We play a fair few adventure card games in my household, so my curiosity was piqued when I learned about Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars. Square Enix advertises Voice of Cards as a JRPG from the creators of NieR told entirely through the medium of cards. 

Cards? Dragons? Square Enix? I was in from the word go. I reviewed a Switch copy, but Voice of Cards is also out on PS4 and PC via Steam.

Out the other end, I had undoubtedly had a good time, but not for the reasons I went in for. 

Wait, it’s all cards?

When Square Enix says Voice of Cards is told entirely through the medium of cards, what do they mean exactly? The world takes place on a card table covered in cards. The map is explored by moving to facedown cards, which flip to reveal the environment. Dialogue is represented by text on cards. Characters and monsters are illustrated on cards. Combat uses cards, (also dice and gems, but these don’t fit the narrative Square Enix and I are going for, savvy?).

To summarise, it’s basically all cards – from dialogue to exploration to combat. 

However! Brace for controversy! 

I would like to argue that Voice of Cards is not so much a card game mechanically as it is aesthetically. Sure, everything looks like a card, but take off that coat of paint, and Voice of Cards is a bog-standard JRPG. There’s no ground-breaking gameplay here.

Combat comprises characters using four skills that can be swapped out as desired, with certain enemies weak or resistant against types. Stronger skills use a mana-type resource called gems which replenish after every turn. There’s no real deck-building or randomised shuffling element. Dice rolling adds chance, for example, when calculating whether you succeed in running away from enemies, and there are randomised world events, but again – nothing outside of what you can experience in a non-card game.

That said, in the towns you visit in-game, there are card parlours where you can play an actual card game so you can play a card game while playing a card game.

The cards suit

So, the cards are more for looks than anything. But damn, Voice of Cards does look amazing. 

The cards lend themselves to an effective visual motif that ties everything together superbly. The character illustrations are gorgeous, and the combat effect animations are striking. The game is so flashy, in fact, that it results in noticeable lag on the Switch, particularly on loading screens or when moving between menu tabs. It is very, very pretty. 

Adding to the appealing looks are some appealing sounds. The tunes are atmospheric and sufficiently pleasant that my partner never complained when they repeated endlessly in the background.

A further point of difference is that all dialogue and descriptions are voiced by a single narrator, not unlike a Dungeons & Dragon GM. Heck, the game even calls the narrator “GM”. Todd Haberkorn voices the English version and sounds low energy, even mocking at times. I genuinely loved it and never skipped a description. 

Card tricks with a twist

Voice of Cards doesn’t have time to be too complicated, coming in at 15-20 hours average playtime. Very short for those who are used to 50–100-hour JRPGs. To be honest, I didn’t mind this. As a time-poor person, a bite-sized JRPG was a relief for my schedule. 

Not only is Voice of Cards not very long, it’s also not very challenging. This is especially so if you become addicted to filling out the map, which results in over-levelling very early on. 

However, this short and relatively easy game does hide some surprises in its storytelling. For example, collectable cards contain a two-part description of characters and monsters met during the adventure. The second part of the descriptions, revealed by flipping over the card, reveal twists so dark they’re practically two-sentence horror stories. Voice of Cards is honestly one of the few games where I was genuinely excited to collect not for completion’s sake, but to read the bonus text. 

The final deal 

Voice of Cards can’t decide if it’s a card game, a JRPG or Dungeons & Dragons. While I won’t be a card-carrying member of the Voice of Cards fan club, the real drawing card here is how the game looks and the twists and turns of the story. That may leave some who wanted a mechanically solid card-game with some real challenge unsatisfied. 

I can objectively see its flaws, but I can’t deny I liked the game. Beyond whatever aspirations I held for it initially, Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars was a good time, and perhaps that’s all it ever needed to be.

The post Voice of Cards review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

As I write this during a pandemic-induced lockdown, I am reminded that this time last lockdown I was reviewing Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX. Eighteen months later, I’m reviewing another dungeon themed game on Switch – Kitfox Games’ Boyfriend Dungeon. 

Don’t let the clickbait title of Boyfriend Dungeon give you the wrong idea. Ain’t nothing sinister here. Just your standard roguelike dungeon-crawler that doubles as a dating-sim visual novel where your weapons are the dates.

Like I said, standard stuff.

Summer lovin’

After a quick character creation scene where you can choose your looks, pronouns, and drink of choice, your summer of love at Verona Beach begins. However, this isn’t a normal Tinder dating scene, as everyone at Verona Beach is either able to transform into a blade or wield one. 

Naturally, the hottest thing to do in town is for swords and wielders to explore the local dungeon (“dunj”) together in a rogue-like dungeon-crawling format.

Don’t think too deeply about this – Boyfriend Dungeon certainly doesn’t.

As mentioned, Boyfriend Dungeon doubles as a dating sim with seven different weapons to date. Your relationship meter increases by fighting together in the dunj and buying affection with expensive gifts. If you’ve ever played Dream Daddy or Best friends Forever, you’ll be familiar with the visual novel date format where you can enjoy the fruits of your dunj-delving, gift-giving labour.

Thankfully “Boyfriend Dungeon” is a misnomer in that a girlfriend and two non-binary cuties are in the Verona Beach dating pool. Most characters are openly comfortable with polyamory, asexuality, or keeping things platonic. 

Happened so fast

The combat in Boyfriend Dungeon doesn’t take too long to figure out, with each weapon (Date? Weapon? What’s the polite terminology here?) a different riff on the same basic theme. Some are quick, some hit hard, some are great at handling trash mobs. You know, like real dating. The laser sabre was both my favourite playstyle and my favourite boy, so I was happy. 

The dungeons themselves are both quirky and thematically apt. The wielder’s insecurities take the form of anthropomorphic monsters, allowing your character to literally fight their fears. 

Now if only I could slice up my student-loan with a sabre…

The Boyfriend Dungeon package is wrapped up in some very slick UI that’s easy to use and has lovely personal touches. For example, you can pick your drink of choice and your healing potions will show up in the world as that drink. 

The full soundtrack by Marskye and Madeleine McQueen is available on Spotify, and even if you don’t end up picking up the game, I recommend you have a listen. They’re light, trendy bops that both capture the rush of summer hook ups with an underlying emotional depth. Seriously, they’re solid tunes.

I met a girl crazy for me

Many dating sims have an overlaying theme tying together potential dating partners; groups of dads, groups of pet-owners, groups of gender-bending fairy-tale characters. But in Boyfriend Dungeon? I couldn’t pick it. Beyond all being able to turn into weapons, of course. In human form they vary as wildly as a university student, to a witch, to a K-Pop star. 

The thematic consistency in Boyfriend Dungeon comes instead from the experience of putting yourself out there and meeting new people. Maybe you’ll be rejected; maybe you’ll meet someone who hurts you. Boyfriend Dungeon asks you to accept these risks in the hope that you’ll meet someone who makes it all worth it. 

While I enjoyed the story and the maturity displayed, I would have loved for it to be longer. The runtime is around 6 to 8 hours, meaning some players will be able to play through the entire game in a single day if they’re feeling so inclined. Cut the time down even further if you’ve just come off the back of a Hades binge – you’ll find this combat a breeze. When paired with the fact that there are only two dungeons in town, I couldn’t help but feel like summer in Verona Beach finished just as I was getting into the swing of it.

Met a boy cute as can be

Slight spoiler warning, but any discussion of Boyfriend Dungeon will inevitably touch upon the discourse surrounding its villain and his stalker behaviour. To summarise, the developer added a content warning after feedback that the stalking plot was triggering for some players. After the warning was added, a vocal minority requested that players have the option of choosing not to engage in the stalking plot at all. This topic has been discussed widely and extensively elsewhere so I won’t do a deep dive, but just to say that while the depiction of trauma shouldn’t be fetishized, it also shouldn’t be sanitised. LGBTIA+ media shouldn’t be held to an impossible standard beyond what other media is held to.

Boyfriend Dungeon is a short but lovingly crafted ode to putting yourself out there and life-changing summer flings. I sincerely hope that Boyfriend Dungeon is remembered not for the discourse, but for the pairing of two wildly different game genres and making it work. 

And dating weapons. That concept is wild, yo.

The post Boyfriend Dungeon review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

The fashion industry has long understood that watches serve the dual purpose of time-telling and decoration. From Roger Federer’s Rolex, to every girl in primary-school wearing a Casio Baby-G except me, what you wear on your wrist makes statement. 

Up until now, the Fitbit fashion statement has been “Hello, I’m health conscious”. Not the worst statement to be making, but sometimes you want to present an image that’s less step-count orientated. 

And that’s where the Luxe comes in – the newest fitness and wellness tracker from Fitbit. 

Well, don’t you look strapping

The most immediately obvious way the Fitbit Luxe differentiates itself from other Fitbits is its slime visual design. It gives it a look closer to that of a bracelet than other models. Any product that calls itself “chic” in its promotional material immediately makes me suspicious, but against the odds, Luxe gets away with it. Everything from its golden trim to its elegant curves seductively whispers “technology – but make it fashion”. 

Admittedly, the starter beige silicon strap when paired with the gold plating makes me feel like a like I married rich and spend my days doing Pilates (sounds like the life to be honest). Happily, there are other easily interchangeable straps on the market if your tastes require something more edgy.

I especially appreciate that the heart rate monitor doesn’t jut out and into the skin, as some of the previous Fitbits did. It means I can monitor my bpm without having the physical proof indented into my wrist. 

An app for everything

Surprisingly for such a small device, the Luxe packs in most of the functions Fitbits are famed for. The Fitbit Luxe tracks your calories, your sleep quality, your heart rate, your blood oxygen, and stress levels. A few swipes across the screen reveals the Fitbit Luxe’s other features, such as phone notifications, a timer, an alarm, and a workout app. 

One thing the Fitbit Luxe does lack is an inbuilt GPS function: the Luxe piggybacks off your phone GPS. I guess something had to give to get that slim.

There’s also a relaxation feature, which works by guiding your breathing. My heart rate increased after using it, which I’m pretty sure means it didn’t work, but that could just be because I wanted to perform the exercise perfectly and ending up stressing myself out instead. 

Fitbit Luxe has a respectable battery life, too. Like an office worker that has managed to achieve a work-life balance, the Fitbit Luxe has a 5-day battery life before it needs charging. 

Oh yeah, and it does a good job of tracking your steps.

Slim … but at what cost?

The Fitbit Luxe’s slight frame is both its best point and its worst point.  While the slim look is elegant, a smaller screen is still … a smaller screen. Which means, smaller text. Seriously, this text is tiny. 

The small screen meant that the Fitbit Luxe did not become my first screen of choice for many of the apps on offer. For tasks like using the alarm and timer, I still instinctively prefer the larger screen provided by my mobile phone.

However, for many this will be a small sacrifice to make to avoid the chunky square look of some other wellness trackers 

I also found that the touchscreen didn’t always easily respond to my commands, particularly when getting the screen to turn on. The lack of buttons means that it’s not ideal during sweaty work-out times, when touchscreens don’t tend to perform as well. 

However, perhaps I’m biased in that I never got the hang of at the wrist flicking action required to turn the screen on automatically. I’ve been looking pretty ridiculous at the gym, swinging my arm up to look at my wrist in increasingly dramatic motions.

More than a pretty face – but not by a lot

So, should you trade in your old Fitbit for a Fitbit Luxe? It depends on what you value in a fitness tracker. If you’re after all the bells and whistles, you’re better off upgrading to a newer Versa or Charge model. 

However, if you don’t mind smaller text and no in-built GPS, then you will be rewarded with a genuinely good-looking wrist accessory, with decent fitness and wellness tracking to match. 

The post Fitbit Luxe review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

The post Best Friend Forever review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

When reviewing games, one warm-up I use is summing up the game in a single sentence. Badly, because this was never going to end well.

Terrorarium’s summary? Green grandma kills countless cuties in quest for best intergalactic murder-garden.

Still with me?

Terrorarium is out now on PC. Having previewed the early access back in July 2019, I was keen to see how far Stitch Media’s Terrorarium had progressed for its full release one year later.

Thyme to turnip the beet

Our green grandma is the “Gardener”, an alien who creates Terrorariums for the Intergalactic Horrorcultural Society gardening competition. Giant, monster filled terrariums, if you hadn’t already got that.

The dark humour is spot on, and it’s certainly one of the more unique platformers that I’ve come across. The matching music is a darn delight. There’s a kind of sinister quirkiness that matches well with the sheer weirdness of the premise.

But don’t be fooled– this ain’t no gardening simulator; it’s a 3D puzzle platformer. You’ll spend your time traversing each level with the help of the smol squishy Moogu, avoiding death via crazy carnivorous plants along the way. Each Moogu type has a different ability to help you through the puzzles, from Thick Moogu weighing down platforms, to Spicy Moogu setting weeds alight. Moogu die, a lot, and that’s kind of the point, but kill off all of them and it’s game over.

The puzzles themselves are great, but gameplay relies heavily on your Moogu count. As such, Moogu pathing can become the difference between fun puzzling and hair-tearing frustration. The full release has improved the pathing somewhat, but they still get stuck more often than I’d like, leading to level restarts.

One significant change from the early access mechanics is how you replenish lost Moogu. The original breeding loop chaos where Moogu bred with the corpses of other Moogu has been done away with, sensibly replaced by select points where Moogu can multiply.

I kind of miss the squishy explosions and Moogu corpses littering the screen. I don’t know what it says about me as a person.

Gardeners know all the dirt

The main draw-card of the full Terrorarium release is the long-awaited story campaign. This has been implemented in the form of cut scenes which add much needed context. The petty rivalry between the gardeners rivals Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess and Lady Merton, which was a real highlight.

The Moogu themselves are goddamn adorable, particular the Thick Moogu with his grumpy little face. The overall visuals have always been beautifully bright and fun, with the night-time biome a personal favourite of mine.

Much like a moth, I can’t get enough of pretty glowing light sources.

The areas I assumed were unfinished in my original preview turned out to be the “edges” of a round terrarium, which I suppose works with the premise. I still can’t help but think the edges could have been jazzed up a bit though. It still looks a bit rough.

Plant your own garden of terror

The developers have been pretty upfront that the main thing they’re keen for players to enjoy is using Maker Mode to plant their own murder gardens. The mode doesn’t have any tutorials, but luckily it’s not too difficult to get started. There’s a lot of care evident in the development of this mode, like the trademark humour that’s carried on into the description of assets.

The original 24 campaign levels have been scrapped and built from scratch, reflecting the hard work that’s gone on for the last year. The upgrades also unfortunately mean that old community-made levels are no longer compatible, meaning the community has had to restart.

They’ve gotten to a great start however, with the Inaugural Intergalactic Murder Gardening Contest – a Terrorarium level design contest for students in game design schools across Canada, the USA and the UK. What they came up with was so dastardly that the grand prize winning level was used in the official campaign.

Final thoughts

I’m still a bit bitter about my favourite part of early access (the crazy death/breeding explosion loop) being removed. I guess that’s an issue I’ll work through with my therapist.

The strength of Terrorarium is its potential as a playground for budding game designers. And if you like cute little guys, and a solid dose of dark humour, this is a goodun.

The post Terrorarium review – Garden of Terror appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

 Ah, Melbourne. The coffee capital of the world. Also the city of my birth, but you’re not here to read about me. 

Route 59 Games, a Melbourne-based developer, has drawn inspiration from what is regularly voted as the world’s most livable city to create a 3D visual novel about death and necromancy. And coffee. 

Necrobarista is available now on PC, and is coming soon to Playstation 4 and Switch. I received the PC version for review.

Decaf soy latte with an extra shot and whipped cream

It’s better to walk into it without spoilers, but basically Necrobarista follows the trials and tribulations of Maddy, a young Melburnian running a café where the dead spend their last night on Earth. The team grapples with letting go of loved ones, almost entirely through the use of puns and meme-language. Like all the best people in hospo, Maddy and her staff are dripping in sass and consume dangerous amounts of coffee.

And hey, historical bad boy Ned Kelly is a main supporting character, which is great. He’s also wearing shorts, which I don’t know how I feel about.

It’s important to go into Necrobarista with the right expectations, as it does exactly what it says on the box. This is a visual novel. It’s like a reading a book on the screen, accompanied by pretty visuals. However, unlike many examples of the visual novel genre, Necrobarista’s storyline doesn’t branch. You’ll find no choices to be made, and no alternative endings to discover. But, to be honest, the story is interesting enough that I didn’t mind the lack of choices so much.

The more unusual element of interaction are the collectible highlighted words. These words each signify a theme or character. Icons relating to each can then be used to unlock further text-only side stories. These side stories can then be accessed during the sections between chapters where you can move around the café building. I’ve made this sound more complicated than necessary, because it is. I couldn’t help but think that the side-stories could have been better served by an unlockable menu codex, as old-fashioned as that would be.

Visually novel

Necrobarista is incredibly innovative visually. While it’s not the only anime/anime-inspired visual novel on the market, it’s done in a way that feels both anime and not anime simultaneously. Ain’t no anime tropes here.

It’s downright amazing what Route 59 Games have managed with the cinematography. Every shot is arranged with the care of a film director. It’s like watching the 3D equivalent of a storyboard, with movement peppered throughout for maximum impact. 

Also genius is the treatment of text. The text isn’t constrained to old-fashioned text boxes, but rather floats across the action, with its own aesthetic value beyond the delivery of meaning. 

The nuanced soundtrack composed by BAFTA-nominated Kevin Penkin also adds an extra layer of cool, with no songs that I disliked. I can’t stress how important this is in visual novels where music repeats on loop.  

Life’s too short to always be serious

I was stoked to see that Necrobarista is set in Melbourne, and while Necorbarista doesn’t beat you over the heading with its setting beyond the odd reference, what better expression of Melbourne culture than the café scene? Never having worked in a café, I can’t judge how the experiences of these necromancer baristas align with the real deal (baristas I mean, not necromancy. Unless?). Most however will be able to strongly relate to the shared human experience of mortality and internet memes.

As you would expect, Necrobarista spends much of its five hour-ish runtime wrestling with death, with a surprising amount of humour. What comes after death? What would I sacrifice for more time? Should I be judged for my choice in coffee? 

The characters are all funny and likeable, but continue with their quips throughout the runtime. This meant that some of the heavy moments didn’t pack the punch that they might have done otherwise. If I had to provide an analogy, Necrobarista is like talking with friends who use humour and memes to avoid directly expressly their feelings. 

Perhaps it’s a more realistic representation of how we millennials express our feelings than I have given it credit for. 

Drink it up

There’s so much supernatural mystery to unpack here, particularly around the rules of Necrobarista’s world and its treatment of the afterlife. Some of these mysteries are answered, but definitely not all, so it’s encouraging that there is more Necrobarista on the way. Some of the engaging minor characters, like the sultry Samantha who is introduced and never heard from again, will also feature in future chapters to be released to owners of the base game for free.

Another fact about me that you didn’t ask for – I don’t like coffee. I’m a hot chocolate kind o’ gal. 

But I do like Necrobarista, and I want to see more of it. 

The post Necrobarista – Coffee with a double dash of corpses appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

Two warriors circle silently, hands on the hilt of their blades. Who will strike first? The bandit yells in my face, but I am unmoved. He leaps for the kill. Too slow. My katana cuts through the air, followed by an arc of blood. The bandit drops dead to the earth. I sheath my blade, whistle for my horse and ride towards the pillar of smoke on the horizon.

This is but a small taste of my embarrassing samurai wish fulfillment that Ghost of Tsushima brings to life, set to some of the most beautiful art direction I have seen on a PS4.

Made by Sucker Punch of Infamous fame, Ghost of Tsushima is available exclusively on PS4 and PS4 Pro in New Zealand from 17 July 2020. I reviewed the game on a standard PS4.

Battle like its 1274

It’s 1274, and the Mongols have launched their invasion of Japan on the island of Tsushima. Faced with overwhelming odds, samurai Jin Sakai will do what he must in order to return peace to the island. Decent of him, really.

Ghost of Tsushima lets you be any type of Kamakura era badass you like, historical accuracy be damned. Through Lord Sakai you’re a sword-slashing samurai, an archer, or a stealthy assassin depending on your mood. 

Sword combat is smooth and satisfying to master, employing traditional parry, block, dodge and roll mechanics. Different enemy types can be countered by changing stance or using ninja-esque “Ghost” techniques. Melee combat sometimes devolves into spamming the heavy attack button, but the stances help provide some variety. Gunpowder-based items make an appearance – a nod to their use in the real-life invasion of Tsushima. 

Lord Sakai is also a master of the sneak. Standing on the shoulders of stealth games before it, Ghost of Tsushima contains all the crouching, listening and aerial assassination that gamers have come to expect. While the stealth gameplay in Ghost of Tsushima feels clean and unforced, it never compares to starting a fight with a “standoff”. There’s something about the recklessness of challenging enemies to a one-hit-one-kill duel that never gets old.

While Sakai can initially be defeated by two or three hits, I found the quick accumulation of buffs and the ease of the combat system to substantially drop the difficulty level. There are also little to no penalties for death, due to generous autosaving. I didn’t mind this, as it encouraged creative and risky play. 

Partial to particles

You have to hand it to them – Sucker Punch pushed PS4 particle effects to their very limits. Ghost of Tsushima features an endless and almost unrealistic amount of reactive leaves, flower petals and fireflies. The citizens of Tsushima must be constantly pulling leaves out of their hair, there’s that much debris flying around. 

Lighting is also a strong point, with individually lit blades of grass fluttering through a beautiful night/day cycle. Characters are decently animated, complete with moving beads of sweat and gritted teeth. Dialogue sometimes slightly de-syncs to facial animations, but that could have only stood out due to how good expressions were in general.

I know that’s a lot of compliments, but trust me – go use Sucker Punch’s brilliant in-game photo mode and see what this beast is capable of. The art direction is so mind-blowing that practically anywhere will make a good screenshot. 

Speaking of photo mode, that’s also a great place to go listen to Ghost of Tsushima’s exciting traditional Japanese-inspired soundtrack without distraction. 

Sucker Punch have drawn heavy inspiration from old samurai movies, not unlike Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai from 1954 (but with 21st century pacing). There’s even a black and white “Kurosawa” mode with muted sound like an old film. It’s successful at creating an authentic, cinematic vibe and is a fun novelty. However, the colours of the game are so beautiful that I felt like I was missing out. Some enemy attacks also use colour as an attack indicator, and while the light can still be seen in black and white, it can be difficult to retrain your reactions.

Everything the light touches is our kingdom

While Ghost of Tsushima’s opening scenes are fast-paced, time slows to crawl once you reach open world as is so often the case in this genre.

And you know what? This didn’t bother me at all. 

Exploration is obviously intended to be the soul of Ghost of Tsushima. There’s no mini-map to speak of, so you’re guided to waypoints by the wind. Points of interest are visually sign-posted, including by smoke, birds, or foxes who lead you to secret shrines.

And yes, you can pet the fox.

I’ve been waylaid for hours doing Uncharted-style ledge-grabbing, led by smoke signals and birds and wondering what’s over the crest of the next hill. The incredibly beautiful vistas combined with a large draw distance meant I was easily distracted on my way to save a village, but in the best way (well, maybe not for the villagers). 

There’s no real wrong way to play the game, so you can just as easily stumble upon a major side-quest as you can that collectible you were hunting. Collectibles are fun to collect rather than a chore, and mostly provide either a combat (or in my opinion, more importantly) an aesthetic benefit. 

Exploration of human settlements can be a tad dull due to the lack of unique interactables, but they do have merchant NPCs and random quest-givers to guide you to further places of interest. I also love a good “save a village/return when it’s bustling/feel like you made a difference to the lives of these sad peasants” mechanic.

The ends justify the means

Ghost of Tsushima asks whether it is more important to stick to your principles, or do what it takes to get the job done. It lays on the guilt for using Ghost techniques so thickly that I wondered if it was possible to complete a play-through without using any Ghost techniques at all (it’s not). 

While never verging into grimdark, Tsushima is not exactly happy-go-lucky. Side quests have bittersweet endings as often as happy ones, and many of the main characters are perpetually angry and unlikable. Tonally, this feels appropriate. The real life invasion of Tsushima was a massacre. The Mongols were only stopped by a storm that destroyed their fleet – the earliest known use for the term “kamikaze” (divine wind). Ghost of Tsushima is a fantasy impression of Japanese history, with Jin Sakai acting as the metaphorical storm.

Beyond the main storyline, Ghost of Tsushima contains “tales” best described as an anthology of side-quests. These quests can be very formulaic, mostly comprising of taking over Mongol outposts, tracking people via footprints or stealthily following targets.

“Mythic” tales are the clear exception to this. While still employing similar tasks, these standalone side-quests feature incredible illustrated cut scenes, huge rewards and some of the most stunning locations in-game, not to mention some of the best boss-fights. 

Truly, do the mythic tales. Treat yo self.

Unfortunately, the version I played had no subtitles for ambient NPCs. The dialogue itself is well-written and provides much-needed world building. It’s just hard to hear without swinging the camera around unnaturally. Even when playing with Japanese audio, subtitles aren’t present for ambient NPCs, meaning that many will miss out on the dialogue entirely. A further minor gripe is that NPCs, even if given a name in dialogue, are universally labelled “Peasant” in the subtitles. 

Telling a tale of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima is visually a masterpiece. It can’t quite escape the sometimes repetitive side quests that plague open-world games, but the locales were so gosh-darn beautiful that I wanted to keep exploring anyway. 

Sucker Punch have combined many of the hallmarks of this console generation, including slick melee combat, stealth and huge open-world exploration to create what will likely be one of the last great PS4 releases. 

The post Ghost of Tsushima review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

When I told friends that I was reviewing the Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom remake, I got a few confused looks. Why was developer Purple Lamp Studios and publisher THQ Nordic taking a chance on this nautical nonsense? 

Turns out, the game was actually pretty successful. Its cult classic status is evidenced by its membership in PS2 Greatest Hits, Xbox Platinum Family Hits and Nintendo Gamecube Player’s Choice. Perhaps more importantly, the original Battle for Bikini Bottom has an extremely passionate speed-running community that’s going full speed seventeen years later. 

Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is out now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch. This review is based off my time with the Switch version.

Platform rehydration

Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated (BBFB:R) is a 3D platformer that harks to the genre’s golden era of the late 1990s/early 2000s. It has been completely remade from the ground up.

The player switches between Spongebob, Sandy and Patrick, depending on what skills the level requires. Spongebob bubble bounces onto enemies, bubble bowls and uses first-person-controlled bubble missiles. Sandy kicks and karate chops, and glides over long distances using her lasso. 

Patrick… well, Patrick can lift things. You do you, Patrick.

BBFB is also a collect-a-thon. 100 golden spatulas, 50 of Patrick’s socks, and infinite “shinies”. It’s open world, in the sense that technically you could go wherever you want whenever you want, but only when you’ve collected the requisite number of golden spatulas.

After an initial learning curve as I felt my way around the 3D space, I found the controls to be relatively tidy and responsive. There are a few exceptions to this, such as the bungee-jumping sections, but they aren’t a deal-breaker to the overall game.  The levels are varied and well-designed, looping in and round in clever ways, with the one caveat that out-of-bounds areas are difficult to identify and prone to glitching. 

I was five times golden spatula in the navy, so I’ll be runnin’ the grill

So, why golden spatulas? Why are we in the Mermalair? Why are we taking time out to find King Jelly’s jelly for Squidward’s bruises? 

Shush now, BFBB:R’s plot doesn’t need to make sense. All you need to know is that Plankton has lost control of his robot army, and it’s up to Spongebob, Patrick and Sandy to get into the Chum Bucket to defeat them. 

This overarching robot plot is purely a metal shell within which to contain 3D platforming and Spongebob references. Due to the inherently different comedic timing of cartoons and video games, the jokes don’t land as well as they might have, but they’re not a complete miss either. 

If you’re a fan of the show, especially of the iconic first season, then BFBB:R is a delight for recycled quotes (“It’s a giraffe!”) and side character appearances like Larry the Lobster and Bubble Buddy. 

And let’s be real – we all know that Season1 Spongebob is the best Spongebob.

FUUTUUURE

The original subdued colours of the original BFBB have been replaced with gloriously bright hues, much closer to the look of the show. This, as well as being graphically superior, helps BFBB:R shed some of its early 2000s vibe, but not enough that it ever feels like a different game altogether. 

The soundtrack has also been given the musical equivalent of a fresh coat of paint. The difference isn’t immediately apparent, but after listening to a side by side comparison, the new compositions have more instruments and result in a fuller sound.

The mostly original voice actors are a real highlight, particularly Tom Kenny as Spongebob. This sometimes had the perverse effect of making the new voice actors really stand out. I ground my teeth whenever Mr Krabs had a line; and it’s not that the voice actor did a poor job, but rather that they were so obviously not the voice actor that any immersion was immediately broken.  

Aw, tartar sauce!

BBFB:R, being a remake, contains a few tweaks and improvements. Many models and animations have been redone, including updated tiki faces and enemy redesigns. Mr Krabs is far greedier in this version, requiring a higher number of shinies for golden spatulas. There are also some quality of life changes to how Patrick and Sandy play in combat. 

I’m curious to see how BFBB:R performs on other consoles, as on Switch I suffered from varying framerate drops throughout the game. Load screens, including upon death, going out of bounds, or going into a new area, took about 15 seconds on average. That’s a long time when all you’ve got to look at is a blank screen with the small text “Loading” in the corner (or when speedrunning – a key section of the BFBB community).

The most trumpeted addition to BBFB:R  is the new multiplayer “Horde Mode”, created out of cut content from the original game. This can be played online, and to it’s credit, via the all-too-rare couch-co-op. 

“Horde Mode” is made up of fighting waves of enemies while platforming through different islands. You reach an island, fight a few waves, then move on. Do this for about 40 minutes and Robo-Squidward is defeated.

And… that’s it. While being able to play as other characters like Squidward and Plankton was a novelty, there’s no exciting new dialogue or scenes, or even a difficult challenge. I felt empty as Robo-Squidward disappeared into the waves, and I was back at the menu.

In the words of Plankton – Goodbye, Horde Mode, I’ll remember you in therapy.

Seventeen years later

Brand-based games are often an empty cash grab. In contrast, BFBB feels like it was written by developers who genuinely care about Spongebob as a franchise. The many Season 1 references are both comfortingly familiar and obscure enough that you feel special when you recognise them. It’s also a rock-solid 3D platformer, as long as you remember that it’s a product of its time.

As discussed, the Switch version has its share of rough edges from framerates to glitches. I can’t help but feel that the time spent on the new Horde Mode may have been better spent on ironing out these kinks. 

But if this is a treasured game from your childhood, maybe you shouldn’t give a Flying Dutchman about review scores. BBFB:R is your chance to experience an old favourite on current generation consoles, which isn’t a chance all childhood favourites will get. 

The post Are you ready, kids?: Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated  appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

There’s a good chance you’ve heard of Blue Planet II. The BBC Studios marine life documentary was so wildly successful that it has been credited with British policy changes in relation to single-use plastics – the so-called “Blue Planet effect”. 

Beyond Blue is an ocean exploration game directly inspired by Blue Planet II. This should give you some idea of the beauty, wonder, and conservation themes that await. In fact, E-Line Media went the whole nine yards to develop Beyond Blue by directly partnering with BBC Studios, ocean exploration initiative OceanX Media, and world-leading ocean experts. 

Beyond Blue is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, iOS Linux, Macintosh operating systems, and tvOS. For my review, I dove into the Windows PC version.

Just keep swimming

Beyond Blue puts you in diving suit of Dr Mirai Soto, a deep-water explorer and scientist on a series of dives. Her adventures span from the shallow atolls, to the midnight zone, to deeper yet. 

Dr Soto has been tracking a family of sperm whales, but soon discovers that all is not well in the whales’ world. And whales really are the real draw-card here. You’ll swim with all manner of fish, turtles, sharks, and dolphins, but the wow moments are reserved for the whales. Their slow, ponderous grace as they swim across the scene is really something. 

Interaction with the wildlife itself is minimal beyond cut scene animations. I tried swimming directly into a variety of animals to get a reaction, not unlike a child tapping on an aquarium tank, but never saw any reaction. It’s a bit of an immersion breaker, but a minor one considering the level of realism achieved in both animation and design.

You’ll also love Beyond Blue if you have collect-a-thon tendencies. All sea creatures (except for coral and plant life, unfortunately) are collectible via your dive suit “scan” function. There are enough collectibles that you’ll have to go out of your way to get them all, but not so many that it ever becomes tedious.

Controls on the PC are spread between keyboard and mouse, with no available key binding options. This was a little tricky at times when it felt like similar menus required different buttons for the same outcome. However, the diving itself feels very intuitive, and that’s the part that matters most.

Storytime

The story of Beyond Blue is light and conservation focused, mostly using dialogue with your colleagues and family as a narrative frame to discuss progress with whales, the environment and some background family drama. The “Live Stream” format employed during the dives is very clever, allowing the characters to explain marine biological concepts to the audience without breaking the fourth wall. This is supported by great voice acting work that never feels heavy-handed. 

Players looking for the dramatic highs of other ocean exploration games like Endless Ocean will likely be disappointed. However, I would argue that Beyond Blue delivers its adrenaline in different ways. It’s in the trepidation as you look over the edge of atoll into the depths; the shock when a giant squid flits past; the eeriness of swimming through open ocean, moving forward but seemingly staying in place.

The entire game took me around four hours to complete, but much of that was stuffing around scanning as many fish as I could. If you pushed through the main story alone, you’d likely finish it in one to hours – something to consider with the current Steam price of NZ$24.79. 

Then again, Blue Planet II is around $30 on DVD, so you’re still coming out on top.

Did you know the Giant Squid has the largest eyes in the animal kingdom?

You alternate between diving and the submarine over the course of the game. While there’s not a ton to do on the sub other than listen to a banging soundtrack and chat with NPCs, it does provide an opportunity to learn a little bit.

Tidbits of information about the ocean ecosystem are peppered throughout gameplay, but the real educational punch comes from watching the half an hour of educational videos unlocked along the way. These put your in-game adventures into real-life context, which I found to be eye-opening. 

Learning is cool, yo.

Also very cool is the soundtrack, as mentioned. Whoever put together the submarine soundtrack has good taste, with tracks from The Flaming Lips, The Edisons and New Zealand’s own Maisey Rika. The music that plays while diving shifts into atmospheric instrumentals which aim to enhance rather than distract. 

I very much appreciated that even though Beyond Blue looks beautiful, it managed this without requiring too much graphical power. My current desktop PC is about five years past due for a new graphics card, but I was still able to play Beyond Blue at its highest settings, only suffering some skipping on a couple of cut scenes.

For the ocean explorer in all of us

Perhaps I’m showing my age, but Barbie: Ocean Discovery was one of my favourite games as a child. The possibility of exploring the deep sea has held a special magic for me ever since. It’s too bad then that in real life, swimming in the ocean terrifies me. Truly, even snorkeling in shallow water when visibility is low scares the jeepers out of me.  

Beyond Blue allows me to live out my deep diving inclinations from the safety of my apartment. It’s calming; it’s educational without being preachy; and it’s not bad to look at, either. 

While it won’t satisfy those hoping for intense drama, anyone with any interest in ocean exploration or conservation at all will find something to enjoy in Beyond Blue.

The post Beyond Blue review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

In a time when everything is spinning out of control and the best thing to do is stay at home, games that provide a fantasy of overcoming disaster with the power of friendship and perseverance are a soothing balm on my nerves.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is one of those games, for both the young and the young at heart.

The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, a roguelike dungeon crawler spin-off to the main Pokémon series, first appeared in the era of Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS. Nearly fifteen years later, the original instalments Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team have been remade for the Switch as Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX.

I will travel across the land, searching far and wide

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX provides Pokémon with their very own human-free world. That is until you, a human, mysteriously wake up in the shape of a Pokémon.

Nice try, Pokémon; you can’t escape my friendship that easily!

Which Pokémon you take the form of depends on you. The personality quiz dubbed me a Cubone (which is ridiculous; I’m obviously a Chikorita). Thankfully, there is an option to choose your own avatar from a list of sixteen Generation 3 Pokémon. It’s a great design choice, providing both the option to escape from the Cult of Pikachu and the illusion of a unique gameplay experience.

To combat the increasing disasters occurring in Pokémon World, you become part of a “rescue team”. This involves travelling across the land, rescuing some Pokémon, battling others, all while hunting for the truth of your condition. Gameplay alternates between rescue missions and the central town hub. There you can shop, chat with other Pokémon, manage your inventory, and accept missions.

The missions of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon have many elements you’d expect to find in a roguelike dungeon crawler. Maps randomly generate, and both movement and attacks are turn-based. Enemies also adhere to the turn system, not moving until you do.

Quite polite of them, really.

The battles themselves are turn-based skirmishes, that obey the same rock-paper-scissors that decree Ghost is super effective against Psychic but weak to Dark, but play out on the map as opposed to a separate instance. Battles also finish faster than an Abra escapes battle in Pokémon Blue. Linking moves, enabling two to be used on the same turn, leads to most battles taking about five seconds.

Or maybe I’m just REALLY good at Mystery Dungeon.

Part of me does wonder if this streamlined approach removes what makes Pokémon battles special. Battles feel empty without NPC trainer bravado and discussions with Youngster Trainers about comfy and easy to wear shorts.

You’re my best friend, in a world we must defend

NPC trash talking aside, you wouldn’t usually play the main Pokémon series for the story alone. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, on the other hand, has a quietly compelling main story and extensive post-main story content that gave me motivation to continue the dungeon grind.

And it is a grind. The randomly generated maps all boil down to a few large rooms connected by corridors, with scant variety. Combined with how easy the battles are (until post-game, anyway), and how similar the missions become, it all blurs together very quickly. The titbits of story gifted after each dungeon were what pushed me to continue to return to Uproar Forest again and again, beyond any desire to spend another minute in that Mankey-infected place.

Admittedly, this is a storytelling experience geared towards a younger audience. There are few complexities, and the antagonists are literally named “Team Meanies”. This is a gentle tale about supporting friends through hard times. To be frank, we could all use this at this time.

And in many ways, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX better captures the themes of friendship than the main series. For example, your “partner” Pokémon sticks with and up for the player, even when you’re unsure if you deserve it.

Maybe I just got too caught up in the story, but I was genuinely moved.

While there are no Pokéballs in sight, you can recruit a variety of other Pokémon friends to join on runs. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is a kind world, where excess Pokémon stay in beautifully illustrated “camps”, especially suited to the needs of different Pokémon types.

This world knows not the cold limbo of the Box.

This wholesome romp is accompanied by a variety of light-hearted tunes. While some of struck me as outdated, it never felt phoned-in.

You teach me and I’ll teach you

One of the main criticisms of the original Red and Blue Pokémon Mystery Dungeon outings were the underwhelming visuals. It’s no surprise then that Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX has an entirely new visual identity, with a beautiful hand-drawn aesthetic throughout.

Admittedly, I didn’t truly appreciate its prettiness until I played on a small screen. On a large TV screen, the visuals look overly basic. In handheld mode, though, the style is absolutely stunning.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is much more than a new slick coat of paint, however. Mega Evolutions are now a thing, alongside a few quality of life improvements, like Auto-save and an increased maximum team size of eight.

Inventory management continues to be a chore. Let’s be honest, it always is. The repetitive dungeon grind possibly wouldn’t have bothered me so much if it didn’t take so darn long to move items in and out of storage. The Dungeon preparation screen allows for some item arrangement, but remains way more of a chore than it needs to be.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX also features an Auto-mode, whereby your Pokemon team will explore the dungeon without your input based on your choice of tactics. This subtracts from the already minimal brain power required to progress the game. However, this isn’t a game you can run AFK – the auto-mode pauses whenever a hostile Pokémon comes into line of sight, which is every 5-10 seconds or so. 

Po-ké-mooooon

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, while sporting a beautiful new make-over, remains the same game with the same flaws as the original Blue and Red Rescue Teams. In particular, the low difficulty level and overly repetitive dungeons may not be enough to hold everyone’s attention for long.

But while Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX isn’t the perfect game, its low energy requirements combined with its soft and soothing feel-good story are a perfectly pleasant diversion.

For many of us in these uncertain times, it could be just what Nurse Joy ordered.

The post Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.