The Little Man That Could

Game Mechanics - 1.5/2

Story-line - 1.5/2

Graphics - 1.5/2

Soundtrack - 1.5/2

Replay Value - 2/2

 Total Score - 8/10

We are here again for another video game review with your friendly neighborhood gamer Zalgo_Cometh. It's been a while since we reviewed a PSVITA game I think so this game came along just in the nick of time during the usual summer drought of new releases. I'm gonna try to make this short and sweet for the most part today cause got a hectic work schedule dealing with while the second video game-play video is uploading to YouTube. So lets look at Dokuro...

Dokuro is a video game developed by Game Arts and published by GungHo Online Entertainment for the PlayStation Vita. The player is Dokuro, a skeletal worker for the Dark Lord. One day, the Dark Lord captures a princess and forces her to marry him. Dokuro sees the princess crying which breaks his heart and he thus decides to help her escape the Dark Lord's castle. Dokuro can flip switches to open up paths, carry the princess after drinking a potion, as well as others. The game's levels grow steadily more complex as the game progresses. The game uses a graphical style that imitates artwork in a children's storybook. The game's director, Noriaki Kazama, previously worked on gory video games such as Ninja Gaiden Sigma under Team Ninja. Kazama said that after he had a baby, he browsed through children's books at the bookstore and was inspired by the art style.

What’s Good:

Replay value: This is here in spades as most puzzles have a variety of ways they can be solved as I came to realize while playing this game. Also you can replay levels for faster overall times or to collect coins as you progress through each level or to find the optimal solution to each level's puzzle.

Game Mechanics: Simple and very intuitive controls make for a fun and easily enjoyable game-play experience. Also worthwhile mentioning is that the touchscreen and overall integration of a PSVITA control system feels nature and smooth overall while playing this game.

Graphics: Overall design scheme and art style seems very fitting to the nature of the game and the PSVITA brings forth a certain crispness and level of subtle detail that can be appreciated in this handheld title.

What’s Bad:

Only fault I could come up with which isn't much of a fault as it seems intentional as a part of the challenging game design is that you can't do much to control the actions of the Princess. She just aimlessly walks forward and only turns away for fear of enemies that approach her.

What Should Have Been Added:

At times I found myself wanting the princess to stay in a certain position away from danger so maybe a stop/follow command would have been a nice addition. Another idea that came to mind was maybe getting a special power from each boss defeat that would help you along the way in your fights against other bosses and regular enemies.

Final Thoughts:

Even though it is a well documented fact that I suck at and despise puzzle based games I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing Dokuro. At times the going got rough and I faltered, but it was never a case where I was just totally and utterly left feeling defeated like there was no solution in sight. The puzzles strike a fair balance between challenging and straight forward; the onus just lies with the player an dhow fast they can figure it all out to move on to the next one.

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Really Wish RIPD The Game Had Stayed Dead

Game Mechanics - 1/2

Story-line - 0/2

Graphics - 1/2

Soundtrack - 0/2

Replay Value - 0.5/2

 Total Score - 2.5/10

Welcome to another Friday video game review here with your friendly neighborhood gamer; Zalgo_Cometh. Playing so many video games over the years has definitely been an enjoyable experience. So many classics along the way and truly memorable games. Sadly though every now and again you get a real disappoint game-play experience that just overall sucks and leave a bad taste in your mouth. It saddens me that my 250th blog post had to be on a game I didn't enjoy in the least. I was so excited for this movie and kinda excited for this game as I was expecting to play through the movie plot which seemed like a decent premise from the trailers. Plus I am a sucker for a Ryan Reynolds movie but boy was I in for a bucketful of disappointment. Not only did the movie bomb according to reviews but after playing the game I can say the same about it as well. So lets have a look at RIPD: The Game.

This video game based on the film titled R.I.P.D. The Game was released on July 16, 2013 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is a co-op third-person shooter set around a survival mode. It was developed by Old School Games. The game doesn't waste any time on a story aside from a brief montage of illustrated stills at the beginning, because quite frankly there is no story mode in this game. It is entirely a co-operative run and gun game based on fighting waves of enemies over and over again collecting golden scraps along the way. Is there any fun at all in R.I.P.D.? Only in the sense that misery loves company. If you and a friend were so unlucky as to pick up R.I.P.D. together, there's some generic shooter fun in clearing the levels as well as in performing simple acts of teamwork, like hitting one of the car-door-wielding deados from behind while your buddy distracts it.

What’s Good:

Pretty much the only good thing about this game was the potential of the premise on which they failed horrible to bring to life. This game is almost so bad you have to try to force yourself to get excited and try to like it.

What’s Bad:

Every thing you can imagine falls short in this game. There is no engaging story-line for you to connect and care about the characters and their struggles. The soundtrack is lack luster and highly non-immersive. This game also has little to no replay value and since there is no attachment to the characters or a story-line you wont feel compelled to play through the game a second time. The controls are clunky and non-intuitive as you fumble along trying to kill demons in the most efficient manner while rationing your ammunition to the best of your ability.

What Should Have Been Added:

An actual plot and story-line based on the comic book series or the movie would have made this game at the very least average.

Final Thoughts:

This game had me hyped I ain't even gonna lie but in the end it is just another movie tie in game release and as any experienced gamer can tell you 9/10 times its going to suck. This release sadly sucked way more than anyone could have imagined and we sadly have to live with it. I didn't even bother recording the usual game-play with commentary because this game was just so bad I didn't want to have anymore to do with it. Found a substitute though so at least he will get some extra views on his video I guess. Take a look...

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