you can able to learn a combat and moves throughout the tutorial as well as the training mode which helps you to practice a various of the fighting moves displayed on the command move list, so if these game modes aren't quite enough then you have a 2 challenge mode such as survival challenge where you must face a various of opponents until you are defeated and then you have a horde mode called covers challenge where you must face off against multiples of covers in 3 distinct rule variations such as 1 min challenge which you must defeat as many covers as possible before the timer runs out, 100-man brawl where you must defeat all 100 covers as fast as possible, and of course the endless battle where you must continue fighting against endless waves of covers until you are defeated. 

All of these game modes are pretty solid to play which is sounds great, but the annoying part in the game is that all these game modes are locked behind story campaign in which you will need to complete some of the episodes in order to unlock all the game modes, so that is not quite convenient for those who wanted to play the game for online match, local versus, and practice challenge had to first beat some of the episodes till it unlocks.     

I do wanted to point out the numbers of playable rosters is rather too small which I don't think 10 roster is quite enough for this fighting game which I was expecting 15 or more would have been an acceptable numbers, so I wish that the development team could have been done something right if they would have delay the game's release to give a bit more time for them to make more rosters, so that could have made it better. 

Overall, it has decent fighting system, fun story battles, and soild game modes.

Graphics

The graphics in this game is looking quite great on the 8th-gen system for its environmental design on the fighting arena depending on which stage you're fighting on, so some of them are about mid-size arena and the others are quite large which I think having a good balance of the small and large sized potions does make the fighting arena quite appealing in the battle.

The texture surfaces has the sharp details that made it look bold and you could see some of the layouts on the background landscape from far distance, and then finally I like the way the camera angle works on the fighting arena starts rotating around when controlling your player from left to right just gives the dynamic look of the stage.

I say I liked the flashy look of the hit collision displaying the clinging effects with every hit of melee or projectiles just adds up the impact of fighting style.

The animation is well designed and moves pretty smoothly on battle with every great frame of movements and melees it performed are just looking amazing on the fighting battle.

The PS4 version had performed better for the performance side running on 1080p resolution with 60fps which the game has optimised really well without the sign of major frame drops, where as the switch version running on 1080p resolution on docked mode and 720p resolution on undocked mode with capped 30fps which may have some frame dips but not something quite servere during the battle which remains still playable.

     

Overall, it has great fighting arena design, detailed environmental layouts, and well designed animation.

 

Music and Sounds

The soundtrack is excellent which I really liked the mix of J-rock and epic music throughout the in-game battle and story cutscenes.

It really suits the game's action sequences pretty perfectly that makes the player feel pumped for fighting game action.

The main menu and characters theme was composed by Akiyuki Kubota did a fabulous job for his original score for this game. 

It also features music from the original anime composed by Hiroyuki Sawano (nZk) which has the actual opening theme song on title screen such as "Sirus" sang by Eir Aoi which we all know anime TV show has the coolest theme songs, where as other song such as "Before My Body Is Dry"  sang by Mika Kobayashi (vocals) and rap by David Whitaker which kinda gives me the vibes of Evanescence and Linkin Park with simular style of music which is amazing to listen.  

The sound effects are quite stunning for its environmental sounds design on some stages, I also liked the clinging noises of the hit collision are quite sharp and impactful during the battle, and of course the voice acting are really good on both English and Japanese dub. 

Overall, it has excellent soundtrack, stunning sound effects, and good voice acting.

Special Features

The game features unlockable stuffs such as gallery art, cutscenes, voice libaries, musics, and digital figure parts which these can be unlocked with in-game gallery points.

Overall, not a bad unlockable content. 

Advantages

Interesting story and awesome characters

Spectcular presentation design

Decent fighting system and fun story battles

Solid game modes to play (versus and practice)

Great visuals and excellent music

Disadvantages

Short-length campaign

Game modes are locked behind story mode

Small numbers of rosters aren't enough

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - interesting story, awesome characters, and spectcular presentation design.

Gameplay 7/10 -  decent fighting system, fun story battles, and soild game modes.

Graphics 8/10 - great fighting arena design, detailed environmental layouts, and well designed animation.

Music and Sounds 8/10 - excellent soundtrack, stunning sound effects, and good voice acting.

Special Features 6.5/10 - gallery art, cutscenes, voice libaries, musics, and digital figure parts. 

Overall 7/10 - Kill La Kill If is a fine 3D Fighting Game with bit of small flaws could have done it better if they could have a bit more time to add more playable rosters as well as more chapters on story campaign to make it bit longer, but overall it's still worth for play in which you may going to enjoy story campaign (even its short) with really fun action-packed battles to fight and has a good story sequences with 2 kick-ass chicks going on their frantic battle, and yes you may going to like the versus mode for local play and online battle are also decent as well as these challenge mode that keeps you busy with the game is something that you might find this game quite entertaining to play.  

The price of physical copy are likely to go up from £20 to £30 which is not going to be cheap for later future years which means you might want to grab the copy before the price lasts, where as the digital copy from PS Store, Nintendo eShop, and Steam are slightly bit cheaper around between £17 and £18.

Is the game worth to play? I say if you love the original anime series or if you're one of those fighting games fanatic looking for the niche title then yes, you should check it out if you haven't try this game out and see if you might going to find that game quite fun to play. 

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Disney's Epic Mickey Rebrushed PS5 Review

 

Disney's Epic Mickey Rebrushed is a 3D Platform Game was released in 2024 for PS5, PS4, XSX/S, XBONE, Switch, and PC, and it is also confirmed for Switch 2 release in October 2026.

It was developed by Purple Lamp and published by THQ Nordic, and it is a remake of 2010's original game titled Disney's Epic Mickey for Wii which was created by Junction Point Studios.

Before I begin reviewing the game, I wanted to talk about the origins behind Disney's famous mascots.

In 1927 it was all began with the animated cartoon character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks.

He starred in the series of black and white short films released to theaters from 1927 to 1938, so 27 short animated films were made at the Walt Disney Studio until the rights of the titular character been taken over by Walter Lantz Productions under Universal Pictures to produce the rest of the later short animated films in 1928.

After Universal took control of Oswald's character in 1928, Disney had decided to create his alternative character as an replacement to Oswald...which is why we had Mickey Mouse made a first debut in short animated film titled Steamboat Willie is one of the first cartoons to include technical feats such as synchronized sound effects and fully post-produced soundtrack.

It became the most popular cartoon of its time which had gained universally praised for its animations, innovative sound design, and of course introducing a cartoon character which happened to became one of the Disney's biggest landmark mascot had gained popularity worldwide.

Mickey Mouse is everywhere...he featured in many animated shorts, feature films, storybook, comics, commerical adverts, and etc. is the reason why everyone loves this animated cartoon mouse and then over the 6 to 9 decades later you see many cool mechandises and toys, wall posters, clothing brand and costumes, animated TV series & film, and of course the video games.

I grew up watching Mickey Mouse's animated shorts and feature films that made me love the character because of his slapstick stuffs, being adventurous, and of course he is an entertainning character that gives us a laugh and joy.   

I also got interested in playing video games featuring Disney's mascot hero himself such as Castle of Illusion, Magical Quest, Mickey Mania, and Mickey's Speedway USA which are really fun games back in the 90s gaming era, so going forward to the early 2010s the game that I've discovered which is Disney's Epic Mickey for the Wii which is a 3D Platform Game plays little simular to Nintendo's Super Mario Sunshine in terms of gameplay design which got me curious to try out the game.

My initial impression of the original game is somewhat mixed bag, so lets just be fair on the point starting with the positives which I adored the paintbrush mechanics, the visuals, the stages, and of course the story presentation which are decent but sadly I find the motion controls did not impressed me much which I find using the Wii remote difficult to control things like camera system and movements that prevented me enjoying the single-player adventure.

In around 14 years after the original game, it finally getting the remake for the modern platforms titled as Disney's Epic Mickey Rebrushed which is meant to fix the original game's major flaws in regards of controls and camera system, as well as the additional features such as enhanced visuals and new moves abilities that aren't present in the original game.

I decided to give the game a second chance with the 2024's remake to see if this version are actually done it right big time or is it just another time wasting that never be touched again? my truth will be answered throughout my review.

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

Presentation

The game begins with the Mickey Mouse stumbled into the workshop room discovering the magical project are created by an elderly wizard named Yen Sid, so he designed his magical kingdom on his sketchwork using the magical paintbrush. 

As the elderly wizard exits from his workshop room, Mickey came sneaking in to the workshop and fiddles with the magical paintbrush on the sketchwork until it went horribly wrong causing the creation of ink creature sabotaging the whole kingdom on the sketchwork.

As Mickey managed to get back to his bedroom, he was encountered by the same ink creature dragging him into the portal that leads him to the world of kingdom. 

Mickey then wakes up in the lab captured by the crazy scientist whos about to torture him with the machinery tool of weapons until Mickey managed to escape and then meets up with the Gus who can aid him throughout the journey as their goal is to restore the kingdom and stop the ink creature to fix his mistakes.

The story in this game is easy to follow, so you're basically animated mouse protagonist made an accidental mess on the elderly wizard's project are fully covered with the dark ink causing the creation of ink monster takes over the world of kingdom inside the sketchwork and then the cartoon mouse later being dragged inside the sketchwork by the ink monster, so he must finds his way to not only to stop the ink creature harming the kingdom but also trying to resolve his mess that he made earlier.

I find the story is just as good as most of the Disney's animated feature films which is most likely that the younger audience will appericate the Mickey's adventurous sequences where he can able to learn and use the magical paintbrush for restoration or vanishing the world environments, and I also liked the in-game dialogue conversation between the friends delivering a simple backstory about the kingdom's history is something that I can enjoy the game's plot.

I say I do like Mickey Mouse as not only just being the main protagonist in the game, but he's also everyone favourite Disney's cartoon mascot for over decades is because I adored his light-hearted personality displaying him as fun, likable and charming cartoon character is the reason why he's one of the Disney's greatest cartoon mascot.        

He teams up with the Gremlin Gus, which is one of Disney's forgotten character from cancelled 1940's animated movie titled Gremlins, serves a guide to Mickey in his adventures at Wasteland, and then it has Oswald the Lucky Rabbit happens to be a main lead of wasteland before the disastrous blot wars took over his homeland.

He is a deuteragonist in the game that became a first cartoon character being completely ignored is due to Mickey's popularlty is the reason he's acting up catty towards Mickey with his annoyance and jealousy at the start but he eventally agrees to join forces with Mickey throughout the quests.

The game's presentation is absoultely stunning which I descibed as magical and colourful throughout the environmental settings that has a great mix of light and dark locations such as wasteland are full of theme park areas and Disney's memorabilla, the Mickeyjunk mountain are clutted with polluted area that serves as dumping ground for several old and forgotten pieces of Mickey Mouse's memorabilla, the gremlin village are filled with fantasyland rides and gremlins home, the mean street is the central hub based on Disney's parks filled with shops, theater, station, and museum, the bog easy/ventureland is a swampy pirate-themed town that connects to pirate areas, the tommorow city is a retro-futuristic metropolis, and of course the lonesome manor is a spooky haunted mansion filled with ghosts and dancing paintings everywhere.

I say I really liked the 2D cinematic levels which is based on Disney's old-classics from the 1920-30s era which I got to praise it for its sketchbook-style scenery starting from black & white to colors schemes that you see from silly symphony's short films that I like from the past such as steamboat willie, Mickey's steam roller, the castaway, clock cleaner, and through the mirror.

  

Overall, it has very good story, likable cast of characters, and stunning presentation design.

Gameplay

In single-player campaign, you take control of Mickey Mouse in 3rd-person perspective, as your main goal is to beat many courses by completeing various of objectives in order to progress the game's story campaign.

You can take a look of the objectives on the pause menu which has the list of primary and secondary missions that you'll know which ones to complete these tasks.

Push the left-stick control is to move Mickey and the right-stick control is used for rotating the camera which also has crosshair icon on the centre of the screen.

Press the cross button is to jump, but double pressing again is to make double jump allowing Mickey to reach at the higher platforms.

Mickey has the paintbrush as his primary weapon, so press the square button is to melee attack, press and hold the right trigger is to shoot splash paint which does sort of two action such as restoring the invisible objects and brainwashing the enemies into attacking their own ally, and press and hold the left trigger is to shoot splash thinner which does sort of two action such as dissapearing the environmental objects and thinning enemies to death that kills them. 

Using these paint and thinner can also decrease the bar meter meaning you have to fill up these bars again to replenish.  

Press the right-thumbstick button is to use lock-on which centers your camera and fixes your targeting reticle onto enemies or objects making combat much easier to manage.

Unlike the original 2010's, the rebrushed version has introduced 3 brand new moves which includes sprint allowing Mickey to run faster by pressing the left-thumbstick button, the dash that makes Mickey forward dashing by pressing the circle button used for evading enemy's projectiles, and of course the ground pound which makes Mickey slamming on the ground by pressing the triangle button while in mid-air.

Mickey has ability to use magical sketch power, so you really need to obtain these sketch power which can be found in later courses.

It has TV sketch which projects a television screen allowing to distract enemies or bypassing hazards safety, as well as power electronic devices on TV-pads.

The watch sketch slows down time allowing Mickey to dodge fast-moving enemies, tricky platforming jumps, and bypassing environmental hazards.

Lastly anvil sketch which summons a heavy anvil that drops straight down used for weigh down pressure switches, smash fragile objects, and deliver crushing blow directly to enemies.

These sketch power can be used by pressing the left shoulder button, and you can also cycle these sketch items with the left and right d-pad button.

Mickey also has abilites to use guardians which will be introduced in later course, so once you've acquired them you can use these guardians by pressing the right-shoulder button which allowing them to use two types of their effects such as blue guardians will then again brainwashing enemies into attack their ally and the green guardians will instantly kills most of the enemies.

Once a guardian is launched they'll get consumed which mean you have to build the bars up again to replenish.

I am glad that the rebrushed version has improve upon the controls is because having to play the game with the standard controller is much more perfered choices over the 2010's original game which rely on Wii motion controls are much difficult to use and lack of Wii classic controller option is what preventing me enjoying the whole story campaign, so luckly the rebrushed version has addressed the original game's flaws by using the standard controller which also has gyro-motion controls for targeting reticle which is optional meaning you can also turn off these gyro-motion control if you prefered to use the right-stick controls for camera rotation and targeting reticle.

I say that the haptic feedback on the triggers are actually quite neat which I really liked the feel of the vibration intensity when holding down these triggers to shootout the splashes at the enemies and objects

just feels like a good addition to this version.

I also praised for the inclusion of brand new moves which really enhances the platforming gameplay, so that I can able to sprint faster to make the pace quicker, making multiples of dashes to evade things, and of course using ground pound to break objects or slamming on enemies just feels really good to play that weren't featured on 2010's original game.

I say the concept of using paintbrush that allowing Mickey to do really useful on various things like puzzle solving, revealing hidden secrets behind the walls, restoring environmental objects like houses and bridge, and dissapearing stuffs that blocks the entry is something that kinda reminds me of Nintendo's Super Mario Sunshine where you're using the spraying water to clean things like walls and floors or as a weapon to defeat slimy enemies.

This works really great for 3D platforming games that actually suits the Disney's personality is all about full of fun and magical moments.

I wanted to praise the game's segments throughout the story campaign which mixes the style of 3D-platforming and 2D cinematic levels, so what I mean is that the game has 3D world environment where you get to explore around the level in which you'll spend time completing various of objectives which unlocks the projectile screen that leads you to the 2D platforming stage which plays on side-scrolling perspective with full of cinematic layouts based on Disney's classic cartoons and films is got to be my favourite part of the segment is because it reminded me of classic Disney's platformers like Mickey Mania in terms of 2D platforming design and settings are quite both simular in style.

While I did managed to enjoy all the levels on both 3D and 2D, the downside is that the game is somewhat too linear meaning that you cannot able to replay or revisit the 3D platforming levels that you've already beat which is pretty fraustrating me because I wanted to achieve the progression on my Playstation trophies, so it's impossible to replay the 3D stages that I've previously beat.

Thankfully you can still able to replay the 2D stages from the theater room which is fine for collecting many of two films per levels, but I kinda feel pissed that I won't able to replay the 3D stages that I wanted to revisit again for my achievement progression.

What I liked about the game is the upgrades which can be obtained by completing some of the secondary objectives or spend it with your e-tickets at the shop, so you will have capacity for health and sketches.

If thats not enough, one of your paint bar meter can be upgraded by defeating bosses depending on which two of these splashes you're using meaning that if you defeat the boss with the paint then your splash paint bar will add-up or using with the thinner will add-up your splash thinner bar.

These will improve Mickey's strengths and skills makes it easier for him to fight with tougher enemies and bosses in later courses.   

                 

Overall, it has cool gameplay mechanics, fun platforming levels, and improved controls.

    

Graphics

The game's visuals is quite solid for its design and settings especially on both the 8th and 9th-gen machines are completely redesigned with the Unreal Engine 4 to fit the modern gaming standards.

The environmental areas are nicely opened allowing to have a fair size of 3D levels is good enough to explore around the area.

The textures are surely bold on the surfaces like walls, houses, objects, and floors, where as the colours has a great use of saturated display that made the locations look brighter.

The special effects are vivid and shiny for some lighting and shadow details, and of course the splashy ink that spreads everywhere on the towns and villages turns everything mess is just adds up the magical interaction.

I say I do really liked the overall design of 2D platforming levels which has a sketchbook backgrounds and layouts that feels like a Disney's old cartoon from the 1920s to 30s.

The game does have a charming character's animation which they really nailed the style of Disney's classic cartoons that we know from back then, so it delivers a wonderful facial expression and comical movements that looked really good on both the in-game areas and cutscene sequences.

The game's performance on PS5 and XSX/S (X Model) runs on full 4K resolution with 60fps, where as the XSX/S (S model) runs on 1440p resolution with 60fps in which those versions ran really smoothly with no signs of frame drops, stutters, and hiccups, so that sounds like a fantastic news for both PS5 and XSX/S.

The PS4 and XBONE runs on 1080p resolution with 30fps, where as the Switch runs on 1080p on docked and 720p on undocked with 30fps, so I say the PS4 and XBONE had performed slightly better compared to Switch which you may notice the frame dips in some open areas.

Overall, it has solid environmental areas, charming character's animation, and smooth performance.

Music and Sounds

The soundtrack in the game is remarkably fascinating which I really loved the musical style of Disney's classics films delivering the great use of orchestral sounds that fits the atmosphere of Mickey's epic adventures starting from enemies combat fight to boss battle is something that builds up the exciting platforming action.  

The background music of 2D cinematic levels has the old-vintage style of Disney's 1920s-30s cartoon short is something that you hear it from the old-fashoned cinema projector which I love the feel of classic vibes to it.    

Lastly I also liked the theme song at the main title is what I call a pure charming way to begin the Mickey's story quest.

It was composed by Jim Dooley, an composer behind InFamous 2 and Spider-Man: Shattered Memories, did a amazing job for creating the game's original score.

The sound design is nicely done for the use of background noises and atmospheric that fits perfectly on many environmental stages, and of course the various of cartoony sound effects coming from the old cartoon shorts has the pure classy feel that sounded acceptable on Disney's platforming game.

I had to point out the criticism that they didn't address it from the 2010's original game which is the lack of full proper voice acting for characters during the cinematic cutscenes (well except the Yen Sid's narration is the only one that has full voice dialogue on the opening intro) and in-game dialogue text which is kinda shame because I would love to hear Mickey and his friends having a proper full dialogue in the game that could have helped the game's narration a bit.

Overall, misses out full voice dialogue, but it has fascinating soundtrack and nicely done sound design.   

  

Special Features

The game has various of unlockables such as concept art, costumes, badges, and of course the 2 animation shorts.

It also has new game plus which you can able to play second walkthrough while retaining collectables that you've previously unlocked from the first walkthroughs.

Overall, a fine overall content.

 

Advantages

Very good story and characters

Stunning presentation design

Cool gameplay mechanics 

Fun platforming levels

Charming animation

Fascinating soundtrack

Disadvantages

Not able to revisit the previous 3D levels 

No proper full voice over for characters

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - very good story, likable cast of characters, and stunning presentation design.

Gameplay 7.5/10 - cool gameplay mechanics, fun platforming levels, and improved controls.

Graphics 8/10 - solid environmental areas, charming character's animation, and smooth performance.

Music and Sounds 7.5/10 - fascinating soundtrack and nicely done sound design.

Special Features 7/10 - new game plus, concept art, costumes, badges, and 2 animation shorts.

Overall 7.5/10 - I find Disney's Epic Mickey Rebrushed is a decent improvement over the 2010's original thanks to enhancement gameplay features such as revamped controls, expanded movement, and reworked camera just makes the playability feels responsive and playable throughout the single-player campaign and I say the visual overhaul is suprisingly great addition to this version with modenised graphics and refreshed cutscenes that made the game look fantastic for the modern gaming standards...oh I forgot to mention the game's performance that runs really great on 9th-gen system with buttersmooth 60fps and full 4K display is also welcome addition that are smooth and stable.

With all improvements, the game has the charm for its story presentation, fun platforming levels, and the concept of paintbrush mechanics just works really well on the single-player campaign is something that I'm really glad to say that I've give the game a second chance it deserves is the reason why I've managed to enjoy the game without any fuss whatsoever.

The physical copy for console releases are worth for between £15 and £20, where as the digital releases for PS Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop, and Steam are cost about £35.

Is the game worth for play? I say it's a good recommendation for casuals and gamers will likely to give the game a worth of shot just proves that the Disney's platforming games can be decently fun to play on the system, so you guys might like this kind of 3D platforming adventure featuring everyone's favourite cartoon mascot doing his magical quests is something to feel appericated, so I was hoping the team behind this project will concider remaking Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two with the same treatment it deserves is something to look forward too in the near future.     

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Evil West PS5 Review

 

Evil West is a 3rd-Person Hack N Slash game was released in 2022 for PS5, PS4, XSX/S, XBONE, and PC. It was developed by Flying Wild Hog and published by Focus Entertainment.

As many of you guys may know Flying Wild Hog which is a Polish game developer was known for its their work like Shadow Warrior, an action-packed series reboot of the 1997's original FPS game created by 3D Realms are hella fun to play back then, and so with the Hard Reset Redux which is the forgotten FPS game that nobody ever talks about it but it's decently a good shooter.

After previously enjoyed their titles from the past, I was hoping to look forward playing their another action title which I've discovered a wild-western action title with the combination of 3rd-person shooter and Hack N Slash genre all fused together, so that is Evil West.

So think the game as the old-western action-horror with the style of Van Helsing and Devil May Cry combined together is something that I'd been interested in play this kind of game that has really unique style of presentation simular to vampire monster films and the combat system has sort of involving fast-paced shooting and slashing going on which I think the idea of creating the 3rd-person Hack N Slash game featuring a cowboy take on vampire may could work well, but the question is does the story and campaign lives up my expectation? well not so much to be frankly honest with you guys which is why I am here to review this title to see whats good about it and some others may be not so good which I will discuss these details further on this review.

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

Presentation

The game takes place in an alternate-history of wild west where the advanced human technology was designed to reduce supernatural species, so that's what causes the threat on vampires goes on declaring a war on humanity. 

To prevent their own extinction, they begin raising an army of monsters and familars to wipe out human society.

The game begins with the cowboy vampire hunter named Jesse Rentiera, an agent of the Rentier Insitute which is a organisation dedicated to battling numerous of supernatural creatures that prey on humanity, partnering with retired agent Edgar Gravenor as they went on their mission is to protect the American frontier and hunt down the high ranking vampire Peter D'Abano and his daughter Felicity who are plotting to exterminate many humans.

I say the story in the game is rather mediocre at best is because I don't really mind the idea of having a cowboy vs vampire concept which is quite fair, so you just the vampire hunter doing a job to protect the wild west town from numerous of dangerous vampires who goes on killing many humans as possible.

I also understand the use of human technology are designed to get rid of all vampires is the reason why the conflict between the humans and vampires had occured which is seems sounded pretty acceptable in the action horror style, but unfortunately it suffered with the generic story dialogue with badly written plot that kinda sounded like a low-budget level which doesn't really help the game's storyline so I wish they could have made the dialogue a bit better that would have add-up the quality story written.

Despite the mixed bag story, I say I do like the main protagonist in the game which is the only good thing in the game.

Jesse Rentiera is just like many of badasses cowboys had a cool outfit filled with leather jacket, western hat, boots, and ammunation belt around him is something that they got the main character just right, and his personalty type descibes as hard-boiled monster hunting gunslinger justs fits his character's persona which makes him likable throughout the game's campaign.

Despite the decent protagonist, the half of the side characters in the game is rather pale and dull at best except the twos like Edgar Gravenor is an Jesse's acceptable partner that aren't half that bad and the other ones James Harrow is what I descibe him as funny self-centered bastard that has an anger issues with his foul-mouthed lines just give us a laugh throughout the cutscenes which is fine, but it's the rest of the side-characters that I finding them quite lame in the game which has William Rentier is a boring looking insitute director which I don't find him intresting, then you had Emilia Blackwell as the average medical researcher are not kinda the best in my opinion, and of course the worst of all is got to be annoying field agent Vergil Olney is doing my f***ing heading which I can't stand his overly exaggerated persona and being too talkative throughout the game's campaign is something that I can't enjoy the game as much.

I say the villain in the game is kinda lackluster at best is because I don't find these guys quite terrifying it's just felt like a cheesy B-Movies vampires that are trying so hard to be a serious horror villains which unfortunately it didn't work well in the game.

The game's presentation settings is actually decent which I like the weird style of wild west environments blending a classic American frontier aesthetics with dark fantasy, steampunk technology, and supernatural horror.

The world is filled with vampiric temples, creepy forests, abandoned mining towns, and shadowy swamps which you can tell that these places are being overrun by bunch of vampires and monstrous beasts turning whole western towns into a dark and gothic battlegrounds which really adds the game's bloodthristy themes to it which I've liked it.

I do want to praise the cinematic design on the cutscenes has sort of the 90s western movie feel to it which is really good on the screen with letterboxed ratios just makes the game quite stand-out for modern gaming standard.

Overall, an mediocre storylines and lame side-characters and villains, but has decent presentation design.

Gameplay

In single-player campaign, you take control of Jesse Rentier on 3rd-person perspective, as your main goal is to push back the dark forces and stop the impending war from vampires, so in order to do that you must defeat waves of monsters, complete specific environmental puzzles, and missions to prevent their plans to overtake humanity.

For basic movements, push the left-stick controls is to move character, push the right-stick controls is to look around, and press the left thumbstick button is to sprint that makes character run. 

Press the cross button is used for interacting stuff like activating switches and opening the chest box.   

For the combat, press the right shoulder button is to use melee punch and press the right thumbstick button is to melee kick on close range which deals a lighter damage attack, where as the square button is to use quick shotgun on close range which deals a heavy damage attack.

You also have different kinds of firearms which can be fired with the right trigger button, so you just press the right trigger button is to fire pistol which deals lighter damage shot in mid-range, where as holding the left trigger button to aim then press the right trigger button is to fire rifle which deals mild damage shot in long-range.

You can cycle your weapon with the d-pad button, such as d-pad up button for rifle or crossbow which the crossbow has the same damage shot as the rifle but in long range, then the d-pad right button for chaingun which deals heavy rapid damage shot, then the d-pad left button for flamethrower which deals firery damage on enemies, and of course the d-pad down button for explosive charges act as throwing attack item which deals exploding damage on enemies.              

You can stun them with the zapper by pressing the left shoulder button or the rod with the triangle button which temporaily stuns them for 5 seconds, but while they are stunned you can able to perform rapid melee attack them by tapping the right shoulder button until its stops, so it delivers quicker damage attack than the regular melee punches.

You can evade the enemy melee attacks or projectiles by tapping with the cross button while pushing with the left-stick controls which allowing you to dodge or roll around.

You can also replenish your health by pressing the circle button to use health dispenser or obtaining the health item from the enemies that drops item will restore your health points. 

To keep you mind, each of the weapons and gadgets you're using will have temporaily cooldown system meaning the stuff including health dispenser, rod, shotgun, flamethrower, chaingun, and explosive charges will ran out the ammunation quickly which led the cooldown time will take 30 seconds to slowly replensish till its ready to use. 

So far, these controls is quite straight-forward to play is because the way they designed the control scheme is actually made for not just being a shooters but also made and designed for Hack N Slash game that was known for its fast-paced action.

What I'm saying this is that the combat gameplay is heavily focused on button mashing action meaning that its relying on multiples of combo moves and using various of special attacks on enemies which plays it simular to the likes of Devil May Cry series which is the reason why I liked the style of combat mechanics where you had to keep mashing the random buttons to perform a various of combos and crazy techniques such as launching enemies in the air with uppercut, dragging enemies with the zapper, making multiples of slam attack with ground punches, and of course punching an enemies directly into hazards like spiked walls or TNT crates is just really amazing to perform these kinds of fighting moves. I also liked the finishing kills on enemies simular to the likes of God of War (2018) where it gives you the options to finish them off with the gruesome animation kills is just looking brutal as f**k to watch them getting their limbs tore down in pieces.

I got to admit that using the supercharge mode is pretty neat is because when your battery energy is filled up on the screen with every punches you make, then you will be able to activate the supercharge mode for 10 seconds allowing you to instantly kill many enemies on screen is just looks brutally cool to watch.  

While these controls worked really good, I got to talk about the upgrades is where you need to progress your abilities and perks by obtaining enough currencies and leveling up your skills progression meaning that you had to spend time beating the shit out of these enemies in order to increase your experience points as well as collecting all currencies can be found on the chest box in which you will see it on the pause menu, so once you obtained the upgrade points and earned enough currencies then you will need head over to the upgrades and perks by going to the pause menu screen.

You will have the list of upgrades and perks which you will spend these items to unlock your abilities such as energy siphon allows your zapper pull to restore energy, monster mash extends the duration and damage of your supercharge mode, blood & lighting heals you when performing electrified finishers or combo finishers, and the weapons will have bonuses such as focus on damaging weak spot hits, ability to stun multiple targets, using electrifying shot for critical damage, having cooldown reductions, and list goes on.

I say these upgrades are kinda cool which worked nicely done that improves upon the combat and abilities which helps you learn all the new skills and combos to use against the enemies that keeps the gameplay feel engaging to play for Hack N Slash action.  

I do want to point out the criticisms which is the simple game design is somewhat too basic that led to repetition is because there's nothing much of the new segments going on, so instead you'll be going through repeated process like the environmental puzzles where you need to activate switches to open doors or gate, going on minecart for the ride while trying to evade hazards, and battling with the same enemies over again in each areas can get really tedious and tiresome for some players are expecting for the different action segments and creatures to fight can't be happening in later chapters, so there's not many of the varieties going on to be frankly honest with you guys.

I do find the boss battles quite underwhelming that doesn't live up to my hype especially the final ones are kinda dissapoints me the most which are slightly worst than the previous ones is due to overpowered damage attack and incoming projectiles all over the place that made it quite fraustrating to play which took me 10 to 12 tries to defeat them.

Unfortunately it's kinda shame because the game does have really good combat and upgrades can be fun, but it was let down by the repetitive game design and bland bosses which I wish they could have done a job quite more to make it solid experience, so that being said it's definitely not bad but not quite spectacular overall. 

The game does include online co-op multiplayer in which you'll be partnering with the co-op online player to take part in story campaign, so in order to access the online co-op you have to finish off the tutorial mission in single-player campaign to unlock the online co-op multiplayer first otherwise it's unavailable until you completed the tutorial to do it.

I did hear the online co-op can be hit or miss for some players depending on their experiences, but I always thought having the online co-op is sounds like a fun idea to invite someone to participate the co-op campaign mission through online lobby, so to be honest it's fine to include it on the game which might be fun for anybody to play but I don't think it really adds the bigger replay value in which you can just play the game for one time after beating the whole story campaign.   

Overall, an repetitive game design and dull boss battles, but has fun combat system.

Graphics

The graphics in this game is decent for its visual design and environments which I did appericate the most.

These environmental designs of level are sure has bold and sharp details giving it a crispy vibes to it, and I also wanted to praise the glossy effect on the reflections as you can see the surfaces like water puddles, glass furnitures, and shiny guns just looks pure clean with no roughness whatsoever.

I say I really liked the use of heavy special effects in some levels like the ones where the whole bunch of metallic scraps are full of fires and smokes collapses everywhere.

They done such a neat job for its the use of lighting and shadowy effects on the daytime chapters where you can see the brightness at the outdoor area are incredibly on high contrast to make it look like a sunny day with bit of shades, where as the nighttime delivers a gloomy mist effects and slight darker tone to make the shadow effects look more dim.

The weather effects are quite impressive in some chapters like in very cold hills where you can see the neon light and snow particles flying around above the sky, and then the best part in the game is the sunset stage is full-on peachy orange is just beauitful to look.

I also liked the heavy impact of exploading particles and firing projectiles are stupendously wacky especially with using the electryfing weapons and blowing up TNT boxes are incredibly ace, and of course the over-the-top gorefest animation are quite bloody during the finishing sequences on enemies is something that made the game quite appealing.

I want to point out some minor issue that I encountered which is the screen tearing, as you start looking round while rotating the camera you could see some white tearing lines which mostly happened in the old western house, where as you don't see much on the mission areas which thankfully it didn't screw up a bit, but you do sometime see the texture pop-ups at the draw-distance are can be weird as you may move forward a bit will made the texture pop-ups appears on the screen at the mid-distance.

I wanted to talk about the game performances is becuase the frame-rate had run pretty nicely on 9th-gen machines like on PS5 and XSX/S (X Model) had a two graphical options such as performance mode which ran on 1080p/1440p resolution with 60fps delivers a smooth frame-rate which is acceptable for the fast-paced action game, where as the quality mode offers full 4K resolution with 30fps which has cleaner pictures and sharp details gives a cinematic vibes to it.

The XSX/S (S model) has 1080p resolution with 30fps which I got to say that the whole performance had no sign of slowdowns whatsoever which is a good news for S model owners.

Thankfully, the console version is optimising really well which I'm glad it runs pretty good on the system.

Overall, it has bold and sharp environments, decent special effects, and solid performance.

Music and Sounds

The soundtrack are pretty good in the game which I've enjoyed listening to old western music, it feels like I'm listening to cowboy western films from the 90s era just fits the game's presentation really well especially on during the cinematic cutscenes and in-game action is just sounds good to listen.

It was composed by Nima Fakhrara (composer behind Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2) and Michal Korniewicz did a great job of creating a finest score in old western action game.

The sound effects has really great environmental noises in some areas with surrounding surfaces and background sounds, and then I liked the sounds of the boom noises for the explosions and gunfire are also well designed.

I say the voice acting in the game is pretty done bad which you can blame it on the corny story dialogue which doesn't really do justice in the cutscenes.

Overall, an awfully bad voice acting, but it has good soundtrack and great sound design.

Special Features

The game does have the new game plus and collectables which is fine, but I was expecting more of the content.

Overall, it just needs to add more additional content.  

Advantages

Fine protagonist

Decent presentation design

Fun combat system

Good visuals 

Great soundtrack

Disadvantages

Mediocre storylines

Lame side characters and villains

Repetitive game design

Dull boss battles

Final Verdict

Presentation 6/10 - an mediocre storylines and lame side-characters and villains, but has decent presentation design.

Gameplay 6.5/10 - an repetitive game design and dull boss battles, but has fun combat system.

Graphics 7/10 - bold and sharp environments, decent special effects, and solid performance.

Music and Sounds 7/10 - an awfully bad voice acting, but it has good soundtrack and great sound. design.

Special Features 6/10 - new game plus and collectables.

Overall 6.5/10 - Evil West is an average 3rd-person Hack N Slash game which is not bad but it wasn't a perfect game which is nowhere near good as the other Hack N Slash titles from the past which did so much better than this, so this game can be a bit fun which I appericate the combat gameplay for its fighting system and upgrades did work well, but it doesn't help with the game design are not quite the best in my opinion in which these repeated puzzles and fighting with the same enemies in many areas can get really tedious pretty fast and the boss battle is bit a letdown which is something that need to improve on, and I wish they could have done it better with the story writing and some side characters that needed to be something interesting rather than making it boring.    

At least the game has really good visuals for its graphical performances is nicely stable that optimised pretty smoothly and the gorey animation is fun to watch the enemies get tore up in pieces are satisfying to watch.

Is the game really bad? absolutely not because some of you may going to enjoy this game which is no problem at all especially the inclusion of online co-op in which you may concider finding someone who are interested to play this game, but then again it's just a one time campaign action game in which you can only play it for once.  

I say I rather much prefered Shadow Warrior a lot better which is Flying Wild Hog only best series for its great story featuring comedic one-liner protagonist and had action-packed shooting going on with decent combat gameplay and well-structured game design is the reason why I've chose it over this game. 

Going back to this game, it's not bad so the cost of the game for physical releases are less than £15 for PS5 and XSX/S, where as the digital storefront for PS Store, Xbox Store, and Steam are about between £45 and £50 in which you can able to play it free on Xbox Game Pass included in premium subscription.

Is it worth it? I say it might be not for everyone unless if you're into with the Hack N Slash genre then its fine, but what about the price point? I say you might want to stick with the physical release instead which is a cheaper option, where as the digital release is not worth of full price which is better off wait for the sales go cheaper unless if you have Xbox Game Pass then you might want it to get it for free on premium subscription instead.

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Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown PS5 Review

 

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a side-scrolling action-adventure game was released in 2024 for PS5, PS4, XSX/S, XBONE, Switch, and PC.

It was developed and published by Ubisoft, and it makes the first major instaillment in the series since the 2010's title The Forgotten Sands.

Going back to the year of 1989, the Prince of Persia was started out as the cinematic platforming game created by Jordan Mechner, as it was first released on the computer platform such as Apple II and was ported to other platforms in one year later such as MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, and of course the console platforms such as SMS, NES, GB, TG-16, SNES, Genesis/MD, and SEGA CD.

The first game was critically praised for its innovative gameplay and realistic animation made use of the rotoscoping technique was designed for the character's movements such as acrobatic stunts was made for the platforming designs which was new for the genre that we had never seen anything different compared to the traditional platforming game of the mid-80s.

It was being credited for major influrence on other cinematic platformers such as Another World and Flashback, as well as 3D action-adventure games such as Tomb Raider which used a simular control scheme and platforming design.

The success of the first game had launched the franchise consisting of two sequels such as Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame in 1993 which also recieved simular praise as the first game and then it made shifted to the 3D platforming adventure such as Prince of Persia 3D in 1999 had recieved mixed reception making it the weakest title in the series is the reason why many gaming community had started to lose interest, until it was been rebooted by Ubisoft in 2003 with the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for PS2, Xbox, GC, GBA, and PC had gained critically acclaim and was commercially success at the release, as well as winning numerous of awards and being recognised by many gaming media as one of the greatest video game ever made.

The success of The Sand of Time had spawned numerous of follow-ups titles such as Warrior Within in 2004, The Two Thrones in 2005, and of course The Forgotten Sands in 2010 which also recieved positive reception.

The series also has second reboot with the Prince of Persia in 2008 for PS3, X360, and PC which establishing a new continuity that is seperate from other games in the series, so it did recieved positive reception but not quite as likable in comparision with The Sand of Time as an sub-series of the franchise. 

Since after 2010, none of upcoming Prince of Persia games ever been made until 14 years later it finally makes the return of the franchise with the side-scrolling adventure game which is the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

As the game got released in 2024, it was generally positive by the critics and fans but sadly the it was commerically unsuccessful which sold poorly at the release which I don't understand why it never got popular since 14 years of hitatus, so I decided to give this game a worth of shot which is why I've bought the copy for the PS5 to see if it's anything good to play.

The answer will be revealed soon on this review to deliver the details of how the length, combat, pacing, story, and exploration went and goes. 

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

Presentation

The game begins with the invasion of Kushan empire on the Persian territory, as the Persian Empire is on the brink of collapse until it was saved by the warrior clan known as the immortals with Sargon had managed to defeat the Kushan general.

As Sargon and the group of immortals are commended for their efforts by Queen Thomyris and Prince Ghassan at the victory celebrations event, the prince is abducted by Sargon's mentor named Anahita that led Sargon and the immortals travels to the cursed city of Mount Qaf in their mission is to rescue the kidnapped Prince Ghassan and confront Anahita's act of theachery.

The story in this game is all depends on whether you liked it or not is because it had a fine start of the introduction about the war between the two empires fighting each other and you have the protagonist and the group of immortals battling on the field which seems to be an intresting to know what's going on, but up until the part in the victory celebrations event where the prince getting kidnapped by the female general which I already thought the series had already done with the rescue stuff before like the original trilogy from the 1989 to 1999, so I have nothing to be against the idea but I was expecting something new and original that could work better on this game, but up until at the middle part of the game is getting a little bit better with the unexpecting plot twists and confrontation between the hero and villain is doing somewhat okay but not quite the best in my opinion.

I say the protagonist Sargon is decent in the game but not quite in the same level as the previous installiment's hero from The Sand of Time era, as you can see he had a ridiculous haircut seems to be out of place that didn't suit the style of the old ancient persian times, but his character's personality is what really matters the most which descibes him as being loyality to his friends, and showing his humbleness and respectful to the others is something really good about him, so thankfully it's not a let down.

It also has serveral of side characters like the group of immortals such as Artaban, Neith, Menolias, Orod, Radjen, and of course the leader Vahram which I got to be honest they are kinda generically boring in my opinion which I find these guys not quite likable in terms of their character's development and design are kinda bit lackluster at best. 

As the franchise draws heavily on Persian mythology and Iranian culture, the presentation settings are looking great in many locations and areas are divided into 12 distinct regions to explore such as lower city is a hub of Mount Qaf which blends Persian architectual styles like ruined citadel aesthetics, sun-bleached stone walls, ornate columns, golden-sand, and flowing water wheels.

The hyrcanian forest appears as lush and dense jungle filled with vibrant green canopies, ancient overgrown stone ruins, and cascading water wheels. 

The hidden village is a small and quiet region which has aged wooden platforms and a prominent lighthouse. 

The soma tree is a vibrant and magical thing featuring purple and pink foilage, glowing flora, and luminous roots.   

The depths is a dark and creepy area filled with murky stone walls, dripping pipes, narrow tunnels, and pools of green toxic waste. 

The sacred archives is an imposing libary-style zone which has labyrinthine wooden shelves, rotating time mechanisms, and glowing orange and blue doors. 

The upper city is defined by highly vertical, floating platforms, massive astronomical clocks and gears. 

The sunken harbor is a coastal place featuring dreary maritime atmosphere filled with murky waters, rusted mechanical shipyard equipment, hanging cargo, and weathered wooden pirate ships.

The raging sea is a massive and mythical fleet of pirate ships featuring gigantic frozen tidal waves. 

The tower of silence is a ice-covered mountain with snow-swept cliffs and deep chasms with falling ice boulders.  

The old royal road has an ancient highway with sun-drenched sandy stone ruins, steep mountainous ledges, hanging grates, and overgrown cliffs. 

The pit of eternal sands is a vast place filled with sand waterfalls, ancient ruins, and enormous fallen structures in the background.

Overall, suffered with the below average story and generic side characters, but has great presentation design.

 

Gameplay

In single player playthrough, you take control of Sargon in side-scrolling perspective as your main goal is to rescue the prince which was held captive by Anahita.

The game's major focus is the elements of Metroidvania in which you will fully explore around the area yourself in each location, as you will have map inventory on the pause menu screen which helps you navigate through the stage, and then you will gather a new abilities which allowing you to gain access to the unreachable places that leads you to the new location or area.

You can save the progress by going to the golden tree area which automatically saves the game when interacting, and you will also have fast traveling area which allows you to warp at different locations so that will saves you from traveling too far or backtracking. 

For the controls, push the left stick controls is to move with left/right sideways, crouch with downwards, and of course navigate with upwards, and then the right-stick controls is used for camera screen movement.

Press the cross button is to jump which are used for jumping on platforms such as floating platform and wall jumps as an example, where as you can able to jump down from the platform by holding the left stick controls down then press the cross button, and then the right trigger button while holding the left stick controls down is to slide through the small bottom gap.

For the combat, press the square button is to use melee for close range attack, where as the triangle button is to use ranged attack for far distance shot.

The right trigger button is also used for dodging which allowing you to evade the enemy's ranged projectiles or melee attack, and you can also use the left trigger button is to use for parrying when the enemy's projectiles or melee attack get closer to you will deflect them away, as you will see the yellow-symbol appears on the enemies which helps you to use parry in the right time. 

In case your health is low, you can heal your health by pressing the d-pad down to use health potion which also limits your potion use, so only use it if necessary.  

The rest of the button layouts such as the shoulder button, circle button, and right thumbstick button which I will explain it for later on the review.      

You can also re-configure your gameplay settings on the options menu for its button remapping, assists, accessiblity, and stuff to improve your playability, where as the difficulty settings will let you customise the choice of hit damage, enemy's A.I, and guides, but you might better off sticking to the preset settings instead starting from easy to hard difficulty.

After learning these basic controls, you might come across with the abilities which can be obtained by defeating the bosses, so you will have really useful abilities like the double jump which allowing you to jump twice by double pressing the cross button are quite useful for higher platforms, and you also have a air dash that allowing you to dash forward by pressing the right trigger button while in mid-air.  

You will have chakram which is a spinning disc like ranged attack attached on bow which can be used for not only just combat but also solving puzzles and teleport traversal in which can be used by holding the triangle button then release it to throw it, then you will have dimentional claw which opens up portal that picks up the objects like explosive item can be used as throwing attack with the circle button, and you will have fabric of time which is a magical rope kind of thing that can be used as grappling hook with the right shoulder button that allows you to propel across gaps or pull yourself directly to flying and distant enemies, then you have shadow of simurgh which is a time powers that allow you to drop a shadowy marker in a dimention by pressing the left shoulder button and then press again to letting you instantly teleport back to that exact spot to evade attacks, solve puzzles, and recover from tricky platforming, and lastly you have clairvoyance that allow you to shift between two parallel dimentions with the right thumbstick button which is primarily used to reveal invisible platforms or navigate past glowing obstacles.

These will allow to help you getting across at the new areas and paths such as fully blocked sealed wall and unreachable platforms that are required to use these kinds of abilities to gain access through the stage.  

Aside with the controls and ability, what made the game quite unique in the single-player adventure is the upgrades and enhancement system for your weapons and amulets, which means that your character's skills can be improved by upgrading your weapon attack power as well as equipping some of these enhancement items for the health or effects are also upgradable, so you will need to obtain several of the amulets which can be found on any random places or purchase it from the shop and you will also need several amount of time crystals, coins, and materials to spend through the shop that are requires to upgrade your weapons and amulets in order to improve your character's attributes such as increasing health bar and athra build-up, collect time crystals from distance, displays enemy's life bar, slightly decrease the duration of frost effect, reduces damage effects such as poison, gradually restore health, and increase attack power, so this will make your character feel strong and powerful to fight against tough enemies and bosses.

The best part of the combat gameplay is got to be athra surges, a powerful combat abilities that allow you to perform a special attack deals a heavy damage attack on enemies and bosses, so you can able to find various of athra surges anywhere in the journey and once you have obtained these abilities then you can able to equip any of these athra surges that allowing you to perform these special moves such as the verethragana's smite rush towards an enemy with a piercing strike that shatters all defenses, the shahbaz spirit launch a powerful cross slash attack above you are useful against flying enemies, the vayu's wave release a powerful wave of athra that pushes back the enemy, the bahman's breath create an explosion of healing zone that restores health, and of course the bahamut's rage unleash a large whirlwind attack that throws lights at foes in the air and then smashes them to the ground.  

I say the gameplay plays it really good on the single-player adventure is because I find the controls scheme works responsively for its platforming which I can able to do lot of wall jumping, climbing, dashing, and slide it through just feels nicely tight to perform, and I also find the combat during the battle works pretty well for its multiple of combos hits and techniques to do in which I can able to slash them, dodge them, and use parry that makes the fighting control feels really great throughout the battle.

Not only the controls worked well, but I got to say that I really liked the combat system that heavily focuses on the upgrades and enhancement that helps the character's overall strength power thanks to numerous of amulets to equip on and having enough materials to upgrade weapons has a different kinds of effects that gives advantages such as increased attack power, health restoration, and reduced damage effects just works really well in the game.

The use of athra surge are also quite satisfying with amazing finishing blows on enemies and bosses which I liked the idea of building up gauge power up to 3 levels and performing some of the special attack that delivers amount of heavy damage just seem to be working effectively against the large enemies and bosses during the combat battle.

I say I mostly enjoyed exploring many areas in each locations which I love spending time of seaching around the stage like discovering hidden secrets and obtaining stuff like collectables and time crystals, as well as participating the side quests and challenges to complete various of tasks which helps me keeping busy with the game.

I also wanted to praise the overall design of the each stages are full amount of hazardous obstacles with loaded of wooden spikes and grindy traps all over the places which requires the use of jumping and dashing techniques that made the platforming quite intense to play, so I really liked having to jump on each walls and dashing through the traps which is done incredibly fine that really made the platforming game quite engaging to play.

I also liked the puzzle solving in some areas such as the cycle of three shadow clones as an example where you had to mirror the part on each shadows like the first shadow had to hold down the switch on the left where as the second one hold down on the right to open up doors and then finally the third one has to grab the tablet right at the end is something to enjoy the game with fun puzzle elements going on.

The game also has a fun boss battles in many locations which I had a fond time of playing it, so you had undead prisoner wielding a broken pillar swings around and tries to slam the pillar at you, the giant enemy crab with metal armor on one of its claws slamming the ground with shockwaves and debris damage, the erlik the boar demon charges at you across the arena and spews poison puddles from its maw, the Jahandar the manticore guardian has a large variety of attack will swipe you with his claws and sweep his long-ass poison tail at you, the Kiana the forest queen are capable of using spear-swinging techniques and attacks, and of course the azdaha the big phython will swipe you with tail, lunging you with the bite, and of course blasting the beam out of the mouth, so these bosses will require you to use strategy with the amount of dodging and parrying before making the attack at the right time is something that I liked about battling with the bosses.

Overall, it has soild combat and upgrades, fun quests and exploration, engaging platforming and puzzles, and epic boss battles. 

Graphics

The graphics in this game is looking great for its visual performances and details are strikingly beauiful to look at the screen.

I just love the every details of environmental features with bold textures surfaces are stupendously sharp just looks really nice, and I also liked the in-depth details of the level design with far-distance landscape backgrounds and 3D-like layouts on the foreground parts with smooth scrolling is just looks excellent which they totally nailed the use of graphical layouts and details that made the game looked appealing on modern gaming system.

I also liked the use of special effects in some areas with glowy particles, flashy projectiles, shady-shadows, and vibrant lighting design that made the game looked colourful and bright.

I say I don't really mind the character's animation in the game in which many of you may finding it too cartoonish and goofy which I kinda disagree with you guys is because I think they wanted to make it more like a mix of anime and comic book style that adds the dynamic design choices is the reason why they chose the art direction that fits the style of the whole game is something that I finding it quite appealing to adore these visual concepts.

The game's performances and resolution is all depends on which platforms you're playing on is because I say the 9th-gen system like the PS5 and XSX/S (X model) can able to run on fully 4K 120fps if you had the 4K monitor with 120 Hz support can able to run with 4K resolution with 120fps, but unfortunately my 4KTV has 60Hz meaning it can only run with 4K 60fps which I got to be honest with you is that it ran really smoothly throughout the playthrough with no signs of slowdowns and screen tearing whatsoever which is a good news thankfully.

To keep you mind that your video display settings are automatically detect itself depending on your gaming monitor or 4KTV which means that you cannot change the video display settings on the in-game option menu like most of the games has, so if you want to change the resolution and others then you had to head to your console menu's display options to do it because sometimes it happened to me when my display resolution is set to 1080p with 120fps as an default, so I had to turn off the 120Hz mode in order to get a proper full 4K resolution with 60fps working on my 4KTV, but don't worry it won't affect your overall gameplay.    

I also heard the XSX/S (S model) are also performed decently with the 1440p resolution with 60fps which are just as good as you're expecting from the low-powered model.

The 8th-gen consoles like the PS4 pro and XBONE (X model) does have 4K 60fps but the graphical details are nowhere near close as the 9th-gen counterpart, but it did performed pretty good with stable framerate, and then the PS4 (Base model) and XBONE (Base and S model) can only run 1080p 60fps which doesn't have a cleaner resolution as the pro model but then again the framerate is still remain stable.

Lastly the Switch did had a 1080p 60fps on docked mode came quite close to base model PS4 and XBONE which is fine, where as the handheld mode did ran on 720p 60fps which thankfully it's still playable.

Overall, it has stunning visual design, fine animation, and stable performance.   

          

Music and Sounds

The soundtrack is wonderfully astonishing which I adore the middle eastern music in video games, so Prince of Persia as the series had share great original music which really fits the game's presentation throughout the adventure.

It was composed by Iranian music artist Mentrix and Gareth Coker (British game composer behind Ori and the Blind Forest) did a amazing job of creating these tracks is such an wonderful to listen such as the "Main Theme", "Wandering in the Palace", "The Old Citadel", "Heading to the Old Palace", "The Imprisioned God", "The Forest Queen", "A Valley of Thieves", "The Storm Master", and "The White Lion of Persepolis".

The sound design is done fantastic for its environmental sounds and ambients in many areas feels absolutely spot-on, so you can hear the sounds of storm passing through, the waterfalls pouring down, the sands swifting around, and stuff that you hear in each location adding a realism of the stage.

I say the voice acting for each character role is sounded a lot better with the Farsi dub which is a well suited choice that most players agreed, where as the English dub is kinda rather sounds bland in comparsion because it just sounded like the low-budget level didn't quite fit in well, so stick with the Farsi dub instead.

  

Overall, it has amazing music and fantastic sound design.

Special Features

The game does have various of collectables to obtain, participating the challenge mode, and of course it has story expansion DLCs titled Mask of Darkness which adds a new narrative, 4 new biomes, lethal platforming, and 3 epic boss battles. 

Overall, a good pack of content. 

Advantages

Great presentation design

Solid combat and upgrades

Fun quests and exploration 

Engaging platforming and puzzles

Epic boss fights

Stunning visuals and amazing music

Disadvantages

Below average story 

Side characters are quite generic

Final Verdict

Presentation 6.5/10 - below average story and generic side characters, but has great presentation design.

Gameplay 8/10 - soild combat and upgrades, fun quests and exploration, engaging platforming and puzzles, and epic boss battles. 

Graphics 8.5/10 - stunning visual design, fine animation, and stable performance. 

Music and Sounds 7.5/10 - amazing music and fantastic sound design.

Special Features 7/10 - collectables, challenge mode, and story expansion DLCs.

Overall 8/10 - After 14 years of franchise's hiatus since the 2010's The Forgotten Sands was made back then, I say many of fans were expecting another 3D action-adventure game which we never got recently, so instead what we end up which is a side-scrolling adventure game that are incredibly solid game to play with no regets whatsoever.

Even through the story and side-characters aren't the best, but at least it had really good combat and upgrades, numerous of fun quests, lot more exploration to do, has platforming and puzzles to solve through, and of course the boss battle is great that made the game quite entertaining to play.

It's a greater shame that the game had sold poorly at the release in 2024 and the plan of the sequel was completely scrapped along with The Sand of Time Remake in which we will never gonna see another series titles at the light of the day leaving the franchise closed behind doors. 

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is such an underrated game that could have deserve better which is why it should have never ignored in the public eye. 

The cost of physical copy for all console platforms are between £15 and £20, where as the digital storefront such as PS Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop, and Steam cost around £25, but you can able to play it for free under the subscription such as Ubisoft+ Classics for Playstation, and Ubisoft+ Premium for PC and Xbox (which also on game pass).

Is it definite worth of play? the answer is if you like the Metroidvania games in general then it is absoultely yes because you might likely to appreciate the game that are incredibly fun to explore, doing lot of platforming and puzzles, and fighting with bosses is something that you going to enjoy this side-scrolling adventure game, so please don't miss out this gems. 

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