PlayStation Vita

Undertale – 7 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 03/07/2022

Posted in: Linux, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification, Switch, Xbox One. Leave a comment

Publisher: Toby Fox

Developer: Toby Fox

Release Date: 09/15/2015

Also Available On

Undertale took the gaming industry by storm. Its Earthbound-inspired humor, innovative combat system, and fun characters drew huge crowds and garnered great sales. The 16-bit RPG was short in length but large in spirit. It’s hard to make you really like a game and remember it in less than five hours, but Toby Fox managed to do it.

You play as a human who wakes up in an underground world run by demons. These demons need one more human soul to break the barrier between our world and theirs. It’s a simple story, but it’s the characters you meet along the way that make up for the overall lacking scope of the game. Sadly. there’s no deep lore, no real backstories to any characters, but the here and now is well done and the dialog is sharp, witty, and fun. The game mocks standard JRPGs and Zelda games all the way through. The beginning tutorial dungeon doesn’t wait to get around to it. Pushing boulders onto blocks just to have one that’s sentient and makes the task harder for you. A lot of different puzzle-solving elements are found anywhere else in the game, but puzzles do exist and they can be quite challenging.

The combat system is the most unique aspect of Undertale. You can attack, but the entire system is mini-game-focused. There is a meter on-screen and you need to press the attack button when it’s in the center. Different weapons move this bar faster or have multiple hits. The enemy attacks are all skill-based. It’s essentially your own fault if you die. The center of the screen shows a white box and your heart is the object that you need to move around to essentially dodge various bullet-hell style mini-games. Spirling projectiles, daggers, flames, you name it. There are several dozen various attacks and each enemy and boss is unique with their own. The game’s other system is its moral system and you can be a pacifist and not kill a single enemy thanks to the Act command. You can try and figure out how to weaken the enemy through charm or talking and spare it via the Mercy command. If the enemy’s name is yellow you can automatically spare it. This is an interesting concept and leads to two different endings based on whether you’re a pacifist or not. If you choose that route you don’t get any XP to level and just get gold which can be used to buy better armor and weapons.

There are a few towns you can visit to shop, but a funny tidbit is you can’t sell anything in the game and the shop owners comment they don’t want your junk. There is one town you can sell at, however, so make sure you save all your old items to score big towards the end of the game. There are also a few side quests you can complete, but these are cryptic and require holding on to certain items throughout the game. The tip here is to save everything in your box near the save points. Don’t drop anything. When you’re not fighting you can solve puzzles, as stated earlier, and these range from mini-games to various switch-based puzzles. Backtracking is thankfully minimal unless you want a certain item at a shop that you couldn’t afford previously.

The sheer variety of the gameplay is astounding. Not a single battle is the same and not any boss battle plays out the same. Sometimes you have to fight, sometimes having a specific item makes the fight easier or ends it instantly. Levels aren’t labyrinthine and difficult to navigate and random battles are minimal as leveling up isn’t quite necessary. At the end of the game, I was level 12 and had the most powerful armor and weapon. Due to the variety and constant changing in the way the game is played it never gets dull or boring. I played through the entire game in one sitting because I wanted to see the ending and the game was just so fun and interesting. I can’t remember the last time I sat through an RPG like this and was this hooked.

The visuals are incredibly charming. They are clearly inspired by Earthbound and each character has a whacky 90s 16-bit era style to them that I adore. The soundtrack is also amazing and I listen to it often outside of the game. Toby Fox did an amazing job with this game and it’s something you only get once in a lifetime. There hasn’t been this unique Western JRPG 16-bit clone that I can remember. Undertale is the perfect RPG. No grinding, fun characters, great writing, charming visuals, fantastic music, and constantly changing gameplay with a unique battle system that has never been done before. If I were to pick something to gripe about it would be the cryptic nature of the items you need to find or hold on to as there are no hints as to needing said item at all. You just end up with a character asking for something or maybe accidentally using an item during a boss fight and having it do something.

Windjammers

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 03/05/2022

Posted in: Nintendo Consoles, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Sony Consoles, Switch. Leave a comment

Publisher: Limited Run Games

Developer: DotEmu

Release Date: 10/23/2018

Also Available On

I have actually never heard of this game before seeing the remastered release make some noise. It’s an arcade game from the mid-90s that basically frisbee with tennis rules. You pick your character based on their speed and power and toss a disc around a court. It sounds way too simple at first and looks simple at first glance, but the controls have a steep learning curve due to the speed of the game.

Don’t expect a story or even a back story for the characters here. This is pure arcade action and it’s all about the sport. The game has an 80s aesthetic of purples, blues, pinks, and oranges. It looks really good and the characters look nice too. There’s a surprising amount of detailed animations here as well, especially for a top-down sports game. The first thing you should do is read the tutorial. It shows animations to help you understand the text, and at first, it seems simple. You can dive for the disc, toss it back, do a curve toss, and a lob. Simple enough. It gets more complicated as you add power for each move. You need to stand still and press up or down on the control stick plus the respective move button. There’s strategy involved in this, but mostly for other players.

That’s the downside here. The AI is downright cheap and I almost felt as if I scored out of pure luck. There’s a difficulty setting of course, but it just feels like you’re playing against an AI and there’s no way around that. There’s online play, which is awesome, but lots of practice against the computer is recommended to get better. You should pick a character and stick with them at first. Faster characters don’t need to dive as much as they can dart around the court, but the slow players rely on diving quite a bit, but they have more power and can toss the disc faster and harder.

There are mini-games thrown in which can help you master the controls and your play style, but the best practice overall is with someone else. This is truly a 2-player competitive sports title through and through. There’s also no more to this game, so it’s great for pick-up and plays and not much else. About 30 minutes per session is all I could stomach before I felt like I was either beating my head into a wall or just couldn’t tolerate the same thing. There’s only one court, and the visuals, while looking fine here, are dated and look blurry, but the control is responsive and there are no audio issues.

Overall, if you hate or don’t want anything to do with 90s arcade games then stay away. There won’t be anything here to interest you. Being an arcade port or remaster there’s not much the developers could have added without breaking the core game. It’s fast-paced, fun, and a blast with another person, but the single-player AI feels cheap and calculating making the game, not as fun. At least there are mini-games to help hone your skills.

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action – 5 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 06/13/2021

Posted in: Linux, Mac, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Unknown, Steam Deck Verification, Switch. Leave a comment

Publisher: Sukeban Games

Developer: Ysbryd Games

Release Date: 06/21/2016

Also Available On

I’m not much of a visual novel fan. I love reading books and grew up reading a lot, but visual novels are basically just digital manga, and I prefer traditional manga. I bought VA-11 Hall-A years ago and never got around to it because there’s so much reading. What got me interested was the bartending aspect. It seemed like a fun time-management mini-game mixed in and I was completely wrong. However, the strongest point with this game is the fun characters and how invested in their stories I became.

You play Julianne Stingray, a bartender in a cyberpunk world setting nearly 100 years in the future. The bar is close to getting shut down and you’re just living life day-to-day until that time comes. The game is pretty slow-paced and takes quite a while to pick up and get interesting. There’s a lot of character setup and it takes such a long time so it feels natural and organic rather than rushed. There isn’t really any gameplay. I spent more time clicking through dialog than anything else, but I did like all the characters. They were fun, unique, and had great personalities that I got attached to. If I were to say there was an ultimate goal it would be to make amends with your ex-girlfriend who you got into a fight with years ago and need to apologize to, but honestly, this is a slice-of-life type of game. You really only need to just read through everything.

You do earn money at the end of every day and this can be spent on items to keep Jill focused at her job. There will be a hint when you get to your apartment as to what she might want. If you don’t buy this item she won’t remember what customers order and you have to remember yourself. There are also major bills that have to be paid so you need to spend wisely. There is also an optional phone you can view various news apps. Just some insight into the world really and nothing that matters towards the main story. There is an option to customize your apartment a bit, but it seemed superfluous in the end and pointless.

As you talk to patrons you have to make their drinks. This seemed fun at first, but it quickly becomes dull and stale by day three of the game. There is a recipe book full of 24 different drinks you can make and you can filter them by flavor and type. Patrons will give hints as to what they want and you sometimes even have to read the descriptions to get cryptic ones correct. Drinks are made with artificial chemicals in this world and you have five. There are squares that fill up with each measurement and you can mix or blend the drink and age it or add ice. That’s literally it. I thought you could upgrade the bar and add new flavors and devices, but this is it. You end up cycling through all 24 drinks early on and maybe 10 repeats constantly. It ends up no longer being fun to make these drinks and just interrupts the story. There are also no instructions on the difference between mixing and blending. You need to count how many times the shaker wiggles and if it starts going fast…that’s blended. If you mess up a drink you lose a bonus at the end of the day. However, you can’t serve messed-up drinks as the game won’t let you. Some drinks allow you to add synthetic alcohol as much or as little as you want and this is supposed to change the story somehow…by making characters spill things when they’re drunker, but I never saw this happen.

The one game mechanic in an otherwise interactive visual novel is boring and somewhat pointless. If there was a much larger selection of drinks, or if I could add some later, or upgrade equipment, that would be fun, but what’s here feels half-assed and tacked on. I also don’t like how we never get to know what’s going on in the world. The game hints at things happening politically and with various corporations, and even a hacking group, but we get nothing in that regard. It’s mostly just what’s going on inside the bar and the characters you meet; it stays very local and centralized. I also felt the visuals while artistically beautiful were boring to look at. There isn’t any change in scenery and the static anime-style characters just change facial expressions. It’s very hard to stare at the same background for nearly a dozen hours and make dozens upon dozens of repeated drinks just to stay invested in a character’s story. If it weren’t for the great characters this game would be utterly boring nonsense.

With that said, VA-11 Hall-A is only worth getting into if you love anime, visual novels, or just like reading books. The bartending aspect is a poorly throughout afterthought that hinders the progress of the story rather than helps it due to the small recipe size and laughable mechanics. I really liked the characters here, and the story ended on a nice note. I expected some sort of twist ending where the bar would close early, or the hackers would take over all the androids and something interesting would happen, but we just get a slice-of-life anime-style bartending experience.

Grim Fandango Remastered – 6 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/16/2021

Posted in: Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, Mobile Reviews, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Switch. Leave a comment

Publisher: Double Fine Productions

Developer: Double Fine Productions

Release Date: 01/26/2015

Also Available On

Time Schaffer games are always hit or miss. He may be a great story writer or character creator, but he’s not a great game designer. I don’t want to come out swinging with everyone thinking I hate Grim Fandango or all Schaffer-made games. A lot of his work is considered some of the best games ever made on PC, which I get, but they’re remembered for their story, atmosphere, and characters – not so much their gameplay.

You play as Manual Calavera. A Mexican salesman of the dead who gets wrapped up in a huge film noir-style story trying to save a mysterious girl, get back at his evil overlord of a boss, and also an evil co-worker. The game is split up into four years. It takes four years for people to travel by foot to the Ninth Level if they don’t qualify for an express train ticket. For some reason, Manny can’t get any good clients yet his co-worker Domino can. You wind up uncovering a plot of fraud, sabotage, subterfuge, and love. I can’t go too far into story details, but they’re quite entertaining enough to keep you pushing on.

And pushing on you will do. The game’s object hunting obtuseness varies from minimal to I will never figure this out without a walkthrough. The way objects are used is very illogical at times and you wonder how Schaffer thought gamers would think in these ways. It doesn’t help that the areas you explore are massive with dozens of hallways and rooms and you can easily miss something that needs picking up or completely bypass something that needs to be interacted with. LucasArts had a lot on their hands with this game as it was the first 3D game they developed and the most sophisticated to date. There’s no object mixing either. Manny stores everything in his cloak/jacket and you must either try everything on every interactive object or simply think in odd obscure ways.

One example early on requires Manny to gum up a pneumatic tube system and get the maintenance demon to open the door. That was fine and all, but the demon left and I couldn’t get in the door. I then had to re-acquire all the items needed to gum up the system again by running down hallways and doing a ton of more backtracking all because I didn’t realize I had to throw the bolt to stop the door from closing. How was I supposed to guess that? You run into these situations every step of the way and it gets exhausting and discouraging. Another scenario requires Manny to take a sign and use it to find a hidden doorway in part of a forest. This forest has doorways that loop back around to the same room and do nothing. How would you know to take that sign from the previous room and use it as a compass to find the hidden doorway in this room? The puzzles are insane and poorly designed and lead to constant frustration. I felt my progress halted every five minutes.

Now with puzzle obscurity out of the way, there’s nothing else to this game. There are pretty environments to look at, great music and voice acting to listen to, and some great characters, albeit none of them very memorable. You can unlock quite a few achievements by talking to certain people at certain points or looking at certain objects. I find this in tune with the puzzle obscurity. I also didn’t like how many areas are reused over and over again, while in new ways, they’re still the same. Things are just spread so far apart and so many sub-plots and hints are given to you that you can’t make heads or tails of any of it. There’s no journal to keep track of what’s said or even what you’re really supposed to be doing next. It can become quite frustrating.

Thankfully the game isn’t very long, especially if you use a walkthrough. My adventure was over in about 6 hours and I enjoyed it while it lasted, but it’s not something I will be talking about for years to come. The gameplay time isn’t enough to really flesh out the characters more than you wanted, and almost plays out like a Pixar movie. It’s a fun blast while you’re in it, but once the credits roll you quickly move on to something else and probably won’t remember it a year down the road. Something about this whole game just didn’t stick with me and I can’t put my finger on it. If the puzzles weren’t so obscure I might be more inclined. At least there’s fun developer commentary all over the place and the remastered upgrades are nice. Everything looks sharp and clean and rendered in a much higher resolution. However, there are still many collision and animation bugs.

Overall, Grim Fandango is a fun story with some fun characters while you’re in it, but will quickly move on to other things as something about this game doesn’t quite stick. It feels more like a Pixar cartoon with gameplay bits in between than a full-blown game. It looks good, sounds good, and the voice acting is excellent, but many won’t finish the game just due to how obscure getting through everything really is.

18. Call of Duty: Black Ops III – 2015

At this point in time Call of Duty had already gone way off the deep end and the futuristic warfare and yearly releases were becoming a joke. Black Ops III has the absolute worst campaign in the entire series and the multiplayer is a joke. While zombies are quite enjoyable, it’s not enough to justify a purchase. The AI is insanely stupid, there’s zero challenge, and the environments, story, characters, and weapons are all generic, boring, and poorly designed. The cinematic moments are gone, the maps are stupidly generic, and it feels so bloated and on life support.

Best Version: PC

17. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – 2011

The last entry in the Modern Warfare timeline was a huge disappointment. The campaign was a boring generic slog, the multiplayer had lame maps, and it didn’t distance itself enough from the last two games. It was the same weapons, the same type of maps, menus, and multiplayer setup. There just wasn’t enough here to make the series stand out anymore and this marked the beginning of a steep decline for the series. While it’s playable, it’s not fun or memorable at all.

Best Version: PC

16. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory – 2007

While enjoyable for sure, the game is very rough around the edges and was released during the end of the tiring World War II craze that ran for over 10 years. Everyone was tired of it, Modern Warfare was about to come out, and the PSP wasn’t a great system for shooting games. It was a very generic and forgettable Call of Duty experience and wasted the portable opportunity. At least it had some fun online multiplayer but was short-lived.

15. Call of Duty: Black Ops II – 2012

Black Ops II dropped the ball for this new timeline. The first game was amazing with great cinematic moments, fun multiplayer maps, and a whole new Vietnam War feeling to it, but Black Ops II tried to shoehorn a silly story into generic gameplay and some very boring multiplayer maps. It was a huge disappointing mess and marked the end of this timeline. It’s playable, but there’s no redeeming value to this game that makes it stand out.

Best Version: Wii U

14. Call of Duty: Finest Hour – 2004

The very first console Call of Duty game. I remember getting this for Christmas in 2004 and was so incredibly excited. Console gamers could finally play Call of Duty, however, Finest Hour was far from the series’s finest moment. There were huge technical problems, the game felt like a step back for the series, and the campaign was generic and forgettable. It at least had some fun online multiplayer, but it was a good effort.

Best Version: Xbox

13. Call of Duty 3 – 2006

A surprising console-only release, Call of Duty 3 was the third game in the original timeline and was better than most people expected. While it didn’t look that great it played fairly well, felt like classic Call of Duty, and was fast-paced and fun. It was very forgettable, however, and was at the tail end of the WWII craze that everyone wanted to die. There was something strange about this game as it felt dated, yet somehow still cinematic and fun, and had decent multiplayer as well.

Best Version: Xbox 360

12. Call of Duty 2: Big Red One – 2005

Riding on the financial success of Finest Hour, Big Red One turned out to be a much better game, yet didn’t get as much attention. It had a cinematic and well-thought-out campaign and was much more enjoyable this time around.

Best Version: Xbox

11. Call of Duty: Ghosts – 2013

Ghosts was a more boots-on-ground return to the series and felt a little closer to the original Modern Warfare series, but was too little too late. The additions of canine partners and some great cinematic moments just weren’t enough, including the first game in the next-generation cycle of consoles. The multiplayer was decent, but it felt like it was stuck in limbo and trying to be two different games at once.

Best Version: PC

10. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – 2014

Advanced Warfare tried pushing big-name actors to sell copies, and Advanced Warfare had some awesome cinematic moments, but the story and characters were garbage, and the multiplayer was extremely unbalanced due to the jetpacks and weird futuristic gameplay. It looked really good, as it used a brand new engine for the series, but it was just too weird and too much of a departure from what fans loved.

Best Version: PC

9. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare – 2016

Infinite Warfare has received more flack than any other game in the series, but it’s not the worst. For a series receiving so much resistance and backlash, it did some different stuff in the campaign that was quite interesting. Some of the characters were actually quite interesting and I cared about them a little which was odd for the series. The multiplayer was a generic feeling, as usual, but the campaign was a nice change of pace and the experimentation was a breath of fresh air for the series.

Best Version: PC

8. Call of Duty – 2003

I never got a chance to play this until much later after release, but in 2003 this game was a graphical powerhouse, extremely cinematic, and set the standard for historic shooters. The campaign felt realistic, varied, and had some memorable moments. It was later released on consoles but remained exclusive to PC for nearly a decade. It gave PC gamers a proud reason to be so as this game would have crippled consoles back in the day.

Best Version: Xbox 360

7. Call of Duty 2 – 2005

Being a port for Xbox 360 from a 2-year-old game was risky, but this game helped sell Xbox 360s and looked fantastic on the system. On PC, as it was exclusive for, was a great sequel to an already great game. It pushed hardware to its limits, had some fun exciting cinematic moments, and was decent multiplayer. It took everything everyone liked from the first game and expanded upon it, but it was a little more forgettable this time around.

Best Version: Xbox 360

6. Call of Duty: United Offensive – 2004

United Offensive is one of the best games in the original WWII storyline as it was intense, extremely cinematic, felt varied, and kept you on your seat. I played the campaign straight through and I usually don’t do that in this franchise. The game had an incredibly cinematic and tense campaign, probably one of the best in the entire series, and was highly overlooked. Everyone was gearing up for CoD 2 and United Offensive was sort of mulled over, sadly it was never ported to consoles.

5. Call of Duty: World at War – 2008

World at War was a call to long-time fans and something to really look forward to. They made a huge risk by bringing you back to WWII, in the Japanese theater, and somehow creating one of the best games in the entire series. It was really looked over and a lot of fans never played this because of the WWII roots, but the campaign is spectacular and had some awesome moments as well as weapons and beautiful locales.

Best Version: PC

4. Call of Duty: Black Ops – 2010

Black Ops was the one and only good game in that timeline. The campaign was exciting, cinematic, had a crazy story and characters, and the multiplayer had some fantastic maps and great new era weapons. The brand new Zombies mode pretty much kickstarted a whole new series in the timeline and became the most popular multiplayer mode in the entire series. It’s seriously the last amazing game in the series and playing this reminds us why.

Best Version: Xbox 360

3. Call of Duty: WWII – 2017

Another great risk, and desperate attempt to get people back into the series, the game followed Battlefield’s step and went back to its roots. WWII was a fantastic attempt at everything from a beautiful new next-generation engine, cinematic gameplay, and interesting characters. While the campaign lost steam partway through, it’s more enjoyable than most of the games in the series and reminds us what Activision can do when they are actually inspired and put some thought and love into a game.

Best Version: PC

2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – 2007

The game that really started it all. It revolutionized first-person shooters on consoles as well as multiplayer that almost every military shooter has copied since. The careful detail to level design, cinematic moments, characters, and pacing was something Infinity Ward was masters at. The multiplayer is also something everyone has copied for the last 10 years and it’s clear why. The maps are perfectly designed, memorable, and a blast to play.

Best Version: PC

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 2009

Why is this the best in the series? It took everything that made CoD4 amazing and stacked on top of that, plus the series hasn’t done something like that since. It’s sad to see a series lose steam too fast, but MW2 took risks and controversy proudly and even made some of the best multiplayer maps ever created in a game. It was perfect with well-balanced weapons, a fun and fast-paced campaign, and a multiplayer mode that hasn’t been as good since.

Best Version: Xbox 360

My favorite video game of all time is Mortal Kombat. Something about the characters, violence, lore, and overall atmosphere that the game brings is just so satisfying to me. It was also the first video I ever played at 2 years old which was the original game on Sega Genesis back in 1993. From Fatalities to special moves, stages, and rocking industrial techno music, Mortal Kombat is one of the best, and longest-running, video game franchises of all time. That’s not to say the game went through some ups and downs. I have listed every main Mortal Kombat game from worst to best. I didn’t include various ports as they varied by quality, and discluded any handheld version as they were just dumbed down ports of larger games. I will also list the most superior port or version of that game as every port varied wildly due to various hardware limitations.

16. Mortal Kombat: Special Forces – 2000

Is this really a surprise? Only beating out Mythologies by a fraction, Special Forces was a 3D action game disaster created by co-creator John Tobias and putting a damper in any future Mortal Kombat spin-offs. The game was near unplayable with awful graphics, terrible controls, a lame story, and nothing to really do with Mortal Kombat itself. It’s worth a play just to see how far down Mortal Kombat got, but this is by far its lowest point, but not the lowest timeframe.

15. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero – 1997

Not much better than Special Forces, but at least the game was somewhat playable and felt more like Mortal Kombat. a 2D side-scrolling platformer, you play as Sub-Zero and run into awful live-action cut-scenes (the N64 version was spared of those) terrible controls, and boring gameplay. This game is probably not even worth touching unless you’re just curious.

Best Version: PlayStation

14. Mortal Kombat Gold – 1999

A direct port of MK4 and Dreamcast exclusive, Gold was too little too late with Soul Calibur and various other fighters pushing the genre into the next generation. It was clunky, tiring, old, and just didn’t feel right on the system this late in the game. It’s very playable, and MK4 fans will enjoy newcomers like Cyrax and Mileena, but it’s probably the worst game in the main fighting series.

13. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon – 2006

While being the next-generation MK Trilogy of sorts, Armageddon was a lazy cop-out for keeping the series at its yearly releases and was the end of this generation of 3D MK games. It featured every single MK character ever made up to Deception and shoved them all in the two-style martial arts that this trilogy of MK titles gave us. By this point, MK was really going downhill and fatigue was setting in with a bloated disc full of weird mini-games and cheap generic Kreate-A-Fatality that was more complicated and irritating than ever. Press certain button combos to create the same gory move for every character and just string them together as quick as you can, yeah what a waste. A few years of development and this could have been a game to remember. The Kreate-A-Fighter mode was the only new and original part. Mortal Kombat Kart racing was awful with shallow race tracks and no thought put into it, the Konquest mode was much better than Deception’s but was still a weird thing to even exist. Overall, it’s very playable and fun, but it’s just the most generic MK game ever made.

Best Version: Xbox

12. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance – 2002

Deadly Alliance shot the series into the next generation with brand new fighters and an all-new realistic martial arts approach to the game. With a story mode that’s really just a giant training mode, a fun Krypt area to unlock extras, and two awesome Fatalities per character, it only beats out Armageddon due to the originality within the game. The new characters are great and mostly untouched throughout the later games, however, the graphics were dated and everyone looked like plastic dolls with blood that looks like Jell-O. It was still gory and fun, but far from the greatness, the 2D games offered.

Best Version: Xbox

11. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe – 2008

This threw fans for a loop as MK mashed with DC to create a weird and forced fighting game no one asked for. The biggest hit was the Teen rating with the DC character performing “Heroic Brutalities” as they never kill and the MK character performing the most basic “Fatalities” that felt more like Wile E. Coyote ACME stunts. The fighting core was a slight departure from the previous games with a 2D plane and seemed pretty solid, but there was something off about the whole game. It’s decent, and quite playable, but very forgettable.

Best Version: PlayStation 3

10. Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks – 2005

Shaolin Monks would be the last MK spin-off and actually did it right. Created by another development team, Monks lets you play as Liu-Kang and Kung-Lao with an over-the-top 3D brawler that is set in the MKII storyline. Using assets from that game such as stages and characters and even lore, the game recreated the MK experience with a fantastic fighting system that was fluid and even more fun with a second player. There were many secrets and the game is highly replayable. The only issue was the game was only 4 hours long, had awful voice acting, and a stupid story. Other than that, this is a must-play for MK fans.

Best Version: Xbox

9. Mortal Kombat 4 – 1997

This was the biggest turning point for the entire series. The game went forward into 3D forever and the result was some weird clunky stuff, but it was fast-paced and violent and somehow just worked. Not many games did 3D fighting very well at the time and the great roster and some of the best Fatalities in the series make for an awesome fighting game. The use of weapons was introduced for the first time as well.

Best Version: PlayStation

8. Mortal Kombat 3 – 1995

MK3 had a lot riding on it at this point in time as it had big shoes to fill after MKII. The game was darker, more realistic, and added some mechanics such as running, Brutalities, and a secret code menu. MK3 also had some of the most memorable characters the series will see such as Sheeva, Kabal, and Smoke. The problem was the combos were so difficult to pull off a lot of people were turned off that the game relied on this system, not to mention the cheap ass AI.

Best Version: PlayStation

7. Mortal Kombat – 1992

The original is far down the list due to the fact that so many games in the series improved upon it, but it’s higher than others due to the originality and the fact that it has a one-of-a-kind atmosphere that no other game in the series nailed. The original roster and Test-Your-Might combined with the Fatalities and simple moves make this one of the best video games ever created. There’s quite a story behind this game and the fact the ESRB was created because this game says a lot. It’s a very simple and basic game, but it holds a huge piece of gaming history.

Best Version: Sega CD

6. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 – 1995

An upgrade version of MK3, UMK3 is widely considered the best 2D MK game ever made as it perfected what they were trying to do with MK3. Adding new characters such as Rain, Noob Saibot, and Khameleon, and adding an Aggressor meter as well as making combos much easier, UMK3 was fast, looked good, and was dark with everything the series had to offer up until then.

Best Version: Nintendo DS

5. Mortal Kombat II – 1993

Most people will say MKII is the best game in the series due to the perfect balance and style between MK1 and MK3. It was a little darker, more sinister, and had an imaginative roster of new characters such as Baraka, Kitana, Mileena, and Jax. The stages were amazing and the introduction of Babalities and Friendships helped set the tone for the series from here on out. The controls were tight and the game looked amazing.

Best Version: Sega Saturn

4. Mortal Kombat Trilogy – 1996

MKT was a best-of compilation of the series up until that point. Taking every single character, stage, and mixing several -Alities together, the game was a massive success and was a blast to play. You could also play as the bosses which were completely unheard of back in the day and it was so much fun. Trilogy remains one of my favorite MK games of all time and I spent hundreds of hours perfecting this game.

Best Version: PlayStation

3. Mortal Kombat: Deception – 2004

Deception was the best 3D game up until this point and had a lot to offer. It improved immensely on Deadly Alliance’s realistic martial arts and added new game modes and some amazing characters and stages. The game was just dark, gritty, and hit that perfect style that people loved. While the three martial-arts styles were a bit clunky and memorizing long combos was silly, most people forgave it for the amount of content available. Chess Kombat is still one of my favorite MK game modes of all time. Play chess like normal and then duke it out to take over the square. Puzzle Kombat took the Street Fighter version and added Chibi MK characters duking it out on screen. However, Konquest mode was a nasty ugly chore to unlock stuff in the Krypt. It was also the first online fighting game ever made and was buttery smooth across the board with a lobby room, ranking system, and various other features. I played this game for so many hours I lost count. The Fatalities were amazing and the new Hara Kiris which were “reverse Fatalities” blew my mind away. It was as competitive as it got and holds a special place for me as it was the first game I had ever pre-ordered as well.

Best Version: Xbox

2. Mortal Kombat – 2011

With DC Universe disappointing fans so much we had all lost hope. Thankfully many consider this version to be the best 3D MK game to date and rightfully so. It builds off of MKII’s balancing and uses most characters up through MK3 so it keeps it old school. The X-Ray moves shook the industry and added a whole new meaning to gore and violence to video games. The new Challenge Tower was a blast and it featured the best story mode in any fighting game to date with halfway decent voice acting for once. Sadly, the game was quickly abandoned and only featured 4 DLC characters before being cut loose.

Best Version: PlayStation 3

1.Mortal Kombat X – 2015

MKX not only pushes the entire series in a new direction but shows fighting games a whole new level of production values and content. Taking the best from MK 2011 and the 2D games, MKX feels heavier, chunkier, and more violent than ever and that’s a good thing. Using Unreal Engine 4 and creating some of the sickest Fatalities to date, MKX also introduces some great new characters for the first time since Deception. The stages are awesome, the DLC characters rock, and the story mode is actually quite amazing and pushes the last game in the back corner. The new Krypt mode is more interactive and can almost be a game all on its own, and the new online towers make the game feel like it’s 1992 all over again.

Best Version: PC

Assassin’s Creed Games Ranked Worst to Best

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/20/2018

Posted in: Blogs, DS, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, PSP, Ranked Worst to Best, Sony Consoles, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One. Tagged: assassin's creed, best to worst, black flag, brotherhood, china, chronicles, ii, iii, india, iv, liberation, odyssey, origins, ranked, revelations, rogue, russia, syndicate, unity. Leave a comment

Assassin’s Creed is one of my favorite franchises of all time, and despite all the hate it gets for its yearly releases, there truly isn’t an actual bad game in the series. Each game has high production values, large open worlds, fantastic visuals, and the only bad thing is that it may not be as good as its predecessor or core components are just lacking. Assassin’s Creed is always held to incredibly high standards by the gaming industry because of what the first game achieved. It was a revolutionary game that completely took advantage of next-generation hardware and created a fantastic immersive experience that no other game had done before. Ubisoft rode this success a little too hard and the game’s quality varied wildly over the years, but in the end, they are all quite playable and somewhat enjoyable. I’m going to go all the way back to 2007 to today and rank the Assassin’s Creed games from worst to best.

NOTE: Mobile games will be excluded (Pirates, Identity, Rebellion, Towers, etc.) as none of them are good and I can’t even count them as the main games in the series. Portable entries will be included, however.

14. Assassin’s Creed Unity – 2014

This is probably the lowest point in the entire series so let’s come out swinging. Unity was highly anticipated as it was the first entry in the series to use next-generation consoles and technology with an entirely new engine. The four-player co-op experience got people excited and man did it look gorgeous. Fast-forward to launch day and you have one of the buggiest and ugly launches in gaming history. The entire game was completely broken with glitches, crashes, entire consoles being corrupted, save data lost, servers crashing, you name it.

Get back into the game today and most of the issues have been patched out, while still full of bugs and problems, the game just wasn’t that interesting. The main character was boring, the French Revolution setting rode too hard on Assassin’s Creed III’s coattails. The combat was pretty much the same, and the bloated activities were ever-present and even copied from previous games. Chase these song notes, collect all the chests, collect all these medals, etc. It was tiring and overwhelming and not satisfying anymore. Then on top of that include a crowded UI, irritating side missions, and “investigations” as an excuse to use Eagle Vision more, and you have Unity. It’s still very much enjoyable, but the fatigue was really high with this game and it makes it the worst in the entire series.

13. Assassin’s Creed: Chronicles – China, Russia, India – 2015-2016

Assassin’s Creed had dabbled in the 2.5D realm before with the very first mobile entry and Discovery for DS. While they weren’t awful, it took away what made Assassin’s Creed grand in scale and only concentrated on half-baked combat and stealth. The problem here is that Chronicles didn’t have anything interesting going for it. The gameplay was solid and felt like an Assassin’s Creed game, but the story, characters, and the world were void of anything fun or interesting. Not to mention the game was riddled with bugs, had performance issues on portable systems, and was squeezed into a release window right at the peak of the Assassin’s Creed fatigue, so basically it was a game no one wanted or cared about.

12. Assassin’s Creed: Rogue – 2014

Rogue isn’t a bad game at all, in fact, it uses one of the most interesting characters in the series, but the gameplay, design, and overall feeling were right at the lowest point of the series and no one cared about this game. It was released the same day as Unity and felt completely unnecessary as it was more of an expansion to Black Flag. So it felt dated compared to Unity’s newer features. The game focused more on the pirate stuff and was a literal copy and paste of Black Flag, so you had a slightly interesting world with varied locales, and a better story than Unity, but so much dated content including the visuals as it was using the previous generation engine instead of Unity’s. It’s a very playable game, but it feels the most generic of the entire series.

11. Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate – 2015

Less than a year after Rogue and Unity we got an entirely new game in a new setting so it was a little promising, yet still, no one cared anymore. Not to mention, the Chronicles games were still being released so it was just so bloated and tiring at this point. Syndicate only ranks higher as it’s slightly more interesting with better main characters and a more interesting setting. The gameplay pretty much remains the same as Unity with slight tweaks, but it’s not enough to save the series from the staleness. The game looks fantastic and isn’t nearly as buggy as Unity, but at this point everyone wanted the series to die. You had an entire formula of collect-a-thon nonsense, the same Assassination scenarios, co-op that most people didn’t play, and controls and combat that had been used to death. This was the turning point in the series.

10. Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines – 2009

Being the one and only Assassin’s Creed on PSP, and never ported to other systems, people were excited to go back to Altair was we never really saw him again. This game actually had a fantastic story and rode that more than gameplay. The game itself was really flawed with small little areas rather than an open world, clumsy controls, and dated gameplay, but it looked good doing it. Bloodlines gave us closer to Altair’s story and sadly most fans of the series never played this one.

9. Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation – 2012

Riding off the success of Assassin’s Creed III, Liberation was a portable spin-off for Vita and gained a lot of steam and momentum of being a true Assassin’s Creed game in portable form. We got one of the best protagonists in the series, and a decent-sized world in an entirely new setting. New Orleans was great to play in, and despite being short, Liberation pleased many fans. Now, it was maybe too similar to III on consoles and was stripped down of some features that the game had, but it was just right for a portable form and looked amazing on the Vita.

8. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – 2011

Revelations was a surprisingly excellent game and gave us a satisfying conclusion to Ezio’s story. Revelations felt like a “best-of” up to that point with smaller open areas rather than a big world and were short and sweet at a steady pace. The game was honest with itself and did what other games in the series, later on, should have done. It felt like a short story or a small expansion to Brotherhood rather than being a bloated monster that no one cared about. The new gameplay ideas were fun, and it was just a solid game despite being so short. It also marked the end of the first-generation Assassin’s Creed games and would go on to be segmented from the rest.

7. Assassin’s Creed – 2007

The original should be at the top right? Not necessarily. The game had a split divide on whether you love it or hate it. This game, if you play it today, has the core Assassin’s Creed elements and nothing else. Stealth assassinations, parkour, and an open world. There were no side quests or anything to do except collect feathers and flags. It was a revolutionary game for its time with a game engine like no one had ever seen, and a fantastic protagonist and art style. The game is great as the sum of its parts rather than when you break it down. It feels pretty stiff and dated today, but in 2007 Ubisoft was one of the few companies that took a plunge and created a revolutionary game.

6. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood – 2010

Brotherhood was only the third game in the series, but fatigue was starting to show, however, Brotherhood did what future games should have done, and that just gives everyone the world they love while expanding on a great character and giving more content and new ideas. Brotherhood had enough ideas to create a new branch, but instead, they expanded Italy, added a great multiplayer suite, and threw in assassination crews to help during stealth gameplay, some small strategy elements, and a great side quest to collect some ancient armor. Brotherhood was incredibly fun and didn’t feel bloated or overdone. It was just right and rode the success of its predecessor correctly. Sadly, this was the only time that was ever done, but Brotherhood remains most fans’ favorite.

5. Assassin’s Creed III – 2012

This was the first turning point in the series marking Revelations and back as the first-generation Assassin’s Creed and the end of Ezio’s journey. III was divided as it didn’t feature a rich story and characters but focused solely on exploration. III was the first game to have an organic open world rather than just plucking you in a large city full of buildings. There was a wilderness, mountains, the ocean, and everything could be explored. It was amazing and felt great, but fans missed the good story and characters. While the American Revolution was perfect for the series, and Boston is actually one of the best worlds in the series to explore, the reasons behind it were lacking. The gameplay was also improved with before parkour animations, controls, but the combat had not changed much and there was more collect-a-thon stuff that the rest of the series took and ran with.

4. Assassin’s Creed II – 2009

Considered the best game in the entire series, Assassin’s Creed II is also the reason why the series took such a steep decline. They literally perfected the first game to the point of not needing more perfection. It expanded on the first game so much that it blew people’s minds away. Animations, character, story, content, weapon and armor upgrades, a larger open world, dual assassination takedowns, ranged weapons, etc. This all seems silly now, but that’s a lot to add to a game and then make it a staple for the series even to this day. This game is both beautiful and terrible as how could a game be so perfect? It’s one of the highest-rated games of all time for a reason.

3. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – 2013

Considered by most to the most wholesome and fun game in the series, Black Flag took out what everyone hated in III and added some of the best characters and stories in the series, game everyone the amazing marine battles, and a giant open world with wilderness just like III. It was the first game to feel truly bloated with mode-side stuff that you can shake a stick at, but it also had the best feeling of exploration and discovery. Large empty caves and chasms, derelict ships, and a wide variety of environments to explore made Black Flag the end of the second generation of Assassin’s Creed game and probably the peak of the entire franchise.

2. Assassin’s Creed Origins – 2017

Origins marks the beginning of the third generation of games and the latest turning point in the series. Origins were set in an entirely new era, environment, and added and changed so much it has started to turn into more of an RPG than an action/adventure game. The game is using the next-generation engine from Ubisoft and adds more RPG elements such as equipping armor and weapons on every part of the body, and making it visible, but also giving the player levels and stats. The world also feels more organic and focuses less on traditional elements in the series like Towers, collecting, and faction stuff. Instead, the world is more explorable with question marks riddling the map for you to explore at your own pace and keeping the world a mystery. The world feels more like an actual world and not just cities with some open areas to funnel you to the next city. There are actual activities and life in-between large areas and the combat is immensely improved. The entire control scheme changed with less of a parry/counter-attack fest and more on skill and execution. Timing is key, enemies have levels, and different weapon types mean more in this game. Origins is just a whole new beast and so drastically different from the last ones it can be an entirely new series on its own.

1. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – 2018

While the game was just released, and from only playing a few hours, you can tell this is the best the series has to offer. It takes everything from Origins and does what Brotherhood did for II. The world of Greece is the most organic world in the series and the largest with the series going into more of the RPG territory than ever before. Dialog options, better horseback riding, and less hand-holding encourages exploration and discovery. The game is also just stunningly beautiful with so much detail crammed into every nook and cranny, it’s mind-boggling. The animations are uncanny, the combat has been improved to include abilities and passive stats, but the skill tree is also improved upon Origins. Odyssey is moving the series in the right direction, but let’s hope it doesn’t repeat the problems of the last 10 years.

Top Ten PlayStation Vita Games

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/20/2018

Posted in: Blogs, PlayStation Vita, Sony Consoles. Tagged: borderlands 2, dj max, dragon's crown, golden, golden abyss, gravity rush, handheld, killzone, mercenary, muramasa rebirth, persona 4, playstation, portable, ps vita, Sony, tearaway, technika tune, top 10, top ten, uncharted, vita. Leave a comment

The PlayStation Vita was a great system despite its lack of support from Sony. It had an incredibly strong first 3 years and tons of support from indie and third-party developers over the years. While Sony nailed the hardware down pat, the system was stuck in limbo between mobile gaming and Nintendo’s strong 3DS support. Here are my top ten favorite Vita games of all time. These will not include remastered compilations, HD ports, or anything that wasn’t significantly special for the Vita.

10. Borderlands 2

It may have struggled technically on the small hardware, but there were many patches put in place to make it playable. With that aside, Borderlands 2 is the best shooter on the Vita, and a lack of them didn’t help despite having twin sticks, due to the overall amount of content. We got the entire Borderlands 2 experience, plus all the DLC for $40 which was a steal. While it took a graphical hit, playing with a buddy on the go was never more fun.

9. Gravity Rush

Despite the nauseating camera, Gravity Rush was a treat to look at and featured a full console experience on the system. The characters were interesting, and the anti-gravity gameplay was one of a kind on the system. While it lacked in story and development, the game had gorgeous locales and interesting things going on.

8. Dragon’s Crown

A Vanillaware game is always something to get excited about, but having one on Vita is something more special. The game looked fantastic on Sony’s OLED screen and featured fantastic co-op gameplay with responsive controls and interesting characters. The game may have been short, but the experience was something to remember.

7. Muramasa: Rebirth

Muramasa was one of the best games on the Wii and having it ported to the Vita was a pleasant surprise. Not only did the system get this exclusive to remaster, but it played better than the original. With Vanillaware’s gorgeous visual design it played buttery smooth on the Vita with plenty of DLC, challenging combat, and interesting characters. It remains one of the best Vita games of all time.

6. Uncharted: Golden Abyss

While Golden Abyss didn’t push the series into new directions and played it safe, it was a solid Uncharted adventure that showed off the power of the Vita. Very few games achieved this graphical showcase and all the controls, combat, and adventuring were as smooth as ever. The lack of originality hurt the game a bit, but Nathan is as charming as ever in this adventure.

5. DJ Max: Technika Tune

You won’t see this game on most people’s top ten lists. This is one of the few good rhythm games on Vita and it takes advantage of all the hardware. The DJ Max series was a popular Korean rhythm genre on PSP, and its debut on the Vita is fantastic. With prompts displaying over music videos, the game is addictive with various taps, buttons presses, and modes. This game got me into K-Pop thanks to the game’s front-runner group KARA being featured with several videos.

4. Tearaway

The makers of LittleBigPlanet pull a fantastic game out of their hat that makes this the single most unique game on the system. It cleverly uses all of the hardware’s features with bright, vivid visuals and fun puzzles. Sadly, the game is really easy and extremely short (less than 4 hours long), and sadly we will never see a sequel.

3. Killzone: Mercenary

The single best FPS on the system, Killzone was the first with the budget of the franchises console brethren, Mercenary is probably the single best looking game on the system and plays amazingly well. With a solid campaign and fun online multiplayer and challenges, this is your go-to shooter.

2. Mortal Kombat

One of the best fighters on the system, and the game I got most excited about for this system. While the game took a mysteriously questionable graphical downgrade, the entire 2011 game is intact with exclusive Challenge Tower modes and all DLC characters. The fighting is smooth, fun, and the only MK game on the system.

1.Persona 4: Golden

While I never finished this game, and I don’t know if I ever will, this game probably gives you the most bang for your buck. A whopping 40-50 hour JRPG with remastered visuals from the PS2 game and added content for $40, it’s a damn steal. The story is brilliant, the combat system is amazing, and there’s something here for everyone. Patience is needed, and some level of grinding, but once you get into the swing of the game you won’t put it down. This is what we needed more of on the Vita and sadly, we didn’t get it.

Kingston HyperX Cloud Revolver S Gaming Headset

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 08/25/2018

Posted in: 3DS, Android, DS, Editor's Choice, Game Boy Advance, Hardware, iOS, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Mobile Reviews, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, PSP, Sony Consoles, Switch, Wii U, Xbox One. Tagged: cloud revolver s, gaming headset, headphones, hyperx, kingston. Leave a comment

Manufacturer: Kingston

Release Date: 03/09/2017

MSRP: $149.99

I’m not really big on gaming headsets as I don’t need to use them often as I have my own place, but when I do I want something amazing, something that can deliver the quality and power of large speakers inside some cans. After having the Razer Man O’ War for about 18 months I switched over to some wired headphones and moved brands. Why Kingston? Well, the reviews are great and it’s plug and play, which may say iffy to some, but it works out well in the end.

Some people want fancy software, RGB lighting, and crazy controls, but Kingston went a different route here. Most PC headsets are not compatible with a console, but these are thanks to a proprietary USB 7.1 audio card built in the cable with Dolby. Now the downside is that these are only stereo headphones with the 3.5mm jack adapter, but they still sound amazing. The USB port has a three-part equalizer for flat, bass boost, and vocal. For gaming and movies, you can activate the Dolby 7.1 surround sound with just a button allowing the headphones to control everything and no need for any software.

The mic is completely removable which is a nice feature and works just how you would expect. There’s a button to mute the mic on the control box, but for consoles, you will need to remove it completely to mute it through the hardware. Outside of these features the headset itself is extremely comfortable and feels like a cloud sitting on your head. Instead of adjustable bands, we get a tension-sensitive soft band under a hard outer band. This means the band adjusts to your head shape easily without any fiddling. The ear cups are super soft and no sound escapes. Since these are wired headphones I had to figure out where to clip the control box which wound up going on my keyboard cable to keep it nearby so I can access the controls easily. The cord behind that is rather long which is needed for console use.

Here’s the big question: How does 7.1 audio sound in games and movies? Well, it works surprisingly well. The built-in sound card does a good job decoding the audio and making it sound incredible. I could hear gunshots behind me, people talking next to me, and explosions sounded epic and amazing. Games with 7.1 options sound even better and more realistic, but sadly there aren’t many games with this built-in.

With that said the HyperX Revolver S is a solid wired headset without the flash and fancy software accompanying most headsets these days. They are extremely comfortable, give an amazing sound output that is crisp and clear, and also have great 7.1 audio capabilities. There are a few minor gripes like the control box being in a weird spot on the cable, only three equalizer settings, and missing software for those who like to fine-tune, but what’s here works surprisingly well straight out of the box and is plug-and-play. This is a versatile headset for any gamer, but sadly the 7.1 only works through USB and the 3.5mm jack is strictly stereo. For the price point, you get bang for your buck that you won’t get with most other headsets.

Spy Hunter – 6 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 07/10/2018

Posted in: 3DS, Nintendo Consoles, PlayStation Vita, Sony Consoles. Tagged: racer, racing, spy hunter. Leave a comment

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Developer: TT Fusion

Release Date: 10/09/2012

Also Available On

While I’ve played the arcade original, there were many Spy Hunter games released when I grew up and all of them were terrible. This version is no exception as somehow it doesn’t translate to 3D very well.

With the power of the Vita, and being a launch title, I figured Spy Hunter could finally be done right, but boy was I wrong. The game starts out by taking a photo of you for your license and throwing you out onto the street with four weapons. Each weapon is assigned to a face button and I started out with a flashbang, flamethrower, machine gun, and shocker. As I drove along I was ambushed by generic-looking cars that rammed me, some that dumped explosive barrels, and some that had machine guns. The action itself was quite dull with little going for it as the game already looks extremely ugly and boring.

Even with new upgrades and morphing into a boat things did not get any more interesting. Driving the car feels like sliding on ice and crashes are uninteresting. For a game that is supposed to be so high octane, it doesn’t feel that way at all. The story is also pointless and pretty stupid as there are no established characters or reasons as to why you are doing anything in the game.

If only the game looked better and felt more polished I feel it could have been something. As it is, this feels like a beta or an incomplete game. Physics is awful, the weapons seem cool but the results are uninteresting, and then when you repeat this a dozen times it’s enough to make your brain melt. I can’t recommend this game even to hardcore racing or action fans. This isn’t even worth a bargain bin purchase because there are other bargain bin games worth buying instead.