Have you ever dreamed of traveling to a magical realm to help your favorite Disney characters fend off an evil force? If the answer to that alarmingly specific question was yes, then Disney Dreamlight Valley could be just the perfect game for you. From developer Gameloft, here you’ll act as a savior to the likes of Mickey, Goofy, Donald Duck, and more, all in a life simulation that borrows heavily from the likes of Animal Crossing and The Sims but does enough to separate it from its inspirations.

A nostalgia trip for Disney fans

Disney Dreamlight Valley plops players into the world of the titular Dreamlight Valley, a place where all their favorite Disney characters reside. However, not everything here is magical, as the world has been overtaken by thorns caused by the Forgetting. As its name suggests, this phenomenon has caused everyone to forget their memories, causing the world to go dark. It is now up to you to solve the mystery surrounding this darkness and help save Dreamlight Valley. To do this, you must harness your magical powers to help the villagers regain their memories and restore their world.

This opens the door to a nostalgia trip for those who grew up with Disney’s cast of iconic characters, but doesn’t leave out younger players who are more accustomed to newer films such as Moana and Frozen. You’ll bond with these characters, carry out quests for them, and level up friendship meters that reward you with special items. You can then use these items to customize the world and your house. There are a lot of options here to create your own Disney-themed haven. The questing to build up your relationships adds a really nice wrinkle to the typical life-sim formula, and they’re consistently interesting and rewarding.

Gathering Resources to Customize Your Experience’

Players are first tasked with creating their avatar, and while its character creation tool isn’t the deepest, it does let you construct a suitably Disney-fied version of yourself. Once inside the world, it’s all about resource-gathering, from mining rocks to casting your fishing rod out into the nearby lakes. Carrying out these tasks drains your stamina meter, which can only be replenished by returning to your home. However, you can use certain resources you’ve gathered to cook recipes, that’ll let you eat and boost your stamina while you’re out exploring. You can also use these resources to craft new items and furniture, that can then be placed around the world or in your home. I only wish that furniture placement was a little easier to dive into, as the camera angle is downright horrible — it takes what should be a fun and simple task and bogs it down into a tedious exercise.

These actions are key to gathering money, improving friendship levels, and acquiring the in-game currency ‘Dreamlight Points’ that are used to unlock new realms and gain new allies. There are only four new realms available here in early access to dive into, but there is very little to each of them. Most of them simply feature a single screen where you do a few quests and then bring the character with you to Dreamlight Valley. There was a big chance here to really open up the exploring into new realms, but they really feel like little more than a holding room for characters to bring into the valley.

Right now in early access, there are 17 characters to collect and become friends with, ranging from Merlin and Micky, to Kristoff and Mother Gothel. It is a good range of characters across the Disney properties, with more coming in updates.

More than Just Thorns in this World

While running around the Valley and trying to free the world from the Forgetting and the thorns that come with it, I have also encountered quite a few bugs. Characters will trap you between rocks and will occasionally disappear from the map altogether, and the in-game menu has also frozen completely. This requires me to reboot the game and in some cases, lose a little of my progress.

Disney Dreamlight Valley Review – Final Verdict

Disney Dreamlight Valley lets players dive into a magical world full of Disney characters. It is a colorful, fun, and highly addictive adventure that is let down by a rather curious decision. It was strange to see so little love paid attention to the realms outside of the Valley that I was kind of left wondering why they even existed in the first place. However, inside the Valley is a world that sucks you in and keeps you invested in discovering all the recipes, fish, gems, and more. After 40 hours, while Disney Dreamlight Valley isn’t without its flaws and odd bugs, it is well worth diving into for Disney and life simulation fans alike.

Disney Dreamlight Valley was reviewed on PS5 with code provided by the publisher.

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Sword and Fairy: Together Forever is a game that flew under my radar when it was first announced, with a debut trailer that looked pretty but also gave the impression that it may not deliver on other core elements. Developed by Softstar Technology, the Sword and Fairy series has been going strong since 1995, providing a good series for Chinese-speaking audiences. But was my initial reaction to this series and its trailer spot on?

The journey of Yue and Xiu

Sword and Fairy: Together Forever starts players off in the shoes of the deity Xiu Wu as he is defeated by the demon lord and sent to the human realm, injured and alone. It is there that he is found and saved by Yue Qingshu, a young girl who is trying to rebuild her town and sect.

The two form a symbiosis, working together to solve the issues plaguing the human, demon, and deity realms. Along the way, they are joined by Yo Sang and Bai Moqing in their fight against the Heaven Demons and others. The story has plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes and does a great job of giving you a lot of information without you feeling completely overloaded. Granted, there are some text-heavy sections that move at a snail’s pace, but for the most part, things move very smoothly.

S&F: Together Forever also delivers on the depth of its characters. Your main cast of four heroes play well off each other and you watch them grow as the story unfolds. The supporting characters also help provide more depth to the feel of the game and story, and there isn’t an annoying tag-along between the cast — though Yo sometimes threatens to become just that.

Swords, spirits, and salivating combat

The combat in Sword and Fairy is all about the action, as your team and enemies freely roam the battlefield, hacking and slashing each other to bits. In battle, players will have the standard main attack, heavy attack, and special ability moves.

Players can have up to 8 abilities mapped for use during combat, though I rarely found myself using all 8. In fact, there were a few abilities that felt a bit too similar to others. Your party consists of two ranged attackers in Yo and Bai, with Yue and Xiu both wielding swords. You are able to freely switch between the four characters during combat, allowing you to stick to a favorite or adjust as the situation calls for it. Battles can become a hectic mess at times with all the abilities going on.

Magic plays a big part in combat, too. This is where most of your damage is done, so making sure you set up and learn your spells is key, especially in boss battles. However, it’d be better if the names and pictures of each ability were a bit more straightforward, as it’s not always clear if you are using a buff, heal, or attack. I found myself getting annoyed enough at popping the wrong ability, especially when trying to do a healing spell.

It’s a big advantage to be able to go into each character’s details and study their abilities a bit more than you typically might in an action RPG. There are also link attacks that seem to randomly pop up in combat and awakenings that each player can perform. There really is a lot to like in each battle, no matter if you just want to hack ‘n’ slash or dive a bit more into the inner workings. However, there are also quite a few quick-time events in boss battles, so get ready to quick draw the prompted button.

The transition between a combo and magic attack felt a little rigid. I also found that at times, my AI teammates would get stuck in a loop of spamming regular attacks, leaving their magic abilities on the bench. Overall the combat is fun, simple, and effective, but it’s not perfect.

Mini-games and questing

Outside of the accomplished combat and story, Together Forever is a mixed bag. Along your travels, there are plenty of items to pick up all across the world. Usually, these are resources you can use when cooking meals or scrolls/books to expand the story. Cooking meals in the game gives you a temporary 30-minute increase to things such as attack power or experience gained. There are also a fair amount of side quests found in each town, usually simple things like defeating a certain enemy or going to find something.

The biggest issue here with the questing is the small font size used to track the quest. I just don’t understand developers making the quest font under the mini-map so darn small that not even Sherlock Holmes could discover it. Yes, I understand not wanting to take up too much screen, but it was just too hard to read. Thankfully questing isn’t complex at all, so you can finish them all without really having to read much.

Sword and Fairy also features two mini-games, though one is featured a whole lot more than the other. There’s a card battle game with a hand of five cards for each player; the cards fall into one of three elements and some have bonuses that heal you or do more damage to your opponent. Simply play your cards and try to end the game with more leaves than your counterpart. It’s simple but  fun to play here and there as you travel the different places of the world. The less common mini-game is a jumping one that I only found two places to do it. This one has you jumping on rotating leaves until you reach the end and gain a prize. I am really glad I didn’t see this game too often as the mechanics just don’t work here and are frustrating beyond belief.

The lack of extra stuff to do outside of story and combat never felt like too much of issue, given that the story progresses at a good rate, never lingering too long in a specific area and pushing you to the next bit of content. Sure, some extra things to do are usually nice, but the simplicity worked for me here.

Sword and Fairy: Together Forever Review: Final verdict

This game really snuck up and hit me with a massive combo that I wasn’t expecting, with a fully engaging story full of demons and deities, and magic and swordplay that was tons of fun.  Add in well-crafted characters, beautiful graphics, simple yet enjoyable combat, and a breezy 15 hours to complete the package.

Sure, it’s got a few hiccups in the translation and font size, the questing could have done with a bit more variety and the combat was missing just a little something extra. However, these are mostly minor gripes in an otherwise well-crafted experience. If you are in the market for an action RPG and don’t mind reading subtitles, this should definitely be something on your radar.

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Bright Memory: Infinite, from developer FYQD Studio, is a fast-paced action shooter that looks to combine compelling gameplay with top notch visuals. The results are stunning to say the least, but does the sum of its parts make a good game? Find out in our Bright Memory: Infinite review below.

Bright Memory: Infinite Review

BM: Infinite plops players into the apartment of Shelia, some girl who apparently works for a government group called SRO, whose aim is to protect the world I think. Shelia gets a call from Director Chen and must make her way to take out the SAI, who are out to do bad things. You then travel to some place, which has a black hole and time travel/warping and yea, that’s about the depth of the story. Forgive me if I don’t remember every single nuance of it because there really wasn’t much attention paid to story elements or character development. Basically, pretty girl, who you can give different outfits, is there to kick ass and there isn’t time in her schedule for explanation or growth or really anything other than causing death. Good guy good, bad guy bad. Now fight.

It’s unfortunate too, as the setting is ripe for an interesting story worthy of your attention. It’s just too bad that you are never given anything to really chew on. Any stoppage in the action will give you a very brief bit of talking from your boss, but it’s never enough to provide any sort of depth or clarity on the situation. Even the main bad guys just kind of show up, yell a few things, and then get right into fighting you. I honestly couldn’t even tell you why they are doing what they are doing, but dammit, they must be stopped!

Hey, at least the combat is good!

Combat really does shine in this game and you can tell it was where most of the development was focused. It is a lot of fun rushing around and switching between gun and sword mid-combo, slicing and dicing enemies into pieces. Players have a selection of up to 5 guns to cycle through and a melee sword to wield. Each gun has it’s main attack and also specialized bullets, like ones that explode, to add some nice variety to your gameplay. Oh, and you get a bionic arm that can pull people forward and suspend them in the air. As cool as the arm is, I never really found myself using it much because it only works on some of the enemies and by the time I would try, it’s just easier to shoot or slash them to death.

There are also skills you can unlock and enhance as you playthrough, but similar to the story, it’s just sort of there and not really thought out. I honestly never had to use many of the skills and enhancing my special bullets for each gun never felt like it made much difference. You can also add different attacks for your sword, but like most of the game, it often doesn’t feel needed. Sure, on the harder difficulties, it helps to use some of these extra attacks, but it was never a must. Boss fights are a good amount of fun, though they are fairly straightforward and only really present a challenge on the harder difficulties.

Combat isn’t perfect however. After you take out the last enemy in a given area, the game for some reason tries to add a slow down effect to highlight the kill. It feels extremely out of place and glitchy, killing any momentum you were gaining. There are also some weird additions to the game, like a stealth aspect only used once for less than 5 minutes in the entire game. You can also go full Mirror’s Edge up a few walls here or there, but like everything else it feels extremely under-utilized.

Bright Memory Infinite Review: Final Verdict

Bright Memory: Infinite feels like a tech demo someone made just to prove they could do it. It’s not a bad game, in fact it looks and feels great to play. It just doesn’t feel like a completed game, as you will reach the credits before the 2 hour mark. Sure, short games aren’t a bad thing, hell Journey was awesome. However, as I completed BM: Infinite, it left me feeling rather confused at what just happened and why it just abruptly stopped. The length is made a bigger issue by the lack of nuance in all the other aspects of the game. Lots of flash and sizzle, with no lasting impression and very little depth. It’s a bummer really, because with just a little more time paid to the story, characters, extending the game just a few more hours, and adding some location variation, this could have been so much more. I commend the developer for putting together a good looking game with solid combat, but it’s hard to recommend shelling out money to play this.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is a love letter to a time or arcade fun, with quarter after quarter to try and make it all the way through to the end. Developed by Dotemu and Tribute Games, in partnership with Nickelodeon, Shredder’s Revenge throws everything and the kitchen sink at these turtles. Can you and the turtles fight your way to victory? Find out in our TMNT Shredders Revenge Review.

More Mayhem in New York

The turtles are enjoying a nice break in the action when a special news bulletin from Channel 6 comes on, but instead of your regular anchor, it’s Bebop and Rocksteady at the helm. The two are stealing devices in support of Krang and Shredder, who are of course up to no good. There isn’t much storytelling to be found here, opting for a very arcade feel with a very quick image at the end of each level to show you a little of what’s coming next.

The turtles, along with Splinter, Casey Jones, and April must now fight across multiple locations around New York, from Manhattan and Coney Island, to various rooftops and of course, down in the sewers. The game features plenty of bad guys groups to tangle with as well, from the Foot to Triceraton troops.

Cowabunga!!

TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge takes combat back in the day to a time of arcade beat ’em ups, but with some nice new additions to the gameplay. There is of course the arcade mode, which supports you and up to five other players via local or online play. This mode is fairly self-explanatory, as you are tasked with trying to complete the game before you run out of lives. Arcade also has a leaderboard, so players can track how well they are holding up to others around the world.

There is also an all-new story mode, which is the same levels from the arcade, but with a few added wrinkles. Players are now tasked with finding certain objects across various levels and each stage also has special conditions you can clear for added points. Things like completing a stage without getting hit or throwing X amount of enemies are nice ways of giving players more to do. Playable characters can also gain levels here in the story mode, unlocking new special moves, HP up, and other perks.

Combat here in Shredder’s Revenge is extremely smooth and satisfying. It retains a lot of what made the old TMNT arcade games so fun, but adds a lot of new layers to it. Each character feels very different, from the range of their attacks, to the speed of their movement. There are many different combinations of moves to pull off and the special moves are extremely satisfying to pull off. Enemies provide a lot of variety in how you are attacked and there are so many fun bosses to take on.

TMNT: Shedder’s Revenge Review: Final Verdict

Developers Dotemu and Tribute Games served up a most excellent pizza for everyone of all skill sets and ages to enjoy. The combat is fluid, fast-paced, and really a bodacious time full of combos. Characters’ move sets were handled excellently, the sound work is top notch (that opening number!), and the levels are crafted to perfection.  There really isn’t a lot to nitpick with this game, as what these developers have delivered is a masterclass of nostalgia and new-age delight.

Review code provided by the publisher and played on a PlayStation 5.

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Soundfall, from developer Drastic Games, tests players to use their instruments just right, bobbing and weaving to the beat. With a dungeon crawler based around music and perfect timing, along with some looting, does the game deliver just the right tune or strum widely? Find out in our Soundfall review below.

Hitting the Right Notes

Soundfall is all about running through various levels, gathering loot, and attacking to the sound of the beat. There are five playable characters that you can unlock as you progress through the story missions. Most of these are short and sweet, running anywhere from 2-3 minutes in length on the easier levels and pushing near 5 at times during harder ones. The purpose here seems to be quick hitting levels that don’t overstay their welcome and songs that run just the perfect amount of time. This is a good thing, as the maps are full of recycled bits from previous levels, so keeping it short helps keep things from getting monotonous.

The music is where Soundfall truly shines. Each world that you visit has a different theme from drums to classical, and I honestly don’t think I found a single song I wasn’t bobbing my head to. The songs also bring different challenges to combat, as you want to match the beat with your trigger pull, gaining chains as you hit each consecutive note. This can be difficult at times, especially if you come from a level with a fast beat to one with a really slowed down sound. While I did enjoy this cool twist, my hands often times got a little cramped while trying to time my trigger pulls instead of just being able to go full auto.

Multiplayer Misses its Gig

One of the biggest hiccups with Soundfall is in the Multiplayer. Yes, of course it’s great that it has it and it does function well. However, it is let down by two huge issues. Number one, its online component only allows you to play with people from your friends list. This means no matchmaking with strangers. For me, it meant no games period as none of my friends own Soundfall. This is a major goof for an indie game that, let’s be honest, isn’t going to have a huge fanbase.

Number two is while the game does have local co-op, the main players levels and such do not carry over to player 2, or 3, or 4. So for instance in my playthrough of Soundfall, I had my daughter join in from a guest account. At this point, I had every character unlocked and sitting pretty at around level 18. My daughters character however was level one and only had Melody unlocked. Sure, I can help her grind to meet my level, but the amount of time to do that is significant and it kind of discourages friends who come over from dropping in.

Soundfall Review PS5 – The Final Verdict

There is a lot of love with Soundfall. The music never fails to suck you in to each leve,l and the story and characters are cute. However it’s not all solos and encores, as the level design is rather bland and repetitive and the multiplayer leaves a lot to be desired. If you are in the mood for a dungeon crawler with a nice twist, you have a gem in Soundfall. Just don’t go expecting an overly deep loot system or anything too complex. It’s a rather straight forward game that’s all about getting lost in the sounds, which honestly can be rather nice to do.

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After an incredibly popular run on kickstarter, one that saw it become the top backed game of 2020, we finally have a chance to get just a glimpse of the Eiyuden Chronicle with the release of Rising. This prequel to Hundred Heroes sets out to give a little back story into the characters and set the table for the big release. Developer Rabbit & Bear, comprised of Suikoden veterans, is aiming to bring in fans of that series and newcomers as well, to this tale. The big question is, does the prequel get us excited for things to come or not. Find out below with our Eiyuden Chronicle Rising Review.

New Neveah Gets a Face Lift

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising puts players into the shoes of young adventurer CJ, who has flocked to the town of New Neveah in search of treasure. The town, under new leadership, has opened up the mines near by for those willing to brave them for treasure, but with a cost. As CJ arrives in the town, with no money in hand, she learns that to gain access to the mines, she must perform tasks around town. Each time one is completed, CJ will earn a stamp and when she gets enough, she will be allow to go treasure hunting. This is the basic crux of the game and story, as CJ and companions must help around town and then search for rune lenses, especially humungous ones.

As you start to complete more and more quests, you are then asked to help build up the town for all the incoming adventurer’s. That means going into the Forest, Quarry, and Runebarrows to complete errands that the townspeople have given you. As you turn them in, new buildings will start to go up and existing ones will carry more inventory. Seeing as questing is the main component of the game, it’s a little disappointing that the questing system is extremely outdated and cumbersome.  In town there is a board where you can view all quests available, only you can’t accept them there. No, you have to find where the person, accept it, complete it, and then return to that person to turn it in. A simple and more streamlined approached would have been nice here, instead of the back and forth all over town that we got.

2.5D, Side scrolled, and Ready for Action

Outside of the town building, you will be spending a lot of your time fighting your way through the various locations of the game. Combat is handled in 2.5D fashion, side scrolling you to infinity. It’s a definite oddity going in, especially if you are thinking as a Suikoden fan and expecting some classic turn based RPG goodness, but it’s not a bad thing, In fact, it’s kept rather tight and clean, with your party consisting of three characters, but only a single playable at any time. Each character has but a single attack and a special attack (which I honestly forgot existed most of the game), and it’s on the player to switch between the three as the need arises. It’s made super simple by the fact that each character is called out by a single face button, so square for CJ, triangle for another, etc. The goal here is to chain these switches between characters to created a chain link attack. You can also switch it to an even simpler mode, where you simply press a single button and the game auto attacks and auto switches characters.

There are only about 10 main enemies you see throughout the game, though in each area you see them, they might have a different magic affinity, so it can get a tiny bit repetitive. You will also end up fighting them a lot, as there is a lot of back and forth traversal through the locations, similar to inside the town. Thankfully, once you clear an area, it remains clear until you leave the dungeon completely. Where it really shines though is with the boss battles, which are again fairly straight forward and simple, but still enjoyable as you learn attack patterns to take them down. These bosses also usually take up the entire screen and are very colorful and full of motion. After you complete the game, you can unlock hard mode, which adds some difficulty, but never enough to scare you off.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Review – Final Verdict

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a good game that introduces you to a bright and colorful cast of characters and the world they inhabit. It’s short and sweet, with the main story missions costing me 10 hours, but it leaves just enough of an impression without overstaying its welcome. I do worry that it’s releasing a bit too early compared to the main entry and with a game focused around questing, it’s so disappointing how badly the questing system and UI is setup. There is also a lot of needless backtracking that could have been avoided. All that being said, it’s a good start and for those Suikoden fans out there, it brings out a lot of nostalgia and moments that feel like Suikoden. Great start from Rabbit & Bear, we can’t wait to see what’s next.

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Drinkbox studios has a history of churning out classic games, whether that be Tales From Space: About a Blob or Guacamelee!. So when they announced Nobody Saves the World, there was of course lots of excitement around the web. After spending over two weeks with the game, I dive into whether it follows up on the greatness of past titles or if it falters.

This Calamity Needs to Go

Nobody Saves the World drops you into the shoes of a literal nobody, a blank slate who can’t remember his past and wakes up in the middle of the oncoming calamity. Right away he is deemed to be sketchy and thrown in jail, only to break out and luck upon a magic wand. With wand in his hand, he now must work to defeat the evils of his world and stop the calamity.

To stop this calamity, players are tasked with traveling through the world, clearing various dungeons and completing quests, all while leveling up and gain new abilities. Each dungeon you come across has an enemy attached to it and some have added quirks. For instance, some will have enemies with certain wards active, forcing you to clear those wards first. Other dungeons might increase the cost of your mana or cancel dropped healing items. The only knock with dungeons is they could have used a little more variety to them. Too often they feel like carbon copies of the others, just with different colors and wards.

Drop the Zero, Get With The Heroes

Now this quest to stop the calamity can’t be done as a nobody, so players must now seek out and unlock new forms to help in their journey. This is the core of Nobody Saves the World, as players must juggle between over 15 different forms. These range from typical forms like Knight or Ranger, to things a bit more out of left field like robot, rat, and snail. Each form has it’s own little unique twist to it, with the ability to switch between any form at a moments notice, creating a really nice strategic element to combat and exploration.

Where things can really get twisted is with the ability to edit your passive and active abilities for each form. Say you grab the Bodybuilder and his bench press move and throw in a little horse gallop. Then to really give in some extra, the zombies convert skill to create legions of undead. All of it gives you role of a mad scientist, bringing your own versions of each character to life.

The passive abilities mentioned above give you perks such as added lighting damage to your attacks or increased speed and defense. Players will want to pay attention to each dungeon they visit so things can be adjusted before you proceed. Each skill can be upgraded as well.

Quirky, Audible Excitement Throughout

Nobody Saves the World shines in a lot of areas, but maybe none more so than the story and sound throughout the game. There are so many interesting characters to interact with, all with something memorable to say and hardly any wasted dialogue.  It’s really a delight to find people to talk with and hear the really out there stuff that comes out of their mouths.

Musically, different areas of the map have a tone playing in the background, and it’s just beautifully selected for each spot that at times I was borderline dancing to some of the tunes. The sound team really put in the effort to give you a fun and vibrant sound to slay enemies to.

Nobody Saves the World Review: The final verdict

Nobody Saves the World is yet another in a growing list of strong titles from developer Drinkbox Studios. From the world design and characters, to the sounds and combat, there aren’t that many hairs out of place. It’s not perfect by any means. Local co-op is great and works wonderfully, but online is severely limited, with friend to friend being the only option. If you are looking for a good dungeon crawler with flair, then you really can’t go wrong with Nobody Saves the World.

The post Nobody Saves the World Review (PS5): ‘Forming Success’ appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

LEGO finally makes it debut for next generation consoles with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which aims to wrap all 9 Skywalker movies into a nice little blocked package. With series staple TT Games at the helm and the power of the new slate of consoles at their fingertips, is this the one of the best LEGO games to date or did anything get lost in translation. Read our full LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga review below to find out.

A Block Adventure From Tatooine to Temple Island

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga puts you in the roles of your favorite characters in their best and worst moments across all nine Star Wars movies. We are not counting the Han Solo spinoff in this, so just the core 9 Star Wars movies in wonderful LEGO display. I won’t dive much into the story here, as if you’ve seen the Star Wars movies you know what to expect and if you haven’t, then I am at a loss for words. While it’s basically a copy of the story, the game does a great job of adding some nice humorous tweaks to many situations. Each movie in the series is it’s own little mini chapter in the game. The first entry of each trilogy is available at the beginning, and movies 2 and 3 unlocked as you beat A New Hope,  The Phantom Menace, and The Force Awakens. Things move along at a rather quick pace through each different movie, with nothing overstaying it’s welcome.

Gameplay here is much the same as you would expect from a LEGO game, with some obvious revisions and additions to that winning formula. You have options between jumping straight in the story missions of each movie, or taking your time working through all of the wonderful side quests that each planet and solar system has to offer. Main missions in the game will have you destroying and building your way through each movie, collecting as many studs as you can. Each mission has 3 sub missions inside to try and complete, as well as mini kit pieces to collect. You will also want to try and hit True Jedi on each level by collecting a certain amount of studs. Combat sees a big shift this time around, as you can either spam the attack button over and over again, or you can use a different buttons linked together as a combo, giving you some freedom to play as you want.

When you aren’t tackling one of the main story missions, you can fly around to the various different planets to find new characters, complete side missions, and collect Kyber Bricks. Or if you are feeling the need for speed, you can take to the stars where you can fight spaceships, complete races, or find asteroids to destroy. There is a big focus here on experiencing the worlds below and the skies above, giving players a good feeling both ways. There isn’t a lot to do out in space when flying around, but what’s there is fun enough to keep you entertained.

Old LEGO Style Featuring New Ideas

I mentioned Kyber Bricks in the before, and that is a part of one of the big changes this time around. These bricks, which before might have been like yellow or red bricks, are now used, along with studs, to upgrade your abilities. In this game, you are in complete control of what abilities you want to focus on and when. For instance, in my playthrough, I decided to start with the a Bounty Hunter class upgrade, unlocking an option that causes enemies to drop more studs when they are defeated. I then moved my attention to core upgrades like Sprinting and building faster, along with the Attract Studs skill. It’s a great way to give people some RPG like freedom in building out their playthrough. You also have character classes, which they had in other games but this one specifically calls spells it out, with things like Jedi, Scoundrels, Villains, and more.

Force powers also see a huge increase from the previous LEGO Star Wars games, with those who are strong in the ways of the force able to take control of people’s movements, cause them to panic, and more. You can also pick up objects all throughout the world with the force, throwing these at enemies or just destroying parts of the town to gain more studs. There is also a new system here where through talking to people or using studs, you can unlock rumors pertaining to characters. These rumors help you locate just where in the galaxy you can find each character to unlock. It’s a really nice addition to the game.

The world here sees some bumps up in the graphics department as the best looking LEGO game yet. Yes, you probably aren’t buying this game to see how pretty it is, but they did do a good job of really bringing the world here to life. The camera didn’t get the upgrade memo though, as it is completely a mess when it narrow corridors, which is often. There is also lots of great added dialogue into an already written narrative that gives lots of humor to the story in areas where it might not have been before. The UI also sees a really nice boost in it’s appearance, bringing a really crisp feel to the game. I will say though, some of the menus feel kind of grainy, especially character select.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Review: Final Verdict

LEGO Stars Wars: The Skywalker Saga does a great job of giving everyone the LEGO world they love, with some nice tweaks to the formula that’s been in place for a while. It’s not a perfect game of course, with some camera and AI issues, along with signature TT Games glitches that plague parts of the game. However it’s still a good game and one of the best LEGO games to date. Perfect for kids and adults alike, there is something here for everyone and enough to keep you around for a while, especially if you want to collect everything. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a great first build on the PlayStation 5.

The post LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Review (PS5): ‘Reshaping the Block’ appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Readers’ Opinion is a place to share your thoughts in the comments section below. We’ll feature our favorite replies in the next installment.

LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga will be bringing the force back to LEGO blocks today, and once that comes and goes we will be left with another LEGO-sized void in our world. That is, of course, until the next series is announced, so why not get to speculating? What series do you think Traveller’s Tales and TT Games should transform into LEGO? We’ve already had the likes of Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic World, and looking at 10 series that should be next in line when it comes to joining Traveller’s Tales and TT Games long-running series of games. Hopefully whichever game does come next doesn’t bring with it the crunch that Skywalker Saga has.

Our opinion

Cameron writes… Here is my own list of series that I think would do well after LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, in no particular order:

1. James Bond – Not really sure why this hasn’t been a thing already. With a long list of movies and characters, this would make for a rather large LEGO game.
2. Naruto – One of the most popular anime’s ever done in LEGO? Sign us up for this right now.
3. Alien and Predator – You could take the worlds of both and mash them together in one dark and possibly scary LEGO experience.
4. Toy Story – Four movies to pull from, loads of characters, this would be a great adventure.
5. Spider-Man – Now is the time to strike as the series is super popular and with the metaverse open, you can pull in all sorts of characters.
6. Berserk – Ok, so maybe this one is just for me personally but don’t care. Guts and the Band of the Hawk in LEGO. Oh yes!
7. Resident Evil – I am kind of digging the dark feel to a few of these selections. Another gritty series to enjoy.
8. Final Fantasy – Sure, it would be hard as the games are all very long, but just imagine your favorite characters from across the universe as LEGO!
9. TMNT – Four turtles, one rat, and a lot of baddies to take out. Let’s kick shell!
10. Die Hard/Lethal Weapon – I couldn’t pick between the two so now we get a mash-up!

What did you think of our list? Did we miss a series you think we should have added? Let us know in the comments below.

You said…

In the last Readers’ Opinion, we asked how you felt about microtransactions in full-priced games.

chrnbl808 replied:

I feel like microtransactions have no place in a full priced game. Especially if a game has a premium edition, as the developers have already gotten their money from the gamers who obviously love the game enough to spend the extra cash to buy the premium version of their game instead of the standard version.

Timewarp wrote:

No. They can stop with that “development costs are rising” nonsense, in the UK we’re already paying £70 for next-gen games with PS4/X1 games at £60, I’m not paying that much for a game and then going into a MTX environment.

By their very nature MTX have to ruin a game because they only work by making sure the only way to enjoy yourself is to pay for the MTX. Take Assassin’s Creed Valhalla where you CAN spend hours collecting resources to upgrade your armour and weapons or you can pay Ubisoft to just hand you leather and iron ore.

and that’s w/o going into the £30 season pass most of these games have. I already paid for your game, I shouldn’t have to pay for it again.

The post Readers’ Opinion: After LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga, What Other Series Should Get the LEGO Treatment? appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Ever since Ghostwire: Tokyo was first announced, there has been a very vocal group awaiting the game’s release. Developed by Tango Gameworks, the group behind the Evil Within series, Ghostwire looks to please those eager to check out the game on the 24th. We dive in with our Ghostwire Tokyo review to answer the burning question: how good is it?

The dynamic duo of Akito and KK

Ghostwire: Tokyo puts players in the shoes of Akito, a young man walking around Tokyo when a sudden fog hits, causing those around him to disappear. All looks lost until a spirit named KK inhabits Akito’s body and allows him to wander the now desolate streets of Tokyo. Now it is up to both Akito and KK to discover the cause behind everyone’s disappearance and set things right. That won’t be very easy, as there are all sorts of ghosts roaming around for you to deal with.

The story pacing here is the star of the show, as it never feels like it takes you away from the game, keeping you moving while learning more about the story. For instance, the very start of the game just sort of throws you straight into it, allowing you to get right into the action without feeling bogged down by far too much exposition. Instead, the game allows you to sink your teeth right in as it spoonfeeds you all the information you need as you go. I never felt lost in the story but also never felt like any one bit of story drug on for far too long. No cutscenes that kill the flow, instead everything is just perfectly paced, letting the eerie streets of Tokyo suck you into the world.

These ghosts are TOAST!!

Combat in Ghostwire: Tokyo is from a first-person viewpoint, as players use the abilities granted to them by KK to take on the ghosts of the city.  You will have three different spells at your disposal; Water, Wind, and Fire. Each of these serves very different purposes in combat. Wind weaving is a quick attack and the one you will use the most, water is good for close-range damage, and fire is best for hitting multiple targets with a big explosion. These can all be upgraded as you travel the world to increase damage and range.

As you get enough hits on a specific enemy, you can open up their core, removing it and defeating them for good. As enemies are defeated, they will drop SP onto the ground which refills your various spells. You can also find floating objects throughout the world to destroy that also replenish your SP.

Outside of spells, there are also talismans and a trusty bow and arrow at your disposal.  Talismans give the ability to lay traps on the ground to distract the enemy, catch them in a paralyzing field, or throw down shrubs to hide behind. Truth be told, there are four talismans and I found myself only really using the stun one to get in free shots at harder enemies. The bow and arrow itself is very powerful but can be a pain to accurately hit your enemies as most of them move around quite a bit.

If straightforward combat isn’t your style or you want to take a more stealthy approach to an encounter, you can use your spectral vision to pick out enemies, sneak up on them, and swiftly seal them. This is the perfect way to take out some of the stronger enemies you find as you explore Tokyo, while a good firebomb is the best way to tackle a group of them huddled together. The systems put in place here for the combat work extremely well, giving you a really well-rounded fighting experience. Going from spells, to talisman, back to spells, and then to the bow and arrow feels satisfying. It’s not all sunshine though, as the first person view causes some frustration as you back away from oncoming ghosts, only to catch yourself on a car or something else, causing a moment of panic. That aside, there aren’t many worts here to keep the combat from being anything but a lot of fun.

Spirit saving your way to higher levels

It isn’t all about the combat in Ghostwire: Tokyo. In fact, far more important than that is absorbing spirits using your Katashiro. As you stroll through the city streets and up on the rooftops, you will find a lot of spirits loitering the streets. Some of these will give you side missions to complete while most of them are simply there and waiting to be adsorbed. Yes, I know that sounds really bad, but I promise you are actually saving them. Even more so, as you turn in enough spirits, your level will increase, so make sure not to ignore the spirits. As you continue to level up, you will gain skill points that can be used to learn new skills, enhance your ethereal weaving spells, or upgrade your equipment.

Another important aspect of the game is the various shrines found in the game, each a part of a different area on the map. As you progress through the game, you will want to find and cleanse these shrines, lifting the fog on their area and opening up quests and objects to find.  Each shrine area will have things like Jizo statues to find and pray to, KK investigation notes for learning more about the story, and Yokai’s to find and take their Magamata’s to help unlock new skills. You will find there is a lot to do while traveling across Tokyo, but it never feels overwhelming.

Ghostwire: Tokyo also lets you find or buy food and drink throughout, which helps you restore your health. These items can be found while exploring or purchased from Nekomata who have opened up various stores to sell you consumables, arrows, and talismans. There are also some who will ask you to take on tasks for rewards, or sell you game music and clothes to dress up Akito to your liking. There are various other things to do here, from saving spirits found in containment cubes, to finding relics and voice logs. You can even find stray dogs and cats around who you can pet and feed, with the dogs then sniffing out some coin for you. I said it before but it really bears repeating, the game gives you plenty to do but it never feels like a burden.

Ghostwire Tokyo Review: The final verdict

Ghostwire: Tokyo is the game I think we were all hoping for when it was announced. The eerie streets of an empty Tokyo draw you in and promptly scare you senseless with some fascinating enemies lurking around every corner. The story shines exactly when it needs to and then fades into the backdrop, allowing you to experience this sensational world. From the incredible voice work and writing, to the well-paced combat and city exploration, this is a must-play experience with plenty to do across its 20 hours.

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