Tag Archives: PlayStation 4

Atelier Arland Trilogy, Cover Games

Atelier Rorona: Arland’s New Beginning

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cropped-atelier-header-3938584This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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As we’ve previously explored, the Atelier series is no stranger to rereleases and remakes — and at the time of writing, Arland trilogy debut Atelier Rorona has had more than most.

Initially releasing in Japan in 2009 as Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland before being localised by NIS America for North America, Europe and Australasia in 2010, the game was subsequently completely rebuilt in 2013 under its new worldwide publisher Koei Tecmo as Atelier Rorona Plus in an attempt to bring it more in line with the subsequent releases in the series. In 2015, Japan got a unique 3DS version of the game. And in 2018, Gust and Koei Tecmo brought Atelier Rorona DX — pretty much a port of Atelier Rorona Plus — to Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Windows PC.

Keeping one game relevant for nine full years and counting is no mean feat. So let’s take a closer look at some of the reasons this game might have stuck around for quite as long as it has!

Continue reading Atelier Rorona: Arland’s New Beginning →

Features

The MoeGamer Awards 2018: Weirdest Character

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The MoeGamer Awards are a series of “alternative” awards that I’ve devised in collaboration with the community as an excuse to celebrate the games, experiences and fanbases that have left a particular impression on me in 2018. Find out more and leave a suggestion here!

This award was suggested by Krystallina.

It’s a disappointingly frequent stereotype to brand Japan as “weird” simply because many of the things in its society and media don’t conform to what we’ve come to think of as Western norms.

That said, sometimes our friends in the East do come up with characters that are clearly designed to be outlandishly strange, surreal and weird — and when they accomplish that successfully (preferably without crossing that fine line into Sharon from Accounts-style “Woo! Look, I’ve put cheese up my nose and a turkey leg down my pants, I’m so random! Teeheehee!”) it’s worth celebrating. Because those characters can end up being very memorable.

There were plenty of possible choices for this one, but in the end, there’s one I just had to give it to. If you’ll pardon the expression.

And the winner is…

Continue reading The MoeGamer Awards 2018: Weirdest Character →

One-Shots

Xenon Valkyrie+: 16-Bit Procedural Platforming

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You might think the “roguelike” subgenre is oversaturated (it is). You might think the term “roguelike” is widely misused (it is). But that’s not to say there aren’t still good examples of games with roguelike elements being released.

One such example is Xenon Valkyrie+, a game originally developed by Spanish coder Daniel Fernandez Chavez (aka “Diabolical Mind”) and enhanced for its PlayStation 4 and Vita release by solo French developer Fabrice Breton of Cowcat Games. If that pairing sounds familiar, you may recall we looked at their previous collaboration Riddled Corpses EX a while back.

Riddled Corpses EX impressed me a great deal, so when Limited Run Games offered a physical release of Xenon Valkyrie+ a few months ago, I thought I’d jump on it and see what else this dream team could come up with.

Continue reading Xenon Valkyrie+: 16-Bit Procedural Platforming →

One-Shots, SNK

SNK Heroines: Fighting is Fun

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I’ve tried numerous times to “get into” fighting games over the years with varying amounts of success.

Back in the SNES era, I had a good time with the original Street Fighter II and managed to beat it with most of the characters — but my skills have gotten severely rusty since then. Beyond that, my main contact with the genre has primarily been the Dead or Alive series, which I enjoyed for a combination of its cast of beautiful people and its enjoyably fluid, reasonably accessible action.

But I’d always find myself hitting a wall. I’d never be able to pull off impressive combos, I’d struggle to reliably trigger special moves and I’d have difficulty understanding the underlying strategy that is fundamental to the fighting game experience as a whole. Oh, what to do, what to do?

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Essentials, Shmups

Shmup Essentials: Riddled Corpses EX

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You know sometimes you just see a game and think “I’m going to enjoy this?” That was very much me and Riddled Corpses EX.

There was something about the game’s excellent use of convincing 16-bit style pixel art and the suggestion that it would incorporate two of my favourite shmup subgenres — bullet hell and twin-stick — that made me pretty sure I was going to have a good time with it. And I most certainly did.

If you’re yet to check out this enjoyable blastathon, either in its original PC incarnation on Steam or its all-new “EX” version on PlayStation 4/Vita cross-buy and Xbox One, then grab yourself a sturdy controller, strap yourself in and get ready to perforate some cadavers.

Continue reading Shmup Essentials: Riddled Corpses EX →

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Risu the Angel

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Japanese games have a number of different ways of handling narratives from a first-person perspective.

The typical “visual novel” approach allows the player to ride along inside the protagonist’s head, being privy to their innermost thoughts as well as the things they say out loud. But in other instances where this approach has not been used for stylistic purposes — and particularly where a silent or quasi-silent protagonist takes the lead — a companion character is often employed to either speak “for” the protagonist, or to complement them in some way.

Gal*Gun Double Peace featured the delightful Ekoro, who beautifully complemented protagonist Houdai’s bafflement at the situation in which he found himself through dry wit and a touch of sarcasm. And Gal*Gun 2, which features the player themselves as the participant quasi-silent protagonist, has Risu; equally delightful, but in a rather different way.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Risu the Angel →

One-Shots

What’s in the Box: Gal*Gun 2 “Free Hugs” Edition

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Next month on MoeGamer is all about Gal*Gun 2, but in the meantime I couldn’t resist sneaking a peek in the shiny new limited edition box.

Publisher PQube and its partners at Rice Digital have put out some really nice (and affordable) limited editions over the last couple of years, so I was more than happy to stump up the extra cash for the “Free Hugs” edition of Gal*Gun 2.

Thankfully the new game doesn’t come in quite as obscenely large a box as its predecessor — that had a big wallscroll in it, so it was understandable — but still has a rather tasty set of goodies to enjoy.

Continue reading What’s in the Box: Gal*Gun 2 “Free Hugs” Edition →

Essentials, Neo Geo

Neo Geo Essentials: Shock Troopers

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“The eight soldiers get to attack the wicked terrorists!!”

So ran the promotional blurb on the arcade flyer for SNK’s Shock Troopers, a well-regarded installment in the Neo Geo library developed by Saurus and originally released in 1997 to both home- and arcade-based Neo Geo systems.

This is not by any means a unique setup for a video game, particularly an arcade title from the era, but what makes Shock Troopers truly special is its execution. And its presentation. And, well, everything.

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Cover Games, Cyberdimension Neptunia

Cyberdimension Neptunia: Introduction and History

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cybernep-header-8252663This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
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The Neptunia series is not only one of the most remarkable success stories in Japanese gaming, it’s also one of the most interesting, diverse franchises out there.

From its humble beginnings as a low-budget RPG with an atrocious critical reception to its current, widely recognised status inextricably associated with Sony platforms, even the most hardened cynic has to admit by now that there’s probably something to this series.

A big part of what has kept Neptunia fresh and interesting over the years is the fact that it’s not afraid to step outside of its traditional RPG comfort zone and experiment with gameplay styles. And, since we already explored the history of the mainline series when we dove deep into Megadimension Neptunia V-II back in 2016, it’s these spinoff games we’ll be looking in more detail today.

Continue reading Cyberdimension Neptunia: Introduction and History →

Features, MoeGamer Awards 2017

The MoeGamer Awards: Game of the Year 2017

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The MoeGamer Awards are a series of made-up prizes that give me an excuse to celebrate games, concepts and communities I’ve particularly appreciated over the course of 2017. Find out more here, but you’re out of time to leave me suggestions, I’m afraid!

Well, here we are on the last day of 2017, and I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling something of a sense of anti-climax after what has been an extremely chaotic and interesting year in many ways. Still, what better way to see out the old year than with a completely arbitrary declaration of what the “best” game of 2017 was?

This was an extremely tough decision, particularly as I’ve always said these awards were based on what I played in 2017, not necessarily what was released in 2017. But, as it happened, the two front-runners happened to both come out in 2017, so that all works out pretty nicely, doesn’t it? So which one did I pick? I’m sure you’re on the edge of your seats.

And the winner is…

Continue reading The MoeGamer Awards: Game of the Year 2017 →