Review by Matt S. Here’s the thing about Japan; it has the world’s best transport network, bar none. You’ll get around the cities easily, on time, and without spending too much, but you’ll also use the trains an awful lot. While in Japan I’ve found myself catching the train to…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. The first Criminal Girls was a game of real potential. Though clearly limited in budget, and controversial for a very obvious set of reasons (anime girls wearing little and posed in compromising positions are generally going to raise eyebrows), the game was clever reference to the…
Read MoreInterview by Matt S. God Wars: Future Past is going to be one of the most important tactical JRPGs that you’ll ever play. Not because it’s going to do anything particularly innovative with the way it plays – because it’s explicitly aiming to be as traditional as the genre comes…
Read MoreRetro Reflections by Nick H. Recently, I was reflecting back on Phantasy Star II, a game that was very memorable to me despite some of its shortcomings. I would go so far as to say that at the time of its release, it was one of the best JRPGs out…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. For all its popularity in Japan (and it is really, really popular here – that 30th anniversary Dragon Quest art exhibition that recently ran in Japan was intensely busy), Dragon Quest has a checkered history in the west. Games have gone unlocalised. Other games have sold…
Read MoreReview by Matthew C. Note: This review contains spoilers to the first game, and you should play the first game before playing this. This is your advanced warning, if you don’t want the plot to the first game spoiled going in (though why you haven’t played it already is beyond…
Read MorePreview by Harvard L. I don’t know if the opening of Final Fantasy XV is a tongue-in-cheek joke or not, but I really want to believe that it is. Our first impression of Noctis is an insufferable sarcastic teenager making jabs at his father, the king, letting the audience know…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Finally! Finally Circle Entertainment has its name attached to a game that I actually enjoy. That might be because the publisher’s only role in the production of Adventure Bar Labyrinth is that it’s the publisher of the 3DS version of the game (it’s developed and self…
Read MoreRetro reflections by Nick H. If the game mentioned in the headline sounds somewhat familiar, there is a good reason for that. A while back I was on a serious strategy/RPG kick, and was talking at length about the Shining Force series of tactical games. These were among my favourite…
Read MoreExplainer by Matt S. Last week I took a look at three of the key defining features that I felt characterised a good rhythm game. Perhaps surprisingly, none of those features was the music itself. I’m going to do something similar this week in looking at the JRPG genre, because…
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