The Games We Bought PlayStation For

On December 3rd, 1994, 26 years ago, the original PlayStation was born, ushering a new console and competitor in the market. Today, on this 26th birthday of the PS1 and the PlayStation brand in general, let's celebrate on SuperPhillip Central with a personal journey of sorts from yours truly, going through the games that pushed me and my family (hence, the "we", since when I was a kid I couldn't buy a PlayStation myself) into the PlayStation ecosystem again and again. Whether on consoles or handhelds, I've owned almost every major PlayStation platform (save for a recent, quite obvious one!). So, join me on my journey as a reminisce and briefly touch upon those killer apps that enticed so nice that they pushed me towards these PlayStation platforms.

[PlayStation One]

Final Fantasy VII 

Let's begin with a big one. Nintendo lost a lot of immediate ground to its new competitor, Sony, in the console race due to sticking with expensive cartridges on its Nintendo 64 over the PlayStation's CDs. What was seen as a massive betrayal was then-Squaresoft moving its complete focus to the PlayStation. The biggest game that Nintendo fans were going to miss out on (until 20+ years later, of course) was Final Fantasy VII. My older brother and I definitely didn't want to be one of those fans, so we begrudgingly begged our mom for another console, the PlayStation. It's fortunate that we did, as we have been happy PlayStation customers ever since. Maybe not so much big-time Final Fantasy fans, though, due to the series' quality over the years... 

Mega Man 8: Anniversary Edition

Like Squaresoft, Capcom, too, opted to jump ship from Nintendo to PlayStation after the rising costs of cartridges on the Nintendo 64, and they took one of our favorite franchises with them: Mega Man. Perhaps Mega Man 8 and its anniversary edition was more of a killer app for us than Final Fantasy VII was! Not only was the game gorgeous with its colorful, vivid, and vibrant sprite-based visuals, but the game featured so many new things, such as fully (and badly) voiced anime cutscenes, collectible bolts to use to purchase permanent upgrades at Dr. Light's, and a Mega Ball item, for kicks, of course. We would have missed out on so many Mega Man games--particularly one of my favorites, Mega Man X4--had we not leaped into Sony's ecosystem.

[PlayStation 2]

Final Fantasy X

With the PlayStation 2, the initial launch wasn't too exciting, so it was rather easy to pass on the PS2's offerings in the beginning. Of course, we all know how that story played out--the system has one of the best, all-encompassing game libraries of all time now. But, there were two games that truly tested my brother's and my will to ask for a PlayStation 2. One of these was Final Fantasy X. After adoring the PlayStation Final Fantasy games and much of Squaresoft's catalog on Sony's first system, it only made sense for us to have extreme hype for the first Final Fantasy on a bold new platform. Final Fantasy was already impressive and exceptionally large on the PS1, so we couldn't even imagine how big the newest game would be on the PlayStation 2. While the end result wasn't the best game in the series to us--far from it--Final Fantasy X will always have a special place in at least my heart for being the bait that lured us to the PlayStation 2's sunny shores.

[PlayStation 3]

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

I should take the time to note that my family has never actually gotten a PlayStation platform at launch. But, if there was a case of purchasing one the closest to launch, that would be the case with the PlayStation 3. That's funny because we would both argue that the PS3 was Sony's weakest home console in terms of library. Regardless, my love for the Ratchet & Clank series' PlayStation 2 outings, especially Going Commando--my first game in the series--saw me absolutely drooling at the thought of playing the newest entry. Not only would be a bigger and bolder adventure, but it'd be in glorious high definition for the first time. That game was of course Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, and thank the lovely lombax for that, or else I would have never gotten to play his other PS3 adventures or this next game on this list.

LittleBigPlanet

"Play, Create, Share." I love making video games. Sure, I've only published one real game, but the act of creating levels, designing characters, and implementing all of it to work into one cohesive project is both exciting and fascinating to me. LittleBigPlanet came with the promise of being able to create massively complex level creations and share them with the world. You can bet I enjoyed doing just that! LittleBigPlanet quickly jumped to the top, right by Ratchet & Clank, as my favorite PlayStation franchises, and basically I'll now go anywhere Sackboy as well as Media Molecule does!

[PlayStation Portable]

Mega Man: Powered Up

Let's take a detour from PlayStation consoles to Sony's handheld efforts starting with the PlayStation Portable, or PSP. Another case of getting the system almost a year after launch like several other PlayStation systems, we did the same with the PSP. However, this time around I did something I never did before--I bought a game before even owning the system. Yes, my love for the Blue Bomber was so much that I NEEDED to own a copy of Mega Man: Powered Up, a remake of the original Mega Man with new content. The main selling point and killer app-potential for me with Powered Up was, like LittleBigPlanet, the ability to create and share my own levels. The fact that it was dolled up in Mega Man clothing, one of my favorite franchises, only made that decision stronger. 

[PlayStation Vita]

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

With the PlayStation Vita, despite all three of the games that attracted me to the system were launch titles, I didn't purchase a Vita until six months or so after the fact. Nevertheless, one of the top titles that enticed me to buy a Vita was Nathan Drake's then-latest adventure, and his first handheld epic, too: Uncharted: Golden Abyss. While I could have done without several of the hardware-themed gameplay gimmicks, there was something mightily impressive about taking a PlayStation 3-sized, graphically gorgeous adventure and having it in the palms of my hands. This was an amazing future for portables. Little did I know that the PlayStation Vita wouldn't have as bright of a future as many owners like myself would have hoped from Sony's first-party studios.

Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational

If there was ONE game that I had to pick that single-handedly thrusted me into the PlayStation Vita ecosystem, it would have to be none other than Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational. I adore the Hot Shots Golf series, now known as Everybody's Golf here in North America to match the PAL naming scheme. The game's phenomenal visuals certainly wowed me as an introduction, but what really got me was the tried and true excellent golfing gameplay. Developer Clap Hanz definitely knows how to make a great golf game, and while it's not the best in the series, it certainly shines as a bright title in the Vita's impressive library.

ModNation Racers: Road Trip

If you haven't picked up on the theme yet (and no worries if you haven't), something that gets me running to a game, or in this case putting the pedal to the metal on a game faster than 200cc Mario Kart is a game that allows me to create my own content. ModNation Racers: Road Trip was one of these games, and it was in one of my favorite genres, the kart racer. Not only was the allure of designing my own custom tracks appealing, but so was building my own karts and characters! I spent so many hours designing content for Road Trip, yes, but the single player campaign was also a blast all by itself to its own credit. A double dose of kart racer awesomeness, indeed--whether creating or actually racing!

[PlayStation 4]

Ratchet & Clank

With the PlayStation 4, I did something I never did before with a console: I bought it used and online, and I did it just for Ratchet & Clank, the re-imagining of the very first game in the series and tie-in to the movie of the same name. The latter was a bust, but the game itself was my favorite upon the year of its release. Both Ratchet and Clank never looked better, and the various planets and environments seen throughout the game absolutely stunned. The risk of buying a used console online ultimately paid off. I got the system for a price I could realistically afford, and I got to enjoy one of Sony's best lineups of games on offer for one of their platforms.

[PlayStation 5 ...eventually!]

Astro's Playroom

While the jury's still out on when a PlayStation 5 will grace the SuperPhillip household--due to the console's incredible and insane popularity that sees sellouts on the words "we now have stock"--I know that one game that I just can't wait to try out is Astro's Playroom. Plus, it comes free with the system, so that's a plus already! Add in the fact that it's a 3D platformer (another plus) and that it looks adorable, charming, and masterfully made as all get out, and I have more than enough reasons to be jealous of gamers who can put Astro's Playroom on their "best of 2020" lists!

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Hopefully the stock situation with the PlayStation 5 clears up by the time this last game on my personal journey through PlayStation releases. It's my favorite PlayStation franchise's latest game, and I don't know if I'll have the self control and patience to wait for stock to come in after Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart releases. I might just pay people to rent their PS5s! Okay, okay. I wouldn't be THAT desperate, but my desire to play Rift Apart at launch is darn near excruciating. Between the visuals that make my jaw fall down to and through the floor, to the awesome gameplay showcase that Sony showed several months back, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will most likely be the game that puts Sony's shiny new white toy in my entertainment system... that is, if that large goliath fits in there!

===

What games on PlayStation systems were YOUR killer apps that made you want to get those systems? Let the SPC community know in the comments below!

Asphalt Injection (Vita) Retro Review

It's been a long time, but Retro Reviews are back on SuperPhillip Central! The only difference is that a game only need be five years or older to qualify as retro instead of being a gen or two old. Regardless, Asphalt 9 is coming to the Nintendo Switch sometime soon, so I took that news and decided to check out one of the Asphalt series's many portable offerings in the meantime. Hence, here is SuperPhillip Central's retro review of Asphalt Injection for the PlayStation Vita.

Doesn't kick quite as much asphalt as it could.

The Asphalt series is no stranger to mobile devices--now with the series up to its ninth numbered installment. With the launch of the PlayStation Vita, Ubisoft and Gameloft joined forces to put the series on the platform with Asphalt Injection. Considering one can play the Asphalt games on mobile for free, there wasn't much of an incentive for launch Vita owners to invest in Injection for a full $30 entry in the series. That said, now the game is available for a much cheaper price--especially on the used circuit--Asphalt Injection is a competent and worthwhile enough arcade-style racer to check out if you've got the need for speed and already exhausted the roster of other racers on the portable PlayStation Vita platform.

Asphalt Injection comes stocked with fifteen different races that each have five unlockable versions to them. From the humble beginnings of speeding through the canals and into the Hollywood foothills of Los Angeles to the highly technical city and winding countryside circuit of Hong Kong, Asphalt Injection will take you on a racing journey around the world in its unique locations. Each track sports multiple shortcuts and alternate paths, some more obvious than others, to help shave seconds off your lap times as well as get the jump on opponents.

Who needs to go on a Ferris wheel when you're in a much more exciting ride?

The main draw to Asphalt Injection, especially as online is pretty much impossible to find anyone to play with, is the single player campaign mode. This puts you in twenty increasingly more challenging series of five events each. Some are simple races and time trials, while others are elimination-style races, one-on-one duels, drift challenges, police pursuit missions, and events where you try to cause as much destruction as possible--whether by ramming into other opponents, making them wipe out, or smashing into roadside obstacles.

Drifting isn't just great to negotiate a track's twists and turns; it's also great to earn extra cold, hard cash!

The campaign is already jam-packed with races and events for any purchaser of Asphalt Injection to get enough longevity out of, but the optional goal of earning up to five stars per event makes it that there's even more racing goodness that can be squeezed out of the game. Stars are earned for completing events beyond the minimum requirements, and beating side tasks, which range from not crashing too much, drifting a certain distance, or performing enough knockdowns--which are imposed crashes you cause on other opponents' cars.

Speaking of cars, there's a pretty solid selection of different cars to choose from. All, however, handle the exact same. The only difference is each car's top speed. The more expensive cars that unlock and become available for purchase obviously have the higher top speeds, which are pretty much mandatory to win later races. The fact that cars all handle similarly to one another can be interpreted as a good thing and a bad thing. Bad that a basic sedan handles the same as a full-fledged racing rig--which isn't the most realistic thing in the world--but good that there isn't a learning curve when switching from car to car. The latter is something you'll do a lot during the game as you earn enough money to purchase new cars and trick them out with upgrades to boosts, steering, acceleration, and more.

What a sweet ride. Could do without the Nickelodeon orange, though.

The racing itself of Asphalt Injection obviously leans more towards a casual arcade feel than anything realistic, and that is something one would expect from a series which has roots in mobile gaming and is trying to appeal to the pick-up-and-play masses. While there is the option for tilt controls and using the Vita's rear touch controls as a paddle shift of sorts, I was more comfortable using traditional analog controls, especially when the more technical and trickier of tracks entered the picture.

Asphalt Injection's handling feels nice for the most part, but when it comes to drifting, it can be hard to exit from said drifts. This turns into some slipping and sliding across the circuits, which can also lead to unintentional crashes. As for crashes, the way the game can pretty much flip a coin on whether your car crashes completely against a wall or simply bumps off it, can be a bit frustrating. Frustrating, too, is that Asphalt Injection employs a crash cam when you "knock down" another opponent. It takes away you control of your vehicle entirely, and I've had it where after the crash cam gives me back control of my car, I wind up conveniently colliding my front end into oncoming traffic.

Some events pit you against one other racer for one driven duel.

Visually, when compared to other launch titles on the PlayStation Vita, Asphalt Injection doesn't really make the best impression. It's not an ugly game, by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn't evoke any excitement whatsoever. On the audio side, you're greeted by a female voice over who does a nice job of introducing each track during their openings, but she gets rather grating as you do the actual races. I didn't particularly care to be chastised for not being able to see an oncoming driver around a blind turn and told that I "deserved" to crash. Meanwhile, the music selection is a mix of serviceable techno and electronic music, fitting for the genre but not too amazing.

Not exactly a visually stunning PlayStation Vita game, is it?

If you're going to play Asphalt Injection in 2019, just know you're going to be playing it for the single player experience. Well, that is, unless you can find someone willing to play online with you, and with even more luck, if you can find someone to play locally via ad hoc play. For a solo game and for a cheap price, Asphalt Injection has a good deal of fun to it, but it's more a game for those who have already exhausted the more prominent and positively received arcade racers in the Vita's library. As is, Asphalt Injection has some solid track design, a great deal of solo content, and strong enough gameplay to be worthwhile enough to check out.

[SPC Says: C]

Furwind (NSW, PS4, PSV, PC) Review

We're in middle of the month, and it's time for the first review of July. Don't worry--things are about to pick up review-wise for the month! For the time being, let's take a look at Furwind, a 2D pixel art action-platformer from publisher JanduSoft.

This fur doesn't really fly.

In an age where 2D indie platformers are a dime a dozen (figuratively speaking, of course), it's growing increasingly more difficult for developers to differentiate their game from the rest of the pack. Enter Furwind, a pixel art-based 2D platformer that's solid enough on the surface, but control issues and level design quirks make for a game that stands out for the wrong reasons.

There are various types of levels within Furwind, but the primary type has you moving through a veritable maze of platforming challenges in order to seek out two halves of a medallion. These medallions are dropped by mini-bosses found in special rooms in levels. Once the medallion has been assembled, the exit portal of the level opens up, and it's just a matter of reaching it to complete the level.

The pixel art in Furwind is truly remarkable.

Furwind uses a checkpoint system where you pay in-game currency to utilize a checkpoint, and each time you use a checkpoint, the price to use it again goes up. Thus, strategic use of checkpoints is encouraged, but I found checkpoints to be too sparse anyway. The danger wasn't having enough money to use a checkpoint; the danger was not finding a checkpoint in time before dying, and then having to redo a significant amount of progress all over again.

Checkpoints aren't the only thing currency is good for. Within the world map is a shop where you can purchase health, stamina, and other types of upgrades using the currency you've collected in levels. These optional goodies can make the difficult action-platforming adventure that is Furwind all the more manageable.

"Whatcha' buyin'?" Oh, wait. Wrong vendor and wrong game.

I say "optional", but for less patient players, they're more mandatory than anything else. Furwind is a hard game, and part of that is in the mechanics themselves. For one, our fox hero has poor reach with his main mode of attacking, flinging his tail. The ungenerous range of the tail resulted in more than my fair share of aggravating and unfair damage from enemies because I had to get dangerously close just to hit them, or use insanely tight timing to land an attack. Further, but more well designed is the stamina gauge, where every attack our hero uses depletes some of the gauge. It steadily refills and recharges after a few seconds or so, but it discourages spamming the attack button to get through the game. That said, our hero can be caught with his tail down when he's unable to attack and a deluge of enemies march his way.

Other level types include specific platforming, battle, and puzzle challenges that unlock from discovering scrolls within the previously mentioned levels in the game. These challenges require plenty of skill to complete, and some are infuriating in their level of difficulty. More so due to the fact that some are lengthy enough that death results in having to do the challenge all the way back from the beginning. Meanwhile, the last type of level in Furwind has you rescuing villagers in cages by defeating all of the enemies within the immediate vicinity.

Looks like someone brought a tail to a shaman fight.

There are three chapters within Furwind, and they feature similar level types in each and a similar stable of foes as well. While forest and dungeon towers were favorites of mine, the levels where your vision is obscured in a cave of darkness and your only way of survival is to collect fireflies that light the way I detested. Between the small field of vision that resulted in cheap hits and the strict timing to collect fireflies before the darkness enveloped my character, it was a test of patience than anything else.

Each chapter concludes with a challenging boss battle.

Despite being an adequate action-platformer with pretty pixel art and good enough mechanics, frustrating checkpoint design, those blasted cave levels, and the difficulty of the game for some unfair reasons mar what would otherwise be a solid recommendation from me. As is, Furwind is a game that neither exudes enough excellence nor sets itself apart from the 2D indie platforming pack enough to completely forgive the many problems the game possesses.

[SPC Says: C+]

A review code was provided for this game.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (PS4, XB1, NSW, PC, Wii U, Vita) Review

Most recently released on the Nintendo Switch, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero seemed like a perfect game to review on SuperPhillip Central due to the announcement of Shantae 5. I like to pretend I'm always this clever, but longtime readers have had to withstand some of my truly terrible review taglines for a while now. Regardless, here's the SPC review of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero.

I dream of half-genie.

With the announcement of Shantae 5 (sure, it's just a teaser logo and nothing more, but don't kill my buzz, people!), I felt compelled to try out a game that lingered on the shelf of my family's PlayStation 4 collection for a while now--Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. After taking some time to fully complete the game, I feel ashamed for not giving it my attention sooner. I was looking for an engaging 2D platformer, and it seems my wish for one has been granted with WayForward's latest.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is structured differently from a Metroid-style game. Rather than having an interconnected world to it, Half-Genie Hero has a world map that you select various levels from. As you advance in the story, new areas are unlocked to visit and revisit. Revisiting areas with new abilities that Shantae didn't have before opens up the levels to reach new locations inside them to acquire methods of progressions and various collectibles.

Shantae's long purple locks aren't just for show--they're also good for whipping up on enemies.

It could have been extraordinarily tedious and repetitive to constantly return to past levels to collect this and that when new abilities are earned, but thankfully, Half-Genie Hero has a fast travel option that can be purchased in the in-game shop. This allows Shantae to warp to the next section of level without the need to run through it yourself. That said, it still would have been nice for levels with multiple sections to allow players to simply warp to the section they wanted instead of having to warp to one section after the other.

Half-Genie Hero has Shantae discovering animal transformations to turn into, granting her different powers and abilities, as well as extra mobility to reach areas otherwise inaccessible. For instance, the monkey transformation allows Shantae to climb quickly up walls and fit through narrow passages, whereas the crab transformation grants her the power to explore the underwater depths. There are just under a dozen unique transformations in the game, and of this number, eight of them are required to reach the end of the game.

Monkey see, monkey climb.

The animal transformations have numerous abilities that can be added to their arsenals, allowing even more uses for each. Whether it's the crab's claw that can snip through grass blocks underwater, the elephant's ability to pound the ground to break blocks and uncover buried treasure, or the harpy's ability to fling her talons at enemies as a means to defend herself, the added abilities make already awesome transformations even more interesting and fun to use. Some abilities are more useful than others--for instance, the bat's sonar ability is only used for one room in the game--but most have multiple uses.

Half-Genie Hero possesses a plethora of collectibles to uncover and collect, as well as goods to purchase in the game's shop located in the town. From collectibles that increase Shantae's maximum health and keys that unlock concept art in the gallery, to goods for sale like unique magic moves and equipment that boosts attack, defense, and magic, getting 100% completion in Half-Genie Hero takes some commitment. However, at the same token, even performing this task doesn't take too terribly long. My first run through the game with everything in the game collected took just over five hours.

That's not to say Half-Genie Hero isn't worth the price of admission. Quite the opposite, in fact. Shantae's latest is a game that begs for repeated play-throughs, and is a speed runner's dream. It's a game that doesn't overstay its welcome, and when I was finished with a run through the game, I eagerly yearned for more. I'll take that over a game that lingers too long and I shelve it forever after beating it once.

Shantae's monkey form can also leap incredibly high.

Wayforward took the presentation approach of a previous title in its catalog, DuckTales Remastered, and pepped it up for Half-Genie Hero. There's the same 3D environments with gorgeous 2D spritework, and it looks absolutely sensational. The most astonishing visuals come from sections of the game that wraparound in a tower-like setting and feature bosses that take up the entire screen.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is a visual treat and delight.

Meanwhile, Jake Kaufman delivers yet another fantastic soundtrack that is mix of modern instrumentation with an infectiousness that harks back to the NES classics he's been noted to be inspired by. Voice clips by characters are occasionally uttered by characters both during gameplay and during various scenes, which is a nice touch, though I'd be lying if I didn't wish every line of dialog in cutscenes was fully voiced. Then again, for Kickstarted project, that's probably not overly realistic of me.

"IT'S A GIANT WORM!" ...Sorry. I was having Gears of War 2 flashbacks for a moment there.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is without a doubt my favorite Shantae game yet. It contains a platforming adventure that is just long enough to be satisfying without feeling cheated out of more, and when I did want more, I could sit down and play through the game again due to its relatively short length. Half-Genie Hero is a game many fans wished for, and like a genie, WayForward happily granted their wish. I'm happy the development team did, too, because Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is another terrific entry in a vastly underrated series.

[SPC Says: B+]

Dragon Quest Builders (NSW, PS4, Vita) Review

We had a Clustertruck and then a ClusterPuck, and now we have a Dragon Ball FighterZ and a Dragon Quest Builders! The latter is the focus of this next review, a game available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita.

If you build it, they will come.

Dragon Quest is a series that has dabbled in more genres than just its traditional RPG background. Dragon Quest Monsters took the series in a Pokemon-like direction, whereas something more recent like Dragon Quest Heroes brought the series forward into a Musou experience. Now, Dragon Quest as a series gets yet another spin-off, this time tinkering around in a world similar to Minecraft. While the ability to create what you desire with blocks is very much similar to Notch's creation, Dragon Quest's take on Minecraft, Dragon Quest Builders, brings with it a story, RPG elements, and a structure to help players who need motivation to push on. Does Dragon Quest Builders create an architectural triumph, or does it create a condemned building instead?

Dragon Quest Builders begins with your builder--able to be slightly customized by gender, hair, and color options--waking up from a deep slumber inside a crypt. A voice calls out to the builder, telling him or her (for convenience's sake we'll just refer to the builder as a "he" from now on) of how the Dragonlord has corrupted the kingdom of Alefgard, blanketing it in darkness. Telling the builder how to escape from the crypt, this omnipresent voice summons a banner for the builder, asking him to plant it in the middle of what was the former grounds of a town. Through Dragon Quest Builders's four chapters, this is pretty much always how each begins. You take a banner and plant it in a new town. You also lose all of your items, materials, equipment, and health boosts after each chapter, but the game is designed in a way where that limitation not only doesn't harm the overall game but it makes sense in the grand scheme of things.

As soon as the feat of planting the banner in what is left of the first town of Dragon Quest Builders is accomplished, a nearby visitor sees the light shining from the banner and arrives at the encampment. As you play along through a given chapter, more and more visitors will show up, and they will make their home at your base. All of these characters have requests that need completing in order to progress in the adventure. Some task you with building rooms for them, some want you to collect a specific item for them, while others might want you to take down a certain enemy in the surrounding lands. You earn rewards for completing quests, and many of these are quite helpful, whether as health-restoring items, health-increasing items, or materials to assist in building various creations.

From small beginnings comes the little town that could.

Building things in Dragon Quest Builders requires materials. Some are as simple as striking the earth around you to acquire blocks to make buildings and rooms in your town. Others are more involved, requiring a combination of materials to create one item, whether a completely new material, a piece of furniture, or what have you. Creations are made on special pieces of equipment like workstations, forges, cookfires, among others. Without one of these, you can't create anything from materials. You start off with the most basic of equipment to build creations with, and as you progress in chapters, you learn new recipes to build new inventions. 

These three doodads here are used to create specific material and furniture types.

You most likely won't always have the proper amount of materials for a given creation. This is where the grind rears its head in with Dragon Quest Builders. Sometimes you'll have to search, seek out, and find locations of a particular material and acquire as many as you can hold. Other times you won't even know where to find a particular material, so this means constantly moving from area to area searching high and low for your desired material, wherever it may be hiding. Early on, you can only hold so many materials and items at once. If you run out of space, you can't pick anything new up, and you'll have to "clean out your fridge"--cycle in and out items and materials from your on-hand inventory. Thankfully, in most chapters, you do get to build early on a chest that enables you to magically and automatically send excess items and materials inside it if your inventory is full. This is especially nice and convenient because you don't even have to go back to town to grab goods out of the chest. Instead, you can just select what you want from a menu while you travel.

The act of building itself isn't too complicated. When you get ready to place something down, such as blocks or a piece of furniture, a yellow cube will appear in front of your builder, showing where it will be placed upon hitting the build button. You can also press the shoulder buttons to set things a block higher or lower than where your builder is currently positioned. Another button keeps you looking forward, making it easy to place multiple things one after another in a row or column. While this is all well and good, when it comes down to tearing something down, it gets rather tedious--especially if you placed a room in a less-than-optimal location. This means if you don't like where you placed this giant room with loads of furniture in it, you'll have to take your sword, ax, or hammer and destroy it all and rebuilding it. At least that's how it works in the Story mode.

Placing blocks and objects in Dragon Quest Builders is mostly a pain-free experience.

Like the act of building, the act of fighting in Dragon Quest Builders is also uncomplicated, but in this case, it's to the game's detriment. All battles involve is running up to an enemy, striking them, and moving away in order to evade their own offensive. The problem with this is that most of the time I wouldn't take HP damage from an actual attack; I'd take damage from accidentally getting too close to the enemy and touching them, causing my builder to get hit. The hit boxes and collision detection in Dragon Quest Builders leave something to be desired. It makes for clunky, unsatisfying, occasionally frustrating combat. 

My, aren't YOU the looker!

And, combat is a focus apart from building things in Dragon Quest Builders. You need to fight enemies to gain exclusive materials that only they hold, you need to defend your town against enemies when they show up, and you need to take down foes to simply progress in the game. Thus, the faults of Dragon Quest Builders's simplistic and imprecise combat shine prevalent throughout the duration of the game since it's so frequent.

Taking more damage from running into enemies than them actually attacking
you isn't that uncommon an occurrence, unfortunately.

Outside of following along with the story and doing mandatory quests for the various visitors that arrive at your base in each chapter, there are also side quests and specific challenges to take on in an optional amount. Side quests are given from NPCs found in the wild, and the rewards are generally worth seeking them out and completing their tasks. As for challenges, there are five in each of the four chapters in Dragon Quest Builders. These have you doing the most with each chapter's areas--fully exploring them for secrets, venturing into optional areas of the game, and even one for each chapter where you must do a speed run to satisfying conditions. These chapter challenges award content within the much welcomed free-build mode of Dragon Quest Builders, named Terra Incognita, where there are limited rules, but the possibilities are limitless.

I'm going to grow me a radish as big as ye' head!

Dragon Quest Builders has a satisfying presentation with its world devised up voxels, lending to an old school, nostalgic, retro appearance. Characters are detailed well enough, though animations weren't too appealing to me. They were rather too basic. The third-person perspective used in the game works wonders when needing to survey the land outside, but when you enter into caverns or insanely cramped spaces, the camera does get a bit on the troublesome side. What isn't troublesome, however, is the multitude of musical remixes from past Dragon Quest games that will make any fan of the franchise smile. 

If you like the idea of Minecraft in theory, but need a little more direction in your games, then Dragon Quest Builders is more than a suitable alternative. In some regards, it's a bit more like ActRaiser than Minecraft. Regardless of which of these two games it's most similar to (and those two games are terrific company to be in), Dragon Quest Builders carves out its own niche, creating a highly enjoyable take on the franchise and another stellar spin-off for the series.

[SPC Says: B]

Squareboy vs. Bullies: Arena Edition (NS, Vita) Review

Squareboy vs. Bullies originally released on mobile platforms. Now, it has been given two dedicated platform releases in the form of a Nintendo Switch and PlayStation Vita update with this new Arena Edition. Let's see if this tale of revenge has more to it than it seems!

Revenge is a dish best served squared.

What happens when you're a weak Squareboy, and you get roughed up by some bullies at school? You seek out to toughen yourself up by heading to the dojo to learn the self-defense, fighting know-how to protect yourself if an incident like that occurs again! But what happens when you decide to take on those bullies that beat you up on and come back to find their fellow bullies destroyed your master's dojo? You go medieval on their 8-bit bully butts. That's the premise of Squareboy vs. Bullies: Arena Edition, a game that has just arrived on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation Vita's digital marketplaces. For five bucks, does this beat-em-up have more going for it than its "been there, done that" story?

In the beginning, two Bullies beat Squareboy up,
but by the end of the game, Squareboy will beat down over 300 Bullies.

Squareboy vs. Bullies: Arena Edition takes Squareboy all over the city in search of bullies to beat up and revenge to serve. If you're familiar with any kind of beat-em-up, then you should not be too surprised by what's on offer with this game. Though, maybe how basic Squareboy vs. Bullies is will make you surprised in a negative way, as you're just moving through environments, defeating waves of enemies with pugilistic power, and occasionally using the bullies' own weapons against them.

That all sounds nice and most of the time it's relatively competent and innocuous. However, movement and combat feel a bit too clunky in the control department. Every move in the game, from your punches and kicks, to your dashes and uppercuts, are all utilized by hitting one attack button. It's just that the direction of the control pad or the analog stick (or in some cases, the amount of times you press said directions) when you instigate an attack affects which move you pull off. The upside with this control setup is simplicity and accessibility. The downside is frustration with trying to perform one move and then you accidentally initiate another.

There is also the problem with every button being used as an attack because Squareboy would play much better if some of the attack commands weren't all tied to the same button. It's understandable why the devs didn't go this direction in an effort to cater to players of all ages, but it made it for me that I oftentimes happened to be too close to an enemy and accidentally grabbed them instead of straight up punched them. This would result in me getting surrounded by foes, having a significant portion of my health taken away in the process. Considering you only get one life per level, and it can make five minute levels where you die at the end due to cheap attacks from not being able to successfully get out of a combo all the more irritating.

Squareboy's the captain of this ship now.

Sure, the controls can be quite aggravating, but how do the levels in Squareboy vs. Bullies: Arena Edition end up being? Unfortunately, they do little to excite as well, simply being devised up of straight side-scrolling affairs where you move from left to right (or, to add some much-needed variety, right to left) and beat up the same enemies over and over again -- this time with a bad guy wearing a bowler hat and this time with a baseball cap-wearing bully who chucks baseballs at you. There are also no level hazards of any type, so all there is to worry about is those baddie bullies.

Meanwhile, the backgrounds are banal and don't much offer eye candy to look at. This makes the 13 levels in the game quite tedious to battle through. Thankfully, there's no real reason to play Squareboy's adventure through a second time (unless you somehow find ennui fun) because by the end of the adventure you'll have most, if not all trophies unlocked anyway. Even that's not implemented in the best way because when a trophy's unlocked, there's about a one second freeze in gameplay before the notification icon pops up.

As a beat-em-up, Squareboy vs. Bullies: Arena Edition is competent but unremarkable. It has small style but limited substance, making it a game you'll quickly forgot about after playing, even if you desire to see it to the end. (I did not.) On storefronts with much more appealing and rich gaming experiences, Squareboy vs. Bullies: Arena Edition just doesn't compete.

[SPC Says: D]

Review copy provided by Ratalaika Games.

Run Sackboy! Run! (iOS, Android, Vita) Review

This weekend seems to be taking a mobile direction. I have no qualms with that! The next game to get the review treatment is Run Sackboy! Run!, a mobile spin-off of one of my favorite PlayStation franchises, LittleBigPlanet. As a fan, do I like this game? More importantly, if I wasn't a fan, would I like this game? Let's find out with the SuperPhillip Central review!

Is saying Run Sackboy! Run! is fun a pure fabric-cation?

The gaming world loves Mario, and many publishers have tried to come up with a character that even becomes half as successful as Nintendo's biggest star. There have been many contenders in the past with SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog and Sony's own Crash Bandicoot, but both have fallen to wayside in popularity. Since then, Sony's PlayStation brand hasn't really focused on making a rival to Mario, at least until Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet came around starring the ever-customizable Sackboy. He's made big strides with his series built off of creation and curation, and he's even starred in his own kart racer. It seems he checks all the boxes of what a platforming mascot should be.

In 2014 on iOS and Android devices and then 2015 on the PlayStation Vita, Sackboy entered the mobile domain. Sackboy's adventure took the form of an endless runner, a genre that was in no shortage on mobile devices then and is in no shortage on mobile devices now. It takes a lot to distinguish oneself from the myriad other endless runners on the market, so does the LittleBigPlanet-themed Run Sackboy! Run! do enough to do so?

Well, not really. Sure, as I stated, Run Sackboy! Run! has the entire LittleBigPlanet dressing to it. It features the second game's antagonist the Negativatron chasing Sackboy as he runs along randomly pieced together sections of level, trying to avoid spikes, enemies, and other hazards. The levels themselves are generated in a way that makes every run different. Yes, you'll recognize beginnings and ends of level parts, but the way everything else is connected will vary. The game has multiple pathways, some leading to greater rewards but with higher risks, and environmental hints like arrows in the background and lines of bubbles reveal ways to smartly run and jump through the levels to survive.

The way bubbles are positioned in runs helps in determining when to jump.

The original LittleBigPlanet saw a multitude of unique areas, so it's a "little" disappointing that only three areas from that game appear in Run Sackboy! Run! You begin in the forested Gardens, then move to the science fiction haven of Avalonia, and then rush through the cactus-covered Canyons before starting the process over again only with altered visuals, closer together hazards, and a brisker running speed for Sackboy.

A run goes on until Sackboy takes damage from a spike or enemy (or other type of hazard) or gets caught in pink goo for too long and the Negativatron catches up to him and swallows him whole. If players have them, they can use a heart to revive Sackboy and continue the run from the point of death, but otherwise the run ends and the point total is tallied, added to a leaderboard. The goal is to reach the top of the leaderboard, devised up of character e close to the top of the leaderboard in the early going of the game.

When players begin Run Sackboy! Run!, they start off with no point multiplier at all, but as special goals are completed (like performing so many dashes in one section of the game or hitting a specific number of jump pads in one run), they gain Sackboy medals. When five are gained, a multiplier is added. Also, bubbles collected in various runs can be used to buy new costumes for Sackboy, also increasing the player's multiplier with each new costume purchased. These continued goals being laid out to the player is essentially the game's "carrot on a stick" that intends to keep them playing more and more.

You get three goals to attempt at one time with the option of skipping
particularly challenging goals by spending in-game currency.

And being able to play more and more isn't gated behind some lame stamina gauge or other gate that requires you to wait a specific amount of time before you can play again or have to pay money to do so. The only purchases available come in the form of bubbles, hearts used for continues, and permanent boosts like double bubbles. These are merely ways to get to the top of the leaderboards (either the in-game character one or Facebook-only one) more quickly. Purely inessential to the overall enjoyment of the game.

What Run Sackboy! Run! suffers from, however, is a twofold problem. For one, it doesn't take too terribly long for repetition to set in. Doing the same types of runs, grinding for bubbles, slowly getting enough to buy upgrades and new costumes, and so on and so forth-- it becomes stale after awhile. The second, and most disappointing, is how the developer of Run Sackboy! Run! merely made an endless runner with a LittleBigPlanet coating instead of a game that exudes and celebrates the many elements of the series. Whether it's being able to customize your Sackboy with different costume parts instead of just a handful of different costumes or even being able to create and share your own runner levels with friends and online-- I feel a ball has been dropped severely with how far the devs could have run with the LittleBigPlanet license.

As if the sharp barbs of the cacti weren't enough in the Canyons, there are these missiles to contend with!

That said, runs do offer some variety, as there are different power-ups that can be collected. These come in the form of bubble-attracting magnets, jetpacks that transform levels into pure flight sections where the goal is to hover along strings of bubbles, and a hang glider which is used to soar across distances. These power-ups offer temporary uses, but by spending bubbles, you can extend how long these last.

Propel Sackboy into these strings of bubbles for an excellent means to add to his wallet (and point total).

Another positive about Run Sackboy! Run! is the ease of the controls, regardless of if you're playing on a smartphone, tablet, or PlayStation Vita. Just tap to make Sackboy jump (a quick tap will do a short jump while a lengthier tap will do a higher jump), slide your finger to the right to have Sackboy perform a quick dash forward, and when enough bubbles have been collected and you desire to use it, tap the bottom left corner to initiate a protective shield around Sackboy which will block all damage from hazards and enemies (even allowing him to reach otherwise deadly alternate paths) for a short period of time.

As it stands, Run Sackboy! Run! is just a good endless runner that doesn't do enough to feel unique on platforms with so many better, more creative, and more distinctive endless runners on them. If you have no attachment to the LittleBigPlanet series, then you're probably not going to find too much to enjoy about this game. Fans of Sackboy and Media Molecule's franchise will have some fun here, much like I did, but it won't be too long before you feel like you're going through the motions and feeling strung along.

[SPC Says: C]

Ys Origin (PS4) Review

A certain new console from a certain big company behind a certain popular plumber released early this month, but SuperPhillip Central's focus right now for its first review of March is Ys Origin. This PlayStation 4 port was handled by DotEmu, and overall, the port turned out okay. Here's the full review of the PS4 version... then later on this month we'll dive into that certain new console!

This could be the start of something big.

...And it is... somewhat. The Ys series may not have the same level of clout or popularity in the gaming world as RPGs like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, but it has survived and thrived with a dedicated fan base of players both in Japan and on this side of the world. As the title suggests, Ys Origin is a beginning tale that sets the series into full motion. This is a game long before the pursuits and adventures of the series' main hero, the redheaded Adol Christin. The original Ys Origin launched 12 years ago on PCs in Japan. About four years ago, XSEED Games finally localized the game for Western markets. Now, DotEmu brings the game to a home console for the first time with this PlayStation 4 port. It's overall imperfect even when compared to XSEED's initial offering, but it's worth a look regardless.

Ys Origin has you taking on the role of one of two characters that you can select from right from the get-go of the game, either the close quarters, axe-wielder Yunica Tovah or the magic-using Hugo Fact. Your character is a part of a search party that enters a foreboding structure known as The Devil's Tower. The search is to find a pair of missing goddesses that entered into the tower for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, there is a nefarious and pure evil group wishing to not just harness but to unleash the demonic energy from something called the Black Pearl, and they interact with our heroes throughout their climb up the tower.

Regardless of who you select to play as at the start of the game, the main journey plays out the same. Only there are different conversations between characters as well as a slightly changed order of bosses to take on. The main discrepancy between the two characters is how they play. Yunica is a hard-hitting, close-range wielder of an axe. Her attacks are slow, but they do some significant damage. Meanwhile, Hugo uses a volley of light energy to attack foes, requiring constant presses of the attack command to unleash each series of shots. Along each characters' adventure, they'll come across specific items granting wind, thunder, and fire skills. While Yunica's wind skill involves her spinning her axe like a whirlwind, Hugo's wind skill gives him a temporary shield that can be used to deal damage to nearby foes as well as slow his descent across small distances.

Sometimes a wizard just needs a breath of the outdoor air.

Each characters' unique ways of attacking means that players can and will practically have to change up how they tackle the various battles they face, whether typical enemy onslaughts or battles with bosses. In addition to Yunica and Hugo, a third playable character is available once the initial two character stories have been completed. Note: This is unlike the XSEED Games Steam version, which only required players to beat one of the two stories to unlock the third. This may sound extremely tedious-- playing through the same game thrice-- but three things keep Ys Origin from growing stale quickly. First is the gameplay variety in how each of the three play. Then, there's their individual tales shining more light on the overall story. Finally, there's the ability to play on different difficulties, making enemies harder and boss battles all the more brutal.

For those who haven't played either the Japanese original or XSEED's localized Steam version, Ys Origin plays similarly to Ys games like Oath in Felghana and Ark of Napishtim and not like the more modern Ys Seven and Memories of Celceta. Hugo and Yunica are able to jump freely, meaning there's a focus on both combat and platforming.

And sometimes an apprentice knight... needs a smell of a pool of blood? Wait. What?

Ys Origin totally takes place with The Devil's Tower. Your goal is to move up its 25 floors to the very summit. Despite the idea of this Ys occurring in one place, the theme of each section of floors is different. One is a watery passage with some flooded parts to contend with (requiring finding vases filled with energy for your oxygen meter, lest you wish to drown) while another is themed after desert ruins complete with quicksand and sand slides.

Areas of the tower mostly have you attacking and defeating foes, who don't drop money but instead skill points. These skill points or SP can be used at various save statues to grant permanent boosts to things like decreased MP consumption, the increase of how much SP you gain from a defeated foe, a decrease to how much damage certain terrain like lava or spikes gives you, etc.

Well, you didn't expect them to roll out the red carpet
and let you ride an elevator to the top of this tower, did you?

Ys Origin is less about puzzle-solving like games of its type and more about exploration. Yes, there are some doors that need unlocking, but it's usually as simple as stepping on a nearby button or at most, lighting up several surrounding torches. Exploration not only comes from finding the necessary path of progression, but also discovering plenty of secret areas where and treasure chests are stored, housing things like boosts to your character's skills, new equipment, ore that can be refined to strengthen your weapon, and HP-increasing elixirs.

You know a major segment of the tower is almost over when you reach a giant sealed door requiring a medallion of some kind to fit inside it. Sure, you can occasionally lack the necessary medallion you need, forcing you to backtrack through the current segment, but the areas aren't overwhelming at all in size. Even if you have to return to a previous area of the tower, the ability to fast travel between save statues makes backtracking painless. This makes things like finding the required medallion or key to a door you can't get passed all the less annoying.

I always found myself giddy with excitement when a medallion door
presented itself because that meant a cool boss fight was on the other side.

These medallion doors lead to the tower area's boss, and if you're familiar with the Ys games, then you know what to expect; awesome encounters that are not only amazing in spectacle but battles that will push your action-RPG skills to the limit. Boss battles present you with patterns to learn, openings to find in order to attack the enemy, and the requirement of patience. Merely slashing or striking with no regard will generally end in death quite quickly. Due to the fact that there is no way of healing your character in battle, these climactic encounters require you to pay attention, endure, and most importantly rely on their own skills to overcome. Even through death, a simple hit of the "Retry" prompt will return you to the battle, and if you wish to live to fight another day, when you reload your save, you can fast forward through any preceding dialogue.

You may die once or twice (or ten) times, but finally taking down a tough boss is a great feeling.

Ys Origin originally released near the end of 2006. It's obviously now 2017, so there's no question that what was a dated-looking game then is an even more dated-looking game now. Despite this, everything from the main characters, to the enemies, and to the 3D models of the environments all look well and good. The level of detail isn't tremendous, but what there is here in Ys Origin is pleasant on the eyes. Something that will never be dated is the fantastic score, once again showcasing the Ys series' penchant for awesome soundtracks. Whether it's a pumping theme that plays as you're pushing yourself to survive a particularly tough boss battle or a more melancholy tune that plays during an emotional scene, Ys Origin satisfies with its sound.

However, the work that DotEmu has done in bringing Ys Origin from the PC to the PlayStation 4 isn't without problems. A big one is the occasional crashing of the game, so make sure if you're participating in a grinding session to either level your character up or to accumulate SP, that you remember to occasionally go back and save your progress so you don't lose precious time. Then there's the ridiculously small HUD, which uses tiny icons and even tinier font. This was the type of game I had to sit closer to my TV screen than I would have liked. Smaller issues include some audio and graphical glitches. These don't ruin the experience, but they do lessen the quality of the port.

If you've been waiting for a reason to replay or play Ys Origin for the first time, then this PlayStation 4 port, while greatly imperfect, is still a worthy choice, especially if you want the ability to play it on the go when the PlayStation Vita port releases this May. (Both versions are cross-buy.) While the problems presented in this port make for a less than stellar experience compared to XSEED's Steam version, you still get a fantastic action-RPG for your PlayStation systems while you wait for Lacrimosa of Dana later this year.

[SPC Says: B]

Review copy provided by DotEmu.