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Reviving a classic is never easy. Franchises like Streets of Rage descend from a different era, a time where game mechanics and storytelling principles were far more straightforward and lacking in nuance. You walked forward, obliterating everyone in your path, occasionally stopping to eat a roast chicken off the ground before marching onward. PSA: Don’t eat chicken you find on the floor. 

Simplicity aside, the core ideas of Streets of Rage have aged beautifully. After all, beating down thugs and saving an incredibly stylish city with a friend by your side is a task anyone can revel in, and the fourth instalment delivers such an experience with wondrous aplomb. 

Dotemu has crafted a loud, neon-drenched love letter to the franchise that’s both proudly different and achingly faithful to its progenitors. It stumbles at times due to the sheer brevity of its campaign, but all the ingredients add up to make a beat-em-up dish well worth savouring. 

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Streets of Rage 4 is a direct sequel to its predecessor, whisking the narrative forward ten years as the original heroes and a few newcomers work together in an effort to bring down a sinister dystopian organisation. Such a mission is achieved by beating the crap out of everyone, whether it be petty thugs, corrupt police officers or disco dancers hoping to strut their stuff on the city streets. 

The premise is simple and executed with a phenomenal sense of style, maintaining the original trilogy’s stunning sense of style while arguably enhancing it with an aesthetic reminiscent of classic anime and Saturday morning cartoons. All characters move with a beautiful degree of grace, flying towards enemies in luscious bursts of light as they’re slamming into the ground. 

Each playable fighter moves with varying levels of weight and speed, changing how you need to approach movesets to move through stages without taking massive amounts of damage. Veterans such as Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding return alongside the likes of Cherry; a young, confident musician who can freeze enemies where they stand by shredding her guitar. 

They’re all enjoyable to control and offer enough difference in terms of combo variety that I felt justified in my multiple playthroughs. Axel is capable of juggling thugs with ease, while Blaze is in possession of an ultimate ability that can clear the field of enemies when trouble comes brewing. You’ll encounter plenty of unlockable characters too, including retro sprites from the original trilogy that somehow fit in perfectly against the modernised visuals.

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Streets of Rage 4 is very short, with the campaign’s dozen or so stages lasting only a couple of hours.  It maintains the arcade structure of its classic predecessors but is complemented by an ample amount of replay value. You’re encouraged to accumulate a constantly growing score in search of new playable characters and other secrets, all of which require multiple playthroughs to unlock. 

Classic sprites harbour simpler controls and a modified soundtrack, adding an extra helping of challenging flair to proceedings. It’s a finely crafted love-letter to the franchise but isn’t afraid to flaunt its striking new vision while honouring the past. Stages range from corrupt city streets to underground sewers awash with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle references. 

You’ll even do battle atop a moving train, jumping in a rhythmic fashion to dodge incoming obstacles. It’s unfortunate that the full range of stage designs don’t lend themselves to more varied gameplay mechanics. The majority of encounters are rather basic, with boss battles occasionally forcing you to learn move patterns and avoid highly telegraphed attacks. It’s retro to a fault but is thankfully saved by how much fun it is to play. 

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Combat is enhanced by special abilities possessed by each character. Using them drains a small amount of your health, but if you manage to execute a combo immediately after activation, you stand a chance to gain that lost life back. It’s an idea that incentivises aggression and building upon combos, encouraging you to learn the act of juggling and dodging in a way that few beat-em-ups can muster. 

Be careful you aren’t overly generous, though, as death comes swiftly to those who don’t ration out their unique skills. These abilities are often used to force foes into the air or clear them towards the edges of the screen, providing our heroes room to breathe when things get messy. Combine this with the basic foundations of combat, and you’ve got a fascinating dynamic that maintains the desired simplicity while working in just enough depth to keep you engaged for extended play sessions. 

It’s an added bonus that Streets of Rage 4 is positively gorgeous, boasting a luscious hand-drawn art style that echoes the arcade classics perfectly. Many of the designs are the same but have been reimagined in a way that looks truly fantastic. I haven’t played them in years, but iconic costumes and levels immediately jumped out, transporting me back to arcade cabinets long left behind. 

Returning to a franchise like this always warrants trepidation, but Dotemu has passed the test with flying colours. I’d love to see Dotemu introduce some downloadable content in the form of new stages and side stories, since some of the new characters deserve a bigger spotlight, with larger than life scenarios teased but never touched upon in Streets of Rage 4. A lack of voice acting in cutscenes also feels like a strange absence, especially given how much personality everything else has. 

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Hardcore completionists will be pleased to see Arcade and Boss Rush modes included, the former tasking you with completing the entire campaign with a single credit. If you’re downed, it’s straight back to the beginning. I imagine this is a gauntlet best tackled with a friend of equal skill since you’ll need to effortlessly support one another to emerge unscathed. If I’m brutally honest, it’s way above my personal capabilities. I’d rather look at the lovely visuals and beat folks to a pulp on normal.

Streets of Rage 4 – Verdict

Streets of Rage 4 is an enchanting retro surprise, bursting onto the scene and overcoming many of the justified grievances fans might have with reviving such an esteemed property. The combat is fierce, the music is banging, and its sense of style is simply marvellous.

While I have my criticisms with the brief campaign and simple mechanics, they’re easy flaws to forgive in the grand scheme of things. In the world of modern brawlers, this stands alongside River City Girls as yet another essential outing.

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The last few weeks have been great for strategy fans, with big names like Gears Tactics and now XCOM: Chimera Squad offering vastly different takes on the formula. 

For those out of the know, XCOM: Chimera Squad is the latest turn-based strategy experience from Firaxis Games. It’s being pitched as a sequel to XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, and at first glance looks relatively similar, offering turn-based, tactical gameplay mixed with base building strategy elements.

But, despite its namesake, Chimera Squad takes a few significant detours away from the franchise’s traditional formula that makes it feel like the hybrid of Rainbow Six Siege and XCOM 2: War of the Chosen.

The narrative picks up directly after the events of War of the Chosen. But unlike other entries into the series, you don’t control XCOM itself. Instead, you take command of Chimera Squad – a new unit built up of specialists from XCOM, old resistance cells and the now unbrainwashed Advent soldiers and invading aliens from the previous games.

In layman’s terms, this means rather than commanding a global resistance force, in Chimera Squad you control a specialist SWAT team that’s tasked to protect the new peace between humans, aliens and hybrids in the fictional City 31.

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The changes don’t stop there. Jumping into the opening tutorial you’ll immediately see that, though it comes from the same lineage, Chimera Squad is a very different beast compared to XCOM. For starters, missions are now much, much shorter and divided into self-contained sections, each of which is divided by a new “breach” mechanic.

Breaches are a new way for your agents to start encounters with enemy units. It lets you place squad members next to specific entry points, each of which comes with a set of advantages or disadvantages. For example, going into a warehouse through the side window may give you a better vantage point, but if it’s being heavily watched there’s a bigger risk the enemy will see you and return fire when you enter it than if you go through the back door.

You can assign squad members to multiple breach points. Later in the game, you can also invest in custom tools, like breach charges, key cards and specialist armour that let you take advantage of otherwise inaccessible entry points. These include things like ventilation shafts or locked doors.

Once set up, you then start the encounter and see your agents rush the area in slow motion. As an added perk, each agent gets a free action when going in. At the start, this is limited to taking a potshot at an enemy or going to cover. But later on, as your agents level up, you get a chance to use more specific skills during the breach. These include things like using a shielded character to set up a wall, protecting the agents behind him or using a psychic alien’s telekinesis to pull a hunkered down enemy out of cover.

The breach element is one of the more positive tweaks to the XCOM formula, as it adds a further layer of tension and strategy to each phase of a mission, forcing you to go into each encounter with limited intel.

This is largely down to one of the game’s other big changes: you control hero characters. Unlike past XCOM games, every agent you command has a name, back story and specific custom class, complete with unique skills and equipment. Godmother, for example, is a badass shotgun-wielding shock trooper, with aggressive attack focused skills. Verge meanwhile is a psychic alien with disruptive mind-bending skills that can stun, or even control, enemy soldiers.

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Putting a hero in the wrong place in a breach chain can have disastrous consequences that change the entire flow of an encounter. I learned this early on when I sent my hero medic in at the front, only to have her get torn apart by enemy fire during the breach, forcing me to restart the encounter. Learning from my mistake, I swapped her for Cherub, an energy shield-wielding ex-Advent hybrid, and was able to storm the entry point with zero initial damage.

However, from there, the changes get a little more marmite and will either delight or annoy existing XCOM fans. Encounters are much shorter than traditional XCOM levels. No matter how far you go in the story, missions take at most 15-20 minutes and see you move from one small sandbox map to another small sandbox map.

Mission objectives, which include clear the area, hostage rescue and snatch and grab objectives add some variety, but there’s no getting around the fact, after a while, they start to get a little samey.

A focus on heroes also makes the game fairly forgiving compared to regular XCOM. Chimera Squad’s narrative means any squad member’s death will end the game, forcing you to restart the mission. There’s no option to continue with a diminished squad.

The only downside is that if they’re downed, they’ll leave the mission with a scar. This is a negative effect that will lower their stats until you treat them at Chimera Squad’s home base. The fact treating them takes them out of action for several missions does offer some incentive to hate taking damage, but it still feels oddly easy by XCOM’s normally brutal standards.

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My only serious complaint about missions is that Chimera Squad’s hit chance percentages are still janky at best. All too often you’ll have an enemy in plain sight with a 90 percent hit chance, that’s somehow got the luck of the Irish and will dodge all four of your squad’s attacks, only to then down your hunkered down tank in one hit with a bizarrely luck critical hit. This can lead to some very frustrating experiences where it feels like bugs, not the enemy soldiers, are beating you.

Unlike XCOM, Chimera Squad’s investigation takes place across City 31’s nine districts, not the entire world. There’s also no exploration. The only familiar feature is that, like regular XCOM, your job is to make sure panic doesn’t reach a certain level in each zone. If the anarchy bar on the city map maxes out, it’s game over for your campaign.

You lower anarchy and panic in the city by completing missions, or sending secondary “tactical squads” to them. Tactical squads work kind of like XCOM 2 satellites. They are auto-panic controlling units that can be assigned to specific areas and used to lower that region’s anarchy level and accrue resources each in-game week.

The main crux of the campaign sees you work to take out three dangerous groups believed to be responsible for attacks on the city. This is done by gathering intel during various missions to uncover their leader/plans and stop them.

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Unlike traditional XCOM, you can’t build or tweak the base’s facilities. But there’s enough depth and freedom to give things a significantly more strategic feel than most tactical shooters.

In the base, you get a basic store, training facility, barracks (changing room), workshop and spec ops centre. The barracks, store and workshop’s purposes are self-descriptive. They’re where you can check out your squad members’ status, promote them to unlock new skills and edit their load-outs pre-mission. The store lets you buy items, while the workshop acts as your R&D centre, letting you mount research projects to unlock better equipment and items for your troops.

Spec Ops are mini-missions you can send unassigned team members on. They take set amounts of time and reward you with elerium, intel, and dollars, the currencies used to buy or upgrade Chimera Squad.

The training facility and spec ops are a little different. The training room serves two purposes. The first lets “train” one of your squad members. This makes them unavailable for missions for a set amount of time but sees them return with improved base stats. The second lets you heal their scars.

The mechanic’s interesting as, like all XCOM games, time is a key thing you don’t have. So leaving one of your favourite heroes out of action for multiple days running a spec op or training is a big ask. This is especially true as the locked-down skill trees mean that certain members of Chimera Squad work way better together than others, so losing one of your favourite characters will make certain missions way harder.

You can’t just recruit more soldiers. If you take too many squad members out of action and can’t get four onto your APC vehicle, then you won’t be able to mount missions. Poor planning can leave you in this situation for days at a time, causing a spike in the city’s anarchy level.

The fact new squad members are only recruitable at specific points in the story and force you to irreversibly pick between three different characters is another cause for tension. Pick one with unsuitable skills for your playstyle, and you’re going to struggle.

This mechanic is one of the only things to add replay value to the game, as you won’t be able to try every hero in one playthrough. Though given missions’ repetitive nature, I can’t see many people bothering to go through the entire campaign more than once or twice.

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Outside of this, the game’s mission picking dynamic manages to retain the same weighty decision making element of the main XCOM series.

Because you’re racing against the clock, picking which missions to take feels significant: Quelling a panic zone at the expense of chasing down a lead on a faction leader may have short term benefit, but leave you open to a “dark encounter” down the line. These are the modifiers that appear if you leave investigations untouched for too long that make certain story missions way harder.

Should you buy XCOM: Chimera Squad?

XCOM fans will find a lot to like about Chimera Squad. The stripped-down story-driven gameplay manages to retain enough strategic focus to remain fun. The story is also engaging enough to keep you entertained for at least one playthrough.

Ongoing issues with its hit percentage counter and unforgiving time management mechanics may make it a bit too intimidating for people unfamiliar with the genre. Newbies will be better off checking out Gears Tactics, which is a much friendlier entry point.

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When it first launched back in 2018, Fallout 76 was scorned for its clumsy execution of a fairly ambitious concept. Bethesda hoped to translate its sprawling RPG vision into a world occupied by other players who could interact, fight and work alongside one another towards a common goal. 

The concept itself sounded incredibly appealing, yet was shoehorned into an engine and gameplay formula which felt fundamentally hostile towards any form of cohesive multiplayer. It was buggy, inconsistent and soulless as it abandoned much of what made Fallout so beloved in the first place. 

It’s languished in mediocrity ever since, receiving an insufficient amount of content updates and failing to shake off the lack of polish that continues to hold it back even several years later. Wastelanders hopes to change this seemingly irreparable reputation, introducing NPCs and a deeper, more nuanced storyline to the world of Fallout 76.  

After spending plenty of time with Wastelanders, it’s clear a distinct improvement has been made. An obvious sense of passion has been put into course-correcting the disastrous origins of Bethesda’s multiplayer experiment, even if the initial cracks are still blindingly obvious at times. But it’s fun and engrossing – half the battle for anything as grand as Fallout 76. 

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Wastelanders is the third major expansion for Fallout 76 and is available as a free update for all existing players. It brings with it a laundry list of worthwhile features and improvements, but the most groundbreaking is the addition of non-playable characters that are now situated across the region of West Virginia. The player can now interact with them to trade and take on quests. You can’t kill them though, which is a bit of a shame and a definite immersion breaker.

In previous Fallout games, I made a habit of buying things off traders before shortly murdering them to steal both my money and their entire inventory. I imagine doing that here would break the multiplayer aspects quite severely, and so it’s a decent compromise since the presence of other humans in Fallout 76 is downright transformative. 

Wastelanders comes into effect the moment you start a new game. While you would previously be roped into The Responders questline, you’ll now stumble upon a bar situated only a few steps away from Vault 76. Here, you’ll meet some friendly faces and embark on a convoluted quest to uncover some legendary treasure. I won’t spoil where things go, but it’s an enjoyable yarn with engaging characters and a few welcome twists. 

Having a questline that isn’t completely managed by faceless robots and bland audio logs makes this feel like a fully-fledged Fallout experience – one where you’re working alongside others to fight in a lawless, irradiated society. The writing isn’t particularly great, and much of the dialogue you’ll be compelled to skip, but the overarching narrative is compelling enough that I was pushed onward. 

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So, it’s irritating that Wastelanders forces you back onto the vanilla questline to farm experience before cracking on with its later steps, which is hugely detrimental to the pacing. The game’s original missions are laughably boring, often little more than fetch quests contextualised by dry conversations and disgusting amounts of backtracking. They’re simply not fun, feeling like an obstacle you’re forced to break through to unearth the parts worth playing. 

These grinding sessions can last for several hours. I loved discovering new locations and building my virtual vault dweller in-between the tedium, but deep down I wanted to jump back into Wastelanders and not contend with older content for the sake of padding out a campaign which is already very, very long. All these complaints aside, the core experience of Fallout 76 is a lot of fun, partly because it leaves behind much of the online ambitions it once pushed towards the forefront. 

Wastelanders feels like a traditional Fallout campaign, and you’ll only really interact with other players through settlements spread across each world for brief bouts of trading. Otherwise, you’ll rarely stumble upon them while on quests and taking on multiplayer events – the latter of which is so clumsily implemented that I seldom bothered with them. 

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One quest had another player and I defending a stadium from packs of wolves. However, the artificial intelligence was so poor that the enemies couldn’t find their way inside, instead opting to glitch into walls and kill themselves instead. This was just one of many examples of Fallout 76 descending into a bug-ridden mess during my time with it. This is Bethesda’s buggiest release ever, which is an achievement in itself. 

I’d stumble upon helicopters glitching into cliff sides, ghouls trapped inside non-existent basements and hordes of foes t-posing their way towards me in feats of dominance. Moments like these don’t surprise me anymore, but they pull you out of an atmosphere that Fallout 76 does an otherwise fantastic job expressing. It’s easy to lose yourself in West Virginia, which is truly staggering in its size and scope.

Four times the size of Fallout 4, Appalachia would take dozens of hours to explore in its entirety. Each region is entirely bespoke, whether you’re exploring dense areas of woodlands or a drained lake ruined by years of radiation. The environments themselves have a story to tell, with notes and audio logs filling in the lives of individuals long dead. 

It’s a sombre affair, provided with small pockets of positivity thanks to a brilliantly bubbly radio host and plenty of old-timey tunes. At times, I’d recommend switching off your active quests and just walking in a random direction. Visit every location you come across, hoovering up loot and creating your own narratives out of whatever you see. It’s a delightful way to kill a few hours before returning to the somewhat monotonous questline. 

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Exploration is supported by all of the systems we’ve come to associate with Fallout over the years, albeit with a few changes that make it more suitable for an online setting. The S.P.E.C.I.A.L system remains, although you now assign points and perks as you level up, unlocking unique cards each with their own traits. It’s well implemented and arguably allows you greater freedom when crafting a character with their own individual set of abilities. 

The crafting system is back from Fallout 4 and more comprehensive with additional structures, items and stations to construct. I think the idea is for players to work together to build large settlements consisting of individual camps, but I’m yet to see something like this. People normally keep to themselves, and unless you’re on a Fallout 1st server, the player-created locations you come across will change with each session anyway. 

Given it’s what much of the multiplayer interaction hinges on, this aspect of Fallout 76 feels clumsy and severely lacking in depth. You can party up with friends and visit one another, but a way to build larger fortresses you can defend from neighbouring factions would’ve been wonderful. Sadly, no such features have been introduced. Compared to the likes of Destiny and The Division 2, Fallout 76 feels woefully underbaked. 

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Crafting often feels like a nuisance, with weapons breaking far too frequently and the act of crafting food and drink feeling like a barrier to fully enjoying the game. Fallout 76’s mechanics are far too janky to demand the player keep revisiting them at inopportune times. Healing items like stimpaks are rare enough that you’ll need to rely on these aforementioned annoyances too, otherwise you’ll find yourself stuck in a tiresome respawn loop in later encounters. 

Combat itself hasn’t really improved since the days of Fallout 3. I played on PS4 Pro, and inconsistent performance made some encounters a genuine chore. Being ambushed by high-level creatures means you surrender to death, praying it’s grown bored when you respawn, and you can escape. 

Otherwise, gunplay and melee combat are serviceable, improved by a VATS system which automatically locks onto enemies and causes extra damage. Even so, many firefights involve you perpetually walking backwards as ghouls rush towards you, dealing constant damage until you’re lucky enough to pull off an accurate shot. For moments like this, it’s easier to pull out a sledgehammer and start swinging. 

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Verdict

Fallout 76 has improved with the introduction of Wastelanders. The region of West Virginia now feels more alive with an increased populace, deeper quests and a greater focus on your place in its living, breathing world. 

But many of its problems remain, and haven’t been improved with such a major expansion. Far few players occupy each session, making multiplayer feel like a lazy afterthought instead of something that defines the experience. 

Wastelanders also seeks to craft Fallout 76 into something that resembles its single-player siblings, bringing into question its identity and what exactly it wants to be. Archaic combat, exploration and similar mechanics also feel completely out of place in the modern landscape. 

But I still enjoyed myself, and plan to return so I can discover new locations, continue to level up and find out what sits at the centre of Wastelander’s core mystery. As flawed as it may be, there’s something about the Fallout formula that keeps me coming back. 

Bethesda’s RPG formula desperately needs a refresh though, with much of what’s available here feeling eerily similar to games that released over a decade ago. It’s downright archaic and needs to change if the series hopes to stay relevant. 

The post Fallout 76: Wastelanders Review appeared first on Trusted Reviews.

Since emerging on the Sega Saturn back in 1998, Sakura Wars has remained an understated yet iconic member of the JRPG genre and become immediately recognisable thanks to its infectious theme song and an unorthodox blend of visual novel and strategy mechanics. 

Having received countless sequels, anime series and other adaptations, Oji Hiroi’s eclectic creation has never stumbled into reboot territory. That is, until now with the arrival of Sakura Wars. A soft continuation of the original story, it maintains many of the original’s hallmarks while forging its own ambitious path forward. 

It makes some noticeable fumbles, largely due to its tiresome inclusion of outdated anime tropes and oftentimes misogynistic depiction of women. It’s a crying shame, since this is one of the genre’s most accomplished efforts in years, appearing surprisingly high-budget given the relative niche it occupies. 

So it’s unfortunate this progression doesn’t push forward writing that is frequently creepy in the way our male protagonist leers over the game’s heroines, lessening the impact of genuinely emotional moments of worthwhile character development. All this aside, there’s still plenty to love about this Sakura Wars revival. 

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Sakura Wars is wonderfully unique in its setting and characters. Taking place in a fictionalised version of Japan’s Taisho Period (1940) where demons threaten to cross into our world, society is protected by the World Luxuriant Opera Federation.

This absurdly named organisation consists of beloved actresses who also double as mech pilots, jumping into giant robots to do battle with evil at a moment’s notice. It’s an absurd premise but is sold with enough melodramatic conviction that I immediately found myself smitten by it. However, this immersion is ruined by arguably the most important factor – Sakura War’s protagonist. 

You play as Seijuro Kamiyama, a naval captain who is suddenly transferred to Tokyo and put in command of the Imperial Combat Revue. Japan’s division of the aforementioned organisation has been struggling for years, its global reputation in tatters thanks to repeated attacks and a wider history that holds them back from greatness. 

Kamiyama is your archetypal protagonist; lean, black-haired and seemingly faultless in their talents. This is seemingly why many of the Revue’s members fall head over heels for him when they’d be better off going with anyone else. Maybe I’m being too harsh, and always made dialogue choices that painted him in a positive light, but many situations are engineered with lascivious intent, which always left a bad taste in my mouth. 

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Your new headquarters is situated in a frankly gorgeous theatre, and this where much of Sakura Wars takes place. You’ll explore the sprawling stage, pristine dining hall and underground hanger communicating with an excellent cast of characters, many of which act as romantic interests for the player. It’s a tried-and-true visual novel approach which falls victim to its worst habits, failing to realise we’re now in 2020.

That being said, much of Sakura Wars is well-written and worth the emotional investment, especially once you find yourself falling down the rabbit hole of certain characters. Sakura is the titular mech pilot. She’s a young, aspiring actress with a heart of gold, intent on honouring her troupe’s legacy while forging her own path forward. She cracks under pressure, messages on your in-game phone often riddled with cutesy spelling mistakes. 

Hatsuho is another highlight. A bashful shrine maiden who doesn’t take crap from anybody, giving her captain a knuckle sandwich for being a creeper on more than one occasion. Other heroines include an ambitious writer and a childish ninja, both of which have their fair share of time in the spotlight. After the first handful of episodes, you’ll be focused on a specific one, propelling you towards one of several different endings. 

Extended dialogue sequences are exceptionally executed. From a first-person perspective, you’ll uncover speech options by interacting with the environment, piecing together the perfect things to say that compliment your growing relationship with each troupe member. The sound cues that accompany the right decisions are hugely satisfying, and you gain a visual idea of your progress in-between episodes, which themselves are presented as charmingly old-school episode previews. 

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Combat in Sakura Wars is fairly simplistic, aping the likes of Dynasty Warriors with a few RPG elements thrown in to spice things up. You control a variety of different mechs, all of which are piloted by either Kamiyama or the wider theatre troupe. You’ll do battle against demons, reboots and greater antagonists introduced throughout the campaign. Levels are vast yet linear as you blast through demonic environments wiping out everything in your path.

It feels fine, yet is hardly remarkable in the grand scheme of things. Regardless of the mech you’re controlling, all of which have their own distinct weapons, combat lacks a sense of impactful finesse to really help it shine. It’s also a stark departure from the series’ roots, which may prove controversial.

Inconsistent camera controls and collision detection also frustrate, making it far more difficult than it should be to utilise Sakura War’s already limited combo system. You’ll earn additional armour, attack power and relationship points by building up kill streaks and executing specific moves, which come naturally due to a lack of challenge. It’s a blessing that these sections are irregular enough that powering through never felt like a nuisance. 

That, and I can’t imagine many are coming to Sakura Wars hoping to be enthralled by the combat. It’s a side dish to the unfolding narrative and character moments, both of which are always at the forefront.

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Outside of the main story, there’s plenty of optional activities to jump into, many of which help improve relationships with characters and unlock plenty of bonus goodies. After the opening hours, you’ll be free to explore a sprawling vision of Tokyo to communicate with friends and take on optional quests. Most of these are pretty simple but normally result in new conversations and scenarios I loved to experience.

There’s also Bromides – unlockable postcards which harken back to the series’ past. Hardcore fans will adore all of the references, all of which feel crafted with a careful amount of love. You can buy ones featuring modern characters from the theatre shopkeeper, although be careful since they’re in limited supply. You can replay past missions with different mechs through a combat simulator, earning you bonus experience if you’re dedicated enough to grind. 

Verdict

Sakura Wars is an enjoyable revival of the iconic series, presenting a fascinating blend of genres that kept me engaged as I delved deeper into its characters’ stories and intriguing central mystery.

Unfortunately, it far too often falls victim to tired tropes and writing which treats its excellent female cast as little more than objects. It’s harrowing since the stories beyond these gestures are worthwhile and heartfelt.

These issues aren’t impossible to overlook, and it’s worth dealing with them to earn the engrossing adventure hidden beneath them. If you’re a sucker for engaging stories, wacky combat and a strange, unusual world I recommend giving Sakura Wars a try.

The post Sakura Wars Review appeared first on Trusted Reviews.

Gears Tactics is the latest entry into Microsoft’s iconic shooter series. But unlike its predecessors, Tactics is not a third-person tactical shooter. Instead, it’s a turn-based strategy game in the same vein as XCOM 2 or Phoenix Point.

If this sounds exciting, it should. If ever there was a franchise that screamed to be turned into a tactical, turn-based strategy game it’s Gears. Dystopian sci-fi setting with scary looking monster enemies, check. Badass future marines with over the top weapons, check. All of the genre hallmarks are there and begging to be used, which is why on paper the side-ways move makes sense.

And for the most part, Tactics totally delivers on its promise of Gears-themed-XCOM. Make no mistake. This is a great game for fans of the franchise and an ideal entry point into an under-served genre of gaming for console gamers. But sadly, hardcore fans of the genre will find the experience a little too lightweight to fully scratch their tactical itch, while waiting for the fabled XCOM 3.

Tactics is a prequel to the original Gears of War, that focuses on a Gabriel “Gabe” Diaz as he tries to put together and command a squad of soldiers for a rogue COG (government) operation. Not giving any spoilers away but the plot nails Gear’s beloved over-the-top tone and features a great cast of new and returning characters that any fan of the franchise will love. It also serves as a nice stepping stone that eases players into the game’s new tactical focus by introducing the mechanics one at a time.

Once through the fairly long tutorial, any XCOM gamer will automatically feel at home. Tactics features a top-down view that tasks you to take control of a squad of up to four Gears and guide them through various missions.

The squad control system is at first glance a carbon copy of XCOM. Each soldier has a set number of action points each turn that are used for movement, shooting, and activating skills. The game’s turn-based so once you’ve spent your actions the enemy AI controlled grubs do the same. All the genre tropes are here, including a focus on using cover to protect your soldiers and establishing overwatch zones – where your allies sets up a parameter and shoots any enemy that wanders into it during their turn.

Even the classes of COG are almost identical to the soldiers in XCOM. They are vaguely divided into heavy, support, sniper and assault, each of which can be specialised using skill points, which are earned post-mission when the unit earns enough experience to level up, again like XCOM.

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This  is no bad thing in the early stages, as some minor tweaks Microsoft has made to the format are excellent. For example, the chainsaw bayonet makes a return and can be used to perform executions. The animations are gloriously bloody and totally in-keeping with past Gears games. Enemies also line up with the existing monsters we’ve seen in previous titles. The attention to detail is great with each moving and acting exactly as you’d expect.

Gears’ heavy armour and weaponry gives the combat weight and makes each kill wonderfully satisfying. Early on, clever level design and intelligent use of grub “emergence holes” offers enough differentiation and requires tactical planning to entertain even the most diehard of gamers.

Emergence holes are sinkholes that appear and act as an entry point for enemy grubs. Like other Gears games, you can close them, and stop more enemies appearing, by throwing a grenade into them. The hole’s constant threat is a great mechanic that can completely change the flow of a battle and ruin even the best-laid plans in seconds if you’re not careful.

But after the first few missions, XCOM fans will begin to spot a few weird omissions and changes to the classic formula that aren’t necessarily for the better. The signs start the moment you finish the opening tutorial/first three missions and realise, there’s no base building in Gears Tactics. Unlike pretty much every other turn-based tactical shooter, you don’t get to customise your base or invest in new research projects to improve your weapons and armour.

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The only tweaks you can perform are to Gears themselves. Specifically, you can teach them new skills or tweak their armour and weapons using upgrades. These can be scavenged from crates mid-mission or are offered as rewards for completing objectives. Outside of that, the only changes you get to make are aesthetic.

The skill trees are a welcome differentiator that let you further specialise each type of soldier into one of four subclasses. Support, for example, can be specialised to be a combat medic, surgeon, strategist or paragon. The latter is particularly cool, featuring buff abilities to temporarily boost soldiers damage or grant them additional action points.

But the more you play, the more you realise this is one of many cuts the studio has made in a bid to make Tactics more accessible to Gears fans not familiar with the genre.

Unlike most games in the genre, Tactics has a very linear story. This is reflected in the mission structure, which is more akin to the chapter system seen in the series’ past titles as opposed to XCOM. There’s no world map, and the only deviation you get to take is which side missions you embark on between story chapters.

This may sound good, but side missions have absolutely zero impact or overarching effect on how the campaign will play out. The only motivating factor in picking one over the other is the completion reward they offer – weapon and armour upgrades are colour coded by rarity so taking harder quests with better rewards is generally a better option.

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It’s the same story with some of the in-mission gameplay tweaks. Though the core mechanics are distinctly XCOM, the edges have all been softened in Tactics. At first, the tweaks feel minor and include things like the fact snipers can move and still fire their main weapon in the same turn, or that executions and chainsaw kills grant additional action points.

But these small omissions slowly add up to make the game feel a little too forgiving. I’m currently on my second campaign playthrough on the hard difficulty setting, and I’m still yet to find a situation I can’t improvise my way out of with minimal losses – something I can’t say about XCOM or Pheonix Point which are both brutal when you make even a minor mistake.

Thankfully, the missions are still fun and offer enough variety to keep you entertained for at least one playthrough if you get invested in the story. Missions include rescue, capture and hold, speed run, destruction, assassination and general survival objectives that constantly force you to rethink which soldiers you bring into the fray – adding a moniker of strategy to the otherwise linear experience.

Boss battles at the end of each chapter are another welcome change of pace that require you to adopt new strategies and offer a clear challenge on the first playthrough. These see you fight custom one-off enemies with special attack patterns and defences you won’t see in the rest of the game and, without giving away spoilers, are pretty darned epic in scale. The only downside is that once you know how to do them, easy, so once again there’s little replay value.

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Should you buy Gears Tactics?

If you’re a Gears fan, then Tactics is a fantastic game. A satisfying, albeit linear, story campaign and accessible gameplay make it a great entry point into the world of turn-based, tactical shooters.

There’s also enough on offer to satisfy most existing fans of the genre for at least one playthrough – though the lack of deep base-building mechanics and linear progression path make it feel a little too lightweight to be a full-on XCOM replacement.

The post Gears Tactics appeared first on Trusted Reviews.

The best games console on the market, but for how long?

The PS4 has been a resounding success since its launch back in 2013, becoming one of the best-selling consoles of all time. But with the PS5 and Xbox Series X just around the corner, is it still worth your money? 

It certainly feels like an outdated system now, limited to a Full HD resolution while the likes of the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X have moved onto gorgeous 4K visuals. In addition, its use of a hard disk drive for storage also results in sluggish loading times compared to the lightning-quick SSDs found in modern gaming PCs. 

However, with a staggeringly good games library, over-achieving performance and an attractive price point, there’s still plenty of life left in this 7-year-old console. 

Everything you need to know: PS5

PS4 design – Slimmed-down box

The PS4 design has been refreshed since launch. The default Slim model was released back in 2016, and it’s fair to say that its stripped-back aesthetic certainly makes it appear like it’s from that era. There aren’t any overbearing fan vents on the machine, and the only bit of lighting appears on the small power button. It isn’t an especially flashy-looking bit of tech.

Unlike the original model (which can no longer be bought at retailers), the Slim has a blank expanse on its top side. There are no lights running across the body; only the old logo at its centre.

On the flip side of the Slim, there are the four PlayStation symbols used as “feet” for the device – which is a nice touch, but you won’t see that design feature unless you’re stacking the console vertically.

There are two USB 3.0 ports spaced out across the front of the console. These are handy for additional storage, since that base 500GB will get used up pretty quickly. On the rear you’ll find the usual setup of aux, HDMI and power input ports.

From here you can also gain easy access to the console’s hard disk, if you want to switch it out for something that offers larger storage capacity. Just apply a little pressure to the left-back corner, push it out, undo the top screw, and pull out the drive using the little brown handle.

Overall, it’s a compact little machine that looks both dinky and modest next to consoles such as the Xbox One.

(Words by Ruth Gaukrodger)

PS4 controller – Great pad with poor battery life 

The PS4’s DualShock 4 controller is one of the smallest pads found today, contrasting greatly with the Xbox’s chunky alternative. It’s comfortable to hold no matter your hand size, and can easily be used for multiple hours without issue. 

Every button offers pleasingly good travel, particularly the back triggers, which are great for pulling down to unleash a stream of bullets in your favourite shooters. The PlayStation Home button, meanwhile, allows for quick access to the homescreen without having to close down a game. 

The dual analogue sticks are reliably responsive, while the rubberised texture ensures comfort when resting your thumbs atop them. However, the durability of this rubber coating isn’t the best – I’ve torn through it after long-term use, exposing the hard plastic beneath. 

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The controller also has an on-board speaker that’s been used for good effect in certain games; for emitting the beeps of Alien Isolation’s scanner for a more terrifyingly immersive experience. Other quirky features such as the touchpad, motion sensors and light bar haven’t been used as effectively, though. 

The light bar is used more extensively, often turning red to signal low health and also proving handy to distinguish pads during local multiplayer –but the light is so bright that it can be distracting when playing in the dark. 

A stereo headset jack allows you to plug in wired gaming headsets into the controller, which means you can sit further away from the television without having cables draped across your room. The PS4’s Bluetooth support also means you can use select wireless headsets.

Since the DualShock 4 is a wireless controller, it requires charging via the micro-USB port on the back. While this is now an outdated charging port, this shouldn’t be an issue since the required cables come bundled in the box. The battery life of the controller is a big disappointment, though: it typically lasts only around four hours before an on-screen alert notifies that a recharge is needed. 

Meet the PS5 controller: DualSense

PS4 performance – Outdated, but fine for Full HD

It’s fair to say that the default PS4 specs are outdated these days, mainly since it’s limited to a Full HD resolution rather than the new 4K standard, which results in a marked difference in image sharpness between your basic PS4 and the PS4 Pro.

This isn’t to say that you can’t get some beautiful in-game environments on the base PS4, though; developers have worked hard to ensure games such as Marvel’s Spider-Man shine on every console. However, there’s a level of detail available on the Pro model that’s unmatched by the basic machine.

In new releases especially, the sharpness of distant objects, natural environments and explosive effects are magnified. This difference isn’t significant enough to detract from your overall gaming experience, though – and unless you’re running a side-by-side comparison with a 4K television, you probably won’t miss that extra detail.

The base PS4 isn’t the most powerful console these days, but I still haven’t come across any significant issues with frame rate drops. You might have the odd stumble here and there with fast-paced action epics such as God of War, but not enough to derail your overall experience.

Load times on the machine aren’t lightning-fast, but nor are they painfully long. For an average game, you’d expect to see  three to four tips appear on the screen before you’re plunged into the main campaign. But you’re looking at a fairly lengthy wait through loading sequences on heavy-lifting games such as Final Fantasy 7 Remake. This is one area the PS4 is noticeably lagging behind gaming PCs, which can host SSDs that slash waiting times drastically.

We’re still pretty impressed by the low-level of fan noise, which is super-quiet so long as you keep your machine dust-free. But, a bit of overheating is noticeable towards the rear of the console, especially when you run more demanding games such as Media Molecule’s recently released Dreams.

(Words by Ruth Gaukrodger)

PS4 games – PlayStation’s exclusives are epic masterpieces

The main attraction of any console is the library of games it supports, and the PS4 has one of the best any system has ever seen. 

PlayStation has excelled at providing top-class first-party exclusives this generation, with the likes of God of War, Uncharted 4, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Bloodborne all being received fantastically by both critics and gamers alike. The PS4 supports the PSVR headset, too, opening up the sprawling game catalogue further still. 

There’s also been a big focus on remaking PlayStation classics for the PS4, with Final Fantasy 7, Crash Bandicoot and Shadow of the Colossus in receipt of gorgeous makeovers. 

PlayStation has maintained strong third-party support, too, with popular franchises such as Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed still going strong. There have been countless gems from The Witcher 3 to Doom Eternal, expanding across multiple genres for insanely wide appeal. 

While the PS3 didn’t have a wealth of indie titles, the PS4 has gone from strength to strength in that regard: Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, Rocket League, Celeste and Undertale are just a small selection from a continuously swelling library on the online PSN store. 

Arguably, the PS4 has the best variety of any gaming platform right now. The Xbox One also offers strong third-party support, but its exclusives have been lacking. And while the Nintendo Switch has an incredible first-party lineup and is continuously improving on its third-party support, it’s still missing some major titles such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Apex Legends. 

The base PS4 shares the same game library as the PS4 Pro, so you won’t be missing out on any titles by snubbing the 4K upgrade. That won’t be the case with the PS5, though, which will likely see exclusive titles while also supporting the majority of the PS4 library. With that in mind, it’s worth considering whether you’re better off waiting for the PS5, despite the inevitability it will be significantly more expensive.

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PS4 features – The perfect entertainment system 

Games consoles no longer exclusively play video games, now functioning as all-round media streaming devices that can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Apple TV, Nvidia Shield and the Amazon Fire TV Cube. 

Not only does the PS4 have a Blu-ray disk drive, but it also hosts a slew of streaming services such as Disney Plus, Netflix, Prime Video, Now TV and BBC iPlayer. My personal PlayStation handles all my streaming, and I rarely ever need to switch over to my laptop or satellite TV. 

There’s access to the likes of Twitch and YouTube, too, so can enjoy content from other gamers directly through your PS4.

Unfortunately, navigation through the UI remains pretty sluggish, especially when hopping over to the PlayStation Store.

I am a fan of the PS4’s UI, though. It’s a simple setup, with your most recently played games displayed along the bottom row and various applications and shortcuts (such as your Friends list, Trophies and system settings) shown above. It’s a far more digestible setup than what the Xbox One offers. 

It’s a bit of a pain digging out games that you may have downloaded months before, requiring a trawl through your game library. However, these rarely takes more than a minute to locate. There are also a lot of needless shortcuts clogging up the menus; for example, Communities and Events are probably used by only a handful of gamers. 

For online multiplayer you’ll need to sign up to PS Plus, which costs £19.99 for a three-month subscription or £49.99 for 12 months. That may sound expensive on paper, but when it gifts you games every month (with Uncharted 4 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered being recent examples), it works out at decent value. 

The one area where the PS4 is lagging behind Xbox is in its Netflix-style subscription service. By paying £8.99 per month for PlayStation Now, you’ll get access to over 800 titles from the PS4, PS3 and PS2. While a generous offering, Xbox Game Pass does surpass the PS4’s service by including all of its newly released first-party games for a cheaper subscription cost. 

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PS4 – Verdict 

The PS4 is a fantastic games console and is an absolute bargain at the current £249.99 retail price. Unless you’re desperate to play Halo or Gears 5, the PS4 is arguably a better buy than the Xbox One thanks to its incredible first-party lineup – the likes of Uncharted 4, Marvel’s Spider-Man and God of War are all essential experiences. 

But while the PS4 Pro isn’t a worthwhile alternative unless you have a 4K television/monitor, the impending PS5 has to be factored into your buying decision. The next-gen console is expected to be significantly more expensive than the base PS4, but will offer backwards compatibility and better long-term value with guaranteed support for games released in the foreseeable future. 

This means a PS4 purchase is only recommended if you’re desperate to start playing right now and aren’t bothered that the console is approaching the end of its life. 

The post PS4 Review appeared first on Trusted Reviews.