Xenoblade Chronicles Wii Review

 

Xenoblade Chronicles is a open-world Action RPGs game originally released for Wii in 2011, and was later ported to New 3DS released in 2015 fully titled as Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, and then the Switch released in 2020 as Definitive Edition, which was developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. 

Xenoblade Chronicles is also a subseries under the Xeno franchise which acts as a spiritual successor to earlier games like Square's Xenogears for PS1 in 1998, and Namco's Xenosaga trilogy for PS2 in 2002 - 06.

Today I wanted to do something different that I haven't been reviewing any of Wii games for very long time since I've covered the last Wii game in 5 years back, so I decided to try out one of the RPGs title that I am interested in playing was Xenoblade Chronicles, an open-world RPGs which incorporates the aesthetic and narrative elements from both fantasy and sci-fi genres.

It's one of the fan's most demanding Wii title that took forever for this game to get the release in US till a year later after the JP and EU release, thanks to fan campaign under "Operation Rainfall" drew attention to the game along with other twos such as The Last Story and Pandora's Tower are the last threes being released late in the lifespan of the Wii system.

Upon the release, the game was commercially success in worldwide and had gained critically acclaimed citing as one of the best RPGs game ever released for Wii, while the later Nintendo platforms such as New 3DS and Switch are also getting similar praise with newly added features. 

The success of the first entry had spawned with sequels such as Xenoblade Chronicles X for Wii U in 2015, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for Switch in 2017.

Shulk, a main protagonist of first entry, has been featured as playable roster in the Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, and SSB: Ultimate for Switch.

So going back to this review, I been spending 7 - 8 hours a day of playing this game because it's had a huge chunk of multiple quests just like most of the RPGs does tends to have a long lengthy campaign up to 70 hours or more which I did not expect the game to be really big for the Wii system despite the hardware limitations and being utilized with dual-layered optical disk that doubles the size of capacity really benefiting the game's content which I got to say it's pretty damn impressive for technical aspects.

As being one of the Wii's biggest libraries in terms of technical design goes, this game is absolutely done beautiful that I did not regret playing it because this is the game that I wanted to review it to discuss how the story presentation went, how the open-world exploration goes, and how the combat system feels.

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

Presentation

The game takes place on the bodies of two enormous titans, such as the Bionis and the Mechonis.

The Bionis is where human race known as Homs lives in, while the others known as Mechon which is a Mechonis's machine race are in a perpetual war between the twos.

It focuses on a young Homs scientist named Shulk, who discovers his ability to wield the a plasma-like sword "Monado" are capable of defeating against the Mechon army, set out on a quest to seek his revenge on Mechon army after the colony 9 attack incident, as he teaming up with his best friend Reyn, while others joining in as the game progresses to stop the Mechon from taking it power.

The game comes with great opening introduction that explains the fallout between the rivalries that led into a such devastating war which endangers many innocent people struggles to defend themselves from the foes that threatening their lives by destroying their homes, losing their family, and so on.

I like the idea of having these mankind living inside the body of the titans which is strangely different from living in the planet, so lets pretend that you're the one of the titan who had millions of people living inside your body parts like head, arms, legs, and chest which is really weird, but I do really liked their imaginative concept for the game.

What makes the main highlight of the game is the whole storyline which I got to say it is a well-written that really delivers the ambitious results that may going surprise you with several cool events and some unexpecting plot holes without giving many of heavy spoilers because the entire chapters in the game sounds really outstanding thanks to in-depth dialogue and precise story development. 

The cast of characters in the game are actually likable such as Shulk is one of the character that I find him quite memorable especially he appeared as playable roster in Super Smash Bros games. Going back to this, he has an interesting backstory to know his background as the game's story progress through, and he discovers a powerful looking beam sword known as the Monado which gives him ability to use his vision to sees the future, as well as effectively using it to defeat bunch of Mechon armies.

He is joined by his cool best friend Reyn, his passionate love interest Fiora who also had her brother joins in named Dunban, a medic and sniper professionalist Sharla, a princess of High Entia Melia, and a Nopon's chosen hero Riki to aid him by fighting against the evil and protecting the home world.

The presentation is absolutely look beautiful for every locations to discover. Stuff like Bionis Leg does have a lovely view of caves, rocks, bridges, waterfall, and hills filled with the mix of stormy or clear weather.

Valak Mountain has peaks and lairs of snowy places filled with blizzard and crystal, Makna Forest has greenery stuff like bunch of trees, lakeside, landing site, and grove, Satorl Marsh has bloomy environments like swamps filled with foggy areas and glowy lighting, and Colony 9 has stall markets, wreckage site, plaza, park, and homes.

The entire locations in the game is looking stunningly impressive for the Wii system despite the technical showcase goes on, this game is looking massively big for its huge landscape, bigger environmental design, and many landmarks to visit really adds the in-depth of the game's design.

I got to say I really liked the design of the enemies such as Ansels, Mammut, Skeeter, Barg, Mechon, Behemoth, and of course Telethia which I considered them as stylish and exotic, where as the bosses like Metal Face, Jade Face, Yaldabaoth, and others are actually pretty good too which they did a fabulous job of creating a such unique monsters that totally fits the RPGs standards.  

       

 

Overall, it has precise story development, likable characters, and beautiful presentation design.

Gameplay

You get to play as Shulk along with his friends in big open-world environment where you get to explore around the areas to discover and visit the places which you can also navigate the locations and landmarks throughout the map screens menu.

You will have the list of goals on the quest log which includes both the story and side-quest to complete each objectives throughout the game.

The story quest are mainly part of the whole main game which heavily focuses on story campaign, where as the side-quest are not entirely connected to story based, but more like optional stuff been added to game in order to provide extra content. 

To keep you mind, I'm playing the game mostly with the Wii Classic Controller, instead of using the Wii Remote and Nunchunk, because it feels much more suited to play RPGs games.               

You roam around the areas by moving with the left stick and rotating camera system with right stick to see the surroundings of the area. 

You will have the commands buttons such as the A button uses to talk with NPCs, examine objects, and confirming selections, where as the B button are used for jumping while roaming and cancelling selections. 

You can also access the opening menu by pressing the X button which lets you select any of these options such as changing equipments, organising items, upgrading arts and skill trees, and changing time system which I will explain these further for later on this review.

During the exploration, you will engage the combat to fight off the enemies when you're get near close to them, so you will start off by locking on the enemies with the L or R shoulder button which can also cycle the lock-on targets, and then you will have 8 selectable commands known as the art moves and 3 other combat actions such as talent arts, chain attack, and flee.

Your character has an auto-attack system depends on which party members you're playing as, so those who welds the sword weapons are used for close-range attack, where as others like Sharla has sniper-rifle works effectively with long-range attack.

These 8 arts moves are used for manually input attacks are also be performed by the player, but are only available after the cooldown period that occurs after every use, while you also had the talent arts only became available after executing enough auto-attacks.   

Each of the characters will have different kinds of input attacks which allows them to perform various of attack and specials such as physical damage, inflicts stuff like break, slow, and daze, toppling them, recover with health and curing, reducing enemy's physical and ether power, summoning power like earth and bolt, and increasing player's strength and shields. 

The talent arts lets you perform some kind of special moves: For instance, Shulk's monado arts with buster, purge, cyclone, and others which doubles the damage hit, where as shields, speed, and armour temporary increases the defense and movements.

You will have 3 party guage bars slowly fills when you and your party members successfully land the hits on the enemies which filling the 3 tier gauge allows you and your party members to perform a chain attacks with multiple hits on the enemy for extra damage.

You will have one of the mechanic for battle system called vision system where Shulk can sense the enemy's future attacks also factors into battles, so you can prevent it from happening by alerting the party members which allows you to use one of their arts, and you can also revive the characters when they been fully knocked out in zero health points which also depletes 1 guage tier each.           

In case you're struggling to defeat the enemies, you can also disengage the combat battle by switching into one of the combat actions called flee which allows you and your party members to retreat from the combat as far as possible.

After defeating these enemies will drop down the treasure objects which rewards you with the items that you want to keep it, as well as gaining amount of EXPs along with completing quests and discovering landmarks which highly increases yours and party member's skill levels can be raised up to level 99.

On the opening menu, you will access to the party's inventory screen where you can able to switch one or three of the party members that you wanted to play as, and changing their equipment such as weapons and armours that suits the best for you and your party members, so you can find the best available from the shop where you can pick and trade each of the equipment has the own advantages like one of these each will have additional gem slots where you can add these gems into the equipments will increasingly adds health points, strength, ether power, defense, agile, and others will make you and your party members becoming even more stronger.

Speaking of being stronger, you can also access to arts menus that requires your APs and learning book items to upgrade one of your arts commands increasingly adds up your damage attack and health points, reducing amounts of nasty drainage and slow cooldowns, improving shield protection, and etc. which makes your attacking and using magic system feels more effective in combat battle.

The skill trees can also benefit your teamwork if each of the affinity stuff has improved, so you can able to add up to 6 slots in skill links such as increasing aggro, allows medium weight armour to be equipped, improves arts with bonus effects, increases chance for chain links, increases tension, reduces the duration of cool off, and etc.

On the item inventory menu, you can organise your item stuff like weapon, armor, materials, gems, and collectables that you can view any of these objects to examine, remove, and use.

Then lastly you will have the real-time system that cycle the day and night affecting the in-game events, quests, enemy strengths, and item availability: for instance, most of the stronger enemy types appear at night where as the quests or events may be available on any of day or night cycle, so you can also adjust the in-game clock on the menu to the desired time at any point.

The landmarks on the map screens lets you traversing the land by serving as warp points, allowing you to instantly return to that point at any time which is similar to the fast travel system that are later used for current RPGs games nowadays.

So far, this is really huge game especially playing on the Wii which I am quite impressed with the result showcasing the Wii's hardware had managed to create a bigger open-world design which expands the heavy use of exploration, participating numerous of side-quests, gathering collectable items, and has so many monsters to fight around is what I consider the over 70 and additional hours of playthrough in all thanks to Wii's dual-layer disc format that weighs 8.54GB of size can store almost twice as much information as a Wii's single-layer disc format has 4.7GB of size which is the reason why they created such a long open-world game.        

I have spent playing 7 to 8 hours a day of playthrough to experience my RPGs adventures, as I really enjoyed stuff that kept me very busy like exploring around the areas to visiting new locations, talking with NPCs to do favours for side-quests, trading the items at shop to get the best equipment to use, and of course fighting the bunch of monsters in combat to grind many EXPs as possible is what makes the game quite unique.

Speaking of being unique, I loved how the combat system really works in the game that relying on the level grinding system and upgrading arts commands which really boosts the player's and party member's skill level with better defense, speed, and attacks that makes the enemies feels vulnerable in battle.

I also wanted to praise the boss battle segments which requires a good amount of skill levels and memorising one of their weak patterns using the right type of input attacks which really adds the overall epicness of the whole battle that keeps you very entertained.   

It plays really well with the Wii classic controller are much easier to control during the exploration and battle is highly designed for RPGs games to get a better gaming experience for those who dislike the Wii's default controller like the Wii Remote and Nunchunk may be lucky to stick with the traditional standard controller like the Wii classic controller is highly recommended.

The part that I don't like about in the combat is the moderate frame-rate drop when it had 5 or more enemies on the screen performing their heavy magic attacks makes the performance a bit janky, but it's not sounds all terrible in my opinion because the game still plays outstanding especially playing on the Wii console.

Overall, it has large-length single-player campaign, outstanding combat gameplay, and big open-world exploration.

Graphics

Despite it's on the Wii system which lacked HD display support, the game itself is looking remarkable with enormous open-world environments which I really liked the way the large parts of objects at landscape looks at the draw-distance is stunningly amazing to look at. The textures mapping on the area design is looking smooth, the use of cloudy fog effects works better for some locations, the balance of colours and lighting is nicely detailed, and I also liked the in-game time system that cycle the day and night is absolutely done such a cracking job for its detailed sky effects and weather animation is looking impressive for the Wii technical aspects.         

I also wanted to praise the character's animation is pretty look spectacular for Wii's RPGs just like I've previously mentioned about the enemy's design that feels well animated throughout the game.               

The downside is like most of the Wii games may not look good when playing on the HDTV with RCA composite cable plugged in is due to system's lack of HD support may effect on the screen resolution display can only support 480p, so you may want to look for the alternatives like video converter devices that are highly designed for retro gaming console can be found on some dedicated online stores that sells gaming's video converter devices such as RetroTink or OSSC which really helps the system's resolution look and feels more cleaner.   

I overheard the people had said the 3DS version is looking even worse on the screen resolution display compared with the Wii counterpart I'm currently playing on, where as the Switch version are completely overhauled the game's visuals are looking much better than the previous two versions. 

Despite the Wii's low resolution, the rest of the whole game still look spectacular for its open-world design and weather effects which I am happy with the results had turned out.

Overall, it has enormous open-world environments, smooth textures mapping, and the use of effects and animation.

Music and Sounds

The game definitely has the best original soundtrack of whole RPGs genres which was composed by Manami Kiyota, ACE+, and Yoko Shimomura are involved creating a original score for this game. The title screen is so beautiful to listen giving a strong relaxation before beginning the game. Then you have rest of the songs like Everyday Life, Memories, Sorrow, Hometown, Alcamoth (Imperial Capital), and Agniratha (Night) is also pretty to listen with beautifully made orchestrated sounds that really delivers the emotional tones, where as others like Gaur Plain is definite one of the highlights song that I finding it quite catchy to listen.

The game does have the best selection of battle songs such as An Obstacle in Our Path, and You Will Know Our Names which I really liked the intense mixture of Hard Rock and Orchestrated combine really fits well to the game's battle.

The sound effects is genuinely sounds great in all thanks to environmental noises in some locations, and atmospheric sound design which I am glad that it doesn't sound and feel out of range throughout the campaign. 

I got to say the voice acting in the game seems to be better than what I've expected, as you can hear their voice doesn't sound off for their characters role because I find Shulk and their friends is actually sounds pretty decent throughout the scenes with no clunky dialogue whatsoever, so I'm assuming the people had said that it's sounds lot better in comparison with Namco's Xenosaga in terms of voice performance quality which I'm glad they found the right casting choices for the roles.  

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

Special Features

The game does include new game plus mode when you beating the game once retaining the same items and equipment that you previously collected and obtained from the single-player campaign, as well as numerous of side-quests on the quest logs that I've mentioned before which really helps the game's replay value.

Overall, a fine features.

Advantages

Precise story development 

Likable characters 

Beautiful presentation design

Large-length single-player campaign 

Outstanding combat gameplay 

Big open-world environment 

Fantastic original soundtrack

Disadvantages

Lower screen resolution for Wii games don't look good on HDTVs

Janky frame-rate drop on some battles

Final Verdict

Presentation 10/10 - precise story development, likable characters, and beautiful presentation design.

Gameplay 9/10 - large-length single-player campaign, outstanding combat gameplay, and big open-world exploration.

Graphics 9/10 - enormous open-world environments, smooth textures mapping, and the use of effects and animation.

Music and Sounds 9/10 - fantastic soundtrack, great sound design, and decent voice performance.

Special Features 8/10 - New game plus. 

Overall 9/10 - I am very glad that I had this game because I was hoping to look for the best possible RPGs game that made the right balance between the story and combat doesn't really drags down my experience.

I am happy with the game's result that delivers many positive things like the combat system are kept well balanced with level grinding and upgrades, having the long campaign fills with large exploration, numerous of quests, and epic bosses, and of course you can't go wrong with the game has the best overall story and characters that made Xenoblade Chronicles a such legendary RPGs.

I also heard from the people had said that even the 3DS version is still a faithful port to the original game but felt downgraded compared with the Wii version, where as the Switch version as definitive edition expands with many improvements over the previous Nintendo platforms such as new epilogue scenario, casual mode, overhaul graphics design, and remastered soundtrack.

That being said, this is one of my favourite RPGs for Wii libraries that the hardcore RPGs fans will be fully appreciated with the game. This version is recommended for the Wii owners which cost cheaper around £20, while the Switch version cost £30 which is slightly expensive, but more recommended to newcomers rather much preferred the game's definitive content as the better option. 

  

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Bayonetta and Vanquish PS4 Review

 

Bayonetta and Vanquish is a video game compilation for PS4 and XBONE. It is a remastered version of both games that was originally released in 2010 for PS3 and X360, as well as the re-release of Bayonetta in between 2014 and 2018 for PC, Wii U, Switch, while Vanquish was also been re-released for PC in 2017, which was developed by Platinum Games and published by SEGA.

This video game compilation celebrates the 10th anniversary of the both game which hailed as the best video games titles by Platinum Games, a same development company behind their unique games like SEGA's Madworld, Square Enix's Nier Automata, and Konami's Metal Gear Rising: Revengence.

I had already covered both of these games for my PS3 console back in year 2012 in case if you haven't seen my earlier review, so as I managed to enjoy these games because I did not expect Vanquish to be an excellent action-shooter title that is quite innovative for its bullet-hell style combat and over-the-top campaign action is what made me liked the game, while I called Bayonetta a surprisingly great hack and slash title that felt like a spiritual successor to Capcom's Devil May Cry thanks to fast-paced combos, stylish techniques, cool original story, and recognisable female protagonist.

As I really did enjoyed these games back then as a early adult, I was hoping to see both of these game receiving a sequel after I enjoyed the both originals, but in two months after beating the first Bayonetta game I was bummed to hear the news when they revealed the second installiment of the original game being exclusive on the Nintendo console platform such as Wii U which sparked the disappointment to those who own the Playstation and Xbox console had previously enjoyed the first game are hoping to play another Bayonetta action. The Bayonetta 2 is still however gained critically acclaimed at the 2014's release for Wii U, as well as the 2018's re-release for Switch which sparked the overall improvements from the first game, but it begs the question is when will the game ever gonna come to Playstation and Xbox platform? the answer is it will never likely gonna happen due to publishing deal with Nintendo which leaves Bayonetta 2 and the future sequel still remain on the Nintendo platforms.

I also don't think that the Platinum Games ever considering making another sequel of Vanquish is due to director behind the original game went to form his company in 2010 called Tango Gameworks under ZeniMax Media to create his work such as The Evil Within in 2014 and Ghostwire: Tokyo possibly in 2022. 

After my disappoint of not being able to play Bayonetta 2 and seeing a Vanquish sequel, instead we getting a 10th anniversary bundle of both games for PS4 and XBONE in 2020 release which I got to be honest that it is not quite big of the deal because I'd love to play these games again because it's been since 9 years ago that I had a charm of playing those awesome games and it feels like I wanted to give these game another shot to see how these games holds up in today's standards in terms of story presentation, gameplay design, and the visual performance which is why I'm here to review these amazing titles running on the 8th gen console.

  

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

Presentation

In Vanquish, the game set in the near future where the San Francisco, USA was completely destroyed by the Order of the Russian Star led by the Russian Star agent. While the Russian government threaten the US President to surrender or he will target New York City, the army of space marines under the DARPA was sent in the mission to stop and defeat the Russian army to save their home country.

Back then when I reviewed the game for PS3 version, I wasn't quite impressed with the story itself which I thought it's sounded poorly written that lacks the in-depth plot development, so going back to this now I started to think that it's not as half bad as I remembered because I liked the concept of ideas behind the war crisis between the US and Russia took place in futuristic space universe where you have a bunch of space marines went on the mission to fight against the enemies and save the planet which is sounds okay, but it still feel lacks the originally compared with other shooter games with similar storylines, at least they tried their best to make it feel like a decent action-film out of it which I appreciate. 

Aside with the storyline, I do also find the characters in the game is kinda cool especially I liked Sam Gideon as a protagonist of the game because of his talented individual and shows intelligence does make him quite interesting. He wore his cool augmented suit, working with the teams, becoming somewhat reckless during the fight, and yes he's smoke cigarettes is just a pure badass.

I also find Robert Burns who is commanding officer of US marine corps is shown to be quite ruthless veteran throughout the game where he assisting Sam and his soldier to fight aggressively during the war, but he also quite a guy with great one-liner and his gruffy voice which I also liked him too.

The presentation in the game is looking fantastic, as I really liked the futuristic setting of the factory, facilities, train stations, space cargo, and stuff like warzone areas makes the whole environmental feels more gritter and industrial look which is the reason why I liked the sci-fi style design.

I also wanted to say many of the enemies and bosses are sure does look more metallic and hardcore which I liked the way how they designed them to make it feel more creative and appealing.

In Bayonetta, the game takes place in a fictional city of Vigrid in Europe. It focuses on a attractive-looking witch named Bayonetta, who awakens after a 500 year sleep, finds herself in an unfamiliar area with lack of memories of who or what she is.

She only knows that she is a witch with her great magical power and uses various of firearms, as she sets her adventure to retain her memories back that relating to the history of great war between Umbran witches and Lumen Sages.

She then meets with guy named Luka, a journalist who witnesses the murder of his father and assumes Bayonetta is responsible which took sometime for both of them to know the truth behind the scene.

She also discovers the little girl named Cereza who got lost wandering around in the empty places, as Bayonetta decides to bring her along and protects her from the danger that threatens her.

Lastly she encounters with the rivalry named Jeanne, a fellow witch who is brainwashed by the angels and threats Bayonetta as her nemesis.      

The story is however complex which involves the fallout of the two rivalries such as Umbran witches and Lumen Sages had struggled to keep balance between light and dark fiction which led into a deadly war.

I like the idea of how Bayonetta finds her way to discover the truth behind her forgotten memories that been linked to great war event from 500 years ago, while fighting with the bunch of sages, and meeting with the new friends is what makes the story quite strong.

Bayonetta is one of the female protagonist that is stylish, beautiful, intelligent, and has sense of humour that really adds her character's development. She had sleek-glossy outfit, long-beehive black hairdo, wore glasses, and has pistol-like heels is what I find her very appealing in the game.

I also liked the side-characters in the game like Luka is just a guy that I find him quite cool and interesting throughout the scenes. Cereza is just a poor innocent little girl who just wants a hug from the mother, yeah I kinda liked how Bayonetta feels annoyed when being called as mommy is kinda cute. Then it had Jeanne is just as appealing as Bayonetta with 60's style outfit and has great make-up. 

I also liked the bartender dude named Rodin who sells the weapons and items and makes really chilled dialogue, and of course the Enzo that parodied Joe Pesci with full of his comic relief which I find it hilariously entertaining. 

The presentation in this game is very similar to Capcom's Devil May Cry with medieval-style of environmental design which I liked how they created the game to make it look feel angelic such as the city of Vigrid has the sets of architecture filled with avenues, vistas, and plazas.

Paradiso is the gate way of paradise with beam of light and glossy around where as Inferno are highway to hell filled with darkness tone.

Isla Del Sol is the island which serves as the operation base for Ithavoll group with incredibly tall buildings at the outside of the city.

Overall, both games does have decent storylines, cool characters, and fantastic presentation settings.

  

Gameplay

In Vanquish, the single player campaign has 5 acts with several of mission to complete throughout the game. You take control of Sam Gideon in third-person perspective as your main objectives is to fight though the levels as well as defeating bosses till you're reached at the end of the each act.

You may start off with the training tutorial before you ready to start the actual campaign, so these tutorial will teach you to learn the combat and techniques throughout the training.

You'll move around by using the left stick, while using the right stick to rotate the camera system, so you can always change the speed of the rotation sensitivity from the option menu to suit your preference.

Your character has abilities to evade by pressing the cross button and take cover behind the wall or objects by pressing the square button which protects you from the enemy's projectiles, and holding the left shoulder button will allow you to slide boost through the area which depletes the boost meter shown on the right-bottom side of the screen causing the overheat till it fully regenerates back.

For combat, you will fire your weapon by pressing the right trigger button, while holding the left trigger button used as the aiming which also automatically targeting at the enemies if you set difficulty to casual auto, and pressing the right shoulder button to reload the weapon.

You can also perform melee attack by pressing the circle button which comes with various of melees such as rapid punches, somersault kick, uppercut, and various of melees depending which weapons you're equipped with, and you can throw 2 types of grenades such as frag that used as an explosive damage and EMP is used for stunning enemies for 3 secs by pressing the triangle button.

What makes the combat so unique is the AR mode which allows you to slow-down time and makes your speed go faster when activating the AR mode by dodging then hit the left trigger or holding left shoulder button then hit right trigger to fire really helps you to kill the enemies off so quickly, so to keep you in mind, these melees and AR mode are also depletes boost meter quite fast too just much as the same with using the slide boost overtime.

Each of the weapons comes with different range and firing power such as assault rifle, boost machine gun, and heavy machine gun works effectively with mid-range and faster firing rate, where as shotgun and anti-armor pistol are slightly has stronger firepower just instantly kills enemies much quicker.

Then you have weapons like rocket launcher that can explode them through far-range, the lock-on laser will fire into crossbow-like lasers, the laser cannon fires with long-range beam which also depletes boost meter, the sniper rifle instantly kills them with one shot at far-range distance, and stuff like disc launcher shoots out disk-slice as well as slice them as an melee attack.

I got to say that the combat and the techniques in Vanquish works pretty well in the game because these weapons are just feels right with right amount of firing, firepower, and range that works effectively during the battle, and I also give the game credit for its variety of melee system and introducing 2 of the new mechanics such as slide boost and AR mode feels very innovative for the gameplay design.

Speaking of the innovation, I like how the enemies had fired a multiples of their projectiles such as bullets and lasers are scattered everywhere at the warzone which makes it impossible to evade such things because it felt like they firing more than the hundreds of bullets in lighting speed is the whole purpose of the game makes it feel more action packed bullet-hell shooter game which really adds the innovation of the genres.

I also wanted to praise the QTE sequences which feels very stylish and epic that is not a time wasting throughout the game because it doesn't feel cheap and being unfair makes it easier for player to implement these action sequences works nicely in the game.

The downside for this game is that it relatively short on single-player campaign which only has 5 acts took 3 to 4 hours to beat the game, so I wish they could have been extended up to 8 acts with 7 to 8 hours could have been slight better in my opinion, and yes I never liked how the default controls were setting up because I rather have the game that has customisable control options so that I can re-map the button layouts for reloading, melee, throwing, and take cover where as I'm okay with the aiming, shooting, boosting, and turning works really fine throughout the game.  

In Bayonetta, you take control of title character in third-person hack and slash action as your goal is to fight through the levels till you beat the stage at the very end.

Bayonetta has ability to use melee and long range attacks, and is able to select multiple weapons.

You move around with left stick, while right stick controls the camera system. Pressing the cross button makes her jump, while tapping again to double jump for extra height, and she can perform backflips by pressing the right trigger which allows her to evade the enemy's projectiles. 

On combat, you have three attacks button such as punching, kicking, and shooting which are used for attacking on enemies, but you can also make combination of buttons to perform various of combo attacks, as well as torture attacks which she summons a variety of devices to deal heavy attack to enemies ranging from chainsaws to iron maidens.

You can lock-on target on enemies by holding the right shoulder button which easily helps you directly aims at the one enemy you are fighting against.  

You can activate the witch time by dodging the enemy's attack in right timing, so this will allow her to slow-down time on enemies and increasing her speed meaning that she can make amounts of counter damage before the enemies can react.

What makes the combat so unique is that it came with various of weapons such as Scarborough Fair which is a basic hand and feet pistols, Sai-Fung is set of revolver-like guns are wielded in a nunchunk style of combat, Shuraba is a long demonic katana which processes the power of the demon with quick and agile attacks, Kulshedra is a whip dealing with somewhat meager damage giving her incredible reach, speed, and safety at range, Durga is a set of claws that uses the elements of fire and lighting, and Onyx Roses are pair of sawn-off shotguns with higher stun-rate and firing powerful buck shots that deals damage to close range enemies.

You can visit to places called The Gates of Hell which is one of the Rodin's bar that sells many objects, such as items, various of techniques, and accessories.

The items such as green lollipop recovers health, purple lollipop restores magics, bloody rose lollipop increases attack power temporary, and yellow moon lollipop temporary makes her invincible, where as other consumables such as magic flute releases a wave of high-frequency energy, red hot shot uses as resurrect, broken witch heart which permanently increase her vitality, and broken moon pearl which permanently increases her magic gauge.

The various of techniques such as heel slide, umbran spear, tetsuzanko, air dodge, witch twist and many more to unlock which allows her to perform a new fighting moves.

The accessories that provide an added effect or modify a technique which allowing her to have up to 2 different accessories equipped at the same time such as pulley's butterfly summon a small rabble of glowing butterfiles, infernal communicator summon the band of little devils, star of dineta restore the small amount of health when taunting, selene's light instantly causes witch time to activate when taking damage from enemy, and more which really helps a specific playstyle. 

The combat in the game is absolute fantastic because I find the fighting mechanics during the battle feels very stylish and fast-pace which is easier to get into with combat system which requires a perfect combos, learning new techniques, and unlocking accessories which really adds the variation of gameplay fighting system.

The weapon in the game are also effective in the game which depending on how much it can deal damage against the enemies quicker.  

Controlling Bayonetta in the game feels really smooth which allowing me to perform various of moves with acrobatic fighting style, platforming, and using the right weapon that works effectively against the enemies which makes the scoring system feels very rewarding depending how many combos hits and other bonuses you earned so far in the level adds up to ranking in leaderboards.

I also liked the segments in the game such as fighting with the enemies on the falling broken clock tower, riding on the motorcycle, flying with missile bullets in space harrier style, running on the wall in upside downs, avoiding bunch of hazards like spikes and pits, jumping and hopping on the floating stones, and other wacky stuff such as fighting with bosses which I got to say it is well crafted action hack and slash game.  

The thing I don't like about the game is the mini-game where you had to shoot down the angels to get the bonus points that allow you to pick and select any of items you want to add it on inventory menu, so I find the mini game bonus quite a waste of time because I never liked how the hit detection designed when trying to shoot down those guys.  

 

So far, I am happy with the both game had turned out well for the later console in all thanks to faster framerate and zero lags does really help the game's performance especially with Bayonetta which I am glad it played lot smoother than the PS3 version does really help my gaming experience quite positively, so both of the games does hold up quite well on today's standards.

Overall, it has great controls, faster performance, and zero lags.

Graphics

The graphics on both games are spectacular as a remastered running on full 4k resolution and 60 fps does give the game a nice enhancement for 8th-gen system.

It polishes out the rough textures and jagginess to make the whole environment of games look and feel more like up to date.

The use of special effects has great lighting design, glossy visuals, and bold environments for both games does look pretty good on my PS4 version.

Aside with the improvements for the 8th gen consoles, I still liked the overall design on both games because I still love the character's design and environmental structure that really holds up nicely as its today.  

Overall, it has less jagginess, great lighting design, glossy visuals, bold environments, and being able to run on 4k and 60fps.

Music and Sounds

Both of the games sure has the cool soundtrack which really fits the game's action. Bayonetta has catchy jazz-style music which I got to say it's sounds pretty amazing to listen especially with the cover song "Fly me to the Moon" and the theme song "Mysterious Destiny" which sounds pretty good in the game and also they did a fabulous job of adding a remix of SEGA's original song from the arcade hits like After Burner, Space Harrier, and Outrun.

Vanquish is pretty much upbeat are kinda similar to Konami's Zone of the Enders which I got to say I really liked the style of electronic music throughout the missions that keeps you feel engaging and ready to kick some ass.   

The sound effects on both games are actually crisps and clear with no signs of disoriented and saturated sounds whatsoever, and it sure does had a decent voice casting for their roles in both games did such a wonderful job for the story sequence.

Overall, it has cool soundtrack, crispy sounds, and decent voice cast on both games.

Special Features

The launch edition of physical copy comes with gorgeous looking steel case which has Bayonetta on front cover and Sam Gideon from Vanquish on back cover looks stunningly amazing with glossy textures and feels very authentic.

Both games does come with leaderboards and unlockable difficulties for replay values, but Bayonetta does have the gallery mode with great artwork and behind the scene concepts. 

               

         

Overall, a solid features.

Advantages

Fantastic presentation settings

Great combat gameplay 

Faster performance

Spectacular graphics

Cool soundtrack

Decent voice cast 

Disadvantages

In Vanquish:

Short-length campaign

Default control option

In Bayonetta:

Terrible mini-games

 

        

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - decent storylines, cool characters, and fantastic presentation settings.

Gameplay 8.5/10 - great controls, faster performance, and zero lags.

Graphics 9/10 -  less jagginess, great lighting design, glossy visuals, bold environments, and being able to run on 4k and 60fps.

Music and Sounds 8.5/10 - cool soundtrack, crispy sounds, and decent voice cast on both games.

Special Features 8/10 - launch edition's steel case, leaderboards, unlockable difficulties, and gallery mode (Bayonetta).

Overall 8.5/10 - To separate the rating for both games, I give Bayonetta a 9/10 while giving Vanquish a 8/10, which makes both games receiving a full 8.5/10.

As I previously enjoyed these games back in my old days, it is now worthy to pick up and play it again because it did holds up pretty well nowadays. The story, characters, combat, and visuals on both games had aged remarkably well after 10 years later in all thanks to additional enhancements that the 8th gen system took advantages of running with higher frame-rate performance and 4k resolution that made the game look and feels up to date.

So far, I am very glad that both of these games had turned out pretty solid especially playing on my PS4 which is slightly better overall compared with the PS3 version that I had experienced 9 years back due to performance issues and downgraded visual quality except the X360 version had less issues.

Going back to this, the PS4 and XBONE version is a perfect way of playing it which is worth £15 to £20 to pick up a physical copy comes with steel case artwork are much cheaper option compared with digital copy which you could get these games digitally for £20 individuals or £35 bundled.           

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Doom Eternal PS4 Review

 

Doom Eternal is a FPS game for PS4, PS5, XBONE, XSX/S, Switch, Stadia, and PC. It was developed by Id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks, and it is a sequel to Doom (2016) and the fifth main game in the Doom series.

In 5 years back when I reviewed the Doom (2016) which is a reboot of the whole franchise, as I had labelled the game as one of the best FPS game that the series made a massive comeback with excellent combat gameplay with new mechanics and upgrades, darker presentation filled with more evil and sinister looking, gory extreme graphics with their body getting ripped and tears apart, awesome metal soundtrack by Mick Gordon, and more fast-paced shooter madness with lots of single-player action that is the reason why I really liked the game so much.

Going back to this review, I have finally returning back to hell with the Doom Eternal which I am looking forward to play another rip and tear single-player action with new features, more demons, and design elements in this game. 

I will explain the important aspects of the game including the combat gameplay, environmental level design, various of demons, platforming segments, and difficulty system that the things that I like or dislike about how the game went and does it give a players an satisfaction? the answer is yes it is one of the game that is highly aimed for pro FPS fans looking for a well challenged combat action and being able to progress through the game flawlessly.

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

Presentation

The game takes place in the event after the the 2016 game, as it follows badass silent protagonist known as Doom Slayer once again, on a mission to end Hell's consumption of Earth and foil the alien Maykr's plans to exterminate humanity.

To keep you in mind that the doom franchise aren't very known for its own storytelling, as I have previously mentioned about the Doom (2016) had lacked the proper backstory before the invasions starts happening at the beginning of the first level, but going back to this now you see the opening intro in this game where the whole earth has been invaded by hordes of demons wiping off entire humans, meanwhile you are the Doom Slayer in the spaceship preparing the arsenals of weapons, heading to the planet earth, and ready to kick the demon asses which is sounds cool, but the issue is that it focuses way too much on the story sequence which I fully understand the game needs to have a bit of storyline, but it is likely going to slow down the pace of the speedruns gameplay like you may see 1 or 2  mid-cutscenes at the middle of the level felt gonna distract the players when trying to beat the level in newest record as possible without being interfered by the random cutscenes.

Aside with the story, I got to say the main protagonist is one hell of guy with cool arsenal suit and loaded with the weapons, so that he can rip and tear all the demons apart filled with blood and guts everywhere, and of course being a silent with less about talking is the way it should be that makes him one of the badass video game heroes that you should never f**k with him. 

The game has the returning demons from the classics Doom game such as Imp, Pinky Demon, Hell Knight, Pain Elemental, lost soul, Arachnoton, Arch-Vile, Baron of Hell, Cacodemon, Mancubus, Cyber Demon, and Revenant, while introducing the new monsters in the game such as Marauder, Whiplash, The Gladiator, Carcass, and others which I really liked how these monsters been designed in the game to make them look more like the mixture between classic and modern appearances.

I got to say the game's presentation is very well done for its demonic settings and darker tone of the game itself, as I really liked the mixture between earth and hell of the levels and atmospheres.

The location such as Citadel of Hell took place in San Andreas Chasm where Arctic side of this location filled with ruins and remains of demonic skeletons appear to be dug up and used in the research, while the Nekravol side has massive facility in hell.

Argent D'Nur has terrestrial stuff like craggy landscape with mountains and rocky formations, blue-green hue of sky, and numerous of environmental stuff like trees, grasses, and mosses.

Immora is a city of crimson which is a hellish city with spires and towers stretching all across featuring technological and smooth style similar to other location such as Urdak.

Sentinel Prime is the city where the ancient arena is located and is concidered a holy place for the people of Argent D'Nur which has cascadian landscape, single moon with reddish surface color of sky, and big gladiatorial arena.

I like how they designed the concept to make it look and feels more gothic and gritter than just the traditional Sci-Fi tone in the game which in fact I really liked the way the settings in the level had been created.

Overall, badass protagonist, awesome cast of demons, and hellish presentation design.

Gameplay

In single player campaign, you take control of Doom Slayer in first-person perspective to wipe out the countless of demons until you reach at the exit area to move on to next level. It does have a same objectives as the classics such as finding the key or hitting switch to unlock a door that leads to next area, but it's more heavily on the open-world map where you can explore and discover the secrets to find the collectables, upgrades and items which can be seen on the map options screen, as well as several of platforming segments which I will explain further on this review. 

Using the left stick to move the player around, while right stick are used as aiming and turning. The player has ability to jump while pressing it again allow you to double jump to reach the higher platform.

You have two different melee system such as finishing blow will allow you to perform glory kills such as ripping their chest off and decapitate their heads off when the enemies appears with highlight flashes and using the chainsaw will tear them down in shreds which drops down the resources items such as ammo and health. 

You will later obtain a new manuvering skills like dash which can be used as evading the enemy's projectiles and platforming through stages, the blood punch is just one single striking with additional damage, and flame belch can be used as flamethrower weapon will enhance your ability to move, while others may help you in combat, so these sets of skills will help you completing the next stages of the game.  

You will have a choice of weapons which can be all carried on your weapon selection such as combat shotgun and super shotgun are perfect for close range combat, the heavy cannon and plasma rifle are good for far distance range, some powerful weapons like chaingun and rocket launcher deals with heavy damage, and the BFG 9000 (A.K.A Big F***ing Gun 9000) is definitely blows the whole demon away with one shot kill.

The game also introduce new weapon such as Ballista that fires a single high-powered shot which deals damage against the flying enemies.

What I liked about the combat system in the game is that it has three types of upgrades such as runes, praetor suit, and sentinel crystals which allows you to unlock various of upgrading skills.

The runes allows you to perform glory kills faster, launch into enemies from far distance, increase movement control while in mid-air, decreasing the recharge time for equipment, temporary slow down time while in mid-air, and gaining a speed boost after performing glory kill.

The praetor suit range from resisting environmental damage, buffing your grenades, making the dashing and reloading faster, taking less damage from exploding barrels and toxic sludge, larger automap radius, and dash refills more quickly.

The sentinel crystals will allow you to maximize your health, armour, and ammo, while unlocking two sentinel route will give you a perk such as dropped resources items get pulled in from further away, big huge demon stay on fire for longer, flamethrower takes less time to cooldown, and their armour drop at a faster rate, so these improves the player's performance with more capacity on the attributes the longer the player last during the fights.   

I also liked the various of weapon mods including shotgun's sticky bombs and full-auto, heavy cannon's precision bolt and micro missiles, plasma rifle's heat blast and microwave beam, rocket launcher's lock-on burst and remote detonation, chaingun's energy shield and mobile turret, and stuff like super shotgun's hookshot, so my favourite mods for the weapons are sticky bombs, precision bolt, remote detonation, and mobile turret because these works effectively against the heavy shielded enemies are easier to shred down their armour pieces.

There are a 2 special weapon that I considered as the most lethal thing which is crucible sword, a energy-based sword that allow you to cut through demon very easily, and you have sentinel hammer which uses to launch up into the air and slamming the hammer into the ground causing a shockwave around the point of impact which temporary stunned or kills outright, so these special weapon are works pretty well against any type of the enemies that are heavily shielded or stronger looking buff which I kinda like it during the battle.                 

I liked how the combat system actually works because of the skill based upgrades and effectiveness of weapons that really improves the playability makes easier to staggering the enemy's weakpoints and knowing the tactics by evading them which requires your dashing and jumping to be perfect as possible without dying in the battle are part of the strategic ways to play.

Upgrading the new skills and perks are part of the game's elements that feels very rewarding for player to be very satisfied with the combat gameplay design.

I got to say the variety of the enemies are very good in the game such as Arachnoton that shoots out blue plasma, Mancubus welds with twin-blast while wearing the armour protection, Arch-Vile can summon hordes of monsters, Pain Elemental spits out floaty heads of lost soul, Cyber Demon has attachable rocket launcher, Revenant can fly with jet pack, and others has their own advantages which I got to say it is very well executed for having types of enemies with different abilities.

From outside of the combat, I also got to say I really liked the exploration of open-world map which filled with hidden secrets can be located somewhere in the levels where you can able to discover a things such as gate key that leads to slayer gate location, and collectable items stuff like figurines and albums.

The platforming segments is actually spectacular which I really like the idea of being able to reach at the higher platform area such as jumping onto the bar to swing through, dashing through the platforms, launching hookshot into attachable hooks, and climbing on the wall is somewhat worked perfectly for larger level design.

I've enjoyed fighting with the hordes of the enemy which is outstanding because it gives the player an achievement when playing on the higher difficulty is what makes the game brutally tough, but made everything fun to play at the same time is what really matters the most.

I also wanted to say that as much I loved the original campaign, there are an extra new campaign called Ancient Gods which comes with 2 expansion parts adding an extra new levels, new monsters, and new weapon which is just as fun as the original that you can also get these 2 as a standalone or standard DLCs through digital store. You can also take part at master levels mode will put the player's skill to their test and force them to adapt to the increased challenge. 

The game also has online only 2 vs 1 battle mode where two playable demons must face off against one fully loaded Slayer in a best of 5 round based brawl which is different from the Doom (2016), but I heard several of players had an issue with unbalanced matchmaking during the battle, so it is also confirmed that they will slowly improve the online battle by overhauling this mode with slightly better matchmaking progress through the later updates should be good enough for players to enjoy the online battle matches.

It's a shame that it didn't include the offline split-screen for multiplayer which could have been cool to have it on this game, so that we could have fun playing a player vs player or player vs bots for battlemode.       

That being said, I loved the single-player campaign in all thanks to combat, large environment, exploration, difficulty, and fighting with bunch of demons is what makes the game so flawlessly entertaining.

Overall, it has excellent combat system, epic horde fights, and awesome single-player action.

Graphics

The graphics is genuinely outstanding in many ways, as you can see the whole map in the game has the larger environment design which really maximises the use of the exploration and bigger focus on platforming aspects. I like how big the outside of the level which has huge terrestrial objects and massive buildings is just looks everything so good from the draw-distance. 

The textures mapping is looking so crisp on the environmental surfaces such as sculptures, runes, and manmade statues, and the details of colours usage, lighting design, and visuals effects is looking magnificent throughout the levels.

The animation of demons is surprisingly look just as impressive as you expected in the game which felt like it is a great redesign of the original enemies from the classic doom (1993).

I got to say I f***ing loved the gory effects in the game where all the enemies gets ripped apart in half, spurts out blood from their body, and their particles of guts got chunked out is looking brutally graphic, but makes the best part of the whole game for those who loves the ultra-violence content in the game.

If you own the PS4 and XBONE copy, you can also get a free upgrades for PS5 and XSX/S console which gives the game's advantages of the enhancements running on these console including fully rendered 4K native and ray-tracing support which adds the significant details of the game itself with better resolution with less jaggy details, runs on 120fps for smoother performance, and makes the visuals feels more next gen is definitely makes the best looking game I've seen so far.

Overall, it has larger environmental design, crisp texture mapping, great animation of demons, and brutally gore effects.

Music and Sounds

The original soundtrack of the game is sounds incredible throughout the game that makes the player pumped out for the action and ready to kick ass. Doom franchise was also credited for Heavy Metal music really fits the game's action packed where the badass music starts kicking in and screams with gritty guitar riffs and has aggressive drum percussion that gives the player an edge to beat the shit out of these demons which makes it one of the Mick Gordon's best video game soundtrack I ever heard.

The sound effects in the game is absolutely stunning for its ambient effects and environmental sound design, and the voice of the demons is roaring out aggressively during the battle is sounds fantastic in the game.

Overall, it has kickass music, stunning sound design, and aggressive demon roars.      

                 

           

Special Features

The game has 2 expansions including Ancient Gods part 1 and 2, unlockable icons, costumes, and others for customisable players, and free upgrades for next gen consoles.

It is also confirmed that they will add an horde mode, new master levels, and battle mode overhaul for later update soon.

Overall, an excellent package.

Advantages

Hellish presentation design

Excellent combat system

Epic horde fights

Awesome single-player action

Outstanding visuals

Kickass music

2 expansion packs (Ancient Gods)

Disadvantages

Lack of offline split-screen multiplayer

Story mid-cutscene slows down the game's pace

 

Final Verdict

Presentation 9/10 - badass protagonist, awesome cast of demons, and hellish presentation design.

Gameplay 9.5/10 - excellent combat system, epic horde fights, and awesome single-player action.

Graphics 10/10 -  larger environmental design, crisp texture mapping, great animation of demons, and brutally gore effects.

Music and Sounds 10/10 - kickass music, stunning sound design, and aggressive demon roars.

Special features 9/10 - 2 expansions including Ancient Gods part 1 and 2, unlockable icons, costumes, and others for customisable players, and free upgrades for next gen consoles.

Adding an horde mode, new master levels, and battle mode overhaul for later update soon.

Overall 9.5/10 - Doom Eternal is definitely not just a much bolder and better sequel, but as the another legendary FPS title that gets everything right will not disappoint the fans of the series can get a hands on with this awesome shooter game. 

So glad with the single-player campaign had turned out successfully executes with the combat system filled with upgrades and skills, bigger map to explore and uncover the hidden areas, and strategic fight that relying on dashing and shooting mechanics are greatly increases the overall challenge that makes Doom Eternal a king of modern shooters for today's gaming.

This is definitely must play for all hardcore FPS players as well as the fan of the series should able to get it on depending which platforms do you own, and it is also featured on Xbox Game Pass as well.

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Top 5 PC Engine/TG16 Games (Part 2 - CD-ROM titles)

 

After covering my first part of top 5 PC Engine/TG16 Games which focuses on HuCard titles that the system had first started back in late 80's, so I've already picked 5 favourite games that I fully enjoyed it thanks to solid overall gameplay, impressive graphics design, and quality soundtrack which really defines the system's own libraries.

Now I'm going to focused on a CD based titles that I will cover these much further on this top 5. As you may not been aware of the system's own add-ons which was came out 2 or 3 months after the release of the standard console, so that is a PC Engine CD-ROM² (A.K.A TurboGrafx CD in US) is an add-on attachment for the PC Engine/TG16 that was released in Japan on 1988, and the United States on 1989.

This add-ons allows the core versions of the console to play PC Engine games in CD-ROM format in addition to standard HuCards making it the first video game console to use CD-ROMs as a storage media which is way ahead at the time before the SEGA Mega CD, Panasonic 3DO, Philips CDi, and Atari Jaguar CD at early 90's.

While the US region doesn't have a huge libraries of CD-ROM based games only has 45 as opposed to Japan region has over 300 games which is the reason what I've previously mentioned on my PC Engine CoreGrafx mini review before, the system wasn't quite successful in US whereas it succeed in Japan.

To be fair on this, it's actually not as bad compared with the later CD based consoles like SEGA Mega CD and 3DO which these two are nowhere near good as the PC Engine/TG16 CD in terms of system's own libraries and lifespan.   

It had fair shares with titles like Gradius II, Cho Aniki, Super Darius and others which I got to say it had an impressive list of CD-ROM games that are actually pretty good which is the reason to play system's own addons.

Thankfully the PC Engine CoreGrafx mini has included some of the CD-ROM based games that I've managed to enjoy playing these kinds of games, so this is a second and final part of the top 5 PC Engine/TG16 Games which I will pick my 5 favourite CD-ROM titles that I consider as being the best on the system's library.

So without go further do, here is my top 5 PC Engine/TG16 Games (Part 2 - CD-ROM titles).

5 - Star Parodier 

 

  

Like Konami did with their own spin-off series like Parodius which is a shoot em ups game based off the parodies of Gradius, Hudson Soft did the same attempt with their own shoot em ups parody based off the Star Soldier series, so that is Star Parodier developed by Kaneko who was responsible of creating their arcade titles like Air Buster, Shogun Warriors, and DJ Boy.

The game's approach is more of cutesy and cartoonish as opposed to games like Star Soldier are just a hard sci-fi atmosphere which I liked the idea of changing into a different presentation that aims for the younger audiences.

It is a shoot em ups title where you take control of 3 playable craft such as Paro Ceaser, Bomberman, and of course PC Engine Kun to complete all stages as possible to save the galaxy.

Each of playable craft has different weapon loadouts that will alter both the difficulty and strength of the player's shots such as Paro Ceaser's basic shots, Bomberman's large explosives, and PC Engine Kun's controllers and CDs.

The gameplay is fairly simple to play, so all you do is to shoot down the enemies, avoiding the projectiles, and collecting power-ups to increase your shot which makes the playstyle feel much basic and easy to get into for children. 

The presentation of the stages is quite an appealing for those who likes very cutesy things starting from space colony to amusement park, toy factory to city, beaches to frozen continent, and sandy desert to large factory filled with bunch of little minions approaching you and facing with the big bosses at very end.

The graphics is filled with colourful environments and comical animation adds the charm of the game's itself, and the whole soundtrack is sounds very good for CD based title despite the CD-based addons has ability to use redbook audio format is somewhat innovative for gaming technology at the time which allowing to play a higher CD quality music.

Star Parodier is a decent title that the fans of the shoot em ups genres can get a hands on with this game, so the price of the actual copy is slightly bit expensive from the site like ebay ranging from £50 to £100 which is only recommended to big video game collectors. The game did get a re-release for Wii Virtual Console back in 2008, but unfortunately the Virtual Console services has already shut down for Wii which is a damn shame, so I wish the game could have deserve another re-release for current platforms like Switch (via eShop) or PS4/PS5 (via PS Store) for future perfect. 

4 - Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire (Galaxy Policewoman Legend Sapphire)

        

      

    

Another shoot-em-ups title that I finding it quite impressive for the CD-based addons which is Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire (A.K.A Galaxy Policewoman Legend Sapphire) created by CAProduction.

It follows all-women police force in future year traveling through time to stop the terrorists committing crimes across the past and future.

You get to choose any of 4 playable police women has their own ship with a unique movement speed and 3 unique weapons such as straight shot, wide angle, and a rear-facing shot which can be powered up by coloured gems.

When powered up, the player will able to absorb enemy fire and unleash powerful shots that deal much heavier damage.

These choices of 3 different weapons and accuracy of speeds works effectively well throughout the stages with smooth hit detections, ranged firing-shots, and less sluggish movements that made the game controls feels responsive and engaging to play.

What makes the game even more impressive is that it showed off the system's powerhouse that requires extendable RAMs such as Arcade Card which increases the amount of onboard RAM of the PC Engine's Super CD-ROM² adding the enhanced graphical effects which including pre-3D polygon of enemy's ships making it the most technically achievement title for CD-ROM libraries can able to pull off the 3D animation really well and the game does have an outstanding FMV opening scenes filled with cool looking anime sequences and has fully voice-overs which is also quite impressive for the CD based system are being capable of enhancing the game's features.

The game has produced in low numbers at the end of the PC Engine's lifespan which is likely that the price of the actual copy has skyrocketed up to £500 and over making it a rarest game of PC Engine's CD-ROM libraries for video game collectors, so the only way to play this game is go for the cheaper options by grabbing the PC Engine CoreGrafx Mini for less than £100 or simply get it on software emulator which includes fan-made English translations.   

3 - Lords of Thunder 

     

Finally a very last best shoot-em-ups for my top 5 list is definitely Lords of Thunder created by a Red Company, a same team bought to you by Bonk's Adventure, and it is a unofficial follow-up title to Gate of Thunder.

It was originally released for PC Engine/TG16 CD-ROM in 1993, while it was later ported to SEGA Mega CD in 1995.

You are taking control of legendary Blue Knight to fight off against evil god Deoric and his dark generals, who have torn the world asunder, through 7 different stages.

The game plays very similar to other shoot em ups games like Thunder Force IV, so you have an option to select any of stages as well as 4 armors with different elements of shots and bombs such as fire, water, earth, and wind, and then you get to purchase any of useful items which increasing your health, power-ups, shields, bomb, and elixir may improve your playability.

The style of gameplay is dead-on straightforward, so you will have a firing shot as basic weapon and close range melee attack. When powering up your firing shot will allow you to fire a much bigger projectiles such as curved flame, 4-way wave shot, 2-way lighting zap, and 4 vertical beamy plasma.

These are the 4 shot elements worked effectively against top to bottom screen of the enemies and these bombs will allow you to unleash the powerful attacks works against the tough bosses, and having to upgrade with the items through the shop may help you with your health and strengths giving you an advantages to fight through the level smoothly.

The game's presentation is looking damn impressive for its concepts art and graphical design, so I really liked the settings of level visually such as deserted type palaces and underground caves filled with sandworms and bugs everywhere, dark and gritty lava mountain with underground castle, gloomy looking forrest, and large icey hills fits really nicely on these areas.

I also liked the use of parallax scrolling from the level's backgrounds and foregrounds, special effects of firing shots, and detailed enemy's animation is looking so great on PC Engine/TG16 CD-ROM standards.

The game does have an outstanding heavy metal soundtrack running on redbook audio format gives a high quality music throughout the game with intense guitar riffs and gritty drum percussion is just feels like you're listening to Yngwie Malmsteen solo style music is what made the game feels more action packed shoot em ups.

Lords of Thunder is surprisingly one of the best shoot em ups for CD-ROM based game so far, and it cost over £100 for the PC Engine/TG16 CD-ROM actual copy, while the SEGA Mega CD is more expensive to buy which cost over £300.

The game did get the release for Wii Virtual Console in 2008, but then again it's no longer active, so this game should deserve another re-release for current platform today such as Switch (via eShop) or PS4/PS5 (via PS Store) for future perfect.

2 - Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

As a long time fan of the Konami's vampire hunter franchise known as Castlevania, one of the version of this game that I never knew it was existed back then since I only remember playing the SNES version known as Castlevania: Dracula X (AKA Castlevania: Vampire Kiss).

I've discovered the game through the software emulation site in my late teens days, so I've played the hell of it for over 2 hours of fun and yes I really enjoyed the PC Engine/TG16 CD-ROM version of the original game had done something better than what I've expected.

It is a 2D side-scrolling action where you take control of Richter Belmont goes out to save his lover Annette, who was abducted by the evil vampire leader Dracula.

This game has 9 stages with 4 multiple routes resulting with different alternative levels, so you will have a whip as a main weapon and various of sub-weapons such as throwing daggers and axes, holy water, spinning crosses, pocket watch, and grimoire which you will need these to fight off against the hordes of vampires or monsters throughout the level before facing with the bosses and you will have some sub-goals is to rescue 4 maidens including 12 year old Maria Renard, who then becomes a playable character, has ability to use attacks using her doves and one of 6 sub-weapons such as a white tiger kitten, dragon whelp, baby phoenix, turtle, egg and musical notes as well as being able to perform double jump.

I got to say that I was impressed with the game because I did not expect PC Engine/TG16 CD-ROM version to be more superior than the SNES port has to offer due to technical marvel of CD add-ons system was capable of utilising the graphical power and arranged soundtracks that really adds up the game's atmosphere and action.

It has well builted level structures that has tons of hazardous objects and many enemies that requires memorising patterns and the bosses are quite satisfactory that keeps you well entertained. 

I also liked the use of multiple routes which relying on rescuing 4 missing maidens and leads you to alternative stage adds the overall replay values. 

Sadly it is one of the first Castlevania game that never got released outside of Japan in 1993 which is kinda bummer because it could have been a system's biggest killer apps that might helped the system's sales, and it's kinda strange to see the PC Engine/TG16 CD-ROM version of the game is also getting a reprint copy from Limited Run Games which was announced in 2021 is what Konami should have done the same with the English release in early 90s for first place.    

The original game from Japanese release is ridiculously expensive on PC Engine/TG16 CD-ROM which cost around over £100 to £200, while the price of the reprint copy from Limited Run Games is yet to be confirmed soon. 

Thankfully this game also included for later ports such as Dracula X Chronicles for PSP/PS Vita (via PS Store) and Castlevania Requiem for PS4 (via PS Store) which I highly recommend you to get it cheap on both version, and it is also included on PC Engine CoreGrafx Mini as well. 

1 - Ys Book I and II

First of all, I've previously enjoyed playing Ys Origins for PS4 which is a overlooked Action-RPG title that is one of my very first game of the series I've played, so I was interested to play another title in the series which is the reason I had PC Engine CoreGrafx Mini to play Ys Book I and II.

It is a video game compilation and enhanced remakes of the first two Ys games created by Nihon Falcom. 

Unlike the original platform release (such as PC-8801, FM-7, X1, and MSX2) of the both games in Japan, the PC Engine/TG16 CD-ROM finally got released outside of Japan in 1990 making it the only version of Ys II that received an official English release just like they did with the Ys I for SEGA Master System release in late 80's.

It was one of the first video games to use CD-ROM which was utilised to provide enhanced graphics, animated cutscenes, redbook audio format, and voice acting uses over 500 MB of CD-ROM storage.

It focuses on red-haired swordman named Adol Christin where in the first game he must seek out the six books of Ys which contain the history of the ancient, vanished land of Ys, and will give him knowledge he needs to defeat the evil, where as in second game continues his quest to unravel the secrets of the land.

It played on top-down perspective view where you take control of Adol on a main field as you start roaming around and explores dungeons, while encountering with numerous of enemies which you must battle in order to progress.

The battle system is takes sometime to practice as you automatically attack the enemies by walking into them off-centre, so you need to be precise to attack them in the right spot causes their health bar to be depleted depending on how much damage you're able to attack them. 

You can also grind your skill level by killing many of the enemies will increase your EXP that will improve your system such as attack, defense, and health that you will need a higher skill level in order to defeat bigger and stronger enemies and bosses.

I got to say the gameplay is pretty good for its combat system even it lack the sword attack animation which didn't bother me as much because you need to take practice of hitting and bumping into enemies in right spot doesn't ruin the game for me. What matters the most is being able to get best possible weapons and armors, finding key and items that leads to the new locations, and grinding up levels to become stronger fighter is what kept you playing the game more.  

The game's segments has maze-like castle that teleports you into different rooms, exploring dark caves, large lava caverns, and some puzzle-aspects levels that keeps you feel busy to play the game further, and it clearly has the amazing boss battles which requires you to memorise their weak patterns and evading projectiles as possible that made the game so much fun to play.

I was impressed with the game's presentation in all thanks to animated FMV cutscenes and voice acting did showed off the CD-ROM capabilities, and they did such incredible job on the story are much easier to get into to know what exactly the game's plot is all about and has memorable protagonist that became a long-time major character of the whole series is the reason I loved the game so much.

The arranged soundtrack for this version was remixed by Ryo Yonemitisu had done a great rendition of original soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro (a well known Japanese composer behind Street of Rage and Actraiser) which it labelled Yuzo's original score as one of the best video game music ever composed and considered as one of the finest and most influential RPG scores of all time.  

These music are sounds fantastic especially with this version with high quality CD format does add the game's atmosphere and action which is the reason why it sounded so memorable starting from main theme to exploration and inside castle to boss theme which is worth listening to these kinds of epic tracks throughout the game. 

It is by far one of my top favourite CD-ROM games for PC Engine/TG16's addons and it is one of the better version of two original games in my opinion. I am happy with the version I've played had turnout to be a finest Action-RPG title for PC Engine/TG16 CD-ROM owners can get a hands on with the game.

Unfortunately the original copy is much harder to find it online which cost around £30 to £70, and alternatively this video game compilation are also included on PC Engine CoreGrafx Mini and you could also get it on software emulator instead.       

It did get a modernised remake as Ys I and II DS for NDS in 2009, and Ys I and II Chronicles for PSP in 2011 and PC (via Steam and GOG.com) in 2013 which is entirely different from the PC Engine/TG16 CD-ROM version.

The physical Japanese copy for PSP cost around between £40 to £50, so I highly recommend it to get a digital copy for PC and PS Vita/PSP through available digital store platform is much cheaper option which cost around nearly £10. 

Honorable mention:

Cotton - Fantastic Night Dreams

Gate of Thunder

Cho Aniki

Zero Wing

Valis series

Bomberman: Panic Bomber

Gradius II

Super Darius 

Snatcher

Seirei Senshi Spriggan

Spriggan Mark II - Re Terraform Project

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