Author: gamefeeling

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Previews

Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers

It’s good to be back

It’s remarkable just how much Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers feels like Persona 5. Scramble is not Dynasty Warriors with a coat of Persona-paint, but rather a full sequel to P5 in all but name and battle mechanics.

Battles unfold in true Musou style. Hordes of enemies charge at you, and you must dispatch them in real-time using a combination of light, heavy and special attacks. But the flourishes of P5’s battle system have been integrated so thoroughly, that Scramble feels like it was designed from the ground up as a P5 action game, not a Dynasty Warriors clone.

All-Out Attacks, Enemy Weaknesses, Equippable Personas, Skills and Skill Points have all transferred. So you can, for example, ‘pause’ a battle to pull up Arsene’s Ehia skill from a menu, use it to knock down a pack of Pixies and prime them for an All-Out Attack.

P5’s insane level of polish returns

Where Dynasty Warriors duplicates Hyrule Warriors’ and Fire Emblem Warriors’ combat felt soulless, Scramble’s has absorbed all of P5’s vitality. Turquoise HP hearts materialise above the shadow’s heads as you fight, your controllable character’s scowl tears through the screen as you hit an enemy weakness and intensified editions of the customary P5 sound effects support.

Omega Force and P-Studio have set all of this to remixes of P5’s already classic battle themes – a metal arrangement of Last Suprise is the standout. It’s a testament to just how much P5 has burrowed its way into gamers’ psyche in the three short years since its release that pangs of sweet nostalgia hit me on hearing them and the returning (unaltered) tracks.

Given its length and multiple distinct arcs, I, like so many others, played P5 over a couple of years and hearing the loping beats of Beneath the Mask again during a Scramble subway interstitial took me back to relaxing rainy days playing P5 between my newborn’s naps on paternity leave.

Yes, I am delighted to report that interstitials, the calendar system and overworld exploration all return too. I’ve based my thoughts on the demo of Scramble that’s available on the Japanese eShop which takes place across a couple of days and lets you explore Yongen-Jaya and a little of Shibuya Crossing.

A corrupted idol is the focus of the first palace… I think?

My Japanese, however, extends to being able to order gyoza, a bowl of Tonkotsu ramen and a whisky highball, so I cannot begin to detail the plot for you. Still, it starts with Joker, Skull and Mona entering the Palace (?) of a corrupted idol and ends after an hour with them leaving (?) with an Android (?) named Sophia they met along the way. Yeah, I’m confused too. Being a short demo of the beginning of the game, I cannot tell whether Confidants return, but based on the level of polish I’ve seen so far, I hope and trust that they will.

Scramble just released in Japan, but Atlus has not yet divulged a Western release date. The wait will be excruciating. I guess I’ll use the time to sharpen my Japanese. Maybe I’ll learn how to order something a little more nutritious.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Thanks for making me look stupid, buddy.

(Author’s note – I found the Tuna while taking the screenshots for this article…)

O Tuna, Tuna, wherefore art thou Tuna?

That slippery sucker has been avoiding me for nearly two weeks and, while I adore Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the distinct lack of Tuna on the end of my rod has me considering what may be my only gripe with the game.

Horizons introduces a new fishing mechanic, allowing you to scour the beach for Manilla Clams to dig up and use as bait. Searching for the clams is enjoyable; the little hiss that bubbles up through the sand marking their location as you stroll by never ceases to put a smile on my face.

Only one?

But to use the clams to attract fish, you must first craft them into bait at one of the game’s new crafting tables. You can only craft one portion of bait at a time and must click through the crafting menu and endure the (albeit charming) crafting animation each and every time. This is okay in principle, and even exciting the first time you do it, but it gets tedious very quickly and yet more wearisome when fifty portions of bait do not secure you the Tuna of your desires.

It’s encouraging, then, that Nintendo seems intent on iterating on the game with regular updates. This time around, themed holiday events are not in the game and will be patched in closer to the time, in what I think is a great move, disincentivising time travel and giving even more reason to revisit the game throughout the year. I can only hope that one of these patches includes an option to craft more than one portion of bait at a time. 

Not only would this expedite my hunt for Tuna, but it would also advance my journey to become a ‘bellionare’. Allowing me to make more than one ‘hot item’ at a time and sell them to Timmy and Tommy for double the regular asking price.

I appreciate a substantial part of the joy of Animal Crossing is found in its leisurely pace, and speeding up the crafting process does not gel with that aim, but please, for the love of god, Nintendo, patch in a ‘craft multiple’ option and let me catch that Tuna.

What’s going up here?

Oh, and patch in Brewster’s coffee shop at the top one of the suspiciously destinationless staircases in the museum. I want to have coffee with Pete the Pelican Postman again. Thanks.

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Reviews

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Remember to duck

There’s a point early in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard where the game’s initial antagonist, Jack’ Daddy’ Baker, rips through a chicken wire fence to grab one of the most unusual weapons I’ve seen embedded in a blood-splattered hospital bed – chainsaw scissors.

This moment, and the ensuing boss fight, perfectly encapsulates everything good and bad about the game.

Jack terrified me, and the way he wielded the chainsaw scissors like Cal Kestis wields a double-bladed lightsaber as I ducked and dodged and used body bag wrapped corpses hooked on the ceiling of his basement morgue for defence, only amplified this.

To get through the first half of the game, I had to follow Kirk Hamilton’s tips in ‘How To Enjoy Resident Evil 7 If You’re A Big Scaredy Cat’. Yes, I played at midday, with the sound low and my ‘happy’ playlist on in the background.

However, this feeling of terror diminished as I had to restart the boss fight ten times. It’s not that the controls are bad, the first-person aiming is tight, and a tap of the back and circle buttons will spin you 180 degrees allowing you to make a quick escape from enemies, but the movement speed is painfully slow.

This may have been a deliberate choice by Capcom to heighten tension in enemy encounters and an ode to the glacial tank controls of Resident Evils gone by. But in the enclosed spaces of the Bakers’ Louisiana ‘Processing Centre’, it serves to frustrate rather than engender fear.

Further, the farther the plot gets from Jack’s basement and his ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ family of cannibals and into the broader conspiracy of why you can thrust your chainsaw through his skull, the more it falls apart.

Nevertheless, driving your chainsaw through Jack’s head and seeing blood and sinew explode out in all directions before he gets up a resumes his Darth Maul impression is satisfying, and this holds true for the rest of the game’s combat.

Taking out the Molded (Resident Evil 7’s version of brain-hungry zombies) is consistently engaging, and I always enjoyed using the new weapons that the game dolls out throughout its ten-hour runtime.

My particular favourite is the Remote Bomb, obtained in a wrecked tanker ship towards the end of the game that you can plant ahead of a crowd of shuffling Molded and detonate at will, severing limbs and halting their progress in the process.

Though, by the time you reach the Wrecked Ship in the second half of the story, the game hands out ammunition readily and defeating the Moulded, at least on normal difficulty, becomes relatively easy. This is in stark contrast to Jack’s house where you have to conserve every bullet just in case he’s about to come crashing through the wall.

Despite the disparity between the first and second halves of the game, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Resident Evil 7 and am looking forward to seeing where Capcom take the series next.

Oh, and remember to duck under those chainsaw scissors – you’ll get a trophy – and feel like a Jedi.