Bramble: The Mountain King

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 06/06/2023
Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S. Leave a comment

Publisher: Merge Games

Developer: Dimfrost Studios

Release Date: 04/27/2023


Available On

Linear, narrative-driven adventure games are some of my favorites. Bramble does a great job trying to be different than the rest by delivering a little bit of everything and not overstaying its welcome. You play as Olle, who is trying to rescue his captured sister from the bramble and evil forest creatures who took her.

The game does a great job of luring you into a false sense of security. The game starts out bright and colorful, with beautiful sweeping vistas of green. You get to solve various simple puzzles with cute gnomes that laugh like little babies. The first third of the game is cheerful and bright—until it suddenly isn’t. Bramble quickly turns dark, gory, and downright depressing. Sacrificed babies, wading through pools of animal gore, climbing moldy meat—and those cute little gnomes get slaughtered at some point. It’s just done abruptly and suddenly, and it’s shocking.

The majority of the game has you running around areas with fixed camera angles, jumping, climbing, pushing the occasional push, twisting the odd lever, and solving the easiest puzzles. I honestly don’t know why these puzzles are even here. Exploration is also nonexistent. You go into a room with a locked door, only to find the key on the table in front of you. This happens multiple times as well. I don’t understand the point of it. There is a bit of combat thrown in, but it’s saved for boss fights. You have a ball of light that’s not only used to illuminate areas and clear some paths, but you can also chuck it at weak points at bosses. The boss fights are the only challenge in the whole game, as you must memorize attack patterns and dodge, jump, or toss your ball at the right moments through waves of attacks.

The environments are constantly changing, and they all look fantastic. Depth of field is used well here as you are a small person in a giant’s world, so everything from blades of grass to a normal-sized rock is huge. This is well shown, and the perspective is pretty cool with the depth of field effects used. Textures look great, and models look good too. The entire game is narrated by a woman, so it’s the only voice acting in the game. I do want to mention that the soundtrack is gorgeous. During chapter changes and while the camera pans across a vista while you’re running, an incredible vocal soundtrack will play, and I honestly would listen to it outside of the game. The soundtrack by Martin Wave and Dan Wakefield is fantastic.

Despite the great pacing, wonderful visuals and soundtrack, and challenging bosses, there still isn’t much of an actual story here. The game is narrated like a children’s storybook from medieval times, but that’s about it. I had no reason to get attached to the characters or the world around me. The monster and creature designs are top-notch, and I always looked forward to the next screen because it was always a surprise. The game is nice and short and is better than most short, linear, narrative-driven adventure titles. I love the dark tone and theme, and while you may not discuss this with your friends a year from now, it’s at least a sight to behold.

Reviewed On

Xbox Series X Controller

The Quarry

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/31/2023
Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S. Leave a comment

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: Supermassive Games

Release Date: 06/10/2022


Available On

Supermassive games are well known for the interesting worlds they create, albeit how small and linear they are, and their knack for telling decent horror stories. Until Dawn is still considered one of the best PS4 games to date, and it was a fantastic game. Mostly in terms of the lore and story behind the characters. The pacing was also pretty great. Supermassive went on to create the episodic The Dark Pictures Anthology game, which is mediocre at best. The Quarry is the first stand-alone title they have made since Until Dawn, and their experience from The Dark Pictures carries over.

If you are familiar with any of their work, you will know pretty much what to expect. The game starts out fairly slowly, introducing the choices and QTE gameplay to you in a safe manner that won’t affect the story. You start out as two characters who are on their way to a kid’s camp in some nondescript woods to be counselors. You run into something on the road and get run off, and you need to figure out what to do from there. The dark and brooding atmosphere kicks in right away, and the game is better paced than some of their previous works. Once the beginning chapter is out of the way, you get introduced to all of the other characters, and the first few chapters build up to the horror and get you attached to these characters via personality cliches and quirks. Sadly, Supermassive relies heavily on character traits and stereotypes to get you attached to their characters. Their games are more about the here and now, and there’s little lore or character background like in other adventure games.

This has always been a fault of their games that I don’t like. While the characters are more likable than in previous games and have better and stronger personalities, I still don’t care for them after the game is over. I don’t think about them or care to go back and find out about other outcomes. You have the jock type, the strong female, the silly female, the meek female, the silly small dude, etc. They are just all stereotypes, and relying on this makes all of their games feel like B-grade horror movies with slightly better acting. I understand that’s sometimes the charm, and it’s almost done on purpose in this case, but I would like to see the studio’s experience put to use in more than just cookie-cutter horror movies you watch on cable TV at 2 a.m. and forget about the next morning.

With that said, there is still almost zero gameplay here. Your main goal is to focus on choices. You get dialog choices, always two, that can shift your attitude towards a character one way or another, and it’s your job to observe them and figure out how they will react based on how they are dealing with things in the world. During the “action sequence,” you get really easy QTE button prompts, and failing these will either end in a game over that kills a character or a second chance to try again. You can press the left analog stick in a certain direction or mash a face button. Adventure game gameplay these days is so bad. I honestly wish the puzzles would make a comeback. There are some small changes to the typical Supermassive gameplay with choice actions. A prompt will pop up asking you if you want to call out, stop someone, raise a weapon, or something along these lines. These are important and can change the whole outcome of the game. It’s a rule of thumb to either hide and hold your breath or run and don’t mess up the prompts, but sometimes you can stray off the path, and these usually have dual outcomes. Something good and bad happen at the same time.

When you rarely get control of a character, you wander around looking for things to look at and tarot cards. These cards are similar to the photos in The Dark Pictures Anthology and can show you a predicted outcome. You only get to choose a single tarot card you find per chapter, rather than seeing every outcome as you discover them. I honestly didn’t feel these were necessary, and all but one of my party survived by the end of the game. I think I did pretty well. Walking around the linear areas is an excuse to add “gameplay” and pad things out. There is even a movie mode that lets you just watch the game as a movie, so there’s that. I will admit that the choices here felt heavier and more important than in previous games. I really had to think, and sometimes I really couldn’t predict or know what my choices would do. A lot of them were based on pure instinct. So at least their path engine is getting better.

Of course, Supermassive is also known for its hyperrealistic animations and visuals. Sure, they are fantastic. So good that some of the facial animations just don’t look human or feel awkward. They still have that “video game trying to be super real” feeling to them. Their Unreal Engine is still poorly optimized, and with a high-end PC, I still dipped under 60FPS at 1440p. To be honest, Supermassive also just can’t get a lot of what most other adventure games get right. Any time they try to be “touchy-feely and deep,” it comes off as corny and cheesy. It’s not to the level of, say, Life is Strange that can really dig deep and make you believe that these characters are human and feel pain and misery.

Overall, The Quarry is a nice departure from their mainline mini-series, but it still suffers from the same issues. A poorly optimized engine, awkward facial animations, corny dialog, and forgettable characters and stories. This is a typical “2 AM B-grade made for cable TV” horror story and nothing more or less. By the time the credits rolled about 9 hours in, I shrugged and just moved on to the next game. The acting is much better than in their previous games, and their choice engine feels more organic and relies more on instinct, which is great, but there is pretty much zero gameplay. This is fun to play on Halloween night with a friend with the lights off, or just to pass an evening with some decent entertainment. Don’t expect to talk about it with your friends the next day, however.

Reviewed On

Xbox Series X Controller

Planet of Lana

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/26/2023
Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, Steam Deck Verification, Steam Deck Verified, Xbox Series X|S. Leave a comment

Publisher: Thunderful Publishing

Developer: Wishfully

Release Date: 05/23/2023


Available On

When an indie game like Planet of Lana comes out, I’m a sucker for these types of games. 2D atmospheric platformers that may or may not tug at your heartstrings are usually quite beautiful to look at and have great pacing. When playing Planet of Lana, I got vibes from various other games such as Inside, Limbo, Max and the Magic Marker, A Boy and His Blob, Little Nightmares, and so on. There’s a mix of all these games inside, but it still has its own identity. There are also artistic vibes similar to Studio Ghibli films and even War of the Worlds. I got all of this from playing this game, and it was nice to get those nostalgic flashbacks.

The game is a strict 2D platformer with some puzzle and platforming elements thrown in. Your main character, Lana, controls similarly to other characters in games like these. He feels heavy and doesn’t jump very far, so you rely a lot on pushing boxes, dropping ropes, and moving platforms around to get around. However, to its credit, the game doesn’t heavily rely on this to pad gameplay. Puzzles happen maybe a few times per level, and they are quite satisfying and fun. For the first time, I do want to mention that this game benefits from having an ultrawide display. The luscious landscapes spread across the screen, and it just looks amazing. The game slowly introduces gameplay mechanics to you, and it really opens up when you come across your cat-like companion Mui. You use him to flip switches, jump up on robots to flip switches high up, lure creatures, etc. The gameplay mechanics are mixed up all the time, and no two puzzles are the same.

Enemies exist in the game, and you always have to avoid them. either robots or creatures. A lot of the time, there is timing involved. Study their walking path and run when it’s clear, or somehow use the current puzzle to take them down or disable them in some way. Each encounter is new and fresh, and the pacing of the game is great. You can play the game for nearly four hours to the finish line and feel satisfied. I rarely get stumped, and the environment is always changing.

I will say that this game suffers from the same thing as all other short cinematic adventure games. The story is nonexistent. You’re trying to rescue your sister from an invading robot species, and that’s it. There is a final ending, and it works, but there’s no reason or way to get attached to characters or care about them outside of Mui due to his personality on screen. I feel like developers shouldn’t sacrifice stories for short game times. There’s a way to make you care. Braid is a perfect example of this concept. The game is gorgeous, and the puzzles are fun, but please give me a story to care about. Sure, there are your typical three acts and an actual ending, and it makes sense, but I wanted to care about this world a little more.

Overall, Planet of Lana has great pacing with a lot of fun puzzles that always change up, enemy encounters that mix things up, and environments that are always changing. Having an ultrawide monitor is beneficial for the lovely landscapes, but there just isn’t much of a story here. The game is also less than four hours long, so some may feel like they want more.

Reviewed On

Xbox Series X Controller

Nintendo Game Boy – 34 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/25/2023
Posted in: Game Boy, Hardware, Nintendo, Retro Consoles. Leave a comment

Release Date: 07/31/1989

Colors: White, Clear, Red, Green, Yellow, Black, Blue, Grey

MSRP: $89.99

This was the first handheld I ever had. I got it for my 7th birthday, along, of course, with a copy of Tetris. I remember the copy of Tetris having a cigarette burn mark on the top of the cartridge and being stained yellow. I’ll never forget that! Sadly, I only ever owned two Game Boy games. The other was Galaga and Galaxian, which I found at a thrift store. Despite only having this game for the longest time, I played it a lot. I remember that green screen burned into my memory and the sound of the theme song chirping away in the background. I wish I knew just how many awesome games there were for the system back in the day, as I missed out on a lot.

And for 80s hardware, the system is quite impressive. Being such a small 8-bit system is really something else. The worst part about the system is the awful screen. There is no backlight, and it’s monochrome in green. People gave the Game Boy hell for this and still do it to this day. The Japanese market got an improved Game Boy Light with a backlight, but it was never released here. The system is quite chunky, but that can be a good thing. It has some weight and feels good in the hand, even today. There’s a contrast wheel and a sound wheel, as well as a link cable port. This thing took four AA batteries but didn’t burn through them as fast as people think. This wasn’t the Game Gear after all. The batteries could last as long as 30 hours. Not having a CFL backlight had its advantages.

The system also had a headphone jack, and the speaker was good enough. Systems are only as good as their libraries, and the Game Boy had some great additions. Sadly, there was also a lot of garbage on the handheld. Some developers didn’t know how to optimize the hardware and made ugly games with sluggish controls and animations. While others defined the system. It may be hard to go back to the original hardware today, especially when newer Game Boys play these games with better hardware. I recommend modding this system with an IPS screen and maybe swapping out the shell. A lot of these yellowed over the years, and the plastics became brittle. However, I will praise the large screen, as it’s easy to see the sprites on the screen.

Overall, the original Game Boy’s worst problem was the terrible screen, but the batteries lasted a long time, it sounded pretty good, and the screen was at least large. It may be hard to go back to an original Game Boy today, but anyone who is curious or wants to own one is encouraged to modify it with modern hardware and make it more enjoyable to play today.

Neo Geo Pocket Color – 24 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/23/2023
Posted in: Hardware, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Retro Consoles. Leave a comment

Release Date: 08/06/1999

Colors: Carbon Black, Solid Silver, Blue, Platinum Silver, Clear, Crystal Yellow, Camo Blue, Crystal White, Stone Blue, White, Pearl Blue

MSRP: $69.95

Everyone has played at least one Game Boy in their life, but the more obscure handhelds that tried to compete just didn’t get enough attention. It sounds odd that SNK, of all companies, would try to release an 8-bit handheld to compete with the Game Boy Color, but they tried, and they did a good job. Their first-party lineup on the system was incredible, and they really pumped quality into the little handheld. There was some third-party support from Sega, Capcom, and Namco, but it just wasn’t enough. SNK was having a hard time getting Western support for the system, as it just didn’t appeal to that audience.

The system itself is the successor to the short-lived black-and-white Neo Geo Pocket. The Pocket Color was ahead of its time, being the first 16-bit handheld system on the market and beating the GBA to the punch by a few years. While it still suffered from not having a backlight like many handhelds in the 1990s, it still had a clear and crisp screen. There wasn’t much in terms of I/O, like the handhelds of the 90s, but there was a link cable for multiplayer. What made the Pocket Color unique was the clicky control stick. It was the first handheld to have an analog stick, and it was meant to emulate an arcade stick. I love this thing and wish more handhelds had it, even if it is really noisy, but man does it feel good and is perfect for fighting games, which the Pocket Color was famous for.

There are only two face buttons (A and B), a soft power button, and an options button. That’s it. It’s a pretty rudimentary system, and I’m surprised it had so few buttons despite having a lot of fighting games on it. You can imagine that these games are very simple at their core, which they are. The display is slightly larger than the original Game Boy at 2.7″; however, the system does have a sub-battery that’s used for keeping the clock, as there are a few built-in apps on here. This was also the first handheld to do this. There is a calendar, horoscope, world clock, and alarm setting. I’m not sure why you would leave your NGPC on all night to use as an alarm, but it’s there. You can pick a background color as well. It’s very simple and basic, but it’s there and is cute.

A system is only as good as its library, and the NGPC is widely loved for its small but high-quality library. Only 82 games were ever released, and a surprising amount were released in the West. The games were fun, had great visuals, and just played and ran well; however, they are insanely expensive. Most complete games will cost, on average, $100 a piece. It’s also recommended to modernize the system by installing a drop-in LCD mod. This makes the system much more enjoyable, and you can play in the dark!

Overall, this is the little system that could. There are a few Japanese-only games that have fan translations, but you need a flash cart to play them, and they are expensive (about $100). You also must like SNK games to really enjoy this system. The King of Fighters, Neo Turf Masters, Samurai Shodown, Metal Slug, and games of that nature If you love those classic arcade games, you will also enjoy this system.

Sony PlayStation DualSense Wireless Controller

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/20/2023
Posted in: Android, Hardware, iOS, Linux, Mac, Mobile Reviews, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Sony Consoles. Leave a comment

The PlayStation controller is iconic. It was the first controller that had force feedback built-in and dual analog sticks, and it became a worldwide icon. I remember buying my first DualShock controller as a kid. It was a green one, too. The controller improved with the PS2 by adding pressure-sensitive buttons, but overall it was still the same thing. The DualShock 3 was the most controversial, originally being a six-axis controller with no force feedback due to the lawsuit that Sony was in over their force feedback tech. The DualShock 3 did eventually come out, but the six-axis motion was a gimmick and was never utilized outside of the first two years of the system’s life. It also had triggers that weren’t well done, and the analog stick rubber degraded over time. It just wasn’t a fantastic controller. On the other hand, the DualShock 4 wasn’t the greatest either. The forced light bar needed to communicate with the PlayStation camera so that no one had drained the battery, and the added touchpad didn’t really add to any one experience, just like the SixAxis didn’t. It had improved rear triggers and analog sticks, but that was about it.

Here is the scrapped DualShock name. I have to salute that name, and it will be missed. We are now in the DualSense era. This controller is probably the first ever to be truly as innovative as the built-in analog sticks and force feedback from the DualShock 1. The haptic triggers literally change how a game plays and feels. These aren’t gimmicks. There is a resistive force on the triggers in the game. You can hold down a trigger partially, and it will stick to the motor. Pull down harder to actually shoot a gun or arrow. You can feel the swings of an axe in God of War: Ragnarok. The triggers can even vibrate a bit and feel suddenly loose or tight, like in The Last of Us Part 1. It changes the way I shoot in games. Spider-Man Remastered lets you feel the webs that you shoot with physical force.

This is the best part of the entire controller, and I miss it in every game that doesn’t have it. The rest of the controls are just slightly tweaked for a better hand feel in the grips, and the top light bar was finally removed. However, there are still lights around the touchpad, which is fine. The controller just looks so good now, too. The change to a pure white launch color was strange but also brave. The texture of the controller is improved as well. It doesn’t feel as slippery, and the plastic doesn’t feel as cheap as the DualShock 3 (I’m sorry, but that controller was my least favorite from Sony). The D-Pad also feels better this time around and is less mushy. I also love how the controller is now USB-C and we can finally get away from the micro connector. You still have Bluetooth availability, and it seems to be more compatible with devices than what the DualShock 4 could do. I do like the actual PlayStation logo as the home button now, and the controller retains the speaker and mic features. There is also a mic mute button right on the controller, which is a great feature.

Overall, the DualSense controller is the first controller revolution since the Wii remote and the original DualShock before that. The haptic triggers literally change the way you play and feel the game. There are so many things you can do with this type of resistive technology, and many first-party games are coming out swinging already. The battery life is improved over the DualShock 4, the ergonomics have been tweaked just enough, and finally, get USB-C! I’m not sure how Sony can improve from here.

Mortal Kombat 3 – 28 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/18/2023
Posted in: Game Boy, Game Gear, Nintendo, PC Reviews, PlayStation (PS1), Retro Consoles, Sega, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, Sega Saturn, Sony, Super Nintendo. Leave a comment

Publisher: Williams Entertainment

Developer: Software Creations

Release Date: 11/1995


Available On

I remember MK3 very fondly as a kid. I remember seeing ads for it everywhere. Specifically, a cardboard standee in a Walmart with the giant logo My parents had a friend bring the Saturn version over once during a really bad storm. I remember seeing the arcades as well. I wound up renting it for the Super Nintendo and had a blast. I mostly loved the much darker and more mature tone the series took. MKII felt more cartoony and stylish, while MK3 felt like it pushed the first game’s realism even further.

Sadly, it does not transfer over to the Game Boy version. I don’t know why they bothered at this point. Probe dropped the ball after the pretty decent MKII and made MK3 just about as bad as the port of the first game. Back are the smaller sprites, sluggish animations, unresponsive controls, and weird speed issues with jumping animations. Animations seem to speed up and slow down, making the game just slightly better than a Tiger Electronics version. The control scheme is mostly intact, which isn’t that bad, but we also get the running mode, which is useless on such a tiny screen with a low frame rate. A new developer took the helm here and went with a 512K cart this time, which could still be bigger. Sure, we get four stages, but they’re ugly, and the music stinks too.

Once again, we get quite a few cut characters. Liu-Kang, Stryker, Nightwolf, Kung-Lao, Jax, and Shang Tsung are all missing. That’s nearly half the roster. Every character has their babality intact, but only a single fatality and mercies were kept in. It honestly doesn’t matter how insanely slow the game plays. It feels like everyone is wading through mud. It’s just so unacceptable at this point, as many Game Boy games look and play so much better.

There is nearly no redeeming value in playing this atrocity. It’s the worst version of the game, and at this point, 8-bit versions should have already stopped. We’re almost into 1996. 32-bit systems have been here for a couple of years now. The Game Boy is already almost 7 years old. I can only say this is for people who are curious about or are collectors of Mortal Kombat games. Otherwise, stay away.

Reviewed On

Jsaux Transparent Back Plate for Steam Deck – Purple

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/14/2023
Posted in: Hardware, Linux, PC Reviews. Leave a comment

Jsaux, despite being a nobody, took the shot to be the first third party to produce high-quality Steam Deck accessories. It all started with their original dock, and now they have over a dozen accessories available. Their latest and first accessory to modify the deck itself is a transparent back plate. These are high-quality injection-molded plates that feel just like the OEM plates. I was honestly shocked at the quality. They also feature a metal plate with a thermal pad that goes over the APU housing, which the original plate doesn’t have. This keeps heat in one area and away from the back of your hands, which would normally start sweating.

You get a lot of stuff in the box. There is the plate itself, along with three different types of buttons. The standard rear buttons are installed, but you get buttons that raise up and away from the plate, so you have less travel to press the buttons. There are low-height and high-height buttons. I actually like the low height, as I don’t have to squeeze the deck so hard to press the triggers. You also get a screwdriver, a plastic pry tool, extra screws, and some weird anti-static finger gloves, which are stupid, completely pointless, and a waste of packaging. Sadly, the screwdriver and pry tool are garbage. The pry tool broke during the first use, so I had to use a flathead screwdriver to pry the back plate off. The screwdriver is made of very soft metal, so the driver head strips really easily. Thankfully, I had my trusty iFixit kit handy instead.

Once you unscrew the 8 screws on the back (you should use the original screws as they are of slightly higher quality) and snap the new plate on, you’re good to go. It’s a seriously painless installation, and anyone who has never taken a handheld apart before could do it with ease. The plastic feels good, and you wouldn’t know it was a third-party plate when using it. It also looks damn cool. I went with the atomic purple plate as an homage to the GameBoy Color. I played a high-end game for about 30 minutes, and the thermal pad drew the heat away from the rest of the plate so my hands didn’t get sweaty. It’s a fantastic accessory, and for the low price, it’s well worth it.

Is there any reason not to get this? Maybe you don’t like seeing the innards through the backplate, or maybe you don’t like the colors. Don’t be scared about taking the backplate off, as it doesn’t void the warranty with Valve. It’s as easy as replacing the battery cover on a toy. It takes around 20 minutes and is well worth it. If you want a cosmetic update and a way to keep the back cooler, then this is a two-for-one deal that you shouldn’t pass up.

STAR WARS Battlefront® II – 6 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/11/2023
Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Xbox One. Leave a comment

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: EA DICE

Release Date: 11/14/2017


Available On

It’s no secret that Star Wars Battlefront II was one of the most controversial games ever made. While Motive is a fantastic developer, the pressure from EA higher-ups created the infamous loot box scandal. It was one of the most talked-about stories of 2017. The awful and immoral practices of mega-corporations in the games industry were finally coming to a head, and it was so bad that Motive removed the paid loot box system entirely.

With that said, Motive did add a single-player campaign, which was sorely missed in the first game. While the campaign is nothing to write home about, it’s there, and the effort was appreciated. You can blow through the whole thing in about 4-6 hours. There is a three-mission epilogue you can play through as well, which maybe adds 45 minutes to an hour at most. You play as a brand new character created for the game Iden Versio. She’s a great character on screen and very charismatic. The First Order elite turned resistance fighter is a nice touch, especially since you start out as the enemy in the game. Sadly, the game doesn’t really go anywhere story-wise outside of telling a small battle before the events of Episode 7. A lot of your favorite heroes and villains are present, such as Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, Lando, and Chewy.

The campaign mostly feels like a very linear version of the multiplayer game. You can just stand in a hallway and blast everyone away. Weapon damage and stats don’t seem to really matter in single-player. You mostly just want a weapon with a high rate of fire for when you are out in open areas, which is most of the time. You can equip battle cards that give you three abilities. These range from healing to grenades, scanners, and secondary weapons. They are most useful in multiplayer because they give you a bit of an edge. You occasionally get heavy weapons you can equip, and they have cool-down timers rather than ammo, so you can keep them. There are also vehicles, but you will mostly be flying them in space in the campaign, which is really well done. Ships fly well with fantastic controls. You get a taste of all of the maps in the multiplayer campaign. The campaign is mostly just reworked multiplayer maps with a few hallways thrown in. Getting through each level isn’t complicated. Objectives range from securing an area to splicing a console, and that’s about it. Nothing too fancy. The main story is entertaining the first time you play it, and then it’s off to multiplayer.

Multiplayer is where the meat of the game is. It’s built on the Battlefield franchise anyway. Multiplayer consists of large open maps with 20 vs. 20, and you must secure points on the map. This is the most common mode. The new Heroes vs. Villians is really popular and fun. Heroes are nerfed to an extent. You have a stamina bar for blocking blaster fire, jumping, and swinging your lightsaber around. This makes it fairer for other players. You get three abilities, just like every other character. The lightsaber combat feels and looks good, and it also plays the part. You really feel like a more powerful character, but just a tiny bit. You don’t want the game to be unbalanced.

If you are familiar with previous Battlefront or Battlefield games, then you know what to expect. The game looks and feels like large Star Wars battles, both on the ground and in space. There are many iconic maps and planets, as well as numerous factions such as the Droids, Republic, and Empire. Everyone will have a favorite to play as, but expect a long grind. You can’t even get a single battle card equipped until you level up a character. This will mean playing each one at least once until you find a favorite. Unlocking weapons, cosmetics, emotes, voices, and taunts all come at the cost of grinding. Sadly, the game just isn’t interesting enough for me to dedicate that much time to it. I spent maybe 4 hours in total in multiplayer, and while it’s fun in short bursts, it just doesn’t have that addictive nature that Battlefield or Call of Duty have. There’s nothing there that makes me want to come back, and I think the grind for unlocks is part of it. Everything is locked away from the start, with no incentive to keep playing.

I did have a lot of fun in multiplayer, but only in short bursts and only then for a short time span. After a while, I just couldn’t dedicate the time needed for the insane unlocks and grind. The game looks fantastic with EA’s Frostbite engine at work doing its magic, but that also comes at a cost. The game was a technical nightmare at launch, and DirectX 12 is still broken to this day. Cut scenes stutter and hitch at higher resolutions, and the game used to crash a lot on certain configurations. Motive has the essence down; it just needs more meat around a third entry.

Overall, Battlefront II doesn’t quite live up to the original charm and essence of years past. Multiplayer is fun with huge open battles, but it comes at the cost of a serious grind just to get a single battle card equipped. The campaign is appreciated, but it’s short and uninspired, and Iden’s character is underutilized. Combined with poor performance issues and the loot box scandal at launch, this game is a bargain bin purchase at best.

Reviewed On

Keyboard & Mouse

Nintendo Game Boy Micro – 18 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 05/09/2023
Posted in: Game Boy Advance, Hardware, Nintendo, Retro Consoles. Leave a comment

Release Date: 09/19/2005

Colors: Black, Silver, Green, Blue, Pink, Red, Lavender, Famicon 20th Anniversary, Final Fantasy IV, Lite blue, Mother 3, Pokemon

MSRP: $99.99

Nintendo’s constant quest to reduce and miniaturize their handhelds has its fans and some detractors. I personally think it’s great, as we can still keep and own the larger handhelds. The Micro, however, may have been pushing this limit a little too far. The tiny handheld improved on a single feature: we finally got a good screen and a backlight. The Micro has the best screen out of any of the systems, even the Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101.

The system was designed with the idea of putting it on your keychain or lanyard and being able to put it into small pockets and pack it away. The system had interchangeable faceplates (you can still get new ones made today by third parties), but the tiny design irked a lot of people. It’s about 1/4 the size of the original GBA, and to many, the SP was the perfect GBA system. It retained the same button layout and rechargeable battery, and the screen brightness could be further adjusted.

However, all I/O was removed. This meant no multiplayer, and any accessories that connected to the GameCube, e-readers, and backward compatibility were out the window as well. To many, this is just a novelty, especially with the tiny 2″ screen. Does having a really good screen and backlight make up the difference for such a small form factor and cutting every other feature? Probably not. The system is still plenty playable, and I have enjoyed many hours on mine.

Sadly, due to low sales, poor marketing, and lambasted reviews, the Micro didn’t sell well, so these systems are expensive, especially in good shape or complete in boxes. Thankfully, the faceplates and rear housing can be replaced by third parties, and mods don’t really exist for this system. They’re not really needed. This system is really only for those who collect Game Boys or just want a really good OEM backlight without any fuss or mods. If you don’t use any accessories such as the ones mentioned above, you won’t miss those either. You also must remember that there is no backward compatibility with older Game Boy titles and that you need to be okay with just Game Boy Advance games.

The system does feel good in the hands, despite its size. There are only two face buttons, so this can work fine. I would complain about the small screen, but it’s so clear, crisp, and high-res for the size that you can see everything clearly. Adjusting the volume and brightness requires a button combo that is unintuitive without the manual, and it has its own proprietary charger that is not compatible with the GBA SP. There is also a headphone jack, so keep that in mind as well. This is just a raw GBA playing system.

Overall, the Game Boy Micro is a fun little system that cuts everything out to give us a fantastic OEM backlight and customizable faceplates, but to some, that may not be worth the cost of size and accessories. It at least has a rechargeable battery and comes in really awesome variations.