Transformers: Devastation PS4 Review

History of Transformers franchise:

Transformers is based on media franchise, which produced by american toy company Hasbro. When the franchise began in 1984, Transformers: Generation 1 is a first toyline series that involves toy robots that could change into an alternate form (such as cars, planes, monsters and etc.) by moving parts into other places and it was the first toyline series that becoming popular, which led the company's success shares with their comics series, animation series, feature films, novels and of course video game series. 

Transformers animation series was very popular among with fans in 1984. It is best known for excellent animations, great actions, decent story and it has memorable characters like Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Ironhide and many more that made the animation series so awesome, and lets not forget Transformers the movie is one of the best feature animation films in 80's era.  The live action series was started in year 2007. The first four films were directed by Michael Bay, including original 2007's Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and Transformers: Age of Extinction, which the film series has received mixed reception by critics praising for visual effects, action sequences, and music, but criticised for storyplot, humor, and lengths of the films, but the original 2007's film had received better overall than the rest of the sequels. The video game series does have shares with different titles such as games based on TV series, film series, and War of Cybertron series.  The War of Cybertron series had received slightly positive overall than the games based on film series and TV Series until the Transformers: devastation was released in 2015 and it received much higher praise for nostalgia, graphics and gameplay as being one of the only better game based on TV series.

Transformers: Devastation PS4 Review:

Transformers: Devastation is a action hack and slash game for PS4, PS3, XBONE, X360 and PC, which developed by Platinum Games and published by Activision.

My thoughts on Transformers series are pretty awesome because I loved the first animation series and featured animation film from the 80's era, but I felt the 2007's live-action series are pretty disappointing which didn't live up with my reputation and what does the video game titles based on the Transformers series is going to be like, well I wasn't the fan of the previous games back in the day until the Transformers: Devastation just got me so much attention and I really enjoyed it so far because I really loved the gameplay system, stunning graphics, decent storyplot, awesome characters and of course 80's nostalgia roots that just got the whole game right where it should be. I'm very glad that the game was developed by same team behind Madworld, Bayonetta and Vanquish because they know how to make a such quality hack and slash games to keep the game perfectly well balanced. Activision made a right choice of getting a decent developers to take part of the game's development which turns out really well on this game.          

Without go further do, let's talk about the game's overall.

Presentation

This event takes place in New York City, it's starts off with the city has been attacked by the groups of Decepticons went to look for plasma energy until the groups of Autobots came to rescue as their goal is to save the city and stop Megatron preventing to take over the earth and creating a new Cybertron. 

The story in the game are sounds quite well done as the game is also part of the Transformers: Generations line made the story quite impressive, but it may not have a proper backstory in the game would have been nice to include the background story from the original Transformers TV series, but still the rest of the storyplot in the game is quite pretty done decently. I also liked the looks of the cinematic cutscenes with fantastic visual design is just like the original Transformers TV series that brought out the nostalgia look of the game. It does have amazing heroes like Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Sidewipe and Grimlock, while it does have some awesome villains like Megatron, Soundwave and Starscream that makes the characters so memorable from the 80's era.

I'm very glad that this game sticks with the 80's nostalgia roots from the past that definitely puts Michael Bay's Transformers film series into shame. 

Overall, it has great story, memorable characters, and 80's nostalgia roots that just got the game right for Transformers franchise.

Gameplay

The gameplay focuses on mixed between third person shooter and action hack and slash perspective. You take control of playable Autobots characters to complete the mission objectives and defeating most of the decepticons. 

Your characters are able to use variety of ranged weapons, melee attacks and able to transform into vehicle mode at any time. The ranged weapons and melee weapons has available selection to choose from such as machineguns, grenade launcher, sniper rifle, flamethrower, sword, twin blades, hammers and etc. I finding the shooting range of each weapons are seems working well depending which weapons you're using for example; machineguns and sniper rifle are great for far distance range while flamethrower and grenade launcher are useful for higher damaging attacks. The melee attacks are very responsive and balanced which made the collision dections easier to attack the enemies for example; the sword, twin blades and fists are quite useful for fast paced close combat gameplay while hammer and other heavy melee weapons are better for higher damaging attacks which are perfect for use of combo system and fighting style techniques. You can also earn credits and gain new weapons by defeating enemies, destroying objects and clearing puzzles, so you can able to use credits to purchase new items, moves,weapons, and forge T.E.C.H. to improve stat boosts, synthesize weapons to make them stronger, or increase the stats of each Autobot from the mission options menu. Controlling the characters is pretty simple to use for character's movements and camera controls especially with controlling with the vehicle is seems working fine. The fighting controls is pretty responsive with no delays at all, it's easier for players to perform variety of fighting moves and the combo systems are pretty stunning which can increase the overall fighting performance will award you a highest rank on the each mission based. I also liked the dodging mechanics which activates focus allowing the players to slow down the enemies and performing counterattack their opponents which is quite awesome. I also liked the unique special ability and a powerful overdrive attack which allowing players to perform finishing moves if the energy bar is full. 

Despite having impressive combat gameplay and movement controls, the mission can be quite repetitive because it uses the similar mission objectives as the previous chapters which didn't add up enough with the variation of levels and enemies, but still it's plays very decent and has excellent battles in the game. I finding the game is quite too short because the game only takes about 3 or 4 hours to complete and it's a shame that there are no online or offline co-op mode would have been sounds awesome, but the single-player campaign are still quite enjoyable to play. 

Overall, it has impressive combat weapons, great fighting style, responsive controls and upgrading systems.

Graphics

I got to say the graphics is just like the original TV series, but contains nicely made visuals and fluid animations is just look so good on this game. The visuals are looking very colourful and detailed to make the game look closer to the 80's cartoon's styles that gives a game nostalgia feel. The use of the animations looks quite impressive for the character's design and level environments are fairly well designed and of course it has really has great use of the special effects in the game.

The levels design are slightly in the right shape without making the level look too small and narrow for bigger character's, so they did a good job of how they able to manage by keeping the design of the level balanced as possible. The actual game runs on much cleaner look of 1080p resolution for the PS4, XBONE and PC version, while the PS3 and X360 runs on 720p resolution is not as polished as the next gen consoles version, but the game runs on 60fps on whole pc and console platforms making the game more stable and playable, but I heard the XBONE version does have some frame rate drops on the performances compared with PS4 and PC version, but still it's plays fine.

Overall, it has nice visuals, colourful animation, great level environments and 80's cartoon style design. 

Music and Sounds 

                     

The whole soundtrack are absolutely sounds frigging epic on the title screen, cutscenes and in-game stages. It was composed by Vince DiCola, who are best known for his work on Transformers: The Movie and Rocky IV soundtracks, did a brilliant job of making stunning original score that really fits the game's presentations, while Tetsuya Shibata did a amazing job for making badass heavy metal score which increases the game's overall atmospheres that fits perfectly on fighting battle scenes.  

I really loved the sound effects of the classic 80's cartoons is because of the robotic sounds when they transformed into their different forms and the sound quality of the cutscenes, in-game and musics are very good with the home cinema speakers equipment and it has a original voice cast from the original Transformers TV series such as Peter Cullen, Dan Gilvezan, Michael Bell, Gregg Berger and Frank Welker did a fantastic job of voicing their characters in the game. 

Overall it has epic soundtrack, superb sound effects and outstanding voice acting. 

Special Features

This game has trophy achievements, downloadable content, unlockable galleries and challenge mode are the nice features to have it in the game.

Advantages

Focuses on 80's nostagla roots

Great story

Memorable characters

Decent combat gameplay

Very good graphics

Epic soundtrack

Outstanding voice actors

Disadvantages

Repetitive mission

Short-length campaign

Lack of online or offline co-op

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - Great story, memorable characters, and 80's nostalgia roots.

Gameplay 7.5/10 - Impressive combat weapons, great fighting style, responsive controls and upgrading systems.

Graphics 8/10 - Nice visuals, colourful animation, great level environments and 80's cartoon style design. 

Music and Sounds 9/10 - Epic soundtrack, superb sound effects and outstanding voice acting. 

Special Features 7/10 - Trophy achievements, downloadable content, unlockable galleries and challenge mode.

Overall 7.5/10 - This is definitely one of the better Transformers games in the series. The developers team did a great job of making the game quite stunning with decent gameplay, nice graphics, great storyplot and it focuses on original 80's roots is just gets the game right for the Transformers series, but it would have been nice if the game should have more chapters, better missions and adding co-op mode would have been sounds awesome, but still it is the enjoyable fast-paced action hack and slash game for the multiplatform consoles. 

If you're the fan of the Transformers series and Platinum Games's titles then go buy this game for cheaper price of less than £15.    

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My Another 10 Christmas Wish List

Hello everyone, It's almost the day of Christmas that everyones loves spending time setting up their Christmas decoration & trees, preparing nice Christmas dinner for whole family, building up snowman outside of the house and getting nice gifts for their kids during a Christmas seasons.  

I've originally made my first 10 Christmas Wish List last year, so if you haven't seen my first ones from the last year then here's my link down below:

https://zeeshanmirzasblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/my-10-christmas-wish-list.html

I decided to make my another 10 Christmas Wish List that i'm planning to get these games for the Christmas holidays, so sit back and enjoy my 10 most wanted games for the Christmas. 

1 - Saturn Bomberman 

I really loved the Bomberman series so much. It's one of the Hudson's best video game series are known for amazing action-based maze gameplay, intense boss battles and crazy multiplayer battles where they can blow up each other with tons of bombs. 

Saturn Bomberman is concidered to be one of the best bomberman game for the Saturn which features excellent story modes which can be played on solo or teaming up with your friends on 2-player co-op. It has impressive maze levels, challenging gameplay, cool power-ups and wacky boss battles that made the game so awesome. What really made the game awesome is the multiplayer modes that supports up to 10-players on battle mode with 2 multi-taps adapter that made the game so much fun to play with 10 people in the same room. It's addicting, it's epic and it is definitely one of the best multiplayer game for the Saturn. 

2 - Megaman: The Wily Wars

                

Megaman series has the best games for the 2D run n gun genres by Capcom. Megaman: The Wily Wars is a video game compilation for SEGA Megadrive which features the remakes of the 3 classics Megaman games that are originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was released in cartridge format in Japan and PAL regions, while the US was available exclusivity on the SEGA Channel service along with games like Pulseman and Alien Soldier.

I'm very glad that Capcom did make a interesting 16-bit remakes based on classic NES game which features updated graphics, arranged music and providing save data (via battery back-up) which allows game to continue without using a password features. It still retains a same gameplay style as the NES version, but it features exclusive game mode called Wily Tower where the players must travel though 3 different stages against new bosses. 

It's a very interesting video game compilation for SEGA Megadrive, but it's a shame that the US version was never released with cartridge format unless you can get the game as the reproduction copies from Ebay in cheaper price. 

3 - Transformers: Devastation     

      

I heard of this game is mean't to be a better transformers games on the series. Activision has asked one of the best video game developers team, who are very known for having such an awesome games like Madworld, Bayonetta and Vanquish, to take part of the game's development and they just finally got the game right where it should be. Platinum Games did a such a great job on this game that focuses on 80's nostalgia roots, fast-paced combat gameplay and amazing presentation that really puts Michael Bay's Transformers games into shame.

I'm definitely wanted to get this game for PS4 because I'm hoping to look forward to play this game.

4 - Panzer Dragoon 

          

Back in the days, I remember playing Panzer Dragoon when I was a kid. It's one of the memorable 3D rail-shooter for SEGA Saturn. I was surprised with the game's presentation with outstanding story and excellent FMV cutscenes. It has great levels with variety of boss battles, awesome gameplay mechanics with very good rail-combat and 360 degrees field of view, gorgeous 3D graphics with well detailed backgrounds and environment, and of course it has the outstanding CD quality orchestrated music that fits the mood of the game. 

Panzer Dragoon was well received in 1995 by critics calling it best games of 1995 and it was followed by the 1996's prequel Panzer Dragoon 2: Zwei and 2 sequels such as 1998's Panzer Dragoon Saga and 2002's Panzer Dragoon Orta.

5 - Rock N Roll Racing 

             

Hey Metalheads and Rock N Rollers, remember the 16-bit hidden gems classic racing game called Rock N Roll Racing. Yep, it is a vehicular combat-based racing game for Super Nintendo, SEGA Megadrive/Genesis, and it was later re-released on Game Boy Advance. 

It's very similar to the NES racing game like R.C. Pro-AM that uses the isometric perspective, but features with kickass insane power-ups and hazard objects. This game features with impressive driving controls, excellent racing tracks, 2-players modes and of course it has the licensed rock and metal soundtracks, such as Black Sabbath - Paranoid, George Thorogood - Bad To The Bone, Deep Purple - Highway Star and Steppenwolf  - Born To Be Wild are being arranged by video game composer Tim Follins did a terrific job with these licensed music running on the 16-bit console. 

This is definitely must own racing titles for those who likes playing racing game genres and listening to rock and metal musics. 

6 - Pulseman 

Pulseman is a interesting 2D action-platform game for the SEGA Megadrive. Like I've mentioned Megaman: The Wily Wars, It was originally released with cartridge format only in Japan, while the US version was being released exclusivity on SEGA Channel service.

It was made by same developer teams called Game Freak, who are best known for Pokemon series, made such decent game for the SEGA Megadrive's library. It does have impressive futuristic looking levels, cool power-ups and badass Megaman character look-like protagonist that made the game look stunning for the SEGA's 16-bit hardware. The game was also re-released worldwide for the Wii on the Virtual Console service and you can also get the reproduction copies of the game from Ebay in cheaper price. 

7 - Freedom Wars      

Freedom Wars is a Third-Person Action RPG games for PS Vita. It's a shame that the PS Vita didn't hold up well with the hardware sales, but the handheld system does offer some of the greatest libraries of the games out there. Freedom Wars is a game that takes place in the distant future where the mankind is imprisoned in penal city-states known as Panopticons which wage war against one another, so you take a control of the character cooperating together to fight against enemies and contribute towards their Panopticon. 

This game has sold well in the Japan as being the second highest all-time opening sales for Vita software and it gained positive review from the critics calling it solid action RPG for PS Vita titles with enjoyable single player and multiplayer modes. 

This is game that I'm definitely give a worth try for my PS Vita because I really love the handheld system with great libraries of games to play.   

8 - Crash Team Racing

I've never played the original Crash Bandicoot games before, but I heard a lot of good things about these series. The franchise were known for unique levels, addicting gameplay, stunning visuals and memorable main protagonist that made the first Crash Bandicoot so remarkable for PS1 library and it has sold 6.8 million units worldwide. They later made the 2 sequels such as Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strike Back and Crash Bandicoot: Warped, as well a kart racing game titled Crash Team Racing for the PS1. 

Crash Team Racing is a Mario Kart clone racing game where it focuses on team of characters, who must race against the egomaniacal Nitros Oxide to save their planet from destruction. It has 5 selectable racing modes, 15 playable characters and 4-player modes with multi-tap adapter. It has similar Mario Kart vibe for the gameplay style which really fits for the kart racing game's genres. 

This game was praised for having rock-solid multiplayer modes, fluid gameplay controls and excellent visuals that defines the PS1.

9 - Life is Strange 

I've never played any of the graphic adventure games until this game got me attention. Life is Strange is a episodic graphic adventure games where you get to play as school photographer named Max who discovers her ability to rewind time to make her right choice. After having foreseen an approaching storm, Max must take on the responsibility to prevent it from destroying her town.  

The game focuses on third-person view gameplay where you can able to interact with objects and puzzle-solving. It has choices of dialogue options are used for conversations during the event, so choices in dialogue will alter and affect the story through short or long-term consequences and the character can also use the rewind time to redo any action that has been taken. 

The game does have interesting point and click gameplay style and the story presentation that made the game sounds very unique for the graphic adventure genres and it has won several video game awards for amazing storytelling, great narrative, stunning performance, and being best episodic adventure game which can lead the game achieved financial and commercial success. 

10 - The Last Guardian 

     

I'm quite impressed with the Team Ico's previous games like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus which I have played it on the PS3 as the remastered version. These are the best adventures games I've ever played because I loved the Ico for puzzle aspects of gameplay, outstanding art visuals, and perfect presentation with great storyplot and impressive characters, while Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favourite on the series for well designed open world environment, beautiful made graphics, stunning presentation, incredible soundtrack and great combat gameplay mechanics that made me enjoy the most epic action-adventure games of all time. 

Sony has first announced the game called The Last Guardian in 2009 which is mean't to be made for the PS3, but unfortunately it suffered several delays due to hardware difficulties which causing the creator Fumito Ueda and other Team Ico members to work on the PS4 instead. They finally got the game ready in 2016 release and it turns out to be really great game for PS4, but it wasn't well received as the previous game such as Ico and Shadow of the Colossus which receives much higher praise review, but they still say it is quite enjoyable exclusive game for PS4.

The Last Guardian is a action-adventure game where you take control of young boy who befriends a giant half-bird-half-mammal creature named Trico. It features similar actions to the gameplay in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus for young boy's platform mechanics such as ability to run, jump and climb. It can also interact with the big creature using its animal instincts to solve puzzles during the gameplay. I'm hoping to have a hands on with The last Guardian for PS4 because I really enjoyed the previous 2 games, so this is definitely be on my Christmas wish list.

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This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

      

             

  

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut PS4 Digital Download Review

Shantae: Risky's Revenge is a 2D platform game, which both developed and published by WayForward Technologies, and it is a sequel to 2002's game called Shantae for GBC. This game was originally released in between 2010 and 2011 for Nintendo DSi, and it was later ported to PC in 2014, then the PS4 and Wii U in between 2015 and 2016 as the Director's Cut, which features re-imagined warp system and new magic mode. 

I've never played the original Shantae for the GBC, but I heard a lot of great things about the game are considered to be a cult classics for the GBC according to video game critics and fans had given such higher praise for impressive graphics, quality sounds, larger exploration levels, and solid 2D gameplay that really shows off the GBC's hardware power.

I've bought the Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director Cuts from the PS Store on Cyber Monday sales for £5, which is a great value for me to purchase the game. So far, I really enjoyed playing this game because I'm quite impressed with the 2D metroidvania style gameplay with great exploration and amazing puzzles levels. I love the looks of 16-bit style graphics with nicer details of characters, well made levels design and it has decent look of visuals animation. The presentation has interesting storyplot to keep the story sounds incredible and of course Shantae is definitely one of the awesome female protagonist for the 2D platformer series. 

Without go further do, let's talk about the game's overall.

Presentation

The story takes place in Scuttle Town, Shantae and her friends went to annual relic hunters expo to see her Uncle called Mimic, who is relic hunter, has unveil his latest find an lamp, until Risky Boots crashes the expo and steals the lamp. After Shantae got knocked out in the battle against Risky Boots who got managed to escape, Mimic has reveals the news to Shantae about the three magic seals are allowing to release the lamp magic and she sets to find them to prevent Risky's plans. 

The story is much easier to follow because it has simple storyplot that made the game's presentation sounds interesting to watch during the cutscenes and I also loved the look of the slideshows with anime style characters design and I like the letterbox shaped dialogue are also easier to read. Most of the characters in the game are actually pretty good, like Shantae because she has really nice arabian outfit and long purple hair, I also liked the villain Risky Boots with pirates outfits and her pirate hat and the rest of the characters are looking quite amazing in the whole game. The each area in the game is looking magnificent with the towns, seasides, deserts, forrest, and dungeons are all well designed which really fits the game's presentations.   

Overall, the story is pretty straightforward, the characters are excellent, and well made level areas.

Gameplay

You take control of Shantae the half-genie to explore the whole areas in order to stop Risky's planning. 

Your main attack is her purple hair as whipping weapon and she also has magic spells that allows her to use ranged attacks. You can purchase the magic spells from the shop, such as fireball, pikeball and storm puff are quite a basic magic attacks, but you can also purchase a better ones like spitfire, flamethrower, super or mega pikeball and crush or mega puff which allows to perform higher damage attack to the enemies, but magic jams items are also required in order to purchase the updated magic spells and character's abilities, which magic jams items can be found somewhere in the area. Controlling Shantae is simple and easier to use because the character's movement feels much smoother and responsive while running, but you can also make her walk by holding the attack button. The whipping attack are also responsive with good hit detection on the enemies and objects, but you can also make her whipping abilities much faster by purchasing silky creme item which improves the whipping power and speed. You can also upgrade your character's health and magic meter by collecting heart holder that extends hearts and purchasing magic fill that slowly refills your magic meter automatically, but you can also use potion and magical vial which is a quickest way to increase your health and magic meter faster. Your character has ability to use transformation relics such as monkey that allows player to climb and jump on walls, the elephant are used for smashing rock to gain access to the secret levels and the mermaid are used for swimming under the water which is very useful for puzzle level aspects. 

The levels in the whole game are quite good for the exploration like searching for key to gain access to the next level, finding secrets inside the cave, collecting the important items to give someone, obtaining the new relics, and warping in different areas is kinda give a metroidvania style gameplay, which I kinda liked the idea how the game is played. I say the map area is okay, but at least they could have been made the overworld map design bit better, but that's okay to me. The boss battles are pretty decent to fight, but I finding the boss are quite overpowered which takes sometime to beat the boss during the battles.

The game is quite too short to beat the game, but if you want to go for the higher challenge then go for the magic mode which increases higher difficulty, so good luck for that.

Overall, it has solid controls, great range of attacks and magic, and stunning level exploration. 

Graphics

I really liked the look of the 16 bit style graphics. It has excellent character's design with impressive animations. The level environment has well detailed buildings in each areas and the background has stunning views of landscape and scenery. It does have some nice usage of colours and visuals effects to make the game look spectacular for 16 bit graphics. You can select any of screen options to stretch out the screen size such as 16:9, 4:3 with or without border and original size. I'm finding 16:9 size kinda looked bit stretched out, which doesn't look good with the 16:9 size. The original size looked pretty fine, but it's kinda looked too small for the HDTV,  but I always prefer to choose 4:3 size with or without border over the 16:9 and original size because the game looks better with the 4:3 size which is right for the screen resolution on the HDTV. 

Overall, it has excellent character's design, well detailed environment, and nice colours and visuals effects.    

Music and Sounds

I say this game has great arabian style soundtrack which fits the game's settings. It was composed by Jake Kaufman, who was known for composing music for Shovel Knight, Contra 4 and Ducktales: Remastered, did a fabulous job for making such incredible music in each levels. I really love the sound effects in the game which is quite good for the 16 bit style era. The developer teams did optimised the whole music and sounds well for the console ports from the original DSi version without making quality too thin or thick. 

Overall, it has awesome soundtrack and fabulous sound effects.    

Special Features

The director's cut do offer small things like new outfit costumes and new magic modes, but it has trophy support as well. There's not many unlockable stuff in the game, which they could have been added more newer features than this would have been nice too.  

Overall, it does offers the small things, but it needs to add more new content. 

Advantages

Straightforward storyplot

Impressive characters

Solid gameplay

Amazing exploration

Excellent graphics

Awesome soundtrack

Disadvantages

Short length single player

Overpowered boss characters

Not enough new special features

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - Pretty straightforward storyplot, the characters are excellent, and well made level areas.

Gameplay 7.5/10 - Solid controls, great range of attacks and magic, and stunning level exploration.

Graphics 7.8/10 -  Excellent character's design, well detailed environment, and nice colours and visuals effects.

Music and Sounds 8.3/10 - Awesome soundtrack and fabulous sound effects.

Special Features 5/10 - Offers the small things, but it needs to add more new content.

Overall 7.5/10 - It is a really decent 2D platformer game for those who likes playing retro gaming. It has great story, amazing female protagonist, solid gameplay, amazing exploration, excellent graphics and awesome soundtrack that keeps the game so much entertaining. I'm very glad that the developer teams have bought the game to the PC, PS4 and Wii U, so if you're the fan of the 2D platformer genres then this is definitely must purchase from Steam Service, PS Store, and Nintendo eShop.  

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Valkyria Chronicles PS3 Review

Valkyria Chronicles is a Third-Person Tactical RPG game for PS3, PS4 and PC, both developed and published by SEGA. It was originally released in 2008 with the original PS3 version and then it was later released the PC Version in 2014, and PS4 version in 2016 as Valkyria Chronicles: Remastered. 

SEGA made some of the great RPG's games like Skies of Acadia, Shining Force, Phantasy Star and of course they have two of the best open-world adventure series like Shenmue and Yakuza that I'm the big fan of these two series. I decided to give a try with the Valkyria Chronicles for PS3 to see if this game actually made me enjoy to play because I love playing SEGA games. I've played it for a week to complete and so far, I really loved this game because it's one of the best Tactical RPG games for the PS3 titles. It has beautiful cinematic story, gorgeous looking visuals animation, well presenting cutscenes, outstanding orchestral soundtrack and well made combat gameplay tactics that made the game so incredibly epic. It received highly positives reviews and earned numerous awards from several video game publications, which led a success of the game spawned a media franchise, such as anime series and manga titles. They were later released two sequel for PSP, such as Valkyria Chronicles 2 in 2010, and 3 in 2011.       

Without go further do, let's talk about the game's overall.

Presentation

The game set in 1935 E.C and takes place in Europa, which is fictional region based on Europe during the early World War 2. It's starts off with the small narration of Second Europan War 2 history where it involved the evil empires of East Europan Imperial Alliance declaring the war on the Atlantic Federation, which causes the Second Europan War 2 happening.   

In March 1935, the town of bruhl was under attack by Imperial Alliance troops invading the hometown of Gallia. After fighting against the Imperials, Welkin and Alicia are managed to escape to the capital city of Randgriz and joins the army group Gallian Militia. Their mission is to defeat the evil empires in order to save Atlantic Federation and Gallia.      

The story in the game is sounds really stunning with excellent storyline, amazing dialogue text, and impressive cinematic scenes that keeps the game well presented and so entertaining to watch. The set of the presentation has World War 2 influence with the mix of fantasy and realistic war settings which makes the whole concepts worked really well in the game. I really liked the whole characters in the game. Welkin Gunther has interesting hobbies on natures, Alicia Melchiott has really nice bakery headwear, Largo Potter has badass sideburns and loves eating vegetables, and Bridgette Rosie Stark is more like a bad girl type, but great fighter. I say it's by far has the best story-written, fantastic presentation settings, and brilliant characters that increases the overall atmospheres. 

Overall, the developers team have stepped up in right direction with outstanding overall presentation.

Gameplay

It is in third-person perspective with tactical RPG elements, which uses the turn-based battle system. you can add and select any of the playable units on the briefing options, which has different kinds of classes, such as scouts, shocktroopers, lancers, engineers, snipers and tank commander. It also has mission objectives which has a list of goals to beat a level and what to prevent from failing missions. In the gameplay, your mission is to capture the enemy's base in order to complete the mission, so you will have a overhead map view in command mode where you can select any of the units with limited command points, so both of yours and enemy's team has turn taking each is depending on the remaining command points. In the action mode, your character has limited action point which has gauge bar that tells your character's movement that can only move around till it ran out the gauge bar meaning your character won't able to move around during the in-game. You can also take cover on the objects such as grass are used for stealth combat and hiding behind the objects are also useful to protect yourself from enemy's hit projectiles. 

The combat gameplay works absolutely great for the range of weapons and hit collisions. During the target mode, you can aim freely while your character still standing, allowing for head shots and other maneuvers depending on how many it's takes to kill your enemy. The scout class unit has simple balanced rifle, which is good for mild combat range, while stocktroopers has machine guns can give much damage to the enemies. The lancers and tank commander are quite good, which you can easily damage the tanks instantly if shooting on behind the enemy's tank generator, but your tank commander can also use mortar and turret gun are also useful during the battle. The engineer uses the tool kit, which allowing to recover your tank's health and giving the ammunition to different class units which is quite helpful during the battle. The sniper has better ranged weapon which can give a instant kill to the enemy, if aiming correctly on the enemy's head. You can also give orders to increase your class unit's status allowing them to have stronger attack and defence abilities at once and you can bring more reinforcements in your base depending on your remaining command points is also helps for bringing backup to your team in action.

In training field, you can improve your class units by increasing their EXP points allowing to level up your class, so you'll get some kinds of awards such as new class weapons, new orders and having better class abilities to improve your overall character's status, which is very helpful for the later chapter missions. 

You can also purchase the weapons, items, armour and tank for upgrades from the R&D section to boost the overall performance allowing to make it even better and stronger. 

Overall, it's plays really well with the excellent combat system, great use of tactics, challenging missions objectives, and more variety of gameplay makes the game playable, but even with the harder difficulty can be bit frustrating sometimes due to overpowered enemy's status takes a awhile to beat the level, but it's still fantastic game to play.

Graphics

The whole graphics has colourful scenery background and well designed environments that made the whole level design look totally magnificent for World War 2 settings. It has soothing visual effects that gives a game a nice fantasy look. I also loved the anime art style design that really fits for whole presentation and in-game battle which has outstanding character's design, great textures format and high quality animation that made the game look fascinating for PS3 era. I heard the PC and PS4 version is looked exactly the same as the original, but it's adds better overall performance with 60FPS and runs on 1080p to give a game more cleaner look. 

Overall, it's by far the best graphics for the PS3 system that made the game looked absolutely gorgeous. 

Music and Sounds

I got to admit this game has the most amazing orchestral soundtrack ever made by the composer Hitoshi Sakimoto, who are best known for scoring Final Fantasy XII, Ogre Battle, Radiant Slivergun, and Devilish, did such a ace job that really fits the game's settings. It sounds like the World War 2 vibe with dynamic instruments and atmospheric quality music that gives the game more heroic feel of the game's mood. It has great boom sound effects and impressive background sounds that really fits for cinematic cutscenes and in-game battles. The voice actors did a fine job for most of the characters with both English and Japanese audio.

Overall, it has outstanding music, impressive sound effects and fine voice cast. 

Special Features

This game has two playable guest like Vyse and Aika originally from Skies of Acadia, skirmish battles, some extra chapters, downloadable content, and of course it has some unlockables stuff like music, glossary, character's biography, and weaponry. I heard the PC and PS4 version are all definitive which has all included downloadable content.

Advantages

Best written story

Beautiful cinematic scenes 

Fantastic gameplay

Gorgeous animation

Outstanding soundtrack

Great special features

Disadvantages

Frustrating difficulty 

No trophy support on PS3 version

Final Verdict

Presentation 9.5/10 - Best story-written, fantastic presentation settings, and brilliant characters.

Gameplay 9/10 - Excellent combat system, great use of tactics, challenging missions objectives, and more variety of gameplay.

Graphics 9/10 - Colourful scenery background, well designed environments, soothing visual effects, and quality anime art style design.

Music and sounds 9/10 - Outstanding music, impressive sound effects and fine voice cast.

Special features 8/10 - Two playable guests, skirmish battles, some extra chapters, downloadable content, and of course it has some unlockables stuff.

Overall 9/10 - Valkyria Chronicles is definitely one of the most surprising tactics RPG games for PS3 titles. The developer teams did a such a ace job that puts the game more epicly fun and entertaining to play. It has best presentation that really puts the story and characters sounds more interesting. The gameplay is well played for excellent combat system and great use of tactics that increases the fun factor. It has magnificent graphics design and outstanding music that increases the overall atmospheres.

This is definitely must own hidden gems PS3 games for the fan of the RPG genres because it is one of the best RPG games for PS3. You can also get the game for PC and PS4 as well, if you want to have definitive game performance and all completed content. 

          

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Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Wii Review

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a Survival Horror game for the Wii, PS2 and PSP, which developed by Climax Studios and published by Konami. It is a reboot of the 1999's original Silent Hill for PS1.

I really enjoyed playing the original Silent Hill is one of the best horror game ever made for PS1. It's has impressive psychological horror style, deadly graphic imagery with full of scary enemies and bloody environment, disturbing ambient soundtrack, excellent story written, and dramatic gameplay with great combat and puzzles that made the game so awesome in late 90's gaming. It's a shame that I won't able to play rest of the sequels like SH 2, 3 and 4 because I don't have the PS2 or original Xbox, but I heard a lot of good things about these games. Unfortunately Konami did later butchered the later silent hill games like HD collection, Homecoming and Downpour for the PS3 and X360 and then later Konami made a terrible decision by cancelling new Silent Hill game, after the 2014's P.T demo had received much praise for the atmospheres, visuals and gameplay until in Spring 2015, Konami decided to remove the P.T demo from the PS Store after the cancellation of Silent Hills development, which is a huge middle finger to the fans of the series, so that means I won't have a chance to download and play P.T Demo after I've bought my PS4 on last year Summer. F*** YOU KONAMI, JUST STOP KILLING YOUR OWN FRANCHISE!!!!!!

Okay, enough my rage quit, my apologies, let's start my game review right now. My thoughts on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is actually pretty decent Survival Horror game for the Wii console. The game was quite looked different from the 1999's original game, which the developer team wanted to make a different approach of the game. It has same premise as the first installment, but with the different plot and retains same characters along with new ones. It has pretty good story and characters, impressive visuals, outstanding soundtrack and of course the gameplay plays great, but it does shares with some flaws, such as frustrating chase sequences, short single player length and the atmosphere is not nearly looked scary as the 1999's original, but it's still looked okay so far because it has some of the good moments in this game. So far, it's still pretty impressive game for the Wii titles and without go further do, let's talk about the game's overall.



Presentation

The story takes place in American town of Silent Hill, it's starts off with Harry Mason is driving to the town with his Daughter named Cheryl Mason for vacation, until he ends up having car accident and loses consciousness. When he finally woke up in town, he realises that his daughter is missing, so he starts to set out to find her in town.

The story is similar to the 1999's original, but the plot of the game seems to be sound different, as the game begins with a psychotherapy session conducted by Dr. Kaufmann, which acts as a frame story for Harry's quest and of course the game has a many variation of the cutscene depending what scenario you'll end up with and the multiple endings does adds the nice replay value that keeps the story so refreshing. So far, the story in the whole game is quite well done that really puts much effort to make it sounds pretty decent. The characters in the whole game are quite pretty good in the game because the developer teams wanted to make the characters in the game acted more realistic than the rest in 1999's original, so it's makes the whole characters becoming more interesting.  
I also liked the part where the town have shifted to different dimension between real life and nightmare. The game's atmospheres is still pretty not that bad for the use of static noise, enemies design choices and the setting of the game style, but it wasn't sounds scary as the 1999's original version, which has slightly better enemies creatures, darker horror elements, and creepy ambient sounds which I liked the original more better, but at least this game is still has a great moments to enjoy the story presentation.

Overall, It has stunning storyplot, decent characters, and replay values.



Gameplay

The game divides with two different settings, so you start off with the psychological test with the Dr Kaufmann to complete with the questionnaires and other activities, which alters the gameplay aspects in the second setting, such as available areas. In the second setting, you take control of Harry Mason to find his daughter in the snowy town.

You get to use some of the equipment, such as flashlight which is used for darker area and the smartphone are used for map location to find where you supposed to go during the exploration, taking photograph, checking voicemails and text message, and making phone calls are quite useful for finding clues and puzzle solving. Unlike the original game, the combat gameplay is pretty absent in this game instead your character can only run, hide, and knocking down object to block the enemy's path which is not that bad thing as long the game focused on the different horror style than just the common survival horror that uses the combat gameplay.

The controls are played great with the Wii remote and nunchunk controller. The Wii remote worked really well when using the flashlight, which you can point anywhere in different direction, but you can also turn the flashlight off when you're not in the darker area. You can interact the smaller objects to find the key to unlock the door and you can also collecting the mementos which is quite cool to collect stuff in the game. Controlling the character works pretty fine with the nunchunk controller, so your character has ability to run around and climbing over the fences which is pretty basic for character's movement.
I'm finding the chase sequences are quite hard is because finding a way to escape from the nightmare dimension takes sometime to get used too, but I find the enemies are quite annoying which is becoming quite difficult to push them away. Sometimes the places can be too confusing when attempting to escape, which took you awhile to find a right area instead of heading a same wrong places. I really liked the puzzle solving in the game especially with finding clues makes the game challenging and enjoyable to play that keeps the game fully playable.

Overall, it has impressive controls, good exploration levels, and decent puzzle solving.


Graphics

The graphics looked pretty great for the Wii titles. I really liked the looks of the level environment with fully covered snow and wracked places town in the real life dimension and the icy area in nightmare dimension is fully crystal and dark which looked great in the setting of the level design that fits the mood of the game. The special effects are looked amazing with snow particles flying down and the realistic looking water are looking so damn impressive in the levels. The character's design are looked quite outstanding for the whole game with great use of animations. It tends to be looked a lot better than the PS2 and PSP counterpart is due to Wii's quality graphics has lot more cleaner look that made the whole game looked absolutely marvellous for the overall graphics.

Overall, it's by far the best looking graphics for the Wii's titles with excellent level environment, amazing special effects and outstanding character's design.



Music and Sounds

The game really has a great soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka, who did composed the previous Silent Hill game, did a great job on the music. It has haunting soundtrack that fits very well for the horror genre and the sound effects are quite sounds great with the static noises and the phone calls conversation on the Wii remote's speaker which sounds pretty cool. The voice acting fits very well on every characters, but I find the enemy's voice and ghost's stock scream are sounds pretty weak compared with the 1999's original version are slightly sounds better in my opinion.

Overall it has great music, good sound effects and decent voice acting for characters.


Special Features

It has collectables mementos, but it's lacks unlockable features.



Advantages

Excellent story

Great characters

Decent gameplay

Outstanding graphics

Great soundtrack

Nice replay values


Disadvantages

Short single player length

Frustrating chase sequences

It wasn't scary as the 1999's original game

Lacks unlockable features


Final Verdict


Presentation 8.5/10 - Stunning storyplot, decent characters, and replay values.

Gameplay  7.5/10 -  Impressive controls, good exploration levels, and decent puzzle solving.

Graphics 8.8/10 - Excellent level environment, amazing special effects and outstanding character's design.

Music and Sounds 8.7/10 - Great music, good sound effects and decent voice acting for characters.

Special Features 3/10 - Collectable mementos, but has no unlockable features.


Overall 7.9/10 - So far, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is definitely a good game for Wii titles. I'm impressed with the story, replay values, visuals, soundtrack and of course the overall gameplay that made the game enjoyable to play, but even though the single player feels kinda too short, the chase sequences can be annoying to get used with, and they could have done something better with the overall atmosphere, but still it's a decent reboot to the original.

Overall, this game is definitely for those who are the fan of the series or got into with survival horror genre will able to enjoy it.

In my second opinion, I liked the Shattered Memories, but I definitely prefer the original Silent Hill for PS1 a lot better.    

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