Video Game Review: Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind: Keyblades of the Patriots.

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 10:00 ET

 After Dream Drop Distance and Union X the Kingdom Hearts series seemed to have stopped. I mean sure we had the 1.5, 2.5 and 2.8 compilations but aside from 0.2 in the 2.8 collection there wasn’t any major story expansion from where DDD left off. But after all these years we’ve finally made it kiddos. We finally have Kingdom Hearts 3 in our hands for over a year plus the Re:Mind DLC and is it worth it after these long years? Short answer, yes, long answer just give me a few paragraphs and I’ll explain what I feel KH3 could have improved on at the time of this article and no the plot is not one of them! Except for some stuff near the end but that’s major spoiler territory.

 But concerning the story; before this game itself there's several compilation movies in the opening menu to give new players the clip-notes version of the story so far that cover the major story points of the Dark Seeker saga. There’s even a handy dandy glossary to explain the terms the series loves to drop at light speed as they're mentioned so if you still complain about how nothing is explained then you only have yourself to blame. As the title of this review says Kingdom Hearts has more then a few parallels to Metal Gear Solid in that both have mountains of backstory to explain who everyone is, why we’re even doing all of this silliness and this game essentially is a G rated Guns of the Patriots. What I mean by that is that this is a sequel in every sense of the word, the story was made for people that have been with the series since day one but unlike MGS4; KH3 does give you the cheat sheet before hand so if this is your first time in the series, proceed at your own risk.

 Anyway the story doesn’t even bother with a mandatory tutorial as we see Sora, Donald and Goofy (take a shot) start at the world of Olympus to ask Hercules for help with Sora reclaiming the Power of Waking after he lost it when he nearly became one of Master Xehanort’s vessels at the end of DDD. From there he decides to “let his heart be his guiding key” to lead him to the various worlds that the Organization is causing trouble in with their armies of Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed in order to stop their pet projects and recover the power of waking to help save Aqua who’s been stuck in the world of Darkness for at least 11 years and I’d bet that she desperately needs a shower as well as several years of therapy.

 Now unlike the pervious games where most of the Disney worlds we visited mostly felt unrelated to the overall plot and just felt like fan service; this time around most of the Worlds we visit serve the plot with the Organization members taking a much more active role in the trouble each of them face. For example Toy Box and San Fransokyo were targeted to further the Organization’s experiments in creating a heart from nothing and how to infuse a living heart into an inanimate object. Kingdom of Corona and Arendele is where three of the new princesses of heart are and the Organization might need them to create the x-blade in case Sora and his crew can’t produce the Guardians of Light in time. As for the Caribbean and Olympus not only are they searching for Luxu’s black box but in the Caribbean they’re also observing Davy Jones and trying to learn how a creature can still exist without his heart without creating a Heartless and Nobody. As for Monsters Inc Vanitas has targeted it to reconstitute himself with Scream Energy since he is created from negative emotions like fear and sorrow.

 Also the main plot does get touched on after completing the worlds. Though some of it is just reiterating what we already know but what the characters (mostly Sora) don’t so that everyone is on track. I believe this change can be attributed to Tetsuya Nomura taking full writing duties over the previous writer Daisuke Watanabe who from what I've heard tends to work better as a scenario writer as opposed to being the overall writer. When Watanabe was writing the events of the Disney worlds tended to feel rather isolated but under Nomura he wants to make the plot this time as tight as he can.  But the one thing that anyone can follow is the combat.

 Let me just say that this incarnation of Sora is the strongest he’s ever been despite whatever Yen Sid is going on about; at least on Proud Mode and below, Critical Mode on the other hand; yeeesh! You have your standard magic spells to start with, fire, blizzard, thunder etc etc which if you cast the same spell in succession you’ll be able to cast that spell in the next tier of power. So say you kept casting Fire you can eventually use Fira before you’ve actually unlocked it in story, the same goes for every spell aside from Cure obviously since it uses up all your MP once you use it. But on top of that you also have form changes, shotlocks and attraction commands. Though yes the Attraction Commands come right the hell out of nowhere, are OP as hell and can make combat feel rather pointless because once you get that thing going and ride you'll take any and all challenge out the window.

 Form changes are special transformations that are tied to what Keyblade you’re using at the time. Just keep hitting the enemies with your Keyblade enough times and bam there you go. The Kingdom Key, Star Seeker and Ultima Weapon may only have one form but the Disney themed ones and the free OathKeeper and Oblivion have two. Some may be variants of the same form but there are the odd ones who have a wholly unique form. Speaking of Keyblade specifics we have the shotlocks back from Birth by Sleep.

 It works pretty much the same as before but instead of equipping specific shotlocks they’re tied to the Keyblade you’re using. Most Keyblades only have two but some have three for when you’re fighting a larger than normal enemy. You fire one by charging up the shotlocks gauge to max and the other by only as much as you want so give them a try and see which one works for you. Now let’s say you have a favorite Keyblade that you want to keep using but are afraid that it won’t be as powerful as later Keyblades that you really don’t like but at least want to experiment with. The first problem is solved with the Keyblade forge, all you have to do is gather certain materials, bring them to the Moogles, click the button and BAM there you go an extra strong Keyblade that may have a new built in ability on top of the extra stats. 

 The second problem is solved by now being able to equip and switch between three Keyblades at once. Personally I highly recommend the Favorite Deputy since it has Lucky Lucky as its starting skill which means grinding for synthesis materials is that much easier on top of how easy it already is in this game. But for those materials that aren’t dropped from enemies there’s shooting down meteors in the Ocean between with the new Gummi ship. The Gummi ship this time around is basically a mix of the best parts of Gummi ship travel from the first two games. Instead of linear shooters this time you actually get to fly around in the depths of space and do whatever you want. 

 You can take part in Gummi missions for more parts and Exp for your ship, unlock treasure spheres for parts and synthesis materials and of course discover new worlds all on your own. Basically if you’ve played Legend of Zelda Wind Waker and Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in time you’ll get the gist of what the Gummi ship is like in this game. Though be forewarned if you are looking to forge the Ultima Weapon you need to finish off the last mission in the last sea of stars before the Keyblade Graveyard. I highly recommend taking down the Schwartzgeist beforehand for hands down the best Gummi ship in the game to even stand a chance. Though speaking of the Keyblade Graveyard I now have to give my thoughts on the ending. 

 Now up to this point everything is easy to follow if you’ve been paying attention, but when we get to the Keyblade Graveyard things start to go pear shaped. Even though this game has been out for a year at the time of this review still want to warn you that I’ll be getting into major plot spoilers at this point so here is your final warning. If you want my overall opinion I recommend this game warts and all.

 Now some initial questions that I had before Re:Mind were addressed with the DLC but then there's several more that popped up. Where did the Master of Masters scurry off to after his conversation with Xehanort after his journey AKA Kingdom Hearts Dark Road? What exactly was Vanitas talking about when he mentioned that he was something else that was hidden in Ventus for a really long time? If Xion's memories have overwritten the one that the New Organization made does that make the current Xion a clone or a reincarnation or something? Also what in the wide, wide world of sports was Yozora going on about "saving Sora?" 

 Oh and speaking of Yozora, if you are going to take on the Data Organization 13 and Yozora, do yourself a favor and do it on a Beginner Playthough. Or any other mode aside from Critical like I did! Maybe do a Beginner mode play-through using the Pro Codes to save yourself some time and headaches. Oh and free tip, Strength, Magic and Defense boosts are not affected by the Pro Codes, you're welcome. Though if you are going for the Re:Mind I suggest waiting till it's on sale or part of a future collection because 29.99 American, is a bit pricey for my taste.

 I personally recommend getting the All In One Collection that includes 1.5, 2.5, 2.8 and 3 for only 99.99, trust me it's a steal. #Notanad #NoSponsorship #Freepromotion But after all these years of waiting and a year to asses my thoughts I believe that Kingdom Hearts 3 as a conclusion to the Dark Seeker Saga is satisfactory. But as a game I honestly still say that Kingdom Hearts 2 is still my favorite in the series but KH3 does come close after all of the free updates and if they decide to expand on it more then I'd be up for it but at a more reasonable price if you'd be so kind Square? Now to start the clock on when the next major Kingdom Hearts game comes out (that isn't on Mobile please?) Happy New Decade and may your heart be your guiding key.

Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios, Tetsuya Nomura, and Shinji Hashimoto.

Video Game Review: E3 2019 thoughts/Madoka Magica Magia Record: She’s still alive!

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 12:00 ET

 Before I say anything this review is in no way, shape or form influenced or sponsored by Aniplex, Magia Quartet or anyone involved with the game or Madoka Magica franchise. This is all me, a fan giving basically free advertisement of my own accord. With that said June of 2019 is turning out to be quite a wonderful and surprising month for gaming. First we have the US release of Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth; the last major release on the 3DS just a few weeks ago. E3 actually gave me something to smile about and not just how pathetic EA and Ubisoft are and the live Adult Swim show that is the Devolver Digital presentation I’m talking about some real good stuff. 

 Not only do we have a release time for Kingdom Hearts Remind but we also have the remake of Final Fantasy 8 (for the like, three people who actually like it.) But my highlights of E3 is the confirmation of both No More Heroes 3 and Banjo Kazooie for Smash!!!

 But in the midst of all this is that a little mobile game that I’ve been eyeing since its release in Japan back around 2017 is getting released in the states on the 25th. Magia Record, a moble game tie in to Madoka Magica. When I heard this was finally making it stateside only one thought ran through my head. 

 I mean as a Madoka fan how could I not want this? It’s free (technically), introduces a new story, more characters and more chances for Urobutchi and his crew to rip your heart out and squish it like a bug, what more can ya want?! Now there is a story to go with this game so without going into major spoilers the new main is Iroha, a magical girl who’s set up shop in the city of Kamihama and is looking for her little sister Ui who is also a Magical Girl and has been missing for quite some time. Along the way she’ll meet up with some new friends, some familiar to us, others brand new. But aside from the usual witches running around and spreading despair like Johnny Appleseed after listening to Linkin Park for too long there’s these new monsters called Rumors who; just like the rumors in Persona 2 Innocent Sin are the manifestations of rumors spread by the people of the town. 

 Only unlike the majority of Persona 2 rumors these ones manifest as Witch like creatures who exist to perpetuate the rumors that spawned them. Usually that involves killing people in some convoluted Two Face or Riddler esc obsessive compulsive fashion. As if that wasn’t weird enough, in Kamihama; Magical Girls don’t turn into Witches, instead their witches manifest as Doppels, which are basically dollar store versions of Stands or Personas, only with more body horror, YAY! And just like Innocent Sin; tying all of these weird events together is a cult of Magical Girls called the Wings of Magus with weird powers and objectives. Also there's this weird Kyubey like creature running around which doesn't seem to be part of the collective and no this isn't Juubey from Innocent Malice it actually looks like Kyubey just more intentionally cute. 

 From what little I can gather on this game the combat isn’t too complicated. You can control up to 5 of your favorite MG’s as you battle it out with Witches, their familiars, Rumors, other MG’s you know the drill. While I’m not too familiar with the exact controls you can input certain commands and cards related to your team to unleash normal attacks, buffs, Final attacks and with some of the girls you can summon their Doppels for a screen nuke that will if not wipe you your enemies then at the very least give you a major advantage. You can recruit other MG’s to chose from but there comes the big catch with this game. It’s a Gatcha free to play game where depending on if you progress in the story, log in daily or buy them yourself you can acquire Gems to spin the wheel and see if you can get a brand new MG for your team. 

 Now I personally recommend not buying these types of currency unless there’s a special deal going on, like a discount or getting something on top of the Gems your getting like how Kingdom Hearts Unchained X does its weekly deals where you not only get jewels for 15 bucks but also access to exclusive deals and Medals for the week, basically make sure you’re getting enough bang for your buck know what I mean? Speaking of KHUX there's the girls themselves and how they level up. See there's a Star tier system. The higher the rank the girls are, the more powerful they are, simple enough. Starting with the 1 Star to the top tier 5 Stars.

 Not exactly sure how they level up but it's there. Also if there's a 5 Star MG they will have a Doppel. Sometimes with updates MGs who could only go up to 4 starts will get a boost to 5 and a Doppel of their own. So make sure you save them all cause you never know. But speaking of Gems it's time to get to the brass tacks of why I mad this article in the first place.

 To promote the game Aniplex or whomever decided to do a promotion campaign for potential player. If they can reach a pre determined number of per orders for this free mobile game (wtf?) we get escalating bonus'. The top one for 20,000 people pre ordering this sucker is that every player will get the 4 Star Glasses Homura and 150 Gems. Not sure how valuable those gems are but for a 4 Star Moemura I think we need to send some love their way I don't know about all of you. Here's the link to the tweet so you can share with your other friends which includes the link to the Apple Page so you can help us get a leg up in the game and get the poor purple more blob before her world turned her into Loli Schwarzenegger.

https://twitter.com/MagiaRecordEN/status/1134164835057299456

 So there you have it, we not only have the original 5 of Madoka, Homura, Sayaka, Kyoko and Mami but we'll also get a plethora of new original MG's and some of the MG's from the Spin off Manga will get their long over due time in the spotlight, including Kazumi and Yuma, yay! Listen, I love the Madoka series because it has earned it from me. This is not my usual thing, either Magical Girl stuff or Gatcha free to play stuff, but there is always the exception that proves the rule as Madoka deserves. With this, a Manga and anime adaptation of this game coming out this year it's a clear sign that this franchise isn't going anywhere. Hopefully with enough support we'll finally get the conclusion we've all been waiting for.

 Yes I know it sounds naive but as a certain pinkie pie once said "If someone ever tells me it's a mistake to have hope, well then I'll just tell them they're wrong and I'll keep telling them until they believe; no matter how many times it takes." Besides with that much cheddar rolling in they'd have to be crazy not to bank on that, YA YA!! Well with my community service done for now, time to get back to my sentence of reviewing Heisei Generations Forever. 

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record is owned by Aniplex, F4samurai and Magica Quartet.
Street Fighter (TV Series) is owned by Capcom, Graz Entertainment, InVision entertainment, USA Studios and Discotek Media
Spongebob SquarePants is owned by Nickelodeon, Stephen Dillenburg, United Plankton Pictures, and Viacom International Media Networks

Video Game Review: Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth: It’s Showtime!!!

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 12:00 ET

 The first Persona Q was a fun little slice of fan service for fans of Persona 3 and 4 seeing our favorite characters interact with each other, deal with bizarre new situations and still deliver a staple Persona gut punch to the heart with a story that manages to blend the themes of the two stories together. Those being the acceptance of Death and facing your darkest truths. So if we add another team of characters, an alternate universe rule 63 version of the Persona 3 lead and tack on the theme of rebelling against an unjust society, do you think that maybe there’s a risk of spoiling the broth? Those are some of my fears going into Persona Q2. Surprisingly not for the Switch but the 3DS again, you’d think that with Nintendo pushing the Switch as their new home/portable console you’d think that Atlus/Sega would take the hint, but no we get it on the 3DS. 

 And just like with SMT Strange Journey Redux I’m guessing that since Atlus is releasing this on a technically last gen device; they don’t feel the need to give these games an English dub and save some coin. But that just begs the question of why not release them on the Switch anyway with an English dub to keep that sec of the fandom happy? I’m not complaining I just think it’s kind of odd that they’re going about it like this. I'm guessing that it has to do with these mechanics working only on the 3DS. But hey at the end of the day we get more SMT goodness on the go without mobile micro transactions (or the ability to take a selfie with Jack Frost or Mara but hey there’s a price for everything I guess) so it’s all good by my books.

 As for the plot from what little I can glean since I’m avoiding spoilers is that the Phantom Thieves (mostly around their school festival due to the presence of Pancake Boy on the team before he stabs them in the back) are taking a page from Veiwtiful Joe and are venturing through the world of movies to undoubtedly solve the problem of some girl that will most likely be Rei 2.0 and be some ghost unable to pass on due to trauma. I mean she basically is Rei only her Zen is an older woman. Anyway these two are stuck in what I’m guessing is the abandoned movie theater near Leblanc, and this is tied into some odd Shadow called Doe that has a doofy looking mask that seems to have some connection to the new girl. As the Phantom Thieves venture through the movie worlds they’ll encounter and recruit the returning Persona characters. First we have the Female Protagonist from Persona 3 PSP in the movie Kamoshidaman where the rapist, child abusing power-mad scumbag is a Superhero. 

 Then we recruit the Persona 4 team in a Jurassic Park parody where apparently Diego Brando is ruining around since we see that some of the Persona 4 team is turning into Dinosaurs. Last we have the rest of the Persona 3 team in a movie where humanity has been replaced with Robots where one of them has developed individuality and their goal is to protect this A.I. But if the last Persona Q game was anything to go by there’s at least two more movie worlds after those but again I won’t be looking around for it any time soon. As for the combat and Personas if you've played the first Q game you should know what you're in for. We will have the Velvet Room but since there's no Social Links the Personas we get are just that, no extra EXP or anything.

 I could talk more about some of the potential features based on the first game but that will just be speculation. From getting new items from salvaging Shadow parts (and yes we're back to traditional Shadow designs instead of the Demons in Mementos, thankfully) to avoiding the F.O.E's that wander the Labyrinths; eventually coming back to beat them and get more items, EXP and potentially strong Personas. Hopefully there's no more of that Streetpass crap, cause I never used the thing and I doubt anyone will since the Switch is a thing now. But all that remains is to get Persona Q2 and see what happens. Now I know I promised that I'd go back to Homura's Revenge after the Month of Mayga man but, something fell into my lap that demands my attention, Heisei Generations Forever, the team up movie of Zi-O and Build, help me.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth is owned by Atlus and Sega.
Spongebob SquarePants is owned by Nickelodeon, Stephen Dillenburg, United Plankton Pictures, and Viacom International Media Networks

Video Game Review: Luigi’s Mansion 3DS: Who you gonna call? Weegee!

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 12:00 ET

 Ah Luigi’s Mansion, when I was a kid this was one of my favorite games especially around Halloween and one of the first two games I got for the GameCube. Now that it’s rereleased on the 3DS and I can take it on the go the memories came right on back and after replaying and completing it it still holds up, though not without some flaws. Now for those who haven’t played this 16 year old game (Christ how time flies) the premise is a simple as a Mario game can be. Luigi wins a mansion in a contest he didn’t enter (cue Admiral Ackbar) and he finds the place is haunted. Now normally he’d have run for the hills by now but Mario got there first to scope it out and was captured by King Boo and his army of Ghosts, most of whom have escaped from the collection of Paranormal researcher Professor E. Gadd. 

 Gadd had captured a giant Boo called Boolossus and in retaliation, King Boo freed him along with all of the other Ghosts in his portrait collection. Now King Boo and all of the Professors Portrait Ghosts are hiding out in their newly constructed Mansion with Mario as their prisoner. So now with the Professor’s Poltergust 3000 Luigi has to venture into the Mansion, capture all of the portrait ghosts, defeat King Boo and save Mario, like I said simple. Since this is a remake of a GameCube game there’s more then a few updates that I both like and dislike. Let’s get the one bad thing I have about this remake out of the way, it has motion control. 

 When you’re sucking in or launching an element you have to aim it using the 3DS’ gyroscopic control which gets really old really fast and can make some Ghosts downright unbearable. Though you can easily resolve this issue in one of three ways, either have the 3DS XL with the C Stick and Z buttons or if you have just a New 3DS then the Circle Pad Pro will the job as well. Either way with those and the C Stick the issues that I have will pretty much go away. However if you use the circle pad pro you’ll have it activate it every time you turn the game back on or close the 3DS, annoying but nothing that’s going to break the deal. Also you can turn off the Motion controls by going into the options menu and setting the sensitivity to 0, though again you’ll need the c stick from either of the previously mentioned solutions otherwise this port will be very difficult.

 Other then that one issue this is a fantastic rerelease. As a modern game Luigi’s Mansion 3DS has some achievements to complete such as capture all 50 Boos, get all of the Portrait Ghosts, you get the idea. This also has a new rank for the Ghosts that can only unlock once you get access to the hidden Mansion after you beat the game once, you can actually get them a Platinum Frame if you can suck all 150 of their HP in one shot. A tough order but one that can be done with practice. Though just a heads up, Chauncey, Nana and Sue Pea made my life miserable! 

 Sue Pea in particular caused my control stick to crack slightly from all the pressure I was placing on it to wrangle her in. Though this was ultimately worth it in the end when I was rewarded with the S rank Mansion for getting platinum frames for all of the Ghosts. Though I may have had an easier time if I had assistance from Gooigi, the co-op character introduced for this port from E Gadd in the future during the events of Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon which I haven’t played but will give it a shot if I have the time. As mentioned Gooigi is a protoplasm construct of Luigi that can help you during the game and having his help in the Hidden Mansion and getting platinum frames will be a godsend! After playing Luigi’s Mansion on the GameCube so many times the Hidden Mansion in the 3DS port is the most challenge I’ve ever had from this game since the first time I played it all those years ago. 

 There’s more ghosts in the rooms of the Mansion with more HP, Speedy Spirits are in completely different locations, some keys are in different rooms, Mario’s items for Madam Clarvoya are in different rooms, this mode can really throw veterans off their game. Also the Hidden Mansion changes one of the optional ghosts to mandatory and vice versa. Slim Bankshot is now mandatory while Henry and Orville are optional, other then that the rest are as you remember just with harder pulls, more HP and way more annoying as a result. But seeing that S Mansion was really rewarding after going through all of this BS. So if you have a 3DS make sure you pick up a copy of this remake of a ghoulishly good game, even though Halloween’s over at the time of this article, poop.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Luigi's Mansion 3Ds is owned by Nintendo, Nintendo EAD (GameCube) Grezzo (3DS)

Video Game Review: Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey Redux/ Deep Strange Journey: Back into the Black hole!

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 Of all the SMT games that deserve a remake and rerelease for modern consoles this one is a personal delight. I wasn't always a fan of the Megami Tensei games, hell I never really heard of them till my brother got a used copy of Persona 4 for the PS2. So I decided "eh why not", gave it a try and the rest as they say is that. Now while I learned more about Persona I learned inevitably about the franchise that Persona spun off from, the Megami Tensei series. But this was before SMT 3 and the other PS2 games were on the PSN store so I decided to go with a rather obscure spin off that surprisingly didn't get a sequel.

 So I went to my local Gamestop I think, picked up a used copy and thus Strange Journey became my very first non Persona SMT game and BOY was it a different breed compared to Persona 4. From the setting to the story and the Pokemon esc demon recruiting mechanic, bone grinding difficulty, morally system and multiple endings Strange Journey was a breath of fresh air in the same way Persona 4 was when I first played it. But enough of my reminiscing I'll give a general recap of the game but for this rerelease you really should go in cold. Unlike the Persona series past Eternal Punishment were we play as anime trope #245, the transfer student; we're playing as a United Nations special ops solder who has been assigned to a strike team that has been sent to investigate a mysterious space which has materialized in the South Pole that threatens to swallow the entire world. Once they get inside they find that there's no way to contact the outside world and they can't get out the same way they came in.

 So for this game we've been essentially banished to the Black hole.

 They penetrate the blag ole called the Schwarzwelt and being an SMT game there's demons all over the place and they want to escape and rip every humans face off. Though personally I can't tell which is worse the demons or being trolled to death by the Gatekeeper. Before they find out for themselves the crews of all the strike teams ships all receive a vision from an unknown source, and with it the Demon Summoning Program is uploaded to their special combat suits called Demonicas that allow them to communicate with and control demons. So with their new demons our protagonist and the crew of the Red Sprite must venture into the heart of the Schwarzwelt and destroy it to save Earth. However there are several factions who want to use the Schwarzwelt for their own purposes, including the Three Wise Men, a mysterious blond girl, a black haired, black winged angel named Mastema, the Mothers of the Schwarzwelt and now for the 3DS remake; a mysterious woman called Alex as well as Zeus and Demeter, maybe.

 Regarding the characters I won't go into too much detail as usual. Even though this is a remake of a 9 year old game I really want you to experience it for yourselves and avoid spoilers, so only names and basic characterization will be detailed here.

First is our protagoinist. There's nothing about him when you start. The only unique thing about him is his nationality depending on which version you're playing. If you're playing the English release he's from the US and the Japanese version he's from Japan. He really is nothing more then a player avatar.

Next is the Captain of the Red Sprite Commander Gore.  He dies within the first hour of the game. That's all I can say for now. Also yes he is clearly named after Al Gore. But he is important to the story I'm being super duper cereal.

Now we have the AI of the Red Sprite, Arthur. After Commander Gore dies Arthur is made the new commander of the Red Sprite. Though Arthur the Crew of the Red Sprite receives the Demon Summoning Program.

Following up is Jimenez, the Chaos partner of our story. A private contractor from the US he's the only member of the Blue Jet to survive the crash and subsequent attack by the resident demons. He's not afraid to speak his mind though is rather pessimistic and confrontational, though he is on friendly terms with his personal Demon Bugaboo and the Protagonist. 

On to our law aligned partner Zelenin. She's a scientist from Russia and is a survivor from the third ship, the Elve. And after she survived her time in Sector Bootes, let's just say she's not all that willing to use the DSP anytime soon. That is until she encounters Mastema.

Mastema, also known as Mansemat, is an angel of persecution and hostility as cited from the literature of Israel's Second Temple Period. In this regard, he is also similar to Satan, who held more or less the same portfolio in other books of the period. Mastema is said to be the angel that unleashed the ten plagues of Egypt and attempted to kill Moses. In this game he's an angel supposedly sent by God to investigate the Schwarzwelt but seems to be following his own agenda. While he claims to be following the orders of God Jiminez correctly doesn't trust the guy as far as he can throw him. Though he does help the crew of the Red Sprite they do keep this angel at arms length.

Last and the newest character in this remake is Alex. All I know about her is that she has her own AI George and she wants to kill me badly for some reason.

 Gameplay wise you'll be navigating the various dungeons, referred to as sectors in this game by a first person perspective with a map on the bottom screen that fills out as you progress through the level. Basically if you've played Etrian Odyssey or Persona Q Shadow of the Labyrinth you'll be familiar with how it all works. But unless you get to recruiting demons and getting new and better equipment you'll be stomped on rather quickly. You'll get new weapons by bringing back Forma that you collect from Demons (though negotiation, defeating them or as a reward for leveling up.) Some forma can only be found in specific sectors or as rewards for side-quests, again much like Persona Q.

 But you won't be able to survive on new equipment alone, every good solder does need trustworthy squad-mates after all, and luckily for you these demons will always work for you, provided you know what their price is. A major factor in recruiting demons in this game is dependent on your moral alignment. By default you'll be neutral-neutral, but as you answer certain dialogue routes you'll sway between the Chaos and Law alignment. If you're lawful then Chaos demons will be harder to negotiate with and the opposite is true too so if you're looking to draft a new demon you better be on the same page ya hear? However there's three conditions where you cannot recruit demons, if the demon is an Unknown, the moons phase is full (unless you have a certain sub-app equipped) and if the demons' secondary alignment is Dark so you'll have to fuse those particular demons or get really lucky and run into them during the full moon with the aforementioned sub-app.

 Or you could just summon a demon by imputing a password, you can find the Passwords for all demons by checking out the SMT Wiki. The music is a radical departure from most of the Megaten series. Once again Shouji Meguro was the composer for this game so surprise, surprise despite the tone it fits this game like a glove. While most of the games I've played that he worked on have gone for a rock, synth and pop style depending on which game it is Strange Journey is much more serious and dire. Apparently he was told to compose it like if it were a movie so he went for a military orchestration with Gregorian chanting, drums and violins.

 Which makes sense for a joint military operation to save the world, the clock is ticking closer to doomsday so it's all business and it really stresses the dire and serious tone of the setting. So all in all when Strange Journey Redux comes out be sure to pick it up. If you're only familiar with the Megaten franchise through Persona this may be what gets you to check out the other areas of the franchise like I did. They're all still great games, made by the same company so equip your Demonica and get out into the field to kick some demon ass! Rip and tear, rip and tear, rip and tear their guts!

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey Redux/Deep Strange Journey is owned by Atlus, Sega and Lancarse.
Atmosfear is owned by J.W. Spear & Sons, Mattel and Flying Bark Productions.

Video Game Review: Persona 5: Surprise it's really good.

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 Yes Gentle Thieves and femme fatales we finally have Persona 5 after quite a long time and by Philemon it's been worth it. Now I honestly don't want to talk too much about it because you really need to play this game for yourselves. "But I've never played Personas 1-4 so why would you expect me to just jump on the bandwagon now?" First off, you've never played the previous games? Fix that asap, at least start off with Persona 3 FES then 4 Golden and then play 5, and 2 they're all self contained stories so continuity is no problem. (Aside from Persona's 1 and both of the 2's but that's a topic for another day.)

 Lastly I have several comprehensive articles of the first game's re-release on the PSP so follow these links, learn the basics and then play what is currently my game of the year. 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Finale

 So if you've read up and whatnot here's what I feel safe in telling you, you play as a kid found guilty of a crime he didn't commit, he escaped from a maximum security stockade into the Tokyo underground, there he and several of his new contacts survive as Phantom Thieves of hearts. If you have a problem, if no one else can help and if you can find them then maybe you can hire; The Phantom Thieves.

 Ok I joke but I'm not telling how but he does get transferred to Tokyo and Shujin Academy where he meets up with some social outcasts; they discover their Personas, get badass outfits, fight a bunch of borderline Disney evil levels of villains you know how it goes. Am I done, no, fine I'll tell you more, at least about how this version improves over Persona 4. First the dungeons and the combat have gotten a major exciting overhaul. Instead of just wandering around themed dungeons with randomly generated floors we now have unique Palaces that feature smart and fun stealth sections that really sell the prospect of being a thief. 

 These stealth mechanics that not only helps to capture the experience but also helps you to get the drop on your enemies. Speaking of the enemies, while they're still called shadows they're basically classic demons with a different name. Which brings us to the reintroduction to the negotiation system, as with classic SMT games you can only get new personas by negotiating with Shadows to make them remember their original natures, you could also hold them up to try and shake them down for extra cash and or items at the cost of exp.

 But you'll have to choose very carefully because both Money and levels are more necessary then ever in Persona 5, you'll need an insane and consistent amount of cash to upgrade your equipment, boost your personality and some will be required to talk to your confidants. While you can steal from the Palaces to get stuff to sell in the real world be forewarned that once a boss is beaten their respective Palace is gone for good meaning that you'll either have to wait till the next target, work part time jobs or grind for exp in Mementos, this game's equivalent of Tartarus while taking care of jobs for people who post on the official Phantom Thief Phansite. 

 Next the music in this game is diverse and near perfect. Once again Shouji Meguro is the composer and he and Lotus Juice knock it out of the park. Though if you do for some reason get tired of Next Surprise (though god knows how) and the teams usual outfits you can change to classic Persona and other Altus music and costumes from DLC. Speaking of while some DLC does have classic Personas and their Requiem; I mean "Picaro" versions they aren't needed to fill out the compendium. 

 Now for those who are worried about getting 100% of the trophies on your first run, don't worry since two trophies will only be available in New Game Plus so you can just focus your first run on building you social points and your team's confidants to get their ultimate Personas. Then once that's done just follow a online guide for your second play through and that platinum is as good as done. So what else is there to say? This is one of the best Persona games in the series and this is your perfect chance to join in and see what you've been missing out on.

Persona 5 is owned by Atlus and Sega.

Video Game Review: Top 10 best Video Game Sequels Part 2

Please be sure to read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

For those who forgot what I thought were my 10th to 6th most favored sequels here's the link. Now sit back, relax and let me tell you what I think are the best sequels I've played so far.

#5 Bioshock 2

NOW, before anyones says anything let me get this off my chest.

 This is not the best game in the series. Of the three games my personal favorite is Bioshock. It introduced me to Art Deco art design and the ideas of Objectivism some of which I agree with, It also gave us Andrew Ryan one of the more empathetic villains I've encountered. Bioshock Infinite is my second favorite, despite having what I feel to be the best story in the series the combat is somewhat weak due to the two weapon system and the random and mostly useless Gear system. However Bioshock 2 is in my opinion the most fun to play. 

 For starters we get the chance to play as a Big Daddy which while it removes some of the horror felt in the first game we get to play as one of the most powerful creatures in Rapture. Now admit it at some point you wish you were on the giving end of that drill or rivet gun instead of the receiving end. The hacking is significantly improved and no longer takes you out of the setting and game by replacing the long pipe puzzles with a simple timing game which improves the gameplay flow and isn't distracting. When you purchase Plasmid upgrades there is a tangible difference in their capability as when you do they actually gain new effects and powers. The research camera is now a film camera instead of a photo camera which again improves the flow of gameplay by keeping the fight going while recording your enemies.

 There are more characters with original models, no longer needing to recycle Splicer models for characters like Tennembaum. We have a villain that we can genuinely hate in Sophia Lamb and her organization; the Rapture family from the sympathetic Grace Holloway to the disgusting weasel Stanley Poole to the tragic Gil Alexander. On top of that Minerva's den; its single player DLC is one of the best pieces of DLC I've ever played to the point where it's even better then the main game in certain respects. But there are some things that hold it back. In the original version it fell victim to the craze of tacked on Multiplayer which thankfully was removed in the Hd Collection. Unlike in the first game you can't go back to levels you've bested, once you get on that train that's it you you're required to search the level from tit to toe for Audio Diaries, tonics and Power to the people machines.

 The levels can also feel a bit too short, not really giving you a chance to explore and take in the surroundings and atmosphere. There's also no Survivor difficulty in this game which is annoying for me since I can only get a challenge from games like this when I go in hardcore. Also the final level is once again another easy breeze for competent players, even without the last Plasmid you can clean out all the Splicers and Alpha Series in Persephone just by sneezing on them. Also the spear gun is almost useless at least for me; I never upgraded that thing. Yet I can't hate this game, on a technical level Bioshock 2 is a good sequel. 

While Bioshock 2 is undoubtedly the weakest game in the franchise in terms of narrative I still consider it the most fun to play. I look at Bioshock and Bioshock 2 like how most people look at Alien and Aliens, the first is a ground breaking genre piece that has a wonderful, frightening atmosphere due to how little we know of what we're facing. While Bioshock 2 we know what it is, we know it can bleed and we know how we can kill it! To me Bioshock 2 is moving from horror to action with horror elements. Still fun for me, not the best but I don't care I'm too busy killing Splicers with my big ass drill and making too many Gurren Lagann references to care, especially when the Yuri Lowenthal Spider Splicers show up. "HEY SIMON FOUND YOUR DRILL!!!"

#4 Devil May Cry 3

 Now we move on to sequels that everyone can agree is a marked improvement from what came before. Now for how I can across Devil May Cry. I saw the HD collection for PS3 on PSN for 5 bucks which is a fantastic deal so I got it thanks to my brief encounters with Dante in SMT Nocturne, Project X Zone and Viewtiful Joe Red Hot Rumble ( yes I played it shut up). I played the first game thought it was ok, kind of a gothic Japanese God of War. Then came Devil May Cry 2, I hated it, the gameplay was dumbed down, the lock on was horrible, what little personality Dante had in the first game was sucked out and was replaced with a boring female lead whose name I can't even be bothered to look up on Wikipedia. Who also came with a dull clone backstory and a fake sounding accent that when combined came off to me as less of a demon hunter then someone who should be trying to catch Moose and Squirrel for Fearless Leader.

 I honestly was starting to have buyers remorse. I thought; "why is it that people like Dante again? What was it that I wasn't seeing?" Then along came from the heavens, Devil May Cry 3 and then IT FUCKING CLICKED!! This was the Dante I was expecting, the snarky; ass kicking; pizza eating demon hunter with a badass sword, beautiful twin pistols and seeing the origin of the famous transformation; the Devil Trigger. On top of that the badass boss fights and new weapons were fun, hard to master and so, so rewarding once you've conquered them. 

 Now in case you haven't guessed I'm a bit of a Power Rangers fan. So imagine my surprise when I found out that Dan Southworth AKA Eric AKA the Quantum Ranger from Power Rangers Time Force was Dante's brother Virgil? To me the relationships of the two sons of Sparta came across as Inuyasha and Sesshomaru only without all of the bullshit and they're both Half Demons. Now I want to see Sesshomaru and Virgil in a Deathbattle if anything to see that Bi-shi furry get his ass kicked by a real half-demon who's with me? WIZ, BOOMSTICK GET ON THAT SHIT!

 Though honestly every time Virgil talked I just couldn't separate Virgil from Eric, it was weird. Aside from that this game hooked me on Devil May Cry and I can't wait to get around to Devil May Cry 4 for PS4 and all of you will get to join me on my first ride. Maybe I'll also give DMC Devil May Cry a shot. I know everyone including Capcom hates that game but maybe I'll just rent it or something, it cannot honestly be worse then Devil May Cry 2. I mean we even have RJ from Jungle Fury as Virgil and you all know how much I liked him so what could go wrong?

#3 Banjo Tooie

This is the best game of my childhood. Ok either this or Donkey Kong 64

 Banjo Kazooie was one of my favorite games as a kid. The N64 was my jam and the games were so mind blowingly good I still can't believe it (ok not all of them I did play that Lightspeed Rescue and Rugrats board game thing, I got better.) Back on track Banjo-Tooie took one of my favorite games and cranked it up to 11! New moves, bigger locations, bigger challenges, great music and actual boss battles! We even get to play as Mumbo Jumbo and while he's not as maneuverable and versatile as the bear and bird he can do some freaky tiki room shit, like bringing a Giant Golden statue to life, make the ocean breathable and even bring dead Aliens back to life! Since Mumbo's taking a more active role we get to visit the Shaman Humba Wumba who shows up in every level with a brand new transformation, including a secret one for Kazooie which turns her into a dragon!

 Now to this day I still haven't gotten all of the Jiggies (cough Canary Mary cough cough) but I still love this game. It's only a shame what happened to this franchise due to Rare and Microsoft (which is one of the reasons I will never own a Xbox console). I'm just hoping that Yooka-Layle which is made by the people behind Banjo Kazooie which I backed during its original Kickstarter so you'd better believe there's going to be a Lets Play of that game as soon as I can get my claws on it! I mean they know that it has to be good or else everyone who's backed it will cry like an anime fan on prom night! Seriously whoever though that was a good idea for Mighty #9's marketing needs to be fired, out of a cannon, into a dumpster made of flaming racism!

 #2 Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door

Long Story short second verse same as the last.

 But for more effort Paper Mario TTYD was one of my most favorite games for the Gamecube, right up there with Luigi's Mansion, Legend of Zelda Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, Viewtiful Joe and Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness. Paper Mario TTYD gave us distinct locations, fun memorable characters and a main Villain that wasn't Bowser for the 200th time. When I say distinct locations I mean it, from a monochrome forest to a WWE esq fighting arena in the sky to even an homage to Murder on the Orient Express. My personal favorite level is the aforementioned Glitz Pit and my favorite companion is Vivian the former shadow siren turned ally. Unfortunately much like Banjo-Kazooie the Paper Mario series has seen better days.

 Super Paper Mario was ok though going back to the older platforming was a bit odd for me. Sticker Star was the straw that broke my back for me what with you having to go all the way back to get the thing stickers over and over again and I haven't even touched Color Splash since from what I've seen it's much of the same as Sticker Star. So here's hoping we get back to it's true RPG routes with EXP, companions and the whole nine yards.

 Now before I tell you what I consider to be the best video game sequel I've played so far here's some honorable mentions.

 Persona 2 Eternal Punishment

 Now I seriously wanted to put a Persona game on the list but since one of my criteria is that it has to be a direct sequel that isn't part of an anthology so the only direct sequel to a Persona game Eternal Punishment gets the mention.

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle

 One of the first Gamecube games I got along with Luigi's Mansion; Sonic Adventure 2 gave me my first look at Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow and their high speed gameplay. Along with Tales and Eggman's shooter mech levels and Knuckles and Rouge's treasure hunting segments gave the game great variety.

Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag

 After enduring the dullness of Conner Kenway in Assassins Creed 3 we were rewarded with the swashbuckling tale of his Grandfather Edward in Black Flag. They wisely expanded the sailing mechanic that was stared in 3 and also did us all the favor of confirming the death Desmond in the modern day segments.

Megaman X8

 X7 was my first Megaman X game (I know I'm surprised I became a Megaman X fan after that too) SO yes the improvements between 7 and 8 are undeniable. From the voice acting actually being good to the improved controls and well holy crap AXL can shoot rapid fire copy bullets instead of one at a time which would take 3 minutes to kill an enemy. This along with the great rock music that the X series is known for makes for a decent game in the X series. (Though we're still waiting for X9 Capcom!)

Batman Arkham Knight

Honestly I would have put this on the list proper for the creative way of including the Joker and finally giving us the Batmobile. But the horrible way the PC version was shat out by Warner Bros cannot be forgiven or forgotten. Though if you want to see this game on a proper list well, next time kiddies.

Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker

 My personal favorite Zelda game of all even when it first came out and everybody hated it because it looked "too cartoony" and other such crap. I loved the sailing and breadth of atmosphere granted to me by sailing on the King of Red Lions. The designs of the characters were colorful, vibrant and they all popped. Though this did eventually introduce the Zelda Multiverse due to the different results of Ocarina of Time since this takes place in the universe that Adult Link left behind after sealing Gannondorf. So since it's technically not a direct sequel it doesn't make the list.

BioShock Infinite

 Infinite does have a superior story to BioShock 2 and a completely different and intriguing setting in the city of Columbia. We also have one of the best dynamics between Booker and Elizabeth and get a pretty brilliant way of explaining the concept of the Multiverse to people (at least better then Mr Nobody but pretty much on par with Rick and Morty) However the two gun system is stupid and limiting and when we first saw Songbird most of us thought "OH god I can't WAIT to fight that thing" but we don't.

 But despite that the ending is still one of the best part of this game and nobody can deny that.

Sly 2 Band of Thieves

 This was the game that set the Sly Cooper formula in stone. We got to play as Bentley and Murray as they demonstrated that they're on par with their best pal Sly as the three set out to steal back Clockwerk's body parts. (EW) Though it did tend to overstay its welcome at points such as the multiple levels with Rajan, The Contessa and Jean Bison. What Sly 2 introduced Sly 3 perfected.

God of War 3

 YOU LIKE EPIC BOSS BATTLES? You're not getting out of that chair/couch/whatever until you deal with ALL of these boss battles, you slimy little Carbuncle! But before you do check out what I consider to be the best video game sequel ever.

#1 Assassins Creed 2

 The first Assassins Creed was fine, the tasks you had to do were repetitive, the assassinations were nothing to write home about but it was perfectly serviceable. The ending did entice me to be hopeful for a sequel. But what I got was not what I expected, its in a word, beautiful. The wonderful setting of Renaissance Italy, the actually recognizable historical figures such as our main man Leonardo and the big bad Rodrigo Borgia. But the best of all is the properly Iconic protagonist Ezio Auditore Da Firenze. Going from the prideful snobbish dickhead Altaïr to the likable charismatic ladies man Ezio helps make this game for me.

 I mean which story would you be invested in? A guy fucked up too much and now we have to do Grandpa's dirty-work to get back in his good graces. Or a boy sees his father and brothers killed by a supposed family friend and becomes a man dedicated to not only avenge his family but also save the world from a power mad despot from getting his hands on an ancient artifact by attaining the highest power in the land? Yeah I thought so too. Not only that but we also get much more variety in gameplay, different and better weapons, costume customization, different and exciting missions, meaningful collectables and best of all, TWO HIDDEN BLADES! Do I need to tell you all why that's so cool?

 But it's not just Ezio who's likable and memorable in this game. There's the aforementioned Leonardo but we also get the modern day assassins Shawn (who can be a bit of a prick) and Rebecca the tech guru who whips up a much cooler looking and more comfortable looking Animus. Back in the Renaissance we have the mysterious La Volpe, the brazen Bartolomeo, the badass Valkyrie bitch Caterina Sforza and Ezio's mentor Uncle Mario. On that note yes I did laugh at the "IT'S A ME MARIO!" line. Though probably not because I thought it was funny but maybe because it was so stupid I couldn't help but laugh.

 Now I know this game isn't flawless. The climbing could be a bit wonky when it came to grabbing on to buildings. Two of the games sequences were held to DLC which I waited until I purchased both of before I finished the game the first time I played it. The money I got ultimately became worthless when I purchased everything in the game. But the biggest flaw was that to get every single weapon in the game you had to slog through Assassins Creed Bloodlines. But despite all of that Assassins Creed 2 to me personifies exactly what a good sequel should be. And if you want to find out for yourself The Ezio Trilogy is remastered for PS4 and Xbox 1 with all their long, pointless micro transaction laden Multiplayer parts all gone.

 So those are what I consider to be the best Video Game Sequels. Do you agree, disagree want to kill me for putting BioShock 2 over Infinite or Assassins Creed 2 over Black Flag? Then be sure to leave a comment down below. But next time however, a list I think that nobody will disagree with me. The top 10 worst Video Game sequels ever!

Bioshock 2 is owned by Take2 interactive, 2K Marin, and 2K Australia.
Devil May Cry is owned by Capcom and Hideki Kamiya.
Banjo-Tooie is owned by Rareware, Nintendo and Microsoft.
Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door is owned by Nintendo and Intelligence Systems.
Assassins Creed 2 is owned by Ubisoft, Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond and Corey May.

Video Game Review: Top 10 best Video Game Sequels Part 1

Please be sure to read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 Now before you say anything yes this is in response to the Nostalgia Critics second sequels month and yes there will be a followup of what I consider the worst sequels. Now there will be some rules for this list. First it has to be a direct sequel so games belonging to anthologies like Final Fantasy and Shin Megami Tensei don't count unless the events are directly continued afterwords. Second it has to do something better then the game that preceded it, because sequels are supposed to improve in someway over their originals so cut, copy and past sequels don't count. Third only one sequel per franchise if not then every Ratchet and Clank sequel will be clogging up the list. Last and most importantly it has to be a sequel that I've personally played so if you don't see your favorite on here then simply put I haven't played it so there. So with that out of the way let's get started.

#10 Batman Arkham City

 Before you say anything the reason this is so low is because I preferred Arkham Asylum over Arkham City. I preferred the tight close terrifying atmosphere of the old Asylum over the open space of Arkham City. The first game felt like if Batman were trapped in Rapture from Bioshock, Arkham City still captures the feel of being Batman but I guess the first game just made a better impression on me. Though I can't deny the open world gameplay and the new freedoms that it grants me in Arkham City as well as the other improvements in the story and boss battles. 

 The first Arkham game had very few and far between bosses with the best being Poison Ivy and the worst being of course Titan Joker. So you may be wondering if I've had nothing but praise for the first game why is the sequel on the list? Well I honestly can't deny the improvements in gameplay and freedom that Arkham City grants the player. They've improved the combat system with new gadgets, tightened the counters and improved the flow. Even the stealth sections have improved significantly by adding enemies that can jam and detect your detective vision and even set mines on ledges so you couldn't just camp out and pick your enemies off one by one. This also carries over to the boss battles with the highlights being the battle of brawn with Ra's Al Ghul to the mental struggle of Mr Freeze. 

 Though another reason why Arkham City is so low is due to the Riddler challenges. Not just in the main game those you can beat with a youtube guide and patience but the challenge content is long, tedious and requires expert precision and perfection. I may be an amateur completionist but that is just too much for me. Also the game tried to hold the Catwoman content to pre orders and later 5 dollar DLC and that can't slide by me. So Arkham City may be on the list but for every two steps it took over Asylum it took a step back.

#9 No more Heroes 2 Desperate Struggle

  The frist No More Heroes was my very first encounter with Suda 51 and WOW was it an experience. The crazy boss battles, the story that never took itself too seriously and was delightfully tongue and check, the combat that actually made the Wii's motion control tolerable for me. But best of all is the badass Otaku assassin who doesn't give the slightest amount of a fuck unless you're in between him and getting some tail or cash, Travis Touchdown. The sequel which I honestly never thought was going to happen improves the combat with the alternate Beam Katanas actually feeling and performing differently. It also does us the favor of removing the tedious mini games and replacing them with awesome throwbacks to the 8-bit era as well as chucking out the empty pointless open world. On top of that we get more crazy boss battles, three of which we can take out with different characters including Travis' "apprentice" Shinobu Jacobs and his estranged Irish brother Henry each with their own skills and fighting style.

 The story does actually give Travis a better motivation then just grabbing some ass with his best friend Bishop getting killed by the #1 UAA ranked Assassin Jasper Bat Jr. as revenge for Travis killing his brothers and father in the side missions last game. Even though the game does retcon a few things such as making the UAA a real organization the game itself doesn't really care and quite frankly we appreciate it. But it's still tied down by the Wii controls and while the game promises us 50 assassins we only get around 15 and only 13 of them are fought by Travis. That and not adding anything to replace the removed open world does bring it down a notch in my books. Travis you made the list, but barely. Now if we can finally see you fight against Henchman 21 in Deathbattle we would be especially grateful.

#8 Ratchet and Clank Up your Arsenal.

 Now you could argue that Ratchet and Clank 2 should be here instead, and to a degree you'd be right. The change in gameplay between the first and Second game is undeniable. It got rid of the 4-8 hit health bar and replaced with 100-200 HP, introduced upgradable weapons and weapon mods. But why I'm putting the end of the original trilogy instead is for a few reasons.

 1. we get to customize your fighter ship giving you your own flavor to how you fight in space. 2. you actually got rewarded for playing the last two games with store discounts if the previous game's save data was on your Memory Card, this was the second time I've ever seen that in a game (The first being R&C 2 of course). 3 We actually got some character development for Quark, where he finally started to act like the hero he always thought he was. 4, the last reason why I put this game over Going Commando, this game introduced Dr Nefarious one of the funniest villains in gaming. I mean this guy is such a hilariously over the top cartoon super villain you can't help but love him. 

 What makes him even better is that he shares the same voice actor with Andrew Ryan from Bioshock Armin Shimerman  Learning that fact just makes me want to replay Bioshock but pretend that it's Dr Nefarious instead of Ryan. Which just makes all his scenes go from chilling and menacing to hilarious. Also Lawrence is the perfect straight man to Nefarious' Nicolas Cage esq scene chewing. So kind of a shallow reason but hey this is my list so there; take it up with me personally squishies!!!

#7 Sly 3 Honor Among Thieves.

 Yet another PS2 trilogy ending entry on the list. Now don't worry from here on out we do start to diversify but I just have to say that Sly 3 is my favorite of the Sly Cooper games. First and foremost we actually see the consequences of Sly 2 carry over and isn't just swept under the rug. Murray after failing to keep Clock-La's beak from crippling Bentley goes on a vision quest to find himself and comes out a much more calm and focused man with made up Dream Time powers. The van comes back after drifting away during Jean Bison's Lumberjack games (not important but had to mention). 

 But best of all Bentley becomes 1000 more awesome after ending up in his wheelchair. No really he outfits his chair with various weapons and gadgets and can seriously handle himself in a fight despite what you may think. He even gets a girlfriend who's a match for him intellectually, can hold her own in a fight if need be and the two just click. (which makes what happens in Sly 4 all the more exasperating, I'll get to that on the next list trust me.)

 We also get new playable characters for some missions, both old and new faces including The Guru AKA Koala Yoda. The old faces were the real treat, Dimitri who becomes an informant for several cases and eventually an official member of the Cooper team, Muggshot who you can finally beat down like a real man with the awesome Inspector Fox. But the last member was the biggest shock for me as a kid, The Panda King, the man who helped kill Sly's dad and buried mountain villages in hundreds of pounds of snow was recruited to the team. And believe me Sly was not happy about it initially but the once member of the Fiendish 5 would go to any lengths even working with the son of the man he killed to save his daughter from one of the most hateful villains in the franchise. 

 Another refreshing change of pace is that the villains weren't all part of the same group, just random crime bosses that the team had to deal with to recruit the people needed for the Cooper Vault heist. The negatives however seem small but make up for quantity with quality. This game got rid of the clue bottles, recon photos and the treasures. The clue bottles were just a personal favorite of mine, a little bit of a collectathon that wasn't too long, not too short but just long and challenging enough that it didn't overstay its welcome. The recon photo mission may have been repetitive but did help the framework of the team and show their competence as a gang of master thieves.

 Now granted some of their jobs might have seemed straight forward but as Sly 2 showed these jobs never go exactly as planed and recon photos could be the difference between 10 figures in your bank account or 10 to life in jail. On the note of immersion wouldn't a thief like Sly want to steal everything valuable belonging to these guys that isn't nailed down? Besides now that the easy cash source was gone we had to rely even more on pickpocketing for new upgrades, which means more time and less fun in some peoples' cases. But the biggest gripe I had was the 3D, I absolutely hate 3D and when the only way is with those old stupid red and blue glasses it only served as the icing on the annoyance cake. In the immortal words of everybody's favorite fuck mothering vampire "It's a stupid fucking gimmick and everyone knows it!" So with those Sly manages to take the #7 spot

#6 Kingdom Hearts 2.5

Now I'm going with 2.5 because it is the complete definitive version of Kingdom Hearts 2 (At least until it re releases for PS4. Square Enix, seriously either give those who bought the collections for PS3 a major discount or don't even bother because knowing that I dropped cash for a last gen collection only to find out a few years later they're getting re-released for PS4 is nothing short of piss boiling. Now don't get me wrong I will get that collection eventually but not Day 1 and not with my money. Because, just like how I got the Bioshock collection these collections do make for good Christmas list filler as well as the price going down pretty far in the intervening months between release and Christmas so HO HO HO Square! )

 Ok rant over on to the good parts of Kingdom Hearts 2. We don't just get new worlds to explore we get world exclusive forms as well. My favorite levels are of course The Pride Lands, Space Paranoids and The World that never was, with Sora being a lion for the first, getting a Tron esq outfit for the second and the general creepy, intimidating and impressive atmosphere for the third. Outside of the world exclusive outfits Sora can also channel his inner Shouichi Tsugami and has access to a red power form, a blue long-range mode (I know Agito's blue form was mid-range but you get the geist), a midrange power form, a white shinning final form and in 2.5 a form borrowing the powers of his old set. The combat system get action commands added which adds unique flair to defeating enemies and the Gummy Ship segments are much shorter and streamlined. (Though I do prefer the Gummi Ship in the first game but the removal of the need to travel between worlds until you get the wrap upgrade is a nice touch, once you beat the course once you technically don't have to do it again unless you really want too.)

 The extra bosses in this game are mean, nasty and will cause you to snap your controller in half. I only need to mention two names, Data Luxord and The Lingering Will; anyone who's played this game especially on the hardest setting will be sent into a world of pure anger, madness and evil the likes of which nobody has seen before. But for everything good in this game the bad parts are just criminal. I personally would have liked to play in the Timeless River for longer then we did, but nope one level and boom done. But that was just a small gripe compared to the two parts of this game that really smashed a Keyblade against my skull.

 First (literally) being THE FIRST 6 HOURS OF THE GAME WITH ROXAS!!! Oh my god that was the longest, most boring and most tedious tutorial level I have ever had the displeasure of ever playing! I almost gave up the first time I played it if I'm remembering it right due to the sheer tedium of those first hours. Now, Pop Quiz kiddies what is the purpose of the tutorial and first level of games? Introducing the mechanics in a quick, entertaining and immersive way that doesn't overstay its welcome in a way that once the player knows which buttons do what they can just go on their merry little way. So Kingdom Hearts 2, 1 out of 5 questions right, F please see me after class!

 Then the cherry on top of the sundae, they made Atlantica into a musical rhythm level with some of the most annoying music around. Though thankfully you can just press the mute button and follow the button prompts so it's not as bad as it could have been. But holding out on the extra content for the Japanese audience while leaving the rest of the world with the bare basics until this rerelease? Smooth Square-Enix, smooth, one small constellation in this new digital age is that updates and new features for games is but a click away. But regardless Kingdom Hearts does stumble in a few places but improves over the first game and Chain of Memories enough to make the 6th spot of this list. But do keep an ear out because next time I'll give my honorable mentions as well as my personal Top 5 Video Game Sequels.

Ratchet and Clank is owned by Insomniac Games and Sony Computer Entertainment.

Batman Arkham City is owned by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Rocksteady Studios and DC Comics

Sly Cooper 3: Honor Among Thieves is owned by Sucker Punch Productions and Sony Computer Entertainment of America

No More Heroes 2 Desperate Struggle is owned by Suda51 (Goichi Suda), Grasshopper Manufacture, Ubisoft and Rising Star Games.

Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios, Tetsuya Nomura, and Shinji Hashimoto.